UNOFFICIAL CHRONOLOGY TO
THE MARVEL UNIVERSE
CHAPTER 9: POST
WORLD WAR TWO - 1956
Late A.D. 1945
With the end of the War many of the Howling Commandoes decided to accept honorary discharges from military service. However Captain Sam Sawyer and Sergeant Nicolas "Nick" Fury remained enlisted.Jacqueline Crichton, the costumed super-hero Spitfire, retired from adventuring. Over the next few years her body rejected the foreign elements which gave her super-human abilities, until by the end of the decade she was once again a non-powered human.
Appalled at the inhumanity he had witnessed during the war years, Red Raven decided to return to Aerie, the floating city of the Bird People. However upon returning he discovered that the Aerians planned on taking advantage of the turmoil caused by the War to conquer the human race, whom they believed to be their inferiors. Red Raven, believing that the humans would win such a war, decided to save the Bird People by releasing a gas which placed the entire populace of the island in suspended animation. Red Raven then placed the Bird People in chambers which would keep them alive, then used the island's controls to sink the island beneath the Atlantic Ocean. Red Raven then programmed a timer which would automatically raise the island from the depths after a certain amount of time and release the Bird People from stasis. Red Raven then placed himself in suspended animation.
Elton T. Morrow, the costumed adventurer known as the Blue Diamond, retired from adventuring and married his childhood sweetheart. Morrow returned to his career as an anthropologist. He and his wife settled in the town of Hartsdale, Massachusetts.
The Crimson Commando, Stonewall, and Super-Sabre returned to their home town in Massachusetts and devoted themselves to fighting crime there.
Fritz Tiboldt and his wife Lola, who continued to run and operate the Tiboldt Circus, aided the Allies by testifying against the Nazis' during the War Crimes trials. Eventually Nazi agents who had gone undercover to avoid prosecution hunted Tiboldt down and killed him and his wife. Their son Maynard eventually took over control of the circus, moving it again to America and establishing it as a traveling carnival.
[X-Force #-1]Fritz Tiboldt and his wife Lola, who continued to run and operate the Tiboldt Circus, aided the Allies by testifying against the Nazis' during the War Crimes trials. Eventually Nazi agents who had gone undercover to avoid prosecution hunted Tiboldt down and killed him and his wife. Their son Maynard eventually took over control of the circus, moving it again to America and establishing it as a traveling carnival.
[X-Force #-1]Fritz Tiboldt and his wife Lola, who continued to run and operate the Tiboldt Circus, aided the Allies by testifying against the Nazis' during the War Crimes trials. Eventually Nazi agents who had gone undercover to avoid prosecution hunted Tiboldt down and killed him and his wife. Their son Maynard eventually took over control of the circus, moving it again to America and establishing it as a traveling carnival.
[X-Force #-1]Fritz Tiboldt and his wife Lola, who continued to run and operate the Tiboldt Circus, aided the Allies by testifying against the Nazis' during the War Crimes trials. Eventually Nazi agents who had gone undercover to avoid prosecution hunted Tiboldt down and killed him and his wife. Their son Maynard eventually took over control of the circus, moving it again to America and establishing it as a traveling carnival.
[X-Force #-1]Fritz Tiboldt and his wife Lola, who continued to run and operate the Tiboldt Circus, aided the Allies by testifying against the Nazis' during the War Crimes trials. Eventually Nazi agents who had gone undercover to avoid prosecution hunted Tiboldt down and killed him and his wife. Their son Maynard eventually took over control of the circus, moving it again to America and establishing it as a traveling carnival.
[X-Force #-1]Kenji Oyama was released from an American prison camp and allowed to return to Japan. His injuries had left him permanently scarred, and to hide his disfigurement Oyama began wearing a full face mask. Oyama wrote a book about his experiences which was a huge success, and he used the proceeds from the book sales to purchase a small island off of the coast of Japan. Oyama, wishing to restore Japan's honor, eventually began attracting followers and began going by the name Lord Dark Wind. Years later Lord Dark Wind learned of the American government's attempts to recreate adamantium, and he arranged for the theft of notes for the formula. Dark Wind eventually began experimenting on a process to bond adamantium to bone in order to create a race of super-warriors.
