UNOFFICIAL CHRONOLOGY TO
THE MARVEL UNIVERSE
CHAPTER 5: THE
AGE OF DISCOVERY
Early A.D. 1400s
Marcello Montesi established contact with the Tibetan village of Kamar-Taj. The vampire lord Varnae learned of this and began making plans to take over the Tibetan village in order to prevent the Catholic Church from acquiring the spell that would destroy vampires forever.
[Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme #13]A.D. 1419
Mira, a young Polynesian girl living on Ruk Island, was selected by the god mothers to be presented to the Celestials when they returned to Earth in the 20th century. She was transported to the Underground Temple and placed in suspended animation.A.D. 1430
Birth of Vlad Tepes Dracula, son of Transylvanian nobleman Vlad Dracul, in Schassburg, Translyvania.A.D. 1437
Vlad Dracul ousted his brother from power and became ruler of Transylvania. He allied himself with the Ottoman Turks.A.D. 1444
Vlad Dracula and his brother Radu were captured and held hostage by Sultan Murad II, leader of the Ottoman Turks and an ally of Vlad Dracul. At Murad's court Dracula observed how to achieve results and power through cruelty. Radu eventually died from injuries sustained through torture at Murad's court. While at Murad's, Dracula's father and older brother were killed by Crusaders.A.D. 1448
Vlad Dracula escaped from Murad's court and returned to Transylvania, where he took the throne of Wallachia. Dracula served for eight months before fleeing the country from Transylvanians who had helped kill his father.Circa A.D. 1450
A youth from the village of Kamar-Taj, Tibet, became apprenticed to Kaluu, the village mystic. Together they increased their sorcerous abilities. Varnae, lord of the vampires, shared mystical knowledge he had learned from the Darkhold millennia ago with Kaluu. With his newfound mystical abilities, Kaluu became the new ruler of the village. Upon doing so, the mystic put to an end all trade missions with the Catholic Church.
[Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme #12]Kaluu and his apprentice cast a spell that caused all in Kamar-Taj, including themselves, to become virtually immortal. However while Kaluu's apprentice meant to use his sorcery to benefit the village, Kaluu wanted to found an empire for himself. Eventually realizing Kaluu's evil tendencies, the youth attempted to warn the villagers but was struck from behind by his master, who then mystically imprisoned him in the village center. The youth summoned mystical energies to defeat Kaluu, but not being a full master of the mystical arts the energies he released reversed the spell that gave the villagers immortality and caused them to grow sick and die. Kaluu fled the destruction of the village by opening a mystical portal that transported him to the dimension of Raggaddor. The youth, protected from his own magic by Kaluu's spell, survived. The spell that granted him immortality was weakened however, but only to the rate where the youth aged very slowly. Because of what he had witnessed, the youth dedicated his life to combating other evil sorcerers.
Upon learning of Kaluu's defeat, the vampire lord Varnae decided the time had come for him to end his own existence and to rest in peace. Varnae began searching for his successor as Lord of the Vampires.
[Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme #13]Kaluu's former apprentice sought out an order of sorcerers whose eldest members were known as the Ancient Ones. The youth continued his studies with them, eventually surpassing his tutors in mystical knowledge and ability. His skill eventually became so great that he became the first human being to be contacted by Eternity, the sentient embodiment of the universe, who presented the mage with one of the Eyes of Agamotto.
Marcello Montesi made arrangements to have the Darkhold spell that would destroy vampires brought from Kamar-Taj to Rome. Upon receiving the parchment, Montesi found that it was beyond his abilities to decipher. Montesi bound the spell within the Darkhold. In times to come, the fabled spell would become known as the Montesi Formula.
[Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme #15]A.D. 1451
Dracula journeyed back to Transylvania to join the Crusaders. With them he learned the arts of war.A.D. 1456
Dracula married Zofia, a Hungarian noblewoman. The marriage had been arranged years before by Dracula's father Dracul. However Dracula hated his new bride. Shortly after the birth of their daughter Lilith, Dracula ordered her to leave his sight forever. Zofia gave Lilith to a Gypsy woman named Gretchen to raise, then committed suicide.With the aid of the Crusaders, Dracula was restored to the throne of Wallachia. He dedicated himself to eradicating the Turks. His violent methods of putting them to death led to his nickname of Vlad the Impaler.
