History YoYoPlotPoint / ComicBooks

* It appears that every decade or so, DC tries to reintroduce the (Crime) Syndicate of America into the ''Justice League'' titles, as a team of evil alternate counterparts from an evil dimension.

* ComicBook/{{Raven}} of ''Comicbook/TeenTitans'' seemed to have found peace after she defeated her father in "ComicBook/TheTerrorOfTrigon" arc, but she wound up infected by his influence again in the early '90s. After her corrupted body was destroyed, she seemed to be free of evil (even if she was stuck in a golden spirit form). Flash forward to Teen Titans volume 3 and on, where the resurrected Raven had to fear being corrupted ''yet again'' by her father, who was also inexplicably resurrected in Judd Winick's run of "Titans". The plot point of Raven going missing and having to be found or rescued was also recycled twice within volume 3. In the ComicBook/{{New 52}} reboot, Raven's back to trying to fight her father's influence. Writers also seemed to constantly recycle the "will they or won't they?" question about her relationship with Beast Boy, seeming to settle on the two getting together before everything was rendered moot by ''ComicBook/{{Flashpoint}}''.

* The "[[JerkJock Flash Thompson]] becomes Spider-Man" ComicBook/WhatIf has been done a total of 3 different times, though all three were of course alternate realities, [[JustifiedTrope so it wasn't repeating from their perspective]]. What If stories can turn into this also when they're made to happen in the main universe. So Jane Foster became Thor twice, once in a What If story and once for real. And as for Flash, well he never became Spidey for real... He became ComicBook/{{Venom}} instead!
* ComicBook/SpiderMan moving out of Aunt May's place, [[ComicBook/CivilWar2006 publicly revealing his secret identity]], and most of all getting married. Attempts to backpedal on any or all of these [[ComicBook/TheCloneSaga have been]] [[ComicBook/OneMoreDay disastrous]]. And this is all alongside someone deciding they want to put their "once and for all" stamp on Gwen Stacy's clone(s) (which would be three or four since the mid-90s). His status as a HeroWithBadPublicity and his [[MartyrWithoutACause placing his responsibility over his personal happiness]] has also required increasingly more contrived methods to stick around, with the most recent example at the time of this writing being [[spoiler:Spidey being a major factor in the death of Kamala Khan]] in a MilestoneCelebration to ''ComicBook/TheNightGwenStacyDied''.
* Another repetitive plot point of the Spider-Man comics is when a villain throws Peter's LoveInterest from a bridge, in a reprise of ''The Night Gwen Stacy Died'' (1973).

* ''ComicBook/{{SpiderMan}}'': a 2000 issue of title ''Peter Parker: Spider-Man'' (#16) [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall leans so hard on the fourth wall]] by having Spider-Man's InnerMonologue about fighting supervillains every day, having to deal with the people's perception of him as a public menace, waiting for some villain of his rogues' gallery to attack him, Venom's hunger for Spidey's brain matter, and Jonah Jameson's typical blaming of Spider-Man. At the end of the issue, Peter goes to a TrashcanBonfire and thinks he should give up being Spider-Man (again), but accepts his role. Really, the issue borders on an IndecisiveParody, trying to have its cake and eating it too, by lampshading ''and'' playing the clichés straight.

* ''ComicBook/{{SpiderMan}}'': a 2000 issue of title ''Peter Parker: Spider-Man'' (#16) [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall leans so hard on the fourth wall]] by having Spider-Man's InnerMonologue about fighting supervillains every day, having to deal with the people's perception of him as a public menace, waiting for some villain of his rogues' gallery to attack him, Venom's hunger for Spidey's brain matter, and Jonah Jameson's typical blaming of Spider-Man. At the end of the issue, Peter goes to a TrashcanBonfire and thinks he should give up being Spider-Man (again), but accepts his role. Really, the issue borders on an IndecisiveParody, trying to have its cake and eating it to, by lampshading ''and'' playing the clichés straight.

* ''ComicBook/{{SpiderMan}}'': a 2000 issue of title ''Peter Parker: Spider-Man'' (#16) [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall leans so hard on the fourth wall]] by having Spider-Man's InnerMonologue about fighting supervillains every day, having to deal with the people's perception of him as a public menace, waiting for some villain of his rogues' gallery to attack him, Venom's hunger for Spidey's brain matter, and Jonah Jameson's typical blaming of Spider-Man. At the end of the issue, Peter goes to a TrashcanBonfire and thinks he should give up being Spider-Man (again), but accepts his role. Really, the issue borders on trying to have its cake and eating it to, by lampshading ''and'' playing the clichés straight, bordering on an IndecisiveParody of common plot points in the Spider-Man books.

