History Flanderization / MarvelUniverse

* ''ComicBook/SheHulk'': She-Hulk's ReallyGetsAround behaviour as a beloved and lusted after SexGod MsFanservice is a case of this and fairly at odds with the original conceit of her character. To wit, she was a SpearCounterpart to her cousin Bruce in not just being a Hulk but was feared the same as him and likewise had limited speech. Also while her Hulk form was undeniably more attractive than Bruce's, the idea that she would become lusted after seemed implausible given most men were frightened of her early on (with a few exceptions like Zapper and Spider-Man). After it was established she was more intelligent than Bruce in her Hulk form she started getting written to be more flirtatious with Jen embracing her She-Hulk persona as an improvement on her mousey human self, then Creator/JohnByrne got his mitts on her and Shulkie soon became the overtly fanservicey and humorous AmazonianBeauty DudeMagnet. Her sexual appetite too got increasingly more and more flanderized with Jen sleeping with dozens upon dozens of dudes with the breaking point for readers being The Juggernaut for which Jen would NeverLiveItDown (though it was retconned to be her very open minded AlternateSelf who slept with him). Worth noting this [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools isn't a 100% bad direction for her character]] and it did at least make her iconic and more well known than she would be otherwise. In fact when Creator/JasonAaron indulged in some RevisitingTheRoots when it came to She-Hulk making her more monstrous again, the outcry from fans was immense and didn't simmer down until Jen eventually got her popular intelligent and sexy form back.

** Subverted with Sue Storm, who was originally called the Invisible Girl, and useless in a fight. She gained the ability to create force-fields, became a more competent fighter, took on the name Invisible Woman (after all, Iceman and Spider-Man were supposed to be teenagers but never referred to as "boys") and has sometimes served as a more competent leader especially during such time as Reed was away.

** [[Characters/MarvelComicsNormanOsborn Norman Osborn]]] started off as a corrupt businessman who had a loving, but strained relationship with his son; he had one of his colleagues arrested with fake charges and he genuinely thought giving Harry expensive stuff was enough to keep him happy. Even his motive as the Goblin was simple: he wanted to become a crime boss to see if he could, [[MotiveDecay which later warped into a desire to kill Spider-Man]] for always stopping him. When Spidey found out who the Goblin was, he asked Norman if Harry would be proud of him, which caused Norman to lose his composure and led to his defeat and amnesia. When Harry's depression led to his famous drug problem, Norman's inability to understand his son led him to believe Harry's friends were behind it, which caused a panic attack powerful enough to bring back his memories of the goblin -- every time he thought about Harry suffering, he himself suffered a mental breakdown. [[DeathIsCheap Then Norman died, and was brought back decades later]]. During this time he was supposedly a crime boss in Europe, was the mastermind behind ''ComicBook/TheCloneSaga'' and had developed a dislike for his son, to the point he was willing to kill him without any real reason to do so. Nowadays his villainy consists of trying to take over the world, mass murder, spreading the goblin formula through manhattan to cause chaos, and has even been bonded with Carnage and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking plastic surgery has turned his face]] into [[EvilMakesYouUgly a mess]]. He is also implied to hate every minority -- [[StrawMisogynist most famously women]] -- under the sun, and it's even been noted that Norman Osborn is now worse than the Goblin ever was.

* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': [[Characters/MarvelComicsNormanOsborn Norman Osborn]]] started off as a corrupt businessman who had a loving, but strained relationship with his son; he had one of his colleagues arrested with fake charges and he genuinely thought giving Harry expensive stuff was enough to keep him happy. Even his motive as the Goblin was simple: he wanted to become a crime boss to see if he could, [[MotiveDecay which later warped into a desire to kill Spider-Man]] for always stopping him. When Spidey found out who the Goblin was, he asked Norman if Harry would be proud of him, which caused Norman to lose his composure and led to his defeat and amnesia. When Harry's depression led to his famous drug problem, Norman's inability to understand his son led him to believe Harry's friends were behind it, which caused a panic attack powerful enough to bring back his memories of the goblin -- every time he thought about Harry suffering, he himself suffered a mental breakdown. [[DeathIsCheap Then Norman died, and was brought back decades later]]. During this time he was supposedly a crime boss in Europe, was the mastermind behind ''ComicBook/TheCloneSaga'' and had developed a dislike for his son, to the point he was willing to kill him without any real reason to do so. Nowadays his villainy consists of trying to take over the world, mass murder, spreading the goblin formula through manhattan to cause chaos, and has even been bonded with Carnage and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking plastic surgery has turned his face]] into [[EvilMakesYouUgly a mess]]. He is also implied to hate every minority -- [[StrawMisogynist most famously women]] -- under the sun, and it's even been noted that Norman Osborn is now worse than the Goblin ever was.

* Hank Pym (aka ComicBook/AntMan) has suffered from this perhaps more than any other Marvel character. During a single incident in which he was suffering a nervous breakdown and had just completed building a robot programmed to kill all of his friends, [[NeverLiveItDown/ComicBooks Hank struck his wife]], Janet Van Dyne (ComicBook/TheWasp). This immediately had the effect of establishing him in canon both as a wife-beater and severely mentally ill. Dozens of writers over the years have gone back to this time and again, with at least three different stories having been told about the two of them coming to terms with what happened. Hank's remorse is so Flanderized and extreme that he called ''himself'' the Wasp when [[DeathIsCheap she was thought to be dead]].