Dracula married a woman named Maria. The marriage resulted in a son that was named Vlad Tepelus.
A.D. 1459
Lord Turac of the Turks led an invasion of Transylvania and attacked Castle Dracula. Dracula was defeated and mortally wounded in battle by Turac. However Turac, wishing to make an example of Dracula, took him prisoner and brought him to the Gypsy Lianda to cure his wounds. Lianda however was a vampire, and she attacked and killed Dracula. The result of the attack caused Dracula to become a vampire himself. Rising from the grave three days later, Dracula learned of his wife Maria's death at the hands of Turac. Dracula then killed Turac, who became a vampire himself. Dracula gave his son Vlad Tepelus to Gypsies to raise. However Dracula also blamed Gypsies for his transformation into a vampire, and he had many of them slaughtered.Among one of the Gypsies killed by order of Dracula was Gretchen's son. In revenge, Gretchen cast a spell transforming Dracula's daughter Lilith into a full grown adult vampire. Unlike true vampires, Lilith was immune to the effects of sunlight and did not need to sleep during the day. Gretchen also cast a spell on Lilith whereby if she were killed her soul would be transported into the body of an innocent woman who wanted Dracula dead. Lilith set out on a mission of vengeance to destroy her father. She and Dracula would battle a number of times over the centuries with no clear victor.
A.D. 1460s
The vampire lord Varnae announced the vampire Nimrod as his successor in the hopes that Dracula would oppose this. As Varnae planned, Dracula confronted and defeated Nimrod and succeeded him as Lord of the Vampires.As his final act of revenge, Varnae hunted down and killed Marcello Montesi. Montesi's son then became the new curator of the Vatican's occult library.
[Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme #13]Varnae confronted Dracula and told him how he had manipulated events to make him the new Lord of the Vampires. Varnae then imparted to the new lord much of his power by letting Dracula drink of his blood. Varnae then committed suicide by exposing himself to direct sunlight. Draining the blood of Varnae and Nimrod caused Dracula to become more powerful than ever. Dracula also extended his mortal power base by extending his rule throughout Transylvania, and drove the Turks from his dominion.
[Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme #13]A.D. 1471
Dracula, no longer interested in ruling his human subjects, abdicated his princedom. Transylvania eventually fell under foreign rule but its subsequent rulers generally left Dracula alone to do what he wanted.A.D. October 11, 1492
Disease and scurvy were ravaging the crew of the "Pinta" as it crossed the Atlantic Ocean from Europe. In order to control the spread of disease it was ordered that all those afflicted be placed in the hold and separated from the rest of the crew. One of the sick crewmen died during the night, but he was amazed to discover the next day that he was alive and healthy. As he crawled from the hold he observed that his ship had arrived at new land. Believing his rebirth to be a miracle, and foreseeing the ability for growth presented by the New World, the crewman decided to devote himself to playing a role in the development of these new territories. Eventually discovering that he was truly immortal and also a mutant, over time the former crewman was able to establish a power-base by which he played a role in controlling North America's economy. Eventually this immortal mutant took on the name of Gideon.
[X-Force #37]
[Date is speculative.]Circa A.D. 1500
Keeping his residence in Kamar-Taj, the Ancient One, as Kaluu's former apprentice came to be known, one day discovered a young man roaming the ruined village. The youth became the Ancient One's first apprentice. Over the next two decades the young man studied with the Ancient One, aiding him in collecting books of black magic, which his master was stockpiling to keep out of the hands of evil sorcerers. Secretly the apprentice studied these books to increase his own powers.
[Date is speculative.]Early A.D. 1500s
The H.M.S. "Drake," a British ship trying to find a southern passage to the Pacific Ocean, was exploring the Antarctic Sea when it struck an iceberg and sank. One of the sailors survived, and was carried underwater by warm ocean currents under the Antarctic continent into a cave, which opened out into the Savage Land. Exploring this strange land the sailor came across a statue of Garokk, a being worshipped by the Sun-People, one of the tribes inhabiting the Savage Land. Drinking from a cup that had been placed in front of the statue, the sailor was discovered by tribesman and he fled.Eventually making his way back to England the sailor discovered that the potion he had drank had granted him immortality. The sailor regarded this as a curse as he watched his loved ones grow old and die while he remained permanently young. Over the next few centuries the sailor searched for a way to end his life. Over time, his skin began becoming hard and rock-like, thus he earned the name the Petrified Man.
