At the vulnerable moment of a reality-altering Flashpoint caused by The Flash, Pandora and Dr. Manhattan altered the timeline, such that the state of the multiverse was changed significantly—for the greater good according to Pandora, though Wally West believes it may in fact have been to weaken it for an upcoming attack. The result was 10 years being taken from the main timeline, as well as a merger of three disparate universes; the DC Universe, the Wildstorm Universe, and the Vertigo Universe, the latter of which was comprised of those characters who began their existence within the mainstream DCU, but continued on under the Vertigo imprint beginning in April 1993. Other Vertigo properties remain disconnected from this multiverse. There are 52 Earths in the local Multiverse home to the DCU Prime Earth, though due to the time-traveling interventions of Brainiac, the Hal Jordan of the pre-Zero Hour New Earth DCU, and Superman of the pre-Flashpoint New Earth altering the course of the Crisis on Infinite Earths, an infinite number of universes from previous incarnations of the Multiverse exist beyond these 52.
This new model of creation involves multiple incarnations of the Multiverse suspended within a "Multi-Multiverse", with individual Multiverses existing as 'bubble' sets of grouped universes such as the local 52, with mention of a destroyed "Multiverse-2" by the Empty Hand. The 'local' Multiverse is constructed on a central axis of the House of Heroes, former headquarters of the Monitors rotating through the Fifth Dimension, now headquarters of the team Justice Incarnate, and the Rock of Eternity, connected to the cornerstone Earths 0 and 33, aka Prime Earth and Earth Prime. The Orrery is structured that the position of universes within it relative to certain realms in the Sphere of the Gods denote aspects of their nature: those closer to New Genesis are often kinder and nobler, those close to Apokolips often far darker, while the proximity to the realms of Dream or Nightmare denote Order and Chaos, respectively. Additionally, each Earth is parallel another Earth; in at least once instance with Earths 20 and 40, these parallel Earths have been seen to phase into a state of being capable of interaction.
Mister Oz revealed that the merging of the New Earth Superman and Lois Lane with their Prime Earth counterparts caused the New Earth and Prime Earth realities to merge into a new reality both familiar and new. What, if any, effect this had on the local 52 multiverse is unknown.
Known Earths:
Earth 15
Earth 24
Earth 25
Earth 27
Earth 28
Earth 46
Earth 49
Earth 51
Other Points of Interest:
