History NeverLiveItDown / ComicBooks

** The casting of RobertDowneyJr. as Stark in [[Film/IronMan the movie]] may be a nod to this as well, as Downey also battled alcoholism.

** The casting of Robert Downey Jr. as Stark in [[Film/IronMan the movie]] may be a nod to this as well, as Downey also battled alcoholism.

* Gwendolyn "Gwen" Stacy from ''SpiderMan'' started out as a dominating vixen who combined TheLibby, the {{Tsundere}}, and the {{Yandere}}, and was ''furious'' that a dork like Peter wasn't interested in her. After John Romita replaced Steve Ditko as head artist, [[CharacterDevelopment her character was softened considerably]] and she became the Betty in a BettyAndVeronica LoveTriangle. Like the Aerith example below, her death led to her being remembered entirely for her later, sweeter era, as a GirlNextDoor and YamatoNadeshiko. Eventually, this evolved into her being seen as a saintly martyr, Peter's one true love who was TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth. After the hated story ''Sins Past,'' which put her through brutal (and retconned) CharacterDerailment, the fans became ''even more'' determined to remember her as a saint.
** The real irony, here? Go re-read that Sins Past arc, with the view of Gwen having changed and become a softer, nicer person during that period. Hard to see the supposed CharacterDerailment as derailment anymore, isn't it? Comes off much more now as SympathyForTheDevil, which then makes the story much stronger, to the point of actually somewhat working.

* Superboy Prime has become an immature whiny sociopath in ''InfiniteCrisis'', but still has some motives that make him slip near WellIntentionedExtremist. But CountdownToFinalCrisis gave him serious CharacterDerailment making him say one line after which fans forget about that and marked him as an complete idiot and nobody can treat him seriously after that. This line was:

** Of course, given that Superboy Prime was a very thinly-veiled TakeThat at the rabid fandom of comics, YMMV.

* The [[IHaveManyNames many-monikered]] Dr. Hank Pym, a founding member of Comicbook/TheAvengers, who once hit his wife Janet (Wasp) during a [[FreakOut mental-breakdown-induced]] FaceHeelTurn. (This storyline also included him killing old enemies in cold blood, and releasing murderous robots on New York just so he could look like a hero when he stopped them; the whole thing would be a DorkAge if it didn't end with Pym [[HesBack recovering]], then [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome single-handedly beating the Masters of Evil]].) Writers have explored the issue with various levels of grace since then, but more than once his hitting Wasp has devolved into a crude running gag which still colors newer depictions of him. In particular, the Ultimate version of Hank Pym ''is'' an outright wife-beater -- and since ''The Ultimates'' is so popular, [[TheUnfairSex this has made things even worse for the "real" Pym]].
*** Also, keep in mind that this is the woman who deliberately used his unstable mental state to force him into marriage with her, so she's not ''entirely'' innocent in the whole fiasco.
** What's particularly frustrating is that Jan and the other Avengers forgave Hank long ago -- it's the writers (and Hank himself, really) who won't. Every time the incident is laid to rest, someone comes along to dig it up again. Most recently, Chuck Austen DidNotDoTheResearch; in his brief ''Avengers'' run, he wrote Hank as a misogynist, Jan as a pinball, and Hawkeye as a jerk who's held a grudge against Hank since the '80s. (In fact, they've always been close friends, and Clint's support was a big factor in Hank's redemption.) Hank and Jan have a profoundly messed-up relationship, but this was no more than a caricature of it.
** This is shown to be a part of his character in-universe, too, as a consequence of the fact that this is all writers ever do with him; in ''The Initiative'', Trauma loses control of his powers and Hank witnesses his greatest fear: a battered Jan telling him that no one will ever forget how he lost control exactly one time.
** An earlier scene in The Initiative shows former Slingers hero Prodigy calling Pym a wife-beater under his breath. This implies that Hank's wife-beating past is common knowledge amongst the superhero set, and not just the Avengers.
** Perhaps the most extreme form came in ''Marvel Zombies'', where the local Hank Pym ''bit Jan's head off'' - to his disgust (zombies hate the taste of zombies) and to little effect ([[ZombieApocalypse zombie, anyone?]]).
** The incident in TheUltimates was just the tail end of a fight partially based on insecurities Hank had been suppressing for some time, aggravated by a recent humiliation in battle, he had a substance abuse problem, and the marriage was pretty much falling apart anyway. He seemed to ''immediately'' regret what he'd done[[hottip:*:Abusers often claim this and often mean it, at least until the next incident, but since Jan left immediately, we don't know if he would've followed through.]], and the second miniseries seemed to be trying to turn him into a JerkassWoobie. Particularly notable is that even ''after'' he got beaten up by Cap, no one really wanted anything to do with him. Like the 616 version, he lost control ''once'', with extenuating circumstances, and it ruined his life and reputation. [[TruthInTelevision Just like reality]].
* Likewise, the frequency with which Hank Pym has changed identities (from Dr. Pym to Ant-Man to Giant-Man to Goliath to Yellowjacket, then back through several of these again, then to Wasp and then back to Giant-Man.) has become a running gag as well.

