History CerebusRetcon / TheDCU

* ''ComicBook/AngelAndTheApe'' was a [[MediaNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] comic about a girl named Angel and a [[NonHumanSidekick gorilla named Sam]] fighting crime in the city, with the oddity of the latter [[UnusuallyUninterestingSight never being mentioned]] (except everyone assumed Ape was a very hairy human). When it was revived in 1991 it was explained that Sam was actually the grandson of Gorilla Grodd, a [[Franchise/TheDCU DC Universe]] simian supervillain. Like Grodd, Sam has psychic powers, which in his case [[WeirdnessCensor make him look human to others]] as long as he concentrates.
* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}''

* When ComicBook/CaptainAtom was retconned after ''Crisis on Infinite Earths'', his Silver Age adventures were turned into a cover story by the government to establish his superhero identity.

* ''Franchise/TheFlash'': Back in the Silver and Bronze Age, Barry was always depicted as a kind, heroic man, and a ParentalSubstitute for Wally; even his darkest act, killing Thawne, was in large part out of desperation. Starting with ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis2004'', it was slowly revealed Barry has a dark side; him killing Thawne was ''after'' he had voted to MindRape Doctor Light ''and'' brainwashed The Top, something that exploded in his face. When he came back, Barry showed a selfish tendency leading to events like ''Flashpoint''. His treatment of Wally became far from perfect, and in many ways he's been quite a toxic figure for him. The writers later pulled back on this a bit, with the reveal that Thawne had been subliminally encouraging Barry's dark side since the New 52 started.
* The original premise behind ''ComicBook/KidEternity'' was that a clerk in heaven made an error and Kid Eternity died before his time while boating with his grandpa. He was then resurrected to do good stuff by summoning heroes of the past. Then Creator/GrantMorrison got their hands on the poor kid in the modern age and made some dark revisions in a 1991 miniseries that revamped the character. Demons made up all that misfiling stuff, the clerk is a minor demon and the "historical figures" he becomes are demons as well. It's all ThePlan about earning their way back into heaven by "helping" humanity via [[EvilutionaryBiologist evilution]]. Oh, and he's an orphan; the man he calls "grandpa" is actually a ''child molester''. Much of this was ignored after Kid Eternity was reintegrated back into the standard DC Universe.
* The 2016 ''ComicBook/TheFlintstones'' comic, being a DarkerAndEdgier BlackComedy gives us some very grim explanations for traits of gags from the show, such as Fred's "Yabba-Dabba Do" {{Catchphrase}} being a nonsense mantra for his post-traumatic stress disorder from his time as a veteran, how all of the animal appliances are sapient and hate being used as such (the word "appliance" to them even qualifies as a slur), so they're essentially enslaved, and once they become obsolete, they're "[[DeadlyEuphemism recycled]]", and the Great Gazoo is an extraterrestrial game warden who protects the native wildlife (read: humans) from alien threats. You'll hardly believe this is the comic of a family comedy with a LaughTrack.
* ''Franchise/GreenLantern'':

** The Green Lantern's [[WeaksauceWeakness weakness to the color yellow]] has long been the butt of jokes from comic book readers (and other superheroes) for its perceived silliness, and even ''Green Lantern'' fans long dismissed it as an artifact of the Silver Age. But the weakness didn't seem nearly as funny after Creator/GeoffJohns finally revealed its origin in ''Green Lantern: Rebirth'': it turns out that the "yellow impurity" in the Central Power Battery that caused the power ring's ineffectiveness against yellow objects was actually a malevolent alien EldritchAbomination called "Parallax"--the [[AnthropomorphicPersonification living embodiment of fear]], which was [[SealedEvilInACan imprisoned in the power battery]] by the Guardians to stop it from enslaving the universe.[[note]] Parallax is yellow because the power of fear manifests as yellow energy; it's the antithesis of the green energy of willpower, which gives Green Lanterns their powers.[[/note]] Parallax's mastery of fear was so great that it led to Hal Jordan's corruption and FaceHeelTurn in ''ComicBook/EmeraldTwilight'', which culminated in him rebelling against the Green Lantern Corps and successfully draining the Central Power Battery. So, yes...the Green Lantern's weakness to the color yellow brought the largest peacekeeping force in the galaxy crashing down.
** In ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueInternational'', there was a gag where a TapOnTheHead would transform Guy Gardner from his usual {{Jerkass}} personality to being all hearts and flowers (or vice versa). Much later, Guy's own comic would reveal that every time he lost consciousness the demonic half-Vuldarian Dementor was screwing around with his personality, and had been ever since he entered a coma pre-Crisis (before which he was neither a jerk nor sappy).

* John Dee, a.k.a. Dr. Destiny: originally a supervillain defeated by [[Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica the Justice League]], he had a magic ruby that could make dreams come to life. Sounds dangerous, but since this was MediaNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks, he was handily defeated and not thought of again for a long time. Come ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'', it was revealed that it was Dream's own ruby amulet, and that while in [[BedlamHouse Arkham Asylum]] Dee had gone completely, [[OmnicidalManiac omnicidally]] insane. When he stole the ruby back, he plunged the world into twenty-four hours of horrific madness straight out of nightmares and warped desires before finally being stopped by Dream's direct intervention.