History ComicBook / BackToTheFuture

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: "Continuum Conundrum Part 2" suggests that Doc's current predicament resulted from the note Marty left for Doc back in 1986. [[spoiler:In reality, it was a RedHerring.]]

* DiesDifferentlyInAdaptation: [[spoiler:In "Citizen Brown", 1986-A Edna has a brainwashed Biff set up some bombs to blow up Doc's lab; Biff, being...well, Biff, hangs onto the ticking time bombs and they end up blowing him and Edna sky high as Marty and Doc escape. In the original Telltale game, the two of them are simply erased from existence once Marty corrects the timeline and keeps Doc from marrying Edna]].

* {{Pun}}: Uncle Lou says people who say money doesn't grow on trees never met a '''stump''' like Biff.

** Semi-subverted in the "Hard Time / Time Served" arc: after the [=DeLorean=] goes missing while Marty and Professor Irving are in 1972 ([[spoiler:both unaware that Doc had the [=DeLorean=] return to him]]), both Marty and Irving toy with the idea of simply making a ''new'' time machine in case they can't find it.[[note]]While Marty initially writes off Irving's idea as not being possible, as Irving couldn't get ''his own'' time machine to work without stealing the Flux Capacitor, he mulls the idea over again after seeing an ad for a Ford Pinto.[[/note]]

-->'''Marty''': ...yeah, see, Calvin's my ''dad''. [[HalfTruth And-and]] ''[[HalfTruth I'm]]'' [[HalfTruth why he left Hill Valley.]] I probably shouldn't be ''saying'' this, but my ''mom'' got ''pregnant'' [[DeliberateValuesDissonance and it was a big scandal. They had to get out of town.]] It ''was'' 1955, not the ei-uh, seventies.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Biff's constant winning streak at gambling with the Almanac ultimately gets him and his cronies permanently banned from every casino and gambling institution.

** "Continuum Conundrum" and "Who is Marty [=McFly=]?" induce HappyEndingOverride by treating the films with [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome a strong dose of realism]], dealing with Marty's [[SoWhatDoWeDoNow attempts to resume normalcy after Doc's departure]], in an unfamiliar timeline to boot.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
** The comics make it clear that Doc managed to get the money needed for his time travel experiments via [[spoiler:insurance fraud[[note]]burning his house down [[ItMakesSenseInContext to prevent a temporal Cold War]][[/note]] and "borrowing" his mom's nest egg]].
** Doc attempting to access his bank account in 2035 winds up getting him in trouble with the law because, according to the bank's records, there is ''no way'' he's the same man who opened the account 20 years prior; as such, he's accused of identity fraud.
** The "Who is Marty [=McFly=]?" arc [[AscendedFridgeHorror finally tackles the problem]] of Marty settling down in a newly-established timeline while retaining his memories of the old timeline, which leads to the fear that he may have displaced the version of himself that everyone around him remembers. [[ExistentialHorror It gets]] [[LossOfIdentity pretty heavy.]]
** After searching Professor Irving and Marty for the cash that was supposedly in Doc's Mom's house towards the end of Issue #24, Biff issues an ultimatum: come up with the loot by noon tomorrow, [[TheDeterminator or he'll find them.]] A couple of hours later, they are back in 1986, since Biff has ''yet again'' failed to fully realize he's in a time travel story. And when Biff ''does'' catch up to the two of them [[TheSlowPath in 1986]], he barely even remembers encountering the two in 1972, viewing the fact they found the missing piece of the painting to be a coincidence.[[note]]Joey on the other hand was a little closer to realizing the connection... and even then, all he noted was that Marty looked a little like Kevin Klein.[[/note]]

* TimeTravelForFunAndProfit: Biff not only became rich thanks to his future self giving him the sports almanac, he also plans to go to the future to expand his wealth and convince voters he's a reliable President.

* ObsfuscatingInsanity: Doc faked insanity so he could perform his experiments without people bothering him.

* ObsfucatingStupidity: Doc faked insanity so he could perform his experiments without people bothering him.

* {{Irony}}: Biff always looked up to his ancestor, Buford Tannen, and saw him as a hero instead of an outlaw. [[spoiler: He ends up dying to Buford after getting sent back in time to 1884.]]

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan (an actor at the time) gives Biff some friendly advice to give up the Hollywood life and use his money to make something more meaningful in his life. Biff takes his advice to become the corrupt mayor of Hill Valley.

* CloningBlues: Unable to figure out what happened to the version of himself who grew up in the Lone Pines timeline, Marty feels incredible guilt at the thought that he may have stolen his life, wondering if that means he's not the "real" Marty. At the same time, he's terrified that he may fade from existence if the timeline irons itself out. [[spoiler:It gets [[ExistentialHorror far worse]] when he meets a whole series of what appear to be vengeful displaced iterations of himself from other timelines. Fortunately, they turn out to be lifelike animatronics.]]

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Ronald Reagan (an actor at the time) gives Biff some friendly advice to give up the Hollywood life and use his money to make something more meaningful in his life. Biff takes his advice to become the corrupt mayor of Hill Valley.

* ExplainExplainOhCrap: After the [=DeLorean=] goes missing in 1972 during the "Hard Time / Time Served" arc, Professor Irving voices his concern that, because he and Marty went to Doc's mom's house, his brief interaction with Doc lead to him never inventing the time machine. Marty shoots this down by revealing how [[Film/BackToTheFuture he almost prevented his own birth]] [[RippleEffectIndicator and saw his hand starting to fade]]. Professor Irving proceeds to freak out again, as Marty notices that nothing is fading away this time, meaning the [=DeLorean=] was taken, not erased.

* {{Futureshadowing}}: "Time Served Part 1" sees a four-year old Marty run after Uncle Joey, after the latter angrily leaves the Baines' house. Joey turns around and stops Marty from running into the street, [[Film/BackToTheFuture as there's "bad drivers" out there, and he doesn't want him to get hit]].