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115-412: Chuck Austen was born Chuck Beckum. He grew up a military brat , and after his parents divorced, he was raised by his single mother in a housing project . At the start of his career Austen used his birthname; he later abandoned out of a desire to disassociate from his father's family name. After marrying, he and his wife picked a new name, inspired by Jane Austen . Austen began his career as an artist in

230-529: A Multiverse resembling DC's parallel worlds ; this plot device allows one to create several fictional universes which normally do not overlap. What happens on Earth in the main Marvel Universe would normally not affect what happens on a parallel Earth in another Marvel-created universe. However, writers would have the creative ability to write stories in which people from one such universe would visit this alternative universe. In 1982, Marvel published

345-628: A humanoid species of water-breathers that live in Earth's oceans. Most of these races have advanced technology but existed hidden from humanity until recent times. More variants of humanity can be found in the Savage Land (see Places below). Most of the Savage Land races have their origin from a group of primitive ape-men who seems to have escaped the Celestial experiments and whose influence

460-472: A 2004 interview, Austen explained that decision as a result of a "bad day". Austen has expressed admiration towards such comic book creators as Brian Michael Bendis , Paul Jenkins , Bill Sienkiewicz , J. Michael Straczynski , Ron Garney , Bret Blevins , J. H. Williams III , Al Williamson , John Romita, Sr. , Rumiko Takahashi , Katsuhiro Otomo and Mitsuru Adachi . Austen creates his art digitally , using mostly Macs and sometimes PCs . He utilizes

575-471: A consequence, their acts are recurrently dangerous to mortals. When dire threats threaten the universe, it is not uncommon for these beings to gather together to discuss the threat and even act on it. Most conceptual entities are simply interested in furthering their essential function or to keep the balance with an opposing force. However, certain cosmic entities, such as Galactus , the In-Betweener ,

690-509: A higher realm known as Paradise, proving that some form of Heaven and Hell do exist in this Universe, seemingly like those in keeping with common real-world religious belief. Similarly, demons are evil magical beings who take affairs in the matters of the universe. Some of the most powerful are Blackheart , Mephisto , Nightmare , Satannish , Thog the Nether-Spawn and Zom . There are also powerful benevolent mystical entities such as

805-469: A mist-like substance; some of the most powerful are capable of controlling the weather to a somewhat limited degree. All vampires must ingest blood to maintain their survival and physical vitality. So long as they do so regularly, they cease to age and are immune to diseases. They retain the well-known vulnerabilities common to vampires in other media interpretations, including sunlight, garlic, religious icons and weapons made of silver. Vampires can be killed by

920-460: A mixed cultural identity often results, due to exposure to numerous national or regional cultures. Within military culture, the term military brat is not considered to be a pejorative (as in describing a spoiled child), but rather connotes affection and respect. War-related family stresses, including long-term war-related absence of a parent, as well as war aftermath issues, are common features of military brat life in some countries, although

1035-462: A new direction in human evolution, as he is born with superpowers even though his genetic profile said he was an ordinary human being. The majority of the public is unaware of what may cause superhuman powers. Other possible origins for superhuman powers include magic , genetic manipulation and/or bionic implants. Some heroes and villains have no powers at all but depend instead on hand-to-hand combat training or advanced technological equipment. In

1150-846: A possible manifestation/ avatar of the One-Above-All . The mentioned One-Above-All is believed to be the supreme, omnipotent being, who solely created the Marvel Multiverse , and possibly acted beyond. He also brought to life the Living Tribunal , an extremely powerful cosmic entity, who serves to maintain balance within the Multiverse. The Marvel Universe is part of a Multiverse , with various universes coexisting simultaneously, usually without affecting each other directly. Furthermore, each universe has various other dimensions associated with it, and one such group

1265-547: A reimagining of Jack Kirby 's Eternals . In 2002, Austen took over Uncanny X-Men with issue #410 and remained on the title until #443. The two-year run was the most lengthy writing assignment in Austen's mainstream career, although it was not well received by the fans of the franchise. His controversial run saw the return of Havok and Polaris to the X-Men , the introduction of Havok's love interest Annie Ghazikhanian , and

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1380-717: A sacred vow not to intervene in events, though the Watcher assigned to Earth, Uatu , has violated this oath on several occasions. The Elders of the Universe are ancient aliens who have often had a great impact on many worlds for billions of years, acting alone or as a group. A power called the Power Primordial is channeled through them. Many other races exist and have formed an "Intergalactic Council" to have their say on matters that affect them all, such as interference from Earth humans in their affairs. Also abundant in

1495-497: A series of titles where events in one book would have repercussions in another title and serialized stories would show characters' growth and change. Headline characters in one title would make cameos or guest appearances in other books. Fantastic Four #12 is the first crossover comic book in modern Marvel continuity (first meeting of Fantastic Four and the Hulk). Eventually, many of the leading heroes (Ant-Man, Wasp, Iron Man, Thor and

1610-505: A short Green Flame story for Secret Origins . Before taking a break from comics, Austen also drew an issue of Disney's The Little Mermaid limited series, due to the high page rates Disney offered and the chance to work with Peter David . He subsequently took a hiatus from the comics industry, instead working on the television show King of the Hill . Austen returned to comics in 2001, feeling burnt out after finding little success in

1725-617: A variety of programs including Ray Dream Studio and 3D Studio Max to compose scenes which he then finishes in Photoshop . Austen is divorced. He has two daughters and a son. He identifies himself as humanitarian and anti-racist. In Austen's view, the Republican Party discriminates against women, and he especially disliked the Bush administration . Military brat A military brat ( colloquial or military slang )

