It turns out there's unexpected side effect of the X-Men's mutant resurrection technology - it can fix the "sliding timescale" problem in Marvel Comics. Keeping track of character ages and keeping them consistent has always been a challenge, but Krakoa has provided Marvel with a way to have it all.

One of the most confusing aspects of reading comics with decades of continuity is that they don't follow real-world publishing times. Originally, Marvel Comics seemed to move more-or-less at the same pace as the real world. Spider-Man gained his powers at the age of 15 in Amazing Fantasy #15, by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, published in 1962. Peter Parker then went on to graduate from high school around three years later, in 1965, showing that the stories set in the Marvel Universe were moving parallel to our own. Since then, the publisher's approach has changed, and a year's worth of comics can cover as little as a few weeks in-universe. Marvel today uses a sliding timescale, with its heroes aging roughly one year for every four years that pass for readers, and the start of their careers continuously moving forward in time to keep them young.

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In an interview with AIPT, X-Men Senior Editor Jordan D. White revealed how the mutant resurrection introduced in Jonathan Hickman and Pepe Larraz's House of X miniseries has provided a solution to this perennial challenge. Krakoa offers a chance to keep characters in their prime by using a mechanism that readers are familiar with, resurrection by the mutant group known as the Five. The key is that the Five are able to bring back mutants at any age, not just the age the mutant was when they died. Therefore, whenever Marvel feels an X-Man has gotten too old they can just kill them in the story, and bring them back in their physical prime.

Immortal X-Men

White confirmed that this is something writers and editorial are well aware of, noting that "one of the many benefits of resurrection is that it does mess with the age problem in a way that is helpful." The sliding timescale has always been a complicated approach, with different authors having different interpretations regarding how old certain characters are supposed to be by now. In addition, writers have sometimes faced editorial pressure to keep certain characters like Spider-Man young to keep them appealing to readers. This could all add up to inconsistent portrayals or characters even seemingly aging backward. Mutant resurrection offers a reasonable, plot-based explanation for why mutant heroes are going to remain in their prime.

One of the interesting implications of this interview is that Krakoan immortality might have more longevity than some fans thought. The Resurrection Protocols established on Krakoa are proving too useful for writers and editors, allowing for new stakes and even explorations of mortality, as seen in Si Spurrier and Bob Quinn's Way of X. If mutant resurrection offers a chance to avoid having to deal with Marvel Comics' sliding timescale on top of that, the X-Men will likely get to keep being immortal Krakoans for a while longer.

Source: AIPT