* ''ComicBook/{{SpiderMan}}'': a 2000 issue of title ''Peter Parker: Spider-Man'' (#16) [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall leans so hard on the fourth wall]] by having Spider-Man's InnerMonologue about fighting supervillains every day, having to deal with the people's perception of him as a public menace, waiting for some villain of his rogues' gallery to attack him, Venom's hunger for Spidey's brain matter, and Jonah Jameson's typical blaming of Spider-Man. At the end of the issue, Peter goes to a TrashcanBonfire and thinks he should give up being Spider-Man (again), but accepts his role. Really, the issue borders on being an IndecisiveParody of common plot points in the Spider-Man books.

* ''ComicBook/{{SpiderMan}}'': a 2000 issue of title ''Peter Parker: Spider-Man'' (#16) [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall leans so hard on the fourth wall]] by having Spider-Man's InnerMonologue about fighting supervillains every day, having to deal with the people's perception of him as a public menace, waiting for some villain of his rogue's gallery to attack him, Venom's hunger for Spidey's brain matter, and Jonah Jameson's typical blaming of Spider-Man. At the end of the issue, Peter goes to a TrashcanBonfire and thinks he should give up being Spider-Man (again), but accepts his role. Really, the issue borders on being an IndecisiveParody of common plot points in the Spider-Man books.

* ''ComicBook/{{SpiderMan}}'': a 2000 issue of title ''Peter Parker: Spider-Man'' (#16) [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall leans so hard on the fourth wall]] by having Spider-Man's InnerMonologue about fighting supervillain's every day, having to deal with the people's perception of him as a public menace, waiting for some villain of his rogue's gallery to attack him, Venom's hunger for Spidey's brain matter, and Jonah Jameson's typical blaming of Spider-Man. At the end of the issue, Peter goes to a TrashcanBonfire and thinks he should give up being Spider-Man (again), but accepts his role. Really, the issue borders on being an IndecisiveParody of common plot points in the Spider-Man books.

* ''ComicBook/{{Spider-Man}}'': a 2000 issue of title ''Peter Parker: Spider-Man'' (#16) [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall leans so hard on the fourth wall]] by having Spider-Man's InnerMonologue about fighting supervillain's every day, having to deal with the people's perception of him as a public menace, waiting for some villain of his rogue's gallery to attack him, Venom's hunger for Spidey's brain matter, and Jonah Jameson's typical blaming of Spider-Man. At the end of the issue, Peter goes to a TrashcanBonfire and thinks he should give up being Spider-Man (again), but accepts his role. Really, the issue borders on being an IndecisiveParody of common plot points in the Spider-Man books.

* ''ComicBook/Spider-Man'': a 200 issue of title ''Peter Parker: Spider-Man'' (#16) [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall leans so hard on the fourth wall]] by having Spider-Man's InnerMonologue about fighting supervillain's every day, having to deal with the people's perception of him as a public menace, waiting for some villain of his rogue's gallery to attack him, Venom's hunger for Spidey's brain matter, and Jonah Jameson's typical blaming of Spider-Man. At the end of the issue, Peter goes to a TrashcanBonfire and thinks he should give up being Spider-Man (again), but accepts his role. Really, the issue borders on being an IndecisiveParody of common plot points in the Spider-Man books.

* Characters/RobinDamianWayne is stuck in a similar loop of being a dick-learns to be less of a dick-TookALevelInJerkass [[DependingOnTheWriter when a new writing team arrives]]-learns to be less of a dick. Like father, like son.

* Characters/RobinDamianWayne is stuck in a similar loop of being a dick-learns to be less of a dick-gets ALevelInJerkass [[DependingOnTheWriter when a new writing team arrives]]-learns to be less of a dick. Like father, like son.

* ComicBook/SpiderMan moving out of Aunt May's place, [[ComicBook/CivilWar2006 publicly revealing his secret identity]], and most of all getting married. Attempts to backpedal on any or all of these [[ComicBook/TheCloneSaga have been]] [[ComicBook/OneMoreDay disastrous]]. And this is all alongside someone deciding they want to put their "once and for all" stamp on Gwen Stacy's clone(s) (which would be three or four since the mid-90s).

