Marvel Animated Universe (1990s) - Timelines

[selfishmisery]

X-Men 97 2x02 starts in late-1997, then time jumps to 1998 after the opening scene, at the point after Bishop and Forge leave in May 1998.

Then there's some celebration going on in Brazil some time, maybe weeks or months, afterwords.

EDIT: Maybe the Rio parade of February 20th, 1998. I don't remember how long Forge and Bishop were in hiding in season 1 finale's time jump...

 

[myusernameyes]

Spoiler

yknow what
With all the mcu synergy they've plastered the show with I'm surprised Rama-Tut doesn't look like Jonathan Majors

 

[myusernameyes]

Spoiler

also apparently the celestial eson appears in one of the episodes
Why wasn't it oneg the prober, i.e. THE GUY WHO INVENTED THE ******* X-GENE LMFAO

 

[selfishmisery]

@Blackbeard Pro Bot can't update the thread due to the limit here as well.

 

[Rogers616]

I don't remember how long Forge and Bishop were in hiding in season 1 finale's time jump...

"6 Months after E Day"

Think the comic fills the gap there a little (Psy training with Jubilee).

 

[woodlark_289]

https://www.marvel.com/comics/series/45960/xmen_97_strike_files_infinity_comic_2026_present

another comic series, set between episodes of season 2

 

[selfishmisery]

@Pro Bot Hey dude, no, don't split up your timeline.

Show these forum designers we won't succumb to this new change. If we have to do nothing for more months, so be it.

 

[Pro Bot]

@Pro Bot Hey dude, no, don't split up your timeline.

Show these forum designers we won't succumb to this new change. If we have to do nothing for more months, so be it.

It's temporary. I'll fix it at some point.

 

[selfishmisery]

So the Surfer Surfer is technically a prequel to the MAU (90s) since that show basically ends with a Big Bang timeline reset.
But Frankie Raye in that show becomes Nova as a teenager. In the Marvel Action Hour timeline (via the Fantastic Four cartoon), which doesn't exist yet by this point nor does Earth-92131 presumably, she's an adult by 1992.
The heroes like the F4, X-Men and Spider-Man don't exist when Frankie Raye is a teenager in this Silver Surfer timeline so I'd presumable it's set in the late 80s.

 

[BB10]

So the Surfer Surfer is technically a prequel to the MAU (90s) since that show basically ends with a Big Bang timeline reset.
But Frankie Raye in that show becomes Nova as a teenager. In the Marvel Action Hour timeline (via the Fantastic Four cartoon), which doesn't exist yet by this point nor does Earth-92131 presumably, she's an adult by 1992.
The heroes like the F4, X-Men and Spider-Man don't exist when Frankie Raye is a teenager in this Silver Surfer timeline so I'd presumable it's set in the late 80s.

But is there confirmation the SS show's ending birthed Marvel Action Hour and 92131?

 

[selfishmisery]

But is there confirmation the SS show's ending birthed Marvel Action Hour and 92131?

No. I'm saying if we want a year estimate for Silver Surfer based on what little to compare it too.

Otherwise, it can't be added in the thread.

 

[myusernameyes]

So the Surfer Surfer is technically a prequel to the MAU (90s) since that show basically ends with a Big Bang timeline reset.
But Frankie Raye in that show becomes Nova as a teenager. In the Marvel Action Hour timeline (via the Fantastic Four cartoon), which doesn't exist yet by this point nor does Earth-92131 presumably, she's an adult by 1992.
The heroes like the F4, X-Men and Spider-Man don't exist when Frankie Raye is a teenager in this Silver Surfer timeline so I'd presumable it's set in the late 80s.

Well considering the show was meant to continue...

 

[selfishmisery]

Season 2 episode 4 should be out now.

 

[selfishmisery]

Well considering the show was meant to continue...

It didn't. It's up to Marvel at this point via some niche mention in Earth-92131, if ever.

 

[selfishmisery]

Watching the newest X-Men 97. Interesting points they're bringing up about timeline rewriting and what happens to them might be akin to how Bishop survived despite his OG timeline being gone.

 

[selfishmisery]

Intereeessting. I definitely see how the influence from MCU's Eternals and how that might be the MCU's reasoning for Apocalypse's origin.

 

[BB10]

No. I'm saying if we want a year estimate for Silver Surfer based on what little to compare it too.

Otherwise, it can't be added in the thread.

I think it can be defaulted to release year, like how the X-Men 97 treats X-Men TAS as happening in their release year unless I'm missing something, and MCU also had that in Endgame for the previous movies IIRC.

 

[myusernameyes]

Intereeessting. I definitely see how the influence from MCU's Eternals and how that might be the MCU's reasoning for Apocalypse's origin.

