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Marvel Database:Canon

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Canon in fiction refers to a collection of stories or their elements that are treated as genuine or "factual" by authors or caretakers of a given fictional setting. The characters, events, and aspects of the world depicted in those stories are considered to have inarguable existence within the fictional universe, as opposed to those depicted in adaptations, unofficial works and fan-fiction. In broad terms, Canon is something that "actually happened" in the secondary fictional world.

On the subject of canon, the Marvel Database always defers first to the official sources from Marvel, which are broadly divided into the narrative stories and the non-narrative Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe. However, as the release of new narrative stories vastly outpaces the release of new handbooks, decisions often have to be made by Marvel Database editors in absence of official statements. These decisions are not arbitrary but are interpolated from established handbook precedents and may undergo revision as new information becomes available. It is to be understood that the Marvel Database does not claim to be the authority on what is or is not Marvel canon, but merely aims to present to the readers information with the best understanding available to date.

The treatment of canon in the Marvel Database is inherently tied to the concept of the Multiverse. The Marvel Multiverse encompasses every Marvel story ever told, and from that perspective everything published by Marvel exists in an alternate reality in some corner of the Multiverse, and therefore no story is ever truly non-canon in its entirety. On a more practical level, the question that should be asked is not "What is or is not canon?" but rather "What is or is not canon to this specific reality?"

Canon and the Multiverse

As established by the Glossary of Omniversal Terms published in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #2, every fictional story ever told actually takes place in one of the realities existing in an infinite and all-encompassing Omniverse. The Marvel Database specifically covers the Marvel Multiverse, a subset of the Omniverse defined by the Cosmic Hierarchy and using the numbered system also referred to as the "Core Continuum." That includes every story published by Marvel Entertainment and its current or former subsidiaries or imprints, including but not limited to: Timely Comics, Marvel Comics, Marvel Studios, Marvel Television and Marvel Animation. Elements of a story that don't fit the reality of its main narrative for various reasons are not considered canon to that story's main setting, but may still occur in an alternate reality.

Canon and Earth-616

The main setting of the Marvel Comics is Earth-616, or the Prime Marvel Universe. Many characters have numerous alternate variants of themselves existing across both comics and adaptations in other media, but in almost all cases the character native to (or permanently residing on) Earth-616 is considered to be the "main" or Prime version. This applies to discussing the stories from an out-of-universe perspective, but also is often true within the in-universe stories themselves. In this context, the Canon is the coherent continuity of stories that either take place on Earth-616 or otherwise involve characters from it.

The modern Marvel Universe is understood to have begun in 1961 with Fantastic Four #1. The earlier publications from when the company was called Timely Comics and Atlas Comics have also been been retroactively incorporated into the Marvel Multiverse, on a case by case basis. Some of those stories, featuring Namor, Captain America, the original Human Torch, and other costumed heroes are fully considered part of the main Earth-616 continuity. Others, such as comics starring Young Allies and Patsy Walker, are only semi-canon: they exist as comics on Earth-616, broadly depicting events that may have occurred in that reality under similar but different circumstances. Yet other stories, such as some of those published in anthology titles like Journey Into Unknown Worlds, World of Fantasy and Suspense, have been found incompatible with the modern Marvel Universe and were deemed to take place in various respective alternate realities. These decisions are usually revealed by the Official Handbook, although sometimes they are presented in the narrative stories as well.

Sliding Timescale

Early Marvel Comics, including Amazing Spider-Man, Incredible Hulk, Fantastic Four and others, were set in a very different world from the modern day. World War II had ended less than two decades ago, John F. Kennedy was the President of the United States, and the Cold War against the Soviet Union was in full swing. Despite the characters not aging significantly over many decades of publication, the events of those comics are still considered canonical to Earth-616 due to the application of the Sliding Timescale. All events that happened within Marvel comics that were set in the "present day" during their publication are only considered to have taken place over approximately the last decade and a half from the now. Any references to world leaders, entertainment media, historical events, or technology that were contemporary during the time of publication are now treated as topical references: the main events of the comic are considered canonical to the present day Earth-616, but everything that dates it to more than two decades ago is not.

Retcons

Retcon, short for "retroactive continuity", is an act of changing the previously established facts about the fictional world through either revision, added context, or outright contradiction. Marvel characters and storylines have been subject to a vast number of retcons over the years, sometimes drastically changing the history and circumstances of events from what was depicted or described in the earlier storylines. The Marvel Database considers most such revelations to be intentional and aims to incorporate them into the established sequence of events to depict the "full" history to the best known extent. Exceptions to this practice are made in cases of suspected errors or when different ongoing storylines continue to present mutually incompatible information. In such ambiguous cases of what is canon, the Official Handbook is considered the ultimate authority and has seniority over the published narrative.

