Anonymous
asked:
What is the origin of the "616"? Is it just a random number that had been picked, or is there more to it? I know that you don't like that term, but even in SECRET WARS #1 one category of characters was marked as EARTH-616.

In his CAPTAIN BRITAIN stories, Alan Moore gave the Marvel Universe that designation, reportedly as a reference to the biblical number of the Beast. And over the years, especially during the Internet age, it gained traction and stuck.