The
Marvel Universe is the shared
fictional universe where most comic book
titles published by
Marvel Comics take
place, including those featuring Marvel's most familiar characters,
such as
Spider-Man, the
Hulk, the
X-Men, and
Captain America.
The Marvel Universe is further depicted as existing within a
"
multiverse" consisting
of thousands of separate universes, all of which are the creations
of Marvel Comics and all of which are, in a sense, "Marvel
universes". In this context, "Marvel Universe" is taken to refer to
the mainstream Marvel
continuity, which is known as
Earth-616.
History
Origins
Though the concept of a
shared
universe was not new or unique to
comics in 1961, writer/editor
Stan Lee , together with several artists including
Jack Kirby and
Steve Ditko, created a series of titles where
events in one book would have repercussions in another title and
serialized stories would show characters' growth and change.
Headline characters in one title would make cameo or guest
appearances in other books. Eventually many of the leading heroes
assembled into a team known as the
Avengers. This was not the first time that
Marvel's characters had interacted with one another—
Namor the Sub-Mariner and the
Original Human Torch had been
rivals in Marvel's "
Golden
Age"—but it was the first time that the comic book publisher's
characters seemed to share a world.
The Marvel Universe was also notable for
setting its central titles in New York City
(by contrast DC heroes each live in a different
fictional city). Care was taken to portray the city and the
world as realistically as possible with the presence of superhumans
affecting the common citizens in various ways.
Over time, a few Marvel Comics writers lobbied Marvel editors to
incorporate the idea of a
Multiverse; this plot device
allows one to create several fictional universes which normally do
not overlap (see below or
Multiverse for more information).
What happens on Earth in the main Marvel Universe would normally
have no effect on what happens on a parallel Earth in another
Marvel-created universe. However, storywriters would have the
creative ability to write stories in which people from one such
universe would visit this alternate universe.
In 1982, Marvel published the mini-series
Contest of Champions, in which all
of the major heroes in existence at the time were gathered together
to deal with one threat. This was Marvel's first miniseries. Each
issue contained biographical information on many major costumed
characters; these biographies were a precursor to Marvel's series
of reference material,
The Official
Handbook of the Marvel Universe, which followed shortly on
the heels of
Contest of Champions.
New Universe
In 1986, in honor of Marvel Comics' 25th anniversary, then
editor-in-chief
Jim Shooter launched the
New Universe line of comics. The New
Universe was intended to be a more realistic Marvel universe than
others, with less reliance on standard comic book clichés, but due
to a combination of a lack of editorial support and fewer sales
than the mainstream titles the line was eventually canceled.
Heroes Reborn and Ultimate Marvel
Over the years, as the number of titles published increased and the
volume of past stories accumulated, it became increasingly
difficult to maintain internal consistency and
continuity. But, unlike its main rival
DC Comics, Marvel has never engaged in a
drastic
reboot of their
continuity. Minor attempts have been made in recent years to
produce stories more accessible for neophyte readers such as the
Heroes Reborn titles, which
occurred in a pocket universe where many of the major Marvel heroes
were exiled for a year. The most successful attempt to date has
been the
Ultimate titles, a
series of titles in a universe separate from the main Marvel
continuity and essentially starting the entire Marvel Universe over
from scratch. Ongoing "Ultimate" comics now exist for the
X-Men, the Avengers (in the form of the
Ultimates),
Spider-Man, and the
Fantastic Four, as well as
miniseries featuring other characters such as
Daredevil and
Elektra. Sales of these titles are strong,
and indications are that Marvel will continue to expand the line,
effectively creating two Marvel Universes existing
concurrently.
In fact The Ultimate titles have done so well they have been the
basis for several video games (
Ultimate Spider-Man and
Ultimate X-Men), and two animated movies:
Ultimate Avengers and
Ultimate Avengers 2.
The Marvel Universe as a social network
In 2002, a study was done of the interactions among characters in
the Marvel Universe which revealed that the Marvel Universe shares
some non-random features with the
social
networks of
collaborating
scientists or
co-starring
movie actors.
