World Timeline
Circa 2 million BC: The mysterious alien Progenitors tamper with the genetic code of humanity’s ancestors, leading to the rise of humans.
Circa 1 million BC: An unknown alien species builds a base on the Moon. The ruins, when found by Humans in the twentieth century, are named Selenus.
Gloran of Odrugar is born; as an adult he battles crime and evil for centuries and founds the Star*Guard.
Circa 500,000 BC: Further experiments by the Progenitors result in the creation of an immortal superhuman race, the Empyreans.
The Malvans and the Elder Worm battle for control of the Galaxy, pitting the might and power of the Golden Hunters of Malva against the insidious sorceries of the Elder Worm. After tens of thousands
of years of warfare both hot and cold, the Elder Worm are defeated circa 200,000 BC and forced to flee into hiding.
Circa 150,000 BC: The Elder Worm come to Earth, where they enslave proto-humanity.
Circa 100,000 BC: The Empyreans discover the Elder Worm on Earth and go to war with them to free the primordial humans they’ve enslaved. The Elder Worm, including their leader the Slug, are
utterly destroyed... or so the Empyreans believe.
37,523 BC: The sorcerer-scientist Faltrah Lem founds Lemuria.
37,018 BC: The Lemurians reject their ancient gods, the mysterious Bleak Ones, for new gods given to them by Faltrah Lem.
36,854 BC: A spell designed to grant the Lemu- rians immortality goes awry, robbing them of their shapechanging powers.
36,742 BC: The Lemurians go to war with the Empyreans.
36,964 BC: The Lemurians use a potent magical weapon, the Mandragalore, against the Empyreans, but it backfires, causing the continent of Lemuria to sink. Only a few Lemurians and the Mole Men
(Lemurian slaves who already lived in caves) survive.
Circa 35,000 BC: Poseidon brings Evenor and Leucippe to the island of Atlantis. Their daughter Cleito eventually has ten sons with the sea-god, the eldest of whom, Vondarien, in time becomes Atlan, or “king,” of Atlantis.
Circa 32,000 BC: The Dominion of Atlantis becomes one of the predominant political powers on Earth. Lemuria is Atlantis’s major rival and enemy.
30,598 BC: War between Vondarien of Atlantis and Sharna-Gorak the Destroyer causes the Cataclysm, sinking Atlantis beneath the waves and reshaping the world. Amlin has the Empyreans move Arcadia to Antarctica. The Lemurians protect themselves from the Cataclysm with a mechanicomagical device called the Clockwork Engine.
17,698 BC: Civil war breaks out in Lemuria, with a cabal of sorcerers defeating the ruling priesthood. The magi create the Bronze King, a sentient magiconstruct, to rule Lemuria.
Circa 10,000 BC: The era of the gods and heroes of Egyptian, Greek, Norse, and other mythologies begin about now and lasts for about ten thousand years.
Unknown alien visitors (possibly the Progenitors) transform a group of early humans into the Birdpeople of Thaar.
Circa 8000 BC: Civil war in Arcadia, with the jealous Ogurn attempting to overthrow Amlin. Amlin is killed and Ogurn disappears; Hazor is chosen as the new leader of the Empyreans over Arvad.
3970 BC: Shaderon, one of the wisest and most influential of the second-generation Empyreans, develops his philosophy of Silence (transcendence of the body) and creates the Temple of Silence in Arcadia. Over the next few centuries, dozens of Empyreans join him in rejecting their mortal forms and seeking a higher plane of existence through meditation.
Circa 460 AD: The first Shaolin Temple is founded in China.
490-540: King Arthur rules England from Camelot. Giles de Morphant, the Black Paladin, wreaks great evil, but is eventually slain by Lancelot. Arthur’s realm, and his Round Table of knights, eventually falls due to the repercussions of Lancelot’s affair with Queen Guinevere.
1090: The Ancient Order of Assassins is founded by Hassan ibn-al Sabah.
1199: Robin Hood is active in English countryside, bedeviling King John Lackland and the Sheriff of Nottingham.
1459: Vlad Tepes, voivod of Transylvania, becomes a vampire under uncertain circum- stances. One legend suggests he is transformed by an Atlantean “dark mage.” Tepes is later known as Dracula (“little dragon”).
1749: John Ward, the first Black Mask, is born on a farm outside of Philadelphia.
1772: Ward first adopts the identity of the Black Mask, to protect his family while he performs acts of sabotage against the British Army.
1783: Viscomte Gildas de Valenois founds the Circle of the Scarlet Moon.
1788: Ward retires the identity of Black Mask.
1797: John Ward’s son, Timothy, a Boston silversmith, becomes the Black Mask and battles a band of criminals.
1800: Arvad attempts to take over Arcadia and fails. He flees the Empyrean stronghold and attempts to make himself king of Lemuria. He succeeds in 1854 when he uses his mental powers to force the Bronze King to acknowledge his overlordship.
1818: Black Mask II is killed in action. The training of his son, Samuel, is taken over by his grandfather, the first Black Mask.
1822: Black Mask III debuts in Philadelphia. By now the legend has grown across the northeastern United States, and the first rumors of the immortality of the young nation’s hero begin to spread.
1850: Sherlock Holmes is born in London. He and his brother Mycroft are raised by roving gypsies after the death of their parents.
1852: John Watson is born in Coventry, England.
1853: Matthew Ward becomes Black Mask IV, at first operating out of Philadelphia.
1861-1865: The American Civil War. Matthew Ward, as Black Mask IV, fights alongside the Northern Army, while the mysterious Grey Ghost aids the Confederates.
1866: Captain Nemo launches the first submarine, called the Nautilus. He preys on illegal slave-traders heading across the Atlantic to South America.
Matthew Ward moves to Chicago and continues his adventures as the fourth Black Mask.
1867: Oceanus ascends to the throne of Atlantis after the death of his father.
1868: Sherlock Holmes is tutored in advanced mathematics by Professor James Moriarty, later to become the greatest criminal figure of Victorian England. Around this time, James Harmon I, ancestor of Defender, explores Africa and begins building the family fortune.
1871: James Lee Ward inherits the Black Mask upon his father’s death. He moves to Arizona and transplants the legend, acting as a vigilante lawman.
1872: Marvin Carr begins to act as Black Mask V’s sidekick.
