Earth-6212
Type: Alternate Earth (see comments)
Environment: Earth-like rules of physics, etc.
Usual means of access: Vibrational attunement. A gateway (either natural or made by the people of the 5th Dimension) exists in what's left of the swamplands of Long Island, New York City.
Dominant life form: Blue-skinned humanoids; no superhuman abilities demonstrated.
Prominent inhabitants: Phineas, Theos, Valeria, Zemu (aka Xemu)
Capital: Gomath
Level of Technology: Their realm seemed to be an advanced, technologically-oriented civilization, having attained a level of which Reed Richards would have been happy to have designed.
They also had access to a variety of futuristic weaponry, including cold rays and fireproof tanks.
First Appearances: Strange Tales I#103/1 (December, 1962)
History:
(Strange Tales I#103/1 (fb) - BTS) - The past of Earth-6212--commonly
known as "The Fifth Dimension" (as described by natives of that
realm, or a large portion of them)--and its blue-skinned
inhabitants is largely unrevealed (see comments).
In recent times, their world was ruled by the tyrannical warlord Zemu, who sought to invade and takeover Earth-616. Utilizing a dimensional portal that connected their world's capital city of Gomath to Earth-616, Zemu sent some of his soldiers to guard the portal's exit in the swamplands of Long Island, while his army built an arsenal of war-weapons.
(Strange Tales I#103/1 - BTS) - Architect George Bentely was trying to build a housing development in the swampy area, but Zemu's soldiers secretly sabotaged the construction at night by using a device to cause the houses to sink into the ground.
(Strange Tales I#103/1) - The strange occurrences attracted the attention of Johnny Storm, the Human Torch. During his investigation, Johnny was captured and taken to the Fifth Dimension, where he was imprisoned in a liquid chemical that prevented him from using his flames. But Johnny was later freed by Valeria, and he led a revolt against Zemu. Following the overthrow of Zemu, Johnny returned to Earth, and Valeria's father, Phineas, was made the new ruler of the Fifth Dimension.
(Fantastic Four I#158-163) - Years later, Phineas fell victim to a plot instigated by Arkon, the warlord of Polemachus. Phineas entered into a business arrangement with Albert DeVoor, an agent of the Roxxon Oil Company. DeVoor claimed to represent a large corporation called Inter-Politan Thermo-Dynamics Unlimited and arranged to purchase ownership of Phineas' technology in exchange for funding Phineas' experiments.
DeVoor's plans were temporarily put on hold when Zemu staged a comeback and temporarily overthrew the rule of Phineas. Zemu then led an invasion into the Inhumans' home of Attilan, in a scheme to force Black Bolt to power his Thunder Horn, a device able to magnify sound hundreds of times over. But Zemu's invasion force was overcome with the aid of the Fantastic Four, and Phineas returned to leadership.
Soon after this, DeVoor--who was secretly working with Arkon--used Phineas' temperature control devices to cause a near-Ice Age on Earth-616 by expanding the polar icecaps. At the same time, DeVoor--who pretended to have similar corporations on Earth-616 (Inter-Locking Technologies) and Earth-721/Earth-A (Inter-Related Technocracies) ran similar plots on those worlds. DeVoor used the Time Machine of the Baxter Building to send a number of menaces from the past--including soldiers and warriors of various eras, along with dinosaurs--to Earth-721. DeVoor also sent the Andrones of Reed Richards Robotics on Earth-721 to the Fifth Dimension--when the Human Torch returned to their world, a mob of Fifth Dimensioners mistook him for an Androne and attacked him, until Phineas came around and stopped them.
Seeing these attacks of their worlds, but unaware of the use of their own weapons on the other worlds, caused a three-way inter-dimensional war to erupt. This plot was designed to end in nuclear war on all three worlds, which would then generate sufficient power to maintain light and heat on Arkon's realm, Polemachus.
But Mr. Fantastic (Reed Richards of Earth-616) discovered DeVoor's involvement, and the Fantastic Four assisted in stopping the wars. The Human Torch, who had briefly returned to the Fifth Dimension in hopes of starting a romance with Valeria, had been appointed acting commander of Phineas' army, leading the "retaliatory assault" on Earth-721. After learning the truth from his partner, the Thing (Ben Grimm), and the Reed Richards of Earth-721, the Torch called off the assault.
Comments: Created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, and Jack Kirby.
The Fifth Dimension was confirmed to actually be alternate Earth-6212 in the Earth-A entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z hardcover#3.
I'm not quite old enough to know for sure, but I believe that in the Sixties, it was a popular theme to extrapolate on three-dimensional reality and have other realms above the 3rd Dimension; that being said, the Fifth Dimension doesn't really have any properties associated with a reality that has five dimensions.
