History AuthorsSavingThrow / ComicBooks

* ''ComicBook/InvaderZimOni'': One of the major fan complaints about the [[WesternAnimation/InvaderZim original show]] was the abuse and neglect that Dib constantly got from his sister and father. Creator/JhonenVasquez himself stated that he had come to regret this, so had the characters' personalities reworked for the comics. While Gaz is still aggressive towards her older brother, it's more in the vein of an AnnoyingYoungerSibling who still worries about his wellbeing, as opposed to taking delight in violently torturing him. As for their father, Professor Membrane, while he's still an absent workaholic, he now spends a lot more time personally interacting with his children and more clearly expresses his affection for them. Both of these characterizations would extend into the television film ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZimEnterTheFlorpus''.

* ''ComicBook/InvaderZimOni'': One of the major fan complaints about the [[WesternAnimation/InvaderZim original show]] was the abuse and neglect that Dib constantly got from his sister and father, respectfully. Creator/JhonenVasquez himself stated that he regretted this, so for the comics reworked the characters' personalities -- while Gaz is still aggressive towards Dib, it's more in the vein of an AnnoyingYoungerSibling who doesn't like but still cares about him (most notably in Issue 14, where she works hard to be nice to him so that [[ItMakesSenseInContext his head doesn't explode]], then hits him upside the head as soon as he's safe). As for Professor Membrane, while he's still not Father of the Year, he does spend a lot more time personally interacting with his children than he did in the show.

* [[ComicBook/TheTransformersMegaseries IDW's 2005 iteration of]] ''[[ComicBook/TheTransformersMegaseries Transformers]]'' featured an extremely controversial plot beat regarding Arcee, interpreting [[TheSmurfettePrinciple one of the few popular female Transformers of the time]] as not only a crazed berserker, but also formerly male, [[ForcedTransformation having been forcibly turned female]] by a MadScientist as part of a concept [[WatsonianVersusDoylist both in-universe and out]] to "introduce gender" to Cybertronians, with this unwilling GenderBender being the reason she's so angry and unstable. As years progressed and social mores towards (trans)gender norms became more nuanced, this beat received increasing criticism for both suggesting that crossing gender norms is a shameful punishment, and that [[MenAreGenericWomenAreSpecial women as a concept are inherently aberrant]]. Eventually, writers of the 2012 series ''ComicBook/TheTransformersRobotsInDisguise'' would take to addressing this story, especially Mairghread Scott, who [[https://news.tfw2005.com/2013/12/27/mairghread-scott-comments-on-idw-windblade-comic-178990 was a vocal critic of Simon Furman's story and preemptively announced their intent to correct its nastier implications]] -- the series [[{{Retcon}} retconned]] Arcee as having been insecure about her male identity ''before'' the change, and that among the torturous experimentation she went through, her sex change was both willing and consensual. Further writers in IDW's ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' canon have stepped away from the MenAreGenericWomenAreSpecial principle, with 2013's ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye'' famously introducing more female Cybertronians, including multiple transfeminine characters, with no fuss.

* After the third arc of ''ComicBook/RatQueens'' suffered TooBleakStoppedCaring that threatened the future of the series, creator Kurtis Wiebe came back with a fourth arc that ignored the most-hated elements and restored some fan goodwill. His Saving Throw came when the fifth arc revealed it was all an AlternateTimeline. Oh, and the hideously unpopular murder of Orc Dave was actually a doppelganger given away by Violet's knowledge of Dave's genitals.
* ''ComicBook/GravityFallsLostLegends'': One chapter was devoted to addressing fan criticism of Mabel's behavior in the show. While by no means hated, several of the show's fans were disappointed how Mabel's more selfish and insensitive moments were never addressed. The chapter "Don't Dimension It", which serves as an epilogue to "[[GrandFinale Weirdmageddon]]", has her finally acknowledging how detrimental her self-centered attitude is after witnessing similar behavior from all her alternate selves. The story even ends with Mabel properly apologizing to Dipper for the problems she's caused and even gifting him a new Pine Tree book.
* It seems the ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' post-finale comics were especially made to address some of the issues fans had with the animated series and its finale:
** ''ComicBook/AdventureTimeSeason11'''s second arc was not only this for the lackluster first arc which had nothing to do with the main plot, but also to Finn in general after many fans felt disappointment to his role as a secondary character and his lack of closure in the finale. The arc in question, which is solely focused on Finn, takes place after the humans arrive at the Land of Ooo, where he questions where he belongs: with his friends or his own species. The second arc has a heartwarming reunion between Finn and his mother, turns him back into a competent fighter again, gets rid of his pacifist ways from the last episodes, implies that he and Huntress Wizard are still a couple and gives him a decent closure, even though the ending is bittersweet. The only downside is that this arc is too short compared to the first and its events were going to lead up to the final arc, but Cartoon Network and BOOM! Studios cancelled the comic with six issues due to ExecutiveMeddling, leaving some unanswered questions still LeftHanging.
** ''ComicBook/AdventureTimeMarcyAndSimon'' is this to Simon, as the comic reverts his BittersweetEnding in the finale into a EarnYourHappyEnding where he and Betty are finally reunited in the end. Not only that, but Finn and his friends fight GOLB properly this time, who actually fights back instead of doing nothing like the finale, although he's still an AnticlimaxBoss in the end. It even has a new [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwHeYiEGujc song]] by series composer Tim Kiefer and Marceline's voice actress and the comic's writer Olivia Olson.
* ''ComicBook/InvaderZimOni'': One of the major fan complaints about the [[WesternAnimation/InvaderZim original show]] was the abuse and neglect that Dib constantly got from his sister and father, respectfully. Creator/JhonenVasquez himself stated that he regretted this, so for the comics reworked the characters' personalities -- while Gaz is still aggressive towards Dib, it's more in the vein of an AnnoyingYoungerSibling who doesn't like but still cares about him (most notably in Issue 14, where she works hard to be nice to him so that [[ItMakesSenseInContext his head doesn't explode]], then hits him upside the head as soon as he's safe). As for Professor Membrane, while he's still not Father of the Year, he does spend a lot more time personally interacting with his children than he did in the show.
