TIME DIAMONDS

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History: 

(Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine#4 (fb) - BTS) - The Time Diamonds remained underground somewhere in what would later be known as the Yukon, Canada. They were apparently discovered and mined at some point, but during the late 19th century the mine had been abandoned. (Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine#4 (fb)) - Modern day hero Spider-Man, who had been sent to the past by Time Diamonds during a bank robbery in the modern era, was hurled into the abandoned mine by an explosion caused by dynamite thrown at a young Logan by his half-brother Dog, who had been hunting Logan for some time. Spider-Man realized the glowing diamonds in the mine were like the ones from the bank that originally sent him through time, but more trouble had already found him before he could properly grasp the situation. (Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine#6 / Wolverine and the X-Men I#26 (fb)) - Dog went into the mine looking for Logan and upon picking up one of the Time Diamonds was transported to the modern era. (Wolverine and the X-Men I#26 (fb) - BTS) - In the modern era Dog Logan turned the Time Diamond into a neckband and soon realized that the Time Diamond had a mind of its own. While most of the time Dog only had to think about wherever and whenever he wanted to be to get there, the Time Diamond sometimes took him where he needed to be. This way Dog accumulated weapons from future and alien worlds. (Wolverine and the X-Men I#26) - Dog tracked down Wolverine in the Savage Land during a Jean Grey School for Higher Learning excursion and captured him using the weapons and technology he had acquired using the Time Diamond. Dog then utilized the Time Diamond to summon Roxxon's automated Human Resources droids from the 53rd century, warriors from the Mud Eaters cavemen tribe and Iron Mask and his gang to the present to teach Wolverine's unaware students a lesson and prove himself to be a better teacher than his half-brother. (Wolverine and the X-Men I#27 - BTS) - The situation turned sour despite Dog allying himself with the students against the time-displaced villains when the three factions formed an alliance and under Iron Mask's guidance knocked out Dog to get answers on how they got there. (Wolverine and the X-Men I#28) - Unable to prove himself to be his brother's better and in danger of getting shot in the head by Iron Mask and to have an actual conversation with his half-brother, Dog used the Time Diamond to escape to his cabin and send his time-displaced patsies back to their respective eras.

(Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine#1 (fb) - BTS) - A number of these diamonds (presumably ones mined over a century earlier in the Yukon mine seen in #4) ended up in a safety deposit box at an unspecified bank in Manhattan, New York.

(Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine#1 - BTS) - The Orb (the one with an actual eye for a head; not Drake Shannon) and his Orblings robbed the bank that contained the time diamonds.

(Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine#1 - BTS) - Both Spider-Man and Wolverine arrived at the bank, and when one of the Orblings (Marty) discovered the diamonds and ran out to tell his boss, Spider-Man swung into him. Knocked out of Marty's hands, the time diamonds struck the ground, and their energies transported Spider-Man and Wolverine back in time circa 65 million B.C. where their actions diverged that reality to Earth-10964.

    Some of this reality overlapped with Reality-616, causing persistence in Reality-616 of objects, etc. created in Reality-10964.

Time travel shenanigans happened...Czar's history may or may not jump forward to this point (or that point occurs before this point) before continuing on again...

(Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine#5 (fb) - BTS) - Discovering Czar and his Timestick (both bonded with time diamonds), Mojo employed him (and his associate, Big Murder) to allow them to produce shows taking place anywhere from the dawn to the end of time.

(Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine#4 (fb) - BTS) - Czar and Big Murder established an estate on an asteroid somewhen around the end of time.

(Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine#3 (fb) - BTS) - Traveling through time and across realities, Czar and his partner, Big Murder, encountered Genghis Khan in the deserts, presumably in the early 13^th century somewhere, beating him into submission.

(Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine#2 - BTS) - Usage of the Time Diamonds led the Time Variance Authority's Minutemen to pursue those involved with the Time Diamonds.

(Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine#3) - Czar chose to use his Timestick to send Spider-Man and Wolverine somewhere; he didn't know where, but sensed that the two were bonded in a way only the diamonds could understand.

    Czar then struck the pair with his Timestick, sending Wolverine to a world where he was a costumed performer about to battle a Spider-Man who was a champion in fighting (like against Crusher Hogan) and sending Spider-Man to a world where he was confronted by the feral youth James Howlett/Logan.

(Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine#4) - Traveling through time and across realities, Czar and Big Murder confronted and slaughtered and/or banished a group of Knights Templar (apparently around 1150 A.D.).

(Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine#4) - At Czar's direction, Big Murder then brought them "home," to an estate on an asteroid somewhen around the end of time.

(Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine#4) - When Wolverine attempted to break into the bank from which he and Spider-Man had been sent to Earth-10964's past, Czar surprised him from within the bank vault, smashing him back with his Timestick.

    As Dog confronted the young James Howlett/Logan in the Yukon, Big Murder flattened Spider-Man inside a mine filled with Time Diamonds and then Czar struck him with the Timestick.

(Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine#4 (fb) - BTS) - Unnoticed by Czar at the time, Spider-Man stole one of his Time Diamonds.

(Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine#4 - BTS) - Spider-Man and Wolverine found themselves tied to a stake that was being lit on fire, but Spider-Man revealed that he had at least one of the time diamonds.

(Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine#5) - Czar informed Mojo that he had discovered that Spider-Man had stolen one of his time diamonds and that Spider-Man and Wolverine were now traveling through time outside of his power. Czar speculated that -- as the diamonds seemed to have a mind of their own -- that the pair could be lost in time forever. Or...?

    Spider-Man and Wolverine then arrived in Mojo's chambers, but as they charged, Czar smashed Wolverine back with his Timestick. Czar then froze time for both heroes, and Big Murder retrieved the time diamond from Spider-Man (it was hidden somewhere a man without pockets who needed to hide something might hide something). However, Wolverine -- using the Phoenix Force power he had gained via the Phoenix gun -- unleashed a burst of energy that restored temporal movement for himself and Spider-Man.

    Pointing to the time diamonds, Czar noted how he could wipe out Wolverine in many ways, and he summoned Dog and an armored warrior to attack him. Fighting them off, an unimpressed Wolverine suggested that if Czar was so smart, he would have traveled back in time to warn himself about all of the things he (Wolverine) was about to do to him...at which point an elderly Czar arrived to warn his younger self.

    However, the two Czars swiftly began arguing hostilely. Taking advantage of the distraction, Wolverine rushed forward and cut off Czar's right hand, taking it and the Timestick with him and then departing with Spider-Man. A Czar intermediate in age between the previous two then emerged through a time portal, warning his younger self too late that "he's about to cut off your..."

(Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine#5 - BTS) - Wolverine led Spider-Man to the short-lived planet on which's trees the time diamonds had grown, and the heroes used them to coat their claws and facemask/gloves/feet, respectively.

(Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine#5) - After the youngest Czar fatally shot the eldest Czar in the head, Spider-Man and Wolverine returned.

    Spider-Man kicked the Middle-Aged Czar, taking him out of the fight (it was unclear whether he was knocked out or sent back to his own time, but I don't think we saw him again).

    The youngest Czar told Wolverine that if he was waiting for him to beg, they were going to be there all day, but Wolverine returned his Timestick to him before engaging him.

(Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine#5 (fb) - BTS) - Spider-Man hit Big Murder, whom the time diamonds turned into a baby.

(Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine#5) - Wolverine progressively sliced the Timestick to pieces but apparently entered into a berserker rage while fully accessing the Phoenix Force and threatening to destroy all reality.

(Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine#6 (fb)) - After Spider-Man had talked down Wolverine and allowed him to apparently cast out the Phoenix Force, the Time Variance Authority's Minutemen arrived, pulling the Orb, Big Murder, and Czar through temporal portals. As the Minutemen reached for Spider-Man and Wolverine, however, Spider-Man accessed the last of the time diamonds they possessed, sending him, Wolverine and Sara Bailey (a woman who had been a teller at the initial bank robbery) back to the 19^th century.

(Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine#6) - After three years, four months, and 13 days, as Spider-Man was showing to Wolverine the ring fashioned from the seemingly inactive time diamond (which he planned to give to Sara as an engagement ring), the ring began to glow once again. The Minutemen then appeared again, sending Spider-Man, Wolverine and Sara Bailey back to their own time, and they returned to the scene of the bank robbery, where the time diamonds vanished.
    As a result, they did not travel into the past (or at least they were returned to that point and did not travel back again). While both Spider-Man and Wolverine remembered their adventure, Sara had no memory of it nor any attraction to or interest in Spider-Man.

(Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine#6) - One of the Orblings (possibly Marty), having escaped before the police arrived, had escaped with a number of the time diamonds. He sought out the drug dealer known as the Czar, hoping he could pay them well for them. Initially not interested, Czar reconsidered and sent Big Murder to get his bat.
    And then perhaps that looped back to Czar's other adventures...

(Mighty Thor: At the Gates of Valhalla#1 (fb) - BTS) - In Reality-14412's distant future, the granddaughters of Thor (aka Goddesses of Thunder: Frigg, Ellisiv and Atli) sought to meet Jane Foster, who had been Thor for a period of time in the 21^st century. After reading about them in a scroll in the Asgardian library, Ellisiv discovered a chest of time diamonds in ancient room that she figured their grandfather did not even remember.

(Mighty Thor: At the Gates of Valhalla#1) - After adding some sleeping berries to grandfather's Thor's drink, Ellisiv led Frigg and Atli to the room with the chest of time diamonds, which she described as one of the lost wonders of the ancient world. Atli wondered if they had to eat them, and Ellisiv replied that while the scrolls she had reviewed did not mention how exactly to activate them, she speculated that one should hold a diamond and all together think of where they -- but Atli interrupted, shouting "Take us to the golden age of Thor!"

    They were transported back to the viking age somewhere around the latter part of the first millennium A.D., where they encountered and defeated a group of trolls, liberating the village they had conquered.

    When Frigg instructed the diamond to take them to Thor, they were transported to observe a young Thor struggling to move Mjolnir.

    Atli then instructed the diamond to take them to the future Thor, and it brought them to Thor (Dargo Ktor) of Earth-8710's 26^th century.

    Atli then instructed the diamond to take them back in time to "right before that business with the Avengers and the Dark Celestials," and it brought them back to 1 million B.C, where they encountered the Ghost Rider and Star Brand (Vnn) of that time period.

    Ellisiv clarified that they were looking for the Thor of the 21st century, and the time diamond transported them to Central Park when Thor was trapped in frog form.

    Ellisiv suggested that they should go back to their own time, and they arrived in their own future, observing Loki battling Thor, but Ellisiv insisted they should not observe their own future, and she transported them to the relative present of Earth-616.

    There they encountered the frail Jane Foster -- the Thor they had been seeking all along -- as she headed for a cancer treatment, and they expressed their admiration and respect.

(Wolverine: Infinity Watch#1) - Phoenix (Logan) of Reality-14412 traveled to Earth-616 in the modern era with his Timebat (a baseball bat with Time Diamonds attached to it not unlike Czar's) in hand and told Loki and Wolverine, his counterpart from that reality, to find the Infinity Stones and protect Hector Bautista (who obtained the Time Stone). Before returning to his reality Phoenix gifted the Timebat to Wolverine because it would come in handy.

(Wolverine: Infinity Watch#2) - Wolverine and Loki flew to Texas on the flying ship Skidbladnir and tracked down Hector, who was on the run from the police. Wolverine held on to the Timebat when he picked Hector off his motorbike and pulled him on to the ship and the Timebat countered Hector's attempt to stop Wolverine in time. Introductions were cut short when the Chitauri Warbringer attacked the ship to get his hands on Hector's Time Stone. Hector fled and Wolverine handed over the Timebat to Loki so he could go after Hector while Wolverine dealt with Warbringer. Loki caught up to Hector and whacked him in the leg with the Timebat. Warbringer found them and left the planet after Loki used his illusion casting powers to convince Warbringer that he had brutally ripped the Time Stone from Hector's body. Moments later the Fraternity of Raptors abducted Hector.

(Wolverine: Infinity Watch#3 - BTS) - The Timebat remained on Skidbladnir while Wolverine, Loki and their new ally the ghost dog Bats attacked the Fraternity of Raptors. Wolverine got caught while Loki teleported to Earth to pick up Gloria Rider, the mother of Talonar (Robbie Rider).

(Wolverine: Infinity Watch#4 - BTS) - While the Fraternity tried to burn Wolverine's skin off of his Adamantium skeleton in a vat inside the engine room, Wolverine told Bats to fetch the Timebat for him.

