Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-26066818-20151011135048/@comment-61022-20151021122034

Since we are talking about real world people in Marvel Comics. We should also be making a point of differentiating between what is considered a topical reference and which are considered actual 616-historical appearances. The best examples of this are anyone who has been depicted as President of the United States in the "Modern Age", since 1961 the president has been depicted as everyone from JFK all the way down to Obama. All of these (even Obama and all future presidents) should be listed as topical references if they are ever depicted in the modern age as the "current" president because all those references are going to be subject to the Sliding Timescale.

An example of what I am referring to can be seen when I recently updated the profile on Gerald Ford. All the comics published during his presidency that take place in the modern age that depict him as President are listed in "Apocryphal Appearances" whereas appearances of Gerald Ford in comics that take place during his life time (no connection to the modern age) are considered in-continuity appearance, likewise his recent appearance as a zombie in Deadpool is an in-continuity appearance because it's a posthumous appearance.