Crude Combined Marvel/DC timeline to use as backstory to a Supers campaign

[Shaft]

Earlier this evening, I had a post about including Marvel and DC heroes as backstory. It got the creative juices flowing, and I came up with a quick and dirty timeline that has the DC heroes (who were created back in the 1930s/40s) mostly as the "golden age", with the Invaders thrown in as well. As they aged, they were gradually replaced by the classic Marvel heroes and the DC Silver age counterparts, most of whom were created in the 60s/70s. Of course the heroes who age slowly could still be around, but this way, you have a history of heroes who are well known, and who's names are instantly recognised by the players the same way other historical figures have a certain amount of recognition. At the same time in the "modern day", the heroes aren't wondering where all of the Justice League or Avengers are when a world-affecting catastrophe is looming. They could even be the latest rendition of the JLA or Avengers, with a truly impressive legacy to live up to.

 

The other nice thing is that with most of the Marvel heroes being in NYC, and the DC heroes being spread out all over the place, it distributes the heroes a bit more evenly.

 

I've portrayed the Avengers as being a government team while the Justice League is far more independant. It might make sense for certain heroes to cross the lines of publishers- for example, Captain Atom makes a better Avenger while Falcon makes a better Justice League member. Feel free to use your discretion.

 

Obviously, this timeline isn't nearly complete, and some people may want to change it so that their preferred heroes are more (or less) prominent. It's really a trigger for GMs who like history. Feel free to add your own ideas for events, and I'll add them to the master timeline if I think they work.

 

I've tried to avoid listing deaths or retirements, except where passing a legacy is needed. For all I know, some heroes might have longevity and still be around. The reader is free to make the decision about when a specific hero gets to old for this $%!#. But if you decide to keep Spidey around in 2006, and he started in 1962, everyone is wondering why Peter Parker isn't preparing to retire.

• 1908 Logan is born in the Dominion of Canada.
  
• 1912 Brainiac realises that Galactus will destroy Krypton- he begins collecting the planet's accumulated knowledge to ensure its (his) survival.
  
• 1914 Galactus destroys Krypton. Kal-El is sent to Earth in a rocket ship. Brainiac escapes the exploding planet with the collected data.
  
• 1919 Fraternal twin Brothers Namor and Arthur are born out of wedlock to an Atlantean princess several months after her rescue by a lighthouse keeper, but their human heritage adds to scandal as the children are determined to be a source of shame.
  
• 1920 Kal-El found by Martha and Johnathan Kent
  
• 1922 Bruce Wayne's parents are killed in front of him as they are cutting through Crime Alley.
  
• 1929 Every once in a while, Superboy is spotted in Smallville, KS.
  
• 1931 Rumors about an invisible crimefighter calling himself The Shadow begin to circulate.
  
• 1938 Superman makes his first appearance in Metropolis.
  
• 1939 In Gotham City, rumors of a shadowy vigilante calling himself the Batman begin to float around.
  
• 1939 Billy Batson meets a Kree Wizard named Shazam who imbues him with great power.
  
• 1940 Jay Garrick, the first Flash, appears in Keystone city.
  
• 1940 The Red Hood falls into a vat of chemicals, becoming the Joker.
  
• 1940 Batman begins training the 11 yr old Dick Grayson as his sidekick, Robin.
  
• 1941 Steve Rogers is injected with the serum that makes him Captain America.
  
• 1941 Princess Diana of the Amazons tries to help teach mankind about peace as the World is ravaged by war. Sixty years later, the Amazons will determine that she has failed and exile her.
  
• 1942 The Invaders and the All-Star Squadron are formed by the numerous superheroes that join the war effort.
  
• 1943 Sgt Nick Fury unwittingly stumbles into a Lazarus Pit while on a commando mission in North Africa.
  
• 1945 The All-Star Squadron sticks together after the war, renaming themselves the Justice Society of America. The Invaders fare less well, after Captain America (who held them together) goes MIA. The Sub-Mariner returns to Atlantis. The Human Torch moves to the Pacific theatre. After the war, he is put into (no pun intended) cold storage until he is found by Ultron in 1968 and turned into the Vision. Union Jack returns to England where he fights crime for King & Country.
  
• 1946 Superman reveals his identidy to Lois Lane. They marry, but are unable to have children.
  
• 1947 J'onn J'onzz, a "SuperSkrull" experiment on the run from his government, crashes in Roswell, New Mexico and is taken into custody, where is mistaken for a Martian. Once his peaceful intentions are confirmed, he is assigned to Majestic-12 as "John Jones" for the next 8 years. In 1955, he reveals his existence as the "Martian Manhunter" to the public.
  
• 1949 Dick Grayson passes the mantle of Robin off to Jason Todd, and becomes the first NightWing. Later that year, a temporal accident transports Grayson fifteen years into the future.
  
• 1950 Green Arrow spends a summer teaching a young Clint Barton some archery tricks. Years later, the archers face off when Hawkeye is about to embark on a life of crime. Green Arrow beats his pupil, sets him straight and puts in a good word for him to be considered as an Avenger.
  
• 1953 Charles Xavier is crippled by Magneto as they have a falling out over the direction of their plans for mutantkind.
  
• 1953 The JSA's actions in the Korean War help bring about an armistice.
  
• 1954 Matthew Murdock is hit by a truck carrying radioactive isotopes and blinded, though his other senses are augmented.
  
• 1956 The Joker kills Jason Todd. Batman decides to work alone.
  
• 1956 Barry Allen takes up the Mantle of the Flash from Jay Garrick, who retires as his body and powers begin giving out on him.
  
• 1959 Alan Scott is killed but with his dying breath, he makes Hal Jordan, the test pilot who answers his last call for help, swear to protect sector 2814 in his place.
  
• 1960 The Silver Age heroes shy away from joining the JSA, which is perceived as an war veterans superclub. As the JSA members start retiring, Superman, Batman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl II and Aquaman team up to fend off an alien invasion and decide to stick together as the Justice League. Aquaman declines the invitation, and Batman opts to only work part time (though he provdies funding) but the rest of the team stick together. Some of the JSA'ers who are still fit for battle come aboard too.
  
• 1961 NASA astronauts Reed Richards, Susan Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm are exposed to radiation that forces them to abort the first trip to the moon. It is another 8 years before another team of astronauts (Neil Armstrong & Buzz Aldrin) attempt another moon landing.
  
• 1962 Peter Parker is bit by a radioactive spider. Shortly after, a new hero, Spiderman appears in New York.
  
• 1962 Dr Robert Bruce Banner, the lead scientist on a gov't funded project to reproduce the super-soldier project, is injected with the serum he produced. It turns him into the Hulk, but initially, his transformations seem to be controllable.
  
• 1962 Donald Blake has been plagued by visions that he is the son of Odin since he was 12. He finally accepts his destiny and finds Mjonlir, unleashing the power of Thor through him.
  
• 1963 Age is catching up to the 48 year old Batman. His reflexes aren't fast enough to save him in a battle against Rha'as'Ghul. Fortunately for the Caped Crusader, he is knocked into a Lazarus Pit and emerges with the body of a 20 year old.
  
• 1963 Concerned about the threat that Soviet metahumans pose, and the lack of control over the Justice League during the Cuban missle crisis, the US government funds its own superteam, the Avengers, consisting of Wasp, Giant Man, Iron Man, Thor, and the recently defected Black Widow. A few criminals (Hawkeye, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch) are offered parole if they give up their ways and join the team. Captain America's frozen body is found in the North Atlantic. The Avenger's existance makes the headlines when the Hulk goes on a rampage and the Avengers stop him before the Justice League can react. The government favoritism towards superheroes that are Avengers versus the heroes that are associated with the Justice Legue creates a rivalry that stil lexists to this day. The Avengers are perceived as government bootlickers while the Justice League are portrayed, at their worst, as seeing themselves above any government. Over time, the JLA drop the "of America" from their name and are known as the Justice League.
  
• 1963 An assassination on President Kennedy by Doomsday is foiled by Superman, but the world is shocked as Doomsday beats the Man of Steel to death on live television after a battle that rages halfway across the US. Despite Superman's return a few months later, decades later people still remember where they were when they heard that Superman was dead.
  
• 1963 Magneto unleashes his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants upon the world, turning the tide of public opinion against mutants. Charles Xavier recruits Jean Grey to be his fifth X-Man. She joins Angel, Beast, Cyclops and Iceman in countering Magneto as well as other evil mutants.
  
• 1963 Stephen Strange takes over the role of Sorceror Supreme from Kent Nelson.
  
• 1964 After "returning from a year long trip to Central Asia", Clark Kent becomes editor of the Daily Planet.
  
• 1964 Kennedy is re-elected, and remains President until 1969, when he is succeeded by Nixon who defeats Johnson. Tecumseh's curse appears to be broken.
  
• 1964 New York becomes overun by crime. After Kitty Genovese is killed in an alley in front of dozens of witnesses that don't do anything to save her, Matthew Murdock realises the limitations of the legal system, and decides to become Daredevil, drawing inspiration from the Batman's efforts in Gotham city.
  
• 1964 Nightwing, trying to cope with 15 lost years and a Batman that refuses to work with him, recruits Kid Flash, Speedy, Wonder Girl and Aqualad to form the Teen Titans. Dick Grayson & Steve Rogers find that they have much in common, having both skipped over one and a half decades of their lives, and form a strong friendship.
  
• 1965 Atlantis and The USSR nearly go to war when Soviet subs start passing through Atlantean borders. Namor views all surface worlders with the same contempt, since the Russians were allies during WWII, and now they are enemies. His younger brother Arthur, who has a cooler head, acts as an ambassador to the surface world and regularly works with the Justice League. Eventually Namor's contempt for the surface world spreads to Arthur, who becomes more crotchety with age.
  
• 1965 Thor leaves the Avengers over the issue of the Vietnam war.
  
• 1966 Galactus defeats the Justice League, Fantastic Four, Teen Titans and Avengers before Reed Richards and the Flash devise a plan to defeat him. Flash dies in the battle, passing the mantle to Wally West.
  
• 1967 Despite his wishes to keep working alone, Batman is frequently aided by the mysterious new heroine, Batgirl. He eventually takes her under his wing.
  
• 1968 An aging Billy Batson (who'da thought?) passes on his power to Carol Danvers.
  
• 1968 Bill Foster aka Black Goliath saves Martin Luther King from an assasination attempt in Memphis. King continues his work over the next decade to inspire a new generation of black superheroes: Falcon, Black Lightning, and a new Green Lantern.
  
• 1968 The Titans *finally* drop the "Teen" from their name.
  
• 1968 Franklin Richards is born.
  
• 1969 Havok and Polaris join the X-Men.
  
• 1971 Speedy goes into rehab. Green Arrow retires from the field shortly after, opting to move his crusade to social work. Besides, after 30 years of this, he's getting to too old for stunts now. A year later, he and Black Canary have a daughter.
  
• 1972 Lois Lane dies. With his parents dead many years earlier, Superman retires his Clark Kent identidy and works as Superman full time- beginning the disconnect he will start to feel with mere mortals.
  
• 1974 Professor X, reacting to Nixon's support for the Sentinels, telepathically discover evidence of the Watergate scandal and leaks it to the press.
  
• 1974 Shortly after his return from Vietnam, the Punisher begins his war on crime after his family is killed by the mob.
  
• 1975 The X-Men recruit Wolverine, Colossus, Storm, Banshee, Nightcrawler, Thunderbird and Sunfire into their ranks.
  
• 1975 Batman deduces a link between the Lazarus Pit and the super soldier serum.
  
• 1976 Jean Grey becomes imbued with the Phoenix Force.
  
• 1978 Hank McCoy mutates further, becoming the Blue-furred Beast. Shortly after, he joins the Avengers.
  
• 1979 Tony Stark has a heart attack severe enough that Jim Rhodes takes over the Iron Man role.
  
• 1979 The Avengers storm the beseiged American Embassy in Iran. This worsens the metahuman arms race already in progress with the Soviet Union.
  
• 1980 The Joker takes over the Hellfire Club and inadvertantly transforms Jean Grey into Dark Phoenix when he forces Mastermind to mess with her head. She kills herself to save the galaxy.
  
