History Main / Revision

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': Masaki's death is first explained in chapter 19: she was killed defending Ichigo from a Hollow that had been trying to lure him in and eat him. Creator/TiteKubo stated that, while he has the skeleton of the story from start to finish, he defines the details as he's writing, and began preparing the details of the story's final arc later in the Soul Society arc. The final arc reveal the full truth about Masaki's death. It does not change anything the story has previous said but the detail completely transforms the reader's understanding of what happened the day she died. [[spoiler:Yhwach steals the power and lives of all impure Quincies, including Uryuu, his mother, and Masaki. The Hollow kills the de-powered Masaki while Kanae collapses comatose and dies three months later. Uryuu mysteriously survives, much to Yhwach's confusion. The reveal changes reader perception of Ichigo and Uryuu's back stories without contradicting any previous material.]]

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': Masaki's death is first explained in chapter 19: she was killed defending Ichigo from a Hollow that had been trying to lure him in and eat him. However, Creator/TiteKubo has stated that he did not have a plan for how to end the story until late in the Soul Society Arc, at which point Masaki's death gained additional significance and needed elaboration. The new information is revealed in the Final Arc. While it greatly complicates Ichigo's back story, it does not contradict any previous canon. [[spoiler:Masaki was [[PowerDrain de-powered]] by [[BigBad Yhwach]] while fighting the Grand Fisher, and her back story is so heavily connected to the Ishida family that the reveal greatly complicates ''Uryuu's'' back story as well - but again without contradicting it.]]

* The trope is used in-universe in Creator/AnneMcCaffrey's {{Pern}} series. In ''Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern'', a large portion of the population is wiped out by a plague (implied to be influenza), and a treatment is devised and must be delivered to the various holds. Queen rider Moreta volunteers for the mission, but her dragon Orlith has a clutch of eggs and must remain with them; so Moreta instead borrows Holth, the queen of a retired dragonrider. While jumping ''between'', the elderly and exhausted Holth is unable to complete the passage through time and space, and both she and Moreta are lost. However, it is recorded for posterity that Moreta was on her own dragon at the time, and that Orlith deliberately sought the oblivion of ''between'' because Moreta was dying. This version of events is seen in the books which take place later in the planet's timeline, but were published earlier; until ''Moreta'''s release, there was no indication that this account was in any way historically inaccurate, nor do any of the characters from later books ever learn the truth.

** TransformersWindblade introduced Caminus and the other lost colonies. These were colonies of Cybertronians who left so far in the ancient past that in the time since gender "arose" in the course of evolution/adaptation.
** TransformersRobotsInDisguise Further revises this by stating that female Cybertronians did in fact exist in the very, very distant past (meaning only a handful of currently-living Cybertronians would even know of them, let alone have met one). Many "non-standard" Cybertronian types (beasts, combiners, etc) are said to have "''[[InferredHolocaust been lost]]''" over the years of war between the ancient tribes.

[[folder: Films -- Animation]]

* ''Series/{{Caprica}}''. Pretty much "{{Revision}}: The Series!". It helps that the parent show, ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|Reimagined}}'', revealed almost no backstory on the era of Colonial history that ''Caprica'' takes place in, giving the writers a very wide scope to tell stories without stepping on established canon.

[[folder: Film - Live Action]]

* ''[[Film/StarTrek Star Trek (2009)]]'' and ''[[Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness Into Darkness]]'' while set in an AlternateTimeline to specifically avoid ContinuitySnarl, do add previously unknown information about characters and things in the prime universe. These include: An earlier (''and much simpler'') Stardate format, Kirk's father seeing Kirk take command of the ''Enterprise'' in the Prime Reality and the apparent notion that no starship had ever embarked on a 5-year exploration mission before the year 2233.

[[folder: Film - Animation]]

* ''Disney/TheLionKingOneAndAHalf'' offers an entirely different and quite humorous explanation to why the all the prideland animals bowed when Rafiki lifted newborn Simba. [[spoiler:Lets just say you don't want to be behind Pumbaa after a meal.]]

