Oh how DC Comics loves
their retcons. Of course, Marvel does also but I’m a DC guy so I can’t
comment on them. Many times a character will get a retcon, and given
enough time that retcon will kind of disappear, be reversed or just
become insignificant. But once in awhile a retcon comes in the form of a
new or improved character. And if lucky, the change works well enough
that it sticks around and helps to give us a new character who truly
rocks.
Oh and it should be noted these are all the old versions of the characters, pre-New 52.
Supergirl
Going waayy back for this one. Back in the olden days, it was decided to give Superman a counterpart. So we were introduced to Kara Zor-El aka Supergirl. How could this be when Krypton exploded leaving Kal-El the sole survivor? Weell, let’s just say the backstory in the original story is real lame. Though the basic idea lasted, that Argo City was somehow spared the destruction and then Kara’s father sent her to Earth the same as Kal’s. The story even served as the basis for the Supergirl movie and current TV show (in altered forms). This little retcon gave a great new character, so great that even after being killed off in 1985 DC kept trying to find ways to reinvent her. Some better than others.
Guy Gardner
This may not be known to many, but the way Guy Gardner started out was a big retcon. Remember how Abin Sur crashed and told his ring to find another who could fill in? Well turns out, the ring found two people. One was a test pilot named Hal Jordan, the other was a gym teacher named Guy Gardner. Why was Jordan selected? He was closer, pretty simple. At first Gardner was just as supporting character but one head injury later, plus a small event called Crisis on Infinite Earth’s, and Gardner was a different character who stuck around despite changes in his identity.
Tim Drake
So the story of how Dick Grayson become Robin is pretty well know. The Flying Grayson’s were a trapeze act, and one day the parents suffered a horrible accident at the hands of Boss Maroni. Only Richard Grayson survived, of course. But did you know that a young boy named Tim Drake was at that show? And he idolized Dick, so much so that years later when he saw footage of Robin perform a feat only Grayson could perform he put two and two together? Then after Jason Todd was killed Drake realized Batman needed a new partner and, well, the rest is pre-New 52 history. As I’ve noted before Tim Drake was a great character because they gave us time to get to know him, and since the retcom to Grayson’s origin didn’t hurt it, at all, fans embraced Tim.
Black Canary
There was a time when DC wasn’t sure what to do with this character. And what they did made it 100% better! There have been a few changes to this character but I am referring to the Bronze Age change. Originally, Black Canary was a typical crime fighter who fought with her husband. Later it was made clear this was Earth 2. When the character relocated to Earth 1, she suddenly had a canary cry. No real reason was given, because no one cared about stuff like that in the old days, until a famous JLA issue where it was revealed there were two Black Canary’s, one being her daughter. The daughter was killed so her mother took her form before she died, moving to Earth 1 and the canary cry was a curse she was born with but her memories were wiped so she wouldn’t remember…..Yeah it actually gets kinda convoluted, but it was also changed after Crisis anyway. Dinah Laurel gave birth to Dinah Drake who has a metagene to give her a canary cry. Enough said. The point is that moving her to Eart-1 with the canary cry made a pretty awesome character into an even better character, and the retcon not only explained the new character but preserved the old on. Classy.
Oh and it should be noted these are all the old versions of the characters, pre-New 52.
Supergirl
Going waayy back for this one. Back in the olden days, it was decided to give Superman a counterpart. So we were introduced to Kara Zor-El aka Supergirl. How could this be when Krypton exploded leaving Kal-El the sole survivor? Weell, let’s just say the backstory in the original story is real lame. Though the basic idea lasted, that Argo City was somehow spared the destruction and then Kara’s father sent her to Earth the same as Kal’s. The story even served as the basis for the Supergirl movie and current TV show (in altered forms). This little retcon gave a great new character, so great that even after being killed off in 1985 DC kept trying to find ways to reinvent her. Some better than others.
Guy Gardner
This may not be known to many, but the way Guy Gardner started out was a big retcon. Remember how Abin Sur crashed and told his ring to find another who could fill in? Well turns out, the ring found two people. One was a test pilot named Hal Jordan, the other was a gym teacher named Guy Gardner. Why was Jordan selected? He was closer, pretty simple. At first Gardner was just as supporting character but one head injury later, plus a small event called Crisis on Infinite Earth’s, and Gardner was a different character who stuck around despite changes in his identity.
Tim Drake
So the story of how Dick Grayson become Robin is pretty well know. The Flying Grayson’s were a trapeze act, and one day the parents suffered a horrible accident at the hands of Boss Maroni. Only Richard Grayson survived, of course. But did you know that a young boy named Tim Drake was at that show? And he idolized Dick, so much so that years later when he saw footage of Robin perform a feat only Grayson could perform he put two and two together? Then after Jason Todd was killed Drake realized Batman needed a new partner and, well, the rest is pre-New 52 history. As I’ve noted before Tim Drake was a great character because they gave us time to get to know him, and since the retcom to Grayson’s origin didn’t hurt it, at all, fans embraced Tim.
Black Canary
There was a time when DC wasn’t sure what to do with this character. And what they did made it 100% better! There have been a few changes to this character but I am referring to the Bronze Age change. Originally, Black Canary was a typical crime fighter who fought with her husband. Later it was made clear this was Earth 2. When the character relocated to Earth 1, she suddenly had a canary cry. No real reason was given, because no one cared about stuff like that in the old days, until a famous JLA issue where it was revealed there were two Black Canary’s, one being her daughter. The daughter was killed so her mother took her form before she died, moving to Earth 1 and the canary cry was a curse she was born with but her memories were wiped so she wouldn’t remember…..Yeah it actually gets kinda convoluted, but it was also changed after Crisis anyway. Dinah Laurel gave birth to Dinah Drake who has a metagene to give her a canary cry. Enough said. The point is that moving her to Eart-1 with the canary cry made a pretty awesome character into an even better character, and the retcon not only explained the new character but preserved the old on. Classy.
Oracle
Speaking of the Birds of Prey. When Batgirl was retired in 1988, I don’t know how permanent that was supposed to be. For whatever reason DC decided the character was passe. Made even more so when Alan Moore pointlessly paralyzed her in “The Killing Joke”. It was John Ostrander and Kim Yale who revitalized the character. Suddenly she was a master hacker and had mad computer skills. For years Oracle was the go to person for Batman, and everyone else, when they needed info on something. The character was even spun into a horrible TV show that didn’t last long. This was all washed away by the New 52 and Rebirth, and that’s all well and good but I always loved the way DC salvaged this character and made her even more kick ass than she had already been.
Of course all of these characters are very different now post New 52 and Rebirth.
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