• 1980 Slade Wilson is injected with a variant of the Super Soldier formula that turns him into Deathstroke the Terminator.
  
• 1980 Cyborg, Beast Boy, Raven, Starfire and Franklin Richards join the Titans.
  
• 1980 Alison Blair's album, Dazzler, makes the Top 40
  
• 1983 Avengers participate in Grenada Invasion. Resolutions against military uses for metahumans are introduced at the UN, but they are vetoed by the Security Council.
  
• 1984 The Avengers start a West Coast branch, followed by a Great Lakes Branch in 1989.
  
• 1984 Alex, Julie, Jack and Kate Power join the Titans.
  
• 1986 Steve Rogers gives up the Captain America identidy when the US government wants him to start running black ops. Rick Flag takes over the identidy and is assigned to Amanda Waller who has him oversee the "Suicide Squad" unit with Task Force X.
  
• 1987 Just before his 40th birthday, Peter Parker settles down and marries Mary Jane Watson.
  
• 1988 Batgirl is shot in the spine by the Joker. She redefines herself as Oracle.
  
• 1988 Captain America, Superman and Ronald Reagan ask Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall. Inspired by their speech, the Joker resolves to do it himself in an explosive manner, but is thwarted at the last minute by an odd alliance of Russian heroes and a SHIELD team assisted by Batman. The team-up opens the door to the reunification of Germany
  
• 1989 Steve Rogers' role as Captain America is revealed. Public uproar makes the US government reinstate him as Captain America on his terms. Waller makes Rick Flag give up the identidy, prefering to keep her unit out of the spotlight.
  
• 1989 Tim Drake (Iceman's nephew) deduces Batman's identidy. Batman decides to bring him in as a new Robin.
  
• 1989 Dick Grayson turns 45 and fathers a child with Starfire. He goes partially into retirement, occasionally returning to the field as the Red Robin.
  
• 1991 Oracle mentors Black Canary II, Huntress and Mockingbird (the daughter of Hawkeye and the original Huntress, SHIELD agent Bobbie Morse) and forms the Birds of Prey.
  
• 1991 Gulf War- The Avengers and Justice League work side by side to liberate Kuwait from the Iraqi army and protect Israel from Iraqi rockets.
  
• 1994 Kyle Rayner takes over the role of Green Lantern from John Stewart.
  
• 1996 Magog kills the Joker after he wipes out the staff of the Daily Planet. Superman brings in Magog for murder, but Magog is acquited. Superman goes into seclusion.
  
• 1997 Task Force X is expanded to include a new unit called the Thunderbolts.
  
• 1999 Terry McGuiness becomes NightWing II
  
• 2000 Martian Manhunter, trying to understand humanity despite 45 years of living among them, opens his mind too much and suffers severe mental feedback.
  
• 2001 Magog leads a team of super powered vigilantes to bring in the Absorbing Man, who uses Parasite's powers to augment his own and mimick the traits of a nuclear reactor before setting his sights on Captain Atom. He loses control of his power and explodes in a nuclear blaze, destroying a large part of Kansas. Outrage results in the passing of a superhuman registration act. Steve Rogers is arrested when he refuses to bring in heroes that choose not to register. His imprisonment is viewed as unlawful and inspires a large number of heroes to stay underground. These underground heroes, the "Outsiders", are led by the Batman (who immerses himself into the role full time after his identidy becomes exposed) & Luke Cage. The Justice League struggles as many of their members side with Batman. The Avengers are less torn since they've always been government agents since day one. Wonder Woman pulls Superman out of retirement to rally the pro-registration side, which Superman leads, with a heavy heart.
  
• 2001 A Superhuman prison is built in Kansas to contain the villains and unregistered vigilantes. Batman gets a team into the facility where Steve Rogers is being held to rescue him, but Rogers chooses to stay in prison and fight the system from within.
  
• 2001 As the nation is distracted by the Superhuman Civil War, 15 jets are hijacked for use as weapons by suicide bombers working with supervillains, including three military planes carrying nuclear weapons. 12 of them are stopped (the nukes are stopped by Superman who ends up comatose after the ordeal), but 3 get through- 2 on the WTC, 1 on the Pentagon. The terrorists were based out of Afghanistan, and with the Avengers' help, the Taliban is quickly overthrown, though the mastermind of the attacks, Rha's Al Ghul, escapes into parts unknown and is still at large to this day.
  
• 2001 In the aftermath, the heroes realise that they still have to band together. Officially, registration remains, but failure to register is a misdemeanor until compounded with a violent crime, so the pursuit of unregistered heroes is low on the priority scale. Steve Rogers is released from prison, but quickly realises that he can be more effective on the political stage than as a costumed crimefighter.
  
• 2002 Wonder Woman gives birth to Superman's child.
  
• 2003 Questionable links are made between the WTC hijackings and Saddam Hussein's government in Iraq. Steve Rogers uses his influence to keep the Avengers out of Iraq, though some members choose to go on their own, attached to other military units.
  
• 2004 Red Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Changeling and NightWing II are the mentors to the third generation of Titans: SuperBoy II, Wondergirl II, Impulse, and NightStar (Dick Grayson & Starfire's daughter).
  
• 2004 President Luthor's unlawful actions are exposed, but it is revealed that he had been mind-controlled by the Red Skull, who they can't seem to kill, can they? Reasonable doubt and a pardon by VP Dick Cheney keep him out of prison, but he steps down from his role, "to ensure the continued integrity of the office of the President". LexCorp has been profiting form the wars started under his tenure as President and welcomes his return to the Exectuve Board of Directors.
  
• 2004: Unimpressed with the way the country has been run lately, and feeling age start to catch up to his body, Steve Rogers runs for president as an independent and wins. Tony Stark is appointed Secretary of Defense.
  
• 2006: Age is also catching up to Batman, who aging is still slower than normal, but the truth is he hasn't taken a dip in a Lazarus Pit for 45+ years. Despite that, he is as dedicated as ever to remaining the Batman and makes the startling discovery that Terry McGuiness is his clone...
  
• 2006: Wally West disappears, leaving Impulse with the mantle of Flash IV
  
• 2008: Steve Rogers is re-elected for a second term
  
• 2009:
  
• 2010:
  
• 2011: A SHIELD team finds Rhas As Ghul and kills him, but they dump his body at sea so as to not create a shrine to him.
  
• 2012: The present day
  

[Enforcer84]

Re: Crude Combined Marvel/DC timeline to use as backstory to a Supers campaign

 

Impulse would be Flash 4 other than that...cool

[Kali Magdalene]

Re: Crude Combined Marvel/DC timeline to use as backstory to a Supers campaign

 

I noticed you had Clark reveal his identity to Lois in 1946. Since there actually was a story written in 1940 that features such a revelation, I thought I'd suggest using that as the basis for the revelation.

 

The K-Metal From Krypton introduces kryptonite before it appeared anywhere else, features Clark revealing his identity to Lois, reveals his origins on a planet called Krypton, and the first use of the name "Perry White" in a Superman story.

 

Of course, it didn't get published. It's too bad, as it may have set the tone for superhero comics being more like what you're describing here.

 

An essay about the K-Metal story.

[wrestlinggeek]

Re: Crude Combined Marvel/DC timeline to use as backstory to a Supers campaign

 

Very awesome. Incredibly like an idea I had recently (Marvel Earth and MLJ Earth are combined with Earths 1, 2, 4, S, and X and the end of Crisis. Every character's origin is reset to the year they first appeared, so Superman appeared in 1938, Spider-Man in 1964 [is that right?], etc.) My history is different (my Avengers are not so much like the Ultimates, Batman's succession is closer to Generations, no Kingdom Come elements), but yours is no less cool. Kudos and Rep.

[Shaft]

Re: Crude Combined Marvel/DC timeline to use as backstory to a Supers campaign

 

I noticed you had Clark reveal his identity to Lois in 1946. Since there actually was a story written in 1940 that features such a revelation, I thought I'd suggest using that as the basis for the revelation.

 

My thinking was Superman and Lois getting swept up in the post war elation, but it makes sense to have Superman do it before the war too.

[Doug McCrae]

Re: Crude Combined Marvel/DC timeline to use as backstory to a Supers campaign

 

Good stuff - Seems extensive for crude notes.

 

I really liked Galactus destroying Krypton, brothers Namor and Aquaman as the Hawk & Dove of Atlantean politics, the connections between the Captain Marvels and Tony Stark having a heart attack.

 

For a roleplaying universe, a concern I might have is that there seem to be too many superheroes still around to step on the PCs toes. I'd have had Superman killed in the 60s for example in a manner similar to the 1961 Death of Superman imaginary story.

[Shaft]

Re: Crude Combined Marvel/DC timeline to use as backstory to a Supers campaign

 

Very awesome. Incredibly like an idea I had recently (Marvel Earth and MLJ Earth are combined with Earths 1' date=' 2, 4, S, and X and the end of Crisis. Every character's origin is reset to the year they first appeared, so Superman appeared in 1938, Spider-Man in 1964 [is that right?'], etc.) My history is different (my Avengers are not so much like the Ultimates, Batman's succession is closer to Generations, no Kingdom Come elements), but yours is no less cool. Kudos and Rep.

 

Thanks for the rep.

 

• Spidey was first published in '62 according to my sources. It's been suggested that he was 15 at the beginning of his career.
  
• The idea for Batman's dip in the Lazarus pit was, indeed, inspired by Generations.
  
• There are Kingdom Come elements, but with Billy Batson not being Captain Marvel, and Lois Lane being long dead, such a story would play out differently. The KC elements were used mainly as a way to potentially write out characters towards the end of their careers without resorting to killing them off.
  
• The Ultimates was a massive influence in the way I defined the Avengers. I like that series. I'd like it MORE if it came out on time, but I digress...

[Shaft]

Re: Crude Combined Marvel/DC timeline to use as backstory to a Supers campaign

 

Good stuff - Seems extensive for crude notes.

 

I really liked Galactus destroying Krypton, brothers Namor and Aquaman as the Hawk & Dove of Atlantean politics, the connections between the Captain Marvels and Tony Stark having a heart attack.

 

For a roleplaying universe, a concern I might have is that there seem to be too many superheroes still around to step on the PCs toes. I'd have had Superman killed in the 60s for example in a manner similar to the 1961 Death of Superman imaginary story.

 

Thanks. I'd like to thank wikipedia for making my notes seem less crude.

 

If I killed off Superman, this thread would have become the "I can't believe you killed Superman!" thread. Maybe having Doomsday make an appearance in 1961 is a good nod to the original death of Superman story?

 

(Please take this as a compliment, but that baseball cap kinda makes you look like Sylar).

[keithcurtis]

Re: Crude Combined Marvel/DC timeline to use as backstory to a Supers campaign

 

clap-clap-clap!

 

Excellent job. I hope your campaign is a blast.

 

Keith ":thumbup:" Curtis

[Guardian]

Re: Crude Combined Marvel/DC timeline to use as backstory to a Supers campaign

 

Its always tough to melt down all that history into a coherent timeline, and I have seen many people try as I was doing research for my own current campaign which combines the DC and Marvel universe.

 

One minor error I noted in your list:

1959 - Alan Scott was never a member of the Green Lantern Corp. There's a complex history as to how the Guardians of Oa actually created the Starheart from which Alan drew his power (the "Green Flame"), but the rings that the GLC used and which Alan created himself from a meteorite's green metal are really unrelated. They were fellow Green Lanterns in name only, not in origin, and Scott could not have passed on an Oan power ring.

 

You did a good job overall, and comic book continuity is always a fun discussion topic (like religion, there are many opinions and no right answers).

[Shaft]

Re: Crude Combined Marvel/DC timeline to use as backstory to a Supers campaign

 

One minor error I noted in your list:

1959 - Alan Scott was never a member of the Green Lantern Corp... You did a good job overall, and comic book continuity is always a fun discussion topic (like religion, there are many opinions and no right answers).

 

Yes, it wasn't an oversight- I changed it to simplify it. Despite my personal bias against aliens in a non-Galactic game, I felt kinda dirty writing out Abin Sur too. But I think Alan Scott stands out more than Abin Sur, hence my decision to use him.

