History CanonDiscontinuity / MarvelUniverse

* ''New Avengers: Illuminati'' #3 completely redefined the nature of the Beyonder, the villain of the first ''ComicBook/SecretWars1984'', as a mutant inhuman. It did not stick. Hickman introduced instead a whole race of Beyonders, with the one from ''Secret Wars'' being just a child one.

* Creator/GarthEnnis has always asserted that ''ComicBook/ThorVikings'' is canon to Earth-616 (or "Mainline") Marvel, despite the fact it was printed under the usually explicitly non-canon Marvel MAX imprint. No authors have ''ever'' made any reference to the events of that story, outside of a single panel in a ''ComicBook/TheMightyThor'' issue where one Viking disparagingly refers to "the goatfuckers of Harald Jaekelson" (the mini-series' BigBad). Whether this refusal is acknowledge it is due to the difficulty of having to work that story seeing New York City turned into a literal death camp, with tens of thousands of people either directly murdered, tortured and/or raped by undead Vikings or committing suicide as a result, into their own stories, or simply because [[FanonDiscontinuity/MarvelUniverse fans universally despise the series]] is unknown.

** The entire premise of "Sins Remembered" was thrown out the window by ''ComicBook/LastRemains'' almost two decades later, [[spoiler:with it being revealed that Norman's affair with Gwen was fabricated by Harry Osborn with Mysterio's help, and the Stacy twins were test-tube babies created via cloning by Harry and the Osborn AI as part of a complex posthumous revenge scheme]].

** During Creator/JohnByrne's run on the series, an angry response to writer/artist, particularly his "Man of Steeling" of the Hulk in Annual #1, was responded to in the title's letters page by something along the lines of, "When you not like what happen, do what Hulk do: Pretend it never happened." Thus, the six issues and an annual were simply removed out of existence.

** [[https://www.cbr.com/nycc-ultimate-comics-universe-reborn/ Marvel declared]] certain issues of ''ComicBook/UltimateMarvelTeamUp'', including the ''Ultimate Spider-Man Super Special'' one-shot that closed it out to be non-canon. This was due to EarlyInstallmentWeirdness in it that depicted the Franchise/FantasticFour and ComicBook/DoctorDoom much closer to their 616 selves (including having been active for a while, and Reed, Sue, Ben, and Doom very much being adults) rather than the rookies teens that ''ComicBook/UltimateFantasticFour'' introducted and, again, issues with Tony's origin.

* ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion'' ignored the ''[[ComicBook/XStatix X-Statix Presents: Dead Girl]]'' mini-series, where the [[ComicBook/TheAvengers Avengers]] member ComicBook/{{Mockingbird|MarvelComics}} appeared in the afterlife. ''Invasion'' established that Mockingbird had never really died in the first place, making the series moot. However, the series' artist Nick Dragotta did later imply the events of the series were somehow still canonical when discussing the new Miss America he created for the ''Vengeance'' mini-series, making the ''Dead Girl's'' canonicity difficult to determine. It doesn't help that much later in ''ComicBook/XMen2019'' that [[Characters/XMenMutants Moira MacTaggert]] was also revealed to be alive all this time, having faked her death with a Shi'ar golem.

* Creator/JephLoeb and Daniel Way's critically-panned series ''Wolverine: Origins'' had the premise of exploring ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}'s MysteriousPast, which by that point had already been quite fleshed out, so the series consisted of the writers inserting ''new, unknown'' elements of his history in among the existing stuff, making Wolverine's origin one huge ContinuitySnarl. Among the "revelations" made were the fact that Wolverine is not a mutant after all but rather a "lupine," a species that looks completely human but is actually [[ArtisticLicenseBiology canine rather than primate in origin]], and that Logan's mysterious, immortal ancestor, the founder of "lupine" society, had been behind basically every threat he'd ever faced, including the Weapon Plus program (even though the mastermind of that had already been revealed as someone else in a far better story). This was swept under the rug almost immediately after the run ended; whenever Logan's species has been referred to since then, he's always been called a human mutant, with the lupine thing revealed in the last parts of the run to be a lie, and the writer of a miniseries set during the same time period as ''Origins'' confirmed he'll be ignoring it, quite simply because it would be too confusing to acknowledge. Nothing from the run has ever been brought up again, with the exception of Daken, Wolverine's son, whose origin is heavily tied to all of the above... which writers thoroughly, thoroughly ignore and have never brought up again aside from vague references to Logan not being there to raise him and Daken having a cruel upbringing, with zero specifics as to what happened.

