Text Timeline - Modern Age

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• 1880: "On Mutants" is written - Noted geneticist Nathan Essex accurately identifies for the first time the genetic template of the metagene.
• 1888: Van Helsing slays Dracula - The legendary vampire hunter slays the immortal Count Dracula in his isolated winter fortress.
• 1913: Attilan Relocates - With the rumblings of war in the Atlantic and Europe preparing for The Great War, Black Bolt elects to relocate the ancient city of Atillan to the Himalayas.
• 1914-02-24: The Purifiers assemble - Vandal Savage joins forces with Lord Helspont (a Daemonite High Lord), Hiraoka Kotaro (leader of The Hand), Nathaniel Essex, and Morgana leFay. All five seek to vastly reduce humanity's numbers in an attempt to create a 'better, stronger' race of humans, reminiscent of ancient and evolved Atlantis.
• 1919-01-01: Hitler's Rise to Power - Vandal Savage gives the Spear of Longinus to Adolph Hitler and suggests the direction of the Nazi Party. Hitler becomes the leader of the Purifiers and is exposed to trace Terrigen gasses by Savage. Only the Spear of Longinus keeps Hitler from dying.
• 1933-01-01: Tesla discovers Zero-Point Energy - Sponsored by an ambitious young Howard Stark, Nikolai Tesla completes his research into Zero-Point energy. His inventions mark a landmark shift in America's technological dominance and lead to astounding scientific breakthroughs.
• 1934: Schmidt Rises - Physicist Johann Schmidt is recruited personally by Adolph Hitler into the SS. He swiftly climbs the ranks to the head of the science division of the Schutzstaffel and is approached by The Purifiers to join their mission.
• 1938-04-12: The Red Skull Rises - The first iteration of the Super-Soldier serum is attempted. Schmidt is gruesomely deformed and driven partially insane. Erskine flees to America.
• 1939-09-01 - 1945-09-2: World War 2 - Following Case: White, Germany invades Poland and triggers WW2. Corrupted Terrigen gasses, stolen from Kree science ships by Vandal Savage millennia ago, are used on the Nazis, turning them into vicious, undead monsters.
• 1939-02-01: Blackhawks Founded - A private consortium of experienced aviators is commissioned by the US Military to fly supply missions to Europe. After war is declared, many of them trade their cargo planes for combat jets.
• 1940-04-09: Germany Invades Norway - Operation Wesurbung begins. Johann Scmidt, leading the Hydra division of the SS, attacks a small town and levels it in his pursuit of the location of an ancient battle between Kree and Asgardians, where a Kree science ship might yet remain.
• 1941-07-12: Japan bombs Pearl Habor - The Japanese launch a sneak attack on American forces in Hawaii.
• 1942-01-01: Declaration of War - America joins 26 other nations to form the Allied Nations and fight Hitler, Japan, and Moussolini.
• 1942-07-04: Captain America is Created - Project: Rebirth turns young, sickly Steve Rogers into Captain America, the Perfect Human.
• 1942-07-04: Erskine Assassinated - Abraham Erksine is killed by a German agent and the secrets of the Super-Soldier Serum are lost. Howard Stark and Thomas Wayne each take one half of the serum's formula into custody to keep it out of the wrong hands.
• 1942-08-15: Captain America Rises - Captain America and Zinda Blake steal a plane and fly into hostile German territory to rescue members of the 107th Brigade. They retrieve not only Sergeant Barnes, but over a hundred Allied personnel. Many of them go on to become the Howling Commandos.
• 1942-09-01: Themyscira Found - Captain America's plane is shot down over the ocean, and the Gods of Olympus will him be delivered to Themyscira's shores. He meets Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, and returns to the war with Wonder Woman at his side.
• 1942-10-01: Jor-El Lands on Earth - Jor-El's hyperspace ship crashes into the desert of Africa, searching for Kherubim descendents of ancient Kryptonians.
• 1942-10-25 - 1948: The Justice Defenders assemble in response to war! - The first superhero team. Captain America, Wonder Woman, Zinda Blake, Jay Garrick, Namor, Alan Scott, Jor-El, Howard Stark, Thomas Wayne Sr. as Owlman., Carter Hall, Peggy Carter, Nick Fury Sr., The Phantom, Star-Kid and Stripesy, T'Chaka, Kent Nelson (Dr. Fate)
• 1943-09-12: Baina-Mighdall Discovered - Rommels' forces sweep into the deserts of Egypt and are forced into a dense sandstorm. They find the ancient city of Baina-Mighdall, and are forced to retreat after taking severe casualties. One enemy woman is captured, and transferred to the SS; Schmidt is able to learn from her the existence of Doom's Gate, which inspires Morgan La Fey to trick her allies into taking control of Themyscira.
• 1945-02-10: Battle for Doom's Gate - The greatest prize of World War 2, the Nazis launch the full might of their armies at Themyscira. The Amazons stand between them and Doom's Gate; Morgan le Fey, having lied to her allies, intends to open Doom's Gate and purge the world of all humanity. The Defenders fight off the army of Nazi zombies and their Terrigen-mutated allies.
