In 1997, comics fan Robert Wicks began compiling his “Unofficial Chronology to the Marvel Universe” for his Usenet community. Originally intending to create an FAQ on important events occurring before the Fantastic Four gained their powers, his project grew into an all-encompassing history of the Marvel Universe since the Big Bang. He drew primarily from the various editions of The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, supplementing that information with tidbits provided by his own readings, other posters on his Usenet groups, and personal correspondence. I have found the resulting document to be a terrific resource, although it suffers, in my eyes, from two major drawbacks. First, his adherence to the concept of “Marvel Time” and the “Sliding Time Scale” causes his straightforward chronology to break down into a confusing muddle as it approaches the twentieth century. Second, he struggles to include the incoherent and ill-conceived storylines from Marvel’s post-1991 output.
For my own purposes, I revised and edited his text to represent only the Original Marvel Universe, as I understand its scope and contours. In the process, I added additional content that Mr. Wicks had omitted for one reason or another, drawing from resources not available at the time of the drafting of the original document, such as Jeff Christiansen’s excellent Appendix website. I also added numerous citations to indicate where much of the information was originally presented and did a fair amount of copy-editing. As I have often referred to this version when crafting my OMU and OMW chronologies, I have decided to post it here.
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.
From time immemorial, witness now… The True History of the Original Marvel Universe!
Part One: In the Beginning…
13.8 Billion Years Ago
The Marvel Universe is created in a massive explosion, the Big Bang. Matter and energy condense to form the cosmos, under the stewardship of a benevolent multiversal entity known as the One-Above-All and its assistant, the Living Tribunal. [Date based on scientific theory]
Eternity, Death, Lord Chaos, Master Order, and others—abstract entities that are the ethereal embodiments of the new universe—are born.
The Celestial Axis, a pattern of sentient energy, threads itself through the still-forming universe.
A being from a previous collapsed universe, formerly known as Galen of the planet Taa, emerges into the newborn universe inside a protective shell. Galen has merged with the sentience of his dead universe and is undergoing a metamorphosis that will take billions of years. [Thor #169]
10 Billion Years Ago
The enigmatic Celestials begin probing the universe, driven by an insatiable curiosity. [Eternals #7]
8 Billion Years Ago
Eternity, the embodiment of everything in the universe, weaves from the Celestial Axis a sentient quasi-physical entity called Eon. Created to become the cosmic custodian of the universe and to monitor beings of incredible power that might pose a threat to the universe’s existence, Eon also eventually becomes responsible for nurturing the evolution of sentient life forms throughout the universe. [Quasar #2]
7 Billion Years Ago
Life begins to evolve in the universe on many planets. Each planet capable of sustaining life is granted a nascent consciousness by the One-Above-All, derived from the Celestial Axis. On most worlds, this consciousness eventually produces from itself beings known as gods. Many of these planets also give rise to sentient mortal beings, some of whom achieve a level of intelligence allowing the creation of civilizations.
One of the first races of gods to take physical form will eventually become known to the rest of the universe as the Watchers. As civilizations arise on other worlds, their High Tribunal debates whether or not to share their vast knowledge with less-developed cultures. Uatu and his father, Ikor, persuade the Tribunal to use their resources to help others, and so an official delegation travels to the nearby planet Prosilicus, where they educate the natives and advance their level of technology considerably. When the Prosilicans have mastered the use of atomic energy, their benefactors depart. However, the Prosilicans soon develop nuclear weapons, and the ensuing wars irradiate the planet. They then start a war with a neighboring world, which proves to be technologically superior to them. A retaliatory strike all but destroys the remaining Prosilicans. Eventually returning to the planet, Uatu and his colleagues are horrified to discover what the Prosilicans have done with their knowledge. The High Tribunal then develops a strict policy of non-interference, deciding to limit their interactions with aliens to passive observation only. [Tales of Suspense #53, Silver Surfer #1]
Soon after the decree of the High Tribunal, the immortal Watchers abandon their home planet and relocate throughout the universe, each Watcher choosing a different solar system to study. Still believing that intervention can be morally justified, Uatu chafes under his restrictive oath. [Tales of Suspense #54]
Galen’s spaceship is observed by a Watcher named Ecce. The Watcher studies the ship as it travels through space and learns that the being within is immensely powerful. Realizing that this entity will one day have to consume entire planets to sustain himself, the Watcher contemplates killing him while he is still vulnerable. In the end, Ecce decides to abide by his race’s policy of non-interference and lets the ship go on its way, although he continues to observe it. Maturing within the spaceship, Galen renames himself Galactus and begins learning how to master his vast power. Galactus transforms his spaceship into a huge incubation chamber to further aid his development. [Thor #169]
Eventually, the incubation chamber drifts into the orbit of the planet Archeopia. Years later, Galactus emerges from the chamber and, driven by insatiable hunger, consumes the planet, absorbing all its energies into himself. Only a handful of Archeopians manage to flee the destruction of their world. [Thor #162]
Over the next few millennia, Galactus constructs an enormous starbase, Taa II, which engulfs the entire Archeopian solar system. Once the construction of his starbase is complete, Galactus begins wandering the universe in search of planets to eat.
6 Billion Years Ago
As other civilized alien races begin facing extinction, a number of last survivors, all of whom had driven themselves in pursuit of a particular discipline, discover that they have become immortal. These immortals eventually become known as the Elders of the Universe. They include the Collector, the Contemplator, the Gardener, the Grandmaster, and the Possessor. Their immortality allows them to survive not only the deaths of their races but eventually also the destruction of their galaxies. In pursuit of their particular disciplines, the Elders spread out across the universe.
5.5 Billion Years Ago
The alien beings who will one day be known as the Astronomer, the Champion, the Obliterator, the Runner, and the Trader, all Elders of the Universe, are born. [Silver Surfer v.3 #6]
4.6 Billion Years Ago
The star Sol begins to condense out of nebular gases, eventually forming a solar system. [Scientific theory]
Eon, foreseeing threats to the conditions of life in the universe, creates the quantum bands, a pair of weapons that allows the wearer to manipulate energy at will. Over the millennia as new threats arise in the cosmos, Eon will appoint new champions, giving each of them the quantum bands to aid in their duties. The first such champion is a being named Glakandra. [Quasar #2–3]
4.4 Billion Years Ago
The crust around the third planet from the star Sol solidifies and hardens. This planet will eventually be known as Earth. [Scientific theory]
3.8 Billion Years Ago
The first single-celled organisms are formed on Earth. [Scientific theory]
3.5 Billion Years Ago
The Demiurge achieves consciousness after being coalesced from Earth’s biosphere. As conditions on Earth become more supportive of life, the Demiurge, sensing the need for diversity, splits up into countless fragments, each of which forms into a new being, such as Chthon, Gaea, Set, and many others. These entities, known as the Elder Gods, spread out across the globe and influence the development of the planet’s environment. [Thor Annual #10] [Date based on scientific theory]
3 Billion Years Ago
Gaea assumes the role of protector of the emerging life in Earth’s seas. Chthon turns to the study and manipulation of mystical energies, becoming Earth’s first sorcerer. Set spawns a number of offspring, among them Sligguth and Damballah. [Silver Surfer Annual #2]
Set, realizing one can increase one’s own power by consuming the energy of one’s fellows, becomes the first being on Earth to commit murder. Thus, Set starts down the path of degeneracy into a demon. Other Elder Gods quickly follow Set’s example, soon going from being merely corrupt to becoming totally evil as they feed off each other while engaged in never-ending warfare. This corruption leads Chthon down the path of black magic.
