History HilariousInHindsight / MarvelUniverse

** Issue #418 featured Marlo selling her soul to Mephisto (she thought it was just a dream) in order to have a perfect wedding day. Over a decade later ''Spider-Man: ComicBook/OneMoreDay'' comes out, a story which involves Mephisto convincing Peter Parker to sell his ''marriage'' to him.
** Issue #1 declared, as General Ross named the Hulk, that it was a name that was destined to become immortal. Fast forward decades later, and Hulk's latest title is... ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk''.

* ''ComicBook/HowardTheDuck'': During the conception of the character's MAX series, Marvel was concerned about lawsuits from Disney over the similarity to Donald Duck. Howard probably ''is'' inspired by Donald Duck, but in a court of law, they could argue it's a case of ''scenes á faire'' and that the rest of Howard's setting doesn't resemble Donald's enough for them to have a case (no nephews, no greedy uncle and he lives among humans to boot, though it's not where he originally came from), but seemingly they decided it wasn't worth the hassle. It was decided to alter Howard's design... so Creator/SteveGerber, cantankerous as ever, decided that in the very issue, he would turn Howard into... a ''[[Franchise/MickeyMouse mouse]]!''[[note]]Albeit a realistic-looking mouse with brown fur, but the TakeThat was obvious.[[/note]]. This whole pissing contest is hilarious to read about today, when Howard's resemblance to Donald Duck wouldn't have caused any issues whatsoever.
* In ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHercules'' #138 Amadeus Cho balks at Athena's suggestion that he should become the new [[LegacyCharacter Prince of Power]], pointing to his 'skinny girl arms' as the reason, and jokes that "You're going to have to bombard me with [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk gamma rays]] first or something!" Well, now that he [[ComicBook/TotallyAwesomeHulk stole Bruce Banner's gamma energy, became the new hulk]], and still remains a gamma-powered hero to this day as Brawn, who knows, maybe that conversation gave him some ideas after all.

* One for the ComicBook/BlackCat. In issue 3 of her 90s miniseries, ''Felicia Hardy: The Black Cat'', [[https://2.bp.blogspot.com/CLdhCbHT5RyFEvQjeHfP8u2RbGqzkcZeLixsfciy72Hli96qfUILpHshU25qBZUWOcwaObI44EJd_AGkTC0ZWrgvEGaqQnJfsX0KNJzpv92Twg8bQH7I0K3KftOnRrHNlQCorg=s0 Felicia makes the quip]], "Sorry, was "snap, crackle and pop too much of a baby boomer reference for you? ". With the rise of the "okay, boomer" meme, Felicia mocking someone for not understanding a baby boomer reference is pretty funny.

** ''ComicBook/MarvelTeamUp'' #100, the story that established that Black Panther and ComicBook/{{Storm}} were childhood friends, ends with a caption that's rather amusing given that they later ended up in a very [[StrangledByTheRedString controversial marriage]] that ultimately ended in divorce:

** Year In Review '92 bashed the CListFodder villain group Riders of the Storm, calling them lame and saying no one would ever bring them back. Then they ''did'' come back, only now they were the "Dark Riders". They then joked that ComicBook/{{Storm}} must have complained to management.

* A 1996 issue of ''{{ComicBook/Excalibur}}'' has Pete Wisdom, in a wheelchair and a bald cap, humorously pretending to be Professor Xavier, including a reference or two to [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Jean-Luc Picard]] while he's at it. Four years later, Creator/PatrickStewart was in fact cast to play Xavier in the ''Film/XMenFilmSeries''.

