I have again added additional content, changed certain dates or the sequence of certain events, rewritten many of the passages, and added numerous citations, drawing from other sources such as Jeff Christiansen’s excellent Appendix website, in an attempt to bring the document in line with the current state of Marvel chronology scholarship.
Note: The following timeline depicts the Original Marvel Universe (anchored to November 1961 as the first appearance of the Fantastic Four and proceeding backward from there. See previous posts for a detailed explanation of my rationale.) Some information presented on the timeline is speculative and some is based on historical accounts or scientific theory and is noted as such in the text. The dates given are largely approximate.
Time marches on with… The True History of the Original Marvel Universe!
Part Three: In Ancient Times…
7900 B.C.
Homo mermanus, a blue-skinned aquatic humanoid species genetically engineered by the Deviants as a slave race, begins wandering the Atlantic Ocean.
The human brain captured by the Plodex colonization craft begins to assert complete mental control over the alien vessel. The brain commands the ship to construct for him a new human body. Over the next 10,000 years, the man slowly acquires an encyclopedic knowledge of the universe as he absorbs all the information stored in the Plodex vessel. However, because he has become so integrated with the onboard computers, he is unable to leave the ship. Even so, he come to think of himself as the Master of the World. [Alpha Flight #3]
A large meteorite composed primarily of vibranium crashes into central Africa, on the tribal lands of the Wakandan people. Over the years, its radioactive properties cause various mutations in the local flora and fauna. Numerous people, too, are mutated in ways that cause them to be hated and feared by the other members of the tribe. In response to the threat, Bashenga becomes a champion of his people known as the Black Panther and is made king of all the Wakandas. A religious cult grows up around him, and his royal line continues unbroken down to the present day. [Black Panther #7]
6000 B.C.
Homo mermanus comes upon the ruined capital city of Atlantis. Their leader, Kamuu, discovers the throne and the sword of the Atlantean Emperor Kamuu, his namesake. Following this discovery, young Kamuu is visited by the spirit of the dead emperor, who invites the merman to settle in the city’s ruins and to there found a new empire. The merman Kamuu agrees, and Homo mermanus then becomes known as the new Atlanteans. [Sub-Mariner #64–66]
People in Egypt begin worshiping various descendants of the Primal God Thoth. [Date based on historical accounts]
5500 B.C.
About half the population of the new Atlantis immigrates to the Pacific Ocean. They eventually settle in the submerged ruins of Lemuria, becoming known as the new Lemurians. They soon discover the remarkably preserved skeletons of Atra, wielder of the Serpent Crown, and Phraug, the Deviant emperor, but shun the area where they lay as a place of evil. However, their proximity to the Serpent Crown eventually causes the Lemurians’ skin to become scaly and greenish. [Sub-Mariner #10, Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #9]
4000–3000 B.C.
Human civilizations begin to develop in the Sumer region of the Nile river valley. [Date based on historical accounts]
The Book of the Vishanti, a mystic tome considered to be the greatest known source of white magical knowledge, comes into the possession of priests of the Babylonian sun god Marduk. The priests conjure up a gryphon, a creature that had once roamed Pre-Cataclysmic Atlantis, to guard over the book. Eventually, however, a sorcerer from the 19th century A.D. known as the Ancient One travels back in time, defeats the gryphon, and takes the Book of the Vishanti with him to the future. Later, the Book of the Vishanti is briefly returned to Babylon from the 20th century A.D. by the wizard Kaluu, but the Ancient One and Doctor Strange travel through time to retrieve it. [Strange Tales #150]
Four extradimensional beings, banished from their homeworld, come to Earth and conquer themselves a kingdom in the Middle East. Due to their superhuman abilities, they come to be known as the Elementals and are worshiped as tyrannical gods. When they try to extend their domain into the land of Egypt, a young warrior named Dann teams up with an elderly wizard named Garret to create a mystical gem called the Ruby Scarab. The jewel’s power forces Hellfire, Hydron, Magnum, and Zephyr to flee Earth’s dimension. [Supernatural Thrillers #8]
Soon after, the Egyptians begin organized worship of the gods Osiris, Isis, Khonshu, and their brethren, descendants of Thoth. Osiris becomes the first pharaoh (ruler) of Egypt, establishing his seat of power in the city of Heliopolis. [Date based on historical accounts]
Osiris’s brother Seth gains followers by convincing worshipers of Set that he is the Elder God incarnated. Set, realizing he lacks the power to challenge the Egyptian god from his dimension of exile, is forced to look elsewhere for new worshipers. [Punisher Annual #2]
Seth becomes infuriated when Osiris has an affair with Seth’s wife Nephthys and sires Anubis. Seth tricks Osiris into entering a sarcophagus, which Seth then seals and buries. Osiris’s wife Isis eventually finds the sarcophagus and frees him. Upon his release, however, Osiris is attacked by Seth and killed. Seth scatters Osiris’s body parts throughout Egypt. Isis eventually gathers the pieces together and, aided by Osiris’s sons Anubis and Horus, uses magic to bring Osiris back to life. Upon his resurrection, Osiris orders Horus to hunt down Seth and make him pay for his crimes. Horus and Seth begin a battle which will rage for centuries. [Thor #240]
Osiris eventually allows the humans to rule themselves, but he continues to guide their development. Then, Osiris and the rest of his pantheon take up residence in an extradimensional realm called the Celestial Heliopolis.
En Sabah Nur, a mutant shape-shifter, tricks many of his fellow Egyptians into worshiping him as a god. He passes himself off as either the Elder God Set or the local god Seth whenever it suits his purposes. [X-Factor #24]
Zeus, a descendant of the Primal God Ouranus and founder of the Olympians, begins seeking worshipers on Earth. His brother Neptune also becomes patron god of the Atlanteans. [Date based on historical accounts]
The Elder of the Universe known as the Collector captures the marauding alien Brethren and imprisons them in a display case aboard his starship. [Avengers #334]
2950 B.C.
A time-traveler from the 30th century A.D. arrives in Egypt in an attempt to loot the wealth of the past. Upon his arrival, his time machine malfunctions and crashes. The time-traveler is blinded in the explosion and the time machine is rendered inoperable. Calling himself Rama-Tut, the time-traveler uses his advanced technology and his army of robots to subjugate the natives and make himself pharaoh. The Egyptians use their medical knowledge to cure Rama-Tut’s blindness. Rama-Tut then sets himself up as the sole god of the Egyptians, outlawing all other religions. [Fantastic Four #19]
2945 B.C.
Time-travelers from the 20th century A.D., the Fantastic Four, materialize in Egypt in search of a cure for blindness, the process having been lost by their own time. Rama-Tut uses his technology to easily capture the quartet. However, Doctor Strange has also journeyed back through time on a separate mission and surreptitiously helps to free the Fantastic Four. Unknown to them, other time-lost adventurers from the 20th century A.D., the West Coast Avengers, destroy Rama-Tut’s army of robots while the Fantastic Four and Doctor Strange defeat Rama-Tut himself. Fleeing from his foes, Rama-Tut sets off in his repaired time machine into the future. The heroes from the 20th century A.D. also return to their own time. [Fantastic Four #19, Doctor Strange v.2 #53, West Coast Avengers #22]
2920 B.C.
Rama-Tut, now an elderly man, returns and reclaims the throne of Egypt. However, his experiences over the last couple of decades have changed him, and he now rules his kingdom with wisdom and compassion. Intent on living out the rest of his life there, he dismantles his time machine and destroys its components. [Giant-Size Avengers #2]
2903 B.C.
Rama-Tut decides he must travel into the future to prevent his younger self from interfering in the destiny of the Celestial Madonna. However, without his time machine, he is forced to merely place himself in suspended animation until the proper era. With the help of his court magician, he prepares a specially designed sarcophagus, fakes his own death, and has his comatose body entombed in a pyramid. [Giant-Size Avengers #2]
2800 B.C.
Zeus takes the guise of King Amphitryon of Troezen, seduces the king’s wife Queen Alcmena, and fathers a child with her. She gives birth to Heracles, who will become known to the Roman peoples as Hercules. Zeus’s wife Hera is enraged that Zeus has committed adultery against her and vows to one day destroy Heracles. One year later, the infant Heracles first displays his superhuman strength when he strangles two serpents summoned by Hera to attack him.
