History Main / MultipleChoicePast

*** Similarly, the show has posited several explanations of Homer's stupidity. A short list includes a [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS12E9HOMR crayon lodged in his brain]], [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS9E17LisaTheSimpson genetics]] (the Simpson gene), and repeated [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS4E18SoItsComeToThisASimpsonsClipShow cranial trauma]]. Bart's issues compared to Lisa are variously attributed to the aforementioned genetics, [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS9E3LisasSax emotional trauma at the hands of his kindergarten teacher]], alcohol intake [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS9E25NaturalBornKissers during]] and [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS20E3DoubleDoubleBoyInTrouble after]] his conception,
[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS11E2BrothersLittleHelper ADHD]], [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS24E7TheDayTheEarthStoodCool Marge bottle-feeding Bart and breastfeeding Lisa]], or [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS24E13HardlyKirking Bart's intelligence having been stunted by a kid's educational show while Lisa was distracted playing with the DVD packaging]].

*** Similarly, the show has posited several explanations of Homer's stupidity. A short list includes a [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS12E9HOMR crayon lodged in his brain]], [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS9E17LisaTheSimpson genetics]] (the Simpson gene), and repeated [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS4E18SoItsComeToThisASimpsonsClipShow cranial trauma]]. Bart's issues compared to Lisa are variously attributed to the aforementioned genetics, [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS9E3LisasSax emotional trauma at the hands of his kindergarten teacher]], [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS11E2BrothersLittleHelper ADHD]], [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS24E7TheDayTheEarthStoodCool Marge bottle-feeding Bart and breastfeeding Lisa]], or [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS24E13HardlyKirking Bart's intelligence having been stunted by a kid's educational show while Lisa was distracted playing with the DVD packaging]].

*** Similarly, the show has posited several explanations of Homer's stupidity. A short list includes a [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS12E9HOMR crayon lodged in his brain]], [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS9E17LisaTheSimpson genetics]] (the Simpson gene), and repeated [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS4E18SoItsComeToThisASimpsonsClipShow cranial trauma]]. Bart's issues compared to Lisa resulted from the aforementioned genetics, [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS9E3LisasSax emotional trauma at the hands of his kindergarten teacher]], [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS24E7TheDayTheEarthStoodCool Marge bottle-feeding Bart and breastfeeding Lisa]], or [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS24E13HardlyKirking Bart's intelligence having been stunted by a kid's educational show while Lisa was distracted playing with the DVD packaging]].

** The boat painting hanging over the family's TV is said to have been painted by Marge in "The Trouble With Trillions" and by Lisa in "Barthood"; other episodes, such as "Diatribe of a Mad Housewife," treat it as an outside purchase, with its value ranging anywhere from the family having a closet full of identical replacements ready to go ("Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass") to its destruction being seen as a loss and the family searching garage sales for an affordable substitute while implying that the original was more expensive ("The War of Art").

* ''VideoGame/{{Pentiment}}'' has you choose what Andreas is like as a person at the beginning of the game, including what sort of things he learned at his university, and where he spent most of his {{Wanderjahre}}. In Act II, which takes place after a TimeSkip, you get to pick where he spent his time in the last 7 years. [[spoiler:At the start of Act III, you get to similarly choose elements of Magdalene's backstory... though part of it is also determined by what book Andreas bought her when she was still a small child.]]

** According to "Boy Meets Curl," Lisa's signature pearl necklace was a gift from Marge to celebrate her learning to read at a twelfth-grade level, while in "How Lisa Got Her Marge Back," Marge gave it to her on her first day of school. Most episodes before and since then depict Lisa as having worn the necklace since she was a baby. Similarly, Marge's similar red necklace is, according to "Homer the Vigilante," a "priceless Bouvier family heirloom" ([[LimitedWardrobe as are all the identical ones in her drawer]]), while in "Adventures in Baby-Getting" Homer bought it for her using money he earned by donating sperm.

** Grandpa Simpson is a ScatterbrainedSenior notorious for his [[RamblingOldManMonologue nonsensical, historically impossible autobiographical stories]], meaning [[UnreliableNarrator he wouldn't be a credible source of information on his early life]] even if the series had actual continuity. He has had flashbacks showing him in the Army, Navy, and Air Force. When called on this, he said that this sort of confusion was common when he was in the Marines.

** The boat painting hanging over the family's TV is said to have been painted by Marge in "The Trouble With Trillions" and by Lisa in "Barthood"; other episodes, such as "Diatribe of a Mad Housewife," treat it as an outside purchase, with its value ranging anywhere from the family having a closet full of identical replacements ready to go ("Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass") to its destruction being treated as a small tragedy and the family searching garage sales for an affordable substitute while implying that the original was more expensive ("The War of Art").

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': Dr. Clef has alternatively claimed to be a RealityWarper who accidentally destroyed [[UsefulNotes/{{NASA}} Challenger]], [[Literature/TheBible Biblical Adam]], and [[spoiler:{{Satan}}]].

*** An issue of ''ComicBook/TheBraveAndTheBold'' written by Creator/JMichaelStraczynski suggests that the Joker was a monster even before he fell into the chemicals, showing him as a SelfMadeOrphan who [[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals kills neighborhood pets]] before graduating to violent crime as a young adult.

*** Similarly, the show has posited several explanations of Homer's stupidity. A short list includes a [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS12E9HOMR crayon lodged in his brain]], [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS9E17LisaTheSimpson genetics]] (the Simpson gene), and repeated [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS4E18SoItsComeToThisASimpsonsClipShow cranial trauma]]. Bart's issues compared to Lisa resulted from the aforementioned genetics, [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS9E3LisasSax being relentlessly bullied by his very first teacher]], [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS24E7TheDayTheEarthStoodCool Marge bottle-feeding Bart and breastfeeding Lisa]], or [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS24E13HardlyKirking Bart's intelligence having been stunted by a kid's educational show while Lisa was distracted playing with the DVD packaging]].

*** Similarly, the show has posited several explanations of Homer's stupidity. A short list includes a [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS12E9HOMR crayon lodged in his brain]], [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS9E17LisaTheSimpson genetics]] (the Simpson gene), and repeated [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS4E18SoItsComeToThisASimpsonsClipShow cranial trauma]]. Bart's issues compared to Lisa resulted from the aforementioned genetics, [[TheSimpsonsS9E3LisasSax being relentlessly bullied by his very first teacher]], [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS24E7TheDayTheEarthStoodCool Marge bottle-feeding Bart and breastfeeding Lisa]], or [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS24E13HardlyKirking Bart's intelligence having been stunted by a kid's educational show while Lisa was distracted playing with the DVD packaging]].

*** Similarly, the show has posited several explanations of Homer's stupidity. A short list includes a [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS12E9HOMR crayon lodged in his brain]], [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS9E17LisaTheSimpson genetics]] (the Simpson gene), and repeated [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS4E18SoItsComeToThisASimpsonsClipShow cranial trauma]].
*** Bart being TheDitz compared to Lisa is the result of the aforementioned genetics,
[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS24E7TheDayTheEarthStoodCool Marge bottle-feeding Bart and breastfeeding Lisa]], or [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS24E13HardlyKirking Bart's intelligence having been stunted by a kid's educational show while Lisa was distracted playing with the DVD packaging]].

