View source for Character Derailment/Comic Books

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Examples of [[{{TOPLEVELPAGE}}]] in [[{{SUBPAGENAME}}]] include:

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== DC Comics ==
* [[Wonder Woman]]. Fans of the George Perez intelligent reboot have dealt with a whole ''host'' of derailment. From working in a fast food restaurant to Mike Deodato's "[http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_eWAgNd_cltA/SjnJEB-BiMI/AAAAAAAAAB8/cmHbi1CXFq0/s400/WonderWomanThong01.jpg Wonder Thong]" costume to becoming a bounty hunter to John Byrne trying to turn her into [[She Hulk]] / Babe by [[Most Common Superpower|increasing the size of her breasts]] and giving her the standard "wimpy male sidekick" Byrne trademark. During all this, Julia Kapatelis was virtually [[Put on a Bus]]. And now there's ''[http://www.deadline.com/2010/06/dc-comics-decides-to-ruin-wonder-woman/ this]''. The cries of "[[Ruined FOREVER]]!" have been unceasing.
** Part of the problem is that [[Wonder Woman]] is supposed to be a superhero who is also the ideal woman. It's even part of her origin: when the Greek gods breathed life into her they gave her gifts that would make her the perfect woman; the superpowers and equipment came later. Problem is, every writer seems to have a different idea of what is the "ideal woman".
*** This may also overlap with [[Values Dissonance]]; [[Wonder Woman]] was created in the 1940s, when ideas about the "ideal woman" were somewhat different than they are today.
* This was a slow process with ''[[Batman]]''. From the mid-nineties until early 2006, the cool, gruff, [[Badass]], [[Memetic Mutation|Goddamned]] Batman slowly moved from [[Aloof Big Brother|"aloof and driven"]] to [[Jerkass|"frickin' jerk"]]. DC eventually fixed this by having him realize how he was acting, and go on a year-long trip around the world with Dick Grayson (the first Robin) and Tim Drake (the current Robin). Note that this change was a reflection of the general comic book slide towards [[Nineties Anti-Hero]] characters, and his change back is part of a general return to more positive heroes.
** This was merely the most recent incarnation of a storyline that's been recurring since the early 90s. Batman would become more aloof than ever before due to some sort of crisis, only to eventually realize that he should be nice to his friends and swear that he would never go down that road again - until next time (See "Prodigal," "No Man's Land," "Batman: Murderer/Fugitive"). The only difference between this storyline and its precursors is that writers seem determined to ''stick to it'' for a change.
* Conversely, the switch of Batgirl III/Cassandra Cain from one of the better examples of Rising Above Her Past (raised from birth as an Assassin, but horrified enough by her first kill to become a [[Technical Pacifist]]) to a [[Unfortunate Implications|Stereotypical]] [[Evil Laugh|Cackling]] [[Dragon Lady]] [[Chessmaster|Mastermind]] was abrupt enough to induce whiplash. Nerfing her enough for Robin to force a stalemate was simply adding injury to insult. The efforts to retcon the whole mess as brainwashing by Deathstroke came off as more than a bit slapdash, and did nothing to explain the improved language skills (what was once a virtually illiterate dyslexic who rarely spoke a sentence more than five words long without the use of pausing, was now [[Monologuing]] and knew Navajo code, one of the hardest languages in the world).
** The latest mini series about her derailed her character even more. Her improved language skills were taught (she learned to read English, and speak and read Navajo) by Albert, off screen. And she became good with using a computer by herself. Her deep rooted refusal to kill anyone was removed in order for her to kill her dad and Deathstroke. Her body language (which was used by her to know that Batman was Bruce Wayne) was nerfed in order to let an old man lie to her right in front of her face. And if that wasn't enough, her past was changed from loving her father but escaping from him because her first kill was the first time she saw someone die which made her realize how wrong her life was, into hating her father during her entire life and actually having to watch him kill people right in front of her eyes without her caring at all. And on top of that, the series even managed to derail Rose Wilson, the daughter of Deathstroke.
* Many readers felt that Dr. Leslie Thompkins was derailed in the "War Crimes" plotline (following the "War Games" crossover), when it was revealed that she had ''intentionally'' withheld care from Stephanie Brown, a.k.a. Spoiler (and one-time Robin) so that she would die in order to teach [[Batman]] a lesson. Considering her previous saintly devotion to saving lives, this was a bit stupid and subsequent comics have [[Canon Discontinuity|quietly ignored it]].
** However, in a recent story, it was revealed that {{spoiler|this was a fake-out on Leslie's behalf, as Stephanie ''wasn't'' actually dead but smuggled out of the country. It's blatant [[Retcon]], of course, but given most people see it as an [[Author's Saving Throw]] on Leslie's characterisation, there are few complaints}}.