* ''ComicBook/SonicX''
** Within the Archie comic line, many see the LighterAndSofter direction as this in relation to the main comic going through its biggest AudienceAlienatingEra. The main thing was that at the time, the main comic had devolved into LoveTriangle drama at least once an issue, and stories that had potential to be decent not living up to said potential, while the Sonic X comics, while not without their research faults, were closer to what people actually wanted out of a Sonic comic, with the action, adventure and humor expected out of the franchise at this point. Said AudienceAlienatingEra didn't last, however, and one could argue this paved the way for a better future for the main comic.
** Within the Sonic X franchise itself, the comic is noted for circumventing some of the flaws of its animated counterpart, namely by downplaying the formulaic storylines like making Eggman the center limelight near the end of the series for example, moderating Chris' role in favor of making Sonic and Tails the center limelight like they should have been in the first place since Chris is not the titular protagonist, undoing a lot of the Flanderization that befallen the later episodes of the anime like Amy's Tsundere traits, and adding even more MythologyGags to the games themselves. In addition in spite of using the English dub as basis, it generally has more witty, less Narm writing that's more consistent with the Japanese renditions.
* ''ComicBook/TheTransformersIDW'':
** Arcee's initial handling could be politely described as somewhere between "messy" and "a hellscape". Simon Furman, who's been doing Transformers writing since TheEighties, had never been a fan of female Cybertronians, generally defaulting to a sort of "[[MenAreGenericWomenAreSpecial technically gender-neutral but consistently coded male]]" approach (he's shown some improvement in more recent interviews, at least), and introduced Arcee with the idea that she was originally one such "normal" he/him Transformer who was turned female by a MadScientist she was now hunting with intent to painfully kill. The idea that Arcee's female status was some sort of traumatic thing imposed on her against her will to move her away from a sort of default male (which, regardless of Furman's protestations, is how things tended to read) understandably did not go down well with a noticeable chunk of the readership, which noted some ''significant'' UnfortunateImplications in its handling of both women and transgender issues. Once Furman had departed from the IDW continuity and the reins been handed to other writers, both femininity in Transformers in general and Arcee's own relationship to it were reevaluated: multiple [[LostColony colonies]] were rediscovered that still had female Cybertronians (one of whom, Windblade, got her own ongoing series), Arcee herself was established to have deliberately sought out gender-affirming surgery and been left AxCrazy by Jhiaxus's callously dismissive approach to aftercare, and other Cybertronian trans characters who ''weren't'' violently unstable killers were added, including Anode and Lug in ''Lost Light'' (which had the bonus effect of retroactively making the incidental female characters shown in crowd scenes in flashback make sense; they were all transgender).
** For a specific example, James Roberts listed Nautica, one of the main female characters in ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye'', as having an "estriol-positive" spark type, an obvious reference to oestrogen. Realising afterwards that the idea that gender was specifically due to your spark type had both sexist and transphobic overtones, he asked IDW to change it in the trade paperback, which lists her as "ferrum-positive" instead.
** Also from ''More than Meets the Eye'', fans were understandably upset at [[spoiler:Rewind's]] death due to the BuryYourGays overtones. Not only did more same-sex relationships pop up, including Cyclonus/Tailgate and Anode/Lug, [[spoiler:the ship ran into some messy quantum shenanigans that ended with a duplicate of Rewind joining the crew]].
** Events in ''ComicBook/TheTransformersTillAllAreOne'' had Windblade claim that at least some of Starscream's general amorality might be because he was [[BizarreAlienReproduction constructed cold]], a process that Windblade showed revulsion towards compared to the more "natural" forging process. Prior comics had portrayed "cold construction is inherently evil" as a flawed conclusion reached by an antagonist who was undergoing some ''heavy'' SanitySlippage, and had shown bots to be their own people regardless of origin, with cold constructed bots who were heroic and noble and forged bots who were depraved monsters (hi, Overlord!). The ''ComicBook/TheTransformersRobotsInDisguise'' successor series ''Optimus Prime'' eventually reaffirmed that Cybertronians were their own people regardless of how they were made, and went for the more straightforward conclusion that Starscream was generally amoral because he was ''[[TheStarscream Starscream]]''.

** Events in ''ComicBook/TheTransformersTillAllAreOne'' had Windblade claim that at least some of Starscream's general amorality might be because he was [[BizarreAlienReproduction constructed cold]], a process that Windblade showed revulsion towards compared to the more "natural" forging process. Prior comics had portrayed "cold construction is inherently evil" as a flawed conclusion reached by an antagonist who was undergoing some ''heavy'' SanitySlippage, and had shown bots to be their own people regardless of origin, with cold constructed bots who were heroic and noble and forged bots who were depraved monsters (hi, [[CompleteMonster Overlord!]]). The ''ComicBook/TheTransformersRobotsInDisguise'' successor series ''Optimus Prime'' eventually reaffirmed that Cybertronians were their own people regardless of how they were made, and went for the more straightforward conclusion that Starscream was generally amoral because he was ''[[TheStarscream Starscream]]''.

* AuthorsSavingThrow/MarvelUniverse

** Within the Archie comic line, many see the LighterAndSofter direction as this in relation to the main comic going through its biggest DorkAge. The main thing was that at the time, the main comic had devolved into LoveTriangle drama at least once an issue, and stories that had potential to be decent not living up to said potential, while the Sonic X comics, while not without their research faults, were closer to what people actually wanted out of a Sonic comic, with the action, adventure and humor expected out of the franchise at this point. Said DorkAge didn't last, however, and one could argue this paved the way for a better future for the main comic.