1840-405: A wooden stake driven through the heart, though they return to life if the stake is removed. Vampires are highly allergic to silver and can be killed with it. While they normally heal rapidly, injuries inflicted by silver weapons heal at a much slower rate if the injuries are not fatal. Vampires can also be killed by decapitation or being burned with fire, with burning them to ashes and then scattering

1955-467: A world. The Marvel Universe was also notable for setting its central titles in New York City ; by contrast, many DC heroes live in fictional cities. Care was taken to portray the city and the world as realistically as possible, with the presence of superhumans affecting the common citizens in various ways. Over time, a few Marvel Comics writers lobbied Marvel editors to incorporate the idea of

2070-495: Is Stark Industries, owned by Tony Stark ( Iron Man ), but there are others. Advanced technology has also been given to humans by hidden races, aliens, or time travelers like Kang the Conqueror , who is known to have influenced the robotics industry in the past. In superhumans, the energy required for their superpowers either comes from within using their own body as a source or, if the demand of energy exceeds what their body

2185-535: Is a child of serving or retired military personnel. Military brats are associated with a unique subculture and cultural identity . A military brat's childhood or adolescent life may be immersed in military culture to the point where the mainstream culture of their home country may seem foreign or peripheral. In many countries where there are military brat subcultures, the child's family moves great distances from one non-combat assignment to another for much of their youth. For highly mobile military brats,

2300-516: Is a member). The lords of the various pantheons sometimes gather in groups known as either the Council of Godheads or the Council of Skyfathers. The gods were forced to stop meddling with humanity (at least openly) a thousand years ago by the Celestials , and most people today believe them to be fictional. Other pantheons have been depicted in the Marvel Universe that is still actively worshiped in

2415-473: Is capable to deliver, comes from another source. Marvel tries to explain most superpowers and their sources "scientifically", usually through the use of fictional science-like concepts, such as: A degree of paranoid fear against mutants exists due to stories of mutants being a species or even a subspecies of humans ( Homo superior or Homo sapiens superior ) that is evolving and is meant to replace normal humans. This has caused organizations to form to deal with

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2530-567: Is collectively known as a Reality. Often what is referred to in the comics as a Universe is actually a Reality . According to mythology, the Multiverse has been created by the omnipotent being One-Above-All . Even the Marvel Multiverse, however, is only a part of the Omniverse, which consists of all of fiction and reality combined, including all the works that are outside of Marvel's copyright restrictions. The action of most of

2645-530: Is either restricted from use after the license expires or the characters redesigned or renamed to avoid copyright infringement. Within the fictional history of the Marvel Universe, the tradition of using costumed secret identities to fight or commit evil had long existed, but it came into prominence during the days of the American " Wild West " with heroes such as Carter Slade/the Phantom Rider . During

2760-575: Is known by various names and appearances in other cultures and among the various pantheons, but she is the same being. As a result, she is a member of every polytheistic pantheon of 'gods' worshiped by humans. Besides mythological gods, many deities made up by Marvel writers exist as well, such as the Dark Gods, enemies of the Asgardians . The Dark Gods are a race of 'gods' that have been worshiped by extraterrestrial races. Well-known alien races like

2875-869: Is located in the Andromeda Galaxy, the Kree Empire in the Greater Magellanic Cloud, which is a satellite of the Milky Way galaxy in which Earth, of course, is found, and the Shi´ar Empire is located somewhere between them in one of the smaller galaxies (perhaps the Triangulum Galaxy); frequently, these three empires are quoted as the main political powers "in the universe". Similarly, the Local Group seems to be

2990-652: Is one of the principal deities of Hindu religion, his defeat offended some followers of Hinduism. This battle was retconned later as having been the deity Indra , the Hindu god of thunder, who was posing as Shiva, that met defeat. To avoid offending the believers of still active religions, Marvel features such deities as characters in the background or who make very brief cameo appearances. Marvel's depiction of vampires has been heavily influenced by various interpretations of popular media, such as Bram Stoker 's Dracula . As with many other supernatural creatures, Marvel entwined

3105-730: Is present in all modern Homo sapiens . Other leftovers from the era when primitive humanoids walked on Earth still exist, such as the radiation-altered Neanderthal man known as the Missing Link , an enemy of the Hulk. The Marvel Universe also contains hundreds of intelligent alien races. Earth has interacted with many of them because a major " hyperspace warp" happens to exist in the Solar System . The three major space empires are: The three are often in direct or indirect conflict, which occasionally involves Earth humans; in particular,

3220-552: Is purely due to story conveniences (or a somewhat haphazardly shifting patchwork pattern of authors), and mainly that the fictional "continuity" has been maintained and expanded far beyond what Stan Lee and others originally planned or hoped for. Hence, the passing of time was more discernible in the very early years, such as the graduation of Spider-Man ; and what started as children or teenaged characters, such as Kitty Pryde , Franklin Richards , Valeria Richards , Power Pack , or

3335-975: Is the "militarization of childhood". In some countries where military brat subcultures occur, there may also be an itinerant or modern nomadic lifestyle involved as the child follows their military parent(s) from base to base, in many cases never having a hometown (or at least going through very long periods of being away from one's home town). It also can involve living outside of one's home country at or near overseas military bases in foreign cultures, or in regions within one's home country far from one's home region, along with experiences of significant cultural difference in either case. Highly mobile military brat subcultures have also been described as modern nomadic or peripatetic subcultures. The term "military brat" occurs within military cultures in Australia , India (also called "Cantonment Kids"), Canada (also called "Base Brats"), Pakistan , New Zealand ,

3450-442: Is the real name of American writer Mark Twain ). In a subsequent interview, Austen revealed that this was intended as a joke (since he himself was the publisher and thus could not be fired from the book) and expressed disappointment in the fact that most readers had not understood it. In 2006, Austen wrote Boys of Summer , an English language adult-themed manga illustrated by Hiroki Otsuka and published by TokyoPop . Copies of