* ''Marvel: ComicBook/{{The End|MarvelComics}}'' was speculated to be in continuity. Tom Brevoort has stated it is not in continuity.

* ''Franchise/SpiderMan'':

* At one point in ''ComicBook/XMen'', the lineup at the time (Storm, Wolverine, Psylocke, Longshot, Dazzler, Colossus, Havok, and Rogue) were killed and resurrected, making them invisible to cameras, and this is treated almost as a second mutant power in the next few dozen issues. When Creator/ChrisClaremont left, however, this was completely forgotten, and the lineup at the time are seen on camera without comment from then on. His run in 2000 makes a brief mention of this fact with Rogue, but this only serves to muddy the waters further -- where it's been mentioned at all, it's explained as a side effect of the Siege Perilous, except that Wolverine and Longshot never went through it, and Rogue ''did''. Common fan explanation is that Roma quietly revoked the "invisibility" gift around the time of the ''Xtinction Agenda'' crossover (which is where Claremont actively stopped referencing it) and that the gift itself may have been contingent on the X-Men both possessing and going through the Siege Perilous. Another possibility is in ''ComicBook/{{Excalibur}}'' when Meggan destroyed the Lighthouse, which was considered the "Lynchpin of the Multiverse", and its destruction may have disrupted Roma's powers. It happened shortly before ''Xtinction Agenda'', which would explain the X-Men being able to be seen on television during the storyline and afterwards.
* ''Marvel: The End'' was speculated to be in continuity. Tom Brevoort has stated it is not in continuity.

* ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion'' ignored the ''[[ComicBook/XStatix X-Statix Presents: Dead Girl]]'' mini-series, where the [[ComicBook/TheAvengers Avengers]] member ComicBook/{{Mockingbird}} appeared in the afterlife. ''Invasion'' established that Mockingbird had never really died in the first place, making the series moot. However, the series' artist Nick Dragotta did later imply the events of the series were somehow still canonical when discussing the new Miss America he created for the ''Vengeance'' mini-series, making the ''Dead Girl's'' canonicity difficult to determine. It doesn't help that much later in ''ComicBook/XMen2019'' that [[Characters/XMenMutants Moira MacTaggert]] was also revealed to be alive all this time, having faked her death with a Shi'ar golem.

* If a writer writes anything involving the Phoenix Force, it is bound to be rendered non-canonical by the next writer that writes something involving Phoenix. Most notably, ''ComicBook/AvengersVsXMen'' ignored the Alan Davis-penned Phoenix Force stories from his ''ComicBook/{{Excalibur}}'' run, which among other things established the Phoenix Force as Merlin's private energy reserve stash based off of the lifeblood of the universe, as well as establishing that any usage of the Phoenix Force is enough to bring the various cosmic forces down upon the wielder, as every time a user uses the Phoenix Force, the collective life force of the universe is drained.

* ''ComicBook/TheSensationalSheHulk'' started issue 31 (John Byrne's return to the series) by immediately establishing that everything that happened since issue 8 (the previous issue that Byrne had worked on) was AllJustADream. (the cover even has [[AuthorAvatar Byrne]] trying to place an "Issue 9" sign over the actual issue number)

** ''Captain America'' vol. 4 had a controversial story by John Ney Rieber and Chuck Austen, which implied that the story of how Cap had been frozen (recounted in ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'' (vol. 1) #4) was a lie. "Ice", Austen's follow up story arc, revealed that the U.S. government had frozen Cap so that he couldn't prevent the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and that the {{Flashback}}s from ''Avengers'' (vol. 1) #4 were FakeMemories. Austen was soon replaced, and the {{Retcon}} was never mentioned again.