** Baron Heinrich Zemo is another case. He was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in Avengers 4, and retroactively treated as Captain America's achnemesis during World War II. Readers may get the wrong idea by the stories, but Zemo was not created during TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks. And the famous thing of plane where Bucky "died" and Captain America fell to the ocean and froze, was not Captain America's finale retconned as NotQuiteDead, but a plot created by Lee and Kirby when they brought him back.

* The 'fourth' and 'sixth' books (chronologically) in the ''Literature/AnneOfGreenGables'' series were written after the rest of the books, to appease the fanbase. They work with information that LMMontgomery provided in other novels.

There is a curious variant on the Revision - the creator was working up to something cool, and they were even doing a little Foreshadowing. Then they suddenly have AN IDEA. Or maybe they got fired. Now, something even better is going to happen! It doesn't exactly spoil everything, but all that foreshadowing is now worthless, and the chance to foreshadow this new idea was missed out on. So BAM! It comes almost out of nowhere (and often requires a little HeadCanon to explain how it fits in).

* Quite common in the ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'' universe, probably slightly outnumbering outright retcons. The most famous one would be the Orcs' shamanic heritage, though as they've continued fleshing that out details can get a little inconsistent.

** Probably the biggest revision is ''the geography of Azeroth itself''. In ''Warcraft I'', the fighting took place between the humans of what is now called Stormwind and the orcish invaders, with no mention made of lands and races outside those borders; in the modern era the world has ''four more continents'' (not counting Outland) and at least a dozen major civilization-building species, built up in a half-dozen rounds of writing in new parts of the world that had never been shown but never conclusively denied either.

* In ''ModernWarfare 3'', [[spoiler:Yuri]] is shown to have played a background role during several key events in the ''Modern Warfare'' timeline. He is first seen during the nuke deal held in the "[[CallBack One Shot, One Kill]]" mission from the first game (where [[spoiler:he and Makarov are the ones who drive the injured Zakhaev to safety]]), as well as being present when [[spoiler:Makarov (standing in Al-Asad's safehouse) detonates the nuke in the "Shock And Awe" mission]]. He is then revealed to have been present during the "No Russian" mission from the second game - [[spoiler:Makarov shoots him in the stomach before he, Private Allen and the other Ultranationalists massacre the civilians in the airport. Yuri makes it to the lobby and witnesses the aftermath of the massacre before collapsing and being treated by paramedics]].
* ''[[{{VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution}} Deus Ex: Human Revolution]]'' (being a {{prequel}}) is an entire game full of this to the original ''[[{{VideoGame/DeusEx}} Deus Ex]]''.

* Hoo boy, where do we start with ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance Dream Drop Distance]]''? It turns out Ansem's/Xehanort's Heartless' actions in the [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI first game]], such as making Maleficent to gather the Seven Princesses of Heart were to facilitate the [[spoiler: recreation of the X-Blade, rather to obtain Kingdom Hearts]], Xemnas founding Organization XIII was not to obtain hearts of their own will keeping their bodily will, but [[spoiler: to turn them into vessels for Xehanort's heart for again, the X-Blade. Have I mentioned that Xemnas lied to them about their nature as emotionless, heart-lacking beings and that they could grow new ones in truth?]] Oh, again in the first game, that Brown Robed guy who was "Ansem" you met in Destiny Islands? [[spoiler: He is not the Ansem from that instance of time, rather, he time traveled to the past the moment he got word from Xemnas that his task isn't doing so well due to the Organization's members' independence (he originally came from 10 years ago from the events of Kingdom Hearts) making a pitstop to visit his younger, human self to get him gather 13 incarnations of Xehanort throughout time as a backup plan, before traveling into the future setting his sights on Sora and Riku]].