* ''ComicBook/XMen'':
** Comicbook/{{Rogue}} and Comicbook/{{Gambit}} are notorious for this. Even more so than Comicbook/{{Cyclops}} and Comicbook/JeanGrey, writers seem to have a dislike for giving them any kind of stable love life. Several issues were promoted as "the one where Rogue and Gambit finally get together!" but any long-term reader will realize that this will only last ten comics at best before they split up again, for increasingly ridiculous reasons. And then the chase will start all over again. Gambit lampshades this in ''X-Men Legacy'', explaining to Rogue that he doesn't even get jealous anymore because she'll always end up back with him eventually. [[spoiler:As of 2018 [[ComicBook/MrAndMrsX they are officially married]] but the marriage has been rocky, to put it nicely, thanks to Gambit's many sins coming back to haunt the couple.]]
** Professor X has an autistic son - David Haller, a.k.a Legion - with tons of superpowers and multiple personalities, some of which are evil. He's too unstable to be a superhero, so when he turns up it's almost always in the position of "villain who's really a victim". But he's basically a good kid, so every time he goes berserk he has to have a mental breakdown first. And since he's a sympathetic character, his stories have to end with him "finally getting the help he needs." In other words, virtually every David Haller story is: Legion has a relapse/Legion goes on a rampage/Legion is subdued/Legion is cured. Wash, rinse, repeat.
** The series premise: the X-Men will forever be "feared and hated". No matter what happens, no matter if the Avengers or the Government are on their side, no matter how many people are convinced, no matter how often people InUniverse and out swear that the Mutants will be accepted, yes, sir, ''this'' time it's permanent... [[StatusQuoIsGod rest assured]], people hating "muties" (and armed with damn Sentinels) are coming up around the corner ''aaaaany'' moment now...
** Mutantkind being a biologically endangered species has been done... how many times, already? Most fans may be able to remember at least three occasions: the Legacy Virus, there was the post-''ComicBook/HouseOfM'' "curse" made by Scarlet Witch, and the Terrigen Mists being ([[HandWave somehow]]) fatally poisonous to Mutants... and there is, of course, the many people/aliens/sentient bacteria that target mutants because they are mutants... WordOfGod swears up and down that this kind of plot will stop for good after ''ComicBook/InhumansVsXMen'', but the response of the fans (although grateful overall for the attempt at an AuthorsSavingThrow) is "we'll see". [[spoiler:''ComicBook/UncannyXMen2018'' ends with the governments of the world obtaining plans to create a vaccine that eliminates the X-Gene and working on plans to "inoculate" their populations, so as sure as there's a day and a night, mutants are endangered ''again''. Not surprisingly, this is one of many things in the comic that have enraged fans, with them calling the writers out on it being one of ''several'' supposedly rehashed plot points.]]
** [[ComicBook/{{Magik}} Illyana Rasputin]] tends to have one repeating story in which Illyana struggles and inevitably fails to resist the evil in her soul, leading to her FaceHeelTurn and transformation into [[SuperpoweredEvilSide the Darkchilde]] until she's reset to struggling to resist the evil in her soul.
** The X-Men being pretty much at each other's throats on a constant basis, backstabbing, and generally being barely able to tolerate each other because they cannot agree on how to do something (the Cyclops Vs. Wolverine animosity being one of the biggest examples, with Hank/Beast's TookALevelInJerkass curve in the face of the constant "endangered species" arcs taking a toll on him being another one). Again, Marvel swears that they will cut down on this after ''ComicBook/InhumansVsXMen'' in order to allow the group to just be heroes, but ''nobody'' expects it to stick.
** Are the X-Men heroes or a bunch of borderline-fascistic jerks that are no different from the other fascistic jerk factions in the mutant conundrum but are the "good guys" because they only wish to take mutants to a place where they will be left the hell alone (which makes them also no different from the Inhumans)? It started since at the very least post-M-Day and doesn't really seems to stop, leading to schisms in the team, fights with the Avengers and the Inhumans and [[ComicBook/JudgmentDayMarvelComics the freaking Eternals]][[note]]although at least this one had [[HumanityOnTrial a pretty nasty little]] ConflictKiller popping up[[/note]] and ''ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}'' of all people calling them out on it (not that they listen).
** Old Logan learning to accept that the world he's now in is not the same one he left behind and moving past his desire to prevent his future from coming to pass, has been revisited several times in his solo series (three of the five Jeff Lemire-penned arcs focus on it), and has even cropped up in ''Extraordinary X-Men'', ''All-New Wolverine'', and ''X-Men Gold''. It's seemingly the ''only'' types of story a lot of people know how to write when it comes to him.

* A frequent criticism by detractors of ComicBook/{{X 23}} is either a lack of personality or that almost every one of her personal arcs involves her trying to learn to be more than just a weapon. Unfortunately, every time she ''does'' learn those lessons and begins to develop as a character (''New X-Men'' and her solo series in particular), editorial comes along to beat her senseless with the ResetButton and start the whole process over again.