(Wolverine: Infinity Watch#4) - Bats got the Timebat from Skidbladnir and ran through a Raptor to deliver it to Wolverine, who was barely alive after breaking out of the vat. Wolverine grabbed the Timebat and used it to accelerate his healing process. He took out the Raptors in the engine room and then fought his way through more Raptors while Bats held on to the Timebat Meanwhile Loki found a peaceful solution to the situation by using Robbie's mother to calm Talonar down and end his evil plan to dissect Hector to get his hand on the Time Stone. As everyone had calmed down the ship was attacked by Warbringer, who still wanted Hector's Time Stone as well.

(Wolverine: Infinity Watch#5 - BTS) - During the battle Hector stopped Warbringer in time and Talonar opened a portal to Earth to escape his ship with his mother, Bats, Hector, Loki and Wolverine. Moments after their escape the spaceship blew up with the Timebat still on the ship, which angered Wolverine, who asked Hector to rewind time so he could get the Timebat, but Hector was unable and unwilling to help and left.

Comments: Created by Jason Aaron, Adam Kubert, and Mark Morales.

    With the exception of the couple of panels flashing back to before he got the time diamonds, Czar is covered in time diamonds, and almost everything he did involved them.
    For this profile, I focused on what the time diamonds were actually specifically used for, but you can read the profile on Czar for more detail.

    Jason Aaron apparently has had a long-term desire to extend human history back to the time of the dinosaurs, as he has did so much in the pages of the Avengers series he wrote.
    This story predates those stories by several years. When I first read this story, it started out as seemingly having Spider-Man and Wolverine sent into their own past and diverging it, but it just seemed to work on the common misconception that Devil Dinosaur's history (with Moon-Boy being one of the Small Folk) took place on Earth-616. That made me really lose interest in the series, and I forgot about it.
    Re-reading the series for this and other profiles, I got to enjoy it a lot more.
    Anyway, Devil Dinosaur and Moon-Boy (and those Small Folk) originated from Dinosaur World (Earth-78411) as confirmed by the original master of the obscure and guiding force of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, Mark Gruenwald.
    The story with Doom the Living Planet wiping out human society and the Small Folk -- who had survived via a time-traveling Wolverine's guidance -- are clearly part of an alternate timeline, Earth-10964...

    As mentioned, the series was fun to read, but hard to make sense of. I was heavy on detail in the history rather than try to summarize/interpret what was happening...partly because I really could not make sense of it at the end.
    Time travel shenanigans abound. Due to the order of the telling of the story and the revision of timelines by the TVA/Minutemen, etc., it is extremely difficult to tell Czar's history in a linear fashion.

Did Czar receive the time diamonds from an Orbling originally, or is that only how he got them after the reality of the bank robbery and the fate of the time diamonds was altered by the Time Variance Authority?

    As the Time Diamonds traveled across time and realities AND seemed to have a mind of their own sometimes, it is hard to tell whether the time diamonds from one reality were the same as those from another. Given that the stories were all written by Jason Aaron, I think it is likely that the time diamonds moved back and forth between realities and times as needed, but that's unconfirmed. Regardless, this profile will cover all time diamond appearances for reference, at least.

    Time Diamonds were also utilized in the Infinity Warp reality as seen in Infinity Wars: Ghost Panther#2 (February, 2019) and Secret Warps: Ghost Panther Annual#1 (September, 2019) though it is unclear whether these Time Diamonds are actually connected to the Time Diamonds this profile is about.
--Markus Raymond

    In Infinity Wars: Ghost Panther#2, Erik Killraven (a mash-up of Killmonger and Killraven) and his brother (actual or figurative), M'Bakshulla the White (a mash-up of the Man-Ape and M'Shulla) used the Time Diamonds -- which Killraven discovered via the clairsentience granted him by experimentation by the Martian Masters -- to travel from their alternate future to present day reality.

    In Secret Warps: Ghost Panther Annual#1, Ghost Panther (a mash-up of Ghost Rider/Johnny Blaze & Black Panther/T'Challa) confronts Captain Peace (a mash-up of Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers and Justive Peace) for allowing the Time Diamond to be stolen from her by Killraven. In an effort to reverse the consequences, Ghost Panther had Captain Peace given him the Time Diamond, with which he traveled to 2099. However, despite this trip foiling the Martian invasion,it failed to change the past as T'Challa had hoped.

