History Retcon / ComicBooks

* ''ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDW''. Originally, Nightmare Moon was portrayed to be a SuperpoweredEvilSide of Princess Luna, then the comic changes it so that Nightmare Moon was the product of the Nightmare forces possessing Luna, though this retcon is based on a WordOfGod from Creator/LaurenFaust saying that Nightmare Moon was brought about via an force separate from Luna.

** Geoffery St. John was retconned from the son of the king's guard who hated Overlanders for killing his father to the son of the king's guard who partnered himself up with Ixis Naugus in an attempt to free him and overthrow King Acorn for allowing this to happen. It also retconned his choice of people for King Acorn's Secret Service from "the best people for the job" to "people with questionable pasts that he could pin the blame on should he get caught". It's said that he genuinely loved Hershey the Cat, married her and abandoned the plan, but when she was killed off-screen, it pushed him into the DespairEventHorizon and back into the plan.

* In the Disney Comics, The Phantom Blot's identity was retconned to be a complete mystery. In the first issue he appeared in, not only was his face seen, but his face resembled [[spoiler: ''Creator/WaltDisney'']]. Arguably, this was a good decision, giving the Blot an air of mystery.

* Geoffery St. John of ''ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog'' was retconned from the son of the king's guard who hated Overlanders for killing his father to the son of the king's guard who partnered himself up with Ixis Naugus in an attempt to free him and overthrow King Acorn for allowing this to happen. It also retconned his choice of people for King Acorn's Secret Service from "the best people for the job" to "people with questionable pasts that he could pin the blame on should he get caught". It's said that he genuinely loved Hershey the Cat, married her and abandoned the plan, but when she was killed off-screen, it pushed him into the DespairEventHorizon and back into the plan.

* Retcon/DCUniverse

!!DC
* Franchise/{{Superman}}:
** His origin, early years, and powers have been revamped a ridiculous number of times just in "official" comic book continuity (and not counting in-story changes). Probably the most notable and drastic example took place in John Byrne's "Man of Steel," commissioned by DC in the 1980s to "clean up" the past several decades of Superman continuity by revamping his origin and the story of how he began his superhero career. Among other things, this retcon scaled back Superman's powers from the levels they had been inflated to (although they have since begun to creep back up a bit), re-established Superman as the only surviving Kryptonian (that one didn't stick either), and wiped out previous continuity in which Clark Kent had a hero career as a teenager in Smallville using the name ComicBook/{{Superboy}}, during which time he also befriended the young Lex Luthor.
*** That last retcon is also notable for ''[[ContinuitySnarl completely borking]]'' the continuity of the ''ComicBook/{{Legion Of Super-Heroes}}'' comic, since the eponymous Legion was introduced in UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|of Comic Books}} as a group of thirtieth-century teenagers who were inspired to form their own "hero club" by stories of Superboy's exploits. The Legion's writers at the time tried to patch things up by, variously, establishing that Superboy had only existed in a pocket universe, killing off the pocket universe Superboy, revamping one-shot character Mon-El into a Superboy {{Expy}}, further rejiggering the timeline by having Mon-El kill the Time Trapper, and finally scrapping and rebooting the whole damn thing during the ''Comicbook/ZeroHour'' crossover in 1994. The ''Legion of Super-Heroes'' was then rebooted again in 2001, and then retconned ''again'' in 2007 back to a variant on the original continuity, with some adjustments. By this point, alternate timelines, retcons, and reboots are a fact of life for Legion fans.
** One of the biggest things was the origins of Superman's powers. Originally his powers were inherently genetic because he was from a race of "supermen" -- this can be found in the prologue of several Fleischer shorts. But after the horrors of World War II thoroughly discredited such fascination with eugenics, it was rewritten that his powers came from Earth's yellow sun. Additionally, Superman's strength and invulnerability were attributed to being super-dense. Post-Crisis, his powers came ''directly'' from the yellow sunlight. When Superman met the "pocket Superboy", the latter wiped the mat with the adult Supes, because he had pre-Crisis power.
** Pre-Crisis, Superman's invulnerability and powers manifested immediately, leading to the adventures of "Superbaby". Post-Crisis, it took 18 years for Clark to develop his superpowers fully.
** Another major Superman retcon that most people don't know about is his attitude. Siegel and Shuster originally wrote him as very rough and aggressive. On one occasion he kidnapped a slumlord, trapped the man in one of his own shoddy buildings, and threatened to collapse the whole structure on top of the guy if he didn't promise to improve conditions for his tenants. He also "accidentally" snapped the neck of a wife beater. A far cry from the Big Blue Boy Scout we all know and love today. World War II shifted his priorities into patriotism and he became a champion for "Truth, Justice and the American Way". When the [[MoralGuardians Comics Code Authority]] came into being in the early 50s, its restrictions on characters' behavior ensured Superman became '''really''' square.
* Speaking of the ''ComicBook/{{Legion Of Super-Heroes}}'', another example that's pretty much like the Trope Picture is the Lightning siblings. Lightning Lad got his powers by being struck by the lightning of some monsters. Then it's revealed he has an older brother who was there as well! ''Then'' it's revealed he has a '''twin sister''', who was ''also'' there!
* Also happens to Superman's cousin, ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}''. Not only have there been four separate versions, but the pre-ComicBook/{{New 52}}'s version's history became so convoluted on its own that Sterling Gates just [=retconned=] it out in issue ''35'', to give her the simple story we all ''thought'' was true before. The reason for the massive continuity snarl around Supergirl is because of an editorial mandate that Superman be the only surviving Kryptonian when his own continuity was rewritten and simplified after ''Comicbook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths''. This caused obvious problems for Supergirl (which in turn broke the Legion of Super-Heroes, among other things, since it was heavily interconnected with her), and necessitated increasingly convoluted explanations until they finally just threw up their hands, admitted that casual readers would always assume she was Superman's surviving cousin regardless, and switched it back to that.
* In another comic-book retcon, Franchise/{{Batman}} is now known as a superhero who refuses to use a gun or to kill (well, most of the time). This was not true in the first year or so, although he didn't actually kill humans very often and most villains died from KarmicDeath. See PayEvilUntoEvil. Another notable case concerns events in the story arc Hush. The titular villain appears revealed as [[spoiler: long dead Robin Jason Todd]], before he turns out to be an imposter (and not the real Hush, at that). Later, a retcon revises the story so that [[spoiler: it was a resurrected Todd after all, but he escaped to be replaced by the imposter mid-battle]].
** Since while everyone's histories were changed for the ''ComicBook/New52'', Batman's was largely unchanged -- meaning while superheroes only appeared 5 years prior to its events, Batman had to be in action for ''ten'' because he ''still'' had ''four'' Robins in his history!
* The revamp of ComicBook/{{Firestorm}} in the late '80s when John Ostrander took over. This was the start of the idea of the "Firestorm Matrix," and culminated in the character going from nuclear man to fire elemental. Oh, and by the way, the nuclear power plant explosion that fused Ronnie Raymond and Martin Stein? That was not just fate, not just a coincidence. You see, Stein was singled out to be the "true" Firestorm/Fire Elemental all along!
