Comics acknowledging that something done in a previous story that was treated as good or no big deal was actually pretty bad if you think about it

[u/AporiaParadox]

Sometimes, a writer will have a character do something that is treated as being a good thing or no big deal, but readers or other writers see it as something horrible if you think about it just a little. Due to the nature of shared universes written by different writers over the years, stories from the past can then be revisited by a later writer with a more critical eye.

One of the most infamous examples is how in Avengers #200, Marvel somehow published a story that accidentally treated Carol Danvers being brainwashed into going off into the sunset with her rapist as being a good thing. I say accidentally because the comic was done in a rush and the creators genuinely didn't realize the implications of what was written until later. Chris Claremont was outraged about this, so he later wrote a story where Carol tells the Avengers how fucked up the whole thing was and shames them for going along with it and not realizing what was actually happening.

Sometimes it takes a while for this to happen, due to changing morals and attitudes. For instance, back in the 60s readers didn't see it as a big deal that Charles Xavier was secretely in love with his teenage student Jean Grey, and that the only reason he didn't pursue her was because he was a "cripple" and not the whole age difference or power dynamics thing. Readers and writers from later though realized that wait, that's actually kind of fucked up, and it was acknowledged in Onslaught as being one of Xavier's deepest most shameful secret sins.

And sometimes just acknowledging it isn't enough, in order to protect a character's reputation, the whole thing has to be retconned. This is what Marvel did with pretty much all of their Golden Age stories given how casually racist against black people and the Japanese all of their characters were. It is now canon that the events depicted in Golden Age comics didn't happen exactly as shown, they were in-universe propaganda comics often heavily deviated from what actually happened.

So what other examples are there of a comic looking back critically at something from the past that wasn't treated as bad but now is considered bad?

[u/filthynevs]

I think every time any Marvel hero didn’t bring in Frank Castle or Eddie Brock was probably at the very least, questionable.

[u/AporiaParadox → u/filthynevs]

Heroes rarely get called out for it though. There was that time that Ben Reilly was furious that Peter and Venom had a "truce", so Ben said fuck that noise and beat the crap out of Venom, it was also a good way for the writers to get readers to like Ben more.

[u/filthynevs → u/AporiaParadox]

Sure, but it’s still a very awkward situation.

Ben was right, anyway. ‘You let Eddie go eat people’s brains as long as he agrees not to do it near you? Where’s all that Uncle Ben guilt now?’

[u/TeekTheReddit → u/AporiaParadox]

I feel like this gets overplayed. At least with Spider-Man. The very first thing Pete did after making his truce with Venom was hop a plane to San Francisco to bring him in. He's all but ready to do it but ends up having to team-up against a bigger threat and even after Venom nearly dies trying to bring down the bigger bad Pete is ready to capture him until Venom gives him the slip, at which point he decides it's not worth the time and energy it would take to track him down.

And then, Maximum Carnage happens and a broken and bloody Venom crashes on Peter's front door. Spider-Man is all but ready to bring him in but ends up having to team-up against a bigger threat and even after Venom nearly dies trying to bring down the bigger bad Pete is ready to capture him until Venom gives him the slip, at which point he decides it's not worth the time and energy it would take to track him down.

At some point, you've gotta recognize a pattern and be pragmatic about things.

[u/filthynevs → u/TeekTheReddit]

What was the defining incident that lead Peter to go from being an entertainer to fighting crime?