How old are your superheroes?

[DrNewGod]

who's janet pym again

She was called that for while after she married Yellowjacket, but later reverted to her maiden name.

In this case, "a while" would be about 1/4 of her published history.

[Captain M]

In this case, "a while" would be about 1/4 of her published history.

more like 1/5, but still irrelevant.

It's Janet Van Dyne, Hope Van Dyne, Nadia Van Dyne. None of their last names are Pym. The most common mistake regarding marvel among the fans these past few months is calling any of them Pym.

[davetvs]

I put most of the core Avengers in their mid-late 30s -- Iron Man, Captain Marvel, Falcon, Wasp, Black Panther etc. all read as 32-35 to me with outliers like Hank Pym being closer to 40 and Thor obviously being thousands of years old. The Original 5 X-Men (+ Wanda, Pietro, and Emma Frost) are at or around 30, with Beast a bit older, probably 32 (with Storm + Nightcrawler; Banshee is 40, Wolverine is at least 150), and Iceman's 28 (along with Spider-Man and Johnny Storm.) Reed is in his early 40s and so is Thing (and Doom), but Sue is a bit younger at ~34. Kitty Pryde is 24 along with the rest of the OG New Mutants except Karma, who's 26, along with Rogue/Havok/Polaris. Jubilee is 21, the other members of Generation X are ~23. The Young Avengers should all be around 19 with Cassie being 16 or 17 (with Miles Morales + Kamala Khan), slightly younger than Ironheart at 18.

Daredevil, Iron Fist, Luke Cage all read early 30s, Jessica Jones is the same age as Peter Parker, so 28/29.

[Iron Maiden]

Carol was 29 way back in 1981. She got to be pushing 40 now...

Nope, not if you factor in the age of Franklin Richards. We'll have to see what happens when the FF relaunches but he's not even 10 yet in Marvel Years the last time he had an official birthday.

[Witchfan]

Nope, not if you factor in the age of Franklin Richards. We'll have to see what happens when the FF relaunches but he's not even 10 yet in Marvel Years the last time he had an official birthday.

Franklin uses his powers to retard his aging because he doesn’t want to grow up.

[DrNewGod]

Franklin uses his powers to retard his aging because he doesn’t want to grow up.

Huh. We can't even disagree because he might be rearranging reality to alter all the evidence.

ETA: Has anybody written an FF story suggesting that Franklin seems to constantly have different ages because that's what he subconsciously wants that day/week/month?

[strathcona]

So when you look at them, they are...?

Early 30s. Same with everyone else that was a teen back in the 60. The O5 X-Men, Johnny Storm, and yes, Spider-Man. They are all early to mid 30s, no matter what the official Marvel stance is.

[strathcona]

Bendis' retelling of her origin would suggest that most of it was a lie.

There are other characters that she and her parents interacted with during that time, Jack Russell's family, Puppet Master, High Evolutionary, Modred the Mystic. There is too much of her origin intertwined with others to change it the way he did (I assume, I never read the series). I just assume his series is non-canon.

[strathcona]

Huh. We can't even disagree because he might be rearranging reality to alter all the evidence.

ETA: Has anybody written an FF story suggesting that Franklin seems to constantly have different ages because that's what he subconsciously wants that day/week/month?

It's never been confirmed, but it's a long held fan theory. I think actually writing it into continuity would cause more problems than it would solve, and open the door to too many weak writers to use it as a crutch.

That said, IMO Franklin is 11, maybe 12 when the FF return. Val is 3 or 4, but super smart. The problem is that most artists show them as being too similar in size. Once again you could say that Franklin is artificially aging her so she'll be more of a peer.

[Michael Watkins]

Huh. We can't even disagree because he might be rearranging reality to alter all the evidence.

ETA: Has anybody written an FF story suggesting that Franklin seems to constantly have different ages because that's what he subconsciously wants that day/week/month?

well he did subconsciously impregnate his own mother. soooo....

[Michael Watkins]

Frank Castle's gotta be pushing 40 (atleast) at this point right? Because he wasn't exactly young when he started doing this and he's been doing it for a long while now.

is he still a Vietnam vet?

[davew128]

Wasn't she a full Colonel when she was first introduced in Marvel Super-Heroes? I'm leaning towards her being older (50 or so) but looking younger due to Kree powers stuff.

She was a major, and back around 1981-2 in UXM she mentioned having sometimes been given a temporary promotion to Colonel (probably Lt. Col) for additional clout on certain missions. Most majors I know in US armed forces are mid 30's.

[DrNewGod]

well he did subconsciously impregnate his own mother. soooo....

ummm... quite glad I missed that. ick.

is he still a Vietnam vet?

If Marvel answers, I'll bet not. Like Vietnam, The War On Terror has gone on long enough, and its origins seemed pure enough, to produce A Punisher.

[CaptCleghorn]

She was a major, and back around 1981-2 in UXM she mentioned having sometimes been given a temporary promotion to Colonel (probably Lt. Col) for additional clout on certain missions. Most majors I know in US armed forces are mid 30's.

Going by her role as head of security for a missile base in her first appearance, it's unlikely she would have been a young adult at that time. Having achieved a rank of at least major by that time, it's unlikely she would have been anything less than 35 as of Marvel Super-Heroes 13. Being 35 in a time of 12 cent books would put one into middle age as of present day, even with Marvel time.

[JudicatorPrime]

ummm... quite glad I missed that. ick.

If Marvel answers, I'll bet not. Like Vietnam, The War On Terror has gone on long enough, and its origins seemed pure enough, to produce A Punisher.

And yet, there was no war quite like Nam.

I agree that Marvel will de-emphasize Vietnam like it did the Korean War for Ben Grimm and Reed Richards. Oddly enough, they haven't yet changed the fact that the impetus for the FF was the space race of the 1960s era. Or have they?