Linear time is easily taken for granted, often times cursed at for being unable to turn back time. In realities where it’s somewhat easier to fudge with time and the flow of it, you might need a group who can try and deal with shenanigans. The Time Variance Authority is Marvel’s attempt to solve that problem. Who are they and how well do they do? Let’s find out!
Residing in the Time-Null Zone, where time is incapable of being interfered with, the Time Variance Authority watch across the multiverse and time for any anomalies. The organization is made by its director, Mr. Alternity, quite literally made as clones of the man himself. Each branch lower than him is another clone of Alternity with their own name and role within the Authority. There are the Chronomonitors, faceless clones, each tasked to watch over their own timelines or realities, ready to alert the higher ups when something goes wrong.
When force is needed, the Minutemen are sent out, as the military force of the TVA, clones with cybernetic enhancements, they are often lead by someone of higher authority. While a vast majority of the TVA are clones, they are more than willing to pluck out independent contractors they can use from across the multiverse and time. Often times, this is when they’ll work with heroes, or even villains, who prove to be of value to their services.
While the Time Variance Authority will work with all manner of people, they also have struggles with many as well, as is the way when you try to keep order from turning into chaos. Sometimes this requires trials to be sure that they do not pass a sentence lightly. An example of such a sentence is when a timeline or reality is deemed too dangerous for the rest of existence. Those found guilty of such a crime are destroyed and thus erased from the rest of existence to protect everyone else from whatever threat they could pose.
If such a guilty sentence is given to an individual, they are to be hit with the Retroactive Cannon, erasing them from existence. This sentencing can be stopped if the defendant is able to aid in defending the TVA, such was the case for She-Hulk when her own case of saving a friend with forbidden future knowledge was interrupted by the villain, Clockwise, who she helped stop. Similarly, when people are brought in to work for the TVA, they often find themselves locked from returning to their own timeline due to their knowledge of future events in that reality. You may be relocated, like a time-tossed Witness Protection Program, to a reality where your knowledge of the future means nothing.
There you have it! The Time Variance Authority is gaining new notice due to their appearance in the latest Loki series trailer. This will be their first appearance beyond the pages of comics. We’ll have to wait and see what they are like on the small screen. See you next time!
Suggested Reading
Thor #372
She-Hulk Vol. 2
Dr. Bustos
drbustos@comicattack.net
