Retroactive continuity

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Retroactive continuity, or retcon for short,[1][2] is a literary device in which established facts in a fictional work are adjusted, ignored, or contradicted by a subsequently published work which breaks continuity with the former.[3]


There are various motivations for applying retroactive continuity, including:

  • To accommodate desired aspects of sequels or derivative works which would otherwise be ruled out;
  • To correct and overcome errors or problems identified in the prior work since its publication;
  • To change how the prior work should be interpreted;
  • To match reality, when assumptions or projections of the future are later proven wrong.[Note 1]

Retcons are used by authors to increase their creative freedom, on the assumption that the changes are unimportant to the audience compared to the new story which can be told. For instance, by retroactively setting a prior story in a parallel universe, departed popular characters can be reintroduced. More subtly, a minor plot point might be retroactively expunged (for instance, the heroine leaving home without any food), removing an obstacle to further storytelling (that she should be getting hungry).









A similar concept is that of secret history, in which the events of a story occur within the bounds of already-established events (especially real-world ones), revealing different interpretations of the events. Some of Tim Powers' novels use secret history, such as Last Call, which suggests that Bugsy Siegel's actions were due to his being a modern-day Fisher King.

Alan Moore's additional information about the Swamp Thing's origins – revealing that Swamp Thing was not actually scientist Alec Holland converted into a plant, but actually a plant that had absorbed Holland's body and consciousness so that it merely thought it was Holland – did not contradict or change any of the events depicted in the character's previous appearances, but instead changed the reader's interpretation of them. Such additions and reinterpretations are very common in Doctor Who.[3]








In the Tom and Jerry cartoon Shutter Bugged Cat, it retcons the cartoon Designs on Jerry as it uses footage from it as Tom builds a mouse trap to catch Jerry and he modifies the measurements on the blueprints to make it fail and with a safe contraption hits him and ends with Jerry filming Tom ripping up the blueprints he used for the trap and unlike the ending of the short, he is flattened and bandaged.


Marvel Comics' Beyonder was originally stated to be omnipotent and the most powerful being in Marvel Universe, coming from the Beyond Realm. However, after his creator, Jim Shooter, left Marvel, writer-editor Tom DeFalco re-tooled the Beyonder, diminishing his power greatly: he was no longer omnipotent, as certain other cosmic entities were retroactively vastly upgraded to transcend the scale of infinity on which the character worked. Even after this, Beyonder was still one of the most powerful beings in Marvel, with several characters exceeding him.

In 2003, in the title of DC Comics' Teen Titans, Geoff Johns changed the entire genetic code of Kon-El (the modern version of Superboy) from a genetically altered human clone that was designed to be as Kryptonian as possible into a hybrid clone of both Superman and Lex Luthor. This change contradicted years of continuity and various facts that proved that Kon-El was human and in the process mostly ignored his unique ability of tactile telekinesis that made his powers very different from those of Superman.

In Boy Meets World, both Shawn and Topanga have siblings in the first season but later in the series are retconned to be only children. The ages of the characters of Boy Meets World are altered notably where Cory is age 11 in 6th grade during season 1 to age 13 and 8th grade in season 2. This happens again in high school skipping another grade. The age gap between Cory and Eric also narrows from 4 years apart in age to 2 years apart in age.


Unpopular or embarrassing stories are sometimes later ignored by publishers, and effectively erased from a series's continuity. Later stories may contradict the previous ones or explicitly establish that they never happened. An example of this can be found with the film Deadpool, which expressly contradicts the events of the earlier X-Men Origins: Wolverine, due to that film’s depiction of the Deadpool character being extremely unpopular with audiences. An unpopular retcon may itself be retconned away, as happened with John Byrne's Spider-Man: Chapter One.[citation needed]

Temporal compression[edit]

Film sequels often employ temporal compression to maintain a sense of currency in each installment, despite more time having elapsed diegetically ("in-universe") between one installment and another than has elapsed in the real world. For example, despite the implied contemporaneity in each of the films of The Omen series, the lead character ages some 15 or 20 years across three films released over a period of less than 6 years.

Related concepts[edit]





In popular culture[edit]

In the British science fiction drama Doctor Who and its 2006 spinoff Torchwood Retcon is a drug used to induce memory loss. It's also known as the "Amnesia pill", but also later known as "compound B67".[13]

See also[edit]




  5. ^ Booker, M. Keith (2010). Encyclopedia of Comic Books and Graphic Novels [Two Volumes]. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. p. 510. ISBN 9780313357473. Retrieved 16 March 2017. 
  6. ^ Tupper, E. Frank (1973). The Theology of Wolfhart Pannenberg. Philadelphia: Westminster Press. ISBN 9780664209735. Retrieved 16 March 2017. 
  9. ^ Doyle, Arthur Conan; Eastman, David (1984). The Final Problem. Caulfield East, Victoria: Edward Arnold. ISBN 089375613X. 
  10. ^ McAleer, John (1994). Rex Stout: A Biography (1st ed.). San Bernardino, California: Brownstone Books. pp. 403, 566. ISBN 9780941028103. 
  11. ^ Cross, Mary (2013). 100 People who Changed 20th-century America, Volume 1. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. p. 591. ISBN 9781610690850. Retrieved 16 March 2017. 
  12. ^ "Wilma Flintstone: A fox in leopard clothing?". Archived from the original on 22 June 2015. Retrieved 23 August 2015. 
  13. ^ Tardis Data Core (2018-06-03). "Retcon". Doctor Who Wiki. Retrieved 2018-06-03. 

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