Fanon Discontinuity/Comic Books: Difference between revisions

== Canon Discontinuity ==

{{quote|''It's [[Actually a Doombot|'''always''' a Doombot.]]''}}

=== DC Comics ===

* Many fans rejected the [[Character Derailment]] of Dr. Leslie Thompkins, ultra-pacifist doctor and well-loved member of [[Batman]]'s supporting cast, and decided that she absolutely did not allow a teenage girl to die an agonizing death in order to teach Bruce some sort of lesson about the dangers of vigilantism. It was later [[Canon Discontinuity|retconned out of existence]] with the [[Author's Saving Throw|revelation that Stephanie Brown didn't actually die. Leslie just lied about it and smuggled her out of the country.]]

** Not sure if that really qualifies as an author's saving throw, as it's still pretty far removed from how the character has behaved at any point in time prior to that story arc.

** One of the writers of the above events snapped at fans and told them that "You're going to buy the comics anyway!" Probably true, but it increased their disgust.

* Many ''[[Hellblazer]]'' fans—including, it's becomingly increasingly clear, [[Canon Discontinuity|several of its writers]]—reject much of Brian Azzarello's run. Constantine was not removed completely from his usual setting simply because Azzarello [[Did Not Do the Research|couldn't be bothered to research that setting]]. There were no story arcs largely revolving around [[Prison Rape]], no underground redneck pornography rings, and no sadomasochistic gay revenge fantasies designed simply to shock. And that bit with the dog during Azzarello's run didn't happen, either.

* As far as some fans are concerned, Jason Todd is '''''STILL DEAD.''''' End of story.

** For others, Jason Todd is alive and well and in no way threatened with the impending [[Moral Event Horizon]] of shooting his "replacement".

* Some fans of ''[[Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld]]'' INSIST that it was cancelled immediately after its original creators left. Any stories tying Amethyst in to Dr. Fate's Lords of Order or the Legion of Super-Heroes are just the work of crazy fanfic writers who like to cross over everything. What really happened was, Amethyst returned the youngest Princess Emerald to the Gemworld, sent Carnelian to a Gemworld jail, got over Topaz and let him and Lady Turquoise marry, and returned to Earth. And she was never involved in ''[[Crisis on Infinite Earths]]'' or anything else that had to do with the DC Universe, either.

** Of course [[Running the Asylum|Any stories tying Amethyst in to Dr. Fate's Lords of Order or the Legion of Super-Heroes ''are'' just the work of crazy fanfic writers who like to cross over everything]], but that doesn't mean they're not cannon.

** Fans typically ignore the confirmation that Terra is a {{spoiler|princess and the implication that she has her memories, but just doesn't want to be a super hero.}} Shippers often ignore Sara and Cyborg too.

* Many, many fans of Batgirl III, [[Batman/Characters|Cassandra Cain]], wish that her [[Face Heel Turn]] stint becomes retconned out of existence. Considering her massive [[Character Derailment]] [[Wall Banger/Comic Books|was made by a writer]] that [[Did Not Do the Research|Did Not Do Any Research About The Character At All]], that is understandable. This has partially retconned by saying she was under the influence of drugs, but things like "Why does being on drugs teach you Navajo?" still stick out.

* Wow... a lot of these are about the Bat Family, aren't they? Here's one more: Selina "Catwoman" Kyle's daughter, Helena. Born during the One Year Later gap, the writers initially dropped hint after hint that Helena was Batman's kid (the biggest being [[Continuity Nod|her name]]: The [[Pre Crisis]] Huntress was Helena Wayne). Then, as little Helena was turned into the kidnap magnet all children in the DCU seem to become (a [[Wall Banger]] itself), we find out that Helena's father is Slam Bradley's newly-introduced son, Sam, Jr. The Bat-Fandom, by-and-large, rejects this reveal as the [[Executive Meddling|Editorially-mandated]] [[Ass Pull]] it was, and firmly believes that once little Helena is (inevitably) re-introduced (Selina gave her up for adoption for her own safety), Bruce Wayne will be revealed as her ''real'' father. Of course, little Helena may not exist in the [[Cosmic Reboot|post-]][[Crisis Crossover|Flashpoint]] DCU.

