History Main / RetroactiveLegacy

* Despite its name, ''VideoGame/BreathOfDeathVII'' doesn't have six prequels.

* Likewise, each episode of ''Series/Danger5'''s second season would open with a brief PreviouslyOn segment, which would always feature one clip, usually of Pierre, in a subplot that never actually happened.

* In the 200th ''WebAnimation/StrongBadEmail'' "email thunder", Strong Bad is shocked to discover that Homestar Runner has his own email show, several episodes of which are [[SynchronousEpisodes synchronous with previous SBEmails]]. The Brothers Chaps would eventually do a few more "[=HREmails=]", one of which COMPLETELY retconned the [=SBEmail=] lore, before going back to Strong Bad.

* The "Amalgam Comics" books set in the merged universe created during ''ComicBook/MarvelVersusDC'' did the same thing, with ''Super-Soldier'' (ComicBook/{{Superman}}[=/=]ComicBook/CaptainAmerica) having been published since the forties, ''JLX'' (ComicBook/JusticeLeague[=/=]ComicBook/XMen) being a spin-off of ''Judgement League [[ComicBook/TheAvengers Avengers]]'', and even references to past {{Crisis Crossover}}s like ''ComicBook/{{Secret|Wars 1984}} ComicBook/{{Crisis|On Infinite Earths}} of the ComicBook/{{Infinity|War}} [[ComicBook/ZeroHour Hour]]''.

* Meanwhile, both DC and Marvel put up a lot of thought in the "retroactive continuity" in the [[ComicBook/AmalgamUniverse Amalgam comics]] event, with fake creators, fake letters and fake notes from the editor for each book.

* ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'' follows two characters of that (fictional) smash-hit arcade game from 1983, ''Fix-It Felix Jr.''. Apparently the game was so legendary, [[Music/PacManFever Buckner & Garcia]] made a song about it. Also, the fact that there's a "Jr." in the name can lead one to assume there was a more primitive "Fix-It Felix" game that predated this one.

* In the Marvel Universe, the title of [[ComicBook/BlackKnightMarvelUniverse Black Knight]] has been held by Sir Percy, who may have been the Otherworld king Gwyn ap Nudd in disguise, serving in King Arthur's court in the 6th century. The title went to Sir Raston in the Dark Ages, Sir Eobar during the Crusades, Sir William during World War I, and the swashbuckler Sir Henry. Though Sir Percy was considered the first Black Knight, there were eight other Black Knights prior to Sir Percy, including King Arthur's cousin Sir Reginald.

* In the Marvel Universe, the title of Black Knight has been held by Sir Percy, who may have been the Otherworld king Gwyn ap Nudd in disguise, serving in King Arthur's court in the 6th century. The title went to Sir Raston in the Dark Ages, Sir Eobar during the Crusades, Sir William during World War I, and the swashbuckler Sir Henry. Though Sir Percy was considered the first Black Knight, there were eight other Black Knights prior to Sir Percy, including King Arthur's cousin Sir Reginald.

** ''ComicBook/ImmortalIronFist'' also established that ComicBook/AmazingMan ([[IHaveManyNames AKA the Prince of Orphans]]), a [[UsefulNotes/GoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] superhero who had previously been owned by a rival company, was one of the Immortal Weapons.

* ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' #132 had [[ComicBook/HumanTorch Johnny Storm]] get a new costume based on the one worn by the [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] ComicBook/HumanTorch1939, with Johnny claiming that he was a huge fan of the original Torch as a child. It was even implied that Johnny's subconscious desire to be like his idol may have somehow influenced his transformation into the new Human Torch way back when the Four first got their powers from the cosmic rays. This had never been brought up before in any other comic, and in fact, when the Human Torch met his Golden Age counterpart back in the 60s, he seemed to have absolutely no idea who the hell he was.