*** Maybe that's because, thanks to the retcon used to bring Jean Grey back from the dead, non-Dark Phoenix was actually the Phoenix Force in possession of her body and memories, and therefore nothing from that period really counts as her character development.

* A future version of [[{{Batman}} Damian]] [[{{ptitle8dck6upp}} Wayne]] was shown owning a cat named Alfred in ''Batman'' #666. This one scene has caused fandom to frequently portray Damian as a cat lover (and usually being embarrassed and secretive of it) as well as him wanting a cat in the present day.

* Sort of subverted: Susan Storm of the FantasticFour's long-running romantic interest in Namor TheSubMariner thoughout her 40+ year marriage to Reed Richards gets thrown around a lot from fans, but isn't treated too seriously by the characters. The reason is probably the fact that a lot of fans think she had an out-and-out affair with Namor (not true), but ''also'' think that the attraction between them is all in the past (also not true). The Fantastic Four are [[DysfunctionalFamily just fucked up that way.]]

*** Maybe that's because, thanks to the retcon used to bring Jean Gray back from the dead, Phoenix wasn't Jean Gray, and therefore nothing from that period really counts as her character development.

** The incident in TheUltimates was just the tail end of a fight partially based on insecurities Hank had been suppressing for some time, aggravated by a recent humiliation in battle, he had a substance abuse problem, and the marriage was pretty much falling apart anyway. He seemed to ''immediately'' regret what he'd done[[hottip:*:Abusers often claim this and often mean it, at least until the next incident, but since Jan left immediately, we don't know if he would've followed through.]], and the second miniseries seemed to be trying to turn him into a JerkassWoobie. Particularly notable is that even ''after'' he got beaten up by Cap, no one really wanted anything to do with him. Just like the 616 version, he lost control ''once'', with extenuating circumstances, and it ruined his life and reputation.
*** Real life works that way too.

** [[http://www.alternatecover.com/features/how-many-times-has-jean-grey-died/ Here]] is a list of the deaths of Jean Grey. Note: the first and the last six are--by the author's own admission--uncertain (they almost seem to be included just to pad the count), another is with loads of other heroes (who ''all'' came BackFromTheDead after that), and another is an alternate timeline (should that even count?). Note also that well over half are from ''after'' those RunningTheAsylum painted her like this. That's about the authorial equivalent of planting evidence.

*** Maybe that's because, thanks to the retcon used to bring Jean Gray back from the dead, Phoenix wasn't Jean Gray, and therefore nothing from that period really counts as her character development. Of course, that makes the people who only associate Jean with the Dark Phoenix storyline even more wrong to do so...

** The fact that it ''was'' a generally stupid storyline (not so much the idea that Gambit had once worked for Sinister; that's entirely believable given that he was a lot less heroic in his pre-X-Men days; it's the execution and the present-day reactions that are the problem) doesn't help.

** Hum, disagree. She does it in only 48 strips, but it's a good example of how nasty she is in general. Hey, Linus once congratulated her for being nasty for 1000 days in a row!
** Also, has she been explicitly shown ''not'' pulling the ball? If not, the TethercatPrinciple doesn't play in her favor.

* Tony Stark / IronMan's alcoholism has generally been worked into his story with both respect and ridicule. Like Hank Pym, Tony has suffered lately for the sins of his Ultimate incarnation (Ultimate Tony Stark is a ''drunk'', plain and simple). Of course, [[CharacterDerailment at this point]], if that's [[Comicbook/CivilWar what he's remembered for]], he's lucky...
** In ''MarvelUltimateAlliance 2'', this is the ''one thing'' that [[CaptainAmerica Steve Rogers]], [[HeterosexualLifePartners of]] ''[[HoYay all]]'' ''[[LikeAnOldMarriedCouple people]]'', mocks and throws back in [[GreaterNeedThanMine Tony's face]] in one particularly gut-wrenching scene.