* Most fans of ''[[Young Justice (comics)|Young Justice]]'' thought the ''entire'' team went through this when they transitioned to ''[[Teen Titans (Comic Book)|Teen Titans]]''. Kon suddenly having [[Cloning Blues]] and generally being a too-serious jackass when before he even made jokes about his clone status, and wearing a new costume that consists of jeans and a t-shirt! [[Fun Personified|Impulse]] suddenly grew grim and studious (and became Kid Flash, abandoning every last trace of his fierce individuality) after Deathstroke kneecapped him and he was forced to endure painful surgery. And Robin was Batman Jr, without a trace of his [[Deadpan Snarker]] attitude, his geek hobbies, or the fact he does have a sense of humor.
** Cassie has become very ill tempered and cold towards her teammates. Her character has downgraded into a self-righteous, holier-than-thou [[Ice Queen]] who is obsessed with bringing Conner back and wants to change the team back into Young Justice.
*** At least they still get to ''be'' characters. [[Brought Down to Normal|Secret]], [[Brother Chuck|Empress]], [[Put on a Bus|Arrowette]], [[Dying to Be Replaced|Ray]], and [[Dropped a Bridge on Him|Slobo]].
**** Sean McKeever seemed to have noticed Cassie's change, and attempted an [[Author's Saving Throw]] by blaming it on {{spoiler|accepting powers from Ares. This negated the powers Zeus gave her and would have [[Face Heel Turn|corrupted her completely]], were her will not strong enough to resist him. Instead, she just turned into a bitch.}}Although the following writers promptly derailed Cassie back into a raging shrew, to the point where a group of rather vocal fans considered her [[Ruined FOREVER]] to the point that only her death would "cleanse" the Teen Titans title.
**** Some would argue that Cassie has reasons to act ill-tempered and cold. First off, Superboy is basically the love of her life, and they even had sex before his death. That is normally considered cause for angst, and would be difficult to cope with, since she is a young teenager. Also, she has been the leader of the [[Teen Titans (Comic Book)|Teen Titans]] at some points, and a leader is supposed to be tough. For instance, she has reasonable concerns with having Ravager AKA Rose Wilson on the team, because Rose is a murderer addicted to adrenaline. Cassie really has come a long way from being a [[Wonder Woman]] wannabe created by [[John Byrne]]. Hopefully the revamped version of her will be better if not just as good. Really, she should not have to be killed off.
** While we're on the subject of Young Justice, Inertia, Impulse's [[Evil Twin]]. Originally, he was a rebellious teenager who secretly resented Impulse for having something he never had: a family. In fact, that eventually drove him to abandon the people who were using him to try to make his own way in the world. Then he became a generic, baby-killing, crazy eeeeeevil and sadistic version of Kid Flash. I don't even think I have to tell you how much less interesting this is than the original characterization.
*** Then you will be happy to know that shortly after Inertia took on the name Kid Zoom, he got killed off. Yep, he is dead as a doornail.
** When the second Aquagirl (Lorena) was introduced in the pages of Aquaman, she was a resourceful [[Plucky Girl]] with brains who learned to adapt fine to the ocean after she lost her entire family and all of her friends. Once she became a Titan? She became derailed into a horny and mouthy Latina stereotype, trying to play homewrecker to Blue Beetle and Traci 13, while serving little other purpose than to hit on boys, argue with [[The Scrappy|Bombshell]], or get seethed at by a jealous Cassie.
** Some argue that Geoff Johns' changes to Raven have stained her character reputation irreparably. These include having her reborn as a teenage girl (after she spent time in limbo as a golden [[Spirit Advisor]]) who only occasionally retained her original speech patterns and personality (while the rest of the time she had a snarky and broody attitude like her animated incarnation), hooking up with Beast Boy, and saddling her back with the position of being the [[Damsel in Distress]] that the team must rescue. Later writers like Judd Winick only made these changes even more jarring.
*** On the opposite end, Beast Boy fans have become upset that after having received development in his own mini-series, he started on a gradual decay back to being the team goofball to the point where even his own best friend and younger team members were depicted as talking down to him and considering him to be a joke. The same Beast Boy who became ''team leader'' of the Titans and was considered capable (before executive meddling hit, combined with Geoff Johns deciding the team had "too many adults").
** Then there's ''Red Hood and the Outlaws'', see a long rant in two parts [https://theragingfanboy.wordpress.com/2011/09/30/deconstructing-red-hood-and-the-outlaws-part-1-red-hood/ here].
* [[Judd Winick]]'s run on ''[[Green Arrow]]'' and ''Green Arrow/ Black Canary'' derailed quite a few characters.
** Despite having moved on from a [[Dark and Troubled Past|troubled past]] which included alcoholism, rampant womanizing and generally irresponsible behavior and evolving into a loving, responsible father and boyfriend under [[Kevin Smith]]'s pen, Winick wrote Oliver Queen back into the clueless, womanizing, limousine-liberal stereotype many comic fans wrongly saw him as.