* ComicBook/CarolDanvers aka Ms Marvel/Captain Marvel has had her furious impatience and ControlFreak qualities shoot through the roof. Originally she was abrasive at worst and most of her anger and outbursts were sympathetic, from having to deal with the very sexist J.Jonah when she worked temporarily as his magazine editor to giving the Avengers a collective WhatTheHellHero over their nonchalant reaction to her getting mystically raped and impregnated by her son Marcus. Modern comics namely the ones after Carol took the Captain Marvel mantle have exaggerated Carol’s worst traits to ludicrous levels to the extent she makes even Tony look reasonable in comparison cumulating in ''ComicBook/CivilWarII'' where calling her a VillainProtagonist is putting it mildly and even Maria Hill tells her she’s getting out of control. There’s also her hatred of her rival Rogue which went from off as understandable anger to “I will kick the crap out of skunk hair on sight” and in one WhatIf Carol literally goes across the multiverse killing every version of Rogue she can find which is kinda DisproportionateRetribution for throwing someone off a bridge one time. Thankfully writers did eventually settle on Carol forgiving and befriending Rogue which is more that can be said about the rest of her problems.

* During the first ongoing ''ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}'' series and in ''ComicBook/CableAndDeadpool'', Deadpool was a talkative loon full of bad jokes and other wackiness. However, he was also portrayed as a total psychotic with a loose, at best, grasp of sanity. All the wackiness was a cover to hide his immense mental problems and self-loathing and just the slightest nudge could send him over the edge in a violent, unsettling rage. Most subsequent writers pretty much ignore the latter part and play him up as little more than a goofy comedy character. His [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools popularity skyrocketed]] after his flanderization and his flanderized version became his more iconic and well-recognized version. It helps that Marvel already has characters to fill the [[ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} Canadian with Rage Issues, Regenerating Healing Powers, and a convoluted backstory complicated by Swiss-Cheese Memory]], and [[ComicBook/SpiderMan a flamboyant joke-cracker in a red costume, whose snark covers up his inner angst]] roles. After Deadpool's flanderized "wacky all the time" shtick got stale with many fans, the Duggen[=/=]Posehn run achieved acclaim for its CharacterRerailment.

** [[ComicBook/MisterFantastic Reed Richards]] was originally a tad eccentric and rather emotionally stunted, but was Flanderized in the late 1990s/2000s into a borderline savant who doesn't understand human social behavior. This pretty much is part and parcel of Reed's slow derailment from a many-layered, infamously trope-defying character into a generic scientific supergenius strawman. Perhaps most tellingly, Reed was originally written as a veteran of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII before ComicBookTime forced the writers to cut that detail from his backstory. After 40 years of intense {{Flanderization}}, though, it's practically unthinkable that the current comics' pencil-necked nerd would have ever even ''considered'' serving in the Army, let alone that he would ever have fought in Nazi-occupied France in the Big One.
** Inverted with ComicBook/TheThing: in his earliest appearances, he was a complete {{jerkass}} who was constantly picking fights with not only Johnny, but Reed, and had no use for people whom he felt were judging him. Later on, he was portrayed as more of a tough guy with a heart of gold.
** Subverted with ComicBook/InvisibleWoman who was originally called the Invisible Girl, and useless in a fight. She gained the ability to create force-fields, became a more competent fighter, took on the name Invisible Woman (after all, Iceman and Spider-Man were supposed to be teenagers but never referred to as "boys") and has sometimes served as a more competent leader especially during such time as Reed was away.
* ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'': The Hulk's raw power has been greatly exaggerated. In his first appearance, Hulk was perfectly capable of fluent speech and clear-minded reasoning. Over the years the "dumb" part of DumbMuscle got amplified along with the "muscle", until we reach the iconic "HULK SMASH!" levels. Then, Creator/PeterDavid got the idea of explaining this as two different facets of Bruce Banner's fractured mind manifesting in different types of Hulk. How his level of strength tends to be inversely proportional to his intelligence has been explained by that his ability to reason tends to put limits to how much pure rage he can build up. An alternate universe supervillain, the Maestro, was even created out of the idea of "what if the Hulk stopped caring about holding back, then lived for a hundred years?"

* Thunderbolt Ross aka Red Hulk, Hulk’s perpetual thorn in the side actually got his despicable tendencies flanderized over the years. While still a GeneralRipper, Ross was originally fulfilled a similar to role to Hulk as J.Jonah Jameson to Spidey in other words he was a constant overbearing antagonistic figure whom the hero had to live with in his dual identity but he wasn’t any more villainous than the MonsterOfTheWeek and had affable and entertaining traits. He once mused ironically the Hulk would be a better man for Betty than pencil pushing scientist Bruce. After Hulk’s identity is revealed however Ross became more and more of a colossal douchebag willingly to do anything to kill Bruce, even storm his daughter’s wedding armed with a gun. Add to that becoming Red Hulk which DependingOnTheWriter actually made Ross more heroic or just as commonly flanderized his hypocrisy and jerkassery even further.
* ComicBook/IronMan used to be a fairly well-rounded character, being not only a super hero, but also a captain of industry, a millionaire playboy, a bit of a womanizer, a technological genius and - rather uniquely - physically crippled from his inception. He also had a bout with alcoholism. During ''ComicBook/CivilWar2006'', he got flanderized into a stubborn pseudo-fascist who'd just as soon throw his best friends in jail if they did not fall in line with the SuperHumanRegistrationAct. He had not ''nearly'' recovered from the fan-impact of that when Matt Fraction took him on an entirely different flanderization trip by reducing ''all'' his issues to side effects of alcoholism, but at least he made him be sorry for his behaviour during ''Civil War''. Now, it seems Tony Stark spends approximately half the time agonizing about how badly he sucks. His characterization later got better during Kieron Gillen's run as Iron Man took some days off and went to a vacation in space, as has taken a more carefree approach to his life. Also, like Bruce Wayne in the DCU, Tony Stark seems to have gone from "guy with a few million bucks" to "probably the richest man in the Marvel Universe".

