History AscendedExtra / ComicBooks

** ComicBook/{{X-23}} began as a minor character in ''XMenEvolution'' to prevent {{Wolverine}} from [[WolverinePublicity taking over the rest of the show]] and to avoid having to introduce a large number of additional characters. After becoming a CanonImmigrant with ''NYX'', she ''herself'' has gained a substantial amount of WolverinePublicity, having appeared in multiple team books and her own solo run, and is one of the few teen heroes in the franchise that can arguably be considered an A-Lister.

** ComicBook/{{X 23}} began as a minor character in ''XMenEvolution'' to prevent {{Wolverine}} from [[WolverinePublicity taking over the rest of the show]] and to avoid having to introduce a large number of additional characters. After becoming a CanonImmigrant with ''NYX'', she ''herself'' has gained a substantial amount of WolverinePublicity, having appeared in multiple team books and her own solo run, and is one of the few teen heroes in the franchise that can arguably be considered an A-Lister.

* ComicBook/TransformersLastStandOfTheWreckers took a bunch of obscure background characters from Comicbook/TheTransformers Marvel comics and updated them for their team: Squadron X. Ferak, a redshirt who exploded and died was retconned into being a different redshirt [[CompositeCharacter as well]] and Tornado, another one off character who, again, died in the old run. Now Botcon 2014 is pulling both into their space pirate story, mentioning their Squadron X days, and giving them both toys. Cannonball even has a [[https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tornado-Decepticon-Saboteur/735228939844774 Facebook]].

** {{X-23}} began as a minor character in ''XMenEvolution'' to prevent {{Wolverine}} from [[WolverinePublicity taking over the rest of the show]] and to avoid having to introduce a large number of additional characters. After becoming a CanonImmigrant with ''NYX'', she ''herself'' has gained a substantial amount of WolverinePublicity, having appeared in multiple team books and her own solo run, and is one of the few teen heroes in the franchise that can arguably be considered an A-Lister.

** Bolivar Trask, creator of the Sentinels. In the comicverse, he dies in the three-parter that introduces them, in a HeroicSacrifice once they get out of control. His son and his nephew also tried their hand at it, but also didn't stick around. Despite ''X-Men'''s love of BackFromTheDead, Bolivar took forty-three years to get there. He finally came back from the dead in the main MarvelUniverse in ''{{X-Force}}'' v3 #6. In the intervening years however? In the [[WesternAnimation/{{X-Men}} 1990s animated series]], he's a {{Recurr|ingCharacter}}er you can expect to see in many a Sentinel story, on the run from his own creations. In ''{{X-Men Evolution}},'' he's arrested after the initial (unauthorized in this version) Sentinel incident, but kept around by SHIELD to design more once Apocalypse comes onto the scene. Had the series continued past the Apocalypse arc, we'd no doubt have seen a lot more of him and his wayward HumongousMecha children. He's got an expanded, recurring role in UltimateMarvel as well.
** Berzerker of the Morlocks (yeah, [[XtremeKoolLetterz with a Z]]). Comics: seen in one issue. Sympathetic but completely nuts. His friend Scaleface is killed by the cops because of Cyclops destroying their cover (he figured it'd make 'em stand down and hadn't counted on the cops shooting first and asking questions later) so he goes, well, berserk and dies when he's knocked into water during the ensuing battle (frying him with his own electrical powers). In ''{{X-Men Evolution}}'', though, he's an ex-Morlock and one of the newer students, with the show for three seasons. Temperamental but not AxCrazy.

** Probably the most stunning example is Davin Felth; he's [[SpearCarrier the random stormtrooper who says "Look sir, droids"]]. The comics give him a full origin story, characterization, and show how he realized how monstrous the Empire was before pulling a HeelFaceTurn. He's also shown to have been present at pretty much every major event in the first quarter of Episode IV (such as the slaughter of the jawas and Owen and Beru's deaths, which were the Empire's MoralEventHorizon in his eyes) and is partly responsible for Luke and company escaping Mos Eisley, as he fragged his CompleteMonster captain during the firefight in the hanger. All of this from an extra with a single line of dialogue.