2775 B.C.
When Heracles is in his mid-twenties he is commanded by King Eurystheus of Argos to perform twelve great labors which will take twelve years to complete. One of these feats is to enter Hades, the Olympian realm of the dead, and capture Cerebrus, the guardian of the underworld. Heracles’ successful capture of Cerebrus infuriates Pluto, the ruler of Hades, and the two become enemies.
One of Heracles’ twelve feats, the cleaning of the Augean stables, is performed by the Eternal who will soon become known as Gilgamesh (later called the Forgotten One). Because of his enormous strength, people believe this Eternal to be Heracles. [Thor #291]
2760 B.C.
Approximately 40 years after his birth, Heracles is killed when his wife Deianeira accidentally poisons him. Zeus intervenes and transports his son to Olympus, where he is revived and made fully immortal.
Sersi, a third- or fourth-generation Eternal, is born. [Speculation]
2700 B.C.
The Eternal called Gilgamesh becomes king of the city of Uruk in the land of Sumer. Suffering from amnesia, Gilgamesh is unaware that he is immortal, though he is possessed of his tremendous strength. Gilgamesh fights and then befriends the superhuman Enkidu. When Enkidu is later slain by the Mesopotamian gods, Gilgamesh begins to fear death. Eventually, however, he realizes that he is immortal. [Date based on historical accounts]
Makkari, a third- or fourth-generation Eternal, is born. [Speculation]
2500 B.C.
The Polar Eternal named Virako charges his son with hunting down the Deviants who are living in tunnels under the Aegean Sea. On the island of Crete, the son assumes the name “Daedalus” and marries a human woman, eventually producing a son of his own, whom they name Icarus. As a boy, Icarus delights in being flown around by his super-powered father, and so, with the aid of Makkari and Phastos, “Daedalus” constructs a flying harness for his son. However, “Daedalus” is then called away to fight Deviants in distant parts of the globe, leaving his family behind for many years. During his long absence, his wife falls into despair. Coming to believe his father has been captured by his enemies, Icarus puts on the flying device to search for him. However, because of his lack of proper training, Icarus flies too high and faints from lack of oxygen in the upper atmosphere. Icarus drifts in the sky for days without regaining consciousness, until his flying device finally burns out. He falls into the sea and is killed on impact. Soon after, “Daedalus” returns from his war against the Deviants and is told what has happened. Eventually finding his son’s body and burying it, the Eternal then takes the name “Ikaris” for himself as a memorial to his son. [Eternals v.2 #5] [Date based on historical accounts]
2200 B.C.
A spaceship bearing a lone Dire Wraith makes an emergency landing outside the Egyptian city of Memphis and is met by a pharaoh, his vizier, and a contingent of soldiers. Fearing execution, the alien shapeshifts into the guise of several local deities before settling on the nonthreatening form of a beautiful pre-teen girl. The astonished pharaoh concludes that the “girl” was sent by the gods to be the daughter he never had. Named Kaaris’a, she is taken to the royal court, where the priests see to her education. However, she quickly surpasses the priests in the mystic arts and uses black magic to corrupt the children of Memphis, bending them to her will. Within a year, Kaaris’a has the pharaoh murdered and assumes the throne. In desperation, the people revolt, bind her, and seal her within a sarcophagus, which they unceremoniously bury on the outskirts of the royal necropolis. However, Kaaris’a casts a spell to place herself in suspended animation in the hopes of eventually being rescued. Due to the Dire Wraith’s cultural contamination, Egypt suffers a century of famine, strife, and misery. Though the Egyptians try to erase all record of the sorceress’s evil reign, she is nevertheless remembered in myth and legend as “Nitocris.” [Rom, Spaceknight #39] [Date based on historical accounts]
2000 B.C.
The Olympian god Zeus decides to promote worship of his pantheon among the Greeks. Since the portal between his extradimensional realm and Earth is located on Mount Olympus, which is near the capital city of the Eternals, Zeus and Zuras hold a summit. Noticing the similarities between the two leaders, Zeus’s daughter Athena suggests that the Olympians and the Eternals form an alliance based on a non-interference pact, with the Eternals sometimes acting as the Olympian gods’ representatives on Earth. Zeus and Zuras agree to this, and so Zuras’s daughter Azura changes her name to “Thena” to celebrate this accord. Soon after, the Greeks begin actively worshiping the Olympians. [Date based on historical accounts]
The Inhumans genetically engineer a slave race, the Alpha Primitives, to serve them so they can devote themselves to the pursuit of knowledge.
1900 B.C.
The time-traveling sorcerers Doctor Strange and Baron Mordo witness the destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by the powerful wizard Sise-Neg. [Marvel Premiere #14] [Date based on historical accounts]
1250 B.C.
Moses, leader of the Jewish people enslaved in Egypt, comes into possession of the ancient Atlantean artifact that will one day be known as King Solomon’s Staff, and it grants him formidable magic powers. [Marvel Preview #19]
Moses challenges Pharaoh Ramses II to gain the freedom of the Jews. When Anath-Na Mut, the Egyptian court magician, fails to best Moses in a contest of power, he is banished by the pharaoh. Moses eventually wins the freedom of his people, thus beginning the great Exodus. Anath-Na Mut wanders for years before discovering an ancient temple, in which he finds the mystical Ka stone. At that very moment, a future incarnation of the wizard, calling himself the Sphinx, materializes there, having been sent through time from the 20th century A.D. by Galactus. The Sphinx tells Anath-Na Mut what Galactus has done to him, and the two work out a plan by which they can escape the time-loop in which Galactus has trapped them. The Sphinx hypnotizes Anath-Na Mut, causing him to forget their meeting. Then, the Sphinx places himself in suspended animation, to be awoken shortly after Galactus sent him back in time. Anath-Na Mut feels compelled to place the Ka stone on his forehead and upon doing so is immediately overwhelmed with power. He becomes both superhumanly strong and immortal. Anath-Na Mut will live out the next three millennia exactly as his future self had done. In time, he takes the name “the Sphinx” and wanders the earth seeking power and knowledge. [Fantastic Four #212] [Date based on historical accounts]
1190 B.C.
Asgardian princes Thor and Loki materialize from the future, the time-travel process having caused total amnesia. They are soon separated. Thor befriends Aeneas, an ally of King Priam of Troy, thus becoming involved in the Trojan War. Loki allies himself with the Greek leader Odysseus, giving him the suggestion to hide his troops within an enormous wooden horse. Loki’s suggestion allows the Greeks to triumph over the Trojans, and their city is destroyed. Thor and Loki then return to their own time. [Thor Annual #8] [Date based on historical accounts]
Odysseus and his crew, sailing home from the Trojan War, land on the Mediterranean island of Aeaea, home of the Eternal Sersi. Odysseus’s crewmen become drunk and start menacing Sersi and her servants. Fed up with their behavior, Sersi uses her powers to transform the crewmen into pigs and other wild beasts. Odysseus goes ashore to investigate the whereabouts of his missing crew and discovers Sersi. Taking a liking to Odysseus, Sersi agrees to transform the sailors back to their human forms. Odysseus and his men spend a year as Sersi’s guests before resuming their travels. [Eternals #4]
1130 B.C.
The Celtic gods, known as the Tuatha Dé Danann, are driven out of the British Isles and take up residence in the extradimensional realm of Otherworld, where they establish themselves on the island of Avalon.