** Which led to Ronnie and Mikhail Arkadin leaving the Matrix and Stein entering it to bring Firestorm to his "pure" form to fight the villain Brimstone. Raymond would later return as "classic" Firestorm in the '90s with Stein as Elemental Firestorm as a separate character. Then when Jason Rusch became Firestorm, Stein returned somehow in humanoid form.
* ''ComicBook/BirdsOfPrey'': In the {{ComicBook/Blackhawk}} comic series, when Zinda Blake was brainwashed by Killer Shark to be his partner Queen Killer Shark, she had no loyalty to him. She abandoned Killer Shark to escape the Blackhawks twice in ''Blackhawks'' #200 and #204. And when Killer Shark and Queen Killer Shark capture the Blackhawks in #225, she betrays him, threatens his henchman to turn on him, and imprisons him with the Blackhawks. In ''Birds of Prey'', her brainwashed personally is shown to be completely loyal to Killer Shark, with her being completely in love and devoted to him, to the point that it's implied that she has been sleeping with him in the past.
* Despite the fact that [[ComicBook/{{Batgirl 2000}} Cassandra Cain's]] entire upbringing was a never ending training from hell, she did love her father, and yet she ran away from him. The reason was that her first kill was the very first time she had witnessed death up close and due to her body reading abilities she thought it to be very, very, scary. Thus she found out her upbringing was evil. Now enter the last issue of Adam Beechen's mini series about her where it is revealed that she hated her dad all along, and that she had actually witnessed her father committing murder up close many times before her first kill.
* A rather controversial retcon happened in the ''Franchise/GreenLantern'' series. When DC wanted to reimagine the series, Hal Jordan (the Green Lantern) [[spoiler: pulled a FaceHeelTurn and became a super-villain named Parallax, who killed all the other Green Lanterns. Then, he turned back to Face in time to sacrifice himself to save the world.]] After this, Hal was replaced by Kyle Rayner. Kyle brought an upswing in sales for the book for some time, but eventually DC decided to bring Hal back. In order to smooth over his [[spoiler: Face Heel Turn]] with fans, it was revealed that [[spoiler: he never was actually evil, he was possessed by a cosmic being of fear named Parallax.]]
** This change was also another entry in the long list of retcons of the Green Lantern's "yellow weakness." First, Green Lantern was weak against the color yellow because of a necessary impurity in his power, then it was revealed that the restriction wasn't necessary at all, it was something artificial the Guardians imposed on the Green Lanterns to keep them from going power-crazy. When Kyle became the only Green Lantern, the yellow impurity was removed. In ''Green Lantern: Rebirth'' it was retconned so that the yellow impurity was caused by [[spoiler: the alien entity Parallax being trapped inside the Central Power Battery that gave all the Green Lanterns their power, and Kyle didn't have the yellow weakness because Parallax had been set free by Hal.]] Since then, the current manifestation of "the yellow impurity" is that the Green Lantern can only use his power against the color yellow if he knows the (most current retconned) source of the yellow impurity, and consciously overcomes his fear.
* A rather controversial retcon by the [[Creator/GeoffJohns same author]] as the Franchise/GreenLantern example was in ''Franchise/TheFlash: Rebirth''. Barry Allen came back (which was fine) but now instead of the previous "Happy Family" he had, his father was accused of the murder of Allen's mother. Really it was Professor Zoom, who went back in time and killed Barry's mom to ruin Barry's life.
** Another Flash Retcon involved Wally West asking Spectre to erase the memories of his identity from everyone on earth after the new Zoom tried to kill his wife. Spectre did this but left a loophole so that certain characters would remember everything when Wally took his mask off or put it on in front of them. His wife left him for a while, but came back at the end of the arc. HilariousInHindsight when you realize it did the same basic thing Brand New Day set out to do (Make their identities secret and make them single, not that the last part was a reason for doing the Flash arc) and did it better.
* Following ''ComicBook/GreenLanternRebirth'', the colored lanterns of the Emotional Spectrum are introduced to the ''Franchise/GreenLantern'' mythos, having retroactively existed alongside the Green Lantern Corps. Their past can then be elaborated on with flashbacks or time travel, often sharing a history with the Green Lanterns.
* {{Deconstructed|Trope}} in Cary Bates and Creator/GregWeisman's post-Crisis relaunch of ''Comicbook/CaptainAtom'' for DC, in which the eponymous hero (AntiHero? Protagonist?) has one origin, which the military covers up, instead publicizing a "false" origin, which ''was'' Cap's pre-Crisis Creator/CharltonComics origin. Later on, when Cap lost his powers temporarily, he wore the costumes that he had worn in the Silver Age, because, after all, the public in-story would be familiar with those costumes, having been told he used to wear them.
* DC's 1991 event Comicbook/{{Armageddon 2001}} turned out to be a huge mess at the end of the day (isn't it always?) and a major source of CharacterDevelopment for one Hank Hall (Hawk of ''Hawk and Dove''), which continued through Zero Hour until his death in the pages of the 2000s Comicbook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica relaunch. It also had the nasty effect of [[StuffedIntoTheFridge unceremoniously killing off the second Dove (Dawn Granger)]] in a cheap shock scene. However in the later pages of JSA, a big retcon by Geoff Johns would unfold: The woman who the JSA thought was a comatose Lyta Hall turned out to actually be Dove disguised by Mordru in some strange concealment spell (apparently they had to retcon Lyta to Dove at the time due to some issue with Vertigo too). The explanation of the retcon was quite convoluted and Squick: [[spoiler: Monarch did not actually kill Dove, Mordru simply made an illusion to make Hawk think she was dead. Then Mordru possessed Hawk and made him rape the [[AndIMustScream comatose yet still aware]] Dove, impregnating her with his child. So Dove was kept concealed and pregnant for who knows HOW long until she was found by the JSA, disguised as Lyta for some reason who was disguised as yet another woman, and yet she winds up strangely calm and relatively unaffected considering that she was raped and put into such a situation. And the baby? Wound up being a reincarnated Hector Hall. Not surprisingly, little reference has been made to exactly how Dawn cheated death ever since, she just did.]]
** After her return, Dawn then mysteriously gained a younger sister named Holly, however this change was received even worse due to it contradicting various things in the '80s ''Hawk and Dove'' series, including Dawn being an only child and the powers being unable to pass on to anyone else. Unsurprisingly, Holly wound up becoming CListFodder [[Comicbook/BlackestNight down the line ]]as it seems no writer could figure out what exactly to do with her or how to portray her.
* [[Characters/{{Robin}} Stephanie Brown]] died at the end of ''[[ComicBook/BatmanWarGames War Games]]'', as after she was tortured by Black Mask, Leslie Thompkins withheld vital medical treatment. Her autopsy photos were shown to prove the dangers of crime-fighting to Misfit. Batman never had a [[ShrineToTheFallen memorial case]] for her because [[WordOfGod "she was never really a Robin"]]. [[http://www.sequentialtart.com/article.php?id=488 This wasn't a very popular decision]]. [[AuthorsSavingThrow Except]] she never died: Leslie faked everything because her secret identity was compromised, her body was switched with an overdose victim with a similar body type, and Batman knew this all along making his relationship with [[ComicBook/RobinSeries Tim]] even more strained since he neglected to clue him in. Here's Webcomic/{{Shortpacked}} [[http://www.shortpacked.com/blog/comic/book-7/01-dr-jan-itor/spoilerlives/ on the last one]].