[Warpcore Breach]

Re: Crude Combined Marvel/DC timeline to use as backstory to a Supers campaign

 

Beautiful! I would love to snag this timeline for use in my campaign. I had more fused the teams together and glossed over alot of the back story. Plus, I don't know my DC history nearly well enough to attempt to combine it with Marvel's. You did an awesome job setting up the world. I hope the players in my group enjoy the world-set you've created.

[Guardian]

Re: Crude Combined Marvel/DC timeline to use as backstory to a Supers campaign

 

Yes' date=' it wasn't an oversight- I changed it to simplify it. Despite my personal bias against aliens in a non-Galactic game, I felt kinda dirty writing out Abin Sur too. But I think Alan Scott stands out more than Abin Sur, hence my decision to use him.[/quote']

 

Depending on the personal comic knowledge of your players, you might have to be careful about attempting to simplify too much. For example, for someone like me who knows and likes the published background of both GL characters, this would be a great source of confusion if playing in your campaign. It is akin to saying "I decided to simplify Superman's background by making his power originate from gamma ray exposure" because a) you don't like aliens and its coherent with several of the Marvel characters' origins.

 

But obviously, this would cause confusion for the players who grew up knowing that Superman came from Krypton. I'm just trying to make a point that when creating a timeline from published resources, you should make adjustments where they HAVE to be made (like the retirement or rejuvenation of several heroes), but NOT make changes where they are not needed (like the origin stories of 2 different iconic characters).

 

Just my 2 cents. One could reasonably argue that the origins of many characters could be streamlined or connected/combined for an RPG campaign, but I would personally have difficulty keeping the revisionist history in mind while playing the game. But that's the whole point of posting to a discussion board like this, so you can gather opinions about your ideas.

[Doug McCrae]

Re: Crude Combined Marvel/DC timeline to use as backstory to a Supers campaign

 

I'm very much in favour of messing around with published history as much as you like. Partly because I don't know the continuity well enough (who does, this side of Kurt Busiek?) and partly because it makes the whole endeavour more creative and to me, thus a lot more worthwhile. Remaining beholden to Marvel and DC would make one a mere drudge, a cataloguer rather than a creator.

 

For example I thought having Krypton destroyed by Galactus was a brilliant idea, but it wouldn't be possible if you followed DC continuity - I believe Krypton was originally said to have died of 'old age'.

[Korvar]

Re: Crude Combined Marvel/DC timeline to use as backstory to a Supers campaign

 

Curses. Rep must be spread. Good job, very good job.

[David Johnston]

Re: Crude Combined Marvel/DC timeline to use as backstory to a Supers campaign

 

Ehn. If DC can kill Superman, so can you. I was actually thinking that, given all the Silver Age Superboy and Superman Junior stories, it might be a nice touch for the Golden Age Superman to die as Lois Lane is pregnant with their child. Naturally the boy is also named "Clark" after his father, is mostly raised by his grandparents in Smallville since Lois is a globe-trotting workaholic and eventually he makes his debut as Superman II in 1986 saving a space shuttle from disaster. (Giving a nod to the Byrne reboot).

 

You might even go so far as to let history repeat itself by involving him with a reporter named Chloe Sullivan.

[Kali Magdalene]

Re: Crude Combined Marvel/DC timeline to use as backstory to a Supers campaign

 

My thinking was Superman and Lois getting swept up in the post war elation' date=' but it makes sense to have Superman do it before the war too.[/quote']

 

I meant more the story than the date. I mentioned the date mainly to establish it's in a similar timeframe.

 

Also, since I forgot last night, I did that "rep" thing. With my rep power of zero, I'm sure it'll make you really famous.

[Shaft]

Re: Crude Combined Marvel/DC timeline to use as backstory to a Supers campaign

 

Ehn. If DC can kill Superman, so can you. I was actually thinking that, given all the Silver Age Superboy and Superman Junior stories, it might be a nice touch for the Golden Age Superman to die as Lois Lane is pregnant with their child. Naturally the boy is also named "Clark" after his father, is mostly raised by his grandparents in Smallville since Lois is a globe-trotting workaholic and eventually he makes his debut as Superman II in 1986 saving a space shuttle from disaster. (Giving a nod to the Byrne reboot).

 

You might even go so far as to let history repeat itself by involving him with a reporter named Chloe Sullivan.

 

Dang- some good ideas there, but it might make my timeline a little too "Hypertime", know what I mean?

 

But rep to you for good ideas.

[CSgeekHero]

Re: Crude Combined Marvel/DC timeline to use as backstory to a Supers campaign

 

Shaft, you have just inspired me to play a supers campaign for the first time since 1992.

[McCoy]

Re: Crude Combined Marvel/DC timeline to use as backstory to a Supers campaign

 

Just for fun, the timeline I've been working on. Heavily cross-polinated with OddHat's

 

 

 

-87 Antikythera Mechanism built

589 Garbha-Hsien born in Mongolia. Later known as the External Saul.

730 Al Azif, aka the Necronomicon, is written by Abdul Alhazred

1409 Gideon born in Spain.

1476 Vlad Tepes becomes a true Vampire.

 

1692 Tituba, slave of Rev. Samuel Parris, confesses to witchcraft, starting the Salem Witch Trials

1693 Samantha born in Salem Mass. Omens at her birth proclame her destined to become Queen of the Witches

 

1771 John Ward becomes Black Mask I

1778 On orders from General George Washington, Benjamin Tallmadge organizes the Culper Ring, America's first organized espinage operation. Agents included Robert Townsend, Aaron Woodhull, Austin Roe, Anna Strong, Caleb Brewster and a lady known only as "355."

1787 The British government begins formally recruiting extraordinary men and women in the service of the Crown.

1794 Marie Laveau born in New Orleans

1797 Timothy Ward becomes Black Mask II

 

1801 John Carter born in Virginia

1809 Charles Darwin born in England

1822 Samuel Ward becomes Black Mask III

1826 John Adams & Thomas Jefferson, 2nd & 3rd Presidents of the United States, both die on the 50th anniveresery of the signing of the Declairation of Independence

1831 HMS Beagle leaves Plymouth, England for South America with Charles Darwin on board.

1832 Charles Carrol, last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence, dies

1832 Skull & Bones founded on the campus of Yale University

1853 Matthew Ward becomes Black Mask IV, moves base of operations to Midwest after War between the States

1856 Nikola Tesla born in Croatia

1859 On the Origin of Species published

1861 Confederate Troops fire on Ft. Sumter, War Between the States begins

1865 Robert E Lee surrenders to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox, War Between the States ends

1865 United States Secret Service founded. William P. Wood first Chief

1867 Nemo uses a technologically advanced submarine to wage guerilla war against the British Empire.

1871 James Lee Ward becomes Black Mask V, switches base of operations to American Southwest

1872 John Carter travels, apparently by asteral projection, to a planet called Barsoom by the natives.

1874 John Reid becomes The Lone Ranger

1876 Marvin Carr becomes Black Mask VI

1881 Newspapers in New Orleans report the death of Marie Laveau. She continues to be seen around town.

1882 A strange meteor lands near Arkham, on the property of a farmer named Nahum Gardner. It seems to have had mutagenic properties.

John Carter returns from Barsoom, writes memoirs

Charles Darwin dies, buried in Westminster Abby

1883 Nikola Tesla invents the induction motor

1884 Nikola Tesla arrives in New York, with four cents in his pocket, a few of his own poems, and calculations for a flying machine

1886 Dr. Henry Jekyll develops his “Hyde” formula.

1888 John Clayton III Lord Greystroke (later known as Tarzan) born in Africa

 

1890 U.S. foreign policy is influenced by Alfred T. Mahan who wrote The Influence of Sea Power upon history, 1600-1783, which advocated the taking of the Caribbean Islands, Hawaii, and the Philippine Islands for bases to protect U.S. commerce, the building of a canal to enable fleet movement from ocean to ocean and the building of the Great White fleet of steam-driven armor plated battleships.

1891 Nikola Tesla invents the Tesla coil

Nikola Tesla becomes US citizen

1893 World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago

1894 "Martian" tripod machine lands in England

1895 Wilhelm Rontgen discovers X-rays

1896 First Modern Olympics in Athens

Guglielmo Marconi claims to have invented radio, a claim disputed by Alexander Popov, Nikola Tesla, and others.

1896 Jason Ward becomes Black Mask VII

1897 "Airship" crashes near Aurora, Texas

Both William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal and Joseph Pulitzer's New York World, through their sensational reporting on the Cuban Insurrection, helped strengthen anti-Spanish sentiment in the United States.

1898 U S S Maine explodes and sinks in Havana harbor

War was formally declared between Spain and the United States

Treaty of Paris, Spanish-American War ends

Nikola Tesla invents remote control

1899 Nikola Tesla creates man made lightning

Nikola Tesla announces he had received signals from another planet; John Carter visits his Colorado laboratory

 

1900 Linda Artemidoros born in San Francisco

Nikola Tesla began construction of a wireless world broadcasting tower on Long Island

1901 Antikythera Mechanism recovered

1902 Clark Savage, Jr, born onboard the schooner Orion, anchored off the north shore of Andros Island in the Bahamas

1902 John Carter returns to Barsoom; his memoirs published 10 years later under the title A Princess of Mars

1903 Logan born in Canada, probably Alberta

1905 Albert Einstein's "Miracle Year," publishes 4 papers, one of which established grounwork for relativity, another for quantum mechanics.

1906 Britt Reid born

1907 Joseph Walker first Secret Service Agent killed in line of duty

1908 Something exploded in mid air over the Tunguska River in Siberia, with a force estimated between 10 and 15 megatons

Nikola Tesla builds prototype Death Ray

 

1913 Clark Savage, Sr, discovers the Valley Of The Vanished in Hildalgo, in South America.

1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand assassinated, the Great War begins

Bruce Wayne born in Gotham City

Nikola Tesla offers Death Ray to US as deterrant weapon to prevent the Great War. Only response is a form letter of appreciation from President Wilson's secretary.

1917 Clark Savage Jr. takes leave of absence from medical school, lies about his age to join Army

Nikola Tesla invents radar

1918 Clark Savage Jr. shot down over Germany, becomes POW. sent to Camp Loki, meets fellow POW's Andrew "Monk" Mayfair, Theodore "Ham" Brooks, John "Renny" Renwick, William "Johnnie" Littlejohn, and Thomas"Long Tom" Roberts. Savage engineers a mass escape

from Camp Loki.

The Great War ends

1919 Flu pandemic kills half million in United States, 40 million worldwide.

 

1920 Kal-L born on Krypton; planet explodes; Kryptonite drawn into Solar System by starship warp engine

Dr. Thomas Wayne and his wife Martha killed after seeing the movie The Mark of Zorro; their son Bruce is the only witness

1924 Bruce Wayne, having learned of the unique pedological methods of Clark Savage, Sr, convinces Savage to take him on as a student. Clark Jr. impressed by the 10 year old's eloquence, determination, & need for Justice.

1925 Soviet dictator Josef Stalin ordered his top animal breeding scientist to create interspecies "super warriors." Stalin's half-men, half-apes would be "invincible," "insensitive to pain" and "indifferent about the quality of food they eat."

1926 Eric Magnus Lehnsherr born in Europe, probably in Romania

1929 Jeffrey Laton Ward becomes Black Mask VIII

 

1932 Charles Xavier born in Connetticut

1933 Clark Savage Sr, dies. Clark jr visits the Valley Of The Vanished for the first time

Bruce Wayne travels to Orient, becomes first Western master of the art of Ninjitsu

1935 Dr. Occult begins supernatural investigations

1936 Kip Walker becomes the XXI Phantom

Spanish Civil War begins

Olympics held in Berlin. US wins most gold medals, but Germany wins most medals total.

1936 Germany and Italy recognize the Franco regime while France and the USSR continue to support the Republican government of Spain.

Britt Reid becomes The Green Hornet

1937 The dirigible Hindenberg explodes at Lakehurst NJ killing 36 people.

Britain and France trade colonies to Germany for peace

Werner von Braun begins test firing of the A3 at Peenemunde leading to the development of the V-2 rocket for use on England He also envisions a rocket that could reach the US the A-10

American and German researchers begin experimenting with a glowing green substance that one researcher dubs Crypto-ite, which is found to have a number of unique properties. The glow seems harmless to living tissue, but sometimes catalyses metahuman abilities in humans and apes

1938 Kal-L makes first public appearance as Superman

"Martian" tripod machine lands near Grover's Mill, New Jersey

Germany annexes Austria

The Germans occupy the section of Czechoslovakia known as the Sudetenland without opposition from the Czechs

Slovakia becomes an independent nation.

