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i would like to get your thoughts on something. a lot of our favorite heroes/villains have been around for a long time now and i was just wondering was it a wise idea to keep them all suspended at the age they are now even though changes in the times are reflected in the comics? or should they have allowed them to have aged and retire gracefully to make way to newer generations?

This is a tough question but, personally I would enjoy seeing them age and watch the progression of the characters and their ongoing legacies. Like how Flash has been passed on through the decades. I also enjoy how Spiderman has had to grow up with allot of his fans and deal with being a hero along the way. Something I have always wonder is how Marvel will deal with Magneto since him being part of the holocaust is part of his character and he doesn't have any abilities that alter his aging. He should be like in his late 70s by now right. Sooner or later they will be pushing to far.

I think they have enough comics set in the future to show the heroes older. Imagine Marvel without Spidey or DC without Bats.

Originally posted by Entity
This is a tough question but, personally I would enjoy seeing them age and watch the progression of the characters and their ongoing legacies. Like how Flash has been passed on through the decades. I also enjoy how Spiderman has had to grow up with allot of his fans and deal with being a hero along the way. Something I have always wonder is how Marvel will deal with Magneto since him being part of the holocaust is part of his character and he doesn't have any abilities that alter his aging. He should be like in his late 70s by now right. Sooner or later they will be pushing to far.



Good point......or like Frank Castle / The Punisher being in Vietnam. He should be in his early to mid-sixties, but some comics portray him looking like he was still mid-thirties!!! I've often wondered about this too, so this was a great idea for a thread.....Good job.

Originally posted by Comicbook_kid
Good point......or like Frank Castle / The Punisher being in Vietnam. He should be in his early to mid-sixties, but some comics portray him looking like he was still mid-thirties!!! I've often wondered about this too, so this was a great idea for a thread.....Good job.

DO like DC does every ten years and have a reboot of thier continuity. IT sets all the character's over.

Captain America already has it figured out - stay frozen longer.
Originally just 20 years for 616 Cap; now over 50 years for Ultimate Cap.
But, he's not a good example because the SS serum has stopped his aging.

Let's look at Namor - getting close to 90 years old, right? Eventually, they'll have to declare how long an Atlantean lifespan is - and Namor is half-human, too.

Originally posted by roughrider
Captain America already has it figured out - stay frozen longer.
Originally just 20 years for 616 Cap; now over 50 years for Ultimate Cap.
But, he's not a good example because the SS serum has stopped his aging.

Let's look at Namor - getting close to 90 years old, right? Eventually, they'll have to declare how long an Atlantean lifespan is - and Namor is half-human, too.

Yea I thought of mentioning that with Cap, and Namor being in WWII also. But like you said Cap was originally frosen for like 20 years now in 616 i think its 40 and with Namor they can say he ages slower or something. If you've watched the latest Punisher movie they say he was in Desert Storm instead of Vietnam also!

I stated Magneto because I can't really see them changing his origin to something else and it having the same effect. I mean he was a holocaust victim, I can see them doing anything to keep that feeling with him and explain his aging. Without giving him a new power that is and, I REALLY hate when they do that to any character. Like making Wolverine immortal. I really like Logan but, quite amping him up. What make the character even better to me are their limitations not their extreme superiority. The powers get me interested and the limitations keep me amazed and in love with the characters. This is why I love Spiderman the most of all I believe. That and I relate to him them most. I was the science and math geek that got picked on and wanted power to rise above it.

Wrong forum, sweet thread.
Anyway, yea, I consider this all the time. DC has tried hard to find a replacement for Batman: Robins. They even had him die (Bane). But that def. didn't work out.
And remember Supe's death? I wasnt born yet, but I am well aware of the controversy it caused. They can't kill off the classics. Batman, Superman, Spiderman are peices of popculture. They cant be gotten rid of. Especially in a world full of magic and fake science where a withered old Batman could be saved by some random guy of the street...

It's not just Magneto. He and Charles Xavier are nearly the same age; Charles fought in Korea.
A reboot happens in the future, I can see Magneto getting confined in suspended animation early in his career, and only getting out after some decades (this is off the top of my head.) Then, you can keep his holocaust past.