3565-535: Is unknown why this happens, though a warp known as the Nexus of All Realities exists in a swamp in the Florida Everglades of Earth-616. For the most part, this does not matter, as most beings are unaware that this occurs, or even that their universes were recently "born" from another. However, individuals and organizations exist that try to monitor or manipulate the various realities. These include Immortus ,

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3680-980: The Avengers , the X-Men , the Fantastic Four , the Guardians of the Galaxy , and many Marvel superheroes live in this universe, including characters such as Spider-Man , Captain America , Iron Man , Thor , the Hulk , Ant-Man , the Wasp , Wolverine , Black Panther , Doctor Strange , Daredevil , and Captain Marvel , Blade , Black Widow , Hawkeye , Mister Fantastic , among numerous others. It also contains well-known supervillains such as Doctor Doom , Magneto , Ultron , Thanos , Loki , The Green Goblin , Kang

3795-570: The Big Bang . 'The " Fulcrum " is a comparatively recent addition to the hierarchy, that "all" cosmic entities allegedly serve, of a level of raw power stated to far surpass the might of the Watchers and the Celestials. Unlike most other entities, it is capable of conscience, compassion, and even a sense of humor, and has stated that it wants other cosmic beings to develop such as well. He is

3910-661: The Captain Britain Corps , the Time Variance Authority , the Timebreakers / Exiles , and Kang the Conqueror 's forces. It is possible to travel through time without creating a new alternative universe, instead of altering events in the future, but this seems to have devastating and very far-reaching repercussions, as depicted in Marvel 1602 (it almost destroyed the whole multiverse, including

4025-844: The Frightful Four , the Lethal Legion , the Legion of the Unliving , the Black Order , the Annihilation Wave , and the Cabal . Most of the superhumans in Marvel's Earth owe their powers to the Celestials , cosmic entities who visited Earth millions of years ago and experimented on their prehistoric ancestors (a process they also carried out on several other planets). This resulted in the creation of two hidden races ,

4140-603: The Hulk , Namor the Sub-Mariner and the Silver Surfer , while the most recent incarnation of the team consists of street-level New York City heroes Daredevil , Jessica Jones , Luke Cage and Iron Fist . The Guardians of the Galaxy include Marvel's cosmic characters such as Adam Warlock , Star-Lord , Gamora , Drax the Destroyer , Rocket Raccoon and Groot , but the team has also introduced other heroes into

4255-839: The Inhumans (composed of Blackagar Boltagon , Medusalith Amaquelin-Boltagon , Crystalia Amaquelin-Boltagon/Crystal , Gorgon , Karnak Mandel-Azur/Karnak the Shatterer , Triton and Lockjaw ) and Alexi Shostakov/the Red Guardian . Other notable heroes from the Bronze Age and Modern Age from the early-to-mid 1970s to the early 1990s include James "Logan" Howlett/Wolverine , Ororo Munroe/Storm , Piotr "Peter" Rasputin/Colossus , Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler , Luke Cage (also known as Power-Man), Danny Rand/Iron Fist , Misty Knight , Colleen Wing , Barbara "Bobbi" Morse/Mockingbird ,

4370-518: The Inhumans , another genetically unstable race (like the Deviants, but in their case, it is due to their use of a substance called the "Terrigen Mists") that was created by a Kree experiment long ago; the Subterraneans , a race of humanoids adapted to living below the surface, created by the Deviants (some Subterraneans were transformed into the 'Lava Men' by a demon); and Homo mermanus ,

4485-549: The Maelstrom , or the Stranger have demonstrated personality, motivations, or (except for the first one mentioned) even ambitions beyond their functions, but often maintain the perspective that morality is entirely relative, or that destroying civilizations of "lesser" beings is no eviler than if these beings destroyed an anthill. Others such as Uatu the Watcher , Eon, or the Celestials , Ashema and Tiamut are aberrations in

4600-680: The New Mutants are all allowed to age at wildly shifting rates (in the second case even backward at times), whereas surrounding characters somewhat dependent on a certain age limit do not change at all. This recurrently creates inherently contradictory effects, as events are routinely described to have happened several years ago, even in cases when this would mean that some of the involved characters would have been toddlers. Different approaches also exist regarding allowing "second-generation" descendants of heroes or villains, full-grown over 18 years after an event (for example, Hulkling , other members of

4715-542: The New Warriors , David Haller/Legion , John Proudstar/Warpath-Thunderbird , Anna Marie LeBeau/Rogue and Jubilation Lee/Jubilee . Some of Marvel's more recent creations from the mid-to-late 1990s, 2000s and 2010s, such as Wade Wilson/Deadpool , Remy LeBeau/Gambit , Nathan Summers/Cable , Neena Thurman/Domino , Clarice Fong/Blink , the Thunderbolts , Yelena Belova (also known as the second Black Widow),

Chuck Austen - Misplaced Pages Continue

4830-580: The Philippines , Australia , New Zealand and the United States . These military-dependent subcultures are generations old. Some ex-military dependents have found that their mobile upbringing has been massively influential in determining their eventual career in adulthood. One example of this is British actress/comedian Dawn French who discussed her childhood as an RAF dependent in an interview with Radio 4. She stated that she felt that

4945-748: The Runaways , the modern Guardians of the Galaxy , the modern Defenders (based on the Netflix MCU version of the same name ), Laura Kinney/X-23 (a.k.a. the second Wolverine), Shuri , the Dora Milaje , Daisy Johnson (also known as Quake), Phil Coulson , Melinda May , Bucky Barnes/the Winter Soldier , Maria Hill , Miles Morales (the second Spider-Man of the Ultimate Marvel Universe), Hope van Dyne (also known as