[Alpha Flight #34, Daredevil #198]The Dire Wraiths discovered Earth and decided to conquer and use it as a base to re-launch an attack on the world of Galador. To accomplish this a number of Dire Wraiths landed on Earth and used their shape-changing abilities to assume human form. For years the Dire Wraiths studied Earth and its inhabitants, without the humans being aware that aliens walked among them. The Dire Wraiths eventually established permanent human identities, and chose at random the date November 9, 1945, as the birth-dates on their forged identities. A number of these Dire Wraiths settled in the town of Clairton, West Virginia.
[Rom #17]The Dire Wraith which had crash-landed on Earth five years before found that the end of the War allowed it to more easily fit in among the humans it had decided to dwell among. The Wraith eventually established a human identity of Jacob Marks and became a farmer near the town of Clairton, West Virginia.
[Rom #17]As a sign of devotion to his fallen leader, Hitler's personal dentist had his own teeth replaced with Hitler's dentures. Over the next few decades, the dentist was driven mad with grief, until he finally began to believe that he himself was Adolph Hitler. The dentist eventually took on the alias of Dr. Reich.
[Howard the Duck Magazine #4]A.D. 1946
American president Harry Truman asked the American members of the Invaders to continue as a unit under the name the All-Winners Squad. All agreed although the Sub-Mariner returned to his home first. Upon returning to Thakorr Prince Namor learned that Byrrah and Krang had turned Emperor Thakorr against him. The Emperor ruled that because Namor had abandoned his fellow Atlanteans during the war years that he should be banished from the city forever. Namor accepted his exile and returned to American to join the All-Winners Squad. The Human Torch, Toro, Sub-Mariner, Captain America II, Bucky II, Whizzer, Miss America and the Blonde Phantom served as members.
[Saga of the Sub-Mariner #5]A.D. February 1946
While working in the Office of Strategic Services, Sergeant Nick Fury received a package from Professor Sternberg, whom Fury believed had died a year before. The Professor sent Fury an inoculator which he claimed Fury needed to live. When Fury awoke the next day, he discovered he had greatly aged overnight. Fury then injected himself with the inoculator and returned to his previous health and appearance. The Professor soon contacted Fury again, and informed him that he would need an inoculation of the Infinity Formula once a year or else he would greatly age. By taking the Formula Fury would halt his aging process. However in return for this Sternberg blackmailed Fury for money, which Fury was forced to pay in order to survive. Sternberg extorted Fury yearly for the next several decades.
[Marvel Spotlight #31]Professor Phineas Horton moved to Boston and created a new android, Adam II. However Adam II rebelled against Horton, kidnapped him, and began creating other androids and robots. Adam II developed a plan to substitute congressional candidate John F. Kennedy with a robot duplicate. The Human Torch and Toro came to Boston to visit Horton and were captured by Adam II, but were rescued by the Patriot. Horton informed the Patriot of Adam II's plans, and the Patriot informed the All-Winners Squad. As Captain America II and Bucky II battled Adam II and his robots, Captain America II was killed, but not before using a flare which summoned the rest of the Squad. Inspired by Captain America II's sacrifice, the Patriot donned a spare Captain America costume, and managed to foil Adam II's plans. Captain America III was accepted as the successor to the role of Captain America, and was accepted into the All-Winners Squad. Captain America III and Bucky II became partners.
Jack Frost, wishing to discover his origins, journeyed north to the Arctic Circle and was attacked by an enormous ice worm. Grabbing onto its tail, Frost was swallowed by the worm, which swallowed its own tail as well. Frost, using his mastery of cold, froze the worm's heart, throwing them both into suspended animation.
[Captain America #384]The Ruby Scarab, the mystical weapon wielded by Abdul Faoul, the Scarlet Scarab, mysteriously disappeared. Faoul spent the next few decades searching for the mystical object.
[Thor #326]Construction began of the Baxter Building on Lexington Avenue, New York, New York.
