Will The World War Two Marvel Universe Still Count?

[Stingo]

Hi everyone,

With the recent announcement of the Marvel Reboot (or whatever the term is they are pinning on it at the moment), my mind instantly clammed up with fear as to what might happen to my beloved Marvel/Timely World War Two era continuity. Knowing that there seems to be an ever growing tide of ageism when it comes to any mystery men who operated during those dark days, I have to wonder if Marvel might just throw out all of those great old stories in favor of shifting the timeline to something more recent such as the war in Afghanistan or Iraq...What are your takes on doing away with the Marvel Golden Age?

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

I'll mis it but I understand it.
So long Namor McKenzie, Jim Hammond, Steve Rogers, James Buchanan Barnes, Thomas Raymond, Spitfire, Union Jack, Whizzer, Ms. America and Nicholas Joseph Fury

I can see the potential that the marvel character Carol Danvers is sure to be the ALL-NEW 'Ms. America' of whatever Earth will be formed as a result of Secret Wars KSD and the Carol Corpse will be euphoric
Kamala Khan will be the ALL-NEW 'American Dream' who worships the ALL-NEW 'Ms. America' G. Willow Wilson and the Kamala Korpse will be elated

[vitruvian]

Hi everyone,

With the recent announcement of the Marvel Reboot (or whatever the term is they are pinning on it at the moment), my mind instantly clammed up with fear as to what might happen to my beloved Marvel/Timely World War Two era continuity. Knowing that there seems to be an ever growing tide of ageism when it comes to any mystery men who operated during those dark days, I have to wonder if Marvel might just throw out all of those great old stories in favor of shifting the timeline to something more recent such as the war in Afghanistan or Iraq...What are your takes on doing away with the Marvel Golden Age?

There aren't that many currently active characters who were also active in WWII, and they've all got good excuses for still being around, so I don't see why they would need to do anything of the sort. Steve Rogers was on ice, Namor doesn't age like regular folks, the original Human Torch is an android, and so on. They'll probably keep the original Nick Fury out of sight and not mention he was in WWII much. Who does that leave, really? Maybe they'll detach Magneto from the Holocaust, but that's probably about it.

They're certainly not going to take away Cap's WWII origins, especially with them being maintained in the MCU (and not doing anything bad to the character's popularity in that medium), following up with the Agent Carter mini-series, and so on. Nor is there any reason to take away the conceit that Wolverine (when he inevitably returns) is old as dirt.

In fact, where does this assumption that audiences don't like past eras or characters from them, come from anyway? It doesn't seem to actually be true for any example anybody can cite. Ratings for Downton Abbey and Mad Men certainly seem to tell a different tale.

[vitruvian]

I'll mis it but I understand it.
So long Namor McKenzie, Jim Hammond, Steve Rogers, James Buchanan Barnes, Thomas Raymond, Spitfire, Union Jack, Whizzer, Ms. America and Nicholas Joseph Fury

I can see the potential that the marvel character Carol Danvers is sure to be the ALL-NEW 'Ms. America' of whatever Earth will be formed as a result of Secret Wars KSD and the Carol Corpse will be euphoric
Kamala Khan will be the ALL-NEW 'American Dream' who worships the ALL-NEW 'Ms. America' G. Willow Wilson and the Kamala Korpse will be elated

Anybody who thinks they're going to have Steve Rogers not have his origins in WWII is quite mistaken.

[Stingo]

There aren't that many currently active characters who were also active in WWII, and they've all got good excuses for still being around, so I don't see why they would need to do anything of the sort. Steve Rogers was on ice, Namor doesn't age like regular folks, the original Human Torch is an android, and so on. They'll probably keep the original Nick Fury out of sight and not mention he was in WWII much. Who does that leave, really? Maybe they'll detach Magneto from the Holocaust, but that's probably about it.

They're certainly not going to take away Cap's WWII origins, especially with them being maintained in the MCU (and not doing anything bad to the character's popularity in that medium), following up with the Agent Carter mini-series, and so on. Nor is there any reason to take away the conceit that Wolverine (when he inevitably returns) is old as dirt.

In fact, where does this assumption that audiences don't like past eras or characters from them, come from anyway? It doesn't seem to actually be true for any example anybody can cite. Ratings for Downton Abbey and Mad Men certainly seem to tell a different tale.

I'm a huge proponent of the Golden Age material...I think my fears stem from the woeful way in which DC tossed all of their Golden Age mystery men in the trash in favor of newer and "kewler" models for the New 52. I'm really hoping that won't be a mistake followed by Marvel.

[Gordonstar]

Timely comics are different from the ww2 past in 616. Kazar is different from the marvel one. And there's other sorts of stuff that cannot fit with the marvel universe, various retcons and stuff with aliens that don't match up.

I count it as marvels first Official universe before the other one started in 1961.

[MajorHoy]

Hi everyone,

With the recent announcement of the Marvel Reboot (or whatever the term is they are pinning on it at the moment), my mind instantly clammed up with fear as to what might happen to my beloved Marvel/Timely World War Two era continuity. Knowing that there seems to be an ever growing tide of ageism when it comes to any mystery men who operated during those dark days, I have to wonder if Marvel might just throw out all of those great old stories in favor of shifting the timeline to something more recent such as the war in Afghanistan or Iraq...What are your takes on doing away with the Marvel Golden Age?