** The real irony, here? Go re-read that Sins Past arc, with the view of Gwen having changed and become a softer, nicer person during that period. Hard to see the supposed CharacterDerailment as derailment anymore, isn't it? Comes off much more now as SympathyForTheDevil, which then makes the story much stronger, to the point of actually somewhat working. Even more ironic is that people still moan about this story after ''OneMoreDay''...
** She goes back more towards her original personality in ''Ultimate Spider-man'', which is ironic when you consider how Ultimate Hank and Tony wound up. She's still pretty nice, but she wears black leather, enjoys flirting around, and [[spoiler:points a gun at Peter when she finds out he's Spider-man]].
* Speaking of ''OneMoreDay'', that storyline will always be remembered for Peter and Mary Jane selling their marriage to the devil. Interestingly, this one actually isn't a Never Live It Down for the characters, as (among other reasons) fans have [[FanonDiscontinuity rejected it from their personal canons]] and [[StatusQuoIsGod expect it to be reversed]] somewhere along the line. It's [[JoeQuesada the editor that mandated it]] who will never escape its infamy.

* [[XMen Jean Grey]] is probably the most unfortunate victim of this. How many times did she genuinely come BackFromTheDead? If you don't count fake-outs, clones, androids, or shapeshifters (all of which are par for the course with almost ''all'' superheroes)... Once. Twice once [[WriterOnBoard Joe Quesada's anti-redhead crusade]] ends, [[FirstLawOfResurrection one assumes]]. This puts the poor woman on the ''low end'' of [[DeathIsCheap comic book resurrections]]. But those who DidNotDoTheResearch just know her for her resurrection, and think it's more common than it actually is, or else [[FreakOut going mad]]. Her ties to ThePhoenix Force haven't helped.

** She wasn't even really thought of this way until fans of [[StillTheEighties early eighties]] Marvel started RunningTheAsylum, shoehorning her into this role, despite the 20 years of genuine CharacterDevelopment she'd had since she came back. So, all the "really, she's not coming back this time" hoopla is [[DeadUnicornTrope trying to avert something]] that ''wasn't true in the first place''. Fans who actually followed her since the mid eighties are... less than pleased.
** Even {{Deadpool}} claims that "Jean Grey, death's even cheaper than usual", but since it's the writer putting those words in his mouth, we know he really meant Magneto (the ''true'' XMen poster child for DeathIsCheap).

* ''{{Aquaman}}'' has still to live down his portrayal on the ''{{Superfriends}}'', and comics writers frequently show people mocking him for his abilities just before he proves them wrong. There's really no reason people in the DC universe don't take him seriously except for carryover from ''Superfiends.''

** To make it funnier [[spoiler: After his death, Thor threw his body into the sun]]

* Likewise, the frequency with which Hank Pym has changed identities (from Dr. Pym to Ant-Man to Giant-Man to Goliath to Yellowjacket, then back through several of these again, and finally to Wasp) has become a running gag as well.

** She wasn't even really thought of this way until fans of [[StillTheEighties early eighties]] Marvel started RunningTheAsylum, shoehorning her into this role, despite the 20 years of genuine CharacterDevelopment she'd had since she came back. So, all the "really, she's not coming back this time" hoopla is [[DeadUnicornTrope trying to avert something]] that ''[[WallBanger wasn't true in the first place]]''. Fans who actually followed her since the mid eighties are... less than pleased.

** The incident in TheUltimates was just the tail end of a fight partially based on insecurities Hank had been suppressing for some time, aggravated by a recent humiliation in battle, he had a substance abuse problem, and the marriage was pretty much falling apart anyway. He seemed to ''immediately'' regret what he'd done[[hottip:*:Abusers often claim this and often mean it, at least until the next incident, but since Jan left immediately, we don't know if he would've followed through.]], and the second miniseries seemed to be trying to turn him into a JerkassWoobie. Particularly notable is that even ''after'' he got beaten up by Cap, no one really wanted anything to do with him.

--> Sentry: I don't throw ''everything'' into the sun...

** MANGA GRAPHIX, the company that owns ''Witch Girls'' is mentioned in the copyright blurb on ''[[http://web.archive.org/web/20010411183322/www.geocities.com/gotiger_1999/Sorc1.html Shrinking Sorceress]]''.

** The real irony, here? Go re-read that Sins Past arc, with the view of Gwen having changed and become a softer, nicer person during that period. Hard to see the supposed CharacterDerailment as derailment anymore, isn't it? Comes off much more now as SympathyForTheDevil, which then makes the story much stronger, to the point of actually somewhat working. Even more ironic is that people still moan about this story after [[OneMoreDay OMD/BND...]]