1000 B.C.
Worship of the Olympian pantheon has become the “official” religion of the Greek peoples. The Romans also begin worshiping the Olympians, though they call them by different names. Eventually, worship of the Olympians spreads throughout the Roman Empire. [Date based on historical accounts]
Members of the Swarili tribe of northern Africa are enslaved by the Egyptians. The Swarili chieftain N’Kantu incites a rebellion against their captors and succeeds in killing the pharaoh. However, the insurrection is quickly put down. As punishment, the Egyptian high priest Nephrus replaces N’Kantu’s blood with a special preservative fluid which causes N’Kantu to become both immortal and paralyzed. As a further act of revenge, Nephrus has N’Kantu mummified and entombed in a sarcophagus. The still-conscious N’Kantu is unable to escape and is slowly driven insane over the following centuries. [Supernatural Thrillers #5]
A subset of the Inhuman population who all develop angel-like wings when exposed to the Terrigen Mist begins to see the rest of the inhabitants of Attilan as inferior, leading to social unrest. Though worried about discovery by the outside world, King Nestor finally accedes to their demands for a separate settlement located high in the sky. The village, dubbed the Aerie, is constructed using anti-gravitic technology and tethered to Attilan by a pylon hundreds of meters tall. However, the leader of these “Bird-People,” as they come to be called, continues to agitate for a full political separation. Finally, he declares himself King Kylus I and initiates a pogrom against those in the Aerie whose wings are more bat-like. Horrified, Nestor orders the pylon be severed, causing the Aerie to drift away on the oceanic air currents. Facing starvation, the Bird-People take to stealing livestock from the world’s human population, who see them as mythological monsters, until working out how to build a “fertile crescent” around their floating city. After Kylus’s death, the bat-winged martyr who opposed him, Cheiros, comes to be honored on an equal footing with the “Mad King.” [Thor Annual #12]
648 B.C.
When the city of Babylon falls to the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal, its ruler, Shamash-shum-ukin, flees into the ziggurat in which he had been studying sorcery. He casts a spell that transports himself and the entire ziggurat back through time to the Hyborian Age. Ashurbanipal takes control of Babylon and claims Shamash-shum-ukin committed suicide rather than be captured. [Savage Sword of Conan #7] [Date based on historical accounts]
500 B.C.
The mutant En Sabah Nur takes on the guise of Kali Ma, the Indian goddess of death. [X-Factor #24] [Date based on historical accounts]
100 B.C.
A druid initiate who worships the sun god Hu and the moon goddess Ceridwen sets out to sea in an open boat for his final test. His heart is troubled, for in defiance of his order’s practice of chastity, he had spent the previous night with his lover. When a storm blows up and capsizes his boat, he assumes he is being punished by his gods. However, his life is spared by sea-sprites who place him in suspended animation. [Gargoyle #3]
37 B.C.
Cleopatra VII, the Queen of Egypt, is sent through time to the 20th century A.D. by the evil sorcerer Zota. She is assisted by Doctor Strange and returned to her own era. Around this time, she also encounters the immortal wanderer Anath-Na Mut, a.k.a. the Sphinx. [Strange Tales #124] [Date based on historical accounts]
34 B.C.
Cleopatra is opposed by a sorcerer called Hatap, but he is defeated by a time-traveling Iron Man. [Tales of Suspense #34] [Date based on historical accounts]
31 B.C.
Seth finally achieves victory over Horus, the son of Osiris, ending their centuries-long war. Seth then imprisons Osiris, Isis, and Horus within a great pyramid which he buries under the desert. With his main opponents out of the way, Seth then conquers the Celestial Heliopolis and rules over the other Egyptian gods. Without the protection of the Egyptian gods, Cleopatra is defeated by the Roman legions, ending forever the reign of the pharaohs. [Thor #240]
Part Four: Anno Domini
1–99 A.D.
During an extended sojourn on Earth, Odin, a descendant of the Primal God Búri and leader of the Asgardians, gathers worshipers among the Northern Germanic peoples of Europe. In time, the Vikings and other Baltic peoples begin actively worshiping the Asgardian pantheon. [Date based on historical accounts]
Odin mates with the Elder God Gaea to produce the nine Valkyries, who are charged with collecting the souls of valorous warriors slain on the battlefields of Earth and transporting them to Valhalla, where they will join Odin’s ever-growing ghost army, the Einherjar. Among the Valkyries are Hildegarde and their leader, Brunnhilde. [Defenders #109]
The Elder God Set establishes a new cult of worshipers among the aquatic Atlanteans. The cult’s main purpose is to enable Set to cross the dimensional boundary to Earth. They succeed in bringing part of Set’s essence into the Earth dimension, containing it within a large globe called the Golden Serpent. Neptune intervenes and uses his trident to sever the portion of Set in Earth’s dimension from the rest of him. Badly wounded, Set retreats in agony. The destruction Neptune causes kills off most of Set’s followers, but a few escape. The rest of the Atlanteans flee from Neptune’s rage and abandon their city. Neptune places the globe containing the fragment of Set’s lifeforce in a cavern beneath the ocean floor and assigns a giant sea monster to guard over it. The site will eventually come to be known as the Altar of Neptune’s Wrath. After wandering the seas for several decades, the Atlanteans return to their crumbling city and begin to rebuild. Neptune chooses to live among them for a while and earns their devotion with his kindliness, a period that will be remembered as a golden age. However, Set vows to one day destroy Atlantis to gain revenge on Neptune. [Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #9]
The Eternal Makkari uses his super-speed to rescue Sersi from the Great Fire of Rome. [Eternals #5]
The demon Mephisto plots to enslave a fellow demon, Zarathos. Mephisto steals the soul of an American Indian later known as Centurious, so that when the soul-devouring Zarathos attacks him, his lack of a soul defeats Zarathos. Losing the faith of his followers, Zarathos’s powers begin to dwindle, allowing Mephisto to take control of the living flame of Zarathos’s soul. Over the next few millennia, Mephisto occasionally amuses himself by grafting Zarathos’s soul onto that of a human being. [Ghost Rider #77]
The Kree place Sentry 9168 on a Pacific Island.
100–199 A.D.
As the religion of Christianity spreads throughout the Roman Empire, Zeus decides it is time for the Olympians to break most of their ties with Earth. However, Neptune is allowed to retain access to his Atlantean followers. The further spread of Christianity causes many old polytheistic faiths to die out. As a result, many of the fairies, elementals, and other spirit-folk, which have previously roamed the earth in great numbers, begin degenerating mentally and physically into demons. Many such creatures from the British Isles avoid this fate by emigrating to the extradimensional realm of Otherworld. [Date based on historical accounts]
400–499 A.D.
Thor, prince of the extradimensional realm of Asgard, is born to Odin and the Elder God Gaea in a cavern near the coast of Norway on Earth. Odin takes the baby to Asgard to be raised by his wife, Frigga. [Thor #301]
Odin leads the warriors of Asgard in an all-out assault on the giants of Jotunheim. Using the enchanted war-hammer Mjolnir, Odin slays Laufey, king of the giants. In the aftermath of the battle, Odin finds Laufey’s infant son, Loki, hidden in a bundle of canvas and decides to take him back to Asgard to raise alongside his own son, Thor. [Journey into Mystery #112]
Odin appoints Heimdall to be the guardian of the Rainbow Bridge after a demonstration of his amazing powers of perception. Heimdall soon proves himself when he senses an invisible air elemental sneaking into Asgard and reports the danger to Odin at the risk of looking like a fool. Odin captures the elemental and commends Heimdall for his unparalleled vigilance. [Journey into Mystery #104–105]
Sersi enjoys partying with Attila the Hun, despite his slovenly ways. [Eternals #6]
Merlyn returns to Earth and establishes himself as the preeminent wizard of the British Isles. To bolster his reputation, he invents many fanciful tales of his heritage and youthful days. Known generally as Merlin, he gains the favor of King Uther Pendragon by enabling the king to marry his arch-rival’s wife, Igraine. The result of their union is the boy Arthur, whom Merlin is determined to forge into a great leader. As such, Merlin arranges with the king to supervise the boy’s upbringing. [Date based on historical accounts]
Romulus Augustulus, child emperor of Rome, is deposed. Augustulus is the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire and will later be known as Tyrannus. [Date based on historical accounts]
500–599 A.D.
When the Fenris Wolf tries to steal the Golden Apples of Immortality from the goddess Idunn during her annual pilgrimage to Asgard, she is saved by Haakun the Hunter, who uses his enchanted battleaxe to banish Fenris to the remote realm of Varinheim. [Journey into Mystery #114]
While watching a combat tournament with Thor, Loki decides to make some mischief. He uses a magic spell to cause the better fighter’s quarterstaff to shatter. When they are caught, Thor insists on receiving the same punishment as Loki. Impressed by the young god’s nobility, the warriors let both boys off with a warning. Later, Thor challenges Loki to a race to the foot of the Rainbow Bridge. Loki is infuriated when Thor easily outpaces him and burns with jealousy and resentment. Loki vows to himself to one day be the most powerful god in Asgard, even if it means somehow getting rid of Thor. [Journey into Mystery #113]
Merlin uses magic to ensure that Arthur succeeds his father as king, by producing an enchanted sword which only Arthur can remove from the stone in which it is embedded. Then serving as King Arthur’s principal advisor, Merlin also sees to it that Arthur receives the magic sword Excalibur, as well as arranging Arthur’s marriage to the Lady Guinevere. Merlin also prophesizes that Arthur’s illegitimate son Mordred, the result of a premarital affair, will one day bring ruin to the kingdom of Camelot. Arthur’s attempt to have the baby killed fails.