** Arcee's initial handling could be politely described as somewhere between "messy" and "a hellscape". Simon Furman, who's been doing Transformers writing since TheEighties, had never been a fan of female Cybertronians, generally defaulting to a sort of "[[MenAreGenericWomenAreSpecial technically gender-neutral but consistently coded male]]" approach (he's shown some improvement in more recent interviews, at least), and introduced Arcee with the idea that she was originally one such "normal" he/him Transformer who was turned female by a MadScientist she was now hunting with intent to painfully kill. The idea that Arcee's female status was some sort of traumatic thing imposed on her against her will to move her away from a sort of default male (which, regardless of Furman's protestations, is how things tended to read) understandably did not go down well with a noticeable chunk of the readership, which noted some ''significant'' UnfortunateImplications in its handling of both women and {{Transgender}} issues. Once Furman had departed from the IDW continuity and the reins been handed to other writers, both femininity in Transformers in general and Arcee's own relationship to it were reevaluated: multiple [[LostColony colonies]] were rediscovered that still had female Cybertronians (one of whom, Windblade, got her own ongoing series), Arcee herself was established to have deliberately sought out gender-affirming surgery and been left AxCrazy by Jhiaxus's callously dismissive approach to aftercare, and other Cybertronian trans characters who ''weren't'' violently unstable killers were added, including Anode and Lug in ''Lost Light'' (which had the bonus effect of retroactively making the incidental female characters shown in crowd scenes in flashback make sense; they were all transgender).

** Arcee's initial handling could be politely described as somewhere between "messy" and "a hellscape". Simon Furman, who's been doing Transformers writing since TheEighties, had never been a fan of female Cybertronians, generally defaulting to a sort of "[[MenAreGenericWomenAreSpecial technically gender-neutral but consistently coded male]]" approach (he's shown some improvement in more recent interviews, to be fair), and introduced Arcee with the idea that she was originally one such "normal" he/him Transformer who was turned female by a MadScientist she was now hunting with intent to painfully kill. The idea that Arcee's female status was some sort of traumatic thing imposed on her against her will to move her away from a sort of default male (which, regardless of Furman's protestations, is how things tended to read) understandably did not go down well with a noticeable chunk of the readership, which noted some ''significant'' UnfortunateImplications in its handling of both women and {{Transgender}} issues. Once Furman had departed from the IDW continuity and the reins been handed to other writers, both femininity in Transformers in general and Arcee's own relationship to it were reevaluated: multiple [[LostColony colonies]] were rediscovered that still had female Cybertronians (one of whom, Windblade, got her own ongoing series), Arcee herself was established to have deliberately sought out gender-affirming surgery and been left AxCrazy by Jhiaxus's callously dismissive approach to aftercare, and other Cybertronian trans characters who ''weren't'' violently unstable killers were added, including Anode and Lug in ''Lost Light'' (which had the bonus effect of retroactively making the incidental female characters shown in crowd scenes in flashback make sense; they were all transgender).

* ''ComicBook/PowerGirl'': When Power Girl's Atlantean origin was revealed, fan reaction was mostly negative. Therefore, issues of ''[[ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica JSA: Classified]]'' and ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'' subverted the reveal, and restored her origins as a Kryptonian and survivor of Earth-Two.
* ''Comicbook/SheHulk'':
** While Dan Slott was in charge, he made a saving throw for another comic title, ''ComicBook/ThePunisher''. A lot of controversy grew out of an issue where Frank poisoned and blew up a bar filled with two dozen C-List villains. Because of this, Dan used one ''She Hulk'' issue to reveal they survived and had their stomachs pumped.
** Sometimes saving throws need their own saving throws. After an X-Men comic revealed She-Hulk had slept with the Juggernaut while also serving as his defense attorney[[note]]providing the image source for DestructoNookie[[/note]], fan reaction was heavily negative, with readers considering this to be an out-of-character violation of legal ethics, and also [[{{Squick}} squicky]]. Throughout the run, Slott had She-Hulk deny it, while everyone [[SlutShaming accused her of being a whore]] whenever She-Hulk denied the charge. The pay-off to the whole thing was her pulling out an alternate universe tourist counterpart who claimed she was the one who slept with the Juggernaut.\\
\\
Fan reaction to this retcon was even more negative than the original, largely due to how widespread the retcon's effects could potentially be. The alternate She-Hulk was merely one of a large number of alternate heroes and villains who would come to the main Franchise/MarvelUniverse and act out of character, and thus, every character is potentially an imposter. The plotline was so widely reviled, that Peter David (who took over after Slott left the book) immediately rolled his own saving throw denouncing it as lies, and later writers of ''She-Hulk'' have had the character herself wondering if maybe she did sleep with Juggernaut after all.
* ''Franchise/SpiderMan''
** During ''Comicbook/TheCloneSaga'', it was stated that new character [[Comicbook/ScarletSpider Ben Reilly]] was the original Spider-Man and the character that had been in comics for the past 20 years was the clone, which wasn't even the original intention of the hook. This didn't sit well with fans and was taken out again; a hook had been added by the writer in case they needed to. The whole thing was really kind of a mess, so the story ultimately ended with Ben being killed off and Peter being revealed to have been the real Spider-Man all along.
** ''ComicBook/DeadNoMoreTheCloneConspiracy'' got flak for retconning that during the event of ''ComicBook/TheNightGwenStacyDied'', Gwen had regained consciousness enough to overhear the Green Goblin call Spider-Man "Peter" and spent her last moments hating Peter. Issue 4 sees [[spoiler:Peter confront the real Gwen and Gwen says that while she feels betrayed by what happened, she still loves Peter and understands why he's Spider-Man]].
** [[ComicBook/NickSpencersSpiderMan Nick Spencer's first issue]] of ''Amazing Spider-Man'' effectively fixed up a lot of the moments Dan Slott made during his later years of his run: Peter's caught up in a cheating scandal within Empire State University when [[ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan a paper Otto Octavius wrote while in Peter's body]] and when he's laughed at by Mary Jane and shunned by Aunt May, he ultimately realizes that, by keeping the diploma that Otto got in his body as well as using Parker Industries, he was betraying his With Great Power ComesGreatResponsibility credo because he never earned it himself. In fact, ''Peter knew the subject matter in the paper Otto wrote''.
