things are about to get complicated
welcome to watchmojo.com and today we’ll
be counting down our picks for the top
10 dumbest retcons in comic book history
before we begin we publish new content
every day so be sure to subscribe to our
channel and ring the bell to get
notified about our latest videos for
this list we’re looking at comic retcons
that were either confusing poorly
handled or completely unnecessary we’re
not necessarily saying the stories were
bad just that the retroactive continuity
changes they tried to implement or
poorly handled spoilers for the
reference storylines will be unavoidable
number 10 avengers time slide at one
point or another everyone turns evil
manipulated by Kang I heard man goes
dark and commits some evil shenanigans
desperate to reverse the tide the
avengers jump to an alternate reality
and bring over a teenage Tony Stark who
helps take on the adult version spread
over 25 issues time slide was a messy
story line that retconned Iron Man’s
story and marked one of Marvel’s worst
periods the heroes reborn event race
team Tony and aloud Marvel to put time
slide in the rearview mirror number 9
Wolverine evolution Logan’s backstory
has always been loosely defined but
readers were in for a shock with this
particular revelation in 2007’s
Wolverine number 53 the beloved antihero
learned that feral mutants are actually
a new breed of humans evolved from
wolves and first found out about Romulus
the first of their kind distinguished by
their hair color lupines fall into two
warring tribes which explains why
Sabretooth and Wolverine are always at
odds
whether blonde or brunette a lupine are
under Romulus as manipulative thumb five
years later
Marvel waived away this retcon by having
Remus Romulus as twin sister tell Logan
it was all a lie number eight
crisis on Infinite Earths while
considered one of DC’s most important
story arcs crisis on Infinite Earths
left earth two’s version of Supergirl
otherwise known as Power Girl in a tough
spot due to anti-monitor erasing
multiple universes including earth to
Power Girl needed a new origin story to
coexist with Supergirl Charon star went
from Superman’s cousin to a
thousand-year-old descendant of an end
lanten sorcerer named Ariane after
spending a couple of years as a mystical
being Infinite Crisis wreck on to the
earlier story arc and reverted Power
girl to a Kryptonians
survivor from another dimension number
seven identity crisis a hero secret
identity is beyond important and the
Justice League take drastic measures to
protect it besides a couple of minor
changes identity crisis retcons dr.
lights entire personality after
elongated man’s wife is found murdered
green arrow reveals that Sue did nee was
once raped by the goofy antagonists to
ensure this remained a one-time deal
Zatanna mind wipes the villain and
changed dr. lights personality into a
harmless idiot apparently this was not
the first time that Justice League
employed Zatanna for a little memory
manipulation as the sorceress came in
handy whenever a hero’s identity was
revealed number six
Planet X introduced in new x-men this
mutant had a star for a brain and needed
to constantly wear a mask thanks to an
intervention by Cyclops Zorin ends up
joining the x-men hopefully naive Zorin
develops a close friendship with
Professor Xavier who is unable to read
the mutants mind due to his mask during
the Planet X storyline Zorn strips off
his mask to reveal the familiar face of
Magneto
who explains that Zorn was nothing more
than a disguise but in another twist
after Wolverine managed to cut his head
clean off it turned out that Zorn was
actually not magneto at all well series
writer Grant Morrison intended for Zorn
to be Magneto
his decision was very quickly overturned
number 5 sins past Gwen Stacy’s death at
the hands of the Green Goblin is a
pivotal moment in spider-man’s lore as
the superheros actions indirectly killed
the college student 30 years later
Marvel spat on Gwen’s grave by
establishing that Peter Parker’s
girlfriend had an affair with Norman
Osborn that resulted in twins as Gwen
planned to raise the kids with the still
clueless Parker the Green Goblin through
the character off a bridge sins past not
only reckoned green Goblin’s motivations
behind Stacy’s death but negatively
impacted Gwen’s public persona number 4
heroes reborn the mid-90s coincides with
a rocky patch for Marvel so the
publisher spiced things up with the
heroes reborn crossover storyline set in
the aftermath of an event that concluded
with the deaths of The Avengers and
Fantastic Four Franklin Richards revived
the heroes in a pocket universe without
any memories of what transpired even
though the heroes retain similarities to