They're actually adapting the comic stories...
So peam

 

[RocketRacoon]

Are we thinking that the X-Men '97 Kang is a variant of the Kang from the MCU? He seems a bit different, but I'm guessing that Marvel Studios probably wants to tie this into the MCU. So far, the only thing tying the show to the MCU is that it's in the Multiverse Saga section on Disney+. I wonder if we'll see more of Kang in the show to confirm.

 

[myusernameyes]

they probably put this episode into development to tie into the kang dynasty before it was changed but not really tie into it

 

[selfishmisery]

Are we thinking that the X-Men '97 Kang is a variant of the Kang from the MCU? He seems a bit different, but I'm guessing that Marvel Studios probably wants to tie this into the MCU. So far, the only thing tying the show to the MCU is that it's in the Multiverse Saga section on Disney+. I wonder if we'll see more of Kang in the show to confirm.

Neither.
The MCU Kangs are essentially from the greater multiverse that He Who Remains tried to shut out. The only true MCU-adjacent variants are HWR and Victor Timely.

 

[BB10]

they probably put this episode into development to tie into the kang dynasty before it was changed but not really tie into it

Immortus (future version of Rama-Tut/Kang) was already in TAS. Also, Rama-Tut and Apocalypse are both tied to Egypt, and both TAS and 97 frequently feature cameos from the greater MU. So, not necessarily.

 

[myusernameyes]

Considering Jed MacKay's Avengers run had both Kang AND Marvel Zombies as major plotlines... They'd definitely be resorting to it

 

[selfishmisery]

Huh. The season 2 issue 2 comic is saying the Cable / X-Force and Jubilee/Sunspot stuff is still 1997. So by the time we get to Brazil it has to be 1998.

 

[selfishmisery]

@Mike_Castle I've watched through the scenes in the original X-Men cartoon between Cable and Bishop's futures.

I feel like X-Men 97 has complicated it a bit more, especially with the line about Bishop inadvertently "splitting up" from baby Cable when returning to the future - but I think after season 2 ends it merits a discussion how separate those two time periods are or aren't.

The Marvel Appendix kinda assumes it's a singular path but it's...not. That kind goes against how's Marvel's vastly different future periods work, like 2099 and everything between that fluctuates.
Cable's future is pre-defined but also in a flux, due to the plague existing then not existing. The Marvel Wiki seems to be ignoring these questions and assumes Earth-13393 is Cable's future and Earth-121893 is Bastion's future but also a new version Bishop's and Cable's... which fooled me for the longest time.

My understanding is Cable's future doesn't shift the same way Bishop's has. Bishop's future in 2055 has three outcomes: 1.) The sentinels (both before and after the plague) 2.) The plague with no sentinels 3.) Bastion implementing Sentinel/Human supremacy due to Nimrod the trojan horse from Bishop's future imbedding into Bastion's dad.

It is extremely confusing... but I guess what I'm saying is despite how the shows themselves do a decent job with keep it consistent, the way in which the Appendix and Wiki misinterpret each other (mostly the Marvel Wiki) is becoming misinformation.

 

[selfishmisery]

@Mike_Castle I also recall in X-Men 97 episode 8 of season 1, Cable refers to the Bastion future as "my timeline", but then that future can't exist because present day Bastion dies in the season 1 finale.

It's hurting my head how cause-and-effect works especially when those timeline changes occurred in the original show before Cable is birthed in present day. That and the line earlier in X-Men 97 season 1 about baby Cable getting split up from Bishop sorta imply those timelines are not connected so why does Cable refer to the Bastion timeline as "MY timeline"?

 

[Mike_Castle]

I haven't rewatched X-Men: TAS since childhood, which is the reason I haven't started watching X-Men '97, so I can't weigh in on this. A decision on how to handle it will likely be made once the season concludes. The Appendix has an editor who dedicates his time to the X-Men: TAS profiles (and there are many of them: http://www.marvunapp.com/list/app92131.htm), so this topic is bound to come up sooner or later, I think

 

[selfishmisery]

Alrighty THIS is interesting...
This might be the season 3 threat actually.

http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix8/stryfe13393.htm

 

[selfishmisery]

I haven't rewatched X-Men: TAS since childhood, which is the reason I haven't started watching X-Men '97, so I can't weigh in on this. A decision on how to handle it will likely be made once the season concludes. The Appendix has an editor who dedicates his time to the X-Men: TAS profiles (and there are many of them: http://www.marvunapp.com/list/app92131.htm), so this topic is bound to come up sooner or later, I think

Here's my understanding:
Earth-13393 is Cable's future alone. This is a separate future, centuries after Bishop's timeline(s).

