Most influential retcons

[Superfan90]

What are some examples of retcons in marvel comics which are so ingrained in the mythos that they are no longer thought as retcons but with the character from the start?

Like Thor was originally just Don Blake with Thor's powers but Stan Lee himself retconned that Don was just a mortal guise for Thor.

Or Namor and Captain America never knew each other in golden age and Invaders is a retcon by Roy Thomas.

[leokearon]

What are some examples of retcons in marvel comics which are so ingrained in the mythos that they are no longer thought as retcons but with the character from the start?

Like Thor was originally just Don Blake with Thor's powers but Stan Lee himself retconned that Don was just a mortal guise for Thor.

Or Namor and Captain America never knew each other in golden age and Invaders is a retcon by Roy Thomas.

Magneto being Wanda and Pietro's father is one of the biggest ones (even after it got retconed itself)
Bucky and Cap presumed dead until Cap was found by the Avengers and later Bucky's return as the Winter Soldier

[Hybrid]

Captain America getting frozen itself is one. Originally, him and Bucky’s adventures continued into the ‘50s, but it was retconned that those two weren’t the real versions of them, and Cap had been on ice since 1942 and Bucky was killed, thanks to the newly introduced Baron Zemo.

Also, Bucky surviving, and getting brainwashed to become the Winter Soldier is another one. That works in direct tandem with the above, and is also a crucial part of the lore.

[leokearon]

Captain America getting frozen itself is one. Originally, him and Bucky’s adventures continued into the ‘50s, but it was retconned that those two weren’t the real versions of them, and Cap had been on ice since 1942 and Bucky was killed, thanks to the newly introduced Baron Zemo.

Also, Bucky surviving, and getting brainwashed to become the Winter Soldier is another one. That works in direct tandem with the above, and is also a crucial part of the lore.

Cap was frozen in 1945 not 1942

[jsafanforever]

The entire Clone Saga springs to mind ... but the most influential one is definitely bringing back Jean Grey after the Dark Phoenix saga.

[leokearon]

The entire Clone Saga springs to mind ... but the most influential one is definitely bringing back Jean Grey after the Dark Phoenix saga.

That's another one, it wasn't Jean, just a cosmic chicken that took her form and has been obsessed with Redheads ever since

[Hybrid]

Cap was frozen in 1945 not 1942

I thought I heard Jack de-canonized all stories he wasn't involved with? Whatever.

Anyways, you get the point.

[leokearon]

I thought I heard Jack de-canonized all stories he wasn't involved with? Whatever.

Anyways, you get the point.

Maybe that itself is a retcon, as Cap is supposed to fight in D-Day and these days it is around April 1945

[Ultimate Captain America]

Cap was frozen in 1945 not 1942

That's a retcon of the retcon. When the story was first narrated, in Avengers #4, it was "more than twenty years ago". The comic is from 1963, so that was at least 1942... casually, the year when Jack Kirby ended his first run with Cap.

But there is a problem with that: it left 3 more WWII years without Cap around. So later versions of the story displaced the event a couple of years, so it happened when the war was already ending.

[leokearon]

That's a retcon of the retcon. When the story was first narrated, in Avengers #4, it was "more than twenty years ago". The comic is from 1963, so that was at least 1942... casually, the year when Jack Kirby ended his first run with Cap.

But there is a problem with that: it left 3 more WWII years without Cap around. So later versions of the story displaced the event a couple of years, so it happened when the war was already ending.

Yeah, retcons of retcons

[twiztor]

Or Namor and Captain America never knew each other in golden age and Invaders is a retcon by Roy Thomas.

this is a fairly common mistake. While the Invaders series retconned a lot of things and told stories set in the 1940s, it wasn't the first time the heroes actually met up. All-Winners Comics #01 (Summer 1941) features a text story where all the main players at the time meet. This includes Cap, Namor, and the Human Torch, among others. in All-Winners Comics #19 (Fall 1946) we actually get a story featuring the team (although the bulk of it is told through individual stories, the team as a whole does bookend the plot. All-Winners Comics #21 tells a tale with a similar setup.

[gordonm]

Xorn changing from being only a disguise for Magneto to an actual seperate person.

[teapartyofthedead]

Magneto as a Holocaust survivor, the father of the Maximoff twins, and having a telepathic resistant helmet. Cap going into ice and Bucky being brainwashed into being Winter Soldier.

[Marvell2100]

Alicia Masters actually being a Skrull when Johnny married her.

Sentry.

[K7P5V]

The neural patterns of Ultron were based upon those of his creator, Hank Pym.