The assassination of the German Envoy in Paris is used as an excuse to make the Jews a scapegoat for German troubles This results in retaliation against those in Germany and they are herded into camps and collectively fined four hundred million dollars

Germany’s only aircraft carrier the Graf Zeppelin is launched

Franco launches a final offensive to gain the control of Spain

1939 First appearance of Batman

World War II begins, Logan recruited for undercover work in Italy and Japan

The Golden Gate International Exposition opens in San Francisco

Franco’s government is recognized by England and France

Germany occupies Bohemia and Moravia without opposition

Memel territory is surrendered to the Germans by Lithuania

Poland refuses to give the Danzig Corridor to the Germans

Britain and France guarantee Poland’s integrity

The Spanish Civil War ends and the US recognizes Franco’s government

The New York World’s Fair opens Attendance tops half a million

Germany and Italy become allies

Germany invades Poland

England and France declare war on Germany

Roosevelt declares the US neutral

The first German air raid on England takes place

Russians invade Eastern Poland

The US starts Cash and Carry program permitting trade with warring nations

Warsaw surrenders and the war ends in Poland

The German/Russian alliance divides Poland

The German battleship Graf Spee is scuttled off Montevideo after a battle with three British battle cruisers

 

1940 Jay Garrick becomes the Flash

Billy Batson becomes Captain Marvel

Alan Scott becomes the Green Lantern

Abigail "Ma" Hunkel becomes the Red Tornado

First meeting of the Justice Society of America; Atom, Dr. Fate, Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Hourman, Johnny Thunder, Red Tornado, Sandman & Spectre

The first German air raid on London

Operation Paukenschlag: The Germans place 5 U-boats in US costal waters with special orders to sink American shipping and mine major harbors

Finland signs a peace treaty with Russia giving up part of the Karelian Isthmus and other territory

The Germans occupy Denmark without resistance

Norway is invaded

Selena Kyle becomes Catwoman

Robin, First superhero sidekick, makes first public appearance

Norway’s King Haakon VII escapes to England

The Germans invade Holland Belgium and Luxembourg

English Prime Minister Chamberlain resigns and is replaced by Churchill

Igor Sikorsky makes the first US helicopter free flight with his VS-300 at Stratford CT

Holland surrenders Dutch Queen escapes to England

Belgian army surrender. King Leopold III remains a German prisoner

The Germans occupy Dunkirk following a British evacuation of three hundred thirty eight thousand men

Italy enters the war as an Axis power

The Germans occupy Paris French government moves to Bordeaux

Marshal Petain forms a new French government in order to achieve an armistice with Germany

General de Gaulle forms the Free French Government in exile in London

The French/German armistice is signed and the Germans occupy three-fifths of France

Marshal Petain places his government headquarters at Vichy

Rumania is forced to give the Russians Bessarabia

The British destroy France’s strongest Naval squadron at Oran to prevent it from falling into German hands

The Vichy government severs diplomatic ties with England

The Italians enter Sudan

Hitler orders preparations for Operation Sea Lion, the invasion of England.

German air power begins to soften resistance to the invasion starting the Battle of Britain

The Italians occupy British Somaliland

Italian troops begin an Egyptian campaign and occupy Salum

The Italians occupy Sidi Barrani

The British begin massive bombing attacks over Berlin

US trades fifty destroyers to England in exchange for Naval bases in Central America

The German/Italian/Japanese Axis is formed

Operation Sea Lion called off

Hitler fails to convince Franco to let German troops to cross Spain in order to attack English Gibraltar

Hitler fails to convince France under the Vichy government of the need to ally with Germany

Italian troops in Albania invade Greek territory

British troops enter Greece

Roosevelt is re-elected for his third term defeating Republican Wendell L Wilkie

Tenzin Gyatso proclaimed the tulku (rebirth) of the thirteenth Dalai Lama

1941 Steve Rogers becomes Captain America

Patrick "Eel" O'Brian, carrer criminal, falls into a vat of chemicals, becomes Plastic Man, reforms.

Three unrelated boys named Billy Batson become the Leutenants Marvel

Aquaman makes first appearance in the "surface world"

Princess Diana of Themescara comes to "man's world"

Freddy Freeman becomes Captain Marvel Junior

Japanese attack Pearl Harbor, United States enters WW II

1942 Mary Batson Bromfield becomes Mary Marvel

Eric Lehnsherr imprisoned in Auschwitz, his entire family dies in the camp.

1943 Nikola Tesla died New York City; his papers, his letters, and his laboratory notes are inherited by Tesla's nephew and assistant, Alexi Luthor

 

1945 Eric Lehnsherr liberated from Auschwitz

V-E Day, War in Europe ends

First Atomic Bomb detionated in New Mexico

V-J Day, World War II ends

Anya Lehnsherr born

Britt Reid retires as the Green Hornet

Kara Zor-L born in Argo City, an artificial habitat that survived the destruction of Krypton.

Ororo Munroe born in New York City.

 

1946 Anya Lehnsherr dies, her father lashes out at a mob he blames for her death, Magda Lehnsheer flees.

Sabrina Spellman born

Hank McCoy born

1947 Pedro and Wanda born on Wundagore Mountain

Unidentified Flying Objects spotted by Kenneth Arnold who coins the term "Flying Saucers" while describing them to reporters

Something crashes on Mac Brazil's ranch near Roswell New Mexico

Scott Summers, Jean Grey, Warren Worthington born

1948 Bobby Drake born

1949 Lois Lane marries Clark Kent

Alex Summers born

 

1950 United States enters Korean War. Charles Xavier volunteers for US Army, his step-brother, Cain Marko, is drafted

Tenzin Gyatso enthroned as Tibet's Head of State, the 14th Dalai Lama

1951 Last meeting of the Justice Society of America until 1963

Adam Blake becomes Captain Comet

John Putnam and Miskatonic University Professor Roy Hinkley Jr. investigate the crash of an apparent alien vessel in California. Hinkley suffers severe injuries. Hinkley’s reports of mind controlling aliens are largely dismissed by the scientific communit

1952 Phantom Stranger

1953 "Martian" tripod machine lands near Linda Rosa, California

Dhampir Blade born in Harlem.

1954 Last public appearance of Captain Marvel for 19 years.

Godzilla (Gojira) attacks Tokyo for the first time.

Discharged from the Army, Charles Xavier travels, meeting Amahl Farouk in Egypt and Gabrielle Haller & Erik Lehnsherr in Israel

Dr. Cal Meacham, together with Dr. Ruth Adams and Prof. Roy Hinkley Jr., become involved in a series of bizarre events and UFO sightings in Georgia. Hinkley’s claims of force research at the hands of an alien named “Exeter” are mocked in the press.

1955 Professor Mark Erdel brings J'onn J'onzz to Earth

1956 Small plane piloted by Christopher Summers, carrying his family, attacked by a Shi'ar scout ship. Summers and his wife captured, their sons parachuted away from the plane. Scott Summers injured in the fall.

Barry Allen becomes the Flash

David Matthew Ward becomes Black Mash IX

Prof. Roy Hinkley Jr. is the only survivor of a Miskatonic University sponsored research expedition. Hinkley reports an encounter with gigantic brain-eating crabs.

1957 Charles Xavier injured in battle with an alien calling himself Lucifer

A Nevada rocket test site experiences multiple acts of sabotage, ending with the loss of an advanced prototype rocket and the destruction of all records pertaining to its design. Alcoholic Professor Roy Hinkley Jr. vanishes.

1958 Adam Strange travels to the planet Rann for the first time.

Annie Richardson killed in auto accident. Trama activates Jean Grey's telepathic ability.

While recoperating from his injuries, Charles Xavier and Moria MacTaggert discuss the increasing mutant population, and ultimatly decide that a school for mutants would be the best way to intigrate mutans into mainstream society.

1959 Kara Zor-L comes to Earth; as Linda Lee is adopted by Clark & Lois Kent

Hal Jordan becomes Green Lantern

Chares Xavier begins training Jean Grey in the use of her powers.

 

1960 First meeting of the Justice League of America

1962 Hank Pym becomes Ant Man

First public appearance of Supergirl. Within a year, she has taken Superman's place in the Justice League of America. Superman's public appearances become increasingly less frequent and more cerimonial over the next 15 years

Reed Richards, Ben Grimm, Johnny Storm and Susan Storm make an unsucessful attempt to reach the Moon in an experimental rocket. The high radiation levels they encounter turn them into the Fantastic Four.

Dr Robert Bruce Banner saves the life of Rick Jones, first Gamma Bomb detonated, first appearance of the Hulk

First public appearance of Spider-Man, as a masked pro Wrestler

Defense contractor Anthony Stark goes to Viet-Nam to see how his weapons preform in the field. He becomes MIA, but makes his way back to the United States months later.

1963 The Fantastic Four and Ivan Kragoff become the first Earth-humans to reach the moon.

First public appearance of Iron Man

Janet van Dyne becomes the Wasp

Xavier Academy accepts its first class of students, Magneto attempts to steal a nuclear warhead, stopped by the X-Men.

First meeting of the Avengers

Xzydgeous 12½ crashes on Earth

1964 Samantha marries Darrin Stephens

1965 Susan Storm marrries Reed Richards

Archie Andrews, Reggie Mantle, Forsythe "Jughead" Jones, Elizabeth Cooper and Marmaduke "Moose" Mason become Pureheart the Powerful, Evilheart, Captain Hero, Superteen, and Mighty Moose, respectively. Within a year they will have forgotten their powers and heroic identities.

1966 Britt Reid II becomes The Green Hornet

Stephanie Kwolek, working at DuPont, invents Kevlar, a polymer five times as strong as the same weight of steel.

Professor Roy Hinkley Jr, Billionair industralist Thurston Howell III and his wife, Eunice (aka Lovie), movie star Ginger Grant and three other castaways are rescued after being found on a large floating raft near Hawaii. All appear to be none the worse for their multi-year ordeal, but the fans of Ginger Grant say being a castaway had taken a toll on the Starlett,

especally her voice, and she was never again anything more than a shadow off her former self.

1967 Charlie Vicker becomes Green Lantern

1968 Guy Gardner becomes Green Lantern

1969 Fred Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley and Norville "Shaggy" Rogers, along with Roger's Great Dane, Scooby Doo, begin investigations as Mysteries Inc.

Professor X unites humanity's colective consionsness as a weapon against the invading Z'nox. Across the light years, Lilandra hears his call, heads toward Earth.

 

1970 Banshee, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Storm, Thunderbird & Wolverine join X-Men; Thunderbird dies.

1971 John Stewart becomes Green Lantern

1973 The Hall of Justice opens

1974 An extra-dimensional incursion in Denton, Ohio is foiled by OSI associate Dr Everret Von Scott assisted by his students, Brad Majors & Janet Weiss.

1977 Film Star Wars released. Thousands attempt to "use the force." Some suceed

1978 Superman suddenly appers 30 years younger than he had at his last public appearance. Tabloids speculate that he has de-aged, been replaced by his son or a clone, or simply had work done.

 

1981 Ralph Hinkley and FBI Agent Bill Maxwell have a close encounter with aliens of an unknow species. Ralph becomes the Greatest American Hero Ralph ask his uncle, Professor Roy Hinkley Jr., for help learing to control his powers. During a training exercise, Ralph becomes

aware that the Professor's other nephew, John Wayne Hinkley, plans to assassinate President Ronald Wilson Reagan. .Ralph prevented the assassination of Reagan, but Reagan is wounded by a bullet bouncing off Ralph. This leads to the Metahuman Registration Act.

1984 Time traveling cyborg arrives in Los Angeles, kills 29 people, two of them named Sarah Connor.

1986 Wally West becomes the Flash

Alan Reid becomes the Green Hornet; killed on first mission

Cosmic storm blacks out Montreal

1989 Britt Reid dies

 

1992 Buffy Summers becomes a Slayer

Superman defeated in combat by Doomsday, declaired dead. Not seen again for 14 years.

