Superhero comics, particularly those from DC and Marvel Comics, tell stories in what we call the perpetual “Illusion of change.” What that means is these cosmic soap operas constantly throw storytelling curveballs at the readers, only to quickly undo them. Things like changes in powers, new romantic interests, and most famously, the deaths of major characters. But almost always, these shocking changes are reversed, and these characters are restored to “factory settings.” A recent example of this is when famously down-on-his-luck Spider-Man became the millionaire CEO of Parker Industries. It wasn’t long before he lost it all, and went back to being a regular guy Peter Parker. Very occasionally, however, superhero comics make big status quo changes, and those changes actually stick. Sometimes undoing literal decades of seemingly permanent comic book lore. Below are some of the few examples of those big changes that stuck.
Superman Reveals His Secret Identity to Lois Lane
For over 50 years, Superman hiding his Clark Kent identity from Lois Lane was an ingrained part of DC mythology. DC produced dozens of comic book stories about Lois discovering the big secret. And each time, Superman convinces her otherwise by the story’s end. The Christopher Reeve movies even did the whole “Lois discovers Clark is Superman” bit in Superman II. Even there, the filmmakers undid it all by the final act. DC writers designed every story to make Lois look like a fool. And they always ended with Superman winking at the reader like a big jerk.
Then, in 1991’s Action Comics #662, by Roger Stern and Bob McLeod, DC Comics finally pulled the trigger. Clark finally revealed his secret to Lois Lane and not only did it stay, but the two got married a few years later. This power couple’s marriage is one that remains to this day. An entire generation of comics fans have only ever known a Superman who’s married to Lois Lane. Yet for decades, the idea that Superman could never tell Lois Lane the truth was simply the way it was and seemingl, the way it was always going to be.
Spider-Man Finally Joins the Avengers
Spider-Man is the mascot of Marvel Comics, and their most popular character. Yet the publisher always kept him separate from Marvel’s “all-star” team of heroes, the Avengers. Spider-Man, according to Marvel, was just “not a joiner.” Peter Parker flirted with the idea several times, however. At least once a decade, we’d get an Avengers story where Spidey decides to join, only to discover he’s just not a team player. Wash, rinse, repeat. In the ’90s, Cap even fired him after a brief stint, saying his skills weren’t up to fighting cosmic enemies. (But Hawkeye and Black Widow’s are? Get outta here with that Cap.)
Then, in 2005, Marvel relaunched Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in a brand new title called New Avengers. This new series came to us from the team of Brian Michael Bendis and David Finch. Not only did Wolverine join the Avengers, but Spider-Man also joined—for real this time. Spidey served as an Avenger during most of the Bendis New Avengers run and Jonathan Hickman’s subsequent Avengers series. MCU fans probably think Spider-Man was always Avengers material. But it’s something Marvel Comics only decided was true relatively recently.
Robin Grows Up and Becomes the Adult Hero Nightwing
Robin was introduced a year into Batman’s adventures as “The sensational character find of 1940.” Former circus acrobat Dick Grayson was the first prominent kid sidekick, leading to an entirely new category of comic book superhero. Instantly iconic, Robin remained a kid for the better part of 44 years. Oh, DC let him graduate to teen status eventually, and even let him become a freshman in college. But they never let him get past simply going from “Boy Wonder” to “Teen Wonder.” DC clearly intended Robin to be perpetually adolescent, fighting crime in green booty shorts forever.
Robin’s forever underage status remained immutable, until the year 1984 that is. That’s when the character’s popularity as the leader of the Teen Titans allowed for Dick Grayson to graduate to adult status at last, as the hero Nightwing. New Teen Titans writer Marv Wolfman matured Grayson into a true grown-up hero and detective, allowing the Robin mantle to pass on to others. These days, Nightwing is one of DC’s most popular heroes. Forty years on, it seems wild that DC kept him as a child for so long, but for decades, adulthood seemed out of reach for him.
Bucky Comes Back from the Grave as the Winter Soldier
For the most part, we’re avoiding any resurrections as part of this list. No comic book death is ever status quo for long. Even certain “sacred deaths,” like Jason Todd, Supergirl, and the Barry Allen Flash, were all undone. (Although all of those took 20 or so years to undo.) But one death in comics was truly sacred, and that’s Captain America’s kid partner Bucky. When Marvel revived Cap for the modern age in 1964’s Avengers #4, they revealed that in 1945, when Steve Rogers went into the ice, his young partner was killed in action. Bucky’s death added a ton of tragedy to Cap’s backstory, and there didn’t seem to be any good reason to ever undo it. What would be the point?
Enter creators Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting, whose seminal run on Captain America starting in 2004 revealed that Bucky never actually died. Instead, nefarious forces turned him into a brainwashed operative/assassin named the Winter Soldier. At first, fans were rolling their eyes at Bucky’s return, until the Winter Soldier storyline ended up being one for the ages. It was such a great story, it became the basis for the second Captain America MCU film. Now Sebastian Stan’s version of Bucky is a household name. But for decades, the idea of undoing Bucky’s tragic death was considered to be comic book sacrilege.
Wonder Woman Gets a Power Upgrade, Ditches the Secret Identity
When William Moulton Marston introduced Wonder Woman in 1941, she was an instant feminist icon. Much like Superman and Batman, much of her famous iconography was present from the get-go. She was a powerful Amazon princess who wore a tiara and bullet-deflecting bracelets. She wielded a magic lasso, piloted an invisible plane, and had the strength of several men. Wonder Woman couldn’t propel into the sky and fly like Superman, but would instead “glide on air currents” to the ground. However, much like Superman, she disguised herself behind a pair of glasses as the mousy army secretary, Diana Prince.
All of that, more or less, remained her status quo, for the better part of 45 years. Then, DC Comics gave Wonder Woman a big post-Crisis on Infinite Earths glow-up in 1986. Under the direction of creator George Perez, Wonder Woman gained the ability to truly fly at last, and finally had super strength to rival Superman’s. She also ditched the secret identity, which had been a staple of her character in comics as well as TV. From that point forward, Princess Diana of Themyscira, in the comics at least, never looked back. Some things, like her invisible plane, made an eventual return. But unlike before, they were merely a fun nod to the past. She didn’t need those things as permanent fixtures anymore. This modern Wonder Woman truly lived up to her name.
Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver Lose their Mutant Status*
We have an asterisk* next to this status quo change, because we still think it might be reversed. Two of the earliest mutants in the Marvel universe are Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch, and her speedster twin brother Pietro, a.k.a. Quicksilver. The twins were introduced as part of Magneto’s Brotherhood, but quickly became heroic Avengers. In the ’80s, they learned that Magneto was their biological father and for over 50 years, their mutant status was never questioned. Then, in 2014, Marvel revealed that the Maximoff twins’ powers were not the result of the X-gene. No, the villainous High Evolutionary tampered with their DNA as infants, giving them powers, and implanting a fake X-gene signature to cover it all up.
In that same storyline, Marvel revealed that Magneto was not their true father. Why was this all done? For the dumbest of reasons. At the time, Twentieth Century Fox held the live-action film rights. As a result, the upcoming Avengers: Age of Ultron could not mention their mutant nature. So Marvel removed their mutant status in the comics for “synergy” reasons. Despite Disney now owning both Fox and Marvel, this has remained the status quo for over a decade. Still, we think there’s a chance all this is once again undone. Marvel recently revealed that Wanda and Pietro’s real mother was the original Scarlet Witch, Natalya Maximoff. Their father remained unknown. It would not be shocking to learn this unknown father is indeed Magneto, reverting the old status quo back to the way it was, at least partially.