* ''ComicBook/TheSensationalSheHulk'' started issue 31 (John Byrne's return to the series) by immediately establishing that everything that everything since issue 8 (the previous issue that Byrne had worked on) was AllJustADream. (the cover even has [[AuthorAvatar Byrne]] trying to place an "Issue 9" sign over the actual issue number)

* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan2099'' vol. 2 disregards everything that happened in Vol. 1 after Creator/PeterDavid left. Given the way TimeTravel works in the Marvel Multiverse, fans are attempting to HandWave it by declaring it an AlternateUniverse, but there has been no WordOfGod on that point thus far.

** Basically, what happened with ''Nextwave'' was that readers and creators agreed nigh-universally that the mad characterizations dreamed up by Warren Ellis were a zillion times better than their prior incarnations, so they've been bleeding into mainstream Marvel ever since. Elsa Bloodstone is now 100% ''Nextwave'', and all the better for it. Monica Rambeau is probably the closest to a "split personality" situation. If she appears with straight hair and calling herself "Spectrum," then she's going to be a responsible cosmic-level Avenger, similar to her pre-''Nextwave'' characterization. If she shows up with natural hair and wearing [[BadassLongcoat her ''Nextwave'' trenchcoat]], she's likely to call herself "Auntie Monica" and deliver oodles of snark and ultraviolence.

* In the rebooted series ''[[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk The Hulk]]'', an angry response to writer/artist Creator/JohnByrne's reboot of the title character, particularly his "Man of Steeling" of the Hulk in Annual #1, was responded to in the title's letters page by something along the lines of, "When you not like what happen, do what Hulk do: Pretend it never happened." Thus, the six issues and an annual were simply removed out of existence.
** In ''ComicBook/IncredibleHulk'' (vol. 2) #269-287, the ''Rampaging Hulk'' stories were retconned into being techno-art movies by the Krylorian Bereet.

** Marvel's [[http://web.archive.org/web/20061123003453/http://www.newsarama.com/000aaaTrouble.htm vague statements]] either took ''ComicBook/{{Trouble|MarvelComics}}'' out of continuity or implied that it never was in continuity. This series depicted Peter's parents, along with Aunt May and Uncle Ben, as an unwed teenagers and [[spoiler:implied May was really his mother]]. Mark Millar ultimately tried to salvage ''Trouble'' as canonical in the last issue, trying to establish it as taking place in the ComicBook/UltimateMarvel Universe via having reference be made to the Ultimate Marvel version of Bucky Barnes (who survived the war and became a famous writer). However, no one else has bothered to pick up on it and it's still a stand-alone story, mostly because it doesn't hold up to anyone with an understanding of basic math. ''[[ComicBook/TheUltimates Ultimate Avengers]]'' seemingly cleared up the issue by establishing that ''Trouble'' is simply a [[ShowWithinAShow comic-within-a-comic]] in the Ultimate universe.

** One series written out of continuity was ''ComicBook/SpiderManChapterOne'', which ineptly updated several bits of Spider-Man's origin; for instance, the Sandman and Norman Osborn were now related, as a way to explain their ''[[HereditaryHairstyle similar-looking hair]]''. In a case of this being combined with ArmedWithCanon, Bryne intended for this to overwrite ''ComicBook/UntoldTalesOfSpiderMan'' -- only for Marvel to 1) tell Paul Jenkins to go with the classic ''[[ComicBook/TheAmazingSpiderManLeeAndDitko Amazing Spider-Man]]'' for ''Webspinners: Tales of Spider-Man'' (which, given ''when'' it happened, meant Marvel wasn't even waiting for ''Chapter One'' to be finished before striking it from canon) and 2) continue to treat ''Untold Tales'' as canon, as its events would be mentioned and characters from it were seen again through later books.

* ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion'' ignored the ''[[ComicBook/XStatix X-Statix Presents: Dead Girl]]'' mini-series, where the [[ComicBook/TheAvengers Avengers]] member ComicBook/{{Mockingbird}} appeared in the afterlife. ''Invasion'' established that Mockingbird had never really died in the first place, making the series moot. However, the series' artist Nick Dragotta did later imply the events of the series were somehow still canonical when discussing the new Miss America he created for the ''Vengeance'' mini-series, making the ''Dead Girl's'' canonicity difficult to determine. It doesn't help that much later in ''ComicBook/JonathanHickmansXMen'' that [[Characters/XMenMutants Moira MacTaggert]] was also revealed to be alive all this time, having faked her death with a Shi'ar golem.