** Washed-up actor Henry Hellrung, alias Anthem, was made leader of ''The Order'', California's Initiative team, by his friend Tony Stark. Henry was famous for playing Iron Man on television, until alcoholism ruined his career. To recap, he's an actor who got fired because of issues with addiction, then came back into the fore of media attention after accepting an offer to do with Iron Man... not unlike Robert Downey, Jr. ''The Order'' ran for 10 issues in 2007; ''Film/IronMan'' came out in May 2008.
** The ''ComicBook/UncannyXMen'' tie-in to the ''ComicBook/ActsOfVengeance'' crossover featured Wolverine and ComicBook/JubileeMarvelComics facing off against the Mandarin, Tony Stark's usual ArchEnemy. Throughout the story, it was shown that members of the Hand and the Chinese underworld didn't respect or fear the Mandarin, with it being remarked that his public defeats at the hands of a B-grade American superhero like Iron Man made it impossible for anyone to take him seriously. This insult made sense at the time, largely due to the vast gulf in popularity that existed between the X-Men and Iron Man during TheNineties. Modern fans, meanwhile, would probably be baffled at seeing Iron Man belittled in such a manner, as anyone who has been following American pop culture since 2008 likely thinks of Iron Man as a household name thanks to the popularity of his movies.

** An issue from the 80's had ComicBook/AntMan claiming he and ComicBook/TheWasp had as much chance of beating Absorbing Man and Titania as Creator/StevenSpielberg had of winning an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward for his directing. Fast forward to the 90's and the release of ''Film/SchindlersList'' and ''Film/SavingPrivateRyan''...

* In a case more related to real life: UsefulNotes/TheGreatComicsCrashOf1996 happened in part because people were stockpiling on comics hoping they'd be valuable - [[ArtisticLicenseEconomics in spite of the fact]] old comics were selling for such high prices in the first place only because they were extremely rare, and [[UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks the work made during the early 1990s]] was falling from grace heavily. Yet, as [[http://newmutants98.com one website]] shows, ''ComicBook/NewMutants'' #98 actually is sought by many more than two decades later for being the debut of ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} (though the site makes clear it's probably not as rare as stuff made between the 1930s and 1970s, and thus hardly worthy of prices in the triple digits).

* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'':
** In ''ComicBook/AmazingFantasyNumber15'', the introduction of Spider-Man back in 1962, the wrestler Peter defeats is called Hogan. When Creator/JohnByrne redid the origin in the late '80s, he deliberately redesigned Crusher Hogan to look like Wrestling/HulkHogan as a result of this. TheMovie later referenced this by having Macho Man Randy Savage play the wrestler, who was called Bonesaw. Macho Man and Hogan have a long past.
** With a hint of {{irony}}. During his early Spider-Man works, ''ComicBook/SpiderMan2099'' writer Creator/PeterDavid, working on the advice of fellow writers and editors[[note]]Stern had quit before revealing the identity of the Goblin, he told his solution to his successor Tom [=DeFalco=] who revealed that he didn't like it, and so spun wheels on other candidates and encouraged other writers to do so[[/note]] "revealed" that Ned Leeds was the original Hobgoblin--which several fans thought was questionable given how Leeds died and the original Hobgoblin mystery writer, Creator/RogerStern, came back and revealed that it wasn't the case. [[http://groups.google.com/group/alt.fan.peter-david/msg/4e9186e3c4855006?hl=en& David had intended Father Jennifer to be the (Green) Goblin 2099]], but it was revealed that [[spoiler: Gabriel O'Hara was Goblin 2099 (though this was later retconned to be an imposter)]]. Someone had to appreciate the irony, even if (as the link shows) David himself doesn't. [[spoiler:And much like Stern with Roderick Kingsley, Peter David did ultimately reveal that Jennifer was indeed the Goblin.]]
** There's a scene in ''ComicBook/OneMoreDay'' where Mephisto tells Spider-Man of the infinite number of alternate paths his life could have taken, and Spidey asks if there's one where he was a little girl. Years later in ''ComicBook/SpiderVerse'', at least two alternate young girl versions of Spider-Man (Penelope Parker and Peni Parker) were introduced.
** ''ComicBook/TheCloneSaga'' was originally going to be revealed as the work of Mephisto, but it was decided that [[ComicBook/OneMoreDay it was stupid for Mephisto to get involved with Spider-Man]].
*** Turns out he's also [[ComicBook/TheAmazingSpiderMan2018 not above using clones to mess with him.]]
** Creator/JoeQuesada once said the Classic and ComicBook/UltimateMarvel universes meeting would be a sign that Marvel had "officially run out of ideas." The makers of ''VideoGame/SpiderManShatteredDimensions'' didn't get this memo. Well, granted, they don't actually interact with each other, but still.
** And then in 2012 [[FlipFlopOfGod came the]] ''ComicBook/SpiderMen'' [[http://www.comicbookresources.com/prev_img.php?disp=img&pid=1334149387 series]]. Like the above, also well-written and fun.
** As of 2015, ComicBook/MilesMorales is now officially part of the mainstream Marvel Universe alongside Peter.
** Spidey's hatred for the Spider-Mobile and (in at least one instance) his original Spider-Armor comes across as this considering that he just kept on getting new armored suits and eventually was perfectly okay with riding on a new version of the Spider-Mobile that he built as a member of Parker Industries.
** In ''ComicBook/TheAmazingSpiderMan1963'' #101, Peter takes a potion that was intended to remove his powers, but instead gave him two extra pairs of arms. While lamenting his situation, Peter calls himself a "Human Centipede". Forty-seven years later, Peter turned out to actually have it a lot better than the ''other'' [[Film/TheHumanCentipede Human Centipede]].
** Long before that, ''Amazing Spider-Man Annual'' #5 featured a gag page where Spider-Man's drawn in the style of various other comic and cartoon characters that Marvel notes is what he'd look like if another company owned him, including one which portrays him as a WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse style character. Keep in mind this came out in ''1968''.
** A crossover between Miles and ComicBook/SpiderGwen had a scene where, while hopping across various alternate realities, the two briefly ended up in the ComicBook/DCUniverse, complete with a LawyerFriendlyCameo from Superman himself. Creator/BrianBendis, Miles' creator and the writer of the issue in question, jumped ship to DC the following year, where he began writing the new ''ComicBook/SupermanBrianMichaelBendis'' series.
** In ''Amazing Spider-Man'' #308, when Spider-Man's up in a cemetery, he sarcastically wonders if he's going to fight Film/{{Beetlejuice}}. 29 years later and [[Creator/MichaelKeaton Beetlejuice's actor]] plays the villain of [[Film/SpiderManHomecoming his next movie]].
** In the "Changes" story arc from ''ComicBook/TheSpectacularSpiderMan'' Vol. 2 #17-20[[note]]it eventually culminates with him gaining organic web-shooters a la the Sam Raimi films[[/note]], [[https://static1.cbrimages.com/wp-content/uploads/goodcomics/2015/06/webs13.jpg one particular]] WhamShot of Peter [[spoiler:in the midst of a transformation into a giant spider]] had him uttering [[Film/AvengersInfinityWar a certain phrase that's highly familiar these days]]...

