History Main / CanonMarchesOn

* ''Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya'': Emiri Kimidori's ImageSong, which was released before the tenth volume of the light novel series, paints her as someone who wants to connect with humans and [[IJustWantToHaveFriends make friends]] but can't due to being a [[ArtificialIntelligence humanoid interface]]. However, the tenth volume reveals that [[spoiler:she's actually largely indifferent to humanity and refuses to do anything that isn't ordered by the Entity, not even when her fellow interface Yuki's personal safety is at risk.]]

* ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'': Emiri Kimidori's ImageSong, which was released before the tenth volume of the light novel series, paints her as someone who wants to connect with humans and [[IJustWantToHaveFriends make friends]] but can't due to being a [[ArtificialIntelligence humanoid interface]]. However, the tenth volume reveals that [[spoiler:she's actually largely indifferent to humanity and refuses to do anything that isn't ordered by the Entity, not even when her fellow interface Yuki's personal safety is at risk.]]

** ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'' ignores Poe having encountered jumptroopers earlier in ''ComicBook/StarWarsPoeDameron'', the destruction of the Lars moisture farm in ''ComicBook/StarWarsDarthVader'', and Luke's X-Wing being non-operational in ''[[Film/TheLastJedi The Last Jedi]]'' Visual Dictionary.

** Creator/GeorgeLucas ''tried'' to prevent this with the Clone Wars by forbidding any direct depictions/discussions of it in EU works, having always intended to tell that particular story himself eventually. It didn't entirely work; while there were only vague allusions made prior to the release of ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'', it is clear that ''a lot'' of the writers of those allusions assumed that the Clone Wars entailed the Jedi and Republic fighting an evil army of clones, rather than fighting ''alongside'' a heroic army of clones. Most notable in this regard is ''Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy'', which not only makes this flub, but also contains some other tidbits that ended up [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness being cut or reworked in later stories]], such Coruscant ''not'' being a CityPlanet or Darth Vader having lost his right arm as punishment for the Death Star's destruction.

* The original ''Franchise/StarWars'' ExpandedUniverse (now known as ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'') was loaded with ''decades'' of comic books, video games, TV shows, etc. that sometimes contradicted each other and the movies themselves in some way, contributing to Disney's decision de-canonize much of it and rebuild the EU more or less from the ground up following their acquisition of Lucasfilm.

** "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDWIssue34To37 Seige of the Crystal Empire]]" has the return of King Sombra, who was supposedly killed off at the start of season three. The writers of the comic assumed the TV writers were done with him, and so brought him back with both a backstory in the aforementioned "Fiendship is Magic" mini-series as well as resurrecting him for the arc. Fast forward a few years to the show's final season and Sombra is revived at the start of the season and acts as the villain for the first two episodes, completely ignoring the comic's story.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' had a curious example of this with the Mandalorians. Creator/GeorgeLucas's original plan had been to depict them as a planet of pacifists, which would have wiped out pretty much ''all'' the existing EU lore about them. Creator/DaveFiloni instead persuaded Lucas to synthesize the existing lore with his current vision, resulting in a canonical depiction fundamentally rooted in ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' with the pacifist "New Mandalorians" represented by Duchess Satine Kryze being merely one faction among many--though it did mean the then-current ''Literature/RepublicCommandoSeries'', one of the sources Lucas and Filoni drew on, ironically [[ScrewedByTheNetwork had to be cancelled]] because its storyline no longer fit canon.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars' had a curious example of this with the Mandalorians. Creator/GeorgeLucas's original plan had been to depict them as a planet of pacifists, which would have wiped out pretty much ''all'' the existing EU lore about them. Creator/DaveFiloni instead persuaded Lucas to synthesize the existing lore with his current vision, resulting in a canonical depiction fundamentally rooted in ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' with the pacifist "New Mandalorians" represented by Duchess Satine Kryze being merely one faction among many--though it did mean the then-current ''Literature/RepublicCommandoSeries'', one of the sources Lucas and Filoni drew on, ironically [[ScrewedByTheNetwork had to be cancelled]] because its storyline no longer fit canon.

* ''Franchise/StarWars'' as a whole is somewhat notorious for this. Creator/GeorgeLucas is on record as never having considered any of the licensed works canon, and never gave much thought to contradicting them with later films. A particular example was the prequel films: most of the existing EU material at the time (now ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'') had been written under the assumption that the Clone Wars and the Jedi Purge had been separate conflicts, the former happening about forty years before the original trilogy and the latter about twenty. The prequel trilogy moved them both to twenty years ago, with the Clone Wars having been orchestrated specifically to set up Supreme Chancellor/Emperor Palpatine's [[TheCoup self-coup]] against the Republic and the Jedi.

