DC's continuity has always been very different from that of its marvelous competition. They've used their event books to alter their continuity many times, with DC and retcons going hand in hand. Retcons are a handy tool for DC's creators, as they allow them to fix the mistakes of the past or make sense of the eighty tangled years of DC continuity. While they usually take place in DC's event books, retcons have happened in a number of different places over the years.
Some retcons have been more unexpected than others, though, surprising readers with their changes. Some have been good, some have been bad but they've all been interesting.
10 The First Green Lantern's Powers Were Entirely Changed
Alan Scott was the first Green Lantern and he's been through a lot of changes over the years. Like many of the senior members of the JSA, DC had to find a way to explain why he was still young and spry. Jay Garrick has the Speed Force, Wildcat has nine lives, and Alan has the Starheart. It was revealed that the Starheart was the source of his power and that he eventually took it into himself.
He's basically a being an energy now, which is a huge change from how he was before and a change that fans never expected DC to make to explain why he had stayed so young all these years.
9 Catwoman's Entire Morality Shift Was A Result Of Zatanna Tampering With Her Mind
Identity Crisis opened a can of mindwiped worms, but it wasn't the last story to deal with that sort of thing. In JLA: Crisis Of Conscience, members of the old Secret Society of Supervillains attacked the League in revenge for the mindwipes performed on them. Catwoman stood with the League but found out that she herself had also been tampered with.
The story revealed that Catwoman's morality shift was because of Zatanna's messing with her mind when she was the Secret Society. While this has been retconned, it was a huge change that changed Batman and Catwoman's relationship.
8 Batman Made Jason Todd Dye His Hair Black So He'd Look Like Dick Grayson
Unexpected retcons aren't always Earth-shattering changes. One of those came in Batman And Robin, when the Red Hood revealed to his new sidekick Scarlet that the reason he had a white streak in his hair had nothing to do with his resurrection but because Batman made him dye his red hair black so he'd look more like Dick Grayson.
The whole thing was completely out of left field and was a small change to Jason Todd's mythos. While it makes sense that Batman would do something like that, it was still something that no reader ever expected.
7 The New 52 Changed Wonder Woman's Parentage
The New 52 made a lot of changes to the characters of the DC Universe but one of the most affected was Wonder Woman. For years, Wonder Woman was made of clay by Hippolyta and given life by Zeus. The New 52 changed that as it was revealed that Wonder Woman was actually the daughter of Zeus with Hippolyta.
While this wouldn't be the only retcon to Wonder Woman's origin in the New 52, it was the one that stuck even after the New 52 ended, giving her whole origin a more authentic Greek mythology feel, as Zeus was known for philandering.
6 The New 52 Superman Armor Was Not Only Unexpected But Also Unneeded
A New 52 retcon that was pretty bizarre was the change to Superman's costume. For years, Superman's costume was just a regular spandex costume with a cape made from his Kryptonian baby blanket. In the New 52, that was changed to a suit of Kryptonian armor, which always felt weird for an invulnerable character.
Fans didn't expect this little retcon at all and for many fans, it was one that was completely unneeded as well. Superman wearing armor seemed to defeat the purpose of his invulnerability and was one of the strangest New 52 retcons.
5 Infinite Crisis Brought Back Clark Kent's Time As Superboy
Infinite Crisis was one of DC's biggest events of the 21st century but it didn't actually make a lot of change to things. Most of the changes to DC continuity would come from stories that came after it but one thing the story established before it ended was that Clark Kent's youth as Superboy was canon again.
While it would be used to bring Silver Age Legion of Superheroes back into continuity and in Secret Origins, that was pretty much all it was every used for. Fans weren't really shown anything about that time in his life beyond the Silver Age things that were already established and the whole thing was both unexpected and bizarre.
4 Retconning Cyborg's Origin To Involve A Mother Box Linked Him Better To The Justice League
Fans got glimpses of the New 52 Justice League before the book dropped and were excited to see Cyborg as part of the team. Like many other characters in the New 52, Cyborg got a retconned origin. Instead of being made into a cyborg because of his father's work, he was bonded with a Mother Box and that made him into the hero he would become.
Fans weren't expecting his entire origin to get retconned so drastically but it did link him better to the New 52 Justice League origin. It also gave him extra powers that made him into the team's tech specialist.
3 Identity Crisis Changed The Way Fans Looked At The DC Universe
Identity Crisis has a checkered reputation and for good reason. The story had multiple retcons, from Dr. Light's attack on Sue Dibny to the Justice League mindwipes. Fans weren't expecting either of these and the shock they gave readers changed the way they looked at the DC Universe forever.
The whole thing with Sue was yet another terrible example of the treatment of women in comics and the mindwipes recontextualized the squeaky clean days of the Silver Age in a way readers were uncomfortable with. These retcons were certainly unexpected and would become unwanted as the years went by.
2 Heroes In Crisis Has Been Completely Retconned
Heroes In Crisis gets a lot of grief but it holds up pretty well. It also completely ruined Wally West, whose return in DC: Rebirth #1 was supposed to herald a new age in DC. By casting West as a murderer, even an accidental one, it took a character who was billed as a beacon of hope and made him something else.
West has since become the Flash again and his first story arc completely retconned this act out, as it was revealed that instead of losing control of his powers, the whole thing was caused by a Speed Force flare up. This absolved Wally of all wrongdoing and made him more palatable for some fans.
1 The Parallax Retcon Allowed Hal Jordan's Redemption
After the destruction of Coast City in The Return of Superman, Hal Jordan went mad and set out to remake the city in Emerald Twilight, even if it cost every member of the Green Lantern Corps their lives. It did and he would become the villains known as Parallax, terrorizing his former friends until his grand sacrifice in Final Night.
All of that would change in Green Lantern: Rebirth, when it was revealed that the whole thing wasn't his fault. He was possessed by the fear entity Parallax, giving into its power and doing its bidding in destroying Corps. This retcon erased one of Hal's worst acts and allowed him to become a hero again.