History CharacterizationMarchesOn / ComicBooks

** The earlier far wackier points of ''ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog'' series are rather jarring to see. Most notably the characterizations of Sonic and Robotnik are based more primarily on their ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'' counterparts, with Sonic being a goofy KarmicTrickster and Robotnik being a childish HarmlessVillain. The other Freedom Fighters are far more comedic than they are in later issues and even [[WesternAnimation/SonicSatAm the original show they came from]]. Princess Sally Acorn in particular started off as TheFinickyOne and was far more neurotic and self righteous, before becoming [[WomenAreWiser Closer To Earth]] and much more lucid and easy going.

** In his earliest appearances the Green Goblin was a SmugSnake who kept [[KarmaHoudini getting away after his plans failed]] and whose [[TheFaceless face we never saw.]] Then he was unmasked as ComicBook/NormanOsborn shortly after successfully learning Spider-Man's own identity, spent some time as a JekyllAndHyde, killed Gwen Stacy, got posthumously upgraded into the BigBad, and was turned into a MagnificentBastard upon his [[BackFromTheDead resurrection]], where he has more or less stayed ever since. In short, a major change due to being a BreakoutVillain.

* Aaron Stack the Machine Man started out as a very [[NiceGuy nice guy]] -- the only robot in his series who ''didn't'' [[CrushKillDestroy go mad]] and have to be put down like a wild animal, because he was [[RoboFamily lovingly raised as a son by]] [[MotherlyScientist the man who built him.]] [[UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks Years later]] though, he went through a [[TraumaCongaLine series of traumatic experiences]] [[ComicBookDeath (getting destroyed and rebuilt,]] [[BrainwashedAndCrazy infected with]] [[ComicBook/XMen Sentinel programming,]] and finally kidnapped by aliens and unceremoniously rejected as being somehow unfit) -- leading to his suffering a full fledged [[FreakOut nervous breakdown]] that turned him into the [[SecondLawMyAss misanthropic]] [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold jerk]] he was in ''ComicBook/{{Nextwave}}.'' He stayed that way for years, but recent portrayals have shown him [[CharacterCheck acting like his much mellower old self,]] so we must assume that he has [[HesBack finally managed to work past it.]]

* Amy in ''ComicBook/SonicTheComic'' is known as a badass OnlySaneMan of the Freedom Fighters. Her earliest appearances, however, have her much like her game version would be known as. Amy is less proactive and teases Sonic a lot. This personality change was due to ExecutiveMeddling, as it was thought female readers needed a strong female role model. She was mostly reversed in the final arc, the ''Adventure'' adaptation, which makes it seem odd when Amy is standing around instead of being in the action.
* The earlier far wackier points of ''ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog'' series are rather jarring to see. Most notably the characterizations of Sonic and Robotnik are based more primarily on their ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'' counterparts, with Sonic being a goofy KarmicTrickster and Robotnik being a childish HarmlessVillain. The other Freedom Fighters are far more comedic than they are in later issues and even [[WesternAnimation/SonicSatAm the original show they came from]]. Princess Sally Acorn in particular started off as TheFinickyOne and was far more neurotic and self righteous, before becoming [[WomenAreWiser Closer To Earth]] and much more lucid and easy going.

* Terra as originally written in ''ComicBook/TheJudasContract'' has become this over the years. In the original ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'' comics from the 1980s she was canonically "psychopathic" and "evil". She had no ulterior motive for being TheMole or hating the Titans besides just being cruel and hating "goody-two-shoes" people. WordOfGod is that Terra's AgeGapRomance with Deathstroke was there to make her seem even more gross. Terra's original interpretation however has caused a lot of ValuesDissonance, especially with people criticizing how the SlutShaming factor to her relationship with Deathstroke and noting how Terra is vilified while Deathstroke often gets treated far more positively. As a result, since the 2000s DC has made an emphasis to portray her as a less one-dimensional character, being a troubled youth who fell in love with an older man who ended up emotionally manipulating (or even drugging in some comics) her. She's still morally ambiguous but she's evil ForTheEvulz.

** And how about Charles Xavier himself? In the first twenty or so issues, he used his powers a lot more, reading minds whenever he pleased, communicating telepathically even to people in the same room, harboring a secret crush on Jean Grey, and mind-wiping several of the X-Men's foes in order to get them out of the way for good. While some later writers would portray Xavier as a {{Jerkass}}, it never reached this level.