5060-500: The Shi'ar and Skrulls also have beings they worship as 'gods', though little has been revealed about them. Many persons and beings have falsely pretended to be gods or demons during history; in particular, none of the ones claiming to be major figures from Judeo-Christian beliefs have turned out to be the real article, although several angels have appeared in recent years, as well as an apparent true rebellion and expulsion of angels from

5175-483: The United Kingdom , and the United States . Military-dependent subcultures, also known as camp followers , have existed (under various other names) in many parts of the world for thousands of years. Many military brats report difficulty in identifying where they belong (due to a lifestyle of constantly moving, and also immersion in military culture, and in many cases, also foreign cultures, as opposed to

5290-1725: The Vision , Simon Williams/Wonder Man , Hercules , Kevin Plunder/Ka-Zar , Groot , Nick Fury , T'Challa/the Black Panther , Mar-Vell (the first Captain Marvel), Carol Danvers (also known as the first Ms. Marvel, Binary, Warbird, and the current Captain Marvel), Sam Wilson/the Falcon , Dane Whitman/the Black Knight , Norrin Radd/the Silver Surfer , Jane Foster (also known as the second Thor), Warren Worthington III/the Angel-Archangel , Hank McCoy/the Beast , Scott Summers/Cyclops , Robert "Bobby" Drake/the Iceman , Jean Grey (also known as Marvel Girl and Phoenix), Charles Xavier/Professor X , Lorna Dane/Polaris , Alex Summers/Havok , Sean Cassidy/the Banshee , Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic , Susan Storm/the Invisible Woman , Johnny Storm/the Human Torch , Ben Grimm/the Thing , Brunnhilde/the Valkyrie ,

5405-423: The Young Avengers , the Runaways , and the Secret Warriors ), whereas other books, such as Young Allies use the inherent contradiction to debunk similar claims. If a past storyline wherein a direct depiction of a then-current president or similar is referred to in a later era, it tends to become updated accordingly, sometimes with an "in-joke" acknowledgment. A more recent explanation was given by Galactus to

5520-425: The afterlife ). Also, time itself passes much differently within the confines of the Marvel Universe than it does in the real world. Despite various characters having appeared within company publications for decades, few, if any, have aged to any appreciable degree. For example, the patriotic hero Captain America was created in 1941 but stopped appearing in titles soon after the end of World War II . The character

5635-421: The 1980s. Due to not knowing many comics fans he developed a habit of inking his own pencils . After working on Eclipse Comics titles such as Twisted Tales and Alien Worlds , his work came to the attention of Alan Moore , who selected him to take over from Alan Davis on Miracleman , recently added to the company's portfolio. He met Moore for the first time at the 1985 San Diego Comic Con , where he

5750-457: The 20th century, the tradition was reinvigorated by Steve Rogers/Captain America and the Invaders in the 1940s, who fought for the Allies of World War II . Unlike the DC Universe , few of Marvel's Golden Age characters have risen to prominence in modern publications; Captain America is one exception, and to a lesser extent, his contemporary, Namor the Sub-Mariner , primarily because both of these characters were reintroduced to readers and

5865-550: The Avengers have included Marvel's major heroes as members at one time or another. The X-Men are a team of mutants led by Professor X and include many of Marvel's most popular characters, such as Wolverine and others. The Fantastic Four are viewed as "Marvel's First Family" of superheroes, usually consisting of Mister Fantastic , the Invisible Woman , the Human Torch and the Thing , as well as siblings Franklin and Valeria Richards . The Defenders were an ad hoc team usually brought together by Doctor Strange which has included

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5980-419: The Barbarian Nyarlathotep and Set. Some deities or demonic beings that are original characters of Marvel have been heavily influenced by these mythologies, such as Shuma-Gorath . Most of the current generation of gods have been revealed to be the descendants of the Elder Goddess Gaea . The two most featured pantheons are the Asgardians (of whom Thor is a member) and the Olympians (of whom Hercules

6095-426: The Barbarian , Red Sonja , Kull the Conqueror , and Solomon Kane also have real-life existences in the Marvel Universe. The Hyborian Era of Conan and Kull is considered part of Earth-616 pre-recorded history. However, they rarely encounter modern Marvel superhero characters. This is most likely possible due to the uncertain legal status of Howard's works before 2006 when they became public domain. As of 2019, Conan

6210-442: The Barbarian, as well as Kull the Conqueror and Solomon Kane, have been firmly integrated, thanks to Marvel regaining the publishing rights to the characters. Other licensed works that have been incorporated into the Marvel Universe include Godzilla , the Transformers , the film 2001: A Space Odyssey (in the character of Machine Man ), Rom the Spaceknight , the Micronauts , and the Shogun Warriors . In most cases, such material

6325-427: The Conqueror , Red Skull , The Kingpin , Doctor Octopus , Carnage , Apocalypse , Dormammu , Mysterio , Electro , and the Vulture . It also contains antiheroes such as Venom , Namor , Deadpool , Silver Sable , Ghost Rider , The Punisher , Elektra , and Black Cat . The Marvel Universe is further depicted as existing within a " multiverse " consisting of thousands of separate universes, all of which are

6440-486: The DC Universe. This is one method of explaining the various crossover stories co-published by the two companies. Pop culture characters such as Sherlock Holmes , Dracula and the Frankenstein Monster exist in the Marvel Universe. This is usually justified as a second-hand account of events as told to credited authors Sir Arthur Conan Doyle , Bram Stoker and Mary Shelley , although the general public continues to believe them to be fictional. Robert E. Howard 's Conan