*** Similarly, the show has posited several explanations of Homer's stupidity. A short list includes a [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS12E9HOMR crayon lodged in his brain]], [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS9E17LisaTheSimpson genetics]] (the Simpson gene), and repeated [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS4E18SoItsComeToThisASimpsonsClipShow cranial trauma]]. Similarly, Bart's academic performance relative to Lisa is because of the aforementioned genetics, because [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS24E7TheDayTheEarthStoodCool Marge bottle-fed Bart and breastfed Lisa]], or because [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS24E13HardlyKirking Bart's intelligence was stunted by a kid's educational show while Lisa was distracted playing with the DVD packaging]].

*** Similarly, the show has posited several explanations of Homer's stupidity. A short list includes a [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS12E9HOMR crayon lodged in his brain]], [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS9E17LisaTheSimpson genetics]] (the Simpson gene), and repeated [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS4E18SoItsComeToThisASimpsonsClipShow cranial trauma]]. Similarly, Bart's lack of intelligence relative to Lisa is because of the aforementioned genetics, because [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS24E7TheDayTheEarthStoodCool Marge bottle-fed him and breastfed Lisa]], or because [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS24E13HardlyKirking Bart's intelligence was stunted by a kid's educational show while Lisa was distracted playing with the DVD packaging]].

*** Similarly, the show has posited several explanations of Homer's stupidity. A short list includes a [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS12E9HOMR crayon lodged in his brain]], [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS9E17LisaTheSimpson genetics]] (the Simpson gene), and repeated [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS4E18SoItsComeToThisASimpsonsClipShow cranial trauma]].
** According to "Boy Meets Curl," Lisa's signature pearl necklace was a gift from Marge to celebrate her learning to read at a twelfth-grade level, while in "How Lisa Got Her Marge Back," Marge gave it to her for her first day at school. Most episodes before and since then depict Lisa as having worn the necklace since she was a baby. Similarly, Marge's similar red necklace is, according to "Homer the Vigilante," a "priceless Bouvier family heirloom" ([[LimitedWardrobe as are all the identical ones in her drawer]]), but in "Adventures in Baby-Getting" Homer bought it for her using money he earned by donating sperm.

** Accroding to "How Lisa Got Her Marge Back," Lisa first got her signature pearl necklace as a gift from Marge for her first day at school, but most episodes before and since then depict Lisa as having worn the necklace since she was a baby.

* The ''Characters/LupinIII'' franchise operates on a NegativeContinuity basis, so characters have whatever backstory the writers feel like giving them. However, the writers do agree on some general principles, in a BroadStrokes sort of storytelling convention that explains the crew's CharacterizationMarchesOn as acknowledged CharacterDevelopment. Notably, ''[[Anime/LupinIIIEpisodeZeroFirstContact Episode Zero: First Contact]]'', ''[[Anime/LupinIIITheWomanCalledFujikoMine The Woman Called Fujiko Mine]]'' and ''Anime/LupinZero'' all give completely different accounts of how Lupin and Jigen first met.

* The ''Characters/LupinIII'' franchise operates on a NegativeContinuity basis, so characters have whatever backstory the writers feel like giving them. However, the writers do agree on some general principles, in a BroadStrokes sort of storytelling convention that explains the crew's CharacterizationMarchesOn as acknowledged CharacterDevelopment.

* ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'' follows in the footsteps of ''Mass Effect'' by giving players three different backstories inspired by [[TabletopGame/{{Cyberpunk}} the original tabletop game]]: the player can start as a [[CorporateSamurai Corpo]], a [[WalkingTheEarth Nomad]] or a [[SatisfiedStreetRat Street Kid]].

* ''Tabletop/13thAge'' has a supplement called the ''Book of Ages'', which details a total of 14 previous ages, which the GM is encouraged to mix and match from to keep the players guessing.

[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/DoomPatrol https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rco008.jpg]]]]

*** In ''Shadow of the Bat'' #38, "Tears of a Clown", the Joker celebrates his anniversary of the day he was a still sane, but hapless comedian, and was thrown out of an exclusive StandUpComedy club for an unfunny act. Being desperately poor, this marks his StartOfDarkness as he agreed to provide to his family by pulling a job for the Red Hood gang. He kidnaps all the patrons that didn’t laugh with him and reenacts his act with control collars that will kill them when they laugh. The funny thing is that the patrons are hardcore StandUpComedy fans, [[ButForMeItWasTuesday so they have seen so many acts that nobody remembers the act of a bad comedian]]. The Joker cannot even be sure that this StartOfDarkness really happened.

* ''Fanfic/TheInfiniteLoops'' makes this trope kind of enforced: a part of the way the Loops work is that anything that wasn't explicitly stated in Baseline (i.e., a series' canon) is "Loop Variable", meaning it changes from one loop to the next; consequently, characters with a MysteriousPast will find that past being completely altered every Loop, which can be extremely disorienting for Awake Loopers. Cinder Fall was driven temporarily insane by having her past and motivations constantly changing, since her canon backstory wasn't revealed until eight-years into the show’s run. Her fellow Remnant Loopers Ozpin, Torchwick, and Neo all suffered from this as well before their pasts "firmed up", but she was hit the hardest.

** Also true of Galadriel and Celeborn — ''Unfinished Tales'' gives multiple drafts of their history that Tolkien wrote, with no clear chronology to tell us which version is the latest (and presumably most authoritative, though some versions cause other continuity problems) and with more notes that suggest Tolkien [[DiedDuringProduction was planning on revising it again before the publication]] of ''Literature/TheSilmarillion''. We don’t even know whether Celeborn was a Sindarin or Telerin elf, or whether Galadriel was actually part of Fëanor’s rebellion or just went along because she wanted to carve out her own kingdom in Middle-Earth. And those are some pretty major differences.

* There are various versions of [[Music/NSync *NSYNC’s]] origin story. Music/ChrisKirkpatrick being the founding member and Creator/LanceBass being the last to join is indisputable, but stories as to how Chris first came into contact with Pearlman or how Chris and Music/JustinTimberlake knew each other vary.
** According to Lance’s memoir and Music/BackstreetBoys member Howie Dorough, Chris met Pearlman through Dorough, who [[https://www.huffpost.com/entry/howie-dorough-backstreet-boys-talks-bands-anniversary_n_3139409 attended college with Kirkpatrick]]. There have also been stories of Chris forming NSYNC after not making the Backstreet lineup, which Chris has [[https://twitter.com/IamCKirkpatrick/status/562986211829366784?s=20 refuted]]. The “official” story as told in Creator/VH1’s ''Driven'' series is that Pearlman approached Chris after seeing him perform with The Hollywood Hi-Tones.
** Pearlman also claimed Music/JCChasez had once worked for him as a [[https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2007/11/pearlman200711 personal assistant]]. The common narrative states Justin was the second member to be recruited, and then JC, followed by Creator/JoeyFatone. However, in the *N The Mix video, Justin also acknowledges JC and Chris having previously known one another through Chris’s job at Universal Studios.

** Aphrodite has three mutually exclusive accounts of where she came from. One version of her myth says she's the daughter of Zeus and the titaness Dione, the second version says she was created when Ouranos' severed testicles landed in the sea and the third version (the most obscure version, mostly exclusive to the Spartans and a few others) doesn’t completely specify her origins, but depicts her as a goddess of both [[LoveGoddess love]] and [[WarGod war]] instead of just love.
** Athena was either born from Zeus alone, or she is the daughter of Zeus and his first wife Metis (in both origins, she still bursts out from Zeus’s head, but for different reasons).
** There are several myths concerning different accounts of what Dionysus was doing in the mortal world before he joined the rest of his family in Olympus. Some say he was a wanderer who [[WalkingTheEarth walked the Earth]], others say that he was a madness-inducing conqueror who developed a mad cult of debauchery who brought chaos to whoever opposed Dionysus, other origin stories have varying accounts of those events and other origins stories don’t mention what he was doing before becoming a god at all.
** Several monsters in Greek mythology are also prone to this. Arachne and Medusa are good examples. In well-known versions of their stories, they both got screwed over by Athena and got turned into monsters out of anger and spite. However, earlier versions of those stories instead suggest that Athena didn’t turn Arachne into a spider out of anger or spite, but for other reasons (because in those versions, Arachne commited suicide after their weaving contest and when Athena learned this, she decided to resurrect Arachne by turning her into a spider out of respect and pity). And earlier versions of Medusa’s story suggest that her origin has nothing to do with Athena or Poseidon and that she was always a gorgon.

