History FunnyAneurysmMoment / Comicbooks

[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/{{Batman}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/batman_222.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350: Never mind the fact that Music/JohnLennon would be the first to go -- [[Music/TheBeatles the group itself]] will be dead soon.]]

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!Marvel:
* In ''ComicBook/MiniMarvels'', when Hulk was going on a date with Betty Ross, her father ordered a Hulkbuster robot to follow them and make sure he didn't "try anything funny." to which the robot replies with "You mean like Bill Cosby?" This was several years before the rape allegations against Cosby.
* ComicBook/UltimateMarvel had a borderline example in ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen''. After explaining to Beast the true nature of a project ComicBook/NickFury had him working on, Bishop says that Beast's work meant that Nick Fury [[spoiler:wouldn't be executed for causing a mutant genocide]]. The "aneurysm" comes in the ''Ultimate Power'' miniseries, where Nick Fury is [[spoiler:imprisoned on the Earth of the Squadron Supreme for the deaths of millions]].
* Issue #50 of the Marvel ''[[ComicBook/GIJoeARealAmericanHeroMarvel G.I. Joe]]'' comic (which came out in 1985) included the first issue of the spin-off title ''G.I. Joe: Special Missions''. This first issue revolved around the hijacking of a jetliner by a radical Trotskyist group. Not a far-fetched premise, given the frequency of airline hijackings in the mid-1980s. They even go through the motions of claiming they'll release hostages if demands are met. Then you find out the terrorists' real plan: to use the airliner in a kamikaze attack on the Kremlin to avenge the assassination of Trotsky by [[UsefulNotes/JosefStalin Stalin]]...
* Much of what Creator/MarvelComics printed before 9/11/2001, because so many of their stories are based in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity. For example, early issues of the first iteration of ''ComicBook/XForce'' has the Juggernaut deciding to knock over one of the (pre-evacuated) World Trade Center towers. It made little sense, but over it went. And earlier than X-Force, an ad for ''ComicBook/DamageControl: The Series'' had one of the towers about thirty feet ''off-kilter'', but it was 'good enough'. In short, so many otherwise fine stories take place in, on, or around the towers.
** Juggernaut's attack on the World Trade Center towers happened little time before an actual attack on the buildings. Not the 2001 one, but the 1993 one, which was (obviously) much more contained. The creator responsible for both that and the "Death of Princess Diana" comic was Creator/JohnByrne, who got a bit of a reputation for his "psychic predictions."
* ''ComicBook/{{Excalibur}},'' issue 20: a giant interdimensional being ports in with a flash of light outside a town. Rachel and Kitty see the light and assume that the local nuclear power plant had a meltdown, resulting in this conversation:
-->'''Kitty''': Wonder if I could phase the whole city.
-->'''Rachel''': Somehow, I doubt it.
-->'''Kitty''': Me too.
** And then the events of ''[[ComicBook/AstonishingXMen Breakworld]]'' happened...
* In ''ComicBook/TheUltimates 3'', Blob threatens to eat Wasp. At the time, this was just combat banter. Then ''ComicBook/{{Ultimatum}}'' arrived, [[{{Gorn}} and he actually did.]] [[http://atopthefourthwall.com/ultimates-3-1-and-2/ Linkara put it this way.]]
-->'''Blob''': Wasp! Gonna eat you up!
-->'''[[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Linkara]]''' (With a disgusted look on his face): The people who have read ''Ultimatum'' have this same expression. And you will too when we finally get to it.
* There's an early ''ComicBook/XMen'' comic in which a stealth jet is going to be flown into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. Fortunately, ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} gets on top of the plane, carves his way in, and pulls it up at the very last second. Reading this post 9/11 made it less of a fun action scene and more a harsh reminder that we don't have super-heroes in the real world.
* The character Hazmat in ''ComicBook/AvengersAcademy'' is an ethnically-Japanese girl with radioactivity based powers who has been described as a "walking Chernobyl". Less than a year after she was introduced, the Sendai earthquake happened, which caused radioactive material to escape from the Fukushima nuclear powerplant.
* In an 80s issue of ''Comicbook/NewWarriors'', Speedball and Night Thrasher have this conversation about Speedball's powers. ''This'' side of ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' and "[[FanNickname/ComicBooks Bleedball]]", his spiky, masochism-themed new identity, it's not so funny:
-->'''Night Thrasher''': Robbie, the purpose of this session is to find ways of effectively using your Speedball powers in combat.
-->'''Speedball''': Well, Dwayne... how 'bout attaching humongous spikes to my spandex? That way I could totally impale all the bad guys!
-->'''Night Thrasher''': Spikes, huh? [Walks away, looking contemplative]
-->'''Speedball''': Uh, that's a joke, Thrash...
* As a tie-in to ''Film/SpiderMan2'', in the [[ComicBook/UltimateMarvel Ultimate Universe]] Peter saves a stunt double for the Movie!Spider-Man from Doctor Octopus. When the stunt double took off his mask and revealed he was black Peter worried he got [[TokenMinority Revamped]] for a moment. [[TwoferTokenMinority Ladies and Gentlemen, meet]] [[http://www.geekologie.com/2011/08/miles-morales-the-multicultural-spiderma.php Miles Morales!]]
