Both Marvel Comics and DC Comics live by this trope. The late-great Stan Lee referred to this as "the illusion of change". The basic idea is to make it seem as if things were changing in the life of a character… but, in point of fact, have them remain exactly the same. Even when things do change, it's rare they stay that way, either snapping back to normal after a few months or getting fully reset with a Continuity Reboot somewhere down the line. They've really put themselves into a Catch-22 situation, where things can change things around and characters can get killed off and whatnot, but killing popular characters obviously makes fans unhappy. So they mostly pursue their current strategy of keeping things the way they are, then people get to come on this wiki and put them here in this trope for not changing anything.
- A good example would be costumes. Most heroes and villains have gone through numerous costume changes, but usually return to their original, iconic outfit, if for no other reason than branding. This obviously doesn't extend to film and TV adaptations, since most superhero costumes are altered for live-action due to practical reasons.
- There have been several attempts to give Power Girl more modest outfits, starting in Justice League Europe in the 80's. The thing is, regardless of gender, many fans genuinely like her original costume (Cleavage Window and all), so any attempt at a more conservative redesign is usually jettisoned very quickly. Most recently, they tried to give her a new costume in the New 52 that ditched the cleavage window and gave her pants, but fan outrage eventually got her restored to her iconic look.
- Booster Gold underwent an Audience-Alienating Era in the 90's where he traded in his tights for a gaudy suit of Powered Armor. It didn't last long, although he did lose the disco collar.
- Black Canary famously had her own Audience-Alienating Era in JLI, where she started wearing a more conservative costume that resembled a tracksuit. Fans hated it, so the writers eventually brought back her classic leather and fishnets. A cover of Action Comics even has Black Canary proudly burning her JLI suit while wearing her iconic costume. History repeated itself in the New 52, where she was initially redesigned to sport a more armored, tactical look. When Brendan Fletcher and Annie Wu launched the Black Canary solo series, they immediately ditched the body armor and brought back her classic costume.
- Along those lines, they tried to give Zatanna a more conservative outfit
◊ in Justice League Dark. The fans complained, so DC gave her a new costume that was more in line with her original, iconic look◊. - As much as this is played straight, it's often subverted with some characters who start with one particular outfit, but eventually change to a variety of different outfits over time that. A good example is Wolverine, who has sported a variety of different looks over his career, very few of which are actively disliked. The reason for this is there's usually a shared set of aesthetics that are maintained in each outfit, and in the case of the exceptions, they tend to be well received for (usually) still fitting the character's personality.
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Other Publishers
- The Archie Comics Love Showdown storyline promised that Archie would chose either Betty or Veronica once and for all. The four part story ends with him choosing Third-Option Love Interest, but was followed up with a special that reset the situation back to normal.
- Frequently used in The Beano and similar comics (The Beezer, Whizzer and Chips, The Dandy) when a strip ends with a major change to the characters occurring there is often a Note from Ed. acting as a Reset Button saying the character will be back to normal by next week.
- Iznogoud: Whatever happens to Iznogoud — even being blasted into orbit — he's back safe and sound in the next story. The album "The Returns of Iznogoud" adds via Retcon epilogues to many of the "bad endings" of past stories, explaining how Iznogoud each time manages to return to the normal status quo, with some exceptions; some of these epilogues have him trying to escape the bad situation and ending in a worse situation. For example, Iznogoud escapes the complex maze only to end up in the inescapable dungeons. Iznogoud has been there before (in a much older story) but doesn't remember the way out. While there he meets an older incarnation of himself, still searching for the way out after all these years.
- Les Légendaires is probably the only case where this trope is played straight and averted at the same time: the heroes' main goal is to break the curse that turned everyone on their world into children, for the length of the story, they are not allowed to succeed, or there would no longer be any main plot. On the other hand, the characters and their universe do go through changes. Except for Book 5 and 6, none of the change are ever removed. The most notable time this trope is defied is the Anathos Cycle, which involves the main characters are savagely scarred and crippled, their leader becomes a villain then dying, their Arch-Enemy losing his Joker Immunity to be finally Killed Off for Real, the protagonists getting new powers and looks, and, finally, getting their reputation reestablished. All those change are permanent, and there were no Reset Button.
- Lampshaded in one Nodwick strip in Dragon, in which Nodwick has been bouncing back and forth in time trying to save the universe from the Unnamable, and has taken several levels in badass as a result, becoming a mutliclassed wizard-cleric-fighter. The strip ends with Artax reassuring Yeagar that once the Unnamable's been dealt with they can wipe his brain, because having him be better than them at everything is just embarrassing.
- Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics):
- In Issue 197, it transpires that the Zone Cops (who essentially police the multiverse) believe that "Sonic Prime" has to fight some form of Robotnik.
- Weaponized by Sonic in a "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Robotnik. Sonic points out to Eggman that he has utterly failed time and time again to really conquer the world and/or destroy Sonic while Sonic has beaten him over and over again. This drives Eggman into a complete mental breakdown because this trope ensures that it is true and will always be true despite the occasional minor victory for him.
- Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW): It has always been Eggman commits scheme, Sonic and friends foil scheme. However, after getting his memory back after his previous defeat, he was able to turn this on everyone's head when he unleashed the Metal Virus and started a metallic Zombie Apocalypse. Sonic and the Restoration (formerly the Resistance) were stuck on the losing end for a handful of issues, losing more and more friends, until the Deadly Six take over and Eggman and his minions were forced to help the Restoration defeat them and eliminate the virus, curing all of their victims in the process. One new scheme later and foiled by Sonic and things go back to normal. Instead of finishing him off or apprehending him, Sonic simply lets him go in hopes that the doctor will turn around one day, but will still stop any future plans.