You'd think Johnny would make a return trip to see Valeria again some day.
Perhaps the "Fifth Dimension" was an
alternate Earth that was colonized by the blue-skinned Kree of its
universe (which would help to explain the advanced technology).
--John Kaminski
The Official Handbook of the Marvel
Universe A to Z hardcover#14 entry on Zemu noted that the Fifth
Dimension had been designated by some sources as an alternate Earth and
further speculated: "whose blue-skinned inhabitants may be descended
from Kree colonizers or a land-dwelling Homo mermani offshoot."
It would be interesting if the Fifth Dimensions
mentioned in the clarifications turned out to all be the same realm.
Profile by Snood. Expansion by Ron Fredricks.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Fifth Dimension has no known connection to the:
Valeria of the 5th Dimension has no connection to:
|
Phineas was the peace-loving ruler of the Fifth Dimension, and father of Theos and Valeria. He was a scientist who specialized in Temperature Control Devices. Some time later, Phineas also developed the Thunder Horn. He convinced Johnny Storm to lead an uprising against Zemu, and assumed leadership after Zemu's defeat. He later fell for a plot of Arkon and Albert DeVoor that nearly led to the destruction of his world, as well as Earth-616 and Earth-721. Although he had been temporarily deposed by Zemu, Phineas was last seen again ruling his realm. --Strange Tales I#103 (Strange Tales I#103, Fantastic Four I#162 (fb), 159, [160], 161, 162, [163] |
|
|
Presumably developed by Phineas, this device could project a beam of intense cold that immediately froze what it was targeted upon--this weapon was also available in rifle-form. When the Human Torch (Johnny Storm) first went to the Fifth Dimension, he saw some of Zemu's soldiers practicing for a planned invasion of Earth by using the cold ray projector to freeze a dummy of an Earth soldier. Some time later, Albert DeVoor apparently used the cold ray technology for his plot to nearly cause a new Ice Age on Earth-616. Shortly afterward, the Torch returned to the Fifth Dimension, but was assaulted by some of the inhabitants with ice rifles--they mistook him for an invading Androne from Earth-721. --Strange Tales I#103/1 (Strange Tales I#103/1, Fantastic Four I#161 |
|
|
Weapons of the Fifth Dimension, these large armored vehicles were resistant to flame; the ammunition in the tanks was also coated with an asbestos solvent. Zemu originally planned to use the tanks for an invasion of Earth-616. When the Human Torch (Johnny Storm) was confronted by the huge weapons, he realized that he couldn't melt them or their ammo, so he came up with an alternate way to defeat them; flying in a circular motion as swiftly as he could, the Torch created a hot, swirling current of air, which soon built up into a super-tornado, and the whirling vortex destroyed the tanks. Some time later, the Torch allied himself with the Phineas and the Fifth Dimension's military for a potential "retaliatory assault" on Earth-721--several of these large tanks could be seen in the background. --Strange Tales I#103/1 (Strange Tales I#103/1, Fantastic Four I#161 |
|
images: (without ads)
Strange Tales I#103/1, p6, pan5 (one of Zemu's soldiers and Human Torch
[foreground] transported to capital city of Fifth Dimension)
Fantastic Four I#161, p7, pan1 (inhabitant of Fifth Dimension mentions
name of capital city)
Fantastic Four I#161, p7, pan2 (inhabitants of Fifth Dimension)
Fantastic Four I#161, p6, pan6 (Human Torch [center] attacked by
inhabitants of Fifth Dimension)
Fantastic Four I#161, p9, pan1 (Phineas)
Fantastic Four I#161, p10, pan1 (Phineas, pointing at attacking Androne)
Strange Tales I#103/1, p9, pan3 (Zemu's soldiers fire cold ray at
soldier dummy)
Fantastic Four I#161, p7, pan3 (Human Torch gets hit by cold ray rifles)
Strange Tales I#103, p11, pan1 (fireproof tanks; Zemu [background],
Human Torch [foreground])
Fantastic Four I#161, p18, pan1 (tanks with Fifth Dimension invasion
force)
Appearances:
Strange Tales I#103/1 (December, 1962) - Stan Lee & Larry Lieber
(writers), Jack Kirby (pencils), Dick Ayer (inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Fantastic Four I#158-159 (May-June, 1975) - Roy Thomas (writer/editor),
Rich Buckler (pencils), Joe Sinnott (inks)
Fantastic Four I#161-163 (August-October, 1975) - Roy Thomas
(writer/editor), Rich Buckler (pencils), Joe Sinnott (inks)
First posted: 09/06/2001
Last updated: 07/23/2024
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™ and © 1941-2099 Marvel
Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff, you should
check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com
Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!