A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE 

UNIVERSE

A Brief History in Marvel...

Marvel Comics #1 (later Marvel Mystery Comics)

This was a comic that is, essentially, the beginning of the Marvel Universe (although it was published under their previous incarnation, Timely, which later became Atlas in the 1950s, which finally became Marvel Comics in 1961). It provides the first appearances of the Original Human Torch, an Android (featured on the cover, but not anything like he ever appeared in the comics) and the Sub-Mariner, Namor, a hybrid/mutant and ruler of Atlantis. Namor had been created for an unreleased comic book entitled "Motion Picture Funnies Weekly" and an expanded version of his first story appeared in this comic.

The two characters crossed over in Marvel Mystery Comics #8 in 1940, edited by Joe Simon*. This founded the basis for a universe of heroes who could interact (copying the lead of All-Star Comics #3, featuring the creation of the Justice Society of America). Namor, as a character in general, seemed unbalanced, as he was regularly reconsidering his allegiances. Later, in his own comic, the Torch got a sidekick, Toro, the Flaming Torch Kid, who, inexplicably, was also empowered just like the Human Torch.

Joe Simon*, the editor of Marvel Mystery Comics #8, went on to team up with Jack Kirby and create Captain America Comics in 1941. This comic was the first to show its hero bashing Hitler on the premier cover. In this first issue, we find out about Steve Rogers, a young, skinny 4-F patriot who is given a second chance by the "Super-Soldier" formula, combined with "Vita-Rays", which transform his body into the pinnacle of human perfection. Cap also gets a "sidekick" in this first issue, James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes and they later found a multiracial group of patriotic kids led by Bucky called the Sentinels of Liberty.

Captain America, Namor and the Human Torch were the basis for all of the company's successes, although they had a stable of other super-heroes throughout the Golden Age. Their most popular feature characters were finally teamed up in All-Winners #19 in 1946 as the All-Winners Squad (on the cover below, the kid who looks like a Namor sidekick is actually Toro who hasn't "flamed on").  The team only had two appearances, but it formed the basis for retroactive continuity (RetCon) formed by Roy Thomas while writing The Avengers for Marvel comics in the late 1960's. In Avengers #71 (Vol.1), an "earlier" version of the AWS with the three anchors was named The Invaders, who were a quickly slapped-together team of super-heroes who didn't necessarily get along, but had a common goal - the elimination of the Nazi regime.

Teamed together after saving the life of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill from Master Man, the PM suggested that they should become a team. The rest is "history" (or, retconned history, anyway). Members of the team included sidekicks Bucky and Toro, as well as Union Jack, Spitfire, Miss America and the unfortunately named Whizzer (his super power was super speed, BTW...).

During WWII, Sgt. Nick Fury and his Howling Commandos made a name for themselves as an integrated unit of soldiers with diverse backgrounds.

In 1945 Captain America was frozen in ice and his teenage sidekick Bucky was killed. Both were soon secretly replaced by the U.S. government to avoid lowering morale among the Allies. Soon after, the Allies advanced to Berlin, and the Invaders broke into Hitler's bunker.

The original Captain America, as well as his arch-enemy the Red Skull, would be revived in the modern era.

At the end of the war, it is later discovered that a young man by the name of Magnus was in Auschwitz with his future wife Magda. The pair escaped, married, and had a daughter, Anya. When Anya was killed in an arson attack on their home, "Magnus" used his mutant powers to kill the attackers, frightening away Magda, who was actually pregnant with twins at the time. This becomes significant later in Marvel Universe history.

After the war, most of the Invaders remained active as the All-Winners Squad. Later, the Human Torch was rendered inert for decades by an atomic bomb, and the Sub-Mariner was rendered an amnesiac following a mental breakdown after the destruction of much of Atlantis by the mesmerist Paul Destine ("Destiny").

Several new heroes were active during the 1950s, including Marvel Boy (Robert "Bob" Grayson), the 3-D Man, Gorilla-Man, M-11 the Human Robot, and the goddess Venus, and Jimmy Woo. The group broke up fairly quickly, but was reformed in the modern day, thanks to immortality, long life and a rejuvination formula, as the Agents of Atlas.

