History Flanderization / ComicBooks

* During Joe Kelly's run, {{Deadpool}} was a talkative loon full of bad jokes and other wackiness. However he was also portrayed as a total psychotic with a loose, at best, grasp of sanity. All the wackiness was a cover to hide his immense mental problems and self-loathing and just the slightest nudge could send him over the edge in a violent, unsettling rage. Most subsequent writers pretty much ignore the latter part and play him up as little more than a goofy comedy character. That being said, the character's popularity has, if anything, skyrocketed since his flanderization and his flanderized version has since become his more iconic and well-recognized version. It helps that Marvel already has characeters to fill the [[{{Wolverine}} Canadian with Rage Issues, Regenerating Healing Powers, and a convoluted backstory complicated by Swiss-Cheese Memory]], and [[SpiderMan a flamboyant joke-cracker in a red costume, whose snark covers up his inner angst]] roles.

*** He's also portrayed as the "brooding loner" of the Justice League. This is despite the fact that the "Bat-family" has more members than Superman's friends and allies, two of the five Robins have led the Teen Titans, one of those two also led ComicBook/YoungJustice, the other is considered the most trustworthy man in the hero community, and Oracle acts as the MissionControl is a close friend of a lot of superheroes as well, and he managed to be something of a father to [[BatGirl Cassandra]] [[BrokenBird Cain]].

* Considering how often Cyclops and Havok end up fighting one another, they sometimes get Flanderized into being locked in an eternal CainAndAbel, being unable to abide one another at the best of times and one of them being a super-villain (usually Havok) at worst. This portrayal appears in the Ultimate, Legends, and Misfits universes, where (unlike their 616 counterparts) they don't need the influence of any psychic brainwashing to bait them into fighting.

* The Guardians Of The Universe in ''GreenLantern'' have always been distant and aloof, but were once wise and respected, having created an organization of star-patrolling peacekeepers that has survived for eons. With each passing year though, they become more incompetent, single-minded, and corrupt, lying to their members, holding their own mysterious agendas, and constantly having their mistakes blow up in the faces and inevitably needing to be saved by the Earth Lanterns (and then clearly resenting the aid). One recent comic even had a Guardian admit he didn't remember why they started the Corp in the first place. By this point, it's a genuine curiosity how they got an organization as advanced and well-functioning as the Green Lanterns working outside of dumb luck.

* When the LittleLulu comics first introduced [[MeaningfulName Wilbur Van Snobbe]], he was accurately depicted as a {{Jerkass}} SpoiledBrat who would go out of his way to try to best either Lulu or Tubby, with no success. However, when the anime version was created, the creators took away his snobbish characteristics and turned him into a well-mannered rich boy who served as TheSmartGuy to Lulu and the others. Then, when ''The Little Lulu Show'' was created, his snobbish personality was fortunately returned intact, just like in the original comics.

* In a strange case of [[ArtEvolution graphical]] {{Flanderization}}, Kingdok from ''{{Bone}}'' gets more monstrous each issue (compare [[http://ameque.cool.ne.jp/independent/bone/jpg/kingdok.jpg his first appearance in ''The Great Cow Race'']] with [[http://www.geocities.com/mrsfonebonehead/Kingdok.jpg his look in ''The Eyes of the Storm'']]).

*** Averted towards the late 90s through mid-2000s, as his paranoia frequently worked against his allies, most infamously with the Omacs.

** The "Enemy of the State" and "Wolverine: Origin" (Along with the following "Wolverine: Origins" book) stories elevated Wolverine's character to new heights, making him much more interesting again.
** And again with JossWhedon's run on Astonishing, where he acts as the partial mentor to a younger hero, acts occasionally snarky, and is definitely ''not'' the most powerful member of the team. We also see the bad side of his healing ability; after falling out of the sky, the younger hero mentioned earlier comes upon him just sitting around, waiting for his skin to grow back.

* IronMan used to be a fairly well-rounded character, being not only a super hero, but also a captain of industry, a millionaire playboy, a bit of a womanizer, a technological genius and - rather uniquely - physically crippled from his inception. He also had a bout with alcoholism. During Marvel's Civil War, he got flanderized into a stubborn pseudo-fascist who'd just as soon throw his best friends in jail if they did not fall in line with the Superhero Registration Act. He had not ''nearly'' recovered from the fan-impact of that when Matt Fraction took him on an entirely different flanderization trip by reducing ''all'' his issues to side effects of alcoholism. Now, it seems Tony Stark spends approximately half the time agonizing about how badly he sucks.

* Iron Man used to be a fairly well-rounded character, being not only a super hero, but also a captain of industry, a millionaire playboy, a bit of a womanizer, a technological genius and - rather uniquely - physically crippled from his inception. He also had a bout with alcoholism. During Marvel's Civil War, he got flanderized into a stubborn pseudo-fascist who'd just as soon throw his best friends in jail if they did not fall in line with the Superhero Registration Act. He had not ''nearly'' recovered from the fan-impact of that when Matt Fraction took him on an entirely different flanderization trip by reducing ''all'' his issues to side effects of alcoholism. Now, it seems Tony Stark spends approximately half the time agonizing about how badly he sucks.

