History Main / RefugeeFromTime

** Creator/MarkMillar originally considered averting this, doing what has been done with other Marvel characters and shift the war he is associated to something more modern [[note]]This being 2000, it would have been the first US Persian Gulf War.[[/note]] when he was creating ComicBook/TheUltimates. Then he realized that the World War II imagery and the sense of gravitas and historical realism was too much to give up. One might also wonder if the relatively uncontroversial war against the Nazis makes it easier to give Captain America his moral centre than the far less popular Gulf Wars. Compare this with the Punisher...

** Similarly, Frank Castle is always a [[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar Vietnam vet]] no matter how many years have passed. He has died and come back to life twice (once when [[Comicbook/ThePunisherPurgatory he became the Angel-Punisher]], and once with the Franken-Castle scenario), with both returns de-aging him (the Angels needing him in peak condition and the process naturally aiding his health respectively). As of 2011, The Punisher's origin has officially been updated to make him a Gulf War vet. Given the dirty and unpopular public image of the Vietnam War, and the importance of this to Punisher's characterisation, an update to another unpopular and ultimately failed war makes sense.
** The [[Series/ThePunisher2017 2017 series]] changes it to the war in Afghanistan.
*** ''History of the Marvel Universe'' (2019) introduces to canon Creator/MarkWaid's concept of the Siancong War, a decades-long series of conflicts in Southeast Asia that [[FloatingTimeline was always taking place about 15 years ago]] and can be substituted for any real life war in that region, and states that any references to the Vietnam War should be taken as references to this fictional conflict instead. Accordingly, Frank's background was updated within that issue to the Siancong War, as well ComicBook/IronMan's origins, which had until then been previously updated to UsefulNotes/TheGulfWar and later UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror; ComicBook/WarMachine's backstory, who was also originally depicted as a 'Nam vet and is tied to Iron Man's origin; and even ComicBook/MisterFantastic and ComicBook/TheThing, who were UsefulNotes/WorldWarII vets [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness for the first couple of decades]] of the Franchise/FantasticFour's publication history until that war slipped too far into the past for it to make sense.

** In a rare aversion, however, the Netflix adaptation of ''Series/{{Daredevil|2015}}'' makes him an Afghanistan and Iraq vet instead.

* Brad from ''ComicStrip/{{Luann}}'' was an aimless layabout until watching the events of [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror September 11th, 2001]] inspired him to become a firefighter. However, he's still in his mid-20s and the events of that time are approaching 20 years ago, yet he still cites it as his motivation to get off the sofa and do something with his life. Soon that date will be older than he is.

Characters that are tied to a particular period of history and tend to remain tied to it even as the passing of real time would tend to make them die of old age, or the passing of ComicBookTime would tend to shift them to a later period. It is essentially the hardest aversion of the SlidingTimescale applied to just one character, normally occurring when the time period becomes highly emblematic of the character or is needed to provide a strong point in their characterisation.

This causes problems of logic for when the Refugee From Time ends up inside a SlidingTimescale. By all FridgeLogic the person should be older or even dead, they may at one point follow what should be the time and then flip back to pick up some attributes from another time. At some point the character may have started aging naturally before they realised that it wasn't going to hold. For example, Magneto's backstory involves being in the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz. Each new iteration shifts his age down, with AppliedPhlebotinum providing excuses for him to be magically or scientifically rejuvenated.

** Similarly, Frank Castle is always a [[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar Vietnam Vet]] no matter how many years have passed. He has died and come back to life twice (once when [[Comicbook/ThePunisherPurgatory he became the Angel-Punisher]], and once with the Franken-Castle scenario), with both returns de-aging him (the Angels needing him in peak condition and the process naturally aiding his health respectively). As of 2011, The Punisher's origin has officially been updated to make him a Gulf War vet. Given the dirty and unpopular public image of the Vietnam War, and the importance of this to Punisher's characterisation, an update to another unpopular and ultimately failed war makes sense.