Merlin advises Arthur as he forms his Knights of the Round Table. However, foreseeing the need for an anonymous champion, Merlin advises the parents of Percy of Scandia, Arthur’s distant cousin, to secretly train their son in all known forms of combat. Merlin also teaches Arthur’s half-sister Morgan le Fay the arts of sorcery in exchange for her sexual favors. He soon becomes aware of her natural predisposition toward evil.
While en route to Camelot to join the Knights of the Round Table, Lancelot du Lac is saved from a dragon by the time-traveling sorcerer Doctor Strange, whom Lancelot mistakes for the famous Merlin. [Marvel Premiere #14]
When Mordred reaches manhood and comes to live in Camelot, Merlin summons Sir Percy of Scandia to court and helps him become the mysterious Black Knight. Merlin gives Percy the Ebony Blade, an enchanted sword he has created from a meteorite. Merlin warns Percy to keep his true identity a secret so that his enemies cannot have him killed. [Black Knight #1]
Morgan le Fay comes into possession of the Darkhold and binds the parchments into book form for the first time. Then, with a new Cult of the Darkhold, Morgan journeys to Wundagore Mountain in central Europe. Using the spells within the Darkhold, she summons Chthon to Earth but finds him too powerful to control. From Camelot, Merlin senses the danger and lends his power to Morgan’s so that they can imprison the Elder God inside Wundagore Mountain. Defeated, Morgan le Fay and her cult return to England with the Darkhold. Over the ensuing centuries, Chthon’s mystic energy will seep into the mountain’s clay. [Avengers #241, Spider-Woman #41, Amazing Spider-Man Annual #22]
Aware of the grave threat Morgan le Fay poses so long as she possesses the Darkhold, Merlin takes the Black Knight away from Camelot for a time to deal with her. However, he finds that the spells within the book make her a more formidable opponent than he anticipated.
While Merlin is away, the immortal mutant who possesses a fragment of the Bloodgem, known later as the Maha Yogi, comes to Camelot and uses his psychic powers to impersonate the famous wizard. The imposter’s erratic actions cause concern among Merlin’s friends, and rumors begin to spread that Merlin has succumbed to some evil force. [Journey into Mystery #96, Hulk #210]
Kang the Conqueror decides to invade Camelot to change history so that the 20th-century age of superheroes will never come about. Taking advantage of the Black Knight’s absence from court, Kang captures the impostor Merlin, then easily defeats King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table using his advanced technology. However, the Thing and the Human Torch are enlisted by Immortus (posing as Uatu the Watcher to ensure their cooperation) to travel back in time to stop Kang. The two superheroes free the Mad Merlin from imprisonment, then raise an army to battle Kang, forcing him to abandon Camelot in defeat. The time-travelers then return from whence they came. [Strange Tales #134]
Magnus, apprentice and lover to Morgan le Fay, becomes appalled by the corruption of Morgan’s soul. He steals the Darkhold from her and places it within a tower on the Isle of Wight. Magnus casts a spell so that no one of evil intent may enter the tower. Morgan tracks Magnus down and kills him while he is engaged in astral projection. However, Magnus’s astral form survives the death of his physical body. [Avengers #241, Amazing Spider-Man Annual #22]
Hearing of the reputation of a young mage called Modred the Mystic, the Mad Merlin summons him to Camelot. However, Modred is suspicious and decides to seek out powerful magics with which to fight him. Since his intentions are good, Modred is able to enter the Dark Tower on the Isle of Wight to access the Darkhold. Upon uttering an incantation from the book, Modred encounters a manifestation of Chthon. They fight a mystic battle until Modred’s fiancée, Janice, enters the tower. The manifestation of Chthon threatens to steal her soul, so Modred offers his own in her place. Modred then becomes corrupted by Chthon’s evil. [Marvel Chillers #1]
The Mad Merlin recruits the man later known as St. Brendan, a Christian priest skilled in white magic, to fight Modred. Brendan enters the tower and casts two spells, one to seal the Darkhold in a mystical sphere and another to place Modred in suspended animation. Believing Modred to be dead, Janice’s father, the sorcerer Gervasse, buries him in a vault near the Dark Tower. Brendan then tears the Darkhold apart and has the indestructible pages scattered throughout Europe. [Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme #11]
Sersi exposes the Mad Merlin as an impostor during a visit to Camelot. Upon the true Merlin’s return, the wizard places a spell on the mutant that puts him in suspended animation. The impostor is put in a sarcophagus and forgotten. [Eternals #4, Hulk #210]
Over the next few years, the Black Knight becomes one of Camelot’s greatest champions, defending the realm several times from Morgan le Fay and her nephew Mordred. Although the Black Knight and Mordred fight a number of times, there is never a clear victor and the Black Knight is unable to uncover any damning evidence of Mordred’s treachery. [Black Knight #2–5]
Romulus Augustulus, now calling himself Tyrannus, raises an army to found a new empire. Choosing England as his first conquest, Tyrannus battles the Black Knight and King Arthur’s troops. Defeated, Tyrannus is brought to Camelot to be judged by Arthur and Merlin. Merlin casts a spell to banish Tyrannus to the depths of the earth. Appearing in the midst of a group of Subterraneans, Tyrannus easily conquers the weak-willed race. The Tyrannoids, as his slaves come to be known, show Tyrannus the remnants of devices left by the Deviants, and he spends the next several decades studying and mastering the ancient technology.
The Black Knight reveals his identity to his beloved Lady Rosamund and asks for her hand in marriage. She accepts, and a year after the wedding, gives birth to a son, Edmund. Later, Rosamund has another son, Geoffrey. [Black Knight Limited Series #1]
Over time, the glory of Camelot begins to fade, due in part to Morgan le Fay’s machinations. To counter this trend, Merlin suggests the Knights of the Round Table undertake a quest to find the fabled Holy Grail. As a result, many of Arthur’s greatest knights are lost in far-distant lands.
The revelation of an affair between Queen Guinevere and Sir Lancelot, the preeminent Knight of the Round Table, throws England into civil war. Mordred openly raises an army to challenge Arthur.
After the Black Knight leads an army to victory over Morgan le Fay, Merlin casts a spell which prevents her from physically leaving her castle. Nevertheless, she continues to cause trouble for King Arthur and his subjects with her magic spells. Morgan sends her astral form into the future to search for a time when the Darkhold is reassembled, hoping its spells will enable her to escape her imprisonment. However, her attempts to obtain the book are thwarted by the astral form of Magnus, acting on some occasions in concert with the 20th-century heroine Spider-Woman.
As an act of revenge, Morgan le Fay tricks Merlin’s latest lover, the young sorceress Nimue, into trapping Merlin’s physical body in an enchanted cave with her spells. However, he is still able to aid King Arthur and Camelot in his astral form on rare occasions.
Time-travelers from the 20th century A.D., Iron Man and Doctor Doom, materialize in Camelot. Doctor Doom allies himself with Morgan le Fay, hoping to increase his own mystical knowledge, while Iron Man allies himself with King Arthur. Morgan le Fay casts a spell which causes all those killed by King Arthur’s sword Excalibur to rise from the dead. Iron Man, realizing that she is the power behind her undead forces, abandons the battlefield to confront Morgan directly. Not wishing to fight technology that she does not understand, Morgan attempts a spell to transport herself out of Earth’s dimension. Once she has dematerialized, the power which animates her dead forces dissipates. Doctor Doom, realizing what Iron Man has done, confronts him in Morgan’s castle. However, knowing that he will need Iron Man to return to his own time, Doctor Doom decides to forego fighting to cooperate on a time-travel device cannibalized from their two suits of armor. After they have returned to the future, Morgan le Fay reappears in her castle, having failed to overcome Merlin’s enchantments. [Iron Man #150]
The ghostly Magnus brings the astral form of Spider-Woman from the 20th century A.D. to combat Morgan le Fay. During the fight, Morgan is knocked from a window and Merlin’s spell causes her body to burst into flames and disintegrate. The astral forms of Spider-Woman and Magnus then return to the future. Morgan le Fay’s spirit is banished to a netherworld. [Spider-Woman #50]
Having lost his prime ally, Mordred summons an evil demonic entity known as the Dragon of the Moon. During the last battle between King Arthur and Mordred, the Eternal known as the Interloper joins the fight and defeats the Dragon, his ancient enemy. The Interloper and some of his fellow Eternals then imprison the Dragon within the Saturnian moon of Titan. [Defenders #152]
King Arthur and Mordred mortally wound each other in battle. Before Mordred dies, he also mortally wounds the Black Knight by stabbing him in the back. Merlin’s astral form appears to the dying Sir Percy and casts a spell to enable his spirit to return to Earth if the evil of Mordred ever rises again. Upon his death, Mordred’s spirit is drawn to the netherworld by Morgan le Fay. [Marvel Super-Heroes #17]
The body of the Black Knight is buried with the Ebony Blade beneath Sir Percy’s castle. Arthur’s body is conveyed to the extradimensional realm of Otherworld by nine mysterious women, where it is buried on the island of Avalon.
