In the DC Multiverse, Earth-Prime is the true Earth from which all the other worlds within the multiverse originate, the actual reality where the readers live, DC Comics operates as a publisher, and all superheroes are fictional. However, Earth Prime became an alternate reality in its first appearance in
The Flash #179 (May, 1968), when the
Flash accidentally travels there from Earth-One by being pushed by a creature called
The Nok. The Flash, stranded, contacts DC Comics editor
Julius Schwartz,
[1] who helps him construct a
cosmic treadmill to return to Earth-One. Eventually it was stated that the writers of DC Comics of Earth Prime unconsciously base their stories on the adventures of the heroes on Earth-One and Earth-Two.
In
The Flash #228 (July/Aug 1974),
[2] Earth Prime's
Cary Bates travels to Earth-One, where he discovers that the stories he writes are not only based on events on Earth-One, but can actually influence these events as well. This power turns for the worse in
Justice League of America #123 (October 1975),
[3] when Bates is accidentally transported to Earth-Two. The interdimensional trip temporarily turns Bates into a supervillain, and he quickly kills the
Justice Society of America. Luckily fellow DC writer
Elliot S. Maggin, with the help of the Justice League and the
Spectre, is able to restore matters on both Earths in
Justice League of America #124 (November 1975).
[4]