* The ComicBook/BlackWidow was just a supporting character for many years, not a full Avenger (with good reason -- she started out as a Russian spy, and this was the ColdWar). She's now been an Avenger long enough that it's hard to think of her otherwise, and adaptations reflect this. In ''WesternAnimation/AvengersAssemble'' she's one of the main cast, and the movie ''Film/TheAvengers'' bumps her all the way up to founding member!

* Before becoming the superhero Black Goliath (later just Goliath) and getting his own series, Bill Foster started off as [[{{Ant-Man}} Hank Pym's]] lab assistant in a few issues of ''ComicBook/TheAvengers''.

* John Constantine, star of ComicBook/{{Hellblazer}}, was originally just a recurring extra in ''Comicbook/SwampThing'' who looked like Sting. Artists Steve Bissette and John Totleben convinced writer AlanMoore to give him a speaking part, just because they liked drawing Sting so much. His popularity took off from there.

* In the ''Comicbook/GreenLantern'', Mogo, [[GeniusLoci the sentient Green Lantern planet]], began as a clever gag in an AlanMoore story, but now he's a regular presence in stories about the Corps.

* MarvelComics' Headsman started off as a villain in ''UntoldTalesOfSpiderMan'', but didn't come to attention until he later joined the {{Thunderbolts}}.

* ComicBook/TransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye: Gives big parts to characters unimportant in all other adaptations: Like Swerve and Tailgate who debut as a group of Autobots shooting at Trypticon, here they're the Comedy relief team of a MotorMouth Bar tender and a bot who's spent almost all of his life trapped underground having missed the war. Characters like Chromedome and Brainstorm, while important in other continuities, did almost nothing in the IDW series until this comic came along. Whirl was just a Wrecker with an interesting Cycloptoid design, he rarely had much characterization and died in many of his old appearances. Here he's become the HeroicComedySociopath who's hated by all his co-workers and may have accidentally started the war by beating up Megatron.

** Two-Face appeared perhaps three times in the GoldenAge, and was unused for roughly ''twenty years'' before his Bronze Age revival;

* {{Batman}} villains, anyone?

** Heck, [[TheJoker Joker]] was a throwaway villain from the first run,

** The Riddler and The Penguin made more frequent appearances, but were still, at best, recurrent characters. Today, they are ''regular cast members''. The Penguin is now an unshakable Gotham crime boss; Two-Face, the Riddler, and ''Man-Bat'' have all Ascended to "dubious ally" status.

** Heck, Joker was a throwaway villain from the first run,

* Sunstorm of ''{{Transformers}}.'' In the TransformersGeneration1 show, before the Decepticon roster grew enough to fill large battles with known characters, repaints of Starscream were often used when Megatron needed more {{Mooks}}. One of these repaints, seen very briefly in the premiere, was bright yellow. The comic books flesh out this blink-and-you-miss it extra into a radioactive berserker, and he's ''still'' getting toys and other appearances, and is homaged in ''TransformersAnimated'' (the kiss-up Starscream clone has his coloration.)

** Many, many Transformers have a role that's much larger than that of previous holders of the name. For example, Red Alert was a background character in a few episodes of G1, and his one ADayInTheLimelight episode had him go insane due to damage. ''TransformersArmada'' and ''TransformersCybertron'' make him TheMedic and a central character. Also, Overhaul was previously a {{Redshirt}} in the Dreamwave Comics series: his ''first panel'' involved him getting a hole blasted through him.

* The ComicBook/BlackWidow was just a supporting character for many years, not a full Avenger (with good reason -- she started out as a Russian spy, and this was the ColdWar). She's now been an Avenger long enough that it's hard to think of her otherwise, and adaptations reflect this. In ''WesternAnimation/AvengersAssemble'' she's one of the main cast, and the movie ''Film/TheAvengers'' bumps her all the way up to founding member!

