Two Marvel Comics Icons Can Never Be Updated For Modern Times
The origins of Marvel's most popular superheroes are occasionally updated every few years, but two of the company's iconic characters — Captain America and Magneto — have origin stories that Marvel will never change. These are some of Marvel's oldest characters, and in Captain America's case, the character even predated the company (at least the company known as Marvel; Timely Comics was a substantially different organization). The origin stories of the two will never change — but is that a good thing?
Marvel's «Sliding Timescale» is a unique narrative device in which the origins for multiple superheroes are not given an exact date, and thus can be moved around at the company's whim. This ensures that characters won't run the risk of appearing extremely dated if, say, their origin takes place in 1963 (like Peter Parker, but an actual year is not mentioned, and Marvel in fact rarely mentions years just for this exact reason). While Iron Man's origin clearly takes place during the Vietnam War, the country's name is rarely mentioned in subsequent issues, and was actually changed to Sin-Cong in the official timeline.
Related: Why Captain Carter Does Captain America's Job Better Than Steve Rogers
But Stark's cinematic origin was shifted to Afghanistan in 2008'sIron Man, and his wasn't the only origin updated for a more modern audience. Peter Parker was bit by a genetically-engineered spider instead of the famous radioactive arachnid in Amazing Fantasy #15. But Captain America and Magneto's origins are rooted in World War II; America was just emerging from the Great Depression and a symbol of American ingenuity was needed, especially with a conflict with Hitler on the horizon. Captain America could be created in, say, the
Read more on screenrant.com
