Time-Keepers

• Core Identity: The Time-Keepers are a trio of immensely powerful cosmic beings created at the end of time by He Who Remains, the final director of the Time Variance Authority, with the designated mandate to protect the flow of time and prevent the splintering of reality.
• Key Takeaways:
  • Guardians of the Timeline: Their fundamental purpose is to serve as the ultimate arbiters of temporal reality, monitoring the timestream from their Citadel at the End of Time and “pruning” divergent timelines they deem dangerous or unnatural. Their actions are often amoral and based on a cold, cosmic calculus. Time Variance Authority (TVA).
  • Cosmic Conflict and Manipulation: The Time-Keepers are defined by their eternal conflict with their flawed, destructive counterparts, the Time-Twisters. They are also master manipulators, frequently using agents like immortus and the TVA to carry out their will, often against the heroes of the Marvel Universe.
  • Critical Comic vs. MCU Divergence: In the Earth-616 comics, the Time-Keepers are genuine, immensely powerful cosmic entities. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, they are a complete fiction—lifeless androids created by He Who Remains as a propaganda tool to conceal his solitary control over the Sacred Timeline and the TVA.

The Time-Keepers made their first appearance in Thor #245, published in March 1976. They were created by writer Len Wein and artist John Buscema as part of a storyline that delved deep into the cosmic and temporal lore of the Marvel Universe. Their introduction served to establish a higher authority governing time itself, providing a new layer of cosmic hierarchy and a source of conflict for heroes like Thor. The concept of beings existing at the “end of time” was a popular trope in science fiction, and Wein and Buscema's creation tapped into this idea to expand the scope of Marvel's cosmology. Their initial portrayal established them as quasi-omniscient, detached figures whose goals were beyond mortal comprehension. This mysterious and imposing nature made them effective antagonists and plot devices for stories involving time travel and alternate realities. Over the decades, writers like Roger Stern, Mark Gruenwald, Kurt Busiek, and Al Ewing have significantly expanded upon their history, revealing their complex origins and their intricate, often manipulative relationship with Kang the Conqueror, Immortus, and the Time Variance Authority.

The origin of the Time-Keepers is one of the most significant points of divergence between the prime comic universe and the cinematic universe. The two versions serve entirely different narrative functions, one being a literal cosmic power and the other a symbolic lie.

The true origin of the Time-Keepers begins at the literal end of time in the timeline of Earth-7910. Here, the final living sentient being in the universe was an archivist known only as He Who Remains. As the director of the now-defunct Time Variance Authority from his reality, he witnessed the heat death of his universe and dedicated his final moments to a monumental task: preventing future timelines from suffering the same fate. He Who Remains believed that a guiding hand was necessary to shepherd the timestream and ensure its stability. To this end, he harnessed the unimaginable energies of the dying universe to create three beings who would succeed him as guardians. His first attempt resulted in the creation of the Time-Twisters. These beings were flawed, possessing a simplistic, binary view of reality. They believed that the only way to strengthen a timeline was to pit it against another, forcing a “survival of the fittest” conflict that would destroy one of the two realities. Realizing his catastrophic error, He Who Remains allowed Thor and Jane Foster, who had traveled to the end of time, to seemingly destroy the Time-Twisters by aging them into nothingness. Learning from his mistake, He Who Remains made a second attempt. This time, he created the Time-Keepers: Ast, Vorth, and Zanth. These beings were designed to be more nuanced and effective, tasked with preserving the integrity of the primary timeline (retroactively designated Earth-616) by “pruning” divergent branches that they deemed excessively dangerous. They were housed in the Citadel at the End of Time, a nexus point outside the normal flow of causality, from which they could observe all of reality. From their Citadel, the Time-Keepers began their work. They established a complex relationship with a future variant of Kang the Conqueror, transforming him into their loyal agent, Immortus, the Master of Limbo. They tasked Immortus with monitoring and curating the timeline on their behalf, a role he fulfilled for millennia. The Time-Keepers' existence and purpose are thus literal: they are the self-appointed, and immensely powerful, gardeners of reality.

