History ArmedWithCanon / ComicBooks

* ArmedWithCanon/TheDCU
* ArmedWithCanon/MarvelUniverse

* The comic ''[[ComicBook/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Spike: Shadow Puppets]]'' plays with this trope by having the Japanese Smile Time puppets literally armed with the Smile Time Official Cannon. Spike barely dodges the blast and gingerly gets to his feet, muttering, "I hate the official cannon." Hey, after [[BadassDecay the way it kicked him around]], who could blame him?
* The ''ComicBook/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' main comic book has done this in season 10 several times, usually aimed at season 6 of the show. When fighting the Soul Glutton Spike asks to be immediately staked if his soul is destroyed since he'll go back to being a souless monster, refuting a lot of his pre-Season 7 character development and even claiming he couldn't "really" love Buffy before the soul (this coming from a character who is primarily defined as being "love's bitch"). Similarly Buffy outright tells Spike she was never upset with her friends for bringing her back to life in season six, but upset ''with herself'' for being upset and missing heaven. This has caused some serious FanWank as Spike being able to love Buffy even without a soul and Buffy being upset at the Scoobies for pulling her out of heaven were very common interpretations.

* The people responsible for the ''ComicBook/AngelAfterTheFall'' comic at IDW were pissed at the people responsible for Dark Horse's ComicBook/BuffyTheVampireSlayer comic for the reveal that [[spoiler: Angel was Twilight.]] So much so, they created promo pictures for their new ''Spike'' series wherein Spike [[spoiler: burned a Twilight mask while saying, "He's definitely not Twilight."]]

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Other Comics]]

[[/folder]]

* For decades ComicBook/RedSonja's backstory included that she was granted her fighting skill by a goddess on condition that she not sleep with any man unless he first beat her in combat. So it went until Creator/GailSimone took over in the Dynamite run and introduced Osric the Untouched, a male swordsman under the same condition. Sonja promptly calls it out as stupid, explicitly jettisoning it out of her past.

* ''Ghostbusters: Year One'' is full of {{Retcon}}s to the events of the original film. Among others:
** It addresses the library ghost, Eleanor Twitty, as seen in the first act of the original film. The Ghostbusters are never shown catching the ghost in the film, so the 2009 video game (which the IDW comic largely treats as [[BroadStrokes at least partially canon]]), allows the player (and the Ghostbusters) to finally catch it. This takes place in 1991, 7 years after the events of the first GB film. The GB never bothering to catch the ghost until makes the Ghostbusters seem like huge jerks (considering it was their first ever ghost sighting and gig), though Ray implies they'd tried to catch it more than once. Year One reveals they caught it offscreen during the second act of the first film, after the library staff personally showed up at their door to complain, meaning it was released along with all the other ghosts when Walter Peck had the containment unit shut down, resulting in the GB having to catch it again.
** It retcons the sleeping pills Venkman uses to sedate Dana Barrett (when possessed by Zuul) as belonging to Dana (she claims she was taking them for hiccups.) This is presumably due to 1) some claiming UnfortunateImplications about Venkman carrying around sleeping pills to give to women and 2) The fact that the doze he claimed to give her was absurdly inaccurate, although he may have just been joking on that part.
** And that's without even ''touching'' the topic of the [[ContinuitySnarl Stay Puft Marshmellow Man]], whose status as both a form of Gozer and its own separate entity comes up in the franchise from time to time, including both the IDW ongoing and the "Infestation: Ghostbusters" miniseries (in which it's revealed the latter version can be caught in the ghost traps).