* The ''[[ComicBook/MalibuComicsMortalKombat Mortal Kombat]]'' comics by Malibu depicts Noob Saibot as a separate entity from the original Sub-Zero, who unlike the games, survives the first tournament and doesn't die until the second one. The true identity of Noob Saibot as the original Sub-Zero was not established in the games themselves until ''VideoGame/MortalKombatDeception''. Furthermore, the live-action TV series ''Series/MortalKombatConquest'' took it even further by having Noob Saibot as an Outworld warrior who co-existed alongside Sub-Zero's ancestor during the Great Kung Lao's lifetime, which would make him over hundreds of years old during the present time of the games.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6003673/0 The Children of War]]''. In the final chapter Ursa discovers that she is secretly the daughter of Avatar Sozin, and is warned to not let the Fire Nation Royal court know. In ''ComicBook/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheSearch'' Ursa is fully aware of her heritage, as does the Fire Nation as it is the very reason Oazi marries her.

* A lot of the {{Filler}} in ''Dragon Ball'' and ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' that tried to expand on the lore of the setting eventually got invalidated as the manga and overall franchise continued along:

** Another Red Ribbon example is Dr. Frappe, who is introduced in the anime as the creator of Android #8. Four and a half years later Toriyama brought the Android line back and introduced their creator, Dr. Gero, disregarding Dr. Frappe entirely.

* The ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' franchise received a prequel comic book titled ''Saw: Rebirth'' to tie into the release ''Film/SawII'', which detailed the backstory of [[BigBad John Kramer]] and was considered canon by the films' writers at the time. ''Film/SawIV'', which brought a new writing team to the franchise, rendered the comic incompatible with the film canon due to the new writers making a drastically different version of John's backstory as one of the film's main storylines, which would be further built upon in later films.

* The ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' franchise received a prequel comic book titled ''Saw: Rebirth'' to tie into the release ''Film/SawII'', which detailed the backstory of [[BigBad John Kramer]], and was considered canon by the films' writers at the time. ''Film/SawIV'', which brought a new writing team to the franchise, rendered the comic incompatible with the film canon due to the new writers making a drastically different version of John's backstory, which would be further built upon in later films.

!!Examples

* CanonMarchesOn/StarTrek

[[folder:Inter-Media]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Film]]

* ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' received a prequel comic book titled ''Saw: Rebirth'' to tie into [[Film/SawII the second movie]], which detailed the backstory of [[BigBad John Kramer]]. Later films in the series, particularly ''Film/SawIV'', rendered ''Rebirth'' incompatible with the film canon due to the drastic differences in Kramer's backstory (i.e. John being a toy factory worker in ''Rebirth'' vs. an engineer in the movies, his wife Jill leaving him for being noncommittal in ''Rebirth'' vs. John leaving Jill after their unborn son was miscarried in the movies).

