Was the Mockingbird retcon disrespectful to sexual assault survivors?

[Triniking1234]

I'm speaking, of course, of the the one from a few years back, where the story of Mockingbird getting raped by the Phantom Rider and her letting him die was changed to her cheating on Hawkeye with the Phantom Rider and letting him die after having consensual sex. Besides the idea that it makes her seem like a worse person overall, I fail to see why the retcon would have happened unless the writer or editor somehow thought it makes her weak to have been raped at all and somehow makes her look better to be a cheater and letting the man she's cheating with die. Which seems like an insult to anyone who has survived sexual assault. It changed her from a strong character, who made it through a horrible trauma, to an ambivalent scheming adulteress making Hawkeye into a cuckold. Thoughts?

Is that what happened? If so, it makes Bobbi looks less sympathetic cuz she first had a lapse in judgment and let the guy die because he SA'd her but Cain had her let the guy die to feel less bad about her infidelity.

[Muffin Crud]

The original storyline’s conclusion is what differentiates Bobbi from a lot of other heroes. The brainwashing is icky but it is treated as such and she lets the ******* die for what he did to her. One of my favourite scenes in comics.

[The Cool Thatguy]

I eagerly await the day that characters are allowed to have new storylines, because I'm so damn tired of Bobbi and Phantom Rider

[Nazrel]

It's been awhile since I read that, but my impression wasn't that it retconned the rape, but it retconned Clints motivation for divorcing her to not believing it was rape, with the "you let him die" just being used as a pretense (Which is a whole different questionable creative choice.)

[Chris0013]

I eagerly await the day that characters are allowed to have new storylines, because I'm so damn tired of Bobbi and Phantom Rider

How do you think people who like Hank Pym feel?

[Thor-Ul]

It's been awhile since I read that, but my impression wasn't that it retconned the rape, but it retconned Clints motivation for divorcing her to not believing it was rape, with the "you let him die" just being used as a pretense (Which is a whole different questionable creative choice.)

Well, if it was that way, it was not the best way to put it:

[The Cool Thatguy]

How do you think people who like Hank Pym feel?

Fair point, but it;s a condition that;s crippled DC and Marvel comics

[Chris0013]

Fair point, but it;s a condition that;s crippled DC and Marvel comics

Definitely agree. They do need to move forward and stop with all the retcons. I don't think they need to completely forget what came before...just not rely so heavily on it moving forward. I do think there are situations that might call for using it..like if Bobbi was to encounter a women who had been through a similar experience and talking about getting through it. But Phantom Rider's ghost should not be showing up every 2nd or 3rd story with Bobbi as a lead.

Back to the original premise though. It was a bad retcon. I think it is disrespectful. And it makes Bobbi look really bad.

[Spidey_Legend]

I hate that retcon. Worst thing you can have done to the character.

[Will Evans]

Well, if it was that way, it was not the best way to put it:

But why? Just why?

[Kingdom X]

Well, if it was that way, it was not the best way to put it:

I was like… “maybe it’s not that bad,” but those panels are truly damning. Making your own decisions has nothing to do with being drugged and taken advantage of. Also it makes Clint look really icky too because he’d rather believe in a reality where his wife was taken of advantage of than a reality where she wanted to be with someone else.

Also if this retcon is trying to give Bobbi her agency back and say she owned her decisions, then the fact that Clint had to divorce HER just makes her look awful because she should be taking accountability and ending the relationship herself after having an affair.

[Frontier]

Well, if it was that way, it was not the best way to put it:

Wow, this makes everybody look bad.

[Rift]

Those pages make Bobbi look delusional. I don't see Clint lying to himself, I see Bobbi missing the point and misconstruing what he's saying to downplay her flaws. So her saying "Well Clint lied to himself lol" comes off as her just making her own little headcanon, just to downplay the blame and make it about HIS issues.

Likely not what the writer intended, but it has those vibes lmao

[ARkadelphia]

Those pages make Bobbi look delusional. I don't see Clint lying to himself, I see Bobbi missing the point and misconstruing what he's saying to downplay her flaws. So her saying "Well Clint lied to himself lol" comes off as her just making her own little headcanon, just to downplay the blame and make it about HIS issues.

Likely not what the writer intended, but it has those vibes lmao

This! To me, it reads like Bobbi is lying to herself. I don’t know if that’s what was intended, and ultimately, whatever was intended was executed very badly.

[Thor-Ul]

I don’t know if that’s what was intended, and ultimately, whatever was intended was executed very badly.

I think we should look the context of the story. It was about the time of Civil War 2 and Clint was just being judged, and cleared from the Hulk homicide. We can leave the how and why of the Hulk killing outside of the discussion because the important is the result of the trial. And now what is coming is my own speculation:
I think than Chelsea Cain was trying to send a feminist message by comparing the situation of Clint with the situation of Bobbi. On how why Bobbi by killing a man was more hardly jugded than Clint for the same act. Clint, a man, was cleared from the act but Bobbi was judged harshly for the same act.
However how the situation was presented compared to the original events, well, it really leaves Mockingbird on a uncomfortable place. Or Bobbi willingly cheated her husband and later left his lover to die, but tried to hide it, or suddendly is in an state of denial of the events. Can that kind of situation even possible? Is she lying to herself, choosing to believe to be herself someone who would do such things instead accept she was a victim?

I still believe than Cain choose this path because she thought than the Phantom Rider always had been a ghost and Bobbi never killed anyone, because, well, the guy already was a ghost! He could fall from a cliff, but that can't kill a ghost. In the mind of Cain, there was no crime and everyone had been very unfair to Bobbi, who had acted fully on her right.

Ok, I accept these are not the best explanations, but really I don't want to believe than Cain made such mistake intentionally. Maybe on the script it sounded good, but in the final product the effect was the opposite of the one she wanted to reflect.