1876: Black Mask V is killed by the notorious criminal Sidewinder in a shoot-out in Show Low, Arizona. Since James’s son Jason is only two, Marvin Carr becomes the sixth Black Mask and the first not to be part of the direct lineage.
1877: Sherlock Holmes opens his private “consulting” detective agency in London.
1878: Oceanus and Orana marry.
1879: The Empire Club, a private “Gentleman’s Social Club” for adventurers, explorers, and other daredevils, is founded in New York City.
1881: Sherlock Holmes and John Watson meet at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital during the case known as A Study In Scarlet.
1883: Dr. Henry Jekyll first uses the mysterious chemicals he discovered to become the monstrous Mr. Hyde.
1887: Sherlock Holmes encounters Dracula in Transylvania for the first time.
1888: Jack the Ripper terrorizes London. Sherlock Holmes is involved in the famous cases The Sign of the Four and The Hound of the Baskervilles.
1889: Adolf Hitler born in Braunau, Austria.
1890: Count Dracula terrorizes London, before he is destroyed by vampire-hunter Abraham Van Helsing and young Jonathan Harker.
1891: Sherlock Holmes pursues his nemesis Mori- arty to Switzerland, where they apparently both perish at Reichenbach Falls. In Moriarty’s absence, the Cabal rises to supremacy in the European underworld.
1892: Mycroft Holmes becomes the director of the British Secret Service. He is referred to only as “M” (as are his successors).
1894: Oceanus slays the traitor Gangar. Sherlock Holmes returns to London after traveling the world undercover.
1896: Marvin Carr retires as Black Mask VI. The mask is given back to Jason Ward, son of Black Mask V, who moves back to Chicago. For a time, his partner is Andrew Carr, Marvin’s own son.
1902: Sherlock Holmes is consulted by the police when a brilliant but deranged scientist named Griffin develops the power to become invisible and goes on a rampage in London.
1903: Sherlock Holmes retires from public life.
1908: A massive explosion occurs near Tunguska in northern Siberia. The exact nature of the explosion remains unknown, though it levels trees for miles around. Scientist later theorize that a comet or meteor struck the Earth.
1914: Gangar rebels against King Oceanus of Atlantis, and is slain, but a secret organization supporting his desire to conquer the surface world survives.
1917: Albert Zerstoiten is born in Bavaria.
1918: Corporal Adolf Hitler, serving on the Western Front in World War I, is temporarily blinded by mustard gas. While undergoing treatment, he has a vision that the Teutonic Gods have selected him for a great purpose, which he translates as restoring the purity of the Aryan people and bestowing on Germany the “Thousand-Year Reich.” He gives up his career in art and goes into politics, becoming a leader of the National Socialist Party after the war.
1920: Princess Mara (Sea Hawk) is born in Atlantis.
1922: Famed stage magician Max Pendragon begins using his real mystical powers to fight crime and evil in Vibora Bay and around the world.
1924: Orana dies. Oceanus, grief-stricken, refuses to remarry. Mara begins her formal schooling.
1925: The Satanic cult DEMON is founded. It commits the “Dog Day Murders” in Hell’s Kitchen, New York City, as part of a ritual, but is thwarted by two NYPD detectives and the masked mystery man Jack Fool.
1926: The Raven is first seen fighting crime on the streets of Hudson City.
1927: First appearance of the Raven’s partner, the Velvet Phantom, and his group of assistants, the Midnight Brigade.
1929: Black Mask VII dies, and the mask passes to his son, Jeffrey Layton Ward. Black Mask VIII operates in Chicago, but moves to Haynesville, Kansas when he joins the Defenders of Justice during World War II. James Harmon II, Defender’s grandfather, serves with Eliot Ness in the “Untouchables” in Chicago.
1936: Bill Jefferies declares his personal war on crime. He develops two alternate identities, the costumed avenger known as the Black Owl, and a common street thug called Lefty LeGrand. As LeGrand, he uncovers criminal activity that he then thwarts as the Black Owl.
1937: Oceanus is overthrown and killed by Dargon the Usurper, son of Gangar. Dargon tries to wed Mara, who instead escapes. She later befriends several “landers” and becomes known to the world as the heroine Sea Hawk after she rescues the crew of a sinking destroyer.
1938: On May 1, Arcane experiments conducted by the Nazi RSvKg cause the increase of ambient magical energy on Earth, thus making it possible for superhumans and superpowers to exist. Both Der Sturmvogel and Captain Patriot gain their powers.
Albert Zerstoiten is recruited to design weapons for Nazi Germany; within a few years he begins studying superhumans.
Robert MacDonald travels to Egypt. There, he encounters the mysterious ancient god Osiris, who grants him power over light and darkness.
In Yellowstone National Park, Harrison Chase finds a mysterious rock that gives him fantastic powers when he’s in direct contact with it.
In October, Earth is invaded by aliens (thought to be Martians) who first land at Grover’s Mill, New Jersey. A majority of the New York- area crimefighters team together to defeat the alien tripods. Optimus, Cowboy, Dr. Twilight, and Sea Hawk form the Defenders of Justice.
1939: World War II begins. Lemuria secretly allies itself with the Axis. Its efforts have relatively little effect on the war, though it does control the Persian Gulf for its allies until forced to retreat in 1943.
1940: The Japanese sorceror called Iron Father works with the RSvKg to cast a series of spells protecting the Axis countries. Superpowered enemies of the Axis are unable to enter these nations’ borders without succumbing to a “mystical weakness,” losing their powers and eventually falling into comas.
1941: The Haynesville Project, the top-secret government program to study and employ superhuman powers, begins. The Defenders of Justice officially join the Army, along with several solo heroes, and are divided into two separate teams: the Defenders, who protect the homefront; and the Freedom Battalion, who fight overseas (and are mostly made up of the sneakier mystery men and professional soldiers on the team).
Pearl Harbor is attacked by the Japanese, drawing America into World War II.
1942: The first Russian superhero, General Winter, appears.
The original Justice Squadron is founded by the Drifter to stop an attempted Lemurian invasion of California; it becomes inactive after the war.
1943: James Harmon III, father of Defender, becomes a US Army Ranger, and earns the Congressional Medal of Honor for his valorous conduct during the War. After hostilities cease, he becomes an industrialist and quintuples the family’s already considerable fortune.
1944: Albert Zerstoiten betrays his Nazi colleagues to the Allies.
The monstrous Mardoom-Thah emerges from his tomb under the Antarctic ice; the original Justice Squadron battles and eventually re-imprisons him.
1945: Albert Zerstoiten betrays his allies in the French underground to the Wehrmacht. Later that year he’s recruited to come to America to design weapons for the United States military.
1948: The Haynesville Project officially closes its doors.
The Defenders of Justice formally disband.
Princess Mara and Drake Wilson divorce. Wilson returns to the surface world and goes to work for the United Nations, later helping sculpt UNTIL into its modern form.
1949: Despising the Communists in China, the powerful sorcerer Dr. Yin Wu moves to San Francisco, adopting the identity of an art dealer and importer while working to restore the China he’s known and loved for centuries. He later moves back to China, secluding himself in his castle.
Albert Zerstoiten murders several of his American colleagues and flees to his secret estate in South America.
1953: Black Mask VIII retires.
Shenandoah becomes the first superhero to endorse a product in an advertising campaign.
The British government establishes Bureau S to study the country’s superhuman resources (and threats).
1954: Thirty evil men and women come together, swear an oath on the Serpent Lantern never to betray one another, and form VIPER.
Etienne Ste. Germaine begins a comprehensive study of superpowers for the United Nations.
1955: Mexican wrestler El Espectro receives his magical silver mask and begins combating supernatural evil while defending his heavy- weight title.
1956: David Matthew Ward becomes Black Mask IX, while working full time during the day as a Chicago policeman.
MeteorMan II makes his first appearance.
1958: Preston Angel II founds Angelstone Laboratories, a think tank which will become known for its research and consulting work concerning superhumans and the Super- human World.
1959: Five Americans, entering space in a home-made rocketship to protect Earth from a comet, are exposed to strange radiation and transformed into the Fabulous Five.
An alien artifact transforms Jeffrey Sinclair into Vanguard, who as of 2010 is still considered the most powerful superhero to ever exist.
1960: Princess Mara remarries, this time to Andros, Subchieftain of the Moray barbarian tribe.
1961: The Sentinels form when the malevolent computer Ultivac attempts to take over the world. The original lineup is MeteorMan II, Dr. Phantom, Microman, Beowulf, and Rocketman.
1962: On August 22, “Green Monday,” VIPER announces its existence to the world by killing dozens of underworld, political, and industrial figures in carefully-staged attacks.
When Bram McFarlan traps the Drifter in another dimension so he (McFarlan) can revive Mardoom-Thah, the Drifter astrally alerts Vanguard to the threat and persuades him to form a new Justice Squadron to stop it.
1963: Teen hero The Hornet begins his star-crossed career.
The Sentinels smash DEMON’s Redbrood Demonhame in New York City.
The UN establishes a commission, the Tribunal on International Law, to study superhumans and related issues.
1964: Revenger travels to the Moon and conquers the Selenites.
The dark god Kigatilik breaks free from his icy prison in Canada.
1965: Earth is invaded by the alien Qularr, who attempt to use giant monsters from alien worlds as weapons against it. Tokyo is nearly destroyed for the first time. After several attempts at conquest, the Qularr are finally defeated and driven from Earth’s solar system, though several of their monsters remain on Earth (most confined to the research facility on Monster Island).
The original lineup of the Sentinels breaks up. The Fabulous Five discover Thaar, home of the Birdpeople.
UNTIL is created by UN treaty — a treaty not signed by the United States, which refuses to allow UNTIL agents to operate within its territory.
1966: In Great Britain, Bureau S becomes the Ministry of Superhuman Affairs, a publicly-acknowledged branch of government responsible for protecting British citizens from superhuman threats.
Etienne Ste. Germaine retires, leaving his daughter Yvette as the head of his UNTIL- sponsored research project on superhuman powers.
UNTIL’s submarine the Njord battles the supervillain Typhoon, forcing him to abort a planned attack on Africa.
The Golden Gladiator defeats the Sentinels in New York City. He steals nothing and is never seen again.
The Fabulous Five attack Arcadia because they think it’s a Lemurian stronghold. When they discover their mistake, modern superheroes learn about the Empyreans.
UNTIL and the Sentinels defeat a Lemurian invasion of the surface world.
1967: The People’s Republic of China establishes its own government superteam, the Tiger Squad.
The Fabulous Five thwart a second invasion attempt by the “Martians” of 1938, who are revealed to actually be from a planet in the Sirius system.
1968: The Iroquois superhero called Rainmaker makes his public debut.
Steel Shark, an Atlantean rebel and supervillain, temporarily seizes control of the Atlantean army and attacks Florida. He’s narrowly defeated by the Sentinels, the Fabulous Five, and Queen Mara.
VIPER attempts to conquer the US in “Operation Coil,” but is defeated thanks to some Detroit superheroes.
DEMON steals the Basilisk Orb and becomes regarded by the world as a significant superhuman threat.
UNTIL and the Sentinels disrupt a major DEMON ritual in the Caroline Islands.
Brin Rei Tarn, of the planet Dendris, becomes the first Star*Guard assigned to protect Earth’s sector of space from galactic threats. He establishes a base on Jupiter’s moon Europa, and then comes to Earth regularly, where he becomes an unofficial member of the Sentinels.
The Soviet Union establishes the People’s Legion, its official superteam. The Legion disintegrates in the late Eighties as the Soviet Union itself crumbles.
Mega-Terak escapes Monster Island and attacks Tokyo.
1969: Peter Renton, son of Amazing Man and Siren of the Fabulous Five, eventually to become the second Amazing Man, is born.
The United States reveals its first “official” superhuman, the All-American.
The Cryptonauts leave on an expedition to an alternate dimension and never return.
1970: The Fabulous Five free the Selenites on the Moon, defeating Revenger who dies in a cave-in. Amazing Man and Siren retire from the team and are replaced by Kestrel and Scirocco.
The Outcasts, a team of misfit superheroes, forms in Vibora Bay.
1971: The Ministry of Superhuman Affairs sponsors the creation of the New Knights of the Round Table, Britain’s official superteam.
The Lemurians attack Derbent on the Caspian Sea in an effort to capture an ancient Lemurian weapon, the Lunal-Kinesis Projector. The Soviet Army and the People’s Legion eventually drive them away, but they disassemble the weapon and take it back to Lemuria.
