Exiled From Continuity: Difference between revisions
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== Content Reasons ==
* [[Vertigo Comics]], while a part of [[DC Comics]], has/had such comics as the above mentioned ''[[Hellblazer]]'', as well as ''[[Swamp Thing]]'', ''[[The Sandman]]'', and others. While they are technically in DCU continuity, and have made token appearances every now and then, they are not allowed to make any big significant guest appearances because their series/stories are too dark and mature to risk some unknowing kid picking up an issue of ''Hellblazer'' after a ''Hellblazer/Superman'' crossover. Arguably, this is completely pointless; many [[The Modern Age of Comic Books|Modern Age]] comics in [[The DCU]] are just as violent and disturbing as anything you'd find in Vertigo. Perhaps out of this realization and Vertigo's shift to publishing only creator-owned comics set outside the DCU (as well as because, outside of John Constantine, most of those characters are without an ongoing title - and with the exception of Tim Hunter, most of the characters predate the Vertigo line itself), the embargo was loosened up during ''[[Brightest Day]]'' and officially broken by the [[New 52]] reboot<ref>the in-universe explanation being that Vertigo was {{spoiler|one of three split timelines that [[The Flash|Barry Allen]] merged as he rebooted the universe at the end of ''[[Flashpoint (comics)|Flashpoint]]''}}</ref> with Swamp Thing and Constantine being active members of the new DCU.
** This led to the creation of [[Trenchcoat Brigade|several]] Constantine [[Expy|expies]], such as Willoughby Kipling (who has since met and compared notes with Constantine), Rasputin, and Ambrose Bierce (a [[Historical Domain Character]] who [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] this practice by claiming "They give you a trenchcoat and steal your razor. Like an assembly line, really.")
** Also, {{spoiler|Daniel, aka Dream}} of ''[[The Sandman]]'' made a notable appearance in ''[[Infinite Crisis]]'' to pick up his recently deceased mortal parents, though the character is never specifically identified. He's also made cameo appearances in ''[[Justice Society of America|JSA]]'', since he had a few connections to the team, and a [[Halloween Episode|Halloween Issue]] of ''[[Justice League of America|JLA]]''. ([[Grant Morrison]] said this was intended as the 1990s equivalent of [[The Phantom Stranger]] showing up on the JLA Satellite at Halloween.)
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** Though the entire reason the book was cancelled and relaunched as ''The Pulse'' in the first place was because Marvel was growing increasingly wary of having their A-list heroes showing up in a book full of F-bombs and sex jokes. Bendis himself acknowledges this in the letter page of the final issue.
* The MAX ''War Machine'' miniseries is similarly out of continuity.
* [[Warren Ellis]] originally wanted to use [[Nick Fury]], SHIELD, and Hydra in ''[[Nextwave]]''. Marvel vetoed it (apparently having Nick Fury inject pureed chicks subcutaneously was beyond the pale), so he invented a host of [[Captain Ersatz
** Interestingly, Marvel failed to do the same with the ''heroes'' of the piece, with the result that even though the series was never meant by the editors to be in canon, Marvel eventually incorporated the Nextwave version of Machine Man into canon with his post-series guest spots, as well as "handwaving" the Nextwave version of the second Captain Marvel as being [[Canon Discontinuity|from an alternate earth]].
*** Even more interesting, Marvel actually adopted Nextwave into canon, taking the completely derailed, but hilarious, personalities into their mainstream appearances. This was handwaved with something about mind alteration through drugs. However, everything created for the series was abandoned, including The Captain.
* [[The DCU]]'s ''[[Ambush Bug]]'' took a lighthearted look at the DC universe... which happened to be a big no-no [[The Bronze Age of Comic Books|at the time]], causing his series to be sequestered to its own continuity. The character himself exists within the DCU, and gleefully hops between canon and non-canon at will.
** Other comedic series may or may not be in continuity. For instance, the Giffen and DeMatteis ''[[Justice League of America|Justice League America/Europe/International]]'' was in-continuity, but the later miniseries ''Formerly Known As The Justice League'' and the ''JLA Classified'' arc "I Can't Believe It's Not The Justice League" don't seem to
* In the [[Marvel Universe]], there's a whole sub-set of superheroes that live their lives sliding in and out of continuity in varying degrees. Many [[Breaking the Fourth Wall|break the fourth wall]] regularly and parody other characters whenever they appear in their own series, but are welcomed into continuity with open arms.