[[folder:DC]]
* Writer Alan Grant was told straight up that this would be the fate of his ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' character ComicBook/{{Anarky}}, who he'd set out to establish as ComicBook/TheJoker's son. Originally conceived as a plan by ''Anarky'' illustrator, Norm Breyfogle, to create tension in the character, Grant approached Dennis O'Neil, who had editorial oversight on all Batman books at the time. O'Neil was dead-set against the idea, but gave permission on the express condition that it wouldn't be true, and would be revealed as false months later, whether by Grant or by another writer. As the series was canceled before this could happen, it remains unaddressed. With the establishment of the New 52, it no longer exists as a hanging storyline at all.
* The non-canon ''Batman'' miniseries ''ComicBook/BatmanWhiteKnight'' by Sean Murphy is generally a pretty even-handed and nuanced attempt to grapple with the "is Batman actually as insane and vicious as his villains?"/"does Batman's presence inspire villains to get freakier?" questions in Batman fandom. However, its portrayal of Harley Quinn strays into this territory, as it criticises post-''Flashpoint'' depictions of Harley by splitting her into [[DecompositeCharacter two completely-different characters]] -- the original Harleen Quinzel, who wears her modest classic costume, never did anything truly evil, and just wants to make the Joker happy and saner, and the second Harley, actually a woman called Marian Drew, who is an AxCrazy killer with a {{Stripperific}} costume, is worse than the Joker ever was, and becomes the BigBad of the comic. Some fans viewed this as [[DracoInLeatherPants significantly whitewashing]] the earlier canon Harley and ignoring the evil stuff that she did pre-''Flashpoint''. There was further controversy when he wrote a ''Harley Quinn'' mini-series set in this continuity, which depicted the second, evil, Harley as dating Poison Ivy, and had the "real" Harley express disgust towards homosexuality, when the HomoeroticSubtext between Harley and Ivy had begun as early as her original portrayal in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''.
* In an issue of ''[[ComicBook/BatmanAndTheOutsiders The Outsiders]]'', Creator/JuddWinick had Arsenal ''completely out of nowhere'' make out with ComicBook/{{Huntress}} and then tell ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} that he'd had sex with her. Creator/GailSimone responded by writing a scene in ''ComicBook/BirdsOfPrey'' where Huntress admitted to sleeping with Arsenal, but then followed up by saying he wasn't very good in bed.
-->'''Huntress''': Archers. They pull a mighty bow, [[PrematureEjaculation but they're too quick to let fly]], [[LampshadedDoubleEntendre if you know what I]]...
* Speaking of Arsenal, the 90s ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'' series had a story where the villain Haze gifted him with the Red Arrow costume from ''ComicBook/KingdomCome'' after entering his mind and realizing that Roy's deepest desire was to be ComicBook/GreenArrow's successor. Devin Grayson was not a fan of this development, so her later ''Arsenal'' mini-series had the new suit get destroyed during a fight. She then took it a step further by having Roy admit that he never really wanted to be Red Arrow or follow in Green Arrow's footsteps, and was content to continue being his own man. In reality, the mental hangup that Haze had witnessed was actually Roy's bitterness over not even having been approached to carry on his mentor's legacy, which added to his own sense of worthlessness.
-->'''Arsenal''': But dammit, just once, I wanted to get the chance to stand in front of him, worthy, and have him ask. I would've said no, but he could've ''asked''.
* In the Spanish arc of ''[[ComicBook/DCComicsBombshells Bombshells United]]'', [[spoiler:Jasón deciding to die again due to the [[DamagedSoul side-effects]] of Lazarus Pit resurrection]] has obvious subtext relating to Marguerite Bennett's views about the character in the mainstream DC universe.
* In one issue of ''ComicBook/CaptainAtom'', writer Creator/GregWeisman attempted to explain multiple [[AnthropomorphicPersonification personifications of death]] in DCU, as aspects of death - the [[ComicBook/NewGods Black Racer]] represented Death as an inevitability, [[Characters/GLOtherLanternCorps Nekron]] represented death as the ultimate enemy, and [[ComicBook/TheSandman Death of the Endless]] represented "the peaceful death that comes to the righteous". This annoyed the creator of the Endless, Creator/NeilGaiman, who responded in interviews and a scene in which Death declared that she represents the death of everything, including the Universe itself, without any single exception.[[note]]Which comes across as more than a little petty, since it's tantamount to saying "Kirby's creation is just a pretender. ''MY'' creation is the real deal."[[/note]]
* John Byrne's revival of ''ComicBook/DoomPatrol'' fused this with outright CanonDiscontinuity and CosmicRetcon by ''ignoring all but the first of the comic's previous versions'', in particular Creator/GrantMorrison's [[CultClassic beloved tenure]], which had ''itself'' been mildly fired upon during Rachel Pollack's run for Vertigo. This was rectified by Geoff Johns and Keith Giffen making ''everything'' from past writers canonical... Which, considering [[MindScrew the nature of the book even before Morrison's entrance]], fit just fine.
** Paul Kupperberg's first revival of the Doom Patrol established that Larry Trainor (Negative Man) had somehow managed to survive the explosion that killed the team at the end of the series. However, Keith Giffen's run retconned things so Trainor actually ''did'' die in the explosion, and was covertly cloned by the Chief. Giffen also revealed that the "Negative spirit" is actually Larry's disembodied soul and that he had inhabited Valentina Vostok (Negative Woman) for some time, causing him to take on some of her memories. Furthermore, Giffen revealed that Larry's current body is that of a brain-dead man who was genetically altered to resemble him.
** Valentina herself turned up towards the end of the series ''ComicBook/{{Checkmate}}'', as the new White Queen and without her powers. However, a throwaway spread in ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis'' #4 depicted a dead Negative Woman. In ''Resist'', the civilian Vostok is then shown again, under Darkseid's control. Keith Giffen decided to count the appearance of the dead Negative Woman as canonical, ignoring Vostok's later appearance, and used her in the "Blackest Night" tie-in to ''Doom Patrol''.
* ''ComicBook/HarleyQuinn'': The controversy over Harley's New 52 costume redesign (which included some writers who preferred the old costume openly mocking the new one in their own comics) is alluded to in #21, where Harley has a run-in with a character impersonator on Hollywood Boulevard who is wearing her old costume. Harley says that she only wears that costume on "special occasions", and when the impersonator accuses her of making a [[YourCostumeNeedsWork complete mess]] of being Harley, Harley pistol-whips her.
* Creator/GeoffJohns is generally thought of as one of the best Creator/DCComics writers when it comes to sticking to continuity, but almost every book he's been involved in has undergone some degree of change to his character or just plain retconning. Most of these have the catch-all excuse that ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'', a crossover he created, [[CosmicRetcon re-wrote the DC Universe's history at large and changed various details that are just now being explained.]]
** Reversed Jerry Ordway's characterisation of ComicBook/BlackAdam, so that instead of a demon-worshipper in the body of a contrite murderer, he's a Namor-type KnightTemplar in the body of an unrepentant killer. (Although this change at least didn't generate too much vitriol from the fans in the way some other examples on this page have, and some of the stories it generated - such as the ''Black Reign'' arc in ''[[ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica JSA]]'' - are quite popular)
** Completely abolished the backstory written by Kon-El[=/=]ComicBook/{{Superboy}}'s creator, that he was the clone of Cadmus director Paul Westfield with implanted superpowers, in favor of his being the clone of Superman and Lex Luthor. Johns ''eventually'' acknowledged that that was what Superboy (and Westfield) ''believed''. Regardless, he continued to have Kon suddenly agonizing about being the clone of a villain, despite that having been his opinion of Westfield.
*** In the letter column from an issue of the ''ComicBook/Superboy1994'' series (the one that starred Kon-El/Conner Kent), a certain young "Geoffrey Johns" [[http://ifanboy.com/articles/geoff-johns-was-a-letter-writing-fanboy/ suggested]] that Superboy was created from the combined DNA of Franchise/{{Superman}} and ComicBook/LexLuthor. Karl Kesel, who was writing the book at the time, responded by politely yet firmly telling him that it wasn't the case. Fast-forward to 2003, when Geoff Jonns became the writer of the relaunched ''Teen Titans'' series, which just happened to have Kon-El is a member of the main cast. Guess what the very first issue of the series was about. Come on, guess.
*** While a lot of fans saw some real potential in this new origin (with Westfield being evil and Lex Luthor being an '''Evil''', super control freak desperate to get a weapon of his own against Superman), there were those who lamented the end of the original, fun loving Superboy. The fact that Superboy's development arc was suddenly CutShort during ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'' (when the ongoing lawsuit between the Siegel/Shuster estates and DC looked like all rights to '''the Superboy concept''' would be lost) and Kon-El/Conner was killed off didn't help much (although Johns at least tried to bring his arc to a culmination with his death). After his resurrection in ''Legion of 3 Worlds'', fans were very happy to see him (for the most part) over these issues and much less wangsty.
** Claimed that ''every single appearance'' of the ComicBook/PostCrisis ComicBook/{{Brainiac}} wasn't really him at all, [[ActuallyADoombot but was a Brainiac-probe]] in ''ComicBook/SupermanBrainiac''. Even Milton Fine, who was taken over by nanoprobes, rather than psychically possessed by Brainiac's intelligence (as readers of the original story ''saw happen''). This isn't quite as extreme as other examples, though, since Brainiac's probes were under his total control and basically secondary bodies for him to use.
