In this feature we examine comic book stories and ideas that were not only abandoned, but also had the stories/plots specifically "overturned" by a later writer (as if they were a legal precedent). Click here for an archive of all the previous editions of The Abandoned An' Forsaked. Feel free to e-mail me at bcronin@comicbookresources.com if you have any suggestions for future editions of this feature.

Today we take a look at the conflicting reasons behind Reed Richards' support of the Superhuman Registration Act.

This is a bit of an odd one. You can argue that there aren't any outright retcons here, so it might fit better with Abandoned Love, but I dunno, I think there's probably a retcon here.

Anyhow, the story all begins with the initial discussion of the Superhero Registration Act back in the late 1980s. In 1988's Fantastic Four #336, Walter Simonson, Ron Lim and Mike DiCarlo show Reed Richards opposing the idea of the act...

We fastforward to 2006, in the New Avengers Illuminati Special #1, where Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev have Iron Man reveal that the act is once again being considered by Congress (here it is still referred to as the Super Hero Registration Act)...

As you can see, Reed is all the way on board with Iron Man's plan.

Okay, so "Mr. Futurist" Iron Man was spot on - the exact scenario he described occurs, the New Warriors get in a fight with a bad guy and the fight results in an explosion that kills most of the New Warriors as well as hundreds of innocent people. So Iron Man, Reed Richards and Yellowjacket head up a charge to push the Superhuman Registration Act (as it is now called) into law and Reed is clearly thrilled to be working with two other geniuses on problem-solving, as seen in Civil War #2 (by Mark Millar, Steve McNiven and Dexter Vines)...

Number 42 is a Negative Zone prison. It is called 42 because it was #42 on a list of 100 ideas Tony, Reed and Hank came up with. Johnny Storm was assaulted in Civil War #1 at a night club by anti-superhero nutjobs. Anyhow, Reed keeps on keeping on with the rounding up of superhumans, including Captain America's team of "Secret Avengers." In Civil War #4, he, Tony and Hank actually clone Thor to help capture the Secret Avengers and the Thor clone kills Giant-Man. Sue has had enough and she breaks from Reed and helps the rogue heroes escape.

In Fantastic Four #540, by J. Michael Straczynski, Mike McKone, Andy Lanning and Cam Smith, Reed and Sue have it out...

The "protect me" line leads to Sue showing off how powerful she is by creating a giant force field column through the Baxter Building.

The fight continues...

So Straczynski is rocking two motivations for Reed here.

1. It's the law and the law is the law is the law.

2. Reed has done the calculations and he knows that this the right move. This is a bit of a key point.

Okay, so later in the issue, Peter Parker asks Reed why he's doing it, and now Reed has a slightly different answer...

That was a super weird story. I really don't know where Straczynski was going there.

See how the whole thing was retconned on the next page!

Okay, this brings us to Fantastic Four #542. McKone, Lanning and Smith are still on art duties, but now Dwayne McDuffie is writing the book and he was always pretty good at coming up with stuff like this.

The Mad Thinker checks out Reed's calculations and, well, he reveals something...

Sue is talking about the final confrontation between the heroes that was set to take place in Civil War #7.

So here, I think McDuffie IS doing a retcon here. To this point, Reed has been shown to either be A. For the Superhuman Registration Act period, as in he thinks it is a good idea or B. For the Superhuman Registration Act because it is the law. A big thing up until this point has been his belief that he is RIGHT to be doing this - that there's nothing WRONG with what he's done. Now he is conceding that he DOES think that this is wrong, but he has just worked out that it just had to be done or else even WORSE things would happen and he's so confident in his own math that he feels he had to go along with something he didn't want to do, but he wanted his wife to know the REAL reason he is doing this. As she even notes, the law and the uncle stuff were just BS. So McDuffie is clearly abandoning those stories in the hopes of redeeming Reed for the title going forward, but I'll leave it up to you as individuals to determine whether you think that constitutes a "retcon" or not. I think it is, as it is showing what Reed thought before wasn't what he actually thought, but I can see the argument that this is just a standard dropped plot. I think it is a question between:

"I used to think that, but now I think this," which would be an abandoned plot

and

"I thought one thing, but now it is revealed that I was really thinking something completely different all along," which I think is a retcon.

I guess a problem there is whether you feel McDuffie's revelation didn't contradict the earlier stories, as Straczynski clearly does talk about Reed counting the numbers. I think McDuffie IS contradicting Reed's thoughts in the earlier issues, where he is all pro-Superhuman Registration Act as opposed to "Well, this is better than the destruction of Earth." But I can see the argument on the other side that perhaps Straczynski's take allowed for McDuffie's take. Either way, it's still a plot abandonment for the sake of keeping the team together, but that would also determine whether you think this was a retcon or not.

Anyhow, during Civil War #7's final battle, Reed is willing to sacrifice himself to save Sue, which causes her to waffle on her feelings for him...

The postscript of the series is Reed writing a letter to Sue, hoping that she will come back to him. Oddly enough, he is still acting as though he is all the way on board with Iron Man's plans. His letter is all about how everything went right...

And Sue does decide to return to him, although the next issue of Fantastic Four basically has her decide to return to REED, but not necessarily the FF yet, as she wants to work on their marriage first...

While Civil War drew to a close with Millar and McDuffie seemingly at odds with Reed's motivations, the end result is basically the whole thing is swept under the rug. Reed continues to be a member of the Illuminati, though, which is causing some issues now in the pages of New Avengers.

Okay, that's it for this installment! If YOU have a suggestion for this column, drop me a line at bcronin@comicbookesources.com!