Any retcons made within the Prime Marvel Universe can only be assumed to apply to alternate realities if a direct point of divergence from Earth-616 to another reality can be traced. For example, Magneto's real name was considered to be Erik Lehnsherr for many years, before it was eventually revealed to be Max Eisenhardt. This revelation applies only to Earth-616-diverged realities; any realities that debuted during that time and treated Erik Lehnsherr as his true birth name are unaffected by this retcon. For both adaptations in other media and alternate realities in the comics, it is important to remember that none of their original concepts or revelations are considered canon to Earth-616 unless explicitly brought over in-story as part of the narrative synergy.

Continuities and Imprints

Out of hundreds of documented alternate realities, some are barely featured beyond their initial appearance, such as the many realities featured in the What If...? comic books. Other have been the focus of multiple series with their own internal continuity. These are often classified as publishing imprints to indicate their separation from the Prime Marvel Universe. These imprints may feature familiar Marvel characters reimagined in a new setting, or completely original characters and storylines set in a world with no obvious connections to classic Marvel super heroes. Original settings by other comic publishers that were later acquired by Marvel are sometimes considered imprints as well. Long-running adaptations in other media such as the Marvel Cinematic Universe form their own separate continuities.

Prominent Earth-616-derived imprints and settings are:

Imprints featuring original settings are:

Over the years, Marvel had also published a large number of licensed comics based on pre-existing intellectual properties owned by other companies. Their canon status varies depending on their treatment by the Official Handbook. Series such as Star Wars, Star Trek, and Flintstones that received no handbook mentions are considered entirely separate from the Marvel Multiverse. Other series such as Inhumanoids, Real Ghostbusters and Ren & Stimpy Show have been established by the Online Appendix to exist in their separate realities but had never interacted with the wider the Marvel Multiverse. Finally, there are characters such as Rom the Space Knight, Godzilla, and Conan the Barbarian who in their licensed comics had frequently interacted with established Marvel characters and are considered an inherent canonical part of Earth-616. Notably, this means that whenever Marvel loses license to those characters, they are unable to reprint or reference canonical stories in any way until the license returns to Marvel.

When History Changes

With all that in mind, there are still many elements of various storylines that cannot be considered canonical to the current continuity, whether of Earth-616 or the main story's respective alternate reality. The most common sources of such irreconcilable differences are time travel, reality alternations, and dreams or visions.

Based on the precedent established by the Official Handbook, the Marvel Database interprets time travel within Marvel stories as following the Gruenwald Rules of Time-Travel even when the story appears to contradict them. With rare exceptions (such as the use of Doctor Doom's Time Platform), most time-travelers in the Marvel Universe never travel directly into their past or their future, but rather move forwards or backwards in time and "off to the side" into an alternate reality. The history of that reality is thus altered by their arrival, diverging its timeline from the original reality that continues to exist independently. As a consequence of this, alternate events which within the stories are treated as "erased," "rewritten" or "undone" still continue to exist in a separate reality in the Multiverse. For example, in the famous story arc "Days of Future Past" that hinged on traveling into the past to alter the current present, the story didn't actually stop the dystopian future from existing, it prevented it from coming to pass on Earth-616. The dystopian setting takes place on Earth-811, existing independently of Earth-616 and remains accessible to multiversal travelers.

When the fabric of reality is altered through magical means to change its history and the memories of its inhabitants, it typically manifests as an alternate reality overlaying the original one. The events of House of M and Heroes Reborn are both examples of such overlays of Earth-616, with Earth-58163 and Earth-21798, respectively. Both realities continued to exist after the reality warp was undone, with the efforts of heroes during the event only undoing the overlay, not the entire existence of the other reality. The events that took place during the overlay are considered canon for characters from the both the original and altered reality. The scope of such overlays may vary greatly, from being universal; to localized to Earth or a part of it, and from complete to partial with traces of the original reality persisting. Reality overlays that are not undone become a permanent part of the altered reality, such as Earth-81545 which partially overwrote the history of Earth-616 during One More Day and has never been reversed.

Dreams and visions showing events that never happened in reality are commonly considered glimpses into alternate universes. A character may experiences a vision of an alternate future (they see their loved one die, but manage to save them before it happens), an alternate present (they imagine events that could be happening in that moment, but actually don't) or an alternate past (someone is manipulating them by showing events of their past in an altered fashion). In any case, the vision is not considered canon to the continuity in which the main story takes place, but rather is deemed to occur in an alternate reality, of which that vision is usually the only thing that is known.

Canon Sources

The primary canon sources are the official Marvel publications: narrative stories and The Official Handbook. When encountering either a contradiction or a deliberate retcon, the most recent primary source takes precedence, unless there are reasons to suspect an error or the two contradictory sources are being published concurrently.