* ComicBook/NormanOsborn started off as a corrupt businessman who had a loving, but strained relationship with his son; he had one of his colleagues arrested with fake charges and he genuinely thought giving Harry expensive stuff was enough to keep him happy. Even his motive as the Goblin was simple: he wanted to become a crime boss to see if he could, [[MotiveDecay which later warped into a desire to kill Spider-Man]] for always stopping him. When Spidey found out who the Goblin was, he asked Norman if Harry would be proud of him, which caused Norman to lose his composure and led to his defeat and amnesia. When Harry's depression led to his famous drug problem, Norman's inability to understand his son led him to believe Harry's friends were behind it, which caused a panic attack powerful enough to bring back his memories of the goblin -- every time he thought about Harry suffering, he himself suffered a mental breakdown. [[DeathIsCheap Then Norman died, and was brought back decades later]]. During this time he was supposedly a crime boss in Europe, was the mastermind behind ''ComicBook/TheCloneSaga'' and had developed a dislike for his son, to the point he was willing to kill him without any real reason to do so. Nowadays his villainy consists of trying to take over the world, mass murder, spreading the goblin formula through manhattan to cause chaos, and has even been bonded with Carnage and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking plastic surgery has turned his face]] into [[EvilMakesYouUgly a mess]]. He is also implied to hate every minority -- [[StrawMisogynist most famously women]] -- under the sun, and it's even been noted that Norman Osborn is now worse than the Goblin ever was.
* ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'' has suffered a few cases of this over the years:

* ComicBook/SheHulk’s ReallyGetsAround behaviour as a beloved and lusted after SexGod MsFanservice is a case of this and fairly at odds with the original conceit of her character. To wit, she was a SpearCounterpart to her cousin Bruce in not just being a Hulk but was feared the same as him and likewise had limited speech. Also while her Hulk form was undeniably more attractive than Bruce’s, the idea that she would become lusted after seemed implausible given most men were frightened of her early on (with a few exceptions like Zapper and Spider-Man). After it was established she was more intelligent than Bruce in her Hulk form she started getting written to be more flirtatious with Jen embracing her She-Hulk persona as an improvement on her mousey human self, then Creator/JohnByrne got his mitts on her and Shulkie soon became the overtly fanservicey and humorous AmazonianBeauty DudeMagnet. Her sexual appetite too got increasingly more and more flanderized with Jen sleeping with dozens upon dozens of dudes with the breaking point for readers being The Juggernaut for which Jen would NeverLiveItDown (though it was retconned to be her very open minded AlternateSelf who slept with him). Worth noting this [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools isn’t a 100% bad direction for her character]] and it did at least make her iconic and more well known than she would be otherwise. In fact when Creator/JasonAaron indulged in some RevisitingTheRoots when it came to She-Hulk making her more monstrous again, the outcry from fans was immense and didn’t simmer down until Jen eventually got her popular intelligent and sexy form back.
* ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'' has been criticized for being an extreme Flanderization of the Avengers. In their initial run, Creator/MarkMillar tended to take the most famous aspects of each Avenger -- ComicBook/{{Cap|tainAmerica}} being of the '40s, [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony]]'s hedonism, [[ComicBook/AntMan Pym]] slapping Janet, [[ComicBook/TheWasp Jan]] being slapped by Pym, [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk the Hulk]]'s rage, etc. -- and amplified them all several times over: Cap was painfully old-fashioned in speech and social views, Tony was always drinking and/or flirting with some blonde, Pym was a textbook wife-beater, Jan was a textbook battered wife, and Hulk was a murdering cannibal. This went into overdrive when Creator/JephLoeb took over the third volume. Tony was always in a drunken stupor and Cap spontaneously picked fights over [[ComicBook/ScarletWitch Wanda]]'s choice of attire.
* The ComicBook/{{Venom}} symbiotes that most often show up in connection to ComicBook/SpiderMan have been established as having a vulnerability to fire and sonic attacks. When the latter was first used, it required a sonic emitter built by Reed Richards for this specific purpose. Over time this vulnerability has been exaggerated to the point that any loud noise can repel a symbiote. As for fire, at its worst the mere presence of a single lit lighter has been able to drive a symbiote away.

** ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} is a case study. During the [[The80s '80s]] considerable CharacterDevelopment evolved the character from a one-note {{Jerkass}} prone to UnstoppableRage to a wise, intelligent, multitalented, and skilled warrior/mentor. Then he [[PopularityPower got popular]] and the LowestCommonDenominator of Captain Fuzzity [=McStabStab=] won out [[WolverinePublicity with all the guest-shots]] even as they ramped his HealingFactor to up to eleven. [[EnsembleDarkhorse And he's still the most popular character of the whole franchise]]. Because being badass is the ''only'' thing he seems to need. And while his edges seem to have been smoothed in the ''X-Men'' comics, the buzz has it as of SDCC '13 that they're going to do a major story where his killing tendencies threaten his place in the Avengers.\\\

Under writer Jason Aaron, another example has occurred. While Logan always had kind of a rivalry with ComicBook/{{Cyclops}}, the two are friends and can agree on some things, and Logan ''does'' respect Scott. Furthermore, while Logan ''is'' a Jerkass, he's willing to admit when he's wrong. Under the aforementioned writer, Logan's Jerkass tendencies have become his dominant trait, with him mouthing off about why Cyke sucks literally every time the two meet, and he outright ignores anything good the guy does.
** Characters/{{Mystique}} believe it or not was (under Claremont’s pen) once upon time a more rounded villain and not the shittiest mother ever put to comic print. In Raven’s early days while still a villain she was composed, rational and pragmatic as the leader of the Brotherhood of Mutants. She also genuinely loved Rogue and wouldn’t think of hurting her and even her attitude to her son Nightcrawler while less caring was significant enough for her to hesitate from killing him in a crucial moment. She certainly had her ControlFreak and {{jerkass}} villain flaws but they weren’t as prominent. After Claremont left Mystique‘s psychotic traits became far more pronounced to Carnage or Sabretooth levels and she started going to the Wu Zetian school of motherhood treating Nightcrawler and especially Rogue like absolute dirt with near constant abuse. Even Raven’s anti-human pro-human agenda can come off as EarlyInstalmentWeirdness when reconciling it with her general ChronicBackstabbingDisorder characterisation where she’s a BoomerangBigot who only cares about herself and Destiny. It’s taken a conservative effort from writers to dial Mystique back to just merely bad rather than an outright {{sadist}}.

** ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} is a case study. During the [[TheEighties '80s]] considerable CharacterDevelopment evolved the character from a one-note {{Jerkass}} prone to UnstoppableRage to a wise, intelligent, multitalented, and skilled warrior/mentor. Then he [[PopularityPower got popular]] and the LowestCommonDenominator of Captain Fuzzity [=McStabStab=] won out [[WolverinePublicity with all the guest-shots]] even as they ramped his HealingFactor to up to eleven. [[EnsembleDarkhorse And he's still the most popular character of the whole franchise]]. Because being badass is the ''only'' thing he seems to need. And while his edges seem to have been smoothed in the ''X-Men'' comics, the buzz has it as of SDCC '13 that they're going to do a major story where his killing tendencies threaten his place in the Avengers.\\\

** ComicBook/{{Rogue}}’s sexualisation as a MsFanservice is certainly this in the long run. Open up her first appearance in Avengers Annual #10 and it’s clear neither Chris Claremont or Michael Gordonth artist intended Rogue to be a icon of PerverseSexualLust to the Marvel masses, with unsettlingly her Cruella De Vi looking appearance. Even her now signature action of giving characters (usually guys) a ForcefulKiss was initially creepy and gross. Upon joining having a HeelRealization and joining the X-Men Rogue all suddenly started becoming more and more attractive and curvaceous with even the aspect of her character that she has to cover as much skin up as possible being often conveniently ignored as Rogue roller skated in a bikini or went around in Daisy dukes. Not to mention the SensualSpandex of her outfit being played up to the hilt. Nowadays it’s more alarming when Rogue is played off as unattractive and sinister as seen by a NightmareSequence Carol has of her bridge fight with Rogue with the latter having a face of full of spikey teeth and glowing eyes.

** Even Tony’s extreme womanising HandsomeLech traits are actually NewerThanTheyThink. A common theme of Tony’s original comics were his reticence and fear of forming a romantic relationship with any woman due to the fact with shrapnel imbedded in his chest he could die at any moment. Once the shrapnel was removed this CelibateHero side was royally kicked out the door and Tony started [[ReallyGetsAround pretty much shagging his way through]] the ActionGirl population of the Marvel universe having had relationships with Black Widow, Madame Masque, Pepper Potts, She-Hulk, Gamora (yes both green ladies), The Wasp and more recently Emma Frost in some AltarDiplomacy between the X-Men and Avengers.

* ComicBook/SheHulk’s ReallyGetsAround behaviour as a beloved and lusted after SexGod MsFanservice is a case of this and fairly at odds with the original conceit of her character. To wit, she was a SpearCounterpart to her cousin Bruce in not just being a Hulk but was feared the same as him and likewise had limited speech. Also while her Hulk form was undeniably more attractive than Bruce’s, the idea that she would become lusted after seemed implausible given most men were frightened of her early on (with a few exceptions like Zapper and Spider-Man). After it was established she was more intelligent than Bruce in her Hulk form she started getting written to be more flirtatious with Jen embracing her She-Hulk persona as an improvement on her mousey human self, then Creator/JohnByrne got his mitts on her and Shulkie soon became the overtly fanservicey and humorous AmazonChaser DudeMagnet. Her sexual appetite too got increasingly more and more flanderized with Jen sleeping with dozens upon dozens of dudes with the breaking point for readers being The Juggernaut for which Jen would NeverLiveItDown (though it was retconned to be her very open minded AlternateSelf who slept with him). Worth noting this [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools isn’t a 100% bad direction for her character]] and it did at least make her iconic and more well known than she would be otherwise. In fact when Creator/JasonAaron indulged in some RevisitingTheRoots when it came to She-Hulk making her more monstrous again, the outcry from fans was immense and didn’t simmer down until Jen eventually got her popular intelligent and sexy form back.