Concepts
The Marvel Universe is strongly based on the real world. Earth in
the Marvel Universe has all the features of the real one: same
countries, same personalities (politicians, movie stars, etc.),
same historical events (such as the
9/11 incident), and so on.
However, it also contains many other fictional elements: countries
such as
Wakanda, and
Latveria (very small nations), and organizations
like the espionage agency
S.H.I.E.L.D.
and its enemy,
HYDRA. Marvel has recently
begun to officially describe its world's geography in a two-part
miniseries, the
Marvel Atlas.
Most importantly, the Marvel Universe also incorporates examples of
almost all major
science fiction and
fantasy concepts, with writers adding more
continuously. Aliens, gods, magic, cosmic powers and extremely
advanced human-developed technology all exist prominently in the
Marvel Universe. (A universe incorporating
all these types
of fantastic elements is fairly rare; another example is the
DC Universe.) Thanks to these extra
elements, Earth in the Marvel Universe is home to a large number of
superheroes and
supervillains, who have gained their powers by
any of these means.
Comparatively little time passes in the Marvel Universe compared to
the real world, owing to the serial nature of storytelling, with
the stories of certain issues picking up mere seconds after the
conclusion of the previous one, while a whole month has passed by
in "real time". Marvel's major heroes were created in the 1960s,
but the amount of time that has passed between then and now within
the universe itself has (after a prolonged period of being
identified as about ten years in the mid-to-late 1990s) most
recently been identified as thirteen years. Consequently, the
settings of some events which were contemporary when written have
to be updated every few years in order to "make sense" in this
floating timeline. Thus, the
events of previous stories are considered to have happened within a
certain number of years prior to the publishing date of the current
issue. For example,
Spider-Man's high
school graduation was published in
Amazing Spider-Man #28
(September 1965), his college graduation in
Amazing Spider-Man
#185 (October 1978), and his high school reunion in
Marvel
Knights: Spider-Man #7 (December 2004). Despite the sliding
timescale policy, where stories reference real-life historic
events, these references are later ignored or rewritten to suit
current sensibilities. For instance, the origin of
Iron Man was recently changed to refer to armed
conflict in Afghanistan, whereas the original Iron Man stories had
referred to the
Vietnam War.
Interestingly, the
Marvel Comics
company itself exists within the Marvel Universe, and versions of
people such as
Stan Lee and
Jack Kirby have appeared in some of the stories.
The Marvel of this reality publishes comics that adapt the actual
adventures of the superheroes (except for details not known to the
public, like their secret identities); many of these are licensed
with the permission of the heroes themselves, who customarily
donate their share of profits to charity.
Pop Culture characters such as Dracula and Frankenstein actually
exist in the Marvel Universe. This is usually justified as a second
hand account of events as told to credited authors
Bram Stoker and
Mary
Shelly although the general public continues to believe them as
fictional.
Robert E. Howard's
Conan the Barbarian,
Red Sonja,
Kull the
Conqueror, and
Solomon Kane also
have real life existences in the Marvel Universe. The
Hyborian Era of Conan and Kull is considered
part of Earth 616 pre-recorded history. However, they rarely
encounter modern Marvel superhero characters. This is most likely
possible due to the uncertain legal status of Howard's works prior
to 2006 when they became public domain. Other licensed works that
have been incorporated into the Marvel Universe include
Godzilla,
2001: A
Space Odyssey,
ROM:
Spaceknight, The
Micronauts, and the
Shogun Warriors. In most cases, such
material is either restricted from use after the license expires or
the characters redesigned or renamed to avoid infringement.
Costumed superheroes and supervillains
Within the fictional history of the Marvel Universe, the tradition
of using costumed secret identities to fight or commit evil had
long existed, but it came into prominence during the days of the
American "
Wild West" with heroes such as
the
Phantom Rider. During the 20th
century the tradition was reinvigorated by
Captain America in the 1940s.