Bishop's timelines via 2055 are
1. Earth-31393 = Sentinels rule the world due to Kelly's death. (Cable will exist but in his tangental Earth-13393 LONG after Earth-31393's time period.)
2. Earth-121193 = The plague's origin is not 100% clear to Forge based on existing record but it's the virus' destruction that leads to a different type of plague that slowly wipes out mutants. THIS is where I think the confusion is in relation to Earth-13393, because clearly this has to be the timeline Bishop ended up in after saving Senator Kelly. (Forge is even like "Who are the X-Men?". Well they died before he could meet them therefore it's the same timeline by the end of "Time Fugitives Part 1".) - Cable's future CANNOT co-exist as a branch of Earth-92131 because of this, therefore he will try to prevent it.
3. Earth-121893 = Bishop's new future after preventing the mutant-killing plague. Sentinels aren't as much of a threat to Bishop's resistance as they were previously. A fed-up Master Mold now wants to execute Xavier in 1959, creating a brief X-Men-less timeline aka Earth-95099 (before that's erased) - but also utilizes a trojan horse program in case of Nimrod's destruction, because Master Mold implemented him with nanites that would eventually birth Bastion and influence the future of Earth-121893 a few centuries after 2055 - but because that gets erased by present day Bastion's demise yet Bishop still exists even without his time travel wrist device on as seen in in '97 Season 2... (and as we know that's how Wolvie and Storm's variants from Earth-95099 died because they deactivated their same devices and the let the current timeline erase their existence)

Cable's future, Earth-13393 is the only potential future left. Previously, could co-exist with Earth-31393 and Earth-121893 from the 90s to 2055 to even centuries later (but BEFORE 2960) - this seems to be the current future of Bishop as well.

So basically, if they kill off Apocalypse for good in modern day by the end of '97 season two...that will raise an interesting temporal paradox for not only Cable but Bishop as well. Maybe. That would be the thing to look out for to answer all these questions.
(Sidenote: The fact Cable and Bishop were able to survive past "Beyond Good & Evil" is evidenced later in the OG show by Apocalypse having a back-up Lazarus Chamber; thus fixing this temporal paradox because yeah. Despite Xavier saying Apocalypse "wouldn't exist" once plucked out of the Axis of Time ...he still had that one back-up Xavier didn't know about. Earth-13393 is still inevitable.)

 

[selfishmisery]

Here's my understanding:
Earth-13393 is Cable's future alone. This is a separate future, centuries after Bishop's timeline(s).

Bishop's timelines via 2055 are
1. Earth-31393 = Sentinels rule the world due to Kelly's death. (Cable will exist but in his tangental Earth-13393 LONG after Earth-31393's time period.)
2. Earth-121193 = The plague's origin is not 100% clear to Forge based on existing record but it's the virus' destruction that leads to a different type of plague that slowly wipes out mutants. THIS is where I think the confusion is in relation to Earth-13393, because clearly this has to be the timeline Bishop ended up in after saving Senator Kelly. (Forge is even like "Who are the X-Men?". Well they died before he could meet them therefore it's the same timeline by the end of "Time Fugitives Part 1".) - Cable's future CANNOT co-exist as a branch of Earth-92131 because of this, therefore he will try to prevent it.
3. Earth-121893 = Bishop's new future after preventing the mutant-killing plague. Sentinels aren't as much of a threat to Bishop's resistance as they were previously. A fed-up Master Mold now wants to execute Xavier in 1959, creating a brief X-Men-less timeline aka Earth-95099 (before that's erased) - but also utilizes a trojan horse program in case of Nimrod's destruction, because Master Mold implemented him with nanites that would eventually birth Bastion and influence the future of Earth-121893 a few centuries after 2055 - but because that gets erased by present day Bastion's demise yet Bishop still exists even without his time travel wrist device on as seen in in '97 Season 2... (and as we know that's how Wolvie and Storm's variants from Earth-95099 died because they deactivated their same devices and the let the current timeline erase their existence)

Cable's future, Earth-13393 is the only potential future left. Previously, could co-exist with Earth-31393 and Earth-121893 from the 90s to 2055 to even centuries later (but BEFORE 2960) - this seems to be the current future of Bishop as well.

So basically, if they kill off Apocalypse for good in modern day by the end of '97 season two...that will raise an interesting temporal paradox for not only Cable but Bishop as well. Maybe. That would be the thing to look out for to answer all these questions.

I'm curious what your reading on this will be, once '97 season 2 ends and if this gets re-evaluated, because I've paid as much attention the dialogue and situations as possible to help in understanding this timeline flux puzzle.
@Mike_Castle