* ''Series/StarTrek''
** ''Series/StarTrekPicard'' ignores the ''Literature/StarTrekNovelVerse'', the ''Star Trek: Countdown'' comic, and ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline''.
*** In "[[Recap/StarTrekPicardS2E01TheStarGazer The Star Gazer]]", Q expressly acknowledges that he last "parted ways" with Picard back in "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS7E24AllGoodThings All Good Things]]", overriding past expanded universe stories in which he had "drop[ped] by to say hello from time to time".
** DC Comics' ''Star Trek #1'' was created as a direct sequel to ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'', and takes place immediately where it left off. Unfortunately for the comic, ''Film/StarTrekIIITheSearchForSpock'' would be released just a few months later, and would ''also'' directly follow up on events from ''Wrath of Khan''.
** Shortly after, the DC series reintroduced [[Recap/StarTrekS2E15TheTroubleWithTribbles Captain Koloth]] in a case of BackForTheDead. The ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS02E19BloodOath Blood Oath]]" would show Koloth's canonical fate, establishing that he had lived for much longer.
** Exclusive to the DC series, Konom was a Klingon defector who joined Starfleet. In ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', nearly a century later in-universe, Picard would [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E26S5E1Redemption expressly state]] that Lieutenant Worf is as yet the only Klingon to have served with Starfleet, not counting the [[Series/StarTrekDiscovery Klingon turned human sleeper agent on a Starfleet vessel whose existence would be classified]].
** A later DC comic story in the TOS movie era would show that the smooth-forehead Klingons of the [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Original Series]] had always lived alongside the ridged-forehead Klingons from [[Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture The Motion Picture]] onwards, in line with a suggestion by Creator/GeneRoddenberry's. Indeed, that every other Klingon has a smooth forehead makes it easier for the ''Enterprise'' crew to go undercover when they travel back to ancient Qo'noS. The [=DS9=] episode "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS05E06TrialsAndTribbleations Trials and Tribble-ations]]" would expose the smooth heads as an oddity in the eyes of 24th century humans, and an uncomfortable truth for the Klingons before an explanation was finally given in the ''[[Series/StarTrekEnterprise Enterprise]]'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekEnterpriseS04E15Affliction Affliction]]", which established that the smooth heads only came about as a result of the 2154 augment virus.
** The [=DS9=] comic story "Blood and Honor" has a {{retcon}}ned flashback to TOS' "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E26ErrandOfMercy Errand of Mercy]]" depicting Kor with long hair and cranial ridges, in contrast to his on-screen appearance. For context, this comic was published after Kor was reintroduced as an older bumpy-headed Klingon in ''Deep Space Nine'', but before ''Trials and Tribble-ations'' cemented the smooth-headed Klingons in canon.
** The ''Literature/StarTrekNovelVerse'' is Officially Not Canonical, but generally tried to fit in with the series. However, when TV and film seemed to lose interest in the 24th century in favour of prequels and AU prequels, they felt free to make huge changes to the galaxy, which turned out to be entirely incompatiable with the huge changes that took place in the backstory to ''Series/StarTrekPicard''. As a result, ''Literature/StarTrekCoda'' is a GrandFinale designed to wrap up the Novelverse and establish it as an AlternateContinuity.

* DC Comics' ''Star Trek #1'' was created as a direct sequel to ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'', and takes place immediately where it left off. Unfortunately for the comic, ''Film/StarTrekIIITheSearchForSpock'' would be released just a few months later, and would ''also'' directly follow up on events from ''Wrath of Khan''.

* The ''Literature/StarTrekNovelVerse'' is Officially Not Canonical, but generally tried to fit in with the series. However, when TV and film seemed to lose interest in the 24th century in favour of prequels and AU prequels, they felt free to make huge changes to the galaxy, which turned out to be entirely incompatiable with the huge changes that took place in the backstory to ''Series/StarTrekPicard''. As a result, ''Literature/StarTrekCoda'' is a GrandFinale designed to wrap up the Novelverse and establish it as an AlternateContinuity.

* ''Series/StarTrekPicard'' ignores the ''Literature/StarTrekNovelVerse'', the ''Star Trek: Countdown'' comic, and ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline''.
** In "[[Recap/StarTrekPicardS2E01TheStarGazer The Star Gazer]]", Q expressly acknowledges that he last "parted ways" with Picard back in "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS7E24AllGoodThings All Good Things]]", overriding past expanded universe stories in which he had "drop[ped] by to say hello from time to time".

* The original ''Franchise/StarWars'' ExpandedUniverse (now known as ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'') was loaded with ''decades'' of, comic books, video games, TV shows, etc. that sometimes contradicted each other and the movies themselves in some way, contributing to Disney's decision de-canonize much of it and rebuild the EU more or less from the ground up following their acquisition of Lucasfilm.

One day, someone decides to create a work of fiction which turns out to be a huge success. To cash in on its success, numerous spinoffs and licensed material might be produced that are centered on that particular work, with many of them claiming to be canon with the original work.

Compare SeriesContinuityError, where two or more installments of the same branch of a franchise unintentionally contradict each other. See also EarlyInstallmentWeirdness and ContinuitySnarl. Often results in CharacterizationMarchesOn when a character from the original work ends up behaving differently in the followup than they are depicted in the spinoffs. Not to be confused with SchrodingersCanon, where there's still a chance that the spin-off in question might be considered canon. The {{Fanon}} counterpart to this trope is OutdatedByCanon, and for mere fan ''theories'' it's {{Jossed}}.

