TABLET OF LIFE AND TIME
Classification: Mystic tablet
Creator: Unidentified Homo mermani during the Hyborian era
User/Possessors: Dr. Stephen Strange, Kingpin (Wilson Fisk), Lizard (Dr. Curt Connors), Spider-Man (Peter Parker), unidentified extradimensional (Haizli) queen, presumably others over the millennia;
fragments only: Boomerang (Fred Myers), Caesar Cicero, Vinnie DeGliato, Eel (Edward Lavell), Gog, Hammerhead, Kingpin (Wilson Fisk), Man Mountain Marko, Billy Neuhaus, Science Foundation, Silvermane, Shocker (Herman Schultz), George Stacy, Louis Wilson, presumably many others over the millennia;
used incomplete Lifeline Formula: Lizard, Silvermane;
used true Lifeline Formula: Hammerhead, Antonia (Hammerhead's sister)
Aliases: Lifeline Tablet
First Appearance: Amazing Spider-Man I#68 (January, 1969)
Powers/Abilities/Functions: On the tablet was a biochemical formula for a serum, the so-called Lifeline Formula, which could rejuvenate, heal and grant its user the chance to reach the full evolutionary potential of its race turning the user into an immortal near omnipotent being. Though healing effects were permanent, the additional powers it granted were only temporary as most people were not prepared to use these powers properly. If this protective element was active for worthy users stays unrevealed.
In combination with the Tablet of Death and Entropy the Lifeline Tablet can be used to resurrect people.
History:
(Spider-Man: Lifeline#1-2 (fb) - BTS) - The Tablet of Life and Time (named in Amazing Spider-Man I#547) was created during the Hyborian age in the language of the sister cultures Lemuria and Atlantis (see comments).
(Amazing Spider-Man I#68 (fb) - BTS) - Over the millennia countless men died to get their hands on the Tablet of Life and Time.
(Amazing Spider-Man I#74 (fb) - BTS) - Legends told of the tablet when it got lost.
(Amazing Spider-Man I#74 (fb) - BTS) - Experts were already aware that the secret of the tablet had something to do with the mystery of life. Publications about the tablet talked about it and its biological background.
(Amazing Spider-Man I#68 (fb) - BTS) - The Science Foundation sent the tablet to different universities in hope that someone would be able to translate it.
(Amazing Spider-Man I#68) - The tablet was exhibited at Empire State University at the Exhibition Hall. Archaeologist Louis Wilson told the Kingpin about the tablet. That evening the Kingpin and a few of henchmen stole the tablet and Spider-Man couldn't stop them.
(Amazing Spider-Man I#69) - Kingpin returned to his base and stashed the tablet in his vault. Spider-Man defeated Kingpin and his henchmen and then followed Louis Wilson to Kingpin's vault. He took the tablet from the vault and tried to give it to the police, so they could return it to ESU, but they shot at him.
(Amazing Spider-Man I#70) - Spider-Man took the tablet with him because he couldn't return it to ESU after the police was ordered to shoot him on sight. Eventually Spider-Man got tired and took the tablet to his apartment where he stashed it in his private closet. After a day Spider-Man got the idea to decipher the tablet by bringing it to the greatest expert on hieroglyphics in town, but the police already waited there for him. With the tablet webbed to his back Spider-Man took out several of Kingpin's men to lure out the Kingpin, who had escaped prison. When they finally met Kingpin was able to escape and Spider-Man got into a fight with J. Jonah Jameson, who had a heart attack in the process. Spider-Man then left with the tablet still on his back.
(Amazing Spider-Man I#71) - With the tablet in his apartment Spider-Man looked through his photographs to proof that Spider-Man was not in league with the Kingpin. He sold these photographs to Joe Robertson, who ran in Jameson's absence the Daily Bugle and then took the tablet to Captain George Stacy.
(Amazing Spider-Man I#72) - The Shocker stole the tablet from Stacy and contacted a crooked pawnshop owner, but he told him that nobody wanted anything to do with tablet since Spider-Man took it from Kingpin.
(Amazing Spider-Man I#72 - BTS) - The Shocker stashed the tablet away in a hidden vault in his girlfriend's apartment before he was caught by the police after several fights with Spider-Man.
