History Main / CerebusRetCon

** The film hilariously implies that the Adominable Snowman was banished in ''Monsters Inc.'' merely for mail tampering. In ''WesternAnimation/MonstersAtWork'', it's revealed Abominable was actually banished for discovering a letter implicating Waternoose in the scream extractor plot, and Waternoose [[HeKnowsTooMuch didn't want him spilling the beans to anyone]].

** Similarly, we have Saul's freak-out during Jesse and Walt's plan to scare him in Saul's introductory episode, "Better Call Saul"; he screams in fear of someone named "Don Lalo" and tries to blame "Ignacio," which will stay as a hilarious NoodleIncident until the episode "Point and Shoot," where the circumstances will be revealed and Saul's fear of Lalo becomes very understandable.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderVerse'' featured a bagel being used during Miles and Peter B. Parker as part of their escape from Alchemax; which was played comedically... until the sequel ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManAcrossTheSpiderVerse'' revealed that this indirectly led to the creation of the Spot and his subsequent attempts to ruin Spider-Man's life.

* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:
** In ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'', Tony's flight through the Chitauri wormhole at the climax of the movie is just a good old fashioned fist-pumping action climax, and his resultant brush with death [[LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt (which he obviously survives)]] is PlayedForLaughs, with Tony absentmindedly rambling about going to get shawarma immediately upon waking up. But then ''Film/IronMan3'' reveals that he actually got PTSD from the experience, and a minor plot point in the film involves him struggling to cope with anxiety attacks following the battle in New York. Furthermore, his brief foray into outer space, as well as seeing the gargantuan Chitauri army there, instills in him the conviction that the biggest threats to Earth are those from alien invaders. His quest to preemptively combat these threats results in him creating [[Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron Ultron]], supporting the Sokovia Accords, and ultimately breaking up the Avengers, thus rendering Earth ''more'' vulnerable to the exact dangers he was trying to protect against.
** ''Film/IronMan2'':
*** Senator Stern was more of a comedic pain-in-the-ass than an actual threat, and his attempts to confiscate Tony's armor never really panned out. Then in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'', we find out [[spoiler:Stern is a high-ranking agent of HYDRA, and was likely trying to take Stark's armor so that the organization could mass-produce their own versions]].
*** Similarly, the World Security Council played CommanderContrarian in ''The Avengers'', pushing Fury to use Tesseract weaponry instead of trying to assemble a RagtagBunchOfMisfits. The councilman leading this charge later returned in ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' as, like Senator Stern, a [[spoiler:leading member of HYDRA, adding context to why he wanted high-powered weaponry so badly]].
** This is the whole point of the Sokovia Accords plot in ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar''. It's shown that the Avengers' heroic deeds in the past movies have caused untold amounts of collateral damage, and the main villain of the movie [[spoiler:is a man whose wife and son were crushed to death by falling buildings during the final battle in ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'']]. To hammer this point home, footage of Comicbook/TheIncredibleHulk fighting the Chitauri from ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' is shown, and it's revealed that he accidentally knocked debris onto a crowd of screaming civilians. To make it worse, ''Age of Ultron'' made it a specific point to show that the Avengers were doing everything they could to keep civilians out of the line of fire, and the implication was that they had essentially succeeded until ''Civil War'' showed otherwise.
** In the ''Film/IronMan'' movies (especially ''2''), Tony suffers from unresolved issues due to his parents' death in a car accident when he was young. ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'' puts a darker spin on it by dropping a heavy hint that their deaths were [[spoiler:actually a HYDRA assassination]], though this information is seen by Steve and Natasha, not Tony. ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'' takes it further, as not only is the hint confirmed and revealed to Tony, but it adds the detail that [[spoiler:Steve's brainwashed friend Bucky carried out the hit]]. Tony is furious that [[spoiler:Steve had kept this from him for two years and is now protecting his parents' killer]].
** ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2014'' has Yondu remark that Peter Quill's father was a "jackass" when one of the Ravagers laments they didn't deliver Quill to him. Come ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2'', [[spoiler: Yondu is proven right when Quill meets his biological father Ego the Living Planet, who wants to eliminate all life in the universe by replacing it with extensions of his Celestial self. Ego had even killed hundreds of his own children after they were delivered to him by Yondu and didn't have his Celestial gene. Yondu even dies trying to save Peter, meaning that he truly became Quill's father-figure after he was abducted. It also has the effect of taking the RunningGag of Yondu going soft and making it so he was fiercely protective of Peter and helped him learn to survive on his own]].
** The running gag in the series of Rocket disliking being called a raccoon or mistaken for other animals has taken on a much darker meaning after ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol3''. [[spoiler: The experiments done by the High Evolutionary to create him made it so he wasn't just resentful of his identity, but deliberately repressing the painful memories of his creation.]]
** At the start of ''Film/{{Thor}}'', Odin banished Thor and stripped him of his power after Thor nearly started a war. ''Film/ThorRagnarok'' shows that Odin [[spoiler:had to imprison Hela after she grew out of control in her desire for conquest. Meaning now Odin's banishing of Thor was to stop Thor from becoming a monster like Hela, not just trying to teach Thor humility.]]
** In ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'', Tony nicknaming his holographic therapy machine [[FunWithAcronyms B.A.R.F.]] is treated as an offhand joke. In ''Film/SpiderManFarFromHome'', we see that its inventor [[spoiler: Quentin Beck]] was outraged that Stark ridiculed his life's work with such a demeaning nickname. [[spoiler: This was the catalyst that led to Beck becoming a supervillain, and endangering thousands of lives, to make himself look like a hero. Though it's obvious that he was already mentally unstable and Tony would have taken him a lot more seriously than he probably imagined]].
*** Which is why this trope also applies '''in-universe'''. Beck remembers people laughing at the name, but in Civil War, absolutely ''nobody'' laughed. Beck also mentally edits out Tony saying it needs a better name, [[PaintingTheMedium represented by a jump in the footage]].