Sea King teams up with UNTIL’s Njord submarine and her crew to defeat Electric Eel and his pirates.
1972: Jennifer Anne Ward (Black Mask X) is born.
The Sentinels spend several months involved in an intergalactic war and are believed dead by the general public.
Dr. Yvette Ste. Germaine leaves UNTIL and founds L’Institut Thoth, a think tank and research laboratory devoted to the study of all aspects of “paraphysics.”
The United States Department of Defense issues its first Superhuman Survey.
The Speed Demon, a demonically-possessed trucker, begins fighting crime in and around Vibora Bay.
David Farquar begins the newsletter that will eventually become SuperWorld Magazine.
1973: The Mandaarians, an enigmatic alien species, first visit Earth as peaceful explorers. Later visits occur in 1979, 1984, 1991, and 1999.
The Peacekeepers superhero team is founded in Chicago.
1974: James Harmon IV (Defender) is born.
Brendan Grant (Kinetik) is born.
Bethany (Witchcraft) and Pamela (Talisman) Duquesne are born.
The Advanced Research Group is founded as a corporation.
The GRU assassinates the American superhero Ricochet in Paris while he’s on an assignment for the CIA.
1975: Dr. Destroyer first appears. His attempt to conquer California and the world is narrowly defeated by a large group of superhumans; Kid Chameleon and Ocelot are killed.
David Ward’s wife, Sharon, dies. David never remarries, and since he has no son, assumes the Mask will either pass to another family or the legend will end with him.
The Mighty Canadians sacrifice all of themselves (except Celestar) to seal the dark god Kigatilik in the Frost Tomb, an ice dimension.
Mark Whitaker (Nighthawk) is born in Detroit. Kenji Hayashida (Shugoshin) born in Japan.
1976: Queen Mara’s twins, Prince Marus and Princess Thalassa of Atlantis, are born.
Dr. Charles Wildman proposes the creation of Stronghold to Congress.
1977: The Gadroon attempt to conquer Earth and are driven off by a force of Earth’s superhumans that includes many supervillains (Dr. Destroyer among them).
The Department of Defense’s Project Yeoman succeeds, transforming six Navy SEALs into superhumans who are then formed into the team Ameriforce One.
UNTIL’s submarine the Njord is destroyed in battle against Dr. Destroyer as it prevents him from building an undersea base in the Pacific off the coast of the Soviet Union.
1978: The United States completes the construction of Stronghold, the world’s first prison designed solely to contain superhuman criminals.
A mishap with the test of the Delta Bomb transforms the White Sands, New Mexico region into the irradiated area now known as Burning Sands.
Canada establishes an official superteam, the Northern Guard.
Great Britain passes a law concerning the registration of superhumans.
Scirocco succumbs to mental illness and becomes a supervillainness.
Dark Seraph first appears.
1979: General Lorenco João Garrastazu e Silva takes power in Chíquador.
VIPER teams with Dr. Destroyer to mind- control the world’s leaders in “Operation Oroborous”; when Destroyer betrays the snakes and the Serpent Lantern is lost in the ensuing fight, VIPER swears eternal enmity against him.
Archimago casts the Zodiac Working, but his scheme is disrupted by the Fabulous Five.
The Slug appears, and nearly succeeds in trans- forming everyone in New York City into Elder Worms.
The Fabulous Five disbands; Diamond becomes a member of the Sentinels.
1980: The Advanced Research Group changes its name to the Advanced Research Group Enterprises (ARGENT) as a marketing ploy.
Following an attempt by Dr. Destroyer to conquer the United States using several supervillains (including his minions Menton and Mentalla) as pawns, Congress passes the American Superhuman and Paranormal Registration Act.
UNTIL builds the Guardhouse, its equivalent of Stronghold, on a small island in the North Atlantic.
1981: The gorilla who will be known as Dr. Silver- back is captured by mercenary animal traders in Rwanda and sold to Dr. Phillippe Moreau.
MeteorMan II defeats Dr. Macabre and retires; Macabre’s Janus Key is put in secure storage in Stronghold but in 1993 is discovered to have disappeared.
Corazon Valenzuela (Sapphire) is born in Los Angeles.
DEMON lures four superheroes and several UNTIL officers into an ambush in Lagos, Nigeria, slaughtering them all as a sacrifice to dark underworld gods.
The first Northern Guard team splits up. Scandal rocks the New Knights of the Round Table, significantly diminishing the group’s reputation.
1982: Don “Captain Patriot” Randall dies of a heart attack.
Annette Berkelheimer founds the Institute for Human Advancement (IHA) to champion the cause of “true humans” over mutants and superhumans.
1983: ARGENT is exposed as a criminal organization; its leaders flee the United States.
All members of Ameriforce One, the United States’s superhuman SEAL team, are killed when a Soviet sub they are trying to recover explodes.
Gyrfalcon, a villainous Birdman of Thaar, is killed in battle with UNTIL agents.
Danar Nicole quits the European Parliament in disgust, undergoes the treatments that transform him into the villainous Fiacho, and begins forming Eurostar.
1984: Dr. Phillippe Moreau’s experiments in “genetic advancement” have their first, accidental success when he grants superhuman intelligence to the gorilla who will become Dr. Silverback.
From March 30 to June 24, Dr. Destroyer rules Earth thanks to his mind-control satellite weapons. But when he goes too far and orders Vanguard to destroy the Statue of Liberty, Vanguard snaps and singlehandedly defeats him in battle in the skies above Washington, D.C.
Doctor Sebastian Poe founds the Parapsychological Studies Institute (PSI) to study super- human phenomena.
The second Gadroon invasion is easily defeated. A rogue Selenite uses Revenger’s leftover technology to threaten the Earth with nuclear devastation but is defeated by MeteorMan.
Canada forms a second Northern Guard.
UNTIL launches its second mega-submarine, the Aegir.
1985: Mechanon first appears, attempts to destroy humanity with America’s nuclear arsenal, and is defeated by the Sentinels.
Doctor Silverback is rescued from Professor Moreau’s labs by the New Knights of the Round Table. He is taken in by Dr. Dina Morrison and other employees of Cambridge Biochemical Labs.
Canada passes the Superhuman Sponsorship Act, requiring Canadian superheroes to register with the government.