• 1945-02-10: The Battle for the Power Cosmic - Schmidt, pursuing his own plans, seeks an ancient Kree weapon known as a Cosmic Cube; half of the Defenders engage him in the North Atlantic, and fight him off of a crashed, abandoned Kree research vessel to retrieve the Cube.
• 1945-02-12: Captain America and Zinda Blake Vanish - During the tumultuous battle for the Power Cosmic, Captain Blake and Captain Rogers are lost at sea near the northern pole.
• 1945-04-30: Hitler stages suicide - A body double for Hitler commits suicide in a bunker on the eve of Germany's defeat. Hitler escapes to the secret German moon base. Germany concedes the war; Japan follows shortly thereafter.
• 1947: Roswell Incident - Carrying a pair of Skrull observer-agents, a recon ship crashes into Roswell. The Skrulls adopt disguises and set about using their technology to create an army of sleeper Skrull servitors.
• 1948: Nazis Defeated - Hitler is finally killed on the Nazi Moon base near the Sea of Tranquility. The remaining Justice Defenders ensure his body is completely obliterated and take the Lance of Longinus into their custody, agreeing it will be safeguarded and never used again.
• 1948: SHIELD Founded - SHIELD is founded, a reorganization of the joint Euro-American Strategic Scientific Reserve. SHIELD's mandate under NATO becomes to monitor metahuman and alien threats anywhere in the globe. It is formally recognized by multiple international treaties and supported even by the Russians. Tension waxes and wanes as SHIELD's agents sometimes act above international law, but generally SHIELD is regarded as a positive force for humanity. They spend several decades scouring the globe for alien technology.
• 1955 - 1991: Cold War Era - This is the Cold War era for the game. Nick Fury Jr. and Alex Fairchild work with covert agencies like the CIA and SHIELD against adversaries like the resurrected Mr. Sinister, Winter Soldier, Black Widow, and various other enemies. It's a time of social upheaval and militant jingoism all over the world as Russia and America flirt with mutually assured destruction. Weapon X and Project: Rebirth were revived by the Americans, giving rise to Bruce Banner, Alex Fairchild, Deathstroke, and Wolverine.
• 1955: Project: CADMUS - The Department of Extranormal Operations (DEO) becomes the US Government directorate responsible for overseeing all research into metahumans for the government. It operates at times with SHIELD and against it, as various directors take the DEO in different directions. Multiple sub-programs are established, including Project: Cadmus, The Agency, Task Force: X, and Weapon X. Nathaniel Essex remains a shadowy figure in CADMUS history for decades to come. Weapon Plus is founded in Canada as a counterpart to CADMUS. The CCC (Sovetskiye Supere Soldaty) program forms in Russia.
• 1961-04-17: Bay of Pigs - Covert elements of HYDRA help Fidel Castro overthrow Fulgencio Batista and gain control of Cuba. HYDRA immediately sets about establishing a base of power in Cuba. Kennedy orders the deployment of the Stormwatch metahuman task force to lead an invasion of Cuba. The Bay of Pigs invasion becomes a rout. Casualties are heavy and multiple Stormwatch agents are executed.
• 1962-10-22 - 1962-11-5: Cuban Missle Crisis - Russia and the United States begin a game of brinkmanship with metahumans and nuclear weapons. Stormwatch assets are deployed secretly in Turkey and Russia responds by sending their elite CCC to Cuba. The Question leads a daring investigation into HYDRA's activites and manages to avert nuclear war by delivering key operatives to Kennedy and Kruschev.
• 1963-11-22: JFK Assassinated - The Winter Soldier shoots from the grassy knoll and kills JFK.
• 1979: Weapon X Project - Wolverine slashes his way out of the Weapon X facility, the latest in a long line of failures in the Weapon Plus program.
• 1982-12-18: Bruce Banner Born - Bruce Banner born on a US Military installation.
• 1984: Krypton Destroyed - The Oans fire the Starkiller protocol, destablizing Krypton's red giant sun. The resulting nova event obliterates the planet. Only a few Kryptonians survive, and the race of once galaxy-straddling warriors is considered extinct.
• 1986-01-28: Challenger Accident - The Challenger, one of the first deep-space craft made by humans, is destroyed in low orbit when a freak meteorite collides with the spacecraft.
• 1986-01-28: Kara Zor-El Crashes - A pod bearing Kara Zor-El crashes to Earth in Florida, and is found by Jeremiah and Eliza Danvers.
• 1986-02-09: Reed Richards born - The famous inventor is born in Central City, California.
• 1987-02-19: Bruce Wayne Born - The youngest scion of the Wayne family is born in Gotham.
• 1991-12-25: Collapse of the USSR - The Soviet Union collapses. Many KGB assets and projects are transferred to the FSB but others become wildcards or are lost in the transition
• 1995-12-16: Stark and Wayne Assassinated - Howard Stark and his wife are killed by the Black Widow, who arranges a car wreck. Simultaneously, The Winter Soldier assassinates Thomas Wayne, Jr. and Martha Wayne outside a theater, gunning them down in a staged botched mugging.
• 1999-01-01: Xavier Institute - Charles Xavier and his friend Hank McCoy open the first school exclusively for mutants and metahumans.