** This is actually given further weight in the favor of the fans, in that prior to little Helena's birth, Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle decided to have a night to themselves, without their masks, eventually leading to them taking their relationship to the next step. Selina and Sam had... not quite as much to suggest he was the father by comparison.

* Even more Bat-wanking...for decades there has never been an official origin for The Joker, which fits in with his chaotic nature as he himself says he remembers the past differently each time. So you can imagine the fan outcry when in 2006 DC announced they were giving The Joker an official canonical origin story. You can imagine the further outcry when said story turned out to be terrible, reducing The Joker to a generic mafia hitman named Jack whose war with Batman is sparked when he injures Bruce Wayne's girlfriend, and Batman retaliates by disfiguring his face with a Batarang. Fans loathed it, and many refuse to acknowledge the story's existence. While DC has never officially retracted the story, all subsequent Joker tales have completely ignored it, and Joker's official profile on DC's website currently gives him no definitive origin.

* Yet more Bat-wank. A lot of fans - especially female fans - really hated what Frank Miller (and then his followers) did to Catwoman. The best [[Fanfic]] resulting from this is Chris Dee's [http://catwoman-cattales.com/ Cat Tales], which [[retcon]]ned the whole thing as bad publicity from tabloid newspapers, which Catwoman deals with in her own inimitable style.

* ''[[DC Nation]]'', a roleplaying site set in [[The DCU]], is hoping to generate this via [[Word of Dante]]. The moderators cheerfully admit that much of the ''point'' is to salvage what works, and give a middle finger to what doesn't. Because it's been going on for six years, it's build up a solid [[Alternate Continuity]].

* Bob Ingersoll notes that he believes [http://www.worldfamouscomics.com/law/back20030225.shtml Question # 26 didn't happen] with the well deserved reason of a hero letting someone guilty of "two counts of aggravated murder" free [[Wall Banger|because it's Christmas]].

** The Marvel Family's [[The Obi-Wan|ancient and powerful mentor]], the wizard Shazam, was apparently [[Killed Off for Real]] during a battle with the Spectre to further the plans of the villains of Infinite Crisis.

** [[The Cape (trope)|Captain Marvel]] was [[Put on a Bus]] and made caretaker of the Wizard's power, forcing him to spend virtually all of his time sitting inside of a mountain at the heart of time and space and being unable to really interact with the outside world much at all. This was supposedly to let him deal with mystical threats beyond those of normal superheroes, but when a threat comes along that was intended to literally reshape the nature of magic in the DCU, Cap's involvement was essentially to sit down at a table and chat with some people for one issue and do nothing else.

*** Yeah, you can thank [[Judd Winick]] for that. Putting aside the fact that it is incredibly stupid to fundamentally change a character/superhero "team" that, by and large, hasn't been changed since they were created back when Winick's ''father'' was a child, the "justification" is even worse: it is equivalent to saying that since Superman is the strongest hero on Earth, there should be no reason for him to stop common criminals and non-powered supervillains.