[Marvel Two-in-One Annual #1]A.D. 1947
The Human Torch and Toro defeated and captured Henry Mortonson, an insane hijacker who went by the name of the Hyena. Mortonson had contracted a rare disease when he was a child that had rendered him insane and left him with a permanent smile. During World War II the Hyena had become a Nazi agent, performing subversive activities on American soil, and during the War he had clashed with the Human Torch. After his arrest the Hyena was sentenced to a length prison term. Through force of will the Hyena overcame the effects of his disease, but he was still obsessed with seeking vengeance upon the Human Torch and used every opportunity to study the Torch's origins.
[Avengers West Coast #83]Late A.D. 1940s
The All-Winners Squad disbanded. Miss America and the Whizzer retired from crime fighting and were married.Industrialist Howard Stark founded Stark Industries. Over the next few decades Stark Industries became the United States government's chief contractor for electronics, supplying equipment and parts for use in aviation, missiles, and advanced weaponry.
Major Thaddeus E. "Thunderbolt" Ross was assigned to the nuclear research facility at Los Alamos, New Mexico. However Ross, a combat veteran, was dissatisfied at the desk job the army had given him.
Baron Gregory Russoff of Transylvania acquired the Darkhold in Istanbul from the sorcerer Taboo.
Tai, one of the genetically perfect children that was bred to tap the powers of the Well of All Things, gave birth to a young girl which was named Miyami. Tai's fellows that had also been bred to tap the Well soon gave birth to their own children.
[New Warriors #24]A.D. 1948
Jahaharel Patel, a Hindu scientist, was contacted by the Hindu pantheon of gods and chosen to be one of the humans to be presented to the Celestials when they arrived near the end of the century. He was transported to the Underground Temple and placed in suspended animation.A.D. 1949
Establishment of the People's Republic of China. One of the more powerful pre-revolution government officials, later known as the Mandarin, lost his position and wealth to the communists and began searching for a way to restore his power and fortune. Wandering China, the Mandarin eventually heard rumors of the fabled Valley of Spirits. Searching the Valley, the Mandarin discovered the ruins of a crashed spaceship and the skeleton of the pilot inside. He spent years mastering the alien technology and deciphering the secrets of the ten rings that the alien wore.
[Date based on historical accounts.]Robert and Madeline Frank, formerly the Whizzer and Miss America, began working for the American government as non-costumed superhuman security agents at a nuclear power plant in New York. Isbisa, a former enemy of the All-Winners Squad, sought revenge on the Franks and sabotaged the plant. The Franks rushed into an area contaminated with radiation to activate the dampening rods that had malfunctioned but were both bombarded with high levels of radiation. Madeline Frank was pregnant at the time, and eight months later she gave birth to a terribly deformed mutant baby which emitted toxic levels of radiation. The American government persuaded the Franks to hand the baby, Robert Frank Jr., over to them. The government seized the baby and placed it within a specially designed chamber that was meant to drain the enormous amounts of radiation the baby was generating while also retarding his aging process. The baby, nicknamed Nuklo, was raised and remained in the chamber for decades.
Distraught over the loss of their baby, the Franks accepted a compensation the government provided them and decided to tour the world.
Injured by a bullet wound, Bucky II retired from crime fighting.
Betsy Ross, a former girlfriend of the original Captain America, adopted the identity of Golden Girl II and became Captain America III's new partner.
Criminals used an experimental solution to paralyze and neutralize the flame powers of the Human Torch and Toro. Believing Toro to be no threat, they left him behind and buried the Human Torch in the Nevada Desert. Believing the Human Torch to be dead, and his powers extinguished, Toro retired from adventuring. However his powers eventually returned, and Toro returned to crime-fighting.
Louise Grant, the Blonde Phantom, and her boss Mark Mason became engaged and were married. Upon her marriage Grant retired from costumed crime fighting.
A.D. 1950
Captain America III retired from crime fighting and returned to his civilian career as a journalist.A.D. Late 1950
With the outbreak of the Korean War, many of the former Howling Commandoes re-enlisted in the American military, and were reunited under Sergeant Nick Fury. After a successful mission in which the Howling Commandos destroyed an enemy MIG base across the 38th parallel, Fury was promoted to Second Lieutenant.