* Parodied in the very first issue of ''[[BongoComics Bartman #1]]'' during the scene where Bart Simpson, Milhouse Van Houten, and Martin Prince all meet in the comic-book shop. Bart points out one comics panel (unseen to the reader) featuring a street scene with a random pedestrian in the background. Bart explains that the writers plan to kill this guy off in the next issue and then [[JokerImmunity bring him back to life]] as a supervillain known as [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking "The Jaywalker"]]!
* [[SpiderMan Eugene "Flash" Thompson]] was once a JerkJock who bullied Peter Parker, but was a major fan of his web-slinging alter-ego. After the shift away from high school, Flash tended to stick to the background before becoming a soldier. After an accident cost him his legs, he got a second chance in serving his country. He is now the newest Comicbook/{{Venom}}, a member of ComicBook/TheAvengers and dating Valkyrie. Now, that's impressive.
* The Comicbook/BlackWidow was just a supporting character for many years, not a full Avenger (with good reason -- she started out as a Russian spy, and this was the ColdWar). She's now been an Avenger long enough that it's hard to think of her otherwise, and adaptations reflect this. In ''WesternAnimation/AvengersAssemble'' she's one of the main cast, and the movie ''Film/TheAvengers'' bumps her all the way up to founding member!

* [[SpiderMan Eugene "Flash" Thompson]] was once a JerkJock who bullied Peter Parker, but was a major fan of his web-slinging alter-ego. After the shift away from high school, Flash tended to stick to the background before becoming a soldier. After an accident cost him his legs, he got a second chance in serving his country. He is now the newest Comicbook/{{Venom}}, a member of ComicBook/TheAvengers and dating Valkyrie. Now, that's impressive.

* [[SpiderMan Eugene "Flash" Thompson]] was once a JerkJock who bullied Peter Parker, but was a major fan of his web-slinging alter-ego. After the shift away from high school, Flash tended to stick to the background before becoming a soldier. After an accident cost him his legs, he got a second chance in serving his country. He is now the newest {{Venom}}, a member of ComicBook/TheAvengers and dating Valkyrie. Now, that's impressive.

* Parodied in the very first issue of ''[[BongoComics Bartman #1]]'' during the scene where Bart Simpson, Milhouse Van Houten, and Martin Prince all meet in the comic-book shop. Bart points out one comics panel (unseen to the reader) featuring a street scene with a random pedestrian in the background. Bart explains that the writers plan to kill this guy off in the next issue and then [[JokerImmunity bring him back to life]] as a supervillain known as [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking "The Jaywalker"]]!

* {{Batman}} villains, anyone? Two-Face appeared perhaps three times in the GoldenAge, and was unused for roughly ''twenty years'' before his Bronze Age revival; The Riddler and The Penguin made more frequent appearances, but were still, at best, recurrent characters. Today, they are ''regular cast members''. The Penguin is now an unshakable Gotham crime boss; Two-Face, the Riddler, and ''Man-Bat'' have all Ascended to "dubious ally" status. ComicBook/{{Catwoman}} is now firmly an ''AntiHero'', and rather less "anti" than many of her peers in that group. Heck, Joker was a throwaway villain from the first run, and Harley Quinn was a one-shot Joker minion drawn only because they wanted a girl-coming-out-of-the-cake gag. Joker Minions have an average lifespan of less than a single book, but she became big enough to have a self-titled book.

* {{Batman}} villains, anyone? Two-Face appeared perhaps three times in the GoldenAge, and was unused for roughly ''twenty years'' before his Bronze Age revival; The Riddler and The Penguin made more frequent appearances, but were still, at best, recurrent characters. Today, they are ''regular cast members''. The Penguin is now an unshakable Gotham crime boss; Two-Face, the Riddler, and ''Man-Bat'' have all Ascended to "dubious ally" status. ComicBook/{{Catwoman}} is now firmly an ''AntiHero'', and rather less "anti" than many of her peers in that group.

* And let's not forget that random office boy who eventually graduated to a long-running book of his own as {{Superman}}'s Pal.