Curious: What is the most Complicated Backstory....

[Tami]

Curious: What, in your opinion, is the most Complicated Backstory regarding how a character gained their powers or powerful weapons/costumes/etc.?

[Riv86672]

Hawkman’s gotta be up there.

I mean, it may have started off straightforward, but the layer after layer of reboots reimaginings and retroactive story telling have made it pretty complex.

[Jack Dracula]

Firestorm has a pretty complicated backstory.

[ed2962]

Donna Troy. Back in the day, she's had like three different origin stories, the Nu52 happened and she got yet another one. I'm not sure what her deal is currently.

[ed2962]

Quicksilver and ( especially ) Scarlet Witch. I'm convinced that Stan got Jack on the phone on a Friday and told Jack, "Come up with some characters for the X-men to fight and have it ready by Monday! I'll put the words on top in the office!" Meaning to flesh them out in follow up story but they never got to it.

It was almost 10 yrs before Pietro and Wanda even had last names! Then they were the Whizzer's kids. Then they were Magneto's kid's. And I think a couple of years ago Marvel toyed with them being Inhumans? I'm pretty sure I read an old reprint that said that Pietro was older, I'm not sure when it was decided that they were twins.




Then there's the issue of how Wanda's powers work...in those old comics it seemed she'd gesture and something would break or maybe fly through the air and hit you. Then her "hex" was some ill-defined energy bolts that would kinda zap you. Then she was learning "true magic" that would only effect organic things. Then there was the "hex spheres"...ultimately they settled on Choas magic and that seems to have been the most consistent.

[seismic-2]

It gets complicated for characters who have had multiple origin stories in various separate incarnations (e.g., Supergirl).

[CaptainEurope]

Quicksilver and ( especially ) Scarlet Witch. I'm convinced that Stan got Jack on the phone on a Friday and told Jack, "Come up with some characters for the X-men to fight and have it ready by Monday! I'll put the words on top in the office!" Meaning to flesh them out in follow up story but they never got to it.

It was almost 10 yrs before Pietro and Wanda even had last names! Then they were the Whizzer's kids. Then they were Magneto's kid's. And I think a couple of years ago Marvel toyed with them being Inhumans? I'm pretty sure I read an old reprint that said that Pietro was older, I'm not sure when it was decided that they were twins.




Then there's the issue of how Wanda's powers work...in those old comics it seemed she'd gesture and something would break or maybe fly through the air and hit you. Then her "hex" was some ill-defined energy bolts that would kinda zap you. Then she was learning "true magic" that would only effect organic things. Then there was the "hex spheres"...ultimately they settled on Choas magic and that seems to have been the most consistent.

I read an interesting blog recently that reminded me that Marvel had toyed with the ideas of the siblings not being actual mutants way back in 1966:
https://cokeandcomics.com/avengers-30/

[Alan2099]

Stryfe is the clone of Nathan "Cable" Charles Dayspring Askani'son Summers (the son of Cyclops and Jean Grey's clone) who was created in the future as a back up in case Nathan wasn't able to be cured of his techno-organic virus. He was abducted by and raised by Apocalypse (who was the one that infected Cable in the first place in the distant past (which is out present) who was only going to use him as a host body (which is something is something we didn't know Apocalypse needed until that story and I don't think has ever really been touched on since.)

[Android 17]

Psylocke and her body switch with Kwannon back in the day. It's a doozy of a story.

[CaptainEurope]

Psylocke and her body switch with Kwannon back in the day. It's a doozy of a story.

Nicieza later admitted he had never read the third part of the Lady Mandarin story, in which Wolverine recognizes Betsy's face in spite of the plastic surgery she had been given to look Asian.

[K7P5V]

Nicieza later admitted he had never read the third part of the Lady Mandarin story, in which Wolverine recognizes Betsy's face in spite of the plastic surgery she had been given to look Asian.

I know, right?! Too bad it got so confusing later on, when it needn't have been...

[CaptainEurope]

I think the "non super powered pals" of super teams have very convoluted backstories after a while, because they sometimes go through various incarnations and "super origins."

Mal Duncan - Guardian - Hornblower - Vox

Snapper Carrr - traitor, snapping powers, mentor to Hourman

Rick Jones - Hulk's friend, leader of the Teen Brigade, Avengers's mascot, Cap's sidekick, wielder of the Destiny Force, one half of two Captain Marvels, A-Bomb, The Whisperer

[Tami]

As far as the lengths someone goes through to gain power, I'd add Dr. Strange to the list. From his time as a surgeon to becoming the Sorcerer Supreme, it did not strike me as an easy or straight line road.

Sometimes complexity comes in layers. The main character of the Adam Warren Series Empowered got her powers from a 'fedex' envelope left by her front door. However, the complexity comes in learning later on the source of that gift and how it came to be that she was the one who received it.