Let me flip this around on you. 20 years ago wold have been 1993, yes? All right, so let’s say that the characters aged normally or close to normally. When you began reading Marvel comics, Spider-Man would have been around 47 years old, a middle aged man. Professor X and Reed Richards and Magneto would have been in their 70s if not older. Iron Man, his 60s. Captain America, his late 50s. You cannot tell me that you would have engaged with those characters in the same way at that point. There is every possibility that the Marvel characters will continue to be vibrant and active and relevant for many, many decades to come–you and I are only a transient part of their overall audience, and after we’ve returned to the Earth they will continue on. Realizing that, it is important that they be maintained in pristine condition. This is the very reason why it took Peter Parker three years to graduate from High School, and thirteen years to graduate from college (and even then, he had to go back to make up a gym credit.)
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Different anon, but I don't understand the need to keep everyone young either. For 20 years (= since I was 4) I've been perfectly okay knowing most characters I liked were older than me (I mean, Magneto has always been my favorite!), so I don't see why kids these days wouldn't feel the same way. I'm all for just not mentioning anyone's age, but when you do it will get to the point where Speed and Wiccan, for example, are older than their mother, and they don't even have the time travel excuse!