Marvel’s Sliding Timeline Has Run Into A Massive Problem in Comics

Warning: contains spoilers for Ben Reilly: Spider-Man #2!

The “Sliding Timescale” of Marvel Comics has served the company well for many decades, but the system is rapidly facing a major problem that Marvel editorial should have seen coming for years – and perhaps they already did. Like their Distinguished Competition DC Comics, Marvel’s long-lived classic heroes have histories decades long, but many of them have only aged by a few years since their origin issues and many haven’t aged a day at all. Thus, Marvel implemented the Sliding Timescale – but the day when the system will inevitably fail is rapidly approaching.

Comic books are not uniform when it comes to the timeframe in which an issue takes place. A standard 22-page issue of Amazing Spider-Man, for example, can span anywhere from an hour to a week or even longer. While Marvel initially settled upon three years of real-world time equating to one year of comic book time, they realized adhering to the rule was too difficult a task and settled on the Sliding Timescale mechanic, in which exact dates are rather malleable.

This is not merely a tool for writers but a canon explanation for the constantly shifting dates in Marvel history, appearing 2005’s Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Alternate Universes Vol 1. Peter Parker’s first issue clearly took place in 1963, but Peter himself is usually no older than 30, meaning the date on which the spider-bite took place is usually mentioned as “a few years” from the present. Unfortunately, whenever Marvel characters talk about past events, they occasionally run into problem, such as one seen in Ben Reilly: Spider-Man #2

As Ben Reilly gathers information on his attack from the Scorpion, two women discuss the strengths and weaknesses of online dating later that night. Unfortunately, the issue takes place at the same time as Peter Parker and Mary Jane are in Portland, Oregon – meaning the story is at the height of the Clone Saga and thus takes place in the 90s when online dating was hardly as prevalent as it is today. A Sliding Timescale means characters are no longer a product of the decade in which they were created, such as the Hulk in the 60s or Punisher in the 70s.

It is far too late for Marvel to abandon the Sliding Timescale. Certain limited stories, like Spider-Man: Life Story and Fantastic Four: Life Story rewrite the adventures of classic Marvel heroes while adhering to a linear timeline (Reed Richards and his family age naturally as the decades pass). But Marvel Comics has made their proverbial bed, and now they must lie in it.