Lesser known retcons you don’t like

[Mister Mets]

Well, first Byrne pretended that Sandman was breaking the fourth wall and lying to readers when he had any thought bubble about being a good guy over the previous two decades, which was just a bizarre rationale no one liked. And then since everyone complained about that they came up with the hackneyed brainwashing crap. In any event, his change of heart from bad to good was retconned and he was turned bad again. I think “brainwashing” as a plot device counts as a retcon as much as any dumb plot twist that undoes past continuity, such as “magic erased our memory” or “he was actually in Europe and not dead.”

A retcon retroactively changes continuity in ways the original creative team did not intend.

So brainwashing is not a retcon.

Revealing that a character was brainwashed in earlier stories where that wasn't the writer's intent would be a retcon.

Sandman telling readers any thought bubble about being a good guy over the previous two decades was a lie is a retcon.

Yeah!

They were actually CIA Agents!!!

SHIELD has kinda changed in Marvel.

In the Silver Age comics, Nick Fury was a recent recruit for the organization. Now they've changed it so he's been there for decades.

[PCN24454]

SHIELD has kinda changed in Marvel.

In the Silver Age comics, Nick Fury was a recent recruit for the organization. Now they've changed it so he's been there for decades.

To be fair, he has been in SHIELD for decades.

[Mister Mets]

To be fair, he has been in SHIELD for decades.

The story in which he joined SHIELD was set after his appearance in Fantastic Four #21, so it can't have been that long.

[PCN24454]

The story in which he joined SHIELD was set after his appearance in Fantastic Four #21, so it can't have been that long.

I meant that as a joke.