6555-492: The Destroyer , Peter Quill/Star-Lord , Gamora , Rocket Raccoon , Frank Castle/the Punisher , Marc Spector/the Moon Knight , the Eternals (composed of Ikaris , Thena , Ajak , Makkari , Kingo , Phastos , Gilgamesh and Sprite ), War Machine , Nova (Richard Rider), Adam Warlock , Power Pack , Betsy Braddock , Scott Lang (the second Ant-Man), Felicia Hardy/the Black Cat , Silver Sable , Katherine "Kitty" Pryde (also known as Shadowcat, Ariel, Sprite, Star-Lord and

6670-404: The Fixer) and Jolt , while the current incarnation of the team is made up of reformed supervillains/anti-heroes working for the government: Deadpool , the Punisher , the Red Hulk , the Winter Soldier and the Ghost . Although teams of supervillains are few and far between, notable examples include the Masters of Evil , the Emissaries of Evil , the Brotherhood of Mutants , the Sinister Six ,

6785-424: The Hulk) assembled into a team known as the Avengers , which debuted in September 1963. This was not the first time that Marvel's characters had interacted with one another— Namor the Sub-Mariner and the original Human Torch had been rivals when Marvel was Timely Comics (Marvel Vault), under editor Martin Goodman — but it was the first time that the comic book publisher's characters seemed to share

6900-450: The Kree and Skrulls are ancient enemies, and the Kree-Skrull War has involved humans on several occasions. The Skrulls have also been known to be in a long and consistent war against the Majesdanians, who live on a milky planet named Majesdane. The war between the two had started after two Majesdanians, Frank and Leslie Dean of the Pride had been kicked out for criminal activities; the two traveled to Earth, where Frank and Leslie stopped

7015-427: The Marvel Comics titles takes place in a continuity known as Earth-616 . This continuity exists in a multiverse alongside trillions of alternative continuities. Alternative continuities in the Marvel Multiverse are generally defined in terms of their differences from Earth-616. Continuities besides Earth-616 include the following (for a complete listing see Multiverse (Marvel Comics) ): One cannot normally alter

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7130-452: The Marvel Universe are legendary creatures such as gods, demons and vampires . The 'gods' of most polytheistic pantheons are powerful, immortal human-like races residing in other dimensions who visited Earth in ancient times, and became the basis of many legends. However, all of these 'gods' share a common ancestry and connection to Earth due to Gaea, the primeval Elder Goddess that infused her life essence into all living things on Earth. Gaea

7245-449: The Marvel Universe compared to the real world, owing to the serial nature of storytelling, with the stories of certain issues picking up mere seconds after the conclusion of the previous one, while a whole month has passed by in "real-time". Marvel's major heroes were created in the 1960s, but the amount of time that has passed between then and now within the universe itself has (after a prolonged period of being identified as about 10 years in

7360-488: The Marvel Universe during the 1960s. Marvel's most prominent heroes were created during the Silver Age of Comic Books in the 1960s to early 1970s, including Peter Parker/Spider-Man , Tony Stark/Iron Man , Thor , Bruce Banner/the Hulk , Stephen Strange/Doctor Strange , Matt Murdock/Daredevil , Ant-Man and the Wasp (Hank Pym and Janet van Dyne), Natasha Romanoff/the Black Widow , Clint Barton/Hawkeye , Pietro Maxmioff/Quicksilver , Wanda Maximoff/the Scarlet Witch ,

7475-599: The Marvel Universe is home to a large number of superheroes and supervillains , who have gained their powers by any of these means. The general public is so familiar with such concepts that Empire State University has a scholarship for "aliens, dimensional travelers, clones, independent machine intelligences and other students outside the norm", businesses and residences have superhero property insurance and bookmakers take bets on their battles' outcomes, and New York air traffic controllers handle starships landing at local airports . Comparatively, little time passes in

7590-414: The Marvel Universe's history; if a time-traveler should cause an alteration to the established flow of events at some point in the past, a divergent universe will simply "branch out" from the existing timeline, and the time-traveler will still return to his or her unaltered original universe. Those realities can also spawn realities of their own. There exist hundreds, probably thousands of such realities. It

7705-505: The Marvel Universe, technology is considerably more advanced than in the real world; this is due to unique individuals of genius-level intelligence, such as Reed Richards ( Mister Fantastic ) of the Fantastic Four. However, most of the advanced devices (such as powered armor and death rays ) are too expensive for the common citizen, and are usually in the hands of government organizations like S.H.I.E.L.D., or powerful criminal organizations like A.I.M. One major company producing these devices

7820-415: The Marvel Universe. (A universe incorporating all these types of fantastic elements is fairly rare; another example is the DC Universe .) Monsters also play a more prominent role with east Asian origins of magical incantation, outlandish sorcery and manifesting principle in the Marvel Universe. One such case is Fin Fang Foom arising from the ashes of tantric magic. Thanks to these extra elements, Earth in

7935-433: The Pride . The Midnight Sons consist of supernatural heroes such as Blade , Ghost Rider , Moon Knight , Elsa Bloodstone , Hellstrom , the Werewolf and the Man-Thing . The Thunderbolts' original incarnation were supervillains disguised as superheroes consisting of Citizen V (a.k.a. Helmut Zemo ), MACH-IV (a.k.a. the Beetle), Songbird (a.k.a. Screaming Mimi), Moonstone (a.k.a. Meteorite), Techno/the Ogre (a.k.a.