In stark contrast, the Time-Keepers of the MCU, as presented in the Disney+ series Loki, are a complete and deliberate fabrication. They do not exist as living beings. The three silent, robed figures seen in statues and brief holographic appearances are merely sophisticated androids—puppets designed to create a myth of divine, orderly authority. The true architect of the Time Variance Authority and the “Sacred Timeline” is He Who Remains, a human variant of Nathaniel Richards from the 31st century. In the MCU's backstory, this version of Richards discovered the existence of the multiverse, as did his countless variants. While initial contact was peaceful, some variants, most notably those who would become Kang the Conqueror, saw other universes not as partners but as territories to be conquered. A multiversal war erupted, threatening to destroy all of reality. The MCU's He Who Remains was the variant who ended the war. He weaponized a creature named Alioth, a being that consumes space and time, and used it to “prune” all the divergent timelines, isolating his own and christening it the “Sacred Timeline.” To manage this timeline and prevent the re-emergence of his dangerous variants, he created the Time Variance Authority. Crucially, he understood that a bureaucracy staffed by kidnapped “variants” would not function under the command of a single, fallible man. They needed a higher purpose, a divine mission. To this end, he invented the myth of the Time-Keepers. He propagated the legend that these three wise, all-powerful beings created the TVA to protect the proper flow of time. This lie provided the TVA agents, like Mobius M. Mobius, with a sense of religious-like fervor and purpose, ensuring their unquestioning loyalty. The entire organization, from its inception to its doctrine, was built on this foundational deception. The “Time-Keepers” were simply the public face of one man's desperate, authoritarian solution to a multiversal crisis. Their destruction at the hands of Sylvie revealed the lie, shattering the TVA's faith and triggering the collapse of the Sacred Timeline.

The core function of the Time-Keepers is temporal management, but how they execute this mandate differs significantly between their genuine cosmic form and their fabricated MCU persona.

• Mandate and Philosophy: The Time-Keepers' primary directive is to preserve the integrity and stability of the timestream. They believe that an infinite proliferation of alternate timelines would eventually lead to the erosion of reality itself. Their philosophy is utilitarian and profoundly amoral; they will erase trillions of lives in a “pruned” timeline without hesitation if they believe it serves the greater good of preserving the core reality. They see themselves as cosmic gardeners, and divergent timelines are weeds to be pulled. This often puts them in direct conflict with heroes who value individual life and free will.
• Powers and Abilities: As beings born from the final energies of a dying universe, the Time-Keepers are cosmically powerful, though not truly omnipotent. Their abilities include:
  • Chronokinesis: They possess absolute control over time. They can travel through it, stop it, reverse it, and observe any point in it simultaneously. They can also age beings or objects to dust in an instant or de-age them to infancy.
  • Energy Manipulation: They can project vast quantities of cosmic energy, powerful enough to challenge beings like Thor or even Odin.
  • Reality Warping: Within their Citadel and to a lesser extent outside of it, they can manipulate the fabric of reality itself.
  • Cosmic Awareness: They have a form of cosmic consciousness, allowing them to perceive events across the entire timestream, though this awareness can be blocked or deceived by sufficiently powerful forces (like the Destiny Force or beings from outside of time).
• Structure and Key Members: The Time-Keepers are a triumvirate, always appearing as three robed, reptilian-like humanoids. While they often act in unison, they have distinct (if subtle) personalities and names.
  • Ast: Often considered the de facto leader, typically portrayed as the most pragmatic and assertive of the three.
  • Vorth: The more cautious and analytical member, often counseling restraint.
  • Zanth: The most enigmatic and silent of the trio, whose motivations are often the most obscure.

They operate from the Citadel at the End of Time, a fortress that exists outside the conventional timestream, granting them a unique vantage point from which to conduct their work. Their primary agents are the Time Variance Authority (TVA), a vast temporal bureaucracy that handles the day-to-day monitoring and enforcement, and their special agent, immortus.