CLARIFICATIONS:
The Time Diamonds should be distinguished from:

• other "time" or "diamond" characters, groups, items, events, races or place...
  an extensive list of time-travel devices can be found in the clarifications here.

images: (without ads):
Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine#1, pg. 16, panel 1 (Orbling with diamonds);
          panel 5-8 (diamonds falling out);
       pg. 17, panel 1-3 (diamonds striking the ground and transporting Spider-Man and Wolverine across time);
       pg. 21, panel 4 (asteroid with diamonds, distant);
       pg. 22, panel 4 (asteroid with diamonds, close);
Wolverine and the X-Men I#26, p15, pan1 (Dog at the Time Diamond mine)
Wolverine and the X-Men I#26, p16, pan2 (Dog with Time Diamond neckband)
Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine#2, last page, panels 7-8 (Timestick, time diamond teeth, rings)
    #5, pg 17, panel 3 (planet of the time diamond trees);
           panel 4 (Wolverine picking a time diamond);
       pg. 18, panel 3 (Wolverine putting time diamonds on claws);
       pg. 20, panel 2 (Spider-Man bedazzled with diamonds);
       pg. 21, panel 4 (Wolverine vs. Czar);
    #6, pg. 12, panel 3 (glowing diamond ring);
        pg. 19, panel 3 (handfulls of diamonds);
Mighty Thor: At the Gates of Valhalla#1, p4, pan3 (Time Diamonds in chest, Reality-14412)
Mighty Thor: At the Gates of Valhalla#1, p4, pan4 (Ellisiv holding Time Diamond)
Wolverine: Infinity Watch#4, p6, pan2 (Bats with Timebat)

Appearances:
Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine#1 (July, 2010) - Jason Aaron (writer), Adam Kubert (penciler), Mark Morales w/ Dexer Vines (inker), Daniel Ketchum (associate editor), Nick Lowe (editor)
Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine#2 (September, 2010) - Jason Aaron (writer), Adam Kubert (penciler), Mark Morales (inker), Daniel Ketchum (associate editor), Nick Lowe (editor)
Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine#3 (November, 2010) - Jason Aaron (writer), Adam Kubert (penciler), Mark Morales (inker), Jake Thomas (assistant editor), Daniel Ketchum (associate editor), Nick Lowe (editor)
Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine#4 (February, 2011) - Jason Aaron (writer), Adam Kubert (penciler), Mark Morales (inker), Jake Thomas (assistant editor), Daniel Ketchum (associate editor), Nick Lowe (editor)
Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine#5 (May, 2011) - Jason Aaron (writer), Adam Kubert (penciler), Mark Roslan (digital inker), Sebastian Girner (assistant editor), Daniel Ketchum (associate editor), Nick Lowe (editor) - Justin Ponsor was listed as one of the writers in the credits for this issue. Justin was a great artist (and a nice guy!), and he usually worked as a colorist. His credit as colorist was in the same position in the credits in the other issues, and the trade paperback confirmed he was the colorist and not a writer of the series).
Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine#6 (July, 2011) - Jason Aaron (writer), Adam Kubert (penciler), Mark Roslan (digital inker), Sebastian Girner (assistant editor), Daniel Ketchum (associate editor), Nick Lowe (editor)
Wolverine & the X-Men I#26-28 (May-July, 2013) - Jason Aaron (writer), Ramón Perez (artist), Jordan D. White (associate editor), Nick Lowe (editor)
Mighty Thor: At the Gates of Valhalla#1 (July, 2018) - Jason Aaron (writer), Jen Bartel (artist), Sarah Brunstad (associate editor), Wil Moss (editor)
Wolverine: Infinity Watch#1-5 (April-August, 2019) - Gerry Duggan (writer), Andy MacDonald (artist), Annalise Bissa (assistant editor), Jordan D. White (editor)
Infinity Wars: Ghost Panther#2 (February, 2019) - Jed McKay (writer), Jefte Palo (artist), Annalise Bissa (assistant editor), Jordan D. White (editor)
Secret Warps: Ghost Panther Annual#1 (September, 2019) - Daniel Kibblesmith (writer), Ig Guara (arists), Annalise Bissa (assistant editor), Jordan D. White (editor)

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

First posted: 08/12/2024
Last updated: 09/15/2024

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