* ComicBook/CarolDanvers aka Ms Marvel/Captain Marvel has had her furious impatience and ControlFreak qualities shoot through the roof. Originally she was abrasive at worst and most of her anger and outbursts were sympathetic from having to deal with the very sexist J.Jonah when she worked temporarily as his magazine editor to giving the Avengers a collective WhatTheHellHero over their nonchalant reaction to her getting mystically raped and impregnated by her son Marcus. Modern comics namely the ones after Carol took the Captain Marvel mantle have exaggerated Carol’s worst traits to ludicrous levels to the extent she makes the aforementioned Tony look reasonable in comparison cumulating in ''ComicBook/CivilWarII'' where calling her a VillainProtagonist is putting it mildly and even Maria Hill tells her she’s getting out of control. There’s also her hatred of her rival Rogue which went from off as understandable anger to “I will kick the crap out of skunk hair on sight” and in one WhatIf Carol literally goes across the multiverse killing every version of Rogue she can find which is kinda DisproportionateRetribution for throwing someone off a bridge one time. Thankfully writers did eventually settle on Carol forgiving and befriending Rogue which is more that can be said about the rest of her problems.

* During the first ongoing ''ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}'' series and in ''ComicBook/CableAndDeadpool'', Deadpool was a talkative loon full of bad jokes and other wackiness. However, he was also portrayed as a total psychotic with a loose, at best, grasp of sanity. All the wackiness was a cover to hide his immense mental problems and self-loathing and just the slightest nudge could send him over the edge in a violent, unsettling rage. Most subsequent writers pretty much ignore the latter part and play him up as little more than a goofy comedy character. His [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools popularity skyrocketed]] after his flanderization and his flanderized version became his more iconic and well-recognized version. It helps that Marvel already has characters to fill the [[ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} Canadian with Rage Issues, Regenerating Healing Powers, and a convoluted backstory complicated by Swiss-Cheese Memory]], and [[Franchise/SpiderMan a flamboyant joke-cracker in a red costume, whose snark covers up his inner angst]] roles. After Deadpool's flanderized "wacky all the time" shtick got stale with many fans, the Duggen[=/=]Posehn run achieved acclaim for its CharacterRerailment.
* ''Comicbook/FantasticFour'':

** [[Comicbook/MisterFantastic Reed Richards]] was originally a tad eccentric and rather emotionally stunted, but was Flanderized in the late 1990s/2000s into a borderline savant who doesn't understand human social behavior. This pretty much is part and parcel of Reed's slow derailment from a many-layered, infamously trope-defying character into a generic scientific supergenius strawman. Perhaps most tellingly, Reed was originally written as a veteran of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII before ComicBookTime forced the writers to cut that detail from his backstory. After 40 years of intense {{Flanderization}}, though, it's practically unthinkable that the current comics' pencil-necked nerd would have ever even ''considered'' serving in the Army, let alone that he would ever have fought in Nazi-occupied France in the Big One.
** Inverted with Comicbook/TheThing: in his earliest appearances, he was a complete {{jerkass}} who was constantly picking fights with not only Johnny, but Reed, and had no use for people whom he felt were judging him. Later on, he was portrayed as more of a tough guy with a heart of gold.
** Subverted with Comicbook/InvisibleWoman who was originally called the Invisible Girl, and useless in a fight. She gained the ability to create force-fields, became a more competent fighter, took on the name Invisible Woman (after all, Iceman and Spider-Man were supposed to be teenagers but never referred to as "boys") and has sometimes served as a more competent leader especially during such time as Reed was away.

* ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'' has been criticized for being an extreme Flanderization of the Avengers. In their initial run, Creator/MarkMillar tended to take the most famous aspects of each Avenger -- ComicBook/{{Cap|tainAmerica}} being of the '40s, [[Comicbook/IronMan Tony]]'s hedonism, [[ComicBook/AntMan Pym]] slapping Janet, [[ComicBook/TheWasp Jan]] being slapped by Pym, [[Comicbook/TheIncredibleHulk the Hulk]]'s rage, etc. -- and amplified them all several times over: Cap was painfully old-fashioned in speech and social views, Tony was always drinking and/or flirting with some blonde, Pym was a textbook wife-beater, Jan was a textbook battered wife, and Hulk was a murdering cannibal. This went into overdrive when Creator/JephLoeb took over the third volume. Tony was always in a drunken stupor and Cap spontaneously picked fights over [[ComicBook/ScarletWitch Wanda]]'s choice of attire.
* The {{Comicbook/Venom}} symbiotes that most often show up in connection to [[Franchise/SpiderMan Spider-Man]] have been established as having a vulnerability to fire and sonic attacks. When the latter was first used, it required a sonic emitter built by Reed Richards for this specific purpose. Over time this vulnerability has been exaggerated to the point that any loud noise can repel a symbiote. As for fire, at its worst the mere presence of a single lit lighter has been able to drive a symbiote away.
* Comicbook/XMen:

Under writer Jason Aaron, another example has occurred. While Logan always had kind of a rivalry with Comicbook/{{Cyclops}}, the two are friends and can agree on some things, and Logan ''does'' respect Scott. Furthermore, while Logan ''is'' a Jerkass, he's willing to admit when he's wrong. Under the aforementioned writer, Logan's Jerkass tendencies have become his dominant trait, with him mouthing off about why Cyke sucks literally every time the two meet, and he outright ignores anything good the guy does.