Mega-Terak escapes Monster Island and attacks Osaka.
The Secret Crisis, a war across space and time involving almost all of the heroes that had ever existed, or ever would exist, occurs.
1986: The United States government founds PRIMUS, an anti-supercrime law enforcement agency roughly equivalent to UNTIL.
Stronghold incorporates “hot sleep” technology to restrain its most dangerous inmates.
Mechanon attacks, and destroys, Sentinel Island. A terrible accident creates the monstrous Grond.
In Boston, VIPER helps the Justice Squadron defeat DEMON in the “Demonflame Incident,” creating a state of war between the two organizations that exists to this day.
The French government passes a law requiring the registration of superhumans.
Thomas Cassidy founds SNN, the Super News Network.
The United States creates the Department of Superhuman and Paranormal Affairs (DOSPA).
Blitzkreg is formed in New Orleans. This group is short lived as several members drop from the group to become a super villian group. Lead by Inventor the group takes over Zimbaway.
Satin a high-level member of VIPER stationed in New Orleans is defeated by Bliztkreg and sent to hell by their wizard.
1987: In a landmark ruling for nonhuman intelligences on Earth, Dr. Silverback wins his independence and legal status as a citizen of the British government.
Takofanes the Undying Lord arises in Oklahoma and begins marching toward the East Coast. After he kills several superheroes who try to stop him at the Mississippi River, a larger group of superheroes bands together to defeat him in eastern Kentucky.
Kigatilik summons the demon Tilingkoot, who teams with the villain Roi D’Hiver to create a “Black Winter” in Quebec. The two are ultimately defeated by Hivernant and Le Fort.
After her father Prince Andros of Atlantis dies in an accident, Princess Thalassa of Atlantis slays the court advisor Ikthos and becomes the supervillainess Stingray.
1988: David Ward (Black Mask IX) retires from adventuring and becomes Police Commissioner of Chicago.
The Chaos-Beast and his horde of reality- warping demonic beings attempt to invade the Earth and are defeated by the Justice Squadron.
Doctor Destroyer threatens to eliminate 90% of humanity with death-ray satellites but is eventually found and defeated by several superhero teams working together.
UNTIL founds its own official superteam, UNITY.
Eurostar first appears, releasing its Eurostar Manifesto as a statement of intent.
The New Knights of the Round Table stop an attack by Samhain, thereby restoring themselves to the public’s good graces.
The light-manipulating Canadian master villain Borealis first appears.
Blitzkreq is disbanded and replaced with The Sentinals of New Orleans. The Senitnals of New Orleans is formed by Mayor Ernst N. Morial ("Dutch"), Tom Benson (Majority owner of The Saints (NFL) and The Pelicans (NBA), and Superintendant of New Orleans Police department Warren Woodfork Sr. The original members are Baracuda, Black Hawk, Esoteric, Guardian Angel, Thought Lash, Trail Blazer, Tangent, and Vector. The supercomputer created to help the team evolves into the AI known as Sentinal.
1989: Kristina Pelvanen, formerly the super-heroine Rowan, founds the Ravenswood Academy, nominally an ordinary (if highly exclusive) private school, but secretly intended primarily to train young superhumans in the proper use of their abilities.
Trail Blazer of The Sentinals of New Orleans passes away in a blaze of glory while chasing a group of VIPER agents. He is replaced by Tazer.
Mechanon clashes with the Liberty League in Philadelphia, killing the superheroine Lightspeed.
Binder encounters Blackstar when they both try to rob the same jewelry store; they team up and found the Ultimates.
The Monster first appears, slaying the St. Louis superheroine Briquette.
Miami’s superteam the Watch forms.
The second Northern Guard team splits up.
Satin re-appears in the New Orleans area and takes over the VIPER Nest there. She moves it out in to the 'countryside' outside of New Orleans and begins developing her own team of 'paranormals'. This team called VIPER Spectrum is based off the visible colors of light.
1990: Star*Guard Brin Rei Tarn is slain by the renegade Star*Guard Mordace. His replacement is the first human Star*Guard, Andre Almena.
Doctor Destroyer and Mechanon begin a war sparked by Mechanon’s demand that Destroyer free his artificially intelligent computers. Battles occur all over the world, with a final, inconclusive, confrontation in Ankara, Turkey that wreaks havoc on the city.
Juan Martinez retires as Secretary-Marshal of UNTIL and is replaced by Wilhelm Carl Eckhardt.
The Great Stronghold Breakout occurs due to a series of unfortunate mishaps.
The Cottonmouth Incident: Authorities capture the VIPER supervillain Cottonmouth, who reveals much
of the inner workings of the organization before being assassinated by his former employers.
1991: Doctor Destroyer launches his artificial island, Destruga, in an attempt to gain statehood. When that scheme fails, he turns toward Hawaii, but is defeated by the combined might of the United States military and American superheroes.
The California Patrol, an informal team of West Coast heroes, is founded.
The German government passes a law requiring the registration of superhumans.
VIPER creates the Dragon Branch, its own “team” of supervillains.
1992: July 23 — The “Battle of Detroit”: Dr. Destroyer is killed battling Earth’s superheroes but activates a device that destroys most of Detroit. Later that year, the American government, several major corporations, and numerous charitable foundations form the Millennium Project to rebuild the city.
1993: As a response to public outcry over the destruction of Detroit, the United States signs the Tribunal Treaty, allowing UNTIL agents to operate freely in American territory.
Eurostar launches an invasion of Poland with an army of cloned soldiers created by Teleios, the Perfect Man. Teleios’s existence is revealed to the world in the aftermath of the thwarted attack.
Borealis attacks a NATO installation but is defeated by the Vancouver superhero team SUNDER and imprisoned.
UNTIL founds its undersea base in the Atlantic, Nautilus.
Doctor Macabre dies in prison; the Janus Key and his other mystical artifacts are discovered to have vanished from secure storage.
Black Paladin first appears.
Foxbat first appears and attempts to steal the Empire State Building.
Three former UNTIL agents found Executive Control Solutions, a security firm that eventually comes to specialize in anti-supervillain security.
1994: Dr. Silverback moves to Millennium City to work at the American headquarters of Cambridge Biochem.