*** It is also worth noting that - despite Winick's portrayal of Queen as an unrepentant ladies' man - Oliver Queen [https://web.archive.org/web/20081027074632/http://community.livejournal.com/scans_daily/4198168.html never cheated on long-term girlfriend Dinah Lance] (aka The Black Canary) before Judd Winick started writing the character. He did father a child with [[Dragon Lady]] Shado, but that was the result of Shado raping him while he was drugged. In Winick's first story arc, Oliver Queen had a one-night stand with the niece of fellow superhero [[Black Lightning]] and later tried to lie about the affair to Dinah Lance. Interestingly enough, the two had never been shown to have officially reestablished themselves as boyfriend/girlfriend until Winick chose to break them apart.
** Dinah Lance (Black Canary), as written by Winick, changed into a [[Shallow Love Interest]] after years of being a confident, independent [[Action Girl]].
** To the astonishment of fans everywhere, the title has actually managed to get ''worse'' since Winick left, highlights of new writer Kreisberg's work including Ollie going [[Darker and Edgier|off the rails]] about how useless nonlethal crimefighting is (despite having dealt with the whole killing thing decades earlier in what's probably his single most famous story and subsequent run), and Dinah's nurturing hero-focused childhood amongst her JSA 'uncles' being [[Retcon|retconned]] into a [[Wangst|Wangsty]] life of ignorant normality until the day she accidentally permanently deafened a friend with her emerging superpower. In order to mirror her incompetent adult use of said superpower, wherein Kreisberg caused her to deafen an innocent bystander in a fight so he could give her a new supervillain. [[Fanon Discontinuity|Reactions have been fairly uniform.]]
** Jefferson Pierce ([[Black Lightning]]) went from being a [[Technical Pacifist]] of such strong ethical fiber that he retired from superheroics when he thought he couldn't use his powers safely into a man who could easily strike down the corporate raider indirectly responsible for the death of his niece.
*** After taking flack from numerous fans as well as Black Lightning creator [[Tony Isabella]], Winick [[Retcon|retconned]] that last one in ''Outsiders #45-47'', where Jefferson turned himself in for the murder. More, he was revealed to be innocent of the crime, thanks to super-assassin [[Villain Sue|Deathstroke]] just happening to be in the area, just happening to guess what Jefferson's internal conflict was and just happening to have the perfect [[Deus Ex Machina]] to kill the man and have it look like death by electrocution.
* [[Blue Beetle]] (Ted Kord) and [[Booster Gold]] over the twenty years that these two have been friends and thought of as a duo they have been so ''massively'' derailed that they practically switched personalities. Booster was originally a [[Fish Out of Temporal Water]] [[Mr. Vice Guy]] who screwed up once in a while but learned from it, while Ted had [[Jumped At the Call]] and was basically Batman with a sense of humor. By the time of ''[[Super Buddies]]'', Ted was now a [[I Just Want to Be Normal]] slacker who was letting himself go and was now [[The Straight Man]]. Booster got it worse as he seemed to have permanent ownership of the [[Idiot Ball]] and was the one who wanted to have fun all the time and was such a screw up that they coined the term "Boostered" after he accidentally sent the team to hell. Needless to say those comics make many fans flinch.
** The Flanderization that took place before that was retconned into [[Obfuscating Stupidity]]. Beetle was killed in ''Countdown to Infinite Crisis'' and Booster has a new series where he's treated more seriously. Some fans, however, greatly enjoyed the Superbuddies and were greatly disturbed by the [[Character Derailment]] of characters such as Max Lord, Fire, Mary Marvel, and a number of the others.
*** Maxwell Lord was never the "nice guy" on the team, he was certainly a [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]]...but was it ever a question about the heart of gold part? No. He even thought and believed he was doing the right thing most of the time and showed genuine concern for his team, back when he headed off the group. He even got into an argument with Martian Manhunter about how they needed to get "big guns" on the team to make sure no one would get offed. It's not like it was all dialogue, some of this was in thought bubbles, so that means '''he''' thought he was a hero, ''not'' a villain. So is there any reason...AT ALL...why he should suddenly become a cliched villain two steps above strapping Penelope Pureheart to a train track? Or any reason why he would blow Blue Beetle's head off, or claim he was lying all those times (even to '''himself''' apparently!) he said he was a good guy? The writers actually admit they know they derailed him but don't care because they needed a villain...''the writers knew they were doing something that flew in the face of his prior characterizing and did it anyway!'' Jesus. I mean...wow. Just wow.
*** There are two explanations for this, a fan one and an "official one". The fan one is that Max was still under the influence of Kilg%re, even when he became fully human again. The "official" one is that Superboy-Prime's punching of the Source Wall retroactively influenced Max; while he was sincere before, during his many surgeries and procedures to become human, he gained a hatred of superheroes, presumably because the community at large was responsible for him being a cyborg in the first place.