*** ''History of the Marvel Universe'' (2019) introduces to canon Creator/MarkWaid's concept of the Siancong War, a decades-long series of conflicts in Southeast Asia that [[FloatingTimeline was always taking place about 15 years ago]] and can be substituted for any real life war in that region, and states that any references to the Vietnam War should be taken as references to this fictional conflict instead. Accordingly, Frank's background was updated within that issue to the Siancong War, as well ComicBook/IronMan's origins, which had until then been previously updated to UsefulNotes/TheGulfWar and later UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror; ComicBook/WarMachine's backstory, who was also originally depicted as a 'Nam vet and is tied to Iron Man's origin; and even ComicBook/MisterFantastic and ComicBook/TheThing, who were UsefulNotes/WorldWarII vets for the first couple of decades of the Franchise/FantasticFour's publication history.

** You have Grampa Abe Simpson, who will always be a World War II vet, and Seymour Skinner, who will always be a Vietnam vet. By now, Skinner should be as old as Grampa was at the start of the show!
** Montgomery Burns has Victorian-era memories that must make him absurdly old at this point. Burns' age is yet another case of {{Flanderization}} on the part of the TropeNamer. In the 1990 episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS2E2SimpsonAndDelilah Simpson and Delilah]]", Burns tells Homer that he's 81 years old, which would place his birth date in 1908 at the earliest. Burns's age was then exaggerated in later seasons; by the mid-'90s he was usually stated to be 104 years old. While this is of course an age that most people never reach, it's still not downright absurdly old. At that point in the series, flashbacks to Burns childhood were usually implied to take place in the late 1800's, which made sense since the episodes aired in the 1990's. The thing is though, that even in the episodes airing now in the 2010's, Burns ''still'' seems to be a child of the late 1800's. Since he also appears to be old enough to have vivid memories of the time, this would probably make him the oldest person in the world today.
*** One episode, "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS17E13TheSeeminglyNeverEndingStory The Seemingly Never-Ending Story]]", has him listing his birthplace as Pangaea.

** Averted with Homer and Marge through a {{retcon}}. The episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS2E12TheWayWeWas The Way We Was]]" firmly establishes that Homer and Marge were in high school in 1970s, and "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS3E12IMarriedMarge I Married Marge]]" reveals that Marge got pregnant soon after she and Homer saw ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'' during its original theatrical run. Both of these episodes were aired in 1991, when such a timeline made sense. But since the show went on for years and years after that without any of the characters aging, Bart couldn't have been conceived in 1980 anymore... so the 2008 episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS19E11That90sShow That '90s Show]]" retconned the earlier timeline and showed Homer and Marge as still-childless youngsters in the early 1990s. However, just one year later "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS20E10TakeMyLifePlease Take My Life, Please]]" went back to the previous timeline and it seems that timeline has stuck, regardless of the fact that Marge and Homer would clearly be in their 60s-70s by now.

** Jimmy was a [[IllGirl sick child]] who died of leukemia in the TurnOfTheMillennium.

* As time went on, it became more and more of a stretch to believe that a youthful-looking woman like ComicBook/BlackWidow (introduced in 1964) could be a veteran of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar. Writers got around this by retconning her into possessing slowed aging.

** Steve Rogers' abilities will always be a result of the UsefulNotes/WorldWarII SuperSoldier program. The character actually lasted a little into the '50s, fighting commies. When he was brought back in the '60s, it was decided Cap had been [[HumanPopsicle frozen]] towards the end of the war, and all appearances since then had been a fake. The freezing has been convenient for writers since then, since they can just expand the number of years he was frozen as needed to have him unfrozen in the modern era: around 20 years originally, more than half a century for the UltimateUniverse, and almost 70 for the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse.

** In a rare aversion, however, the Netflix adaptation of ''Daredevil'' makes him an Afghanistan and Iraq vet instead.
* ComicBook/NickFury and the ComicBook/HowlingCommandos are, like Cap, always a WWII vet, but while he got some SuperSoldier Serum-Lite (an annual injection of the Infinity Formula) that keeps him biologically the same age, there's no such explanation for the other Howlers, most of whom have also been shown in the "modern" era. (Referring to the main Franchise/MarvelUniverse.)