** [[Deadpool]] mocks the costuming choices and real world merchandise of the rest of the Marvel Universe but still gets to make guest appearances in ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'' and ''[[X Men Origins: Wolverine|X Men Origins Wolverine]]''.
** [[Squirrel Girl]] and the rest of the [[Great Lakes Avengers|Great Lakes Aveng-- uhm, X-Me-- uh, Champi-- ahem... Initiative]] have had their own mini-series and one-shots, but apart from their own series they have only been featured in a [[Deadpool]] tie-in for ''[[Civil War (Comic Book)|Civil War]]'' and in ONE panel of the latest [[Crisis Crossover]]. Justified because the rest of the team are too weak, and Squirrel Girl is [[God Mode Sue|all too powerful]] to be allowed to affect the [[Status Quo Is God]].
** Similarly, [[The Awesome Slapstick|Slapstick's debut limited series]] has been completely ignored by Marvel
* The early [[Doctor Who Expanded Universe|comic stories]] of ''[[Doctor Who]]'' had such high strange "''Who'' meets [[The Silver Age of Comic Books|Silver Age]]" moments such as "Dr. Who" teaming up with Santa Claus to save evil goblins from stealing Christmas. (That example just scratches the surface.) He also had two grandchildren named John and Gillian. Needless to say, we haven't heard much from John and Gillian lately, apart from infrequent appearances which make it clear they don't belong in the "real" [[Doctor Who Expanded Universe]].
* Marvel's first [[The Punisher]] series under the MAX banner takes place in its own continuity, through Castle still has his own ongoing set deeply in main continuity. He still can guest star in other characters' books and encounter superheroes and supervillains on his own, but such appearances in the MAX title were forbidden, with the exception of Nick Fury. The post [[Civil War (Comic Book)|Civil War]] Handbook lampshades it a lot:
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** The ''[[Transformers]]'' and the ''[[G.I. Joe]]'' series were specifically set in [[Alternate Continuity|Alternate Continuities]] which were similar but not quite the same as the regular Marvel Earth.
*** ''[[Transformers]]'' was initially set on the regular Marvel Earth, with [[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|Spider-Man]] guest-starring in the third issue, although it was quickly shifted to an alternate continuity as the series went from a four-issue limited series to an ongoing title. Likely in reference to how unlikely this was to stick, Nick Fury appeared in one panel and [[Lampshade Hanging|demanded not to have to fight the giant radioactive lizard again]]. Sadly, this has meant that IDW's reprint TPB series cannot reprint said issue (a text synopsis was used instead) nor can they reprint any Marvel UK stories involving [[Death's Head|Deaths Head]] (another Marvel character that appeared in Transformers UK).
*** While [[Death's Head|Deaths Head]] is unequivocally a Marvel character, replacing the character with newer versions (Death's Head II and Death's Head 3.0) does neatly avoid the original's back story involving him being taken from the ''Transformers'' universe to the [[Marvel Universe]] via the [[Doctor Who|TARDIS]]. This causes problems in reprints of the original stories, though the gaps are usually [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] as the result of "incomplete" archives. Death's Head may have had a reprieve,
*** ''GI Joe'' also crossed over with the main Marvel universe on a couple of occasions, but these were tiny cameo appearances. In one issue of GI Joe [[Spider-Man|J. Jonah Jameson]] happened to ask from a newspaper seller if they carried the Daily Bugle, though the actual character was not referred to by name. One issue of Spider-Man featured soldiers in a couple of panels who bore a striking resemblance to the Joes, though again, names were not mentioned.
*** Of course, since Circuit Breaker's motivation is that she ''hates Transformers,'' Marvel has no use whatsoever for her, unlike [[Bounty Hunter]] (uh, I mean [[Insistent Terminology|freelance peacekeeping agent]], [[Verbal Tic|yes]]?) [[Death's Head|Deaths Head]]. It seems pretty unlikely that we'll ever see her again ''anywhere'' at this point.
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** Nor could BBC Books, which led to a prologue to ''[[Eighth Doctor Adventures|Vampire Science]]'' that hastily established the Eighth Doctor knew ''another'' [[Expy|female doctor in San Francisco]].