* ''Comicbook/CaptainAmerica'':

** ''Captain America'' vol. 4 had a controversial story by John Ney Rieber and Chuck Austen, which implied that the story of how Cap had been frozen (recounted in ''Comicbook/TheAvengers'' (vol. 1) #4) was a lie. "Ice", Austen's follow up story arc, revealed that the U.S. government had frozen Cap so that he couldn't prevent the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and that the {{Flashback}}s from ''Avengers'' (vol. 1) #4 were FakeMemories. Austen was soon replaced, and the {{Retcon}} was never mentioned again.

** One series written out of continuity was ''ComicBook/SpiderManChapterOne'', which ineptly updated several bits of Spider-Man's origin; for instance, the Sandman and Norman Osborn were now related, as a way to explain their ''similar-looking hair''. In a case of this being combined with ArmedWithCanon, Bryne intended for this to overwrite ''ComicBook/UntoldTalesOfSpiderMan'' -- only for Marvel to one: tell Paul Jenkins to go with the classic ''[[ComicBook/TheAmazingSpiderManLeeAndDitko Amazing Spider-Man]]'' for ''Webspinners: Tales of Spider-Man'', which given ''when'' it happened meant Marvel wasn't even waiting for ''Chapter One'' to be finished before striking it from canon and two: the events of ''Untold Tales'' was still character as events would be mentioned and characters from it seen again through later books.

* In the rebooted series ''[[Comicbook/IncredibleHulk The Hulk]]'', an angry response to writer/artist Creator/JohnByrne's reboot of the title character, particularly his "Man of Steeling" of the Hulk in Annual #1, was responded to in the title's letters page by something along the lines of, "When you not like what happen, do what Hulk do: Pretend it never happened." Thus, the six issues and an annual were simply removed out of existence.
** In ''Comicbook/IncredibleHulk'' (vol. 2) #269-287, the ''Rampaging Hulk'' stories were retconned into being techno-art movies by the Krylorian Bereet.

* A particularly brutal version happened in the first issue of the ''[=ClanDestine=][=/=]X-Men'' mini-series. In one line of dialog, Alan Davis (Comicbook/ClanDestine's creator and artist/writer on the original Clan mini) rendered the entire second half of the original mini (i.e. The Issues He Didn't Write) as AllJustADream.

* ''New Avengers: Illuminati'' #3 completely redefined the nature of the Beyonder, the villain of the first ''Comicbook/SecretWars1984'', as a mutant inhuman. It did not stick. Hickman introduced instead a whole race of Beyonders, with the one from ''Secret Wars'' being just a child one.
* Chuck Austen's ''Comicbook/XMen'' run is treated as such outside of the BroadStrokes. Later writers have gone back and forth on his ''[[Comicbook/TheAvengers Avengers]]'' run, though. Bendis' ''Comicbook/AvengersDisassembled'' used Austen's plot point about Comicbook/{{Hawkeye}} sleeping with Comicbook/TheWasp and suddenly disliking [[Comicbook/AntMan Hank Pym]] as a key plot point (as a conversation about the Wasp's relationship with Hawkeye is what leads to Comicbook/ScarletWitch accidentally remembering her babies), but Rick Remender's ''Comicbook/SecretAvengers'' run once again had Hawkeye and Pym as close friends, seemingly ignoring Austen's story.