** In that same story, Johns retconned ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'s previous backstory in favor of one more in line with her Silver Age origin, minus the campiest parts. It wasn't a bad thing, though, since Post-Crisis Kara Zor-El's origins had been retconned several times previously, and Johns' updated origin stuck around because unlike the former backstories it ''worked''.
** The same goes for Toyman since his DarkerAndEdgier revamp in 1992, despite the fact that Superman ''knows'' Toyman is a master at constructing realistic automata, and regularly x-rays the guy to ensure he hasn't pulled a fast one in this fashion. This is explained away by Toyman simply saying "my robots are good enough to fool Superman."
** After ComicBook/{{Hawkman}} was rendered [[ContinuitySnarl "radioactive"]] in the wake of ''ComicBook/ZeroHour'', Johns resurrected the [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] Hawkman while leaving the [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] alien one in limbo. While this version worked out well, Jim Starlin (for reasons known only to him) decided to retcon the Johns-written character, making the Hawkman who was part of the JSA be the alien Hawkman. It's gotten so confusing, Hawkman is now somehow both the Gold ''and'' Silver Age Hawks at the same time.
** Tangentially related to the Hawkman snarl is the volley handling of his son, Hector Hall, and Hector's surrounding characters once he was reincarnated as the new Doctor Fate. What makes this particularly headache inducing is that Johns was volleying against ''himself'', as if he couldn't decide which direction he wanted to take the character. As just one example of this, first all the prior Fates live in the amulet, then they're just hallucinations conjured up by Nabu, then, no, they're actually real again, then they all disappear again.
** Johns also restored the Silver Age era Franchise/GreenLantern Hal Jordan to the "star" of the book again, who had been turned into an evil supervillain named Parallax and killed off in a massively unpopular story. Hal's previously evil deeds were retconned by claiming "Parallax" was actually a fear-based mental parasite who was corrupting him.
** Geoff also did a TakeThat against Brad Meltzer and his ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis'' series, which, at one point, had a series of offhand scenes showing some B and D-list heroes [[JackBauerInterrogationTechnique Jack Bauer interrogating]] the Rogues, enemies of Franchise/TheFlash, one of the most powerful heroes on the planet, whom Johns was writing at the time. Cue next month's Flash showing those ''exact same scenes'' playing out to the end, with the Rogues soundly thrashing the heroes and going on their way.
* Duela Dent, the so-called "Joker's Daughter", was created by Bob Rozakis, who provided her with a wacky origin as the daughter of the Joker, but intended her to actually be Harvey Dent's daughter with a twist reveal. However, since he established that she was born ''after'' he became Two-Face (which would mean she'd be a child and not a teenager), it created a plothole that annoyed other creators and confused fans. Marv Wolfman took the opportunity to then reveal Duela as a liar in the pages of ''New Teen Titans'', though she would refuse to identify her true father. Years later, Duela Dent's origin was retconned as actually the multiversally displaced offspring of Earth-3's Jokester[[note]]The Joker's GoodTwin in the Earth-3 MirrorUniverse[[/note]]. This is to be taken with a grain of salt in that this was introduced during the ''ComicBook/CountdownToFinalCrisis'' storyline and may or may not be canonical.
* James Robinson's ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueCryForJustice'' reveals that following Prometheus' original appearances in Creator/GrantMorrison's ''JLA'', someone else has been using the suit, while the original Prometheus lay low, until now. Since Prometheus has been subjected to galloping VillainDecay over the past few years, this is probably a good thing. [[spoiler: [[ShaggyDogStory Although Prometheus' death at the end of the story makes it somewhat pointless]]]].
** The villain decay was started ''by his own creator''. Many fans forget, after all the build-up, Prometheus was defeated in his first caper by being whipped in the 'nads by a disguised Catwoman. And it was all downhill from there.
** ''Cry For Justice'' had a controversial scene implying that Franchise/GreenLantern Hal Jordan had at some point had a drunken threesome with ComicBook/{{Huntress}} and Lady Blackhawk of ''ComicBook/BirdsOfPrey'' fame. Creator/GailSimone wasn't very happy about that and revealed that what that scene was really referring to was that the girls had once seen Hal pass out drunk at a pilot convention.
* V4 ''ComicBook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}}'', having been [[RunningTheAsylum written by fans]], has a lot of this. For instance, fan speculation had had it that Element Lad is gay, but the previous writers gave him a girlfriend. When the fans got to write the book, his girlfriend was {{retcon}}ned into a man taking sex-change drugs. (Weirdly, they wrote Element Lad as unaware of this, so its relevance to his own sexuality is... unclear.)
* Maxwell Lord. Back in ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueInternational'', he was a LovableRogue who genuinely believed in his team, even if he'd only formed them because an evil computer forced him to. Then in ''Countdown To ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'', it turns out he's a ranting [[FantasticRacism metahuman-hater]] who set his League up to fail. ''Then'', in ''ComicBook/BoosterGold'', Creator/GeoffJohns says "Remember that evil computer? Remember how it took over Max again after his apparent death, and he became the new Lord Havok in the post-''ComicBook/ZeroHour'' League that no one read? Yeah, ''that's'' when he [[HeelFaceTurn turned evil]]." And ''then'', in ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueGenerationLost'', Creator/JuddWinick says "Well, maybe. But he always disliked metahumans, even if he did grow to care about the particular ones in his team." Note that Johns and Winick were two of the three writers on ''Countdown'' in the first place!
* When John Byrne rebooted Franchise/{{Superman}}, he wanted Superman to be the only surviving Kryptonian in the DC Universe. His run therefore did not include ComicBook/{{Superboy}} (which destroyed the ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'''s continuity), the Kara Zor-El version of ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}, ComicBook/{{Krypto|TheSuperdog}}, the Phantom Zone, and Kandor the Bottle City.[[note]] Byrne has claimed that DC had told him "not to worry about" the effect jettisoning Superboy would have on the LSH (only to then learn DC had no plans to deal with it), and that since his original intent to depict a Superman initially learning the ropes was nixed by editorial, he regrets not having Superboy as an engine to tell those stories.[[/note]] All of these things were brought back by subsequent writers, of course.
* The original [[ComicBook/TeenTitans Terra]] had been subjected to this trope. In Marv Wolfman's original telling of "ComicBook/TheJudasContract", Tara Markov was a teenage sociopath who joined with Deathstroke in order to help him kill the Titans, who she loathed for being such "do-gooders". At the end of the arc, she wound dying when she brought the H.I.V.E. headquarters down on herself in a blind rage. In a followup story, she was also confirmed to have murdered Beast Boy's first adoptive father before she'd met Deathstroke, and was always manipulative and a ticking time bomb. Fast-forward to Brad Meltzer's "Last Will and Testament". Meltzer, a self-proclaimed fan of Terra in his youth, decided to retcon the tale and state that Tara Markov was simply a normal innocent girl driven to madness when Deathstroke drugged her. He also changed the details of her death, stating that she'd intentionally committed suicide as shame for her failure. When J.T. Krul wrote the "Blackest Night" tie-in for Titans, he gave a TakeThat to Meltzer's retcon by having Beast Boy rage at the undead Terra and ask if she expected him to believe any lies she'd tell him, such as her "being drugged".
** In the second issue of the ''ComicBook/{{Terra}}'' miniseries that introduced Terra #3 (Atlee), Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti tried to explain that Tara's sociopathy was a result of psychosis after she'd been given her powers, with the mineral "quixium" being the culprit. However, these first two issues of the series were written back during ''52'', when it was originally scheduled to be released before DC had it put on hold. In the time that followed, Meltzer's retcon had passed. Gray and Palmiotti then told readers to forget about their explanation, and refer to Meltzer's version as canonical. The same issue also featured a reference to an event that was to occur at the end of ''52'', but changed due to overhaul in editorial: Terra 2 was to originally snap and become a villain, and would have to be killed by Atlee (rather than her remaining a hero and being killed by Black Adam in the final product).
** Terra 2 was also an example of different writers and editors' intents conflicting. Marv Wolfman introduced her with the intent that she ''not'' be the original Terra resurrected, or related to her in any way beyond being surgically altered to resemble her and given powers. After Wolfman left ''Team Titans'', Phil Jimenez began to set up hints that she was at least the Terra of an alternate Earth, but this was quickly shot down by the editors. By the end of ''New Titans'', the editor Pat Garrahy mandated a story that would hint that Terra 2 was the original reborn, which Wolfman hated having to do. Geoff Johns and Ben Raab wanted to go with the idea that both Terras were the same, setting up a story (that went nowhere) where their DNA is confirmed to match. Although when it came to Gray and Palmiotti's miniseries, both characters were established as being separate entities, and the DNA match was [[HandWave explained]] as the second Terra being genetically altered to resemble the original.
* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman:''
** In ''ComicBook/WonderWomanOdyssey'' Nemisis is the name of the BigBad while in the previous ComicBook/{{Wonder Woman|2006}} volume Diana's love interest was Tom Tresser, aka Nemesis, in a relationship that was nearly universally disliked.
** Creator/GregRucka's run on ''ComicBook/WonderWomanRebirth'' during the ComicBook/DCRebirth era began with an issue entirely devoted to denouncing many controversial elements of the ComicBook/{{New 52}} ''ComicBook/{{Wonder Woman|2011}}'' comics by Creator/BrianAzzarello (such as the infamous retcon about the Amazons replenishing their ranks by seducing and murdering innocent sailors) as the result of propaganda and/or malicious reality-warping.

