Creation[]

Fleeing its dying universe, a Celestial escorted through Exo-Space by the Eternals Ikaris and Sersi violently crashed, shattering the fabric of space-time and forging multiple dimensions into a newborn realm. The Celestial's decaying body fused to the core of a planet while its spilling entrails hardened into ISO-crystals, crystalizing the Eternals in the process.^[4][7][8] The Chronoserpent claimed the materializing realm as its host to leech from but was somehow imprisoned.^[9][10][6]

The First Contests[]

The Battlerealm was populated by a ancient civilization before they were mysteriously driven away.^[11] Their successors, a race with strict pacifist principles that evolved in space,^[12] were enslaved by the Master to build the arena for his Contest of Champions. Rejecting pacifism in favor of gladiatorial glory, Ægon was instead motivated to fight for his people's freedom by his love, Clio. When the Master tore off Ægon's arm in the final match, Clio sacrificed herself, allowing Ægon to slay his opponent and win the ISO-Belt. Ægon used his new power to free his people from the Battlerealm, staying behind in exile for besmirching their pacifism.^[13]

The Contest of Champions was dubbed the Oldest Game^[14] and was followed by six other iterations.^[15]

The Young Elders[]

Three eons before the seventh Contest of Champions, three Elders, Taneleer Tivan, En Dwi Gast and Carina Tivan, voyaged past the storm between realities into the "Nexus Realm". They tracked the ISO-crystals to the remains of the Celestial when it exploded, crystalizing Carina and casting En Dwi into space. When Taneleer inadvertently shattered his daughter's crystal form, he became the Collector in hope gathering and piecing her back together. Meanwhile, En Dwi became the Grandmaster by mastering the Battlerealm's terrain and physics to rescue himself.^[4][7]

Enter the Maestro[]

The Maestro saw the Battlerealm as the opportunity to use conflict to create Infinity Stones from ISO-8.^[16] Claiming to seek a Champion worthy of his match, the Maestro deceived the Collector into helping him organize the seventh Contest of Champions, promising in return to grant him the power to revive Carina.^[7]

The Collector abducted twelve Champions for the first dry run of the Contest, forcing them into submission with the ISO-Spell. Mister Fantastic broke himself and the Fantastic Four out of their control and hastily built an escape device with outside help from the Silver Surfer before catching the Maestro's attention. The device was destroyed by the Maestro, scattering the five heroes across the time and space.^[15] Maestro pressed to prematurely begin the first battle, leading to Sentry massacring all but three of his opponents. Although the Maestro ordered the Collector to dispose him, Sentry was instead tasked with retrieving Carina's crystalized heart and disappeared for thirty-five years, presumed dead.^[17]

The Collector was tasked to use his invented^[13] ISO-crystal prisons to capture more Champions from across the Multiverse. As the Maestro's demands became too excessive, the Collector used his ISO-Sphere to disguise Skrulls as the desired Champions.^[18] When Champions fell in battle, the Collector experimented resurrecting them with mixed results.^[19] The Champions who failed to meet certain standards were discarded in storage.^[20]

At some point, the Maestro forged the shards of multiple dimensions onto the planet he branded Battleworld.^[16][21]

Rise of the Summoner[]

The Collector brought the Summoner and Kang the Conqueror to the Battlerealm to compete in the Contest of Champions for his ISO-Sphere. The Summoner prevailed against Kang by collaborating with their Champions instead of commanding them with the ISO-Spell.^[22] When the Collector summoned Thanos from his crystal, the Titan proved insusceptible to control and allied with the Summoner to defeat Kang.^[23] The Summoner continued to be tested against minor opponents until the Maestro pitted Thanos against them. Despite the motivation to defeat the Summoner and challenge the Maestro's reign, Thanos was overpowered by the Summoner and banished to his crystal. In the meantime, Captain America, Iron Man and Doctor Strange freed Champions from the ISO-Spell.^[24]

Leaving the Collector to manage the Contest on his own, the Maestro ordered Yellowjacket to have Adaptoids harvest ISO-8 from the Microrealms into an Infinity Stone.^[25] Upon Ant-Man's warning of a sinister plot, the Collector and the Summoner formed a rebellion opposing the Maestro. Knowing of their betrayal, the Maestro retaliated, threatening to use the newborn Genesis Stone against them. Released as a reinforcement, Thanos interrupted the Summoner and Maestro's battle by overpowering Maestro and escaping with the Genesis Stone.^[16][26]