* In ''Film/SupermanII'', Zod's [[TheDragon Dragon]] Non was a [[TheSpeechless silent]] [[DumbMuscle brute]] upon whom Jor-El looked with contempt. This characterization carried over to the comics... and then it was revealed Non was once a close friend of Jor-El's until he was abducted and [[MindRape lobotomized]].

* In ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'', even when the relatively light-hearted first season took a turn for the dark about three quarters through the season [[note]]In the wake of ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'' and the revelation that SHIELD had been infiltrated by HYDRA since day one[[/note]], it still had a few comedic moments. One of these was the RunningGag that it was obvious to everyone around [[BigBad The Clairvoyant]] that he had gone insane from the alien blood used to treat his failing cybernetic body (well, PlayedForDrama with Ward and Reina, PlayedForLaughs with everyone else). Come the second season, which has a much more serious tone than the first, Coulson's biggest fear is that he too might go crazy since he was revived by that same blood, and this is played deadly serious.
** Also in Season 1, every time Coulson was asked about Tahiti, the place he recovered after being wounded by Loki in ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'', he'd always say "It's a magical place," until even he started noticing it. It's after he goes through a memory machine that he realizes the awful truth: that he truly did die and that he was brought back to life against his will.

** Sheldon has a habit of knocking on a door three times before he enters a room. This stays funny until "The Hot Tub Comtamination", where he tells Penny that he does this so that the people on the other side could get dressed in case they were doing amorous activities. This is due to a time when he came home early as a teen during Spring Break and [[PrimalScene walked in on his father having sex]] with someone else behind his mother's back. [[note]] An episode of ''Series/YoungSheldon'' actually showed the event in question, and revealed it was actually MetaphoricallyTrue:Instead of it taking place during Spring Break, it is shown that Mary (Sheldon's mom) had just come back from Germany and was doing some role playing for her husband George. Sheldon walked in on them, but didn't recognize his mom (since she was wearing a wig and speaking in a German accent) and was so traumatized he never talked to his dad about it, so that's what he thought actually happened. It is also played more comically in the episode. [[/note]]

* In the original ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'', Po having [[ObliviousAdoption a goose for a dad]] was repeatedly PlayedForLaughs, with the issue not being touched upon at all aside from a slight tease during their last scene together. In ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda2'', the issue ''is'' touched upon, and it turns out that Po not only has a DarkAndTroubledPast, but that the reason Mr. Ping never brought it up before is that he was afraid his son would leave him to find his real family.

** Sheldon has a habit of knocking on a door three times before he enters a room. This stays funny until "The Hot Tub Comtamination", where he tells Penny that he does this so that the people on the other side could get dressed in case they were doing amorous activities. This is due to a time when he came home early as a teen and [[PrimalScene walked in on his father having sex]] with someone else behind his mother's back. [[note]] An episode of ''Series/YoungSheldon'' actually showed the event in question, and revealed it was actually MetaphoricallyTrue: Mary (Sheldon's mom) had just come back from Germany and was doing some role playing for her husband George. Sheldon walked in on them, but didn't recognize his mom (since she was wearing a wig and speaking in a German accent) and was so traumatized he never talked to his dad about it, so that's what he thought actually happened. [[/note]]

** Sheldon has a habit of knocking on a door three times before he enters a room. This stays funny until "The Hot Tub Comtamination", where he tells Penny that he does this so that the people on the other side could get dressed in case they were doing amorous activities. This is due to a time when he came home early as a teen and [[PrimalScene walked in on his father having sex]] with someone else behind his mother's back.