*** An issue of ''[[Justice League Generation Lost]]'' showed that Max only went off the deep end after Central City (Along with his mother) was totalled by Mongul.
* The ''[[Amazons Attack|Amazons Attack!]]'' miniseries afflicts Wonder Woman and the entire Amazon people with character derailment by way of [[Idiot Plot]].
* ''[[Infinite Crisis]]'' saw Superboy Prime move from one of the guys who saved all of reality to a [[Knight Templar]] obsessed with finding the perfect Earth. Later stories moved him all the way into [[Omnicidal Maniac]] territory as he crushes entire planets because he happens to think they're lame.
** Just think of it this way, the only appearances of Prime are in Crisis On Infinite Earths, Infinite Crisis, Green Lantern (especially the "Sinestro Corps War" arc), and Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds. Prime's appearance in ''Countdown to Final Crisis'' never happened, [[Canon Discontinuity|just like the rest of ''Countdown''.]] This at least gives him a relatively stable character transition: Multiversal hero to Knight Templar to [[The Dog Bites Back]] to frustrated semi-[[Omnicidal Maniac]] who wants to destroy Superman's legacy and show he is superior.
*** To be fair his main motivation in ''Countdown'' (finding his home Earth) was consistent with previous characterisation and [[Omnicidal Maniac|he wanted to destroy all these 'wrong' earths]] even way back in ''[[Infinite Crisis]]''. It's just that in ''Countdown'' he once succeeded.
* ''[[Countdown to Final Crisis]]'' does this to Mary Marvel in a very annoying fashion. If not her character arc of accepting Black Adam's powers, going a little nuts and joining up with Eclipso before learning the error of her ways and helping to rescue the Greek gods, then it certainly counts when she, after this long storyline of turning evil and being redeemed, ''joins up with [[Big Bad|Darkseid]] '''again!'''''
* Owen Mercer, the second Captain Boomerang, was never a completely good person. At his best, he reached [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]] status. But he was ''trying'' to move away from the family legacy, and ''trying'' to do good, and won himself friends like Nightwing and Supergirl in the process, then vanished from the comics for awhile. Then in [[Blackest Night]], he pops up as an unhinged psycho feeding children to his zombie father, and is promptly killed for it.  {{spoiler|And then the white rings resurrect his father in his place.}} ...meh.
* Hank Hall in DC's ''Hawk and Dove'' was an impulsive [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]] in the Kesels' run, having been fleshed out significantly from the original Steve Ditko incarnation and his appearances in the original [[Teen Titans (Comic Book)|Teen Titans]]. However, once the identity of Monarch was leaked as Captain Atom in an advance spoiler for DC's mini "Armageddon 2001" (though there had been foreshadowing that this was the case to begin with), editorial had to scramble and find a new character to be Monarch to retain the "surprise" ending. Unfortunately, they picked the one character that was blatantly shown NOT to be Monarch and a perplexing plot twist followed, derailing Hank into a murderous extremist and suddenly advanced enough in intelligence and powers to control time (with yet another villainous name change as Extant). He then lingered on as a sort of [[Villain Sue]] until he was killed off in the pages of ''JSA''  {{spoiler|and then later [[Unexplained Recovery|brought back]] in [[Blackest Night]], though it remains to be seen how his characterization will fare.}}
** Monarch actually managed to be the [[Character Derailment|derailing]] of ''two'' superheroes. Years after "Armageddon 2001", [[Captain Atom]] became Monarch anyway, and [[Countdown to Final Crisis|immediately descended]] into cartoonish, [[Involuntary Battle to the Death|force-heroes-to-battle-to-the-death]] supervillainy. Like Hawk, he later received an [[Author's Saving Throw]] via [[Easy Amnesia]] and [[Canon Discontinuity]].
* Superman in the [[The Dark Knight Strikes Again|Batman]] [[All Star Batman and Robin|stories]] written by [[Frank Miller]], is displayed as a dumb muscle who sold out his morals and is completely incapable of thinking strategically like the [[Canon Sue|oh so perfect Batman.]] [[Super Dickery|There is precedent, sort of, for Superman being a dick,]] but not an idiot.
** The worst part of this is that the derailment was within ''Miller's own continuity''. In The Dark Knight Returns, Superman was a sympathetic character who was naive and [[Lawful Stupid]], but barely qualified as even an [[Anti-Villain]]. By ''[[The Dark Knight Strikes Again]]'', he's suddenly a totally amoral angry god who carried off [[Wonder Woman]] as a prize (which actually isn't shown as a bad thing in-story, but that's a reflection of [[Author Appeal|Miller's views on women]], not the morality of the character) shouting out stuff like [[A God Am I|"I'm not a man, I'm SUPERMAN!"]] and then implies that he and Supergirl are going to [[The Evils of Free Will|keep a tighter reign on this violent, immoral planet.]] And this time, he was actually supposed to be ''more'' "right" than in DKR.