The Collector's Reign[]

The Maestro was left to die on Battleworld,^[21] leaving the Collector, weakened from Maestro's retaliation, in full control of the Contest. This triggered the Cosmic Civil War between Iron Man's Iron Faction and Captain America (WWII)'s Blue Faction, each of which had conflicting plans for dealing with the Collector and escaping the Battlerealm.^[27] As the war intensified, each faction's lieutenant defected with the Summoner to find the reclusive Civil Warrior, who helped put an end to the fighting.^[28]

Previously promoted as the Collector's science advisor,^[20] M.O.D.O.K. dispersed ISO-infused Terrigen Mist across the Battlerealm that enhanced mutant mutations at the expense of their sanity. A mutant rebellion formed in response, quietly backed by the Summoner. In a failed attempt to hijack the Ghost Orchid, Magneto raided the Collector's Champion Vault, freeing Jean Grey and scattering countless Champion crystals across the Battlerealm.^[29][30] Awakened by the ISO-Terrigen, the Phoenix Force within Jean Grey transformed her into Dark Phoenix and purified the atmosphere. After the Summoner's Champions prevented her from causing more destruction, Jean's body underwent a unique ISO-based Terrigenesis that birthed the Evolution Stone in time for Thanos to seize it.^[31]

Concerned by Thanos' advances, Doctor Strange assembled the Sorcerer's Conclave to magically speak with Guillotine, who was kidnapped by the Mad Titan. Although their communication was sabotaged by Karl Mordo under Thanos' influence, Guillotine was able to divulge how Infinity Stones are made.^[32] Using this revelation, Doctor Strange manipulated Dormammu into trapping himself in the Battlerealm to create the War Stone from his defeat.^[33]

Meanwhile, the Collector was preoccupied with the Grandmaster's return and challenge to his dominion over the Contest— the Elder's War.^[14][32] The Grandmaster swiftly outmaneuvered the Collector by siphoning power from the ISO-Sphere and seducing the Battlerealm's residents with promises of liberty. When the Summoner was swayed against him, the Collector was vanquished by their Champions and imprisoned into his own crystal by the Grandmaster.^[34]

The Cornerstone[]

Now armed with the full power of the ISO-Sphere, the Grandmaster immediately betrayed his promises by rewriting the Contest's rules to prolong it. In an attempt to organize the Contest, the Grandmaster split every Champion by their elemental Class. Collaborating through a covert network, the Summoner and Champions discovered crystalline fragments that seemed to be the Battlerealm's foundational cornerstone. Reconstructing the cornerstone would drain the ISO-Sphere's energy, preventing the Battlerealm from collapsing under its pressure. This did not go unnoticed by Grandmaster, who permitted the reconstruction only after the Summoner beat his game. It was then revealed that the cornerstone was actually the crystalized body of Carina Tivan, missing only one final piece.^[34]

Intimately familiar with their design, the Collector escaped his crystal, coinciding with Sentry's unanticipated return. Although Sentry succeeded in retrieving Carina's heart, the Void overtook his mind in the decades prior and sought revenge. Following the Void's takedown by the Summoner, the Collector secured Carina's final piece.^[17] The Collector tried to restore Carina's life with the remainder of his ISO-power but failed.^[13]

Infinity War[]

United to combat Thanos,^[33] the Illuminati traveled to Dystopian Wakanda for Killmonger's completed Infinity Claw. Using Killmonger's pride against him, Black Panther challenged him to Wakandan combat ritual without the gauntlet, winning and claiming the Infinity Claw for himself. Now armed with a third Infinity Stone, Thanos arrived the following week and engaged Black Panther in a cosmic battle, each wielding their respective gauntlets.^[35]

Black Panther eventually overpowered the Titan, trapping him in a nightmare^[36] and scattering the Battlerealm's native Infinity Stones in the process, including the Illuminati's two stones. Hela released Thanos and gifted him the Death Stone, which he fooled the Summoner and their allies into while his Nameless claimed the Infinity Stones unopposed.^[37]