Acceptance Tiers

Accepted sources are listed in order of their seniority: information from each tier can only be accepted as canon if it is not contradicted by a higher tier source.

  1. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Takes precedence over the narrative stories on the subject of retcons and resolving continuity errors.
  2. Unofficial Appendix to the Handbook: Unrestricted by the space limitation of the published handbooks, it is considered an authoritative source on continuity clarifications and reality designations.
  3. Narrative Stories: The things that people actually enjoy.
  4. Promo and Social Media: Promotional material and creator statements from interviews and social media are accepted as canon only if they provide clarifications regarding events seen within the story. Any contradictions by future published sources automatically invalidate such information from canon. Any speculations about possible events that remained unseen belong to the Trivia section.
  5. Reference Material not published by Marvel: Publications such as Marvel Fact Files from Eaglemoss or Marvel Encyclopedia from Dorling Kindersley have been endorsed by Marvel, but it remains unclear whether they have been vetted for factual accuracy. They have been found to contain multiple errors and as such should be used as sources with extreme caution.
  6. Deleted and Unreleased Material: Deleted scenes from movies and television series should be treated with caution and only accepted as canon if they provide valuable information not contradicted by the released media. Any unreleased stories are only accepted as canon if referenced by other sources.

Sources Canonical to Alternate Realities

The following sources are generally treated as canonical to the Multiverse, but rarely to Earth-616.

  • In-Universe Fiction: From movies and comics, to fairy tales and fan-fiction, storytelling experienced by characters in-universe is considered to represent actual alternate realities.
  • Official Parodies: Humorous stories such as those published in What The--?!, Not Brand Echh, and Crazy Magazine are treated as accurate depiction of their alternate realities.
  • Novels, podcasts, role-playing games and other media: Narrative media not traditionally associated with Marvel are no less canonical than comics, movies, or video games.
  • Toys and Merchandise: Action figures depicting unique versions of characters or containing unique backstory on the packaging represent proper alternate realities, such as Spider-Man: Arachnophobia and Spider-Man: Heroes Revenge. Likewise, figures of Marvel characters in a unique style belong to actual realities inhabited by those characters: LEGO, Funko, Minimates, and Mega Morphs are some of the major examples. Even Ben Cooper Halloween Costumes are canonical.
  • Adaptations Deviating from Source Material: This not only applies to film or television series that introduce changes from the comics, but also to their adaptations in turn. Video games, novels and comics that adapt events of non-comic media by making changes incompatible to them or their sequels are considered to take place in an alternate reality.
  • Video Game Choices: While every video game playthrough is unique in regards to the player's movement and actions, specific choices that lead to different endings (including the unique cutscenes for the "lose" conditions) are considered to occur in a divergent reality.
  • Crossovers: official crossovers depicting Marvel characters interacting with characters from DC, Image Comics, Star Trek and others are considered canonical. Many of them are confined to Earth-7642 (dubbed the Crossover Earth), but some such as Marvel Versus DC feature the Prime Marvel Universe versions of the characters. Likewise, per Fortnite X Marvel: Zero War, the involvement of Marvel characters in Fortnite is canon.

Fringe Sources

The following have been deemed canonical in certain cases, but by no means all:

  • Cancelled Media: Scripts for stories that were never produced or published have at times been nevertheless accepted into the Marvel Multiverse. Examples of this include the unproduced Daredevil cartoon and the cancelled Deathlok film.
  • Original Foreign Stories: Foreign publishers of Marvel stories have occasionally supplemented reprints of US titles with the original stories, some of which are in English while others are released in foreign languages such as Italian or French. These are considered canonical to their specific alternate realities.
  • Unique Covers: Characters and scenarios depicted on covers (including Variant Covers) which do not occur within the actual pages of story have at times been accepted as occurring elsewhere in the Multiverse, such as in cases of Earth-26435, Earth-88122, and Earth-92234.
  • Marvel Characters in Other Media: Appearances of Marvel characters in media produced without any involvement from Marvel have occasionally been deemed canonical. Examples of this are Jay and Silent Bob's Daredevil, cameos of Marvel characters within DC Comics (Earth-10 and Earth-90125), and Donald Duck as Spider-Man.
  • Other Media: On rare occasions, other media are incorporated into the Marvel Multiverse directly, such as with Akira, Battle Fever J or The Madman stories from the Warrior magazine.
  • Errors: Sometimes errors made by the creators are later revealed to be canonical to an alternate reality, as was the case with Earth-616 Beta.

Additional Guidelines

  • Some basic assumptions can be made in regards to character's names and origins in alternate realities: these are assumed to carry over from the original reality to a divergent one, but never vise versa. For alternate realities with no clear point of divergence, no such assumptions can be made at all.
  • Minor differences in appearance and dialogue that can be attributed to artistic license should not be treated as evidence of alternate realities.
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