*** Spencer would later go on to [[CharacterRerailment fix up]] three of Peter's well-known female friends. Mary Jane would have her personality reset, making her more than able to tolerate Peter's actions as Spider-Man and even going so far as to go back to dating him again, bolstered by people like Carlie Cooper and Jarvis reassuring her of her place. Carlie herself got a bit of Throwing as she admits that a lot of her problems with Peter weren't all on his shoulders and she and MJ team up to take down Lady Electro. While the Black Cat would start on her rerailing back during ''Venom Inc.'', it would be revealed that Felicia's FaceHeelTurn was more facilitated by the fact that the mind wipe way back during ''One More Day'' affected her way more than it should, leading Peter to reveal his identity to her and the two reconciling.
** In the late 1980s, long-time Spidey foe the Sandman finally got tired of a life of crime and reformed, even becoming a reserve member of the Avengers. In John Byrne's 1998 reboot of the book, Sandman suddenly revealed that he had been secretly faking reforming to get a pardon for his past crimes. Fans hated it both because the Sandman redemption arc was well-done and also because the character never had the smarts for such a long-term plan. Thus, a back-up story some issues later revealed the Sandman's old criminal partner the Wizard had tried to brainwash him to his side which just set Sandman back on a criminal lifestyle.
* ''Franchise/GreenLantern'':
** In the "Emerald Twilight" story event, Hal Jordan went AxCrazy after the [[DoomedHometown destruction of his home city]] and underwent a FaceHeelTurn as the villainous Parallax, destroying the Green Lantern Corps, killing his friend Kilowog and all of the Guardians (except for Ganthet) and ultimately died. Many fans were not happy with this, seeing it as a [[DroppedABridgeOnHim Bridge Drop]] in favor of trying to prop up the YoungerAndHipper [[ReplacementScrappy Kyle Rayner]] to generate interest in the Green Lantern title. When Creator/GeoffJohns took over as the writer, he brought Hal BackFromTheDead and {{retcon}}ned this into Parallax being an EldritchAbomination who was responsible for the Lanterns' weakness to yellow (providing what many felt was a satisfying answer to what was widely seen as an especially ridiculous WeaksauceWeakness) and slowly pulled Hal over to BrainwashedAndCrazy by feeding on and exploiting his grief over the destruction of Coast City. Many of the named characters Hal had killed were brought back to life, as well.
** Arisia was first introduced as a 13-year-old GL who had a sort of little sister/big brother dynamic with Hal. This eventually turned into Arisia harboring an unrequited PrecociousCrush on Hal, which later resulted in a story where she used her ring to [[PlotRelevantAgeUp age herself up]] so that she could enter a relationship with him. Fans found the whole thing kind of {{Squick}}y, so Johns later stated that due to her planet's prolonged orbit around its two suns, 13 years on her world were technically closer to 240 years on Earth.
** As [[SocietyMarchesOn society marched on]], fans began to raise eyebrows at Hal's origin, specifically the fact that the most fearless guy on the planet conveniently turned out to be a straight, white, male American. A story was eventually done that showed there were many Green Lantern candidates all throughout the globe, and Hal was chosen because he just happened to be the one closest to Abin Sur's crash site.
* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'':
** The [[ExecutiveMeddling editorially influenced]] attempt to recreate Cassandra Cain, the third Comicbook/{{Batgirl|2000}}, as Robin's erudite DarkActionGirl nemesis (explained by her returning to her supposed assassin roots) provoked rather justifiable complaints that the writer and editor involved hadn't bothered to read Batgirl's solo title. A few months later, we found out that Deathstroke [[BrainwashedAndCrazy was feeding her mind-control drugs the whole time]], and after Robin injected her with a counter-serum, she returned to her old self, though quite understandably keen on revenge against Slade.
** An issue of ''ComicBook/{{Robin|Series}}'' rectified the controversial issues of Stephanie Brown's death and Leslie Thompkins's moral downfall in the "War Games"/"War Crimes" arcs:
*** Stephanie's death was faked with Leslie's help to keep Black Mask away from her, and Leslie did '''not''', as had previously been claimed, deliberately kill Stephanie by keeping treatment from her in order to discourage Batman from taking on {{Kid Sidekick}}s. Batman suspected the truth, but to give Stephanie her privacy, he never shared his feelings with Robin.
*** An earlier comic had used her absence from the memorial case to justify the claim that Stephanie was never an official Robin. Once it was revealed that Batman suspected she was still alive, [[{{Retcon}} it became the real reason why]] he never added Stephanie's Robin suit to the memorial -- she wasn't dead, so she couldn't be a dead Robin.
** Probably in an attempt to please fans of the three popular Batgirls (Bette Kane is obscure so she never gets used), the final issue of Creator/GailSimone's ''Comicbook/{{Batgirl 2011}}'' series was a ''Futures End'' tie-in that featured Cass, Steph, and a new Batgirl -- Tiffany Fox -- working together alongside Barbara Gordon as the League of Batgirls. The issue was almost universally well-received.
** Mr. Freeze's revival during ''[[ComicBook/{{Knightfall}} Knightquest]]'' was due to this trope -- Freeze had been killed by the Joker during ''Robin II: The Joker's Wild'', putting an end to a seemingly lackluster villain. Then ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' came out and "Heart of Ice" suddenly made Freeze popular. When he came back, it was revealed he had a special device in his suit that put him in suspended animation to save his life.
** ComicBook/TwoFace was just a nihilistic goon who made decisions made on his coin flips and was driven to villainy by being scarred, and even when written as suffering Dissociative Identity Disorder (previously called Multiple Personality Disorder), there's still the matter of it being infamous for sociopaths faking it and/or doctors creating it. Recent depictions have taken steps to avoid this:
*** The ComicBook/PostCrisis comics, the Franchise/DCAnimatedUniverse and ''VideoGame/BatmanTheTelltaleSeries'' all depict Harvey as suffering from mental health issues long before he's disfigured (or given Creator/TelltaleGames's use of OptionalCharacterScene, Harv's issue will come to a head regardless on if he's disfigured or not).
*** ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' had his disfigurement, combined with the death of Rachel Dawes, end up as the capstone of a TraumaCongaLine Harvey went through that caused him to snap.