[Date based on historical accounts.]Circa A.D. 1520s
The Ancient One discovered his apprentice secretly studying the tomes of black magic that they had collected. As punishment, the Ancient One decided to banish his apprentice from his services. Over the next few centuries, the former apprentice extended his life span by absorbing the life force of evil men, and began going by the name Mister Jip.
[Date is speculative.]Circa A.D. 1565
Puritan adventurer Solomon Kane's life was saved from a werewolf attack by Dracula. In return for saving his life, Kane promised to grant him a favor. However upon discovering Dracula's vampiric nature, and that he was a bloodthirsty killer, Kane engaged Dracula in a sword fight. Kane won the battle and was about to behead the vampire when Dracula reminded the Puritan of the favor he owed him. Dracula asked Kane to spare his life, and the noble and honorable Kane felt compelled to comply. Reluctantly Kane left Transylvania.
[Conan Saga #18]A.D. 1566
Solomon Kane, who had been anguished with guilt over sparing the life of the vampire lord Dracula, returned to Transylvania to end the vampire's existence forever. Kane was victorious against Dracula and plunged a sharpened cross through his heart, the first time Dracula experienced death as a vampire. Kane then resumed his travels. However Dracula was revived only a short time later by Gypsy thieves that pulled the bejeweled cross from the corpse's chest.
[Conan Saga #18]Circa A.D. 1595
English playwright William Shakespeare met Sprite, an Olympian Eternal who was hundreds of years old but who retained a youthful appearance by willing his body not to age into adulthood. Shakespeare based his character Puck in his play "A Midsummer Night's Dream" after the Eternal.
[Date based on historical accounts.]Circa A.D. 1600
Dracula learned of the existence of the Darkhold and of the Montesi Formula. Wishing to acquire it for himself Dracula forced Murgo, a Gypsy thief, to steal the book from the Vatican library. Murgo succeeded in his task, but as he was leaving Rome Count Alessandro Di Cagliostro, a sorcerer and king of the Gypsies, killed Murgo and stole the Darkhold for himself. Upon learning of the theft of the book, Dracula vowed to one day hunt down and destroy Cagliostro.
[Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme #15]Cagliostro eventually gave away or had the Darkhold stolen from him, and it would remain lost for centuries.
[Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme #15]A.D. 1606
Dracula moved his base of operations to the new Castle Dracula at the Borgo Pass, Transylvania.Circa A.D. 1610
An alien from the extra-dimensional world known as the Coconut Grove visited Earth and met William Shakespeare. Shakespeare based his character Ariel in his play "The Tempest" after this alien.
[Date based on historical accounts.]Circa A.D. 1650
The sorcerer known as the Ancient One competed in the mystical tournament at the Temple of Three in Java. The Ancient One won the competition, and was recognized as the Sorcerer Supreme of the Earth dimension.
[Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme #23]A.D. September 1666
Dormammu, extra-dimensional ruler of the Dark Dimension, attempted an invasion of Earth. Dormammu began to manifest himself in the city of London, England. His attempts to push into the Earth dimension resulted in a massive blaze that began to destroy the city. Dormammu used the life force of the victims of the fire to fuel his own power, and created a gateway between his dimension and Earth. Dormammu's incursion was sensed by the Ancient One, who transported himself to England to push back the invasion. The Ancient One and Dormammu fought a mystical battle at Stonehenge, England, and the Ancient One was successful in wounding Dormammu and pushing him back to the Dark Dimension. Gravely wounded and humiliated, Dormammu vowed one day to have his revenge.To prevent Dormammu from invading Earth again, the Ancient One erected mystical barriers, which prevented him from entering the Earth dimension.
[Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme #23]A.D. 1692
Witch trials were held at Salem, Massachusetts. Because of the persecution they had been subjected to over the past few centuries many witches and warlocks decided to gather together and isolate themselves from the rest of the world. Founding a small town in the western United States, these practitioners of the occult named the town New Salem to remind them of the oppression they had undergone from the outside world.
[Date based on historical accounts.]A.D. 1700
Atlanteans encountered Deviant refugees, who taught the Atlanteans the rudiments of technology.
[Date is speculative]The Massachusetts Academy, a private preparatory college school, was founded in Snow Valley, Massachusetts.
A.D. 1700s
Atlantean scientist Kyral developed and perfected a cloning process. The Atlanteans praised these discoveries, and eventually the process was used to create a race of slaves. However the slave population rapidly grew, and they eventually demanded equal rights. Emperor Thallo ordered the death of all of the clones, and within one day of massacres his orders were accomplished. To prevent such further tragedies in the future, the process of cloning was outlawed, punishable by death.
[Namor the Sub-Mariner #20]The Latverian nobleman Count Sabbat ordered construction begun on his castle, which would overlook the Latverian capital of Haasenstadt.
A family of seafaring Dutch settlers in America began construction of a mansion on the shore of Breakstone Lake in upper New York. The mansion would remain in the family's hands for centuries.
Circa A.D. 1760
Owayodata the Wolf-Spirit, a god of the American Indians who was worshipped by the Cheyenne, perceived the need for his people to have a champion. Owayodata invested his essence into one of his worshippers, Wildrun, who became known to his people and to his enemies as the Red Wolf. As the Red Wolf Wildrun helped drive his people's enemies such as the Sioux from the American plains and helped secure Cheyenne territory. Red Wolf also captured and tamed the Cheyenne people's first horse.
[Avengers Annual #21]
[Date based on historical accounts.]Sometime during Red Wolf's career the time traveler Kang the Conqueror journeyed to this era and defeated the Cheyenne warrior in battle. Red Wolf acknowledged Kang as his better in combat and agreed to serve the time traveler for a time as a member of his Anachronauts.
[Avengers Annual #21]A.D. 1762
Dracula moved from Borgo Pass, Transylvania, to France. During his absence a number of noblemen such as Baron Grigori Russoff took over parts of his domain.A.D. 1760s
The Hellfire Club, a social organization for the elite of British society, was founded in England. It was a pleasure club that offered its members indulgences that would have violated the moral standards of society, but it also served as a means for its members to combine their influence over England's political and economical matters.A.D. 1770s
A number of Hellfire Club members immigrated to America where they set up the American headquarters of the Hellfire Club on Manhattan Island, New York.A.D. 1775
English explorers and their families journeyed to Eastern Africa in order to establish a trading post there. With the outbreak of the American Revolution the British government apparently forgot about the colonists and knowledge of the colony disappeared. A series of natural disasters cut off the colonists' links to the outside world. Continuously subjugated to attacks from local tribesmen, the colonists were forced to revert to barbarism and savagery in order to survive.
[Daredevil #202]A.D. 1776
The Avengers, a group of costumed adventurers from the late 20th century, appeared in this time when their time machine malfunctioned. With their time machine only able to transport them to the past and not into the future, the Avengers decided to travel back to ancient Egypt to the time when Rama-Tut was forced to abdicate the throne by the time travelers the Fantastic Four.
[West Coast Avengers #21]A.D. 1789
The French Revolution forced Dracula to flee France and he returned to Dracula Castle in Transylvania. He quickly regained control over most of his lost territory. However Baron Grigori Russoff refused to submit to the vampire.Late A.D. 1700s
The Dire Wraiths, depraved offshoots of the Skrulls which had fled from the Skrull Empire eons ago, began making plans to expand the boundaries of their empire from beyond the Dark Nebula in which they resided into neighboring systems. The Wraith females, who were masters of sorcery, opposed this idea. However the Wraith males, which were devoted to science, managed to convince the Dire Wraith queen that expansion would be in the best interests of their race. The Dire Wraiths began making plans to invade the neighboring system known as the Golden Galaxy.