During the Cold War, a joint U.S./Canadian task force that was later codenamed "Team X" was formed. This was a group of spies and assassins, including some that become important to the Marvel Universe later on. Subsequently, the Weapon Plus Project, which had supported the creation of the Super-Soldier Project that had created Captain America, started a new iteration of its Weapon program. The Tenth Weapon program (Weapon X) resulted in the implantation of adamantium in the body of a man named "Logan" and the creation of many false memories in him and the other Team X/Weapon X agents.

Modern Heroic Age/Silver Age/Marvel Age

The Marvel Age of Heroes started officially with the public debut of the Fantastic Four, Marvel's "First Family" of super-heroes, Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Girl, The Human Torch (II) and The Ever-Lovin' Blue-Eyed Thing. 

Bruce Banner, after being exposed to the Gamma Bomb he created while saving the young Rick Jones, becomes The Hulk. Hank Pym becomes Ant Man - and, later, Giant-Man.  His girlfriend, Janet Van Dyne, becomes The Wasp.

Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner gets his memories back after a meeting with the Fantastic Four's Human Torch. He subsequently flirts with and then kidnaps the Invisible Girl and, after regaining his throne in Atlantis, shortly considers conquering land-dwellers, but then changes his mind.

Not much later, Donald Blake discovers that he is Thor, Peter Parker becomes Spider-Man, and Tony Stark dons his Iron Man guise. In the March 1963 issues of Fantastic Four (#12) and Spider-Man (first issue), the Thing and the Hulk battle and Spider-Man meets the Fantastic Four, setting the stage for a shared universe in which all Marvel characters can cross over into each others' series.

Some of these heroes joined to form the Avengers, Marvel's premier super-team, funded by munitions researcher, Tony Stark (aka Iron Man) and overseen by the US Government. 

Also, at this time, a group of mutants under the leadership of Professor Charles Xavier emerge, calling themselves the X-Men (Cyclops, the Angel, the Beast, Iceman and Marvel Girl). Subsequently, the X-Men go public, fighting the mysterious Magneto.

Here are some of the major events of the following years, in chronological order - in "Marvel Time", all of these events of the past 47 years have occurred only within the past 10-13 years:

The Avengers find Captain America, kept alive in a block of ice by the super-soldier formula and revive him with the help of Namor, the Sub Mariner. Cap will go on to be the most regular leader of the group through it's changing roster.

The Fantastic Four encounter a few Skrulls, a shape-shifting, imperialistic race. They are quickly defeated and hypnotized into believing they are actually cows...  Shortly after, having spent all of their previous adventures in street clothes, the Fantastic Four don special uniforms made from unstable molecules.

Magneto returns with his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (Mastermind, the Toad and twins Pietro and Wanda Maximoff, now known as Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch) to battle the X-Men. It is later discovered that Magneto was Magnus and the twins, Pietro and Wanda, were his children.

Matt Murdock, a blind lawyer trained in boxing with exceptional athletic abilities and senses heightened to a superhuman level, becomes Daredevil.

Colonel Nick Fury, after several years in the CIA and now sporting an eyepatch from a war injury, conceives and later becomes director of S.H.I.E.L.D. The acronym originally stood for Supreme Headquarters, International Espionage, Law-Enforcement Division. It was changed in 1991 to Strategic Hazard Intervention, Espionage Logistics Directorate. In the 2008 Marvel Studios film Iron Man, the acronym stood for Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division. S.H.I.E.L.D. continues to be the watchdog of the Marvel Universe and Nick Fury, thanks to the Infinity Formula, which has slowed his aging considerably since the 1940s.

The Fantastic Four find out that "Madame Medusa", former member of the Frightful Four and current member of the Fantastic Four, had suffered from amnesia. Upon learning this, they then encounter The Inhumans, a race of former humans whose genetic destiny was interfered with by the Kree, a warrior race looking to circumvent their own evolutionary stagnation and for a race to create as a new army. The Kree abandoned the experiment with humans, but the Inhumans created their own, insular society and exposed themselves ritualistically to the mutagenic Terrigen Mist, giving them diverse powers, but also resulting in lasting genetic damage and deformities. Black Bolt, their King, Medusa, his wife and their cousins (the Royal Family) Karnak, Gorgon, Triton, Crystal, Maximus the Mad, and the canine Lockjaw.

