Name

The Time-Keepers were created byHe Who Remains, the very last director of theTime Variance Authority, in theCitadel at the End of Time just prior to the heat death of that universe. The goal was for them to survive the end of time so that they could teach the inhabitants of thenext cycle. This first attempt resulted in the creation of theTime-Twisters, who were flawed and destroyed numerous realities. Due to the intervention ofThor,^[2] this reality was split into two:one where the Twisters lived andone where they were destroyed. In the reality in which they were destroyed, He Who Remains created the Time-Keepers to protect time.^[1] There were three main Time-Keepers but a fourth was reportedly created and exiled to Egypt in 2950 BC.^[3]

At some point, the Time-Keepers recruitedImmortus to monitor all time between 3000 BC and 4000 AD, and to untangle the time-travel mess his prior selves had left in their wake.^[4]

The Time-Keepers' first known interaction withthe Prime Marvel Universe was their attempt to break up theAvengers before they could threaten the Time-Keepers. At their direction, Immortus sent theSpace Phantom to defeat them.^[5] When he failed, Immortus tried again and chose to work through human agents, the originalMasters of Evil, but this attempt failed when Immortus, after witnessing the bravery ofCaptain America, reconsidered and helped the Avengers win.^[6] Immortus then decided to defy the Time-Keepers by observing and shepherding the Avengers instead of destroying them. The Time-Keepers subsequently made a bargain with him, one in which they would spare the Avengers as long as Immortus kept them contained.^[7]

After theKree-Skrull War, during which theultimate powers that lay dormant within all of humanity had been born inRick Jones,^[8] the Time-Keepers discovered a series of realities that were razed by humanity, with some of that devastation having been caused by humanity's possession of theDestiny Force. They then appeared to Immortus, showed him these futures, and tasked him with preventing these from occurring or they would completely destroy humanity.^[7]

The Time-Keepers also recognized that theScarlet Witch ofEarth-616, as that reality'sNexus Being, could potentially bear children who would be so powerful as to stand among the great forces of the universe. Fearing that such children could rock the cosmos, the Time-Keepers wanted to prevent their existence and ordered Immortus to kill the Scarlet Witch. However, wishing to avoid killing whenever possible, Immortus decided instead to prevent the birth of any children by secretly encouraging the attraction between the Scarlet Witch and thesynthezoid known as theVision because a relationship between a human and a machine could not produce any children.^[7]

At some point, the Time-Twisters returned and were able to imprison and replace the Time-Keepers.^[9] By assuming the likenesses of the Time-Keepers, the Time-Twisters were able to trick Immortus into unknowingly helping them carry out their plan to alter timelines so that their reality would be dominant and the one of the Time-Keepers would fade.^[1] As part of that plan, Immortus began wiping out dangerous timelines. The false Time-Keepers also had him work towards eventually transmuting a Nexus Being into a source of power that they could use to safeguard their future. However, when that plan failed after the Scarlet Witch rejected the augmented powers that Immortus had caused to grow within her, the "Time-Keepers" appeared inLimbo and made Immortus the immobile receptacle for that power.^[10]

Because Immortus had failed to completely eliminate all of the Nexus-Beings whose existence threatened them, the "Time-Keepers" began using other pawns in an attempt to kill the last four Nexi. However, they were unaware of the fact that Immortus, although still trapped in Limbo, was able to secretly act, as the Whisperer, to oppose their plans by recruiting pawns of his own. Eventually, those pawns saved enough of the targeted Nexus Beings to cause the "Time-Keepers" to vanish into inexistence, something which also freed Immortus and enabled him to take control of the Nexus Power and become the one true master of time.^[11] Now a disembodied quantum wave, Immortus set about traveling the multiverse to remake it with himself as the ruler, but, thanks to theWatcher and theTVA,Reed Richards' Rocket Group fromEarth-8212 was able to retroactively prevent Immortus from being able to store much Nexus Energy. As a result, Immortus, instead of being freed to become the Immortus Wave, exploded from the energy overload. His destruction enabled the now-freed Time-Keepers to appear in the Citadel at the End of Time, closely followed by the trio with whom Uatu had been dealing, whose faces immediately melted away, revealing them to be the Time Twisters. As the Time Twisters melted into spherical blobs of matter, the Time-Keepers revealed their origin and how the Time Twisters had deceived Immortus. With the Twisters now back in their nurture-pods, the Time-Keepers vowed to watch over them and ensure they would never hatch again.^[1]