• Mandate and Philosophy (As Propaganda): The public-facing mandate of the MCU's Time-Keepers was simple and absolute: to protect the Sacred Timeline. According to the propaganda disseminated by Miss Minutes and the TVA, the Time-Keepers brought peace to a chaotic multiverse by weaving all of time into a single, proper flow. Any deviation from this path (a “Nexus Event”) created a branch timeline that could lead to another multiversal war. This narrative positioned them as benevolent saviors and justified the TVA's ruthless actions in “pruning” variants and their timelines. The philosophy was one of enforced harmony through the complete elimination of choice and deviation.
• Powers and Abilities (As Perceived): The androids were presented as having the same god-like powers attributed to their comic counterparts. TVA propaganda depicted them as omniscient and omnipotent beings capable of rewriting reality with a thought. In truth, they had no power whatsoever. They were merely animatronics. The true power belonged to He Who Remains, whose control stemmed from his advanced 31st-century technology and his mastery over the creature Alioth. The TVA's Time Sticks, Reset Charges, and other temporal technology were the real instruments of enforcement.
• Structure and Key Members: The “structure” was a trio of silent, seated figures—one in the center, flanked by two others. They were designed to look ancient, wise, and imposing. There were no individual names or personalities, as they were not individuals. Their only function was to be a symbol of incontrovertible authority, a “man behind the curtain” that was, in fact, just another curtain. When Sylvie beheaded one of the androids, its robotic nature was revealed, exposing the entire structure as a lie.

In the Earth-616 continuity, the Time-Keepers do not have “allies” in the traditional sense of friendship or mutual respect. They have agents, tools, and subordinates.

• The Time Variance Authority (TVA): The TVA is the vast, quasi-infinite bureaucracy that serves as the Time-Keepers' primary enforcement arm. Headquartered in the Null-Time Zone, the TVA employs countless chronomonitors and Minutemen to police the timeline, issue judgments, and execute the pruning of divergent realities. While the TVA believes it is working to maintain order, it is ultimately subservient to the often-unfathomable whims of the Time-Keepers. The relationship is that of a master to a servant, with the TVA carrying out the grand-scale policy decisions made in the Citadel at the End of Time.
• Immortus (Nathaniel Richards): Immortus is arguably the Time-Keepers' most important and complex agent. A future version of Kang the Conqueror who grew weary of constant battle, Immortus sought to bring order to his own chaotic timeline. The Time-Keepers appeared before him and offered him a deal: they would grant him immortality and dominion over the realm of Limbo in exchange for his service as their custodian of the timeline. For millennia, Immortus served them faithfully, attempting to “manage” the Avengers (whom the Time-Keepers identified as a major source of temporal nexus events) and prune his own younger, more chaotic self, Kang. However, this relationship is fraught with manipulation, as the Time-Keepers often kept Immortus in the dark about their ultimate goals.

• The Time-Twisters: The Time-Twisters are the Time-Keepers' dark mirrors and their greatest failure. As He Who Remains' first creation, they embody a flawed and destructive approach to temporal preservation. They constantly seek to unravel the work of the Time-Keepers, often by creating divergent timelines and forcing them into conflict. Their cyclical nature—being born, destroyed, and reborn—makes them an eternal, recurring threat to the stability of the cosmos. The conflict between the Keepers and the Twisters is the ultimate ideological war over how time itself should be governed.
• Kang the Conqueror (Nathaniel Richards): While the Time-Keepers use one version of Kang (Immortus) as their agent, they consider all other variants of Kang to be among the greatest threats to the timeline. Kang's constant conquering, temporal meddling, and creation of paradoxes represent the very chaos the Time-Keepers seek to eliminate. They have repeatedly attempted to neutralize Kang, either by manipulating events to force him onto the path of becoming Immortus or by attempting to erase him from history altogether. Kang, in turn, despises the Time-Keepers for the future of servitude they represent and actively fights against their vision of a static, controlled timeline.
• The Avengers: The Time-Keepers have long identified Earth's Mightiest Heroes as a “Nexus” of temporal divergence. The Avengers' very existence, their incredible power, and their frequent involvement in cosmic and time-altering events create countless branching realities. In storylines like Avengers Forever, the Time-Keepers directly targeted the team, believing that humanity's potential to evolve into a cosmic power (as embodied by the Avengers) was a threat to their control. They view the Avengers' heroic unpredictability as a bug in the system of reality that must be squashed.

The Time-Keepers' only true affiliation is with the Time Variance Authority. They are the secret, ultimate authority that the TVA answers to. All other interactions are characterized by manipulation and control, not partnership. They have no formal membership in any cosmic councils or pantheons, viewing themselves as existing above such structures.