With the fall of Camelot, Merlyn decides to abandon his earthly identity and return to Otherworld, where his daughter Roma is waiting for him. Before departing, he leaves an enchanted sword and a mystical amulet within an ancient circle of standing stones in the northern kingdom of Bernicia. [Captain Britain #35]
Thor and Loki work together to retrieve the Golden Apples of Immortality when they are stolen by a trio of Storm Giants. Though Loki tries to leave Thor behind so he can claim all the credit, his schemes fail. Pleased with his son, Odin allows Thor to attempt to lift the hammer Mjolnir. With great effort, Thor raises it slightly off the ground. Odin assures Thor that, with every act of valor he performs, the hammer will grow easier to lift. [Journey into Mystery #100]
When Asgard’s enemies attack en masse, Thor takes his sword and shield and races to the Rainbow Bridge to help Heimdall defend the realm. Heimdall sends the young prince away, but Loki leads Thor to a breach in their defenses, hoping he’ll die in battle. Thor is soon set upon by Geirrodur the Troll, Haag of Nornheim, a gang of Frost Giants, and assorted fantastic beasts. Despite the overwhelming odds, Thor manages to hold his foes off until the warriors of Asgard can come to his rescue. Afterwards, Thor finds he can lift Mjolnir higher than ever before. [Journey into Mystery #101]
As old age causes Tyrannus to grow frail, the Tyrannoids immerse him in a mystical pool which causes him to revert to a young man. Tyrannus keeps himself alive for centuries using this Fountain of Youth.
700–799 A.D.
Thor journeys to Nornheim and meets the three Norns—Urd, Verdandi, and Skuld—who prophesy that Thor will meet death before he wins the mystic hammer Mjolnir. Undaunted, Thor returns to Asgard and learns from his friend Balder the Brave that Storm Giants have kidnapped Heimdall’s sister Sif. In a rage, Thor grabs Mjolnir without thinking and charges off to the rescue. Smashing his way into the giants’ fortress, Thor learns that they have turned Sif over to Hela, the goddess of death. Thor tracks Hela down and offers himself in Sif’s place. Finding herself unable to take so noble a life, Hela lets them both go. Only when he is back in Asgard does Thor realize he’s fulfilled the Norns’ prophecy and can now wield Mjolnir. [Journey into Mystery #102]
Odin officially presents Thor with Mjolnir in a ceremony before the assembled warriors of Asgard. During dinner, Thor slips out to try out some of the hammer’s enchantments. He discovers that, by throwing the hammer and holding onto the thong, he can fly through the air. From his vantage point in the sky, Thor spots a legion of boar-gods advancing on Asgard and easily routs them. [Thor Annual #11]
Getting into a protracted fight with a young Storm Giant, Thor learns not to rely too much on his magic hammer, realizing that he must use his brain as much as his weaponry to win battles. [Thor #252–253]
Thor and Loki travel to Jotunheim looking for Storm Giants to fight. There, Thor accidentally tumbles through an interdimensional portal and finds himself in Olympus. He gets into a fight with Hercules until Zeus breaks it up and orders them to shake hands and part as friends. Thor complies, then Zeus sends him back to Jotunheim, seals the portal, and clouds Thor’s memories of the encounter. [Journey into Mystery Annual #1]
Thor journeys to Earth for the first time to give favors to his worshipers among the Vikings and other Baltic peoples. The thunder god visits his worshipers many times, stirring them to countless battles and glory. [Thor Annual #11]
800–899 A.D.
Esteban Diablo is born in Spain. Growing up, he becomes fascinated with alchemy and roams Europe in pursuit of forbidden lore and arcane knowledge. Eventually arriving in Transylvania, his experiments lead to the creation of an elixir which grants him immortality. Setting up a dictatorship in a section of Transylvania, Diablo uses his alchemy to rule his small corner of the world with an iron fist.
In Asgard, Odin makes Balder the Brave invulnerable to reward his extraordinary valor. Jealous, Loki tracks down Karnilla, Queen of Nornheim, and forces her to reveal that Balder is still susceptible to weapons made of mistletoe. However, when Loki then attacks Balder with a blowgun made of mistletoe, Karnilla uses her sorcery to cause the weapon to burst into flame. Loki vows to get revenge on the Norn Queen for her betrayal. [Journey into Mystery #106–107]
Thor travels to the kingdom of the dwarves to rescue a number of Asgardians who have been kidnapped and sold to the trolls as slaves. The dwarf king, Sindri, insists that it was the only way to keep the trolls from invading his realm. After freeing his comrades, Thor drives the trolls away and seals off the passage between the two kingdoms. [Journey into Mystery #108]
At war with the Mountain Giants, Odin pretends to banish Thor from Asgard in order to lure their enemies into a trap. A traitor, Arkin the Weak, reports to Queen Knorda of the Mountain Giants that Thor will be riding alone through a certain mountain pass. When the giants ambush him, Thor leads them into a box canyon where the warriors of Asgard are waiting. Thor is impressed by his father’s cunning. [Journey into Mystery #109]
Odin leads the warriors of Asgard to a battle with the legions of Prince Rivvak, whose father, Rampok the Rebel, led a rival territory until his recent death. Rivvak is young and untested in battle, but though he is sick with fear, he refuses to shirk his duty. Impressed, Odin arranges for his forces to be driven from the battlefield by geysers of flame. He explains to Thor that Asgard benefits if the surrounding settlements are strong and don’t lose hope in the face of an invincible army. [Journey into Mystery #110]
Loki continues his attempts to get rid of Thor, goading him into battling an invincible rock elemental named Sigurd, a powerful Storm Giant called Ghan, and the king of a hostile territory, Hymir. Each time, Thor is triumphant, leaving Loki frustrated. [Journey into Mystery #111, 115–116]
900–999 A.D.
The dragon Chiantang attacks the extradimensional city of K’un-Lun. Much of the population survives, and the devastated city is eventually rebuilt.
Liam Cassidy builds a castle, known as Cassidy Keep, on the northwest coast of Ireland as protection against Viking raiders. Over the next thousand years, despite countless sieges, the castle’s defenses will never be breached. [Uncanny X-Men #101]
A series of troll raids on Asgardian settlements prompts Thor to invade their subterranean kingdom, where he discovers the trolls were driven to the surface by Uroc, a disgruntled weaponsmith who created a monstrous new body for himself out of the mystical metal uru. Though unable to defeat Uroc in direct combat, Thor causes him to fall into a bottomless chasm, earning the thunder god the gratitude of the troll king, Grundor the Greater. [Thor #408–409]
The future Thor is transported back from the 20th century by the villainous Leader. With his memories clouded, Thor leads a fleet of Viking warships in an attack on a rival fleet, but Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America, Hawkeye, and She-Hulk soon arrive to restore the thunder god’s memory. The six time-traveling heroes then continue their pursuit of the Leader. [Hulk #284]
To win a bet with Loki, Thor travels to Earth and joins a Viking expedition to North America, posing as a mortal named Sigurd. Should Thor resort to using any of his godly powers during the voyage, he will lose the bet and have to renounce his claim to the throne of Asgard. Naturally, Loki uses his spells to place the explorers in extreme jeopardy, directing them to an abandoned Atlantean outpost where they are attacked by giant rats, mummies, and a dragon. Realizing that Loki is cheating, Thor uses Mjolnir to defeat the monsters, though not before his mortal friend Baldric is killed. Returning to Asgard in a rage, Thor attacks Loki, but Odin decrees that Thor shares the blame for accepting such a reckless wager in the first place. [Thor #401]
Thor is determined to save the life of one of his mortal worshipers, Runolf, the last survivor of an ill-fated Viking raiding party. However, the three Norns decree that Runolf’s time has run out. Ignoring the protests of both Odin and Heimdall, Thor crosses the Rainbow Bridge to Earth and finds Runolf’s boat on the storm-tossed sea. However, a gigantic sea monster attacks Thor, and during the battle, Runolf drowns when his boat is capsized. Though he kills the sea monster, Thor is depressed that he was unable to save Runolf. Odin then commands Thor to make an annual pilgrimage to Nornheim so he will never forget the lesson he has learned. [Bizarre Adventures #32]
The Eternals begin making plans to greet the Third Host of the Celestials, due to arrive on Earth in a few years.
