History HarsherInHindsight / ComicBooks

* Part of Creator/ChaosComics character Chastity's backstory was being molested as a child by her father. Justiniano, the artist for ''Theatre of Pain'', the miniseries that detailed her backstory, was arrested for possession of child pornography.

* ''ComicBook/BatmanAndCaptainAmerica'' has an famous moment where the ComicBook/TheJoker terminates his alliance with the ComicBook/RedSkull upon learning the Skull wasn't faking being a Nazi (the trope image of EvenEvilHasStandards). [[spoiler:Naturally, after the Skull caused a CosmicRetcon to turn Steve into everything he's sworn to fought against in ''ComicBook/CaptainAmericaSteveRogers'' and ''ComicBook/SecretEmpire'', fans took to pointing out that, until the latter's end saw the return of the true Steve Rogers, Marvel's paragon had less morals that the man who [[ComicBook/TheKillingJoke crippled Barbara Gordon, tortured Commissioner Gordon]], and killed [[ComicBook/ADeathInTheFamily Jason Todd]] and [[ComicBook/BatmanNoMansLand Sarah Essen]].]]

[[caption-width-right:350:"We suspected Creator/{{Paul|McCartney}}, but it turned out to be Creator/John|Lennon}}."]]

[[caption-width-right:350:"We suspected Paul but it turned out to be John".]]

* The Spanish slapstick comic ''ComicBook/MortadeloYFilemon'' had tons of minor background jokes, but the most infamous is [[https://imgur.com/swqEP this]] panel from a 1992 issue (the one showed on the trope's main page), in which an airplane is seen crashed into one of the Twin Towers.

** The Mane Six calling Chrysalis "Cheese Legs", in the first comic arc of ''ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDW'' was a joke. In ''ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFiendshipIsMagic'' it's shown to be the result of injuries inflicted by Celestia hundreds of years prior, [[GoodIsNotSoft not to say they weren't well deserved]].
** Fluttershy is worried about anyone finding about her secret chamber in [[ComicBook/MyLittlePonyMicroSeries her micro-issue]]. Normally, this would be a funny joke, but considering the fan-made animation, [[WebAnimation/PonyDotMov SHED.MOV]], this can border on creepy.
* Back in the early 1990's, Creator/ValiantComics released ''ComicBook/NintendoComicsSystem''. One of those comics was ''Game Boy'', using characters from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioLand''. The first story had Tatanga and his army invade the World Trade Center. The second story had Tatanga and his army hijack an airplane, then hijack the space shuttle ''Colombia''.

* In the only Captain Electron comic, the titular hero is called to rush to Manhattan while in the middle of a separate "computer science" mission. When he arrives in New York, he finds a plane...buried halfway in the Chrysler Building.

* On the subject of 9/11, the ''[[ComicBook/TheTransformers Transformers]]'' Creator/MarvelComics featured Galvatron visiting an alternate universe, where New York had been devastated and Rodimus Prime's corpse was strung up between the smoking stumps of the Twin Towers.

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!!The following have their own pages:

!!Other Comic Books

* ''{{ComicBook/Asterix}}'': ''The Chariot Race'' (published in late 2017) features a Roman antagonist by the name of Coronavirus (even more awkward are the massive crowds of people chanting his name).

* One ''ComicBook/NintendoComicsSystem'' issue from 1990 had an establishing shot of the Twin Towers with a dark cloud looming above.

* Speaking of COVID-19 and zombies, the Metal Virus arc of ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogIDW'' hit its lowest point storywise ([[spoiler:with almost the entire world having been converted into Zombots, including several main cast members like Shadow, Vanilla, Vector, and Tangle, The Restoration losing their spirits (especially Cream and Whisper), Eggman and Starline losing control of the Zombots, Sonic beginning to slowly lose his ability to fight off his infection, and The Deadly Six taking control of the Zombots and wreaking further havoc upon the world]]) as the pandemic started spreading around the world. In fact, the comic itself ended up being shelved for three months after IDW's distributor, Diamond Comic Distributors, temporarily stopped distributing new products due to the pandemic.

* On the subject of 9/11, the ''[[ComicBook/TheTransformers Transformers]]'' Creator/MarvelComics featured Galvatron visiting an alternate universe, where New York had been devastated and Rodimus Prime's corpse was strung up between the smoking stumps of the Twin Towers.

* Another 9/11 one: ''The Big Book Of TheSeventies'' (published in 2000) had a section on the rise of terrorism, which ended with the first WTC bombing.
* One ''ComicBook/NintendoComicsSystem'' issue from 1990 had an establishing shot of the Twin Towers with a dark cloud looming above.