* If only one of them wasn't spoileriffic as hell, [[http://www.comicvine.com/images/1300-1709233/ these]] [[http://www.comicvine.com/images/1300-120310/ three]] [[http://www.comicvine.com/images/1300-123107/ "Homage]] [[HomageShot Covers"]] would be the perfect image for this page because ''[[ComicBook/OneMoreDay they all]] [[ComicBook/RedHulk are canon]] [[ComicBook/{{Thor 2014}} now]].'' Other examples include:
** Issue #58 of the second run of ''ComicBook/WhatIf'', released in 1994, asked the question of what would have happened if the Punisher had killed Spider-Man. One splash page of the issue shows a montage of big name Marvel superheroes with ties to Spider-Man beating the crap out of the Punisher. This was released only one year before Creator/GarthEnnis's ''ComicBook/ThePunisherKillsTheMarvelUniverse''.
** The very first issue of ''What If...?'' asked "What If Spider-Man had joined the Fantastic Four?"; since then, this has actually happened not once, but ''twice'' in 616 continuity - Spidey was a member of the short-lived New Fantastic Four, and later a member of the proper team in place of his then-dead friend Johnny Storm.
*** Moreover, ''What If...?'' #30's premise was "What If Spider-Man's Clone had not died?", based on a then-recent story arc. Then in the 90s, the idea was revisited in earnest in the infamous ComicBook/TheCloneSaga.
** Similarly, issue #51 of volume 2 was "What If the Punisher became Captain America?", which later became an actual ''Punisher: War Journal'' storyline in 2007. Granted, he was never ''officially'' Cap, but this was before ComicBook/BuckyBarnes stepped into the role, meaning he was effectively the closest thing to the real deal out there.
*** Speaking of Bucky, there's an issue of the first volume ("What If Captain America & Bucky had not disappeared at the end of World War II") where at one point, he takes up the Captain America mantle to replace an aging Steve Rogers. That's right, Bucky was Cap a good 31 years before he takes up the identity in the main Franchise/MarvelUniverse. In that same issue, Steve replaces Bucky as director of S.H.I.E.L.D., which ''also'' happened later in the main canon - and both times were after Bucky became Cap.
*** An issue of ''ComicBook/{{The Invaders|MarvelComics}}'' from the 70's had a scene where Bucky makes a joke about going through an identity crisis. This was years before readers found out he'd been {{Brainwashed}} and transformed into a murderous Soviet assassin.
** Issue #9 of the second volume asked "What If the New X-Men had died on their very first mission?" ''X-Men: Deadly Genesis'' would reveal that this is ''exactly'' what actually happened, because Professor X had gathered a new team to save the originals from Krakoa ''before'' the more familiar "All-New, All-Different" guys.
** Issue #16 of the same volume, "What if Kraven the Hunter had killed ComicBook/SpiderMan", features Kraven, a villain obsessed with defeating Spider-Man, taking up his costume and becoming a darker version of him. His dialogue as he makes this decision is... [[ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan familiar]].
--->'''Kraven:''' I will hunt as the Spider hunts - and all will see that I am his ''superior!''
** The ComicBook/AgentsOfAtlas ''would'' count, in the sense that it's another "What If...?" that became more of a "How About...?", except in the story, Iron Man explicitly brings up the possibility of that team of [[ComicBook/TheAvengers Avengers]] existing in their reality as well as a plot hook for future writers, which was what the team behind Agents of Atlas picked up on. So it's not Hilarious in Hindsight so much as it is a "How Come It Took You Guys So Long" Moment.
** Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian, when he was a part of the Marvel Universe, had not one, but two What Ifs exploring the idea of him popping up in modern times, with the second one ending with Conan considering the idea of joining the Avengers. Wait, did we say ''was'' part of the Marvel Universe? Sorry, we meant IS - because not only is Conan back with Marvel, not only is he in modern times, but he just so happens to have joined the ''ComicBook/SavageAvengers''!
** Much like the Geoff Johns example in the DC section, "What If?" Issue #32 featured a letter page full of What If ideas from fans, some examples being "[[ComicBook/AvengersVsXMen What if Cyclops had gained the power of the phoenix]]?", "What if ComicBook/{{Dazzler}} joined the X-Men?", "What if ComicBook/{{Mary Jane|Watson}} had accepted Peter Parker's marriage proposal?", "What if Magneto had formed the new X-Men to battle [[ComicBook/XFactor the old]]?" and "What if Toro had not died in ''ComicBook/SubMariner'' #14?", all of which came true in some way, shape or form.
** The "Sgt. Fury fighting World War 2 in outer space" issue seems like a BizarroEpisode at first, but now considering the Retcon in ''ComicBook/OriginalSin'' that Nick Fury had a secret job of safeguarding the Earth from alien threats the whole time, the notion of Fury battling in space doesn't seem so silly.
** In ''What If? Special'', the divergence point is that Iron Man was secretly a double agent working for the commies, albeit against his will. This is either Hilarious in Hindsight or HarsherInHindsight given what happened in ''The Crossing'' (where Tony was revealed to secretly be working for Kang the entire time). The impact is lessened now that ''Avengers Forever'' retconned it so that he ''wasn't'' being controlled his entire career, at least, but he was still a double agent and still turned on the Avengers like he did in this story.
** More examples of What Ifs somehow influencing canon: Flash Thompson becoming Spider-Man happened [[RecycledScript in three issues]], and he's now Agent Venom and Agent Anti-Venom. In the first time that happened, another story had Betty Brant became Spider-Woman, prefiguring [[ComicBook/SpiderGwen another alternate version of a girlfriend of Spider-Man]], and yet another had Jameson's son get the powers (he never became a Spider-Person but did end up getting powers as Man-Wolf). Issue #2 of the original series had "What if the Hulk retained Bruce Banner's personality", which is practically self-explanatory now that it happened so many times, most famously with the Professor Hulk. Another issue had Rick Jones becoming the Hulk, which would be revisited with Hulk Jones and A-Bomb. Issue #22 had Dr. Doom becoming a hero (ComicBook/InfamousIronMan). Issue #35 had "What if Elektra had lived" (she came back, [[DeathIsCheap obviously]]). The first issue of the 1989 volume has the All-New, All-Different X-Men perishing in Krakoa trying to save the originals (it would later be retconned that Xavier's second team ''did'' die on Krakoa). Others were "What if the Fantastic Four's second child had lived" (she did, with some help from Doctor Doom), "What if the Age of Apocalypse had not ended" (it didn't), "What if J. Jonah Jameson adopted Spider-Man" (he adopted Spider-Girl instead!), and there are likely still others, as well.
** There was a "What If?" in the second run where Iron Man became Sorcerer Supreme. In Infamous Iron Man, [[Creator/BrianMichaelBendis Bendis]] ''tried'' to imply that in the future, he ''would'', [[WhatCouldHaveBeen but then it ended up going nowhere]], as he left the book (and Marvel) shortly afterwards.