It would be a MAJOR mistake. They seem to have come up with logical reasons (well, using "comic book logic") for certain heroes to still be active 70+ years later. Why do away with that? If there are some non-headline characters from back then Marvel isn't thrilled with still being alive, just don't let anybody use them. But keep the history in place.

[vitruvian]

I'm a huge proponent of the Golden Age material...I think my fears stem from the woeful way in which DC tossed all of their Golden Age mystery men in the trash in favor of newer and "kewler" models for the New 52. I'm really hoping that won't be a mistake followed by Marvel.

Well, while I'm not a big believer in the idea that Marvel is trying to make the comics just like the MCU... neither do I believe that they're going to make a move with Captain America's origins that makes him less like the movie version, either.

The worst that will happen will be that they'll go beyond Brubaker to retcon Bucky's relationship to Steve as being just like the movie, as opposed to being an underage trained commando, and possibly have Cap be the main or only superhuman presence in that era. But I really doubt they'll go even that far, at least the main Invaders will probably have still been around.

[Holt]

I can see the potential that the marvel character Carol Danvers is sure to be the ALL-NEW 'Ms. America' of whatever Earth will be formed as a result of Secret Wars KSD and the Carol Corpse will be euphoric
Kamala Khan will be the ALL-NEW 'American Dream' who worships the ALL-NEW 'Ms. America' G. Willow Wilson and the Kamala Korpse will be elated

I'm not even sure what you're talking about, but that isn't even remotely possible. Marvel is not going to make Carol Danvers into Ms. America (which is an identity she's never held) when they have a Captain Marvel movie in the works.

I'm not even sure what this train of thought is.

[Holt]

Anybody who thinks they're going to have Steve Rogers not have his origins in WWII is quite mistaken.

Also, this. Captain America is closely associated with World War 2 even in all the more popular, mainstream material like the movies and cartoons. Hell there's a show right now spun-off from the movies about one of his supporting characters in a postwar setting.

There's also the fact that more recent wars don't generally have the same public support or good publicity that WW2 has.

[Expletive Deleted]

Well, while I'm not a big believer in the idea that Marvel is trying to make the comics just like the MCU... neither do I believe that they're going to make a move with Captain America's origins that makes him less like the movie version, either.

Pretty much, yeah.

Honestly, I don't think the changes are going to be as fundamental as everyone seems to be projecting, but, either way, Cap still being tied to WWII seems like a safe bet.

[ImprobableQuestion]

I'll mis it but I understand it.
So long Namor McKenzie, Jim Hammond, Steve Rogers, James Buchanan Barnes, Thomas Raymond, Spitfire, Union Jack, Whizzer, Ms. America and Nicholas Joseph Fury

I can see the potential that the marvel character Carol Danvers is sure to be the ALL-NEW 'Ms. America' of whatever Earth will be formed as a result of Secret Wars KSD and the Carol Corpse will be euphoric
Kamala Khan will be the ALL-NEW 'American Dream' who worships the ALL-NEW 'Ms. America' G. Willow Wilson and the Kamala Korpse will be elated

Is a "korpse" what Subzero leaves when he rips out someone's spine?

[dzub]

Hi everyone,

With the recent announcement of the Marvel Reboot (or whatever the term is they are pinning on it at the moment), my mind instantly clammed up with fear as to what might happen to my beloved Marvel/Timely World War Two era continuity. Knowing that there seems to be an ever growing tide of ageism when it comes to any mystery men who operated during those dark days, I have to wonder if Marvel might just throw out all of those great old stories in favor of shifting the timeline to something more recent such as the war in Afghanistan or Iraq...What are your takes on doing away with the Marvel Golden Age?

i do share this fear the invaders will be obsolete..
and i don't like it at all

[Dale Sams]

Why are people thinking this is a 'simplify things/start over for new readers' reboot? If anything, Battleworld with all its zones requires a vast knowledge to fully understand it. Some of the zones seem to be tied to 90's garbage, so those will be beyond my purview.

Also...like COIE...the most likely outcome will be to confuse readers even more. What stories are left in continuity? and remember the Superboy/Legion debacle?

Question: I haven't looked closely at the map. Is there a spot for the Squadron Supreme?

[vitruvian]

Why are people thinking this is a 'simplify things/start over for new readers' reboot? If anything, Battleworld with all its zones requires a vast knowledge to fully understand it. Some of the zones seem to be tied to 90's garbage, so those will be beyond my purview.

Also...like COIE...the most likely outcome will be to confuse readers even more. What stories are left in continuity? and remember the Superboy/Legion debacle?

Question: I haven't looked closely at the map. Is there a spot for the Squadron Supreme?

Honestly, by comparison the New Earth after Crisis was far, far simpler. They immediately released that 2-part History of the DC Universe mini right afterwords, and most things made sense together. If they'd only thought a little more in advance about how they were going to handle Donna Troy in light of Perez's Wonder Woman relaunch, or remembered to specify that Hawkworld was set in the past, maybe come up with a better solution for the Legion (honestly, Clark being neuralyzed every time he went back until he was ready to become Superman in the present would have worked fine), a few other things, it would have been fairly cohesive. Many of the changes were introduced, not by Crisis itself, but rather by creative relaunches after the fact where they didn't care about such things. And it still had an Earthly geography apart from some spare cities like Gotham, Metropolis, etc.

Battleworld bids fair to be far more confusing than the aftermath of Crisis to anybody trying to get into Marvel comics during this period, or from here on out if they're serious about keeping that the only Marvel Universe setting.