Marvel's major heroes are those created between 1961 and 1963,
during Marvel's "
Silver
Age":
Spider-Man,
Iron Man,
Doctor
Strange,
Daredevil,
Thor, the
Hulk,
Ant-Man and the
Wasp, the
X-Men,
the
Fantastic Four, and
S.H.I.E.L.D.’s director,
Nick Fury. Unlike
the DC Universe, few of Marvel's 1940s characters have become major
characters in modern publications;
Captain America is one exception, and to a
lesser extent his contemporary, the
Sub-Mariner, is as well, primarily because both
of these characters were reintroduced to readers and to the Marvel
Universe during the 1960s.
Prominent groups of superheroes include the
Avengers, the
X-Men,
the
Fantastic Four, and the
Defenders. All these groups have varying
lineups; the Avengers in particular have included most of Marvel's
major heroes as members at one time or another. The X-Men are a
team of mutants formed by
Professor X
and include some of Marvel's most popular characters, such as
Wolverine. The Defenders are an
ad-hoc team usually brought together by Dr. Strange, which has
included the Hulk, the Sub-Mariner and the
Silver Surfer.
During the last five years, many previously-costumed supervillains
have been portrayed in street clothes. Recently published comics
show that this trend may have been temporary.
Origin of superhuman powers
Most of the superhumans in Marvel's Earth owe their powers to the
Celestials, cosmic entities who visited
Earth millions of years ago and experimented on our
prehistoric ancestors (a process they also
carried out on several other planets). This resulted in the
creation of two
hidden
races, the godlike
Eternals
and the genetically unstable
Deviants, in addition to giving some humans
an "x-factor" in their genes, which sometimes activates naturally,
resulting in sometimes superpowered, sometimes disfigured
individuals called
mutant.
Others require other factors (such as
radiation) for their powers to come
forth. Depending on the genetic profile, individuals who are
exposed to different chemicals or radiation will often suffer death
or injury, while in others it will cause superhuman abilities to
manifest. With the exception of
psionic
abilities, these powers are usually random; rarely do two people
have the exact same set of powers. It is not clear why the
Celestials did this, although it is known that they continue to
observe humanity's evolution. A Marvel series titled
Earth X explored one possible reason for this:
that superhumans are meant to protect a Celestial embryo that grows
inside the Earth and has for eons, against any planetary threats.
An X-Men villain known as
Vargas
claims to be a new direction in human evolution, as he is born with
superpowers even though his genetic profile said he was an ordinary
human being. The majority of the public is unaware of what may
cause superhuman powers.
Other possible origins for superhuman powers include
magic,
genetic manipulation and/or
bionic implants. Some heroes and villains have no
powers at all but depend instead on hand-to-hand combat training or
advanced technological equipment. In the Marvel Universe,
technology is considerably more advanced than in the real world;
this is due to unique individuals of genius intelligence, such as
Reed Richards (
Mister Fantastic) of
the Fantastic Four. However, most of the really advanced devices
(such as
powered
armor and
death rays) are too
expensive for the common citizen, and are usually in the hands of
government organizations like S.H.I.E.L.D., or powerful criminal
organizations like
A.I.M.
One major company producing these devices is Stark International,
owned by Anthony Stark (
Iron Man) but there
are others. Advanced technology has also been given to humans by
hidden races, aliens, or
time travelers
like
Kang the Conqueror, who is
known to have influenced the
robotics
industry in the past.
In superhumans the energy required for their superpowers either
comes from within using their own body as a source, or if the
demand of energy exceeds what their body is capable to deliver,
comes from another source. In most cases, this other source seems
to be what is called the universal psionic field (UPF), which they
are able to tap into. Sometimes they are connected to another
source, and more rarely they are even a host for it.
Marvel tries to explain most superpowers and their sources
"scientifically", usually through the use of fictional science-like
concepts, such as:
- The battery effect; the cells in the body have the same
function as batteries, being charged with energy that comes from an
outer source. This is most often seen in gamma exposed individuals
such as the Hulk, who get their powers from this stored energy. The
powers will remain as long as the energy is present, and can even
be increased by filling the "batteries" even more. If the energy is
emptied, the powers will fade away. The X-Man Cyclops has been
described as absorbing sunlight to power his optic blasts.
