How old is Kitty Pryde in Earth 616?

Question

When Kitty Pryde was introduced in Uncanny X-Men 129, she was described as being 13 years old. In Uncanny X-Men 141, we are shown a grown up Katherine Pryde - specifically in the year 2013. We are not explicitly told her age, but she is visibly older - arguably 30 years older than her then-current 13 year old self.

Comics, in general, use a sliding time scale where time only really passes as necessary - or to make important relevant links to reality (e.g.: The Amazing Spider-Man #36). This, of course, creates some continuity issues ^{(Archived link)} although we have now caught up with the year of The Days Of Future Past, none of the characters depicted have visibly aged nearly as much as the story showed us.

In Earth-616, Kitty has grown up and graduated college (though being a genius means this probably happened at an accelerated rate). She has graduated from the X-Men, joined Excalibur and returned back to the X-Men (repeatedly). From the very beginning there was a love interest between Kitty and Piotr Rasputin (Colossus), but editors didn't approve of a 14 and 19 year old in a relationship ^{(Archived link)}. They have since both grown up and consummated that relationship.

Despite there being a lot of attention being paid to her age early on, there does not seem to be many clues to Kitty's current age. Are there any other indications of how old Kitty is in Earth-616?

Answer 1

This can't really be answered definitively for a given reader date unless a particular comic pins down her age, but there was an article written about this very question, "The Pryde Scale or Fun With Aging in the Marvel Universe" by Edward WinterRose (first published to The Bendis Board in 2008, then republished in 2015 at Observation Deck, which was hosted by io9 at the time).

The formula for which it argues is 1 comic year for every 3.5 real-world years.

As noted there, it's a fair deduction that she was intended to be at least about 18 when she had a sexual relationship with significantly older Pete Wisdom in 1996. Moreover,

The character of Kitty Pryde was introduced in 1980, and was described at the time as being 13 and a half. She was also described as being 14 in 1983 when The New Mutants got their own ongoing title. So far this is all stuff you already know. I WILL get to the point.

My own take on it was that if Kitty Pryde was 21 years old at the time of her alleged termination (Yeah, we'll see how long THAT lasts.), then she's taken 28 reader years to age 8 character years. Breaking that down, (and ignoring the fact that there's been a Christmas issue every year in Marvel Comics since 1980), that would mean she's aged one character year for every 3.5 reader years. As well, everyone who was IN the X-Books since then should have aged at least 8 years since Kitty Pryde was introduced in 1980. I'm calling it 'The Pryde Scale' for easy future reference.

...

Pryde Age / Reader Year
13 / 1980
14 / 1983 & 1/2
15 / 1987
16 / 1990 & 1/2 (Legal Adult, UK)
17 / 1994
18 / 1997 & 1/2 (Legal Adult, US)
19 / 2001
20 / 2004 & 1/2
21 / 2008 (Status: Unknown. Presumed Dead)

Or if you want it broken down by reader year, plugging the formula 13+(CurrentDate-1980)/3.5 into a spreadsheet gives us:

1980       13
1981       13.28571429
1982       13.57142857
1983       13.85714286
1984       14.14285714
1985       14.42857143
1986       14.71428571
1987       15
1988       15.28571429
1989       15.57142857
1990       15.85714286
1991       16.14285714
1992       16.42857143
1993       16.71428571
1994       17
1995       17.28571429
1996       17.57142857
1997       17.85714286
1998       18.14285714
1999       18.42857143
2000       18.71428571
2001       19
2002       19.28571429
2003       19.57142857
2004       19.85714286
2005       20.14285714
2006       20.42857143
2007       20.71428571
2008       21
2009       21.28571429
2010       21.57142857
2011       21.85714286
2012       22.14285714
2013       22.42857143
2014       22.71428571
2015       23
2016       23.28571429
2017       23.57142857
2018       23.85714286
2019       24.14285714
2020       24.42857143
2021       24.71428571
2022       25
2023       25.28571429
2024       25.57142857
2025       25.85714286
2026       26.14285714
2027       26.42857143
2028       26.71428571
2029       27
2030       27.28571429

However, while I don't know what her precise in-story birthday is, her Uncanny X-Men #129 first appearance was in January 1980, so if she was thirteen and a half at the time, perhaps the formula should be 13.5+(CurrentDate-1980)/3.5, in which case for the January of each reader year, the table should be:

1980       13.5
1981       13.78571429
1982       14.07142857
1983       14.35714286
1984       14.64285714
1985       14.92857143
1986       15.21428571
1987       15.5
1988       15.78571429
1989       16.07142857
1990       16.35714286
1991       16.64285714
1992       16.92857143
1993       17.21428571
1994       17.5
1995       17.78571429
1996       18.07142857
1997       18.35714286
1998       18.64285714
1999       18.92857143
2000       19.21428571
2001       19.5
2002       19.78571429
2003       20.07142857
2004       20.35714286
2005       20.64285714
2006       20.92857143
2007       21.21428571
2008       21.5
2009       21.78571429
2010       22.07142857
2011       22.35714286
2012       22.64285714
2013       22.92857143
2014       23.21428571
2015       23.5
2016       23.78571429
2017       24.07142857
2018       24.35714286
2019       24.64285714
2020       24.92857143
2021       25.21428571
2022       25.5
2023       25.78571429
2024       26.07142857
2025       26.35714286
2026       26.64285714
2027       26.92857143
2028       27.21428571
2029       27.5
2030       27.78571429

Answer 2

Year 5 and Year 13 are 8 years apart so: 13.5+8= 21.5. I have no idea where 27 came from at all. As of now, 2020, we are in year 15 so she should be 23 but with the two timeskips, she should she 25.

Answer 3

The question seems simple enough, how old is she? That simply asks how many earth-years have passed since she was born. As you stated, she was 13-1/2 in 1980 at her first appearance. That was 33 years before 2013.

Kitty Pryde is therefore 33+13-1/2 = 46-1/2 real-earth years old as of January 2013.

According to the Official Handbook of The Marvel Universe, she was 13-1/2 in Year 5 of the Modern Age of Heroes. 2013 is the end of Year 13. Therefore, in Marvel 616 Kitty Pryde is 27 years old.

As I write this answer in 2019, Kitty Pride should be 29 years old.

There are allegedly two time skips affecting her timeline: Claremont 2000 time skip, and the Secret Wars 2015 time skip. This would subtract 2 years from her age.

As to how old she appears, Marvel specifically warns that the sliding time scale is a matter of interpretation, and there are parts of the scale that just don't work when applied to the most minuscule detail.

Likewise, because the time scale calendar has its origin at the Fantastic Four's space flight in FF#1, we do not know exactly when any birthdays or anniversaries are - The date of the space flight is not known.

Most importantly, when you see irregularities, they can be interpreted at the whim of the reader. That is the official stance of Marvel.