[Rom #48]Galadorian space-ships, which roamed the galaxy sharing their ways of peace and technology with whomever they encountered, entered the Dark Nebula. They were attacked by the Dire Wraiths, who used their sorcery to summon Deathwing, a mystical entity of enormous size and power which consumed the Galadorian spaceships whole leaving those inside burned and disfigured. The Dire Wraiths then began making plans to invade Galador itself. The Prime Director of Galador, learning of the attack, asked for volunteers to become cyborg warriors that could undergo the rigors of outer space and hunt down and punish the Dire Wraiths.
Rom, a Galadorian poet, was the first to volunteer for the program and became one of the hundreds of Galadorians that risked their humanity to be transformed into cyborg warriors called Spaceknights. The organic remains of the cyborgs were kept preserved on Galador so that once the war against the Dire Wraiths was over the cyborgs could be returned to their original humanoid forms.
In the major battle against the Dire Wraiths, the Deathwing was destroyed by Rom and the bulk of the Dire Wraith fleet was decimated. Rom, who distinguished himself during the battle for his courage and bravery, warned the Prime Director that Galador could not be safe until all Dire Wraiths were hunted down and banished to the extra-dimensional realm of Limbo. Rom and other Spaceknights were ordered to seek out and destroy all Dire Wraith outposts and to use their technology to banish them from their dimension forever.
[Rom Annual #2]Rom began pursuit of the remains of the Dire Wraith fleet as they were on route back to Wraithworld. When the fleet sensed Rom approaching, all but the Wraith command cruiser broke off and fled to distant points throughout the galaxy. The cruiser, hoping that Wraithworld itself would defeat Rom, continued on its way to the Wraith home-world. Rom invaded the planet, banishing thousands of the Dire Wraiths to the extra-dimensional realm of Limbo. The remaining Dire Wraiths on Wraithworld were forced to flee their own planet because of Rom's assault. Realizing that he was responsible for driving the Dire Wraiths throughout the galaxy, Rom convinced his fellow Spaceknights to hunt down and banish all remaining Dire Wraiths before they became a threat to other worlds.
[Rom Annual #2]Pyscatos, a Lemurian rebel, stole the Serpent Crown from the Lemurian Emperor Naga. He and his companions had resisted the mental control of the Crown using telepathy and self-hypnosis. The rebels fled with the Crown to Antarctica and using chemical means they developed a process to allow them to breathe air. Discovering ancient Pangean technology the Lemurians established a thriving town. The rebels encased the Serpent Crown in a special cover as an attempt to further resist the telepathic lure that the Crown possessed. Pyscatos and his brother Bekkit ruled the rebels together for years before Bekkit and his wife left the colony to establish relationships with humans.
Bekkit traveled the world, learning from the greatest scientists of the time. Stories he told of his people eventually became common knowledge, and they were referred to in science journals of the times as the Ancients. While Bekkit was gone Pyscatos grew old and ill, and finally succumbed to temptation, donned the Serpent Crown. The Ancients' town then began to fall under Set's influence. When Bekkit, now an old man, returned to Antarctica he was attacked and killed by Pyscastos. Realizing what a monster he had become, Pyscastos threw the Crown from his head and punched a switch that overloaded a Pangean dynamo. The resulting explosion caused an avalanche that destroyed the city and killed all of the Ancients. The Serpent Crown was buried under tons of ice and snow.
[Daredevil Annual #4]For centuries, Naga had his agents roam the oceans for the Serpent Crown. With the Crown gone, Naga was no longer immortal but he greatly slowed down his aging process using alchemical means.
Victor Frankenstein, a brilliant biology and chemistry student at the University of Ingolstadt, created artificial life. Frankenstein had been working on a method to reanimate dead tissue so that human beings could attain immortality. Piecing together body parts from a number of corpses, Frankenstein succeeded in animating the huge cadaver. Horrified and repulsed at his own creation, Frankenstein rejected the monster and it wandered off. Turned away by other humans as well, the monster tracked Frankenstein down and commanded him to create him a mate. Frankenstein, fearing that he would be the creator of a monster race, destroyed the female before it was completed. Enraged, the monster killed members of Frankenstein's family. Pursuing the monster to the Arctic, Frankenstein died from exposure on board the ship of Captain Robert Walton, to whom he told his story. Learning of his creator's death, the monster attempted suicide through exposure to the cold and ice. Instead of dying, the monster was thrown into suspended animation.