2 Billion Years Ago
After a billion years, all the Elder Gods except Gaea have degenerated. Gaea fears that the Elder Gods’ wars will destroy the evolving life on the planet. Thus, Gaea mates with a reincarnation of the Demiurge and gives birth to Atum, who dedicates himself to eradicating the evil of the Elder Gods. Atum begins destroying the Elder Gods, absorbing their malefic energies into himself. These energies cause him to undergo a metamorphosis into the monstrous form of Demogorge the God-Eater. Chthon, sensing the end is near, inscribes all the mystical knowledge he has amassed onto a magical parchment, then casts a spell which allows him to escape into another dimension before Demogorge can slay him. Before fleeing the earth, Chthon hides the parchment containing his mystical knowledge and leaves it behind. Set, witnessing what Chthon has done, replicates the spell so he and his offspring can escape also. A few other Elder Gods may have managed to escape as well. In the end, Gaea is the only Elder God permitted to exist on the planet, and she infuses her uncorrupted essence into the earth and into all living things. Demogorge releases all the energies he had absorbed, reverting to Atum once more. He then takes up residence deep within the sun. [Thor Annual #10]
Over the next billion years, the evil energies that Demogorge released when he changed back to Atum gradually form into a number of lesser demonic beings, such as Mephisto, Satannish, Thog, Marduk Kurios, Belathauzer, Cha’sa’dra, Jergal Zadh, and others. Most are banished from the earth by Gaea and take up residence in various pocket dimensions, known collectively as the Infernal Realms or Hell. [Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme #8]
250 Million Years Ago
A race of immortal extradimensional demons, known as the Undying Ones, journeys to Earth through a rift in time and space. They nearly wipe out all life on the planet before Gaea can stop them. However, due to their own innate mystic powers, the Undying Ones survive Gaea’s attack and remain to prey upon Earth’s lifeforms for eons, although their numbers and power gradually wane as time goes on. [Sub-Mariner #22] [Date based on scientific theory]
225 Million Years Ago
The Leader travels back from the 20th century A.D. with two hypnotized hostages, the Wasp and Captain Marvel. He intends to use Captain Marvel’s energy-manipulation powers to bombard the landscape with gamma rays to alter the evolution of mammals. However, Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, Hawkeye, and She-Hulk follow the villain into the past to stop him. The Leader appears to perish in a volcano but is actually pulled back to the future by his intelligent space station, Omnivac. [Hulk #284] [Date based on scientific theory]
200 Million Years Ago
The Beyonders, a race of almost omnipotent extradimensional beings, hire an alien race called the Nuwali to build wildlife preserves on a number of different planets. These facilities allow the Beyonders to observe the process of evolution under relatively controlled conditions. One of the planets chosen as a site for a preserve is Earth. The Nuwali arrive on Earth during the Triassic period and begin construction of the preserve on the continent of Antarctica. They choose a spot with active volcanoes and set up advanced technological devices deep within caverns under the valley to help maintain a tropical climate. When the preserve is completed, the Nuwali begin stocking it with all manner of earthly animal life. Every few millennia, the Nuwali return to restock the preserve. In this way, many species that fall to extinction outside the preserve manage to survive within it. This wildlife preserve will one day be known as the Savage Land. [Ka-Zar the Savage #34, Fantastic Four #317]
100 Million Years Ago
From his pocket dimension, Set enjoys a mystic link with the dinosaurs through which he can feed off their life energies. Over many millions of years, he has amassed tremendous power in this way and developed an affinity for reptilian life. However, Gaea realizes the dinosaurs represent an evolutionary dead end and shifts the balance of evolution on Earth in favor of mammalian life. Enraged, Set directs the dinosaurs to kill off the mammals. Realizing her brother is behind the carnage, Gaea challenges Set to face her. Thus, Set returns to Earth in the form of gigantic serpent. Finding herself overmatched, Gaea summons her son Atum to once again battle the demon. As before, Atum assumes the form of the Demogorge, and his conflict with Set rages for millions of years. [Iron Man Annual #10]
67 Million Years Ago
The spaceship Star-Seed, commanded by Prince Wayfinder of the planet Ithacon, emerges through a timewarp from the distant future so its crew can settle on Earth, which they believe to be uninhabited. They have been led to this time and place by a mystical artifact known as the Sword in the Star, which is possessed of a cantankerous consciousness and has recently delivered them victory in their decades-long war against galactic marauders called the Haamin. Now desiring only peace, Wayfinder and his crew soon build a magnificent city on the Indian subcontinent. Unfortunately, the area is already home to malefic creatures known as “whirldemons,” who conspire to destroy the settlement. Despite the efforts of Wayfinder’s godlike champions, Agni, Kali, Mara, and Yama, the city is utterly annihilated by the demons’ attack. However, the Sword in the Star grants Wayfinder the power to transport his entire population to a “sub-atomic” realm known as the Microverse, which is then sealed within an impenetrable barrier called the Spacewall. In the process, Wayfinder is transformed into an ethereal being known as the Time-Traveler, who imprisons the demons in the hills surrounding the city and leaves an engraved obelisk buried in the ruins. The Time-Traveler then helps his people colonize a molecule-like planetary system in the Microverse that they dub Homeworld. [Micronauts #30–35] [Date based on scientific theory]
66 Million Years Ago
The Demogorge finally triumphs over Set, who is forced back to his pocket dimension, too drained of energy to ever return to Earth on his own. The devastation unleashed by their battle drives the dinosaurs to extinction, but Gaea shelters the mammals so they might survive. The Demogorge then changes back into Atum, bids farewell to Gaea, and returns to his dwelling place in the sun. Set vows to one day have his revenge. [Iron Man Annual #10]
20 Million Years Ago
The Celestials visit the planet Skrullos in the Andromeda Galaxy, the homeworld of the Skrulls. There they perform genetic tests upon the inhabitants, resulting in three separate branches of Skrullkind. After completing their experiments, the Celestials leave the planet. One of the branches, the Skrull Deviants, is given the ability to physically alter their appearance at will. Over time, the Deviant Skrulls wage war on the other two Skrull branches, driving them to extinction.
A subset of Deviant Skrulls evolves along slightly different lines and masters the arts of sorcery. Regarded as a threat by the main branch of Deviant Skrulls, this subset is banished to an area of space called the Dark Nebula, where they will continue to evolve and mutate into the Dire Wraiths. [Rom, Spaceknight #50]
The Skrulls eventually become a space-faring race and establish an empire spanning the Andromeda Galaxy.
Skrull scientists spend thousands of years looking for a means to convert thought into reality. Finally, the scientists discover a method whereby they open a portal to the dimension of the Beyonders and capture the resulting energy discharge within a cubical force field, thus creating a device which can alter reality. By holding this Cosmic Cube in one’s hand, one can do anything one wants. The Cube is immediately confiscated by the Skrull emperor, who uses its power to proclaim himself a god. After years in the possession of the power-mad emperor, the Cosmic Cube begins developing a consciousness and personality of its own, patterned after that of its holder. The Cube, acting independently of the emperor, then begins altering reality to shape its own wishes, drastically altering or even destroying entire solar systems. The destruction it causes wipes out two-thirds of the Skrull empire and causes the Skrulls to revert to the level of barbarism.
The Skrull Cosmic Cube eventually matures and evolves further, abandoning much of its insane ruthlessness. Because it had been created by the Skrulls, it creates a Skrull-like humanoid appearance for itself, with features modeled on the emperor who had used it for so long. The Cosmic Cube remains driven by the urge to transform worlds, but because of the inherent lack of imagination in Skrulls, the Cube is also cursed with the same handicap. Thus, the Shaper of Worlds, as the evolved Cosmic Cube now calls itself, wanders the universe, seeking out imaginative beings who will aid him by providing images on which to base his transformations.
The Skrulls eventually reestablish their civilization and again develop a galaxy-wide empire.
10 Million Years Ago
The Skrulls, while attempting to build a trans-galactic empire based on free trade, land an expeditionary force on the planet Hala in the galaxy known as the Large Magellanic Cloud. They intend to educate the barbaric natives to the point where they can join the empire. However, Hala proves to have two equally intelligent races, the humanoid Kree and the plant-like Cotati. The Skrulls propose a test to determine the worthier species. Taking representative members of both species to a distant planetoid in a nearby “neutral” galaxy—Earth’s moon, in fact—the Skrulls create an area with a life-sustaining atmosphere, later known as the Blue Area of the Moon, and then bid the two groups to use what resources they have to create something of worth. The Skrulls then depart. The Kree construct a magnificent city, while the Cotati create a beautiful garden. A year later, the Skrulls return to judge the two races and deem the Cotati’s accomplishment the more worthy. Enraged, the Kree murder both the Skrulls and the Cotati and seize the Skrulls’ starship. They use the ship to return to their native planet, then set about deciphering how the technology of the starship works. [Avengers #133]
After the abandonment of the Blue Area of the Moon, the Watcher Uatu sets up his home there.
Within a hundred years of acquiring interstellar technology from the Skrulls, the new Kree Empire begins to spread throughout their galaxy. The Kree then launch an attack upon the Skrull Empire, forcing the peaceful Skrulls to become warlike to defend themselves. The first Kree-Skrull War will continue for hundreds of thousands of years.
The Cotati on Hala are driven nearly to extinction as the Kree wage a campaign of genocide against them. However, a handful of Kree pacifists hide a group of Cotati in their temple. Eventually, these Kree begin worshiping the Cotati that they have kept sheltered and come to be known as the Priests of Pama. To further ensure their survival, the priests relocate the surviving Cotati to planets throughout the universe. [Avengers #134]
5 Million Years Ago
On Earth, the N’Garai, a race of extradimensional demons, emerge to wreak havoc on the world and its inhabitants. They soon start a war with the demonic Undying Ones, which eventually reaches a stalemate and settles
into a long-standing enmity.
