Setting a fixed point in Marvel History

[Ogrebear]

I am writing my version of Marvel History for an MSH rpg campaign and I was wondering about where to start 'Marvel History' - as in the period where Superheroes exist. I didn't want to go back to the 60's or have a floating point like the the comics; I also wanted to 'leave room' in the universe for new heroes whilst keeping the old teams for crossovers, mentors etc.

Thus I picked mid 1980 for the FF's faithful flight. This gives the FF, Hulk, Spidey etc "Generation 1" if you will time to have grown up, had kids etc while not being totally bedridden by 2008. This neatly allowed me to use MC2 characters also- and have Luke Cage in his 'disco' outfit....heh.

By fixing the start point I can then date the various events of the MU such as Inferno, Mutant Massacre, Secret Empire, Civil War etc as well as room to insert some of my own events which will impact the characters lives.

Has anyone else used a 'fixed point' for their MU universe? What did you pick?

[Westgarth J]

The inhabitants of the Marvel Universe are fictional characters and thus don't age beyond storytelling necessity (sometimes even aging backwards) - how many of the (super)heroes who were at Ground Zero in Amazing Spider-Man have qualifiably aged 8 years in the comics since then? Some of them now have origins that don't even occur until after that in 'Marvel Time' (Darkhawk, New Warriors, Power Pack, and Fantastic Force among others).

Thus your most sensible approach is to reset the originating point for Marvel events each year as you go, but always work backwards from the present when building any timeline: X event happened Y amount of months/years ago, and so on.

[Expletive Deleted]

The inhabitants of the Marvel Universe are fictional characters and thus don't age beyond storytelling necessity.Yes, but we're talking about characters in Ogrebear's personal version of the setting.

[Butch Mapa]

If the FF took off in 1985, won't that make people really old?

Let's say Sue was 23 when they took off (I'm sure someone knows her right age), then she'd be something like 46 in 2008.

[Captain Commander]

Good luck. I'm writing up an amalgamated DC/Marvel setting for Mutants and Masterminds and I'm starting most heroes around 1990s (a few exceptions such as Cap and the JSA). Also shifting when certain characters started out in relation to each other such as Spiderman not being an early release so I can enjoy him as a young adult while having the FF as being older and more mature (imagine Johnny Storm being a mentor/friend to Spiderman as opposed to hothead friend).

[Ogrebear]

If the FF took off in 1985, won't that make people really old?

Let's say Sue was 23 when they took off (I'm sure someone knows her right age), then she'd be something like 46 in 2008.

I was working on the idea that the 'Classic Marvel' characters are slightly older and now act more like Mentors/Parents similar to the MC2/Spidergirl universe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MC2) or the Earth 1961 (http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/earth1961.htm) world. This allows for a new generation of Heroes to come forward similar to the GenNEXT (http://www.comicvine.com/genext/65-54861/) premise. This would obviously be the Player characters.

I am basing my character ages and time line off three major sources; one is the excellent Unofficial Chronology Of The Marvel Universe (http://www.geocities.com/ratmmjess/wicksint.html) which lists birth/origin dates in years before Pre-FF#1 which if I am fixing FF#1 as 1980 gives me the ages of most major characters.

The Wiki list of the Major events of the Marvel Universe i (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_events_of_the_Marvel_Universe)s also useful for pinning down the post FF#1 events.

Also there is an article by Sean Kleefeld (http://web.archive.org/web/19991007044037/www.sigma.net/4freedoms/FFAge.html) in which he works out the FF's relative ages to each other. Using his method Reed and Ben would have been 34, Sue 24 and Johnny 16 when the FF first flew.

So by 2008 Sue would only be 52 even without the time travel/anti-ageing etc- hardly over the hill if Aunt May is anything to go by!

[Ogrebear]

Good luck. I'm writing up an amalgamated DC/Marvel setting for Mutants and Masterminds and I'm starting most heroes around 1990s (a few exceptions such as Cap and the JSA). Also shifting when certain characters started out in relation to each other such as Spiderman not being an early release so I can enjoy him as a young adult while having the FF as being older and more mature (imagine Johnny Storm being a mentor/friend to Spiderman as opposed to hothead friend).

I would love to read your work once it's done please!

Originally I was going to combine the DC and Marvel, also chucking in my favourite independent characters such as Invincible, Spawn, Dynamo 5 etc. but it's been such a pain getting the Marvel data together I have skipped the option for now.

Hum.... though I could use the JLA/JSA for 30's/WWII/40's/50's ala the original publishing dates.... people could then wonder what happened to them and maybe set up a legacy thing for Batman....hum. Got any good DC History sources please Captain Commander?

[Madison Carter]

The inhabitants of the Marvel Universe are fictional characters and thus don't age beyond storytelling necessity (sometimes even aging backwards) - how many of the (super)heroes who were at Ground Zero in Amazing Spider-Man have qualifiably aged 8 years in the comics since then? Some of them now have origins that don't even occur until after that in 'Marvel Time' (Darkhawk, New Warriors, Power Pack, and Fantastic Force among others).

Thus your most sensible approach is to reset the originating point for Marvel events each year as you go, but always work backwards from the present when building any timeline: X event happened Y amount of months/years ago, and so on.

Right. As part of Marvel's sliding timescale and the way the MU works, the FF space flight always happened somewhere between 13 and 15 years ago. So right now, it happened somewhere around 1994 and '96. In 2011, it would have been between 1996.and 1998.

[vitruvian]

Right. As part of Marvel's sliding timescale and the way the MU works, the FF space flight always happened somewhere between 13 and 15 years ago. So right now, it happened somewhere around 1994 and '96. In 2011, it would have been between 1996.and 1998.

Right. The only fixed point is that the Golden Age Timely characters actually appeared right before and during WWII, and if they appear now it's because of unnatural longevity, suspended animation, or time travel. All the Silver Age characters starting with the FF start on a sliding time scale, which may be as long as the 15 years quoted above, or as short as 9-10 years, despite the absolutely ridiculous number of events that need to fit inside that time frame. Give it a few years, and Peter Parker won't have even been bit by the radioactive spider till well after the WTC came down, so that issue of Amazing Spider-Man will make no sense whatsoever.

Makes me wonder, have they retconned Frank Castle's military experience to be from the first Gulf War or some Central American conflict or even the current GWOT rather than Vietnam yet?