[[folder:Marvel]]
* Subverted in the 2011 ''ComicBook/AlphaFlight'' mini-series. Alpha Flight members were resurrected during ''ComicBook/ChaosWar'' but without Puck, who appeared in Hell in one of Wolverine's stories after ''Chaos War''. When he later appeared very alive in Alpha Flight's new ongoing, you might have expected the writers [[HandWave handwaving it]] and saying he returned with the others and that Puck from Logan's adventure wasn't him, right? Instead Puck admits he was indeed in Hell. [[HellHasNewManagement He slew the devil, took over Hell]], and then gave up his throne to return and save his friends.
* The whole "chaos magic" debate following ''ComicBook/AvengersDisassembled'':
** During Creator/KurtBusiek's run on ''The Avengers'', a major plot point was the ComicBook/ScarletWitch finding out that she has a mutant ability to control chaos magic (an ArcWelding of the various powers she had displayed in the past). When Creator/BrianMichaelBendis took over the book, one of his first acts was to have Dr. Strange reveal that Scarlet Witch's powers had been slowly driving her insane for years, and that chaos magic was a nonexistent thing she made up as she began to lose her mind -- retroactively changing Busiek's version from a woman growing more confident to a woman losing her grip on reality.
** In an issue of ''ComicBook/MightyAvengers'', writer Dan Slott struck back by revealing that "there is no such thing as chaos magic" is a lie that sorcerers like Dr. Strange have agreed to tell in order to weaken the power of chaos demons.
*** The ''ComicBook/WhatIf'' version of ''Avengers Disassembled'' also took a shot at this, revealing that "Dr. Strange" was really an illusion cast by Scarlet Witch, with the real Dr. Strange explaining that chaos magic is totally a thing, but very few people use it because of ''how'' chaotic and unpredictable it is.
* Any Creator/MarvelComics writer who dares turn his hand to writing ComicBook/DoctorDoom is certain to find that a later writer will take issue with his interpretation, and declare that the story was so "wildly" out of character that it couldn't have ''really'' been Doom -- it was ActuallyADoombot. At least one story suggested that (almost) ''every single appearance of Doom since the early '60s'' was a Doombot. Oddly, the story was otherwise quite good.
* A case that would probably be seen as an AuthorsSavingThrow if WordOfGod hadn't been involved. During ''ComicBook/BattleOfTheAtom'', a grown-up version of [[ComicBook/{{Runaways}} Molly Hayes]], [[EnsembleDarkhorse very popular]] KidHero, showed up as a member of the evil Brotherhood of Mutants from the future, to the displeasure of many fans. Later, when Creator/BrianMichaelBendis announced he'd use the Brotherhood again, fans asked him if he was going to explain why Molly turned evil. Bendis responded by saying there was a thing he wanted to do during ''Battle Of The Atom'' but Creator/JasonAaron [[ExecutiveMeddling and editor Nick Love]] stopped him, and with them no longer working on X-Men books, he was able to have his way. Soon after it was revealed that Molly and all other members of the Brotherhood (except Raze) were mind-controlled by their leader.
* This happens with Creator/JohnByrne a ''lot''. Most fans have just accepted that Byrne has one idea of continuity: his. If he returns to a book (such as the Avengers) that he previously wrote, expect all of the characters to immediately return to the characterizations and stories he was writing when he left, as if all of the ensuing continuity and characterization had simply not happened. Whether this is a good thing or a really terrible thing generally varies on the title, how Byrne wrote it originally, what happened since he wrote it, and whether you're a big fan of John Byrne or not.
** When John Byrne took over ''Star Brand'' back in TheEighties, he proceeded to launch one TakeThat after another at the departing figure of ousted Creator/MarvelComics editor-in-chief Creator/JimShooter. ''Star Brand'' was one of the Shooter-initiated "[[ComicBook/TheNewUniverse New Universe]]" titles, and was the one that Shooter himself wrote personally. Byrne not only took ''ad hominem'' shots at Shooter personally, but had exposition characters [[LampshadeHanging hang lampshades]] on how implausible the events of Shooter's run was, and how [[IdiotBall stupid]] the protagonist Ken Connell had been. Early on in Byrne's run, Connell's girlfriend (a major cast member) got StuffedIntoTheFridge; Connell later broke down and [[IJustWantToBeNormal tried to get rid of his powers]], destroying UsefulNotes/{{Pittsburgh}} (the hometown of both Connell and Shooter) in the process. This was referred to slightly in the ''Untold Tales of the New Universe'' story "Tales of the Mulletverse".
** In the '80s, John Byrne had grown tired of ComicBook/{{Magneto}}'s status quo as an AntiHero, and wanted him to fall from grace and return to a life of villainy. To achieve this, he and Creator/WaltSimonson wrote a story where he did indeed turn back into a villain, and released the ComicBook/NewMutants from his tutelage to boot. Creator/ChrisClaremont was not at all amused by this, so he responded by writing a story that revealed Magneto was only ''pretending'' to be a villain so that he would draw negative attention away from the other mutants of the world.
** One reason there's bad blood between Creator/JohnByrne and Creator/PeterDavid has to do with Lockjaw, ComicBook/TheInhumans' dog. As created by Creator/StanLee and Creator/JackKirby, Lockjaw was just a very large, mutated dog with a normal canine intelligence level. Byrne later wrote a ''Thing'' issue in which Lockjaw spoke for the first time, begging that baby Luna not be subjected to the Terrigen Mists, since their effects weren't always pretty -- implying that he was a full-fledged Inhuman like the others. It was a touching, fan-favorite story, but it had UnfortunateImplications: the Inhumans had always treated Lockjaw as an animal, and now this was solely because he looked like one. Thus Peter David revealed that Lockjaw's "speech" had been a prank on Ben Grimm. ([[http://peterdavid.malibulist.com/archives/002778.html As he tells it]], this was a request from editorial; David himself didn't have a problem with the scene and wrote his retcon so that it was possible it was Quicksilver that was lying.) This fixed the problems with Byrne's story, but now the Inhumans were {{Jerkass}}es for a different reason: pranking Grimm in the middle of an important debate, at Lockjaw's expense. Fans of the Byrne story remain sore about this... and others remain sore about the Byrne story.
** When John Byrne took over as writer on the ''[[ComicBook/TheAvengers West Coast Avengers]]'', a title previously written by Steve Englehart, he proceeded to undermine four years' worth of characterization. ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}} went from confident leader to sidelined jerk. ComicBook/TheVision and ComicBook/WonderMan relationship, that had evolved into a bond of close fraternity, returned to one of [[SiblingRivalry jealous contention]]. Tigra went through almost the ''exact same'' story arc of losing control of herself and succumbing to her feline side that Engelhart had put her through and seemingly resolved. And ComicBook/TheVision and ComicBook/ScarletWitch marriage... was altered. [[spoiler: After the Vision lost his emotions, their children were discovered to be pieces of the devil, after which The Scarlet Witch went insane.]] For some reason Byrne decided to hit the ResetButton and return the characters to a status they had outgrown [[StatusQuoIsGod in over a decade of stories]]. Some have accused Byrne of wrecking a title that Englehart had arguably made a success out of resentment over how Englehart had written the ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'', a title John Byrne had made a hit, although it is just as likely a case of CreativeDifferences.
*** On the other hand, Byrne's portrayal of ComicBook/IronMan in ''Avengers West Coast'' (and later in Shellhead's own book) stayed fairly close to how Bob Layton and David Michelinie had portrayed him, although he did remove the weapons-testing aspect from Tony's origin story. He also kept team newcomer U.S. Agent pretty much in line with how Mark Gruenwald wrote him in ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica''.
** This took on an interesting direction when he did ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'', as he'd never had an extended tenure over the character. Thus, a lot of the roll-backs he did were in favor of Creator/GeorgePerez, who'd set the initial tone for post-''Crisis'' Diana; the one he really took aim at was Perez's immediate successor William Messner-Loebs, who'd discarded almost all of Perez's sweeping mythological adventures in favor of DenserAndWackier UrbanFantasy. That said, there was at least one point of direct contention between Byrne and Perez: during an early ComicBook/{{Superman}} crossover, Byrne had tried to establish the Olympians who empowered Diana were offshoots of the ComicBook/NewGods. Perez disclaimed this in the issue immediately following the crossover, but since he was long-gone by the time Byrne took over Diana's title proper, Byrne doubled-down on the Olympians (and, implicitly, ''all'' of Earth's major pantheons) having ties to New Genesis. In practice, this basically made ComicBook/{{Darkseid}} a Wonder Woman rogue for awhile, though it was pretty much dropped after Byrne left the title.
* The ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' event was controversial enough for writers to start trying to retcon it to be more in keeping with their own ideas pretty much as soon as it ended.
** After Creator/MarkMillar turned ComicBook/IronMan into a fascist in ''Civil War'', many other writers have had their character walk up to Tony Stark and berate him for his actions. This may stop now that he's gotten his karmic comeuppance in ''ComicBook/WorldWarHulk'' and ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion''.
** Only Creator/BrianMichaelBendis came close to rationalizing Stark's actions and that was in an uber-last minute filler story published AFTER Civil War ended, via retconning all of Tony's actions based around a never seen sequence where Tony Stark learned about Project Wide-Awake and the fact that the government was going to activate it and unleash the Sentinels upon the super-hero community. Bendis also outright absolved [[ComicBook/AntMan Hank Pym]] of his involvement in Civil War by way of a Skrull impostor.
** Related to that, Creator/JMichaelStraczynski tried to rationalize Reed Richards' actions by having Reed relate the story of his uncle. Said uncle had spoken out against the RedScare witch hunts of the 50's, and as a result, lost everything. Because he chose to speak out against unjust abuse from those in power, he ended up dying penniless and alone. Reed used this as rationalization for supporting the SHRA, arguing that the consequences for standing up against an unjust law were just too great. Needless to say, nobody was really happy with that, so Creator/DwayneMcDuffie completely ignored that explanation while having Reed state that through science, he'd discovered that Civil War was one of many potential [[VaguenessIsComing horrific events]] that could potentially be on the horizon. Reed's calculations stated that Civil War was the only such threat that humanity could face without being completely obliterated, effectively making it the LesserOfTwoEvils in his mind.
* One of the big "Oh shit" moments in ''ComicBook/CivilWarII'' #1 was when ComicBook/SheHulk was critically injured during a fight with ComicBook/{{Thanos}}, an incident that left her scarred and comatose. The problem? Brian Michael Bendis chose to dispatch her with a stray missile, something that should not have had much of an effect on her given that she's survived much worse in previous comics. Kelly Thompson responded by {{Retcon}}ning the fight in an issue of ''ComicBook/AForce'', revealing that while the missile did injure She-Hulk, it wasn't strong enough to scar her or leave her in a coma. The ''actual'' thing that scarred her and left her comatose was Thanos giving her a brutal NoHoldsBarredBeatdown immediately after the explosion. She-Hulk herself even {{Lampshaded}} it:
-->'''She-Hulk''': Missile to the chest... can't ''stop'' me... w-what, like it's my first day...?