This is the foundational storyline that introduced the Time-Keepers and their backstory. After a battle with Zarrko the Tomorrow Man, Thor and Jane Foster are hurled through time to the Citadel at the End of Time. There, they meet He Who Remains, who recounts the story of the end of his universe. He creates the Time-Twisters, who immediately prove to be a menace. Thor and Jane help defeat them, seemingly destroying them forever. As a reward and a solution, He Who Remains then creates the “perfect” successors: the Time-Keepers. This arc established their entire in-universe origin and their stated purpose as benevolent guardians, a perception that would be subverted in later stories.

While not a single crossover, the “Citizen Kang” narrative, woven through several titles in the early 1990s, heavily involved the machinations of the Time-Keepers through their agent, Immortus. The storyline delved deep into the complex history of Kang, Ravonna, and Immortus, revealing how the Time-Keepers had been manipulating events for eons to ensure Kang's eventual transformation into their servant. The Time-Twisters also play a key role, creating their own agent, the “Temptress,” to counter Immortus. This sprawling epic redefined the Time-Keepers from distant observers to active, manipulative players in the grand tapestry of Marvel history, showing the immense and insidious reach of their influence.

This seminal 12-issue limited series by Kurt Busiek and Carlos Pacheco is perhaps the definitive Time-Keepers story. The plot is set in motion when Rick Jones is targeted by Immortus during the Kree-Skrull War. A group of Avengers is plucked from different eras by Kang the Conqueror to save Rick, who holds the key to the “Destiny Force,” a power representing humanity's ultimate potential. It is revealed that the Time-Keepers are the true villains of the story. They fear humanity's evolutionary destiny and have been manipulating Immortus for millennia to keep humanity contained and prevent them from becoming a cosmic power that could challenge their authority. The series culminates in the Avengers fighting the Time-Keepers directly, with Kang ultimately choosing to defy them and embrace his chaotic nature, shattering their grand plan and temporarily destroying them.

In this continuity-defining series by Mark Waid, the ultimate fate of the Earth-616 Time-Keepers is revealed. At the very end of time, Franklin Richards and Galactus are the last two living beings. As they await the end, they are confronted by the Time-Keepers, who reveal their intent to erase the entire history of the Marvel Universe and start over, deeming it too chaotic and flawed. They argue it is their right and duty as the gardeners of time. However, Franklin Richards, having absorbed Galactus's power, defies them. He uses his reality-warping abilities to kill the Time-Keepers, ensuring that the story of the Marvel Universe, with all its flaws and glories, will stand forever. This act serves as a definitive end to their reign as the self-appointed arbiters of reality.

• The Time-Twisters: As detailed above, the Time-Twisters are not just an alternate version but the original, flawed prototype of the Time-Keepers. Where the Keepers seek to preserve a single timeline through careful pruning, the Twisters seek to “strengthen” reality by forcing timelines to fight to the death. They are a force of chaotic, destructive evolution, representing the opposite ideological pole to the Keepers' rigid, conservative control. They have often been reborn throughout history, sometimes taking on new forms, to plague the timeline and undo their successors' work.
• MCU Androids (Earth-199999): The most significant “variant” of the Time-Keepers is the fraudulent version from the MCU. This version is important not for what it is, but for what it represents. It's a powerful commentary on how institutions use myths of divine right and benevolent authority to justify authoritarian control. The MCU Time-Keepers are a symbol of a lie, and their “death” is not the death of a cosmic being, but the death of an idea, which in turn unleashes the very chaos (the multiverse) that the lie was created to prevent.
• Council of Cross-Time Kangs: While not a direct variant of the Time-Keepers, this council serves a similar function in a different context. Formed by countless versions of Kang the Conqueror from across the multiverse, their goal was to eliminate all other divergent Kangs and control the timestream for their own benefit. Like the Time-Keepers, they sought to impose a singular order on reality, but their motivation was conquest and ego rather than a misguided sense of cosmic preservation. Their existence demonstrates the thematic parallel between the “order” of the Time-Keepers and the “order” of a tyrant like Kang.

• Time Variance Authority (TVA)
• Kang the Conqueror
• immortus
• he_who_remains
• sacred_timeline
• thor
• avengers

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