* As noted, DC's ''ComicBook/AllStarSquadron'' is the {{Trope Namer|s}}. A book in the '80s, set during World War II, introducing a never-before-mentioned over-arching superhero group. It filled in a LOT of gaps in the continuity of the time, picking up dangling threads and plot holes (Why didn't Spectre & Superman just end the War? for example), and reviving many long-forgotten characters. Writer Roy (& Dann) Thomas had to work a little harder when ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'' hit, but still continued with Young All-Stars.
* [[ComicBook/{{New52}} The New 52]]:
** Just a year in and they're already contradicting themselves. ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'' had Tim Drake mention his time as Robin and that there had been prior versions of the Titans. When the trade paperback came out, [[OrwellianRetcon this was revised with Tim always]] being ''Red'' Robin (never regular Robin, though still Batman's sidekick), and omitting mentions of prior Titans.
** The Titans were also originally referenced in the ''ComicBook/{{Batwoman}}'' series, with Flamebird claiming to have been part of the team and having fought Comicbook/{{Deathstroke}}. This dialogue also found itself edited when it came time for the trade paperback to be released.
** The thing with Tim never having been a Robin was left ''in'' when it came to the trades collecting ''Batman'', with the Bat-Computer specifically mentioning it. Oops.
* ''[[ComicBook/{{Convergence}} Convergence: Plastic Man and the Freedom Fighters]]'' retcons ComicBook/PlasticMan into being one of Earth-X's ComicBook/FreedomFighters, when he'd never previously been a member [[note]]Plas and the members of the Freedom Fighters are all Quality Comics characters, so including Plas on Earth-X makes it fully a Quality Comics world.[[/note]].
* ''ComicBook/BlackCanary'':
** Black Canary naturally always had black hair, pre-Crisis and post-Crisis. She used to wear wigs but eventually [[DyeHard just grew her hair out and dyed it]]. New 52 retconned her into being naturally blonde. Eventually ''that'' was retconned away, and Black Canary is back to bleaching her naturally black hair.
** ''Comicbook/{{Starman}}'' retconned HappilyMarried Dinah Drake as having briefly cheated on her husband with (also HappilyMarried) Ted Knight. This was briefly alluded to in ''JLA: Year One'', but otherwise, what with Dinah being dead, it rarely comes up.
** The canary scream is either due to radiation, a wizard's curse, a metagene, or human experimentation involving aliens.
* ComicBook/{{Captain Carrot|AndHisAmazingZooCrew}} has always operated under cartoon physics, but they were the burlesqued physics of GoldenAge comics, not the outright ToonPhysics of ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' as shown in ''ComicBook/TheMultiversity''. No previous incarnation of the character, even relatively recent ones, could possibly have survived [[spoiler:decapitation]].
* During ''The Judas Contract'' arc of ''The New ComicBook/TeenTitans'' it was stated that Terra was doing everything by her own free will. In the 2000s, it was shown that Deathstroke had actually drugged her into behaving that way.
* ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'' has been this to the ''ComicBook/{{New 52}}'' as a whole:
** The Wally West introduced in the New 52, who has given a RaceLift, was revealed not to be the actual Wally, but one of Barry and Wally's relatives who was named the same.
** The actual Wally? He'd been pulled into the Speed Force [[spoiler:and is actually the original Wally.]]
** The biggest change? [[spoiler:The New 52 universe is actually the original universe, having been transformed by an entity implied to be [[ComicBook/{{Watchmen}} Dr. Manhattan]].]]
** ''ComicBook/SupermanReborn'' furthered these changes:
*** Superman's origin and past exploits [[spoiler:all mostly happened, thanks to the pre-Crisis and New 52 Superman and Lois Lanes merging. The events of ''ComicBook/SupermanSecretOrigin'', his 80s and 90s adventures, his marriage to Lois Lane and other things all happened. The New 52 adventures happened while Lois was pregnant with Jon Kent and Jon was born in the Fortress of Solitude, not the ''Flashpoint'' Batcave as established in ''Convergence''. The events of ''ComicBook/SupermanLoisAndClark'' are explained as part of a sabbatical where Superman focused more on being a father than a hero, allowing Lex Luthor to become his own Superman.]]
*** As a consequence, all heroes have aged up, having been active for 15 years, not 5.
* Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon's relationship was retconned in the 1990s. Pre-Crisis, Barbara was almost a decade older than Dick and the two had a purely platonic relationship. Since the '90s, however, Barbara (now [[AgeLift aged down]] to be either the same age as Dick, if not slightly younger) is treated as one of Dick's first loves dating back to his days as Robin.

!!Marvel Comics
* In ''Adam: Legend of the Blue Marvel'', Adam Brashear, the ComicBook/BlueMarvel, was established as being an active superhero since the 60's and 70's.
* ''ComicBook/AgentsOfAtlas'' revealed that UsefulNotes/{{the Golden Age|OfComicBooks}} heroine Venus is, contrary to previous portrayals, ''not'' the goddess of the same name who had her own series and joined the Champions (in order to [[CuttingTheKnot cut the knot]] of a particular ContinuitySnarl). Aphrodite was not amused.
** ''ComicBook/AgentsOfAtlas'' reveals the 1950's Marvel Boy, Robert Grayson, was an Uranian Eternal, brainwashed into believing he was Robert Grayson.
* ''ComicBook/AgeOfUltron'' and ''ComicBook/OriginalSin'' reveals Angela was always part of the Marvel Universe, being Odin's first born, and the half-sister of Thor. The Nine Realms always had a tenth realm, Heven, that had been cut off from the world tree Yggdrasil.
* ''ComicBook/{{Alias}}'' establishes Jessica Jones went to the same high school as Peter Parker, at the same time Peter was attending high school.
* ''ComicBook/AlphaFlight''
** In ''Alpha Flight'' #12, James Hudson appears to die. He is resurrected in ''Alpha Flight'' #25, where it is revealed James Hudson was transported to Ganymede and is saved by the Q`wrrlln. In issue #26, this is shown to be a ruse made up by the android Delphine Courtney; John Byrne intended to point out the ridiculousness of superhero resurrection stories. Issues #87-90 reveal James Hudson really was transported there, and the events on Ganymede were no longer just a story.
** During Creator/BillMantlo's run, Puck was revealed to have originally been a tall human whose height was reduced by the curse of the Black Raazer, so he was cured and remained active in his "normal" height for a while, and Northstar was revealed to be half fairy due to having a parent from Alfheim. Both of these details were eventually reversed and ignored. {Well, Northstar's origin turned out to be a lie cooked up by Loki, while the Master of the World restored Puck to his shorter yet youthful self. ''Then'' these revelations were never brought up again.)
* ''Comicbook/TheAvengers''
** ''Avengers 1959'' establishes there was a 1959 Avengers team lead by Nick Fury, consisting of Dominic Fortune, Kraven the Hunter, Namora, Sabretooth, Silver Sable, and Ulysses Bloodstone.
** ''Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes'' (2005) adds behind the scenes details to the early ''Comicbook/TheAvengers'' stories that did not exist then, such as Captain America visiting the Vietnam War Memorial, or showing villains dealing out more destruction than in the original stories, such as the Black Knight Nathan Garrett firing on civilians instead of just spraying Adhesive X.