- The Power Primordial is a
leftover force from Big Bang and is controlled by the Elders of the Universe.
- Psionic energy, which is assumed to be an invisible, unknown
form of energy generated by all living brains that has the ability
to manipulate other forms of matter and energy.
- Universal psionic field is a force present everywhere in the
universe, but only those with abilities to connect to it can make
use of its energy.
- Enigma Force is suspected to be connected to the Microverse,
and is also the source to the Uni-Power, which transforms an
individual into Captain Universe.
- Extradimensional space: dimensions that can be tapped in order
to pull mass from them (to add to objects on Earth) or taken away
from those objects and be stored in those "pocket dimensions" to be
retrieved later. This is how characters like the Hulk can grow and
shrink with no visible absorption of mass. A type of subatomic
particles called Pym Particles can be used for these effects. (Note
that many giant-sized characters have a limited ability to
manipulate gravity to handle their increased weight.) The change in
mass can be in the form of a density change instead, allowing a
character to become harder or incorporeal. Some characters can seem to
"transform" themselves (or others) into unliving substances, or
even pure energy, by storing their bodies in extradimensional space
and replacing them with bodies made from matter or energy from that
dimension, while their souls remain on Earth, controlling their new
body. Travel into other dimensions can also be used as a way to
"teleport" by re-entering the Earth
dimension at a different point from the exiting one.
- The Darkforce is an unknown, dark
substance from another dimension (known simply as the Darkforce Dimension) that can be
summoned and manipulated in many ways: to create impenetrable
darkness, to solidify it in various forms, and (most notably) to
absorb the "life energy" from living beings (not all users can use
all these effects). The Darkforce can also be used to travel to and
from its home dimension, but this is dangerous to all except those
with Darkforce powers. Some believe that the Darkforce is sentient
and sometimes has an evil influence on those who use it. Various
heroes and villains have versions of Darkforce powers, including
Darkstar, the first Blackout, the Shroud, Cloak, Doorman and Quagmire (of the Squadron Supreme Universe). Cloak
seems to be the prime 'portal' to the Darkforce, however.
- The Living Light is the opposite of
the Darkforce: a form of energy that resembles light and also comes
from its own dimension, but has healing effects on living beings
(except ones made of darkness or Darkforce.) It is unknown if it
might be sentient. Cloak's partner, Dagger seems to be the Living
Light's main avatar.
- The Power Cosmic is a force that
can alter reality, allowing the user to do whatever he or she wants
(including bending the laws of physics), only being limited by how
much cosmic energy the character can tap at a time. It seems to be
part of the universe itself and it can be linked directly to
Galactus as its primary wielder or even
source. The Heralds of Galactus,
including Silver Surfer and Nova
are imbued with a fraction of the Power Cosmic.
- Magic also appears to be like a form of energy, except that it
can defy the laws of physics naturally, and usually overrules
ordinary science. However, it does have rules of its own to follow,
which vary with the method of invocation, usually in the form of
spoken spells. It appears to be present in everything, even living
beings. All humans in the Marvel Universe have the ability to use
magic, but only if properly trained. Most people are unaware that
magic actually works. In addition, powerful magical beings from
other dimensions have created specific, extremely powerful magical
spells that they allow to be used (often indiscriminately) by those
sorcerers who invoke their
names; one example is the trinity of beings called The Vishanti, who serve as patrons to heroic sorcerers.
At any given time, there is a sorcerer on Earth whose task is to
protect the universe against extradimensional mystical invaders;
this sorcerer is known as the Sorcerer
Supreme, an office most recently held by Doctor Strange. Stars
in the Marvel Universe are actually sentient beings, and the source
of all mystic energy.
Nonhuman races
A degree of paranoid fear against mutants exists due to stories of
mutants being a race or even a species (
Homo superior or
Homo sapiens superior) that is evolving and is meant to
replace normal humans. This has caused organizations to form to
deal with the problem, who can be divided into three camps: those
who seek peaceful coexistence between mutants and normal humans
(the X-Men and their affiliated groups), those who seek to control
or eliminate humans to give mutants safety or dominance (
Magneto and his followers, as well as other
mutants such as
Apocalypse), and
those who seek to regulate or eliminate mutants in favor of humans.