8050-404: The Red Queen and the second Wasp), Cassandra Lang (also known as Stature, Stinger, Ant-Girl and Giant-Girl), the Stepford Cuckoos , Amadeus Cho (also known as the second Hulk), Kamala Khan (also known as the second Ms. Marvel), Kate Bishop (also known as the third Hawkeye), Lunaella Lafayette/Moon Girl , America Chavez (also known as the second Miss America), Robbie Reyes (also known as

8165-433: The Red Queen), Emma Frost (also known as the White Queen), Jennifer Walters/the She-Hulk , Tyrone Johnson/Cloak and Tandy Bowen/Dagger , Brian Braddock/Captain Britain , Doreen Green/Squirrel Girl , Elektra Natchios , the New Mutants (composed of Illyana Rasputin/Magik , Xi'an Coy Minh/Karma , Danielle Moonstar/Mirage , Sam Guthrie/Cannonball , Rahne Sinclair/Wolfsbane , Doug Ramsey/Cypher , Warlock and others),

8280-705: The Ultimates, namely that some important events – for instance, the creation of the Fantastic Four or the Avengers – have a 'gravity' all their own and warp time around them, causing the timeline to subtly change to accommodate this. While the Marvel Universe is presumably as large as the non-fictional universe comic book readers inhabit, for all intents and purposes the Local Group is the universe; practically all action takes place in it. The Skrull Empire

8395-526: The Vishanti; or amoral and malevolent entities who are not truly demonic, such as Dormammu and the Octessence, or ones heavily drawing upon the mythologies of H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard . Some supernatural beings, entities and human characters created by Lovecraft and Howard, who were friends and influenced each other's work, have been adapted by Marvel and include Abdul Alhazred , Conan

8510-801: The White Tiger (Hector Ayala), Shang-Chi , Greer Grant Nelson/Tigra , Jessica Drew (also known as Spider-Woman), the Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze), Daimon Hellstrom , Satana Hellstrom , Theodore "Ted" Sallis/the Man-Thing , Eric Brooks/Blade the Vampire-Slayer , Michael Morbius/Morbius the Living Vampire , Howard the Duck , Monica Rambeau (also known as Photon, Pulsar, Spectrum and the second Captain Marvel), Moondragon , Drax

8625-481: The actual adventures of the superheroes (except for details not known to the public, like their secret identities); many of these are licensed with the permission of the heroes themselves, who customarily donate their share of profits to charity. Additionally, the DC Comics Universe is also said to exist in the Marvel Universe as one of the many alternative universes. The reverse may also be said concerning

8740-568: The addition of several existing characters to the X-Men team, including Northstar , Juggernaut , M , and Husk . The most controversial storyline revealed the identity of Nightcrawler 's father: an immortal mutant known as Azazel . Austen moved to New X-Men as part of the X-Men Reload initiative, and wrote the series for nine issues. During this run, he showcased the beginning of the relationship between Cyclops and Emma Frost following

8855-435: The artist's honeymoon . Austen also wrote and drew the semi-autobiographical black-and-white adult comic book series Strips for Rip Off Press and the similarly-themed Hardball for Malibu Comics ' Aircel Comics label. He also provided art to lesser-known series such as Open Season and The Trouble with Girls as well as a few DC Comics properties including a Phantom Lady serial for Action Comics Weekly and

8970-412: The ashes being the most effective means of ensuring their demise (scattering the ashes is done so that the vampire cannot be mystically resurrected). The cosmic entities are beings of unbelievably great levels of power (the weakest of whom can destroy entire planets) who exist to perform duties that maintain the existence of the universe. Most do not care at all about "lesser beings" such as humans, and as

9085-471: The burgeoning manga market which resulted in controversy when Uy publicly disowned the project, calling it a "bad dream". Also in 2003, Austen returned to DC Comics with the limited series Superman: Metropolis which followed the life of Jimmy Olsen and other citizens of the eponymous fictional city. After the series concluded with issue #12, Austen took over the writing duties of the ongoing series Action Comics . Fans criticized Austen for resurrecting

9200-496: The civilian culture of their native countries, while growing up) and frequently feel like outsiders in relation to the civilian culture of their native countries. The home countries of a number of Military Brat subcultures have highly mobile (modern Nomadic ) lifestyles, or at least significant overseas (or distant-internal) assignments for career military families and their children and adolescents while growing up, including Canada , Britain , France , India , Pakistan ,

9315-484: The creations of Marvel Comics and all of which are, in a sense, "Marvel universes". In this context, "Marvel Universe" is taken to refer to the mainstream Marvel continuity , which is known as Earth-616 or Prime Earth . Some of Timely Comics (the 1930s and '40s predecessor to Marvel Comics) characters coexisted in the same world was first established in Marvel Mystery Comics #7 (1940) where Namor

9430-506: The death of Jean Grey and introduced new versions of the character Xorn and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants . Michael Aronson of Silver Bullet Comics , while praising Austen's characterization of Professor X and Annie Ghazikhanian, excoriated Austen for what Aronson saw as his obsession with relationships and sex, and the sexist nature of his characterization of Husk . According to Thor K. Jensen of UGO Entertainment , fans disliked

9545-462: The degree of war-involvement of individual countries with military brat subcultures may vary. A common pattern in these subcultures is a heavy childhood and adolescent immersion in military culture to the point of marginalizing (or having significant feelings of difference in relation to) one's national civilian culture. This is characterized by a strong identification with military culture rather than civilian culture. Another term for this

9660-516: The espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D. and its enemies, HYDRA and A.I.M. In 2009 Marvel officially described its world's geography in a two-part miniseries, the Marvel Atlas . Most importantly, the Marvel Universe also incorporates examples of almost all major science fiction and fantasy concepts, with writers adding more continuously. Aliens, gods, magic, cosmic powers and extremely advanced human-developed technology all exist prominently in

9775-420: The film and television industry. He began looking at comics again and sent samples of his art to Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Joe Quesada , who was impressed enough to offer Austen the chance to illustrate the new Marvel Knights Elektra series, written by Brian Michael Bendis . He would remain as the title's artist until Elektra #8. Soon after being commissioned, he also began writing and illustrating