** ''ComicBook/TheCrossing'' was reviled for many reasons, chief among them being it tried to state that Franchise/IronMan was really a ManchurianAgent for Kang the Conqueror since the Avengers first fought him (which heavily derailed Iron Man's character) and that the various mental issues [[ComicBook/AntMan Hank Pym]] suffered over the years were really an earlier attempt to turn him into one before Kang moved onto Tony. ''The Crossing'' was so reviled that many elements of ''ComicBook/AvengersForever'' were itself a retcon towards it. It was revealed that the mastermind behind the story was actually Immortus disguised as Kang in an off-the-rails attempt to distract the Avengers from preparing for ComicBook/{{Onslaught}}, which was one part of a possible timeline where humanity conquers the stars. Tony Stark was never Brainwashed since the Avengers first fought Kang, but was being controlled by Immortus since ''ComicBook/OperationGalacticStorm''. It was said to be brainwashed FantasticRacism that went completely overboard and that Immortus lied through his teeth when he said he was the cause of Hank's issues. Various faces who turned evil throughout the story turned out to be Space Phantoms.
** In ''Fantastic Four Annual'' #4, the Human Torch android was revived by the Mad Thinker to fight the Fantastic Four. In ''Avengers'' #133, Ultron reconstructed the Human Torch android to become the basis for the Vision. ''ComicBook/AvengersForever'' reveals Immortus created and merged two timelines where both events happened. The Human Torch android body was still around, while the Vision still remained active as an Avenger. This allowed the Human Torch android and the Vision to both exist without causing a time paradox. The Human Torch android was revived later.
** ''Avengers: The Origin'' gives a modern, broad strokes origin for the Avengers, replacing the Teen Brigade's ham radios with flatscreen computers.
** In The Wedding of Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne, originally, a supervillian named Yellowjacket appears claiming he killed Hank to the Avengers, namely Hawkeye. He turns around and kidnaps Janet and after a SlapSlapKiss moment she announces her intentions to marry him. It is made clear that by the end of the story line that Janet figured out it was actually Hank having a [[Main/SanitySlippage mental break from chemicals and adopting a new persona to cope]]. She saw this as her chance at happiness, [[http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/yjwedding11.jpg which she ranted about Hank ruining due to his focus on work]]. They've attempted to retcon this story twice. Once, by having everyone [[http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/yjwedding18.jpg on the Avengers forced to play along in order to help Hank cope]] during his [[FreakOut mental break]]. The other time, Creator/BrianMichaelBendis made it so it was said to be an elaborate [[http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kxF371gMSro/TQBQp75HknI/AAAAAAAAQG0/UO4-wSqvMec/s1600/scan0007.jpg PR]] [[http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kxF371gMSro/TQBPVWlAOxI/AAAAAAAAQGs/8wlqbfYFsM0/s1600/scan0004.jpg stunt]] [[http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kxF371gMSro/TQBPVMAo0ZI/AAAAAAAAQGk/L6gP1bMR68E/s1600/scan0005.jpg with]] [[http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kxF371gMSro/TQBPVI1hcjI/AAAAAAAAQGc/EVsIiEAr1hs/s1600/scan0006.jpg everyone]] of the Avengers in the know, and that it was to throw the media.
** In [[ComicBook/AntMan Scott Lang]]'s first appearance, his daughter Cassie suffered from a congenital heart defect. To save her life, Scott stole Hank Pym's Ant-Man equipment and Pym Particles, which he used to rescue Doctor Sondheim, the only doctor able to cure Cassie's condition, from Cross Technological Enterprises. Scott's wife, and Cassie's mother, never appeared or was mentioned, with it being implied that Scott was raising Cassie alone. In fact, when Scott was in prison, his sister Ruth Lang and her boyfriend Carl were the ones that took care of Cassie, and have since disappeared. Then in ''Avengers'' Vol 3 #62, Scott's ex-wife Peggy Rae appears when she obtains a court ruling limiting Scott's time with Cassie to supervised visits for one month. Despite the fact that before that issue, Cassie was under his custody with no problems.
** ''Mighty Avengers'' vol 2 #12 establishes there was a Mighty Avengers team during the 1970's.
* ''Battle Scars'' establishes Nick Fury, Jr. is Nick Fury's son, and there is an Earth-616 Phil Coulson.
* ''ComicBook/BlackPanther'' vol. 4 retcons Klaw's origin, how T'Chaka was killed by Klaw, how T'Chaka fought Captain America, and how T'Challa and Storm first met each other.
* ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica''
** ''Avengers'' #4 establishes Captain America and Bucky went missing in action when a plane exploded in mid-air, but in the earlier ''Captain America Comics'', they are still alive and continue having adventures past the date of the explosion. In ''What If?'' #4, taking place in regular continuity, it is explained the Captain America in those stories was William Nasland, the Spirit of '76, taking on the role of Captain America. Jeff Mace took on the role of Captain America, following the death of Nasland. Fred Davis took on the role of Bucky during both Nasland and Mace's career as Captain America. Nasland and Davis' post-war adventures, as part of the All-Winners Squad, was a continuation of the Invaders and the Liberty Legion.
** ''Captain America'' #153-156 introduced the "Commie-Smasher" Cap of the 1950s, William Burnside[[note]]who wasn't named as such until issue #602, during the Ed Brubaker run decades later[[/note]], and his Bucky, Jack Monroe, who'd taken up the mantle some time after Mace and Davis had retired. Burnside had discovered a Nazi copy of the [[SuperSerum Super Soldier Serum]], and had himself [[MagicPlasticSurgery surgically altered to resemble Steve Rogers]], going so far as to legally changing his name to "become" Rogers. However, his [[PsychoSerum imperfect serum drove him and Jack mad]], causing the government to [[HumanPopsicle put them on ice]] until such a time as they could be cured. However, a far right-leaning low-level employee let them loose, where they fought the original Cap, ComicBook/TheFalcon, and ComicBook/Agent13. Burnside was later used by Doctor Faustus as the Grand Director of his neo-Nazi organization, the National Front, while Monroe was saved by S.H.I.E.L.D. and fixed up enough to become a hero in his own right, taking up the identity Nomad.
** ''Captain America'' #218-220 explains Captain America did not end up immediately frozen in the Arctic Circle after falling into the English Channel, but first encountered General Dekker, and was then placed in suspended animation and frozen in the Arctic Circle.
** ''Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty'' #6 reveals there was a Revolutionary War hero, Steven Rogers, who could be considered the first Captain America.
** ''Captain America'' vol 4 suggests Captain America being frozen in the Arctic Circle was part of a plot by the U.S. Government to interfere with Captain America preventing the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This story has not been addressed since, and is probably CanonDiscontinuity.
** ''Captain America'' vol 5 establishes Bucky survived the plane explosion in the flashback in ''Avengers'' #4, and went on to become the Winter Soldier.
** Dr. Erskine was originally named Prof. Reinstein. The name discrepancy was later reconciled with "Reinstein" being a code name used for the chief scientist of Project: Rebirth, which was passed on from Erksine after his death to the scientist who continued the project as shown in ''Truth: Red, White, and Black'' that produced Isaiah Bradley, the original "black Captain America".