3 Million Years Ago
Gaea gives birth to the race of Primal Gods over the course of several millennia, producing non-corporeal beings such as Anu, Búri, Nuadhu, Ouranus, and Thoth, whose descendants will eventually found a number of different pantheons of new gods.
Hominid species on the landmass that will eventually be called Africa begin to use stone tools. They live in large social groups in semi-permanent camps. [Scientific theory]
2 Million Years Ago
Tribes of Homo erectus begin to migrate beyond their home continent. From his pocket dimension, Set mystically influences a handful of Homo erectus and turns them into serpent-like humanoids. Set also gives these Serpent Men the ability to shapeshift into hominid form.
1.5 Million Years Ago
The Primal Gods intervene in the lives of the hominid species for the first time when they drive the demonic N’Garai back to their native dimension. Seeing that the demons’ hominid slaves have been utterly corrupted by evil, the gods choose one female and transform her into a mystical avatar called the Firebird. Embodying all that is decent, kind, and noble, the Firebird leads the hominids on the path to redemption. Having become immortal, she learns to assume humanoid form and eventually comes to be known as Jade. [Marvel Preview #7, Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #22]
The extradimensional demon Shuma-Gorath travels to Earth, where he torments and devours many of the Homo erectus tribes. Eventually, a time-traveling sorcerer called Sise-Neg appears and banishes Shuma-Gorath from Earth’s dimension. [Marvel Premiere #14]
1 Million Years Ago
The Homo erectus tribes master the art of making fire.
Set, foreseeing the arrival on Earth of the First Host of the Celestials, urges his Serpent Men to kill the nearby Homo erectus tribe so that they and not the hominids will be the ones to be empowered by the Celestials. The Serpent Men enter the valley near where the Celestials will land and urge two hominids to betray their own tribe. However, the hominids reject the Serpent Men and drive them from the valley. [Uncanny X-Men Annual #13]
The First Host of the Celestials arrives on Earth to explore the planet and to perform genetic experiments on the dominant humanoid species. They are greeted by Gaea, who escorts them to the valley where the tribe of Homo erectus lives. The Serpent Men approach the Celestials but are driven away by Arishem the Judge. Meanwhile, Gammenon the Gatherer brings a handful of hominids to the Celestials’ ship. Ziran the Tester analyzes the hominids, then begins his experiments. He creates the Deviants, a sub-species that is genetically unstable, so that the Celestials can determine humankind’s adaptability. Nezzar the Calculator then experiments and creates the Eternals, a sub-species that is evolutionarily accelerated, given vastly extended life spans, and endowed with the ability to channel and manipulate limited quantities of cosmic energy. The Eternals are created to test mankind’s durability and longevity. To further test the versatility of hominid genes, Oneg the Prober implants a dormant DNA complex in other specimens of the main species, which will one day result in radical benevolent mutations. Then, having completed their experiments, the Celestials release their test subjects and leave Earth. [Eternals #1, What If? #23, Uncanny X-Men Annual #13]
An alien spaceship crash-lands on a mountain on an extradimensional world. The energy released by the destruction of the ship’s warp drive causes a permanent fluctuating rift to be opened into Earth’s dimension. The rift is located in the Himalayan Mountains in what is today Tibet. The aliens use the remains of their ship to build a city which they name K’un-Lun. The activities of the new colony prove harmful to the native plant-based life-forms, which are sentient and call themselves the H’ylthri. The H’ylthri attempt to communicate with the humanoid settlers, but to no avail. [Iron Fist #2]
The H’ylthri create a humanoid form out of vegetable matter and send it to spy on the alien settlement. However, as there are only about a hundred colonists, the spy is quickly discovered. In the ensuing fight, the spy is beheaded and its body collapses into a mass of plant tissue. The warriors of K’un-Lun are shocked and realize they must guard against such infiltration by the H’ylthri. The two races settle into a long-standing enmity. [Namor #22]
In a parallel timeline, a six-fingered wizard named Somon the Artificer succeeds in creating a race of Great Beasts that enables him to conquer the world. Among them are Tundra, Tanaraq, Kolomaq, Ranaq, Kariooq, and Tolamaq. However, the monsters soon turn on each other, and their constant warfare lays waste to the entire planet. Over time, billions of people perish in the unending conflict and their souls are imprisoned in the Pit of Ultimate Sadness to be used by the Great Beasts as a food source. The world inhabited by the Great Beasts thus becomes one of the Twisted Realms. When all the souls have been consumed and the planet has died, the Great Beasts begin looking for new worlds to conquer. They will eventually make repeated attempts to break through the interdimensional barrier to Earth. [Alpha Flight #24]
993,000 Years Ago
The Kree Science Council, aware that their enemies the Skrulls had once created a Cosmic Cube, designs an enormous cybernetic/organic computer to help them create a Cube of their own. When the computer becomes functional, it determines that a Cosmic Cube would be too dangerous to construct and refuses the Science Council’s request. Over time, the computer achieves more and more political power until it is finally elected as absolute ruler of the Kree. The computer is thenceforth known as the Supreme Intelligence. Eventually, the Supreme Intelligence even becomes an object of worship and an entire organized religion grows up around it.
500,000 Years Ago
Through unknown, possibly sorcerous means, a number of Homo erectus tribes rapidly evolve into the mysterious Elder Races, who hold dominion over the earth for several millennia before all but disappearing. A few powerful wizards, such as Thulsa Doom, the Dark Rider, Tuzun Thune, and the Demonolater, survive the destruction of their race.
Part Two: Ages Undreamed Of
300,000 B.C.
Homo sapiens evolves on Earth. Humankind eventually becomes strong enough and smart enough to fight back against the Serpent Men’s constant attacks. Eventually, the humans migrate around the world. As they encounter various groups of gods, the mortals and immortals profoundly influence each other. [Date based on scientific theory]
A warlike alien race known only as the Brethren begins a campaign of conquest and destruction throughout the Milky Way galaxy. [Avengers #334]
80,000 B.C.
The seat of the Skrull Empire is moved to the planet Tarnax IV, which is more centrally located in the empire. This planet is thenceforth called the Imperial Throneworld.
78,000 B.C.
A Kree scientist named Bronek develops the first Sentry prototype, a humanoid robot designed to safeguard and patrol Kree interstellar outposts and weapons depots.
As the Kree-Skrull War rages on, the Kree set up a supply outpost in Earth’s solar system on the planet Uranus, hoping to maintain a weapons base close to the natural space-warp that exists in the Sol system. They leave Kree Sentry 213 behind to guard it.
48,000 B.C.
The Plodex, an alien race that has exhausted all natural resources within its own solar system, develop an ingenious means to colonize other worlds. An automated ship lands on a hospitable planet and sends out a hypnotic summons to attract the most intelligent species of that world. The ship then combines Plodex DNA in unhatched eggs with that of the dominant species. The ship then disperses millions of eggs all across the planet. One of these colony ships is launched towards Earth. [Alpha Flight #4]
38,000 B.C.
The Plodex colony spaceship crash-lands in the region that will become northern Asia. The damaged starship hypnotically summons all mobile life to come to the ship but fires off its supply of Plodex eggs before they can be genetically altered to survive on Earth’s surface. All but two of the eggs eventually die. One of the eggs that lands in the ocean manages to adapt itself to the aquatic environment and survive. As a result, the undeveloped Plodex inside the egg becomes amphibious. The egg will drift across the ocean for many millennia before hatching. [Alpha Flight #4]
Attracted by the hypnotic summons, a human man makes his way to the Plodex ship. Captured by the ship’s automated devices, the man’s body is dissected, analyzed, and destroyed. However, his brain is kept alive and conscious, so he experiences tremendous pain that drives him insane. Over the next several thousand years, the human brain gradually establishes control over the spaceship. [Alpha Flight #3]
35,000 B.C.
The demon Shuma-Gorath returns to Earth from his native dimension and establishes himself on a mountain on the continent that will one day be known as Europe. He resumes feasting upon the local human populations, eventually driving the Neanderthals to extinction. He rules his domain for a few thousand years, until a young god named Crom, a descendant of Earth’s Primal Gods, decides to answer the prayers of his worshipers. Manifesting as a fierce thunderstorm, Crom provides a human shaman with the mystic tomes later known as the Iron-Bound Books of Shuma-Gorath. The shaman is thus able to cast a spell that allows Crom to imprison Shuma-Gorath within the mountain. The region surrounding the mountain becomes a place of perpetual gloom, and the Iron-Bound Books are eventually lost. [Conan the Barbarian #260]
25,000 B.C.
