History AbortedArc / ComicBooks

* Peter J. Tomasi's ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' run was cut short when Brian Michael Bendis signed onto DC and was given the ''Superman'' titles. Some things were dropped because of this.
** The entire series hinted that Jonathan Kent and his neighbour Kathy Brandon were going to get together, with her being present for his significant moments and the two fighting off Manchester Black together... she disappears when Bendis started writing.
** When Jonathan Kent, Kathy Brandon and Damian Wayne are involved in a fight with Manchester Black that results in time energy escaping and giving them visions, we see a vision of a square Earth and Damian Wayne as Batman, Jonathan Kent as Superman and an adult Kathy. The run had previously already featured a future where Damian and Jon apparently died, after Damian did ''something'' to Jon that Future Tim Drake considered monstrous, with Future Damian being revealed to have survived Future Tim's attempt on his life. This is never explained and Jon, under Bendis, does not interact with Damian nearly as much as he did under Tomasi.

** Near the end of Creator/BrianBendis' tenure at Marvel, he began dropping hints that Comicbook/MilesMorales would be abandoning the Spider-Man name in order to step out of Peter Parker's shadow and become his own man. This, coupled with Comicbook/{{Cable}} commenting that Miles would have a future in espionage, led some to conclude that Miles would adopt a new identity as a costumed Comicbook/{{SHIELD}} agent. This was dropped after Bendis' departure, with the subsequent ''Miles Morales'' series by Saladin Ahmed keeping the character in his role as Spider-Man and focusing more on street-level heroics than spy stuff.

* The origin story of the New 52 ''ComicBook/{{Shazam}}'' was told in the pages of ''Justice League'', and the ending had Black Adam killed from old age (this version of him dies if he transforms back to Teth Adam) -- but Doctor Sivana had gotten away, meeting a new version of Mr. Mind. The story of ''Shazam'' would be stalled for ''years'', and when a new ongoing eventually started, the Shazam family instead were focusing on the Magic Lands and the return of Billy's biological father -- with a large time-skip since the origin story to boot.

** For a few years Black Mask was not Roman Sionis (who was killed by Catwoman in retaliation to [[CompleteMonster what he did]] to her sister) ,but a BrainwashedAndCrazy Jeremiah Arkham. During the New 52 however this was undone...but not via a cosmic retcon since there is dialogue in ''[[ComicBook/NightOfTheOwls Court of Owls]]'' that still indicates his time as Black Mask still happened, but was resolved off panel and the [[AllThereInTheManual DC Comics website]] only vaguely mentions Jeremiah taking on the mantle during Dick Grayson's time as Batman, which is accurate but still doesn't address anything one way or the other.

** For a few years Black Mask was not Roman Sionis (who was killed by Catwoman in retaliation to [[CompleteMonster what he did]] to her sister) ,but a BrainwashedAndCrazy Jeremiah Arkham. During the New 52 however this was undone...but not via a cosmic retcon since there is dialogue in ''[[ComicBook/NightOfTheOwls Court of Owls]]'' that still indicates his time as Black Mask still happened, but was resolved off panel and the [[AllThereInTheManual DC Comics website]] only vaguely mentions Jeremiah taking on the mantle during Dick Grayson's time as Batman.

** In the tail-end of the story, Bruce's "Injustice League" is separated, and he and Comicbook/{{Catwoman}} are on their own. They come across Wonder Woman's Lasso of Truth and Catwoman notes that nobody but Diana herself can use it. Bruce says that he ''can'' use it because of some strong connection to Wonder Woman that's unexplained and leaves Catwoman with a ''very'' jealous look on her face. It's likely referring to something that happened in the five year gap between the Justice League's founding and current stories (where Wonder Woman was dating Superman), but it was never addressed again. Catwoman found a ''different'' reason to hate Batman around the same time and ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'' is altering continuity pretty heavily, ''especially'' that of the Justice League and its members.

** ''Flash War'' had Wally West learn about his missing family from Hunter Zolomon, who had managed to bypass Flashpoint by travelling into the future alongside Eobard Thawne. The ending of the story resulted in time-travel being closed to speedsters, Wally's children still missing and Hunter on the run and in hiding. Wally resolves to find his children and Hunter... but before he can, he agrees to go to Sanctuary, a secret counselling facility for superheroes, in order to get some help with his personal issues. He's killed there, and Barry Allen gets wrapped up with investigating the new Forces, with Wally's kids and Hunter not being involved.