** A great example is the first piece of ''EU/Legends'' fiction, the novel ''Literature/SplinterOfTheMindsEye'', which was published between ''Film/ANewHope'' and ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack''. It was intended as a possible TV Movie canon sequel by Lucas in the event that ''Film/ANewHope'' didn't pan out. Amongst other things, Luke and Leia are implied to have a budding romantic/sexual relationship, and Luke is portrayed as a LovableRogue with a knack for lying.

** Speaking of Broly, while [[Anime/DragonBallZBrolyTheLegendarySuperSaiyan his]] [[Anime/DragonBallZBrolySecondComing three]] [[Anime/DragonBallZBioBroly movies]] could comfortably fit into the original story even today, in 2018 ''Anime/DragonBallSuperBroly'' would come out that completely reinvents his characterization and his first meeting with Goku and Vegeta, which now takes place much later as an unambiguously canon story.

* ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'': Creator/YoshiyukiTomino wrote a novel called ''Gaia Gear'', which operates on the assumption that nothing of relevance happened for nearly 200 years following the events of ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack Char's Counterattack]]''. Needless to say, several sequels like ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamF91 Gundam F91]]'' and ''[[Anime/MobileSuitVictoryGundam V Gundam]]'' were produced (some of them with Tomino's involvement) which contradict this, and while ''Gaia Gear'' hasn't officially stricken from canon there's no way it can fit into the timeline anymore.

* ''ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDW'': Effort was made to keep the comic stories and events in line with the canon of the animated series -- according to the comic artist Andy Price, the "comics are canon until [the] show contradicts [them]" according to Hasbro -- and most that fans would point out were just minor details that could be glossed over. However, the show contradicting the comics is something that has happened fairly often, overriding both stories as a whole and important details of other ones.

* ''Fanfic/TheInfiniteLoops'' has a handy explanation for this: expansions and variant loops. See, the unknown disaster that caused the loops forced most of the multiverse to re-start from backups -- i.e. their media in our world. Because of this, anything that isn't explicitly stated in canon varies from loop to loop (i.e. the [[Manga/AttackOnTitan Walled Kingdom]] shifted locations frequently because the canonical world map of Attack on Titan was only revealed later and is a spoiler to boot, and Gilda's backstory was usually something very different from Griffonstone). Loops sometimes get 'expansions' (i.e. continuations of the media) that can stabilize more of the loop -- which, out of universe, is the writers taking new canon into account. It's usually fairly well-worked in, with stories of loopers coping with baseline deaths and the loss of what they considered their childhoods.

* ''Literature/TheLionKingSixNewAdventures'' was a series of licensed book sequels based off of ''WesternAnimation/{{The Lion King|1994}}''. They starred Simba's son Kopa and gave info on things like Simba's grandparents and Scar's youth. Come the direct-to-video sequel ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKingIISimbasPride'' and Kopa has been replaced with a daughter named Kiara. The series ''WesternAnimation/TheLionGuard'' also features a different backstory for Scar (and, though it acknowledges that he had a different name once, it doesn't outright call him "Taka"), though whether the cartoon is canon to the films or is in an AlternateContinuity is up for grabs.

* The ''Literature/StarTrekNovelVerse'' is Officially Not Canon, but generally tried to fit in with the series. However, when TV and film seemed to lose interest in the 24th century in favour of prequels and AU prequels, they felt free to make huge changes to the galaxy, which turned out to be entirely incompatiable with the huge changes that took place in the backstory to ''Series/StarTrekPicard''. As a result, ''Literature/StarTrekCoda'' is a GrandFinale designed to wrap up the Novelverse and establish it as an AlternateContinuity.

* The reason ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' fanfic [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6003673/0 The Children of War]] was abandoned by its author. In the final chapter Ursa discovers that she is secretly the daughter of Avatar Sozin, and is warned to not let the Fire Nation Royal court know. In ''ComicBook/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheSearch'' Ursa is fully aware of her heritage, and it is the very reason Oazi marries her.

* The reason ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' fanfic [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6003673/0 The Children of War]] was abandoned by its author. In the final chapter Ursa discovers that she is secretly the daughter of Avatar Sozin, and is warned to not let the Fire Nation Royal court know. In ''ComicBook/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheSearch Ursa is fully aware of her heritage, and it is the very reason Oazi marries her.

* The reason
''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' fanfic [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6003673/0 The Children of War]] was abandoned by its author. In the final chapter Ursa discovers that she is secretly the daughter of Avatar Sozin, and is warned to not let the Fire Nation Royal court know. In ''ComicBook/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheSearch Ursa is fully aware of her heritage, and it is the very reason Oazi marries her.