*** Have Harvey's morality be largely unaffected by either having Harvey's pre-disfigurment state undergo AdaptationalVillainy[=/=]AdaptationalJerkass (''WesternAnimation/BewareTheBatman'', ''Batman/Tarzan: Claws of the Catwoman'', and ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn2019'' had Harvey as a jackass at best long before he became Two-Face) or his post-disfigurement state undergo AdaptationalHeroism [[spoiler:(''ComicBook/DCComicsBombshells'' had Harv remain a good guy)]].
* The Toyman, a B-list ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' villain, was traditionally just a funny man in a striped suit who built dangerous giant toys to rob banks and give the Man of Steel a hard time, but in UsefulNotes/{{the Dark Age|OfComicBooks}} he was re-imagined as a bald child murderer in a black cloak. This didn't go over too well. Fast-forward to 2008, when it's revealed that the bald Toyman was a defective robot decoy created by the ''real'' Toyman, who is now once again a funny man in a striped suit, albeit a dangerously insane one, who will do anything (up to and including murder) to ''protect'' children. Funny thing - the DarkerAndEdgier Toyman actually started out as a ''parody'' of the trend; he adopted the new persona and ''modus operandi'' because he was left out of the latest line of Superman action figures for not being a dangerous enough villain.
* ''ComicBook/BlackPanther'': Creator/JackKirby's short-lived run ignored pretty much all of T'Challa's characterization and supporting cast from the far better-received ''Jungle Action'' series, and had him acting wildly OutOfCharacter to boot. This was eventually resolved in a storyline from ''Marvel Premiere'', where it was revealed that T'Challa had been suffering from severe LaserGuidedAmnesia for most of Kirby's run.
* An issue of ''Comicbook/NewAvengers'' drew some backlash over a scene where Comicbook/{{Hawkeye}} had sex with an amnesiac Comicbook/ScarletWitch, which some fans argued [[BedTrick constituted rape]]. ''Comicbook/TheChildrensCrusade'' {{retcon}}ned this out by revealing the Scarlet Witch Hawkeye slept with was ActuallyADoombot. Ironically, ''Hawkeye'' is now the one who had been [[BedTrick raped]].
* ''Comicbook/MonicaRambeau'': A number of fans criticized Greg Land's redesign of Monica for ''Comicbook/MightyAvengers2013'', especially black fans who disliked Monica suddenly having straight, European-style hair. Creator/AlEwing then wrote a scene where Monica was shown horrified after a young black girl said she wanted to straighten her hair to look like hers, and by the end of his run, he brought back Monica's dreads and BadassLongCoat.
* ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'':
** In 1986, DC killed off Kara Zor-El despite her being a popular character due to an editorial mandate declaring that Superman should be the last Kryptonian survivor. Fans didn't like this and DC tried and failed to replace Kara with other non-Kryptonian Supergirls with increasingly convoluted origins and backstories until they finally caved and reintroduced the character in 2004.
** Continuing in that vein, Kara was given an "updated" -- read: angrier and brattier -- personality and a new origin: her father Zor-El was evil and sent Kara to Earth to kill baby Kal-El. Fans hated it. Next writers mellowed her character down and retconned her backstory several times. ''ComicBook/SupermanBrainiac'' and ''[[ComicBook/Supergirl2005 Supergirl]]'' #35 {{hand wave}}d off all of the previous origins as dementia caused by Kryptonite poisoning and gave her back the classic [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] OriginStory.
* ''Comicbook/ThePunisher'': After many fans hated ''Comicbook/ThePunisherPurgatory'' turning Frank into [[EmpoweredBadassNormal a supernatural force with divine powers]], ''ComicBook/ThePunisherWelcomeBackFrank'' changed it back to Frank being a human, criminal-hunting anti-hero.
* ''Comicbook/TheAtom'':
** The one-shot, ''Titans: Villains For Hire'', managed to spark racial controversy when Ryan Choi, the second Atom, was killed (and his body carried around in a shoebox), and a new Atom series starring Ray Palmer (Choi's white predecessor) was launched. When DC announced its intent to reboot with the ComicBook/{{New 52}}, the Ryan Choi Atom was announced as joining the ''Franchise/{{Justice League|OfAmerica}}'', to much fan rejoicing.
** Fan reaction slowly started to sour, though, when the promised Ryan Choi, though name-dropped as alive, never appeared, while Ray was demoted to a supporting character in the short-lived ''Frankenstein: Agents of SHADE''. An Atom did join the League eventually, but she was a completely new character [[spoiler: and secretly an evil spy from another dimension]]. Fans grumbled about the lack of an [[spoiler: heroic]] Atom, so when DC's ''next'' reboot rolled around with ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'', Ryan Choi appeared in ''DC Rebirth #1'' heading out to rescue Ray Palmer. Fans rejoiced again. In addition, ''Comicbook/{{Convergence}}'' revealed the pre-Flashpoint Ryan to be OnlyMostlyDead, and saw him restored and reunited with the pre-Flashpoint Ray, even getting to punish his KarmaHoudini killer, Comicbook/{{Deathstroke}}.
* The controversial mini-series ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueCryForJustice'' saw Roy Harper having his arm ripped off and his daughter Lian being violently crushed to death. This led to an unpopular period where Roy relapsed and became addicted to heroin (which he had kicked in the 70s) and even became a member of Deathstroke's decidedly less-than-heroic Titans team. This whole series of events was retconned out by the 2011 DC relaunch, with Roy having both arms intact, no dead daughter tragedy, and his original heroin addiction replaced by alcoholism; however, when that proved unsatisfactory, the CrisisCrossover event ''ComicBook/{{Convergence}}'' resurrected Lian and had pre-Flashpoint Roy reunited with her and abandoning his dark days for good.
* ''Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'': There was an outcry over the death of Tasmanian Devil, one of the few openly-gay superheroes DC has, with fans calling writer James Robinson anti-gay (this is in the same storyline where Robinson killed off Lian). He later wrote a JLA story that ended in Tasmanian Devil's resurrection.