Takofanes the Archlich attacks Vibora Bay, but is driven away by Dr. Scarab, who sacrifices his life to defeat the undead sorcerer. Doctor Ka moves to the Queen City to take up Dr. Scarab’s role as a mystic crimefighter there.
The Justice Squadron thwarts an ARGENT- sponsored coup in Guamanga.
The Warlord first appears and attempts to conquer Vietnam.
VIPER threatens the world with bioweapons in “Operation Fever Dream,” but is defeated by superheroes.
The third Gadroon invasion attempt lands in Canada but is defeated by several heroes who team up to form the third Northern Guard.
The Monster-Master takes control of Monster Island’s giant monsters and teleports them to New York City but is eventually defeated by several teams of superheroes.
Kristine Griswold gains solar energy powers and becomes the superheroine Victory, working for the United States Air Force.
Project Sunburst takes place.
Annette Berkelheimer dies and is replaced as the leader of the IHA by Archer Samuels.
PSI is revealed to be a criminal organization employing supervillains with psionic powers.
1995: Li Chun the Destroyer appears in China. After defeating the Tiger Squad in a two-day running battle, he mysteriously disappears.
The United States Army initiates “Project Greenskin” in an attempt to take control of the supervillain Grond; the project fails, leading to a destructive rampage by Grond and the deaths of most of the scientists involved.
The supervillain Ankylosaur first appears after stealing his now-infamous suit of powered armor from UNTIL.
Joseph Otanga seizes power and declares himself President-for-Life of Lugendu.
The FBI completes the Stalwart powered armor suit, thus giving it an official superhero to supplement its Hostage Rescue Teams.
Anderson Powell, who formerly fought crime in New York City as the growing hero Titan, founds Bastion Alpha Security, which beginning in 2001 provides clients with security personnel who possess low-level superhuman abilities.
1996: Jennifer Anne Ward, now a private investigator in Vibora Bay, adopts the identity of Black Mask X, against her father’s wishes (at least at first).
UNTIL completes the construction of its GATEWAY space station, mankind’s first large, permanently manned facility in space.
The “VIPER-Eurostar War” begins in Europe and lasts until 1998.
The first known kelvarite meteorite crashes to Earth, in western Kentucky.
1997: Los Defensores de Méjico (the Mexican Defenders), a Mexican superhero team, disintegrates when several members are implicated in a corruption scandal.
Nightwind begins fighting crime in the still-under-construction Millennium City.
Taipan makes his first appearance, murdering three superheroes and two civilians in Melbourne.
Following the death of his daughter in a New York City superbattle, Senator Phillip Glassman becomes an ardent campaigner against superhumans and a supporter of the IHA.
Black Rose and Amazing Man II re-organize the Sentinels; MeteorMan III chooses to retire from the team.
Daniel James Johnson becomes the Golden Avenger of PRIMUS, succeeding Robert Kaufman.
1998: Canada’s latest attempt to establish the Northern Guard, a team of official heroes, fails as the team votes to dissolve itself. The RCMP forms the “Steelhead Branch” to deal with superhuman threats.
Istvatha V’han first attempts, and fails, to conquer Earth’s dimension.
Scorpia and Feuermacher murder Professor Muerte, loot and destroy his facilities, and defect from Terror, Inc. to join Eurostar.
The United States Department of Defense reveals Janissary, a superhuman soldier it has succeeded in creating. A program is begun to test the feasibility of creating more super-human soldiers.
Thomas Cassidy launches the SNN Sidekick television network.
1999: Late this year, the rebuilding of Detroit is substantially completed, and the new metropolis is christened Millennium City.
Mechanon kidnaps the Mechanic, leader of the Liberty League, but is found and defeated by the League before it (Mechanon) can dissect him.
Defender becomes a part-time superhero in New York City.
Sapphire’s mutant powers manifest.
Mark Whitaker (Nighthawk) is injured in a VIPER attack on Millennium City University; inspired by the event, he becomes a crimefighter.
A lab accident gives Brendan Grant super-powers, and he becomes Kinetik.
Baron Nihil is somehow released from his extradimensional prison.
Shugoshin receives his Spirit Swords and begins his crimefighting career in San Francisco.
The San Francisco-based Freedom Patrol suffers a major defeat at the hands of ARGENT.
Canada builds Stronghold North to hold its captured supercriminals. Borealis becomes its first resident in 2001.
Grand Cienelago Island, a secret resort for superheroes, opens.
2000: Dark Seraph and the Crowns of Krim steal a valuable book from a Paris Museum, in the process killing 43 UNTIL agents and the French superhero Skydragon.
Taipian attempts to assassinate the Peacekeepers, is defeated, and is placed in “hot sleep” in an Australian super-prison designed solely to hold him (and known as “House Taipan”).
A number of genetic monstrosities found wandering in the Canadian wilderness are linked to Teleios.
Russkiye Zashchitniki (“The Russian Defenders”), an informal superhero team, forms in Moscow.
Eclipsar first appears, blotting out the sun over all of South and Central America and killing thousands before being stopped by several hero teams and UNTIL and incarcerated in the Guardhouse.
Mechanon’s first clash with the supervillainess Gravitar.
UNTIL establishes Moonbase Serenity.
2001: Defender moves to Millennium City and founds the Champions. Sapphire and Nighthawk join soon thereafter; Ironclad arrives on Earth and joins the group as well. Witchcraft joins the group late in the year after the four heroes have a nigh-disastrous encounter with Takofanes on Halloween.
The Binary Corporation presents Binary Man, its official corporate superhero and representative, to the world. Binary Man begins fighting crime and performing heroic deeds.
Firewing comes to Earth to challenge its super- humans to combat.
A disgruntled guard releases Grond from hot sleep in Stronghold, but the monster smashes his way out without causing a general breakout.
An attack by a Teleios-bred monster in upper New York state causes the Justice Squadron to cross into Canada without permission, sparking a battle with the Canadian hero team StarForce.
2002: Doctor Destroyer returns to the world, wielding new powers of shadow and magic.
Firewing battles Hyperion in London; the fight ends inconclusively but results in significant property destruction.
Mechanon tests his newest robotic body by fighting the Champions and several independent heroes in Millennium City.
One of the victims of Project Sunburst awakens and becomes the master villain Sunburst.
The French superhero Incendie moves to Quebec to avoid complying with his homeland’s strict superhero registration law.
