Marvel Universe
The Marvel Universe is a fictional shared universe where the stories in most American comic book titles and other media published by Marvel Comics take place. Superhero teams such as the Avengers, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and many Marvel superheroes live in this universe, including characters such as Spider-Man, Wolverine, the Hulk, Iron Man, and Captain America. It also contains well-known supervillains such as Doctor Doom, Magneto, the Green Goblin, Loki, and Thanos. It also contains antiheroes such as Deadpool, Ghost Rider, the Punisher, Elektra, and Black Cat.
The Marvel Universe is further depicted as existing within a "multiverse" consisting of thousands of separate universes, all of which are the creations of Marvel Comics and all of which are, in a sense, "Marvel universes". In this context, "Marvel Universe" is taken to refer to the mainstream Marvel continuity, which is known as Earth-616 or Prime Earth.
History
Some of the characters in Timely Comics coexisted in the same world, as first established in Marvel Mystery Comics #7 where Namor was mentioned in Human Torch's story, and vice versa. Later several superheroes met each other in a group dubbed the All-Winners Squad.Though the concept of a shared universe was not new or unique to comic books in 1961, writer/editor Stan Lee, together with several artists including Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, created a series of titles where events in one book would have repercussions in another title and serialized stories would show characters' growth and change. Headline characters in one title would make cameos or guest appearances in other books. Fantastic Four #12 is the first crossover comic book in modern Marvel continuity. Eventually, many of the leading heroes assembled into a team known as the Avengers, which debuted in September 1963. This was not the first time that Marvel's characters had interacted with one another—Namor and the original Human Torch had been rivals when Marvel was Timely Comics, under editor Martin Goodman — but it was the first time that the comic book publisher's characters seemed to share a world. The Marvel Universe was also notable for setting its central titles in New York City; by contrast, many DC heroes live in fictional cities. Care was taken to portray the city and the world as realistically as possible, with the presence of superhumans affecting the common citizens in various ways.
Over time, a few Marvel Comics writers lobbied Marvel editors to incorporate the idea of a Multiverse resembling DC's parallel worlds; this plot device allows one to create several fictional universes which normally do not overlap. What happens on Earth in the main Marvel Universe would normally not affect what happens on a parallel Earth in another Marvel-created universe. However, writers would have the creative ability to write stories in which people from one such universe would visit this alternative universe.
In 1982, Marvel published the miniseries Contest of Champions, in which all of the major heroes in existence at the time were gathered together to deal with one threat. This was Marvel's first miniseries. Each issue contained biographical information on many major costumed characters; these biographies were a precursor to Marvel's series of reference material, The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, which followed shortly on the heels of Contest of Champions.
Concepts
The Marvel Universe is strongly based on the real world. Earth in the Marvel Universe has all the features of the real one: same countries, same personalities, same historical events, and so on; however, it also contains many other fictional elements: countries such as Wakanda and Latveria and organizations like the espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D. and its enemies, Hydra and A.I.M. In 2009, Marvel officially described its world's geography in a two-part miniseries, the Marvel Atlas.Most importantly, the Marvel Universe also incorporates examples of almost all major science fiction and fantasy concepts, with writers adding more continuously. Aliens, gods, magic, cosmic powers and extremely advanced human-developed technology all exist prominently in the Marvel Universe. Monsters also play a more prominent role with east Asian origins of magical incantation, outlandish sorcery and manifesting principle in the Marvel Universe. One such case is Fin Fang Foom arising from the ashes of tantric magic. Thanks to these extra elements, Earth in the Marvel Universe is home to a large number of superheroes and supervillains, who have gained their powers by any of these means. The general public is so familiar with such concepts that Empire State University has a scholarship for "aliens, dimensional travelers, clones, independent machine intelligences and other students outside the norm", businesses and residences have superhero property insurance and bookmakers take bets on their battles' outcomes, and New York air traffic controllers handle starships landing at local airports.
Comparatively, little time passes in the Marvel Universe compared to the real world, owing to the serial nature of storytelling, with the stories of certain issues picking up mere seconds after the conclusion of the previous one, while a whole month has passed by in "real-time". Marvel's major heroes were created in the 1960s, but the amount of time that has passed between then and now within the universe itself has most recently been identified as 13 years. Consequently, the settings of some events which were contemporary when written have to be updated every few years to "make sense" in this floating timeline. Thus, the events of previous stories are considered to have happened within a certain number of years before the publishing date of the current issue. For example, Spider-Man's high school graduation was published in Amazing Spider-Man #28, his college graduation in Amazing Spider-Man #185, and his high school reunion in Marvel Knights Spider-Man #7. Because of the floating timeline, where stories refer to real-life historic events, these references are later ignored or rewritten to suit current sensibilities; for instance, the origin of Iron Man was changed in a 2004 storyline to refer to the war on terror in Afghanistan, whereas the original Iron Man stories had referred to the Vietnam War in Vietnam; similarly, the Punisher's backstory has also been changed as well.