Many heroes took refuge in the Astral Plane to escape the Mad Titan's cosmic wrath. With the completed Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos now superseded the Grandmaster, who pleaded for the Contest to continue. Uninterested, Thanos drained the ISO-Sphere and forced the Summoner to his side with mind control. Hela encouraged Thanos to massacre the entire Battlerealm, though Mephisto argued that would immortalize them as martyrs. Plotting against Thanos, Mephisto volunteered to go with the Summoner under the guise of converting the Titan's opposition. In the Astral Plane, the Summoner was freed from Thanos' control and they teamed up with the combined efforts of Mephisto, the Avengers, Doctor Strange and M.O.D.O.K. to kill Thanos.^[38][39]

Infinity Aftermath[]

The Infinity War caused the Grandmaster to lose a great deal of power and control.^[13] The subsequent power vacuum enabled the rise of the Cabal, a criminal organization secretly lead by Doctor Doom.^[40][41] Seeking to restore his authority, the Grandmaster partnered with the Champion to repower the ISO-Sphere with ISO taken from his victims. This threatened Carina's essence that was scattered across the Battlerealm, prompting Ægon to return and subdue the Champion. Now driven to heal rather than fight, Ægon used the power within his ISO-Belt to bring Carina back to life.^[13]

With her newfound ability to control ISO-8, Carina's rebirth alarmed those who considered her a progenitor of the Elder's oppression. Carina's reputation was further jeopardized when she accidentally produced a harmful flow of Black ISO-8 while trying to help the Avengers. Carina nonetheless found allies among those who understood her good intentions and the Summoner. Upon amending her mistake, Carina sensed the Battlerealm's instability and the impending threat of the Chronoserpent's return.^[9]

Shortly after Carina's revival, an alternate Thanos who succeeded in his mission began exterminating other realities inside the Battlerealm with an army of his counterparts. When Ronin warned of the impending invasion, the Avengers rallied forces from across the Battlerealm's realities to overcome this second Thanos.^[39]

Concurrently, the process of reuniting the Fantastic Four began when Night Thrasher seized a beacon from the Cabal that lead him to summoning the Silver Surfer from a wormhole.^[15] After finding the Thing, the bright minds of the Illuminati created M.I.C.R.O. with the Surfer's Power Cosmic to rescue the Human Torch^[42] and Invisible Woman.^[43] Before he could be saved from his quantum prison built by the Cabal, Mister Fantastic reconfigured M.I.C.R.O. to lure Galactus to the Battlerealm. The cosmic being would theoretically collapse the Battlerealm by devouring its core, providing its inhabitants the means to escape.^[41] Upon learning from Carina that the core, Battleworld, harbored civilizations, Mister Fantastic began working to amend his mistake.^[44]

Brave New Battlerealm[]

The Grandmaster was outplayed by the Summoner with the aid of Carina and her allies. Just as the Collector began to boast, Carina warped him and the Grandmaster away, taking the ISO-Sphere and establishing her council in their place, finally letting the Battlerealm's denizens lead themselves. After the council adjourned, Carina interrogated and threatened the malevolent Chronoserpent.^[9][45] Behind the scenes, a group named Ouroboros began recruiting anyone willing to oppose Carina.^[46]

Many years elapsed on Battleworld since the Maestro's defeat thanks to its accelerated passage of time. Acting as the Chronoserpent's puppet, the Maestro conquered the divided Houses of Battleworld. The subjugated Barons colluded to secretly assassinate the Maestro with help from all of their alternate reality counterparts, demonstrating to the Chronoserpent that they could succeed the Maestro as tyrants.^[6] After the Maestro's death, the Barons joined into the Council of Shawarma to deter the Houses from fighting again. When hostilities persisted, the Watcher's Summoners and Anathi investigated into the Maestro's death under the assumption that identifying the culprit would prevent war.^[47][21] Battleworld's time synchronized with the Battlerealm's after the barrier between them was breached by Kali, a Sorcerer Supreme from the Temple of Vishanti.^[48]

The ISO-Sphere was taken by Kang the Conqueror and sent to Gwenpool, prompting Carina and the Summoner to investigate its whereabouts. While Gwenpool caused tears in reality by toying with the ISO-Sphere, Kang used her mayhem to quickly dominate the Battlerealm. After securing the ISO-Sphere, the Summoner and Carina turned their focus against Kang, who sent a call for his alternate counterparts to support him. Superior Kang, the sole Kang to appear, effortlessly betrayed the other Kang and outpowered the Summoner, seizing control of the Battlerealm. Using the element of surprise from Carina's abilities and help from the betrayed Kang, the Summoner freed the Battlerealm from Superior Kang's grasp.^[49]