1000–1099 A.D.
The last seven Great Beasts attempt their third invasion of Earth. They are opposed by the Inuit gods, led by Hodiak and his daughter Nelvanna. Their final battle occurs at the large impact crater in the Arctic known as the Eye of the World. Eventually, the Inuit gods are able to set the Great Beasts against each other, allowing Nelvanna to cast a spell to create a barrier imprisoning their foes in their home dimension. However, the Great Beast Tundra creates a vortex which spins much of the energy of the spell back at her. Thus, both the Great Beasts and the Inuit gods become trapped in their respective dimensions. [Alpha Flight #24]
Thor discovers a group of his Viking worshipers slaughtering the members of a Christian monastery. Horrified that his followers are committing such atrocities in his name, Thor decides to withdraw from the Earth dimension and let his religion die out. [Thor Annual #11]
Consumed with guilt after centuries of fruitless scheming and manipulation, a depressed Odin attempts to crucify himself on Yggdrasil, the World-Tree. However, after nine days, the Elder God Gaea appears and reveals that a gargantuan spacecraft is moving through the solar system, heading directly for Earth. Odin asks her the ship’s purpose, but she merely says that if he wants to find out, he’ll have to save himself. Thus, Odin frees himself from the tree and drags himself back to Asgard, where the fiery oracle Mimir informs him that the ship carries the Celestials, who intend to pass judgment on the world. Outraged, Odin vows to put a stop to the aliens’ plans. [Thor #300]
A rivalry between Thor and Hercules erupts into a full-scale war between Asgard and Olympus. During the conflict, Odin and Zeus meet and realize that, as each pantheon is sustained by the beliefs of their worshipers, neither side can ever hope to conquer the other. Thus, they each grant their own side an illusory victory followed by an ignominious rejection by the other culture. Humiliated, Thor leaves Asgard for an extended sojourn on Earth. [Thor Annual #5]
While exploring South America, Thor encounters a group of Polar Eternals who have come to the region to assist the fledgling civilizations they have found there. Thor joins Virako, Valkin, Ajak, and the others in their efforts, but he soon grows bored and heads off on his own to explore North America. When he returns about 10 years later, Thor accompanies the Eternals to the Yucatán Peninsula, where they spend the next decade assisting the Mayas, who have recently suffered a large-scale social collapse. Thor then follows the Eternals to the Andes Mountains to assist the people there. However, they find the region has been conquered by Dromedan, a powerful telepathic mutate created by the Deviants. Victory is achieved over Dromedan and his monstrous minions only through Virako’s heroic self-sacrifice. Valkin declares his intention to be a father-figure to Virako’s son Ikaris. When the Celestials’ spaceship descends on the scene, though, Valkin clouds Thor’s mind and sends him back to Asgard bereft of all memory of the Eternals, Deviants, and Celestials. [Thor Annual #7]
Meanwhile, Odin and Zeus organize the first Council of Godheads, a convocation of the chieftains or “sky-fathers” of the various Earth pantheons, to address the problem of the Celestials. Among those gathered are the Primal Gods Anu, Nuadhu, and Thoth. Worried that the Celestials will destroy the world, the gods agree to send a delegation consisting of Odin, Zeus, and the Hindu god Vishnu to confront the aliens. However, when they arrive in the Andes Mountains, the three gods find they are completely outmatched by the power of the Third Host of the Celestials, who threaten to close all the interdimensional portals between the gods’ realms and Earth unless the gods agree to stop interfering with the human race. Seeing they have no choice, Odin, Zeus, and Vishnu kneel down and agree to the aliens’ terms. [Thor #300]
Armed with the knowledge that the Celestials intend to render their final judgment upon their return in a thousand years, Odin commands his finest craftsmen to construct a suit of armor capable of going toe-to-toe with a Celestial. Meanwhile, the “sky-mothers” of the various pantheons hold a summit of their own to find a less warlike solution to the problem. They decide to gather from among their worshipers over the next millennium twelve people to epitomize the noblest attributes of the human race and, by infusing them with divine energy, transform them into a new race of Young Gods. The goddesses agree that each pantheon will take turns watching over the selected humans while they rest in suspended animation in a hidden temple. [Thor #300–301]
Because he has agreed to stop interfering with the human race, Odin is forced to disband the Valkyrior. Barred from the earth, their leader, Brunnhilde, becomes embittered and roams Asgard in search of something meaningful to do. She is recruited as a lackey by Amora, a sorceress known as the Enchantress, but quits when she realizes her skills are being used for evil ends. However, the Enchantress traps Brunnhilde’s spirit inside a magic crystal, which enables her to imbue other women with the Valkyrie’s power whenever it suits her purposes. Assuming that Brunnhilde has left Asgard in search of adventure, Odin does not search for her. [Defenders #108–109]
After a failed invasion of England, a ship of Viking warriors and their families makes its way south along the coast of Africa until a powerful storm drives it to Antarctica, where it takes shelter in a network of caverns. They emerge in a fertile valley within a large volcanic caldera in a remote part of Pangea and decide to settle there. The lost Viking colony will survive in the isolated valley for the next 900 years. [Thor #342]
The Third Host of the Celestials drives the last of the Undying Ones back to their home dimension, finally freeing humanity of their sinister influence. The Celestials then leave Earth, planning to return in a thousand years when mutants and other superhuman beings will have emerged and developed on a large scale. They leave a beacon in the Andes Mountains to guide them back to Earth. Ajak and a crew of technicians are dematerialized and their atoms stored in a vault to await the arrival of the Fourth Host. Ikaris decides to devote the next millennium to honing his senses to superhuman acuity so he can locate the hidden homing beacon.
The Celestials also leave behind an airborne data-gathering probe equipped with a sophisticated cloaking device to monitor the Earth for the next millennium. The probe is roughly three-quarters of a mile long and can hover at any altitude. It is controlled by a very basic artificial intelligence system. However, the probe will eventually be commandeered and reprogrammed by the mutant En Sabah Nur to serve as his mobile headquarters. [X-Factor #50]
Odin takes the completed suit of armor to the Council of Godheads so that each “sky-father” can imbue it with a portion of his power, making it all but invincible. Odin then names this armored dreadnought the Destroyer and hides it in a temple in the jungles of Vietnam. He also constructs a gigantic sheathed sword for the Destroyer to use against the Celestials should the Fourth Host judge humanity unfit to survive, which comes to be known as the Odinsword. [Thor #300]
A human wizard named Ebrok magically transforms two household cats into sentient humanoid felines whom he names Flavius and Helene. Ebrok then begins training the two creatures in the mystic arts. As the two Cat People begin to reproduce, members of Ebrok’s Sorcerers Guild come to oppose his actions. The sorcerer Belasco, with others, casts a spell which banishes the Cat People to a pocket dimension known as “The Land Within.” One aspect of the spell compels the Cat People to respond to any earth-born sorcerer who summons them. However, having learned of the Guild’s plans, Flavius and Helene cast spells to prevent themselves from being banished. They remain with Ebrok for many years until they are eventually discovered by the Sorcerers Guild. One of the wizards kills Ebrok, and an enraged Flavius hurls a glass flask containing their current science experiment at the murderer. Within the flask is a bacterium that eventually sweeps over all Europe and comes to be known as the Black Plague. Flavius and Helene flee from the Sorcerers Guild into the mountains, where they search for a cure for the Black Plague. However, when the Sorcerers Guild casts a spell preventing Flavius and Helene from creating new Cat People, they shift their research into a way to transform humans into Cat People. Their first success is transforming a human woman into the feline warrior known as the Tigra, who slays their enemies in the Sorcerers Guild. Following the destruction of the Guild, Flavius and Helene are finally able to discover a cure for the Black Plague and sire a new race of Cat People. In time, the demonic nature of the Land Within transforms the original Cat People into demons themselves. The sorcerer Belasco survives the Tigra’s attack and uses his magic to extend his life. Although he eventually begins serving the Undying Ones, Belasco retains control over the Cat People from the Land Within. [What If? #35, West Coast Avengers #6, Fantastic Four #314]
A Chinese monk named Kan founds an order devoted to the ways of peace and serenity. After being victimized by an evil sorcerer, Kan devotes himself to serve those sorcerers who fight evil. Kan trains his first-born son to follow in his footsteps. In the following generations, every first-born child is pledged to do likewise. His descendants include Hamir the Hermit and Wong. [Doctor Strange v.2 #44]
The Uranian Eternals discover the equation for the grand unified theory of everything. They spend the next several centuries trying to verify their findings. [Quasar #2] [Date is speculative]