** Captain America's ''costume'' was even subject to a retcon! In his very first appearance in ''Captain America Comics'' #1, the red and white stripes at his waistline wrapped around his back, but from issue #2 onward through the short-lived "Commie-Smasher" revival in the 50s, the stripes were only present on the front of his costume, leaving his back solid blue save for a white star. When Cap was revived in ''Avengers'' #4, the stripes wrapped around to his back again, and ''ComicBook/TheInvaders'' (and other Cap stories set in WWII) would show that his costume was ''always'' this way, while Burnside's Cap uniform from the 50s had the solid blue back.
* A pretty minor one, all things considered, but Frank Miller retconned what age ComicBook/{{Daredevil}} was when his father was killed. Originally, he was already in college. In Frank Miller's miniseries, ''Daredevil: The Man Without Fear'', Matt is younger, and is instead in 12th grade. So instead of his father pressuring him to be important and Matt studying and then enrolling in law right before his father died, Matt was pressured to study and picked law... but didn't necessarily ''have'' to follow through, since he had already acted as a vigilante at the time and his father was dead.
* ''ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}'':
** Deadpool was retroactively added to the Weapon X program; he is not present in Weapon X stories published before his first appearance.
** In issue #34 of his first ongoing series, Deadpool's ArchEnemy T-Ray reveals that Deadpool is not actually Wade Wilson, but stole the identity from the man who would become T-Ray. T-Ray claims the "real" Wade was a teacher, unlike the monstrous mercenary "Jack" who became Deadpool. This clashed with Deadpool's previous Weapon X origin written by the same writer.
** A different writer in same series retconned the retcon with a ham-handed explanation that T-Ray was tricking Deadpool to mess with his head; the Weapon X story and the name Wade Wilson became his origin again. Most fans didn't even remember this mess until T-Ray's version was restated as false in ''ComicBook/CableAndDeadpool'', written by Deadpool co-creator Fabian Nicieza.
* While traveling backward in time in the 1973 Sise-Neg storyline, ''ComicBook/DoctorStrange'' paused in Ancient Egypt for a couple of panels to cast a spell that briefly changed the Thing back to human Ben Grimm, allowing him to escape from shackles designed for the Thing's massive wrists, escape, and begin the defeat of Rama-Tut by the ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' in FF #19. (In the original Lee/Kirby story, it was vaguely described as a result of the hot Egyptian sun).
* A particularly controversial example was Steve Engelehart's retcon of ComicBook/TheFalcon's origin in ''Comicbook/CaptainAmerica''. When the Falcon first appeared, he was a kindly young social worker who became a superhero to help Cap fight off a group of exiled war criminals. Then Englehart came along and decided that before he put on a costume, the Falcon had actually been a violent, drug-dealing pimp who only became a hero because the Comicbook/RedSkull had brainwashed him in order to have a [[TheMole Mole]] in Cap's confidence. Enter Rick Remender, who retconned that retcon in ''All-New Captain America'' by revealing that Sam Wilson was always the social worker, but the Red Skull had put in the violent, drug-dealing pimp past in an attempt to discredit him, hoping that people would be ''racist'' enough to believe it.
* Creator/StanLee, the original writer for ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'', initially couldn't decide whether or not the ComicBook/HumanTorch kept his identity secret through ClarkKenting when giving him his own solo feature in ''ComicBook/StrangeTales''. The retcon was a combination--he ''thought'' his identity was secret, [[EverybodyKnewAlready and everyone else was humoring him]].
* ''Comicbook/FantasticFour'' #357 reveals Alicia Masters was being impersonated by Lyja the Skrull since ''Fantastic Four'' #265.
* In ''ComicBook/GenerationX'', the St. Croix sisters Claudette and Nicole are revealed to really be ComicBook/MonetStCroix.
* The character of Peter Quill aka [[Comicbook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy Star-Lord]] has been subject to a number of different retcons in order to make his origin somewhat comprehensible in the wider Franchise/MarvelUniverse. The original ''Star-Lord'' stories took place TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture and possibly in an AlternateUniverse, which was slightly reinforced in an ''[[Comicbook/TheInhumans Inhumans]]'' mini-series which established Star-Lord's father as part of the present day Marvel Universe, with the implication that Peter wasn't even born yet. This was thrown out the window during ''Comicbook/{{Annihilation}}'', which tried to position Peter as part of the current Marvel Universe while keeping his original 70's origin. Finally, Creator/BrianBendis just said "Screw it" and started over from scratch, establishing an entirely new (and more coherent) origin that contains bits of the various retcons, but firmly established Star-Lord as a present day Marvel character.
* In ''ComicBook/TheIlluminati'', in-universe, the Illuminati were created after the Kree-Skrull war, of the 1970s. In the real world, they were introduced in the ''Comicbook/NewAvengers'', and their origin detailed before ''Comicbook/CivilWar''. In ''Comicbook/JonathanHickmansAvengers'', ''Time Runs Out'' establishes the group's further activities.
* ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'' has a few:
** Quite a few regarding the first appearance of the Hulk. Firstly, Bruce's ResurrectiveImmortality was first activiated in the accident that turned him into the Hulk as he was originally actually killed in the gamma bomb explosion. Additionally, it undoes the CanonDiscontinuity Creator/PeterDavid gave to the Devil Hulk by revealing he was real: he's actually the Immortal Hulk and thus, his actual true form resembles a traditional green Hulk. And that the Immortal/Devil Hulk is in fact the Hulk seen in Bruce's first few adventures.
** Brian Banner, Bruce's father, is also shown to have feared the existence of offspring from him would break a spell instead of a fear of something wrong with his genetics, and he'd previously dealt with the Green Door.
** The Hulk seen in ''ComicBook/SecretEmpire'' is really a new personality.
* ''Comicbook/{{Infinity}}'' and ''Comicbook/{{Inhumanity}}'' retcon parts of the prior ''Comicbook/SilentWar'' mini-series, namely the bits about the Terrigen Mist being fatal to anyone without [[Comicbook/TheInhumans Inhuman]] lineage.
* ''ComicBook/IronMan''
** A minor one concerning the [[AllThereInTheManual data books]]: When ''The All-New Iron Manual'' was released, the original Hulkbuster armor was classified as the "Model 14" armor, retconning it from being a modular piece of armor for the "Model 13" Modular Armor to its own set of armor. When the book was rereleased, the Hulkbuster was restored to being the modular piece of armor, which had the side effect of knocking down all armors after the Modular Armor down a model number.
** ''Iron Man'' Vol 1 #267-268 originally retconned Iron Man's origin from him being in Southeast Asia to test a new weapon, to investigating problems at a new Stark Industries plant in the region, when he's injured by a mine and captured. It also tied his captor, the Communist Vietnamese warlord Wong-Chu, to the Mandarin.
** ''Iron Man'' Vol 4 further changes Iron Man's origin as Stark fighting a group of Taliban terrorists in Afghanistan, instead of Stark travelling to Vietnam to rescue Ho Yinsen from Wong-Chu. Ho Yinsen dies in Afghanistan, instead of Vietnam, and his wife and son are later killed.
** ''Iron Man'' Vol 5 reveals Tony Stark's long lost brother, Arno Stark, was born after Howard and Maria Stark agreed to allow their unborn child to undergo genetic modification from a Rigellian Recorder.