* ''Franchise/JurassicPark''
** When the ''Spinosaurus'' first appeared in ''Film/JurassicParkIII'', it was thought of as just another one of [=InGen=]'s cloned dinosaurs that went loose after the island's breeding facilities were abandoned, deadlier yes, but still a normal dinosaur (relatively speaking). However, the Masrani Global website of ''Film/JurassicWorld'' implies it to be one of the hybrid projects that Dr. Wu created in cooperation with Hoskins. Specifically, hybrids that are designed to be much more powerful and intelligent than normal dinosaurs. This was done to explain the discrepancies between the ''Spinosaurus'' in the movie compared to real-life spinosaurs, [[ScienceMarchesOn which have been found to be considerably different from the animal in the movie since its release]], and probably why it goes through so much trouble in hunting the humans and why that poor ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' gets killed so easily.

** In ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'', Tony's flight through the Chitauri wormhole at the climax of the movie is just a good old fashioned fist-pumping action climax, and his resultant brush with death [[LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt (which he obviously survives)]] is PlayedForLaughs, with Tony absentmindedly rambling about going to get shawarma immediately upon waking up. But then ''Film/IronMan3'' reveals that he actually got PTSD from the experience, and a minor plot point in the film involves him struggling to cope with anxiety attacks following the battle in New York.
*** Furthermore, his brief foray into outer space, as well as seeing the gargantuan Chitauri army there, instills in him the conviction that the biggest threats to Earth are those from alien invaders. His quest to preemptively combat these threats results in him creating [[Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron Ultron]], supporting the Sokovia Accords, and ultimately breaking up the Avengers, thus rendering Earth ''more'' vulnerable to the exact dangers he was trying to protect against.
** Senator Stern from ''Film/IronMan2'' was more of a comedic pain-in-the-ass than an actual threat, and his attempts to confiscate Tony's armor never really panned out. Then in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'', we find out [[spoiler:Stern is a high-ranking agent of HYDRA, and was likely trying to take Stark's armor so that the organization could mass-produce their own versions]].

*** And let us not forget the Council's directive to "contain the invasion" by '''dropping a nuke on New York'''...

* In the original ''WesternAnimation/IceAge1'', Sid being constantly abandoned by his family was a joke at his expense over how obnoxious the sloth is and was treated as an amusing case of HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood. ''[[WesternAnimation/IceAgeDawnOfTheDinosaurs Dawn of the Dinosaurs]]'' and ''[[WesternAnimation/IceAgeContinentalDrift Continental Drift]]'' makes empashis on how much this has truly affected the Sloth, leaving him [[SadClown with major abandonment issues and the fear the Herd are gonna advance with their lives without him]], which starts to shine when Diego decides to leave.

** [[AmusingAlien The Worm Guys]] are always seen [[MustHaveCaffeine drinking coffee in MIB's kitchen]]. In [[WesternAnimation/MenInBlack the animated series]], it's explained that coffee is a sacred beverage on their homeworld which only royalty can drink. Kind of a downplayed example, in that it's still funny in a WorthlessYellowRocks kind of way; now if the Worm Guys noted on their planet that any non-royalty caught with coffee was subject to execution...!

** Duct tape used for healing started as an anachronistic joke about the shoestring budget of Nodwick's party. It got used more and more consistently to amazing effect, and other people were shown using it as an equivalent to healing potions. Eventually it's revealed that it was actually a powerful, but easily reproduced, magical invention by a great wizard. [[spoiler:Specifically, Countess Repugsive from before she became the Antipalidan Death Knight Lich Lord she is now]]

** Duct tape used for healing started as a joke about the shoestring budget Nodwick's party has. It got used more and more consistently to amazing effect, and other people were shown using it as an equivalent to healing potions. Eventually it's revealed that it was actually a powerful, but easily reproduced, magical invention by a great wizard. [[spoiler:Specifically, Countess Repugsive from before she became the Antipalidan Death Knight Lich Lord she is now]]

* The role of henchmen in ''ComicStrip/{{Nodwick}}'' -- though their inability to permanently die is still played for laughs in the later books, there's a good deal more attention paid to why things are that way.

-->-- '''Kenny''', on one of ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'''s [[TheyKilledKennyAgain most famous]] {{Running Gag}}s

*** The "Mirthful Messiahs" of Gamzee's FantasyCounterpartCulture {{Juggalo}} religion are assumed to be Insane Clown Posse. [[spoiler:Instead, they are [[TheDragon Doc Scratch]] and [[BigBad Lord English]]]].

* The titular character of ''WebAnimation/ChiknNuggit'' often does strange and unexplainable things. In earlier episodes, this was often PlayedForLaughs. After the introduction of [[CosmicHorrorReveal Bezel]], it's established that Chikn's strange abilities are [[spoiler:godly abilities]]. It's also established that Chikn's abilities could potentially [[spoiler:[[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt end the world as we know it]]]].