* At one point in ''Comicbook/XMen'', the lineup at the time (Storm, Wolverine, Psylocke, Longshot, Dazzler, Colossus, Havok, and Rogue) were killed and resurrected, making them invisible to cameras, and this is treated almost as a second mutant power in the next few dozen issues. When Creator/ChrisClaremont left, however, this was completely forgotten, and the lineup at the time are seen on camera without comment from then on. His run in 2000 makes a brief mention of this fact with Rogue, but this only serves to muddy the waters further -- where it's been mentioned at all, it's explained as a side effect of the Siege Perilous, except that Wolverine and Longshot never went through it, and Rogue ''did''. Common fan explanation is that Roma quietly revoked the "invisibility" gift around the time of the ''Xtinction Agenda'' crossover (which is where Claremont actively stopped referencing it) and that the gift itself may have been contingent on the X-Men both possessing and going through the Siege Perilous. Another possibility is in ''ComicBook/{{Excalibur}}'' when Meggan destroyed the Lighthouse, which was considered the "Lynchpin of the Multiverse", and its destruction may have disrupted Roma's powers. It happened shortly before ''Xtinction Agenda'', which would explain the X-Men being able to be seen on television during the storyline and afterwards.

** The Beyond Corporation from the series later reappeared in ''Comicbook/MightyAvengers'' and ''ComicBook/SpiderManBeyond''. The official explanation is that the series ''is'' canonical, but took place in an alternate universe that Monica and the others had been kidnapped and sent to. Monica claims that once she got back to Earth-616, everyone around her assumed she was insane whenever she brought up the events of ''Nextwave''.
* ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion'' ignored the ''[[ComicBook/XStatix X-Statix Presents: Dead Girl]]'' mini-series, where the [[ComicBook/TheAvengers Avengers]] member Comicbook/{{Mockingbird}} appeared in the afterlife. ''Invasion'' established that Mockingbird had never really died in the first place, making the series moot. However, the series' artist Nick Dragotta did later imply the events of the series were somehow still canonical when discussing the new Miss America he created for the ''Vengeance'' mini-series, making the ''Dead Girl's'' canonicity difficult to determine. It doesn't help that much later in ''ComicBook/JonathanHickmansXMen'' that [[Characters/XMenMutants Moira MacTaggert]] was also revealed to be alive all this time, having faked her death with a Shi'ar golem.
* Along those same lines, Creator/BrianMichaelBendis brought back Comicbook/TheWasp after killing her in ''Comicbook/SecretInvasion'', with the explanation that she'd never ''really'' died in the first place. However, Wasp had earlier appeared in an issue of ''Comicbook/TheIncredibleHercules'' where she was seen in the Greek Underworld, establishing that she was indeed dead. Though since the fandom was quite happy to have Jan back, there wasn't too much fuss.

* Everything previously established about the White Queen (complete with her being in her 40s) was wiped out by the combination of Creator/GrantMorrison's ''Comicbook/NewXMen'' run and Comicbook/EmmaFrost's short-lived flashback ongoing series.

** Marvel's [[http://web.archive.org/web/20061123003453/http://www.newsarama.com/000aaaTrouble.htm vague statements]] either took ''ComicBook/TroubleMarvelComics'' out of continuity or implied that it never was in continuity. This series depicted Peter's parents, along with Aunt May and Uncle Ben, as an unwed teenagers and [[spoiler:implied May was really his mother]]. Mark Millar ultimately tried to salvage ''Trouble'' as canonical in the last issue, trying to establish it as taking place in the ComicBook/UltimateMarvel Universe via having reference be made to the Ultimate Marvel version of Bucky Barnes (who survived the war and became a famous writer). However, no one else has bothered to pick up on it and it's still a stand-alone story, mostly because it doesn't hold up to anyone with an understanding of basic math. ''[[ComicBook/TheUltimates Ultimate Avengers]]'' seemingly cleared up the issue by establishing that ''Trouble'' is simply a [[ShowWithinAShow comic-within-a-comic]] in the Ultimate universe.

* ''ComicBook/{{Nextwave}}'' is probably the oddest example of this trope ever made. Officially, it ''is'' not canonical, but most fans (and quite a few writers!) treats the act of making it discontinuity as a discontinuity in and by itself. This has caused some of the lunacy contained within the series (mainly the parts containing Aaron Stack and the other team members) to spill into the Marvel mainstream.
** The Beyond Corporation from the series later reappeared in ''Comicbook/MightyAvengers''. The official explanation is that the series ''is'' canonical, but took place in an alternate universe that Monica and the others had been kidnapped and sent to. Monica claims that once she got back to Earth-616, everyone around her assumed she was insane whenever she brought up the events of ''Nextwave''.