** "_____________ is a DeusExMachina or DiabolusExMachina": "[[TykeBomb Franklin's]] emerging power" has been replaced by "[[ChildProdigy Valeria]] has discovered something"

* Franchise/{{Batman}} fans have long noted the "Batdickery" cycle. A) Batman acts like a dick to his closest friends and allies (such as manipulating them, lying to them about things they really need to know, creating elaborate secret plans and technology to defeat his own allies, or building an orbiting AI supercomputer to secretly spy on the entire planet). B) It all goes horribly wrong, generally resulting in Batman's closest friends and allies suffering and occasionally dying over the course of a [[BatFamilyCrossover multi-month, multi-title event]]. Everyone loses their trust in Batman, leading to more suffering because the heroes can no longer work together. C) Batman learns to be less of a dick. D) [[AesopAmnesia Batman acts like a dick to his closest friends and allies]]. Rinse and repeat. By 2018/2019 he is at odds with so many heroes that the writers' status quo seems to be that he's a highly-functional example of TheFriendNobodyLikes, and ''that'' is on a good day.
* Main plot of ''ComicBook/StrangersInParadise'' is lengthy [[UnresolvedSexualTension will-they-won't-they relationship]], and so are several main subplots. That reasons for this yoyoing are more realistic than in other examples doesn't help, because they go back and forth just too many times. One plot that isn't romantic features organization "The Big Six" repeatedly pursuing the main character. Each time the story resolves with the leader of "Big Six" dead and the organization seemingly dismantled, or at least promising to leave main characters alone. However, each time it soon turns out that "The Big Six" still exists and one of the ex-minions, now promoted into the big boss, decided to continue pursuing the main character for various reasons.
* The ComicBook/MartianManhunter is ridiculously [[SuperpowerLottery powerful]], [[KryptoniteFactor his only vulnerability is fire]], and unlike most superheroes with weaknesses, his origin doesn't contain a particularly good reason ''why'' he's vulnerable to fire. Those facts combine to ensure that every time a new writer gets a hold of him, they come up with the "real" reason he's vulnerable to fire and, since they usually decide it was all in his head the whole time, usually have him overcome it for good. Again. Until next time.

* A frequent criticism by detractors of ComicBook/{{X 23}} is either a lack of personality or that almost every one of her personal arcs involves her trying to learn to be more than just a weapon. Unfortunately, every time she ''does'' learn those lessons and begins to develop as a character (''New X-Men'' and her solo series in particular), editorial comes along to beat her senseless with the ResetButton and start the whole process over again.
* The Franchise/MarvelUniverse in general has always been pretty prone to use LetsYouAndHimFight, but as far back as ''at least'' ''ComicBook/CivilWar2006'' things have escalated to full-blown "WithUsOrAgainstUs" wars that keep swearing up and down that will change the Marvel Universe "forever" and have extended periods of people hating each other in the aftermath, then cooling down... and then along comes ''ComicBook/AvengersVsXMen'', Hickman's ''Avengers'' run, ''ComicBook/CivilWarII'', ''ComicBook/InhumansVsXMen'', and now we have ''ComicBook/SecretEmpire'' (that makes it an important plot point that '''[[OmnicidalManiac Ultron]]''' is so sick and tired of seeing the superheroes' in-fighting that he has decided that they are doing a better job at trying to kill each other than he has ever done [[spoiler:although that is definitely Hank Pym's uploaded personality talking (and being ignored when he tries to deliver a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to make everybody see reason)]]... It has come to the point when people don't really know what to think of the situation, [[TooBleakStoppedCaring and some people have actually quit reading Marvel Comics in disgust]].
** With ''ComicBook/CivilWar2006'', ''ComicBook/CivilWarII'' (2016), and ''ComicBook/{{Outlawed}}'' (2020), people are now complaining that Marvel Comics, when they can't think of a better idea for a CrisisCrossover, are now going to bring back the plot of "[[MutantDraftBoard make superpowered people unlawful]], have law enforcement [[DayOfTheJackboot go full Gestapo]], and have heroes [[WithUsOrAgainstUs stand on both sides of the line]] willing to do [[JerkassBall incredibly vile and stupid things]] for the sake of supporting their point, and presto", no matter how much the audience makes clear that they're sick of it.
* Essentially every arc that Comicbook/{{Cyborg}} has ever had can be summed up as "Something-something-something, and now Cyborg must face the question: is he man...''or machine?''" (Answer: Man. Can we move on now?)