The Day the Earth Stood Still

On January 12, 2024, sometimes called the Day the Earth Stood Still, the previously unknown supervillain calling himself Timekeeper enclosed the Earth in what he referred to as a 'sphere of relative slow-time'. The effect of this was to stop the revolution of the planet relative to the sun, and also to alter the speed of its orbit around the sun. He then attempted to extort money from the governments of the planet, warning that the resulting changes in climate - not to mention one side of the planet being in permanent night - would have drastic climatic effects.

The scheme was a failure: within a few (subjective) days the villains base in the Andes had been destroyed by the united superheroes of many countries, returning normal time to the Earth, and Timekeeper himself was seemingly killed in the explosion. The events did, however, leave two marks on history. Firstly, the temporary alteration of the orbit and revolution of the planet necessitated a calendar reform, moving the occurrence of leap year and shifting the days of the week relative to the date (the date was adjusted according to solar position but the extended day counted only one day in terms of counting days of the week). Secondly, the worldwide outcry against the threats of advanced science, of which the events had made the public acutely aware, brought Neo-Luddism into the forefront of global politics.