Marvel Comics differs from DC Comics in its approach to retcons of superhero stories. At DC, the company has several events (often with Crisis in their names) that reboot its entire company line. However, Marvel has mostly kept its line running consistently, except for two specific events: Onslaught and Secret Wars. Those two mostly changed everything, but when it comes to Marvel’s planning, they usually retcon characters’ histories in smaller storylines and focus just on switching up one character (Spider-Man) or a team (The X-Men) at a time. However, some retcons in Marvel Comics history have retconned a character and it had broader effects on the entire universe.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Marvel Comics has changed characters’ entire histories thanks to deals with the devil and rebooting the universe. It has also been shown that some characters have been deceived about their origins for years, leading to what is technically a retcon in the comics as well.
8) Brand New Day
The most controversial retcon in all of Marvel Comics was after the 2007 storyline, One More Day. This occurred during the first Civil War crossover event, where Spider-Man revealed his secret identity, Peter Parker, to the world at the behest of Iron Man. However, this put his family in danger, and one of Kingpin’s goons shot Aunt May. To save her life, Peter made a deal with Mephisto. Peter and Mary Jane agreed to erase their marriage from history, making it as if they had never gotten married at all.
This led to Brand New Day, where Peter Parker never married Mary Jane because Mephisto had a criminal escape custody on the day of their wedding, causing them to cancel the event. Peter’s life changed completely. This change also brought Harry Osborn back from the dead. However, the change that made most people angry was ending Peter and Mary Jane’s marriage, and it is something that still bothers fans to this day, 18 years later.
7) Donald Blake Was Never Real
Thor’s origin story saw Odin banish him from Asgard to Earth, forcing his son to prove himself worthy before Odin would allow him back. The origin story in Journey Into Mystery #83 then saw a young Harvard University medical student named Donald Blake vacationing in Norway, where he entered a cavern and found a wooden cane. He struck the cane on the ground, and it turned into Mjolnir, where Blake became Thor, merging the two into one character. Blake was the secret identity, while he would use the cane to transform into Thor and become a superhero.
This origin was retconned in Thor #159 (1968), when Odin admitted that he had turned Thor into the physically disabled Donald Blake and sent him to find his hammer and prove himself. There were more changes in Thor #475 (1994), where Thor found Donald Blake frozen in the cave where he had initially discovered the cane, and Blake had been there since that time. Finally, the biggest retcon occurred in Shattered Heroes, where Donald Blake learned that he was never real and Odin had invented him to teach Thor a lesson. This drove Blake mad, and he sought to gain revenge on Thor, Odin, and anyone else who stood in his way.
6) Scarlet Witch & Quicksilver’s Origin
When Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver first appeared in The X-Men comics, they were part of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and were there with Magneto as part of his team. Soon, they broke away from Magneto and became heroes in The Avengers. Over time, the storylines revealed they were Magneto’s twin children, and this remained true for decades in Marvel Comics. However, this turned out to be a lie — or at least something Magneto was wrong about (as he believed he was their father as well).
Scarlet Witch’s origin story changed in Avengers & X-Men: Axis #7. Scarlet Witch was under the influence of an inversion spell and had every intent to murder Doctor Doom. Magneto and Quicksilver tried to stop her, so Wanda cast a spell that would kill anyone related to her. Quicksilver died, but Magneto was unharmed, showing the truth that he was not their father. Instead, during the World of Witchcraft storyline in 2016, Wanda learned about her real mother, Natalya Maximoff (the Scarlet Witch), and how she inherited her powers from her (as well as Wanda’s grandfather, the Scarlet Warlock).
5) Miles Morales Moves To The 616
Miles Morales got his start on Earth-1610, the Ultimate Marvel Universe. In this world, he became Spider-Man, and then Peter Parker died, making Miles the only Spider-Man in that universe. Over time, he faced similar tragedies to Peter’s in the 616, which became even more notable when his mother died and his father rejected him after he learned Miles was Spider-Man. However, Miles’ entire life was retconned after Secret Wars.