their originals Marvel updated pretty
much everyone to attract a younger
audience resulting in a controversial
and over
well mning experienced financially
heroes reborn was successful but Marvel
eventually returned to the main timeline
number three the new 52 in one moment
known as flashpoint DC retcon 70 years
of continuity and launched the new 52
many beloved characters and story arcs
received a do-over
with quite a few taking a turn for the
worse a couple of new 52 retcons
included rewriting Barbara’s
heartbreaking ordeal in The Killing Joke
revamping the Green Arrow’s origin story
so Oliver Queen directly causes the
deaths of multiple people and the vital
inclusion of Amazonian Mass orgies the
Robin characters received the brunt of
the new 52 s retcons
with Tim Drake serving as Red Robin
instead of Robin and Jason Todd gaining
a drug addiction
number two Infinite Crisis at the end of
crisis on Infinite Earths superboy-prime
earth threes Alexander Luthor jr. and
earth to Superman and Lois Lane are
transferred into a unique separate
dimension partially due to Alex Luthor’s
mind games a frustrated superboy-prime
punches through reality and retcons a
great deal of DC’s history Infinite
Crisis brought back the multiple
universes lost during crisis on Infinite
Earths and revived characters like Jason
Todd and Elastigirl
even if the changes were generally okay
could DC really not come up with a
better instigator than superboy-prime
throwing a tantrum number one spider-man
one more day is nothing sacred anymore
in 1987 Peter Parker and Mary Jane tied
the knot and remained married for the
best part of two decades predicting that
a young and single spider-man would
increase the characters mass appeal
Marvel finally pulled the trigger in
2007’s one more day with Aunt May
knocking on heaven’s door and Mephisto
offering the only way out Peter and Mary
Jane’s marriage is traded for the
character’s life largely panned by
critics and fans one more day is not
only considered an unnecessary retcon
but one of Marvel’s worst storylines do
you agree with our picks check out these
other great clips from WatchMojo and subscribe for new videos every day
welcome to watchmojo.com and today we’ll
be counting down our picks for the top
10 dumbest retcons in comic book history
before we begin we publish new content
every day so be sure to subscribe to our
channel and ring the bell to get
notified about our latest videos for
this list we’re looking at comic retcons
that were either confusing poorly
handled or completely unnecessary we’re
not necessarily saying the stories were
bad just that the retroactive continuity
changes they tried to implement or
poorly handled spoilers for the
reference storylines will be unavoidable
number 10 avengers time slide at one
point or another everyone turns evil
manipulated by Kang I heard man goes
dark and commits some evil shenanigans
desperate to reverse the tide the
avengers jump to an alternate reality
and bring over a teenage Tony Stark who
helps take on the adult version spread
over 25 issues time slide was a messy
story line that retconned Iron Man’s
story and marked one of Marvel’s worst
periods the heroes reborn event race
team Tony and aloud Marvel to put time
slide in the rearview mirror number 9
Wolverine evolution Logan’s backstory
has always been loosely defined but
readers were in for a shock with this
particular revelation in 2007’s
Wolverine number 53 the beloved antihero
learned that feral mutants are actually
a new breed of humans evolved from
wolves and first found out about Romulus
the first of their kind distinguished by
their hair color lupines fall into two
warring tribes which explains why
Sabretooth and Wolverine are always at
odds
whether blonde or brunette a lupine are
under Romulus as manipulative thumb five
years later
Marvel waived away this retcon by having
Remus Romulus as twin sister tell Logan
it was all a lie number eight
crisis on Infinite Earths while
considered one of DC’s most important
story arcs crisis on Infinite Earths
left earth two’s version of Supergirl
otherwise known as Power Girl in a tough
spot due to anti-monitor erasing
multiple universes including earth to
Power Girl needed a new origin story to
coexist with Supergirl Charon star went
from Superman’s cousin to a
thousand-year-old descendant of an end
lanten sorcerer named Ariane after
spending a couple of years as a mystical
being Infinite Crisis wreck on to the
earlier story arc and reverted Power
girl to a Kryptonians
survivor from another dimension number
seven identity crisis a hero secret
identity is beyond important and the
Justice League take drastic measures to
protect it besides a couple of minor
changes identity crisis retcons dr.
