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Generations is a 2017 anthology comic series published by Marvel Comics, written and drawn by a variety of creators behind some of the company's most popular characters of the modern era.

In the direct aftermath of the Secret Empire event, ten heroes - Hawkeye (Kate Bishop), Spider-Man (Miles Morales), the Hulk (Amadeus Cho), Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan), Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers), Wolverine (X-23), Thor (Jane Foster), the time-displaced Jean Grey, Ironheart (Riri Williams), and Captain America (Sam Wilson) are brought to a mysterious place known as Vanishing Point, a realm where Kobik had hid in after she was disassembled by Fixer. Here, these heroes are given a great opportunity - to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with those who came before them without the burdens of the past, present, or future.

Generations is comprised of the following one-shots, published throughout August and September 2017:

    Generations 
The majority of the above comics are written by the writers of one (or both) of each pairing's current ongoing titlenote  but aren't considered part of those series.

See Marvel Legacy, a 2017 relaunch of the mainstream Marvel Universe directly following this event, which takes inspiration from its main theme of "legacy"l


Generations contains examples of the following tropes:

  • Accidental Truth: Carol presents herself to Mar-Vell as a Kree warrior named Car-Ell. In 2018's The Life of Captain Marvel by the same writer, she learns that she's half-Kree, and this really is her Kree name.
  • Affirmative-Action Legacy: All but one of the legacies note  featured count as this:
    • Kate Bishop, a woman, sharing the Hawkeye title with Clint Barton, a man.
    • Sam Wilson, a black man, sharing the Captain America title with Steve Rogers, a white man.
    • Laura Kinney, a woman, sharing the Wolverine title with Logan, a man.
    • Carol Danvers, a woman, sharing the Captain Marvel title with Mar-Vell, a man.
    • Riri Williams, a black girl, taking after Iron Man, a white male.
    • Kamala Khan, a Pakistani-American Muslim girl, assuming the Ms. Marvel title from Carol Danvers, a white woman.
    • Miles Morales, an Afro-Latino boy, sharing the Spider-Man title with Peter Parker, a white man.
    • Amadeus Cho, a Korean-American boy, sharing the Hulk title with Bruce Banner, a white man.
    • Jane Foster, a woman, sharing the Thor title with Thor Odinson, a man.
  • The Cape:
    • Miles' final monologue in The Spiders reveals that this is how he views Peter Parker as Spider-Man.
    • Reversed in The Americas, where it's a young Steve Rogers who views Sam Wilson as this.
  • Cape Snag: Clint pulls this on Taskmaster in The Archers.
  • Comic-Book Time:
    • Played with in The Marvels and The Spiders. Kamala and Miles' travels to the past has the comic also recapture the aesthetic of the time period the stories were taking place in; the '70s and '60s, respectively.
    • Played straight in The Americas, where the mention of a selfie and appearances by smartphones marks Cap's return to modern day as being in the 2010s.
  • Covers Always Lie: The Iron shows Ironheart flying into action with the original Iron Man in the classic red and gold suit. The actual story has a future Tony Stark as Sorcerer Supreme who doesn't once put on armor.
  • Fish out of Temporal Water: All the legacy characters are blasted years or even centuries into the past.
  • The Future Will Be Better: The Iron, instead of going into the past, Riri ends up in the future where Tony Stark has become the Sorcerer Surpreme and the Avengers brought about a galaxy wide utopia. It's implied Riri has a hand in this.
  • Innocently Insensitive: Both Thor and Mar-vell tend to be demeaning to their female counterpart. Thor even refers to Jane as a wench. Both though are more then willing to fight alongside their future legacy.
  • It's Not You, It's My Enemies: Subverted in issue 3: Logan uses this as his reasoning for not staying with Amiko after he and Laura rescue her from Sabretooth. Laura quickly points out that his being active in her life didn't matter: Creed targeted her anyway.
  • Legacy Character:
    • This event is based around the idea of legacies and mantles, pairing characters who've shared a name at some point in time.
    • In-Universe, Tony Stark eventually becomes the new Sorcerer Supreme in the future, and the Mighty Avengers are the descendants of other heroes.
  • Mythology Gag:
  • Never Trust a Trailer: Both of the most recent Novas —Richard Rider and Sam Alexander— appear in the above promo image, but they lack a dedicated one-shot for the Nova mantle. This is because plans changed when the monthly Nova comic was cancelled.
  • Shoot the Shaggy Dog: The Strongest begins with Amadeus Cho trying to help a young Bruce Banner with controlling his anger. By the issue's end, Amadeus ends up losing control himself and Banner ends up rebuking his attempts, flipping the table and reaffirming that being the Hulk truly is a curse.
  • Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: The younger Steve Rogers finds himself having difficulty keeping his lunch down in the battlefield. He's only been Captain America for at least two weeks, and the pressure of having to both fight as a soldier (which he admits he's actually not, he's a guy his superiors put into a costume and sent out to war) and provide a symbol for people to look up to is getting to him.
  • Take Me Instead: Sabretooth holds Amiko hostage in issue 3, and threatens to throw her out of an airplane. Laura offers herself in Amiko's place, and takes advantage of his moment of confusion (Laura and Creed had yet to meet at the point in time she was sent to) to close in and free her.
  • Wolverine Publicity: Despite being featured prominently in the promotional art leading up to the series, Richard Rider and Sam Alexander don't actually have a one-shot.note 
  • The Worf Effect: The Best finds Logan on the verge of being killed by The Hand, despite typically eating ninja hordes for breakfast.

Alternative Title(s): Generations

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