* In the only Captain Electron comic, the titular hero is called to rush to Manhattan while in the middle of a separate "computer science" mission. When he arrives in New York, he finds a plane...buried halfway in the Chrysler Building.
* The end of ''ComicBook/KickAss'' Volume 1, where Chris sets up his AvengingTheVillain story-line by quoting ComicBook/TheJoker, with volume 2 crossing the MoralEventHorizon by [[spoiler:causing a mass shoot-out in a suburban area]]. The Aurora Theater shootings make this uncomfortable to some. The fact that he started with [[spoiler:a group of children]] makes it [[FromBadToWorse even worse after the Newtown shootings]].
* ''ComicBook/ElvisShrugged'': In the story, the record business has collapsed due to so many quality musicians leaving, causing record sales to plummet. This was published in 1993, prior to [[TechnologyMarchesOn the debut of the World Wide Web]] and, later, the rise of [=Napster=] and [=iTunes=], which would cause the sales of actual [=CDs=] to plummet, not due to a significant change in what was popular, but because it was easier and cheaper.
* ''ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFiendshipIsMagic'':
** Celestia calling Sombra "a Unicorn whose heart was as black as night" in Season 3. He's a LivingShadow made by an EldritchAbomination crystal to rule the Empire via ThePowerOfHate, and after years of failing to ScrewDestiny by doing good, he finally snaps and invokes ThenLetMeBeEvil.
** Everything about Princess Luna's guilt over Nightmare Moon now that we see [[AndIMustScream what she did to her subjects]] and how she plagued ponykind with horrible nightmare for ''1000 years''. This was all ''before'' ''[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E13DoPrincessesDreamOfMagicSheep Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?]]'' revealed that her guilt was far, ''far'' worse then anything fans predicted.
* The ending to the ''ComicBook/AdventureTimeGraphicNovels Volume 1: Playing With Fire'' has Finn and Flame Princess confessing their love towards one another, even sharing a kiss like they are a happy couple. Cue ''[[WesternAnimation/AdventureTime Frost & Fire]]'' where Finn TookALevelInJerkass and through his manipulations and some predictions, [[spoiler: Finn and Flame Princess broke up]] and Finn has since became estranged from her as a result.
* Issue #7 of ''ComicBook/PaperGirls'' (published in July 2016, just months before the US Presidential Election that year) features a discussion as to whether or not UsefulNotes/HillaryClinton -- a woman -- could be elected president in modern-day America. Flash forward to November... she wasn't elected.
* Part of Creator/ChaosComics character Chastity's backstory was being molested as a child by her father. Justiniano, the artist for ''Theatre of Pain'', the miniseries that detailed her backstory, was arrested for possession of child pornography.
* ''ComicBook/BatmanAndCaptainAmerica'' has an famous moment where the ComicBook/TheJoker terminates his alliance with the ComicBook/RedSkull upon learning the Skull wasn't faking being a Nazi (the trope image of EvenEvilHasStandards). [[spoiler:Naturally, after the Skull caused a CosmicRetcon to turn Steve into everything he's sworn to fought against in ''ComicBook/CaptainAmericaSteveRogers'' and ''ComicBook/SecretEmpire'', fans took to pointing out that, until the latter's end saw the return of the true Steve Rogers, Marvel's paragon had less morals that the man who [[ComicBook/TheKillingJoke crippled Barbara Gordon, tortured Commissioner Gordon]], and killed [[ComicBook/ADeathInTheFamily Jason Todd]] and [[ComicBook/BatmanNoMansLand Sarah Essen]].]]
* ''ComicBook/StarTrekEarlyVoyages'': In "The Fallen, Part One", which was published in 1997, the World Trade Center can be prominently seen in the UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity skyline in 2254.
* The first ''Anime/{{Aggretsuko}}'' comic focuses on a strain of mutated flu specific to the company called the "C-Virus", spread by employees not taking sick days and turning them into green, shuffling zombies. This was February 2020...
* Speaking of COVID-19 and zombies, the Metal Virus arc of ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogIDW'' hit its lowest point storywise ([[spoiler:with almost the entire world having been converted into Zombots, including several main cast members like Shadow, Vanilla, Vector, and Tangle, The Restoration losing their spirits (especially Cream and Whisper), Eggman and Starline losing control of the Zombots, Sonic beginning to slowly lose his ability to fight off his infection, and The Deadly Six taking control of the Zombots and wreaking further havoc upon the world]]) as the pandemic started spreading around the world. In fact, the comic itself ended up being shelved for three months after IDW's distributor, Diamond Comic Distributors, temporarily stopped distributing new products due to the pandemic.
* ''ComicBook/{{Memetic}}'' is about a deadly meme spreading through social media and turning people into rage-filled psychos ready to kill each other. This is something that could never actually happen, right? Consider the spread of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QAnon [=QAnon=] conspiracy theory]], born as a joke (probably) in a 4Chan thread in 2017. It basically states that the world is in the clutch of a cabal of Satanist cannibal pedophiles who kidnap and torture kids to extract an elixir of long life, and UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump is the only one who can oppose them. It started as a fringe belief and in 2020 it became a full-blown cult, spreading through internet beyond the borders of the USA and all over the world, thanks to the effects of the real-life pandemic that forced almost the whole planet to stay inside their homes for months, and to the increasingly more polarized political landscape of the USA. Of course it did not cause the collapse of society in three days (as in the comic book), but some of its believers have been involved in crimes (murder included), the FBI listed its most extremist believers [[https://news.yahoo.com/fbi-documents-conspiracy-theories-terrorism-160000507.html as a potential domestic terrorism threat]], and there have been [[https://www.reddit.com/r/QAnonCasualties/ numerous cases]] of people being forced to cut ties with family members and lifelong friends after they have become akin to religious extremists after following [=QAnon=]-based social media pages.
* ''{{ComicBook/Asterix}}'': ''The Chariot Race'' (published in late 2017) features a Roman antagonist by the name of Coronavirus (even more awkward are the massive crowds of people chanting his name).

* A short story in the ''DC Universe Holiday Special '09'' features the character Deadman trying to talk Karen Keeny, the mother of Batman supervillain ComicBook/TheScarecrow, out of committing suicide. He succeeds...but nearly two years later the New 52 reboot would happen and Scarecrow's retconned backstory includes his mother [[DeathByOriginStory dying when he was very young]]. Meaning sadly, Deadman's efforts were for nothing since even when given a timeline where Karen did get to raise her child with Gerald, tragedy still strikes and Jonathan ''still'' becomes a supervillian!

* ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica #442'': Cap visits his friend Arnie Roth, who is on his deathbed. Arnie reminisces to Steve about an old radio show called "Radio/TheWhistler", whose voice actor was replaced in 1943, and according to Arn, it just didn't sound right anymore. He ponders whether it's really alright to just replace people like that. Despite what it sounds like, it's not really a TakeThat toward {{Legacy Character}}s - Arnie is dying and his words are meant to drive home AnAesop that people are irreplaceable. But it does become ironic when you remember that Cap himself would be replaced multiple times after UsefulNotes/The2000s - after a long history of never really having any successors past Steve.[[note]]Cap had somewhere around five replacements historically at this point in time, but they were all either meant to be temporary or introduced via {{Retcon}}.[[/note]]
* ''ComicBook/HulkGrey'': Leonard Samson is doubtful General Ross was truly as much of a GeneralRipper as he was in [[SelfServingMemory Bruce's telling]]. When Bruce simply tells him that Ross "was what he was", Leonard retorts with "[[IronicEcho Hulk is Hulk]]". Four years later, and these two phrases could be said to have [[ComicBook/RedHulk one and the same meaning]].
* In ''ComicBook/IncredibleHulk'' #434, Hulk is accosted by the Avengers while trying to peacefully watch Nick Fury's funeral. He had inadvertently caused his death, so he wasn't welcome there. When the ComicBook/ScarletWitch tells him so, he goes on a whole rant about his history of [[HeroWithBadPublicity being hunted down by the government]] and the fact that even though Scarlet Witch is an Avenger ''now'', she was a mutant terrorist working with ComicBook/{{Magneto}} back when ''he'' was an Avenger. He tells her [[NotSoDifferent it'd only take the slightest change for her to be in his position now]]. The Hulk was unambiguously heroic back then, and while he would [[ComicBook/WorldWarHulk occasionally]] [[ComicBook/ImmortalHulk turn against his fellow heroes again]] later down the line, the Scarlet Witch [[ComicBook/AvengersDisassembled was also no slouch]] [[ComicBook/HouseOfM in that regard]].
* In an issue of ''ComicBook/UncannyXMen'' from 1984, we get a flashback (-forward?) to ComicBook/RachelSummers' CrapsackWorld of her [[BadFuture Days of Future Past]], where it's revealed that among the other actions to happen in the war against the mutants, someone destroyed the World Trade Center with a bomb (one panel shows the Twin Towers in ruins). Unthinkable in 1986, but cringe-inducing after 1993 and absolutely eerie after 2001. Bear in mind that, if not for ComicBookTime, 2001 would likely be the ''actual year'' that the World Trade Center was destroyed in Rachel's timeline.
** Similarly, one issue of ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}'s own comic book featured an enemy flying a plane into him. While he was standing on top of the World Trade Center.
* After [[spoiler:Ozymandias]] detonates his [[spoiler:psychic squid]] in ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'', an airship can be seen crashed into the side of a New York skyscraper.

* More fun with 9/11 in the 1995 Marvel Comics tie-in novel ''ComicBook/SpiderMan: The Octopus Agenda'' by Creator/DianeDuane: the book's climax features Spidey's attempts to foil the plans of Doctor Octopus, who's planted a bomb in the World Trade Center.
** There was also the Spider-Man[=/=]''ComicBook/XForce'' crossover where {{the Juggernaut}} destroyed one of the twin towers in the course of his brawl with the heroes.
* Creator/StanLee wrote the one-shot ''Origins of Marvel Comics'' during UsefulNotes/TheSeventies, and stated he hoped his characters would serve as a remedy against a world "losing its legends, a world that has lost its heroes". In UsefulNotes/TheNewTens, Stan was among many old-guard Marvel writers and staffers to lose their life. Stan's comment that the world was losing its legends gains a whole new meaning.
* ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'':
** In ''ComicBook/ActionComics'' #275, Supergirl dreams that Superman never turned up and she lived her cousin's life. In ''ComicBook/ElseworldsFinestSupergirlAndBatgirl'', written 37 years after, Superman never turned up and Supergirl was the world's greatest hero... because [[spoiler:Lex Luthor found Kal-El's rocket and murdered the baby]].
** ''ComicBook/DemonSpawn'' stated that Kara had an internal death wish. It was written by Marv Wolfman, who fourteen years later wrote ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'' #7, where Supergirl made a HeroicSacrifice to save TheMultiverse.
** [[http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_pScx8BN4h3s/S_PJXGpxHGI/AAAAAAAAIYY/hesshogulz8/s1600/adv+383.jpg The cover]] of ''Adventure Comics'' #383 (1969) has Supergirl turned into a ghost and trapped in an alternate universe where no one knows she's alive... Flash-forward to the Post-Crisis universe where no one remembers Kara Zor-El ever existed and she's merely an invisible spirit (until the appearance of the Post-Crisis Supergirl).
* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':
** Quite a bit about ''ComicBook/OurWorldsAtWar'' after 9/11:
*** An issue sent Franchise/TheDCU into a panic when the [=LexCorp=] Towers (Metropolis' version of the Twin Towers) were shown to be in a state of near-total collapse after being hit by an alien spaceship. [[http://911blogger.com/node/19407 The day that comic was due to hit newsstands? September 12, 2001]]. DC assured retailers that they would be allowed a no-fault return for the issue, given the situation, and encouraged them to make use of it. Few, apparently, did.
*** It's worse than that the issue, taking place after a global invasion, had several pictures of buildings in ruins... Near the picture of the [=LexCorp=] building was one of the ACTUAL twin towers, with blast holes at roughly the SAME place as where the planes had hit in real life!
*** Additionally, Superman himself took to wearing a darker costume with a red and black version of the "S"-shield to mourn and honor the dead, and many people wore black after 9-11 in remembrance of the attacks.
* But topping them all would have to be ''ComicBook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns'' by Creator/FrankMiller. Published in 1986, the story involves [[spoiler:Two-Face plotting to blow up "The Twin Towers" in Gotham. Luckily, he's stopped by Batman.]] Shortly thereafter, [[spoiler:an electromagnetic pulse caused by the detonation of a powerful nuclear warhead in the western hemisphere knocks out all power to seemingly the entirety of America. A 747 then falls out of the sky and crashes into the Twin Towers, blowing them up and [[FromBadToWorse setting all of Gotham on fire]].]]