A.D. 1795
In an attempt to make Baron Grigori Russoff give up his stolen land, Dracula kidnapped and killed Russoff's wife Louisa. Attempting to rescue her from Castle Dracula, Russoff discovered she had died and killed Dracula by impaling him with a stake of wood. Russoff rescued Lydia, a woman held prisoner at the castle. However Lydia was a werewolf and eventually changed shape and bit Russoff, inflicting him with lycanthropy. Although Russoff's children were already born, the disease was mystically transmitted to his descendants and awaited a supernatural catalyst to activate it.Dracula was later revived and brought back to life.
Circa A.D. 1800s
Catherine Moranis, a Canadian farm-girl living in Ottawa, was selected by the god-mothers to be presented to the Celestials when they arrived in the late 20th century. She was transported to the Underground Temple and placed in suspended animation.Gregor Buhkarov, a Russian student living in Kiev, was selected by the god-mothers to be presented to the Celestials when they arrived in the late 20th century. He was transported to the Underground Temple and placed in suspended animation.
Raoul Hernandez, a Spanish Amerind saloon dancer and singer living in Columbia, was selected by the god-mothers to be presented to the Celestials when they arrived in the late 20th century. He was transported to the Underground Temple and placed in suspended animation.
Chandra Ku, a young teenager of the Zulu tribe in Africa, was selected by the god-mothers to be presented to the Celestials when they arrived in the late 20th century. She was transported to the Underground Temple and placed in suspended animation.
The Uranian Eternals successfully verified the results of one of their scientists who claimed to have discovered a grand unified theory of everything. However the answer to the meaning of life had the effect of eliminating all challenges from their lives, and the Eternals became depressed and suicidal. However because of their immortal nature it was almost impossible for them to terminate their own existence.
[Quasar #2]A.D. 1818
English writer Mary Shelley heard the tales of Captain Robert Walton and had his and Victor Frankenstein's story published as "Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus."Circa A.D. 1840s
Birth of Matt Hawk in Boston, Massachusetts.Birth of the man who would one day be known as Yellow Claw in mainland China. Growing up he became a superb alchemist, and used chemicals to greatly extend his life span.
A.D. 1848
The "Terror" and the "Ebrebrus," two ships on assignment to discover the northern passage to the Pacific Ocean, became stuck in the Arctic ice. With supplies running low, Captain F.R. Crozier decided to lead the remnants of his crew south on foot to civilization. The winter weather killed many of his crew. Crozier downed a potion which would slow his bodily functions, hoping that his crew would abandon his body, and that his life functions would return to normal with the spring thaw. However his men decided to bury him, and although Crozier was conscious, he could not move or speak in protest. Crozier would remain buried for more than a century.
[Alpha Flight #37]Circa A.D. 1850
The under-sea province of Skarka attempted an invasion of Atlantis. The invaders were repelled but the city of Atlantis took heavy damage and Emperor Immanu was killed. The new Emperor of Atlantis, Thakorr, led the population south and founded the city of Thakorr off the coast of Antarctica.Birth of Carter Slade in Ohio.
Mid 1850s
Birth of Blaine Colt in Abilene, Wyoming.Birth of Johnny Clay. Shortly after his birth Cheyenne Indians killed his parents in a raid. The Cheyenne took the infant with them, but shortly afterwards he was found by Texas Ranger Ben Bart. Bart decided to raise the child as his son on his ranch outside of Rawhide, Texas, and had Johnny's last name legally changed to Bart.