* [[Batman Beyond (comics)|Batman Beyond]]'s 2010 mini series does this to almost every single character in varying degrees, from Terry forgetting he has a girlfriend and picking up the [[Idiot Ball]] - apparently losing about 3 years of experience in the process - to Bruce suddenly deciding that Terry just isn't good enough anymore and constructing bat robots to replace him. This is without getting into all of the logic and continuity fail that is eeeeverywhere, or characterization like Dick's... which probably classifies as character derailment even taking into account the fact that he spent 30-40 years being bitter and alone, because his characterization is so far from the DCAU starting point (whose characterization is different from his comics counterpart in a fairly substantial way) as to be baffling.
* David Reid was introduced to the [[Justice Society of America]] as the great-grandson of [[Franklin D. Roosevelt|FDR]], Reid joined the team as an earnest but dedicated rookie with a solid respect for the team of veteran superheroes. Then along comes Gog, who transforms Reid into Magog after his brief brush with death. The transformation influences Reid into acting brashly and recklessly, but once he sees what Gog's really about he turns on his master, even {{spoiler|severing Gog's head in the climax.}} In the aftermath, he apologizes to Alan Scott and is seen [http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/3/31566/800810-reid_45.jpg without his trademark eye scar]{{Dead link}}, indicating he's earned a fresh start. So what happens after that? He's quickly [[Flanderization|flanderized]] into a caricature of his ''[[Kingdom Come]]'' counterpart in every appearance other than his brief miniseries and ultimately killed off by Maxwell Lord in a [[Pandering to the Base|really ugly death scene]].
* ''[[JLA: Act of God]]'' does this to just about ''every single character'' bar Batman, who [[Took a Level in Jerkass|takes a huge level in arrogance]].
* On the X-Men page linked above, it's been noted that Warren Ellis's approach when writing for mainstream comics lately has been "take a look at past few issues featuring character, extrapolate from there as baseline behavior." If you want any further proof that's the case, then behold as [[Lawful Good|Captain]] [[The Cape (trope)|America]] [http://4thletter.net/2012/01/america-is-now-blood-and-tears-instead-of-milk-and-honey-secret-avengers-21/ condones torture].

== Marvel Comics ==
* [[Spider-Man]] is either happy-go-lucky or [[One More Day|so emo that he makes deals with devil to stop the pain.]] This may even happen to his movies if the rumors are true about the reboot becoming grim and gritty.
** For that matter, Mary Jane as well. In ''[[One Moment in Time]]'', said deal is retconned so that ''she'' is now the one to have agreed, and adding insult to injury, she says, "See, to me, the reason I wanted to get married was to have kids. If that's (children) no longer a part of the equation, then marriage is just a piece of paper."
* [[Black Panther]]. Poor T'Challa. Opinion is divided about when, exactly (Johns, Hudlin, or Liss) the derailment occurred, but not if. The fact is, in the early 2000s, Panther was treated as one of the smartest men in comics, king of both the [[Batman Gambit]] and the [[Xanatos Gambit]], and spent his time matching wits with Mephisto, Dr. Doom, [[Iron Man]], etc and coming out on top. Fast forward to the present, where he and Storm have been [[Strangled by the Red String]] in the span of basically one story arc, he's lost his kingdom (on account latching onto an uncharacteristic [[Idiot Ball]]), and his IQ appears to have dropped about fifty points. His well-documented scientific skills and background have been downplayed if not out-and-out retconned, and he's gone from being "Batman, only better" to "Daredevil, only worse, and have we mentioned lately that he's black?". His villains have gone from major threats like Doom, Magneto, and Mephisto to never before seen Russian mobsters, and Hatemonger. In terms of standing, he's gone from one of the most respected and revered heroes in the [[Marvel Universe]] to being talked down to by [[Luke Cage]] on a nearly monthly basis. The most recent direction has been hemorrhaging sales as a result, and with [[Christopher Priest]] retired, and a general genre wide lack of interest in minority heroes, it's not clear that anybody has the interest and/or skill to try and save the character.
* Most characters in the [[Marvel Universe]] [[Crisis Crossover]] ''[[Civil War (Comic Book)|Civil War]]''. In a way, [[Captain America (comics)|Captain America]] was one of the lucky ones.
** While his ideals and so on were kept intact, Cap's being forced to ''marry'' the [[Idiot Ball]] probably counts as derailment. The writers forced him to adopt a strategy that had literally zero percent chance of achieving any lasting peace or useful result, because otherwise the storyline wouldn't have had the ending they wanted.
** [[Iron Man]]. Just a special mention for getting the worst. Going from a hero (albeit occasional jerk) to Der Eisenfuhrer, the armored superhero who doesn't mind throwing his best friends in jail for life. It took over a year and [[The Movie]] to undo much of the derailment and there is still a very vocal Hatedom. Unfortunately, most of the people who decided to check out the comics because of the movie quit reading out of disgust, so the Hatedom is still the primary chunk of readers.