* ''Tullimonstrum'' is so strange that palaeontologists can’t agree on whether it was a vertebrate or an invertebrate. For over half a century, the creature’s classification remains a mystery, despite countless theories put forth. Was it a proto-fish? Or a lamprey? Mollusc? Arthropod? Perhaps a conodont? Whatever ''Tullimonstrum'' was, it’s anatomy is so unusual that it will significantly expand the diversity of whatever taxon it is apart of.

* The Creator/BigFinish ''AudioPlay/BlakesSeven'' audio "Solitary" gives us snippets of Vila's backstory, including a book-loving grandmother who read him ''Robin Hood'', the fact that he used to sell amulets on the black market, and a childhood memory of Federation troops rounding up his schoolteachers and shooting them all. At the very end we learn that [[spoiler:"Vila" is a gestalt being that absorbs identities, and]] all those memories are false. Or are they?
-->'''Vila''': To hangovers! Here's to getting merry! Here's to Roj Blake and his merry men!

Given that multiple reboots and sliding timelines are so endemic to DC and Marvel in general, almost every legacy comic-book character has this to some extent or another.

* Black Manta, oh Neptune, Black Manta. If DC had no idea what to do with ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} for most of his history, you better believe they didn't know what to do with his ArchEnemy. Pre-ComicBook/New52, he had at least three wildly different and convoluted backstories and motivations for his feud with Aquaman, not counting the brief period he claimed to be a militant Black nationalist. You really have to wonder why it took them until 2011 to come up with “Aquaman killed his dad".
** Originally he was kidnapped and enslaved on board a ship, saw a young Aquaman in the distance and called out to him for help, but Arthur didn't hear him and swam away.
** The 2003 series claimed that he was a severely autistic child who grew up in an asylum and was obsessed with water, and broke out after being subjected to experimental electroshock therapy.
** Post-''ComicBook/BrightestDay'', he was a treasure hunter who was exploring the Bermuda Triangle with his pregnant wife, and they were abducted and tortured by Xebelians. His wife died and his unborn child was experimented on and grew up to be Aqualad, and he really hated Mera, not Aquaman.
* Arcade, the theme park-themed ProfessionalKiller who has menaced ComicBook/SpiderMan and the ComicBook/XMen on numerous occasions, has told a number of different versions of his origin story, although they all involve him murdering his rich dad for his money. Since Arcade's real name is unknown, it could all be lies.
* ''ComicBook/ArchieComics'': Is Veronica from Massachusetts or New York? Early comics have her from Boston but later on this was {{retcon}}ned to New York and has mostly stayed that way since.
* Crackerjack of ''ComicBook/AstroCity'' has given many stories about his origins, none of which have been verified or even consistent. His longtime lover Quarrel has given up trying to figure it out.
* Tom King's ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' run has an intentional invocation of this technique, where Batman and ComicBook/{{Catwoman}} argue about when and where they first met. Batman claims it was when he caught a disguised Catwoman during a diamond heist (which is how they met in UsefulNotes/{{The Golden Age|Of Comic Books}}), and Catwoman claims it was when Bruce Wayne was stabbed by a young Holly Robinson back during Selina's time as a prostitute (which is how they met in ''[[ComicBook/BatmanYearOne Year One]]''). It's eventually revealed [[spoiler: that they actually both remember both events; it's just that Selina thinks their encounter on the street was purely them, before the costumes and codenames, while Bruce thinks they didn't ''really'' meet each other until they did so as the Bat and the Cat.]]
* Played with in ''Batman: Joker's Daughter''; the Joker's Daughter has three entirely incompatible origins which she relives when the Anchorite uses her power on her. The twist is [[spoiler: not only are ''none'' of them true, but her big secret (that she can't even admit to herself) is she never ''had'' an origin; she was living a life that was entirely unremarkable in every way, and just decided she wanted to be the Joker's Daughter]].
** Played with even further with the original Joker's Daughter. Duela Dent claimed she was the daughter of several supervillains[[note]]Joker, Catwoman, Scarecrow, Riddler, Penguin, Two-Face, ''Doomsday'', Dr. Light, Punch and Jewelee[[/note]] before revealing herself as the daughter of Two-Face and Gilda Dent. Some time later Dick Grayson realized this couldn't be true because Duela is too old to be Two-Face's daughter, and Duela chides him for taking so long to figure that out. Post-Crisis, nobody was sure who she really was because her backstory kept changing, and not even she seemed to know who her dad was. It eventually turned out [[spoiler: she ''is'' the Joker's daughter. And Two-Face's. And the Riddler's. Duela originally came from Earth-3, where her biological parents were the Jokester and Three-Face, heroic versions of the Joker and (in this case, a female version of) Two-Face. Her stepfather was a heroic version of the Riddler. Duela somehow kept shifting between Earth-3 and the main DC Universe, explaining her confusion as a result of being shifted from universe to universe.]]
* Bizarro, although in this case it's a JustifiedTrope because, technically, Superman has been cloned more than once, and not always perfectly, and more than one of those imperfect clones have been named Bizarro.
* Parodied in an issue of ''ComicBook/BlueDevil''. ComicBook/MadameXanadu and ComicBook/ThePhantomStranger narrate entirely different origin stories for Comicbook/BlackOrchid; when this is pointed out they start arguing about whose version is right.
--> '''Madame X:''' Orchids have ''no thorns!''
--> '''Stranger:''' ''These'' orchids did! They were ''special!''
** Additionally, all of these stories were parodies of Marvel characters' origins.
* In his first appearance, ComicBook/BoosterGold villain Black Beetle claimed to be the ComicBook/BlueBeetle of the 27th century. When revealed as a villain, he claimed to be Jaime Reyes' greatest enemy, who blamed Jaime for a death (and the final issue of ''ComicBook/BlueBeetle'' would strongly hint as to who he was) making him from the very near future. In a later appearance, Booster calls him "The Black Beetle, direct from the 22nd century. Or the 27th." to which the Beetle replies, "Or 15th. Whatever I choose to say for the sake of misdirection". Later, he had his first (from Jaime's point of view) encounter with Blue Beetle, in which he initially claimed to be the character the ''ComicBook/BlueBeetle'' story hinted at, before saying he wasn't; he ''killed'' that character. He follows this up by claiming to be ''[[FutureMeScaresMe Jaime himself]]''. ''Blue & Gold'' #8 finally reveals that (at least in current continuity) he's [[spoiler: Booster's [[MirrorUniverse Earth-3]] counterpart]].
* The prominent DC villain ComicBook/{{Brainiac}} has not been able to keep his backstory consistent for more than a few years, not even getting into various adaptations.
** From 1958 to 1964, he was an alien scientist from the planet Bryak, who wanted to shrink and bottle cities so he could create his own empire to rule. From 1964 to 1986 he was retconned as an alien android from the planet Yod (or Colu, depending on the story), out to dominate or destroy (depending on the story) the universe. He was absent for a couple years until 1988 declared that, in the new continuity, he was an (organic) alien scientist from the planet Colu, who via an accident transferred his mind onto a swarm of nanites that then possessed various bodies both mechanical and organic. He went insane and went on killing sprees on Earth (though his motivation and scope was variable, going from an Earth-restricted serial killer who just wanted to hassle Superman to a MultiversalConqueror). He was totally organic from 1988 to 1998 (possessing first human psychic Milton Fine, then a newly-created body resembling his Coluan one complete with green skin, SuperIntelligence, and PsychicPowers, then finally stealing Doomsday's body), totally mechanical bar the origin of his mind from 1998 to 2008 (in his Brainiac 2.5, Brainiac 13, and nanoswarm forms), and took a couple breaks in both these periods to possess or build a cyborg form (such as Brainiac 6, who was a version of him from the future... long story).
** The 2008 ComicBook/SupermanBrainiac story decisively retconned ''all'' previous versions of him as being [[ActuallyADoombot robotic or cloned probes]] sent by the real Brainiac, who was definitively established as an originally organic, now cybernetic alien scientist from the planet Yod-Colu who was born the most intelligent member of a super-intelligent race, and used his inventions [[PsychicPowers and]] [[SuperStrength various]] [[SuperIntelligence powers]] to go rogue and become a planet-destroying [[PlanetLooters civilization-stealing]] GalacticConqueror. His motivation was now to obtain all knowledge in the universe (his standard MO being stealing all knowledge from a planet and then destroying it with his nigh-invincible custom-built ship so no one else could have the knowledge) and use it and his collection of stolen shrunken cities to remake the universe in his own image, with him "becoming everything." This was then interrupted in 2011 by the New 52 continuity rebooting his backstory ''again'': it kept him as an organic turned cyborg scientist from Colu, but changed his motivation and made him a TragicVillain and a WellIntentionedExtremist instead of the cold greedy monster he always was, while also giving him a wife and kid in his backstory which no previous version had. (The previous continuity's version of Vril Dox II was a clone, and not one Brainiac felt affection for.) After the New 52 was soft-rebooted with 2016's Rebirth, he's back to more-or-less the 2008 version. Time will tell how long this sticks.
* ComicBook/{{Carnage}}, being Marvel's equivalent[=/=]rip-off of the Joker.
