This is "Gonna Change My Way of Thinking," a feature spotlighting notable examples of retcons that don't fit into the framework of Abandoned an' Forsaked, which is specifically about stories that outright "overturn" older stories. There are many examples of "retroactive continuity" that do not actively abandon the works of the past. Some of them are minor, some of them are major, all of them are interesting enough to me that I figure that they are worth writing about.

Today, based on a suggestion from reader Jason G., we look at the dramatic transformation of the Molecule Man from an outright villain to, well, a bit of a pushover.

The Molecule Man debuted in Fantastic Four #20 (by Jack Kirby, Stan Lee and Dick Ayers), where the Watcher shows up to warn the Fantastic Four about the danger that the Molecule Man poses to the world. The Watcher also shows them his origin (the Watcher really got off to a strong start with his whole "non-interference pledge," huh? He just debuted seven issues earlier and he's already going way overboard with interference)...

As you can see here, the Molecule Man is just your standard tyrannical villain here...

Later, Mister Fantastic figures out that the Molecule Man cannot affect anything organic...

He then tricks the Molecule Man into thinking that the Fantastic Four are a bunch of statues of themselves so that he will use his powers on them, which will backfire...

I just love that the story ends with the Watcher just showing up and taking him away. Why didn't you just do that earlier, Uatu? Also, you have to dig the FF's lack of interest in where the Watcher took him. "Eh, I'm sure it will be fine."

One of the funniest parts of the Molecule Man's history is that he seemingly died in his second appearance! Steve Gerber brought the villain back for the launch of Marvel Two-In-One (with art by Gil Kane and Joe Sinnott). We see that the Watcher banned him to a world where time moves super fast. He has had a son and he passes the torch to his son...

You have to adore that messed-up looking costume. Anyhow, he comes to Earth and turns the Thing and the Man-Thing back to their human selves, but then reverses it right before he is separated from his wand and dies...

Gerber then brought the Molecule Man back in Iron Man Annual #3, by having the wand possess a little girl...

After the Molecule Man posseses a few other people in the issue (plus a SNAKE!), he falls into the hands of the Man-Thing, and he can't possess the Man-Thing.

In Fantastic Four #187 (by Len Wein, George Perez and Joe Sinnott), Klaw finds the wand and finds a new person for the Molecule Man to possess...

He then possessed Mister Fantastic, but the FF defeated him through the unstable molecules in their costumes (he wasn't prepared for them). The wand possessed one more person in Micronauts #23...

Then everything we thought we knew about the Molecule Man was changed!

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In Avengers #215 (by Jim Shooter, Alan Weiss and Dan Green), the Molecule Man created his own body out of his wand...

Meeting Silver Surfer and learning the story of Galactus, he was compelled to try to destroy the Earth like Galactus!

In the process, though, Shooter subtly retconned out the whole "he is the Molecule Man's son" part of the story by noting that Molecule Man could create bodies, so what he did was create a construct of himself that he convinced himself was his son, but it was really just him using his seemingly infinite powers.

So the Avengers and the Silver Surfer team up against him, but he easily gets rid of their weapons and he then torments Tigra into essentially begging for her life as he seemingly kills the others...

Of course, the heroes escaped, but the Molecule Man continued to torment Tigra...

He even faked weakness to see if she would try to kill him....

When she doesn't, he is very confused.

The other heroes attack and then Tigra really gives him an earful and she breaks through and makes him realize that he needs therapy...

From that point forward, Owen Reece (as he was now calling himself instead of the Molecule Man) was treated as a sensitive soul. Shooter, himself, featured that evolution even further in Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars and its sequel, as Owen gets a girlfriend and realizes that he CAN affect organic matter (the whole "creating himself a body" part should have made that clear, ya know?).

What's interesting, though, is that I forgot just how ABRUPT the change was in Avengers #216. I didn't realize it really was as simple as Tigra yelling at him and then his personality changed for good. Oh well, it made for an interesting character study in a nebbish guy with ultimate power, so I'm willing to go with it.

Thanks for the suggestion, Jason!

Okays, folks, I am sure that you all have other examples for this feature, so feel free to send them to me at brianc@cbr.com!