* During the time Wolverine's son {{ComicBook/Daken}} and Daredevil's enemy Bullseye were members of the ComicBook/DarkAvengers, Daniel Way and Majorie Liu, writers of Daken's ongoing series ''Dark Wolverine'', tried to establish some sort of rivalry with a lot of sexual tension between the two, with Daken using his powers to manipulate Lester's emotions ForTheEvulz. Other writers decided to ignore it and wrote them as good friends with no rivaly or sexual tension whatsoever.
* ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}'s origins has been so DependingOnTheWriter that eventually [[NoFourthWall Deadpool himself accepted that his real origin wasn't his problem anymore, and arguing about it was just a waste of time]].
* When Creator/ChrisClaremont wrote Margali Szardos as "Sorceress Supreme" over in ''ComicBook/XMen'', the writer of ''ComicBook/DoctorStrange'' responded with a story revealing that she had been possessed and really had no magical powers at all.
* During his run on ''ComicBook/DoctorStrange'', Steve Englehart wrote a story in which Earth has been destroyed and Eternity created a perfect copy of it with all inhabitants and their memories. He also had a larger arc of the spirit of the Ancient One testing Strange to prove he was worthy of the title of Sorcerer Supreme. The moment Marv Wolfman took the title, he had Strange stripped of Sorcerer Supreme rank (Wolfman felt he shouldn't have such power) and revealed the tests were manipulations of new villains, one of them claiming Earth's destruction was only an illusion.
** But wait, it gets better - after a few issues the story was taken over by Jim Starlin, who proceeded to reveal that the villains themselves were just pawns of his own creation - a being known as In-Betweener, who tried to fix the balance between life and death that was skewed towards death because of ComicBook/{{Thanos}} and had the Ancient One return to human form.
*** ''Then'' the story was taken over by Roger Stern who both did his best to connect all loose plot threads and throw some of his own. And so Strange beat the In-Betweener and explained that his actions were unnecessary, because Strange himself is a countermeasure to Thanos, the Ancient One casually returned to being one with the Universe, and it was directly stated Strange is as strong as ever and Sorcerer Supreme is nothing but a title. Years later, he would write a graphic novel in which Strange wins the title back and not only doesn't get any power boost, but now owes a favor to the guy who came in second.
* Whether or not ComicBook/TheFalcon was a pimp and drug dealer known as "Snap" Wilson before he became a superhero. Due to its [[UnfortunateImplications dodgy implications]], this bit of Sam's backstory has been retconned back and forth by multiple writers with varying degrees of success. The most recent word on the subject came in ''All-New Captain America'', which stated that "Snap" Wilson was never real and was just a fabrication of the ComicBook/RedSkull.
* Reading ''The Mighty Avengers'' you might get an impression that Dan Slott had some sort of continuity-war with ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHercules'' writers Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente - every time they tried to set the series in larger continuity on page or via WordOfGod, Slott would write something contradicting them. And when they poked fun at YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe Marvel gods were using back in the days, but stopped in early 00s, Slott wrote Herc returning to it.
* The Franchise/MarvelUniverse CrisisCrossover ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion'', ''seemed'' like it was going to do this ("X wasn't really X, just a Skrull impostor!") ''much'' more than it actually did. It didn't help that fans had high hopes that this explanation would be used to excuse the many characters they felt had been written out of character in ''ComicBook/CivilWar'', or that many of the characters that ''were'' revealed to be Skrulls were not well received.
* Dan Slott's final issue of ''ComicBook/SheHulk'' was devoted entirely to explaining away events from other comics as alternate-universe doppelgangers who were visiting the Franchise/MarvelUniverse on vacation; this has since been largely ignored. The reveal was a "fix" to a story in ''Uncanny X-Men'' which had She-Hulk uncharacteristically sleeping with the Juggernaut. Before coming to our world, the doppelgangers were supposed to learn everything about their other self by reading a handbook, so they could act in character.
-->"So when [[OutOfCharacterMoment something messed-up]] happens in the future we have to assume it’s because of some [[TakeThat idiot]] who [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall couldn't be bothered to take five minutes to read their darned handbook?!]]"
--> "Yeah, and the A-Hole [[ItMakesSenseInContext that let them get through.]]"
* Years ago, Eric Larsen had the ComicBook/SpiderMan villain [[ComicBook/DoctorOctopus Dr. Octopus]] deliver the [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk Hulk]] a [[CurbStompBattle severe smackdown]] during the "Revenge of the Sinister Six" storyarc. In the story, "Doc Ock" was given [[AppliedPhlebotinum extremely powerful adamantium limbs]] which made him far more dangerous. Hulk writer Creator/PeterDavid accused Larsen of making a personal attack when he wrote that story and responded with a story written for the sole purpose of mocking Dr. Octopus. Larsen denied this, claiming he had used the Hulk to show how deadly Ock had become in a rather obvious demonstration of TheWorfEffect. (And it made sense; what better way to prove a villain has [[TookALevelInBadass Taken a Level in Badass]] than have him beat up the Hulk?)
** This debate kicked up again years later in the letter-pages of ''ComicBook/TheSavageDragon'' where David wrote in to accuse Larsen of making a personal attack when he wrote the Spider-Man story. Larsen explained that since Doc Ock was using AppliedPhlebotinum in the story (he had much stronger adamantium limbs), it made sense to use the Hulk for the WorfEffect. David was not amused.
* The ''ComicBook/WhatIf'' version of ''ComicBook/SpiderMan: The Other'', by Creator/PeterDavid, basically starts with the Watcher explaining that the fundamental premise of the original story (by Creator/JMichaelStraczynski) is flawed, and this version is based on what was ''really'' going on.
* Creator/KurtBusiek's ''ComicBook/UntoldTalesOfSpiderMan'' featured stories set in between and around ''ComicBook/LeeDitkoSpiderMan''. It stuck closely as possible to the old continuity of those issues. Many fans considered it the most entertaining Spider-Man book, especially since the series appeared around the time all the regular Spider titles were entangled in ComicBook/TheCloneSaga mess. '''Then John Byrne came along.''' ''ComicBook/SpiderManChapterOne'' was his attempt to update the old Lee and Ditko stories and he pretty much disregarded most of what Busiek had done in his Untold Tales series.
** Not too long afterwards, Paul Jenkins penned a Chameleon story-arc in ''Webspinners: Tales of Spider-Man'' - explicitly referencing his first appearance in ''Amazing Spider-Man #1'' instead of ''Chapter One''. Note that Jenkins didn't do so based on his own opinions. He simply asked editorial which story he should reference, and they answered with the original. To add insult to injury, this went down while ''Chapter One'' was still in progress - Byrne's mini-series being disregarded months before the final issue was on the stands. Additionally, events and characters from ''Untold Tales'' have since been mentioned or referenced.
* ComicBook/SquirrelGirl is almost an Armed With Canon game of tennis. First, she was shown beating Doctor Doom. So a later appearance of Doom mentions it was ActuallyADoombot (see above). Then Squirrel Girl beats ComicBook/{{Thanos}}, and [[AllPowerfulBystander Uatu]] is present just to say that it isn't a "robot, clone, or simulacrum". Later on, Thanos mentions that he can create clones of himself that even the Watcher cannot tell aren't him. So then another Squirrel Girl adventure goes back to the beginning - by having Doctor Doom be unwilling to fight her when she shows up in his castle. What's interesting is that all of this, except for her beating Doom and the Doombot reveal, was written by Dan Slott; he's having fun at one-player {{Canon}} ping-pong. There are also some fan theories that Thanos was lying about the ability to create indistinguishable-even-to-the-Watcher clones just to avoid admitting defeat.
* Speaking of Thanos and potential duplicates, there was a period in the '90s where his creator, Jim Starlin, felt he was undergoing VillainDecay. First came a ''Ka-Zar'' issue where the eponymous BadassNormal managed to (through contrived circumstances) survive a fight with Thanos, despite the obvious power disparity. Then came a ''[[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]]'' storyline where Thanos killed millions of people while trying to find a pair of cosmic artifacts needed to destroy the universe, which ended with Thor kicking his ass. Finally, there was ''Avengers: The Celestial Quest'', a mini-series where Thanos was forced to team up with the Avengers to stop Rot, Thanos and Death's offspring. Starlin was not amused, so he wrote ''Infinity Abyss'', a mini-series that retconned all three of those appearances into being mentally deficient clones, explaining away what Starlin felt was needlessly-destructive and OutOfCharacter behavior. For added points, he had Thanos mention that the clone who had faced Ka-Zar was a "low-level" one, explaining how Ka-Zar had managed to hold his own and not die.
** Thanos was later the main antagonist in a high profile crossover between ComicBook/TheAvengers and the ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy. Creator/BrianMichaelBendis' depiction of Thanos was noted to be hugely OutOfCharacter, emphasizing his more generic EvilOverlord tendencies and suddenly having him be obsessed with conquering the Earth. In Starlin's subsequent ''Infinity Revelation'' graphic novel, Thanos claimed that his recent obsession with Earth had come out of nowhere and surprised even him, and it was later revealed that his odd behavior under Bendis was actually the result of cosmic manipulations occurring ahead of a massive, universe-altering event.
* Another Starlin example: Annihilus was killed near the end of ''ComicBook/{{Annihilation}}'' after ComicBook/{{Nova}} tore his heart out, and was subsequently reborn as a child with all of his past memories. Certain artists and writers seemed to forget this, and incorrectly depicted him as an adult. Starlin's ''Thanos vs. Hulk'' mini-series cemented once and for all that Annihilus was still a child, and that the adult Annihilus seen in other titles was just a robotic duplicate he used for public appearances.
* Marvel's editor-in-chief Axel Alonso attracted quite a bit of controversy when he tetchily claimed in an interview that Marvel's Hercules was 100 percent heterosexual, despite [[AmbiguouslyBi numerous hints to the contrary]] in past comics and homoerotic content in certain original Greek versions. Jason Aaron clearly disagreed with that statement, and penned this bit of dialogue in ''[[ComicBook/{{Thor 2014}} Mighty Thor]]'' #702 to make it clear where he stood:
-->'''Hercules''': It has been far too long since I have kissed a Thor.
* In the ComicBook/UltimateMarvel universe, in ''ComicBook/CataclysmTheUltimatesLastStand'', Brian Michael Bendis had Ultimate Reed Richards perform a HeelFaceTurn and set out to atone for the evils he'd committed as ComicBook/{{the Maker}} in ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'', written by Creator/JonathanHickman. He was also shown atoning in ''ComicBook/UltimateFF''. However, Hickman wasn't done writing Reed as a villain, and later revealed that Reed had only been ''pretending'' to be good so he could continue his evil work without constantly having to worry about superheroes trying to stop him. This characterization was the one that he used in ''Secret Wars'', and which extended to his appearances as a CanonImmigrant to the main Marvel Universe.
