History ComicBook / HouseOfM

* CosmicRetcon
* CrisisCrossover

* [[GodwinsLawOfTimeTravel Godwin's Law Of Reality Warping]]

* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity

* CursedWithAwesome: Wanda apparently sees herself this way, because in her fantasy world she has no mutant, even though Mutants are the privileged class. Though she's still the daughter of [[TheEmperor The World Emperor]], so that helps.

Wanda Maximoff, better known as the Comicbook/ScarletWitch, suffers a reality-warping mental breakdown and is taken to Genosha by her father Comicbook/{{Magneto}}. When Wanda shows little sign of recovery, the ComicBook/XMen and the [[Comicbook/TheAvengers Avengers]] meet to discuss what action should be taken next; they decide that Wanda must be killed. The combined teams arrive at Genosha when suddenly the world is swallowed by a bright white light...

The scene cuts to Comicbook/{{Wolverine}} as he wakes up in a world that has completely changed: A world where mutants are the dominant species, humans are now a persecuted minority, and the United States is led by the House of Magneto. The now-scattered and [[LaserGuidedAmnesia mind-altered]] Avengers and X-Men must try to reunite and find out how to [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong reverse what happened]] on the day they arrived on Genosha. They later come across Layla Miller, a young girl who is aware that reality has been changed and who helps expose the truth about their "current" reality.

* CallingTheOldManOut: Wanda to Magneto.

* VillainWorld: The premise, though it's presented as a (semi-)benevolent dictatorship. ComicBook/{{Magneto}} is now the ultimate authority, with smaller territories being delegated to less-scrupulous villains like [[ComicBook/XMen Apocalypse]] and Doctor Doom. Mutants have it much better than [[FantasticRacism nonmutants]], who are distinctly second-class citizens.

A MarvelComics {{Miniseries}} with several tie-in books following the events of ''[[Comicbook/TheAvengers Avengers Disassembled]]''. It lasted for 8 issues (August-December, 2005).

* StrawmanHasAPoint: Jessica Drew argues that the new world is a better place, that a world change of this nature and magnitude is better not erased, and that Wanda's actions can be quite correctly viewed as natural selection in action. Her arguments are dismissed, but there's nothing anywhere in the main story to suggest she's wrong. For one thing, central Africa is no longer a war zone, and the content is no longer impoverished and disease-ridden.

Wanda Maximoff, better known as the Comicbook/ScarletWitch, suffers a reality-warping mental breakdown and is taken to Genosha by her father Comicbook/{{Magneto}}. When Wanda shows little sign of recovery, the ComicBook/{{X-Men}} and the [[Comicbook/TheAvengers Avengers]] meet to discuss what action should be taken next; they decide that Wanda must be killed. The combined teams arrive at Genosha when suddenly the world is swallowed by a bright white light...

* VillainWorld: The premise, though it's presented as a (semi-)benevolent dictatorship. {{Magneto}} is now the ultimate authority, with smaller territories being delegated to less-scrupulous villains like [[ComicBook/{{X-Men}} Apocalypse]] and Doctor Doom. Mutants have it much better than [[FantasticRacism nonmutants]], who are distinctly second-class citizens.

* HeroOfAnotherStory: CaptainAmerica. In this reality, he was never frozen in ice and got to continue his life post-war. He only cameos in the main mini-series as an old man (prompting the other heroes to just leave him be), but a tie-in issue of his own comic summarizes the different things he experienced during the intervening decades.

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: The Aesop of some of the tie-in miniseries. For instance, DoctorDoom managed to get almost everything he claimed to want: his mother alive, his face unscarred, Richards dead -- and he manages to lose it all, mostly at his own hands, by the end of the ''ComicBook/FantasticFour: House of M'' miniseries.

* VillainWorld: The premise, though it's presented as a (semi-)benevolent dictatorship. {{Magneto}} is now the ultimate authority, with smaller territories being delegated to less-scrupulous villains like [[ComicBook/{{X-Men}} Apocalypse]] and DoctorDoom. Mutants have it much better than [[FantasticRacism nonmutants]], who are distinctly second-class citizens.

-->''No more mutants.''

