Linking a character to heavily to a certain time period is bad for the character

[mathew101281]

You either horribly date the character if you do, or you’re forced to use cheap and increasingly silly means to keep them relevant or in some cases still alive in the modern day. Captain America is one of the few characters that have managed to pull this off in an interesting way. With others it becomes increasingly silly overtime(Disco Dazzler) or increasingly convoluted overtime (when they use clones or time travel for example). The best characters are the ones whose origins are times less, and can be moved from one decade to another with only superficial changes.

[charliehustle415]

You either horribly date the character if you do, or you’re forced to use cheap and increasingly silly means to keep them relevant or in some cases still alive in the modern day. Captain America is one of the few characters that have managed to pull this off in an interesting way. With others it becomes increasingly silly overtime(Disco Dazzler) or increasingly convoluted overtime (when they use clones or time travel for example). The best characters are the ones whose origins are times less, and can be moved from one decade to another with only superficial changes.

I wonder if in 40 years will they change Cap from WWII to Vietnam or the Gulf War, if not then he would have to be in ice for longer and longer

[Lee Stone]

Disco Dazzler would probably be in style right now.

[Jabare]

I wonder if in 40 years will they change Cap from WWII to Vietnam or the Gulf War, if not then he would have to be in ice for longer and longer

no if you pick a war you pick World War II. Vietnam and the Gulf War are not remembered in the same way. If Captain America was a Vietnam veteran he would not be thought of as fondly.

Just have him frozen for longer. Other characters like Magneto will have a tougher time. Unless Marvel is just okay with Magneto being a 100+ years old

[Tendrin]

no if you pick a war you pick World War II. Vietnam and the Gulf War are not remembered in the same way. If Captain America was a Vietnam veteran he would not be thought of as fondly.

Just have him frozen for longer. Other characters like Magneto will have a tougher time. Unless Marvel is just okay with Magneto being a 100+ years old

Cap's background will just involve him being frozen in ice longer and longer. Eventually, he'll be emerging into a world where there were *no* veterans left alive when he emerged, though the sliding scale means that won't be happening for some years yet.

[charliehustle415]

no if you pick a war you pick World War II. Vietnam and the Gulf War are not remembered in the same way. If Captain America was a Vietnam veteran he would not be thought of as fondly.

Just have him frozen for longer. Other characters like Magneto will have a tougher time. Unless Marvel is just okay with Magneto being a 100+ years old

I didn't even think about Magneto, the Holocaust is so intrinsic to his character I don't know how Marvel will write themselves out of that corner.


Maybe they'll give him a new power set where the magnetic field keeps him younger

[mugiwara]

I didn't even think about Magneto, the Holocaust is so intrinsic to his character I don't know how Marvel will write themselves out of that corner.


Maybe they'll give him a new power set where the magnetic field keeps him younger

Since Marvel keeps adding new stories about the past of older characters like Logan, Mystique, Xavier or Magneto, they just have to write one where Erik is abducted by some mad scientist and put into stasis for years.

[CaptCleghorn]

I still think making Nick Fury one of the higher-ups in S.H.I.E.L.D. as seen in Hickman's minis would solve his aging problem and still keep him able to be active in WWII. The commandos, however, have a problem where the Infinity Formula may not be able to explain everything.

[charliehustle415]

Since Marvel keeps adding new stories about the past of older characters like Logan, Mystique, Xavier or Magneto, they just have to write one where Erik is abducted by some mad scientist and put into stasis for years.

This is a good idea, it's an interesting thought experiment.

I wonder if the editors are thinking about this and what are some of their solutions

[Shadowcat]

Since Marvel keeps adding new stories about the past of older characters like Logan, Mystique, Xavier or Magneto, they just have to write one where Erik is abducted by some mad scientist and put into stasis for years.

He was. The Stranger captured Mags & Toad back in the 60’s.

[shooshoomanjoe]

I didn't even think about Magneto, the Holocaust is so intrinsic to his character I don't know how Marvel will write themselves out of that corner.


Maybe they'll give him a new power set where the magnetic field keeps him younger

They could just make him into an external.

[Iron Maiden]

no if you pick a war you pick World War II. Vietnam and the Gulf War are not remembered in the same way. If Captain America was a Vietnam veteran he would not be thought of as fondly.

Just have him frozen for longer. Other characters like Magneto will have a tougher time. Unless Marvel is just okay with Magneto being a 100+ years old

Why not? It's already been accepted that he was an adult or prehaps late teens when he was in Auschwitz. He was de-aged into a baby once so maybe that shaved off a few years. But his real age is probably at least 100 by now. The Fantastic Four have the same problem because originally Ben was a WWII veteran (pilot) and Reed worked in the O.S.S. But you won't see any mention of this in the comics. In Heroes Reborn Fantastic Four I think Ben was a Gulf War veteran. There were a couple of stories that offered some explanation on their ages and I think they tied it to the cosmic rays.

[Digifiend]

Why not? It's already been accepted that he was an adult or prehaps late teens when he was in Auschwitz. He was de-aged into a baby once so maybe that shaved off a few years. But his real age is probably at least 100 by now. The Fantastic Four have the same problem because originally Ben was a WWII veteran (pilot) and Reed worked in the O.S.S. But you won't see any mention of this in the comics.

Problem solved. Read issue 3 of Kurt Busiek's The Marvels. They retconned them to being in Sian-Cong, with Reed still part of an OSS analogue.
https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Marvels_Vol_2_3

[shooshoomanjoe]

Problem solved. Read issue 3 of Kurt Busiek's The Marvels. They retconned them to being in Sian-Cong, with Reed still part of an OSS analogue.
https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Marvels_Vol_2_3

I thought Marvels want in continuity.

[gurkle]

For me the logical solution would be to just say that time doesn't pass in comics the way it does in real life. Why is a character still 30 years old if they fought in World War II? Why are the Fantastic Four the same age as when they tried to beat the Soviets into space? I don't think it needs explaining. In comics, characters stay the same age and the same distance in time from important events, no matter how many years ago it happened in real life.

To me this would be a lot less jarring than the way they keep rewriting characters' pasts to bring them up to date, so characters who once fought in Korea fought in some other war, or the FF suddenly had a different purpose behind the mission that transformed them. Either way it doesn't (can't) make sense, they might as well do it in a way that preserves the important events in charaters' lives in more or less the same way they originally appeared.