• 2000-04-02: Project: Rebirth Opened - General Ross re-opens Project Rebirth, prompting the Russians to take action. Dr. Banner is exposed to gamma radiation. The Hulk makes his first appearance, smashing through New York before escaping capture.
• 2001-09-11: 9/11 Terrorist Attack - Radical terrorists commandeer several airplanes and crash them into the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Responding heroes help mitigate much loss of life.
• 2001-09-14: Superwoman Appears - At fourteen years old, Superwoman makes her first appearance in costume to help rescuers after a hurricane struck. Introducing herself as "The Last Daughter of Krypton," Superwoman's announcement reveals the presence of aliens to the world at large.
• 2007: Batman Begins - The vigilante known as Batman strikes fear into the heart of Gotham for the first time, breaking up Oswald Cobblepot's crime ring.
• 2006-04-13: Mutant Registration Act is passed - The first fruits of the Mutants Rights Movement come to bear and the number of public mutants spikes. Newspaper sensationalize mutant crimes and violent activity. The Johnson-Kinsey Act (aka the Mutant Registration Act) is passed amid a wave of fearful rhetoric. Dr. Bolivar Trask, part of the Department of Extranormal Operations (DEO), is secretly assigned to Project: Cadmus. Cadmus develops the Sentinel project, using giant robots with proto-sapient machine learning software to apprehend and detain the most dangerous mutants. Luthor Industries secures the contract to produce Sentinels for the DEO.
• 2006-05-01: Mutant Relocation Act - The Johnson-Kinsey Act includes specific funding and direction for the tri-City area. Mutants in much of the United States are forcibly relocated to New York's borough of Harlem. Crime spikes overnight as thousands of mutants are crammed into already dense urban squalor.
• 2006-06-01: Justice League Assembles - Styling herself as Superwoman, Kara Zor-El recruits several metahumans into a modern version of the original Defenders. Original team members include the vigilante known as Batman, Hal Jordan, J'onn J'onnz, and Barry Allen.
• 2006-07-01: Wildcat retires - The superhero known as Wildcat opens up one of the first metahuman gyms, in New York.
• 2007-01-02: X-men, First Class - The first generation of Xavier-trained mutants starts working as covert agents in the Mutant Rights Movement.
• 2009-01-03: Titans Assemble - The first Teen Titans assemble, with Wally West and Dick Grayson bringing other sidekicks together to break out as a team of heroes.
• 2010-08-02: Assassination of Senator Kinsey - Anti-Mutant politician and Presidential candidate Senator Kinsey is violently murdered during a private fundraising event. Twenty-three people are killed, including family members. A SHIELD task force led by Melinda May arrives on scene too late to capture the operative known as X-23.
• 2012-04-17: Wedding of Sue and Reed Richards - The world's most famous metahumans get married! Many people attend, and remarkably, not one villain shows up to make a scene.
• 2012-04-18 - 2012-10-14: Skrull Invasion - Skrulls reveal their secret invasion of Earth, which started decades previous. Many world leaders and superheroes are abducted to both weaken Earth and harvest the genetic information of resident metahumans. Superwoman breaks free of the Skrull mothership and exposes their invasion; shortly thereafter, Wayne Industries produces a Skrull-detecting sensor that uses common cell phones. In short order, Skrulls are in full retreat from Earth.
• 2012-09-14: Titans Disband - The Titans are betrayed by one of their own, an ally of their old foe Deathstroke. The death of the traitor called Terra results in the Titans disbanding.
• 2015-06-13 - 2015-6-20: The Week of Brainiac - Seeking latent genetic information on possible Kryptonian survivors and Kherubim descendents, Brainiac attacks Earth and releases a nanoplague on Metropolis. Thousands of residents are temporarily converted into Brainiac servitors. Tony Stark develops a nanophage treatment that undoes the Brainiac infection and allows Earth's heroes to drive the hostile AI off of Earth.
• 2016-03-01 - 2016-3-31: Sentinel Uprising - Mutant-hunting Sentinels go on a rampage for most of a month. Many mutants are killed or maimed, instead of captured. Non-mutants are also harmed. It is revealed that a rogue AI had taken control of many Sentinels. An unknown group of metahumans (the Xavier students) destroys a previously covert Sentinel factory. Due to public outcry, the Sentinel program is permanently shuttered.
• 2016-03-25: Jean Grey perishes - In a desperate attempt to stop the Sentinel uprising, the X-teams fly to Enceladus, a moon of Saturn. During the climactic battle, Jean Grey gives her life to defeat the burgeoning alpha-intelligence. The Enceladus facility is destroyed and Jean Grey is presumed KIA.
• 2017-06-01: Captain America and Captain Blake survive! - Captain Rogers and Captain Blake are revealed to be alive! Having survived in the crushing depths of the cold ocean, they are resusciated and returned to the modern era.
• 2017-12-29: Titans Reassemble - Members of the original Teen Titans make a holiday pact. They reactivate the Titan charter and reach out to several young metahumans who are in need of guidance and mentorship, teaching a new generation of heroes how to defend the innocent.

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