* Bendis was also the only writer of ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan'', and introduced Ultimate Spider-Woman. ''ComicBook/AllNewUltimates'', by another author, changed her suit and renamed her as "Black Widow". Bendis simply ignored those changes and restored her suit and name in ''ComicBook/UltimateEnd'' and ''ComicBook/SpiderMenII''.
* The notorious ''ComicBook/XMen'' ContinuitySnarl relating to Xorn's true identity and motivation basically happened because other X-writers (and a vocal element of the fans) thought that Creator/GrantMorrison's views on Magneto as indicated in the original arc ("he's a vicious, genocidal fanatic and all those HeelFaceTurn periods were CharacterDerailment") were hostile Armed With Canon against them and responded in kind.
* When [[ComicBook/NickSpencersSpiderMan Nick Spencer]] took over writing ''[[ComicBook/SpiderMan The Amazing Spider Man]]'' in 2018, the early issues had some noticeable potshots at former writer [[ComicBook/DanSlottSpiderMan Dan Slott's]] portrayal of the character, with several characters even calling Peter out on irresponsible behavior made during Slott's run. Spencer's very first issue saw the long-awaited reunion of Peter and [[ComicBook/MaryJaneWatson Mary Jane]], with subsequent issues deconstructing their previous reasoning for not getting back together and [[{{Reconstruction}} ultimately refuting it.]]
* During the ''ComicBook/SecretWars2015'', Creator/CullenBunn wrote ''Deadpool's Secret Secret Wars'' -- which purported to tell the true story of what happened in the original 1984 event and featured Deadpool briefly bonding to the Venom symbiote. Many fans dismissed this as a WhatIf story, but in 2017 Bunn followed it up with ''Deadpool: Back in Black'' -- which he proceeded to include references to in ''Poison-X'' and ''Deadpool: Assassin''; mentioning on social media that ''Secret Secret Wars'' and ''Back in Black'' were 100% canon. When Creator/DonnyCates took over writing ''[[ComicBook/DonnyCatesVenom Venom]]'', he made it clear on Twitter that didn't consider them canon - sparking a brief argument between Cates, Bunn, and X-Men senior editor Jordan D. White.[[note]]Who sided with Bunn in saying they were canon and explained why Deadpool wanted to be friends with Spider-Man.[[/note]] The disagreement over their canonicity was PlayedForLaughs during ''ComicBook/AbsoluteCarnage'', where in the ''Absolute Carnage vs. Deadpool'' tie-in Carnage realizes Deadpool has a treasure trove of codices from bonding with four symbiotes, with an Editor's Note appearing and points out that Deadpool technically has five due to the ''Back in Black'' mini-series before another Editor's Note pops up saying "No, we're not using it."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Other Comics]]
* Early in the third season of the main ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' TV series, Princess Bubblegum unambiguously and permanently shuts down Finn's vague adolescent romantic feelings for her by saying that the gap between his age of fourteen and her ([[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld apparent]]) one of eighteen is too big. Ryan North's official ''ComicBook/AdventureTime'' comic spin-off later gave the Fubblegum shippers some support by revealing that in an otherwise BadFuture Finn and Bubblegum are lovers, and having her explicitly say that now Finn's a grown man in his twenties a four-year age gap doesn't mean much. A second, entirely different potential future seen in a later arc '''also''' had Finn and Bubblegum married, although in a three-way marriage with Marceline.
* ''ComicBook/ArchieComics''' looseness with characters relies on this. Is Veronica an AlphaBitch while Betty is the cute GirlNextDoor? Is Veronica SpoiledSweet while Betty is a whiny ClingyJealousGirl? Neither? It all depends on who's writing and which side of BettyAndVeronica they prefer.
* The comic ''[[ComicBook/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Spike: Shadow Puppets]]'' plays with this trope by having the Japanese Smile Time puppets literally armed with the Smile Time Official Cannon. Spike barely dodges the blast and gingerly gets to his feet, muttering, "I hate the official cannon." Hey, after [[BadassDecay the way it kicked him around]], who could blame him?
* The ''ComicBook/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' main comic book has done this in season 10 several times, usually aimed at season 6 of the show. When fighting the Soul Glutton Spike asks to be immediately staked if his soul is destroyed since he'll go back to being a souless monster, refuting a lot of his pre-Season 7 character development and even claiming he couldn't "really" love Buffy before the soul (this coming from a character who is primarily defined as being "love's bitch"). Similarly Buffy outright tells Spike she was never upset with her friends for bringing her back to life in season six, but upset ''with herself'' for being upset and missing heaven. This has caused some serious FanWank as Spike being able to love Buffy even without a soul and Buffy being upset at the Scoobies for pulling her out of heaven were very common interpretations.
** A major part of the "Vengeance" arc is discussing the idea that Spike puts the women he cares for on a pedestal and then forces them to push him away so he doesn't have to break up with them. Given this is the vampire who was slavishly devoted to Drusilla for over a hundred years and only broke up with her after she cheated on him repeatedly and refused to be with him and he never had anything resembling a high opinion of Harmony, ''and'' his famous "you're a hell of a woman" speech to Buffy it has been [[BrokenBase a contentious move]]. And then Spike, the man who has gone to ridiculous lengths to both prove his love and not be broken up with, gets it in his head that the way to break the cycle is to ''try and break up with Buffy'' just so she can call him out on it.
* The people responsible for the ''ComicBook/AngelAfterTheFall'' comic at IDW were pissed at the people responsible for Dark Horse's ComicBook/BuffyTheVampireSlayer comic for the reveal that [[spoiler: Angel was Twilight.]] So much so, they created promo pictures for their new ''Spike'' series wherein Spike [[spoiler: burned a Twilight mask while saying, "He's definitely not Twilight."]]
* ''Magazine/DoctorWhoMagazine'':
** In the early 1990s, the comic strip had a period of Seventh Doctor strips explicitly sharing a continuity with the Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures spin-off novels, including the novels' original companion Bernice and darker aged-up version of Ace. However, when a new editor who strongly disliked the New Adventures was appointed, the strip moved to a run of stories featuring various earlier Doctor-companion teams. The last of these, the climax of a multi-story arc that led into the first major arc of the Eighth Doctor strips, featured the Seventh Doctor and the younger Ace from the TV show, and shockingly killed her off at the climax. This was widely seen as an aggressive attempt to knock the New Adventures tie-in strips out of continuity. Following the series' return to TV, the comic's made mention of strips both during the tie-ins and after the split, but then "Who" ''is'' the series that gave us the TimeyWimeyBall...
** One of the aforementioned "earlier Doctor-Companion team" stories, "Change of Mind", which features the Third Doctor, Liz and UNIT, and is explicitly set after Liz's resignation, begins with a caption bluntly stating a date in 1971, establishing the strip's view at the time on the [[ContinuitySnarl UNIT dating controversy]].
* In the early ''ComicBook/DoctorWhoTitan'' Eleventh Doctor comics, there are a number of scenes involving the Doctor's highly-combative companion Alice that make it very clear that the writers, Al Ewing and Rob Williams, are not at all happy with ''Doctor Who'' fans and writers who think that the Doctor being an InsufferableGenius is cool or admirable.
* Lauren Beukes's ''[[ComicBook/{{Fables}} Fairest]]'' arc "The Hidden Kingdom" contains an approving line about herbal abortifacient preparations that seems thrown in solely as a slap at the anti-abortion subtext (and outright text) that appears at times in the main ''Fables'' series.
* For decades ComicBook/RedSonja's backstory included that she was granted her fighting skill by a goddess on condition that she not sleep with any man unless he first beat her in combat. So it went until Creator/GailSimone took over in the Dynamite run and introduced Osric the Untouched, a male swordsman under the same condition. Sonja promptly calls it out as stupid, explicitly jettisoning it out of her past.
* ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'': The feud between writers Karl Bollers and Ken Penders tended to come down to this, with them {{retcon}}ning each other's story ideas in favor of their own all the time. Of special note is Antoine's [[TookALevelInJerkass attitude change]] after the TimeSkip: Bollers wanted it to be natural CharacterDevelopment, and it would have been the lynchpin of several ideas he had planned for later on. But Penders disliked the change, so he made it that Antoine had instead been switched with his AlternateUniverse EvilTwin.
** And then, both of them then left the comic at the same time, allowing new writer Ian Flynn to scrap the majority of their ideas and replace them with his own...kinda. Actually, it's not as simple as that: with the bridges between Penders and Archie/Sega permanently burned, the writer ending up launching lawsuits concerning the characters and concepts that he created, stating that belonged to him and for them to be removed from the comics. They eventually lead to a settlement that, in part, had Flynn use the ending of ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogMegaManWorldsCollide'' as a CosmicRetcon for the series, in order to remove every element that Penders created.
* After a long and well received run co-writing ''ComicBook/StrontiumDog'' with Alan Grant, John Wagner left the strip with Grant; who promptly killed off ''all the main characters''. Skip forward a few years and Wagner resurrected the strip, declaring the last twenty years of comic null and void. The official line is that those stories were "the legends of [main character] Johnny Alpha and the new stories are what really happened". Cue lots of fans shouting [[BigNo Nooooo!]] in unison. Wagner went back on a lot of this later, with "The Final Solution" actually being mostly declared canon again.
* The website "Comic Book Resources" has [[http://www.cbr.com/search/meta+message a series]] of Armed With Canon "meta-messages."
* ''Ghostbusters: Year One'' is full of {{Retcon}}s to the events of the original film. Among others:
** It addresses the library ghost, Eleanor Twitty, as seen in the first act of the original film. The Ghostbusters are never shown catching the ghost in the film, so the 2009 video game (which the IDW comic largely treats as [[BroadStrokes at least partially canon]]), allows the player (and the Ghostbusters) to finally catch it. This takes place in 1991, 7 years after the events of the first GB film. The GB never bothering to catch the ghost until makes the Ghostbusters seem like huge jerks (considering it was their first ever ghost sighting and gig), though Ray implies they'd tried to catch it more than once. Year One reveals they caught it offscreen during the second act of the first film, after the library staff personally showed up at their door to complain, meaning it was released along with all the other ghosts when Walter Peck had the containment unit shut down, resulting in the GB having to catch it again.
** It retcons the sleeping pills Venkman uses to sedate Dana Barrett (when possessed by Zuul) as belonging to Dana (she claims she was taking them for hiccups.) This is presumably due to 1) some claiming UnfortunateImplications about Venkman carrying around sleeping pills to give to women and 2) The fact that the doze he claimed to give her was absurdly inaccurate, although he may have just been joking on that part.
** And that's without even ''touching'' the topic of the [[ContinuitySnarl Stay Puft Marshmellow Man]], whose status as both a form of Gozer and its own separate entity comes up in the franchise from time to time, including both the IDW ongoing and the "Infestation: Ghostbusters" miniseries (in which it's revealed the latter version can be caught in the ghost traps).
[[/folder]]

