retcon n.
in a fictional work or series: a piece of new (and typically revelatory) information which imposes a different interpretation on previously described events, often employed to facilitate a dramatic plot shift or account for an inconsistency; (also) use of this as a narrative device
[< retroactive continuity]
SF Fandom
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1989 LSH #4 (Spoilers) in rec.arts.comics (Usenet newsgroup) 22 Dec.
Wow! Talk about a retcon by another name!β¦ Okay, so Superboy never existed; we'd already figured that.
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1993
Revealing that a whole season of βDallasβ was a dream was a retcon.
New Hacker's Dict. (ed. 2) 355 -
2006 San Francisco Chronicle (Nexis) 3 June
In terms of retcon, the most preposterous movie franchise is undoubtedly βHighlanderβ.
1
Research History
Suggested by Katrin Thier, who pointed out that it has been in use amongst comics fans online since the 1990s: we would like examples in print of any date, including any examples of retcon as a verb.
Last modified 2020-12-16 04:08:47
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