Captain Chronos first appears to the modern era.
Doctor Destroyer attacks the island of Java for reasons unknown.
2003: The shrunken monster Cazulon returns to normal size and attacks Millennium City, wreaking havoc before the hero Microman re-shrinks him.
Doctor Destroyer attacks southern India for two months, then mysteriously vanishes from the battlefield along with most of his mystical devices and followers.
Black Paladin attempts to resurrect his lover, the witch Chantal, but the Champions disrupt his plan, defeat him, and send him to Stronghold.
Khusor the Crooked and his followers rebel against King Arvad of Lemuria, in the process regaining their reptilian forms and shapechanging powers.
The Slug attacks London, succeeding in transforming tens of thousands of people into Elder Worm before the New Knights of the Round Table barely manage to thwart his plan and undo the transformation ritual.
An extradimensional “energy blob” attacks Millennium City until lured home by a beacon created by the Champions and Dr. Silverback.
Mechanon’s second clash with Gravitar takes place in Millennium City.
A South American villain team, Los Aplastantores (“the Crushers”) attacks Washington DC and nearly destroys the Lincoln Memorial but is stopped by the Sentinels.
La Bruma forms the Hero Corps in Houston. Walkabout, Brigade, Harrier, and the Wanambi Man team up to defeat the extradimensional fiend Marmoo’s attack on Sydney.
Interface first appears, launching several planned attacks to gather data on superheroes so he can analyze their weaknesses and defeat him, but is himself defeated and sent to Stronghold.
UNTIL prevents the Widdershins Man, a DEMON Morbane, from summoning a powerful fire-demon in Bavaria.
Software billionaire Horatio Goodman founds the Goodman Institute, a privately-funded organization that provides scientific assistance to superheroes.
2004: Renegade scientist Dr. Timothy Blank breaks away from VIPER, transforms himself into the master villain King Cobra, founds COIL, and attacks Millennium City with his Ophidian Plague. Only some fast and clever crimefighting by the Champions saves the city.
The Champions join the heroes of another dimension to fight villains from both planes in the “Reality Storm.” A new team, the Millennium City 8, forms to protect the City of the Future in the Champions’ absence.
The Peacekeepers smash a major Chicago VIPER’s Nest and capture two members of Dragon Branch, Verity and Whipsnake.
Kinematik first appears; he attacks the Guard- house, freeing four mutant supervillains.
The shapeshifting Russian hero Taiga is killed during a battle between his team (Russkiye Zashchitniki, the Russian Defenders) and Eurostar.
Utility lures the Champions into a deathtrap- filled warehouse and nearly defeats them, but his overconfidence gets the better of him and they’re able to defeat him.
The United States invades Costa Azúl and overthrows dictator Enrique Pineda.
Obelisque attempts to break out of the Guardhouse, causing a temporary power outage that allows several other inmates, including Eclipsar, to escape.
2005: Menton is captured after he attempts to get himself elected President of Guamanga as a stepping-stone to world conquest.
Borealis escapes from Stronghold North.
Defender agrees to go on a date with Gravitar to prevent her from destroying Seattle.
Henry Grant “receives” the Hercules Force and becomes the second Johnny Hercules.
Well-liked supervillainess Lady Blue ends her two-year romantic relationship with rock star Jimmy Caxton.
Dr. Ka and the Champions prevent the supervillain Anubis from summoning the evil Egyptian god Set to Vibora Bay.
PSI splits apart, with factions of the organization fighting one another while the Champions try to control the crisis. Several members of the organization die; the rest flee to find other underworld opportunities.
UNTIL captures Zephyr, but she later escapes when the power-draining technology in her prisoner transport malfunctions.
Witchcraft battles Talisman at Millennium City University and tricks her evil twin sister into lifting the Curse of Frigid Despair she’d placed on Witchcraft years before.
While visiting Berlin, Ironclad ends up drinking in the same bar as Durak. The two get into a barfight that destroys three city blocks; in the end, Ironclad trounces Durak, but the supervillain escapes.
DEMON murders Major Violette Boudreau, head of UNTIL’s Project Hermes.
Los Ángeles de la Guarda (“the Guardian Angels”) deal VIPER a major defeat in Mexico.
The Bay Guardians clash with and defeat the Devil’s Advocates in San Francisco.
While on a mission in Iraq with several other heroes, the Janissary is killed by the Iraqi villain Turs al-Sh’ab.
Hurricane Katrina floods parts of New Orleans, and devastates the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Members of The Sentinals were pivotal in helping to save lives, mostly by assisting the Coast Guard, the NOPD, and the NOFD. The team spent time afterwards talking about the ‘real’ heroes, those that worked to save lives and property without the use of superpowers. Every single member of Sentinal who was alive and on earth, even some of the very first heroes, returned to rescue and save as many lives as possible. But they refused to take any credit, saying that the real heroes were the Coast Guard and the other people who risked their lives to save others. Whiz Kid returned from college to assist in the efforts
2006: Nighthawk leaves the Champions, to be replaced by Kinetik.
The Cirque Sinister terrorizes Vibora Bay by using the Janus Key to remake reality in the city; in the wake of the villain team’s defeat the Key is once again lost.
The Slug attacks Millennium City in an attempt to transform its residents into Elder Worms but is defeated by the Champions.
Valak the World-Ravager attacks Earth and is defeated by Star*Guard and the Sentinels then imprisoned in Stronghold in hot sleep.
Doctor Destroyer launches Destruga II and tries to mind control the world, but is eventually defeated by an enormous, combined force of superheroes and the American and Australian militaries.
Dweomer, Witchcraft, and several other mystics team up to defeat DEMON’s “Satan Furnace” plot to taint Earth’s arcane energies.
Foxbatpalooza takes place at a Millennium City stadium when Foxbat makes his rock ’n’ roll debut onstage.
Mechanon attacks Millennium City with a fifty foot-tall version of itself.
Takofanes, the Crowns of Krim, and several superheroes fight a three-way battle in Salem, Massachusetts on Halloween.
Gravitar attacks Washington, DC by lifting the Capitol 500 feet into the air and holding the United States for ransom but is defeated by the Justice Squadron and Capital Patrol with no loss of life.
A large chunk of kelvarite falls to Earth in Africa and is recovered by UNTIL.
The Slug attacks the southern India city of Nandyal and a nearby archaeological dig.