At some point, the Time-Keepers traveled toChronopolis on that day that, in half of the divergent timelines, it was going to fall. After secretly entering the chamber whereKang lay in a Life Suspension Tube, the Time-Keepers all removed their masks, revealing their true faces. As they discussed the situation,Vort mentioned that he was greatly tempted to revive Kang himself. stating that it was in their best interests because the passing of Chronopolis would diminish the realm of their influence. However,Zanth firmly opposed that idea, pointing out that direct intervention in the course of events by beings with temporal powers as vast as theirs could cause chrono-synclastic entropy to engulf the entire sector. Vort quickly replied that he was merely musing aloud and had not meant to inspire interpersonal uncertainty.^[12]

At some point, although they regarded Immortus as having been incompetent or treacherous on occasion, the Time-Keepers agreed that his counsel was not totally without merit, so they remade him so that he could continue serving them.^[9]

After the death ofEon, the Time-Keepers (or the Time-Twisters in disguise) attended his funeral.^[13] They authorized the installation of theWatcher's dimensional portal that allowed him to view other realities, but threatened to confiscate it if the Watcher did not fix the divergences caused by different universes'Living Lasers.^[14]

After theKree-Shi'ar War, the Time-Keepers again appeared to Immortus and showed him how his attempt to force the Avengers back to Earth had instead resulted in the creation of the very future he had been attempting to prevent. When Immortus begged them to give him one last chance to make amends, the Time-Keepers agreed, and Immortus caused the events of theCrossing to keep the Avengers concerned with themselves and not space long enough forOnslaught to arrive.^[7]

Later still, after visiting the planetBeta Centauri IV inEarth-9812's 26th century and witnessing how humanity's use of the Destiny Force had led to the creation of a conquering interstellar Terran Empire,^[15] the Time-Keepers returned to Immortus, warned him of humanity's dominance and instructed him to killRick Jones to prevent the Destiny Force from awakening in all of humanity.^[7]

However, Immortus was opposed by Kang, theKreeSupreme Intelligence andLibra, with the latter awakening enough of the Destiny Force in Rick to enable him to call forth Avengers from different time periods to defend him.^[15] These Avengers were eventually brought to the Time-Keepers who revealed their plan to end the threat that humanity posed to the multiverse by wiping out all but the minimum number of timelines that were needed to preserve their own existence. After traveling to the Citadel at the End of Time, they attempted to use theForever Crystal combined with a Chrono-Cannon to accomplish this, killed Immortus when he tried to stop them, and began trying to force Kang's transformation into Immortus. To defend themselves, the Time-Keepers summoned multiple "evil" Avengers from across time to oppose the Avengers, but Rick Jones summoned more "good" Avengers to help. Kang was able to resist the Time-Keepers' transformation long enough to split himself into a Kang and an Immortus, Rick Jones was able to destroy their weapon with the Destiny Force, and Kang seemingly destroyed the Time-Keepers.^[16]

Alternate Reality Versions[]

"Sacred Timeline" (Earth-TRN870)[]

The Time-Keepers have great power to manipulate temporal energy. They can age entire armies to dust or reverse aging to before the point of life (virtual immortals such as Asgardian gods can resist these effects). They can summon beings from any point in the time stream, sending them to do their bidding. They can travel through time and into various alternate realities, form powerful energy shields, project force blasts, and grant power to others. Using the power of the Forever Crystal, they could remove countless realities from existence within seconds.

• According to theWatcher, the Time-Keepers are to the end of time like theElders of the Universe are to the beginning.^[19]

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