* In a ''ComicBook/WhatIf'' issue from 1978, Literature/ConanTheBarbarian was transported to modern day New York. A woman briefly mistook him for Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger, the actor who would end up playing the character in ''Film/ConanTheBarbarian1982'' several years later.

*** Another one regarding the ''Fantastic Four'': Black Panther's first appearance in that comic has him fight the titular team. Fifty years later in ''Civil War'', Black Panther sides against Captain America (played by Creator/ChrisEvans) - a former [[Film/FantasticFour2005 Human Torch]]. After that movie opened in theatres, it was announced that Creator/MichaelBJordan, [[Film/FantasticFour2015 ANOTHER Human Torch]], would be joining the cast of ''Film/{{Black Panther|2018}}'' as ComicBook/{{Killmonger}}.

** In ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'', ComicBook/CaptainAmerica was apologizing to Nick Fury about breaking his nose. Nick just waved it off and said, "My nose has been smashed more times than Creator/RobertDowneyJr," seemingly predicting Downey's casting as Iron Man in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse.

** What If? #9 features the fifties Avengers, who readers know better as the ComicBook/AgentsOfAtlas... minus 3-D Man, because he wasn't really from the fifties. This might actually be the closest to Marvel Canon that a What If? story ever got, especially considering Jeff Parker admitted the genesis of that book was Mark Paniccia literally asking him to check out the issue of What If in question.

** Knowing Creator/JoeQuesada, he was, and is, wrong because ''VideoGame/SpiderManShatteredDimensions'' was great and didn't feel stale at all.

** About a decade before the Disney buyout, the first arc of ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan'' had a meaningful photo showing the Parker family at Disney World, complete with a young Peter wearing Mickey Mouse ears.

