Marvel characters that are better suited to specific time periods

This is a Marvel version of a [URL="https://community.cbr.com/showthread.php?142382-DC-characters-that-are-better-suited-to-specific-time-periods"]thread[/URL] that was started over in the DC Universe. I feel like Marvel as a whole is [B]even more[/B] affected by this by just how many characters have origins connected to major real-life events. It's pretty funny just how many characters from the Timely era have some form of immortality. It's as though we never left there.

At least Captain America has the "man out of time" character trait, so he can be placed anywhere. The problem comes from characters like Black Widow who are constantly portrayed as being in their mid-to-late thirties despite being part of organizations that went defunct before they even went through puberty.

The Fantastic Four got their hype from the space race. Ultimate FF modified it to extradimensional travel, but it doesn't have the same relevance that it had with the readers of the 1960's.

Many adaptations ignore Hawkeye and Nightcrawlers experiences with circus performers since circuses as a whole have lost a lot of their prestige.

Original Nick Fury

Yea it really bugs me when I read a Black Widow comic and she is so young and they talk about how she was part of the KBG and that. She is way too young.

[QUOTE=PCN24454;5156779]At least Captain America has the "man out of time" character trait, so he can be placed anywhere. The problem comes from characters like Black Widow who are constantly portrayed as being in their mid-to-late thirties despite being part of organizations that went defunct before they even went through puberty.
[/QUOTE]Widow is actually many decades old in the comics (unlike in the movies), and still started out as a Soviet (she first met Bucky when he was brainwashed by them). She has a Russian knock-off of the super soldier serum, which is part of the reason she's still young, and she can be resurrected by cloning whenever she dies, turns out Krakoa wasn't the first to do that, the Red Room were already doing it.

[QUOTE=Digifiend;5156858]Widow is actually many decades old in the comics (unlike in the movies), and still started out as a Soviet (she first met Bucky when he was brainwashed by them). She has a Russian knock-off of the super soldier serum, which is part of the reason she's still young, and she can be resurrected by cloning whenever she dies, turns out Krakoa wasn't the first to do that, the Red Room were already doing it.[/QUOTE]

I was more referring to how she was apparently a KGB agent in the MCU. The fact that she has longevity in the comics is a totally different issue.

Gambit and the 90's

jk

[QUOTE=Digifiend;5156858]Widow is actually many decades old in the comics (unlike in the movies), and still started out as a Soviet (she first met Bucky when he was brainwashed by them). She has a Russian knock-off of the super soldier serum, which is part of the reason she's still young, and she can be resurrected by cloning whenever she dies, turns out Krakoa wasn't the first to do that, the Red Room were already doing it.[/QUOTE]

That sounds terrible. How does cloning resurrect her?

I love Captain America but that man out if time bit was so over done. I havnt read any current issues from the last 6 or 7 years so I dont know how often it is used. But it got really played out.

How do they explain Magneto not being in his 90's being a holocausts survivor. Even though he was a kid at the time that still puts him in his 80's

[QUOTE=babyblob;5157037]I love Captain America but that man out if time bit was so over done. I havnt read any current issues from the last 6 or 7 years so I dont know how often it is used. But it got really played out.

How do they explain Magneto not being in his 90's being a holocausts survivor. Even though he was a kid at the time that still puts him in his 80's[/QUOTE]

Magneto and his (then) entire Brotherhood got de-aged to infants in a Defenders story that came along while the X-Men's title was on hiatus. Claremont had a Shiar agent re-age him to his physical prime early in his run. They can get away with Xavier being his contemporary because Xavier inhabits a cloned body after his original was consumed by The Brood.

Still, I see your point. What's more as WWII fades out of the lived experience and even 2nd-hand stories of the public, tying characters to it (other than Captain America and The Winter Soldier) grows problematic. I tend to agree with opinions I've heard that Magneto's heritage should be vague, so that he can reflect a wide array of persecuted peoples.

The X-Men AWKT (as we know them) are maybe better suited for the 1960's than they are for the 21st century. The problem with the X-Men as a metaphor for marginalized groups is that most minorities don't live in a mansion or have access to the amount of resources and safe space the X-Men have. The average person of a difference race, creed, or orientation from the "norm" has closer everyday experiences to characters like Miles Morales and Kamala Khan than they do to the X-Men. Marvel's failure to make this distinction furthermore makes the X-Men come off race-reductionist and promotes essentialist thinking.

[QUOTE=Kaitou D. Kid;5157091]The X-Men AWKT (as we know them) are maybe better suited for the 1960's than they are for the 21st century. The problem with the X-Men as a metaphor for marginalized groups is that most minorities don't live in a mansion or have access to the amount of resources and safe space the X-Men have. The average person of a difference race, creed, or orientation from the "norm" has closer everyday experiences to characters like Miles Morales and Kamala Khan than they do to the X-Men. Marvel's failure to make this distinction furthermore makes the X-Men come off race-reductionist and promotes essentialist thinking.[/QUOTE]

The X-Men were also created in a time where assimilation was a goal. Most marginalized groups now seem to push toward distinct identity-based communities with equal privilege.

[QUOTE=DrNewGod;5157241]The X-Men were also created in a time where assimilation was a goal. Most marginalized groups now seem to push toward distinct identity-based communities with equal privilege.[/QUOTE]

The X-Men arguably still push more for distinct identities, especially with the recent Krakoa events. Miles Morales and Kamala Khan are closer to what we would call 'melting pot' characters.

I don't know if 'assimilation' is a good way of describing the intent of any of these characters.

I wonder how everyone would feel if they updated some origins of heroes. Like Iron man. Rather then being inquired in Vietnam maybe he was inquired in the first gulf war or something. Cap you wouldnt have to change because you can drop him where ever.

What about the above mentioned Magneto? Or some of the cold war villains who would be old as dirt right now?

[QUOTE=DrNewGod;5157241]The X-Men were also created in a time where assimilation was a goal. Most marginalized groups now seem to push toward [B]distinct identity-based communities[/B] with equal privilege.[/QUOTE]

The bolded seems like an oversimplification and not completely accurate. That suggests that "separate, but equal" is the proper counterbalance to assimilation, and that's not the case. It also suggests that the majority or in-group has operated in a fashion that promoted acculturation -- both of itself and external ethnicities -- which we all know was rarely the case. Since the earliest colonies arrived on these shores, each ethnic group has always had its own community, although if we're being honest, that wasn't always by choice. Assimilation may not have been the goal, but some form of transactional unity, if not a completely shared community, with equality as the core foundation is.

[QUOTE=babyblob;5157411]I wonder how everyone would feel if they updated some origins of heroes. Like Iron man. Rather then being inquired in Vietnam maybe he was inquired in the first gulf war or something. Cap you wouldnt have to change because you can drop him where ever.

What about the above mentioned Magneto? Or some of the cold war villains who would be old as dirt right now?[/QUOTE]

I'm pretty sure that Iron Man origin was updated already.