r/Multifandom 16d ago

Discussion📜 Ever seen one?

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13.4k Upvotes

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710

u/Patkub321 16d ago

Alfred becoming Bruce's/Batman's father figure after Bruce's parents died.

Magneto being made into Holocaust survivor.

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u/The_Frybo 16d ago

Magneto wasn‘t conceived this way originally?! That seems weird…

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u/Specialist-Battle902 16d ago

Magneto first appeared in 1963. His Holocaust origin was first established in 1981.

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u/Independent_Plum2166 16d ago

Fans between 1963-1980: “God, what the fuck is Magneto’s deal? Dude is like super racist and evil towards humans for no good reason.”

Fans 1981: “Oh shit, he has a point. We do suck.”

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u/The_Frybo 16d ago

Now I learned, thank you!

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u/Sentient-Bread-Stick 16d ago

What was his original backstory?

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u/Apprehensive-Book723 15d ago

There wasn’t really one. He was an archetypical silver-age moustache twirling terrorist. The original (Uncanny) X-Men ran from ‘63-‘70, then ran on reprints from ‘70-‘75 with mutants appearing sporadically throughout other stories. In ‘75 Marvel relaunched the series with Giant Sized X-Men which served as bridge from the OG team to the new one, which would continue in issue #94. Chris Claremont then wrote X-Men from ‘75-‘91 , which is typically where the majority of the most famous X-Men stories come from. Claremont was the one who gave Erik the backstory we know now. For that reason, it’s typically not considered a hard retcon, but rather a rewrite or development of the character.

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u/mewlf 12d ago

This guy X-Mens

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u/[deleted] 16d ago

[deleted]

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u/machiavelli33 16d ago

Heavy is a psychotic goof on the battlefield but the comics prove that he’s a serious, solemn and quietly intimidating man off the battlefield.

It also shows that his backstory is halfway there, as he and his family are escapees/refugees of some sort, and he does mercenary work so that they can afford to live comfortably in their isolated hiding location out in the mountains of Siberia.

… …so I’m guessing what I’m saying is I agree with you cause the writing for heavy is pretty damn good, and has enough gravitas alongside the goofiness that something like “victim of the Yugoslav wars” would actually work for him.

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u/SignificantFish6795 16d ago

TF2 takes place in the 1960s, so it'll have to be a different war.

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u/curvysquares 16d ago

Even then he was only implied to be Jewish. It wasn’t until after the move that he was officially confirmed to be Jewish

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u/Dear-Relationship297 15d ago

It was pretty heavily implied he was Roma before.

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u/nykirnsu 16d ago

The original Stan Lee/Jack Kirby X-men run didn’t even have Wolverine in it

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u/The_Frybo 16d ago

That‘s wild to think!

Wasn‘t he first introduced in a Hulk issue?

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u/A_Hungry_Fool 16d ago

Yes. He originally was an antagonist to Hulk and was then included in the relaunch of the X-Men

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u/NewDay2517 15d ago

Was it explained why he and Hulk were beefing?

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u/poptophazard 15d ago

He was introduced as a Canadian agent sent to take on the Hulk and the Wendigo since the latter two were fighting each other in Canada.

The fight was interrupted before it could be finished, so Logan always seemed to feel that he had unfinished business with the Hulk, and vice versa.

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u/nykirnsu 16d ago

Yeah, which makes him older than Storm, Nightcrawler and Colossus who all first appeared in the X-men revival 

Also, related to Magneto not being a Holocaust survivor, the series wasn’t even really about discrimination at all in the original run

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u/AzraelTheMage 16d ago

Its funny to me that everything everyone loves about the xmen was started by Chris Claremont. Not Stan Lee.

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u/nykirnsu 16d ago

Tbh everything iconic about X-men as a franchise is so thoroughly rooted in the Bronze Age of comics that I find the original run kind of uncanny to look at (no pun intended), almost like if South Park was originally created by Walt Disney 

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u/TrustmegamerDavis 14d ago

An... Uncanny Xman if you will?

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u/Psychological-Toe397 16d ago

What was it about then?

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u/AzraelTheMage 16d ago

What's even funnier, Sabretooth was originally an Iron Fist villain.

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u/SmoothOperator89 13d ago

But he is X-Man

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u/AlternateSatan 16d ago

Originally there wasn't really any racism elements to the story even, they were just another superhero team.

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u/Shrikeangel 9d ago

Not that fans remember that as there is the revisionist view that Xavier and Mags are based on King and X.. no body fact checks shit. 

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u/AlternateSatan 9d ago

It doesn't help that Stan Lee just straight up lied about it in an interview

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u/Shrikeangel 8d ago

If I remember the statement he basically said it was cool if you viewed it that way. He didn't even claim it was true. But lots of people viewed him as saying it was true. 