* One of the ''ComicBook/DoctorStrange'' tie-ins to ''ComicBook/ActsOfVengeance'' has Strange try to prevent the release of a tell-all book about his life that is being published by J. Jonah Jameson. While lamenting the futility of his efforts to stop the book, Strange jokes that it'd be more likely to see a ComicBook/{{Mephisto}} attraction at Disney World.

* In the 1990s, Marvel published a few comic books starring Creator/{{Disney}} characters. They have since been bought by Disney.

*** In another Disney-related coincidence, Goliath referred to Wakanda as a "jungle version of Disneyland" in ''The Avengers'' #87, the story that recounted Black Panther's origin.

* ''ComicBook/MarvelTwoInOne'':
** The first team-up with ComicBook/DoctorStrange has ComicBook/TheThing fighting a giant rat and calling it "WesternAnimation/{{Mickey|Mouse}}". 35 years later, Marvel Comics was bought by Disney.
** The first team-up with ComicBook/GhostRider is a Christmas Story titled "Silent Night… Deadly Night!" This was nine years before [[Film/SilentNightDeadlyNight the Christmas horror movie of the same name]] was released.

*** Speaking of Bucky, there's an issue of the first volume ("What If Captain America & Bucky had not disappeared at the end of World War II") where at one point, he takes up the Captain America mantle to replace an aging Steve Rogers. That's right, Bucky was Cap a good 31 years before he takes up the identity in the main Franchise/MarvelUniverse.

** Much like the Geoff Johns example in the DC section, "What If?" Issue #32 featured a letter page full of What If ideas from fans, some examples being "[[ComicBook/AvengersVsXMen What if Cyclops had gained the power of the phoenix]]?", "What if ComicBook/{{Dazzler}} joined the X-Men?", "What if ComicBook/MaryJane had accepted Peter Parker's marriage proposal?", "What if Magneto had formed the new X-Men to battle [[ComicBook/XFactor the old]]?" and "What if Toro had not died in ''ComicBook/SubMariner'' #14?", all of which came true in some way, shape or form.

** Hawkeye's stance against killing in general. In the original comics, he was probably one of the Avengers who was most strongly opposed to the idea of using deadly force, and was extremely shaken after he accidentally killed Egghead in self defense. Cut to ''ComicBook/{{Civil War II}}'', where he [[spoiler: murders Bruce Banner in order to save the world from the Hulk, and is even described by Banner as being one of the few Avengers who could kill someone and then live with the guilt]].

* In ''Marvel ComicBook/CivilWar'', shapeshifting alien Hulkling of the ComicBook/YoungAvengers replaced Hank Pym to free the anti-registration heroes. This becomes funny when ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion'' reveals that the Hank Pym Hulkling replaced was himself a shapeshifting alien that had replaced Hank Pym.

** The tie-in to ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' has a scene where a group of NSA employees discuss the public backlash stemming from the death of Goliath, and one of them claims that it's irrelevant since the black vote won't matter in the next presidential election anyway. [[UsefulNotes/BarackObama He was slightly off with that prediction]].

** The ComicBook/AgentsOfAtlas ''would'' count, in the sense that it's another "What If...?" that became more of a "How About...?", except in the story, Iron Man explicitly brings up the possibility of that team of ComicBook/{{Avengers}} existing in their reality as well as a plot hook for future writers, which was what the team behind Agents of Atlas picked up on. So it's not Hilarious in Hindsight so much as it is a "How Come It Took You Guys So Long" Moment.

** Issue #58 of the second run of ''ComicBook/WhatIf'', released in 1994, asked the question of what would have happened if the Punisher had killed Spider-Man. One splash page of the issue shows a montage of big name Marvel superheroes with ties to Spider-Man beating the crap out of the Punisher. This was released only one year before Creator/GarthEnnis's ''Comicbook/ThePunisherKillsTheMarvelUniverse''.

