The comics I am talking about came before Thorpe and then after, during the Moore run. Thorpe made zero attempt to use any alternate version of Marvel stars, while Moore both brought the character back to the regular Marvel Earth within a couple of issues, THEN identified it as Earth-616 AND used Marvel US characters - not alternate versions. Potentially, based on what Alan D says, Thorpe's use of the multiverse might well have come out of Marvel UK editorial desire to use Marvel US characters which might in turn have been temporarily off limits, and Thorpe going alternate reality inspired Moore to use alternate realities too, but by the time Moore was writing the series, any such restrictions appear to have been long gone. The important point remains - 616 was always intended to be the main Marvel universe, not an alternate Marvel UK version.