** In ''Comicbook/TheYearOfTheVillain'' one-shot ''The Riddler'', Apex Lex convinces Nygma that the flaw in his plans is simply being the Riddler in the first place, and that if he could abandon this, in the same way as Lex abandoned his obsession with Superman, he'd be able to decide who he really wanted to be. It's not clear if writer Mark Russell was going anywhere with this, but a few months later, Riddler appears in ''Comicbook/BatmanRebirth'', more obsessed than ever, and just says that didn't work.

** In the ''Comicbook/YearOfTheVillain'' one-shot ''The Riddler'', Apex Lex convinces Nygma that the flaw in his plans is simply being the Riddler in the first place, and that if he could abandon this, in the same way as Lex abandoned his obsession with Superman, he'd be able to decide who he really wanted to be. It's not clear if writer Mark Russell was going anywhere with this, but a few months later, Riddler appears in ''Comicbook/BatmanRebirth'', more obsessed than ever, and just says that didn't work.

** The 08' ''ComicBook/{{Youngblood}}''series introduced a back-up feature drawn by Liefeld in issue 8, involving Barack Obama assembling up his own Youngblood team. For some reason, issue 9 then totally did away with the ongoing plot, the back up feature taking over entirely and ignoring everything from the last eight issues in favour of an entirely typical Youngblood series. No further issues of the run were made. Curiously, Shaft's narration does bother to explain why Badrock was back in action after suffering injuuries earlier in the run. And nothing else.

* Happened entirely too often with Rob Liefeld's creator-owned work. Most quarter bins will have issues from series that never went past the first couple of issues, set-ups for crossovers that never actually happened, storylines that were abandoned mid-plot... the list goes on. Some of the most prominent examples include:
** ''Youngblood: Imperial'' and ''Youngblood: Bloodsport'' minis

** And most of Creator/AlanMoore's plans for Awesome Comics line in general.
** There was even a crossover planned between ''Comicbook/{{Youngblood}}'' and ''Series/PowerRangersZeo''. The ''Zeo'' comic didn't get past issue ''one'', though.

** Mary Jane supposedly had the OZ formula purged from her body at the end of the "Clone Saga" arc in ''Comicbook/UltimateSpiderMan'', but there were still scattered hints that some of it remained. She briefly grew claws at one point during a tense argument between Peter and Comicbook/KittyPryde, and was shown having nightmares where she transformed back into the Demogoblin and killed Peter. This whole subplot was quietly dropped after a while.

* ''Comicbook/TheIncredibleHercules'' had a subplot where Amadeus Cho visited his deceased family in the afterlife, only to discover that his little sister, whom he had presumed dead as well, was actually still alive. Maddy Cho did finally appear years later in ''Comicbook/TotallyAwesomeHulk'', but her actual reunion with Amadeus apparently took place entirely offscreen.

* In ''Beyond!'', ComicBook/{{Dwayne McDuffie}} killed off the teen hero Gravity by having him perform a HeroicSacrifice. However, the final panel of the book hinted that this wasn't the end of Gravity's tale. The character was later resurrected in [=McDuffie=]'s ''Fantastic Four'' run, but hasn't really done anything of note since. It turns out that this is because the original plan was to resurrect Gravity and have him become the new ComicBook/{{Captain Marvel|l}}, but someone else decided it would be a better idea to introduce a Skrull posing as the original Captain Marvel in ''Comicbook/CivilWar'' instead.

** Comicbook/{{Stargirl|DC Comics}}'s backstory in the 2013 ''Justice League of America'' volume. In the first issue, it was stated that A.R.G.U.S. had been keeping her under close surveillance due to the unspecified fate of Sylvester Pemberton, the man who wielded the Cosmic Staff before her. After entering a burning building to rescue civilians, Stargirl discovered a glowing pentagram that'd been seared onto a wall, which led to the visibly scared heroine muttering Pemberton's name. As this was happening, Steve Trevor's narration mentioned that Stargirl always sleeps with her bedroom lights on, due to suffering from night terrors brought on by an unknown psychological trauma. All of these hints were seemingly meant to indicate that she was terrified of Pemberton, who'd been menacing her or had attacked her in the past. However, Creator/GeoffJohns left the series before this could be explored any further, and the new writer concocted an entirely different backstory for Courtney, one that firmly established Pemberton as a heroic figure who'd died quite some time ago. While Courtney's fear of the dark was seemingly explained by Shadow Thief having killed her little brother, neither the pentagram nor the suggestion that she was being stalked by Pemberton were never brought up again.