* ComicBook/AmandaWaller was originally a tough, intimidating woman who also had a strong moral code. Indeed, much of her meanness was a JerkassFacade, and she was willing to go against orders for the sake of her ComicBook/SuicideSquad. When she believed that the U.S. government had been corrupted, she took the Squad and went rogue. These days, however, most readers know her as a sociopathic manipulator who believes in MyCountryRightOrWrong and throws away the lives of the Squad at the drop of a hat.

** Mary Jane Watson was set up by Aunt May as a BlindDate for her wallflower love-shy nephew (as she saw it) even if Peter felt he was actually doing a good job getting past that ([[BlatantLies he wasn't]] but he did have a relationship with Betty Brant). Aunt May kept hyping MJ as an ideal match for Peter and readers, after being told contextually that she was indeed very beautiful, were in suspense for her introduction. And when revealed in #42, as a charismatic AudienceSurrogate (a 60s party girl who thought Spider-Man was cool and so was Peter), despite her characterization by Lee and Romita as a flaky party-girl, was seen by fans to be the more interesting character. One of those fans, Creator/GerryConway, wrote the death of Gwen Stacy specifically to develop her character and revealed a more courageous, compassionate, and loyal side than previously expected. Later writers, Marv Wolfman, Roger Stern, Tom [=Defalco=] revealed a much more complex character and made her one of the most important supporting characters not just in Spider-Man but Marvel Comics as a whole, and finally Peter's wife, and Post-OMD still his best known and most popular love interest.

* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'':
** Spider-Man started off as a lot more hotheaded and ready to fight for little reason. As early as ''Amazing Spider-Man'' #1, Spidey breaks into the ComicBook/FantasticFour's house to fight them in order to prove his worth as a potential member. He mellowed out once he became an adult so a lot of this could be chalked up to him being a teenage boy who just got super powers.
** Gwen Stacy was much different initially than later portrayed. Her characterization changes are quite startling when you consider it, from a college-aged AlphaBitch to [[BettyAndVeronica the Veronica and then the Betty]] in the ongoing LoveTriangle before winding up Spider-Man's [[NiceGirl very sweet girlfriend]], and then, well, [[ComicBook/TheNightGwenStacyDied you know...]] Her current portrayal (Peter's one true love who was TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth) didn't exist until after her death.

** Mary-Jane Watson was initially introduced as a kind of flaky party-girl who was the Veronica to Gwen's Betty, which was odd since Gwen had initially been the Veronica herself. She later was revealed to have HiddenDepths and has become the woman most fans feel Peter Parker truly belongs with.
** Aunt May is another example. In the beginning, she was a sweet, extremely old and extremely frail old lady but, er, [[CloudCuckooLander somewhat senile and detached from reality]]. That she allowed herself to be charmed by ComicBook/DoctorOctopus and unshakingly saw Mary Jane Watson as a suitable partner and future wife for Peter (''before'' MJ's characterization marched on) was portrayed as evidence for this. Then in the late 1970s she became more involved in the real world, e. g. joining the Gray Panthers, a bypass operation removed her recurrent health problems, and by all appearances she actually became younger. During Roger Stern's run her reasons for continuing matchmaking also was revealed as much more canny than previously imagined; she commented to Peter that he and MJ had more in common than he knew (foreshadowing the origin story Stern and his then-wife had cooked up, but which was mostly revealed by Tom [=DeFalco=] later on). This change of Aunt May from a passive character who constantly needed to be saved or aided by Peter and others was very much appreciated by the fans.
*** This finally all led up to the day she finally learns the truth about Peter's identity in ''ComicBook/JMSSpiderMan'', has a sane conversation with him about it, and is ''totally able to deal with it,'' making her the [[CoolOldLady coolest old lady]] on Earth. Later episodes have her helping with the secret identity in ways that make you wonder how he ''ever'' got along when she ''didn't'' know. [[ComicBook/OneMoreDay Then, alas, it was all retconned away.]]
*** During the time Spidey was in the Avengers and his identity was public, May spent a lot of time at Avengers Tower, and had the Avengers eating out of her hand. At one point, Iron Man lends her a suit of armor!