Marvel Comics itself exists as a company within the Marvel Universe, and versions of people such as Stan Lee and Jack Kirby have appeared in some of the stories, whereas characters like Steve Rogers,, have worked for Marvel. The Marvel of this reality publishes comics that adapt the actual adventures of the superheroes ; many of these are licensed with the permission of the heroes themselves, who customarily donate their share of profits to charity. Additionally, the DC Comics Universe is also said to exist in the Marvel Universe as one of the many alternative universes. The reverse may also be said concerning the DC Universe. This is one method of explaining the various crossover stories co-published by the two companies.
Pop culture characters such as Sherlock Holmes, Dracula and the Frankenstein's Monster exist in the Marvel Universe. This is usually justified as a second-hand account of events as told to credited authors Arthur Conan Doyle, Bram Stoker, and Mary Shelley, although the general public continues to believe them to be fictional. Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian, Red Sonja, Kull the Conqueror, and Solomon Kane also have real-life existences in the Marvel Universe. The Hyborian Era of Conan and Kull is considered part of Earth-616 pre-recorded history. However, they rarely encounter modern Marvel superhero characters. This is most likely possible due to the uncertain legal status of Howard's works before 2006 when they became public domain. As of 2019, Conan the Barbarian, as well as Kull the Conqueror and Solomon Kane, have been firmly integrated, thanks to Marvel regaining the publishing rights to the characters. Other licensed works that have been incorporated into the Marvel Universe include Godzilla, the Transformers, the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, Rom the Spaceknight, the Micronauts, and the Shogun Warriors. In most cases, such material is either restricted from use after the license expires or the characters redesigned or renamed to avoid copyright infringement.
Costumed superheroes and supervillains
Within the fictional history of the Marvel Universe, the tradition of using costumed secret identities to fight or commit evil had long existed, but it came into prominence during the days of the American "Wild West" with heroes such as Carter Slade/the Phantom Rider. During the 20th century, the tradition was reinvigorated by Steve Rogers/Captain America and the Invaders in the 1940s, who fought for the Allies of World War II.Unlike the DC Universe, few of Marvel's Golden Age characters have risen to prominence in modern publications; Captain America is one exception, and to a lesser extent, his contemporary, Namor, primarily because both of these characters were reintroduced to readers and the Marvel Universe during the 1960s.
Marvel's most prominent heroes were created during the Silver Age of Comic Books in the 1960s to early 1970s, including Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Tony Stark/Iron Man, Thor, Bruce Banner/the Hulk, Stephen Strange/Doctor Strange, Matt Murdock/Daredevil, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Natasha Romanoff/the Black Widow, Clint Barton/Hawkeye, Pietro Maxmioff/Quicksilver, Wanda Maximoff/the Scarlet Witch, the Vision, Simon Williams/Wonder Man, Hercules, Kevin Plunder/Ka-Zar, Groot, Nick Fury, T'Challa/the Black Panther, Mar-Vell, Carol Danvers, Sam Wilson/the Falcon, Dane Whitman/the Black Knight, Norrin Radd/the Silver Surfer, Jane Foster, Warren Worthington III/Angel, Hank McCoy/the Beast, Scott Summers/Cyclops, Robert "Bobby" Drake/the Iceman, Jean Grey, Charles Xavier/Professor X, Lorna Dane/Polaris, Alex Summers/Havok, Sean Cassidy/Banshee, Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic, Susan Storm/the Invisible Woman, Johnny Storm/the Human Torch, Ben Grimm/the Thing, Brunnhilde/the Valkyrie, the Inhumans, and Alexi Shostakov/Red Guardian.