Late A.D. 1860s
Matt Hawk, a young lawyer in Tombstone, Texas, came under the tutelage of an aged gunfighter, Ben Dancer. Under Dancer Hawk became a superb gunslinger as well as an accomplished horseback rider and a master of the lasso. However Dancer warned Hawk to keep his accomplishments secret, fearing that if they became public he would be challenged by a number of other gunslingers wishing to make a reputation for themselves. Hawk decided to assume the masked identity of the Two-Gun Kid whenever he would have to use his guns. As the Two-Gun Kid Hawk fought and defeated a number of criminals.A.D. 1870s
The Inhuman Agon, son of Symak, was elected to the head of the Inhumans' Genetics Council, and thus became ruler of the Inhumans. During his reign Agon discovered that fellow Council member Phaeder was performing illegal experiments upon clones. Phaeder was barred from the Council. Faking his own death, Phaeder self-exiled himself from Attilan.Blaine Colt, son of a murdered Abilene, Wyoming rancher, avenged his father's death. However a member of the murderer's gang feared Colt, and told the sheriff that Colt had murdered his leader in cold blood. Colt, fearing that no one would believe that he had challenged his father's murderer to a fair fight, fled the town. Calling himself Kid Colt, Blaine wandered the American south-west as a fugitive from the law. Kid Colt used his extraordinary skills as a gun fighter to aid the poor and defend the innocent from criminals.
An American frontier schoolteacher, Carter Slade, uncovered a plot by land baron Jason Bartholemew to kill homesteaders. Carter was gunned down by the killers but was discovered by Jamie Jacobs, a child of one of the murdered homesteaders. Placing Slade upon his horse, Jacobs attempted to bring the injured school teacher to town for medical treatment. However the two were discovered by Comanche Indians. Slade was taken to Flaming Star, the Comanche's shaman, for treatment and was successfully restored back to health.
Flaming Star, believing Slade to be a champion whose coming was foretold by Star's gods, gave Slade phosphorescent dust that Star had collected from a meteor, as well as a cloak that Star had covered with the dust. Star also showed Slade a magnificent wild white horse. Slade succeeded in taming the horse and named him Banshee. Believing that God had saved his life for a purpose, Slade donned the costumed identity of the Phantom Rider and became a gun-toting crime fighter. One of his first missions was to confront Bartholemew. Bartholemew was so startled by the Phantom Rider's supernatural appearance that he gave himself up to the local marshal.
The Phantom Rider went on to become the most successful masked crime fighter of the old West.
Johnny Bart began his crime fighting career under the name of the Rawhide Kid. He dedicated himself to fighting evildoers, and sought out some of the meanest, worst criminals in the American West and defeated them.
During one of his adventures the Rawhide Kid injured one of his opponents in a duel. Despite evidence that it was a fair fight the local sheriff still insisted on arresting the Kid. The Rawhide Kid fled in protest and from that time on was an outlaw in the eyes of the law. Despite this the Rawhide Kid continued to fight crime and bring evil-doers to justice.
A.D. 1873
Hawkeye, Moondragon, and Thor, costumed adventurers from the late 20th century, journeyed back in time to defeat the time travelling villain Kang the Conqueror. The three heroes teamed up with Kid Colt, the Phantom Rider, the Rawhide Kid, the Ringo Kid, and the Two-Gun Kid, who helped the three adventurers battle Kang. The Two-Gun Kid and Hawkeye became good friends, and the Two-Gun Kid left his time to journey into the future with him.A.D. 1874
The Two-Gun Kid returned to this time from the late 20th century.A.D. 1875
Loki, Asgardian god of mischief, arranged for the theft of the golden apples of Idunn, fruit that the Asgardians ate to retain their youth and immortality. Without the apples the gods began to grow old and die. However the troll that Loki had steal the apples had a change of heart and smuggled the apples to the American mid-West on Earth, waiting for Prince Thor of Asgard to find him. Thor recovered the apples and returned with them to Asgard.
[Thor #370]English couple Lily and Lionel were motoring through the Transylvanian Alps when their motor car fell off the road. Lionel was killed and Lily roamed the Balkan woods for days before stumbling across the village ruled by Esteban Diablo. Taken in and cured of her injuries by Diablo, the two fell in love. Diablo revealed his alchemical secrets to her and began training her in his sorcerous ways.