When it came time for Secret Wars to end, Miles Morales was the only person who had food to offer the Molecule Man, which showed Miles’s kindness. Molecule Man refused to help Doctor Doom, which ultimately led to the end, resulting in the reset of Earth-616. Thanks to Miles’ kindness, Molecule Man offered him a gift. He transported Miles to Earth-616, where he was given a new life: his mother had been resurrected, his father had returned as a loving fatherly figure, and Miles was now in the same world as Peter Parker once again, this time with both operating as Spider-Man.
4) Weapon Plus (Captain America & Wolverine)
The Assault on Weapon Plus storyline retconned part of the origin stories of two significant Marvel Comics characters. In the original origin story, Steve Rogers received the Super-Soldier Serum and became Captain America. In a second hero’s origin story, Logan was experimented on and given his adamantium skeleton and upgrades thanks to the Weapon X program. However, these were not the only two, and it was all part of the same program, based on the retcon.
The retcon reveals that these programs were secretly backed by behind-the-scenes government conspiracies as they sought to create superheroes. The U.S. and Germany had been studying super-soldier John Steele since at least 1918, making him predate Captain America by over two decades. It then showed that Wolverine and other mutants were experimented on by the same program that created Captain America, tying their origins together.
3) Moon Knight’s DID Issues
Moon Knight remains one of Marvel Comics’ most interesting characters. Moon Knight is Marc Spector, a mercenary left for dead when the Moon god Khonshu brought him back to life and gave him powers increased by the moon. When he got his start, Spector found a clever way to work as a vigilante, adopting different identities with unique purposes. Steven Grant was a millionaire who funded his operations, and Jake Lockley was a cab driver who could get information on the streets.
However, Marvel Comics retconned this, and instead of Moon Knight using these identities to help solve crimes, they were part of dissociative identity disorder. While the comics hinted at it, the DID was not incorporated into his official origin until the Marc Spector: Moon Knight series in 1989, the first time it was shown that he didn’t have control over his various alters.
2) Bruce Banner’s Death & The Green Door
The original origin for The Hulk showed that Bruce Banner was involved in gamma testing. When he saw a young man (Rick Jones) head into restricted territory before a gamma bomb was set to explode, Bruce saved him, but was caught in the explosion. What resulted was that gamma energy transformed Bruce into The Incredible Hulk, with Banner remaining a human who changed into the Hulk when he became angry. However, this origin was slightly retconned.
In the new origin story, the gamma bomb didn’t turn Bruce Banner into Hulk. The gamma explosion killed Banner. Instead of going to Heaven or Hell, Banner was transported to the Below-Place with a barrier called the Green Door separating it from Earth. The Green Door brought Banner back to life, but it happened so quickly that no one noticed, which is why Banner’s death was never part of the original origin and wasn’t revealed until the Below-Place and Green Door were introduced in Avengers #684 in 2018.
1) The Sliding Timescale Theory
There have been numerous retcons in the Marvel Universe that are often overlooked. The Punisher was initially depicted as a U.S. Marine veteran of the Vietnam War. Over the years, this portrayal evolved to be the war in Iraq instead. It is now canon that the Punisher served in the Siancong War, a fictional conflict that could have occurred at any time in history. Tony Stark became Iron Man during the Vietnam War. Like the Punisher, it was also changed over the years and is now also known as the Siancong War.
This is because of the Sliding Timescale Theory. This is how Marvel keeps its characters up to date years after their introduction. Galactus explained this theory to several characters in Ultimates #5 (2015). He explains that time is constantly in flux as the years go on, which (according to John Byrne) means that usually, every 15 years, the timeline slides to incorporate real-world history into the character’s past events. This is how the characters have been around for six decades, but only a few years have passed in Marvel Comics time. The idea that time is flux is how Marvel can explain how Franklin Richards grows up while Kitty Pryde remains young.