* The Marvel humor Comic ''What The?'' did a Franchise/{{Batman}} parody where all the actors playing Batman's villains were being killed. Near the end it is revealed that everyone in Hollywood is afraid to work with him, including Creator/MichaelCaine, who would go on to play Alfred in ''Film/BatmanBegins'', ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' [[Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy and]] ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises''.

* ''Franchise/SpiderMan'':
** In ''Amazing Fantasy'' #15, the introduction of Spider-Man back in 1962, the wrestler Peter defeats is called Hogan. When Creator/JohnByrne redid the origin in the late '80s, he deliberately redesigned Crusher Hogan to look like Wrestling/HulkHogan as a result of this. TheMovie later referenced this by having Macho Man Randy Savage play the wrestler, who was called Bonesaw. Macho Man and Hogan have a long past.
** With a hint of {{irony}}. During his early Spider-Man works, ''Spider-Man 2099'' writer Creator/PeterDavid, working on the advice of fellow writers and editors[[note]]Stern had quit before revealing the identity of the Goblin, he told his solution to his successor Tom [=DeFalco=] who revealed that he didn't like it, and so spun wheels on other candidates and encouraged other writers to do so[[/note]] "revealed" that Ned Leeds was the original Hobgoblin--which several fans thought was questionable given how Leeds died and the original Hobgoblin mystery writer, Creator/RogerStern, came back and revealed that it wasn't the case. [[http://groups.google.com/group/alt.fan.peter-david/msg/4e9186e3c4855006?hl=en& David had intended Father Jennifer to be the (Green) Goblin 2099]], but it was revealed that [[spoiler: Gabriel O'Hara was Goblin 2099 (though this was later retconned to be an imposter)]]. Someone had to appreciate the irony, even if (as the link shows) David himself doesn't. [[spoiler:And much like Stern with Roderick Kingsley, Peter David did ultimately reveal that Jennifer was indeed the Goblin.]]
** There's a scene in ''ComicBook/OneMoreDay'' where Mephisto tells Spider-Man of the infinite number of alternate paths his life could have taken, and Spidey asks if there's one where he was a little girl. Years later in ''Comicbook/SpiderVerse'', at least two alternate young girl versions of Spider-Man (Penelope Parker and Peni Parker) were introduced.

** As of 2015, Comicbook/MilesMorales is now officially part of the mainstream Marvel Universe alongside Peter.
** In issue #101 of ''[[ComicBook/SpiderMan The Amazing Spider-Man]]'', Peter takes a potion that was intended to remove his powers, but instead gave him two extra pairs of arms. While lamenting his situation, Peter calls himself a "Human Centipede". Forty-seven years later, Peter turned out to actually have it a lot better than the ''other'' [[Film/TheHumanCentipede Human Centipede]].

** A crossover between Miles and ComicBook/SpiderGwen had a scene where, while hopping across various alternate realities, the two briefly ended up in the Comicbook/DCUniverse, complete with a LawyerFriendlyCameo from Superman himself. Creator/BrianBendis, Miles' creator and the writer of the issue in question, jumped ship to DC the following year, where he began writing the new ''ComicBook/SupermanBrianMichaelBendis'' series.

** In the "Changes" story arc from ''Spectacular Spider-Man Vol. 2'' #17-20[[note]]it eventually culminates with him gaining organic web-shooters a la the Sam Raimi films[[/note]], [[https://static1.cbrimages.com/wp-content/uploads/goodcomics/2015/06/webs13.jpg one particular]] WhamShot of Peter [[spoiler:in the midst of a transformation into a giant spider]] had him uttering [[Film/AvengersInfinityWar a certain phrase that's highly familiar these days]]...