* In ''[[Comicbook/TheMightyThor Thor]]'' issue 301, Thor is visiting the various pantheons of Earth to gather energy to revive the Asgardians. All's well and good, until he gets to the [[Myth/HinduMythology Hindu gods]], and Shiva demands a fight in exchange for the energy, and thanks to some rules-screwing, Thor manages to defeat him. This did ''not'' sit very well with Hindu fans, as Shiva is the BigGood to more than a few Hindus and his power is said to be limitless, and besides that, it just didn't make much sense from a storytelling perspective, as Shiva was stated to be equal to Vishnu, who is stated to be equal to Odin; would changing the setting of the battle really make up for the power gap? Anyway, next time the Hindu gods showed up, it was revealed that Shiva was out that day and Indra, a far less powerful god, was filling in for him, as well as publishing the ''[[AllThereInTheManual Encyclopedia Mythologica]]'', which states that the limits of power possessed by Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva are completely unknown.
* A ''Comicbook/SpiderMan'' oneshot featured the apparent death of Sabra, an Israeli superheroine, by being ignominiously shot InTheBack by Crossbones. Fans were upset at the fact that Sabra is a {{Nigh Invulnerab|ility}}le powerhouse capable of trading punches with the Hulk, claiming a normal sniper round shouldn't have even hurt. The result was the writer having to go on Website/{{Twitter}} and confirm [[WordOfGod he'd just grazed her]]. Whether this was intended the entire time or an example of IMeantToDoThat is debatable, but she's since reappeared without a scratch on her.
* ''Comicbook/JourneyIntoMystery'': To appease fans of Norse Mythology, Kieron Gillen rewrote the character of Loki, reborn following his death in ''Comicbook/{{Siege}}''. The new Loki is a well meaning-if-occasionally-trouble-making GuileHero, much closer to the traditional mythology.
* Following ''ComicBook/AvengersVsXMen'', fans pointed out plot holes and FridgeLogic aspects of the story. Kieron Gillen wrote ''Consequences'', which explored many of the same issues fans had discussing, such as noting Wolverine being ultimately at fault for the whole incident and points out how he nearly destroyed the Earth by attempting to kill Hope Summers.
* The ''ComicBook/{{New 52}}'':
** ''ComicBook/HarleyQuinn'': DC announced an art contest based around drawing a page for the #0 issue that ended with a panel described in the script as a naked Harley about to commit an ElectrifiedBathtub BathSuicide. This sparked backlash over an apparent misogynistic eroticization of a woman's suicide, made worse by the fact that the script didn't include any of the dialogue, or indicate that it was meant to be contextualized as a fantasy sequence. When the issue was published, the final panel of the page showed a fully-clothed (well, as much as she ever is in the New 52) Harley RidingTheBomb instead.
** DC attempted to give a number of female characters that had their own comics more [[AdaptationalModesty modest]], [[BoringButPractical practical]] costumes as part of the reboot, annoying a number of fans in the process. ''Comicbook/PowerGirl'', ''Comicbook/{{Zatanna}}'', and ''Comicbook/BlackCanary'' characters all ditched their new suits in favor of costumes ''much'' closer to their classic designs.
** For the ''Comicbook/{{Huntress}}'' series, DC brought back the original, 70's-era Huntress, Helena Wayne, but in the process [[DroppedABridgeOnHim Dropped A Bridge On]] Helena Bertinelli, her successor. The fans divided in a BrokenBase over the incident. Then, following the events of ''Comicbook/ForeverEvil'', DC revealed that Helena Bertinelli was in fact alive, and that she'd be a major character in the ''Comicbook/{{Grayson}}'' series.
** The first issue of ''ComicBook/RedHoodAndTheOutlaws'' showed ComicBook/{{Starfire}} as amnesiac and unable to tell individual humans apart, which made the fact that she then slept with Roy Harper [[QuestionableConsent pretty iffy]]. Her personality and characterization were pretty much entirely erased, leaving her someone who just wanted to have sex with whoever was in front of her, not caring who because one human is the same as the next and she won't remember them anyway, and having no personality outside of that. There were three kinds of panels Starfire could appear in: (1) Fight scene, (2) Posing "sexily" if impossible poses are your thing, (3) saying "I'm bored, let's bang" to the nearest male. Pretty much nobody but the writer was even a little bit amused with an enduring, beloved, complex character who'd been reduced to a blow-up doll in [[{{Stripperiffic}} barely any clothing]] -- yes, [[UpToEleven even compared to her old costume]]. The head writer responded to the (many, many) complaints by saying that he wasn't going to spoil future developments to appease people, as if she wasn't supposed to be this way and it was going somewhere, but nothing like a "they found someone like Psycho Pirate screwed with her head and they punched him in the face a lot and got her personality back" storyline ever happened. Writers tried showing that this was [[ObfuscatingStupidity an act]] before it was ''further'' clarified that Roy believed that if he left, then she'd forget him. Fans reacted with {{Squick}} and it seemed DC really couldn't win with this one, so she has left the team entirely to get a LighterAndSofter solo series, as well as a more modest costume (more or less the same as ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' with hotpants instead of a skirt). Her familiar characterization returns, and nothing of her ''Outlaws'' days is mentioned.
** The events of ''ComicBook/BrightestDay'' and resultant ''Search for Swamp Thing'' attempted to roll back the changes Creator/AlanMoore made to the nature of ComicBook/SwampThing in the classic "Anatomy Lesson" (that Swamp Thing was really a plant clone of Alec Holland and the real Holland was indeed dead) and bring in a version of Len Wein's original concept (Holland actually did become Swamp Thing; in this case, via the Entity and Deadman). While an attempt at this, this is one time Johns's fondness to retro stuff backfired as Moore is viewed by many as [[MyRealDaddy Swamp Thing's real father]], so naturally fans didn't take kindly to this rollback and the ComicBook/New52 series undid this.
** After the complaints about the ''Comicbook/TeenTitans'' relaunch disrespecting the vast history of the franchise by establishing Tim Drake's team as the first ever group of Titans, the ''Comicbook/{{Titans Hunt|2015}}'' mini-series established that a prior team resembling the original [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] Teen Titans did indeed predate the modern group.
** ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'' was a Saving Throw for the New 52 era as a whole. The New 52 had alienated some longtime fans by embracing being DarkerAndEdgier and by wiping away beloved {{Legacy Character}}s and relationships in the interest of starting from scratch. ''Rebirth'' began to reintroduce several missing elements starting with [[spoiler: Wally West, the third Flash]], and openly stated that it intended to move toward the brighter side of the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism. The New 52 changes were even blamed on a RealityWarper, [[spoiler: Dr. Manhattan from ''Comicbook/{{Watchmen}}'']], metatextually saying that the problem was writers trying to mimic his comic of origin too much, as many others had in UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks.
* ''Comicbook/TheAvengers'' issue #200 became infamous for having ''Comicbook/MsMarvel'' character Carol Danvers suddenly pregnant, giving birth to a boy who grows up to adulthood within a day. The Avengers' reaction to her pregnancy is to throw her a baby shower. Identifying himself as Marcus, he explains how he {{Mind Control}}led her and [[{{Squick}} impregnated her with himself]] as a method of crossing dimensions. At the end of the issue, Marcus must return home and Carol decides to follow him. Her teammates see nothing wrong with this. The story was widely decried by fans and critics alike, infamously going down in history as "The Rape of Ms. Marvel", and even the writers and editorial staff at Marvel responsible for the story later went on record to denounce it as an OldShame and even officially apologized for having written and published it. Creator/ChrisClaremont would later write Carol's return, whereupon she gives a WhatTheHellHero speech to the Avengers for letting her go with Marcus when he was controlling her mind.
* Way back in the '70s, ''ComicBook/TheFalcon'', Sam Wilson, had a controversial retcon to his origin, where he was actually a pimp who went by the name "Snap" Wilson and that his down-to-earth family origin was something the Red Skull had tossed in while using the Cosmic Cube. J.M [=DeMatteis=] later tried to fix this by explaining that Sam Wilson was truly a good man from a loving family, and that "Snap" Wilson was actually a SplitPersonality created by the trauma of losing his parents. Rick Remender later took this a step further in ''All-New Captain America'', definitively stating that "Snap" Wilson never existed, and that the whole thing was just the Red Skull using the Cosmic Cube to warp Sam's memories.
* ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica'': When ComicBook/BuckyBarnes first appeared, he was clearly a child, but {{Kid Sidekick}}s gradually fell out of favor in the ensuing decades and he was largely regarded as a JokeCharacter whose death served as a source of angst for Steve Rogers. When Creator/EdBrubaker was hired for the title, he decided to bring Bucky BackFromTheDead and [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap rescued him from his Joke Character status]] by establishing that Bucky had been a teenager who grew up on an army base, and that prior to meeting Cap, he had undergone an intense military training regimen overseas, meaning that he was already a skilled soldier well before he entered the war. Brubaker is regarded as a MyRealDaddy when it comes to the character.
* The 2017 series of ''ComicBook/{{Nova}}'' restored Richard Rider to life after ''years'' of fans asking for his return. Additionally, the series has him mentoring his successor, Sam Alexander, appeasing the fans who had grown to like the new Nova during Rich's absence. The second issue also has a subplot showing that even though many of the heroes of Earth don't appreciate or understand Rich, his heroic exploits have made him a hero to the many aliens residing on Knowhere.
* A lot of ''ComicBook/AvengersForever'' was damage control for ''ComicBook/TheCrossing'' as it's revealed that Immortus had only manipulated Iron Man since ''ComicBook/OperationGalacticStorm'' to the Crossing and not from Kang's first battle with the Avengers, and that the Mantis who seemed to have made a FaceHeelTurn was really a Space Phantom. Likewise, ''ComicBook/HeroesReborn'', even earlier than ''Forever'', undid the mutation of the Wasp and brought back the original Tony Stark.
* ''ComicBook/TheChildrensCrusade'' undid the ComicBook/ScarletWitch's FaceHeelTurn and even revealed that her actions during ''ComicBook/AvengersDisassembled'' and ''ComicBook/HouseOfM'' were the result of being possessed by a cosmic entity.
* After many of the Avengers died at the end of ''Comicbook/{{Onslaught}}'', the team officially disbanded. In real life, this was for two reasons: the "dead" heroes were soon revived to star in a ContinuityReboot of ''Comicbook/TheAvengers'' as part of the ''Comicbook/HeroesReborn'' initiative (which took place in an alternate continuity), while back in the mainstream universe, the Comicbook/{{Thunderbolts}} took over as the world's premier superhero team. Despite this, some fans and even characters in-universe pointed out that it didn't make a lot of sense, as even without the big guns like Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor, there was no reason the Avengers couldn't have continued with a new roster. Creator/KurtBusiek dealt with this in ''Avengers '99 Annual'', where he revealed that after ''Onslaught'', Comicbook/BlackWidow actually ''did'' try to field a new team of Avengers to replace her fallen comrades, but that all of her potential recruits (Comicbook/WarMachine, Comicbook/SheHulk, [[Comicbook/AntMan Scott Lang]], Moondragon and even Comicbook/{{Beast|Marvel Comics}}, Angel and Comicbook/{{Iceman}} of the Comicbook/XMen) either turned her down or had proven unsuitable.
* ''Comicbook/InfinityAbyss'' by Jim Starlin was made as a reaction to Mark Waid's run on Ka-Zar, Dan Jurgens' run on Thor and Steve Englehart's Avengers Celestial Quest, as those stories ignored Comicbook/{{Thanos}}' CharacterDevelopment into a philosophical AntiHero he had at the end of ''Comicbook/TheInfinityGauntlet'', and regressed him back into the OmnicidalManiac obsessed with mystical Macguffins he was in the seventies and early nineties. Starlin fixed this by revealing that the overly destructive Thanos in those stories was actually a group of rebellious clones called Thanosi.

* ''ComicBook/RedHoodAndTheOutlaws'' is a ''very'' divisive book at best, leaning on negative with comic readers as a whole. A lot of the disdain comes from how Jason Todd was turned into a generic edgy anti-hero, as opposed to the somewhat sympathetic villain role he had before the New 52. After years, Scott Lobdell finally moved him closer with his previous characterisation -- he's more willing to kill again, his moral stance on killing is very clearly the result of his own DaddyIssues, he's on the outs with the Batfamily and Batman in particular once again and he no longer is teamed up with random superpowered teammates.