** In an issue of ''ComicBook/SheHulk'', Spider-Man jokingly suggested that J. Jonah Jameson hated him because he assumed he was black. When Miles Morales was announced, quite a few people, including prominent conservatives like Lou Dobbs and Radio/GlennBeck, attacked the character for supposedly being a disgusting example of {{political correctness|GoneMad}} and other such things. Beck even tried to insinuate [[UsefulNotes/BarackObama Michelle Obama]] [[InsaneTrollLogic was responsible for Peter being killed and replaced with a black kid]].
* The one-shot parody, ''[[ComicBook/OneHundredAndOneWaysToEndTheCloneSaga 101 Ways to End]] ComicBook/TheCloneSaga'' is full of writers spitballing ideas to... well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin end the Clone Saga.]] The ending in which the staff hit upon the idea to use the ComicBook/GreenGoblin as the mastermind isn't an example, as the reveal had been published by this point. However, two ideas thrown out by Marvel's bullpen would end up being essentially merged together: The '[[Creator/GlennGreenberg Greenberg]] Gambit' (Use Mephisto to solve everything!), and using the story's events as an excuse to remove MJ from the cast (she's retconned into being a hologram in one of the ideas). Naturally, Spidey fans know where we're going with this: The Greenberg Gambit was [[ComicBook/OneMoreDay later used to annul Peter's and Mary Jane's wedding]].
* The ''ComicBook/StanLeeMeets ComicBook/SpiderMan'' special had a backup story featuring a comic book fan in an interdimensional convention talking to alternate versions of himself and discovering none of them know who Creator/StanLee is. He goes into several alternate realities, and nothing. Until finally, he bumps into the man himself, and asks him how come he can't find any counterparts of Stan Lee in the multiverse. Stan proudly proclaims that while there are plenty of talented comic creators in the various dimensions, there is only ''one'' Stan Lee. So, you know. Now there are none of him. Anywhere. [[spoiler: [[{{Bathos}} Stan is survived by an alternate self who sells meats, however]].]]
* ''ComicBook/WhatIf'' had quite a few, being all about alternate realities where AnyoneCanDie, but one early issue featured the Scarlet Centurion appearing to ComicBook/TheAvengers, warning them that they must do something about the growing proliferation of superheroes. When ComicBook/{{Thor}} objects by saying that "[[YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe a goodly portion of these beings are dedicated to fighting evil!]]", the Centurion replies that they will invite holocaust upon holocaust to the world with their good intentions. The Scarlet Centurion was meant to be lying then, but given Marvel's crossovers during the 2000s and 2010s involved no end of WellIntentionedExtremist superheroes bringing untold harm to the world, one almost feels it was less 'lying' and more 'slight exaggeration'.
** In the same issue, it's implied that Janet and Hank will have a happier life together without the pressure of working as superheroes getting in the way. No kidding.
* In an issue of ''Comicbook/UncannyAvengers'', ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} goes to Tokyo to offer the Japanese hero Sunfire membership in Comicbook/TheAvengers. When Sunfire asks why he was considered, Wolverine responds by calling him a "walking atomic bomb." Quite a few people online pointed out that the line is either incredibly dickish or very insensitive depending on whether or not the writer was aware of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Especially when you consider that in his first appearance, it's established that Sunfire's mom was an innocent child who eventually died of radiation poisoning she received at Hiroshima. This has been {{Retcon}}ned of course due to ComicbookTime.
* A scene in ''Comicbook/AvengersAcademy'' had Hazmat noting that [[CListFodder due to their relative obscurity]], the students were far more likely to die than the actual Avengers. It was meant to be funny at the time, but then came ''Comicbook/AvengersArena''...
** Another scene has Mettle lamenting, "I feel like a black dude in a slasher movie." In ''Comicbook/AvengersArena'' the first victim is [[BlackDudeDiesFirst Mettle.]]
* Another ''ComicBook/XMen'' example: In the 1990s, longtime couple ComicBook/{{Cyclops}} and ComicBook/JeanGrey finally tied the knot. Marvel released a one-shot special, ''The Wedding Album'' and included random autolog messages from the reception. One message comes from [[RefugeeFromTVLand Shatterstar]], who predicts the marriage won't last. Fast-forward about a decade, and Marvel [[DroppedABridgeOnHim dropping a bridge]] on Jean in favor of Cyclops leaving his wife for a rival out of left field, ComicBook/EmmaFrost.
-->'''Shatterstar:''' Personally, I cannot think of anything less appealing than committing the rest of your air time to a single individual. I give the marriage three seasons, max. Look for early strong ratings, but an early cancellation. I do, of course, wish you two the best of luck, however. May you have many spinoffs.
* An issue of ''ComicBook/XMen'', written by Matt Fraction, [[WriterOnBoard went on a tangent about how perfect and more accepting California]] was to mutants compared to the rest of the country. At this point it's clear that Fraction was using mutants as a metaphor/symbolism for homosexuality. Cue Proposition 8 being passed in that state.
* In ''ComicBook/TheInfinityGauntlet'', ComicBook/{{Thanos}} using the titular gauntlet causes all sorts of earthquakes to happen all over Earth. One of those buries Japan in the ocean. Makes one cringe after a similar disaster happened to Japan in 2011.
* In the ''ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}'' miniseries from Claremont and Miller, very early on, Wolverine catches JAL flight 007 going from New York to Anchorage to Tokyo. Almost exactly one year later, '''K'''AL flight 007, going from New York, to Anchorage to Seoul (in other words, the exact same route except for destination) was shot down in RealLife by Soviet fighters who believed that KAL 007 had strayed over the Kamchatka Peninsula, then a restricted area of the USSR.
* In the last issue before Creator/BrianKVaughan and Adrian Alphona left ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'', the creative team joked that in ten years, the Runaways would [[CListFodder probably all be dead]]. As of 2014, almost every member of the team has been killed at least once, thanks to the decision to include the team in AnyoneCanDie-style stories like ''ComicBook/AgeOfUltron'' and ''ComicBook/AvengersArena''.
* In ''ComicBook/IronMan #231'', with the fallout of the ''Armor Wars'' storyline, Stark Enterprises PR director Marcy Pearson suggests that the company should choose a less controversial spokesperson to replace Iron Man, like Creator/BillCosby. It's a pretty wince-inducing line with Cosby's later sexual assault charges.