*** There are a number of long-time [[Iron Man]] fans who have been wishing for quite a while that [[Marvel Universe|Marvel]] would [[Mercy Kill|just kill him off already out of respect for the character]].
**** Quite a few of those long-time fans will argue that the real Iron Man has been dead for quite some time; the "Tony Stark" in the Marvel Universe right now is just an amalgam between the lame-ass teenage Tony Stark and the Heroes Reborn Tony Stark. Or something. The way I remember it, Heroes Reborn was reincarnated teenage Stark, and then when they did Heroes Return he merged with the original dead Tony Stark. But if they went with the "he's not the REAL Tony Stark" idea, it would actually be quite brilliant, because then they can kill of the fucking Nazi Stark and say "no no no no, there was NEVER any character derailment!" and bring back the original Iron Man through some convoluted comic book convention. Maybe teenage Tony Stark wasn't teenage Stark, and was an alternate universe evil Tony Stark while he was a teenager, and then they split him and real Tony Stark is like "what the FUCK man?"
**** The current{{when}} situation is a result of [[Marvel]] desperately mashing the [[Reset Button]]: Tony Stark [[Empty Shell|erased all the memories in his brain]] so a villain wouldn't be able to [[Mind Rape|acquire the sensitive information Tony knew]], then [[Memory Gambit|uploaded a previous save file]] that was made [[Crazy Prepared|a few years before]] ''[[Civil War (Comic Book)|Civil War]]'' happened, so he woke up from his [[Convenient Coma|self-induced coma]] and had [[Missing Time|no idea what was going on]], so his [[Character Derailment]] technically never happened [[Amnesiac Dissonance|as far as his memories are concerned]], and Steve [[Let Us Never Speak of This Again|doesn't want to talk about it]].
**** Due to [[Executive Meddling]], pretty much everyone on the pro-reg side got this treatment retroactively as well, because when it was started, the pro- vs. anti- registration debate was supposed to be nuanced, with both sides having good and bad points, and therefore supporting pro-reg side wasn't ''that'' out of character for Stark et al. However, the pro-reg side soon was [[Flanderization|Flanderized]] by [[Running the Asylum|the writers]] to near-Nazi levels of evil, while its original supporters [[Idiot Plot|apparently became complete morons and didn't change their opinions when they realized things were going to crap.]] Stark got the worst of it, but others, including Hank Pym and Reed Richards, had their characters pretty badly shafted too, especially as the latter was responsible for once giving Congress of the best ''anti''-registration speeches ever delivered.
** Luckily, there's the ''Marvel Adventures'' line. It pretends that ''Civil War'', ''World War Hulk'' and ''House of M'' [[Canon Discontinuity|never happened]], and picks up where the 90s left.
*** Too bad it didn't extend that to Magneto (Wanda and Pietro leave him 'cause he tries to nuke New York just out of annoyance for his latest plan having failed. Not that canon Mags doesn't go back and forth on just how villainous he is when in villain mode, but... it tasted kinda like Planet X.)
**** That's more a rehash of the 1964's ''Uncanny X-Men'' #4, where Magneto tries to nuke a small country after the X-Men run him off, much to the displeasure of Pietro, who defuses the bomb. Not every "Magneto is evil" story [[Misblamed|is linked to]] [[Grant Morrison]].
* [[The Punisher]] has had to brush with character derailment ever since he was created. Although his exact quirks and personality vary slightly from writer to writer, in his heyday in the early nineties he was generally portrayed as sincerely wanting to help people and keep them from going through the same things he did, would occasionally question his actions and show mercy if the situation warranted it. Even a few traditional heroes considered him a good man at heart. Other writers would instead portray him as a complete amoral psychopath who didn't care about anything except [[Knight Templar|killing criminals]], and never ever questioned his actions.
** [[Garth Ennis]] seems to have struck a fine balance, portraying him both as a complete amoral psychopath who doesn't care about anything except [[Determinator|killing criminals]] and who never ever questioned his actions, but also as a man who is ''extremely'' diligent, going to huge lengths to ensure absolutely no innocents are harmed while he's "working". And on rare occasions, the plight of those around him do get through - just read ''[[Berserk Button|The Slavers]]''.
*** Quite possibly the ultimate derailment was ''Punisher: Purgatory'', which set Frank up as an avenging angel. In fact, that was the last Punisher story until ''Welcome Back Frank'', wherein Ennis promptly undid that idiocy.