** Interestingly, the [[Doctor Who Magazine]] comic ''was'' able to get away with using Grace twice (in "The Fallen" and "The Glorious Dead").
* In ''[[Transformers Generation 1|The Transformers]]'', the Jetfire toy was a licensed reissue of the Bandai [[Super Dimension Fortress Macross|VF-1S Valkyrie]] toy, and the character was to resemble the toy [[Merchandise-Driven|for obvious reasons]]. However, difficulties with one of the entities involved with ''Macross''/''[[Robotech]]'' (It's not clear whether it was Big West, [[Tatsunoko Production]] or Harmony Gold who put their foot down) made it obvious to Hasbro, Sunbow and [[Toei Animation]] that the character could not be used without a major hassle. Instead, the cartoon featured "[[Captain Ersatz|Skyfire]]"... and the comic books used Skyfire but ''called him Jetfire.'' Thanks to the multiversal nature of ''[[Transformers]]'' fiction, none of this is a ''problem''
** Similarly, issues over the ownership of ''[[Death's Head|Deaths Head]]'' and ''Circuit Breaker''; Marvel ramrodded both into non-''Transformers'' appearances (Circuit Breaker appeared in cameo in ''[[Secret Wars II]]'' and ''Death's Head'' in an editorial cartoon) before they "officially debuted" in their respective ''Transformers'' comics to ensure that they own the two characters and not Hasbro, meaning that their issues can't be reprinted by IDW Comics. Which in the case of Death's Head, means that none of his UK stories ("Galvatron: Wanted Dead or Alive" and "The Legacy of Unicron") can be published in the United States (though both stories did see release via comic shops via importing of the UK published trade paperbacks). Circuit Breaker's situation is more complicated, as the first three TPBs had to replace her early appearances with text summaries, though apparently IDW was FINALLY able to strike some sort of deal with Marvel to reprint #72-80 in full come the release of volumes #5 of their reprint series.
* There has been a pullback of [[Wonder Woman]]-related characters due to an obscure clause in the licensing agreements that forbids their use in any project wherein they are not featured in a "starring" role. This has meant that the second Wonder Girl, Cassie Sandsmark, was initially not able to appear in DC's ''[[Young Justice (animation)|Young Justice]]''. Prior to this, Donna Troy had been barred from appearing in ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'' and Wonder Woman was the only [[Justice League]] cast member left out of the crossover with ''[[Static Shock]]''.
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** Plus, it was actually the animated series that first gave Kirk's middle name as Tiberius, nearly two decades before Roddenberry entered it into "official" canon in the sixth film.
** Elements from "Yesteryear" ended up being used in the flashback sequences in the [[Star Trek (film)|reboot Star Trek film]]. The scene with Spock being bulled by his classmates for instance has dialogue that is almost taken word for word from a similar exchange in the original episode.
* This was the point behind the epic 1967 ''Doctor Who'' serial ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S4/E09 The Evil of the Daleks|The Evil of the Daleks]]''. The serial was supposed to depict the true and genuine final end of the Daleks. It was going to
* While there's a lot of series that the regular ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' series can't use for many reasons, there's two series that Banpresto/Namco-Bandai can't use by any means: ''[[Giant Robo]]'' (Due of the death of of his creator) and any series created by Ouji Hiroi, even series that belongs to Bandai-Namco and it's subsidiary, Sunrise like ''Granzort'', ''Wataru'', etc. (Hiroi despises SRW and swore to never allow Banpresto to include ''[[Sakura Wars]]'' in a SRW game. On the further subject of ''Sakura Wars'', there's the time period the series take place in and the fact many characters (especially Kouran and Iris) hate waging wars against human beings)
** This has not stopped ''[[Project X Zone]]'' from having both ''Sakura Wars'' and ''Super Robot Wars'' characters.
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* [[George Lucas]] has placed an [[Executive Veto]] on new Wookiee or Hutt Jedi in the ''[[Star Wars]]'' [[Expanded Universe]]. Lowbacca, an existing Wookiee Jedi, was effectively [[Put on a Bus]] because of this, and Obsidian had to scrap the plans for making Hanharr a Dark Jedi in ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]] II''.
