8 Most Confusing Marvel Origin Stories, Ranked

There’s nothing like an origin story in superhero comics, when readers learn how their favorite heroes and villains came to be. Origins can take many shapes, from the simple to the overly complicated. Of course, the simpler the origin story, the better it is for the reading experience. Stories can get bogged down in retcons that make it all so complicated, and unfortunately, some of our Marvel heroes and villains are victims of this. Some Marvel origin stories are more confusing than others, and even when you think you know what the most confusing one is, another origin is changed to take its place at the top of the list.

Choosing the most confusing origin stories in the Marvel Universe is no small task. When certain characters have been around for 50+ years, it’s almost a guarantee that their origins have been updated for modern times. However, even accounting for that, there are origins that have been put through the wringer with wild ideas and retcons that change the characters forever… or until the next major change is made. So, let’s take a look at which Marvel characters have the most confusing origin stories.

8) Captain Marvel Is Half-Kree

Captain Marvel has always been associated with the Kree, fighting alongside Captain Mar-Vell and gaining her abilities from a Kree Psyche-Magnitron. Carol Danvers has fought under the names Ms. Marvel and Captain Marvel, but it wasn’t until 2018 that Marvel decided to properly update her origin story by making her part human, part Kree.

The Life of Captain Marvel was a five-issue limited series that revealed that unbeknownst to her, Carol Danvers was secretly half-Kree all along, thanks to her mother. Carol’s parents chose to keep this secret from her, though she did exhibit powers as a baby. The way it’s explained is that a Kree’s abilities would show themselves around adolescence. However, this didn’t happen, and when she was blasted with the Psyche-Magnitron, it activated those Kree powers. Captain Marvel even has a Kree sister named Lauri-Ell.

7) The Many Identities of Xorn

One of the big swings that Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely took during their time on the X-Men was the introduction of a mysterious new character named Xorn. He had a unique look to him, with a metal helmet over his head to that’s shaped like a skull. Readers are told that Xorn has a star for a brain, which is why he must wear the helmet at all times. The X-Men recruit Xorn, who is able to heal Professor Charles Xavier and allow him to walk again.

All of these good feelings come crashing down when Xorn is revealed to be the X-Men’s greatest villain, Magneto. The X-Men fought Magneto, with Wolverine killing him in a fit of rage after fatally wounding Jean Grey. However, Marvel became fans of the Xorn character, so they found a way to retcon his origin so Magneto was never Xorn, and Xorn was a separate character the entire time.

6) The Legendary Star-Lord

Peter Quill, the leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy known as Star-Lord, wasn’t always the swashbuckling character we know and love today. A majority of Marvel fans are familiar with Star-Lord’s origin from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but he originally headed to the spaceways after seeing his mother mothered by an alien. Commiting himself to be an astronaut, Peter was given the “Master of the Sun” moniker when he was visited by a strange entity on a NASA space station.

With the Guardians of the Galaxy movies becoming super popular, Star-Lord’s origin was retconned so he was taken into space as a kid by Yondu. Things got even more complicated when Al Ewing revisited the Master of the Sun part of Star-Lord’s story by taking Peter into an alternate universe, where he remained for centuries, fell in love with alien beings, and gained the powers of the Master of the Sun.

5) Who Is the Third Summers Brother?

The X-Men are known for dragging mysteries out, which is what happened with the identity of the third Summers brother. Mister Sinister dropped that nugget on Cyclops, and there were several hints throughout the years, with all signs pointing to Adam X being Cyclops and Havok’s brother. However, Marvel went in a different direction in the X-Men: Deadly Genesis miniseries, revealing that a character named Vulcan was the missing sibling.

Vulcan was a member of a secret X-Men team that all died on a mission on Krakoa, which led to Professor X recruiting the now-infamous team inside the pages of Giant-Size X-Men #1. But before that, Vulcan was the unborn child of Cyclops and Havok’s parents after they were taken by the Shi’ar. He only returned to Earth when the Shi’ar sent him to assist Erik the Red. Vulcan escaped and was found by X-Men ally Moira MacTaggert, which is how he wound up on that doomed X-Men rescue team. As for Adam X, he may or may not be the son of Shi’ar Emperor D’Ken and Katherine Summers.

4) Venom

There is much more to Venom than meets the eye. Venom was originally just a sentient alien symbiote that Spider-Man picked up from Battleworld in Marvel’s first Secret Wars. All that changed when Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman launched a new volume of Venom. The Lethal Protector’s backstory was deepened with the debut of Knull, the King in Black. Even before that, fans learned that the symbiote race was called Klyntar.

Knull and symbiotes date back to the birth of the Marvel Universe and connects to galactic characters like Galactus and Silver Surfer. As for Venom, its first host was a Kree explorer named Tel-Kar, it’s been both an enemy and friend to Spider-Man, and is now bonded to Mary Jane Watson.

3) Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver

Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver began their Marvel careers as villains before joining the Avengers. Marvel also revealed that they’re the children of Magneto, along with the X-Man Polaris. At least, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver used to be Magneto’s kids. That is not the case any longer, most likely to tie it closer to their MCU origin.

In another attempt to bring the movies and comics into closery synergy, the origin for Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver was changed so the High Evolutionary is responsible for what appeared to be their mutant powers, where they were then adopted. Magneto still has Polaris as a daughter, and he also still shares a close connection to Scarlet Witch.

2) Cable

Nathan Summers has a long and winding origin story that begins when he was just a baby boy. Born to Cyclops and Jean Grey’s clone, Madelyne Pryor, Baby Cable was infected with the techno-organic virus, with his only hope of survival lying in the future. So Cyclops allowed his son to be taken to the future, where he was raised by a group led by his sister, Rachel Summers, who herself is from an alternate future.

Cable was also cloned while in the future, and there was a period where we questioned if Cable or Stryfe was the real deal. Cyclops and Jean Grey were also thrust into the future, where they helped raise Cable into the man he is today. Things can get very confusing when time travel is involved.

1) Iron Man

Tony Stark has always had a complicated relationship with his parents, which only become more of an issue when he learned he was adopted. But that’s not where the oddness ends. Iron Man has a brother named Arno Stark, who was supposed to be Howard and Maria Stark’s golden boy, especially after Howard made a deal with an alien robot to modify Arno into a genetically-perfect human. However, Recorder 451 wasn’t totally honest with Howard about what he was doing to Anro, leading Howard to back out of the deal.

This caused Arno to be born terminally ill. Howard and Maria sent Arno to a special facility to care for him and keep him alive until he could be adopted. They then adopted Tony Stark to be their son to maintain their public image. Tony would eventually meet Recorder 451 as Iron Man, which is how he learned this ugly truth. Arno has popped up from time to time, even serving as Iron Man 2020.

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