The dawn of the Pre-Cataclysmic Age of human civilization. Barbarian nomads of mainstream humanity begin wandering the island continents of Atlantis, Lemuria, and Mu and eventually establish a thriving civilization on the Eurasian landmass, which at this time is known as the Thurian Continent. In the western kingdoms, worship of the gods Valka and Hotath rises, while in the far east the goddess Syndra is venerated. Numerous other gods, most descended from Gaea and/or the Primal Gods, seek worshipers among the humans as well.
The Atlantean wizard C’Thunda creates a set of mystical lenses that he can combine into a powerful energy weapon. However, the weapon is stolen and all the lenses are eventually lost. Over the following millennia, the lenses will be discovered one by one and incorporated into various works of art. [Daredevil #128]
Shunned by his tribe, C’Thunda uses black magic to create a powerful talisman known as the Chimera. Before he can use it, though, C’Thunda is murdered and his assassin disappears with the Chimera into a network of caverns, never to be seen again. [Tomb of Dracula #26]
24,000 B.C.
As the first cities are established in Lemuria, they are attacked by the Serpent Men, beginning the conflict later known as the Thousand Year War.
23,000 B.C.
The Thousand Year War comes to an end when the god Gorm provides the human king, Thungarth of Nemedis, with an enchanted sword forged from a meteorite. Though Thungarth is killed in the final battle, the Serpent Men are routed, allowing human settlements to finally thrive in Lemuria. [Creatures on the Loose #26]
The Nuwali, the alien race hired by the Beyonders to construct and stock animal preserves throughout the galaxy, make one of their last trips to Earth during its Pleistocene epoch to restock the Antarctica preserve. The Beyonders eventually lose interest in the habitats, so the Nuwali stop introducing new breeds into the existing preserves. Without routine maintenance, all the preserves except Earth’s eventually collapse. [Ka-Zar the Savage #34]
Civil war breaks out between two factions of the earth’s Eternals. Uranos wants to wage war against the humans, while his brother Chronos proposes the way of peaceful coexistence. The two sides clash over their ideologies in a violent confrontation that kills almost nine-tenths of their population and destroys the Eternals’ capital city of Titanos. Finally, Chronos’s forces prevail and he decrees that Uranos and his surviving band of followers be banished from Earth into outer space. Chronos uses his powers to transform Uranos and his followers into living energy, which he then flings into space. With the rebels gone, Chronos forsakes violence and decides to devote himself to the pursuit of science and knowledge. [Captain Marvel #29, What If? #24]
Zuras and his brother Alars are born to Chronos and Daina of the Eternals.
Uranos and the banished Eternals fly through space, approaching the edge of the solar system. Concentrating their mental abilities, they manage to slightly change their course and are caught by the gravity of the planet Uranus. Eventually discovering the Kree weapons depot on the planet, they manage to pass through the dome surrounding the enclosure. The energy of the dome’s force field transforms the rebel Eternals back into their physical forms. They then battle and destroy Kree Sentry 213, which had been placed there on guard, but not before the Sentry activates a trans-galactic alarm. Uranos then orders his followers to cannibalize the Kree technology to build a spaceship to transport them back to Earth. Once the ship is completed, the rebel Eternals set course for their home planet. However, four of the rebels remain behind and eventually build a thriving colony within the depot enclosure. [What If? #26–27]
A Kree armada investigates the signal from Uranus, believing the Skrulls to be responsible for Sentry 213’s destruction. They discover the rebel Eternals in their crude spaceship passing Saturn on their journey back to Earth. The Kree destroy the ship, then capture one of the bodies floating in the wreckage. Puzzled by the Eternal’s physiognomy, the Kree take him back to the planet Kree-Lar, their new throneworld, for vivisection. [What If? #27–28]
About half of the rebel Eternals aboard the spaceship survive the Kree attack. Linking together, they conserve their oxygen long enough to make their way to Saturn’s moon Titan. There, using their energy manipulation powers, they begin to convert the interior of the moon into a highly technological society. Within a few hundred years they are a fully functioning civilization. [What If #28]
The Kree discover that the Eternal they have examined was a result of the Celestials’ experiments on earthlings. Kree scientists then petition their rulers to perform their own experiments on human subjects. The Supreme Intelligence grants them permission, hoping that the experiment will result in a race of super-warriors for the Kree. Journeying to Earth, the Kree begin genetically engineering a small tribe of humans into more advanced beings. After twenty-five years, the Kree end their experiments and set the tribe free. The Kree leave Sentry 459 behind on a small South Pacific island to monitor for Skrull activity and to observe the progress of the human test subjects, who will one day be known as the Inhumans. [What If #28]
The Eternal colony on the planet Uranus, now free of the destructive tendencies of its former leader, begins devoting itself to peaceful scientific and philosophical pursuits. They decide to devote themselves to the mysteries of the universe and set about trying to discover a grand unified theory of everything. [Quasar #2]
The Eternal colony on Titan, meanwhile, ruled by the warlike Uranos, eventually degenerates and falls into a civil war so terrible that it wipes out the entire population, except for one woman named Sui-San. [Captain Marvel #29]
Chronos, in his laboratory in the rebuilt city of Titanos, continues his research into the Eternals’ abilities to manipulate cosmic energy. Finally he is successful in isolating cosmic power, but the container in which it is held explodes, disintegrating Chronos, destroying Titanos, and bombarding the Eternals in the city with cosmic particles. Although Chronos’s atoms are scattered throughout the city, the energy he had released augments his astral form to a considerable degree, to the point where his powers operate on a cosmic scale. [Captain Marvel #29, What If #24–25]
Chronos’s astral form then appears before his sons, Zuras and Alars, informing them of what has happened. The cosmic particles have unlocked the Eternals’ genetic potential, he explains, making them virtually immortal and invulnerable and allowing them to pass this legacy down to their descendants. Zuras and Alars then initiate the first Uni-Mind, collectively melding the Eternals into one mind and body. While in this form, the Eternals decide to make Zuras their new leader. When the Uni-Mind dissolves, Alars does not contest the decision and voluntarily exiles himself into outer space, hoping to avoid the polarization that led to the Eternals’ earlier civil war. [What If #25]
The cosmic particles from the explosion in Titanos spread throughout the solar system. The Eternals on Uranus are eventually bombarded by the cosmic energy, and although they are not granted immortality like their brethren on Earth, their life spans and durability are greatly enhanced. [Quasar #7]
Alars, making his way through space, discovers Sui-San among the ruins of the colony on Titan. They fall in love and begin working together to rebuild and re-populate her world. Because Sui-San was not present at the explosion which granted Alars his immortality, their descendants have much longer lives than Eternals before the explosion but not as great as Alars himself. [Captain Marvel #29]
Zuras decides not to rebuild the city of Titanos again and leads his people to what is today known as Mount Olympus in Greece, establishing a new city, Olympia, there. Eventually, two other Eternal cities are also founded, Polaria in Siberia and Oceana in the Pacific. Olympia, from which Zuras rules all Earth’s Eternals, remains their capital city.
Three extradimensional sorcerers, Necrom and his students Feron and Merlyn, materialize in the ruins of Titanos seeking to take advantage of a cosmic alignment to create a stable energy matrix of tremendous power. Feron fulfills a lifetime of training by summoning the celestial avatar known as the Phoenix, then uses its power to project a manifestation of the tower at the heart of the alignment through the multiverse, thereby linking together all planes of reality. However, Necrom betrays his students, hoping to gain the power of the energy matrix for himself. Feron, sustained by the Phoenix force, battles Necrom, giving Merlyn the chance to leap into the matrix. Absorbing its energies, Merlyn is swept away across the infinite dimensions. The defeated Necrom steals the part of the Phoenix force that had bonded itself to Feron and combines it with a portion of his own life-essence to create the Anti-Phoenix, which he leaves buried deep underground before escaping into another dimension. [Excalibur #50]
Left behind on Earth, Feron maintains a constant vigil should the Anti-Phoenix rise again and eventually passes this duty on to his descendants. Before dying, Feron places his power into the earth itself, to be used someday by his heir to fight the Anti-Phoenix. [Excalibur #50]
Merlyn eventually masters the energy matrix and, finding he has become immortal, creates the extradimensional realm of Otherworld. [Excalibur #50]
22,000 B.C.
Continually subjected to attacks by prejudiced humans, the Inhumans, led by King Myran, create a refuge on the island of Attilan in the North Atlantic Ocean. There they make great advancements in civilization and scientific discovery, especially in genetics. The Inhumans eventually found a new government based on genocracy, or rule by the most genetically fit. [Thor #146]
20,000 B.C.
The Eternals’ leader Zuras marries Cybele.
The Eternal later called Ikaris is born to Virako and his wife, two second-generation Polar Eternals.
Azura, later known as Thena, is born to Zuras and Cybele.