9890-508: The first volume were pulled from a number of bookstores in May that year due to its graphic content. Publishers Weekly named Boys of Summer one of the Top Ten manga / manhwa of 2006, calling it both "a titillating and edgy reading experience." Subsequent news reports indicated that the series had been cancelled even though the other two volumes were completed and both creators had been paid for

10005-627: The fourth Ghost Rider), Riri Williams/Ironheart and Spider-Gwen ( Gwen Stacy of Earth-65) have become popular characters in their own right. Prominent teams of superheroes include the Avengers , the X-Men , the Fantastic Four , the Defenders , the Inhumans , S.H.I.E.L.D. , the Howling Commandos , the Guardians of the Galaxy , the Runaways , the Midnight Sons and the Thunderbolts . All these groups have varying lineups;

10120-623: The godlike Eternals and the genetically unstable Deviants , in addition to giving some humans an "x-factor" in their genes, which sometimes activates naturally, resulting in sometimes superpowered, sometimes disfigured individuals called mutants . Others require other factors (such as radiation ) for their powers to come forth. Depending on the genetic profile, individuals who are exposed to different chemicals or radiation will often suffer death or injury, while in others it will cause superhuman abilities to manifest. Except for psionic abilities, these powers are usually random; rarely do two people have

10235-434: The heels of Contest of Champions . The Marvel Universe is strongly based on the real world. Earth in the Marvel Universe has all the features of the real one: same countries, same personalities (politicians, movie stars, etc.), same historical events (such as World War II), and so on; however, it also contains many other fictional elements: countries such as Wakanda and Latveria (very small nations) and organizations like

10350-440: The long-forgotten Silver Age feud between Lois Lane and Lana Lang over the love of Superman , with Lana in particular divorcing her longtime husband Pete Ross in the process. Austen left the title after ten issues, and the following two issues were scripted by a writer named "J.D. Finn". While readers suspected Finn to be Austen, he speculated that Finn was actually then– Action Comics editor Eddie Berganza and denied using

10465-427: The mid-to-late 1990s) most recently been identified as 13 years. Consequently, the settings of some events which were contemporary when written have to be updated every few years to "make sense" in this floating timeline . Thus, the events of previous stories are considered to have happened within a certain number of years before the publishing date of the current issue. For example, Spider-Man 's high school graduation

10580-418: The miniseries Contest of Champions , in which all of the major heroes in existence at the time were gathered together to deal with one threat. This was Marvel's first miniseries. Each issue contained biographical information on many major costumed characters; these biographies were a precursor to Marvel's series of reference material, The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe , which followed shortly on

10695-481: The need to make new friends every few years was one of the reasons she discovered her talent for comedy. She also discusses this aspect of her life in her autobiography. American military brats have also been identified as a distinct American subculture . Marvel Universe The Marvel Universe is a fictional shared universe where the stories in most American comic book titles and other media published by Marvel Comics take place. Superhero teams such as

10810-912: The origin of vampires with aspects of the mythologies created by Lovecraft and Howard. They were created by magical rites performed by priests of Atlantis before the Great Cataclysm that destroyed much of the world, with Varnae becoming the first vampire. Marvel would depict vampires as frequent antagonists during the Hyborian Age to Howard characters such as Kull and Conan. In recent years, Marvel's depiction of vampires has altered greatly by creating various subspecies of vampires that exist in clans that greatly differ in appearance and belief. All vampires are depicted with varying degrees of superhuman strength, speed, stamina, agility, reflexes and accelerated healing. Many are capable of transforming into animals such as bats or wolves; some can transform into

10925-413: The problem, who can be divided into three camps: those who seek peaceful coexistence between mutants and normal humans (the X-Men and their affiliated groups), those who seek to control or eliminate humans to give mutants safety or dominance ( Magneto and his followers, as well as other mutants such as Apocalypse ), and those who seek to regulate or eliminate mutants in favor of humans. The latter often use

11040-405: The pseudonym. In 2004, Austen began self-publishing WorldWatch , a superhero series which he described as similar to Warren Ellis 's The Authority with more explicit depictions of sex, violence and realpolitik . The last page of Worldwatch #2 featured an announcement from the publisher stating that Austen had been fired, and that he would be replaced by a writer named Sam Clemens (which

11155-513: The real world, including those worshiped by the Aboriginal inhabitants of Australia, the gods of Hinduism , the Shinto gods and the gods of Zoroastrianism . These deities are rarely depicted, however. One such appearance generated a good deal of controversy as the depiction involved a fight between Marvel's incarnation of Thor and the Hindu god Shiva , a battle which Shiva lost. As Shiva

11270-578: The realm of super-heroes after being killed as an innocent bystander during a fight between the Avengers and the Wrecking Crew , only to be resurrected by the original Captain Britain. The second arc, which saw Austen writing former Avengers U.S. Agent and Namor the Sub-Mariner attempting to liberate a Middle Eastern country from its corrupt leadership, served as launching pad for the short-lived New Invaders series. Non-superhero Marvel work of

11385-552: The robots known as the Sentinels as weapons. Certain species are regarded as subhuman , like the Morlocks , who lurk beneath New York City and have been discriminated against by the outside world because of their mutant deformities. The Morlocks have recently joined the terrorist organization Gene Nation. In addition to mutants, Eternals, and Deviants, several other intelligent races have existed secretly on Earth. These include

11500-423: The romantic pairing of Angel and Husk; Jensen cites that storyline as emblematic of critical reception to Austen's run on X-Men . In 2003, Austen wrote a brief run on Captain America , finishing the storylines that were started by the outgoing writer John Ney Rieber . In 2004, Austen took over The Avengers , introducing a new, female Captain Britain (since renamed Lionheart ), a single mother thrust into