* ComicBook/NickFury and the ComicBook/HowlingCommandos are, like Cap, always a WWII vet, but while got some SuperSoldier Serum-Lite (an annual injection of the Infinity Formula) that keeps him biologically the same age, there's no such explanation for the other Howlers, most of whom have also been shown in the "modern" era. (Referring to the main Franchise/MarvelUniverse.)

* ComicBook/NickFury and the ComicBook/HowlingCommandos are, like Cap, always a WWII vet, but he got some SuperSoldier Serum-Lite (an annual injection of the Infinity Formula) that keeps him biologically the same age, but there's no such explanation for the other Howlers, most of whom have also been shown in the "modern" era. (Referring to the main Franchise/MarvelUniverse.)

This causes problems of logic for when the Refugee From Time ends up inside a SlidingTimescale. By all FridgeLogic the person should be older or even dead, they may at one point follow what should be the time and then flip back to pick up some attributes from another time. At some point the character may have started aging naturally before they realised that it wasn't going to hold. For example, Magneto's backstory involves being in the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz. Each new iteration shifts his age down, with Applied Phlebotinum providing excuses for him to be magically or scientifically rejuvenated.

* Creator/MarvelComics' original ''ComicBook/TheInvadersMarvel''. There are explanations for why the characters have survived to the modern time, but the series itself remains tied to UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.

* Even though Creator/AlexTrebek shaved off [[BadassMustache his iconic mustache]] in 2001 (briefly growing it back in Fall 2014), ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'''s "Celebrity ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}''" sketches still depicted him with the mustache.

** A flashback in "Die, Hippie, Die" shows Sharon and Randy as young adults during Woodstock. Even at the time (2005) this made little sense, as it would have made them at least in their mid-50s. With the show continuing into 2020, they should be in their 70s by now.

* The Kate Kane version of ComicBook/{{Batwoman}} is already showing signs of this, as her origin is so tied to the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" era of USA policy regarding homosexuality in the military.

** A flashback in "Die, Hippie, Die" shows Sharon and Randy as young adults during Woodstock. Even at the time (2005) this made little sense, as it would have made them at least in their mid-50s. With the show continuing into 2020, they should be in their late 60s or 70s by now.

* Creator/MarvelComics' original ''ComicBook/TheInvadersComicBook''. There are explanations for why the characters have survived to the modern time, but the series itself remains tied to UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.

* Marvel's original ''ComicBook/TheInvaders''. There are explanations for why the characters have survived to the modern time, but the series itself remains tied to World War II.

*** [[http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/File:Burns_woodcut.jpg The local villain Montgomery Burns seen here terrorizing children in a 19th century woodcut]].

*** ''History of the Marvel Universe'' (2019) introduces to canon Creator/MarkWaid's concept of the Siancong War, a decades-long series of conflicts in Southeast Asia that [[FloatingTimeline was always taking place about 15 years ago]] and can be substituted for any real life war in that region, and states that any references to the Vietnam War should be taken as references to the fictional conflict instead. Accordingly, Frank's background was update within that issue to the Siancong War, as well ComicBook/IronMan's origins, which had until then been previously updated to UsefulNotes/TheGulfWar and later UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror; ComicBook/WarMachine's backstory, who was also originally depicted as a 'Nam vet and is tied to Iron Man's origin; and even ComicBook/MisterFantastic and ComicBook/TheThing, who were UsefulNotes/WorldWarII vets for the first couple of decades of the Franchise/FantasticFour's publication history.

** Steve Rogers' abilities will always be a result of the UsefulNotes/WorldWarII SuperSoldier program. the character actually lasted a little into the '50s, fighting commies. When he was brought back in the '60s, it was decided Cap had been [[HumanPopsicle frozen]] towards the end of the war, and all appearances since then had been a fake. The freezing has been convenient for writers since then, since they can just expand the number of years he was frozen as needed to have him unfrozen in the modern era: around 20 years originally, more than half a century for the UltimateUniverse, and almost 70 for the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse.