--> '''Carnage:''' I remember things wrong sometimes, but it all works if it ''feels'' right.
** Unlike a lot of examples, Carnage's backstories never have a FreudianExcuse, and he always insists he doesn't need one.
* The DCU's {{Crisis Crossover}}s (and not just the ones actually bearing the Crisis name) [[CosmicRetcon altered reality]], changing the pasts and presents of a variety of characters. ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'' has had ''four'' such reality reboots (counting the original Crisis.) Also, retellings of characters' origins will vastly alter them on occasion, with no Crisis-type justification. As such, most DC characters with a significant amount of history have multiple formerly-canonical histories, as well as ones that are ''equally'' canonical but completely incompatible.
** Franchise/{{Superman}}, for example, has a ''canonical'' multiple-choice past: one time, he was given the choice between two of his innumerable origin stories, and he picked the one that he liked more (and, incidentally, made more sense), while another time someone travelled through his many origins while observing him.
** One side-effect of all the {{Cosmic Retcon}}s has been that since ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'' the DCU ''itself'' now has multiple pasts which all happened.
* [[ComicBook/{{Daredevil}} Bullseye]] has multiple tales about his past life: he is either a CIA agent, a baseball star... he makes up so many stories that no one knows who he really is. The only thing that remains consistent in his claims is that he had AbusiveParents and that [[SelfMadeOrphan he killed them]].
* Creator/DCComics still has no idea what to do with [[ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes Mon-El/Valor]].
* ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} of Creator/MarvelComics also has a large number of competing origins for his past. There's also some disagreement as to whether Wade Wilson is his real name or a name he stole from someone else. Pretty much the only thing all the origin stories have in common is that his regeneration abilities are a result of time spent as a Weapon X test subject. Like the Joker, Deadpool is insane enough that he probably has no idea himself which one is correct. He does seem fairly certain that Wade Wilson is his real name, however.
** Somewhat ambiguous whether or not he really has an actual Multiple Choice Past or not. The only person that ever brought up the possibility does so during a MindScrew.
** T-Ray even hints that 'Pool may ''not'' be Wade Wilson at all -- instead, T-Ray himself would be Wade Wilson, and Deadpool stole the name from him. The comics seem to keep disproving this story, but given how nuts DP is and in light of what's been exposed in this bullet point, the jury's still out.
** ''Cable and Deadpool'' stated that Wade's father was an abusive military officer who was shot and killed by one of Wade's friends, while a later run seemed to imply that has father had [[DisappearedDad walked out on him as a child]], and started a new family elsewhere.
** The ''ComicBook/MarvelNOW'' run eventually clarifies Deadpool's origin, as well as the various {{Plot Hole}}s and retcons. It turns out the stuff with T-Ray being the ''real'' Wade, as well as all the conflicting stuff about his family, were the result of a scientist named Butler putting Deadpool in advanced hallucinations while he harvested his DNA over the years.
* Played for laughs in ''ComicBook/TheDNAgents'' with guest hero Lancer, the setting's most powerful superhuman, who would never tell the same story of where his powers came from twice.
* A minor example is ComicBook/DoctorDoom, specifically what caused the machine he made to scar his face. ''Did'' Reed Richards mess with it, the resulting explosion scarring Doom's face? Or did Doom simply miscalculate? Was Reed involved at all? Did Ben Grimm fuck with the machine? Hell, how scarred ''was'' his face from the explosion -- in some versions, it was a minor scar and Doom put on his mask before it cooled and ''that'' burned his face.
* ''ComicBook/DoomPatrol'': Suspecting a traitor among them, the Chief confides to Rita that he's actually an alien. He also confided other origin stories to Cliff and the Negative Man. It was actually an elaborate ruse [[FeedTheMole to discover the traitor by checking which story got leaked]]. In the end, it turns out that none of those stories was the real one.
* The Creator/TangentComics [[InNameOnly version]] of Franchise/GreenLantern (a mystic woman who carries an Asian lantern able to temporarily resurrect the dead) tells three different versions of her origin.
* ComicBook/{{Hawkman}}'s past has so many embedded possibilities, it's a ContinuitySnarl.
* King Mob from ''ComicBook/TheInvisibles'' has a self-constructed multiple choice past, whose point is to stop enemies with telepathic powers from prying information about him and his group. If they try, they can't be sure which memories are true and which are part of a fake past.
* The Mandarin, ComicBook/IronMan's ArchEnemy, was originally said to be the child of a British noblewoman and a wealthy descendant of Genghis Khan, with his youth spent receiving the finest education money could buy. Creator/MattFraction's run, however, would later suggest that the Mandarin was actually the son of an opium den prostitute, and that he'd been a gangster and smuggler before he lucked out and found his trademark [[RingOfPower Rings Of Power]]. Though he could easily still be a descendant of Genghis Khan, since his descendants are [[ReallyGetsAround about 10% of the population of Asia]].
* An inconsistent past is almost canon for ComicBook/TheJoker, as evidenced by his quote at the top of the page. Many have given him a different origin in the past fifty or sixty years, and all of them are half-canon, because the clown [[http://static2.comicvine.com/uploads/scale_super/10/109071/3574772-2316207526-dcori.jpg isn't sure himself.]] One constant factor is that he usually wore the Red Hood before he was dumped into that vat of chemicals. It's [[RiddleForTheAges also unknown]] whether he was insane even before falling into the vat. As quipped by Batman: "Like any other comedian, he uses whatever material will work."
** While being the TropeNamer, ''ComicBook/TheKillingJoke'' has ironically little of this, since it shows flashbacks of a single, consistent StartOfDarkness for the Joker. The trope is only suggested by the line about how he remembers multiple versions and prefers a multiple-choice past, but it's a highly plausible reading that what was shown is the real story and he just doesn't remember it. Both the story's artist Creator/BrianBollard and writer Creator/AlanMoore have said afterwards that giving the Joker a fixed origin story wasn't such a great idea.
** Also played with in one issue of ''[[ComicBook/RobinSeries Robin]]'', which starts off with a flashback about a green-haired, white-skinned boy in a purple shirt with a pony. "Or was it a bike?" the narration muses. "No, a pony." The little boy did something bad, and then his daddy shot the pony in front of him. Cut to the Joker, narrating, and he's actually weeping real tears. He's in a cell at Arkham, and a speaker on the wall asks him if the story is true, because it's the ''seventh'' FreudianExcuse story he's told them.
** Another variation on the FreudianExcuse theme shows up in the comic ''Mad Love'' (later adapted into [[Recap/TheNewBatmanAdventuresE21MadLove an episode]] of ''[[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries The New Batman Adventures]]''):
--->'''Harley Quinn:''' Joker told me things, secret things he never told anyone...\\
'''Batman:''' [[ArmorPiercingQuestion What did he tell you, Harley? Was it the line about the abusive father, or the one about the alcoholic mom?]] Of course, the runaway orphan story is particularly moving, too. He's gained a lot of sympathy with that one. What was it he told that one parole officer? Oh, yes... 'There was only one time I ever saw dad really happy. He took me to the ice show when I was seven...'\\
'''Harley:''' ''(crying)'' Circus... He told me it was the circus.\\