The latter often use the robots known as
Sentinels as weapons. Certain species are
regarded as
subhuman, like the
Morlocks who lurk beneath New York City
and have been discriminated against by the outside world because of
their mutant deformities. The Morlocks have recently joined the
terrorist organization
Gene
Nation.
In addition to mutants, Eternals and Deviants, several other
intelligent races have existed secretly on Earth. These include:
The
Inhumans, another genetically unstable
race (like the Deviants, but in their case its due to their use of
a substance called the 'Terrigen Mists') that was created by a
Kree experiment long ago; The
Subterraneans, a race of humanoids
adapted to living below the surface, created by the Deviants (some
subterraneans were transformed into 'Lava Men' by a demon); and
Homo mermanus, a
humanoid race of water-breathers that lives in
Earth's oceans. Most of these races have advanced technology but
existed hidden from humanity until recent times. More variants of
humanity can be found in the
Savage Land
(see places, below.) Most of the Savage Land races have their
origin from a group of primitive ape men who seems to have escaped
the Celestial experiments whose influence is present in all modern
Homo sapiens. Other leftovers from the era where primitive
humanoids walked the earth still exist, such as the altered
Neanderthal known as
Missing Link, an old enemy of the
Hulk.
Alien races
The Marvel Universe also contains hundreds of intelligent alien
races. Earth has interacted with many of them because a major
"
hyperspace warp"
happens to exist in our solar system.
The three major space empires are:
The three are often in direct or indirect conflict, which
occasionally involve Earth people; in particular, the Kree and
Skrulls are ancient enemies, and the
Kree-Skrull War has involved humans on
several occasions.
The Skrulls have also been known to be in a long and consistent war
against the Majesdanians, who live in a milky planet named
Majesdane. The war between the two had started after two
Majesdanians, Frank and Leslie Dean of
The Pride had been kicked out for criminal
activities; the two travelled to Earth, where Frank and Leslie
stopped the war against Earth in exchange for giving the Skrulls
the location of Majesdane, which was hidden behind the corona of a
white dwarf. The war had gone on for
sixteen years minimum; it ended abruptly after the Skrulls shot a
barrage of missiles at Majesdane, who retaliated.
Another prominent alien race is The
Watchers, immortal and wise beings who
watch over the Marvel Universe and have taken a sacred vow not to
intervene in events, though the Watcher assigned to Earth,
Uatu, has violated this oath on several
occasions.
The
Elders of the Universe
are ancient aliens who have often had great impact on many worlds,
for billions of years, acting alone or as a group. A power called
Power Primordial is channeled through them.
Many other races exist, and have formed an “Intergalactic Council”
to have their say on matters that affect them all, such as
interference from Earth humans in their affairs.
In
Secret Wars, Spider-Man's symbiotic
black costume made its first appearance. Later with
Eddie Brock, it became the being known as
Venom, who is now one of
Spider-Man's greatest foes and has spawned
Carnage.
Supernatural creatures
Also abundant in the Marvel Universe are legendary creatures such
as
gods,
demons and
vampires. The 'gods' of most
polytheistic pantheons are actually
powerful, immortal human-like races from other dimensions who
visited Earth in ancient times, and became the basis of many
legends. Besides mythological gods, many deities made up by Marvel
writers exist as well, such as the Dark Gods, enemies of the
Asgardians.
Note that many persons and beings have falsely pretended to be gods
or demons during history; in particular, none of the ones claiming
to be major figures from
Judeo-Christian beliefs (such as
Satan or
God) have turned out to be
the real article, although a number of
angels
have appeared in recent years, proving that some form of
Heaven and
Hell do exist in this
Universe, seemingly like those in keeping with common real world
religious belief. Similarly,
demons are evil magical beings who
take affairs in the matters of the universe, one of the most
notorious being
Mephisto. Others
include
Nightmare,
D'Spayre,
N'Astirh,
Dormammu and
Shuma-Gorath.