--> '''Batman:''' ''[as he watches the man in question '''burn to death''']'' Death... to Doctor Death!

* The ''Comicbook/TeenTitans'' foe Cheshire also started off with ''some'' standards before later writers made her into the completely vile figure she's known as today. She used to avoid CollateralDamage during her assassinations (for instance, she left a witness BoundAndGagged and even assured the man that she had no intention of harming him), and [[EvenEvilHasStandards even turned the tables on some racist South Africans who had hired her to kill a black civil rights worker]]. [[MoralEventHorizon Then she went and nuked an entire country, and hasn't looked back since…]] In an interesting case, ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'' portrayed Cheshire closer to her original comic book depiction. She steered clear of killing innocents, had some PetTheDog moments, and even had genuine affection for her younger sister, Artemis. This caused some fans who were more familiar with Cheshire's vile phase to claim she was being written horribly OutOfCharacter.

* Terra as originally written in ''ComicBook/TheJudasContract'' has become this over the years. In the original ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'' comics from the 1980s she was canonically "psychopathic" and "evil". She had no ulterior motive for being TheMole or hating the Titans besides just being cruel and hating "goody-two-shoes" people. WordOfGod is that Terra's AgeGapRomance was Deathstroke was there to make her seem even more gross. Terra's original interpretation however has caused a lot of ValuesDissonance, especially with people critisizing how the SlutShaming factor to her relationship with Deathstroke and noting how Terra is vilified while Deathstroke often gets treated far more positively. As a result, since the 2000s DC has made an emphasis to portray her as a less one-dimensional character, being a troubled youth who fell in love with an older man who ended up emotionally manipulating (or even drugging in some comics) her. She's still morally ambiguous but she's evil ForTheEvulz.
* [[ComicBook/SuicideSquad Amanda Waller]] was originally a tough, intimidating woman who also had a strong moral code. Indeed, much of her meanness was a JerkassFacade, and she was willing to go against orders for the sake of her Suicicde Squad. When she believed that the U.S. government had been corrupted, she took the Squad and went rogue. These days, however, most readers know her as a sociopathic manipulator who believes in MyCountryRightOrWrong and throws away the lives of the Squad at the drop of a hat.

* In several of the early comics, the Green [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk Hulk]] was slightly more intelligent and could talk better, barely even referring himself in the 3rd person. Then eventually this paved way to the more popular dumb beast that always spouted "[[HulkSpeak Puny human make Hulk angry! Hulk smash!]]" Though later retcons would establish that this behavior was still canon. The Hulk has [[SplitPersonality multiple personalities]], with some of them being quite intelligent while others are just mindless, screaming monsters.

* Speaking of Creator/{{Disney}}, [[DisneyDucksComicUniverse Scrooge McDuck]]. In his earlier appearances as a Donald Duck supporting character, Scrooge was mostly an antagonistic or even villainous character -- there was the infamous robber baron flashback in "Voodoo Hoodoo", and in "The Magic Hourglass" Scrooge sics a band of hired thugs on Donald and threatens to leave his nephews to die of thirst in the desert if they won't give up the McGuffin he's after (though he isn't ''quite'' hard-hearted enough to go through with it). When Scrooge became the star of his own spinoff series, [[Creator/CarlBarks Barks]] had to make him more sympathetic and he quickly evolved into the proud and avaricious yet still honorable tightwad that we know today.

** Originally, the Tintin stories reflected the attitudes of Herge's mentors, who encouraged him to write religious and political propaganda pieces (''[[Recap/TintinTintinInTheLandOfTheSoviets Tintin in the Land of the Soviets]]'') and his work reflected European colonial attitudes of 1930. A turnaround came when Herge befriended a Chinese student in Brussels who taught him about Chinese society, politics, and culture. As a result ''[[Recap/TintinTheBlueLotus The Blue Lotus]]'' is critical of Western imperialism in China and criticizes westerners making racist comments about the Chinese.

* Amy in ''ComicBook/SonicTheComic'' is known as a badass OnlySaneMan of the Freedom Fighters. Her earliest appearances have her much like her game version would be known as. Her personality change was due to ExecutiveMeddling, as it was thought female readers needed a strong female role model. She was mostly reversed in the final arc, the ''Adventure'' adaptation, which makes it seem odd when Amy is standing around instead of being in the action.