Galactus Arrives[]

Following the release of Ikaris and Sersei from the crystal they were trapped in since the Battlerealm's inception, Mister Fantastic deduced from them that the Celestials also wished to keep Galactus out of the Battlerealm.^[8] Tragically, time ran out when the Battlerealm was taken by surprise by a horde of Galactus variants.^[50] Fortunately, Galan, a humane version of Galactus, proposed the World Seed as a solution to sustainably grow planets for their cosmic hunger.^[51]

On Battleworld, the Barons revealed to Anathi that they all played a part in the Maestro's death. When Ancient One elaborated by using his Time Stone to transport Anathi and himself to the Maestro's death,^[52] the two were spotted by Glykhan, who abducted Anathi to the Chronoserpent's asteroid for questioning. Anathi received the Infinity Claw from Black Panther and exhausted its power to free herself, fusing her arm to the gauntlet's remnants. An alternate Doctor Strange summoned Galactus to battle the Chronoserpent, forcing the Barons to have the planet evacuated.^[6] Although some Battleworlders tried to fend them off, the planet was ultimately ruined.^[53]

Mister Fantastic planted the World Seed on Battleworld after it was fully evacuated. By feeding it ISO-8 and energy from Photon, the Worldheart sprouted into a new World Tree, blooming into new worlds^[54] and restoring consumed ones.^[55]

Meanwhile, Civil Warrior investigated Ouroboros and debriefed his findings to the Summoner and Carina. After defending Avengers Tower from a coordinated attack, their continued investigation exposed Scytalis as an undercover mole seeking to divide the Avengers. Following Scytalis' neutralization, Ouroboros publicly revealed themselves by hijacking the comms across the Battlerealm to call Carina's motives into question.^[46]

Characteristics[]

Composition[]

As the result of a Celestial's accident through Exo-Space, the Battlerealm is an abundant source of Neutronium, most commonly known as ISO-8.^[7][8] ISO permeates the atmosphere, powering the Battlerealm's residents through its radiation.^[43] Fighting can produce more ISO-8 through a process called the churn, which strengthens the fighter while increasing their capacity to produce ISO-8. If the ISO levels hit a tipping point, the Battlerealm will explode into a new Multiverse. Conversely, the Battlerealm would gradually decay into its heat death without conflict.^[46] The Battlerealm can also be collapsed entirely through the destruction of its core, Battleworld.^[56] Yet another key component is Carina Tivan, who had her essence tied to the Battlerealm's stability after being caught in a blast from the dying Celestial.^[13]

Great disturbances of ISO-8 energy could be refined into new Infinity Stones.^[32] The Battlerealm has its own unique set of Infinity Stones consisting of the Genesis, Evolution, War, Nightmare, Chaos and Death Stones. Unlike foreign Infinity Stones that only resonate in the shards of their native dimension,^[35][9] these Infinity Stones work anywhere in the Battlerealm^[32] and are more powerful than their standard counterparts.^[38]

Territories[]

The realities in the Battlerealm are divided space-time territories, each with their own Battleworld.^[57][6] While some beings like Ægon or Man-Thing can jump across these realities, most are trapped in their own limited space-time pockets.^[39][5] New territories are added as the Battlerealm sucks in debris from dying universes.^[58][59]

Although the Time Variance Authority identified the Battlerealm itself as a "pocket timeline",^[3] it may also contain branching timelines of itself, as evidenced by Superior Kang, who conquered the Battlerealm in a timeline without the Summoner.^[49] Chronological brick walls impede time travel before or after the seventh Contest of Champions,^[57] which is time-locked to the modern 21st century.^[60] Despite this, there are territories that correspond to other periods of time such as the Golden, Silver, Bronze and Copper Ages.^[61]

Accessibility[]

Once entered, the Battlerealm is difficult to traverse and nearly impossible to exit. While the outer space's atmosphere is breathable, the uninitiated traveler could find themselves sent back in time or long distances away in the wrong direction.^[4] Even using the artificial portal network created by the Collector and M.O.D.O.K. can prove to be hazardous.^[32][62] ISO-Spheres can grant the ability to safely travel through and even exit the Battlerealm.^[13]