The Warlord battles Tetsuronin to a standstill in Tokyo.
The United States launches the United States Space Station, a large, permanently-inhabited scientific and monitoring station orbiting Earth above Florida.
Arialis and the princess returned to the planet as they had gathered and returned magic to her knights and knowledge about the treachery that first resulted in the supposed betrayal that was not. They had a long war to fight to regain the throne.
Tamara resigned from leadership as one of her mother's enemies tried to use a school of preschoolers to kill her child. (It is believed her son died in childbirth.) Tamara, Brina, Transit, Vixens, Black Leather and another masked young man rescued the children with no harm to them. The man calling himself Annihilation died at Tamara's hands after the children were safe and out of sight. This attack on children when her daughter was not even enrolled there made the decision an easy one to save the life of others.
Black Leather, the teleporting motorcycle man, helps Tamara for the most part, staying around for a period of several years and making quite a name for himself, but always in the shadow of the Sentinals of New Orleans team before he retired, last seen motoring out of town on his Harley.
End of 2006 and first part of 2007 Transit formed the company that would produce Transit pads. He and his partner/son, Tommy, are working out the kinks. This company becomes one of the financiers of The Sentinals of New Orleans.
2007: The Champions fight Dr. Destroyer and some of his Shadow Colossi in Canada.
The Warlord and Firewing fight a duel that ends in a draw.
Baron Nihil murders Red Ensign III.
Doctor Destroyer attempts to kidnap Chicago occult expert Ken Haight but is thwarted by the Peacekeepers.
Tezcatlipoca attacks Texas but is eventually defeated when several superteams and PRIMUS distract him long enough for mystics to sever the binding-spell that kept him on Earth.
Kinematik attacks Washington, DC because he considers the US government anti-mutant; several monuments are damaged before the Capital Patrol and the All-American drive him away.
Professor Paradigm and the Paradigm Pirates first appear, attempting to “uncover reality” in San Francisco and nearly driving the entire city mad before being stopped by a motley assortment of superheroes.
Turs al-Sh’ab is badly injured in a fight with several American heroes and soldiers.
Istvatha V’han again attempts to conquer Earth’s dimension and is again repulsed by Earth’s superhumans.
2008: Mechanon attempts to convert all organic life on Earth to machinery with a nanotechnological weapon, but the Champions thwart its scheme.
Radium leaves the Ultimates to join Sunburst’s team; Binder replaces him with the supervillain Orion.
VIPER helps Dr. Philippe Moreau relocate his laboratory and equipment to Monster Island.
The Gadroon attempt to invade Earth for a fourth time and manage to create a beach-head in the Canadian wilderness.
Brina took over leadership of Sentinals of New Orleans. Vixen is still a member though she has gone to Korea and Japan and is much more self-sufficient. She has learned to bud more Vixen's and especially loves learning all she can about humans. She has a den off in the wilds of the bayou known to Sentinal and a few others.
The US military learns of the spectacular reality of the danger room and begins negotiations with Sentinal to reproduce that technology for use by all its branches for combat training.
Dr, Destroyer made another bid to take over the world, but this time Vixen managed to get to him and he was hurt before he managed to escape with his life. He has laid low for a long time to recover. This was a multi-team attack on Destroyer's base. Most of his followers were captured. A great amount of his technology and personal funds were found, frozen and this crippled him as much as Vixens' damage.
2009: The second Great Stronghold Breakout erupts when Menton somehow is released from hot sleep and takes control of the prison, resulting in the release of over five dozen inmates.
Mechanon attempts to take over Silicon Valley but is defeated by the Champions and the Freedom Patrol.
Professor Paradigm and the Paradigm Pirates cause the artwork in several New York City museums to come to life and attack people but are driven off by the Sentinels.
Psimon re-forms PSI.
The Qularr invade Earth again but are driven back by humanity’s superheroes.
Takofanes unleashes the “Blood Moon” on Millennium City, animating the heroes who died during the Battle of Detroit as fearsome superpowered zombies.
The renegade Star*Guard Mordace attacks Odrugar, home of the Star*Guard, and damages the Guard’s super-computer CONTROL, seriously weakening the organization.
2010: The Sentinals begin selling some technology to the military for use in training. This begins to allow the Sentinals to become a bit more self-sufficient, and therefore, less costly to the city and state. The ‘major’ bit of tech sold was the danger room technology.
2012: First ‘mass market’ attempt to sell “Transit Pads”. These pads finally begin to work for other than just The Sentinals. At first, this technology was not widely trusted, but Sci-Fi fans flocked to them, and several sets are ordered for use at the Sci-Fi conventions, thus seen by many as just a novelty.
2015: Transit Pads used in New Orleans by ‘regular’ folks after exhaustive testing by the government shows that there are no known or testable side effects by their use. Testing begins to use Transit Pads to transport goods that cannot move on their own.
2020: Transit Pads installed in most major metropolitan areas. They are used to supplement the existing mass transit systems. They are shown to be more ‘eco-friendly’ than the use of internal combustion engines.
2021: Fuel Cell vehicles are first produced. Their cost is high due to fact that the technology is still early but proven.
2022: First trials of a ‘long’ distance transit pad begins.
2023: First Micro Fuel Cell rocket launched.
December 19: Man returns to the Moon in a vehicle assembled at the ISS.
2024: June 30: Moon base construction begins.
2025: The ISS (International Space Station) doubles in size. This allows it to function as a scientific research center and a space craft construction yard.
Fuel Cell vehicles are finally mass produced due to fact that cost of production and demand allow them to fall within a normal consumer’s purchasing power.
May 30: The first successful use of Transit Pads to transport goods occurred.
July 5: First city-to-city Transit Pad, over 100 miles, finally achieved. These pads are limited to a single person per five-minute reset time. Talks begin to have Transit Pads installed in existing Airport terminals as the safety and security measures are already in place.
2027: December 10: First moon base becomes operational, and mining begins as the moon base expands. Production started on the first ‘all space’ built space craft.
2028:
2029: April 7: The ISS (International Space Ship) Enterprise is completed at the Moon Base and begins its ‘space’ trials.
2030: January 1: Current Date
[Much of the text above is taken from Champions Universe pages 18-30. Champions Universe is published by Hero Games. Other is 'world specific' to Champions United!]