The world of fiction is replete with the concept of time travel, though that particular method of travel is especially epitomized in the more visual fiction of comic books where fantasy and adventure reign and provide it with ample conditions in which to take place, depending on the pooling of imagination between writer and artist. We've seen it grow more complicated over the years, to where one never knows if the future a time traveler may witness is set in stone, whereas the past is generally immutable; in fact the biggest concern used to be in taking care not to change the past, for fear of changing the future. In comics, however, more adventures in time are feasible because the traveler is often given the option of seeing a horrid future as one possible future, depending on the choices made in the past; and if such choices are made, one theory pulled out of a hat proposed that those choices resulted in the creation of a separate future parallel to our own. Consequently, characters tend to travel through time without any repercussions to speak of, with the dismay and anguish one may have experienced at witnessing the tragic panorama of another time vanishing with their return to the present.
The amazing Spider-Man, like many of his fellow heroes, has done his share of time traveling--though I couldn't begin to tell you how often, much less recall the circumstances of those jaunts. Three instances stand out for me, however: One, where he traveled to the past (to meet up with the Scarlet Witch, the Vision, Dr. Doom, and Moondragon--there might as well be a turnstile installed for time travelers)... and on the heels of that trip, Spidey returns to the present by way of misarrivals in two decidedly different futures, first in the year 2019, and then backward nearly twenty years to 1990. And there are two decidedly different individuals in each setting to give him the lay of the land--or what's left of it.
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