Originally posted by lorddreamer
Wrong forum, sweet thread.
Anyway, yea, I consider this all the time. DC has tried hard to find a replacement for Batman: Robins. They even had him die (Bane). But that def. didn't work out.
And remember Supe's death? I wasnt born yet, but I am well aware of the controversy it caused. They can't kill off the classics. Batman, Superman, Spiderman are peices of popculture. They cant be gotten rid of. Especially in a world full of magic and fake science where a withered old Batman could be saved by some random guy of the street...
they dont have to kill them off but their mantles can be passed down they have atleast 20+ years worth of good comic stories they could have used on all new characters vice over extending the life span of the current ones

Hmmm I remember someone saying that someone did something to magneto that made him stop aging or something like that. Or was it someone who somehow made his body younger??? I can't remember

Originally posted by Bol Gath
Hmmm I remember someone saying that someone did something to magneto that made him stop aging or something like that. Or was it someone who somehow made his body younger??? I can't remember he was de-aged once to a toddler

Originally posted by Bol Gath
Hmmm I remember someone saying that someone did something to magneto that made him stop aging or something like that. Or was it someone who somehow made his body younger??? I can't remember

He had a clone once without his memories that joined the x-men. They thought was the original made younger but came to find he was a just a clone and the original was still alive and kickin. I think he was named Josph. I may be wrong thou.

Joseph... Ahh I remember him. But that isn't what I was thinking about, as Lando 005 said he was de-aged.

Originally posted by Bol Gath
Joseph... Ahh I remember him. But that isn't what I was thinking about, as Lando 005 said he was de-aged.

AH, my bad.
Now that you have said this about him being a toddler I remember what your talking about too. Thou, was he really not sappost to age after that event. That is news to me, if so I guess marvel has already made their own solution.

Reed is showing his age by saying Aunt May looked nice.

billy conners another good example

Retcon >>>> Ageing

Originally posted by lando005
billy conners another good example

WHO??? helpsmilie

I think Punisher's history was retcon from Vietnam to an un-named conflict in Southeast Asia.

Heres a thought,
What happens when Magneto, Nightwing or someother character has a great grandchild that is doing the same things they are at what looks to be the same age? Both Petro and Wanda are adults and Petro has a daughter. Someone will have her as an adult superhero one day, you can bet on it. If not her it will be a character in another comic.

Just wait and see.

Marvel does a great job with character aging.

1) Spidey got his powers at fifteen and he's graduated high school, graduated college and was teaching high school students before the New Avengers sent his normal life into a tailspin.
2) Punisher is nearing his fifties in current Punisher. Granted, some of the artists make him look like he's thirty-something, but Ennis' origin still places Punisher's roots in the Nam. If you read Marvel Max Punisher, especially 1-6 storyline 'In The Beginning,' you see a depiction of the Punisher that makes him look old and grizzled. Very few Marvel Max Punisher artists make Punisher look young. He still mentions the Nam in Marvel Max Punisher. He's one of the few Marvel characters who have properly aged, although his mainstream appearances sometimes don't reflect it like Civil War.
3) Captain America was defrozen in the early 80's. Any Cap stories set before then were explained through other Captain Americas who took his mantle, especially during the 70's and the Red Scare period. It's a pretty nifty story that hasn't been shyed away from since Brubaker talks about it in his current Cap comics. There have been two Captain Americas between WWII and Roger's rebirth.
4) Magneto keeps showing up in muscled bodies because his bodies keep getting replaced, via mind transfer or clones. He always had white hair even as a young man. But yeah... he's been around for a while.
5) Xavier also has had body tampering done also. So while he's been around, his current body is most definitely not his original.
6) Remember, the original X-Men like Cyclops and Beast and Iceman were all teenagers when they started. They're all at least in their early thirties, so that bit of aging isn't to be scoffed at.
7) Namor's been active since WWII and disappeared for a bunch of years when he was a hobo, but being a half-breed, just because he looks young, doesn't mean he is young. He's still got all those years under his belt.
8) Matt Murdock was a fresh attorney out of law school when he started as DD which puts him at maybe 23-24 when he started and most definitely years have rolled by to the current DD who's had an accomplished practice and is now cooling his jets in prison. He's probably the one character that hasn't aged as much as he probably should have. He really should be in his early forties now, but he's probably in his early thirties at most.
9) But for every DD, there's a Shadowcat. Kitty Pryde was thirteen when she was introduced in the 1976? She's in her mid twenties at the least now and maturing quite nicely. (Just a disturbing note to others, Colossus was messing around with Kitty at this age. Talk about jailbite and liking em young...)

