This week's Saturday Showcase will focus on the Time Keepers of the Marvel Universe. Most of you may not have been aware of their existence until they were mentioned in the new hit series Loki. The truth is, they have been around for awhile. So, let's dive into the history of the ones known as the Time Keepers.
The Time-Keepers were created by He Who Remains, the very last director of the Time Variance Authority from the previous reality, just prior to the heat death of that universe. The first attempt resulted in the creation of the Time-Twisters, who were flawed and destroyed numerous realities. Due to the intervention of Thor, this reality was split into two: one where the Twisters lived and one where they were destroyed. In the reality in which they were destroyed, He Who Remains created the Time-Keepers to protect time. There were three main Time-Keepers but a fourth was reportedly created and exiled to Egypt in 2950 BC. (I wonder who that could be? LOL)
At some point, the Time-Keepers recruited Immortus to monitor all-time between 3000 BC and 4000 AD, and untangle the time-travel mess his prior selves had left in their wake.
The Time-Keepers' first known interaction with the Prime Marvel Universe was their attempts to break up the Avengers (before they could threaten the Time-Keepers) by sending the Space Phantom to defeat them. When he failed, they sent Immortus himself, but he decided to defy the Keepers and assist the Avengers. The Time-Keepers then discovered a series of realities that were razed by humanity, and tasked Immortus with preventing these from occurring or they would completely destroy humanity. They also recognized how powerful the Nexus Being the Scarlet Witch was and charged Immortus with killing her to stop her from bearing children. Immortus however, led her into a relationship with the Vision. (Sound Familiar?)
At some point the Time-Twisters returned, posing as the Time-Keepers, and began using Immortus as their pawn to absorb the energy of the Scarlet Witch. Later, Immortus began working against the Time-Twisters when they tried to kill four Nexus Beings. After they failed and Immortus was defeated, the Time-Keepers returned and sent the Time-Twisters to their birthing pods, where they could watch over them.
After the death of Eon, the Time-Keepers (or the Time-Twisters in disguise) attended his funeral. They authorized the installation of the Watcher's dimensional portal that allowed him to view other realities, but threatened to confiscate it if the Watcher did not fix the divergences caused by different universes' Living Lasers.
The Time-Keepers returned to Immortus and warned him of humanity's dominance and instructed him to kill Rick Jones to prevent the Destiny Force from awakening in all of humanity. In his attempt, the Destiny Force came to Rick and assisted him by calling forth Avengers from different time periods to defend him. These Avengers were eventually brought to the Time-Keepers who revealed there plan: wipe-out the minimum number of timelines to weaken humanity and preserve themselves. They attempted to use the Forever Crystal combined with a Chrono-Cannon to accomplish this and removed Immortus from existence and removed Kang by forcing his transformation into Immortus. To defend themselves, the Time-Keepers summoned multiple "evil" Avengers from across time to oppose the Avengers, however Rick Jones summoned more "good" Avengers to help. Kang was able to resist the Time-Keepers transformation long enough to split himself into a Kang and an Immortus. Rick Jones was finally able to destroy their weapon with the Destiny Force and Kang seemingly destroyed the Time-Keepers.
Powers
The Time-Keepers have great power to manipulate temporal energy. They can age entire armies to dust or reverse aging to before the point of life (virtual immortals such as Asgardian gods can resist these effects). They can summon beings from any point in the time stream, sending them to do their bidding. They can travel through time and into various alternate realities, form powerful energy shields, project force blasts, and grant power to others. Using the power of the Forever Crystal, they could remove countless realities from existence within seconds. They claim to have authority that not even the cosmic arbiter known as the Living Tribunal can judge.
The sole divergent counterparts of the Time-Keepers are the Time-Twisters, with one each existing in one of the two final divergent realities at the very end of time. The Keepers and Twisters each manipulate events in the multiverse to ensure their own survival and domination of their counterparts. The Time-Twisters originally sought knowledge at the beginning of time, heedless that they destroyed the time periods through which they passed.
Name: Time-Keepers
Physical Characteristics:
Body Type: Semi-humanoid
Origin:
Created as a consequence of the failures with the Time-Twisters
Reality: Earth-794282
Base of Operations: The Citadel at the End of Time, Siwa, Egypt (circa 2950 B.C.)
Creators and Appearances:
Creators: Mark Gruenwald & Ralph Macchio,
First Appearance: Thor #282 (April, 1979)
Original Article can be found here, Time-Keepers.
Until next time, get your READ on!
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