(Amazing Spider-Man I#73) - Man Mountain Marko broke into the apartment and threatened Shocker's girlfriend if she didn't hand over the tablet. While fighting Spider-Man, Marko found the vault and soon escaped with the tablet when Spider-Man had to save Shocker's girlfriend from falling to her death. Marko soon arrived with the tablet at Silvermane's house and Wilson, who had been bailed out, identified it as the real tablet. Caesar Cicero had Dr. Curt Connors, an expert in biology, brought in to help reveal the secrets of the tablet.
(Amazing Spider-Man I#74) - Connors and Wilson worked together on translating the tablet. Connors discovered that the hieroglyphs were biochemical symbols and not words. It was a formula for a powerful rejuvenation serum, which Connors created for Silvermane. The serum worked and Silvermane was a young man again.
(Amazing Spider-Man I#75 - BTS) - Silvermane continued to grow younger while Connors, who didn't tell Silvermane the true results of formula, escaped as the Lizard. The serum made Silvermane regress beyond birth.
(Spider-Man: Lifeline#1 (fb) - BTS) - The tablet was used as evidence to convict Wilson and was placed in police storage afterwards.
(Spider-Man: Lifeline#1 (fb)) - Six additional fragments of the tablet were found by Louis Wilson.
(Spider-Man: Lifeline#1 (fb) - BTS) - The tablet was stolen from storage.
(Spider-Man: Lifeline#2 (fb) - BTS) - The thief was a crooked cop, who was bribed by Vinnie DeGliato, one of Hammerhead's men, to bring him the tablet.
(Spider-Man: Lifeline#1) - They were presented to the public by Wilson at a museum opening. Man Mountain Marko tried to steal the fragments, but he was stopped by Spider-Man. Wilson took the fragments within after the opening party, but Marko and the Eel worked together to steal them this time for real. They brought it to Caesar Cicero, but Boomerang stole it from Cicero and his men Eel and Marko couldn't stop it.
Spider-Man brought the formula (with the additional hieroglyphs from the originally missing parts) to Dr. Strange, but he wasn't able to decipher them on his own. He left in his astral form to find help.
Boomerang brought the missing fragments to his employer Hammerhead. Once again Dr. Curt Connors was forced to help with the formula and he was sure the additional fragments would improve it.
(Spider-Man: Lifeline#2) - Hammerhead held the tablet in his hands while Connors worked on improving the formula. Hammerhead was angered by Connors slow progress and hit him.
Dr. Strange's astral form arrived in Atlantis to talk with Namor, whose vizier knew more about the tablet. He revealed that the formula on the tablet could grant its user the power to reach the evolutionary peak of humanity, but that the use of the power granted was limited to the character of the user.
In New York City Arthur Stacy visited Louis Wilson and saw him hiding another part of the tablet in his vault. Meanwhile Connors created the enhanced version of the serum, but he tried to use it himself. Boomerang stopped him, but during a fight between Spider-Man and the villains, Connors managed to drink a drop of the serum and it turned him into the Lizard.
(Spider-Man: Lifeline#3) - The Lizard planned to use the serum to make reptilians the dominant species on Earth again and fled without the tablet and the notes on the formula. At a meeting with Arthur Stacy and Louis Wilson, Spider-Man received the missing part of the tablet Wilson had kept back. Not long after that Dr. Strange's astral form informed Spider-Man of the power the serum could grant.
Lizard was caught by Boomerang when he tried to get back Connors' notes from Hammerhead. Spider-Man handed over the missing piece of the tablet to Lizard at St. Mercy Hospital, where Hammerhead was visiting his sick sister. Lizard created the serum, Boomerang took it away and Hammerhead drank it to become a powerful being. He turned the Lizard back into Connors and offered Spider-Man to bring back everyone he had loved, but before he could do that, Hammerhead's powers faded. Spider-Man had already created a small dosage of the serum and gave it to Hammerhead's sister Antonia, who was cured by it.
After everything was over Spider-Man took the tablet to Dr. Strange, who sent it to another plane of reality.