I can't really think of characters who haven't shown a decent amount of aging since their start and who peculiarly lack explanations about it. Although there is a reduction in time and a few retcons and Spiderman has not aged 30+ years from 1963-2006, he's aged a good 15+ years since then. That's not bad. The only hackoff I have with Marvel is how they keep bringing dead characters back to life. Colossus, Aunt May, Dr. Octopus... gawd. Jeez, leave a character in the frigging ground unless you're doing something really cool with it like Bucky. Winter Soldier pwns. Well... at least Uncle Ben, Mar-vell and Jean Grey are still dead. I'm very happy with the latter since that Phoenix storyline was being beaten to death.

Originally posted by OneDumbG0
Marvel does a great job with character aging.

1) Spidey got his powers at fifteen and he's graduated high school, graduated college and was teaching high school students before the New Avengers sent his normal life into a tailspin.
2) Punisher is nearing his fifties in current Punisher. Granted, some of the artists make him look like he's thirty-something, but Ennis' origin still places Punisher's roots in the Nam. If you read Marvel Max Punisher, especially 1-6 storyline 'In The Beginning,' you see a depiction of the Punisher that makes him look old and grizzled. Very few Marvel Max Punisher artists make Punisher look young. He still mentions the Nam in Marvel Max Punisher. He's one of the few Marvel characters who have properly aged, although his mainstream appearances sometimes don't reflect it like Civil War.
3) Captain America was defrozen in the early 80's. Any Cap stories set before then were explained through other Captain Americas who took his mantle, especially during the 70's and the Red Scare period. It's a pretty nifty story that hasn't been shyed away from since Brubaker talks about it in his current Cap comics. There have been two Captain Americas between WWII and Roger's rebirth.
4) Magneto keeps showing up in muscled bodies because his bodies keep getting replaced, via mind transfer or clones. He always had white hair even as a young man. But yeah... he's been around for a while.
5) Xavier also has had body tampering done also. So while he's been around, his current body is most definitely not his original.
6) Remember, the original X-Men like Cyclops and Beast and Iceman were all teenagers when they started. They're all at least in their early thirties, so that bit of aging isn't to be scoffed at.
7) Namor's been active since WWII and disappeared for a bunch of years when he was a hobo, but being a half-breed, just because he looks young, doesn't mean he is young. He's still got all those years under his belt.
8) Matt Murdock was a fresh attorney out of law school when he started as DD which puts him at maybe 23-24 when he started and most definitely years have rolled by to the current DD who's had an accomplished practice and is now cooling his jets in prison. He's probably the one character that hasn't aged as much as he probably should have. He really should be in his early forties now, but he's probably in his early thirties at most.
9) But for every DD, there's a Shadowcat. Kitty Pryde was thirteen when she was introduced in the 1976? She's in her mid twenties at the least now and maturing quite nicely. (Just a disturbing note to others, Colossus was messing around with Kitty at this age. Talk about jailbite and liking em young...)

I can't really think of characters who haven't shown a decent amount of aging since their start and who peculiarly lack explanations about it. Although there is a reduction in time and a few retcons and Spiderman has not aged 30+ years from 1963-2006, he's aged a good 15+ years since then. That's not bad. The only hackoff I have with Marvel is how they keep bringing dead characters back to life. Colossus, Aunt May, Dr. Octopus... gawd. Jeez, leave a character in the frigging ground unless you're doing something really cool with it like Bucky. Winter Soldier pwns. Well... at least Uncle Ben, Mar-vell and Jean Grey are still dead. I'm very happy with the latter since that Phoenix storyline was being beaten to death.

see the ting is for me instead of finding ways to prolong their life spans they could have replaced them with fresh characters. For example spider-man, came out in 1962 it's 2006 we could have been on our 3rd spider-man by now (or girl) and just look at all the good stories that could have been used on new characters, sooner or later they are going to run out of ideas for tho ones they have now and also they loose the feeling of progress with the character when they keep extending their youth

Originally posted by OneDumbG0
Marvel does a great job with character aging.