* ''ComicBook/VForVendetta'' features a pedophile priest. Already creepy at the time, it takes on a whole new layer of uncomfortableness with the Catholic child molestation scandals that have broken out since. There have been accusations for centuries, which probably inspired the character, but they really hit broad public awareness in TheNineties.
* The scenes in ''[[ComicBook/XMen Uncanny X-Men]]'' #101 where the space shuttle breaks up on re-entry and crashes in New York and the similar sequence from the 1990s' ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries'' was intended to be merely dramatic when they were created, but some find it difficult to watch them without thinking of the Columbia tragedy. The ''Spider-Man'' episode is the most similar to the real disaster, which makes it REALLY creepy.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Wonder Woman|1942}}'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]] issue 3 when Diana goes to track down and rescue Paula's daughter Gerta she discovers an entire barracks full of hungry children in torn clothes being held by the Nazis and declares that she'll rescue all the children from "the horrors of Nazi cruelty," but she never went back and freed anyone else from Nazi imprisonment after getting this group of kids out. The extent of this cruelty in the real world would only really become known the year after the story was published when the first major concentration camp came into the hands of the allies and the full horror of UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust was revealed to the world at large.
* One ComicBook/WonderWoman [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1987 Vol 2]] issue had a fake newspaper on its cover with headlines proclaiming Wonder Woman's death and referred to her as Princess Diana. Guess who died a week later.
* There's a late 70's issue of ''ComicBook/MarvelTwoInOne'' where the World Trade Center catches fire.
* The ComicBook/{{Batman}} storyline ''A Lonely Place of Dying'' has a scene where Two-Face almost decides to blow up the twin towers just to piss the Dark Knight off. This is made worse by Bruce Wayne simultaneously considering holding a massive charity event there to provoke him into attacking.

* On the penultimate pages of ''ComicBook/{{Transmetropolitan}}'', Spider Jerusalem puts a cigarette in his mouth for OneLastSmoke, draws a handgun, puts it under his chin, and it turns out to be a lighter. Sad part? Three years later, Spider's inspiration, Creator/HunterSThompson, did the exact same thing... [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_S._Thompson#Death except the gun was real.]]

* An in-universe example for the MarvelUniverse. One issue of the late 90s ComicBook/CaptainAmerica comic had Cap foiling a plot by a Skrull to impersonate him and cause widespread chaos in the United States. What does he say upon defeating the Skrull?:
-->'''Cap''': Next time, take over a planet without ''me'' on it.
** Cue 2008's Secret Invasion, in which the Skrulls do take over the planet without Cap on it, as he had been supposedly dead at the time. ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'' took it to a new level where [[spoiler: Captain America replaced Hank Pym as the Avenger abducted and replaced by a Skrull, which lead to him getting bad publicity lasting a bit after the invasion was thwarted upon the return of the real Cap when the impostor attempted to convince the populace of Earth publicly to surrender to the Skrulls]].
* In ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen'', mutants are more discriminated than ever before and can be held without a trial even if they didn't do anything wrong, and you can even legally kill them. At the time when it was written, it was meant to show how Comicbook/UltimateMarvel is different from Earth-616. And then the National Defense Authorization Act came.

* An in-universe one DC one: Issues #20-#21 of the New Teen Titans comic (May-June 1986). The Titans were (temporarily) mostly broken up after incidents involving or happening roughly around the time of ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths. Wonder Girl, who is left in charge with an empty nest, calls in Aqualad, a newly-minted Flash, a Hawk without Dove, Jason-Robin, and Speedy. At the request of King Faraday, they help to protect a peace conference which is being threatened by Cheshire. This was where it was discovered Speedy and Cheshire [[spoiler:had a child together]]. Issue #21 closes on some supposed to be heart-warming reconciliations between Terry Long and Wonder Girl and also Speedy and Cheshire, including him getting to hold his daughter for the first time. Also, Wally getting to explain his new role as The Flash to his hero-avoidant then-girlfriend Francis Kane. Now, look at these events through the lens of:
** Speedy and Wally West still apparently have strong feelings for [[spoiler:Wonder Girl, well after their teen romance fizzled]] according to later comics. Oh and Lian is killed when Prometheus destroys Star City and chops off Speedy's arm too.
** King Faraday [[spoiler:being the (possibly mind-controlled) villain, Gamemaster]].
** Wally-Flash [[spoiler:being erased from existence by Barry Allen as a result of Flashpoint, made worse by the fact that when fighting a deranged Reverse Flash (who had a breakdown and literally thought of himself as Barry Allen) cursing Wally and leaving him to die out of anger over how everyone loved Wally more as Flash and was furious at how fast he was forgotten]]
** Jason Todd being the voice of reason among his older, more experienced peers and [[spoiler: then not receiving a statue in the memorial hall upon his death for this and the work to free Raven as if they were embarrassed.]]
** Having Speedy, Wonder Girl, and Flash return to Cheshire, Terry Long, and Francis Kane with the idea that this is a relief to them. [[spoiler:All three of these couples later go nuclear, one of them literally.]]
** Having Hank Hall (Hawk) be a nearly-murderous bastard as a hero, when later [[spoiler:he becomes the JSA villain Extant, who slaughtered half of the team.]]
* Batman's origin story will now qualify as such. In most mediums, his parents were shot by Joe Chill outside of a movie theater (or in the case of ''Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy'', an opera theater). Let's just say there are roughly 7 times as many Martha and Thomas Waynes dead now after the showing of ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'', when the premiere at Aurora Colorado had a madman shooting and killing as many as 14 people as they were leaving the premiere.
** Similarly to the aforementioned scenes in ''ComicBook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns'' involving Gotham's Twin Tower, a scene in ''Returns'' featured a gunman shooting people at a movie theater.

* ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'' #111, 1973. Comicbook/{{Magneto}} had captured the X-Men and several Avengers, turning them into PeoplePuppets. Only 3 Avengers were still free, [[Comicbook/TheMightyThor Thor]], Comicbook/TheVision and Comicbook/BlackPanther. So sure about his [[IAmLegion strength in numbers]] over the Avengers, and with the Comicbook/ScarletWitch dancing under his control, he said [[http://www.collectededitions.com/marvel/mm/xmen/images/AVEN111002_col.jpg "But they are decimated, Piper - DECIMATED!"]] (bolded in the original). He would surely come to regret those words: in ComicBook/HouseOfM the Scarlet Witch, mad and with reality-warping powers, turned all mutants except 192 into normal people without powers, including Magneto. The name of the near-extinction of mutants? "Decimation".
** There's also the fact he had Wanda dancing for his amusement; given her choice of outfits and the way everyone used to react to her, this was probably for his own titillation. Bear in mind, a few years later, Magneto would discover that Wanda is, in fact, ''his [[{{Squick}} daughter]]''.[[note]]Until the comics made canon that she wasn't, which was originally something done in ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron''.[[/note]]
* Speaking of which, ''Comicbook/NewMutants'' #42 had a scene where Cannonball was told by his mother that his little brother Josh would "wither and die" if he ever had to leave Kentucky to attend the Xavier Institute like Cannonball did. Years later, Josh actually did end up attending the Xavier Institute, where he was KilledOffForReal in the aftermath of the aforementioned ''Decimation'' storyline.
* InUniverse example: The 2002 ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' storyline ''Death in the Family'' has a scene where Spidey walks in on the Green Goblin using dolls to re-create the death of Gwen Stacy ''Film/{{Spaceballs}}''-style while implying that Gwen was on the bridge because she was sexually attracted to Norman Osborn. Later, the 2004 storyline ''Past Sins'' revealed that Gwen did indeed sleep with Osborn before her death, resulting in twins Gabriel and Sarah.
* The Marvel Civil War was painfully cringe-worthy, to begin with. Now, let's just say that it starts with a disturbed individual attacking an elementary school in Connecticut and leave it at that.
* [[ComicBook/GreenLantern Hal Jordan]] has two examples: His fight with ([[RetCon what seemed to be]]) a crazed Barry Allen because of events from the storyline "ComicBook/TheReturnOfBarryAllen", where he attempts to reason with his EvilFormerFriend going through SanitySlippage and having become an evil psychopath. Hal's story would go through [[ComicBook/EmeraldTwilight much the same path]]. Then, in 2004, a younger Hal got to see his {{future|MeScaresMe}} and how he would go mad and [[ComicBook/ZeroHour reset the timeline to remake it to make everyone happy]], in ComicBook/JLAAvengers. In response to other heroes suffering because of the awful, awful things that would happen to them (or that they would perpetrate on others), Hal managed to find it in himself to insist they have a duty to that reality, because it's the one they got, and that playing god with it would be wrong, throwing shade at his future self. At this point, fans only wish the heads of DC would have listened to Hal. Not helped by how the point of Zero Hour was that a man with such a myopic viewpoint ([[MeaningfulName highlighted by Hal's adopting the moniker "Parallax"]]) who only cared about the past could not create a universe that benefited everyone.
* In the last issue of Creator/BrianKVaughan's run on ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'', the entire creative team wonders what will happen with the characters in the next ten years. One of the comments mentioned they'll probably be all dead. Near the team's tenth anniversary, two of the characters are in [[ComicBook/AvengersArena book dedicated solely to killing teenage superheroes]].
** And then came ''ComicBook/SecretWars2015'', where Earth-616 was destroyed, and so far, from the Runaways, only Nico and Molly have been confirmed to have survived.
** The arc that introduces Victor has Nico vowing to rip his damn heart out if it ever appears that he's going to become [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Victorious]]. [[ComicBook/TheVision2015 Fast forward to 2016]], where Victor is murdered by Virginia Vision, who rips his heart out after he accidentally kills her son. His last thought is that at least he never became Victorious.
*** And then the third issue of the new Runaways has [[spoiler:Chase accidentally activating Victorious during an attempt to revive Victor.]]
* The 1990-91 ''ComicBook/{{Foolkiller}}'' limited series climaxed during the summer of 1991 around the same time that Jeffrey Dahmer was arrested and his long killing spree revealed. Although readers knew who the Foolkiller was all the time, this is when the general public and his former friends and acquaintances learn of his identity on the news.

* In issue 24 of ComicBook/JusticeLeagueInternational, the amusing storyline was about getting Martian Manhunter to quit his addiction on Oreos. To do this, he separated the embodiment of those desires from his body which then jumped from member to member of the team to reveal their darkest desires in an amusing way. Then the craving embodiment lands on Maxwell Lord, who then proclaims that he wants everyone to do what he says all the time.... yeah. It kind of explains why he went off the deep end prior to ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis years before the storyline was even made.

* May 6-7, 2016 were not good days for [[spoiler:ComicBook/WarMachine]] in any medium. The former saw the release of ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'', which [[spoiler:saw him crippled following a stray blast from ComicBook/TheVision damaging his armor]] and the latter saw the release of the Free Comic Book Day special that kick starts ''ComicBook/CivilWarII'' [[spoiler:with his death by ComicBook/{{Thanos}} being what set things off.]]
* ''ComicBook/CataclysmTheUltimatesLastStand'' features the heroes of the ''ComicBook/UltimateMarvel'' universe trying to stop Galactus after he appeared in their universe following the events of ''ComicBook/AgeOfUltron'' and a plot point shows [[spoiler: ComicBook/ThrMaker seeing [[ComicBook/MisterFantastic his mainstream counterpart]]'s daughter, resolving to save the world.]] What caused the story to fall into this trope of the double whammy of [[spoiler:the Maker being a villain in ''ComicBook/JonathanHickmansAvengers'' (and revealed to have lied about reforming) and the events of the ''ComicBook/SecretWars2015'' tie-in ''ComicBook/UltimateEnd'', which would see the destruction of the Ultimate Universe, meaning the heroes only delayed the inevitable.]]
* A major subplot of ''ComicBook/DarkVictory'' was [[TheDon Carmine Falcone]]'s son, Mario, trying to reform the family and legitimize it. Several comics before ''ComicBook/{{New 52}}'' followed up on his fate after the miniseries and revealed that after his breakdown at the end, he became the new head of the Falcone family, becoming every bit the criminal his father and sister were -- and like them, he also met his end at the hands of Two-Face.
* The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_shooting_of_Dallas_police_officers Dallas sniper attack]] occurred while ''Nighthawk'' Vol. 2 was in the midst of a storyline involving a black psychotic who was killing whites for crimes against blacks. The second issue (released about two weeks before the shooting) ended with the murderer setting his sights on the police after hearing a newscast about a white officer who was found not guilty of killing an unarmed black youth.

* ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis'':
** All those stories from the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s in which the heroes use super-hypnosis and magic rings and so on to alter the villains' minds or remove knowledge of their secret identities from others read very differently given the revelations of this series. So does Doctor Light's time as an IneffectualSympatheticVillain.
** ''Justice League of America'' volume 1, #122 gets hit especially hard: it's a story that explains how the Leaguers decided to reveal their identities to one another, after Doctor Light uses "Amnesium" to scramble their knowledge of their alter egos, learn their secrets, and nearly kill them all. In the end, Light is mindwiped with the Amnesium to remove his ill-gotten knowledge. The story's title? "The Great Identity Crisis."
** An earlier event, the more nostalgic ''Silver Age'' series of "skip week" specials, also has a group of villains learning the Justice Leaguers' secrets... and in the end, Hawkman uses some Thanagarian technology to remove this knowledge from their minds, with the sanction of Superman and Batman. The whole thing is played as a ResetButton style happy ending. ''The Silver Age: Justice League'' chapter also contains a scene in which Doctor Light rejects Catwoman's advances, stating that he "has always been more interested in test tubes and Bunsen burners than the fairer sex."
** The whole reveal that [[spoiler:Dr. Light raped Sue, given that Creator/JeremyPiven, who voiced the Elongated Man in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Unlimited'', has been accused of sexual assault.]]

* ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan'':
** Back in the early [[TheNineties nineties]], one of the most famous songs by Italian band 883[[note]]that now, by the way, is no more since its lead singer is now pursuing a solo career[[/note]] was titled "Hanno Ucciso L'Uomo Ragno", which is Italian for ''"They Killed Spider-Man"''. [[TearJerker Fast-forward by twenty-years-or-so.]]
** In "Cats and Queens", the focus of MJ's story was her wanting to run away from home so she and Peter could be married, with him saying he'll always be there for her. Also in the same arc, Black Cat tells him he'll have seven years bad luck. This was in 2004...
*** Similarly, every time the subject of sex came up between Peter and MJ, they resolve to "wait until they're older".
** At July 2005's ''San Diego Comic Con'', in response to the question the [[ComicBook/SpiderMen Ultimate & 616 universes]] crossing over, Creator/JoeQuesada stated that he'd rather close down one universe than have them cross over because it meant they were officially out of ideas. Fast forward to 2012, and Marvel announced that they will be having 616!Peter crossing over to the Ultimate universe to meet Miles. Then the 2015 ''ComicBook/{{Secret Wars|2015}}'' event came along and both worlds -- along with the rest of TheMultiverse -- get destroyed. At the end of the event, [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Mr. Fantastic]] starts rebuilding the multiverse, but for two years, it appeared that the Ultimate Universe was gone for good (with Ultimate characters such as Miles and the Maker now living in the Marvel Universe)... until ''Spider-Men II'' revealed that the Ultimate Universe is back as well.
** Every discussion anyone ever has about Peter's future now that we know his [[KilledOffForReal eventual fate]]. And then shot to pieces after the reveal that [[spoiler:he came back to life.]]
** Early in 2003, the original Venom arc was published, which revealed in the Ultimate universe, the Venom suit was originally developed as a means to cure cancer. Fall of the same year, Paul Jenkins's first arc on the second volume of ''Spectacular Spider-Man'' revealed that one of the reasons the Venom symbiote was drawn to the mainstream Eddie was because he had cancer. Though in 2019, ''ComicBook/DonnyCatesVenom'', this was mitigated by the reveal that the symbiote had been gaslighting Eddie into thinking he had cancer and screwing with his body chemistry so Eddie wouldn't leave it.
* A 1994 PublicServiceAnnouncement comic, ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica Goes to War Against Drugs'', was an {{Anvilicious}} anti-drug story involving villains who [[DoNotDoThisCoolThing got their powers from drugs]] and an [[SpaceWhaleAesop alien plot]] to conquer Earth by getting its populace addicted to drugs. The story's writer, George Caragonne, later became addicted to cocaine and committed suicide.
* During ''ComicBook/HeroesReborn'', an LMD of ComicBook/NickFury controlled by the Sons of the Serpents told a series of lies to ComicBook/CaptainAmerica and UsefulNotes/BillClinton that said the government originally put Steve in cyrogenic suspension because he'd objected to the UsefulNotes/AtomicBombingsOfHiroshimaAndNagasaki and in the decades since before the "present day", would revive Steve and brainwash him to serve in UsefulNotes/TheKoreanWar and UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar only to put him back on ice when the brainwashing started to wear off. "Ice", a story so reviled, it was [[CanonDiscontinuity it was stricken from canon]], attempted to retcon that Steve in the main Marvel Universe was really put on ice by the government for objecting to the atomic bombs and his memories of a fight with Heinrich Zemo were falsified, and ComicBook/BuckyBarnes's [[ComicBook/CaptainAmericaWinterSoldier return]] revealed that the Soviet Union got ahold of Bucky and subjected him to brainwashing, cyrogenically freezing him and thawing him out to carry out missions for them.
* ''ComicBook/FatalAttractions'' saw ComicBook/ProfessorX mindwipe ComicBook/{{Magneto}} is retailiation for ComicBook/{{Magneto}} ripping out ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}'s adamantium--which is also the moment ComicBook/{{Onslaught}} was born, at Magneto's dark side lashed out and attached itself to Xavier's.
* In the ''Elseworld'' trilogy ''ComicBook/BatmanVampire'', the second book sees were-cat Selina Kyle sacrifice herself to save the now-vampire Batman from a wooden crossbow bolt fired by the Joker. Not only does her loss deprive Batman of the only person who could help him control his ever-growing thirst for blood, but the third novel in the trilogy reveals that staking on its own doesn't kill vampires for good; if Selina had let the Joker shoot, Batman, she could have taken out the Joker, removed the arrow from Batman's heart, and everything would have been fine.

