14 best and worst retcons in comic book history

Cyclops and Havok have another brother

Scott and Alexander Summers, a.k.a. Cyclops and Havok, thought they lost their parents in a plane crash. Years later, they find out that their father was captured by aliens and became the Captain of space pirates called the Starjammers. Neither the brother nor their father (Corsair) knew that Corsair’s wife was pregnant and gave birth to a son.

The Shi’ar kept Vulcan alive and he became their servant. Once he escaped, he ended up meeting Charles Xavier and became an X-Man. He was with the team that was sent in before the group in Giant Sized X-Men No. 1. When Cyclops learns that Vulcan was his brother, Xavier erases his mind (more on that in the next slide).

Comic book retcon rating: Good

This was cool and led to a lot of stories involving Vulcan. First, this led to Darwin – someone who was important to the X-Factor series. Vulcan ended up becoming Emperor of the Shi’ar Empire and was part of a war with Black Bolt in the Inhumans (read War of Kings for more on that).

Vulcan isn’t a super popular character. However, he is interesting. He has gone from being misunderstood, to evil, to being part of the new X-Men Red team. Hopefully, we’ll see him continue to evolve. With Storm, Cable, and Abigail Brand in that series, there’s no way that doesn’t happen.