!DC Comics:
* ''ComicBook/{{Transmetropolitan}}''
** The comic ends with Spider Jerusalem degenerating under an incurable disease and about to end his life by putting a gun up under his chin. [[spoiler:It was actually a cigarette lighter. As it turned out, he was fine.]] A few years after the end of the comics, Spider's real-life inspiration Creator/HunterSThompson ended up doing pretty much the same thing... [[spoiler:except the gun was real.]]
** In his acknowledgements, Warren Ellis thanks Creator/PatrickStewart and jokes that Stewart's wife Wendy Neuss is "smarter than both of us." Neuss and Stewart divorced a year after the book was published.
%%* ''ComicBook/FiftyTwo'' had an early RunningGag that revolved around [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries Renee]] [[ComicBook/GothamCentral Montoya's]] cigarette habit and her mentor, [[ComicBook/TheQuestion Vic Sage]], constantly trying to educate her about the harmful effects of smoking. At one point, she goes so far as to blow smoke in his face. Ha ha, funny joke. Then we learn that Sage is dying of lung cancer...
%%** Not to mention Renee's line in week 14 that she [[spoiler:swore by the end of it, she'd hold his dead body in her hands.]] Heck, most of Renee's early dialogue involving Charlie just reeks of this, [[InvokedTrope intentionally.]]
* In ''Comicbook/JusticeLeagueInternational'', ComicBook/BoosterGold and ComicBook/BlueBeetle joke to each other about how Max Lord, their team's sponsor/boss, is going to [[https://imgur.com/1yg29LF "put a bullet in my head"]] for their latest ZanyScheme. Years later, the prologue to the CrisisCrossover ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'' has Max, with a fresh new FaceHeelTurn, graphically executing Blue Beetle after [[ImpededMessenger (almost) preventing him from revealing his plans]], complete with a huge bullet hole going right through his skull. The panel from the earlier JLI issue could be found on nearly every comic-book site within days.
** There was a warmly received reunion mini-series of former JLI members featuring among others, Blue Beetle, Maxwell Lord, ComicBook/ElongatedMan, and his wife Sue Dibny. The mini-series was so successful, the writers immediately wrote a sequel. But the artist couldn't keep up with the punishing schedule DC was trying to place on him, so the release of the sequel was delayed for a year so that DC could give us ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis'' instead, where Sue Dibny is murdered, burned, and autopsied, and it's also {{re|tcon}}vealed that years earlier, she was raped by Dr. Light. All of which is depicted quite graphically, leaving little to the imagination. Oh, and it also turns out she was pregnant at the time of her murder. When that reunion sequel was finally released, it featured a RunningGag where everybody thinks Sue is pregnant and she angrily denies it. This gag is in Every. Single. Issue.
** Given everything that's [[FaceHeelTurn happened]] [[KilledOffForReal to]] [[RapeAsDrama them]], Giffen's ''entire run'' of JLI could be seen as a FunnyAneurysmMoment. Nearly all of the members of one of the more light-hearted takes on the Justice League have suffered tragic fates.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Preacher}}'', FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire Cassidy makes an ItTastesLikeFeet remark about how gravy made from bacon grease tastes like semen ([[OrSoIHeard or so he'd assume]]). Then we find out that in the past, he'd [[spoiler:resorted to prostituting himself and giving blowjobs to satisfy his addiction to heroin]]. Seems slightly less funny, except for those of us with sadistic senses of humor.
* There was a story from Creator/PaulDini's run on ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' in which ComicBook/TheJoker impersonated a stage magician with a vast teen following. The press revealed that the real magician was dead. ComicBook/TheJoker uses a viral marketing campaign to tell his audience that they'll have one last show where they can see that he's not dead. Guess [[Creator/HeathLedger which actor]] passed away after this comic was printed and [[Film/TheDarkKnight what his last]] [[Film/TheImaginariumOfDoctorParnassus two films are]]...
* ''ComicBook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns'':
** Two-Face threatens to blow up Gotham's twin towers. Then, later, a plane crashes into one of the towers.
** Also, in an act of insanity, a crazy man goes into a porn theater and shoots the place up. Guess what happened during a showing of ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises''.
* There was a 1997 ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' comic whose cover showed a newspaper with prominent headlines saying that Wonder Woman (aka Princess Diana) had died. A couple days later, the real Princess Diana died.
* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':
** During the ''ComicBook/ZeroHourCrisisInTime'' event, the Post-Crisis ComicBook/{{Superboy}} (Kon-El) met the pocket-dimension Superboy (the one keeping ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'' from imploding under its own continuity) in Smallville, and Clark-as-Superboy started attacking Kon, declaring himself the real Superboy, to which Kon replied that Clark would have to "Wait 'til I'm dead!" Amusing at the time; less so after ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis''.
** ComicBook/SuperboyPrime: Seemed like just a mean-spirited parody of fanboy culture, and then ''Film/ManOfSteel'' came out, and he went from "parody" to "a little on the nose".
** In ''ComicBook/ActionComics'' #270, Superman dreams he travels to the future where he's a forgotten has-been and his cousin Kara is now Superwoman, the world's greatest heroine. Fast-forward twenty-five years and ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} is killed by the ''[[ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths Anti-Monitor]]'', never becoming Superwoman or taking over her cousin. On the other hand, Superwoman is one of her worst enemies in the Post-Crisis universe.
** In the 1960's story "The Sweetheart Superman Forgot", Superman is exposed to red kryptonite that causes him to lose his powers and his memory. He eventually enters a rodeo, where he's thrown from a horse and injured so that he's paralyzed from the waist down. That story became rather more significant when Creator/ChristopherReeve, known for playing Superman, was paralyzed from the neck down by being thrown from a horse.
** ''ComicBook/ActionComics'' #309 features Superman revealing his identity to President Kennedy, which is sad for two reasons: the issue was released the week after Kennedy was assassinated; and Superman tells Kennedy "If I can't trust the '''President of the United States''', who '''can''' I trust?" Flash forward to Watergate...
* In ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' (vol. 3) #14, a character echoes most of the fandom's sentiments by saying "The last thing we want is ''ComicBook/AmazonsAttack: The Sequel''". Solicitations for DC's ''ComicBook/{{Flashpoint}}'' crossover seemed to indicate that it would be ''Amazons Attack: The Sequel.'' Luckily ''Flashpoint'' was better received and better written and gave an actual reason for their actions that made sense.
* In one ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' comic, Scarecrow sprays Batman with fear-removing gas and kidnaps Robin. At the end of the comic, Batman reveals that he managed to combat his fearlessness-induced recklessness by thinking of a new fear to motivate him - and it's further revealed to the audience that his fear was that the Scarecrow would kill Robin. The Robin at the time? [[DeadSidekick Jason Todd.]]
* [[http://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/1944496.html?#cutid1 The title speaks for itself]]
-->'''Lian''': [[DeathIsCheap Dead? Donna's not really dead, daddy. She'll come back like Uncle Ollie did. You'll see.]]
-->'''Roy''': [[SortingAlgorithmOfDeadness Sometimes we're lucky that way]], Lian.
** Jade's conversation with [[Franchise/GreenLantern Kyle Rayner]] on the following page is almost as bad, given what happened to her in ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis''...
---> '''Kyle''': I just want you to be extra careful. That's all I'm saying. Alex was '''murdered''' and so was Donna and I think you--
---> '''Jade''': Kyle-- '''Kyle'''. I'll be fine. I promise.
* In ''ComicBook/AllStarBatmanAndRobinTheBoyWonder'', we overheard Jim Gordon complaining that he's afraid his son might end up an earring-wearing hippie. Given that his son is a sociopath now, that really should have been the least of his worries.
* There's a small example in a late-80s issue of ''Franchise/TheFlash'' in which Captain Cold has finished his term in the Comicbook/SuicideSquad and the Rogues are attending a party in his honor. Cold brings along a cheery letter from Dr. Light which he reads aloud to laughter and comments like "Arthur's always a card!" Wally and his girlfriend "crash" the party later, and they end up getting along pretty well despite the initial resentment of him [[AntagonistInMourning for replacing Barry Allen]]. Some fifteen years later it turns out that these [[FriendlyEnemy Friendly Enemies]] were "chums" with a rapist.
* In a flashback issue of ''ComicBook/MartianManhunter'', Maxwell Lord is one of the members of Justice League International briefly possessed by the manifestation of J'onn's Choco addiction:
-->I want... I want everyone to just ''do as I say... all the time!'' I want [[MindManipulation Superman to do my errands]] and Batman to respect me and Wonder Woman to... I want Wonder Woman to... ''oh, how I want Wonder Woman [[NeckSnap to]]!''
----

