Every week, we will be examining comic book stories, plots and ideas that were abandoned by a later writer while still acknowledging that the abandoned story DID still happen. Click here for an archive of all the previous editions of Abandoned Love. Feel free to e-mail me at bcronin@comicbookresources.com if you have any suggestions for future editions of this feature.
I just featured this story in a recent Meta-Messages, but I really think for the sake of completeness it really belongs being featured here, as well, as it definitely IS the case of a writer abandoning the work of a previous writer, as Chris Claremont very vocally abandoned the storyline of David Michelinie and Jim Shooter's Avengers #200.
In 1980's Avengers #197, writer David Michelinie revealed that Carol Danvers was pregnant...
In #199, the rest of the Avengers find out and even though her pregnancy is pretty clearly unnatural (as she has matured four months just since Wanda learned of her pregnancy), the Avengers are pretty thrilled for her...
The next issue (which was co-written by Jim Shooter), she gives birth. When she meets her baby, she is surprised to find that he is not her baby but instead...
Time disturbances are appearing all over the world. Hawkeye, naturally, blames this guy and his machine so he destroys the machine. It turns out that the machine was the key to FIXING the disturbances.
The guy, Marcus, then reveals how he came to be born on this Earth...
And ultimately...
After Ms. Marvel and Marcus are gone, Iron Man and Hawkeye think about it...
In 1981, Chris Claremont wrote Avengers Annual #10, with stunning artwork by Michael Golden and Armando Gil. In the issue, he abandons the Carol/Marcus plot by first having Carol return to Earth (where she loses her powers to a new mutant by the name of Rogue).
Later, Carol explains to the Avengers what happened...
And thus, very quickly, Claremont completely abandons the previous plot. Also, with her powers taken away, Claremont made her a bit of a blank slate. He'd later give her new powers during an X-Men storyline, but while they actually lasted for quite awhile, it was only because she was not used all that often. It would be nearly two decades later before Carol Danvers became a major player in the Marvel Universe again.
If YOU have a suggestion for an abruptly dropped storyline, e-mail me at bcronin@comicbookresources.com