** Marvel's [[http://web.archive.org/web/20061123003453/http://www.newsarama.com/000aaaTrouble.htm vague statements]] either took ''ComicBook/{{Trouble}}'' out of continuity or implied that it never was in continuity. This series depicted Peter's parents, along with Aunt May and Uncle Ben, as an unwed teenagers and [[spoiler:implied May was really his mother]]. Mark Millar ultimately tried to salvage ''Trouble'' as canonical in the last issue, trying to establish it as taking place in the ComicBook/UltimateMarvel Universe via having reference be made to the Ultimate Marvel version of Bucky Barnes (who survived the war and became a famous writer). However, no one else has bothered to pick up on it and it's still a stand-alone story, mostly because it doesn't hold up to anyone with an understanding of basic math. ''[[ComicBook/TheUltimates Ultimate Avengers]]'' seemingly cleared up the issue by establishing that ''Trouble'' is simply a [[ShowWithinAShow comic-within-a-comic]] in the Ultimate universe.

** One series written out of continuity was ''ComicBook/SpiderManChapterOne'', which ineptly updated several bits of Spider-Man's origin; for instance, the Sandman and Norman Osborn were now related, as a way to explain their ''similar-looking hair''. In a case of this being combined with ArmedWithCanon, Bryne intended for this to overwrite ''ComicBook/UntoldTalesOfSpiderMan'' -- only for Marvel to one: tell Paul Jenkins to go with the classic ''ComicBook/LeeDitkoSpiderMan'' for ''Webspinners: Tales of Spider-Man'', which given ''when'' it happened meant Marvel wasn't even waiting for ''Chapter One'' to be finished before striking it from canon and two: the events of ''Untold Tales'' was still character as events would be mentioned and characters from it seen again through later books.

* ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion'' ignored the ''[[ComicBook/XStatix X-Statix Presents: Dead Girl]]'' mini-series, where the [[ComicBook/TheAvengers Avengers]] member Comicbook/{{Mockingbird}} appeared in the afterlife. ''Invasion'' established that Mockingbird had never really died in the first place, making the series moot. However, the series' artist Nick Dragotta did later imply the events of the series were somehow still canonical when discussing the new Miss America he created for the ''Vengeance'' mini-series, making the ''Dead Girl's'' canonicity difficult to determine. It doesn't help that much later in ''ComicBook/JonathanHickmansXMen'' that ComicBook/MoiraMacTaggert was also revealed to be alive all this time, having faked her death with a Shi'ar golem.

* ''ComicBook/{{Magneto}}'' #0 was published as the origin of Magneto, but has been superseded by ''Magneto: Testament''.

* Creator/JephLoeb and Daniel Way's critically-panned series ''Wolverine: Origins'' had the premise of exploring Franchise/{{Wolverine}}'s MysteriousPast, which by that point had already been quite fleshed out, so the series consisted of the writers inserting ''new, unknown'' elements of his history in among the existing stuff, making Wolverine's origin one huge ContinuitySnarl. Among the "revelations" made were the fact that Wolverine is not a mutant after all but rather a "lupine," a species that looks completely human but is actually [[ArtisticLicenseBiology canine rather than primate in origin]], and that Logan's mysterious, immortal ancestor, the founder of "lupine" society, had been behind basically every threat he'd ever faced, including the Weapon Plus program (even though the mastermind of that had already been revealed as someone else in a far better story). This was swept under the rug almost immediately after the run ended; whenever Logan's species has been referred to since then, he's always been called a human mutant, with the lupine thing revealed in the last parts of the run to be a lie, and the writer of a miniseries set during the same time period as ''Origins'' confirmed he'll be ignoring it, quite simply because it would be too confusing to acknowledge. Nothing from the run has ever been brought up again, with the exception of Daken, Wolverine's son, whose origin is heavily tied to all of the above... which writers thoroughly, thoroughly ignore and have never brought up again aside from vague references to Logan not being there to raise him and Daken having a cruel upbringing, with zero specifics as to what happened.