* In one issue of ''ComicBook/CaptainAtom'', writer Creator/GregWeisman attempted to explain multiple [[AnthropomorphicPersonification personifications of death]] in DCU, as aspects of death - the [[ComicBook/NewGods Black Racer]] represented Death as an inevitability, [[Characters/GLBlackLanternCorps Nekron]] represented death as the ultimate enemy, and [[ComicBook/TheSandman Death of the Endless]] represented "the peaceful death that comes to the righteous". This annoyed the creator of the Endless, Creator/NeilGaiman, who responded in interviews and a scene in which Death declared that she represents the death of everything, including the Universe itself, without any single exception.[[note]]Which comes across as more than a little petty, since it's tantamount to saying "Kirby's creation is just a pretender. ''MY'' creation is the real deal."[[/note]]

--> "Yeah, and the [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar A-Hole]] [[ItMakesSenseInContext that let them get through.]]"

* The non-canon ''Batman'' miniseries ''ComicBook/BatmanWhiteKnight'' by Sean Murphy is generally a pretty even-handed and nuanced attempt to grapple with the "is Batman actually as insane and vicious as his villains?"/"does Batman's presence inspire villains to get freakier?" questions in Batman fandom. However, its portrayal of Harley Quinn strays into this territory, as it criticises post-''Flashpoint'' depictions of Harley by splitting her into [[DecompositeCharacter two completely-different characters]] -- the original Harleen Quinzel, who wears her modest classic costume, never did anything truly evil, and just wants to make the Joker happy and saner, and the second Harley, actually a woman called Marian Drew, who is an AxCrazy killer with a {{Stripperific}} costume, is worse than the Joker ever was, and becomes the BigBad of the comic. Some fans viewed this as [[DracoInLeatherPants significantly whitewashing]] the earlier canon Harley and ignoring the evil stuff that she did pre-''Flashpoint''. There was further controversy when he wrote a ''Harley Quinn'' mini-series set in this continuity, which depicted the second, evil, Harley as dating Poison Ivy, and had the "real" Harley express disgust for homosexuality, when the HomoeroticSubtext between Harley and Ivy had begun as early as her original portrayal in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''.