* ''Franchise/ArchieComics'':

** Renee Montoya's sexuality is a defining character trait for her under Creator/GregRucka, but when she was originally created for ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' the plan ([[AllThereInTheManual According to background info in the series bible]]) was that she was intended to be driven in her own fight on crime by the memory of her dead ''husband''. It was not until ''ComicBook/GothamCentral'' that she was outed as a lesbian, which would become an integral part of an award-winning arc of that series and several [[ComicBook/FiftyTwo follow]] [[ComicBook/TheQuestion up]] comics. The same source also says that she would butt heads with Batman over his methods, whereas in almost all her appearances Renee admires him and understands why he acts outside the law.

* Comicbook/{{Deathstroke}} was far more of a dirtbag in his earliest appearances, in sharp contrast to his eventual AntiVillain status. One of his earliest appearances had him kidnapping Cyborg's love interest in order to lure the Teen Titans into a trap, something that would seem at odds with his NeverHurtAnInnocent guidelines that would be established in later issues, and recreate the Doom Patrol's way of dying - a traumatic event for Changeling - ForTheEvulz. This can be explained by the creative differences between George Perez, who saw Slade as a ruthless villain whose "code" was only a personal justification, and Marv Wolfman, who did not see him as villain but as an honorable victim of circumstance. Thus when Perez left the title, Deathstroke's more noble characterization took hold. However, Creator/ChristopherPriest eventually restored Deathstroke to his original characterization in ''ComicBook/DeathstrokeRebirth''.

* Comicbook/{{Deathstroke}} was far more of a dirtbag in his earliest appearances, in sharp contrast to his eventual AntiVillain status. One of his earliest appearances had him kidnapping Cyborg's love interest in order to lure the Teen Titans into a trap, something that would seem at odds with his NeverHurtAnInnocent guidelines that would be established in later issues, and recreate the Doom Patrol's way of dying - a traumatic event for Changeling - ForTheEvulz. This can be explained by the creative differences between George Perez, who saw Slade as a ruthless villain whose "code" was only a personal justification, and Marv Wolfman, who did not see him as villain but as an honorable victim of circumstance. Thus when Perez left the title, Deathstroke's more noble characterization took hold.

** ComicBook/{{Apocalypse}}'s first appearances had him as a crime boss and then a SelfDemonstrating/{{Magneto}}-esque mutant supremacist, giving the same sort of speeches with more BoldInflation during [[ReplacementFlatCharacter a time when Magneto had become the New Mutants' mentor.]] The [[TheSocialDarwinist "survival of the fittest"]] aspect of his philosophy emerged soon afterward and those other characterizations quickly fell by the wayside. His backstory and status as a rare but overwhelming threat came later still.

* Comicbook/{{Deathstroke}} was far more of a dirtbag in his earliest appearances, in sharp contrast to his eventual AntiVillain status. One of his earliest appearances had him kidnapping Comicbook/{{Cyborg}}'s love interest in order to lure the Comicbook/TeenTitans into a trap, something that would seem greatly at odds with the "NeverHurtAnInnocent" code the character displayed in later stories.

* ''ComicBook/{{Iznogoud}}'': The Caliph's chambellan introduced in ''Iznogoud's Birthday'' was initially not specifically aggressive to Iznogoud and starts acting antagonistic toward him as a reaction to his angryness and obnoxiousness. When the same chambellan is reintroduced in later comics, he is portrayed as being basically Iznogoud's ArchEnemy who is trying to protect the Caliph against his overthrowing attempts. Being jailed at the end of ''Iznogoud's Birthday'' didn't help as well (although Iznogoud had good reasons to do that, to be fair).

** Gwen Stacy was much different initially than later portrayed. Her characterization changes are quite startling when you consider it, from a college-aged AlphaBitch to [[BettyAndVeronica the Veronica and then the Betty]] in the ongoing LoveTriangle before winding up Spider-Man's [[PuritySue very sweet girlfriend]], and then, well, [[ComicBook/TheNightGwenStacyDied you know...]] Her current portrayal (Peter's one true love who was TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth) didn't exist until after her death.