* Attempts to break away from their own title for the stars of ''[[Power Pack]]'' have led to baffling character derailments, such as when eldest boy Alex stole his brother and sisters' powers and became the laughably-monikered Power Pax, alienating fans for years after the event. Eldest girl Julie Power also changed from a book-reading, highly-articulate redhead (her character was based on her creator, Louise Simonson) in the original comics to a [[Did Not Do the Research|bumbling, dumb blonde actress]] in the pages of ''[[Runaways]]'' and a later spin-off series, ''Loners'', where she was notable for magically appearing in one scene without explanation merely to be [[Stuffed Into the Fridge|brutally stabbed so that a male character could be shown to feel guilt at her situation]], and having a solo story that somehow convinced several thousand readers to [[Idiot Ball|stop buying the book]] with only two issues to go.
** In fairness, the "dumb blonde" part was later shown to be a deliberate facade.
* Okay, it's only a story about a possible future and, arguably, not in the main continuity but {{spoiler|Bruce Banner}} in the climax to the [[Wolverine]] story ''[[Old Man Logan]]'' who is revealed to have become a sociopathic, redneck cannibal who is now head of a family of in-bred {{spoiler|Hulklings}}. For added [[Squick]] it's revealed that this family resulted from {{spoiler|Bruce breeding with She-Hulk, his cousin}} - "The only woman out there who could take the damn ''pace''" (emphasis as original). There's also a strong implication this was not consensual. Ugh, just, ugh. Compare this with  {{spoiler|Banner's}} actions in {{spoiler|Incredible Hulk 602}} which came out ''the same week'' to understand exactly what's wrong with this picture. Naturally this is another [[Mark Millar]] special.
** It's worth noting that apparently in this universe {{spoiler|Banner's long years of exposure to gamma radiation finally took their toll on his two personalities. So for this reason the Banner persona disappeared, left with nothing but an insane, [[Complete Monster]] Hulk.}}
** Of course if one consider's Mark Millar's other major work involving the Hulk, ''[[The Ultimates]]'', also cast the Hulk as a [[Complete Monster]], and that continuity was specifically created to show case "new interpretations" of the characters, i.e., the writer's interpretations, one gets the impression that Millar isn't a Hulk fan.
* [[Ed Brubaker]] did this to Black Tarantula in his ''[[Daredevil]]'' run. Black Tarantula was created as an elegant boss of criminal empire who put himself above everybody else, is a heir of ancient power and [[Implacable Man]] who gets toe to toe with [[Humongous Mecha]]. Brubaker completely changed his character, gave him father issues, turned his empire into ordinary gang and weakened him a little without giving any reason. Some say that he's gone from a bad ass sinister crime boss to a low level stereotypical thug, [[Tropes Are Not Bad|while others]] point out that in [[Spider-Man]] stories he was was really close to [[Villain Sue]] territory (he defeated Spidey twice and spared his life because he ''didn't found him as a real threat'') and don't mind.
* Anybody written by [[Matt Fraction]]. Maria Hill from [[Badass Normal]] [[Action Girl]] turned into [[The Chick]] for [[Iron Man]]? Check. Weapon Omega, guy who was always afraid of using his powers and never wanted to hurt anybody, becoming a psycho who likes killing people? Check. Ares, master strategist and badass god of war turned into [[The Brute|stupid brute]] who says only ''Aye''? Check. Pixie drained of all her character and transformed into [[Fetish Fuel Station Attendant]] for all loli fans? Check. Emma Frost [[Flanderization|flanderized]] into [[Flat Character]] who is only defined by calling people "darling" (and there is already large group considering her being derailed in at last five different ways. Fraction's version don't match any portrayal of her)? Do a number of fans think Matt Fraction just doesn't understand the characters he's working with? Hell yeah. Recently, he managed [http://soft-ie.tumblr.com/post/3118870224 to screw up Tony Stark's characterization and entire history in one issue], ''including things estabilished by Fraction himself''.
** In the new{{when}} ''[[The Defenders|Defenders]]'' series, we now have [[Doctor Strange]], sexual predator, and Betty Ross, slightly petulant adrenaline junkie who keeps forgetting she's invulnerable.
* [[Brian Bendis]] has a tendency to be ''horribly'' tone-deaf on some characters. That Photoshop that's the page image? That was originally Dr. Doom -- ruler of Latveria, world-class evil genius, and refined bastard -- telling Ms. Marvel to "shut [her] cow-mouth" or else he'll stop her "whore's heart". And what did Ms. Marvel, veteran superhero and military brass, think about this childish outburst? "That hurt my feelings." Carol, when the supervillain who matches wits with Mr. Fantastic breaks down and calls you imbecilic gutter insults, you don't feel bad. You take a picture so it can last forever.
* Try reading ''[[Alpha Flight]]'' some time. From Byrne to Mantlo. 'nuff said.
* J Jonah Jameson has always been a jackass (whether there was [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold|anything more]] [[Jerk with a Heart of Jerk|than that]] depended on the writer) but he also tried as hard as possible to reveal the truth about any [[Villain with Good Publicity]]. [[Brand New Day|Recent stories]] have his hate for Spider-Man go from irrational to certifiably insane and him becoming a vocal supporter of Norman Osborn who treatened to kill his family in the past.
