There are more timelines in Marvel Comics than in any other comic book line, and that makes things very confusing at times, especially for newer readers. On top of that, there have been so many retcons and changes for some characters’ histories, such as Spider-Man’s, that it is somewhat challenging to follow the timelines, even when they are just regular events on Earth-616. That said, most of the timelines can be figured out when breaking down events, but that is often too complicated for casual fans, who might be willing to give up on a comic book before worrying about figuring out when and where things happened.
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From confusing moments in the Marvel Comics multiverse to retcons that make entire comic storylines too complicated, here is a look at the most confusing Marvel Comics timelines.
10) The Clone Saga Timeline
“The Clone Saga” is one of Marvel Comics’ most hated event storylines due to its ending. In this storyline, the Jackal created clones of people Peter Parker loved and cared about and tormented the Wall-Crawler with his schemes. Then, at the end of it, Spider-Man had to fight his own clone, and the wrong one won, although no one knew until a few years later when the real Peter Parker showed up. This means that most of two years’ worth of Spider-Man storylines had nothing to do with the real Peter Parker. This also created numerous continuity problems, primarily due to the different creative teams working on four Spider-Man titles. There were numerous problems with “The Clone Saga,” and making it difficult to follow was one of them.
9) The Ultimate Marvel Universe
The Ultimate Marvel Universe began as a clever, cohesive storyline, featuring new looks at heroes like the Avengers (known as the Ultimates), Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, and the X-Men. However, thanks to the creative teams, the comics began to spiral out of control, and it quickly became difficult to keep up with the overall storyline. What is even more interesting is that the Ultimate Universe is back, but it now looks very different thanks to the fact that The Maker created it in his own image. Anyone picking up new issues of Marvel’s Ultimate Comics will get a good story, but its only connection is Reed, and this makes the entire series a challenging read for people not in the know.
8) The Weapon X Timeline
At one time, Weapon X was a mysterious organization, and all that most fans knew was that it created Wolverine and caused the trauma that made him into the hero he became. There was a much easier storyline to follow in Captain America comics, with his Super Soldier Serum supplied by the U.S. government. However, things got confusing when those two storylines were combined and the Weapons Plus program was revealed to have been released in stages, including Captain America’s Super Soldier Serum (Weapon I) and the experimentation on Wolverine (Weapon X). The entire retconning of these Marvel storylines was way too confusing, and it just seemed that Marvel Comics was trying to tie too much together.
7) The Age Of Apocalypse
The Age of Apocalypse is one of the X-Men’s darkest storylines, and it all began when Legion traveled back in time and accidentally killed his father, Charles Xavier, thereby launching a new timeline. This new timeline saw Magneto create the X-Men and Apocalypse conquer the world. However, Age of Apocalypse, along with Days of Future Past, remains very confusing for many readers. When heroes and villains come from the multiverse, it is often hard to keep up with which timeline they are from. Rachel Summers is from the Days of Future Past timeline, Dark Beast is from the Age of Apocalypse, and Bishop is from a completely different timeline. Marvel makes it seem like X-Men fans need to keep a spreadsheet just to keep track of who comes from which mutant timeline.
6) The Life & History Of Sentry
Sentry is an interesting character because Marvel Comics wrote him into past storylines in which he never appeared. Sentry debuted in 2000 as a brand-new hero, but that wasn’t the case. He was actually one of the first superheroes in existence and was part of battles alongside the Avengers, Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, and more. However, when The Void alter took over, Sentry realized he had to disappear, so he made everyone forget he existed, including comic book readers, as he was removed from the book’s stories. From that point on, Marvel writers were able to incorporate Sentry into any events they wanted, and his history, which is technically a blank slate, remained open, becoming even more confusing as the years went on.
5) The Changing Of Wars Throughout History
When Marvel Comics began publishing, it was in the 1960s, about 20 years after World War II. This allowed Captain America to have served in that war with Nick Fury and the Howling Commandos. However, as time passed, it became increasingly difficult to believe Nick Fury was there, which led Marvel to create a story about how he had undergone a Super Soldier-style injection that helped him remain young. This didn’t help Punisher and Iron Man, whose origins were tied to the Vietnam War and the Korean War, respectively. By the 1990s and 2000s, this was hard to believe since those wars were real and these heroes were no longer old enough to have been around for them. Marvel finally resolved this issue by creating a fictional war called the Siancong War, which allowed the company to stop worrying about real-world confusion with dates. Anyone who hasn’t read comics in a long time might wonder what happened to the real wars that were once part of comic stories.
4) Heroes Reborn
In the 1990s, Marvel Comics wanted to change things up. The company was experiencing financial difficulties, and Marvel decided to create a world more akin to that of Image Comics by hiring two Image creators, Rob Liefeld and Jim Lee, to help revitalize their comic book line. After the Onslaught incident seemed to have killed the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and the Hulk, they were brought back in a new timeline called Heroes Reborn. It turned out later that this was a pocket dimension Franklin Richards created to save them until Onslaught could be eliminated completely. By the time Marvel decided to end this, it had become very confusing about who the original heroes were and who had to stay behind. When the heroes returned to Earth, it seemed that nothing they had done mattered. Marvel made things even more confusing when they released a second Heroes Reborn series, years later, a world created by Mephisto.
3) Marvel Zombies Timeline
The Marvel Zombies timeline is extremely confusing for numerous reasons. The first Marvel Zombies series was created when Sentry started spreading the disease that triggered the zombie apocalypse. This caused the heroes who had become zombies to retain their intellect, but they lost their morality and decided to consume the entire population. Things then got out of control when they decided to try to get to other Earths in the multiverse, only to be stopped by The Watcher. This didn’t stop them, and they ended up in different dimensions, including a crossover with The Evil Dead. Years later, a new Marvel Zombies series began, but this world revealed Spider-Man as a human again. It turned out to be a different alternate Earth, which only added to the confusion about where the infection had spread and what the timeline meant for the future.
2) Moira X’s Resurrection Timelines
The entire Krakoan Era in X-Men comics began when it was revealed that Moira MacTaggert was shown to be a mutant. Her power lies in rebooting history every time she dies. Every time she died and resurrected, she made changes, as the only person who knew what had happened in the previous timeline. However, the mutants always lose. Moira finally turned evil in the Krakoan timeline and gave up. However, this entire series was as confusing as any in the history of Marvel Comics. All her different past lives were shown playing out at various points during the Age of X, but this was a series that readers could get lost in without paying close attention.
1) The Sliding Marvel Timeline
The Sliding Marvel Timeline is what the company uses to explain why Tony Stark could become Iron Man in 1962 and still appear only a few years older in 2025. As mentioned earlier, Marvel Comics created the Siancong War to utilize it as the main backdrop for former military heroes and villains. However, to account for the change in ages, they made the Sliding Marvel Timeline, which is designed to help alleviate confusion with the main timeline. Galactus explained this theory to several characters in Ultimates #5 (2015). In this theory, the timeline slides to incorporate real-world history every 15 years. In over 60 years of publication, only about a decade has passed in the Marvel Comics universe.
Do you think Marvel Comics can be too complicated and confusing for its own good? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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