* A driving force of ComicBook/NickFury's actions in the ''ComicBook/FuryMAX'' miniseries is the fact that he has run out of wars to fight and must scrounge for armed conflict (like being loaned out to the DEA to bring down drug manufacturers). He is desperate to have some sort of battle to fight to escape from his crummy domestic life. The first issue came out in November 2001 but it was clearly written before 9/11. Within a few months Fury would have his war.
* ''ComicBook/SpiderManLifeStory'' features a double whammy of this. In issue #2, set in UsefulNotes/TheSeventies, we learn that ComicBook/DoctorOctopus had a heart attack, but he survived and reformed, marrying Aunt May. Then comes Issue #4, set in TheNineties, where it’s revealed that not only did Aunt May die, but she divorced from Doc Ock, causing him to become a supervillain once again, and when trying to kill Peter, the elderly ComicBook/NormanOsborn suffers a ''fatal'' heart attack.
* ''Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica''
** ''ComicBook/GrantMorrisonsJLA''
*** Towards the end, Batman kicks Huntress off the JLA when he stops her from killing Prometheus. Given what happens in ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueCryForJustice'', perhaps Bruce should've let Helena do the then-still dead Oliver Queen, Roy and Lian Harper, and Stay City a favor by offing Prometheus.
*** The first arc ended with the White Martians getting mindwiped into thinking they're normal humans with no pushback by the League or readers--nearly seven years before ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis'' raised the ethical questions of this and shown many in the League to be strongly against this.
** ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueElite''
*** In JLA #90, Manitou Raven and his wife Dawn have a tender moment, Raven asking his wife if she regrets coming to the future with him; Dawn assures him that she loves the future and has no regrets coming with him. Wonder Woman and Faith comment on the scene, with Faith saying that she must really love him for following him to the future. Then in ''Justice League Elite'' their marriage starts to fall apart, because of Raven's attention to work and the trials of the "Stony Path" keeping him from spending time with Dawn. Dawn becomes close with Green Arrow and eventually starts an affair with him. Raven was angered, of course, but was too consumed by his work to confront her, while Dawn eventually regretted the affair and betraying Raven. But before the couple could truly reconcile, Raven died while taking the brunt of a bomb blast, leaving Dawn devastated.
*** A more bitter one, when Green Arrow and Dawn slowly grow closer before their affair. Dawn defends her relationship with Raven, saying that one day he'll save Green Arrow's life. Manitou Raven does save Green Arrow's life, by sacrificing his own, with him knowing about Green Arrow and Dawn's affair. Dawn was devastated by Raven's death and learning that he knew about the affair.
** ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueInternational''
*** In their very first scene, the natives of the Kooey Kooey Kooey island are complaining that offering it for a new JL embassy was a massively bad idea. Fast forward to the grand finale of Giffen's run, [[spoiler:where Dreamslayer kills them all]].
*** From the same story: Booster jokingly tells the Beetle that he cannot wait to get back to New York so Max Lord can put a bullet between his eyes. Cue to [[ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis Countdown to Infinite Crisis]], where [[spoiler: Max Lord shoots the Blue Beetle in the head.]]
** ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmericaTowerOfBabel'' was lucky enough to have the Justice League members rescued on time, because ''ComicBook/DarkNightsMetal'' provides a scenario where an alternate universe Batman killed all members of the Justice League after being Jokerized by a purified version of the Joker toxin, essentially giving birth to the Batman Who Laughs.
** ''ComicBook/JusticeLordsBeyond'': In "A Better World", the episode starts with Lord Superman, Lord Batman, and Lady Wonder Woman in the opening scene where they take down President Luthor. [[spoiler: Wonder Woman kills Batman, and she in turn is killed by her League counterpart. Superman is banished to the Phantom Zone.]]
* ''ComicBook/ZeroHour'':
** In a case of OlderThanTheyThink, the alternate Batgirl seen throughout came from a world where the Joker killed Commissioner Gordon rather than [[ComicBook/TheKillingJoke cripple her]]--and where she and Bruce were lovers. Not only would ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' and [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheKillingJoke the animated version of]] ''[[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheKillingJoke The Killing Joke]]'' would make this a part of their ''main'' versions of Bruce and Barbara--but the Bruce of the Mainstream DC Universe's reaction to this news mirrored the fans' own shock and disgust.
** A second Batman-themed alternate reality would see Bruce killed, not Thomas and Martha--which would happen again with ''ComicBook/{{Flashpoint}}'', only with Thomas and Martha respectively becoming that universe's version of Batman and the Joker.
* Quite a bit of Steve Rogers's involvement in ''ComicBook/AvengersStandoff''. The "HesBack" moments of being restored to his young and powers are marred by the fact that Steve really wasn't as ''ComicBook/CaptainAmericaSteveRogers'' revealed that Kobik created a CosmicRetcon where Steve was a HYDRA sleeper agent, so the real Steve's "HesBack" moment really wouldn't be until the end of ''ComicBook/SecretEmpire''. Furthermore, Steve's call for heroes to stop fighting themselves is dampened by the fact that ''ComicBook/CivilWarII'' would see heroes fighting each other again -- and this time, with the HYDRA version of Steve fanning the flames of the conflict.
* ''ComicBook/SecretEmpire'' itself got hit with this as among HYDRA's crimes was the massacre of the entire population of Las Vegas. Just a month after the story's conclusion, Stephen Craig Paddock went on the deadliest shooting in U.S. history in Vegas, killing 95 people, then himself.