Captain America, upon meeting Rick Jones, sidekick of The Hulk, momentarily mistakes him for Bucky.

Galactus and his herald, the Silver Surfer, plan to destroy Earth. After meeting Alicia Masters, a blind sculptress and girlfriend of The Thing, the Silver Surfer rebels against his master and, as punishment, remains a prisoner of earth's atmosphere.

Reed Richards, Mr. Fantastic and Sue Storm, The Invisible Girl, of the Fantastic Four, wed.

Rick Jones briefly takes the title and uniform of Bucky, Cap's long-dead partner. Rick's brief time as Bucky gave him the training to survive around superheroes to this day.

The Human Torch battles (seemingly) the Original Human Torch.

The Kree Empire sends Captain Mar-Vell to Earth as a spy. Coming to empathize with humanity, Mar-Vell betrays his orders and is welcomed as a hero by the people of Earth. After being banished to the Negative Zone, he later is merged with Rick Jones via the Kree nega-bands, allowing them to change places upon slamming them together, in a manner similar to the Original Captain Marvel and Billy Batson.

Hank Pym (Ant-Man/Giant-Man) creates Ultron, a robot based on his own brain patterns, who rebels due to an irrational hatred for his "father"/creator and sets out to destroy mankind.

The Vision, a synthezoid, is created by Ultron, to battle the Avengers, but, in an ironic twist, rebels against his creator and becomes an Avenger. The Vision is thought to be based on the same android technology as The Original Human Torch and his brain patterns are based on those of Wonder Man (Simon Williams, believed to be deceased at that time).

Franklin Richards is born.

The Avengers become involved in a millennia-old interstellar war between the Kree and the Skrulls (both races were created by cosmic beings known as the Celestials, who were experimenting with the evolution of many intelligent beings across the universe - this experimentation was the inspiration for the Kree interfering with Human development, resulting in The Inhumans).

During a fight with the Green Goblin, Gwen Stacy is killed when Spider-man is unable to save her.

The Canadian government brings their "Weapon X" to attack the Hulk. This adventurer, named Wolverine, is knocked out.

Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell) encounters Thanos, a deviant member of the race of Eternals (long- lived, almost godlike beings, who once lived on Mount Olympus, but now reside on Saturn's moon, Titan), who, fascinated by nihilism, falls in love with the personification of Death in the Marvel Universe and embarks on a quest to eliminate known life.

Professor X assembles a new team to rescue the original X-Men. First appearance of Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler and first addition of Wolverine and Banshee to the team.

The Beast discovers a mutagenic formula and innoculates himself, resulting in his becoming a beast in appearance, as well as name.

Jean Grey/Marvel Girl, after she is terminally injured during re-entry to Earth's atmosphere in a space shuttle - re-emerges with almost limitless power as The Phoenix. 

Tony Stark succumbs to, and later addresses, alcoholism.

Alpha Flight, a super-team from Canada, attempts to capture Wolverine and battle the X-Men.

Jennifer Walters, lawyer cousin of Bruce Banner, receives a blood transfusion from him, resulting in her becoming the She-Hulk. She-Hulk is in full control of her faculties.

Jean Grey succumbs to the dark side of the Phoenix force, resulting in her destroying a sun, destroying an inhabited planet, and being called to pay for her crime by being psychically lobotomized by the Shi'ar Empire. A battle ensues between the entire roster of the X-Men and the Imperial Guard (artist Dave Cockrum's homage to his first succesful team, the Legion of Super-Heroes). Desperately overpowered, the X-Men losing, Jean - feeling the Phoenix taking over again - summons Kree technology from their battlefield (the Blue Area of the Moon) and sacrifices herself, rather than lose control of her nigh-omnipotent power again.

The Scarlet Witch and the Vision are married.

Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell) falls victim to what the Kree call "the Blackend", or what is called Cancer on Earth.

Professor Xavier creates another new team, the New Mutants.

