What's the worst retcon you've read?

[Zero Hunter]

The Hobgoblin was Ned Leeds. A great villian. This was ret-conned to be Leeds was just a brainwashed stooge of the Roderick Kingsley. Always hated this.

It was always supposed to be Kingsley to begin with. Roger Stern planned it that way. It just got messed up latter by new writers and editors after Stern left the series and that is how it ended up being Leeds.

[HUTHAIFA]

I forgot to mention the retcon where Black Widow had her memories of her relationship with Bucky erased by a villain just to mess with him. Blatantly obvious how it was mandated by editorial to align with the movies, and a damn shame it had to be slopped together by such a talented writer before he left the book for good.

That wasn't a retcon. Bad decision maybe, but the past wasn't changed.

[Bad Wolf]

I'm sure there are worse retcons by less talented creators, but for the damage I think it did to the MU and the X-books in particular, I'm going with Jean Grey's "resurrection."

[krazijoe]

One More Day
Beyonder, Cosmic Cube, Inhuman whatever the heck he/she/it is now...

[DrTraveler]

Scarlet Witch and QS not being Magneto kids or mutants, because MCU.

It's been said that this is to help address potential aging issues. If Magneto was in WWII (a crucial part of his story) you can explain his longevity via his control of magnetism for a while, but being Wanda and Pietro's dad was becoming more and more of a problem with aging and time passing. All in all, it didn't bother me.

Iceman is bothering me a lot not because I'm opposed to his coming out, but because it seems to create a lot of complications both with how it happened (outed by his psychic best friend) and what it means for Iceman the adult not to be out too. That bears watching in how it plays out.

[DrTraveler]

OMD

Winner winner chicken dinner.

[Of Atlantis]

That wasn't a retcon. Bad decision maybe, but the past wasn't changed.

You're right. At best it's a soft retcon to bring things back to where they used to be. Still didn't much like it.

[DrTraveler]

Everything to do with Nick Fury from Battle Scars onwards. Shameless attempt to replace him in what may be the most insulting thing Marvel's ever done to readers' intelligence. And to top it off, we get Original Sin as another F U, making the original Fury unlikable, old and essentially removed from the board for the foreseeable future to make way for their shoehorned MCU-inspired Fury.

Utter piss. Nothing else even comes close.

It also makes no sense when you hear them claim Secret Wars was on the horizon since around 2009. Just hold on a year and replace our Nick with Ultimate Nick. (Non-existent) Problem solved!

[JBatmanFan05]

It was always supposed to be Kingsley to begin with. Roger Stern planned it that way. It just got messed up latter by new writers and editors after Stern left the series and that is how it ended up being Leeds.

Correctamundo. Stern gave a clue early on that it was Roderick by revealing that Hobby was a member of the Century Club (wealthy businessmen)...which Leeds was not.

[DrTraveler]

There have been to many awful retcons to list...the only retcon I remember liking was reestablishing Polaris as Magneto's daughter.

No way that sticks though, especially in light of Wanda and Pietro being untethered from Magneto. At least not if the reason Tom gave for that is true.

[Of Atlantis]

It also makes no sense when you hear them claim Secret Wars was on the horizon since around 2009. Just hold on a year and replace our Nick with Ultimate Nick. (Non-existent) Problem solved!

You know, I've always been completely open to the idea of Ultimate Fury somehow crossing over to the 616. A lot of people try to twist the fact people don't like new Fury because they're bigoted or something. I can only speak for myself, but I was legitimately insulted by how stupid the handling of Marcus Johnson's transition to Nick Fury Jr happened. And then the extra shot to the calf they call Original Sin. It just simply couldn't be more blatantly obvious, rushed and poorly put together that they wanted to replace Nick Fury. Could have, at the very least, given Sr. a dignified end. I'll always be salty over it lol

[DrTraveler]

I find it easiest to chalk it up to Wanda messing with reality.

And, since, these days, half the references seem to have Magneto as Magneto in Planet X, while the other half still hold to the two Xorns story, I suppose it makes more sense even than picking one and trying to erase the other.

Bendis hints that the whole Xorn issue was indeed Wanda in House of M. In fact, Bendis as a writer brings up Xorn a few times over his Avengers run almost as if he was trying to feel his way towards a resolution of that mess.

I will say that the idea Xorn really was just Xorn in disguise supports how Xorn is shown in the Ultimate U.

[DrTraveler]

You know, I've always been completely open to the idea of Ultimate Fury somehow crossing over to the 616. A lot of people try to twist the fact people don't like new Fury because they're bigoted or something. I can only speak for myself, but I was legitimately insulted by how stupid the handling of Marcus Johnson's transition to Nick Fury Jr happened. And then the extra shot to the calf they call Original Sin. It just simply couldn't be more blatantly obvious, rushed and poorly put together that they wanted to replace Nick Fury. Could have, at the very least, given Sr. a dignified end. I'll always be salty over it lol

If I were honest, I actually like Ultimate Nick better than 616 Nick. 616 Nick has his awesome moments (All of Secret Warriors. All of it), but I have always always thought Ultimate Nick was the superior Nick Fury. That makes the Nick Jr. thing really annoying as there's no way they move Ultimate Nick into the 616 after Secret Wars, despite the fact he'd fit fairly well.

[Of Atlantis]

If I were honest, I actually like Ultimate Nick better than 616 Nick. 616 Nick has his awesome moments (All of Secret Warriors. All of it), but I have always always thought Ultimate Nick was the superior Nick Fury. That makes the Nick Jr. thing really annoying as there's no way they move Ultimate Nick into the 616 after Secret Wars, despite the fact he'd fit fairly well.

I've always loved both. Definitely preferred 616 Fury, but I wouldn't mind either in charge. Having 1610 Fury cross over beats what Marvel instead chose to do, as long as 616 would still be around.

[rpriske]

Lots of these aren't Retcons. OMD is NOT a Retcon.

The Wanda / Pietro one is a retcon of a retcon, but it is a pretty lousy one.


Then there are GOOD retcons, like ignoring the Crossing...