** A major reason Marvel cancelled ''The Avengers'' and relaunched it as ''New Avengers'' was because they wanted to get rid of the "dead weight" (characters who weren't in [[Film/SpiderManTrilogy live action]] [[Film/XMenFilmSeries movies]]) and focus on their A-listers like Franchise/SpiderMan and ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}, with ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}} and the Scott Lang version of ComicBook/AntMan specifically chosen to die because editorial thought they were worthless characters. Now, of those "dead weight" heroes, Hawkeye was one of the stars of ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'', Film/{{Black Panther|2018}}, Film/AntManAndTheWasp and [[Film/CaptainMarvel2019 Carol Danvers]] have starred in successful solo films (with ''Captain Marvel'' and ''Black Panther'' both grossing over a billion dollars each, and the latter becoming one of the highest grossing movies of all time), while ComicBook/TheFalcon, ComicBook/ScarletWitch and ComicBook/TheVision have also appeared in the films and even gotten their own hit [[Series/WandaVision TV]] [[Series/TheFalconAndTheWinterSoldier shows]]. Meanwhile, Marvel began downplaying and marginalizing Wolverine and the other X-Men (including removing them from merchandise and [[ExiledFromContinuity barring them from cartoons and video games]]) due to not having their movie rights, with Spider-Man only escaping the same fate because Creator/{{Sony}} agreed to work together with Marvel to bring Spidey into the MCU after the failure of ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderMan2''. What a difference a few years can make...

* A major plot point in ''[[ComicBook/TheDefenders The Last Defenders]]'' had Comicbook/IronMan forming a new Defenders team that had almost nobody from the previous iterations of the team, and without the consent of any of the original Defenders. He defended his decision by basically suggesting the new members made for a better, more marketable team despite having no connection to the Defenders. Later in the series, Nighthawk even had a breakdown where he said that people were taking the Defenders away from him and destroying the team's rich legacy. Flash forward to 2017 and Marvel announces a new Defenders series to tie into [[Series/TheDefenders2017 the Netflix show]], which stars four popular, marketable characters with no real connection to any of the past incarnations of the team.

** An issue of Creator/MarkWaid's run had [[AlternateCompanyEquivalent someone mistakenly referring to the hero]] as "Red Franchise/{{Batman}}". Cut to a few years later when it was announced that Creator/BenAffleck would be playing Batman in the ''Film/ManOfSteel'' [[Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice sequel]]...

* In ''ComicBook/{{Warlock|1967}} and the Infinity Watch'' issue #34, ComicBook/{{Gamora}} accidentally punches Comicbook/{{Drax|The Destroyer}}, who responds, [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/supposed_to_be_my_friend.png "You're supposed to be my friend!"]] Twenty years later, Drax would [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2014 appear in live-action]] portrayed by [[Wrestling/{{Batista}} Dave Bautista]], who previously turned [[https://youtu.be/GRDFskVrvGI?t=1m23s the phrase]] into a meme among Wrestling/{{WWE}} fans (before reading any comics about Drax, to boot).

* The first part of ''Giant-Size Super-Villain Team-Up'' #2, cover-dated June 1975, is about an oil tanker crossing the Comicbook/SubMariner's territory because the Suez Canal has been closed since 1967. When June actually came around, one of the first things to happen was the reopening of the canal.
* In a case more related to real life: UsefulNotes/TheGreatComicsCrashOf1996 happened in part because people were stockpiling on comics hoping they'd be valuable - [[ArtisticLicenseEconomics in spite of the fact]] old comics were selling for such high prices in the first place only because they were extremely rare, and [[UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks the work made during the early 1990s]] was falling from grace heavily. Yet, as [[http://newmutants98.com one website]] shows, ''Comicbook/NewMutants'' #98 actually is sought by many more than two decades later for being the debut of ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} (though the site makes clear it's probably not as rare as stuff made between the 1930s and 1970s, and thus hardly worthy of prices in the triple digits).

*** Turns out he's also [[ComicBook/TheAmazingSpiderManNickSpencer not above using clones to mess with him.]]