** Comicbook/{{Stargirl|DC Comics}}'s backstory in the 2013 ''Justice League of America'' volume. In the first issue, it was stated that A.R.G.U.S. had been keeping her under close surveillance due to the unspecified fate of Sylvester Pemberton, the man who wielded the Cosmic Staff before her. After entering a burning building to rescue civilians, Stargirl discovered a glowing pentagram that'd been seared onto a wall, which led to the visibly scared heroine muttering Pemberton's name. As this was happening, Steve Trevor's narration mentioned that Stargirl always sleeps with her bedroom lights on, due to suffering from night terrors brought on by an unknown psychological trauma. All of these hints were seemingly meant to indicate that she was terrified of Pemberton, who'd been menacing her or had attacked her in the past. However, Creator/GeoffJohns left the series before this could be explored any further, and the new writer concocted an entirely different backstory for Courtney, one that firmly established Pemberton as a heroic figure who'd died quite some time ago. While Courtney's fear of the dark was seemingly explained by Shadow Thief having killed her little brother, both the pentagram and the suggestion that she was being stalked by Pemberton were never brought up again.

* Any ongoing arc pre-''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'' became this by default, since that story rebooted the entire multiverse and condensed every parallel world into one Earth.

** From 1995-98, writer Doug Moench and artist Kelley Jones where in charge of the main Batman title. During their first three years on the book, a nameless puppeteer holding a Batman puppet appeared in the background of many stories. He would be there when Batman was solving a case or when he was throwing a party as Bruce Wayne, but he never let his presence be known. The idea was that in the fourth year of their run, which they knew would be their last, they would properly introduce the character as someone who knew Bruce's identity, was capable of manipulating both Bruce and Batman and has been preparing to confront Bats on his own terms, but this was never followed through. Jones latter [[http://www.gothamwdeszczu.com.pl/en/2013/05/17/interview-kellley-jones/ explained]] in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLd6NHwF7N4&t=6159s interviews]] that editorial demanded that in their last year they tied the book with the other bat-titles where they had been pretty much allowed to ignore them and just tell their own self-contained stories before. This threw a wrench on the puppeteer arc and some other stories they were planning, including one with Poison Ivy.

* Early ''ComicBook/New52'' comics were clearly setting the Daemonites up as the BigBad of the line, not just in the ex-Creator/{{Wildstorm}} books but with Superman facing them as well. There was even a suggestion that the Comicbook/DemonKnights had got their name from a mishearing of "Daemonites". Then ''Grifter'' and ''Voodoo'' got cancelled, ''Stormwatch'' got retrobooted and ''then'' cancelled, and with the exception of Midnighter and Apollo, pretty much all the Wildstorm elements of Prime Earth went very quiet.

** Near the end of Creator/BrianBendis' tenure at Marvel, he began dropping hints that Comicbook/MilesMorales would be abandoning the Spider-Man name in order to step out of Peter Parker's shadow and become his own man. This, coupled with Comicbook/{{Cable}} commenting that Miles would have a future in espionage, led some to conclude that Miles would adopt a new identity as a costumed Comicbook/{{SHIELD}} agent. This was pretty much dropped after Bendis' departure, with the subsequent ''Miles Morales'' series by Saladin Ahmed keeping the character in his role as Spider-Man and focusing more on street-level heroics than spy stuff.

** During the "Planet X" storyline, Comicbook/TheWasp and Havok had a daughter together named Katie while in the alternate future created by Earth's destruction. Katie was eventually kidnapped by Kang the Conqueror, who used her as leverage to get Havok to play along with his plans. Just prior to ''Comicbook/{{AXIS}}'', Immortus showed up and gave the couple hope by telling them they could get Katie back by conceiving a child at the right date and time, which he claimed would allow Katie to be reborn in the prime timeline. Both Wasp and Havok were written out of the series after ''AXIS'', and the subplot was later abandoned entirely once Remender left the book after ''Comicbook/SecretWars2015''. The romantic relationship between the two was also ended offscreen by subsequent writers, pretty much removing any remaining hope for Katie's rebirth.

** ''Captain America and ComicBook/TheFalcon'' ended with Cap finding Falcon's costume fluttering in the wind, with it left ambiguous as to whether or not Falcon was dead. This was going to be resolved in a solo ''Falcon'' book by Creator/{{Christopher Priest|Comics}}, but the series never materialized.