SECRET WARS III HAPPENED
(Amazing Spider-Man V#42 (fb) - BTS) - The Lifeline Tablet landed in the Hailzip dimension. The Haizli queen saw the power it promised and thought she could use it to take back her planet. Even though her side won the war it cost many people's lives including her son's. She blamed the Lifeline Tablet and smashed it. She then ordered her son's pet Gog, who had incidentally returned to their world, to take the fragments back to the world the Lifeline Tablet came from, scatter them and keep one to protect it from ever falling into the wrong hands.
(Amazing Spider-Man V#43 (fb)) - Gog took the fragments of the Lifeline Tablet back to Earth on the ship Mr. Fantastic had built for him and hid the fragments throughout New York City. He stayed in the sewers with the last fragment.
(Amazing Spider-Man V#41 (fb) - BTS) - Department of Records archivist Gus Mapleton found out that the Lifeline Tablet had returned to New York City, but was broken up into fragments and hidden all over the city. He made a coded map, but when Wilson Fisk became the new mayor of New York City, Mapleton quickly realized that Fisk was after the tablet and tried to destroy all copies of the map. A damaged copy was acquired by Fisk, who hired experts to decode it.
(Giant-Size Spider-Man: King's Ransom#1 (fb)) - Mayor Fisk hired Boomerang to find the Lifetime Tablet fragments for him. Fisk made sure the archivist overheard him talk about the Lifeline Tablet during a meeting and then set up a trap.
(Amazing Spider-Man V#41 (fb)) - Gus approached Boomerang during a parade held for his heroics during Hydra's takeover of the country and told him about Fisk searching for the Lifeline Tablet. When Fisk's goons arrived at Gus' office he used a spell taught to him by Doctor Strange to transfer the locations of all Lifeline Tablet fragments directly from his brain into Boomerang's.
(Giant-Size Spider-Man: King's Ransom#1 (fb)) - Right after Gus was attacked by Scorcher and some henchmen.
(Amazing Spider-Man V#41 (fb)) - Gus was killed by Fisk's goons.
(Giant-Size Spider-Man: King's Ransom#1 (fb)) - Before he died Gus realized that Boomerang had tricked him and revealed to him that he would never be able to get the last piece because he had enchanted it so that only a selfless hero could take it from its hiding place and everyone else would die. Boomerang reneged on his deal with Fisk because he was scared to die and because they couldn't agree on the payment. Boomerang decided to get near Spider-Man through his friend Peter Parker to form an alliance with Spider-Man to eventually retrieve the final piece.
(Free Comic Book Day 2018 (Amazing Spider-Man/Guardians of the Galaxy)#1) - Boomerang stole part of the Lifeline Tablet from the Natural History Museum with the help of Rhino, Electro (Francine Frye) and Big Wheel, but they were apprehended by Spider-Man. Mayor Fisk arrived with the police and Boomerang handed him the bag with the Lifeline Tablet fragment, which put a smile on Fisk's face. Boomerang incidentally escaped using a Jeterang while his allies were arrested by the police.
(Amazing Spider-Man V#1 - BTS) - Spider-Man allowed Boomerang to escape because Fisk's interest in the stolen item made him believe that Fisk was the real danger in this situation.
(Amazing Spider-Man V#6 - BTS) - Mayor Fisk claimed that the robbery at the Natural History Museum was actually just a drill to test the city's responses to super villain attacks. He thanked Boomerang for his service and hoped they could meet so he could personally thank him.
The mayor's office called Boomerang to give him a chance to send him his terms and Boomerang doubled the price for the fragments of the Lifeline Tablet because he had realized how desperate Fisk was and also because it made him angry that Fisk tried to paint him as a hero, which was damaging to his reputation in the super-villain community. Fisk was infuriated by this and put a bounty on Boomerang's head and sent it to every super-villain hanging out with Boomerang at the Bar With No Name.
(Amazing Spider-Man V#26 - BTS) - Boomerang found a part of the Lifeline Tablet in a closed subway station under City Hall and left a note in the box that had contained the Lifeline Tablet part for Fisk, who found the note when his lackeys had finally solved the riddle that led him to the box. The note told Fisk that Boomerang was still ahead of him in regards of finding the Lifeline Tablet parts. Fisk sent the police after Boomerang, but they couldn't arrest him because Peter Parker was with him. Fisk then hired the Syndicate to go after Boomerang.