1) Spidey got his powers at fifteen and he's graduated high school, graduated college and was teaching high school students before the New Avengers sent his normal life into a tailspin.
2) Punisher is nearing his fifties in current Punisher. Granted, some of the artists make him look like he's thirty-something, but Ennis' origin still places Punisher's roots in the Nam. If you read Marvel Max Punisher, especially 1-6 storyline 'In The Beginning,' you see a depiction of the Punisher that makes him look old and grizzled. Very few Marvel Max Punisher artists make Punisher look young. He still mentions the Nam in Marvel Max Punisher. He's one of the few Marvel characters who have properly aged, although his mainstream appearances sometimes don't reflect it like Civil War.
3) Captain America was defrozen in the early 80's. Any Cap stories set before then were explained through other Captain Americas who took his mantle, especially during the 70's and the Red Scare period. It's a pretty nifty story that hasn't been shyed away from since Brubaker talks about it in his current Cap comics. There have been two Captain Americas between WWII and Roger's rebirth.
4) Magneto keeps showing up in muscled bodies because his bodies keep getting replaced, via mind transfer or clones. He always had white hair even as a young man. But yeah... he's been around for a while.
5) Xavier also has had body tampering done also. So while he's been around, his current body is most definitely not his original.
6) Remember, the original X-Men like Cyclops and Beast and Iceman were all teenagers when they started. They're all at least in their early thirties, so that bit of aging isn't to be scoffed at.
7) Namor's been active since WWII and disappeared for a bunch of years when he was a hobo, but being a half-breed, just because he looks young, doesn't mean he is young. He's still got all those years under his belt.
8) Matt Murdock was a fresh attorney out of law school when he started as DD which puts him at maybe 23-24 when he started and most definitely years have rolled by to the current DD who's had an accomplished practice and is now cooling his jets in prison. He's probably the one character that hasn't aged as much as he probably should have. He really should be in his early forties now, but he's probably in his early thirties at most.
9) But for every DD, there's a Shadowcat. Kitty Pryde was thirteen when she was introduced in the 1976? She's in her mid twenties at the least now and maturing quite nicely. (Just a disturbing note to others, Colossus was messing around with Kitty at this age. Talk about jailbite and liking em young...)

I can't really think of characters who haven't shown a decent amount of aging since their start and who peculiarly lack explanations about it. Although there is a reduction in time and a few retcons and Spiderman has not aged 30+ years from 1963-2006, he's aged a good 15+ years since then. That's not bad. The only hackoff I have with Marvel is how they keep bringing dead characters back to life. Colossus, Aunt May, Dr. Octopus... gawd. Jeez, leave a character in the frigging ground unless you're doing something really cool with it like Bucky. Winter Soldier pwns. Well... at least Uncle Ben, Mar-vell and Jean Grey are still dead. I'm very happy with the latter since that Phoenix storyline was being beaten to death.

Perfect. Nice job.

Originally posted by lando005
see the ting is for me instead of finding ways to prolong their life spans they could have replaced them with fresh characters. For example spider-man, came out in 1962 it's 2006 we could have been on our 3rd spider-man by now (or girl) and just look at all the good stories that could have been used on new characters, sooner or later they are going to run out of ideas for tho ones they have now and also they loose the feeling of progress with the character when they keep extending their youth Fair point. Although seeing Spiderman grow up from gawky teenage nerd to hopefully someone who's gonna be a parent one of these damn days in continuity would be an awesome progression. Although DC's reboots have always annoyed me, Kid Flash becoming the mainstream Flash is probably the best succession in the vein your thinking that I've seen. I mean, he was a little punk with the Teen Titans, grew up to 18... then had to take the mantle and carry it. That's pretty awesome.

Oh by the way, I made a mistake with Captain America. He reappeared in like the mid seventies. The Red Scare of Communism was during the 60's, not the 70's. I realized this when I remembered one of Cap's more famous stories where a Watergate-inpsired scandal caused him to retire the Cap persona. So he was definitely around back then.