Retcon Ranting (Spoiler Content)

This contains reference to a plot point from New Avengers that I'm quite possibly misunderstanding anyway as I haven't read the actual issue and am just going by what I've heard from other people...

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So is the "He/She's a skrull!" thing officially gonna be Marvel's answer to "Superboy punched the Universe"?

Because honestly, if it is, I'm a little disappointed. Not because it's cheap, mind you, as I have a fairly high tolerance for cheap. Simply because it lacks the one-two punch of being cheap AND ridiculous.

Retconning by way of teenage temper tantrum is dumb. It's so dumb, it's funny. There is no possible way to take that seriously, so you just have to run with it. It's basically DC saying "Yes, we know it's stupid. But we want to do it this way. Deal with it. When we tire of it, we'll change it back with an even dumber excuse."

In Marvel's case, well, the Skrull thing (should it be true) is actually plausible. (Though it does require ignoring relatively recent skrull canon, I'm told.) Skrulls shapeshift. Skrulls shapeshift into heroes and cause havoc. Completely plausible.

And thus...it's empty. It's so plausible that really...how do we know ANYTHING that happens isn't going to be retconned away with "the skrull did it." It's so insidious that we never have to know until years later.

At least in the case of Superboy punching the Universe, it's a big deal. It's probably not going to happen again. The circumstances aren't going to repeat itself.

Most importantly for me is the matter of the retcon. I don't mind retcons in general, sure I get annoyed when story points I like vanish, but that happens sometimes. There's a difference to me, though, between saying "Okay, this didn't happen" then saying "Okay, this happened but HE didn't do it."

On one hand, the second option DOES allow aftermath of the events to be explored better. But personally, I don't like it. I feel irrationally robbed by the concept. All the emotion I've invested into the events is pointless because, well heck, that wasn't them! If Tony were to be a skrull, I wouldn't be as angry/disappointed as I am in the character now, because well, it's not Tony. It's a skrull and that's what skrull does. It's like the emotional investment is completely wasted.

The first option on the other hand might negate any exploration of consequence, but it lets me keep my emotional involvement. Okay, fine, this random story of Batman being a jerk didn't happen as far as the rest of the universe is concerned. Cool. But when I read this hypothetical story again, I would still feel the same "Damnit, you JERK!" reaction I always would. Even if it "didn't happen". It "could have". If it had happened, Batman would probably still be a jerk. And thus I feel perfectly justified in my emotional reaction. If I reread a skrull story I don't have that, it'd be just "Oh, yeah, well, it's a skrull."

I don't always dislike replacement stories mind you, but I think that they should be handled with care. And certainly NOT used as an excuse to retcon away a mistake.

My recommendation: Let Galactus EAT the plot point. It's not quite Superboy Prime, but it'd certainly make me laugh.

I admit, it's very possible that this will all be much better than it sounds, maybe I'll actually enjoy it. Maybe I'm just completely confused and am misunderstanding!

Meanwhile, I'm tired, cranky, and spent most of the night being stalked by a neighbor's cat, so I'm even less coherent than usual. I'm going to sleep. :-)