12 Oldest Marvel Characters

The Marvel Universe might not be as old as DC's, but it's created a mythology equal in scale. The universe itself, much like our own, is billions of years old, and with countless cosmic, supernatural and other beings residing within it, it's fair to say that there are a lot of old-timers roaming around the Marvel Universe.

The usual suspects, like Wolverine and Captain America, barely even scratch the surface when it comes to Marvel's oldest characters too. While their lives have spanned two (or in Wolverine's case three) centuries, the Marvel Universe is home to those that have lived for thousands, millions, or even billions of years, each with their own varying profiles and notoriety.

With heroes, villains, and intergalactic observers aplenty, it's no surprise that the oldest Marvel characters are also often the most powerful. There are planet eaters, immortal civilisations, Ancient pantheons and even X-Men that rank among the Marvel Universe's oldest residents.

Some of the oldest have, somewhat surprisingly, only been introduced over the last ten years as well. It means the Marvel timeline keeps on getting bigger, but which character is the oldest of them all?

12. Dracula - 500+ Years Old

Dracula might technically be a character in the public domain, but he's also been a Marvel one since the seventies.

And, much like the real life Dracula, Vlad was born in 1430. Marvel's version of Nosferatu isn't all that dissimilar to the one readers and moviegoers have come to know over the last century either, with the only obvious difference being that he tangles with the likes of Blade and Doctor Strange as opposed to John Harker and Van Helsing.

In more recent times Vlad has also been involved with the X-Men, although that didn't end particularly well for him. He was sliced to bits by Old Man Logan, and had his head thrown into the sun to make sure he didn't return (as vampires tend to do, should traditional vampire-hunting methods be ignored).