* ''[[Film/StarTrek Star Trek (2009)]]'' and ''[[Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness Into Darkness]]'' while set in an AlternateTimeline to specifically avoid ContinuitySnarl, do add previously unknown information about characters and things in the prime universe.
** These include: An earlier (''and much simpler'') Stardate format, Kirk's father seeing Kirk take command of the ''Enterprise'' in the Prime Reality and the apparent notion that no starship had ever embarked on a 5-year exploration mission before the year 2233.

* The reprint series ''X-Men Classic'', which debuted in the Comicbook/{{X-Men}}'s '80s heyday, often incorporated newly drawn insert panels with original dialogue by Creator/ChrisClaremont to elaborate on some plot point or character note, or indeed to bring older stories in line with later plots.
* ''X-Men: The Hidden Years'', which takes place between issues #67-93 of ''Uncanny X-Men'', when the series was in reprints.
* CaptainAmerica's SuperheroOrigin was [[{{Rewrite}} rewritten]] in ''Tales of Suspense'' #63 so that Steve Rogers had to drink the Super Soldier Serum instead of having it injected (due to the Comics Code Authority prohibiting demonstrations of drug use). The origin was subequently subjected to revisions -- ''Captain America'' #109 had Steve exposed to Vita-Rays after drinking the formula, and ''Captain America'' #255 reintroduced the injection of the formula while retaining the oral dosage. Grant Morrison's run on ''New X-Men'' gave the origin yet another revision -- the project Steve participated in was actually a part of the Weapon Plus program, which was also responsible for the likes of {{Wolverine}}, thus retroactively making Captain America Weapon I.

* ''WesternAmination/AdventureTime'' does this twice with the Ice King. "Holly Jolly Secrets" details his backstory, as well as providing an explanation for his constant AesopAmnesia, while "I Remember You" reveals he played a major role in the backstory of another major character (and giving an explanation for part of said character's behavior in their introductory episode).

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': Masaki's death is first explained in chapter 19: she was killed defending Ichigo from a Hollow that had been trying to lure him in and eat him. However, Creator/TiteKubo has stated that he did not have a plan for how to end the story until late in the Soul Society Arc, at which point Masaki's death gained additional significance and needed elaboration. The new information is revealed in the Final Arc. While it greatly complicates Ichigo's back story, it does not contradict any previous canon. [[spoiler:Masaki was [[PowerDrain de-powered]] by [[BigBad Yhwach]] while fighting the Grand Fisher, and her back story is so heavily connected to the Ishida family that the reveal greatly complicates ''Uryuu's'' back story as well, and makes him much more important to the metaplot.]]

* Quite common in the {{Warcraft}} universe, probably slightly outnumbering outright retcons. The most famous one would be the Orcs' shamanic heritage, though as they've continued fleshing that out details can get a little inconsistent.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': Masaki's death is first explained in chapter 19: she was killed defending Ichigo from a Hollow that had been trying to lure him in and eat him. However, Creator/TiteKubo has stated that he did not have a plan for how to end the story until late in the Soul Society Arc, at which point Masaki's death became vitally important and needed elaboration. The new information is revealed in the Final Arc. While it greatly complicates Ichigo's back story, it does not contradict any previous canon. [[spoiler:Masaki was [[PowerDrain de-powered]] by [[BigBad Yhwach]] while fighting the Grand Fisher, and her back story is so heavily connected to the Ishida family that the reveal greatly complicates Uryuu's back story as well.]]

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': Masaki's death is first explained in chapter 19: she was killed defending Ichigo from a Hollow that had been trying to lure him in and eat him. However, Creator/TiteKubo has stated that he did not have a plan for how to end the story until late in the Soul Society Arc, at which point Masaki's death became vitally important and needed elaboration. The new information is revealed in the Final Arc. While it greatly complicates Ichigo's back story, it does not contradict any previous canon. [[spoiler:Masaki was [[PowerDrain de-powered]] by [[BigBad Yhwach]] while fighting the Grand Fisher, and her back story is so heavily connected to the Ishida family that the reveal greatly complicates ''Uryuu's'' back story as well.]]