** It's come to light that there is an extensive internal memo listing all the various species of aliens that are "banned" from Jedi-hood: Gamorreans (pig guards), Sand People (excepting Tahiri and A'Sharad Hett owing to their [[Raised by Natives|origins]]), Ewoks, Vulptereens and other as-yet unrevealed races. The principle reasoning appears to be that these species lack the "mental capacity" to become Jedi. Take that as you may.
* The contract [[Big Finish]] have with the BBC stipulated that all elements of the new ''[[Doctor Who]]'' series cannot be used in their [[Big Finish Doctor Who|Doctor Who audio dramas]]. That didn't stop them from throwing in the occasional implied [[Continuity Nod]] and [[Shout-Out]]. For example, the framing story for the [[A Day in the Limelight|Companion Chronicle]] ''The Catalyst'' apparently takes place after the Last Great Time War from the new series, which, for legal reasons, they don't explicitly mention. And a [[Shout-Out]] to the "What the Shakespeare!" line from the series 3 episode "The Shakespeare Code" appeared in ''The Kingmaker''.<ref>
* Initially, the writers of ''[[Smallville]]'' wanted to do a similar series about [[Batman|Bruce Wayne]] rather than Clark Kent. They got vetoed because [[The Dark Knight Saga|another Batman movie was in the works]]. This has also prevented them from doing a storyline where Bruce Wayne comes to Metropolis, leading to the recurring 3rd season character Adam Knight (name being a play on [[Batman (TV series)|Adam West]] and the Dark Knight nickname) who was a [[Captain Ersatz]] of Batman before he was turned evil and [[Green Arrow]]/Oliver Queen (originally created in [[The Golden Age of Comic Books]] as Batman <small>[[Recycled in Space|WITH ARROWS INSTEAD OF BATS!]]</small>) becoming a recurring character in seasons 6 and 7 and gaining main character status in season 8. As with ''JLU'', other minor DCU characters have gotten the ''Smallville'' treatment and thus have been better highlighted. Interestingly, there's a reference to Oliver Queen as early as the very first episode, implying that they'd seen this coming from the start.
** [[Wonder Woman]] was also not allowed to appear on Smallville, leading to nearly four seasons where all non-original Superheroes on Smallville were men. Then [[Black Canary]] came on board. The final season featured a scene where Chloe Sullivan implied that she had met both Bruce Wayne and Wonder Woman during her globe-trotting adventures, with the implication that they would end up meeting Clark sometime after the show's final episode.
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== Other Reasons ==
* [[Hawkman]] was declared off-limits by DC editorial from 1996-2001, due to the character's [[Post-Crisis]] [[Continuity Snarl]], caused by the 1989 reboot of the character, even though both Hawkmen were already established in Post-Crisis continuity. For his run on ''JLA'' (which featured the old favorites or their [[Legacy Character
* There was a small amount of furor for ''[[Super Robot Wars Original Generation]]'' after its first [[Animated Adaptation]] ''Divine Wars'' removed nearly every appearance of the Huckebeins, [[Humongous Mecha]] [[Expy|that basically look like]] [[Gundam
** It's better than that: no one was especially afraid after ''Divine Wars'', because the Huckebein ''did'' show up, just briefly in the last episode as blueprints. When a second trailer came out for the remake, the Huckebein animation was removed and replaced with a different unit. At this point, a malicious but clever fan spread rumors then-Bandai (before their merge with Namco) had sued Banpresto over its use of the Huckebein, which for some reason a huge amount of the fanbase believed, ''despite'' Bandai OWNING Banpresto and later merging completely with them. Cue massive screaming to the point that Banpresto found out about the rumor and intentionally kept it alive [[It Amused Me|for the sole purpose of amusement]].
*** It's happening again in ''The Inspector'', the [[Animated Adaptation]] of the second game. [[Super Robot Wars Alpha|Brooklyn "Bullet" Luckfield's]] usual Huckebein MK II he begins with is replaced by a brand new, anime-exclusive machine: a mass-produced Wildschwein (which looks less like a Huckebein). This really doesn't matter in the long run, since Bullet will later acquire a more powerful Super Robot. Most fans believe Namco Bandai doesn't want a knockoff of their popular Gundam [[Expy]] making what amounts to a cameo appearance, since most of the cast will be using their character-exclusive [[Humongous Mecha]] by the end of the show.
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