Other notable heroes from the Bronze Age and Modern Age from the early-to-mid 1970s to the early 1990s include James "Logan" Howlett/Wolverine, Ororo Munroe/Storm, Piotr "Peter" Rasputin/Colossus, Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler, Luke Cage, Danny Rand/Iron Fist, Misty Knight, Colleen Wing, Barbara "Bobbi" Morse/Mockingbird, White Tiger, Shang-Chi, Greer Grant Nelson/Tigra, Jessica Drew, Ghost Rider, Daimon Hellstrom, Satana Hellstrom, Theodore "Ted" Sallis/the Man-Thing, Eric Brooks/Blade the Vampire-Slayer, Michael Morbius/Morbius the Living Vampire, Howard the Duck, Monica Rambeau, Moondragon, Drax the Destroyer, Peter Quill/Star-Lord, Gamora, Rocket Raccoon, Frank Castle/the Punisher, Marc Spector/Moon Knight, the Eternals, War Machine, Nova, Adam Warlock, Power Pack, Betsy Braddock, Scott Lang, Felicia Hardy/the Black Cat, Silver Sable, Katherine "Kitty" Pryde, Emma Frost, Jennifer Walters/the She-Hulk, Tyrone Johnson/Cloak and Tandy Bowen/Dagger, Brian Braddock/Captain Britain, Doreen Green/Squirrel Girl, Elektra Natchios, the New Mutants, the New Warriors, David Haller/Legion, John Proudstar/Warpath-Thunderbird, Anna Marie LeBeau/Rogue and Jubilation Lee/Jubilee.
Some of Marvel's more recent creations from the mid-to-late 1990s, 2000s and 2010s, such as Wade Wilson/Deadpool, Remy LeBeau/Gambit, Nathan Summers/Cable, Neena Thurman/Domino, Clarice Ferguson/Blink, the Thunderbolts, Yelena Belova, the Runaways, the modern Guardians of the Galaxy, the modern Defenders, Laura Kinney/X-23, Shuri, the Dora Milaje, Daisy Johnson, Phil Coulson, Melinda May, Bucky Barnes/the Winter Soldier, Maria Hill, Miles Morales, Hope van Dyne, Cassie Lang, the Stepford Cuckoos, Amadeus Cho, Kamala Khan, Kate Bishop, Lunella Lafayette/Moon Girl, America Chavez, Robbie Reyes, Riri Williams/Ironheart and Spider-Gwen have become popular characters in their own right.
Prominent teams of superheroes include the Avengers, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, the Defenders, the Inhumans, S.H.I.E.L.D., the Howling Commandos, the Guardians of the Galaxy, the Runaways, the Midnight Sons and the Thunderbolts. All these groups have varying lineups; the Avengers have included Marvel's major heroes as members at one time or another. The X-Men are a team of mutants led by Professor X and include many of Marvel's most popular characters, such as Wolverine and others. The Fantastic Four are viewed as "Marvel's First Family" of superheroes, usually consisting of Mister Fantastic, the Invisible Woman, the Human Torch and the Thing, as well as siblings Franklin and Valeria Richards. The Defenders were an ad hoc team usually brought together by Doctor Strange which has included the Hulk, Namor the Sub-Mariner and the Silver Surfer, while the most recent incarnation of the team consists of street-level New York City heroes Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist. The Guardians of the Galaxy include Marvel's cosmic characters such as Adam Warlock, Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax the Destroyer, Rocket Raccoon and Groot, but the team has also introduced other heroes into the roster such as Kitty Pryde, the Silver Surfer, the Thing and Nova. The Inhumans are a royal family consisting of Black Bolt, Medusa, Crystal, Gorgon, Triton, Karnak and Lockjaw, who rule the city of Attilan. The Runaways are a group of teenagers and a dinosaur consisting of Alex Wilder, Nico Minoru, Karolina Dean, Chase Stein, Molly Hayes, Gert Yorkes and Old Lace who rebel against their evil parents known as the Pride. The Midnight Sons consist of supernatural heroes such as Blade, Ghost Rider, Moon Knight, Elsa Bloodstone, Hellstrom, the Werewolf and the Man-Thing. The Thunderbolts' original incarnation were supervillains disguised as superheroes consisting of Citizen V, MACH-IV, Songbird, Moonstone, Techno and Jolt, while the current incarnation of the team is made up of reformed supervillains/anti-heroes working for the government: Deadpool, the Punisher, the Red Hulk, the Winter Soldier and the Ghost. Although teams of supervillains are few and far between, notable examples include the Masters of Evil, the Emissaries of Evil, the Brotherhood of Mutants, the Sinister Six, the Frightful Four, the Lethal Legion, the Legion of the Unliving, the Black Order, the Annihilation Wave, and the Cabal.