** [[Characters/XMenMojoverse Mojo]] was introduced in a miniseries as a psychotic EldritchAbomination obsessed whose very presence actually caused living things to wither and die and who casually committed MindRape. He also commissioned genetically engineered slaves to act in movies to entertain him. Even Comicbook/DoctorStrange feared what would happen if he stayed on Earth for long. As soon as he was brought into the main X-Men comics, the mystical powers and murderous demeanor were downplayed and the media obsession was turned up to eleven, so Mojo immediately became a comedic villain used to spoof the entertainment industry. He's still pretty damn horrible, though, and his comedic personality makes it worse when he does something like torturing Nocturne ForTheEvulz, or cheerfully sending someone to ''have their spine freaking removed''.

** A number of writers sadly only ever saw ComicBook/JeanGrey as either the Phoenix or "that cute girl [[LoveTriangle Cyclops and Wolverine fight over]]." Jean Grey's reputation as the person who [[FirstLawOfResurrection resurrects frequently]] has been further exaggerated, with ''Phoenix – Endsong'' demonstrating multiple deaths and resurrections over a few pages, further lampshaded in ''Deadly Genesis'', when Scott and Logan react to the possibility of her resurrection in the same panel. In ''[[ComicBook/AdjectivelessXMen X-Men]]'' vol 4, the possibility of Jean Grey resurrecting was further discussed when her DNA became a plot point in the creation of a host for Madelyne Pryor.
** Mister Sinister is an interesting case. Originally introduced by Creator/ChrisClaremont as something of an evil cipher, little was known about Sinister other than that he was a MadScientist and that he was obsessed with Cyclops for some reason. Claremont had originally planned for a long, drawn-out reveal (in his [[KudzuPlot usual style]]) that would have established Sinister as an 8-year-old boy with the mutant power of aging very, very slowly -- as in, he was already over 100 years old when he was in the orphanage with Scott despite his body still being 8 -- using the Sinister persona as a front. Claremont's abrupt departure shelved this plan, and so a new origin story was created for Sinister, one in which he was a scientist from Victorian England granted power and immortality by perennial X-Men BigBad ComicBook/{{Apocalypse}}.. This new origin story portrayed him as something of a TragicVillain, and most of the stories of the time followed suit to greater or lesser degrees. But beginning with 2002's ''Weapon X'' a new interpretation for Sinister was introduced, one which hewed closer to the Claremontian Mad Scientist but also cranked his evil quotient up to eleven by making him an {{Expy}} of infamous Nazi scientist Josef Mengele. Since that time Sinister's become increasingly more affiliated with the Nazi regime, increasingly more [[NaziNobleman Nazi-like in general]], and increasingly more prone to playing the PoliticallyIncorrectVillain.

* ComicBook/IronMan used to be a fairly well-rounded character, being not only a super hero, but also a captain of industry, a millionaire playboy, a bit of a womanizer, a technological genius and - rather uniquely - physically crippled from his inception. He also had a bout with alcoholism. During Comicbook/CivilWar, he got flanderized into a stubborn pseudo-fascist who'd just as soon throw his best friends in jail if they did not fall in line with the SuperHumanRegistrationAct. He had not ''nearly'' recovered from the fan-impact of that when Matt Fraction took him on an entirely different flanderization trip by reducing ''all'' his issues to side effects of alcoholism, but at least he made him be sorry for his behaviour during Civil War. Now, it seems Tony Stark spends approximately half the time agonizing about how badly he sucks. His characterization later got better during Kieron Gillen's run as Iron Man took some days off and went to a vacation in space, as has taken a more carefree approach to his life. Also, like Bruce Wayne in the DCU, Tony Stark seems to have gone from "guy with a few million bucks" to "probably the richest man in the Marvel Universe".

** [[Comicbook/HumanTorch Johnny Storm]] started off as a somewhat-conceited daredevil hero of the team[[note]]It's been joked that while the battle cry of the Avengers is "Avengers assemble!", that of the Fantastic Four is arguably "[[LeeroyJenkins Johnny, wait]]!"[[/note]]. Since the eighties, he's become increasingly more stupid and narcissistic, to the point where he now appears to be a [[TheDitz ditzy]], AmbiguouslyGay metrosexual completely in love with himself.

** Jimmy Hudson started in ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen'' as the son of Wolverine, he had WolverineClaws and a healing factor, but other than that he had his own personality, in many aspects in contrast with that of Wolverine. The comic played with this, balancing between the similarities and the divergences. The ComicBook/UltimateMarvel comics ceased to be published in 2015, but he was rescued and incorporated into ComicBook/XMenBlue. In this comic, however, he became a full-time WolverineWannabe, a teenager "Wolverine" alongside the teenager's original time-displaced X-Men.

** ComicBook/{{Beast|MarvelComics}}, a bit of a DumbJock in his early appearances, has become more frequently characterized by SesquipedalianLoquaciousness and a handful of catchphrases.

