Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-5221278-20140102183646/@comment-1458758-20140125071444

It could very well be a little of Column A and a little of Column B. If we assume that every time one time travels, there is the potential for damage to the Time/Space continuum, then AoU, given what Wolverine and Sue Storm did to fix it, could be said to have exploited that possibility beyond the breaking point. If we take what Dr. Doom from Iron Man: Fatal Frontier said into account, he said that in order to avoid damaging his own time line, he also traveled, as he put it, sideways in time, crossing the dimensional barrier into Earth-616.

So from this we can infer that one can not only damage their own timeline via time travel (The creation of alternate timelines etc.) But can also minimize said damage by changing events in an already existing alternate timeline.

To use a probably very crude metaphor, imagine Time/Space as a pair of Jeans. Every time you walk out, work, kneel down, you're scratching and wearing the threads that hold it all together. This we can equate to basically the usual amount of damage created by normal events in Time/Space and a few of the more troubling events (Like Marvel Zombies crossing into the 616 for example) Kinda annoying, but you wash your jeans and maybe by a new pair when those ones are about to fall apart, the cycle continues.

Age of Ultron however, is more like you fell, hit a sharp rock and tore the ever loving bejebus out of your jeans. Due to the abuse of time across this one timeline, converging and separating at least 3 different realities, things kinda went to pot. End result, the metaphoric Jean fabric of reality ripped. Now this isn't like some DC Crisis event, this doesn't invalidate or merge all other worlds into one, but where as most of the threads remain undisturbed, a bunch around the tear have gotten pretty well torn up, resulting in things like 616 Galactus traveling to the Ultimate Universe and fusing with his counterpart there, that being an example of something that happened there if that helps?

As for all the repercussions of this event, to name a few, the above Galactus thing, the pain/death of the Living Tribunal and the seemingly permanent destruction of Ultron from the 616 and thus erasure of the original AoU timeline, creating a marvelous little paradox, but I'm gonna call that the stitching on the jeans after you already wrecked them.

Basically, AoU and the realities created in trying to fix it, should technically no longer exist, as they are a result of AoU coming into existence, which is no longer possible.

Any other blow back from this event is either, yet to come to light, or I am personally unfamiliar with.