lights entire personality after
elongated man’s wife is found murdered
green arrow reveals that Sue did nee was
once raped by the goofy antagonists to
ensure this remained a one-time deal
Zatanna mind wipes the villain and
changed dr. lights personality into a
harmless idiot apparently this was not
the first time that Justice League
employed Zatanna for a little memory
manipulation as the sorceress came in
handy whenever a hero’s identity was
revealed number six
Planet X introduced in new x-men this
mutant had a star for a brain and needed
to constantly wear a mask thanks to an
intervention by Cyclops Zorin ends up
joining the x-men hopefully naive Zorin
develops a close friendship with
Professor Xavier who is unable to read
the mutants mind due to his mask during
the Planet X storyline Zorn strips off
his mask to reveal the familiar face of
Magneto
who explains that Zorn was nothing more
than a disguise but in another twist
after Wolverine managed to cut his head
clean off it turned out that Zorn was
actually not magneto at all well series
writer Grant Morrison intended for Zorn
to be Magneto
his decision was very quickly overturned
number 5 sins past Gwen Stacy’s death at
the hands of the Green Goblin is a
pivotal moment in spider-man’s lore as
the superheros actions indirectly killed
the college student 30 years later
Marvel spat on Gwen’s grave by
establishing that Peter Parker’s
girlfriend had an affair with Norman
Osborn that resulted in twins as Gwen
planned to raise the kids with the still
clueless Parker the Green Goblin through
the character off a bridge sins past not
only reckoned green Goblin’s motivations
behind Stacy’s death but negatively
impacted Gwen’s public persona number 4
heroes reborn the mid-90s coincides with
a rocky patch for Marvel so the
publisher spiced things up with the
heroes reborn crossover storyline set in
the aftermath of an event that concluded
with the deaths of The Avengers and
Fantastic Four Franklin Richards revived
the heroes in a pocket universe without
any memories of what transpired even
though the heroes retain similarities to
their originals Marvel updated pretty
much everyone to attract a younger
audience resulting in a controversial
and over
well mning experienced financially
heroes reborn was successful but Marvel
eventually returned to the main timeline
number three the new 52 in one moment
known as flashpoint DC retcon 70 years
of continuity and launched the new 52
many beloved characters and story arcs
received a do-over
with quite a few taking a turn for the
worse a couple of new 52 retcons
included rewriting Barbara’s
heartbreaking ordeal in The Killing Joke
revamping the Green Arrow’s origin story
so Oliver Queen directly causes the
deaths of multiple people and the vital
inclusion of Amazonian Mass orgies the
Robin characters received the brunt of
the new 52 s retcons
with Tim Drake serving as Red Robin
instead of Robin and Jason Todd gaining
a drug addiction
number two Infinite Crisis at the end of
crisis on Infinite Earths superboy-prime
earth threes Alexander Luthor jr. and
earth to Superman and Lois Lane are
transferred into a unique separate
dimension partially due to Alex Luthor’s
mind games a frustrated superboy-prime
punches through reality and retcons a
great deal of DC’s history Infinite
Crisis brought back the multiple
universes lost during crisis on Infinite
Earths and revived characters like Jason
Todd and Elastigirl
even if the changes were generally okay
could DC really not come up with a
better instigator than superboy-prime
throwing a tantrum number one spider-man
one more day is nothing sacred anymore
in 1987 Peter Parker and Mary Jane tied
the knot and remained married for the
best part of two decades predicting that
a young and single spider-man would
increase the characters mass appeal
Marvel finally pulled the trigger in
2007’s one more day with Aunt May
knocking on heaven’s door and Mephisto
offering the only way out Peter and Mary
Jane’s marriage is traded for the
character’s life largely panned by
critics and fans one more day is not
only considered an unnecessary retcon
but one of Marvel’s worst storylines do
you agree with our picks check out these
other great clips from WatchMojo and subscribe for new videos every day
Please follow and like us: