Disclaimer: The views expressed below are those of Q-103, a random agent within the Time Variance Authority (TVA), and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the author.

Ever since that mindless maniac, Wade W. Wilson of Earth-10005, wandered onto our premises, the citizens of the Multiverse have been plunged into confusion regarding what we refer to as 'anchor beings'.

In truth, our former colleague Mr. Paradox was speaking specifically to Mr. Wilson and his situation when he employed the term. At the TVA, we do not speak of 'anchor beings' per se, but rather of 'anchors'.

At the quantum level, new universes (and their timelines) are continually coming into and out of existence. Some disappear so quickly that they do not even register on our radar. For a timeline to have a sustained existence (and thus warrant attention by the TVA), it needs a stabilising anchor.

In Mr. Wilson's case, the stabilising anchor of his universe was indeed a single individual: James 'Logan' Howlett, a.k.a. the Wolverine. This variant of Howlett was born into a timeline where the accumulated mutations within Earth's human population (homo sapiens) were sufficient to give rise to a sizable new species, homo superior.

However, no counterparts of the Sacred Timeline's (ST) Anthony E. Stark, Steven G. Rogers, Robert B. Banner, Natalia A. Romanoff, or Clinton F. Barton are known to live on this timeline, though a Peter B. Parker has been detected. No meaningful contact has been established between this Earth and its Asgard either.

Earth-10005's dearth of Avengers (the most significant difference between it and the ST) resulted in immense cosmic pressure resting on Charles F. Xavier's team of homo superior, the X-Men, to stabilise the timeline. If a native homo sapiens supremacist, such as William Stryker, had succeeded in exterminating its homo superior population, the timeline may have soon been reabsorbed into one of the countless others where homo sapiens is the dominant species.

The key principle is one of differentiation. In an ocean, every drop of water is identical and there are no meaningful distinctions between them. In the absence of any distinguishing characteristics, water droplets lose their uniqueness and recoalesce into an undifferentiated whole.

A timeline does the same. Born from a mass of infinite quantum possibilities, timelines are distinguished from one another by the depth of their variances. The stronger the variance, the more distinctive the timeline becomes relative to all others and hence, the more stable its existence.

Which brings us back to Wolverine. On Earth-10005, the X-Men collectively might have formed its anchor - the force that most set it apart from every other universe. Alas, it was not to be; Xavier was infamous for accepting homo superior of every stripe. To truly stabilise their timeline, every student at Xavier's school needed to be on the level of Wolverine or Jean Grey.

Having been diluted by so many unremarkable members, the X-Men themselves became reliant on Howlett to carry their team. Eventually, their level of dependence on him led to him becoming the sole anchor point of the entire universe. There had been enough noteworthy individuals and events to sustain the timeline up to that point, but now its fate was bound up with his.

As Paradox explained, Earth-10005 was doomed to wither away in the millennia following Howlett's death. Unless, during that time, a new individual, group of individuals, object, entity, or event of sufficient calibre could be found to keep that branch of reality from obscurity, and hence from oblivion.

A rare example of a timeline that was saved is Earth-1610, where anchor status was successfully transferred from Peter B. Parker, the Spider-Man, to Miles G. Morales, also Spider-Man. TVA employees frequently refer to this as a roadmap for dealing with timelines that have lost their anchors.

The safest course for replacing a fallen anchor is to recruit a person or thing that has a strong affinity with the original. While the stability of a timeline is maintained by enforcing a stark difference between it and all others, the opposite is true for anchors. Like an organ transplant, the transition from anchor to anchor has to 'take'.

In the aftermath of Mr. Wilson's latest misadventure, some at the TVA have expressed misgivings about the continued presence of an alternate Mr. Howlett and a time-displaced Ms. Laura Kinney on Earth-10005. Their fears of an Incursion are well-founded.

However, as mentioned previously, the continued existence of Earth-10005 depends on establishing a new anchor or anchors with maximum connective tissue to the deceased native Howlett. These two Wolverine-adjacent beings may have to do.

In the event of an Incursion, we may retrieve one of the numerous Reality Stones in our possession and use it to invert the Incursion to an X-Cursion [sic].

We simply need to keep our eyes on 'Marvel Jesus'.

1. By Time,
2. Indeed, We have created man for loss,
3. And lo, he remaineth therein unto the end of the age;
4. Save for them which believe, and exhort one another to piety, and exhort one another to patience.

(Qur'an, Surah 103, Ibn Mas'ud variant)