1994 Kyle Rayner becomes Green Lantern

1996 Jennifer Anne Ward becomes Black Mask X

 

2001 4400 people; all dazed and confused; are discovered at the Seep Meadow in New Jersey. None remember how they got there. All turn out to have missing person reports filed on them, The missing person reports date from a few weeks earlier back to before WWII. None of them seem to have aged since they disappeared.

[Doug McCrae]

Re: Crude Combined Marvel/DC timeline to use as backstory to a Supers campaign

 

McCoy, that's a great timeline. I particularly liked the note about Stalin's project to build animal men. Are the adventures of Prof Roy Hinkley flashback stories from Gilligan's Island? Was the 1974 event depicted in The Rocky Horror Picture Show?

[McCoy]

Re: Crude Combined Marvel/DC timeline to use as backstory to a Supers campaign

 

McCoy' date=' that's a great timeline. I particularly liked the note about Stalin's project to build animal men. Are the adventures of Prof Roy Hinkley flashback stories from Gilligan's Island? Was the 1974 event depicted in The Rocky Horror Picture Show?[/quote']

No, and yes.

 

The back story of Professor Roy Hinkley Jr. is from science fiction movies Russell Johnson made before Gilligan's Island, and was gleefully stolen from OddHat.

[Shaft]

Re: Crude Combined Marvel/DC timeline to use as backstory to a Supers campaign

 

Shaft' date=' you have just inspired me to play a supers campaign for the first time since 1992.[/quote']

 

That's the best comment I could hope for.

[Shaft]

Re: Crude Combined Marvel/DC timeline to use as backstory to a Supers campaign

 

Apparently, I must spread rep around before I can give it to McCoy. Very impressive work. I'll be plundering it at some point for other ideas. I loved the bit about thousands attempting to use the Force and some succeeding.

[OddHat]

Re: Crude Combined Marvel/DC timeline to use as backstory to a Supers campaign

 

Gorgeous work Shaft and McCoy, and repped.

 

Since everyone else is indulging, here's mine.

 

350,000,000 BCE – Elder Things (aka The Old Ones) reach the Earth.

 

 

 

300,000,000 BCE – The Old Ones cause life to begin on Earth. Evidence suggests that this may have been part of a planet forming project.

 

 

 

50,000,000 BCE – The culmination of a series of wars among various extraterrestrial and extra-dimensional races drives the bulk of the Old Ones and their foes to abandon the Earth. Small remnant populations remain.

 

 

 

2,000,000 BCE – The Ancients establish an outpost on Earth under the modern Antarctic continent. They make use of genetically engineered dinosaur-like creatures and other bio- and psi-weapons in an attempt to drive the last of the Elder Things from the Earth.

 

 

 

250,000 BCE - The Ancients perform experiments on proto-humanity.

 

 

 

50,000 BCE – Creation of the creature known as Lilith, mother of monsters, the first Vampire. Note that this date is subject to dispute, with some arguing for a date as late as 3000 BCE. (John A. Small, modified)

 

 

 

50,000 BCE - The Ancients leave Earth after repeated conflicts with apparently extra dimensional entities. They take with them the most promising of their test subjects. These test subjects are then seeded on multiple worlds. One of those worlds is an artificial construct, a planetary engineering project as complex and ambitious as anything the Ancients had ever attempted. Its genetically modified inhabitants would one day become, compared to Earth Humans, virtual supermen.

 

 

 

24,000 BCE - the Nine Unknown, a group of powerful metahumans, found the Atlantean civilization. Using fragments of the technology of the Ancients and their own powers, the Nine make fantastic progress in the psionic and physical sciences. Atlantis extends its power across the globe.

 

 

 

18,000 BCE -The first war of the Nine Unknown causes the fall of Atlantean civilization. The Nine scatter, each holding what he or she can of the Ancient's secrets. The Nine Unknown have periodically been responsible for the creation, training, breeding or recruitment of numerous metahumans ever since. The majority of true metahumans have proven to be nearly sterile, and the metagene itself appears to be recessive.

 

 

 

10,000 BCE – The city-state of Opar uses scraps of Ancient technology and echoes of Atlantean science to carve an empire.

 

 

 

3000 BCE – a "Circle of Light" appears in the air above the North Korean village of Sinanju. Since that time, the Masters of Sinanju have taught a diet and exercise regimen and a style of martial arts that has unlocked near-superhuman abilities in its practitioners. Many claim that all forms of Eastern martial arts derive from Sinanju. No explanation for the "Circle of Light" has ever been determined.

 

 

 

335 BCE- Ayesha the immortal is born.

 

 

 

400 – Sun Wukong the immortal begins his career in China. His origins are cloaked in legend, myth and deliberate deception.

 

 

 

500 – Merlin (thought by some to be an identity XauXaz of the Nine Unknown) attempts to rekindle human civilization in Camelot. He trains several humans in the Atlantean psychic sciences, and begins several key bloodlines. Some schollars argue that Arthur was an identity maintained by the amnesiac Corwin of Amber.

 

 

 

520 – Master Tan of Sinanju, serving the Chinese emperor Liang Wu Ti, befriends the Indian monk Bodhidharma. Tan shares many secrets of Sinanju with Bodhidharma over the next decade. Bodhidharma will in turn teach these secrets to the monks of the Shaolin monastery. This shameful misjudgment will cause Master Tan’s name to be stricken from all but the most secret scrolls of Sinanju.

 

 

 

630 – Master Li and Number 10 Ox operate in China as agents of the Nine Unknown.

 

 

 

730 – Al Azif, aka the Necronomicon, is written by Abdul Alhazred

 

 

 

1476 – Vlad Tepes becomes a true Vampire.

 

 

 

1680 - Death of Master Li Mu Bai and the disappearance of his sword Green Destiny.

 

 

 

1699 - Dr. Lemuel Gulliver physically travels into the Dreamlands, a parallel world or set of parallel worlds. Reports of conditions in the Dreamlands vary widely. Some speculate that all extra-dimensional travel leads to the Dreamlands. Some scholars assert that Gulliver is of the blood of Amber.

 

 

 

1715 - Gulliver returns from the Dreamlands. The public and scientific community at large dismisses his reports as fiction and social satire. The physical evidence he produces is confiscated by elements within the British Government.

 

 

 

1715-1745 (approx) -- travels of Manji, apparently immortal swordsman. He vows to kill 1000 evil men to make up for killing 100 samurai.

 

 

 

1740 (approx) – The sacking of the Shaolin temple. Chinese government forces sack the Shaolin temple. Five monks escape the destruction of the temple form China’s first Triads. Many historians point to this as the flash point for conflicts between China’s government and China’s metahuman community that will last until well into the late twentieth century.

 

 

 

1787 - The British government begins formally recruiting extraordinary men and women in the service of the Crown.

 

 

 

1790 – Baron Victor Frankenstein combines alchemical secrets with modern science to bring life to dead tissue, creating an animated creature he names Adam. Frankenstein’s notes will become instrumental in the ongoing evolution of so-called “Mad Science”.

 

 

 

1795 - A meteor strikes in Wold Newton, England. Since that time, the bloodlines of those who interacted with that meteor have produced large numbers of metahumans and borderline metahumans. A similar but far more destructive event occurred over Tunguska, Siberia, in 1908, and has been suggested as a link to a similar increase in metahuman births and manifestations world wide. Some have speculated that both the Wold Newton and Tunguska events were engineered by an unknown individual or group making use of the technology of the Ancients.

 

 

 

1806 – Don Diego De La Vega becomes the first of his family line to take up the mask of El Zorro. De La Vega’s example will inspire generations of adventurers world-wide.

 

 

 

1840 – Ling Fu Shan born to Ling Ju Hai and Sir William Clayton. Clayton denies paternity. Ling Fu Shan will eventually become known to the world as the infamous crime-lord and Chinese nationalist Fu Manchu. (Win Scott Eckert, modified)

 

 

 

1847 – Wong Fei Hung is born in Canton, China. Fei Hung will eventually become one of China’s most important folk heroes, fighting for his people against threats both internal and external. It is strongly suspected that Fei Hung, a master of Hung Kuen Kung Fu, was himself a metahuman.

 

 

 

1862 – Alice Liddell makes her ultimately tragic visits to the dream-realm known as Wonderland.

 

 

 

1863 – Johnny Brainard invents the world’s first modern working humanoid robot, the famed Steam Man of the Prairies.

 

 

 

1866 – American John Carter uses a form of Astral Projection to travel to an alternate Mars. His reports on events on that alternate world will cause controversies in the halls of academia that may never be resolved. Some scholars suggest that John Carter himself may be an amnesiac immortal of the blood of Amber.

 

 

 

1867 - Nemo uses a technologically advanced submarine to wage guerilla war against the British Empire.

 

 

 

1873 - The equipment maintaining an artificial "planet" constructed by the Ancients suffers a fatal series of malfunctions. As the planet self destructs, a single escape ship is launched towards the coordinates of Humanity's near-mythic home world. Despite its FTL drive, the ship takes over eighteen years to reach its goal. The ship's sole passenger spends that time in stasis.

 

 

 

1876 – Frank Reade Sr. develops the famed Steam Man Mk II and Mk III.

 

 

 

1886 - Dr. Henry Jekyll develops his “Hyde” formula. The age of the modern therianthrope has begun. Some evidence suggests that Jekyll may have been collaborating with Dr. Jean Moreau.

 

 

 

1886 – Frank Reade Jr. and Nikola Tesla develop the Electric Man and the Electric Horse, cable controlled robots far ahead of their times. Tesla and Reade break when Tesla insists that the robots can be remotely controlled.

 

 

 

1887 - Edward Prendick returns to civilization, reporting the death of Dr. Moreau. This report was false. Moreau, whose research was sponsored by the British Crown, had been moved to a secure location in England to continue his experiments. It seems likely that Moreu’s work was based in part on the work of Victor von Frankenstein.

 

 

 

1888 – Tarzan, Lord Greystoke, is born after his parents, John and Alice Clayton, are stranded in the jungle of French Equatorial Africa through the machinations of the Nine Unknown. The Nine eventually arrange for the infant’s parents to be killed, and for the infant to be adopted and raised by a tribe of Mangani (ape-like primates possessed of near human intelligence). (Farmer, modified)

 

 

 

1890 – Professor Archibald Campion invents a robot soldier based on the Electric Man. The soldier, named Boilerplate, is used in action by Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders. Campion attempts to integrate Tesla’s remote control systems, but finds them unreliable

 

 

 

1890 – Digory Kirke and Polly Plummer enter the Wood Between the Worlds, a significant dimensional nexus. Jadris of Charn briefly rampages through London, demonstrating more-than-human strength and resistance to harm.

 

 

 

1891 - A space craft crashes outside of Indian Creek, Colorado. The ship was quickly located by Professor Abednego Danner, himself a member of the extended Wold Newton family. Professor Danner and his wife legally adopted the male infant they found wandering near the wreckage of that ship. The wreckage itself is given over for study to Danner's cousin; Dr. Clark Savage, Sr. The boy is given the name "Hugo".

 

 

 

Hugo Danner's amazing physical and mental abilities develop as he ages. His strength, speed, and durability far surpass all theoretical human limits. Professor Danner is able to instill a strong sense of right and wrong in Hugo, but the boy's increasing powers cause him to become a social pariah. (Al Schroeder, modified)

 

 

 

1894 – Ling Ling Fat, master inventor and patriot, becomes increasingly influential in Beijing’s government and intelligence services. His paternity may trace to Ling Fu Shan, aka Fu Manchu. Fat will prove to be an implacable political rival of Shan.

 

 

 

1897 - Dracula, a true vampire, comes to the attention of the British Crown. He is eventually driven from England.

 

 

 

1897 - Dr. Hawley Griffin uses fragments of Dr. Henry Jekyll’s research to create his Invisibility formula.

 

 

 

1898 - Mina Murray becomes the first woman to command a group of Britain’s Extraordinary-class operatives.

 

 

 

1898 - The first War of the Worlds concludes with the “Martians” successfully repelled. Dr. Henry Jekyll gives his life in the battle against the invaders. A statue of Edward Hyde is erected in the renamed Hyde Park. The alien vehicles are held for study by the British government.

 

 

 

1898 - Professor Alfred Gibberne builds on the works of Jekyll, Griffin and Moreu to develop his Accelerator formula. This formula alters the subject’s perception of time, permitting the subject to move, think and act at incredible speeds. Unfortunately, use of the formula proves almost invariably fatal.

 

 

 

1898 – Dorothy Gale makes her first visit to the dream-realm known as Oz.

 

 

 

1899 – Using the anti-gravity metal Cavorite, Prof. Cavor attempts a trip to the moon. Evidence suggests that the “meteor” that provided the metal was in fact the wreckage of a space craft being studied by Dr. Clark Savage Sr. Accusations of academic dishonesty are quickly silenced by the British intelligence services. No method for producing more Cavorite has yet been found.

 

 

 

1900 – Nikola Tesla insists that he has received signals from outer space through equipment in his Colorado laboratory. While his claims are derided by mainstream scientists, he attracts the attention and financial support of such luminaries as John Carter of Virginia and Clark Savage Sr.

 

 

 

1900 – Backed by JP Morgan and others, Tesla begins work on the world’s first advanced wireless broadcasting tower. The project fails when Tesla’s laboratory is fire bombed, and his plans and notes for the tower are stolen. Tesla himself escapes unharmed. JP Morgan withdraws his backing.

 

 

 

1908 – Captain Leonard McKenzie discovers the undersea city of Y’Psoodsn. He is captured by the Children of Dagon. He befriends a beautiful mute girl, and together they escape. Eleven months later, the young woman gives birth to a male child. She leaves the child with McKenzie and returns to the sea. McKenzie names the child Namor. (Dennis E. Power, modified)

 

 

 

1910 – Tarzan, aka John Clayton Jr., Lord Greystoke, visits the hidden city of Opar. He leaves not knowing that his brief affair with the high priestess La has left her with child. The child, a healthy girl, is born in December of 1910. The priestess gives the child the name Daya. The infant shares the Caucasian skin coloring and facial features of her father.

 

 

 

1911 – Fu Manchu first re-creates the Oil of Life. This same formula has long been one of the most closely kept secrets of the Nine Unknown, who use it to maintain influence over their agents. Some speculate that Fu is in fact an agent of the Nine, while others claim that he is a renegade.

 

 

 

1911 – Moreu created human-gorilla hybrid “Jacko” partners with human Victor Brand in the service of the British Crown. Moreau will continue to create animals with human-level intelligence for decades to come. His activities are tolerated by his handlers in MI5, but not encouraged.

 

 

 

1912 – Kent Allard enters the American Secret Service.

 

 

 

1914 – Tarzan returns to Opar. A painful reunion with La ensues, in which Tarzan meets his now 3 year old daughter. La and Tarzan make their peace, and Tarzan returns to England with Daya. Jane is hurt, but accepts Daya, giving her the Christian name Diana.

 

 

 

1916 – Nikola Tesla takes on teen prodigy Hans Zarkov as a lab assistant.

 

 

1916 – Hugo Danner volunteers for military service in the French Foreign Legion in WWI. In the army he experiences his first true friendships. His strength, speed, and near invulnerability (nothing less than a bursting shell can pierce his skin) make him invaluable to the war effort. After one of the few serious injuries he sustains, Hugo learns of his amazing regenerative abilities, and also learns that his unique blood makes him a universal donor. By the end of the war, scores of allied soldiers have received blood transfusions from Hugo. In decades to come, many of the children of these soldiers will manifest metahuman abilities. (Al Schroeder, Modified)

 

 

 

1917 – Philip Strange, teen prodigy, mentalist and stage magician, enters military service. Rising to the rank of Captain, Strange becomes known as the Phantom Ace of G-2; to the Germans, he becomes known as the Brain Devil.

 

 

 

1918 – Professor Campion receives permission to use an improved version of his cable controlled robot soldier Boilerplate on the front lines in WWI. Boilerplate is at first successful, but its operator is killed and Boilerplate captured.

 

 

 

1918 – “Doc” Clark Savage, still a young man, meets the future member of his Fabulous Five while being held in the German prison camp known as Loki.

 

 

1920 - Hugo continues to try to do good works with his powers. He's bad at it. While working in a bank, he rescues a man trapped in the vault only to be fired and threatened with arrest. He attempts to clean up corrupt politicians and influence peddlers in Washington and fails completely.

 

 

 

1922 – Kent Allard receives training from the monks of Shambala in a limited derivative form of Sinanju.

 

 

 

1923 – Zatara Mandrake is trained in magic in a concealed monastery in Tibet. Some scholars suggest that this monastery was maintained by the monks of Shambala in service of the Nine Unknown.

 

 

 

1924 – Namor McKenzie undergoes a partial transformation into a Deep One, maintaining an outwardly human appearance but gaining great physical strength and the ability to survive the sea’s depths. (Dennis E. Power, Modified)

 

 

 

1924 – Nikola Tesla draws up his first detailed plans for his “Death Ray”, and seeks financial support from the military. The support is not forthcoming. Tesla takes on the brilliant young mathematician Alexi Luthor as a lab assistant.

 

 

 

1925 – R’lyeh rises from the sea.

 

 

 

1925 – Clark Savage Jr., using the name “MacReady”, leads an artic expedition that uncovers an alien shape-shifter, a thing from another world. Savage eventually brings the creature’s remains back to New York.

 

 

 

1926 - Hugo Danner, despondent over his inability to find a place outside of the military, fakes his own death. He begins a period of aimless wandering that will bring him into contact with Kent Allard, Clark Savage, and others. (Al Schroeder, Modified)

 

 

 

1928 – Namor finds his way to Innsmouth, Mass. The small population of hybrids like himself both fascinates and repels him. He attempts to explore the undersea city of Y'ha-nthlei, but is refused entrance. Namor takes up residence in Innsmouth under the name Arthur Curry.

 

 

 

1928 – William Batson is born. His bloodline, which includes Lemuel Gulliver, has been carefully cultivated by the Nine Unknown. Batson’s father received a blood transfusion from Hugo Danner in 1917.

 

 

 

1929 - Returning to America, Kent Allard assumes multiple cover identities, establishes a network of agents, and begins his war on crime as The Shadow.

 

 

 

1929 – Tarzan and Diana return to Opar. Diana’s reunion with her birth mother is not a happy one, and the situation in Opar is chaotic. Angry and confused, Diana returns to England and then America. In America, she establishes the cover identity of Diana Prince. Rejecting her father’s offers of financial support, Diana takes employment as a nurse.

 

 

 

1930 – Namor witnesses the destruction of the undersea city of Y'ha-nthlei off the coast of Innsmouth, Mass. Enraged and maddened by what he has seen, he attacks the city of New York. Namor discovers that his strength and telepathic abilities far exceed those of most Deep Ones, despite his largely human physical appearance. Namor’s rampage ends when he is captured by Doc Savage. Namor becomes one of the first subjects in Doc’s “Crime College”.

 

 

 

1931 – Doc Savage begins the main part of his crime-fighting career. Using technology and data gathered from his many enemies, the remains of the space craft wreckage that had been given into the hands of his father, and his own genius, Doc lays the foundations for the modern Science Hero. He will eventually act as friend and mentor to Hugo Danner.

 

 

 

1932 – Richard Wentworth, wartime comrade of Hugo Danner, begins his career as the Spider, assisted by Nita May Van Sloan. Richard manifests near superhuman strength, resilience, and regenerative abilities, fueled by his indomitable will!

 

 

 

1933 – The Skull Island expedition. Skull Island, one of several active breeding grounds for the bio-weapons of the Ancients, is explored by film producer Carl Denham. Denham captures the creature known to the natives of the island as “Kong”.

 

 

 

1933 – Kong, a bio-weapon of the Ancients in the form of a gigantic primate, is brought to NY by a film company. It breaks free, causes considerable property damage, and is eventually killed.

 

 

 

1933 – The Rogue Planet crisis. A moon-sized object (actually a dimension ship) moves through Earth’s solar system. Astronomers fear that this object will impact with the Earth. Doctor Hans Zarkov (one time lab assistant to Nikola Tesla), Dale Arden and Raymond “Flash” Gordon use an experimental spaceship of Zarkov’s design to fly out to the object. Six days later, the object vanishes. Zarkov, Arden and Gordon are never seen again.

 

 

 

1933 – The agents of the Nine Unknown sometimes called Doctor Occult and Rose Psychic begin operating openly, primarily on the American East Coast. They cultivate and train numerous American mystics.

 

 

 

1934 – The Green Hornet, making use of an arsenal of advanced weapons and devices, begins a crime spree. His crimes seem to target criminal businesses almost exclusively. He is assisted by a number of highly skilled Chinese martial artists.

 

 

 

1934 – Hugo Danner studies with the mystery man sometimes known as Kent Allard. He later becomes a student of Clark Savage, Jr. (Al Schroeder, modified)

 

 

 

1937 – Chow Sing Cho, a powerful pan-psionic, appears in Shanghai. Many of mainland China’s active psychics in later years claim descent from Chow.

 

 

 

1934 – Zatara Mandrake, now a powerful mystic, begins his adventuring career. He is accompanied by Lothar of Opar and Narda Romanov.

 

 

 

1937 -- Chen Zhen battles General Fujita in Shanghai and then goes on to lead local resistance versus the Japanese.

 

 

 

1937 – Kitty Carroll, grand daughter of Hawley Griffin, is exposed to Griffin’s Invisibility formula. Carroll develops the ability to become Invisible for brief periods of time when exposed to nicotine or alcohol. She will occasionally adventure for the next decade under several names. In 1941 she marries Michael Storm. (Dennis E. Power, Modified)

 

 

 

1937 – Bruce Wayne, protégé of Kent Allard, becomes the vigilante and some-time government agent known as The Batman. He soon takes on an apprentice and assistant, Richard Grayson.

 

 

 

1938 – Birth of Benjamin Grimm to Herman and Jada Grimm. Jada is the granddaughter of Dr. Henry Jekyll. (Dennis E. Power, Modified)

 

 

 

1938 – Nikola Tesla demonstrates his “Harmonic Shield Generator”. The apparatus, which fills a small room, generates a field of energy that successfully deflects bullets fired from a gun. Reporters are impressed, but the device overheats during the demonstration, causing a fire that destroys Tesla’s Long Island laboratory. Tesla fails to find financial backing for his invention.

 

 

 

1938 - When Hugo Danner chooses to re-join society, he takes his new name from the first names of his mentors. Guided by Allard's suggestions, he chooses to establish a meek and mild mannered cover identity, while adventuring in a colorful costume. (Al Schroeder, Modified)

 

 

 

1938 – Homeless William “Billy” Batson is contacted by Doctor Occult and Rose Psychic, and taken on a series of vision quests. Billy develops the ability to channel the power of multiple spiritual entities, and to assume a fully metahuman adult form for brief periods of time. He begins a career as a costumed adventurer.

 

 

 

1938 – Patrick “Eel” O’Brian, a petty thief, breaks into a warehouse owned by Clark Savage, Jr. While investigating the warehouse, O’Brian discovers a holding tank containing a protoplasmic entity. The entity touches O’Brian, and partially merges its substance with his own. Driven nearly mad with terror and excruciating pain, O’Brian passes out. Savage’s assistants rescue him. O’Brian learns that his encounter with the otherworldly "Thing" has left him nearly invulnerable and with the ability to stretch and distort any part of his body at will. Savage spends several months curing O’Brian of his criminal tendencies and exploring O’Brian’s strange new condition. (Matthew Baugh, Modified)

 

 

 

1939 – Captain Philip Strange, aka “the Brain Devil”, disappears while on a covert mission in Europe. He is survived by his son, Stephen Strange.

 

 

 

1939 – Dr. Van Thorp, working from the WWI era robot called Boilerplate, invents a fully articulated suit of self propelled powered armor for use by the German military. British Agent Hugh Hazard steals the prototype and kills Van Thorpe. Hazard uses the armor, code named the Iron Man, to perform acts of sabotage behind German lines.

 

 

 

1939 – Alan Scott, an engineer, discovers an alien artifact. The artifact, roughly resembling a lantern, gives its attuned user considerable powers of psycho-kinesis and ectoplasmic projection. Alan feels compelled to fashion a ring that links him to the lantern, and begins his career protecting humanity as the Green Lantern.

 

 

 

1939 –After nearly a decade in Doc’s Crime College, Namor comes to accept his condition, and to regret the harm he brought to innocents during his time of madness. His power has only increased during his captivity.

 

 

 

1939 – William Batson, in need of money and assisted by Doctor Occult, follows the example of Kent Allard and starts relating highly fictionalized tales of his adventures over the radio. He also sells the rights to his stories to several publishers. His invention of an extended heroic family helps to further conceal the grains of truth in his satirical monologues. (Dr. Peter M. Coogan, Modified)

 

 

 

1939 – Millionaire businessman Oliver Queen is inducted into the organization maintained by “Britt Reid”, AKA the Green Hornet. Queen takes superbly to the training offered by Reid, but quickly becomes disillusioned with Reid’s methods and dubious over his goals.

 

 

 

1939 – Patrick O’Brian, aka Plastic Man, engages in a brief affair with Catherine Reid. Reid breaks off the affair, and returns to her fiancé, Robert Richards. Catherine and Robert marry, and seven months later have their first child, Reed Richards. (Dennis Power , Modified)

 

 

 

1940 – Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie engage in their first inter-dimensional adventure.

 

 

 

1940 – The British choose to share technology gathered and developed by their Extraordinary operatives with the US military. Information on the Hyde, Griffin, and Gibberne formulas is passed on to US Military Intelligence.

 

 

 

1940 – Tests are conducted using Gibberne’s Accelerator formula at Yale University. Jay Garrick, college student, volunteers. He not only survives, but is granted permanent superhuman speed. Garrick’s father received a blood transfusion from Hugo Danner in 1917; this may explain Garrick’s survival. The other test subjects are not so lucky. Testing of the Accelerator officially stops. (Dennis Power , Modified)

 

 

 

1940 – The first appearance of the so-called Solomon Grundy, aka “It”, aka “the Heap”. Grundy’s more than human strength and durability, regenerative abilities, and marked preference for remaining in or near swamplands, cause speculation that he is somehow a blend of plant and human.

 

 

 

1941 – Oliver Queen is shocked to discover Britt Reid is involved in human trafficking. Queen breaks with Reid’s organization, taking with him 14 year old Roy Harper. Queen designs the costumed identity of Green Arrow, and attempts to wage war on Chicago’s underworld.

 

 

 

1941 – Dr. Reinstein uses a serum developed in part using blood samples from Hugo Danner to transform Private Steve Rogers into a near-perfect physical specimen, with strength, vigor and reflexes near the far limits of human potential. Unfortunately, without more of Danner’s blood, the serum proves impossible to duplicate.

 

 

 

1941 – Diana Prince joins the Army, securing a position in Military Intelligence as an aid to Harold Smith. Diana reveals her metahuman strength and speed to Smith.

 

 

 

1941 – Patrick O’Brian, aka Plastic Man, joins the army on the advice of Clark Savage, Jr.

 

 

 

1942 – Hugh Hazard dies in action. The Germans capture the damaged Iron Man armor. The armor is partially repaired, and is sent to Japan as part of a technology exchange. The Japanese military, considering the armor to be a worthless novelty, send it to Korea as part of a load of scrap.

 

 

 

1942 – Alan Scott joins the army.

 

 

 

1942 – Jay Garrick joins the army.

 

 

 

1942 – Arthur Curry, aka Namor McKenzie, joins the army on the advice of Clark Savage.

 

 

 

1942 – Clark Kent, aka Hugo Danner, is contacted by William J. Donovan, a WWI comrade of Hugo Danner and long time friend of Clark Savage, Jr. Donovan had been asked by Roosevelt to oversee the formation of the Office of Strategic Services. Donovan asks Kent to serve his country. Kent agrees. Donovan fingers the brilliant young Military Intelligence officer Harold Smith to coordinate the activities of American Mystery Men during the war. Smith quickly builds his plans around Clark Kent, Diana Prince, Alan Scott, Patrick O’Brian, Jay Garrick, Arthur Curry, and Steve Rogers. Over the course of the war, many more American Mystery Men come forward.

 

 

 

1942 – Birth of Susan Storm to Michael Storm and Kitty Carroll Storm. Her Brother, Johnny, is born two years later. (Dennis Power , Modified)

 

 

 

1943 – Nikola Tesla dies. His papers and equipment fall into the hands of his one-time assistant, Alexi Luthor.

 

 

 

1943 – Richard Wentworth, aka the Spider, vanishes while conducting an investigation. Distraught, the pregnant Nita May Van Sloan turns for comfort to her long time suitor Benjamin Parker. Parker and Sloan wed. Fearing scandal, Nita May Van Slone becomes known simply as May Parker. She regales her “nephew” Peter with tales of the Spider’s exploits. (Dennis Power, Modified)

 

 

 

1943 – Zatanna Mandrake born to Zatara and Narda Mandrake. Lothar of Opar is named as the child’s godfather.

 

 

 

1943 – Steve Rogers is declared MIA after vanishing during a mission in the artic circle.

 

 

 

1944 – Namor discovers an amnesiac Deep One – Human Hybrid caught in an early stage of her transformation. With the help of Clark Savage Jr., he helps her back from the brink of madness. Her memories do not return. She becomes romantically involved with Namor, and takes the name Namora.

 

 

 

1944 – The Americans experiment with Atomic bombs in the South Pacific. They are unaware that these experiments have triggered the activation of Ancient technology. The Ancient’s artificially intelligent crystal computers are damaged. Malfunctioning, the machines of the Ancients begin a breeding cycle of so-called Dai Kaiju bio-weapons.

 

 

 

1944 – Professor Trevor Bruttenholm discovers the entity known as “Hellboy”.

 

 

 

1945 – Namor and Namora have their first child, a boy. Namora names the child Garth.

 

 

 

1945 – The love affair between Clark Kent and Diana Prince ends in August, just three months after VE day. The pair part on less than amicable terms. By mutual request, Clark is sent to the Pacific theatre while Diana is stationed in Washington. In November, Diana realizes that she is pregnant. Remembering her own birth mother, she informs Clark, but refuses his offer of marriage.

 

 

 

1945 – The OSS is dissolved. Its metahuman operatives are released from service.

 

 

 

1946 – September 15, Diana Prince gives birth to Kara Kent. Diana once again refuses to marry Clark Kent.

 

 

 

1946 – Joan Garrick, wife of Jay Garrick, gives birth to a son. It becomes apparent over time that Garrick’s son, Barry, has inherited his father’s amazing speed.

 

 

 

1947 – The National Security Council, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Office of Scientific Investigation are established. Harold Smith and Diana Prince are both offered positions within the OSI. Both accept. The OSI is charged with coordinating America’s metahuman resources, as well as coordinating intra-agency efforts to control metahuman criminal activity.

 

 

 

1947 – Namor and Namora have their second child, Lisa.

 

 

 

1947 – Bruce Wayne and Sellina Kyle marry. Ten months later, Bruce Wayne Jr. is born. Bruce Wayne retires as Batman, and the role is assumed by Richard “Dick” Grayson.

 

 

 

1948 – Doc Savage and his Fabulous Five, damaged and close to financial ruin due to their extended battles with the Nine Unknown, vanish while preventing an extra-dimensional invasion. They are presumed dead. As per Doc’s instructions, Clark Kent assumes control of the Fortress of Solitude and its scientific wonders.

 

 

 

1948 – Clark Kent marries Lois Lane.

 

 

 

1949 – Jay Garrick retires from active adventuring. He moves his family to Chicago, and changes his family name to Allen.

 

 

 

1949 – Kent Allard, also known as The Shadow, vanishes in China in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent Mao’s forces from gaining control of that nation. He is presumed dead.

 

 

 

1951 – The Green Arrow and the Green Hornet have their final confrontation. Britt Reid is revealed as a pawn of the immortal sometimes known in the West as Fu Manchu. Reid is apparently murdered by his own bodyguard (“Kato”), and Oliver Queen is seriously injured. Queen escapes. Queen’s career as the Green Arrow has left his business interests in a shambles, and he finds himself nearly bankrupt. Queen retires as Green Arrow. Roy Harper takes over the role.

 

 

 

1951 –Alan Scott takes to the stars in hope of searching out the Lantern’s origins.

 

 

 

1951 – John Putnam and Miskatonic University Professor Roy Hinkley Jr. investigate the crash of an apparent alien vessel in California. Hinkley suffers severe injuries. Hinkley’s reports of mind controlling aliens are largely dismissed by the scientific community.

 

 

 

1952 – Captain Marvel, aka William Batson, vanishes. He is presumed dead. It is suspected that he fell victim to the alien entity he jokingly referred to as “Mister Mind”.

 

 

 

1952 – American Engineer Tony Stark is captured in Korea. Severely injured, Stark is taken to a prison labor camp and put to work in the camp’s machine shop. He discovers the remnants of Hugh Hazard’s Iron Man and manages to restore it to working condition. More, he significantly improves upon the basic design. Using the Iron Man suit, Stark escapes.

 

 

 

1954 – Dr. Cal Meacham, together with Dr. Ruth Adams and Prof. Roy Hinkley Jr., become involved in a series of bizarre events and UFO sightings in Georgia. Hinkley’s claims of force research at the hands of an alien named “Exeter” are mocked in the press. Hinkley’s notes on what he refers to as “Project Metluna” are confiscated by agents of the OSI and classified Top Secret.

 

 

 

1954 – Godzilla is released from breeding stasis and makes his first appearance. Uncontrolled, he attacks Japan, and destroys much of Tokyo before being called back to the sea by the still malfunctioning artificial intelligence that spawned him.

 

 

 

1955 – Miskatonic University professor Mark Erdel draws a member of a shape-changing alien race to Earth. Erdel dies from radiation poisoning soon after. The creature escapes, and eventually feeds upon the body and mind of Boston P.D. Detective John Jones. Jones’ memories provide the creature with a template to understand his environment, and the composite being takes over Jones’ identity. The alien begins to refer to itself as J’onn J’onzz.

 

 

 

1955 – Zatara and Narda Mandrake vanish while conducting an investigation. Lothar of Opar takes Zatanna Mandrake safely to Tibet, where she will eventually commence her occult training.

 

 

 

1956 – Prof. Roy Hinkley Jr. is the only survivor of a Miskatonic University sponsored research expedition. Hinkley reports an encounter with gigantic brain-eating crabs.

 

 

 

1956 – Jay Garrick, aka Jay Allen, returns to adventuring.

 

 

 

1957 – A Nevada rocket test site experiences multiple acts of sabotage, ending with the loss of an advanced prototype rocket and the destruction of all records pertaining to its design. Alcoholic Professor Roy Hinkley Jr. vanishes.

 

 

 

1958 – Roy Harper, aka Green Arrow II, is reduced to working in a traveling circus to support himself. He spots 14 year old runaway Clinton Barton, and begins to train the boy in archery. Barton proves to be a prodigy, and soon joins Harper on his occasional forays into crime fighting. Barton takes over the costumed identity of Speedy II.

 

 

 

1958 – Hal Jordan, test pilot, is contacted by Alan Scott. Scott, having returned to Earth and suffering from long term exposure to the alien artifact, passes on the power ring and lantern to Jordan. As he does so, he shares what he has learned of the lantern’s strange history. Jordan begins adventuring as the new Green Lantern.

 

 

 

1958 – Teen prodigy Reid Richards and Victor Domovoi room together at Miskatonic University. Benjamin Grimm, also a student, forms an enduring friendship with both men.

 

 

 

1957 – Surgeon Stephen Strange suffers an automobile collision, resulting in permanent nerve damage. His medical career ruined, Strange turns to alcohol and prescription pain medications. His life collapses. While living on the streets, he is contacted by Doctor Occult, and informed of a possible cure for his condition. With Occult’s assistance, Strange travels to the same Tibetan monastery that provided training to Zatara Mandrake.

 

 

 

1957 – The Mysterian Invasion. 38 nations sign the Earth Defense Forces treaty.

