616

 As the Marvel Cinematic Universe starts Phase 4, we're going to be hearing a lot about the number 616.  And while the heroes of the MCU have battled their villains on earth, in space, and in the quantum realm, you may have heard the number 616 referenced a handful of times now.  Both in Marvel's Cinematic Universe and in the Spiderverse.  Both the animated Into the Spiderverse film and in the most recent live action offering, Far From Home.  The distant rumblings of the Multiverse.  Parallel dimensions.  Alternate Realities.  

Long the stuff of science fiction, alternate realities is an interesting concept.  At its base form, it's the idea that there exists an entirely different version of reality, that to all intents and purposes is a mirror image of ours but often loaded with minor and major changes to the world, the dimension we currently inhabit.  

Imagine, if you will, how much differently your life could be from the one you've lived if only you had done one thing different.  If you hadn't missed the bus to school, you would have done well on the pop quiz in class that day and kept your spot on the team.  A scout happened to be in the stands the day you had your best game of your life and the scout talks you up and you end up going pro. 
Alternately, you were slightly distracted playing with your phone and didn't see the car as it came into the intersection and t-boned you in the driver side door, causing permanent damage or even losing your life.
What if you stayed home to work on that science project instead of going out with your friends for a few hours.  You score top marks on the project and it looks better on your transcript getting you into Columbia instead of the local junior college.  You take up engineering and aerodynamics and now you're sitting on the launch pad as you're about to take off to the ISS for your mission.  

The Multiverse concept means that in a different reality, those outcomes did occur and now there are parallel universes where the professional sports version of you exists, there's an astronaut version of you and there's a paraplegic version of you as well.  The good with the bad.  And being the multiverse, everybody's different outcomes have the same potential of existing.  Pretty heavy stuff once you really start to break it down.  

And that's where the MCU is going as they further expand along the theme.  In fact, the next Doctor Strange film is captioned: The Multiverse of Madness.  

And where does 616 come into play in all of this?  According to Marvel, their prime comic book universe where all their heroes existed was Universe-616.  Meanwhile, say a side-story happens where all their characters turn into zombies.  It's happened.  So that universe gets a different designation.  Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Pig?  In his universe/alternate reality, animals can speak and therefore, is a different designation.  There are several dozen alternate realities to the Marvel Universe.  Both comic and cinematic.  Then, why is 616 the primary designation for every character you know and love?  Better question, why not?

Now, I've heard/read variations some of the artists and writers have tried to explain the reason for it.  Like it has some sort of special meaning assigned to the designation.  But perhaps the best answer I've ever read, and I wish I could find the article that stated it.  The artist said; There is nothing inherently significant to our universe.  Or something to that affect.  There's nothing special about it, it's just a number assigned to it.  And that is brilliant.  

If we were to label the universe we exist in as 1 or Prime, how incredibly conceited is that?  That somehow our universe is more important than any other reality.  Suppose there existed an alternate reality where wars were never waged.  A universe where they've discovered the cure for cancer and every man, woman and child were treated with respect and dignity and seen as equals from the moment they're born.  A true Utopia.  Would that universe not be more important than ours?  

Just like we've learned through science over the millenia, the earth was not the center of the universe.  The sun was not the center of the universe.  Even our galaxy isn't the center of the universe.  And it's in that humility, where we can accept that we aren't the end all, be all of existence, can we truly learn and grow.