** A 2004 story arc in ''Batman: Gotham Knights'' suggested that the ''Killing Joke'' version is more or less Joker's real past, since a pre-Riddler Edward Nigma witnessed the murder of "Jack"'s wife and later offered to tell the Joker who did it (although the version told in ''The Killing Joke'' has it that his wife was killed in an accident, not murdered). Later writers have pretty much [[CanonDiscontinuity ignored it]].
** In Shadow of the Bat #38, ''Tears of a Clown'', the Joker celebrates his anniversary of the day he was a still sane, but hapless comedian, and was thrown out of an exclusive StandUpComedy club for an unfunny act. Being desperately poor, this marks his StartOfDarkness as he agreed to provide to his family by pulling a job for the Red Hood gang. He kidnaps all the patrons that didn’t laugh with him and reenacts his act with control collars that will kill them when they laugh. The funny thing is that the patrons are hardcore StandUpComedy fans, [[ButForMeItWasTuesday so they have seen so many acts that nobody remembers the act of a bad comedian]]. The Joker cannot even be sure that this StartOfDarkness really happened.
--> They throw me out, and I had a wife and an unborn child… or it was two cows and a goat? Sometimes it's so confusing...
** An issue of ''Comicbook/TheBraveAndTheBold'' by Creator/JMichaelStraczynski suggested the Joker was a monster even before he fell into the chemicals, showing him as a SelfMadeOrphan who [[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals killed neighborhood pets]] before graduating to violent crime as a young adult.
** In ''ComicBook/BatmanEndgame'', the Joker is strongly implied to be [[spoiler: a HumanoidAbomination of some sort, who may very well have existed in Gotham in some way since before the city was even built. At the very least he appears to be semi-immortal, which rather well-explains how [[JokerImmunity he always manages to come back despite the horrible damage his body's been put through over the years]]. And then at the very end, when Batman is claiming to believe in the Joker's immortality, the Joker is clearly worried that he's about to die.]] A backup story has the Joker tell different, completely contradictory origins to a doctor and a group of Arkham patients, tricking the former into writing a book by posing as a colleague. That same story has him change his stance on his past (described in the quote at the top of the page), showing that something's changed and that [[LetsGetDangerous Joker is far more serious than he ever was before]].
---> '''The Joker:''' ... And then that night, over the wine and the candles, and that oh so beautiful music, you showed me your manuscript. I was so sad to see all the blanks you couldn't fill. I couldn't help but lend a hand. I might have been in hiding... but I can't help myself. I just like to make people smile. Hehehehe...\\

'''Maureen:''' ... Why?\\

'''Maureen:''' ''(handed a revolver)'' What's this?\\

** The New 52 Joker is probably Red Hood One from ''Zero Year'' ... but might also be Alby Stryker from the retelling of "The Case of the Chemical Syndicate" in ''Detective'' Volume 2 #27, ''both'' of whom fell in vats of acid during a confrontation with Batman at Ace Chemicals.
** And then they outdid themselves when ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'' revealed that the answer to the multiple-choice is: [[spoiler:''all of the above''. There are ''three'' Jokers!]]
* In ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueDark'' Vol. 2, Jason Woodrue claims to be remembering multiple contradictory pasts, including being an extradimensional being (his Silver Age "Plant-Master" incarnation), teaching Alec Holland and "a girl ... Isley" in college (Creator/NeilGaiman's Poison Ivy origin) and eating Swamp Thing as "the Seeder" (his ''New 52'' origin). Confusing things further, having usurped the position of the King of Petals, he also remembers Oleander Sorrel's origin story (from the ''JLD'' annual) as if it happened to him. Papa Midnite just thinks he's crazy.
* ComicBook/LadyShiva started out as a Chinese-American from New York with implied Japanese heritage as well whose well off parents died in an airplane crash when she was at least in her later teen years. She's since been written as a Chinese national, someone who grew up in the slums of an unspecified South-East Asian country, and a Chinese-American who was orphaned at an early age and grew up homeless. Her sister's murder has happened a couple of different ways with different perpetrators as well.
* The Time Trapper from the ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'', who at various points has been a Controller, a future version of his/her own sidekick, a future version of [[TheLeader Cosmic Boy]], a future version of [[BrattyHalfpint Lori Morning]], and a future version of Superboy-Prime. Following that last revelation, Brainiac 5 hypothesised that the Trapper is the AnthropomorphicPersonification of failed timelines, and exactly what history leads to someone at the End of Time wearing a purple cloak and fighting the Legion changes every time the Trapper does anything.
* In the ''ComicBook/LoisLane'' maxi-series, Renee Montoya remembers the whole thing with teaming up with [[ComicBook/TheQuestion Vic Sage]] during ''ComicBook/FiftyTwo'', including his death, and also remembers that none of it happened. Meeting a Vic who somehow came back from the dead doesn't exactly help. (While it's not stated out loud, this takes place after ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'', which restored significant elements of DC's pre-Flashpoint past.) The same goes for Sister Clarice, who remembers being the Radiant and dying in ''Comicbook/FinalCrisis'', and Jessica Midnight, who has the misfortune to suddenly remember being a Checkmate agent, just as everyone connected to Checkmate is being hunted down in ''Event Leviathan''.
* Creator/MarvelComics' [[DemonLordsAndArchdevils Hell Lords]] have one mutual origin, but most also have their own versions. It doesn't help that they are demons, so ''everything'' they say can be a lie and each story has set arguments and events that either supports or deny it.
** The mutual story connects them to the [[EldritchAbomination Elder Gods]], the first generation of Earth gods. When evil god Set found out that he could steal the power of other gods by killing them, he caused the first war between gods. Gaea gave birth to Atum, who promised to destroy all evil gods. But their evil energy corrupted him, and he turned into the monstrous Demogorge, the God-Eater. Demogorge killed all gods who didn't escape to another dimension. Then he released all power he couldn't contain. This power has been consciously or unconsciously shaped by young humanity into the form of their fears, creating Hell-Lords, the first demons.
** Mephisto told his own version during ComicBook/TheInfinityGauntlet crossover -- in his version an abstract-equal being called Nemesis was lonely, so she created companions from her own essence, but forgot to give them good nature. When they all turned evil, she destroyed them and committed suicide. But her creations have somehow been reborn and become the first demons in the Universe. Mephisto claims to be one of them.
** Marduk Kurios claims to be both the real {{Satan}} and Babylonian god Marduk, who has degenerated into a demon, after he found that he could gain much more power from human souls than their belief.
** Satannish believes that he is the son of [[DimensionLord Dormammu, The Master Of Dark Dimension]].
** Lucifer has his classic biblical origin of the FallenAngel and denies any connection between him and other Hell Lords, but he's not different from them at all.
** Chthon has also claimed to be the first Demon.
* The [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Asgardians]]' stories can also contradict themselves, which is generally hand waved by either claiming it happened that way in a different [[EternalRecurrence Ragnarok cycle]], or going the Loki route and saying they are [[MediumAwareness living myth and metaphor]] complete with invoking the SugarWiki/FictionIdentityPostulate. ([[UnreliableNarrator Loki]] claims this about almost ''all'' Marvel gods and demons, by the way, but he is not exactly trustworthy.)

