Warning: contains spoilers for Fantastic Four: Reckoning War Alpha #1!
Three major and the reality-hopping Avengers Forever all involve multiple characters from different franchises and world-changing events. Yet the writing of these events regarding continuity leaves much to be desired.
Marvel's event-heavy year of 2022 includes three major crossover stories. Each contain the Avengers, various street-level heroes and no less than three different Spider-Men (Peter Parker, Miles Morales, and Peter's clone Ben Reilly). But the non-specific traits of 'Comic Book Time' force fans to guess as to exactly what character is in any place at any given time - which doesn't bode well for events such as the moon exploding above their heads.
In Fantastic Four: Reckoning War Alpha #1, a universe-spanning event begins with a very terrestrial calamity: the moon is obliterated by a Badoon ship in an attempt to kill the Watcher. Spider-Man, the X-Men, and the Avengers race to stop the pieces of the moon from impacting New York City. However, none of these events are mentioned in Devil's Reign - an event in which superheroes are outlawed within the city by Mayor Fisk, the Kingpin. Thus one must assume the Reckoning War takes place after the Devil's Reign event has already concluded - but if that's the case, why are the heroes out in force in New York?
To say nothing of Avengers Forever, which promises a dimension-hopping narrative that includes the cybernetic Deathloks jumping into and out of the Avengers books, muddying the continuity waters even further. To make matters worse, another city-wide event has just taken place in the Iron Man books; Tony Stark, using his newly-acquired cosmic powers, has turned every New Yorker into a genius with his own intelligence. Yet this event isn't even touched upon during the Reckoning War, Devil's Reign or Avengers Forever. Thanks to Marvel's reluctance to provide actual dates, readers have no idea exactly what event is happening when.
On the one hand, a lack of dates serves to grant a timeless quality to the proceedings. However, they make for a rather frustrating reading experience for the Marvel faithful, especially those who read multiple books at any given time. The Marvel Comics nostalgic event machine is in full swing, but with seemingly contradictory timelines, an eventual explanation seems highly unlikely.
