Hey guys and gals. Well what can you say about retcons? Apparently a lot, they are known for taking a pre-establishing character, story, or concept and adding a new thing into the mix and can drastically affect the community we are a part of. Not only affecting us but also it can tarnish a once well respected character, story, or concept. Now while most Retcons are seen for their cheap cop-out feel, some have actually made some characters, stories, or concepts much better. So I'm gonna do two lists; 5 of the best known retcons and the 5 worse retcons.With that let me begin with the best.
Best Retcons
#5. Wanda and Pietro being Magneto's children: Now I sorta put this on the bottom because while its one of the better known. Wanda and Pietro Maximoff were both raised by gypsies, they grew up discovering that they themselves have meta-human abilities and thus used them in their own ways. They joined the Avengers for awhile even tho they were considered dangerous for being associated with Magneto as their children. Thanks to this simple retcon we got the infamous House of M story and now we are about to see the return of Wanda in Avengers: children's crusade.
#4. Static Shock joining the Teen Titans: now this an obscure retcon that actually crosses over from screen to page. In the Justice League and Static Shock team-up episode,Static asks Batman about Robin's whereabouts. Batman makes a tiny subtle mention that he's with the Titans and that Static would eventually see them. Wouldn't you know that he eventually did return in the comics and came into the titans as a member.
#3. Balder also being an Odin-son: Again this is another one of those subtle retcons but it is one of the more effective ones. In JMS's run of Thor, not only did he return one of the best characters in Marvel's lineup but also returning all the patron's of Asgard but he made Balder a much more interesting and well defined character. Balder in the beginning of this new run, was ambitious and wanted more out of his found existence. It's until Loki telling Balder that he too is a son of Odin, thus giving him the right to the throne. After he does gain the right to rule, he was for awhile Loki's lap dog, kinda like a Cheney/Bush thing, he ultimately steps up his game, grows a set, and actually does some awesome things during and post Siege.
#2. Superman no longer the LAST son of Krypton: this is sort of a Retcon of a Retcon. A long time back it was planned that all of Superman's excess kryptonian baggage was to destroyed or removed entirely thus leaving only our Superman to be the last and only survive of his home world. This plan was a major factor with Crisis on Infinite Earths. We saw Super-girl die at the hands of the Anti-monitor and having superboy prime and Earth II Superman lost in a time dimension. Until the events of Infinite Crisis, we got them all back and eventually a New Krypton, along with the evil general ZOD.
and the # 1 top retcon
#1. Namor the FIRST Mutant: Now this is something many are willing to fight over and all it is is a simple misuse of the term in context. Now many say that Namor is not the first mutant because there have been many accounts of Mutant activity long before his time, the best known is Apocalypse. Well this is in terms of APPEARANCE, so Namor is in fact the first seen mutant. Which in terms of the early days, he and the X-men term of Mutants were much different, he seemed to just be tacked in with them also
So those were the best that I could find, now here comes the worse offenders.
#5. Wolverine's Bone Claws: Now this is one that many consider to be okay with but it completely alters the awesome and mysterious nature that was Logan. They turned him from a shadowy loner who thrills to kill, into every other mutant out there, he hits puberty and he gets his power, end of story. Before his retcon his adamantium claws were mechanical based, until he had his metal ripped out of him by Magneto and showing that underneath the claws were in-fact BONE. However now that he's back to wearing his good old metal claws once again.
#4. Donna Troy and her many lives: Now this is one that I never read about, but I have heard that thanks to Superboy Prime and his infamous retcon punch caused a huge mess of retcons. Donna Troy's really seemed the most effective. She has be giving various amounts back stories, always changing and making it more difficult for the readers to follow.
#3. The Beyonder is an Inhuman: This to me is a huge slap in the face to such a mysterious and lets face it most interesting cosmic being alive. During the AWESOME Secret Wars event, the mysterious and powerful entity known as the Beyonder brought 12 heroes and 12 villains to a self constructed planet to do battle. He gets attacked by Dr. Doom and they both disappear, but Doom returns quicker. His true origin is tarnished during the comic New Avengers: Illuminati, where Tony Stark, Mr. Fantastic, Xavier, and Black Bolt find the Beyonder in a human form. Black Bolt then tells him via Xavier that the Beyonder is a mutant inhuman who gets infected with the terigen mist, thus causing him to posses such tremendous power. Way to go there Marvel, taking awesome and mysterious characters and pissing all over them.
#2. Hal Jordan's hair change: Now this is actually part of a reason. In the very earlier days of Hal Jordan he had brown hair and some small patches of white hair on the sides of his hair just above the ears. However it turns out that was actually part of him having part in becoming Parallax's host for some time. Now it was most likely due to poor sales as his character was dipping in interest and they wanted to revamp him, now thanks to Geoff Johns he's back to the status quo minus the gray.
and the #1 worse retcon of all TIME*dramatic drum roll*
#1. Norman Osborn as the Green Goblin: This was a retcon before it was even retconned. Lets turn back the clock, in the begin of Spider-man's early runs, Steve Ditko was a heavy believer in the Ayn Rand belief of objectivism in terms of heroism. He was planning on making on revealing the Green Goblin to be a person totally unrelated to the Spider-man universe, considering that all villains are someone you don't know. However the big wigs at the time thought it would confuse the readers so they told him to make it Norman Osborn, thus adding more tension to Harry and Peters friendship. Now to me, thats a huge slap in the face of the creator. Imagine how much history and continuity that would never be if Norman was NEVER the Green Goblin. Gwen Stacy, Thunderbolts, and Dark Avengers would be totally different. It's a retcon that will never be. I bet you were want to see OMD or BND but this to me is the biggest thing in Spider-mans history.
And there you have my list of best and worse retcons. Now I did miss a ton of better or worse retcons but I stuck with the ones I thought were the more interesting and well known. If you know of any others, I like to hear about them. Til my next article, Aki87 OUT!!!