* Several Italian Disney comics featured [[ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse Uncle Scrooge]] as the owner of a newspaper that [[PerpetualPoverty always seemed to be teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.]] This was always played for laughs. It doesn't become so funny once you consider the present situation of print media. It gets even worse by the fact that [[DependingOnTheWriter some writers]] portray the paper as a normal functioning respected news source, giving a reader that reads the stories in a certain order the idea that the paper was a successful venture that started spiraling into the abyss.
** Also concerning Scrooge: a Creator/DonRosa [[http://coa.inducks.org/story.php?c=D+96203 story]] has a floating money bin (ItsALongStory, involving alien phlebotinum) [[http://www.portallos.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/cld1403.jpg flying through twin towers]]... as you can see in the image (one of the balloons has an asterisk), a recent reprint has a footnote saying the comic was made before 9/11 (1997, to be precise).
* The Spanish slapstick comic ''ComicBook/MortadeloYFilemon'' had tons of minor background jokes, but the most infamous is [[https://imgur.com/swqEP this]] panel from a 1992 issue (the one showed on the trope's main page), in which an airplane is seen crashed into one of the Twin Towers.

* ''ComicBook/{{Transmetropolitan}}''
** The comic ends with Spider Jerusalem degenerating under an incurable disease and about to end his life by putting a gun up under his chin. [[spoiler:It was actually a cigarette lighter. As it turned out, he was fine.]] A few years after the end of the comics, Spider's real-life inspiration Creator/HunterSThompson ended up doing pretty much the same thing... [[spoiler:except the gun was real.]]
** In his acknowledgements, Warren Ellis thanks Creator/PatrickStewart and jokes that Stewart's wife Wendy Neuss is "smarter than both of us." Neuss and Stewart divorced a year after the book was published.
%%* ''ComicBook/FiftyTwo'' had an early RunningGag that revolved around [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries Renee]] [[ComicBook/GothamCentral Montoya's]] cigarette habit and her mentor, [[ComicBook/TheQuestion Vic Sage]], constantly trying to educate her about the harmful effects of smoking. At one point, she goes so far as to blow smoke in his face. Ha ha, funny joke. Then we learn that Sage is dying of lung cancer...
%%** Not to mention Renee's line in week 14 that she [[spoiler:swore by the end of it, she'd hold his dead body in her hands.]] Heck, most of Renee's early dialogue involving Charlie just reeks of this, [[InvokedTrope intentionally.]]
* In ''Comicbook/JusticeLeagueInternational'', ComicBook/BoosterGold and ComicBook/BlueBeetle joke to each other about how Max Lord, their team's sponsor/boss, is going to [[https://imgur.com/1yg29LF "put a bullet in my head"]] for their latest ZanyScheme. Years later, the prologue to the CrisisCrossover ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'' has Max, with a fresh new FaceHeelTurn, graphically executing Blue Beetle after [[ImpededMessenger (almost) preventing him from revealing his plans]], complete with a huge bullet hole going right through his skull. The panel from the earlier JLI issue could be found on nearly every comic-book site within days.
** There was a warmly received reunion mini-series of former JLI members featuring among others, Blue Beetle, Maxwell Lord, ComicBook/ElongatedMan, and his wife Sue Dibny. The mini-series was so successful, the writers immediately wrote a sequel. But the artist couldn't keep up with the punishing schedule DC was trying to place on him, so the release of the sequel was delayed for a year so that DC could give us ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis'' instead, where Sue Dibny is murdered, burned, and autopsied, and it's also {{re|tcon}}vealed that years earlier, she was raped by Dr. Light. All of which is depicted quite graphically, leaving little to the imagination. Oh, and it also turns out she was pregnant at the time of her murder. When that reunion sequel was finally released, it featured a RunningGag where everybody thinks Sue is pregnant and she angrily denies it. This gag is in Every. Single. Issue.
** Given everything that's [[FaceHeelTurn happened]] [[KilledOffForReal to]] [[RapeAsDrama them]], Giffen's ''entire run'' of JLI could be seen as a FunnyAneurysmMoment. Nearly all of the members of one of the more light-hearted takes on the Justice League have suffered tragic fates.

* A deliberate example occurred during the "Rainmaker" arc of ''ComicBook/PS238''... While Tyler, Zodon and Guardian Angel are sent outside during the rain on flag-duty, Zodon riffs about how Tyler's 'mere human' immune defense system surely cannot withstand the rain and is likely to cause his imminent death. A short while later, The Rainmaker temporarily neutralizes Guardian Angel's powers in order to get past her; when she then proceeds to stand out in the rain for over an hour, she catches a multitude of opportunistic bugs... which her immune defense system is entirely unprepared to handle, since it had been completely protected by her "Guardian" power until then. Since her powers return shortly after, they proceed to 'protect' her from syringes and inoculations that could've saved her. Less than a day later, she's dead. [[spoiler: [[BackFromTheDead She got better]].]]
* In ''ComicBook/{{Preacher}}'', FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire Cassidy makes an ItTastesLikeFeet remark about how gravy made from bacon grease tastes like semen ([[OrSoIHeard or so he'd assume]]). Then we find out that in the past, he'd [[spoiler:resorted to prostituting himself and giving blowjobs to satisfy his addiction to heroin]]. Seems slightly less funny, except for those of us with sadistic senses of humor.

* There was a story from Creator/PaulDini's run on ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' in which ComicBook/TheJoker impersonated a stage magician with a vast teen following. The press revealed that the real magician was dead. ComicBook/TheJoker uses a viral marketing campaign to tell his audience that they'll have one last show where they can see that he's not dead. Guess [[Creator/HeathLedger which actor]] passed away after this comic was printed and [[Film/TheDarkKnight what his last]] [[Film/TheImaginariumOfDoctorParnassus two films are]]...
* ''ComicBook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns'':
** Two-Face threatens to blow up Gotham's twin towers. Then, later, a plane crashes into one of the towers.
** Also, in an act of insanity, a crazy man goes into a porn theater and shoots the place up. Guess what happened during a showing of ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises''.
* There was a 1997 ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' comic whose cover showed a newspaper with prominent headlines saying that Wonder Woman (aka Princess Diana) had died. A couple days later, the real Princess Diana died.
* ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} has expressed a love for both the incarnation of Death and Bea Arthur. Now it's a little easier to decide.

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':
** During the ''ComicBook/ZeroHourCrisisInTime'' event, the Post-Crisis ComicBook/{{Superboy}} (Kon-El) met the pocket-dimension Superboy (the one keeping ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'' from imploding under its own continuity) in Smallville, and Clark-as-Superboy started attacking Kon, declaring himself the real Superboy, to which Kon replied that Clark would have to "Wait 'til I'm dead!" Amusing at the time; less so after ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis''.
** ComicBook/SuperboyPrime: Seemed like just a mean-spirited parody of fanboy culture, and then ''Film/ManOfSteel'' came out, and he went from "parody" to "a little on the nose".
** In ''ComicBook/ActionComics'' #270, Superman dreams he travels to the future where he's a forgotten has-been and his cousin Kara is now Superwoman, the world's greatest heroine. Fast-forward twenty-five years and ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} is killed by the ''[[ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths Anti-Monitor]]'', never becoming Superwoman or taking over her cousin. On the other hand, Superwoman is one of her worst enemies in the Post-Crisis universe.
** In the 1960's story "The Sweetheart Superman Forgot", Superman is exposed to red kryptonite that causes him to lose his powers and his memory. He eventually enters a rodeo, where he's thrown from a horse and injured so that he's paralyzed from the waist down. That story became rather more significant when Creator/ChristopherReeve, known for playing Superman, was paralyzed from the neck down by being thrown from a horse.
** ''ComicBook/ActionComics'' #309 features Superman revealing his identity to President Kennedy, which is sad for two reasons: the issue was released the week after Kennedy was assassinated; and Superman tells Kennedy "If I can't trust the '''President of the United States''', who '''can''' I trust?" Flash forward to Watergate...

* In ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' (vol. 3) #14, a character echoes most of the fandom's sentiments by saying "The last thing we want is ''ComicBook/AmazonsAttack: The Sequel''". Solicitations for DC's ''ComicBook/{{Flashpoint}}'' crossover seemed to indicate that it would be ''Amazons Attack: The Sequel.'' Luckily ''Flashpoint'' was better received and better written and gave an actual reason for their actions that made sense.

* In one ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' comic, Scarecrow sprays Batman with fear-removing gas and kidnaps Robin. At the end of the comic, Batman reveals that he managed to combat his fearlessness-induced recklessness by thinking of a new fear to motivate him - and it's further revealed to the audience that his fear was that the Scarecrow would kill Robin. The Robin at the time? [[DeadSidekick Jason Todd.]]

* [[http://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/1944496.html?#cutid1 The title speaks for itself]]
-->'''Lian''': [[DeathIsCheap Dead? Donna's not really dead, daddy. She'll come back like Uncle Ollie did. You'll see.]]
-->'''Roy''': [[SortingAlgorithmOfDeadness Sometimes we're lucky that way]], Lian.
** Jade's conversation with [[Franchise/GreenLantern Kyle Rayner]] on the following page is almost as bad, given what happened to her in ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis''...
---> '''Kyle''': I just want you to be extra careful. That's all I'm saying. Alex was '''murdered''' and so was Donna and I think you--
---> '''Jade''': Kyle-- '''Kyle'''. I'll be fine. I promise.

* ''ComicBook/TwoThousandAD'':
** In the editorial for a 2005 issue of the 2000AD stablemate ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd Megazine'' detailed the difficulty the editor (then Alan Barnes) had on deciding whether or not to run a reprint of a 1970s strip ''Charley's War'', a strip about the UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. The first page of the re-run started with a full page spread of a Zeppelin Raid on London, with frightened citizens running into a [[UsefulNotes/TheLondonUnderground Tube Station]] yelling "It'll be safe down there." To make matters worse the Editor recounted how this dilemma arose on the last day before the deadline, the 8th of July 2005, after a terror attack on the Tube. Ouch. He did, however, decide to run the strip.
** ''ComicBook/{{Zombo}}'': The President of Earth is UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump. He's a PresidentEvil shouting gibberish who constantly [[Series/TheApprentice fires everyone around him]]. This became less funny after Trump actually won the U.S. Presidential election in 2016 (a possibility he had boasted about for several years prior) with many accusing him of nativism and authoritarian policies.
* In ''ComicBook/AllStarBatmanAndRobinTheBoyWonder'', we overheard Jim Gordon complaining that he's afraid his son might end up an earring-wearing hippie. Given that his son is a sociopath now, that really should have been the least of his worries. Might be HilariousInHindsight depending on your outlook.
* There's a small example in a late-80s issue of ''Franchise/TheFlash'' in which Captain Cold has finished his term in the Comicbook/SuicideSquad and the Rogues are attending a party in his honor. Cold brings along a cheery letter from Dr. Light which he reads aloud to laughter and comments like "Arthur's always a card!" Wally and his girlfriend "crash" the party later, and they end up getting along pretty well despite the initial resentment of him [[AntagonistInMourning for replacing Barry Allen]]. Some fifteen years later it turns out that these [[FriendlyEnemy Friendly Enemies]] were "chums" with a rapist.
* In a flashback issue of ''ComicBook/MartianManhunter'', Maxwell Lord is one of the members of Justice League International briefly possessed by the manifestation of J'onn's Choco addiction:
-->I want... I want everyone to just ''do as I say... all the time!'' I want [[MindManipulation Superman to do my errands]] and Batman to respect me and Wonder Woman to... I want Wonder Woman to... ''oh, how I want Wonder Woman [[NeckSnap to]]!''

* Back in the early 1990's, Creator/ValiantComics released ''ComicBook/NintendoComicsSystem''. One of those comics was ''Game Boy'', using characters from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioLand''. The first story had Tatanga and his army invade the World Trade Center. The second story had Tatanga and his army hijack an airplane, then hijack the space shuttle ''Colombia''.

* Intentionally invoked in ''ComicBook/AtomicRobo'': in flashbacks, Robo and his company Tesladyne are based in New York City, and have all kinds of adventures there over the years with super-science mishaps, enemies with old grudges, and [[WeirdnessMagnet general weirdness]]. Tesladyne moves out of NYC almost immediately after 9/11 because Robo realizes that nobody in-universe would find that stuff surrounding his company remotely tolerable anymore.
* ''ComicBook/TankGirl'' had an early story in which the Devil appears on Jimmy Savile's distinctive ''Jim'll Fix It'' armchair, and then gets defeated by being made to believe that he is Jimmy Savile. Funny at the time, but now...
* Fluttershy is worried about anyone finding about her secret chamber in [[ComicBook/MyLittlePonyMicroSeries her micro-issue]]. Normally, this would be a funny joke, but considering the fan-made animation, [[WebAnimation/PonyDotMov SHED.MOV]], this can border on creepy.
* In ''ComicBook/JohnnyTheHomicidalManiac'', there are several insert strips of a character called Happy Noodle Boy, drawn by Johnny himself, who frequently shouts out nonsense phrases at others before being shot brutally by a bystander. Cue the panel later on when Johnny remarks that he was bullied as a kid, and that they made fun of his skinny frame by calling him "Noodle Boy". And then the realization comes that [[spoiler:Happy Noodle Boy most likely represents Johnny's desire to give in to his inner insanity before dying and relieving himself of the pain he feels]].

* The Mane Six calling Chrysalis "Cheese Legs", in the first comic arc of ''ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDW'' was a joke. In ''ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFiendshipIsMagic'' it's shown to be the result of injuries inflicted by Celestia hundreds of years prior, [[GoodIsNotSoft not to say they weren't well deserved]].
* A ''Series/SesameStreet'' comic from around 1976 showed a giant Cookie Monster climbing up the Twin Towers (possibly in reference to Dino De Laurentiis's ''King Kong'', an upcoming release at that point), having taken huge bites out of them... Obviously not so silly in a post-9/11 world.

* In ''ComicBook/BatmanAndCaptainAmerica'', ComicBook/TheJoker rants to the ComicBook/RedSkull upon learning that the latter is indeed a Nazi and not using it as part of a gimmick, which is the image for EvenEvilHasStandards. Then came ''ComicBook/CaptainAmericaSteveRogers'' [[spoiler: and ''ComicBook/SecretEmpire'', where thanks to the Skull causing a CosmicRetcon, Steve Rogers is now everything he's sworn to fight against and now the character that was widely regarded as Marvel's paragon has less morals than the guy who decided [[ComicBook/TheKillingJoke crippling Barbara Gordon and trying to drive her father insane]], and [[ComicBook/ADeathInTheFamily killing Jason Todd]] and [[ComicBook/BatmanNoMansLand Sarah Essen]] were good ideas]].
* ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'': In "Recap/AsterixAndTheChariotRace" (released in 2017), the main antagonist is a masked Roman racer named Coronavirus. Safe to say that this name became significantly less funny when in early 2020 coronavirus 2019-nCoV caused a pandemic, and indeed killed hundreds of people in China alone. As a bonus, the story takes place in Italy, the first country out of Asia to suffer an outbreak of the virus and one of the countries in Europe hit hardest by it.
* ''ComicBook/VenomDonnyCates'' was meant to introduce a new symbiote character during its Free comic Book Day special in 2020 named Virus. A lot of people really liked the design and noted the simple-yet-cool name that was surprisingly overlooked, given the stranger names other symbiote characters have had... then Coronavirus became a ''much'' bigger issue (and it was already an issue when the character was revealed, though obviously not nearly as much of one during the creation itself), which also resulted in the delay of said FCBD issue due to the cancellation of FCBD 2020.

Comics are usually referred to as "the funny pages." This is [[FunnyAneurysmMoment when the funniness sadly disappears]].

[[AC:{{Comics}}]]

[[AC:NewspaperComics]]
* ''ComicStrip/PearlsBeforeSwine'':
** One strip featured one of the crocs being disappointed that Steve Irwin's head has never been bitten off. This was published mere months before Irwin's death from a stingray attack.
** There was an entire series of strips about Rat running for city council against a dead guy that were published right when Senator Paul Wellstone died in a plane crash. Some newspapers ended up not running it.
* ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'':
** Similar to [[FunnyAneurysmMoment/{{Film}} the Desmond Llewellyn incident]], Charles Schulz's last strip - which consisted of his announcement of his retirement and an amiable, grateful farewell to his fans - was written four weeks in advance (like most comic strips)... and was printed one day after he died.
** In a 1954 strip, Charlie Brown invites Shermy over to read comic books. The titles include ''Revolutionary War Comics, War of 1812 Comics, Civil War Comics, World War I Comics, World War II Comics, ''and'' Korean War Comics'' with Charlie saying the next issue has him worried. He and all of America had reason to worry considering [[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar what actually happened next]]...
* ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'':
** A 1996 strip has Roger and Andy sitting on the couch. When Andy asks what they're listening to, Roger informs her that some guy went into the wild and recorded the ambient sounds of different environments. "So far, it's pretty relaxing." The third panel has them both looking up as the 'guy' says "Hey, get away from that equipmen-" followed by growls, ripping noises, and screaming. The final panel of the strip has Andy reading the title of the CD over the sound of a burp and birdsong; "In the Midst of Grizzlies" while Roger says it was the last in the series. Guess what documentary filmmaker Timothy Treadwell, immortalized in the film ''Film/GrizzlyMan'', was doing with his girlfriend when he died. Go on, guess. What's more, his camera captured an audio recoding of his death, but it has never been made public.
** In another strip, Roger has a nightmare about being forced to give stock certificates that he had in place for retirement to a Salvation Army bin, to which it is heavily implied that they are even more worthless than nickels and dimes. Concerning what ultimately has been happening in the stock market since 2008, that dream ''is'' so real.
** Notably prevented: The strip published July 22, 2012 was supposed to be showing Paige in the crosshairs of Jason's squirt gun. However, two days before it was supposed to run, a person named James Holmes wearing a gas mask entered a Colorado movie theater that was showing ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'' and proceeded to wildly fire his gun at the audience, killing 12 people and injuring 59 others. Bill Amend then pulled the strip and replaced it with a repeat of a 2009 strip.
* Speaking of those pirates... it should be noted first of all that due to newspaper comics being written weeks in advance of publication, sometimes they'll wind up pulling a Funny Aneurysm ''after'' the event in question. Such as [[http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/8796/bizarroi.gif April 13, 2008's]] ''ComicStrip/{{Bizarro}}'' panel.
* ''ComicStrip/{{Doonesbury}}'':
** In a series of strips from the early 70s, Duke Harris, who's based on Creator/HunterSThompson, accidentally shoots his assistant. Nearly thirty years later, Thompson accidentally ''did'' shoot his assistant.
** Another ''ComicStrip/{{Doonesbury}}'' example... during the early stages of the Tiananmen Square protests, Trudeau ran some strips in which the character "Honey" Huan returns to China for a class reunion, only to be caught up, befuddled, in the midst of the protests. This story arc was dropped once the protests were quelled with a tragic massacre.
* ''ComicStrip/BloomCounty'' featured several comics making jokes about the marriage of Princess Diana and Prince Charles (specifically, an arc depicting them spending their honeymoon in New York). This isn't quite as funny after you consider their divorce and her death...
* Several Italian Disney comics featured [[ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse Uncle Scrooge]] as the owner of a newspaper that [[PerpetualPoverty always seemed to be teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.]] This was always played for laughs. It doesn't become so funny once you consider the present situation of print media. It gets even worse by the fact that [[DependingOnTheWriter some writers]] portray the paper as a normal functioning respected news source, giving a reader that reads the stories in a certain order the idea that the paper was a successful venture that started spiraling into the abyss.
** Also concerning Scrooge: a Creator/DonRosa [[http://coa.inducks.org/story.php?c=D+96203 story]] has a floating money bin (ItsALongStory, involving alien phlebotinum) [[http://www.portallos.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/cld1403.jpg flying through twin towers]]... as you can see in the image (one of the balloons has an asterisk), a recent reprint has a footnote saying the comic was made before 9/11 (1997, to be precise).
* A literal example occurred in ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'': a strip involving Creator/DickClark aging 200 years in 30 seconds on national TV. That's a pretty accurate description of what has happened to him since his stroke back in 2004. And now that he's dead at 82, it's even worse.
* [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/eb/Latest_War_Map_of_Europe_1870.jpg/800px-Latest_War_Map_of_Europe_1870.jpg This]] political cartoon from 1870, using anthromorphisised countries to depict the situation of Europe before UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. Now, notice how Germany's hand is resting on Belgium...
* In an early ''ComicStrip/{{Zits}}'' strip Jeremy bemoans the that his generation doesn't have an epic, "where were you?" moment like the Kennedy assassination. Then came September 11th...
* A 1934 WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse comic had Mickey and Minnie kidnapped by smuggler Bad Pete. One strip [[http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17qlkeu1q2mgwjpg/original.jpg here]] depicts opium being smuggled...disguised as "bath salts".
* The ''{{ComicStrip/Dilbert}}'' comic published on [[http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/1997-09-11/ September 11, 1997]].
* ''ComicBook/ArneAnka'':
** Narrowly averted in this satirical Swedish comic. The artist had just finished a strip that ended with Arne and his friend Krille going on a shooting spree against snooty waiters at Discoteque "Sturecompagniet" in Stockholm, when news broke on the radio that there had been a RealLife shooting at "Sturecompagniet". He quickly scrapped the strip and drew one where Arne and Krille discuss violence in society in general.
** And that strip ends with an over-the-top moment where a reporter blows up an amusement park and faxes a report about the dead children at the same time. Grotesquely over-the-top at the time (1994), but then in 2012 came the Utøya-massacre ...
* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'':
** One strip has Calvin criticize Susie's drawing of a home with a flower garden, instead claiming his manlier drawing of B-1 planes nuking New York. The September 11, 2001 attacks put the strip in a DudeNotFunny stance.
** In one strip, Calvin pretends he's flying a fighter plane and ends up blowing up his school. Watterson apparently got a few angry letters when it was first published, but defended it by saying that ''any'' kid Calvin's age has probably dreamed about blowing up their school at least once. Now that school shootings have shown themselves to be all too real, there's little chance it would be published at all today.
** Quote Calvin's dad: [[TheNewTens "It's going to be a grim day when the world is run by a generation that doesn't know anything but what it's seen on TV."]]
** One story arc has Calvin using his "Stupendous Man" costume and persona in an attempt to ace a history test ([[spoiler: he flunks]].) His mom, as punishment, takes away his costume. While she's threatened to do this before, given that this story arc is Stupendous Man's last appearance in the comics, it makes you wonder if said costume wasn't confiscated permanently.
*** Also in the same arc, Susie accuses Calvin of bringing a bomb to class. With bomb threats taken so seriously, a strip like that would never see the light of day today.
** In an early strip, Calvin tells his mom he wants to be a radical terrorist when he grows up. Not so funny after three girls left Britain to join ISIS but disappeared.
** The arc where Calvin is carried away by a balloon isn't so [[StealthPun light-hearted]] ever since the Balloon Boy hoax.
* ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}:
** There is a strip where Garfield said "We cats nap anywhere, anytime. Everyone should be so lucky. With the possible exception of airline pilots.". In 2011, there were many cases of airline traffic controllers sleeping on the job and tragic accidents ensuing as a result.
** [[http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/2001/ga010911.gif One strip]] has Jon saying "We all have to live together. We all have to be considerate of our neighbors." The final panel shows Garfield in woman clothing as Jon yells "SO RETURN THOSE TO MRS. FEENY!". This was written in advance like all comic strips, and what day did it get printed on? September 11, 2001.
** [[http://assets.amuniversal.com/0be3bc705d1a012ee3bd00163e41dd5b This strip]] with the dangers of riptides becoming all too real since the mid-2000s.
** One strip from the early 1980s has Garfield predicting that the question to the answers "suicide, dieting, and exercise" is "name three forms of self-abuse." It comes off as a joke, but we now know that dieting and excessive exercise are symptoms of eating disorders.
** The logo box to [[http://www.gocomics.com/garfield/1994/09/11 this strip]], printed September 11, 1994.
** Thanks to the strips being written weeks in advance, a controversial "Stupid Day" strip was published on Veteran's day, making it seem like Jim Davis was mocking veterans by comparing them to a spider who was squished after trying to face Garfield.
* ComicStrip/{{Nero}}:
** In ''De Ark van Nero'' (1952) Nero builds an arc because of a great flood that will put the entire world under water. It later turns out to be AllJustADream, but only a few months after the story was finished Belgium and the Netherlands were in 1953 indeed hit by a disastrous flood, killing many people in the Netherlands alone.
** In ''Het Ei van October'' (1955) Nero's plane crashes into a New York skyscraper, difficult not to think about the 9/11 terrorist attacks since 2001.
** In ''De Grote Geheimzinnigaard'' (1993) Nero wishes Colombian drug baron Pablo Escobar to the Moon. Later that exact same year Escobar was shot by the police.
* In ''ComicBook/MiniMarvels'', when Hulk was going on a date with Betty Ross, her father ordered a Hulkbuster robot to follow them and make sure he didn't "try anything funny." to which the robot replies with "You mean like Bill Cosby?" This was several years before the rape allegations against Cosby.
* In some early ''ComicStrip/BabyBlues'' strips, Wanda was shown to be a fan of Creator/MelGibson (or rather, [[MrFanservice his buns]]). Obviously, this was before his anti-Semetic rant and verbal abuse toward his girlfriend occurred.
* One of the more infamous cases of unfortunate timing is a 1963 strip ''Miss Caroline'', which featured a fictionized account of Caroline Kennedy, daughter of then-president UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy. The strip began on November 4 of that year, and was cancelled on the 22nd, the day JFK was assassinated. At less than 3 weeks, it probably holds the record for the shortest-run syndicated strip.