[Date based on historical accounts.]Major Thaddeus E. "Thunderbolt" Ross was reassigned from Los Alamos, New Mexico to Korea. While there Ross rose to the rank of General.
[Date based on historical accounts.]A.D. early 1950s
At the age of eighteen Black Bolt, son of the Inhumans' ruler Agon, was allowed to leave the sound-proof chamber which he had lived in since he was an infant. Around the same time the alien Kree renewed their interest in the Inhumans, whom they had genetically engineered and abandoned millennia ago. Black Bolt's brother Maximus began secret negotiations with the Kree. A month after he was permitted to reenter society, Black Bolt discovered his brother's treachery and used his sonic energy powers in an attempt to stop and question the Kree emissaries before they could escape. However the Kree spy-ship crashed into the laboratory where his father Agon and his mother Rynda were working, and they were instantly killed. The effects of the reverberations from his brother's shout caused Maximus' sanity to be affected. Black Bolt was elected as leader of the Genetics Council and became the new ruler of the Inhumans. He ordered that his brother Maximus be detained for his own safety. Maximus vowed to one day destroy his brother and to seize the throne.With the widespread use of airplanes and steamships, the Inhumans began to fear discovery of their island city Attilan by humans. Triton, an Inhuman with aquatic abilities and cousin to Black Bolt, was assigned to be an undersea scout to monitor human oceangoing traffic. His brief capture by human sailors helped Black Bolt, who had only been head of the Genetics Council for a year, to decide to relocate the entire city. Black Bolt scoured the world for a possible site.
Black Bolt encountered Ikaris the Eternal, who playfully attacked him. After the Inhuman defeated Ikaris, the Eternal took him to Olympia to meet his leader Zuras. Learning of the Inhumans' plight, Zuras decided to aid Black Bolt in seeking an appropriate new location for Attilan. Journeying to the Himalayan Mountains the Eternals used their molecular powers to excavate an enormous pit for the site of a new Attilan. Using anti-gravity generators the entire city was floated to China and placed in the pit.
[What If? vol.1 #29]Shortly after the move of Attilan from the Atlantic Ocean to the Himalayas the exiled Inhuman Phaedar and his son Maelstrom moved into the underwater ruins of the island and discovered traces of the Terrigen Mist. They set up a base and began experiments on Terrigen, genetic engineering, and cloning.
The crime-fighting trio the Crimson Commando, Stonewall, and Super-Sabre offered their services to the American government to be used as agents against Communist aggression. However the American government declined their request, and persuaded the trio to retire from crime fighting.
The American government constructed the Alley, a huge network of tunnels underneath the island of Manhattan for use by the military in case of nuclear war. These tunnels were only kept operational for a few years and were later abandoned.
Robert Grayson, the American boy living on the planet Uranus, was given the quantum bands, the pair of energy manipulating arm bands constructed by the being Eon millennia ago. Missing his home, at the age of seventeen Grayson traveled back to Earth where he used the quantum bands to battle crime and to spread the Uranian way of peace. Calling himself Marvel Boy, Grayson became one of the preeminent costumed crime fighters of the 1950's. He fought crime for three years.
Marvel Boy fought an evil automaton called the Human Robot. Defeating the robot, Marvel Boy used his knowledge of Uranian science to re-program the robot so that it fought for good.
[Contest of Champions #3]Maintaining radio contact with Uranus, Marvel Boy learned that his father had become ill and the Uranians, unfamiliar with the illness that inflicted his body, were unable to treat him. Unable to get a bank loan to purchase medical supplies, Grayson decided to return to Uranus to be by his father's side.
Deathurge, an agent of the cosmic being Oblivion, learned of the Uranians desire for self-obliteration. Contacting the Eternals, they willingly gave him permission to end their existence. Deathurge destroyed the dome covering the Eternal colony, and their exposure to space killed the Uranians.
[Quasar #2]Upon his arrival on the planet Uranus, Marvel Boy discovered the dead bodies of his father and the Uranians. Driven insane with grief, Marvel Boy headed back to Earth to seek vengeance on the bank manager who had refused him a loan to purchase medical equipment. However, on the journey back to Earth, Marvel Boy's spaceship passed through the tail of comet. Exposed to an unknown form of radiation, the ship slowed to below light speed. The radiation also caused Marvel Boy to fall into a state of suspended animation, and it took decades for the ship to reach Earth.