11615-511: The roster such as Kitty Pryde , the Silver Surfer, the Thing and Nova . The Inhumans are a royal family consisting of Black Bolt , Medusa , Crystal , Gorgon , Triton , Karnak and Lockjaw , who rule the city of Attilan. The Runaways are a group of teenagers and a dinosaur consisting of Alex Wilder , Nico Minoru , Karolina Dean , Chase Stein , Molly Hayes , Gert Yorkes and Old Lace who rebel against their evil parents known as

11730-409: The same set of powers. It is not clear why the Celestials did this, although it is known that they continue to observe humanity's evolution. A Marvel series titled Earth X explored one possible reason for this: that superhumans are meant to protect a Celestial embryo that grows inside Earth against any planetary threats and have done so for eons. An X-Men villain that is known as Vargas claims to be

11845-460: The sense of sympathizing with, and occasionally coming to the defense of, humanity. The Phoenix Force first received personification in Jean Grey . The Phoenix Force is composed of the psionic energy from all living beings' past, present, and future, and is an embodiment of rebirth and destructive transformation through "burning away what doesn't work", and helped to restart the universe before

11960-468: The three-book series Pride and Nakedness , followed by Something Old, Something New in 2013. In 2020, Austen returned to comics with Edgeworld , a five-part series with artist Pat Oliffe , published digitally via Comixology . During his stint at the Big Two, Austen used the expression "Seven Deadly Trolls ". In Austen's point of view, there was a small group of people, not representative of

12075-514: The time includes The Call of Duty , a project consisting of several mini-series conceived in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks that were written primarily by Austen (with one series written by Bruce Jones ) and featured firefighters and emergency service workers dealing with paranormal phenomena in the Marvel Universe, as well as Eden's Trail with artist Steve Uy , a series in " Marvelscope" ( landscape) format created to capitalize on

12190-509: The war against Earth in exchange for giving the Skrulls the location of Majesdane, which was hidden behind the corona of a white dwarf . The war had gone on for 16 years minimum; it ended abruptly after the Skrulls shot a barrage of missiles at Majesdane, who retaliated. Another prominent alien race is the Watchers , immortal and wise beings who watch over the Marvel Universe and have taken

12305-571: The weekly maxi-series U.S. War Machine for then-recently launched Marvel MAX imprint. The series drew controversy not only for its violent content, but also because it debuted the day after the September 11, 2001 attacks . In 2003, Austen followed up with U.S. War Machine 2.0 , which was published the day after U.S. President George W. Bush 's March 17, 2003 ultimatum to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq, prompting Austen to jokingly comment, "I feel like I should stop doing this book so

12420-469: The wider comics readership, that used internet message boards , blogs and newsgroups to attack him on a professional and personal level. Austen has stated that he received death threats from fans and had certain comic book store owners refuse to stock any comics written by him. He also admitted to taking online criticism of his work personally, and made a decision to stop doing interviews in August 2003. In

12535-560: The work. Austen spent most of the 2010s working in various capacities in animation on such shows as The Cleveland Show , Steven Universe , Dawn of the Croods and The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle . Most recently, he served as the co-showrunner on She-Ra and the Princesses of Power . In 2007, Austen released his first prose novel, Like Warm Sun on Nekkid Bottoms . In 2011, writing as Charles Olen Austen, he released

12650-417: The world will stay at peace." Using the creative liberties provided due to the fact that series was set outside the mainline Marvel Universe , Austen wrote Rhodes' boss Tony Stark as more pacifist and business-minded than his mainstream counterpart, and Rhodes himself as the proactive protector. Also in 2003, Austen launched another series for Marvel MAX, the six-issue The Eternal with artist Kev Walker ,

12765-674: Was also announced as the new artist on the title. As the series initially reprinted material from the British anthology Warrior his work on the main strip started in Miracleman #6, cover dated February 1986. Austen's run on the title was short-lived - after contributing a framing sequence to Miracleman #8 he left. Subsequently, he drew the first five issues for the short-lived series Hero Sandwich for Slave Labor Graphics , as well as stints on The Badger for First Comics and two issues of Scott McCloud 's Zot! , covering for

12880-781: Was changed in a 2004 storyline to refer to the War on Terror in Afghanistan , whereas the original Iron Man stories had referred to the Vietnam War in Vietnam ; similarly, The Punisher 's backstory has also been changed as well. Marvel Comics itself exists as a company within the Marvel Universe, and versions of people such as Stan Lee and Jack Kirby have appeared in some of the stories, whereas characters like Steve Rogers, ( Captain America 's alter ego ), have worked for Marvel. The Marvel of this reality publishes comics that adapt

12995-528: Was mentioned in Human Torch 's story, and vice versa. Later several superheroes (who starred in separate stories in the series up to that point) met each other in a group dubbed the All-Winners Squad . Though the concept of a shared universe was not new or unique to comic books in 1961, writer/editor Stan Lee , together with several artists including Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko , created

13110-553: Was published in Amazing Spider-Man #28 (September 1965), his college graduation in Amazing Spider-Man #185 (October 1978), and his high school reunion in Marvel Knights Spider-Man #7 (December 2004). Because of the floating timeline, where stories refer to real-life historic events, these references are later ignored or rewritten to suit current sensibilities; for instance, the origin of Iron Man

13225-499: Was revived more than 20 years later, explained as having been frozen in a block of ice though believed to be dead, to lead Marvel's latest team of superheroes the Avengers . This first Avengers team featured several characters that would go on to be some of the company's most famous and most popular. Although the characters would be portrayed in hundreds and even thousands of adventures over the decades, they have been portrayed as having aged little or not at all. Naturally, this tendency

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