** As of ''ComicBook/SecretEmpire'', Hank [[spoiler: after having merged with Ultron]], finally snaps and calls out the then 'Captain HYDRA' Steve and the AI version of Tony Stark for all the stuff that they've pulled which, especially in Tony's case (Steve was morally flipped against his will), makes the incident with Janet, awful as it was, look like a playground scuffle. He has a point, unfortunately.

** Wolverine's daughter/sister/OppositeSexClone, ComicBook/{{X 23}} suffers from much of the same treatment as he does. Once her [[ComicBook/InnocenceLost backstory]] was revealed, Laura was established as a highly-skilled fighter, and a [[GeniusBruiser very intelligent]] and [[BadassBookworm highly educated]] young girl with the extensive assassin and black ops training, while ''[[ComicBook/NewXMenAcademyX New X-Men]]'' expanded upon this further by revealing her to be a gifted strategist as well. Most writers now completely ignore everything after "highly-skilled fighter," and give her all the subtlety in combat of LeeroyJenkins. This is most egregious in ''ComicBook/AvengersArena'', where the writers give lip service to her training and AwesomenessByAnalysis, and ''still'' have her decide the best strategy for taking down Apex (who is controlling a ''Sentinel'') is a [[IdiotBall direct frontal assault]]. Even the trigger scent has been subject to this. Initially, the conditioning the Facility subjected Laura to resulted in her rages focusing specifically on whatever was marked by the scent. By the time her solo series and ''Avengers Arena'' rolled around, the scent was now sending her after ''everything in sight''.

Underwriter Jason Aaron, another example has occurred. While Logan always had kind of a rivalry with Comicbook/{{Cyclops}}, the two are friends and can agree on some things, and Logan ''does'' respect Scott. Furthermore, while Logan ''is'' a Jerkass, he's willing to admit when he's wrong. Under the aforementioned writer, Logan's Jerkass tendencies have become his dominant trait, with him mouthing off about why Cyke sucks literally every time the two meet, and he outright ignores anything good the guy does.

* ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'' has been criticized for being an extreme Flanderization of the Avengers. In their initial run, Creator/MarkMillar tended to take the most famous aspects of each Avenger -- ComicBook/{{Cap|tainAmerica}} being of the '40s, [[Comicbook/IronMan Tony]]'s hedonism, [[ComicBook/AntMan Pym]] slapping Janet, [[ComicBook/TheWasp Jan]] being slapped by Pym, [[Comicbook/IncredibleHulk Hulk]]'s rage, etc. -- and amplified them all several times over: Cap was painfully old-fashioned in speech and social views, Tony was always drinking and/or flirting with some blonde, Pym was a textbook wife-beater, Jan was a textbook battered wife, and Hulk was a murdering cannibal. This went into overdrive when Creator/JephLoeb took over the third volume. Tony was always in a drunken stupor and Cap spontaneously picked fights over [[ComicBook/ScarletWitch Wanda]]'s choice of attire.

* [[Comicbook/IncredibleHulk The Hulk's]] raw power has been great ly exaggerated. In his first appearance, Hulk was perfectly capable of fluent speech and clear-minded reasoning. Over the years the "dumb" part of DumbMuscle got amplified along with the "muscle", until we reach the iconic "HULK SMASH!" levels. Then, Creator/PeterDavid got the idea of explaining this as two different facets of Bruce Banner's fractured mind manifesting in different types of Hulk. How his level of strength tends to be inversely proportional to his intelligence has been explained by that his ability to reason tends to put limits to how much pure rage he can build up. An alternate universe supervillain, the Maestro, was even created out of the idea of "what if the Hulk stopped caring about holding back, then lived for a hundred years?"

** ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} is a case study. During the [[TheEighties '80s]] considerable CharacterDevelopment evolved the character from a one-note {{Jerkass}} prone to UnstoppableRage to a wise, intelligent, multitalented, and skilled warrior/mentor. Then he [[PopularityPower got popular]] and the LowestCommonDenominator of Captain Fuzzity [=McStabStab=] won out [[WolverinePublicity with all the guest-shots]] even as they ramped his HealingFactor to UpToEleven. [[EnsembleDarkhorse And he's still the most popular character of the whole franchise]]. Because being badass is the ''only'' thing he seems to need. And while his edges seem to have been smoothed in the ''X-Men'' comics, the buzz has it as of SDCC '13 that they're going to do a major story where his killing tendencies threaten his place in the Avengers.\\\

** [[Characters/XMenMojoverse Mojo]] was introduced in a miniseries as a psychotic EldritchAbomination obsessed whose very presence actually caused living things to wither and die and who casually committed MindRape. He also commissioned genetically engineered slaves to act in movies to entertain him. Even Comicbook/DoctorStrange feared what would happen if he stayed on Earth for long. As soon as he was brought into the main X-Men comics, the mystical powers and murderous demeanor were downplayed and the media obsession was turned UpToEleven, so Mojo immediately became a comedic villain used to spoof the entertainment industry. He's still pretty damn horrible, though, and his comedic personality makes it worse when he does something like torturing Nocturne ForTheEvulz, or cheerfully sending someone to ''have their spine freaking removed''.