Azura meets Kro, a Deviant with Eternal-like capabilities. Kro has extremely long life, is almost invulnerable, and has the ability to alter his physical appearance. Azura and Kro fall in love despite the hostility that exists between their two races, but their relationship eventually ends badly. Azura maintains her love for Kro but, not knowing of his virtual immortality, eventually assumes that the Deviant has died of old age. Fearing that if other Deviants knew of his special powers they would experiment on him, Kro changes his appearance and takes up a new identity. Over the following millennia, he will take on a number of different shapes and guises.
19,500 B.C.
Eallal, king of Valusia, a nation on the Thurian Continent, is assassinated in his throne room by the Serpent Men. Using their ability to alter their appearance to resemble human beings, the Serpent Men have infiltrated human civilizations with the intent to conquer them. Disguised as human priests, they foster a religion that worships the Elder God Set. [Kull the Conqueror #2]
18,500 B.C.
Kull, an Atlantean barbarian, usurps the throne of Valusia. With the aid of a Pictish ally, Brule the Spear-Slayer, Kull discovers the threat of the shape-changing Serpent Men and drives them out of his royal court. Kull then tracks the serpent-priests to their remote temple and destroys it. There, he meets the undead sorcerer Thulsa Doom, and the two soon become mortal enemies. [Kull the Conqueror #1–3, Monsters on the Prowl #16]
Upon their return to Valusia’s City of Wonders, Brule is briefly possessed by the spirit of Spider-Man, sent back from 20,000 years in the future by Doctor Strange to obtain an antidote to the Serpent Men’s venom. Since the Valusians have not yet discovered such an antidote, Brule leads Kull and a detachment of his personal guard, the Red Slayers, into Pictish territory to get it from an evil shaman named Ju-Lak. Using his sorcery, Ju-Lak absorbs Spider-Man’s powers and fights a duel with Kull, but the Valusian king triumphs and forces the shaman to produce the antidote. Spider-Man’s spirit then returns to his own time. [Marvel Team-Up #112]
Kull is driven from the throne of Valusia by Thulsa Doom, who begins a tyrannical rule over the kingdom as Kull escapes execution and flees into the wilderness. Joined by the rebellious minstrel Ridondo, the exiled king returns to Atlantis in search of an army to take back his crown. During his quest, Kull encounters several sorcerers and battles numerous monsters. Finding his way to Grondar on the eastern side of the Thurian Continent, Kull overcomes the machinations of a trio of wizards and takes advantage of an ancient curse to trap Thulsa Doom. Returning to the City of Wonders in triumph, Kull again becomes king of Valusia. [Kull the Destroyer #11–29]
Thulsa Doom soon escapes and lures Kull to a final showdown in the wilderness of Grondar, using an enchanted sword to drain Kull’s life-force as they duel. However, Kull manages to switch swords with his foe and impales Thulsa Doom. The wizard’s body crumbles to dust, and Kull returns to his kingdom. [Marvel Preview #19]
When one of the jewels of his crown disappears, Kull finds his palace and everyone in it transported to a desolate plain some 8,000 years in the future. His guards capture three wandering warriors—Conan the Cimmerian, Red Sonja, and the pirate Bêlit—and bring them to the throne room. The Pictish shaman Gonar warns Kull that the strangers mean to kill him, but Conan produces the missing jewel and exposes the shaman as an impostor, a wizard who serves an entity called Thoth-Amon. When Conan slays the wizard, the palace and its inhabitants return to their proper time. [Conan the Barbarian #68]
Following prophetic dreams, Kull warns his subjects that the Serpent Men remain a threat to the kingdom. That very night, a massive army of Serpent Men marches on the City of Wonders. Kull kills a couple of scouts, then retreats to prepare for a lengthy siege. For months, the Serpent Men and their human mercenaries surround the city. A traitorous nobleman slips out and informs the Serpent Men of a weak spot in the city’s defenses, but, aware of his treachery, Kull repels the attack. The Serpent Men then kill the traitor. Finally, after six months, the City of Wonders succumbs to plague, and Kull orders the infected quarantined in a concentration camp. Many of the sick and dying revolt and storm the palace, only to be slain by the king’s archers. Kull has some of the plague-ridden bodies catapulted into the Serpent Men’s ranks, which finally breaks the siege. Kull and his forces are then able to attack and kill off most of the last remaining Serpent Men. [Savage Sword of Conan #140, 148–149, 159]
A wizard unearths the Chimera and uses it to send a flame-giant to attack Kull. Though Kull survives, the wizard is killed and the Chimera is lost again. [Tomb of Dracula #26]
Atlantean sorcerers discover the Darkhold, the ancient mystical scroll penned by the Elder God Chthon. Founding the Cult of the Darkholders, they begin experimenting with the spells contained on the parchment, looking for a method to cause their enemies to return from the dead as a slave army. Varnæ, a cult member dying of wounds inflicted by Kull, volunteers to be the first test subject. After his death, Varnæ is successfully returned to a semblance of life, becoming the first vampire on Earth. The Darkholders intend to use the vampires against Kull, their greatest enemy. However, the vampires prove to be more powerful than the sorcerers, so the undead turn against their creators, killing most of them. The vampires then flee to the Thurian Continent. Varnæ assumes the title Lord of the Vampires and retains this role for many millennia. [Conan the Barbarian #245]
The few surviving members of the Cult of the Darkholders pursue their undead creations to the Thurian Continent, taking the Darkhold with them. Over the next several millennia, the parchment passes through countless hands.
18,250 B.C.
Advancing civilization and technological innovations greatly improve the lives of most Atlanteans. They achieve wonders of science and technology that have yet to be paralleled by modern humans. Over the following centuries, Atlantis develops into a sophisticated empire.
The Deviants conquer the island continent of Lemuria in the Pacific Ocean and enslave the human population. The slaves are then forced to invade other human nations to expand the Deviants’ empire. In this way, the Deviants soon come to dominate the entire Thurian Continent, including Valusia. Only Atlantis manages to remain free, quickly driving back the Deviants’ continual invasion attempts.
Atlantean expeditions to Antarctica discover the Nuwali technology used to sustain the Savage Land. Their scientists make considerable improvements to the machinery and extend the area which it controls. Using other Nuwali technology they find, the Atlanteans also create wonderful devices used for entertainment. The Atlanteans name the new territory Pangea, and it quickly becomes a popular recreational resort. The new settlers also import to Pangea many of the different breeds of animals in the adjoining Savage Land. [Ka-Zar the Savage #8]
A number of Lemurian refugees, fleeing Deviant persecution, also settle in Pangea. Some dinosaur species are taken back to Lemuria and introduced to the jungles of Chush.
Pangean scientists perform genetic experiments on the ape-men of the Savage Land in order to create laborers to run the amusement parks in Pangea. The scientists are successful in creating a number of different offshoots of humanity, such as the Aerians, Tree-People, Tubanti, and other animal-like races, all with human intelligence. Eventually, the Animal Peoples of Pangea become increasingly fed up with being treated like slaves. To solve this, the Pangeans imprison the Animal Peoples and build fully-mechanical automatons to run the parks. Nevertheless, the Animal Peoples rise in rebellion and eventually defeat their Atlantean masters. They demand equal rights from the Atlanteans, so the scientists extend the climate-controlled area surrounding Pangea and the Savage Land. Satisfied, the Animal Peoples relocate peacefully. [Ka-Zar the Savage #31]
18,100 B.C.
Thongor, a young barbarian from northern Lemuria, makes his way to the cities in the southern part of the continent when his clan is wiped out by intertribal warfare. He supports himself as a thief, assassin, and pirate. While working as a mercenary in the militia of Thurdis, he kills his commanding officer in a bar fight and becomes a fugitive. Thongor steals an airship built with Deviant technology and crashes it in the dinosaur-infested jungles of Chush. He is rescued by the wizard Sharajsha of Zaar, who recruits him to help stop a group of Serpent Men from opening an interdimensional portal to bring Set back to Earth. Having reforged the enchanted sword used by Thungarth of Nemedis, Thongor destroys the Serpent Men before the portal can be opened. [Creatures on the Loose #22–29]
18,000 B.C.