* BoosterGold started as a well-meaning hero whose love of money often got him in over his head. Over the course of the '80s and '90s, writers forgot about the "well-meaning" part and turned him into a money-grubbing jerk. Thankfully, over the course of ''Infinite Crisis'' and ''[[FiftyTwo 52]]'' in the mid-'00s, DC built Booster back up, and now he's a genuine hero again--though the lure of fame and fortune still ''occasionally'' tempt him.

* [[XMen X-Men]] villain Mojo was introduced in a miniseries as a psychotic EldritchAbomination obsessed whose very presence actually caused living things to wither and die and who casually committed MindRape. He also commissioned genetically-engineered slaves to act in movies to entertain him. Even DoctorStrange feared what would happen if he stayed on Earth for long. As soon as he was brought into the main X-Men comics, the mystical powers and murderous demeanor were downplayed and the media obsession was turned UpToEleven, so Mojo immediately became a comedic villain used to spoof the entertainment industry.

* During Joe Kelly's run, {{Deadpool}} was a talkative loon full of bad jokes and other wackiness. However he was also portrayed as a total psychotic with a loose, at best, grasp of sanity. All the wackiness was a cover to hide his immense mental problems and self-loathing and just the slightest nudge could send him over the edge in a violent, unsettling rage. Most subsequent writers pretty much ignore the latter part and play him up as little more than a goofy comedy character. That being said, the character's popularity has, if anything, skyrocketed since his flanderization and his flanderized version has since become his more iconic and well-recognized version.

*** This is in part because each character was originally TheHero in their own titles. They weren't developed with a group dynamic in mind so some of their key character development has also come from them playing off of each other in the team books.

** Batman himself has become increasingly ultra-competent and infallible in the past few decades.

* Magica [=DeSpell=]'s obsession with Scrooge [=McDuck=]'s NumberOneDime. Though her introduction does have her focused on attempting to steal it, other Carl Barks stories usually had Magica simply wanting to become rich, and would often have her working on schemes completely unrelated to the dime. Nowadays, she's completely psychotic about that coin, and you rarely, if ever, see a Magica story without it as her prime goal anymore.
** The dime itself also went through a sort of Flanderization. In the original story with Magica the dime had no initial magic powers. Magica just needed it as a spell component. Later writers seem to have missed this point and decided that the dime was somehow the source of Scrooge's wealth. In some stories, Scrooge can lose the dime over simple theft and suddenly his entire empire is crumbling. DonRosa [[TakeThat mocks this]] in the GrandFinale of ''{{The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck}}'', where the Flanderization [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall extends to rumors in-universe]]. Scrooge finds the idea that he owes his entire fortune to a lucky charm (which he had for ''twenty years'' before he even started to make his fortune!) incredibly insulting. That said, Rosa's take on the characters has also that Magica's spell would indeed work should she get her hands on the coin, and that losing the dime would indeed cause Scrooge to lose such spirit that he'd be no match for his enemies.

* Archie's ''ComicBook/{{Sonic the Hedgehog}}'' comic: Sonic's attitude has been cranked UpToEleven, to the point where he's making wisecracks during a battle with Enerjak, a being with seemingly limitless energy (though this may have been more for ComicRelief than anything, it was a tad excessive). [[TropesAreNotBad To be fair]], though, it seems to have slightly boosted his {{Badass}}-ness--at the cost of emotion (again, though, to be fair, he never really showed much emotion anyway).

* Considering how often Cyclops and Havok end up fighting one another, they sometimes get Flanderized into being locked in an eternal CainAndAbel, being unable to abide one another at the best of times and one of them being a super-villain (usually Havok) at worst. This portrayal appears in the Ultimate, Legends, and Misfits universes, where (unlike their 616 counterparts) they don't need the influence of any psychic brainwashing to bait them into fighting.

** And of course almost every female romantically tied to a superhero — whether she herself is super-powered or not — has struck her significant other, and none of those incidents have ever been exaggerated as a trait of the character. [[AbuseIsOkayWhenItsFemaleOnMale But that's a different problem entirely.]]

* When the {{Little Lulu}} comics first introduced [[{{Meaningful Name}} Wilbur Van Snobbe]], he was accurately depicted as a {{Jerkass}} {{Spoiled Brat}} who would go out of his way to try to best either Lulu or Tubby, with no success. However, when the anime version was created, the creators took away his snobbish characteristics and turned him into a well-mannered rich boy who served as {{The Smart Guy}} to Lulu and the others. Then, when ''The Little Lulu Show'' was created, his snobbish personality was fortunately returned intact, just like in the original comics.