1100 A.D.
After an extended period of peace, the bored warriors of Asgard begin to fight with each other. When Odin finds even Thor and Loki brawling in the palace, he orders them to lead a group of warriors on a quest to the lands beyond their golden realm, which they call Utgard. Thor recruits Balder and a rotund, aging warrior named Volstagg. Loki hires a number of mercenaries, including a swordsman known as Fandral the Dashing. A mysterious foreigner called Hogun the Grim also volunteers to join the crew. When Loki attempts to incite a mutiny, Volstagg, Fandral, and Hogun take Thor’s side and help suppress the revolt. As the ship enters the territory of Thryheim, Loki is kidnapped by Queen Ula’s flying trolls. Despite his brother’s treachery, Thor invades her palace and rescues him. Odin then recalls his warriors to Asgard and reveals to them the prophecies of Ragnarok—the doom of the gods. After having Loki arrested, Odin orders Thor to retrieve a powerful weapon known as the Wizard’s Eye. The thunder god takes Volstagg, Fandral, and Hogun with him on the mission, and they wrest the weapon from a barbarian marauder named Harokin. When Harokin dies of his wounds, Thor and his comrades bear witness as the fallen warrior is escorted to Valhalla by Hela and six Valkyries. Subsequently, Volstagg, Fandral, and Hogun find fame as the Warriors Three. [Journey into Mystery #117–125, Thor #126–133]
1149 A.D.
Ælfric, a corrupt Spanish monk, gathers together most of the pieces of the Darkhold, but is burned at the stake for heresy. However, his soul becomes imprisoned within the Darkhold parchments. [Werewolf by Night #3]
The Catholic Church takes possession of the Darkhold and turns it over to a young priest, Paulo Montesi, curator of the Church’s occult library in Rome. Pope Eugene III decrees that only Father Montesi will be permitted to handle the scrolls and orders that they be rebound into a single volume, which is then called the Book of Sins. The Pope also allows Montesi to marry and sire children so that his descendants may be trained to be the book’s curators. [Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme #12]
1150 A.D.
While traveling through the wilderness beyond Asgard with Loki and the Warriors Three, Thor is drawn into a life-or-death struggle with two conceptual beings, Fear and Desire, whom Odin also faced in his youth. When his fighting ability fails him, Thor’s innate nobility enables him to survive the encounter. Odin is pleased that Thor has passed the ultimate test of a warrior. [Thor #323]
1175 A.D.
Feeling the need to procreate, the malevolent entity Nightmare, master of the Dream Dimension, rapes a succubus named Zhilla Char and strands her in a pocket dimension. She is soon consumed by demonic birthing flames, and from her charred corpse rises her “daughter,” who will come to be known as the Dreamqueen. Exerting her will on the barren terrain around her, the Dreamqueen creates a kingdom to rule and peoples it with servile automatons. In time, however, she comes to see her realm as merely a gilded cage. [Alpha Flight #67]
1190 A.D.
Varnæ, lord of the vampires, learns that the Catholic Church is studying the Darkhold in an attempt to discover a means to destroy the undead. Invading Rome, Varnæ and his band of vampires kill Father Montesi but are driven off before they can steal the Darkhold. [Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme #12]
Eobar of Garrington, a descendant of Sir Percy and an ally of King Richard the Lionheart of England, participates in the Third Crusade. The astral form of Mordred escapes the netherworld to which it had been banished and commandeers a new body, then allies himself with England’s Prince John against his brother Richard. As a result, Merlin’s spell pulls the spirit of Eobar’s descendant, Dane Whitman, out of limbo (where a spell woven by the Enchantress has left him after turning his body to stone) and puts him in possession of Eobar’s body so that the Black Knight may live again. Whitman, in Eobar’s body, continues aiding King Richard by fighting alongside the crusaders. After encountering the time-traveling Defenders, Whitman is convinced to stay in the 12th century by an aged Prester John, who has traveled back in time as well. [Defenders #11]
The new Black Knight soon defeats Mordred and Prince John and continues to fight savagely in the Crusades. Mordred’s spirit is banished back to the netherworld from which it came.
1191 A.D.
The Black Knight encounters the young Prester John, and together they save King Richard from an assassination plot. Prester John then enters King Richard’s service to fight in the Crusades. [Marvel Fanfare #54]
1195 A.D.
A group of mystics from Avalon in Otherworld unwittingly opens a portal to the Dark Realm of the Fomorians, the ancestral enemies of the Tuatha Dé Danann, the Celtic gods. The demonic Fomorians lay waste to Otherworld until Amergis, the High Druid of Avalon, enlists the aid of the Black Knight. Still, the Fomorians are too powerful to defeat. Prompted by the Black Knight, Amergis contacts his 20th-century descendant, Doctor Druid, who sends the Avengers back in time to help defend Avalon. With the Avengers’ aid, the Black Knight uses a powerful weapon known as the Evil Eye to close the portal to the Dark Realm and send the Avengers home. However, the process destroys Eobar’s body. Amergis sends Dane Whitman’s spirit back to the 20th century, where it is reunited with his original body. [Avengers #226]
1200 A.D.
Learning from the Olympian pantheon of the location of a dangerous artifact known as the Crystal of Blood, Odin sends Thor and Loki on a mission to retrieve it. Their quest takes them to the remote castle of a sorceress named Shamballa, who tries to seduce Thor while selling Loki to the trolls as a slave. The thunder god foils Shamballa’s plans, forcing her to reveal the way to the Cavern of the Screaming Skull. When they arrive, Thor and Loki find the crystal is guarded by Olympian Titans and a gigantic dragon. While Thor is busy destroying these monstrous guardians, Loki seizes the crystal, then threatens to turn its power on Thor. Loki finally admits his hatred and jealousy of Thor and declares that he seeks revenge for the indignities he has suffered living for centuries in the thunder god’s shadow. The last of the Titans sneaks up behind Loki while he is ranting and takes the crystal from him. Before the Titan can obliterate the Asgardians, Thor smashes the crystal with Mjolnir. The cavern suddenly collapses, but Thor carries his brother to safety. Loki calls Thor a fool for saving his life. When they return to Asgard, Thor decides not to tell Odin about Loki’s treachery, but the All-Father is already aware of everything that happened. Odin finally accepts that Loki must never become the King of Asgard. [Marvel Preview #10]
1210 A.D.
After the death of King Richard, Prester John wanders the world, seeing many wonders. Eventually, he finds his way to Avalon in Otherworld. There, he comes into possession of the Evil Eye. However, in anticipation of their own destruction, the wizards of Avalon place Prester John in suspended animation, with the Evil Eye on his lap, so that he will live on after them. He is returned to Earth, materializing in a crypt located deep beneath the Sahara Desert. [Fantastic Four #54]
Giacomo Montesi, Paulo’s son, becomes the new curator of the Darkhold upon reaching adulthood. Giacomo eventually translates most of the Darkhold into Latin. However, the spell his father had been looking for, the one to eradicate all vampires, is not in the book. Giacomo believes the spell to be on one of the book’s missing parchments. The Darkhold will remain in the hands of the Montesi family for several centuries. [Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme #13]
1220 A.D.
The peaceful Neuri tribe is driven from their ancestral home in the Ural Mountains by the advancing Mongol army. They migrate northwards to Siberia, using magic to transform their bodies to better withstand the arctic climate. In time they establish a utopian society underground. [Wolverine: Bloodlust]
1245 A.D.
An evil sorcerer named Khor is driven out of France for practicing the black arts. He eventually finds his way to the Savage Land, where he discovers the secret of immortality. [Marvel Mystery Comics #22]
