Time Variance Authority

Time Variance Authority
The Chronomonitors of the Time Variance Authority in the Halls of Chronometry being greeted by Mobius M. Mobius
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Thor #372 (October 1986)
Created by	Walt Simonson Sal Buscema
In-story information
Type of organization	Bureaucracy Criminal organization
Base(s)	Null-Time Zone
Leader(s)	Mr. Alternity He Who Remains
Agent(s)	Mobius M. Mobius Professor Justin Alphonse Gamble Mr. Ouroboros Mr. Paradox Mr. Tesseract Minutemen Chronomonitors

The Time Variance Authority (TVA) is a fictional organization appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. It is depicted as a group of timeline monitors tasked with preventing the existence of certain timelines that are deemed too dangerous to the Multiverse.

The TVA appears in Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) properties, such as the Disney+ series Loki (2021-2023) and the film Deadpool & Wolverine (2024).

The Time Variance Authority (TVA) first appeared in Thor #372 (October 1986).^[1] Created by Walt Simonson and Sal Buscema, the TVA originally paid homage to long-time Marvel writer/editor and continuity expert Mark Gruenwald: the TVA staff were all visually designed as clones of Gruenwald (the classification system for alternate realities—the Marvel multiverse—was devised, in part, by Gruenwald).^[2]

In July 2024,

Writer Roy Thomas and Sal's brother, artist John Buscema, had previously explored the concept of a Marvel multiverse with Marvel's evil Justice League correlates, called the Squadron Sinister, in Avengers #69 (1969).^[5] Thomas later introduced a heroic version of the Squadron Sinister named the Squadron Supreme, which first appeared in Avengers #85–86 (February–March 1971), and which was co-created with John Buscema.^[6]

In 1985–1986,

Before Captain Britain's testimony, Mandragon declares that the Earth-238 universe must be "removed" from the multiverse before it destroys the continuums of the other universes.[9] Saturnyn's legal counsel, a faceless being referred to as Lord Chancellor, objects, as the destruction of the Earth-238 universe will destroy material evidence of Saturnyne's innocence. Lord Mandragon overrules the defense's objection, citing Ominversal Writ clause 723-801-(d). He then proceeds to remove the dangerous deviant timestream using crystal technology.^[10]

It is revealed during the trial that the prime Earth that exists in Marvel Comics is Earth-616. Because of this story, Alan Moore is usually credited with naming the mainstream Marvel Universe "Earth-616." However, Alan Davis has said that it was invented by Dave Thorpe, the previous writer of the UK-published Captain Britain stories.^[11]

While Captain Britain's 1983 story arc does not mention the Time Variance Authority, the Dimensional Development Court contains elements that were plainly

The TVA claims responsibility for monitoring the multiverse and can prune timelines if they are deemed too dangerous to exist. They also take action to prevent other beings from altering the past or future. They were first seen allowing Justice Peace, a lawman from the future, to travel to the 20th century in order to stop the killer Zaniac. Peace is able to succeed in his mission thanks to the assistance of Thor.^[13]

Despite their claims,^[vague] the TVA's influence over time is not absolute. The scope of their influence is bordered by Alioth in the distant past as well as Kang the Conqueror, the Delubric Consortium, and Revelation at different eras throughout the timescape.^[14] There have also been numerous incidents of time travel or reality tampering where the TVA has failed to interfere.

At the

The TVA are next seen using the law-firm that She-Hulk works for. Jurors for cases are plucked from time soon before they actually die, minimizing the effects on the time stream. This also establishes the tendencies for time-travelers to go through genetic scrambling, also to minimize the effect on the time-stream. Notably, the scrambling tends to cause similar appearances among various males who undergo the process. A defendant who is found guilty in one of these trials is executed with a weapon called the Retroactive Cannon, or Ret-Can (a reference to retroactive continuity, or "retcon", a practice used by storytellers to add previously unknown material to an event or remove previously established material from an event in a previous story), which erases the victim, deleting their existence from the universe by undoing their birth and entire history. She-Hulk herself was handed this harsh sentence, but it was overturned as a reward when she helped defeat the villain Clockwise.^[15]