** ''International Iron Man'' reveals Tony Stark's biological parents were two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, Amanda Armstrong and Jude.
** ''Iron Man: Legacy'' revealed that Tony Stark's first attempt at a startup company after Obadiah Stane bought out Stark Industries was not Circuits Maximus, but rather Imperio Techworks. He was forced to leave the company due to a conflict with [[ComicBook/{{Runaways}} the Pride]].
* ''Marvel: The Lost Generation'' is a twelve issue miniseries built entirely around retcon - specifically, filling in the blank in Marvel history from 1955 to 1961.
* In ''Marvel Team-Up'' #74, the Silver Samurai acquired a teleportation ring from Creator/JohnBelushi, while other stories claim it was from Creator/ChrisFarley.
* The Marvel Comics ''ComicBook/{{Micronauts}}'' were inexplicably brought back to life in a 1996 issue of ''Comicbook/{{Cable}}''. This was exactly ten years after they sacrificed themselves to create a Genesis effect that completely restored their ruined Homeworld into a new world at a natural state. In Cable, Homeworld is inhabited by Psycho-Man who is using Baron Karza's old body banks to create dog soldiers.
** Commander Rann, Mari, and Bug are now the only Micronauts. For licensing reasons, they are now called The Microns; the others having died in war (Marvel no longer has the license to use Acroyear and most of the others. Huntarr's absence is baffling since he was created by Bill Mantlo, the writer of the first Micronauts series).
** Homeworld is once again an overpopulated technometropolis and the Microns are freedom fighters. Homeworld is again under the iron fist of someone who probably has to remain unnamed due to licensing restrictions.
** In a never released story (again due to licensing), Baron Karza and Thanos have a fight which merges all of the Microverses into one ,so now Sub-Atomica and Jarella's Homeword are now in the same dimension.
** Rann and Mari's appearance and personality are different in every re-appearance. In ''Cable'', Rann is buff and heroic looking while Mari's look screams butch lesbian. And she seemed to have given up the swords for normal futuristic weapons. Then Rann and Mari are looking like their old selves in ''[[ComicBook/CaptainMarVell Captain Marvel]]'', although they don't do much more than talk (kind of like a typical episode of Star Trek TNG). In Realm of Kings: Son of Hulk Rann now sports a goatee and reading glasses. And unlike in ''Cable'' where Mari had about three lines between the two issues, she's back to her usual verbose self but now talks like an average Earth bimbo instead of a Homeworld Princess. And look at the man legs on her.
** Bug is now a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy and for some reason, he's normal human sized and not about 3 inches which is normal when Microversians travel to the regular Earth universe. Rann and Mari (who is once again inexplicably letting others call her Marionette) have a robot sidekick named Carl (don't ask) and their latest enemy is Son of Hulk. They journey around the Microverse aboard the Endeavor III (which sports the most insanely stupidest ship design ever seen in print or screen: a giant atom). It looks as if someone really hated the deeper, more cerebral Micronauts: The New Voyages.
** At least in the Franchise/MarvelUniverse this kind of things can be easily explained away thanks to their *infinite* number of {{alternate universe}}s. It is entirely possible that the current Micros are just not the originals and that they're as confused as to whom they're dealing with as the heroes are.
* As revealed in the late 1990's anthology comic ''Marvel Universe,'' minor 1940s Marvel [[SuperSpeed speedsters]] Hurricane and Mercury were ''both'' Makkari of ComicBook/TheEternals under assumed names. And he was part of a pre-Fantastic Four super team called the Monster Hunters.
* In ''[[ComicBook/{{Excalibur}} New Excalibur]]'', it is revealed there were eight Black Knights preceding Sir Percy. There was also a World War I Black Knight, and a swashbuckling Black Knight.
* In ''ComicBook/OriginalSin'', it turns out the real Dum Dum Dugan has been dead since 1966, and all subsequent appearances have been an LMD. And Tony Stark may have inadvertently been involved in the Hulk's creation. The Dum Dum retcon was retconned in ''ComicBook/NewAvengers2015'' as that the real Dum Dum was OnlyMostlyDead and that the [=LMDs=] he used were being controlled by his mind.
* When Patsy Walker became Hellcat, the series ''ComicBook/PatsyWalker'' became in-universe fiction written by Patsy's mother.
* ''ComicBook/ThePunisher''
** In Frank's earlier appearances in ''Comicbook/SpiderMan'' and ''Comicbook/{{Daredevil}}'', Frank goes after people for jaywalking and littering. ''The Punisher'' 1986 miniseries retcons these stories as Frank being under the influence of mind-altering drugs.
** Frank appears to put down his dog, Max, with a knife at the end of one issue. A later story and letters page claims Max survived, as Frank administered emergency medical procedures.
* The origin of Comicbook/{{Quicksilver}} and the Comicbook/ScarletWitch have been retconned a number of times. Originally, they were said to be the children of World War II heroes Whizzer and Miss America, only to be revealed years later that, instead, they were the children of Magneto. Flash forward to ''ComicBook/{{AXIS}}'' and a spell launched by the inverted Witch to harm those in her bloodline, only to have Magneto mostly unharmed, thus making ''him'' not their father. ''AXIS'' also had a retcon towards ComicBook/{{Venom}} - Eddie Brock's StartOfDarkness was caused by him taking and publishing a confession by Emil Gregg, who confessed to being the serial killer Sin Eater. However, Eddie was discredited when Spider-Man captured and unmasked the Sin Eater and revealed that he was a completely different person and that Emil was a pathological liar. Flash forward to ''AXIS: Carnage'' to reveal that Emil was indeed the Sin Eater and that his lying habit essentially gave him an out.
* The ''Rampaging Hulk'' stories were intially far out stories featuring the Hulk. In ''Comicbook/IncredibleHulk'' #269-287, it is revealed the stories were created as techno-art movies by Bereet the Krylorian. Similarly, an unpublished story by Steve Gerber would have retconned the ''Comicbook/HowardTheDuck'' stories not written by Gerber as art made by the Krylorian Chireep.
* Invoked intentionally in ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion'', revealing Spider-Woman in ''Comicbook/NewAvengers'' was a double agent, Queen Veranke of the Skrull Empire.
* ''ComicBook/TheSentry'' has been around since the 60's. Don't remember? That's the point.
* ''Franchise/SpiderMan'':
** Infamously, ComicBook/TheCloneSaga had to muck around with continuity so much (both because of its initial premise and because of the unholy mess it later became) that at one point they had to dedicate an entire special double-sized issue to retconning away a ''previous retcon''.
** Then, there's the Hobgoblin. The writer at the time he was first introduced,Creator/RogerStern, set up this massive story about a replacement Goblin who was starting to meddle in the affairs of the Kingpin, among others. However, before Stern could reveal the identity, he left the title and the next writer said it was Ned Leeds, a go-to guy for wanna-be Goblins. Between the late 80s and the mid 90s, the role of the Hobgoblin fell to mercenary Jason Macendale, who was ''incredibly'' incompetent. Then, Stern returned for a three-issue mini-series devoted to finally clearing up the mystery of the Hobgoblin.
** "The Final Chapter" reveals Aunt May, who died in ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' #400, was an actress hired by Norman Osborn.