The Yellow Claw, a Chinese biochemist who had developed an elixir that extended his life span, and who was also hungry for world power, made an agreement with Chinese communist leaders in which he would retain his holdings if he tried to undermine and destroy Western democracies on behalf of Communist China. In actuality the Yellow Claw planned on seizing world power for himself, but never revealed his true plans to the Chinese government. The Yellow Claw launched a number of plans to conquer the United States, but was constantly opposed and thwarted by Federal Bureau of Investigations agent James "Jimmy" Woo, and the Yellow Claw's own niece Suwan. The Yellow Claw was enraged at his niece's constant betrayal, but found himself unable to kill his only living relative.
Nick Fury aided French intelligence as a spy in Vietnam, actions which helped him earn the rank of Colonel. His spy work helped him get a position in the Central Intelligence Agency and he quickly rose to be a top operative.
Harmon Furmintz went to work for multimillionaire Howard Stark, working in Stark's biochemical division.
[New Warriors #4]A.D. 1953
During the Korean War an American history teacher, who was obsessed with hero worship for the original Captain America (whom he correctly believed had disappeared before the end of World War II,) discovered the formula to the Super-Soldier serum in a Nazi spy's notebook. Going to the American government he offered to become the next Captain America in exchange for the serum. The government agreed, hoping to have a patriotic symbol to fight in the Korean War. This man learned the original Captain America's true identity, and wanted to convince people that he was the original. However shortly after he underwent plastic surgery to resemble the original Captain America, the project was cancelled with the end of the Korean War.
[Date based on historical accounts.]Steve Rogers, as the history teacher was now legally know, started teaching at Lee School. There he met Jack Monroe, a teenager who shared his obsession with Captain America and Bucky. The two became friends and Monroe acquired Captain America and Bucky costumes for them. However, Rogers refused to don the costume.
A Communist leader of an Algeria, Africa based spy ring, wishing to inspire fear in his enemies, assumed the costumed identity of the original Red Skull. One of his first acts of terrorism was to hold hostage a number of foreign delegates at the United Nations building in New York. When a news report announced the return of the Red Skull, Rogers and Monroe decided to take the Super-Soldier serum. However because they did not undergo the same "vita-ray" treatment that the original Steve Rogers had undergone the serum had a detrimental effect upon their sanity. Donning the costumes, the pair went after the new Red Skull and defeated him. The two then became active crime fighters, mainly concentrating on foes of America such as communist spies.
Running out of foes to fight and suffering from schizophrenic paranoia, their sanities on the verge of mental breakdown, Captain America IV and Bucky III started attacking not only suspected communist sympathizers but also African Americans and anyone else they considered not to be "pure blooded" Americans. The Federal Bureau of Investigations learned of their illegal attacks upon innocent people and arrested and confined the two. They both refused to undergo psychiatric treatment, and were both held and placed in suspended animation.
Brian Falsworth, the second Union Jack, died in a car crash.
A.D. December 1953
A test of an atomic bomb in the Nevada Desert doused the Human Torch with radiation and freed him from the paralysis which had inflicted him for four years. After unearthing himself, the Human Torch sought out his former partner Toro and the two teamed up again.Mid A.D. 1950s
Venus, Olympian goddess of love and beauty, decided that the mortal world was in need of her abilities. Olympian leader Zeus forbid her from interfering in mortal concerns, but Venus disobeyed his edict. In anger, Zeus removed Venus' god-like traits and exiled her from Olympus. With only her powers of love left to her, Venus became an adventurer.
[What If? v1 #9]Forced to live among mortals, Venus eventually established a human identity of Victoria N. Starr. Living in America, Venus eventually attended university and received a Master of Arts degree in humanities.
Baron Gregory Russoff learned the origins of lycanthropy from the Darkhold. Upon reading the nature of the curse, the book supernaturally triggered the dormant curse that affected his family and he was transformed into a werewolf. For months Russoff terrorized the locals in his werewolf form. Fearing the damage he might do to his own family, Russoff sent his wife Laura and their children Jacob and Lissa to America to live. She eventually divorced herself from Russoff.
