A few years ago, I tried to apply the old 4:1 rule (4 years of Marvel time equating to one year of real time) to early issues of Marvel's "Transformers" run. For the first year or so, Marvel's "Transformers" comic was set in 616 (mainline) Marvel (or something close enough to it). Over time, Marvel editorial avoided crossing Marvel
characters over with licensed series such as "Transformers".

This post is a revision of a much older post that I made back then.

Considering that the original "Transformers" run was (mostly) set in real-time, I thought that it would be an interesting thought experiment to convert Marvel-time to real-time, using 1984 (the starting point for "Transformers") as the zero-point (where real time and Marvel time meet).

To keep this relatively simple, I am ignoring references to then-current events in Marvel comics. (For example, using this time-line, the Los Angeles riots of 1992, depicted in "Nomad", would have happened in the mid-1980s.) Similarly, I am going to ignore some of Marvel UK's "Transformers" content. While the UK series actively maintained ties to Marvel as a whole, some of the references (such as the continued existence of the Savage Land) actually contradict Marvel's then-current status quo.

Assuming the following time-line, "Transformers" as published by Marvel (US or UK) would have effectively been set in the future of then-current "616 Marvel" (or whatever we call the "similar to 616 Marvel aside from the TFs" world). The original series would have ended right around "Heroic Age".

Assuming that 1984 is the "zero point", (where real-time and Marvel's page time meet), Marvel's heroic timeline would have started in 1978 or 1979.

1979: Reed Richards et al make an ill-advised trip in to space. Peter Parker bitten by irradiated spider. Bruce Banner gets a gamma sunburn. Avengers form. X-Men form. Sentinels deployed over NYC.

1980: Galactus' first appearance on Earth.

1981: Gwen Stacey killed.

1982: Kree/Skrull War. All New X-Men team forms.

1983: Captain Mar-Vell dies. Secret Wars. Spider-Man acquires and disposes of alien
costume.

1984: Autobots and Decepticons awaken. Secret Wars II. Circuit Breaker begins quest for revenge against all robots. (Circuit Breaker's appearance in "Secret Wars II" obligates a degree of time-shifting.) Blackrock allies with Autobots. Savage Land destroyed. Tony Stark retakes Iron Man identity from Jim Rhodes, defeats
Obadiah "Iron Monger" Stane and starts the "Armor Wars". Vision marries Scarlett Witch, resulting in birth of twins through the force of Witch's delusions.

1985: Autobots/Decepticon war escalates. Year of the Scourge (arguably a "real time" year). John Walker become Captain America and later USAgent. Original X-Men form X-Factor. Fall of the Mutants. Inferno. Byrne's run on "West Coast Avengers". Vision destroyed. Scarlett Witch's children fade and Witch has psychotic breakdown in part due to Immortus' scheming.

1986: Optimus Prime destroyed. Megatron MIA. Grimlock and Ratbat take leadership roles. Revlon era Marvel: Executioner's Song, x-teams significantly re-organized. Latter end of Peter David's run on "Incredible Hulk". Spider-clone. Various "Crossing" storylines in "Avengers". Infinity Gauntlet, Infinity War and Infinity Crusade. Galactic Storm. "Sabertooth: Deathhunt" happens, and is even more awesome.... West Coast Avengers disband and re-unite as Force Works. Jim Rhodes becomes War Machine.

1987: Fortress Maximus's contingent arrives on Earth. Professor X has a mental breakdown, contributing to the manifestation of Onslaught. Heroes Reborn. Rise of Zemo's first team of Thunderbolts. Heroes Return. Busiek "Avengers" run.

1988: Optimus Prime returns as a Power Master. Starscream acquires the Underbase. Quesada era Marvel.
Morrison's "X-Men" run, Xorn et al. John's "Avengers" run. Norman Osborn's and Gwen Stacy's illicit children revealed. Spider-Man is revealed as a spider-avatar.......

1989: Furman's run on "Transformers" begins. Bendis "Avengers" run starts with "Disassembled". Tony Stark injected with "Extremis" tech. Sentry returns. Superhuman "Civil War". Steve Rogers seemingly killed.

1990: "Matrix Quest" begins as Unicron approaches Cybertron. "Civil War" ends. (Arguable, "Civil War" was published in real time, which is problematic on this listing.) Skrull "Secret Invasion" revealed. Steve Rogers returns. Normal Osborn's "Dark Reign" begins, leading to "the Siege" of Asgard. Death of the Sentry. (The Sentry's death could arguably be used to reconcile some of the problems inherent with setting Marvel to externally real time.) "Heroic Age" begins. Fear Itself.

1991: Transformers leave Earth to battle Unicron. Ark (re)crashes on Earth, Galvatron is defeated by Fortress Maximus. Avengers and X-Men battle over Phoenix Force (AvX). Kaine as Scarlet Spider.

1992: "Age of Ultron" breaks time. Marvel Now. Kieron Gillen "Iron Man" run. Superior Spider-Man, Spider-Verse. Original Sin. Axis. Incursions (or whatever still counts after "Secret Wars").

1993: "All New, All Different" Marvel. Secret Empire. Contest of Champions. Jane Foster Thor. Williams as Iron Heart.


Alternatively, there is a case of a year of (Marvel) page time equalling ~2.5 years of real time.
But, I am not doing that math.



Running with the idea of Marvel happening alongside the original "Transformers" series, IDW's "ReGeneration 1" (a continuation of the original Marvel run) assumed that Megatron launched a catastrophic attack on Earth in 1994. This has technically not happened in Marvel-time yet. ("ReGeneration 1" strongly implies that AIM played an unwitting role in this.)

In theory, Marvel's "GI Joe" series could also be incorporated in to this model. However,
using the longer-running Joe series would mean that Marvel time would not catch up until sometime
in 2020.

Marvel's "Transformers: Generation 2" series (published in 1993) would coincide more or less with current Marvel. The scale of the destruction shown in "Generation 2" was meant to be the sort of thing that there is no coming back from. (Cities were leveled, and it was implied that Earth was permanently damaged.) But, given what often happens in mainline Marvel, "Generation 2" could easily be incorporated as just another thing that happened between attacks by Thanos (or something).



In 2006, IDW and Marvel published an Avengers/Transformers cross-over. The 4:1 time rule could still work, if one assumed 1995 as a start date for Marvel, and 2006 as a zero-point. (Adjust the Marvel events listed above accordingly.)

2006: Decepticon "Infiltration" effort fosters discord in Eastern Europe. Avengers intervene. "Civil War" starts and ends. Skrull "Secret Invasion" revealed. Osborn's "Dark Reign" begins. Heroic Age. Fear Itself.

2007: Autobots and Decepticons continue to break from "Infiltration" protocols. Osborn's Dark Reign ends with the Siege of Asgard. Sentry dies. Heroic Age. Fear Itself. Avengers and X-Men clash.

2008: Decepticons make "big push", nearly defeating Autobots galaxy wide (All Hail Megatron). "Age of Ultron" breaks time. Marvel Now. Kieron Gillen "Iron Man" run. Superior Spider-Man, Spider-Verse. Original Sin.
Axis. Incursions (or whatever still counts after "Secret Wars").

2009: "All New, All Different" Marvel. Secret Empire. Contest of Champions. Jane Foster Thor. Williams as Iron Heart.

2011: Costa "Transformers" run.

2014: "Transformers" brand splits. (At this point, IDW started ignoring real time.)