During the "Venom War" storyline, the Time Variance Authority arrives following a fight with the Zombiotes to bring in Jimmy Hudson because he is from another universe. When Deadpool mentions a multiversal threat, Mobius M. Mobius disappears with Jimmy and the TVA agents stating that it's not his department.^[16]

Lower-ranked TVA employees, called

• Mr. Alternity[20] – Upper management
• First Secretary^{[volume & issue needed]}
• Professor Justin Alphonse Gamble^[18] – A former employee, resigned and stole one of the time capsules
• Justice Mills^[21] – A member who appears briefly in a flashback.
• He Who Remains^[22] – The last survivor of the Time Variance Authority who is present at the end of time.
• Mobius M. Mobius^[23] – A bureaucrat and middle management, attempted to discipline the Fantastic Four for violations of the TVA's laws
• Mr. Ouroboros^[24] – A future clone of Mr. Paradox, ceased to exist when Clockwise used the Retro-Active Cannon on Paradox. A redesigned version of him based on the MCU version later appeared in the comics.^[25]
• Mr. Paradox^[24]
  – He ceased to exist when Clockwise blasted him with the Retro-Active Cannon
• Mr. Tesseract (Junior Management)^[20] – A subordinate to Mobius, he was assigned to reconstruct the lost data from Earth-616
• Time Zone Manager^[volume & issue needed]
• Time Variance Authority Police Department^[26] – A time police group that accompanied Justice Peace in effort to capture Godwulf
• Justice Peace^[27]
  – A former freelance agent. He was punished for infractions of time travel. Currently a member of the Federal Police and Special Services Units that are based in Brooklynopolis
• Justice Might, Justice Truth, and Justice Liberty[28] – Three time police officers who aided Mobius in recapturing the Fantastic Four while they were running loose inside the Null-Time Zone.
• Justice Love^[29] – A TVA agent and Justice Peace's partner. She appears to have legal training.
• Justice Goodwill^[24] – A court officer. He ceased to exist when Clockwise blasted him with the Retro-Active Cannon.
• Time-Keepers^[30] – A group of beings created by He Who Remains to protect time.
• Minutemen^[31] – The armored agents of the TVA who are assigned to guard the TVA's facilities from the Null-Time Zone and extract the disruptive entities that come from the other time periods. Each of its members are either a clone, a cyborg, or a robot.

• The Time Variance Authority (TVA) appears in the
  Miss Minutes (voiced by Tara Strong).^[41] This version of the organization was created by He Who Remains, who sought to stop other variants of himself from coming into being after a "multiversal war" waged between them led to him destroying the multiverse to stop them, by keeping the "Sacred Timeline", a collection of universes that did not have a variant of himself in it, such as Earth-616, isolated and in check. In building the TVA, he pulled variants of various people from across time, erased their memories, made them believe they and the TVA were created by the Time-Keepers (voiced by an uncredited Majors), and built androids to serve as the Time-Keepers.^[42]
• The TVA appear in Deadpool & Wolverine (2024),^[43] with Paradox (portrayed by Matthew Macfadyen) appearing prominently^[44] while Hunter B-15 makes a cameo appearance.

The Time Variance Authority (TVA), based on the MCU iteration, appears in The Good, the Bart, and the Loki.

• El ministerio del tiempo – a Spanish fantasy television series depicting the eponymous time-protection organization
• Eternity, a time-changing organization featured in the Isaac Asimov novel The End of Eternity
• Exiles (Marvel Comics)
• Federal Time Bureau (DC Comics)
• Linear Men – an organization in the DC Comics universe that performs a similar function to the TVA
• The commission – a time-protection organization in The Umbrella Academy
• The Department of Temporal Investigations – an organization similar to the TVA featured in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Trials and Tribble-ations"
• Time Lords – a race of time-traveling humanoids central to the Doctor Who universe, who unlike the TVA, refuse to interfere in events in time.
• Chronology protection conjecture, an hypothesis in physics