Herbert Wyndham used his invention, a genetic accelerator, to transform animals into humanoids. One of his first attempts was to artificially evolve a cow into a humanoid, which he named Bova. Artificially evolving other animals, Wyndham discovered that these New Men, as he named them, were intelligent and able to learn.
Sensing Jonathan Drew's troubled thoughts about Wundagore Mountain, the astral form of Magnus, the 6th century mage who had helped imprison the Elder God Chthon beneath the mountain centuries before, possessed Drew and journeyed back to the nation of Transia. There Magnus aided Wyndham, who had dubbed himself the High Evolutionary, in the training of his New Men in ancient medieval chivalry. Magnus knew of the presence of Chthon under Wundagore Mountain and foresaw a day in the near future when Chthon might escape. The High Evolutionary, wishing to install in his New Men a code of honor, agreed to the plan. The Knights of Wundagore, as they were named by their masters, began a long process of training.
The Ancient One foresaw that he would soon gain an apprentice who would be worthy enough to inherit his mantle of Sorcerer Supreme. However the mage had doubts about his own abilities to pass on his true powers and knowledge. The Ancient One also saw the need for Earth to have a mystical champion that would protect the planet until his chosen heir became powerful enough to combat such menaces himself. The Ancient One chose Doctor Anthony Druid, a former psychiatrist who had devoted himself to the occult, as his test subject. Summoning Druid to Tibet, the Ancient One disguised himself as an ailing Lama and told Druid that he was dying. The Ancient One imparted a fraction of his knowledge to Druid while at the same time awakening the latent power that Druid possessed from his Celtic ancestors. Druid gained a great amount of mystical knowledge at the same instant the Ancient One faked his own death. Druid then returned to the West, where he established himself as an expert of the occult.
[Avengers Spotlight #37]
[Date is speculative]The sun in the Contraxian solar system was burning out. Contraxian scientists were dispatched throughout the galaxy to try to find an energy source to revive their dying sun.
Philip Hart was a wealthy inventor who was working on a revolutionary source of energy he named Zero Fluid. An alien Contraxian scientist learned of Hart's experiments and assumed a human form so that she could more easily observe and monitor him. Naming herself Marie, the Contraxian enrolled in university as a biophysics major and managed to get her research funded by Hart. The two eventually met, fell in love, and were married.
[Jack of Hearts #1]American Ken Hale became obsessed with African legends of a Gorilla Man, a half-human beast that was supposed to wander Kenya. Hale journeyed to Africa, and eventually managed to discover the creature. However upon killing it, Hale became the victim of the beast's curse, and transformed into the Gorilla Man. Distraught over his beastly appearance, and fearing his wife's rejection, Hale decided to remain in Africa and live in the jungle.
[What If? v1 #9]Birth of Frank Castiglione in Queens, New York to Mario and Louisa Castiglione.
A.D. 1955
Fed up with the surface-world, the Sub-Mariner turned his back on humanity and returned to the Atlantean city of Thakorr.
[Saga of the Sub-Mariner #6]The radiation which had freed the Human Torch from his paralysis was causing him to lose control over his flaming ability and malfunction. Realizing that he was probably dying, the Torch said good-bye to Toro and went to the American desert. There the android attempted suicide by overloading his solar cells in a single powerful burst. However the Human Torch was not destroyed but rendered comatose and his inert and insensitive body fell to the desert floor.
Toro retired from crime fighting. He eventually married a woman named Anne and led a relatively normal life for years.
Still ostracized from the scientific community, Professor Phineas Horton was forced to become a repairman to make ends meet. Horton also started living under the alias of Thomas Raye.
A.D. September 30, 1955
Walter Charles was recruited by Achilles and Ulysses into the Pantheon. However Charles showed little interest in Pantheon or Mount activity and was finally regulated to the role of janitor.
[Incredible Hulk #407 - 409]A.D. 1956
Jacqueline Falsworth married British nobleman Lord Crichton. Jacqueline eventually gave birth to a son, Kenneth.
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