* Marvel again: The series ''ComicBook/{{Alias}}'' introduced ComicBook/JessicaJones, who had a backstory of being a C- or D-list superhero before retiring as a private detective. As with Cable, she's now treated as if she was active back in UsefulNotes/TheBronzeAgeOfComicBooks -- and indeed [[ComicBook/SpiderMan Peter Parker's]] high school classmate in UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks.[[note]]According to {{Retcon}}, her first appearance is in ''Amazing Spider-Man'' #4, as a random student appearing in one panel.[[/note]]

* Creator/AlanMoore's first issue of ''ComicBook/{{Supreme}}'' was a tribute to the many versions of the character who had been published since his first appearance in the 1930s, all of which Moore had just made, save the Grim [[UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks Dark Age]] Supreme Creator/RobLiefeld had originally created.

* Volton was an obscure hero from UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks. After becoming a PublicDomainCharacter, Marvel included him in the 90s ''[[ComicBook/TheInvadersMarvelComics Invaders]]'' mini-series, where it was established that Volton was an android created by Doctor Nemesis back when he was working with Phineas Horton, the inventor responsible for the Human Torch and ComicBook/TheVision.

* Brian Falsworth aka Union Jack was created in the 1970s, but was retconned into having been active during both UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, as a member of a team called Freedom's Five, and UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, where he fought alongside ComicBook/CaptainAmerica and ComicBook/{{The Invaders|MarvelComics}}. Taking this a step further, it was established that before re-adopting the Union Jack identity, Brian had been the Destroyer, who was an ''actual'' [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] superhero that had been published during the 40s. "Keen Marlow," the Destoyer's previous real name, was {{Retcon}}ned into being an alias Brian used while infiltrating UsefulNotes/NaziGermany.

** E.g., when a minor [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] ''ComicBook/TheFlash'' villain called "Rival" retroactively became the first Reverse Flash.

** From the 90s onward, it's been canon that during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, ComicBook/CaptainAmerica had encountered and fought alongside a past Black Panther (who DependingOnTheWriter, was either T'Challa's father T'Chaka or his grandfather Azzuri). During their very first meeting back in UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|of Comic Books}}, Cap made no such mention of having ever encountered another Black Panther, and indeed it was very clear that he had never set foot in Wakanda before that point. Creator/{{Christopher Priest|Comics}} [[JustifiedTrope justified it a bit]] by having Cap claim that the mission where he met the previous Black Panther was classified, and thus he was forbidden to speak of it.

* When DC licensed the Red Circle heroes from Creator/ArchieComics, they retroactively inserted the Hangman into DC's [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] during the 1940s. In his backup feature, it was established that Hangman had shared adventures with [[ComicBook/SandmanMysteryTheatre Wesley Dodds' Sandman]].

* The Creator/ImageComics character ComicBook/{{Shadowhawk}} named himself after UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|of Comic Books}} Shadow-Hawk, a parody of [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] Franchise/{{Batman}}, whose [[KidSidekick teenaged son]] Squirrel would [[FaceHeelTurn go on to become]] Shadowhawk's EvilCounterpart, Hawk's Shadow. Eventually it would be revealed that there was a line of Shadowhawks going back to AncientEgypt.

** {{Averted|Trope}} with Quality Comics' Manhunter, who was introduced to DC's Earth-2 in the pages of ''ComicBook/AllStarSquadron'' after the company's IPs were bought. This meant there were two separate heroes named Manhunter operating, but no connection was established between them. In fact, they both considered the other to be a ripoff and not the "real" Manhunter.

* ''Avengers 1959'' was a 2011 miniseries in which ComicBook/NickFury assembled a team combining surviving Golden Age heroes (Blonde Phantom, Namora) and more modern characters with long backstories (ComicBook/{{Sabretooth}}, Ulysses Bloodstone, Kraven the Hunter, ComicBook/SilverSable and Dominic Fortune).

** ''ComicBook/MarvelTeamUp'' #100 revealed that as a teen, T'Challa had been close friends with [[ComicBook/{{Storm}} Ororo Munroe]], and that they both harbored [[UnresolvedSexualTension lingering romantic feelings for one another]]. Decades later, this would be used as the basis for their marriage.

* The Golden Age heroine Golden Girl was retconned into being the aunt of the Hulk foe [[ComicBook/RedHulk Thunderbolt Ross]], based pretty much entirely on the fact that they happened to have the same last name.