[[folder:Anime, Light Novels, Manga]]

* Even though Creator/AlexTrebek shaved off [[BadassMustache his iconic mustache]] in 2001 (briefly growing it back in Fall 2014), ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'''s "Celebrity ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}''" sketches still depict him wearing a mustache (which is also the case for countless other ''Jeopardy!'' parodies in pop culture).

*** One episode, "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS17E13TheSeeminglyNeverEndingStory The Seemingly Never-Ending Story]]", has him listing his birthplace as Pangea.

* Again, 1969: "Summer of '69" by Music/BryanAdams was written by two people. Jim Vallence wrote a nostalgic piece that was going to be just called "The Best Days Of My Life" until someone looked at a line and said ThrowItIn. The piece was always going to have that nostalgic tone (with some GettingCrapPastTheRadar with the line "me and my baby in a '69") but the audience ages and attitudes would change slowly. Bryan Adams on the other hand, has now started stating that the '69 was always meant to be about the sexual position with it meant to be bleedingly obvious. This feels a bit more like a shoehorn to keep the lyrics relevant and make it a justified RefugeeFromTime. Although for Adams, who was only 10 years old in 1969, its entirely possible the song means ''to him'' precisely what he says it means.

* On ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', Jimbo and Ned are supposed to be Vietnam War vets. This was already a bit iffy when the show started, but nowadays the pair should be in the sixties while they still look about 40.
** A flashback in "Die, Hippie, Die" shows Sharon and Randy as young adults during Woodstock. Even at the time (2005) this made little sense, as it would have made them at least in their mid-fifties. With the show continuing into the 2020s, they should be in their 70s by now.

*** ''History of the Marvel Universe'' (2019) introduces to canon Creator/MarkWaid's concept of the Siancong War, a decades-long series of conflicts in Southeast Asia that [[FloatingTimeline was always taking place about 15 years ago]] and can be substituted for any real life war in that region, and states that any references to the Vietnam War should be taken as references to the fictional conflict instead. Accordingly, Frank's background was update within that issue to the Siancong War, as well Franchise/IronMan's origins, which had until then been previously updated to UsefulNotes/TheGulfWar and later UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror; ComicBook/WarMachine's backstory, who was also originally depicted as a 'Nam vet and is tied to Iron Man's origin; and even ComicBook/MisterFantastic and ComicBook/TheThing, who were UsefulNotes/WorldWarII vets for the first couple of decades of the Franchise/FantasticFour's publication history.

** The MAX series makes him about sixty-seventy, [[OlderThanTheyLook although the art doesn't always reflect this]].

** Steve Rogers' abilities will always be a result of the UsefulNotes/WorldWarII SuperSoldier program. The time he was trapped in the ice in the Atlantic will just become longer.

* ComicBook/NickFury is, like Cap, always a WWII vet, but he got some SuperSoldier Serum-Lite (an annual injection of the Infinity Formula) that keeps him biologically the same age. (Referring to the main Franchise/MarvelUniverse.)

* It has become an established part of [[Comicbook/TheLifeAndTimesOfScroogeMcDuck Scrooge McDuck]]'s past that the character took part in the Klondike and Yukon Gold Rush -- currently more than a hundred years ago. Don Rosa fixed this problem, at least in his own comics, by establishing that all his [=McDuck=] comics take place during the late 1940's and early 50's. Thus Scrooge could very well have taken part in the gold rushes as a young man. Some other [[ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse McDuck]] authors follow this, but others ignore it and set their stories in the present.
* ComicBook/{{Magneto}}'s backstory is so entrenched in Auschwitz by this point that writers struggle with keeping him as a Holocaust survivor and still keeping him and his contemporary Charles Xavier up to date. There have been attempts to retcon this, but they always SnapBack in the end. The solution seems to be giving Xavier and Magneto anti-aging treatments periodically.