[[folder: Manga]]

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': The death of Ichigo's mother Masaki, the event that triggered his {{Protectorate}} syndrome, is explained in chapter 19: she was killed defending Ichigo from a Hollow that had been trying to lure him in and eat him. However, TiteKubo has stated that he did not have a plan for how to end the story until late in the Soul Society Arc, at which point Masaki's death seems to have been Revised to make it fit. The new information is added in the Final Arc: [[spoiler:Masaki's ''proximate'' cause of death was the Hollow attack, however her ''ultimate'' cause of death was her Quincy ancestor stealing her powers and leaving her defenseless at exactly the wrong moment. While this greatly complicates Ichigo's backstory, it also doesn't outright contradict any previous canon.]]
* ''Manga/{{Shaman King}}'': How the BigBad Hao Asakura became evil. Whilst originally thought to have occurred simply due to the death of his mother and being abandoned by an oni whom he had befriended, two chapters in the side story manga ''Zero'' tell us ''exactly'' when he became evil as well as providing the origin of the name of the Asakura family since he started out life as Asaha Douji. He didn't turn evil right away, he had actually become ''neutral'' after both this event and witnessing the conditions of the population in the countryside. [[spoiler: He was then taken in by an onmyoji named Hamo Tadatomo, and befriended another apprentice name Daitaro. It all went to hell when it was revealed that Daitaro's apprenticeship had been used by their master and his supposed archenemy, whom he had been working with all along, to create a human-shikigami hybrid that everyone could see despite their power level. When this happened, Daitaro went on a rampage, and the revelation of Tadatomo's FreudianExcuse ''drove Hao mad''. He confronted Daitaro in a crazed state, proclaiming that if he failed to stop Daitaro, they could at least destroy everyone together. Hao won, and was given the name that most characters refer to him as by the emperor as a gift of gratitude.]]

[[/folder]]

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': Masaki's death is first explained in chapter 19: she was killed defending Ichigo from a Hollow that had been trying to lure him in and eat him. However, Creator/TiteKubo has stated that he did not have a plan for how to end the story until late in the Soul Society Arc, at which point Masaki's death became vitally important and needed elaboration. The new information is revealed in the Final Arc. While it greatly complicates Ichigo's back story, it does not contradict any previous canon. [[spoiler:Masaki is [[PowerDrain de-powered]] by Yhwach while fighting the Grand Fisher, and her back story is so heavily connected to the Ishida family, that the reveal greatly complicates Uryuu's back story as well.]]

There is a curious variant on the Revision - the creator was working up to something cool, and they were even doing a little [[Foreshadow]]ing. Then they suddenly have AN IDEA. Or maybe they got fired. Now, something even better is going to happen! It doesn't exactly spoil everything, but all that foreshadowing is now worthless, and the chance to foreshadow this new idea was missed out on. So BAM! It comes almost out of nowhere (and often requires a little HeadCanon to explain how it fits in).

There is a curious variant on the Revision - the creator was working up to something cool, and they were even doing a little [[Foreshadowing]]. Then they suddenly have AN IDEA. Or maybe they got fired. Now, something even better is going to happen! It doesn't exactly spoil everything, but all that foreshadowing is now worthless, and the chance to foreshadow this new idea was missed out on. So BAM! It comes almost out of nowhere (and often requires a little HeadCanon to explain how it fits in).

** ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': Masaki's death is first explained in chapter 19: she was killed defending Ichigo from a Hollow that had been trying to lure him in and eat him. However, Creator/TiteKubo has stated that he did not have a plan for how to end the story until late in the Soul Society Arc, at which point Masaki's death became vitally important and needed elaboration. The new information is revealed in the Final Arc. While it greatly complicates Ichigo's back story, it does not contradict any previous canon. [[spoiler:Masaki is [[PowerDrain de-powered]] by Yhwach while fighting the Grand Fisher, and her back story is so heavily connected to the Ishida family, that the reveal greatly complicates Uryuu's back story as well.]]

[[folder: Comic Books ]]