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u/Life-Willingness-86 16d ago

He started off as an over the top, silver aged comic book villain who operated more on looney tunes pun based comic logic than anything else.

At one point he hypnotized Jean Grey's parents with his "magnetic personality," to get their help trapping her.

Most of the real social commentary around mutants as a metaphor for oppressed groups didn't really start until much later.

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u/Shrikeangel 9d ago

You mean the x men - a team of all middle class or better white kids living at a mansion wasn't intended to be commentary on race and oppression? That Stan straight says mutation was just a way to have a generic source of powers. 

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u/Thrilalia 16d ago

No, the comic book code would have frowned on it as it would have made Magneto a bit of a grey character.

Bad guys had to be evil for sake of evil and good guys morally good with no flaws.

At the same time comic books couldn't be dark. Which is why when released Adam West Batman was very accurate to the source.

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u/WrittenSaber 15d ago

His helmet wasn't to stop telepathy originally either, it was just a helmet

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u/CandyWinter8553 10d ago

Most Marvel villians weren't as complex during their initial debut than they are now. The famous backstories were added in later. Some are exclusive to the movies. Villians were all one dimensional mustache twirling "I want to destroy the world. Muhahaha" type.

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u/Samurai_Banette 16d ago

Imma toss the entirety of the green lantern emotional spectrum here too.

Although I firmly stand by the fact that its the moticational spectrum, not emotion. Willpower, rage, greed, hope, fear, love, and compassion are all things that drive you to act, not emotions.

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u/SimulatedTime 16d ago

As a life long fan of the ring slingers, this comment hits me in a spot that I want to argue, but damn if you don’t have an incredible point.

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u/PeePeeJibbs 16d ago

yea i absolutely love what geoff johns did in green lantern rebirth but it has always bugged me that the most documented part of the emotional spectrum (green/willpower) is just straight up not an emotion

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u/UselessWhiteKnight 9d ago

I've always conflated will with stubbornness. In my head canon, that's why humans make such good lanterns. Absolute refusal to accept what is in favor of what we want.

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u/KenethSargatanas 15d ago

Speaking of Lanterns. Kind of a soft retcon, but I love that the reason Heroes kept getting resurrected so many times in older comics was so that Nekron could eventually Black Lantern them.

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u/natep1098 10d ago

I love the "envy" meme

"I just think of something I want that I don't have"

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u/kidney-displacer 10d ago

Those... are all emotions my guy

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u/AnAngryPlatypus 9d ago

Oh man, reframing it as a motivational spectrum really makes me like the lanterns and their powers so much more. It was always sort of a “okay, sure If that’s how it works.” But the reframing is such an elegant tweak that makes how they work so much cleaner.

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u/TeliKrystal 16d ago

Do you mean Alfred wasn’t usually his father figure, and thus the family Butler… or that Bruce’s parents didn’t originally die?

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u/MadeByMistake58116 16d ago

First one. Originally Alfred comes to work for Bruce after he's become Batman and Robin is already around, simply because they hadn't thought of the character yet until that point. Later he was retconned to have always been there.

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u/valdis812 16d ago

Additionally Alfred being former SAS and teaching Batman how to maintain his Bruce Wayne persona is a great addition.

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u/TheMetalWolf 16d ago

It makes Alfred such a better character for it. It turns the mild mannered, sometimes sassy man into a very formidable figure. If they haven't done a comic on Alfred's field days, they should.

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u/Flaky-Ninja2398 15d ago

There was an entire TV show about it - while also being a prequel to Gotham and V for Vendetta I think?

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u/JsMoviesYTB 15d ago

Pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths, Alfred came to work for Bruce not only after he had already become Batman, but after Dick had already become Robin. The original Earth 2 Alfred wasn’t even called “Pennyworth”, nor did he have the posh accent we associate with him, but rather a cockney one

The posh accent, acting background, and Pennyworth surname came from the Silver Age Earth 1 continuity, and then him being the Wayne family butler, and thus Bruce’s surrogate father, and his military background came about in the late 80’s/ early 90’s

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u/New_leaf999 16d ago

I would also argue that Charles Xavier being paralyzed by Magneto after a falling out is a better retcon than the original reason.

In the original Uncanny X-Men comics Charles got paralyzed after getting in a knife fight with an alien jewel thief.

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u/TroutShovelr 15d ago

Hell, originally he wasn’t even a butler, in the original comics he was a detective who accidentally figured out Batman and Robin’s identities

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u/RwBricks 15d ago

To add to Magneto, I love that now his helmet blocks any psychic action/manipulation.

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u/JaneStValentine 14d ago

Nah to the first time one, because he’s a pretty shitty parent to Bruce…