-->'''Roy''': [[SortingAlgorithmOfDeadness Sometimes we're lucky that way]], [[StuffedIntoTheFridge Lian.]]

* ''ComicBook/DonnyCatesVenom'' was meant to introduce a new symbiote character during its Free comic Book Day special in 2020 named Virus. A lot of people really liked the design and noted the simple-yet-cool name that was surprisingly overlooked, given the stranger names other symbiote characters have had... then Coronavirus became a ''much'' bigger issue (and it was already an issue when the character was revealed, though obviously not nearly as much of one during the creation itself), which also resulted in the delay of said FCBD issue due to the cancellation of FCBD 2020.

[[quoteright:350:[[Franchise/{{Batman}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/batman_222.jpg]]]]

* In ''ComicBook/TheUltimates 3'', Blob threatens to eat Wasp. At the time, this was just "witty" combat banter. (even if the joke amounted to "Ha ha! Get it? He eats a lot! Fatty.") Then ''ComicBook/{{Ultimatum}}'' arrived, [[{{Gorn}} and he actually did.]] [[http://atopthefourthwall.com/ultimates-3-1-and-2/ Linkara put it this way.]]

** During the ''ComicBook/ZeroHourCrisisInTime'' event, the Post-Crisis ComicBook/{{Superboy}} (Kon-El) met the pocket-dimension Superboy (the one keeping ''ComicBook/{{Legion Of Super-Heroes}}'' from imploding under its own continuity) in Smallville, and Clark-as-Superboy started attacking Kon, declaring himself the real Superboy, to which Kon replied that Clark would have to "Wait 'til I'm dead!" Amusing at the time; less so after ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis''.

** During the ''ComicBook/ZeroHour'' event, the Post-Crisis ComicBook/{{Superboy}} (Kon-El) met the pocket-dimension Superboy (the one keeping ''ComicBook/{{Legion Of Super-Heroes}}'' from imploding under its own continuity) in Smallville, and Clark-as-Superboy started attacking Kon, declaring himself the real Superboy, to which Kon replied that Clark would have to "Wait 'til I'm dead!" Amusing at the time; less so after ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis''.

* There's an early ''ComicBook/XMen'' comic in which a stealth jet is going to be flown into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. Fortunately, Franchise/{{Wolverine}} gets on top of the plane, carves his way in, and pulls it up at the very last second. Reading this post 9/11 made it less of a fun action scene and more a harsh reminder that we don't have super-heroes in the real world.

* In an issue of ''Comicbook/UncannyAvengers'', Franchise/{{Wolverine}} goes to Tokyo to offer the Japanese hero Sunfire membership in Comicbook/TheAvengers. When Sunfire asks why he was considered, Wolverine responds by calling him a "walking atomic bomb." Quite a few people online pointed out that the line is either incredibly dickish or very insensitive depending on whether or not the writer was aware of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Especially when you consider that in his first appearance, it's established that Sunfire's mom was an innocent child who eventually died of radiation poisoning she received at Hiroshima. This has been {{Retcon}}ned of course due to ComicbookTime.

* In the ''Franchise/{{Wolverine}}'' miniseries from Claremont and Miller, very early on, Wolverine catches JAL flight 007 going from New York to Anchorage to Tokyo. Almost exactly one year later, '''K'''AL flight 007, going from New York, to Anchorage to Seoul (in other words, the exact same route except for destination) was shot down in RealLife by Soviet fighters who believed that KAL 007 had strayed over the Kamchatka Peninsula, then a restricted area of the USSR.

** SelfDemonstrating/SuperboyPrime: Seemed like just a mean-spirited parody of fanboy culture, and then ''Film/ManOfSteel'' came out, and he went from "parody" to "a little on the nose".

* There was a story from Creator/PaulDini's run on ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' in which ComicBook/TheJoker impersonated a stage magician with a vast teen following. The press revealed that the real magician was dead. ComicBook/TheJoker uses a viral marketing campaign to tell his audience that they'll have one last show where they can see that he's not dead. Guess [[Creator/HeathLedger which actor]] passed away after this comic and printed and [[Film/TheDarkKnight what his last]] [[Film/TheImaginariumOfDoctorParnassus two films are]]...

* The ''ComicBook/StanLeeMeets ComicBook/SpiderMan'' special had a backup story featuring a comic book fan in an interdimensional convention talking to alternate versions of himself and discovering none of them know who Creator/StanLee. He goes into several alternate realities, and nothing. Until finally, he bumps into the man himself, and asks him how come he can't find any counterparts of Stan Lee in the multiverse. Stan proudly proclaims that while there are plenty of talented comic creators in the various dimensions, there is only ''one'' Stan Lee. So, you know. Now there are none of him. Anywhere. [[spoiler: [[{{Bathos}} Stan is survived by an alternate self who sells meats, however]].]]

* In ComicBook/IncredibleHulk #434, Hulk is accosted by the Avengers while trying to peacefully watch Nick Fury's funeral. He had inadvertently caused his death, so he wasn't welcome there. When the ComicBook/ScarletWitch tells him so, he goes on a whole rant about his history of being hunted down by the government and the fact that even though Scarlet Witch is an Avenger ''now'', she was a mutant terrorist working with ComicBook/{{Magneto}} back when ''he'' was an Avenger. He tells her [[NotSoDifferent it'd only take the slightest change for her to be in his position now]]. The Hulk was unambiguously heroic back then, and while he would [[ComicBook/WorldWarHulk occasionally]] [[ComicBook/ImmortalHulk turn against his fellow heroes again]] later down the line, the Scarlet Witch [[ComicBook/AvengersDisassembled was also no slouch]] [[HeelFaceTurn in that regard]].

* The one-shot parody, ''101 ways to end ComicBook/TheCloneSaga'' is full of writers spitballing ideas to... well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin end the Clone Saga.]] The ending in which the staff hit upon the idea to use the ComicBook/GreenGoblin as the mastermind isn't an example, as the reveal had been published by this point. However, two ideas thrown out by Marvel's bullpen would end up being essentially merged together: The '[[Creator/GlennGreenberg Greenberg]] Gambit' (Use Mephisto to solve everything!), and using the story's events as an excuse to remove MJ from the cast (she's retconned into being a hologram in one of the ideas). Naturally, Spidey fans know where we're going with this: The Greenberg Gambit was [[ComicBook/OneMoreDay later used to annul Peter's and Mary Jane's wedding]].