(Amazing Spider-Man V#27 - BTS) - The Syndicate caught Boomerang and Beetle (Janice Lincoln) contacted Fisk about payment. Fisk told her that Boomerang had something that was of great value to him.
(Amazing Spider-Man V#28 - BTS) - Mayor Fisk arrived with the police at the Syndicate's HQ and tried to force them to surrender Boomerang to him. Boomerang gave Beetle a note that revealed what Fisk was actually after and Beetle decided that they couldn't hand over Boomerang to Fisk. Beetle instead handed Boomerang over to Spider-Man to get him away from Fisk. The Syndicate was arrested and Boomerang finally revealed the truth about what was going on to Spider-Man.
(Amazing Spider-Man V#41 (fb)) - Boomerang revealed to Spider-Man how Department of Records archivist had told him that Wilson Fisk was after the Lifeline Tablet and had given him the knowledge to find the fragments of the Lifeline Tablet before Fisk.
Whenever Boomerang had a memory flash that showed him a location to one of the Lifeline Tablet fragments, he and Spider-Man worked together to find it. They found fragments at the Throgs Neck Bridge, under the Hess Triangle in West Village, in the Morgan Library & Museum and in the Statue of Liberty Museum on Liberty Island.
(Amazing Spider-Man V#41) - Spider-Man and Boomerang were looking for another Lifeline Tablet fragment in tunnels under the city and were attacked by Vermin clones. The creatures fled when they felt the imminent arrival of Gog. Boomerang finally found the Lifeline Tablet fragment they were looking for in a cracked wall and took it, but moments later Gog broke through the wall.
(Amazing Spider-Man V#42 - BTS) - Gog tried to protect the Lifeline Tablet fragment against Boomerang and Spider-Man.
(Amazing Spider-Man V#43) - Boomerang flew out from the sewer system with the Lifeline Tablet fragment, but Gog was close behind him and caused massive havoc until he was tricked to shrink down.
(Amazing Spider-Man V#58 - BTS) - Wilson Fisk was told by one of Mister Negative's Inner Demons that he needed more than the Tablet of Life and Destiny to reach his goal.
(Amazing Spider-Man V#59 - BTS) - Mister Negative explained to Wilson Fisk that the Tablet of Life and Time and Tablet of Death and Entropy were both needed to resurrect a person. Mister Negative got back his former territories for the Tablet of Death and Entropy. He then hired Mister Negative and other crime bosses (including Black Mariah, Crime-Master, Diamondback, Hammerhead, Madame Masque, Owl, Silvermane and Tombstone) to retrieve the Tablet of Life and Time for him from Spider-Man and Boomerang.
(Amazing Spider-Man V#63) - Boomerang and Spider-Man made progress in finding more Lifetime Tablet fragments despite opposition from criminals hired by Wilson Fisk. Owl, Hammerhead and their men got into a fight over who would take the fragment from Boomerang, who got away while Spider-Man webbed up the criminals.
In a storage unit Fred and Peter put together the fragments of the Lifeline Tablet they had and Fred revealed that only one more fragment was missing. Peter promised to Fred that Spider-Man would get the fragments Wilson Fisk already had.
(Giant-Size Spider-Man: King's Ransom#1) - Mayor Fisk had his fragments of the Lifeline Tablet transported to the place where the final fragment was apparently hidden down in the sewers. While numerous mob bosses and their henchmen fought heroes in the streets, Spider-Man aided Boomerang to find the final fragment of the Lifeline Tablet in the sewers while Fisk's fragments were stolen by Black Cat for Spider-Man. In the end Spider-Man had to take the final fragment because he was worthy to wield it unlike Boomerang, who would've died if he had touched it. As soon as Spider-Man had the fragment, Boomerang turned on him and beat up Spider-Man with the help of his friends Hydro-Man, Shocker and Speed Demon.
(Giant-Size Spider-Man: King's Ransom#1 - BTS) - Boomerang delivered the complete Lifeline Tablet to Wilson Fisk.
(Giant-Size Spider-Man: King's Ransom#1) - Fisk used the Tablet of Life and Time and Tablet of Death and Entropy to resurrect his son Rose (Richard Fisk).
Comments: Created by Stan Lee, John Romita & Jim Mooney.