** Plastic Man's sidekick Woozy Winks has had three different origins. The original Quality Comics continuity established that he gained the power to be immune to injury as a reward for saving a sorceror from drowning and turned to crime until he encountered Plastic Man and was convinced to go straight, the 1988 miniseries by Phil Foglio made it so that Woozy was a former inmate of Arkham Asylum who became Plastic Man's sidekick by [[InterruptedSuicide distracting him before he could jump off a bridge]] and a 1999 one-shot by Ty Templeton gave an origin where Woozy was once a [[FormerlyFit physically fit]] secret agent named Green Cobra who became the dimwit we know as today when he was stuffed in a locker with a bleeding Plastic Man by a supervillain called the Dart and had his brain damaged from inhaling the fumes of Plastic Man's airplane glue-like blood.
* ComicBook/PowerGirl has a particularly interesting multiple choice past. Originally, she was ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'s equivalent from Earth-2. After ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'' {{retcon}}ned all the alternate Earths out of existence, Power Girl was kept around, but now lacked an origin or even a defined species, as Superman was now the only Kryptonian around. Over the years, different writers tried different takes, giving her a magical Atlantean past, an alien Daxamite heritage, and so on. With the return of the multiverse in ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'', Power Girl's history has now become her origin: she was from Earth-2, but after it ceased to exist the universe spent years trying to make her fit, but her true Kryptonian heritage has now been re-established. (This doesn't apply to the New 52's first Power Girl, who's simply Supergirl's analogue from the new multiverse's Earth-2.)
** Post Crisis Supergirl also had this in spades... when she first appeared her backstory was simple, She was sent to Earth at the same time as Superman and was his older cousin and she was supposed to look after him when they got there, but she was trapped in Kryptonite and in suspended animation for years and didn't emerge until Superman was a full grown adult. But then it was revealed that, that origin might be partly false and that her whole side of the El family was evil and she was sent to kill her cousin. But then it was revealed that, while she ''was'' sent to kill Kal-El, it was because there was a curse he inherited that would break down the barrier to the Phantom Zone which Jor-El, Superman's father, had invented (this too would later be ignored), and that eventually Phantom Zone monsters would start crossing over to the real world unless Kal-El was killed. This origin was even verified as being correct by a Monitor... but then Supergirl's parents showed up and it turned out that her real origin was a modified version of her Silver Age origin (that a chunk of Krypton survived the destruction), and that everything else was the effects of Kryptonite poisoning making Supergirl crazy.
* Eobard Thawne/Professor Zoom/Reverse-Flash has quite a few different origins. There are five versions of Thawne's origin story, spanning over the various eras of DC:
** In his pre-''Crisis'' origin, he was a crook with a scientific background who discovered Barry Allen's Flash suit in a time capsule sent from the past to his home 25th century. Succeeding in using it to replicate Barry's powers, he then committed crimes with them before Barry arrived in his era and defeated him. Now enraged at Barry, Thawne decided to become the Flash's worst enemy, thus the whole time travel thing. He also developed a desire to replace Barry as Iris' husband and as the Flash.
** In his post-''Crisis'' origin, written by Mark Waid in the famous "ComicBook/TheReturnOfBarryAllen" storyline, it was changed so that his reason for hating Barry ''before he met him'' was that Thawne was a Flash fanboy who even had surgery to look like Barry Allen, along with recreating Barry's accident to give himself powers. He became the Flash of the 25th Century. Thawne traveled back in time to run alongside his hero, but missed the date and instead landed in the Wally West Flash era. He then discovers that he would become the Flash's worst villain, and all of this combined with the trauma of time travel made him snap. He impersonates Barry for a while, but is eventually defeated by Wally and sent back through time. The experience is erased from his memory, but he holds onto an instinctual hatred of the Flash as well as his Reverse-Flash costume, and it just so happens that he meets Barry "first". This explains how his extensive knowledge of Barry Allen and his desire to replace him came about.
** His post-''The Flash: Rebirth'' origin is a combination of the above two. Here Eobard was still from the 25th century and was also genetically engineered to be intelligent. He formed an obsession with the heroes of the past, specifically the Flashes. He became his world's foremost leading expert on the Speed Force and head of the Flash Museum. Because of this, he was dubbed "Professor Zoom". Eventually, Thawne figured out how to replicate Flash's powers from a costume from a time capsule, and aimed to become a hero like his idol -- but in the super-safe 25th century resorted to causing accidents himself that he'd then save people from. He eventually encountered Barry Allen as the Flash, and after Barry "ruined his life", he resolved to ruin Barry's.
** In the post-''Flashpoint'', New 52 retelling of his origin, Thawne came from a 25th century that idolized the Flash as a god. After witnessing his mother murdered by his father as a child and later gaining time alteration powers, Thawne attempts to conquer Central City but is opposed by the populace who fight against him in the Flash's name, motivating him to travel back in time, gather a group of similarly powered acolytes, and kill the Flash so that he goes down in history as a failure, not as a hero. He also notably never used the name "Reverse-Flash", instead going exclusively by Professor Zoom. This version was undone in ''The Button'', which merged this Thawne with the post-''Flash: Rebirth'' Thawne, with the latter's memories -- and his previous origin -- now dominant.
** The ''Rebirth'' version of Thawne's origin is essentially the post-''The Flash: Rebirth'' origin, but it's expanded upon and there are some changes. Eobard is a child who grew up loving the Flash. Finding Barry's suit in a time capsule, he uses it to replicate Barry's powers in himself, becoming the Flash of the 25th Century. This time, he goes about causing accidents that he can save people from (it's not established if accidents are illegal like in the post ''The Flash: Rebirth'' origin). Encountering a time-travelling Barry Allen, the two bonded over their belief that time is valuable, and Thawne considers Barry telling him that "every second is a gift" the happiest day of his life. However, when Barry discovered Thawne's unethical ways of being a hero, he defeated him and turned him over to the authorities. Thawne genuinely repented, becoming curator of the Flash Museum (being dubbed a professor) and eventually donning a new costume based on Kid Flash's (it's basically his ''Rebirth'' suit but with the lightning bolt's direction the same as Barry's). However, when he travelled back in time to be with his hero once more, he discovered Barry was already mentoring Wally West. Seeing Barry tell Wally that "every second is a gift" and giving Wally his grandfather's watch with said quote engraved on it, Thawne was heartbroken. An enraged Thawne now believes his "bond" with Barry had all been lies on Barry's part and thus decided to fill Barry's life with the pain he was experiencing and make sure everyone knew what kind of person Barry really was.
* In the 80s, an issue of ''ComicBook/TheQuestion'' reinvented ComicBook/TheRiddler; his real name was Edward Nashton, and he changed it to Edward Nygma when he became the Riddler. His obsession with riddles wasn't born from cheating in a school competition and wanting to prove how clever he was; it was a compulsion to tell the truth due to a violent father. It also claimed that he was never a major Batman villain. Later, Creator/NeilGaiman wrote a ''ComicBook/SecretOrigins'' story in which Riddler retells his classic origin, before adding "Or maybe I'm a frustrated second-rater called Nashton with a meaningless schtick!"
** The Riddler's latest origin, post-''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'', is ''largely'' his classic origin... but his real name is Edward Nashton. [[FlipFlopOfGod It has since been reverted back to Nigma.]]
* Teddy "Red" Herring of ''Red Herring'' is said to have an obviously false right eye ([[InformedDeformity though the art depicts it identically to his left]]), and always has a different explanation for it: a childhood accident, shrapnel from a grenade in Iraq, a flesh-eating virus, the heel of a jealous ex-girlfriend... In all likelihood, none of these are true.
* ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'': Did Chase [[spoiler:kill someone because of/with his van]]? Even he's not sure--he later admits that he made up stories to attempt to justify his father's abuse of him, and eventually started believing some of them. At one point, he seems extremely certain he ''didn't''; later on, he seems totally certain that he ''did''.
-->'''Nico''': You've told a few different versions of that story.\\
'''Chase''': Right, well, in this one...
* Wolverine's arch-enemy Victor Creed, a.k.a. ComicBook/{{Sabretooth}}, likewise has multiple possible pasts. He was part of the same Weapon X program as Wolverine, which included false memory implants, so that's no surprise. A notable example is his mother: she was initially thought to have [[HeroicSacrifice sacrificed her own life]] to protect Victor from his abusive father, only for a later one-shot to show a young Victor killing her himself for failing to stop the abuse. Then, years later, it turned out she was still alive and in a nursing home, and that Victor [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas actually had a very close and loving relationship with her]].
* In the ''ComicBook/SecretOrigins'' issue looking at the ComicBook/{{New 52}} version of ComicBook/JohnConstantine, the FramingStory is that a bunch of magic-happy idiots summon a creature to tell them Constantine's history. The creature simultaneously tells them three entirely contradictory stories, with the only points of similarity being that, whatever John's childhood was like, he attracted the attention of a powerful blindfolded figure (probably Tannarak?) who taught him enough magic to (accidentally?) [[SelfMadeOrphan kill his family]], and of course the Newcastle Incident (and even then, there are three possibilities of ''how'' John got involved in the Incident and what happened to him as a result -- and they could easily be mixed-and-matched). In the end, John turns up to rescue the acolytes from their summoning, which has been feeding on them the more involved they become in the stories, and points out there's no reason to believe ''any'' of it.