* The non-canon ''Batman'' miniseries ''ComicBook/BatmanWhiteKnight'' by Sean Murphy is generally a pretty even-handed and nuanced attempt to grapple with the "is Batman actually as insane and vicious as his villains?"/"does Batman's presence inspire villains to get freakier?" questions in Batman fandom. However, its portrayal of Harley Quinn strays into this territory, as it criticises post-''Flashpoint'' depictions of Harley by splitting her into [[DecompositeCharacter two completely-different characters]] -- the original Harleen Quinzel, who wears her modest classic costume, never did anything truly evil, and just wants to make the Joker happy and saner, and the second Harley, actually a woman called Marian Drew, who is an AxCrazy killer with a {{Stripperific}} costume, is worse than the Joker ever was, and becomes the BigBad of the comic. Some fans viewed this as [[DracoInLeatherPants significantly whitewashing]] the earlier canon Harley and ignoring the evil stuff that she did pre-''Flashpoint''.

* ''[[ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog Sonic The Hedgehog]]'': The feud between writers Karl Bollers and Ken Penders tended to come down to this, with them {{retcon}}ning each other's story ideas in favor of their own all the time. Of special note is Antoine's [[TookALevelInJerkass attitude change]] after the TimeSkip: Bollers wanted it to be natural CharacterDevelopment, and it would have been the lynchpin of several ideas he had planned for later on. But Penders disliked the change, so he made it that Antoine had instead been switched with his AlternateUniverse EvilTwin.

* PlayedForLaughs during ''ComicBook/AbsoluteCarnage''. In the tie-in ''Absolute Carnage vs. Deadpool'', after Carnage realizes Deadpool has a treasure trove of codices from bonding with four symbiotes, an Editor's Note appears and points out that Deadpool technically has five due to the ''Back in Black'' mini-series (which is a continuation of ''ComicBook/SecretWars2015''[='s=] ''Secret Secret Wars'' mini-series). Right beside it, another Editor's Note shows up basically saying "No, we're not using it."