 

 

 

1958 – Vampirella (aka Vampira, aka Elvira, real name unknown) begins a long film and television career. She quickly gains a reputation as a paranormal adventuress.

 

 

 

1959 – Kara Kent designs a Supergirl costume and makes her first public appearance. She begins dividing her time between living with Diana and Clark.

 

 

 

1959 - Superman, Batman II (Dick Grayson), Wonder Woman, Green Lantern II (Hal Jordan), and Namor agree to serve as America’s first high profile team of metahuman operatives under the OSI. The PR and psychological warfare value of the exercise is considerable, and the group is able to more effectively protect the public and provide disaster relief when operating in the open. They are soon joined by J’onn J’onzz and the second Green Arrow (Roy Harper).

 

 

 

1959 – Tony Stark begins using the Iron Man suit to act as a costumed adventurer. Patents derived from the Iron Man technology make Stark one of America’s richest men. Stark uses this money in part to fund teams of metahuman adventurers.

 

 

 

1960 – Doctor Stephen Strange returns to America and begins his adventuring career.

 

 

 

1961 – Financier D.D. Harriman funds Reed Richards attempt to launch a moon rocket. Reed is persuaded to permit his research assistant and paramour Susan Storm and her brother Johnny to accompany him on an early test flight (piloted by his college friend Benjamin Grimm). The flight proves to be a disaster, and it takes all of Grimm’s considerable skill to save the ship. Upon their return, all four passengers had been altered. Manifesting fantastic powers, the quartet soon began to make a name for themselves as America’s premier team of independent scientific adventurers. (Dennis Power, Modified)

 

 

 

1961 – Peter Parker begins his adventuring career as Spiderman.

 

 

 

1961 – Dr. Bruce Banner, great-grandson of Dr. Henry Jekyll and cousin of Benjamin Grimm, suffers a strange therianthropic transformation following an accident at a military facility in Nevada. Banner’s superhumanly strong alter-ego displays neither the malevolence nor intelligence of Edward Hyde, but his physical strength rivals that of the most powerful metahumans on record. (Dennis Power, Modified)

 

 

 

1962 – Professional wrestler and strongman El Santo begins his adventuring career.

 

 

 

1962 – Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, is found trapped under artic ice. The super-soldier formula has allowed him to survive this ordeal. Revived, Rogers soon resumes service with an OSI – Stark Foundation co-sponsored team of metahuman adventurers.

 

 

 

1962 – Professor Trevor Bruttenholm’s foster-child, an entity referred to as Hellboy, enters fully into the service of the OSI.

 

 

 

1963 – Powerful mystic Cassandra Ghostley and advertising executive Darrin Stephens marry.

 

 

 

1963 – President Kennedy, fearing that metahuman criminal activity has spiraled out of control, chooses Harold Smith to head a new government department known as CURE. CURE’s activities remain classified top-top secret. Oscar Goldman rises to head the OSI, and Dr. Rudy Wells becomes the scientific chief of that organization. Diana Prince chooses to remain with the OSI.

 

 

 

1963 – Bruce Wayne, Jr,, Barry Allen, and Garth McKenzie begin to informally adventure together. They use the costumed identities Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad.

 

 

 

1963 – Zatanna Mandrake begins her adventuring career.

 

 

 

1964 – As a prank and in order to defy their elders, Bruce Wayne Jr., Kara Kent, Garth McKenzie, Barry Allen, and Clinton Barton begin to make public appearances at early counter-culture gatherings. Calling themselves “the Inferior Five”, they take the costumed identities of Merry Andrew, Dumb Bunny, Awkward Man, The Blimp, and White Feather. They will continue to use these identities on and off until 1970. Rumors persist that the entire group made use of mind altering substances during this time. (Dennis Power, Modified)

 

 

 

1964 – Astronaut Anthony Nelson returns from the south pacific in the company of “Jeannie”, an enormously powerful mystic.

 

 

 

1964 – The still malfunctioning bio-weapon manufacturing machines of the Ancients release the Dai Kaiju known as Gamera from his breeding stasis. Gamera establishes an empathic link with the young Japanese psionic Kyoke “Timmy” Kiritachi. Kyoke persuades Gamera to return to his rest. Kyoke is recruited into Japan’s Science Patrol.

 

 

 

1965 – Kara Kent, to honor her mother, begins to occasionally adventure under the name Wonder Girl.

 

 

 

1965 – Concluding that CURE can not perform its function without an enforcement arm, Smith authorizes the recruitment of police officer and ex-army sniper Remo Williams. Williams will be trained by Chiun, the current Master of Sinanju.

 

 

 

1965 – The World Eater crisis is resolved through the combined actions of numerous metahumans. This response is directed by Reed Richards and spear-headed by his private team of scientific adventurers.

 

 

 

1966 – A gigantic humanoid robot falls under the control of Japanese schoolboy Daisaku Kusama. Daisaku joins Japan’s Science Patrol (Unicorn division). Research into the giant robot leads to numerous technological innovations.

 

 

 

1966 – Clark Kent retires from public adventuring. Clark and Lois Kent disappear.

 

 

 

1966 – Professor Roy Hinkley Jr. and six other castaways are rescued after being found on a large floating raft near Hawaii. Prof. Hinkley’s claims of having been kept prisoner on an island and in a village are dismissed by the authorities, but form the basis of a British science fiction drama and a popular and long running American comedy. Actress Ginger Grant is among those rescued; much tabloid speculation revolves around the changes in both her appearance and voice during her time on the island.

 

 

 

1967 – Dr. Kuami, assisted by young psychic Kyoke “Timmy” Kiritachi, spearheads Japanese Science Patrol research into remnant Ancient technology discovered in archaeological dig on Sogel Island. Kuami achieves limited success. Multiple Dai Kaiju class creatures gather on or near Sogel Island. Sogel Island is informally renamed “Monster Island”.

 

 

 

1968 – Vampirella publicly asserts that her stage persona is genuine, and that she is in fact a vampire. The public at large treats this as a publicity stunt by a metahuman entertainer. Vampirella registers with the OSI.

 

 

 

1968 – Darrin Stephens, husband of powerful mystic Cassandra Ghostley Stephens and father of Tabitha Stevens, vanishes. Cassandra and Tabitha vanish shortly thereafter.

 

 

 

1969 – Sogel Island data contributes towards limited success in Japanese metagene research. Number of Japanese metahumans begins to significantly increase.

 

 

 

1970 – Anthony Nelson is assigned as deputy director of OSI – Nevada. His wife, Jeannie Nelson, accepts a field operative position.

 

 

 

1970 – Dr. Rudy Wells successfully completes the Cyborg project. Col. Steve Austin becomes America’s first Cybernetic operative, at a cost of over six million dollars. The OSI begins to cut back on funding of independent metahumans and metahuman teams in favor of those under more complete government control.

 

 

 

1971 – Richard Grayson retires from adventuring. Bruce Wayne Jr. takes over as Batman.

 

 

 

1971 – Researchers Alec Holland and Ted Sallis attempt to create a variant of the Super-Soldier formula from a private lab concealed in Florida’s everglades. This new formula is in-part based on fluid samples taken from the metahuman Solomon Grundy. An attack on the lab by individuals seeking the formula results in the apparent death of both researchers, but only after Holland has ingested the hybrid formula. Holland, greatly physically altered and possessed of very unusual abilities, re-appears several months later. He begins a limited adventuring career.

 

 

 

1972 – Kara Kent begins to adventure under the name Power Girl.

 

 

 

1972 – Diana Prince formally resigns from the OSI and vanishes. Reports of Wonder Woman sightings will continue for some time, but become increasingly rare.

 

1972 – Jericho Drumm, Haitian occultist and gifted psionic, begins his adventuring career as “Brother Voodoo”. He will later move his operations from Haiti to America, where he will operate under the name “Papa Midnight”.

 

 

 

1973 – Professor Goro Ibuki creates Jet Jaguar. Advances in Japanese giant robot technology threaten regional stability in Asia. Japanese government publicly places moratorium on giant robot research.

 

 

 

1973 – Roy Harper, aka Green Arrow II, vanishes. Clinton Barton briefly adventures under the name Green Arrow, and then begins adventuring under the name Hawkeye.

 

 

 

1974 – 23 nations, including the United States, the USSR, China, and Japan sign giant robot anti-proliferation treaty. Japan reserves right to maintain current stable of giant robots as check against Dai Kaiju attacks.

 

 

 

1974 – An extra-dimensional incursion in Denton, Ohio is foiled by OSI associate Dr Everret Von Scott, Brad Majors & Janet Weiss. Majors & Weiss are eventually inducted into the OSI. The cult founded by the Mad Scientist who led the incursion will continue to thrive until well into the 21st century.

 

 

 

1975 – OSI researcher Dr. Frank Heflin field tests Project Electra. The project is closed after equipment failure leaves the primary field agents missing in action.

 

 

 

1978 – Clinton Barton, aka Hawkeye, retires from public adventuring.

 

 

 

1980 – Ralph Hinkley, son of Professor Roy Hinkley Jr., begins an adventuring career using what appears to be an extraterrestrial artifact. Hinkley claims to have received his “super suit” from aliens, and that these aliens originated on a world called Metaluna. OSI agent Bill Maxwell is assigned as Hinkley’s handler.

 

 

 

1980 – El Santo, heroic wrestler and adventurer, retires. He passes on his duties to his son, El Hijo Del Santo.

 

 

 

1981 – OSI agent Michael Knight is given access to the experimental AI controlled vehicle code named KITT.

 

 

 

1982 – Ralph Hinkley and Bill Maxwell vanish. The “super suit” is not recovered.

 

 

 

1983 – Bruce Wayne Jr., aka Batman III, is fatally injured while pursuing a suspect. Richard Grayson comes out of retirement to complete the case. After capturing the killer, Richard Grayson returns to retirement.

 

 

 

1984 – Steve Austin retires from field operations. Seven months later, he replaces Oscar Goldman as head of the OSI.

 

 

 

1984 – Dr. Billy Hayes and Dr. Elvin Lincoln expose severe mistreatment of metahuman subjects at the Humanidyne corporation.

 

 

 

1985 – Reed Richards and Susan Storm Richards attempt retirement in Belle Port, Con. Following a confrontation with mystic Elspeth Cromwell, the Richards return to New York. They do not return to field operations.

 

 

 

1985 – John Constantine, occultist and mystic, contacts Alec Holland. Constantine’s adventuring career truly begins.

 

 

 

1986 – Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson wed. Parker retires from adventuring.

 

 

 

1987 -- Yakumo Fuji and the apparently immortal Pai join Ling Ling Li and the Yogekisha Company in Hong Kong. The trio will become well known investigators of the supernatural.

 

 

 

1987 – Jericho Drumm, now an influential figure in New York’s occult underworld, encounters John Constantine as Constantine investigates the entity known as Mnemoth.

 

 

 

1988 – Michael Knight is removed from the KITT project and re-assigned as field commander for OSI – Hawaii. Despite the effective demotion, Knight does not object to his new posting.

 

 

 

1989 – Chow Sing Cho, a powerful pan-psionic, begins his adventuring career in Hong Kong. His relationship to the historical Chow Sing Cho is unknown.

 

 

 

1991 – The amnesiac metahuman known as the Savage Dragon appears in Illinois. He joins OSI – Chicago on a provisional basis later that year.

 

 

 

1992 – Professor Trevor Bruttenholm becomes the head of OSI’s Paranormal Research and Defense sub-group. His foster-child, an entity referred to as Hellboy, heads up a paranormal investigation team including such notables as the Deep One refered to as “Abe Sapien” and the human psionic Elizabeth Sherman.

 

 

 

1993 – Ling Ling Chai begins his career in Beijing.

 

 

 

1994 – Newark police detective Darcy Walker begins her crusade against crime as the Black Scorpion.

 

 

 

1994 – Asagi Kusanagi becomes the second Japanese Science Patrol psionic to establish a psychic link with the Dai Kaiju known as Gamera.

 

 

 

1996 – NYPD Officer James Edwards is recruited by the OSI’s MIB division.

 

 

 

2000 – Mighty Steel Leg Sing and his team of Shaolin trained soccer players spark a worldwide craze for metahuman professional team sports.