The Marvel Universe is a fictional shared universe that serves as the setting for American comic books and other media published by Marvel Comics. Many superheros and supervillains exist within the Marvel Universe, including the Avengers, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Guardians of the Galaxy, Spider-Man, Doctor Doom, Magneto, and many more.
The Marvel Universe contains almost all popular fictional elements and concepts from science fiction and fantasy genres, including magic, highly advanced technology, monsters, aliens, mythological figures, and, most notably, superhuman abilities.
The Marvel Universe is further depicted as existing within a "multiverse" consisting of thousands of separate universes, all of which are the creations of Marvel Comics and all of which are, in a sense, "Marvel universes". In this context, "Marvel Universe" is taken to refer to the mainstream Marvel continuity, which is known as Earth-616 or Prime Earth.
History
Some of the characters in Timely Comics (the 1930s and '40s predecessor to Marvel Comics) coexisted in the same world, as first established in Marvel Mystery Comics #7 (1940) where Namor 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 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 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 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 a world.Marvel Mystery Comics. Marvel Comics #1 The Marvel Universe was also notable for setting its central titles in New York City; by contrast, many DC heroes live in fictional cities. Care was taken to portray the city and the world as realistically as possible, with the presence of superhumans affecting the common citizens in various ways.
Over time, a few Marvel Comics writers lobbied Marvel editors to incorporate the idea of a Multiverse resembling DC's parallel worlds; this plot device allows one to create several fictional universes which normally do not overlap. What happens on Earth in the main Marvel Universe would normally not affect what happens on a parallel Earth in another Marvel-created universe. However, writers would have the creative ability to write stories in which people from one such universe would visit this alternative universe.
In 1982, Marvel published the miniseries Contest of Champions, in which all of the major heroes in existence at the time were gathered together to deal with one threat. This was Marvel's first miniseries. Each issue contained biographical information on many major costumed characters; these biographies were a precursor to Marvel's series of reference material, The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, which followed shortly on the heels of Contest of Champions.
Concepts
The Marvel Universe is strongly based on the real world. Earth in the Marvel Universe has all the features of the real one: same countries, same personalities (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 and organizations like the espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D. and its enemies, Hydra and A.I.M. In 2009, Marvel officially described its world's geography in a two-part miniseries, the Marvel Atlas.Travel "The World With The Marvel Atlas". Marvel.com News
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 advanced technology all exist prominently in the Marvel Universe. These extra elements are incorporated simultaneously into the stories, lending to the existence of the superpowered characters. 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 insuranceFantastic Four vol. 1 #305Uncanny X-Men vol. 1 #183 (July 1984) bookmakers take bets on their battles' outcomes,Fantastic Four vol. 1 #133, April 1973 and New York air traffic controllers handle starships landing at local airports.
Comparatively, little time passes in the Marvel Universe compared to the real world, owing to the serial nature of storytelling, with the stories of certain issues picking up mere seconds after the conclusion of the previous one, while a whole month has passed by in "real-time". Marvel's major heroes were created in the 1960s, but the amount of time that has passed between then and now within the universe itself has (after a prolonged period of being identified as about 10 years in the mid-to-late 1990s) most recently been identified as 13 years.The Thing #13 (July 2006); Civil War Battle Damage Report (March 2007) Consequently, the settings of some events which were contemporary when written have to be updated every few years to "make sense" in this floating timeline. Thus, the events of previous stories are considered to have happened within a certain number of years before the publishing date of the current issue. For example, Spider-Man's high school graduation was published in Amazing Spider-Man #28 (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 was changed in a 2004 storyline to refer to the war on terror in Afghanistan, Iron Man (vol. 4) #1 (November 2004) 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 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 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 Frankenstein's Monster exist in the Marvel Universe. This is usually justified as a second-hand account of events as told to credited authors Arthur Conan Doyle, Bram Stoker, and Mary Shelley, although the general public continues to believe them to be fictional. Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian, Red Sonja, Kull the Conqueror, and Solomon Kane also have real-life existences in the Marvel Universe. The Hyborian Era of Conan and Kull is considered part of Earth-616 pre-recorded history. However, they rarely encounter modern Marvel superhero characters. This is most likely possible due to the uncertain legal status of Howard's works before 2006 when they became public domain. As of 2019, Conan the Barbarian, as well as Kull the Conqueror and Solomon Kane, have been firmly integrated, thanks to Marvel regaining the publishing rights to the characters. Other licensed works that have been incorporated into the Marvel Universe include Godzilla, the Transformers, the film 2001: A Space Odyssey (in the character of Machine Man), Rom the Spaceknight, the Micronauts, and the Shogun Warriors. In most cases, such material is either restricted from use after the license expires or the characters redesigned or renamed to avoid copyright infringement.
Costumed superheroes and supervillains
Within the fictional history of the Marvel Universe, the tradition of using costumed secret identities to fight or commit evil had long existed, but it came into prominence during the days of the American "Wild West" with heroes such as Carter Slade/the Phantom Rider. During the 20th century, the tradition was reinvigorated by Steve Rogers/Captain America and the Invaders in the 1940s, who fought for the Allies of World War II.
Unlike the DC Universe, few of Marvel's Golden Age characters have risen to prominence in modern publications; Captain America is one exception, and to a lesser extent, his contemporary, Namor, primarily because both of these characters were reintroduced to readers and the Marvel Universe during the 1960s.
Marvel's most prominent heroes were created during the Silver Age of Comic Books in the 1960s to early 1970s, including Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Daredevil, Nick Fury, the Black Panther, the Silver Surfer, and the early members of the Avengers, X-Men, Fantastic Four, and the Inhumans.
The Bronze Age and Modern Age from the early-to-mid 1970s to the early 1990s introduced many new additions to every corner of the Marvel Universe. The comics introduced street heroes such as the Heroes for Hire and the Punisher, space heroes including many members of the future Guardians of the Galaxy and Nova, and supernatural heroes such as Ghost Rider and Blade. New members were added to existing hero teams, including Wolverine, Storm, Kitty Pryde, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Rogue, Psylocke and Dazzler to the X-Men; and Mockingbird, Monica Rambeau, and Tigra to the Avengers. Other notable debuts include Scott Lang, Black Cat, Emma Frost, She-Hulk, Jessica Drew, Elektra, Man Thing, and Moon Knight, and new teams including the New Mutants, Alpha Flight, Eternals, Power Pack and the New Warriors.
From the mid-90s to present, Marvel created characters such as Deadpool, Gambit, Cable, Domino, the Thunderbolts, the Runaways, Shuri, Phil Coulson, and Maria Hill. Legacy characters became a popular staple during this time, introducing characters such as X-23, Miles Morales, Yelena Belova, Cassie Lang, Kamala Khan, Kate Bishop, Moon Girl, America Chavez, Robbie Reyes, Ironheart and Spider-Gwen.
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. Notable supervillain teams include the Masters of Evil, the Emissaries of Evil, the Brotherhood of Mutants, the Sinister Six, the Frightful Four, the Lethal Legion, the Legion of the Unliving, the Black Order, the Annihilation Wave, and the Cabal.
Origin of superhuman powers