Canonicity of retellings?

[Ubauba01]

I was reading Doctor Octopus Year One and I noticed the latter half of the story completely condradicted Doc Ock's original appearance. What do you think are the canonicity of retellings? Do you think they are semi canon? Do you think even the original issue is fully canon considering the sliding timescale?

I personally like to think only the events that don't condradict the original story are canon when it comes to retellings.

This is Tom Breevort's view on retellings, but he is not the editor anymore.
https://www.tumblr.com/brevoortforms...-to-marvel-616

[Ubauba01]

Whatever the case, at least with Marvel, you could say the original stories have the highest authority (even stated by Breevort above). DC, on the other hand, seems to have a gazillion different origin stories superceeding each other constantly. I appreciate Marvel for still keeping a somewhat consistent continuity after all those years.

[Alan2099]

Did you know Spider-man has got rid of the microscope Uncle Ben bought him on two different occasions and Uncle Ben didn't get him a microscope. He got him a computer.

If you want an explanation for this, blame all those character that keep mucking around with time and reality. Sure they say they fix everything back to the way it was, but little mistakes happen. That's why Namor shows up in the wrong costume in a flashback. Because Cable and Doom are time traveling.

[leokearon]

I think the original origins are the highest authority. Retellings only work if they expand but don't contradict the original. Also if you nuke Peter Parker, it definitely doesn't count.

[Ubauba01]

Did you know Spider-man has got rid of the microscope Uncle Ben bought him on two different occasions and Uncle Ben didn't get him a microscope. He got him a computer.

Dude I hate it when stuff like that happens. Also, a computer? Really? I can understand some things needing to be updated due to the sliding timescale, but a microscope? How is that a thing of the past? What an unnecessary change...

[ChrisIII]

Think there's quite a few retellings-and even some reprints-of the Hulk origins which start him out as Green and savage, as opposed to Grey and semi-intelligent, if "not quite" the later Joe Fixit persona, prior to the mid-80s.

It wasn't until I think the Mantlo run and noted in the brief Byrne run that the Hulk looked different in his origin story, and Al Milgrom and Peter David took it from there and the retellings (including funny enough, an awful Byrne "Chapter one" which had Skrulls involved in Hulk's origin) had him grey.

[Digifiend]

Generally, I'd say the original counts most, and retellings should only modernise stuff or flesh it out, not change things unnecessarily. Flash Thompson being conscripted in the Vietnam War is obviously no longer canon for example - he now signed up for the army voluntarily. Likewise with Iron Man's origins, which were changed from also being Vietnam to the Gulf War, and then to the fictional Sian-Cong War. Reed Richards and Ben Grimm aren't now World War II veterans, and the FF's rocket flight is no longer them trying to get there before the Soviets. Rick Jones originally used ham radios to send the call out that resulted in the Avengers assembling for the first time - nowadays he'd have used a computer.