America Chavez theorized that the Battlerealm automatically spawns countless dimensional counterparts of anyone or anything that comes into it. While this would contradict the Collector's efforts to capture Champions for Maestro,^[18] her point was seemingly validated when an alternate malicious versions of herself and Hercules, both newcomers to the Battlerealm, spawned to fight the Summoner.^[58]

Communication in and out of the Battlerealm is possible. Dormammu could freely interact with the Battlerealm by possessing Champions, becoming trapped only after materializing himself within it.^[33] By modifying M.I.C.R.O., Mister Fantastic broadcasted a signal across the Multiverse, calling variants of Galactus to the Battlerealm.^[56]

Location[]

The Battlerealm's location is inconclusive. Although the Collector referred to it as part of the Multiverse,^[17] America Chavez recalled traveling beyond both the Multiverse and the Omniverse to arrive into the Battlerealm, suggesting it was the endpoint of time and space.^[58] Chee'ilth theorized the Battlerealm was built right on top of the Below-Place, the lowest point of the Multiverse.^[63]

• Abyss — Dimension that the Thing was once trapped in^[15]
• Asgard — Odin's domain^[64]
• Astral Plane^[38]
• Oceanic Cascade — Home to the remnants of Atlantis and Talokan^[65]
• Avengers Space — Avengers' base of operations, home to Avengers Tower
• Battleworld (or Maelstrom) — The desolate core of the Battlerealm created by the Maestro, a planet once divided by its many domains^[21]
• Black Quadrant — Thanos' territory inherited by the Black Order^[59]
• Damocles — Kang's base of operations
• Dark Dimension — Dormammu's domain swallowed by the Battlerealm upon his entrance^[33]
• Death Stone Dimension — Dead and powerless copy of the Battlerealm^[37]
• Doomstadt Station — Doctor Doom's station^[49]
• Empire of Wakanda — Territory of a dystopian version of Wakanda formerly ruled by Killmonger^[39]
• Forbidden Territories — Distorted and chaotic part of the Battlerealm^[49]
• Galactorum — The arena built by the Grandmaster^[14]
• Ghost Orchid — Collector's ship^[29]
• Gold Realm — Platinumpool and Goldpool's domain
• Hades — Mephisto's domain^[46]
• Hala — The Kree homeworld^[66]
• Hotel M.O.D.O.K. — M.O.D.O.K.'s base of operations^[67]
• Howard and Hyperion's crib — Howard the Duck's home from the remains of Duckworld^[68]
• Knowhere
• Krakoa — Professor X's home for mutantkind^[69]
• Lands of Future Past — Territory resembling the Days of Future Past^[59]
• Manhattan — Entire island of Manhattan recreated by the Galactus Seed^[55]
• Mojodome — Mojo's base of operations^[70]
• Negative Zone — Annihilus' domain^[42]
• Neo Klyntar — Moon composed entirely of symbiotes^[63]
• New Attilan — Home of the Inhumans built on the ruins of an unidentified ancient civilization^[71]
• Omega Academy — Emma Frost's school for training mutants^[72]
• Quantum Realm (or Microrealms) — Small microscopic territories that exist throughout the Battlerealm^[25]
• Safe Haven — Misty Knight's Helicarrier^[73]
• Sanctum Sanctorum^[74]
• Savage Lands^[75]
• Symbiote Lands — Home to the symbiotes^[76]
• Wyrd Realm — Temporary pocket dimension created by Gwenpool wielding the ISO-Sphere^[49]

For individual beings, see Earth-517 Characters and Characters Displaced to Earth-517; for groups, see Earth-517 Teams and Earth-517 Organizations.

• Prior to being given an official reality number, this universe was referred as Earth-TRN517 as a part of our Temporary Reality Numbers classification system.
• The designation of this reality was revealed in "History of Purgatory (Marvel Contest of Champions)," a video made by Variant Comics in conjunction with Marvel Contest of Champions, which also sponsored the video. Its number comes from the unoffical designation previously assigned to this reality by the Marvel Database, which was used in-game^[77] and on the game's social media pages^[78][79] as if it was official.
• While the map of the Battlerealm provided by the April 2022 edition of the "State of the Battlerealm" is official, it should be treated with mild skepticism since some of its information contradicts events as depicted in Marvel Contest of Champions.
• With the exception of Ægon, Goldpool, Venom the Duck, and Venompool, none of the Champions are native to the Battlerealm, having been plucked out of multiple other universes to fight in the Contest.