The Tablet of Life and Time was first named that way in Amazing Spider-Man I#547 where its evil counterpart the Tablet of Death and Entropy was named as well. In Spider-Man: Lifeline#1 the reader was informed that the tablet was created during the Hyborian age with connections to Atlantis and Lemuria. In Amazing Spider-Man I#547 the Tablet of Death and Entropy was revealed as Lemurian. The Tablet of Life and Time was before that revealed as a creation of the Homo mermani in the Appendix of Mystic Arcana: The Book of Marvel Magic.
BTW Billy Neuhaus, the crooked cop, who gave the tablet (the big part from the original story) to Hammerhead's goon, was a Hostess villain. You don't believe me? Just look at what he is carrying around on the image in his sub-profile. And that bastard Spider-Man ate his Hostess donuts. Not nice!
Profile by Markus Raymond.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Tablet of Life and Time has no known connections to
Billy Neuhaus has no known connections to:
Louis Wilson should not be confused with:
(Spider-Man: Lifeline#2 (fb) - BTS) - Billy was sick of his work in evidence lock-up. He either worked double shifts or went to a bar. One day he was approached by Vinnie DeGliato, who paid him to steal the tablet from evidence lock-up. Billy did his job and was paid.
(Spider-Man: Lifeline#2) - After another double shift Spider-Man waited for Billy outside and asked him who bribed him to steal the tablet. Billy told Spider-Man everything after he threatened to drop him from a building. During the struggle Spider-Man disarmed Billy and took his Hostess Donuts, which Spider-Man ate himself upon leaving Billy.
--Spider-Man: Lifeline#2 (Spider-Man: Lifeline#2 (fb) - BTS, 2
(Spider-Man: Lifeline#1 (fb) - BTS) - Wilson became the preeminent scholar on the tablet after it was discovered.
(Amazing Spider-Man I#68) - Wilson informed the Kingpin about the value of the tablet and told him that it was currently at the Exhibition Hall at ESU in New York City. He was afraid that Spider-Man would stop the theft, but Kingpin wasn't afraid at all and showed his power in a fight against several of henchmen. Wilson was impressed at how aggressive the mere mention of Spider-Man made the Kingpin.
(Amazing Spider-Man I#69) - Kingpin returned with the stolen tablet and Wilson didn't understand why he allowed Spider-Man to follow him. Wilson watched Spider-Man defeat Kingpin and tried to get away with the tablet, but he couldn't even open Kingpin's vault. Spider-Man webbed Wilson up and then took the tablet himself.
(Amazing Spider-Man I#69 - BTS) - Wilson was arrested.
(Amazing Spider-Man I#73) - Wilson was bailed out by Silverman's lawyer Caesar Cicero to help reveal the secret of the tablet. When Marko arrived at Silvermane's house with the tablet, Wilson identified it as the real tablet.
(Amazing Spider-Man I#74) - Dr. Curt Connors was assisted by Wilson in solving the tablet's secret. Connors didn't tell Wilson that he had solved the secret and was surprised as Silvermane when he heard it. Wilson later watched Silvermane drink the serum created from the formula.
(Spider-Man: Lifeline#1 (fb) - BTS) - Wilson was arrested for his crimes and the tablet was used as evidence against him.
(Spider-Man: Lifeline#1) - After his time in prison Wilson continued his work on the tablet and discovered additional fragments of it in Egypt. Working on the fragments he linked it to the Hyborian age and the civilizations of Lemuria and Atlantis. He also realized that the formula didn't work for Silvermane because important parts of the formula were missing.
(Spider-Man: Lifeline#1) - At a museum opening Wilson showed the six fragments he had found to the general public. After a failed attempt by Man Mountain Marko to steal the fragments, Wilson took them with him. His car was attacked by Man Mountain Marko and his partner Eel stole the fragments from Wilson. Spider-Man saved Wilson's life and learned what Wilson was up to since he was out of prison. He assured Spider-Man that he had nothing to do with the theft and the criminals behind it.
(Spider-Man: Lifeline#2) - Arthur Stacy visited Wilson and saw him stash a part of the tablet into a vault. Stacy told Wilson that he needed to know the truth as the tablet endangered the whole world.