The Eternals Valkin and Phastos construct the Pyramid of the Winds in the Arctic Circle. The Pyramid and its storehouses are designed to hold the Eternals’ most dangerous weapons. The symbol of the Pyramid is imprinted on the brow of Valkin’s nephew, the future Ikaris, with the keys to the Pyramid designed into his clothing. [Eternals #19]
The Atlantean sorceress Zhered-Na prophesies the sinking of Atlantis. Furious, the Atlantean king Kamuu orders Zhered-Na to cease making this prophecy. When she refuses to do so, she is banished from Atlantis. Zhered-Na’s boat washes up on the shore of the Thurian Continent, where she starts a new cult of disciples. One of her followers is Dakimh the Enchanter, whom Zhered-Na makes virtually immortal through magical means. [Adventure into Fear #15]
When a team of Atlantean scientists also predicts the imminent destruction of their civilization, King Kamuu banishes them from the realm as well. Their leader, Dherk, relocates to Pangea, where he secretly develops prototype hibernation chambers in hopes of saving his people from the catastrophe. [Ka-Zar the Savage #6]
Atlantis is suffering from both civil war and a number of invasions from Lemuria and Mu. Foreseeing that the Deviants will soon conquer the capital city of Atlantis and the major city of Netheria, King Kamuu orders huge transparent domes erected over the cities and has their foundations fortified as well. Finally, when Lemurian invaders murder his wife, Queen Zartra, Kamuu opens the magma pits which are the city’s main means of heating. The Lemurian force is destroyed, but the magma release triggers a seismological catastrophe that causes a series of devastating earthquakes throughout the continent. Kamuu is killed when his palace crumbles into the sea. [Sub-Mariner #62–63]
Lemurian alchemists, with the aid of the Serpent Men, create the Serpent Crown, an object of great mystical power. From his pocket dimension, Set links his consciousness to the crown when the alchemists’ leader, Atra, sacrifices his daughter Antilia. The crown then becomes a receptacle for Set’s power. Atra places the Serpent Crown on his head and sets out to overthrow the Deviants and conquer the world. [Marvel Team-Up Annual #5, Amazing Spider-Man Annual #23]
The Second Host of the Celestials arrives on Earth to inspect the progress of their experiments, the Deviants and Eternals. The main religion of the Deviants is worship of the Celestials, whom they consider “space gods.” However, they also hate the Celestials for making them genetically unstable and physically repulsive. Phraug, Emperor of the Deviants, gives the order to launch an attack upon the Second Host. However, Atra confronts Phraug and tries to destroy him with the Serpent Crown, only to discover that Set has promised the crown to Phraug. The two rival Set-worshipers then begin fighting for possession of the Serpent Crown. [Amazing Spider-Man Annual #23]
The Celestials are displeased to find that the Deviants have created a monster called Spore to serve as the ultimate weapon in their ceaseless war with the Eternals. Locating Spore in the region that will one day be known as Central America, the Celestials incinerate the creature. However, due to all the Eternals that Spore has absorbed, it survives the destruction of its body and seeps into the soil, where it will remain dormant for millennia. [Wolverine #21]
The Celestials, finding the direction of Deviant technology counterproductive, retaliate against the Deviants’ attack by causing a massive nuclear explosion that destroys the continent of Lemuria and triggers the collapse of the unstable Atlantean continent as well. The effects of this event cause tremendous changes around the world and will become known as the Great Cataclysm. [Conan the Barbarian #1, Eternals #2]
Atra and Emperor Phraug are directly under the main explosion and are killed instantly, but the Celestials preserve their skeletal remains, still clutching the Serpent Crown, as a warning to others. The Great Cataclysm causes the continents of Atlantis, Lemuria, and Mu to crumble into the ocean, and the populations of these lands are almost entirely wiped out. [Amazing Spider-Man Annual #23]
Dherk is testing one of his prototype hibernation chambers when the Great Cataclysm occurs, throwing him into suspended animation. [Ka-Zar the Savage #6]
The Eternals survive the Celestials’ wrath by forming a Uni-Mind. [Eternals #12]
A handful of Atlanteans load a number of animals aboard a large ark and escape the destruction of their homeland. The Eternal who will later be known as Ikaris leads the Atlantean ship to the relative safety of the Thurian Continent. Because he doesn’t come into direct contact with the humans aboard the ark, the Eternal is mistaken for a bird. [Eternals #2]
The Atlantean city of Netheria, under its protective dome, sinks to the bottom of the sea intact. Their scientists quickly find a way to recycle the air supply and the people in the sunken city survive. Over time, the city shifts on its base until it finally comes to rest in a huge undersea cavern. The citizens rename their isolated home the Netherworld. [Tales of Suspense #43]
A cult dedicated to the demon Xotli flees Atlantis by traveling west in a fleet of flying dragon-ships. They settle in the Antillean archipelago, where they enslave the indigenous population. However, Xotli’s insatiable appetite for human sacrifice causes their colony to slowly degenerate. [Marvel Graphic Novel: Conan of the Isles]
The continent of Mu is utterly destroyed, but a woman named Astarta, having previously been made immortal by an unidentified sea-god, survives and is swept away to the shores of the island of Kelka. The inhabitants mistake her for their goddess Ashtoreth and begin worshiping her. [Conan the Barbarian #71]
Although Lemuria is annihilated, some Deviants manage to escape by fleeing to a number of subterranean settlements that had previously been established. Eventually, these Deviants build a new capital, the City of Toads, underneath the Pacific Ocean floor. [Eternals #8]
The human survivors from Lemuria take refuge on the eastern shores of the Thurian Continent, only to be enslaved again by a mysterious ancient race that dwells there. Even the far north is rocked by the upheavals, but the humans there are protected by the god Búri. The mortals begin to refer to their tribe as Hyborians in honor of their savior. Their population is increased by refugees from the greater devastations to the south, forcing them to take over territory occupied by a vicious species of “abominable snowmen.” The creatures are driven into the Arctic wastes. [Savage Sword of Conan #8]
During the Great Cataclysm, an extradimensional necromancer called Llan the Sorcerer comes to Earth and creates a doomsday religion around himself in order to draw psychic power from his followers. He is opposed by a woman called Talisman, who wears a mystical golden headband. She is able to defeat Llan by taking advantage of his arrogance and banishes him from the earth. Knowing that her foe will return in 10,000 years, Talisman imbues one of Llan’s idols with a powerful binding spell and leaves it for her successor. [Alpha Flight #83]
As a result of the Great Cataclysm, Pangea and the Savage Land sink below sea level but are saved from flooding by the high mountains that surround them. However, earthquakes and aftershocks caused by the Cataclysm wipe out three-fourths of the population of Pangea. The rest of the inhabitants quickly degenerate into barbarism, with constant warfare further depleting their numbers. Eventually, peace returns to Pangea and the Savage Land, and primitive tribes develop along racial lines. [Ka-Zar: Lord of the Hidden Jungle #1]
The Inhumans on the island of Attilan manage to protect themselves from the devastation of the Great Cataclysm via their superior technology.
The vampire lord Varnæ survives the Great Cataclysm by placing himself in suspended animation within his blood-filled sarcophagus. Most of the other vampires are wiped out. [Conan the Barbarian #245]
Wrongly blaming Zhered-Na for the Great Cataclysm, the Thurians attack her and her cultists. Zhered-Na is killed, but her pupil Dakimh and a number of other disciples escape, taking with them scrolls containing Zhered-Na’s mystical knowledge. [Adventure into Fear #15]
The Second Host of the Celestials accuses one of their own of crimes “against life itself.” The renegade resists capture and the Celestials are forced to fight him. Overcoming the renegade Celestial, they remove his life essence and imprison his body beneath a mountain range in what will become California. The Celestials store the renegade’s life essence and the weapon used to defeat him in the Pyramid of the Winds in the Arctic Circle. This Celestial’s name is wiped from mortal knowledge. In times to come, he will be known as the Great Renegade and as the Dreaming Celestial. [Eternals #18]
The Second Host of the Celestials concludes its experiments and observations and leaves Earth.
After the Great Cataclysm, the focus of Deviant worship changes. The Deviants develop an intense hatred towards the Celestials and become obsessed with seeking a means for their destruction. The priesthood comes to dominate much of Deviant life, although they are technically still ruled by a monarchy.
In the aftermath of the Great Cataclysm, the mainstream humans begin a slow process of re-discovering and re-developing their civilizations. The history of the preceding age passes into legend.
17,500 B.C.
After five hundred years of constant warfare with the primitive Picts, the Atlanteans have been reduced to stone-age cavemen. [Savage Sword of Conan #8]
Dherk’s malfunctioning hibernation chamber awakens his mind but not his body. He finds he is able to send forth his astral form, though, and spends the ensuing millennia haunting the world like a ghost. In time, he learns to solidify his astral body for brief periods. [Ka-Zar the Savage #6]
16,500 B.C.
In the far north, the Hyborian tribes thrive despite their harsh environment. Eventually, a group of warriors sets off into the icy wastes of the Arctic to investigate sightings of the “abominable snowmen.” None of the warriors ever return. In time, other groups of Hyborians wander south in search of a more hospitable environment. [Conan the Barbarian #2, Savage Sword of Conan #8]
16,000 B.C.
A small group of vampires from the south establishes a base near the Hyborian settlement and begins to prey upon the humans. The gods help the mortals fight back, however, and finally entomb the vampires beneath an icy mountain. [Savage Sword of Conan #141]
15,500 B.C.
