History EarlyInstallmentWeirdness / TheDCU

** The Amazons were all white in the Golden Age stories and for much of the comic's history. It was George Perez who decided to give Paradise Island a racially diverse population, as he felt there were some UnfortunateImplications behind having an all-female utopia consist solely of white women.

* The earliest ''ComicBook/KidEternity'' stories in ''Hit Comics'' had Kid Eternity taking on the form of every historical figure he asked for rather than merely summoning them from the afterlife to aid him.

* While Creator/NeilGaiman's ''ComicBook/TheSandman'' has always taken place in Franchise/TheDCU, early issues were much less shy about depicting the title character interacting with other DC characters. Hell, the first story arc features Dr. Destiny as the BigBad, as well as [[ComicBook/{{Hellblazer}} John Constantine]], [[ComicBook/NewGods Mr. Miracle]], ComicBook/MartianManhunter, ComicBook/{{Etrigan}}, and ComicBook/TheScarecrow in supporting roles and/or cameos. For the bulk of the series, the Endless and associated characters more or less exist in their own continuity. In addition, while the comic was always very dark, the first story arc was closer to a straight-up horror comic.

* The [[Characters/JusticeLeagueOfAmericaCrimeSyndicate Crime Syndicate]] are well-known for being evil versions of the Justice League from a world where morality is reversed, but their original depiction in the Silver Age wasn't a completely straight MirrorUniverse counterpart to the League, with their home universe Earth-3 merely being a world where they're the only existing super-powered beings in addition to being evil as well as certain major historical events being reversed (such as Britain fighting the Revolutionary War to gain independence from America, or President John Wilkes Booth being assassinated by Abraham Lincoln). No heroic equivalents to the standard DC Universe's villains were confirmed to exist until the first Annual of ''DC Comics Presents'', where Earth-3's counterpart to Lex Luthor showed up to help the Earth-One and Earth-Two Supermen defeat their respective Luthors as well as Ultraman, having been encouraged by the presence of the two Supermen to finally stand up to Ultraman's villainy. Nearly every interpretation of the Crime Syndicate's universe since would make it clear that the universe is inhabited by villainous counterparts to the standard universe's heroes and, conversely, heroic counterparts to the regular reality's villains.

* ComicBook/GreenArrow originally had a different costume, brown hair, and no goatee. He also had a more boring personality, lacking the inclination towards social justice that would define the character starting in UsefulNotes/TheBronzeAgeOfComicBooks. Additionally, like many Golden Age heroes, he had no qualms about killing bad guys.

* Similarly, the ComicBook/MartianManhunter, having first appeared at the start of UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks, was more like a detective than a superhero in his initial appearances and only became a superhero when superheroes started to get popular again.

* Upon reading [[http://web.archive.org/web/20141224034715/http://www.reading-room.net/SC22/SC22p1.html the first]] [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] ''Franchise/GreenLantern'' story, you get the impression that the Green Lantern Corps (referred to only as space-patrolmen in the story) do not generally call themselves Green Lanterns -- in fact, "Green Lantern" was only an alias Hal adopts for himself.

** The [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeofComicBooks Golden Age]] Green Lantern, Alan Scott, is quite different from the more famous Silver Age version. He was based out of Gotham, explicitly used magic, and had a weakness to wood. Also, the concept of there being a large cadre of Green Lanterns overseen by the Guardians of the Universe was introduced with the Silver Age version; Scott had no knowledge of or contact with the Guardians or with any other Green Lanterns.

* ''EarlyInstallmentWeirdness/WonderWoman''

* Early ''ComicBook/{{Shazam}}'' comics treated Captain Marvel as Billy Batson's distinct SuperPoweredAlterEgo rather than Billy in an adult body with superpowers. When Roy Thomas rebooted the character's origin after ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'', he introduced the idea that Billy and Captain Marvel were one and the same, with the Captain now having a more naive and childish personality at times. This depiction was cemented in ''ComicBook/ShazamTheNewBeginning'' and ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueInternational'', and has basically become the character's default portrayal across all media since then (such as in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'', ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'', ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'' and the [[Film/Shazam2019 live-action movie]]). Only a select few works, such as Creator/JeffSmith's ''Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil'', have retained the original Golden Age concept of Captain Marvel being a separate entity.

** In the team's first adventure, the line-up only consisted of Robin, Kid Flash and Aqualad. ComicBook/WonderGirl was added to team in their second appearance, but Speedy wouldn't join the group until ''Teen Titans'' #19. The more notable additions like ComicBook/{{Cyborg}}, ComicBook/{{Raven}} and ComicBook/{{Starfire}} wouldn't be added to the team until the ''New Teen Titans'' relaunch many years later.

** While not a Golden Age character, ComicBook/{{Stargirl}} was much meaner and more disrespectful in her initial appearances. She also did not have the name "Stargirl" (instead going by the moniker "Star-Spangled Kid") until over four years after her creation, and didn't have her trademark cosmic staff until it was given to her by Jack Knight at the end of the ''Comicbook/{{Starman}}'' series. In her [[Comicbook/StarsAndSTRIPE original series]], Courtney was more of a melee fighter, with her cosmic converter belt giving her physical abilities like enhanced strength and speed, as well as the power to blast shooting stars.

* ''Comicbook/TeenTitans'':
** In the team's first adventure, the line-up only consisted of Robin, Kid Flash and Aqualad. Comicbook/WonderGirl was added to team in their second appearance, but Speedy wouldn't join the group until ''Teen Titans'' #19. The more notable additions like Comicbook/{{Cyborg}}, Comicbook/{{Raven}} and Comicbook/{{Starfire}} wouldn't be added to the team until the ''New Teen Titans'' relaunch many years later.

** In early stories, Beast Boy's animal forms would actually have the normal colors of the animal he turned into, with only his head being green. This was changed to the entirety of his animal forms being colored green like his human form.