When are Marvel comics set?

[ComicsNewbie]

I'd like to know how I'm able to tell when specific Marvel comics are set in general. Are they more or less set in current time (year of release etc.)? If I'm interested in one character and try to pick up older stories about him/her are they set prior to the events and if I pick up more recent stories are they set afterwards? Are there some kind of books about in universe chronology outlining everything important to know to work your way around?

[leokearon]

I'd like to know how I'm able to tell when specific Marvel comics are set in general. Are they more or less set in current time (year of release etc.)? If I'm interested in one character and try to pick up older stories about him/her are they set prior to the events and if I pick up more recent stories are they set afterwards? Are there some kind of books about in universe chronology outlining everything important to know to work your way around?

Marvel comics are set in the present day but use a sliding timescale. So they reference events and the like when they were first printed but in their continuity the same number of years haven't past. For example Spider-man debuted back in the 60's but in Marvel Time only 13 years have based. So a story printed in the 70's will mention stuff from the 70's but it isn't counted as being in the 70's in Marvel continuity

[ComicsNewbie]

Marvel comics are set in the present day but use a sliding timescale. So they reference events and the like when they were first printed but in their continuity the same number of years haven't past. For example Spider-man debuted back in the 60's but in Marvel Time only 13 years have based. So a story printed in the 70's will mention stuff from the 70's but it isn't counted as being in the 70's in Marvel continuity

So comics from 2016 would all take place after comics from 2015 but neither of them would specifically take place in 2015 nor 2016?

[Wiccan]

So comics from 2016 would all take place after comics from 2015 but neither of them would specifically take place in 2015 nor 2016?

Mostly. I think they do mention sometimes, but even like that, 10 years from now the books are gonna be set in 2026 and they will act like that thing from 2016 was only like 2 years ago.

[ComicsNewbie]

Mostly. I think they do mention sometimes, but even like that, 10 years from now the books are gonna be set in 2026 and they will act like that thing from 2016 was only like 2 years ago.

Are there exceptions? Comics taking place either in the future or the past? And are there some kind of supplements summarizing in-universe history?

[ian0delond]

Stories happening in the WW2 tend to stay in the WW2.
So far Marvel 2099 is still set in 2099 (but if Marvel reach the year 2099 it will just became an alternate reality because it is just so wacky).

There is also the case of Arno Stark, the Iron-Man of 2020 who might end being Iron-Man once we reach this date.


If you want the history of a character check websites like Comicvine.

[MarioHerald]

I kind of remember reading that the "2099" future of Spider-man 2099 was not actually or precisely set on the year 2099: that a great catastrophe have occurred and no one really knew the exact year they were on so they went with... 2099.

I don't know if I'm correct, though.

In reference to what ian0delond explained: although Marvel uses a sliding timescale for most of its characters, there are certain exceptions, the most egregious being the ones that have their origin in WW2 like Captain America (WW2 supersoldier), Red Skull (Nazi criminal), Magneto (he was a Jewish prisoner in the extermination camps), etc.

When the "frozen in ice and rediscovered" story of Captain America occurred, it was said on page that he had only been out for 15-20 years (I don't remember the exact years).

But as time went on, they have stretched the time he spent frozen to 30, 35, 40, 45 years and so on.

[Immortal Weapon]

Are there exceptions? Comics taking place either in the future or the past? And are there some kind of supplements summarizing in-universe history?

Punisher is still a Vietnam veteran IIRC. Magneto history as a holocaust survivor is still intact.

[Dr Quinch]

Punisher is still a Vietnam veteran IIRC.

No longer, it would seem:

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2016/12/...oured-vietnam/

[Montressor]

Stories happening in the WW2 tend to stay in the WW2.
So far Marvel 2099 is still set in 2099 (but if Marvel reach the year 2099 it will just became an alternate reality because it is just so wacky).

There is also the case of Arno Stark, the Iron-Man of 2020 who might end being Iron-Man once we reach this date.


If you want the history of a character check websites like Comicvine.

Waiting on this to happen, I expect at least a storyarc out of it when we reach that time, including Sunset Bain, Machine Man, and Jocasta.

[JKtheMac]

There are less rules than many comic fans like to claim. Marvel editorial tend only to refer to the sliding timeline when it is convenient (it's just an analogy, not a rule) and sometimes writers are allowed to consider past events to have been longer ago than the slide suggests. There have been many instances when current years have been referenced in comics right up to the present, so on one level there is no sliding timeline, but everyone knows it isn't real time, even though every comic is in a virtual now. The sliding timeline is already stretched to breaking point anyway, most people don't care. Why should we, this is comics not reality.

Brevoort recently used a totally different analogy. He suggested he thinks of it like an expanding timeline. If you imagine the life of Spider-Man, the average reader will know the broad brushstrokes, with the significant landmark events. We don't see him swing down a street and simultaneously visualise every moment of his life. But when elements of cannon are referenced it's as if we zoom into that period of his life, and that past story expands. The analogy neatly mirrors the experience of reading the old comic for the backstory. Only the bits we care about have the granular extended flow, the rest is compressed.

In the end no analogy really works. They don't change the wars people fought in or the political backdrop of past events to fix the sliding timeline, they do that so the story is more relevant to modern readers. They keep the really key ones because they have a strong cultural significance. There may come a time when the US is less obsessed with WWII or the Cold War, and at that point Captain America could very well be decoupled from his iconic back story.

[T'Challa Bruce Von Doom]

They can't pin it down to a specific point in time so they can continue to feature these characters 50 years from now. Otherwise, most of these characters should be long retired and there should be a bunch of new characters who picked up the torch and filled the void.

[jackolover]

I know in the Atlas Monster Age stories written 30, 40 years earlier, that were set in 1984, or 1999, time machines were in general usage, and people were flying in space ships commonly. But now that we have reached those dates, none of that technology has actually happened yet. So I don't think Marvel really take notice what happens in 2020, or 2099 when time gets to those dates, but just ignore it.