* Heavily used in regards to ComicBook/TheSentry, especially the relationship between him, his civilian identity Robert Reynolds and his SuperpoweredEvilSide the Void: is the Void the result of a "mind virus" implanted by Mastermind? Are Sentry and the Void the good and evil nature that exist in every person given form by the serum Reynolds took? Is the Void a SplitPersonality formed by Reynolds' repression of his past as a thief and junkie? Is the Void Reynolds' ''real'' personality and the Sentry is the fake one? Or is the serum a RedHerring and the Sentry is actually something else entirely like the Angel of Death? All of these were presented as equally likely. Which is pretty appropriate since Sentry is quite crazy. In fact, given that Sentry is crazy ''and'' is a RealityWarper, it's strongly suggested that the "true" version is ''whatever he believes at the time''.
* The Scarecrow's first origin story begins with him frightening birds as a child. Skip forward a few decades to the Year One version, and in a 180 turn he's frightened ''by'' birds -- namely, by a trained attack squad of crows in the old chapel his great-grandmother likes to lock him in. Also, origin stories differ as to whether he was a child bully (i.e. his first episode in the animated series, which had a flashback of him chasing girls with handfuls of snakes) or a bullied child.
** The New 52 only makes things more complicated since in that aforementioned Year One story his mother was [[TeenPregnancy a teen mom]] that was taken away from her at birth and his dad was GlorifiedSpermDonor. Here his mom is given a (frankly unceremonious) DeathByOriginStory and his father was made into a MadScientist [[GenerationXerox that was exactly like him]]. This was carried over into ''Series/{{Gotham}}'' and is supposedly still canon to Rebirth going by the official DC website.
* One issue of ''ComicBook/SecretOrigins'' gave four different, mutually-exclusive origins for the mysterious [[ComicBook/ThePhantomStranger Phantom Stranger]]. According to the WordOfGod, they're ''all'' true.
** When a Black Lantern tried to eat the Phantom Stranger's heart during ''ComicBook/BlackestNight'', it saw three of those backstories, leaving it stunned long enough for the Stranger to spring a trap. The Stranger's response? "You have seen everything and you have seen nothing."
** And then the [[ComicBook/{{New 52}} reboot happened]] and he actually does have a concrete origin now, where he's heavily implied to be [[spoiler: [[Literature/TheBible Judas Iscariot.]] ]]
* In the ''ComicBook/{{Shazam}}'' franchise, Freddy Freeman in particular. His age at onset of [[DisabilitySuperpower disability]] ranges from "young enough that his voice still hasn't shown the slightest tendency towards deepening yet, some time (maybe years) after leaving inpatient therapy" in Justice League: War to "old enough to have been a high school football star pre-injury" in Trials of Shazam. And since they were decoupled in one of those reboots, his age at onset of ''superpowers'' is even more complicated. And that's not even [[IAmNotShazam getting into]] his [[WritingAroundTrademarks superhero name]].
** Mary Bromfield has at various times been Billy Batson's biological sister or unrelated foster sister, and was originally his twin but has been both younger and older than Billy in different reboots.
* The only thing for sure about [[Characters/GreenLantern1941 Solomon Grundy]]'s backstory is he was once a man named Cyrus Gold who died and came back as a zombie. The details of ''how'' Gold died vary: His debut in ''All-American Comics'' Vol. 1, #61 stated he was mugged and murdered; ''Batman: Shadow of the Bat'' #39 stated a pimp killed him after realizing his attempt to blackmail Gold wasn't working, Creator/GrantMorrison's ''ComicBook/SevenSoldiersOfVictory'' stated he was the victim of a lynch mob who thought he was a child molester; and a self-titled miniseries that led into Grundy's involvement in ''ComicBook/BlackestNight'' stated Gold had in fact killed himself.
* King Shark was introduced in Karl Kesel's ''ComicBook/{{Superboy|1994}}'' as ''possibly'' the son of a Hawaiian shark-god and a mortal woman. Later in the same run, Kesel introduced circumstantial evidence suggesting he was actually one of the mutated animals from the Wild Lands. Later still, Kesel's run on ''Comicbook/{{Aquaman}}'' confirmed the shark-god story.
* Played with in Creator/AlanMoore's first twelve issues of ''ComicBook/{{Supreme}}'', where the {{retcon}}s are part of the in-story universe, and the multiple past Supremes exist in their own dimension.
* In ''ComicBook/SupremePower'', Zarda gives three conflicting origin stories that involve both her and Hyperion when he asks her where she came from. Since Zarda's demonstrably insane, it's safe to say none of them are even close to true.
* In the original ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' comics (and later, the movies and the '00s cartoon), Splinter was originally the beloved pet rat of Hamato Yoshi, who saw his master's assassination and then later was mutated into a humanoid intelligent rat-being. In the '80s cartoon series and the spinoff comic books, Splinter is Hamato Yoshi himself, forced into exile and living in the sewer when he first encountered the mutagen. Having recently been in contact with sewer rats, the mutagen turned him into a humanoid rat. In his profile on the DVD of the [[Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1990 first live-action movie]], it's said that Splinter's origins are "shrouded in mystery" and that either one of them is possible.
* And the trope is played ''absolutely literally'' in Vertigo Comics' ''ComicBook/TheUnwritten'', where the origin of Lizzie Hexam is structured like a {{Gamebook|s}} comic: Is Lizzie Hexam actually a character who emerged from out of a Dickens novel, is she a victim of child abuse who gave up her body to a fictional construct, or simply a delusional girl? Did Wilson Taylor treat her like a daughter, like a prisoner, or like a science experiment?
** Interestingly, while the reader can choose multiple paths for Lizzie, they all end with her at the press conference from issue #1. The subtext of this meshes very closely with Tom's words to Lizzie in the hospital: which story you decide to follow is more important than which one is true.
* ComicBook/{{Vampirella}} has two conflicting origin stories. Originally she was a {{Human Alien|s}} from the planet Drakulon which, you guessed it, is a world inhabited by vampires. When her character was resurrected in the 90s she was made into the daughter of Myth/{{Lilith}}, who still ruled in Hell and birthed Vampirella so she could hunt down evil on Earth. The circumstances of her conception are also up in the air, with some stories presenting {{Cain}} as Vampirella's blood father, while others offer that Vampirella has no father and was created by Lilith through BloodMagic. The 2010 Dynamite series includes a blurb with every issue lampshading this ContinuitySnarl, implying that ''both'' the Drakulon and Hell origins may be true. Eventually the two sort of mashed together, with Drakulon sometimes being presented as a corner of Hell, or Lilith as a native from the planet Drakulon.
* ''ComicBook/WhateverHappenedToTheCapedCrusader'' uses this Trope to prove a point: [[spoiler:there must always be a Batman, regardless of retcons and alternate realities. Thus, every time Batman dies, rather than heading to any sort of afterlife, he's reincarnated as another Bruce Wayne in another universe, to relive Batman's origin story and become a slightly different Batman.]]
** In another of the stories a psychologist is sent to interview ComicBook/PoisonIvy, and tries to sort out the different origin stories in the files and newspaper reports on her. Ivy bursts out laughing and says that sometimes she just makes stuff up for a joke, and she's surprised people took her seriously.
* ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}, of the ''ComicBook/XMen'', was especially susceptible to this; his amnesia about his past was a common plot driver in early-90s stories, and what we knew kept getting {{retcon}}ned. Even after it was made so that he could remember every single thing that ever happened to him, the series ''Wolverine: Origins'' still managed to milk the concept -- remembering '''everything''' meant that his real memories were no stronger or more distinct than his fake memories.
* [[ComicBook/WonderGirl Donna Troy's]] past is so complicated, writers are more likely to spend more time attempting to clean it up rather than chronicling her current adventures. To sum it up as briefly as possible:
** After she spent the first 21 issues of the original ''Teen Titans'' series with no backstory, Marv Wolfman would establish that she was an orphan rescued from a burning apartment building by Wonder Woman. He would later expand upon the story in ''New Teen Titans'', revealing that the couple that died weren't Donna's biological parents and that her mother had died after giving her up for adoption.
** After the Crisis on Infinite Earths rewrote continuity, Wonder Woman became a newcomer to the DC Universe. Since this meant Donna would predate her as a superhero, Wolfman and Perez then revised Donna's backstory to state that she was rescued by the Titans of Myth and sent back to Earth at the age 13 (with her memories wiped). She would then base her Wonder Girl costume off of the American flag.
** In the late '90s, John Byrne decided to apply his own retcon: Donna was actually a magical twin of Diana, created from a mirror and kidnapped by Dark Angel, who would then curse her to live multiple lives of tragedy. Byrne would also reveal that Donna based her "Wonder Girl" identity off of Hippolyta's Golden Age stint as Wonder Woman (via a time-traveling paradox).
** Allan Heinberg would finally use the mirror origin in stating that she was "born of magic", but would add that Wonder Woman rescued her and that the Amazons ''and'' Titans of Myth trained her.
** Lampshaded by Stjepan Sejic in [[https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/51/91/2c/51912cc92e66977e19d77c2b3bb13f3e.jpg this one-off picture]] showing Wonder Girl signing copies of her new autobiography, "Your Guess Is As Good As Mine";
--->'''Reader''': Holy hell, this thing reads like a Choose Your Own Adventure!\\
'''Donna''': Yeah, pretty much...

