Marvel Comics - Earth 616 , long out of existence?

Is it rational for us to believe that Earth 616 is still the main continuity? Think about the big universe changing events (Secret Wars, Infinity Gauntlet, House of M, etc..) Every time the universe is blown up or altered in anyway, it is never reset exactly to what it was prior to the major event. So by that logic Earth 616 died or is locked out of continuity and replaced by another. it could be 616-A, B, C, 617, 00616, whatever. Nothing matters, points are meaningless. The Spider-Man you think you grew up with died in the early 80's, if not earlier.

Your thoughts?

 

bump^

 

In the last Secret Wars all the multiverse was destroyed except Earth 616 and 1610, which merge. Then at the end Earth Prime is created and Reed and his friends start to recreate the multiverse.

So the people that were in Earth 616 are now part of Eart Prime along with other people from 1610, like Miles Morales, who is now in the same universe as the 616 Spidey.

 

The way I see it,the true OG 616 is long gone. With every earth shattering event and rebuild, there is a new universe made.

 

I know what you're talking about but I have no way to seriously answer that question. They lost me circa the mid-late '80s. I guess if I stop to try and think about it logically the movies are various alternate realities, and the comics I mostly haven't read and will likely never read are a similar sort of re-run channel with odd alternative differences using the names and characters I knew. I have dipped in to some of the 1988-2006 Marvels and DCs that looked interesting to me, and this description fits them even if they don't blatantly state they are some kind of restart/do over. Take each thing as it's own reality I guess. If it seems to reference something much earlier it's still likely to be a different reality version of those events and characters.

 

The vocal minority get so hung up on the idea of continuity and "Earth 616" is the main reality. That's nonsense. That reality has been re-made, reinvented so many times. It's just another. The Spidey of the '80s was written off by decades end. As with every other character then.

 

I wonder how things might be if they had stayed with real time... I mean I know they had the original Batman actually retire and then die in the '70s DCs but they still had the other 'Earth' Batman. For Marvel, Reed Richards being say 28 in June 1961, he'd be closing in on 100 now! If they had played things totally straight they could still keep the franchises such as with Spider-Man handing on the costume and name to someone else. Someone like Thor could be immune, or any aliens, some mutants (Wolverine). If it weren't for the copyrights and trademarks I'm sure they would've had time in comics be the same as it is for the reader and nobody would ever have had to explain anything. Instead it's like the cartoony comics Archie, Donald Duck or Blondie; a near stasis. There seems to be a thing named Marvel Time where they move slower compared to reality and yet keep current.

 

It's no fair that publishers have to play fast and loose with their relative continuity in order to continue producing the characters that have prove moneymakers for them. When you do that, you invalidate some small building block of a reader's time and appreciation for the character that made such an impression on them the first go-round. You can't ever get that back.

I'm having a ball reading Bendis' Superman these days, but even though I'm coming back to it after a couple decades of not paying attention, I know that's not the guy Alan Moore helped us say goodbye to before John Byrne took over. I got a big thrill re-acquainting myself with various Marvel "Ultimate Universe" characters ust over a decade ago, but it's not the same. Bottom line, they got me to re-buy into their worlds again, when I was already done with those worlds.

But, civilization just doesn't work like that; creators have never made such a big ask of their biggest fans as they do today. I know, I'm far too old to have the perspective as people who only grew up when trashing and re-building a whole universe was just a Summer re-branding exercise. But, they don't have the perspective of knowing who Sherlock Holmes and Nancy Drew were...always were, all their lives.

 

I haven't read this yet but I've heard great things about it. It's a "real time" chronological tale of Spidey from inception till the end.

 

Of the books I have read, I'd highly recommend Exiles volume 1. There is inter-dimensional travelling involved but the stakes are real and if and when a character meets their end, they're gone forever. Also the writers do a great job with character development. You really get to know each one of the heroes (morals, motivations, relationships with one another, the whole shebang.)

 

Marvel Editor Tom Brevoort tried to say it's no longer dubbed "Marvel 616" after 2015's Secret Wars, but about the only thing that changed was Miles coming over from the "Ultimate" universe of comics. So yeah, it's pretty much the same damn universe.

I read it--it's a rather batsh!t crazy take on the character set against the backdrop of "real" world events such as Vietnam. Some fans were scandalized by some of the choices writer Chip Zdarsky made, but I throughly enjoyed it. Draws on a lot of Spider-Man comics history and Marvel Comics events and takes them interesting "What If?" type directions. Would recommend.