1250 A.D.
Sentenced to Odin’s dungeons for a particularly egregious prank, Loki escapes and leaves the golden city of Asgard for good. While crossing the enchanted forest of Alfheim, Loki is ambushed by trolls and severely injured. He is rescued by an elderly wizard named Eldred, who nurses Loki back to health and takes him on as his apprentice. However, once he has learned all he can from Eldred, Loki betrays his teacher by sacrificing him to Surtur as part of a devilish pact. Absorbing all of Eldred’s mystic power, Loki drives the Light Elves away and takes over the castle, making it his own. Swearing to return to Asgard only as its ruler, Loki begins plotting the overthrow of Odin. [Thor #400]
The original Castle Frankenstein is erected outside the German city of Darmstadt, though the builders are unaware of a race of dragons living in caverns under the site. [Savage Sword of Conan #22]
1270 A.D.
Iron Man and Hawkeye are transported back from the 20th century by the villainous Leader. With their memories clouded, Iron Man assumes the identity of a local nobleman while Hawkeye falls in with a band of outlaws and is mistaken for the notorious Robin Hood. The outlaws launch an attack on the nobleman’s castle just as Hulk, Captain America, and She-Hulk arrive to restore their teammates’ memories. The five time-traveling heroes then continue their pursuit of the Leader. [Hulk #284] [Date based on historical accounts]
1275 A.D.
Infatuated with the goddess Sigyn, Loki decides to woo her with treasures from Eldred’s castle. However, Sigyn finds Loki repulsive and is, in any case, already betrothed to Theoric, a member of Odin’s most elite squad of warriors, the Crimson Hawks. Thus, Loki bribes Geirrodur, King of the Trolls, to ambush Theoric in the wilderness and kill him. When the evil deed is done, Loki uses his magic to assume his rival’s form until the marriage rite has been performed. When Loki reveals himself, the other gods are outraged, but Sigyn agrees to honor her vows. Moved by her fealty, Odin declares Sigyn to be the Goddess of Fidelity. Loki is banished from Asgard, so Sigyn accompanies him back to Eldred’s castle, but they rarely speak to each other. [Thor Annual #14]
1290 A.D.
Belasco strikes a bargain with the Undying Ones to help them return to Earth in exchange for magical power. They grant him immortality, giving him a more devilish appearance. When he is then arrested for blasphemy, Belasco flees Florence, Italy by ship, kidnapping a young woman named Beatrice Portinari. The scholar Dante Alighieri pursues them across the high seas, intent on rescuing Beatrice. After several months, the chase leads them to Antarctica, where they discover the hidden land of Pangea. With help from the native Aerians, Dante tracks Belasco to an abandoned Pangean amusement park, arriving in time to see Beatrice die giving birth to the sorcerer’s demonic children. Enraged, Dante engages Belasco in an extended swordfight but finds his foe impervious to harm. Luckily, Belasco inadvertently slashes open a pipe carrying supercooled liquid and is instantly frozen solid. A subsequent earthquake collapses much of the cavern the amusement park is in, and only Dante manages to escape. Traumatized by his experience, he returns to Florence. Belasco will remain frozen for nearly seven centuries, his life sustained by black magic. [Ka-Zar the Savage #11–12] [Date based on historical accounts]
1300 A.D.
Odin sends Thor and the Warriors Three to the desolate realm of Nastrond, where they are attacked by Fafnir the Dragon, who was once the king of that region. Thor uses Mjolnir to summon a storm more powerful than any ever seen on Earth, which causes the ground beneath Fafnir to crumble away, sending the dragon into a deep chasm. With Fafnir thus banished, Odin declares that the storm will magically bring the dead landscape back to life. [Thor #134–136]
Continuing on their trek, Thor and the Warriors Three come to the borders of Hogun the Grim’s homeland, where they are shocked to find a warrior crucified for treason. Hogun explains that he was driven into exile when a sorcerous tyrant called Mogul conquered his realm, and Thor vows to set his people free. The four heroes soon discover Mogul’s hidden lair, the Mystic Mountain—which is actually a gigantic crystal stalactite in an immense cavern beneath a featureless desert. Overcoming Mogul’s magical guardian, the Jinni Devil, Thor and the Warriors Three storm the tyrant’s fortress, Zanadu, and fight their way through his legions, which are followed by a horde of demons. Having become separated from the others, Volstagg stumbles upon a powerful weapon and uses it to incinerate the demons before Thor, Fandral, and Hogun are overwhelmed. They then team up with a local freedom-fighter, the thief Alibar, and defeat Mogul. Thor instates Alibar as the new ruler of Zanadu, and he pledges eternal loyalty to Odin. Hogun returns home to liberate his people, while Thor, Fandral, and Volstagg ride back to Asgard. Odin is pleased to have gained new allies. [Thor #137–145]
1320 A.D.
Shortly before his death, Dante Alighieri completes his poetical work The Divine Comedy, inspired by his experiences in Pangea. He bases his vision of the Christian Hell on the underground amusement park and casts Belasco as the Devil. [Date based on historical accounts]
1348 A.D.
The bubonic plague is sweeping across England. Half of a mystical gem called the Resurrection Stone appears in this era after being sent backwards in time by an alien archaeologist. The fragment is discovered by Devlunn, a ten-year-old boy whose family has all died from the plague. Devlunn discovers the gem has the power to return the dead to life, but because it is incomplete, it only revives the body without returning the soul. Devlunn uses the gem to resurrect his family and proclaims himself a god, making the local villagers obey his every whim. In pursuit of the gem, the Scarlet Witch, the Vision, the Beast, and Wonder Man journey back in time and, after battling Devlunn and his army of zombies, take the gem from him. Once in possession of the gem, the four Avengers depart in search of the second piece of the Resurrection Stone. [Avengers #209]
1350 A.D.
After the Asgardians have defeated the Storm Giants in a fierce battle, the magical standard that makes Odin’s forces invincible, the Raven Banner, is stolen by trolls when a young warrior, Greyval Grimson, shirks his duty. Emboldened, the Storm Giants team up with the trolls to conquer Asgard. Odin sends Greyval on a quest with Balder the Brave to retrieve the Raven Banner while Thor and the Warriors Three defend the realm from the attacking giants. Greyval’s cousin, Horskuld, seeking glory for himself, sets off to find the banner on his own, only to be corrupted by troll treachery. The two cousins fight over the Raven Banner at its hiding place in the Abyss of Shadows until Greyval kills Horskuld. He then carries the standard back to the battlefield, allowing Odin’s forces to defeat the Storm Giants again, though it costs Greyval his life. Impressed, Odin allows Greyval Grimson to join the ghostly Einherjar in Valhalla. [Marvel Graphic Novel #15 – The Raven Banner]
A youth from the Tibetan village of Kamar-Taj becomes apprenticed to Kaluu, the local mystic. Together they increase their magical knowledge, though Kaluu also learns some of the spells of the Darkhold from Varnæ, lord of the vampires. While the youth means to use his sorcery to benefit the village, Kaluu wants to create an empire for himself. Together, they weave a spell which causes everyone in the village to become virtually immortal. Eventually realizing Kaluu’s evil tendencies, the youth attempts to warn the villagers, but Kaluu captures him and imprisons him in the village center. The magics which the youth unleashes to defeat Kaluu accidentally reverse the immortality spell, causing all the villagers to grow sick and die. However, Kaluu escapes into the dimension of Raggaddor, where he becomes trapped. The youth survives the destruction of the village, but the spell which grants him immortality is weakened and he continues to age, albeit very slowly. His experiences lead him to dedicate his life to combating all evil sorcerers. In time, he becomes known as the Ancient One. [Strange Tales #148]
En Sabah Nur journeys to the land of the Aztecs and takes on the form of Huitzilopochtli, the Aztec god of war. The Aztecs mistakenly believe the mutant to be their god and worship him. [X-Factor #24] [Date is speculative]
1390 A.D.
The Lemurian emperor Naga begins worshiping the Elder God Set, who alters his appearance to make him more reptilian. Set then leads Naga to the resting place of the Serpent Crown, which the emperor believes makes him akin to a god. In addition to the crown’s innate powers, Naga gains virtual immortality when his court alchemists treat it with special oils from certain rare sea creatures. To protect the secret of his power, Naga then forces his alchemists to kill themselves. Naga then begins a reign of terror that will last for centuries. [Sub-Mariner #10, Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #9]
Next Issue: More History of the Original Marvel Universe!
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