* [[ComicBook/XMen The Phoenix]] is either Jean Grey's SuperpoweredEvilSide or a variation on GrandTheftMe who duplicated her rather than possessing her.
* The entire setting of ''ComicBook/YTheLastMan'' has a Multiple-Choice Past. Throughout the series, we’re given various theories about the {{Gendercide}} and what caused it, but none of these theories are ever proven true. [[TheUnreveal The story ends with no real explanation]] and it’s left up to the reader to decide which, if any, of the origin stories were correct.[[note]]According to writer Brian K. Vaughan, he did put the actual reason for the gendercide in the story, he just didn't point directly at it and refuses to specify, literally leaving it up to the reader to decide which one is the actual cause.[[/note]]

* ''Fanfic/TheInfiniteLoops'' makes this trope kind of enforced: a part of the way the Loops work is that anything that wasn’t explicitly stated in Baseline (IE. a series’ canon) is “Loop Variable” meaning it changes from one loop to the next; consequently, characters with a MysteriousPast will find that past being completely altered every Loop, which can be extremely disorienting for Awake Loopers. Cinder Fall was driven temporarily insane by having her past and motivations constantly changing, since her canon backstory wasn’t revealed until eight-years into the show’s run. Her fellow Remnant Loopers Ozpin, Torchwick, and Neo all suffered from this as well before their pasts “firmed up”, but she was hit the hardest.

Have you noticed that some characters have different origins when different people are writing the story? Sometimes this is done on purpose, to give an air of UnreliableNarrator. Sometimes it's caused by repeated {{retcon}}s. Sometimes it's just because the writers got it wrong, sometimes the result of a deliberate {{retcon}}, {{rewrite}} or by creators ArmedWithCanon. This trope is particularly common in comic books, as a single character may be written by dozens of writers over their history. Sometimes, as evidenced in the TropeNamer, it is also done in order to depict the character giving his/her backstory as being too insane to give a true account of their past, believing every single account they gave about themselves. Having messed-up memories due to a case of LaserGuidedAmnesia that [[SubvertedTrope isn't so laser-guided]], TraumaInducedAmnesia, and/or implantation of FakeMemories also works just fine.