** ''ComicBook/SpiderManChapterOne'' would have introduced a modernized origin to replace the early issues of ''The Amazing Spider-Man'', with the newer origin being included in ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' volume 2, but this decision was reversed after being met with fan outcry.
** The stories "Comicbook/OneMoreDay" and "Comicbook/BrandNewDay" infamously altered twenty years worth of continuity by erasing Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson's marriage from continuity. This happened because Spider-Man saved his aunt's life by making a deal with Mephisto, a "demon" character typically used as the Franchise/MarvelUniverse stand-in for the Devil. Peter unmasking in public during ''Comicbook/CivilWar'' didn't happen as depicted; instead, the event was erased from people's memories or they could not remember who was behind the mask.
** ''ComicBook/OneMomentInTime'' reveals Mary Jane agreed with making the deal with Mephisto in ''ComicBook/OneMoreDay''. The events of ''The Wedding!'' are rewritten so that a red bird, implied to be Mephisto, causes a fat man to fall on Peter and ruin the wedding, altering events up to the present day.
** ComicBook/BlackCat was originally just a laidback adventuress, then Creator/KevinSmith decided to retcon that she was a victim of rape and that her early adventures was a misplaced reaction to it. She was also arrested before and had her identity made public--yet her current FaceHeelTurn is based on [[ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan Otto Octavius]] capturing her and her arrest making her identity public.
** ''ComicBook/UntoldTalesOfSpiderMan'' adds in stories taking place during the time of the original stories.
** ''ComicBook/{{Trouble}}'' attempted to redo the origin of Spider-Man by centering around a contemporary group of friends, Ben, May, Mary and Richard, with May having an affair with Richard, implying Peter was born to Aunt May. This has since been considered [[CanonDiscontinuity discontinuity]].
** ''Sins Past'' and ''Sins Remembered'' establishes Norman Osborn and Gwen Stacy had a son and daughter, Gabriel Stacy and Sarah Stacy.
** In ''Amazing Spider-Man'' vol 3 #1, it is revealed the same spider that bit Peter also bit Cindy Moon on her ankle, and she eventually became known as Silk. ''Tangled Web of Spider-Man'' #1-3 establishes Carl King, a bully, studied and ate the spider, and became The Thousand.
** In ''ComicBook/DeadNoMoreTheCloneConspiracy'', [[spoiler: ComicBook/TheNightGwenStacyDied is changed to reveal that, before the Goblin knocked her over, Gwen Stacy had woken up and heard Spidey call himself "Peter". She automatically hates both because of what happened to her father. In issue 4, however, when Peter finally confronts Gwen (or better, ''another'' clone with her last memoirs), she does say that she forgives him and, in a tie-in, she admits that she's still in love with Peter, but she feels betrayed by him being Spider-Man, though she understands why he does what he does.]]
* ''Spider-Woman: Origin'' establishes Jessica Drew's powers come from being zapped while in her mother's womb by a laser containing the DNA of different species of spiders, instead of being caused by a spider-blood serum and genetic accelerator. Jessica's father Jonathan worked with HYDRA, Miles Warren and General Wyndham, instead of finding and funding research with uranium and working with Edgar Wyndham. Instead of the HYDRA agent Otto Vermis recruiting Jessica into HYDRA, Otto is retired and much older. Jessica is raised by Bova, appearing as a human, and Jessica learns martial arts from Taskmaster.
* ''Truth: Red, White & Black'' establishes the super soldier serum was tested on black soldiers before being used on Steve Rogers, becoming a major point in the origin of Isaiah Bradley, Captain America, Josiah al hajj Saddiq, Justice, and Elijah Bradley, Patriot.
* The fastest turnaround in retcon history may appear in ''Uncanny X-Men Annual'' #2. Serving as both a prequel and installment to ''Comicbook/DarkReign'', it does away with [[Comicbook/SubMariner Namor]] being presented as a skeevy, smelly, creepy old man by turning the dialogue between him and Emma subtly flirtatious.
* ''ComicBook/WhatIf'' #4, in an in-continuity story, reveals the creator of the Human Torch android, Phineas T. Horton, created a second android, Adam-II.
* ''Comicbook/{{Wolverine}}''
** His claws originally ''appeared'' to be part of his glove, so the revelation that they were part of his body may or may not be considered a retcon. Later X-rays of his arms clearly showed that the claws were implants with mechanical housings and an extension/retraction mechanism. Later stories (as well as the cartoon) went with this and established that his claws are not affected by things that neutralize superpowers, even though his other powers are. When it was later "revealed" that his claws were a natural part of his skeletal system, the conflict with the earlier x-rays was never mentioned. (This includes his original entry in ''The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe''.) Similarly, Wolverine's eternal [[TheRival rival]] Sabretooth first appeared in ''Iron Fist'' as a psychopathic human murderer who wore clawed gloves.
** ''Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure'' implies Apocalypse was involved in the Weapon X program, and that Logan has a child in the Savage Land. This has not been addressed since.
** ''Logan: Path of the Warlord'' is set during Logan's past in Jasmine Falls.
** ''ComicBook/NewXMen'' revealed Weapon X was but one project of Weapon Plus, masterminded by John Sublime. The Super Soldier program that lead to the creation of Captain America, Project Rebirth, was also a project of Weapon Plus.
** ''Wolverine: Origin'' establishes Wolverine's name is James Howlett, born in 19th Century Canada, from an affair by Elizabeth Howlett and Thomas Logan. Dog Logan is James' half-brother.
** The backstory of ComicBook/BuckyBarnes as the Winter Soldier affected Logan's past by having the Winter Soldier introduce and kill Logan's love Itsu during a mission in Jasmine Falls during the 40's, establishing the backstory of Logan's son Daken. This would have lasting repercussions for Logan.
** ''ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}'' volume 3 and 4, ''Wolverine: Origins'', and ''Wolverine: Weapon X Files'' establish Romulus as the main villain who has been messing with Logan for most of his life, just as Wolverine's son, Daken, was retroactively introduced.
** Wolverine's ExpansionPackPast has included Logan being part of D-Day during the Normandy invasion and the liberation of the Netherlands, a prisoner at one of the Nazi concentration camps who used {{Gaslighting}} against a series of the camp's directors until they were each DrivenToSuicide, and being a prisoner in Nagasaki on the same day the atomic bomb was dropped.
** ''Sabretooth Reborn'' reveals Romulus was lying about Logan's Lupine origin, M-Day didn't restore all of Logan's forgotten memories, and that Logan remembers he volunteered for the Project X/Weapon X program after defeating members of Department H.
* {{ComicBook/Sabretooth}} & {{ComicBook/Mystique}}'s relationship. In the 90's it was revealed she & Sabretooth met in Germany while she was impersonating a woman named Lien Zauber. They had an affair and conceived a child, Graydon Creed. Sabretooth had no idea Zauber was really Mystique & Mystique faked her death to leave Sabretooth. When we see them interact, it's shown clearly that they don't like one another. Sabretooth hits on her a few times, but he also hit Pyslocke, whom he gutted & almost killed. Along with hitting on Jean Grey, so that doesn't count for much. He's almost killed Mystique on 2 occasions, and she in turn has poisoned him, talked down to him, played mind-games on him, and shown to find him so repulsive that she threatens to hurt him should he touch her. Fast-Forward to 2010, they were made Marvel's New Villain Couple during Jason Aaron's X-run, and were oddly affectionate with each other. They shared passionate & tender kisses, and Mystique's pet-name for Sabretooth is "dearest." Rick Remender seems fond of the relationship & kept it going in anything he wrote for the X-franchise. He even went so far as to retcon their first meeting in Germany. During AXIS, Mystique mentions their first meeting as them almost killing each other before they ravaged each other. She then cups Creed's face affectionately, and he tenderly holds her hand while they look at one another lovingly. A HUGE change from their disgust with one another in the 90's.