* Canonically, [[Death's Head]] II is supposed to be the same character as [[Death's Head]]. However, many fans felt he was ''not'' the same character -- he was not written by the original writer, exhibited none of the mannerisms and personality quirks of the original, and ended up as a generic [[Darker and Edgier]] [[Boring Invincible Hero]]. It got so bad that [[Death's Head]]'s original creators Simon Furman and Geoff Senior wrote and drew ''What If...'' #54 just to show their take on what ''should've'' happened instead.

== Other Works ==
* In the original ''[[Inodoro Pereyra]]'' comics, Eulogia was beautiful and nice. During the 70s, she became fat and cranky.
* Agatha went from being [[Gaturro]]'s girlfriend to his unattainable love interest.
* The in the original stories of ''[[Paperinik]]'' (aka Phantomias), Paperinik was the [[Chaotic Neutral]] alter-ego that [[Donald Duck]] used for punishing those who would annoy him. His victims were mostly his own relatives. He was a shameless outlaw who was hunted down by the police and never had a motive to help others, unless he'd get a large reward. Now, in the later versions, he has turned into a [[Lawful Good]] superhero who fights crime and unconditionally helps the authorities.
** Consider that [[Donald Duck]], while very flawed, deep down is still a genuinely good guy with a sense of justice, and that he originally acted as an "avenger" because his relatives had wronged him.
** Let's face it, back when he was created his relatives were ''huge'' [[Jerkass]]. Scrooge was always breathing down his neck, pushing him and so on. Daisy, well, let's say she was [[Tsundere]]. And Gladstone, do I need to explain?{{context|reason=MOD: Yes. Not everyone has read the older books.}} After everyone got their [[Character Development]], there was no need for avenger and he became more soft, instead protecting the innocent.
*** And considering that out of that [[Lawful Good]] streak we got [[Paperinik New Adventures]]… Goes to show that [[Tropes Are Not Bad|not every derailment makes the character worse]].
* This trope came down on Rotor ''hard'' in ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (comics)|Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' issues #215-#216; normally, he's depicted as a shy, introverted [[Bollywood Geek]] who prefers to stay in the background and only fights when he needs to, but these two issues, in order to pin him as the [[Faux Traitor]] in Ian's ongoing [[An Arc|story arc]] with Silver, twisted him into a bored glory-hound with a self-esteem issue who ''nearly killed his friends'' in a previous and ill-conceived attempt to play the hero. Even worse, despite being touted as one of the greatest minds of Mobius for most of the comic, these issues made him come off as ''dumber'' than average, spouting inaccurate [[Techno Babble]] and pushing the development of his projects off to NICOLE instead of doing it himself.
* [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]. When Twilight, the villain of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8 comic, is revealed to actually be {{spoiler|Angel}} this represents a major case of character derailment. We're supposed to believe that someone who'd spent five seasons learning that {{spoiler|the battle against evil is probably hopeless, but you fight it anyway}} has suddenly decided to abandon the world to destruction in order to bring about his own happiness? Right.
** It's all the worse when you consider that as far back as the episode "I Will Remember You" of Angel, {{spoiler|Angel was willing to sacrifice his happiness with Buffy in order to be able to fight the good fight against evil.}} In the entire Buffverse arc since they, nothing has been seen to contradict this, and suddenly he could  {{spoiler|give a flying fuck... literally.}}
* Deconstructed in ''[[Maus]]''. The story continually compares the generous, brave, resourceful Vladek Spiegelman who survives the Holocaust to his [[Not as You Know Them|present self]], who has inexplicably devolved into a cranky pain that makes life miserable for everyone. Part of this (non-fictional) account deals with the author's issues and incredulousness at the difference between his father's behavior then and now. The story also rejects his [[Freudian Excuse]] of behaving the way he does, noting that other Holocaust survivors didn't become the bitter shell he is now.
** It should be noted that the portrayal of Vladek as he was during the Holocaust could be a case of an [[Unreliable Narrator]]; the only source of information we have is Vladek himself, and attention is drawn several times to the fact that Vladek's memories sometimes contradict themselves or other eyewitness accounts.
** Also, it is debatable whether Vladek's post-Holocaust misanthropy is truly a derailment from what he was during it; there is never any question that he loved Anja (his wife during the Holocaust, [[Shoot the Shaggy Dog|who committed suicide a few decades after it was over]]) far more than Mala (his wife at the time of writing), so it makes sense that he would be far more compassionate towards Anja. Old Vladek also shows resourcefulness, but because it is unnecessary in his time it comes across as simple miserliness. There are also hints from Vladek's [[Alternate Character Interpretation|possibly rose-tinted]] memories of himself that suggest he might have been somewhat domineering and lacking in sympathy even then.

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