Most of the current generation of gods have been revealed to be the
descendants of the
Elder
Goddess Gaea. The two most
prominent pantheons are the Asgardians (of whom
Thor is a member) and the
Olympians (of whom
Hercules is a member). The lords of
the various pantheons sometimes gather in groups known as the
Council of Godheads and Council of Skyfathers. The gods were forced
to stop meddling with humanity (at least openly) a thousand years
ago by
the Celestials, and most
people today believe them to be fictional.
Cosmic entities
Above all other beings in the Marvel Universe are the
cosmic entities, beings of
unbelievably great levels of power (the weakest can destroy
planets) who exist to perform duties that maintain the existence of
the universe. Most do not care at all about "lesser beings" such as
humans, and as a consequence their acts can occasionally be
dangerous to mortals. When dire threats threaten the universe it is
not uncommon for these beings to gather together to discuss the
threat, and even act. The first greatest of these is the
One-Above-All, or known as the God of the
Marvel Universe. Ranking second only to him is the
Living Tribunal, the cosmic mediator and
overseer of the entire Marvel Universe.
Above all pantheons of gods, cosmic entities and even the Living
Tribunal there exists one, ultimate supreme being known as the
One-Above-All (not to be confused with
the
Celestial of the same name or
the God Yaweh of Earth). This being is indicated to be the creator
of all existence and all realities of the Marvel Universe.
The One-Above-All is not to be confused with the hebrew god Yaweh.
Yaweh presides over a realm referred to as "
Heaven" populated by
angels, to
which the souls of the virtuous deceased are committed (such as
Ben Grimm). Yaweh first appeared
on-panel in a 2004
Fantastic Four storyline, he appeared
in the form of
Jack Kirby, who 'sketched
out' reality on a comic book storyboard.
While the above is true, the
Living
Tribunal, and most of the other cosmic characters, are morally
neutral. They often say that such concepts are relative (implicit
in Galactus' anthill analogy), or simply relevant only to "lesser"
beings.
In X-Men, the
Phoenix Force is a force
that received personification in
Jean Grey
and she became Phoenix. This gave her more advanced powers and she
became an Omega-Level Mutant. The Force played a small part in the
second X-Men film,
X2 and the story of the
third,
X-Men: The Last Stand,
had the main storyline involved in it.
Cosmology
The Marvel Universe is part of a
multiverse, with various universes
coexisting simultaneously without affecting each other
directly.
Universes/Earths/continuities
The action of most Marvel Comics titles takes place in a
continuity known as
Earth-616. This continuity exists in a
multiverse alongside trillions of alternate
continuities. Alternate continuities in the Marvel multiverse are
generally defined in terms of their differences from
Earth-616.
Continuities besides Earth-616 include the following (for a
complete listing see
Marvel
Comics Multiverse):
In addition, multiple continuities are visited in the comic book
series
What If,
What The--?! (formerly
Not Brand Echh) and
Exiles.
Note that in Marvel Comics, the concept of a continuity is not the
same as "dimension" or "universe"; for example, characters like
Mephisto and
Dormammu hail from alternate dimensions and
Galactus from another
universe, but they all nevertheless belong to the
Earth-616 continuity (where all the
dimensions and universes seems to be connected to the same main
timeline). A continuity should also not be confused with an
imprint; for example, while the titles of
some imprints, such as
Ultimate
Marvel, take place in a different continuity, some or all
publications in other imprints, such as
Epic
Comics,
Marvel MAX, and
Marvel UK, take place within the
Earth-616 continuity.
Dimensions
Within and sometimes
between continuities, there exist a
variety of
dimensions, sometimes called
pocket
dimensions which typically are not depicted as separate
continuties, but rather part of one, typically Earth-616. There are
a score of such dimensions, ranging from the Earthlike to the
totally alien. Some are magical in nature and others are
scientific; some are inhabited and others are not. These include
realities like the
Microverse, the
Darkforce Dimension,
Limbo, the
Mojoverse, and many more. Despite various
contradictions, the term,
dimension is sometimes
interchangeable with
universe or
reality. Every
reality of the Marvel Universe has numerous interconnected
dimensions, with each dimension differing from those of other
realities; for example, the Ultimate Asgard has clearly been shown
to be distinct from the Asgard known to
Earth-616 characters. Such dimensions, such as
Asgard or the Dark Dimension are technically
not "pocket
dimensions" as they clearly reside completely
outside the
boundaries of the Marvel Universe, instead of within, as the former
does.
Time
A noteworthy feature of the Marvel Universe is that one cannot
normally alter history - if a time-traveller should cause an
alteration to the established flow of events at some point in the
past, a
divergent
universe will simply "branch out" from the existing timeline,
and the time-traveller will still return to his or her unaltered
original universe. Those realities can also spawn realities of
their own. There exists hundreds, probably thousands of such
realities. It is unknown why this happens, though a warp known as
the
Nexus of All Realities
exists in a swamp in the Florida of the main Marvel Universe (known
as
Earth-616). For the most part this does
not matter, as most beings are unaware that this occurs, or even
that their universes were recently "born" from another. However,
individuals and organizations exist that try to monitor or
manipulate the various realities. These include
Immortus, the
Captain
Britain Corps, the
Time
Variance Authority, the
Timebreakers/
Exiles, and
Kang the Conqueror's forces.
It has been shown to be possible to travel through time without
creating a new alternate universe, instead altering events in the
future, but this seems to have devastating and very,
very
far-reaching repercussions (as depicted in the
Marvel 1602 mini-series).
Also, time itself passes much differently within the confines of
the Marvel Universe than it does in the real world. Despite various
characters having appeared within company publications for decades,
few if any have aged to any appreciable degree. For example, the
patriotic hero
Captain America was
created in 1941 but stopped appearing in titles soon after the end
of
World War II. The character was
revived more than twenty years later, explained as having been
frozen in a block of ice though believed to be dead, to lead
Marvel's latest team of superheroes the
Avengers. This first Avengers team
featured several characters that would go on to be some of the
company's most famous and most popular. Although the characters
would be portrayed in hundreds and even thousands of adventures
over the decades, they have been portrayed as having aged little or
none at all.
Space
While the Marvel Universe is presumably as large as the
non-fictional universe comic book readers inhabit, for all intents
and purposes the
Local group is the
universe; practically all action takes place in it. The Skrull
Empire is located in the Andromeda galaxy, the Kree Empire in the
Magellan clouds which are satellites of the Milky Way galaxy in
which Earth of course is found, while the Shi´ar Empire is located
somewhere between them in one of the smaller galaxies (perhaps
Triangulum); frequently, these three empires are quoted as the main
political powers "in the universe". Similarly, the Local Group
seemed to be the only affected area when the
Annihilation Wave cut its bloody swath
"across the universe".One notable exception to the "Local group"
rule is
Planet Hulk, which not only took
place in another galactic cluster but indeed another galactic
supercluster, namely
Fornax.
Another matter altogether is the
Astral
Plane, given heavy influence in the Marvel Universe, it is a
dimensional plane which is the source of telekinesis and various
other psychic powers. According to
Mystic
Arcana: The Marvel Tarot, the Astral Plane is a dimension
created by the Elder Goddess
Oshtur. Also
noted in the Marvel Tarot, it is sometimes referred to as the
"Temple of Oshtur" or the "Realm of the Mind."
Sources
See also
For more complete lists of inhabitants of the Marvel Universe, see
List of Marvel Comics
characters,
List of Marvel
Comics teams and organizations, and
List of Marvel Comics alien
races.
Footnotes
- Travel The World With The Marvel Atlas - Marvel.com
News
- The Thing #13, July 2006; Civil War Battle Damage
Report, March 2007
- Iron Man Vol. 4, #1 (November 2004)
- Runaways: Volume 2, #8
- Exiles Annual #1 (November 2006)
References
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