* ''ComicBook/XForce''
** Samuel Guthrie, Cannonball, was revealed to be an immortal known as an External, and was recruited by Cable specifically to take down Apocalypse. After Selene defeated the Externals, she revealed Cannonball was not an External. In his own series, Comicbook/{{Cable}} went on to fight Apocalypse by himself, ignoring Cannonball's status as TheChosenOne to take down Apocalypse.
** Reignfire appeared in ''X-Force'' #26, and was intended to be Roberto da Costa from the future. But then it was explained that Reignfire was really the result of a scientist's experiment with a protoplasmic organism that used Roberto da Costa's genetic material as a template.
** ''X-Force'' #46, #54, and #61 attempted to explain Shatterstar's true identity as another person named Benjamin Russell, but this plot point ended up as an AbortedArc.
** ''X-Force'' #102-105 reveals Pete Wisdom wears an eyepatch not because of an eye injury, but just to look cool.
* ''Comicbook/XMen''
** So that one team member wouldn't end up [[MoralEventHorizon committing Genocide]], Comicbook/JeanGrey was rewritten so that she was never Phoenix and she never died on The Moon. It was the Phoenix Force itself, who took on Jean's appearance and memories (Quasi-confirmed in a later issue of ''What If..?'' which showed what would have happened if "Jean" had had her powers stripped rather than committing suicide). Has been retconned several times since then, the latest version is that it ''was'' Jean on the Moon. How she ended up in Jamaica Bay a few years after that isn't accounted for. Plus becoming Phoenix in the first place was a retcon. Xavier basically went "Oh, she had this powerful other self in her the whole time, that I just sealed away."
** From an ComicBook/XMen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bL6J7FJmy1c fan-parody film]] on Magneto's retcon survival: "No, that was actually Xorn's twin brother possessed by the sentient mold Sublime, pretending to be me, pretending to be Xorn." As crazy as that sounds, the parody writer is not making that up.
---->'''Beast:''' That defies all logic!
** "Hey guys, there was a secret team of X-Men that I, Professor Xavier, sent off to their deaths. I really didn't mention it before because I thought that it would have been far too depressing for you guys, and because I am the biggest bastard on the planet. Now go on out there and save that world that both hates and fears us!" (X-Men: Deadly Genesis seemed like it was designed for the sole purpose of smearing Professor Xavier's reputation.). For that matter, the writers have gotten ''a lot'' of mileage out of having Xavier do something shady in the past then wipe people's memory of it, even though this itself is a retcon of Xavier [[MindOverManners not believing in using his powers that way]].
** Comicbook/{{Psylocke}}'s RaceLift from a Caucasian British woman to a Japanese assassin was originally explained by Claremont as being the result of magic and surgery performed on her by Spiral and Mojo. After the title changed writers to Fabian Nicieza, he had not been aware of Claremont's explanation and introduced the character Revanche, who was said to be inhabiting Betsy's original body. In his version of events, Spiral and Mojo [[FreakyFridayFlip performed a body-swap]] on the two women, although he'd later state that their DNA and appearances became intermingled due to imperfections made in the swap. An initial earlier explanation by Nicieza had also stated that Kwannon had accidentally swapped her mind with Betsy after encountering her body on a beach, but this was retconned as false memories due to the inconsistency with what was shown when Betsy originally emerged from the Siege Perilous. [[note]]The details behind Psylocke's transformation from ''Comicbook/UncannyXMen'' #256-258 are revealed in ''[[ComicBook/AdjectivelessXMen X-Men]]'' #21-22, as the X-Men discover a scroll that turns out to be Kwannon's diary. But it turns out this explanation was not accurate enough, as issues #31-32 reveal the diary was a fake diary written by the crimelord Nyoirin.[[/note]]
** In the late 90's, when Creator/ChrisClaremont once more began writing for the X-Men, the character Sage was retconned to being one of Xavier's original students, placed as a spy in the Hellfire Club under Sebastian Shaw.
** For a long time ComicBook/{{Rogue}}'s stripe of white hair was explicitly dyed however it was later retconned to be natural.
** After ''ComicBook/AgeOfApocalypse'', it was revealed Dark Beast and Gambit were retroactively responsible for the ''Mutant Massacre''.
** ''ComicBook/{{Onslaught}}'' reveals Xavier's attack on Magneto during ''Fatal Attractions'' created Onslaught, and that the X-traitor message, that motivated Bishop to travel to the past, was caused by Professor Xavier becoming Onslaught.
** ''The Twelve'' revisits the The Twelve storyline introduced in ''ComicBook/XFactor'', but the list of twelve mutants has been changed from the original story.
** ''X-Men: The Hidden Years'' adds stories to the original run, and includes cameos by ''The Lost Generation'''s First Line. ''Professor Xavier and the X-Men'' and ''X-Men: First Class'' also add in stories during the original series leading up to ''Giant-Size X-Men''.
** ''Adventures of the X-Men'' #12 reveals this particular 90's X-men inspired reality is the precursor to Earth-616. Because M'Kraan Crystal.
** ''ComicBook/NewXMen'' reveals Charles Xavier had a sister, a Mummudrai spirit taking physical form that became stillborn, surviving to become Cassandra Nova. It's also established mutants can have a secondary mutation, such as Emma's diamond form.
** Chuck Austen's run, including ''The Draco'', establishes Nightcrawler and Angel are the descendants of the Neyaphem and Cheyarafim, with Azazel being Nightcrawler's father. Also, Angel's blood has the power to heal.
** ''Uncanny X-Men'' #435 reveals the Comicbook/SheHulk that slept with the Juggernaut was a tourist from Earth-721, known as Earth-A.
** ''Magneto Testament'' establishes Magneto's real name as Max Eisenhardt, with Erik Lehnsherr being an alias.
** In ''First X-Men'', Logan helps Charles Xavier form the X-men, establishing the ''ComicBook/AstonishingXMen'' era mansion. Logan's team consists of Sabretooth, and the newly introduced Bomb, Holo, Meteor, Scout, Shadowshift, and Yeti.
** ''X-Men: Giant-Size'' reveals shortly after their first mission, the X-men encountered the Evolutionaries.
** ''ComicBook/JonathanHickmansXMen'' reveals Moira to be a mutant with the ability to resurrect into a past version of herself, and that eight versions have died previously.
* The ''Young Allies'' series was established as a war-time comic filled with stereotypical depictions of the team, especially Whitewash Jones, whose real name is Washington Carver Jones, in ''Young Allies Comics 70th Anniversary Special'' #1.

* {{Retcon}}/DCUniverse
* {{Retcon}}/MarvelUniverse