** [[Distaff Counterpart|Mary Marvel]] was [[Brought Down to Normal]] as well, and was not allowed to go on [[Hero's Journey]] that Captain Marvel Jr. did, and instead wound up seeking out [[Black Adam]], both a [[Fallen Hero]] and [[Evil Counterpart]] of Captain Marvel. <s>She convinces Adam to give her [[Black Magic|his power]], which gives her a brand new [[Evil Is Sexy|tight black costume complete with super-short skirt]]. Naturally, superpowers taken from someone evil results in Mary having a [[Face Heel Turn]] as she slowly decides that [[Evil Feels Good]], after using her powers to turn two security guards into statues. Eventually she has a [[This Is Your Brain on Evil]] realization, rejects her powers, and goes on another quest to atone, eventually getting her original powers back at slightly reduced levels. Then Darkseid shows up and offers her Black Adam's powers again, but clearly this quest has taught her that evil superpowers are bad, accepting power from evil beings is also bad, and so she'll just punch him in the face, right? Nope, instead she apparently suffers a case of [[Aesop Amnesia]], accepts the power and not only becomes evil of her own free will, but goes all out [[Drunk on the Dark Side]], complete with an even more [[Stripperiffic]] outfit.</s> ''[[Countdown to Final Crisis]]'' happened, but unlike most of the stuff that was declared [[Canon Discontinuity]], Mary still had to be evil. She was '''supposed''' to be merely possessed by a New God, but had to be reworked after ''Final Crisis'' was over. So she's now evil because of Black Adam's [[Bad Powers, Bad People]]. Some of the worst examples of [[Corrupt the Cutie]] and [[Character Derailment]]. EVER.

** The latest{{when}} revamp of Captain Marvel (now known as Shazam) following the recent{{when}} DC reboot is proving to be just as unpopular with fans: Billy Batson is a rude little jerk, and Shazam now wears a hoodie.

* ''[[Amazons Attack]]'' is often considered one big example of [[Fanon Discontinuity]], but it gets a special notice for the Supergirl and Wonder Girl plotline, which involved them siding with the genocidal Amazon invaders, taking down Air Force One, and leading the President into an ambush. As they never faced any consequences for what certainly amounts to high treason (beyond some mild public displeasure), it seems even DC probably considers this [[Canon Discontinuity]].

* Don't get X-Fans started on ''[[House of M]]'' and the ''Decimation'' that resulted. Wanda Maximoff's depowering all the B-list and lower mutants in the Marvel Universe simply by saying 'No More Mutants' is just too ridiculous a [[Diabolus Ex Machina]] to be accepted as canon, and it's a textbook case of [[Writer on Board]]. Many fans still curse Brian Michael Bendis' very name to this day.

** And many general-Marvel fans go further by refusing to accept ''Disassembled'', the arc that came before ''House of M''. Though far from being the biggest problem with the arc, a good number have cited some of the author-induced [[Idiot Ball|sheer stupidity]] that Doctor Strange displays when he shows up as a reason, and this was one of the biggest things dealt with in the subsequent ''"What If..."'' story based on the arc.

* The above image is the prequel to ''Heroes Reborn'', a series most have trouble accepting: no one believes that the [[Fantastic Four]], [[Iron Man]], [[Captain America (comics)]], and [[The Avengers (Comic Book)|The Avengers]] were saved from imminent destruction by being whisked into a pocket universe created by Franklin Richards. And the idea that they were gone for about a year, having [[Darker and Edgier]] adventures that were [[Bizarro Universe|''almost but not the same'']] as their established histories (often with [[Rob Liefeld|ridiculously grotesque anatomy and excessive scowl marks]]), then conveniently return to the original Marvel U with nary a glance back sounds more like bad fanfic (or a [[Executive Meddling|cynical marketing gimmick]]) than anything ''plausible.''

* The "reveal" in the "Illuminati" mini that The Beyonder was "actually" a mutant Inhuman is ignored not only for the plot holes it creates (how does that explain his link with the Molecule Man?) or for the sheer stupidity of it.

** Actually, that "reveal" was merely the Beyonder fucking with their heads—by making the Illuminati think that they'd "solved" the mystery of who and what he ''really'' was, and how he supposedly wasn't actually that powerful, he guaranteed that the Illuminati would stop looking for a way to defeat him. (And given that the Illuminati had access to the Infinity Gems, tricking them into letting their guard down is a valid concern!) Its actually referenced in-issue.

** Yet two wrongs don't make a right, and the Emma Frost thing doesn't sit too well with some fans either.

** Then again, Jean even dating Scott is [[Fanon Discontinuity]] for the Jean/Logan fans, so there seems to be a line where this goes too far and just makes for messy fanon.

 

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