(Spider-Man: Lifeline#3) - Wilson and Arthur met with Spider-Man. Wilson handed over a part of the tablet he had held back all the time. He explained that he only did it to make sure humanity was safe.
--Amazing Spider-Man I#68 ([Spider-Man: Lifeline#1 (fb)], Amazing Spider-Man I#68-69, [69], 73-74, [Spider-Man: Lifeline#1 (fb)], 1,3
images: (without ads)
Amazing Spider-Man V#41, p8-9, center (main)
Amazing Spider-Man I#68, p1 (incomplete tablet)
Amazing Spider-Man I#74, p18, pan4 (Silvermane drinking incomplete formula)
Spider-Man: Lifeline#3, p20, pan1 (Lifeline Formula empowered Hammerhead)
Amazing Spider-Man V#42, p19, pan5 (Lifeline Tablet shattered)
Giant-Size Spider-Man: King's Ransom#1, p28, pan4 (final fragment)
Giant-Size Spider-Man: King's Ransom#1, p38, pan6 (Tablets of Life and Time and Death and Entropy used)
Spider-Man: Lifeline#2, p2, pan2 (Billy Neuhaus)
Amazing Spider-Man I#73, p9, pan1 (Louis Wilson)
Appearances:
Amazing Spider-Man I#68-71 (January-April, 1969) - Stan Lee
(writer/editor), John Romita (plot/layouts), Jim Mooney (pencils/inks)
Amazing Spider-Man I#72 (May, 1969) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), John
Buscema (plot/layouts), John Romita (pencils), Jim Mooney (inks)
Amazing Spider-Man I#73 (June, 1969) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), John
Buscema (plot/layouts), John Romita (plot/, Jim Mooney (pencils/inks)
Amazing Spider-Man I#74-75 (July-August, 1969) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), John Romita (plot/layouts), Jim Mooney (pencils/inks)
Spider-Man: Lifeline#1-3 (April-June, 2001) - Fabian Nicieza (writer),
Steve Rude (pencils), Bob Wiacek (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Amazing Spider-Man I#547 (March, 2008) - Dan Slott (writer), Steve
McNiven (pencils), Dexter Vines (inks), Stephen Wacker (editor)
Free Comic Book Day 2018 (Amazing Spider-Man/Guardians of the Galaxy)#1 (May, 2018) - Nick Spencer (writer), Ryan Ottley (pencils), Cliff Rathburn (inks), Nick Lowe (editor)
Amazing Spider-Man V#1 (September, 2018) - Nick Spencer (writer), Ryan Ottley (pencils), Cliff Rathburn (inks), Nick Lowe (editor)
Amazing Spider-Man V#6 (November, 2018) - Nick Spencer (writer), Humberto Ramos (pencils), Victor Olazaba (inks), Nick Lowe (editor)
Amazing Spider-Man V#26 (September, 2019) - Nick Spencer (writer), Kev Walker (artist), Nick Lowe (editor)
Amazing Spider-Man V#27-28 (October-November, 2019) - Nick Spencer (writer), Kev Walker (pencils), John Dell (inks), Nick Lowe (editor)
Amazing Spider-Man V#41-43 (May-July, 2020) - Nick Spencer (writer), Ryan Ottley (pencils), Cliff Rathburn (inks), Nick Lowe (editor)
Amazing Spider-Man V#58-59 (March-April, 2021) - Nick Spencer (writer), Marcelo Ferreira (pencils), Wayne Faucher (inks), Nick Lowe (editor)
Amazing Spider-Man V#63 (June, 2021) - Nick Spencer (writer), Federico Vicentini (artist), Nick Lowe (editor)
Amazing Spider-Man V#64 (June, 2021) - Nick Spencer (writer), Federico Vicentini (artist), Nick Lowe (editor)
Amazing Spider-Man V#65 (July, 2021) - Nick Spencer (writer), Federico Vicentini with Federico Sabbatini (artists), Nick Lowe (editor)
Giant-Size Spider-Man: King's Ransom#1 (July, 2021) - Nick Spencer (writer), Rogê Antônio with Carlos Gómez & Zé Carlós (artists), Nick Lowe (editor)
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
First Posted: 12/06/2008
Last Updated: 07/08/2024
Non-Marvel Copyright info
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