*** This is in part because each character was originally TheHero in their own titles. They weren't developed with a group dynamic in mind so some of their key character development has also come from them playing off of each other in the team books. How much of it is CharacterDevelopment and how much {{Flanderization}} is [[YourMileageMayVary an exercise left to the reader.]]

** The Justice League in general occasionally suffers this problem. The heroes in their own books have multi-faceted personalities, while Justice League in the hands of sloppy writers reduces them to their most stereotypical natures, such as Batman being completely unfeeling and methodical, or Superman's infamous "boy scout" persona.

* AlanMoore's Top 10 has [[ShockAndAwe Shock Headed Peter]] who comes off at first as simply a prejudiced working class cop who actually has some character depth to a 2-D [[StrawmanPolitical Straw]] [[FantasticRacism Robo-Racist]] when a Robot character gets introduced to Precinct 10.

** Well thats because Toyman killed her son and now has no reason to be a good person.

* [[Comicbook/{{X-Men}} Wolverine]] is a case study. During the [[TheEighties '80s]] considerable CharacterDevelopment evolved the character from a one-note JerkAss prone to UnstoppableRage to a wise, intelligent, multitalented, and skilled warrior/mentor (with just enough issues to avoid CanonSue status). Then he [[WolverinePublicity got popular]] and the LowestCommonDenominator of Captain Fuzzity [=McStabStab=] won out with all the guest-shots even as they ramped his HealingFactor to BeyondTheImpossible levels, making him pretty much the definition of a CanonSue. [[EnsembleDarkhorse And he's still the most popular character of the whole franchise]]. Because being BadAss is the ''only'' thing he seems to need.

** He's still pretty damn horrible, though, and his comedic personality makes it worse when he does something like torturing Nocturne ForTheEvulz, or cheerfully sending someone to ''have their spine freaking removed''.

** Poison Ivy went from a gimmicky plant-themed villain to [[GreenThumb having full-blown control over wildlife and an unkillable immune system]] after getting in touch with "The Green". In a case of TropesAreNotBad, this arguably made her character more interesting, as being actually part-plant made her ecoterrorism and connection to plants ''much'' more understandable.

** Poison Ivy went from a gimmicky plant-themed villain to [[GreenThumb having full-blown control over wildlife and an unkillable immune system]] after getting in touch with "The Green". This arguably made her character more interesting.

** During the mid-[[TheNineties 90s]] run of the cartoon, Magneto went from WellIntentionedExtremist who saw what was happening to mutants as [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything eerily familiar]] and popular AlternateCharacterInterpretation was that Xavier was the mistaken one, to just another mutant terrorist.

** The dime itself also went through a sort of Flanderization. In the original story with Magica the dime had no initial magic powers. Magica just needed it as a spell component. Later writers seem to have [[CompletelyMissingThePoint missed this point]] and decided that the dime was somehow the source of Scrooge's wealth. In some stories, Scrooge can lose the dime over simple theft and suddenly his entire empire is crumbling. DonRosa [[TakeThat mocks this]] in the GrandFinale of ''{{The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck}}'', where the Flanderization [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall extends to rumors in-universe]]. Scrooge finds the idea that he owes his entire fortune to a lucky charm (which he had for ''twenty years'' before he even started to make his fortune!) incredibly insulting. That said, Rosa's take on the characters has also that Magica's spell would indeed work should she get her hands on the coin, and that losing the dime would indeed cause Scrooge to lose such spirit that he'd be no match for his enemies.

* During Joe Kelly's run, {{Deadpool}} was a talkative loon full of bad jokes and other wackiness. However he was also portrayed as a total psychotic with a loose, at best, grasp of sanity. All the wackiness was a cover to hide his immense mental problems and self-loathing and just the slightest nudge could send him over the edge in a violent, unsettling rage. Most subsequent writers pretty much ignore the latter part and play him up as little more than a goofy comedy character.

* Hank Pym has suffered from this perhaps more than any other Marvel character. During a single incident in which he was suffering a nervous breakdown, Hank struck his wife, Janet Van Dyne. Dozens of writers over the years have gone back to this time and again, with at least three different stories having been told about the two of them coming to terms with what happened. As of this writing Janet is dead in Marvel's main continuity and Hank's remorse is so Flanderized and extreme that he's calling himself the Wasp.

* TheUltimates are a interesting case of Flanderization. In their initial run, Mark Millar tended to take the most famous aspects of each Avenger (Cap being of the 40's, Tony's hedonism, Pym slapping Janet, Jan being slapped Pym, Hulk's rage, etc) and amplified them all several times over (Cap was painfully old-fashioned in speech and social views, Tony was always drinking and/or flirting with some blonde, Pym was a textbook wife-beater, Jan was a textbook battered wife, and Hulk was a murdering cannibal). This went into overdrive when Jeph Loeb took over the third volume. Tony was always in a drunken stupor and Cap spontaneously picked fights over Wanda's choice of attire. It was a Flanderization of a Flanderization.