** In the 70's, a crossover between ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica'' and the ''Comicbook/XMen'' implied that Comicbook/TheFalcon might be a mutant. This was dropped until a decade later, when the solo ''Falcon'' series confirmed this theory by having a Sentinel identify the hero as a mutant. This was ignored until 2001, when Creator/KurtBusiek addressed the inconsistency in an issue of ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'', where it was established that Falcon was ''not'' a mutant, and that the Sentinel had simply been malfunctioning.

* The infamous F.A.C.A.D.E. incident from the ''Comicbook/SpiderMan'' books. Long story short, Terry Kavanagh introduced a new baddie named [[http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix5/facadesman.htm F.A.C.A.D.E.]], and a huge deal was made about who he really was under the mask (well, [[PoweredArmor helmet]]). Unfortunately, '"Comicbook/TheCloneSaga" began right after F.A.C.A.D.E.'s debut storyline ended, so the mystery of his true identity has never been resolved. It's become sort of a RunningGag that whenever the character does appear or get mentioned, there's usually some sort of joke about his identity.

* The infamous F.A.C.A.D.E. incident from the ''Comicbook/SpiderMan'' books. Long story short, Terry Kavanagh introduced a new baddie named F.A.C.A.D.E., and a huge deal was made about who he really was under the mask (well, [[PoweredArmor helmet]]). Unfortunately, '"Comicbook/TheCloneSaga" began right after F.A.C.A.D.E.'s debut storyline ended, so the mystery of his true identity has never been resolved. It's become sort of a RunningGag that whenever the character does appear or get mentioned, there's usually some sort of joke about his identity.

* {{Subverted|Trope}} with ''ComicBook/{{Convergence}}''. The series revolves around taking certain arcs that were aborted by the ComicBook/{{New 52}} and giving them completion they didn't originally receive before.

** In a guest-writer spot, Jerry Ordway, author of ''Power of ComicBook/{{Shazam}}'', seemed to be setting up an ongoing storyline about the Shazam characters; it involved Billy and Mary being depowered (undoing the DorkAge where Billy was the wizard and Mary was evil), the wizard acting irrational, and the introduction of the Rock of Eternity's EvilCounterpart, the Rock of Finality. While Ordway never got the chance to continue this, Eric Wallace's subsequent ''Shazam'' one-shots seemed content to keep things in a holding pattern until he did, while adding other elements such as the return of Blaze. Then ComicBook/{{Flashpoint}} and the Comicbook/{{New 52}} happened, and Captain Marvel was one of the characters who got completely reset. Not only is the arc aborted; in current continuity ''none of it happened''.

* Early ''ComicBook/{{New 52}}'' comics were clearly setting the Daemonites up as the BigBad of the line, not just in the ex-Creator/{{Wildstorm}} books but with Superman facing them as well. There was even a suggestion that the Comicbook/DemonKnights had got their name from a mishearing of "Daemonites". Then ''Grifter'' and ''Voodoo'' got cancelled, ''Stormwatch'' got retrobooted and ''then'' cancelled, and with the exception of Midnighter and Apollo, pretty much all the Wildstorm elements of Prime Earth went very quiet.

** Felicia D. Henderson's final two arcs were basically an extended [[PoorlyDisguisedPilot Backdoor Pilot]] for a new ''Static Shock'' ongoing. The new series was supposed to have been based around the hook of Virgil trying to get his powers back, but the book ended up being delayed and eventually canceled entirely due to the ComicBook/{{New 52}} ContinuityReboot. A new ''Static Shock'' book did launch with the New 52, but it had a different creative team and was completely unrelated to Henderson's proposed series.
** Years prior to this, there was the ill-fated Titans L.A. spin-off that was planned. The group was first hinted at in the ''Beast Boy'' mini-series, the seeds were planted in a ''Titans Annual'', and the team finally assembled in the ''Titans Secret Files'' one-shot only to...never appear again. Comicbook/{{Cyborg}} later confirmed that the team had disbanded with a HandWave line of dialogue.

** At one point, Comicbook/{{Deathstroke}} was shown taking in Poprocket, a homeless teen metahuman. It was stated that he had plans for the girl, but she soon disappeared without explanation. Presumably, they were setting up Poprocket to be part of Deathstroke's AntiHero team of ''[[Comicbook/{{Teen Titans}} Titans]]'', but for whatever reason she ended up not appearing in that book.

* Jason Aaron was setting up a big team-up between Comicbook/{{Thanos}} and Comicbook/{{Hela}} in the pages of ''Thor'', one that promised to be big. Thanos' attraction to death extended to Hela, and the two were planning... something. It is handwaved away with Thanos basically saying he didn't really care about Hela, and the plot is dropped within the span of about half an issue.