The first civilization to rise from the ashes of the Great Cataclysm is the Acheron Empire. It is eventually corrupted by necromancers in the service of the Elder God Set. [Giant-Size Conan #1]
15,000 B.C.
The Lemurian slaves finally revolt, destroying their masters’ civilization. Refugees from the ruling class move west and establish a new kingdom called Stygia in what is today part of North Africa. The former slaves gradually develop their own society in central Eurasia and eventually come to be known as the Hyrkanians. [Savage Sword of Conan #8]
13,000 B.C.
The Acheron Empire is conquered and destroyed by barbarians from the north. A few survivors take refuge in the mountains, but most of the population is wiped out. [Giant-Size Conan #1]
Randac, an Inhuman scientist, isolates a chemical catalyst for human mutation which he names Terrigen. Randac exposes himself to the Terrigen Mists and emerges with powerful mental-manipulative abilities. Elected as leader because of his genetic superiority, Randac begins a program by which all Inhumans, if they so desire, are subjected to the mists. Learning that the Inhumans are using Terrigen, Sentry 459 activates itself and contacts the Inhumans. Sending a report to its Kree masters, the Sentry then returns to its island. [Thor #146–147]
12,500 B.C.
Gral, ruler of Attilan, exposes all of the Inhumans to the Terrigen Mists without their consent, causing fully one-third of the population to mutate into bizarre creatures. For many years after, the Inhumans are segregated according to similar morphologies and forced to live in “Mutation Camps.” Finally, Gral is deposed by the visionary leader Auran, who teaches his people to accept their genetic diversity and strange powers. Elected the new king of the Inhumans, Auran initiates an era of peace and harmony that will last for the next twelve millennia.
An event known as the Lesser Cataclysm further devastates the world and causes massive disruptions to humanity’s primitive societies. A large area of the Thurian Continent floods, forming the Vilayet Sea. [Savage Sword of Conan #8]
11,500 B.C.
The dawn of the Hyborian Age of human civilization. In the land of Cimmeria, a region now part of northern Europe, the god Crom gains many worshipers among the descendants of the Atlanteans. Another god, named Ymir, is worshiped in the northern lands of Nordheim, present-day Scandinavia. Many of the more civilized kingdoms of what is now Europe come to worship Mitra and Ishtar and their pantheons.
The powerful wizard Epemitreus the Sage succeeds in limiting Set’s sphere of influence to the land of Stygia, greatly weakening the arch-demon. Even after the death of his physical body, Epemitreus’s astral form continues to combat Set’s human worshipers. [Conan the Barbarian Annual #2]
10,100 B.C.
One of the foremost sorcerers of the age is Kulan Gath of the land of Stygia. He and his chief rival, the Hyperborean witch Vammatar, both seek to unlock the secrets of the Iron-Bound Books of Shuma-Gorath. They decide to join forces and seal their pact by getting married. The ancient texts lead them to the Mount of Crom in Cimmeria, but on its snowy slopes the sorcerous spouses betray each other. A sudden, fierce thunderstorm, presumably generated by Crom, causes an avalanche that separates the combatants. The Iron-Bound Books are lost under tons of rock and ice. In defeat, Kulan Gath returns to Stygia to find his place has been usurped by the wizard Thoth-Amon. Humiliated, Kulan Gath grudgingly submits to serving as Thoth-Amon’s apprentice. [Conan the Barbarian #258]
10,000 B.C.
Kulan Gath becomes high priest of the demonic N’Garai, which the Set worshipers find offensive, and is forced to flee Stygia to prevent his own execution. Sometime during Kulan Gath’s life, he encounters the Homo superior Selene, a sorceress who uses her mutant powers to drain the life energies of her victims in order to sustain her own. The two become bitter enemies. [Uncanny X-Men #191]
Conan, a barbarian mercenary from Cimmeria, leaves home to find numerous adventures involving swords and sorcery. [Conan the Barbarian #1]
While roving Nordheim with warriors from the Æsir tribe, Conan is captured by the witch-queen Vammatar. After seducing Conan, she attempts to add him to her undead legions, but he escapes. [Savage Sword of Conan #39, Conan the Barbarian #254]
When Kulan Gath is tricked by the extradimensional witch Xiombarg into freeing the sorceress Terhali from suspended animation, Conan is drawn into a mystical war alongside the sorcerer-king Elric of Melniboné. Terhali’s first act is to kill Kulan Gath, but the evil sorceress is destroyed by Conan’s friend Zephra, who is imbued by the Melnibonéan gods with fatal levels of magical energy. Elric then returns to his own dimension. [Conan the Barbarian #14–15]
In the eastern city of Makkalet, Conan meets Red Sonja, a warrior woman from the Hyrkanian Steppes. Their paths will cross a number of times, usually as allies. [Conan the Barbarian #23–24]
After passing through the hellish realm of the N’Garai, Kulan Gath returns to Earth in a new body. Finding a patron in King Strabonus of Koth, he continues his mystic studies in hopes of one day gaining control over Shuma-Gorath. [Conan the Barbarian #253]
While sailing along the west coast of what will later be known as Africa, Conan falls in with the pirate Bêlit, known as the Queen of the Black Coast, and joins the crew of her ship, the Tigress. He becomes her lover, too, and they sail together for several years. [Conan the Barbarian #58]
While in Stygia, Conan fights the Serpent Men for the first time when Thoth-Amon sends the shapeshifters to kill him, Bêlit, and their new ally Zula, last of the Zamballah tribe. [Conan the Barbarian #89]
In order to defeat an alien demon called the Devourer of Souls, Conan frees Thulsa Doom from the infernal realm where he’s been trapped since his destruction 8,000 years ago. The Devourer of Souls usurps the power of an extinct pantheon of gods, but the dead gods manage to provide Conan with a magic sword to protect him. With the help of Red Sonja and a loyal band of followers, Conan tracks down the Devourer of Souls and destroys him. [Conan the Barbarian Annual #12, Conan the Barbarian #200]
Months later, Thulsa Doom tries to usurp Conan’s life so as to remain on Earth, but after a fierce battle of wills, Conan sends the necromancer back to the netherworld from which he emerged. [Conan the Barbarian #202–203]
Conan, Red Sonja, and Zula discover the vampire lord Varnæ a few years after he is released from his sarcophagus. They manage to escape being turned into vampires when Zula reads from the Darkhold scroll that Varnæ has recovered. Weakened by the spell, Varnæ retreats to his underground lair, prevented from pursuing the trio by the rising sun. Over the following years, Varnæ slowly builds a new army of vampires to serve him. [Conan the Barbarian #244–245]
Finally ready to attempt to gain control over Shuma-Gorath, Kulan Gath manipulates Conan into swearing an oath to kill Vammatar for him. Even so, Vammatar reaches the Mount of Crom in Cimmeria, where she and Kulan Gath are reunited. The two sorcerers once more agree to join forces. However, Shuma-Gorath foils their plan by compelling one of Conan’s companions to cast the magic spell to release him from his millennia of imprisonment. Shuma-Gorath then slays Kulan Gath and Vammatar, but Conan manages to use the Iron-Bound Books to draw Crom into the battle. With a devastating blast of thunder and lightning, Crom banishes Shuma-Gorath back to his home dimension. [Conan the Barbarian #252–260]
Thulsa Doom, reduced to merely an enchanted skull, tricks Conan and a crew of Khitan pirates into reuniting him with his skeletal body in the land now known as Australia. Unwilling to cede control of the Serpent Men to the ancient wizard, Thoth-Amon accompanies them in the guise of a small monkey. The final showdown between the two Set-worshiping sorcerers is brought to a sudden end by the local serpent-goddess Jandlinatjari, who hurls Thulsa Doom’s skull through time before he reaches full power. Conan and the pirates kill all the Serpent Men in Thulsa Doom’s service before setting sail for Khitai. [Savage Sword of Conan #190–193]
Searching for the fabled Treasure of Tranicos with pirates of the Red Brotherhood, Conan meets a much-younger female adventurer called Valeria. Their paths will cross a number of times, usually as rivals. [Savage Sword of Conan #196]
When the last surviving group of Serpent Men in Stygia tries to use Conan to take over the narcotics trade in the port city of Khemi, he leaves them trapped inside a burning lighthouse and books passage on a merchant vessel bound for Zingara. [Savage Sword of Conan #122]
While serving as a buccaneer captain for the king of Zingara, Conan stumbles upon the Cobra Crown, an inferior replica of the Serpent Crown, on an island where the Serpent Men left a temple to the demon Tsathoggua. The crown is soon stolen from Conan and falls into the hands of Thoth-Amon, who attempts to use it to usurp the throne of Zingara. However, his Zingaran ally, Duke Villagro, seizes the Cobra Crown for himself when he discovers the wizard has betrayed him. Thoth-Amon and Villagro fight each other while Conan attempts to restore the rightful king to the throne. Finally, Thoth-Amon kills Villagro, only to find that their battle has burned out the Cobra Crown. Frustrated, Thoth-Amon escapes and returns to Stygia. [Savage Sword of Conan #40–43]