** Mister Sinister is an interesting case. Originally introduced by Creator/ChrisClaremont as something of an evil cipher, little was known about Sinister other than that he was a MadScientist and that he was obsessed with Cyclops for some reason. Claremont had originally planned for a long, drawn-out reveal (in his [[KudzuPlot usual style]]) that would have established Sinister as an 8-year-old boy with the mutant power of aging very, very slowly -- as in, he was already over 100 years old when he was in the orphanage with Scott despite his body still being 8 -- using the Sinister persona as a front. Claremont's abrupt departure shelved this plan, and so a new origin story was created for Sinister, one in which he was a scientist from Victorian England granted power and immortality by perennial X-Men BigBad ComicBook/{{Apocalypse}}.. This new origin story portrayed him as something of a TragicVillain, and most of the stories of the time followed suit to greater or lesser degrees. But beginning with 2002's ''Weapon X'' a new interpretation for Sinister was introduced, one which hewed closer to the Claremontian Mad Scientist but also cranked his evil quotient UpToEleven by making him an {{Expy}} of infamous Nazi scientist Josef Mengele. Since that time Sinister's become increasingly more affiliated with the Nazi regime, increasingly more [[NaziNobleman Nazi-like in general]], and increasingly more prone to playing the PoliticallyIncorrectVillain.

** ComicBook/JimmyHudson started in ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen'' as the son of Wolverine, he had WolverineClaws and a healing factor, but other than that he had his own personality, in many aspects in contrast with that of Wolverine. The comic played with this, balancing between the similarities and the divergences. The ComicBook/UltimateMarvel comics ceased to be published in 2015, but he was rescued and incorporated into ComicBook/XMenBlue. In this comic, however, he became a full-time WolverineWannabe, a teenager "Wolverine" alongside the teenager's original time-displaced X-Men.

** ComicBook/MisterSinister is an interesting case. Originally introduced by Creator/ChrisClaremont as something of an evil cipher, little was known about Sinister other than that he was a MadScientist and that he was obsessed with Cyclops for some reason. Claremont had originally planned for a long, drawn-out reveal (in his [[KudzuPlot usual style]]) that would have established Sinister as an 8-year-old boy with the mutant power of aging very, very slowly -- as in, he was already over 100 years old when he was in the orphanage with Scott despite his body still being 8 -- using the Sinister persona as a front. Claremont's abrupt departure shelved this plan, and so a new origin story was created for Sinister, one in which he was a scientist from Victorian England granted power and immortality by perennial X-Men BigBad ComicBook/{{Apocalypse}}.. This new origin story portrayed him as something of a TragicVillain, and most of the stories of the time followed suit to greater or lesser degrees. But beginning with 2002's ''Weapon X'' a new interpretation for Sinister was introduced, one which hewed closer to the Claremontian Mad Scientist but also cranked his evil quotient UpToEleven by making him an {{Expy}} of infamous Nazi scientist Josef Mengele. Since that time Sinister's become increasingly more affiliated with the Nazi regime, increasingly more [[NaziNobleman Nazi-like in general]], and increasingly more prone to playing the PoliticallyIncorrectVillain.

* [[Comicbook/IncredibleHulk The Hulk's]] raw power has been exaggerated to the point that he might as well just be a [[Anime/DragonBallZ Super Saiyan.]] In his first appearance, Hulk was perfectly capable of fluent speech and clear-minded reasoning. Over the years the "dumb" part of DumbMuscle got amplified along with the "muscle", until we reach the iconic "HULK SMASH!" levels. Then, Creator/PeterDavid got the idea of explaining this as two different facets of Bruce Banner's fractured mind manifesting in different types of Hulk. How his level of strength tends to be inversely proportional to his intelligence has been explained by that his ability to reason tends to put limits to how much pure rage he can build up. An alternate universe supervillain, the Maestro, was even created out of the idea of "what if the Hulk stopped caring about holding back, then lived for a hundred years?"

* During the first ongoing ''ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}'' series and in ''ComicBook/CableAndDeadpool'', Deadpool was a talkative loon full of bad jokes and other wackiness. However, he was also portrayed as a total psychotic with a loose, at best, grasp of sanity. All the wackiness was a cover to hide his immense mental problems and self-loathing and just the slightest nudge could send him over the edge in a violent, unsettling rage. Most subsequent writers pretty much ignore the latter part and play him up as little more than a goofy comedy character. His [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools popularity skyrocketed]] after his flanderization and his flanderized version became his more iconic and well-recognized version. It helps that Marvel already has characters to fill the [[Franchise/{{Wolverine}} Canadian with Rage Issues, Regenerating Healing Powers, and a convoluted backstory complicated by Swiss-Cheese Memory]], and [[Franchise/SpiderMan a flamboyant joke-cracker in a red costume, whose snark covers up his inner angst]] roles. After Deadpool's flanderized "wacky all the time" shtick got stale with many fans, the Duggen[=/=]Posehn run achieved acclaim for its CharacterRerailment.

** Franchise/{{Wolverine}} is a case study. During the [[TheEighties '80s]] considerable CharacterDevelopment evolved the character from a one-note {{Jerkass}} prone to UnstoppableRage to a wise, intelligent, multitalented, and skilled warrior/mentor. Then he [[PopularityPower got popular]] and the LowestCommonDenominator of Captain Fuzzity [=McStabStab=] won out [[WolverinePublicity with all the guest-shots]] even as they ramped his HealingFactor to UpToEleven. [[EnsembleDarkhorse And he's still the most popular character of the whole franchise]]. Because being badass is the ''only'' thing he seems to need. And while his edges seem to have been smoothed in the ''X-Men'' comics, the buzz has it as of SDCC '13 that they're going to do a major story where his killing tendencies threaten his place in the Avengers.\\\