* ComicBook/{{Psylocke}} ended up getting subjected to this twice. First, ''Hunt for Wolverine: Mystery in Madripoor'' undid the BodySwap Betsy and Kwannon underwent, as many saw Betsy, originally a British Caucasian, walking around in an ethnically Japanese body as a form of cultural appropriation, including EIC C.B. Cebulski, who himself was guilty of this[[note]]Long story short, not long after he took over the EIC post, it was outed that "Akira Yoshida" was really an alias used by Cebulski and he got in hot water for it[[/note]]. Secondly, for those who didn't like the BodySwap being undone, Kwannon ended up filling the same role Betsy did to the point that when Betsy took up the "ComicBook/CaptainBritain" identity, Kwannon took up the "Psylocke" codename.
* Many fans were upset when ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} was given amnesia and regressed to a DarkerAndEdgier character calling himself "Ric Grayson" and the entire Bat-Family just threw their hands up and decided that they couldn't help him. ''Nightwing Annual'' #2, written by Dan Jurgens, revealed that [[spoiler:it was a plan by the Court of Owls to ''finally'' regain Dick as one of their Talons, as was their plan from the beginning.]]
* ComicBook/UltimateMarvel
** ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'': When first introduced by Millar, Thor speaks with normal English. The reviled ''Ultimates 3'' and ''ComicBook/{{Ultimatum}}'' had him speaking in FloweryElizabethanEnglish, like the mainstream version of the character. In a later point, Tony promises him that he would donate a huge sum of money to some charity if he goes back to speaking like a normal person, as he knows he can do.
** ''ComicBook/SpiderMenII''
*** The ComicBook/UltimateMarvel universe was destroyed in ''ComicBook/SecretWars2015'', and its comics were cancelled. We knew that Reed Richards was restoring the destroyed universes, but nothing more specific. Bendis, who was about to leave Marvel Comics and move to DC Comics, used this story to establish that the universe was indeed recreated, and even gave closure to the subplot of ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan finally joining ComicBook/TheUltimates.
*** Bendis also used this chance to bring back Captain America and Giant Man, who were dead, and Thor, who was lost in the Negative Zone. The Triskelion, destroyed by 616-Hulk during the last incursion, has been rebuilt. He also restored Spider-Woman's classic suit.
* The six-issue miniseries ''ComicBook/FlashForward'' was a partial one for ComicBook/WallyWest in general and ''ComicBook/HeroesInCrisis'' in particular. After considerable fan backlash to DC’s outright cruel treatment of him, driven by co-publisher Creator/DanDiDio’s [[CreatorsPest notorious hatred]] of the character, ''Flash Forward'' shows him single-handedly saving the entire multiverse, with numerous characters [[CharacterShilling talking him up]] as a great and noble hero, and the most powerful Flash ever. Also, while the story ends with a BittersweetEnding where Wally experiences a DeathOfPersonality and [[spoiler:becomes the new [[Comicbook/{{Watchmen}} Dr. Manhattan]]]], nevertheless [[spoiler:Jai and Irey are returned to continuity and reunited with Linda, who has her memories of them and Wally restored]]. Also, the ending implies that [[spoiler:a piece of Wally’s consciousness still exists, leaving the door open for later writers to bring him back.]]
** The epilogue in ''[[MilestoneCelebration The Flash #750]]'' [[note]](released shortly after [=DiDio=]'s ousting coincidentally)[[/note]] confirms that [[spoiler:Wally’s mind and personality are intact]], and features Wally [[spoiler:viewing the entire Multiverse and essentially saying [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall “this is broken, but I can fix it”]].]]
** ''ComicBook/DarkNightsDeathMetal'' took it further, for fans who disliked the DeathOfPersonality and the troubling implications of Wally's HeroicSuicide, by having him not just firmly his old self again (though understandably ''very'' traumatised), but reunited with what's left of the Justice League, who all welcome him with open arms. He then becomes the BigGood of the event, as the plan for fixing the universe is to give him enough power to recreate reality, all but guaranteeing a retcon of many of the things people hated[[note]]Note that between the previous events and the first issue of ''Death Metal'', Creator/DanDiDio was fired; after that, 5G was cancelled. For anyone who suspected or didn't trust him to be in charge of DC's relaunch and Wally's rehabilitation, this is more than welcome[[/note]].
** Further fixing things, it was revealed in ''The Flash #761'' that [[spoiler: Wally's actions in ''Heroes in Crisis'' were actually thanks to ComicBook/EobardThawne, [[HijackedByGanon using the Negative Speed Force to manipulate him]]. On that same note, this is used to explain why Wallace West joined Damian's morally wrong Teen Titans team and why Jay Garrick was MIA for so long]].
* Relatedly, one of the biggest complaints fans had about Comicbook/{{Cyborg}}'s promotion to the Justice League during the New 52 was that it removed him from the history of the Teen Titans, erasing many of the close relationships he'd formed there in the process. The ''Justice League'' tie-in to ''Death Metal'' retcons Cyborg's origin by reestablishing him as a former Titan, with a good deal of the arc's character interactions revolving around his reunion with his former teammates Nightwing and Starfire.

* This trope is arguably the reason why ComicBook/HarleyQuinn went from ComicBook/TheJoker's long-suffering moll to an antihero whose personal BerserkButton is violence against women. When she was still just an original character on ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', her unexpected popularity caused many to question if the show was glorifying domestic abuse by having her stay by the Joker's side even though he treated her like crap. The animators were likely hoping it'd be obvious that they were villains who were both insane and not making the wisest decisions, but it didn't change the fact that Harley deserved better. The comics have changed things so that her defining trait is that she ''left'' him, which has carried into other media featuring the character.
* During ''ComicBook/ActsOfVengeance'', many comic fans and even some Marvel creators were perturbed that ComicBook/{{Magneto}}, a Jewish Holocaust survivor, was working with the ComicBook/RedSkull, a Nazi so evil that Adolf Hitler himself was terrified of him. Thus, Mark Gruenwald wrote ''Captain America'' #367, where Magneto hunts down the Skull and imprisons him in a bunker to die in.