Sometimes, comic companies give cosmic-level reasons for the retcons. Both DC’s Crisis on Infinite Earths and Marvel’s second Secret Wars storylines spotlighted universe-shifting catastrophes that created major changes to the timeline, justifying any changes to the characters. In one instance, however, a Spider-Man villain managed to turn retcons into her personal weapon of choice.
Read superhero comic books for any length of time, and you’ll inevitably encounter retcons. Short for “retroactive continuity,” retcons refers to any time comic book creators alter something about a character’s past which affects how that character is depicted in the present. Sometimes, this means tweaking the character’s origin or history to justify moving his or her story in a darker or lighter direction. The rationales for these changes also vary – sometimes the writer may want to just try something different or make the character more closely mirror a counterpart in a successful movie version of the comic.
In the one-shot comic Spider-Man 2099 Meets Spider-Man by writer Peter David and artist Rick Leonardi, Miguel O’Hara, the Spider-Man of the year 2099, is sent back to current Marvel continuity while Peter Parker is sent to 2099. Eventually, the two heroes manage to connect, but instead of winding in their correct times, they land in the dystopian world of the year 2211 where they’re attacked by a new Hobgoblin.
This Hobgoblin taunts the two Spider-Men, telling them that their reality is slowly being undone. Unwilling to wait for this unraveling to happen on its own, the Hobgoblin’s developed cyber-organic devices called “Retcon Bombs” that are meant to blast whoever they touch out of the timestream – undoing their lives and making it seem like they never existed. Before Hobgoblin can make good on this threat, however, the time-traveling Spider-Man of the year 2211 shows up and defeats the Hobgoblin, sending Peter and Miguel back to their regular times before they can ask any questions.
While the true identity of the Hobgoblin the “Retcon Bombs” appeared to be a mystery, Peter David eventually expanded on this story in Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #8-10. The story revealed that the Hobgoblin was actually a woman named Robin Borne, and the daughter of Spider-Man 2211 (Max Borne). Max nicknamed his daughter “Hobby” but neglected her – making Robin work to become a brilliant scientist, just to earn her father’s love. Although her intentions were originally noble, Robin was later arrested by her time-traveling father for crimes she was going to commit.
Placed in a virtual reality prison and kept in a state of induced bliss, Robin was broken out by her boyfriend, but the process warped her mind, driving her insane. Now wanting revenge on her father, Robin used her expertise in temporal mechanics to become a new Hobgoblin and wipe out all Spider-Men from the timeline with her “Retcon Bombs.” Her mission put her in conflict with her father, who was aware that he was responsible for turning her into a monster.
Robin later made it to the present-day Marvel Universe where she attacked Peter Parker, the original Spider-Man. Spider-Man 2211 followed her, but while they fought, Robin threw a Retcon Bomb at her father. Not knowing what the bomb really was, Peter snagged it with a web and threw it back at Robin – accidentally erasing her from the timeline. As Robin disappeared, she still asked her father if he was proud of her, and Max felt like he was forever dammed for the part he played in Robin’s downfall.
While the idea of a “Retcon Bomb” might sound like a metafictional joke, David’s treatment of the relationship between Robin and Max gave their creation greater pathos. Most Hobgoblins tend to adopt their criminal identity out of greed, but Robin’s misguided attempt to earn her father’s love by manipulating the time stream makes her one of the more tragic Hobgoblins in Spider-Man history.