When King Numedides of Aquilonia goes mad, Conan is recruited to lead a rebel army to seize the palace. Despite the efforts of the king’s wizard, Thulandra Thuu, Conan succeeds. He drives the wizard off and strangles Numedides, then usurps the throne for himself. Having seen Conan’s leadership abilities firsthand, the nobility accepts his reign, which will last for decades. [Savage Sword of Conan #49–52]
When his Ring of Power is stolen, Thoth-Amon is chased out of Stygia. He eventually becomes the slave of an Aquilonian outlaw called Ascalante, who plots to assassinate King Conan. However, Thoth-Amon discovers his lost ring in the possession of one of Ascalante’s co-conspirators and reclaims it. The wizard then calls upon Set to send him a monstrous servant. Set causes a giant baboon-like creature to materialize, which then tracks Ascalante to the royal palace and murders him before being slain in turn by Conan. [Conan the Barbarian Annual #2]
After a few years, King Conan takes a wife, Zenobia. They soon have a son, Conn, followed by a daughter Radegund and a son Taurus. [Conan the Barbarian Annual #4–5, King Conan #1]
After a diplomatic mission to the subcontinent of Vendhya, King Conan attempts to return to Aquilonia by sailing east across the Pacific Ocean. A fierce storm causes Conan and one other survivor to be shipwrecked on the western coast of South America. They procure a new boat after settling some political intrigues among the people they find there. Conan sails along the coast for two weeks before running afoul of a North American tribe dominated by an evil sorcerer. With the help of a local girl, Conan kills the sorcerer before he can wipe out a neighboring tribe. Conan and his new crew then set sail again, still searching for a northern passage. They are waylaid in the Arctic by a whale which Conan is forced to hunt down and kill. Having barely survived these three adventures, Conan decides to sail west to more familiar territory. He finally arrives in Aquilonia nearly a year after he left and defeats a foreigner scheming to marry Zenobia and usurp the throne. [Savage Sword of Conan #166–169]
When Thoth-Amon kidnaps the teenaged Prince Conn, King Conan and his soldiers track them down and kill the wizard’s sorcerous allies. Several months later, Conan hunts down Thoth-Amon in Stygia and destroys his army of apprentices, known as the Black Ring. In desperation, Thoth-Amon retreats to the last refuge of the Serpent Men, located in the southernmost reaches of the African continent. However, after escaping a manifestation of Damballah, spawn of Set, Conan and Conn pursue Thoth-Amon to his remote lair and kill him. With the help of their own allies, Conan and Conn then wipe out the last of the original race of Serpent Men. [King Conan #1–4]
The genetic legacy of the Serpent Men survives by lying dormant in a hybrid race that co-exists with mainstream humanity in isolated enclaves. [Marvel Premiere #4]
Thoth-Amon is resurrected through the magic of his Ring of Power, though the ring is swallowed by a fish before he can locate it. Needing a base of operations, Thoth-Amon allies himself anonymously with a treacherous nobleman of Aquilonia. The wizard then begins plotting his revenge on King Conan and his family. [Conan the King #27]
Thoth-Amon finally regains his Ring of Power and uses it to usurp the throne of Aquilonia while King Conan is traveling in the Far East. Conan’s son Taurus is forced to serve the wizard while the rest of the family goes into exile. Several months later, Conan returns and deprives Thoth-Amon of his ring by cutting off his hand. Conan then breaks Thoth-Amon’s back, ending his threat forever. [Conan the King #53–55]
With the final death of Thoth-Amon, the cult of Set in Stygia begins declining in power and influence. [Marvel Team-Up Annual #5]
Forced to defend his realm from an alliance of enemy nations, King Conan ends up conquering a vast swath of new territory, which he forges into a mighty empire. [Conan the King #29–49]
A few years after Zenobia dies in childbirth, the lonely and dispirited Emperor Conan receives a vision from the spirit of Epemitreus the Sage that impels him to abdicate the throne in favor of his son, Conn, and set sail across the Atlantic Ocean. In the Antilles, Conan and his crew discover the surviving colony of Atlanteans, still ruled by the cult of the demon Xotli. Escaping capture, Conan saves his crew from becoming human sacrifices to Xotli by releasing a captive population of giant lizards. Conan then uses an amulet given him by Epemitreus to summon Mitra to the earthly plane, and the god quickly destroys Xotli in a devastating supernatural battle. In the aftermath, Conan and his crew commandeer a ship and set out to explore the archipelago and the unknown continent to the west. It is in the region now known as Central America that Conan finally dies in battle. [Marvel Graphic Novel: Conan of the Isles]
Red Sonja kills the resurrected Kulan Gath, but he transfers his essence into a nearby magical amulet, intending to seize a new body for himself when the right mystical forces converge. However, Kulan Gath will remain trapped within the amulet for the next twelve millennia. At the time of her death, Red Sonja’s life essence is magically infused into her sword. [Marvel Team-Up #79]
9500 B.C.
A priest of Mitra named Arus undertakes missionary work among the Pictish barbarians, where he encounters an ambitious chief called Gorm. Inspired by the priest’s tales of the wealthy Hyborian kingdoms, Gorm leads his warriors out of the wilderness, setting off a series of devastating wars that will cause the near total collapse of civilization in less than a century. For the next millennium, the remaining barbarian tribes engage in bloody skirmishes that further decimate the human population. [Savage Sword of Conan #15–17]
8235 B.C.
A young nomad from Nordheim meets Ulluxy’l Kwan Tae Syn, an extradimensional being who stands guard over the Hellfire Helix, a non-organic life form from outer space. In order to survive on Earth, the Hellfire Helix has used its mystical powers to encase itself within a protective crystal called the Bloodgem. The Helix intends to conquer Earth but needs a native life form as its agent. Ulluxy’l lures the young nomad back to its lair and offers him a portion of the Bloodgem’s power. The youth agrees and is granted superhuman strength. When he leads the rest of his tribe back to the lair, though, the Helix kills them. Enraged, the youth attacks the gem, causing a tremendous explosion. The gem shatters, and its hundreds of fragments are scattered around the world. One of the pieces becomes lodged in the nomad’s chest, granting him immortality and eternal youth. The nomad spends the rest of his existence seeking revenge on the beings who slaughtered his tribe. Eventually he takes the name Ulysses Bloodstone. [Marvel Presents #2]
One of the Bloodgem fragments is found by a savage, whose latent mutant psychic powers are thus activated. The gem grants this savage immortality and eternal youth as well. Down through the millennia, the savage will be known by numerous aliases, among them the Warlock, the Mad Merlin, and the Maha Yogi. [Hulk #210]
8030 B.C.
On the continent later known as North America, a team of superpowered adventurers protects the people from all manner of monsters, aliens, and mystical menaces. They are known as the Tribe of the Moon, and their members include Bear Brother, Firehand, Talks-to-Spirits, and Willow-Dancer. During one of their battles, they meet a 17-year-old girl called Nahita of the Elk Tribe. Talks-to-Spirits realizes Nahita is fated to become the second Talisman and instructs her to reach into his sacred medicine pouch. She produces the mystical golden headband and, thus imbued with magical power, the new Talisman joins the team.
8025 B.C.
Learning that Llan the Sorcerer has returned and massacred her home village, Talisman leads the Tribe of the Moon to an impact crater in the far north known as the Eye of the World to stop him from opening a dimensional nexus leading to the Twisted Realms. Leaving her teammates to battle the sorcerer’s demons, Talisman goes to face Llan alone. Playing on her foe’s vanity, Talisman is able to use her predecessor’s enchanted idol to trap Llan in a harmless form for the next 10,000 years. [Alpha Flight #83]
8000 B.C.
The Hyborian Age ends when a War of the Gods causes another major cataclysm that erases all trace of civilization. The Hyborian-era gods are attacked and finally defeated by a younger generation of godly races, including the Titans, the Ogdoad, the Fomorians, and others. Ymir is banished to an icy pocket dimension. Five other Hyborian-era gods survive, though exiled to a dark realm, and are thenceforth known as They Who Sit Above in Shadow. [Speculation]
Humanity is blasted back to the Stone Age until the civilization of Egypt begins developing in what was formerly Stygia. All knowledge of the Hyborian Age is lost.
Next Issue: In Ancient Times…
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