* OracularUrchin: Layla Miller. Also a MacGuffinGirl.
* RealityWarper: The Scarlet Witch

Turns out Wanda's twin brother Pietro ({{Quicksilver}}) convinced her to rewrite reality into one where all the heroes got to have their greatest desires -- including Magneto's and Professor Xavier's -- which meant that Magneto's family ruled the mutants and the mutants ruled the world, and Professor Xavier [[HeroicSacrifice had died a meaningful death]] and mutants and humans live side-by-side (sort of). The Avengers and the X-Men confront Wanda after regaining their memories of the reality that existed before Wanda's CosmicRetCon. Wanda suffers another nervous breakdown and eventually restores the original reality, but [[BroughtDownToNormal depowers 99.99% of the world's mutants]] as well. Afterwards, she disappears without a trace and the reader is [[SequelHook given a clue]] that the depowering might not be as permanent as it seems.

Turns out Wanda's twin brother Pietro ({{Quicksilver}}) convinced her to rewrite reality into one where all the heroes got to have their greatest desires -- including Magneto's and Professor Xavier's -- which meant that Magneto's family ruled the mutants and the mutants ruled the world, and that Professor Xavier had died a meaningful death and mutants and humans live side-by-side (sort of). The Avengers and the X-Men confront Wanda after regaining their memories of the reality that existed before Wanda's CosmicRetCon. Wanda suffers another nervous breakdown and eventually restores the original reality, but [[BroughtDownToNormal depowers 99.99% of the world's mutants]] as well. Afterwards, she disappears without a trace and the reader is [[SequelHook given a clue]] that the depowering might not be as permanent as it seems.

* VillainWorld: The premise, though it's presented as a (semi-)benevolent dictatorship. {{Magneto}} is now the ultimate authority, with smaller territories being delegated to less-scrupulous villains like [[ComicBook/{{X-Men}} Apocalypse]] and DoctorDoom). Mutants have it much better than [[FantasticRacism nonmutants]], who are distinctly second-class citizens.

A MarvelComics {{Miniseries}} with several tie-in books following the events of ''[[Comicbook/TheAvengers Avengers Disassembled]]''.

Wanda Maximoff, better known as the ScarletWitch, suffers a reality-warping mental breakdown and is taken to Genosha by her father {{Magneto}}. When Wanda shows little sign of recovery, the ComicBook/{{X-Men}} and the [[Comicbook/TheAvengers Avengers]] meet to discuss what action should be taken next; they decide that Wanda must be killed. The combined teams arrive at Genosha when suddenly the world is swallowed by a bright white light...

The scene cuts to Wolverine as he wakes up in a world that has completely changed: A world where mutants are the dominant species, humans are now a persecuted minority, and the United States is led by the House of Magneto. The now-scattered and [[LaserGuidedAmnesia mind-altered]] Avengers and X-Men must try to reunite and find out how to [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong reverse what happened]] on the day they arrived on Genosha. They later come across Layla Miller, a young girl who is aware that reality has been changed and who helps expose the truth about their "current" reality.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: In the House of M reality, Hulk is the leader of Australia and does a surprisingly good job at it. Then he goes and rules a desert world in WorldWarHulk.

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Initially averted. After finding out that the reality shift has ([[spoiler:resurrected Gwen Stacy and Uncle Ben]]), Spider-Man tells Wolverine he's going to kill the Scarlet Witch. Wolverine says that he won't give Spidey the chance.

* ShipperOnDeck: Wanda herself, oddly. The new world she creates has several characters romantically involved (e.g. Wolverine and Mystique) who were never shown 'together' before.

** "No More Mutants" - Averted, in that a large number of mutants ''are'' depowered & the X-Men underwent a massive shift in their position in the Marvel universe because of this. Played straight, with most of the 98% of mutants who lost their powers being unknown to the reader, and the majority of the named characters being C-List characters or lower with the big name mutants retaining their powers - Really, the only major mutant characters who lose their powers are [[spoiler:Magneto & his children]], and even then, it's only temporary.

* SuperiorSpecies [[spoiler:Pietro]] convinces Wanda to rewrite reality using this as one of the excuses. She's thoroughly disillusioned about it by the end, though.

* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler: Hawkeye. TWICE!]]

** CharacterDevelopment - Averted, Wolverine remembering everything he'd previously forgotten. Played straight, in that despite the TraumaCongaLine he goes through during the story, there are no lasting effects for Peter Parker & his memories of the "House of M" timeline are never mentioned again.
*** The first issue of the follow-up mini, ''Son of M'', shows Peter angsting over his lost life pretty hard. When he encounters Pietro, he mocks him for losing his powers, gives him a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech, and even suggests he kill himself (He doesn't really mean it, though, and is horrified when [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor Pietro jumps off the building they're on]]).
* SuperiorSpecies [[spoiler: Pietro]] convinces Wanda to rewrite reality using this as one of the excuses. She's thoroughly disillusioned about it by the end, though.