The Beyonder kidnaps Earth's heroes and villains to battle on a planet of his creation. Spider-Man finds his symbiote (black) costume.

She-Hulk becomes a member of the Fantastic Four, when The Thing stays behind on the "Beyonder's Planet", where he is able to shift to Ben Grimm at will.

Iron Man embarks on a mission to destroy armored suits that were created from his own stolen technology (Armor Wars).

Bruce Banner breaks through in a session with Doc Sampson, resulting in the merging of his three personalities (Grey Hulk, Green Hulk and Banner) and giving Banner successful and fully cognitive control over his Hulk persona.

The Original Human Torch is (finally) revived. The "Torch" who battled Johnny Storm turned out to be Toro, the Original Torch's human sidekick. 

Namor learns that his hybrid physiology requires him to spend time in both the water and air, in order to maintain a healthy psychiatric profile.  Shortly thereafter, The Invaders, if only for a brief moment, reunite to squash a Nazi threat at the end of the 20th Century.

Thanos comes in control of the Infinity Gems (Adam Warlock's Soul Gem and other similarly powered gems) and creates the Infinity Gauntlet to use them in unison, rendering him omnipotently powerful.  A situation that requires the attention of every hero in the Marvel Universe.

Rick Jones becomes "partners" with Captain Marvel's son, Genis-Vell.

"Marvels" by writer Kurt Busiek and painter Alex Ross is published.

In the mid-1990s Marvel Comics creates the implosion of the comics industry by attempting to self-distribute, throwing the entire industry into chaos and resulting in the loss of millions of comics sales, the demise of the independent distributor system, the loss of newsstand distribution of comic books and the subsequent loss of thousands of comic book stores.  The Comic Book Industry has never recovered. 

Marvel subsequently loses their identity as the "House of Ideas", when they attempt to regain market share with a revamp of their cohesive universe with "Heroes Reborn", working with their former employees and owners of Image Comics, resulting in a year-long loss of intelligent life at Marvel Comics. "Heroes Return" was an attempt to say "oops, everything's okay now", but, despite successful character marketing and franchising into movies, Marvel Comics has never recovered.

Hope this was a fun trip for you!

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*[FOOTNOTE: With Jack Kirby drawing and Joe Simon inking and the two of them plotting and writing, the two became regular partners on numerous comics and even creating genres for comics (including Romance Comics). One of their staples was creating a group of youngsters - evoking the Sentinels of Liberty - with extraordinary legal guardians that put them in fantastic situations and springboarding their adventures, such as the Newsboy Legion & the Boy Commandos for DC/National and Boys' Ranch for Atlas/Marvel. The Newsboy Legion, from Star Spangled Comics, featured another hero with a shield (though, this time in the shape of a police badge), The Guardian.]

The Fantastic Four, Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Girl, The Invisible Woman, The Thing, The Human Torch, Captain America, Sub-Mariner, Vision, Iron Man, The Hulk, Spider-Man, Thanos, Adam Warlock, The Avengers, Ant-Man, Giant Man, The Wasp, Bucky, Toro, Union Jack, Spitfire, Miss America, Whizzer, Nick Fury, Red Skull, Marvel Boy, 3-D Man, Gorilla-Man, M-11 the Human Robot, Agents of Atlas, Wolverine, X-Men, Cyclops, the Angel, the Beast, Iceman, Marvel Girl, Magneto, Phoenix, Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, Mastermind, the Toad, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, S.H.I.E.L.D., The Inhumans,Black Bolt, Medusa, Karnak, Gorgon, Triton, Crystal, Maximus, Lockjaw, Galactus, the Silver Surfer, Ultron, Green Goblin, The Eternals, Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Banshee, Alpha Flight, Shi'ar, Imperial Guard, Blue Area of the Moon, New Mutants, The Beyonder, Doc Sampson, Heroes Reborn, Heroes Return,  and all related images are © and ™ of Marvel Comics.

BRIAN G. PHILBIN'S MetropolisPlus.com "Hey!!! Kids' Comics" - text is © Brian G. Philbin. If you have any question, comments or other items of interest to this page, please feel free to E-Mail Brian G. Philbin. All items which are highlighted in blue text and underlined are links to the named item.