[Alpha Flight #21]A.D. 1876
The Phantom Rider teamed up with his brother, Marshall Lincoln Slade, against the criminal Reverend Reaper. After being pursued into a cave Reaper set off a set of explosions that caused a cave-in. Reaper himself was caught in one of the explosions and was killed. Lincoln Slade escaped serious injury but the Phantom Rider was mortally wounded. Near death, Phantom Rider revealed his true identity to his brother and asked him to take his place. With the death of his brother, Lincoln Slade became the second Phantom Rider. However Slade slowly began going mad.Time travelers from the late 20th century, the Avengers, became stuck in this era when their time machine became damaged and could only travel backwards in time. Appearing near Tombstone, Texas, the Avengers met the adventurers the Phantom Rider, Rawhide Kid, and Two-Gun Kid. Hawkeye and the Two-Gun Kid were reunited. The Phantom Rider fell in love with Hawkeye's wife and fellow Avenger Mockingbird, and when the Avengers were about to leave this time for the past he seized her and knocked her out. The Avengers, unable to stop the time machine, journeyed back in time a hundred years. The Phantom Rider used an Indian potion to make Mockingbird fall in love with him. Two-Gun Kid and Rawhide Kid, realizing what Phantom Rider had done, attacked him but were defeated by Mockingbird. Once the potion wore off Mockingbird became enraged and attacked Phantom Rider, who during the battle fell from a cliff to his death.
The Avengers managed to return to this time and located Mockingbird. They then returned to the late 20th century.
Fed up with his tyrannical rule a number of peasants assaulted Esteban Diablo and chased him back to his castle. Trapping him they imprisoned Diablo within a massive crypt. The elixir of immortality that had kept Diablo alive for centuries allowed him to survive entombment, and he remained entrapped for a hundred years.
Lily, witnessing the imprisonment of her lover, killed Diablo's servant that had betrayed him. Lily made her way back to England, using her dead husband's fortunes to set up her own alchemical lab.
[Alpha Flight #21]A.D. 1880s
Terminus, an intergalactic scavenger whose mission was to destroy worlds that had been spared by the judgement of the Celestials, conquered the home world of an alien scientist. Taking the scientist as a slave, Terminus used him as a guide to discover other new planets. Knowing that the planet Earth would one day give rise to superhuman beings, and hoping that humans would have the might to challenge Terminus, the slave persuaded Terminus to go to Earth. Terminus fired an energy beam towards Earth to mark the planet as his. Travelling at the speed of light, the beam would take a hundred years to reach its destination. Terminus then launched himself after the beam.
[Thor Annual #15]The vampire Vlad Dracula and his daughter Lilith reached a truce in their centuries long war. They agreed never to cross paths again.
Vlad Dracula was killed by an American who fired a barrage of silver buckshot into his body. Although Dracula was revived years later, minute particles of silver remained in his body. This caused the vampire to age rapidly whenever he went a considerable amount of time without ingesting blood.
A.D. 1880s
American President Chester Arthur signed a land grant giving the Apache Indians in Arizona the right to live on and develop their land as they pleased. Arthur entrusted the document to an American soldier and sent him to deliver it to the Arizona governor. The soldier fell sick on route, and fearing that if he died the document may be lost, buried it and drew up a false map. The soldier etched the true location of the land grant onto the map in such a way as to be known only by touch, not sight. Sick and dying, the soldier continued on his way, until he was discovered by an Apache Indian. The soldier gave the map to the Apache before he died.Rancher Rance Keeno overheard the soldier's story from a friend. Not wishing for grazing land to remain in Indian hands, Keeno and his men hunted down the Apache and shot him dead. They were prevented from murdering his younger brother by the intervention of the Two-Gun Kid, who drove off Keeno and his men. Two-Gun Kid decided to aid the young Apache in locating the land grant. However because they could not see the true location of the document they failed in finding it. Sensing however that one day it would be found, Two-Gun Kid scrawled a message on one of his bullets and left it in the false location where the map said the document should be.
[Daredevil #215]
[Date based on historical accounts]
CHAPTER 3: DAWN OF MODERN HUMAN CIVILIZATION
CHAPTER 7: BEGINNING OF WORLD WAR II
CHAPTER 8: END OF WORLD WAR II
CHAPTER 9: POST WORLD WAR II - 1956
CHAPTER 11: PRE-FANTASTIC FOUR #1, PART I
CHAPTER 12: PRE-FANTASTIC FOUR #1, PART II
CHAPTER 13: PRE-FANTASTIC FOUR #1, PART III
CHAPTER 14: PRE-FANTASTIC FOUR #1, PART IV