* ''ComicBook/DCRebirth:'' ''All-Star Batman #6'' has Batman stopping Mr. Freeze from unleashing a deadly bacterium from an ice core and disrupting society. He does this by carrying a virus in his heated suit, and the third-person narration talks about how bats are such good disease carriers because of the heat they generate. A few years later, a bat may have been responsible for a deadly virus escaping and disrupting society.
* ''ComicBook/NickSpencersCaptainAmerica'' and ''ComicBook/TheCrew'' had the Americops, a HateSink police force who brutalized minorities and heavy-handed approach to policing on behalf of the rich and powerful. Sam's arc revolved around his futile attempt to stop the violent aftermath of the Americops policing as Rage was arrested and beaten into a coma which sparked riots across the country. In May 2020, George Floyd was killed in public by policemen who knee hold him to death and the subsequent police reaction across the United States was a brutal crackdown where anyone supporting the protesters, were arrested, attacked, and killed. To add to harshness, Nick Spencer was a Cincinnati native who during his political career advocated for more police funding before writing the story arc.
* Issue 34 of ComicBook/CaptainMarVell's solo series marked the debut of Nitro and boasted that he'd be "the man who killed Captain Marvel". While Mar-Vell didn't die in that exact issue, he was exposed to a deadly gas as the result of fighting Nitro, thus starting the chain of events that ''would'' lead to his death, meaning the cover was right about [[HeroKiller Nitro]], but didn't specify ''[[ExactWords when]]'' Mar-Vell would die.
* One of the many technological/medical milestones of Wakanda was the cure for cancer, unfortunately, due to the greed of the world they refuse to release the cure outside their nation. On August 28, 2020, Creator/ChadwickBoseman, the actor for T'Challa passed away from colon cancer.
* Georgia Sivana's desire to be a beautiful teenage girl and her superpowered form consisting of a pair of ridiculously large breasts in a skimpy parody of Mary Marvel's costume becomes extremely uncomfortable to think about after ''[[ComicBook/TheMultiversity Thunderworld]]'' #1's artist Cameron Stewart was outed as a sexual predator who targeted and groomed younger women.
* In ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfJeanDeWolff'', the Kingpin expresses concern that the death of Reverend Bernard Finn, who is African-American, will lead to a chaotic New York. The Sin-Eater is ultimately revealed to be police detective Stan Carter. While his reasons for killing Finn were not racially motivated and Kingpin is more concerned about the fact that Finn was a priest, the death of a black man at the hands of a white cop causing civil unrest has become all too real in America as seen with the 1992 Los Angeles Riots and the more recent protests of the 2010s and 2020s over the deaths of African-Americans like Mike Brown, George Floyd and Breonna Taylor at the hands of police officers. The climax of Part Four of the story even features a riot outside the police station for Carter's head and some people even accuse the police of protecting Carter, an allegation often leveraged at real cops when their colleagues are involved in extrajudicial killings.

* ''ComicBook/TheButton'' ultimately didn't do ''much'' to develop the ongoing MythArc of the ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'' era, with Jay Garrick and the Justice Society remaining exiled from reality and ultimately no serious resolution unfolds. This wouldn't be ''too'' much of an issue since the story was just meant to be a "stepping stone" of sorts, but ScheduleSlip and ExecutiveMeddling would subsequently prevent the myth arc from developing substantially, until finally resolution came from ''ComicBook/DoomsdayClock'', which came out ''long'' after the Rebirth era was considered over, and far too long after ''The Button''. At the time, what looked like hype for an upcoming grand return ended up instead being a tease for something that, three years later, ''still'' hasn't played out in full. The result of the long delay ended up making it appear Batman and Barry Allen discovered Jay Garrick's existence and his trapped state within the Speed Force, but instead of helping him like they indicated they would, [[UnintentionallyUnsympathetic they'd proceeded to focus on any other possibly distraction and leave him to his fate]].

** Similarly, one issue of Franchise/{{Wolverine}}'s own comic book featured an enemy flying a plane into him. While he was standing on top of the World Trade Center.

* A major subplot of ''ComicBook/DarkVictory'' was [[TheDon Carmine Falcone]]'s son, Mario, trying to reform the family and legitimize it. Several comics before ''ComicBook/{{New 52}}'' followed up on his fate after the miniseries and revealed that after his breakdown at the end, he became the new head of the Falcone family, becoming every bit the criminal his father and sister were.

* ''ComicBook/CataclysmTheUltimatesLastStand'' features the heroes of the ''ComicBook/UltimateMarvel'' universe trying to stop Galactus after he appeared in their universe following the events of ''ComicBook/AgeOfUltron'' and a plot point shows [[spoiler: Ultimate!Reed Richards seeing his mainstream counterpart's daughter, resolving to save the world.]] What caused the story to fall into this trope of the double whammy of [[spoiler: Ultimate!Reed being a villain in ''ComicBook/JonathanHickmansAvengers'' (and revealed to have lied about reforming) and the events of the ''ComicBook/SecretWars2015'' tie-in ''ComicBook/UltimateEnd'', which would see the destruction of the Ultimate Universe, meaning the heroes only delayed the inevitable.]]

** Similarly, one issue of ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}'s own comic book featured an enemy flying a plane into him. While he was standing on top of the World Trade Center.

* ''Franchise/GIJoe'': In an issue of the ''{{Creator/Marvel}}'' ''[[ComicBook/GIJoeARealAmericanHeroMarvel series]]'' the Joes go against a Middle-Eastern dictator that commanded an army of radical zealots and was backed by a Terror group. Twenty years later America went to war against several Middle-East countries ruled by dictators backed by zealots with ties to terrorist groups.

* There's a late 70's issue of Marvel Two-In-One where the World Trade Center catches fire.

* [[ComicBook/GreenLantern Hal Jordan]] has two examples: His fight with ([[RetCon what seemed to be]]) a crazed Barry Allen because of events from the storyline "ComicBook/TheReturnOfBarryAllen", where he attempts to reason with his EvilFormerFriend going through SanitySlippage and having become an evil psychopath. Hal's story would go through [[ComicBook/EmeraldTwilight much the same path]]. Then, in 2004, a younger Hal got to see his {{future|MeScaresMe}} and how he would go mad and [[ComicBook/ZeroHour reset the timeline to remake it to make everyone happy]], in ComicBook/JLAAvengers. In response to other heroes suffering DarknessInducedAudienceApathy because of the awful, awful things that would happen to them (or that they would perpetrate on others), Hal managed to find it in himself to insist they have a duty to that reality, because it's the one they got, and that playing god with it would be wrong, throwing shade at his future self. At this point, fans only wish the heads of DC would have listened to Hal. Not helped by how the point of Zero Hour was that a man with such a myopic viewpoint ([[MeaningfulName highlighted by Hal's adopting the moniker "Parallax"]]) who only cared about the past could not create a universe that benefited everyone.