Most comic book origin stories are silly beyond belief: an alien sent from a dying world to another with foster parents that look exactly like him? Toxic waste granting blindness and super-senses in one go (not to mention turning pet shop escapees into fearsome martial artists)? And if they're not terrifically dumb, then they're relentlessly bleak: there are more orphans in the DC and Marvel Universes than in every production of Annie combined. Silliness and morbidity are one thing, but it's the origin stories that make uncomfortable statements about sex, race and the characters themselves that really take things to an awkward place. Because many of the most famous characters in comics history have origins dating back to the mid-20th century, there can be a lot of wacky and politically dodgy subtexts (and sometimes just straight up texts) that were born from a less tolerant and more exploitative age. Another problem seems to be the consistently inconsistent universes these characters inhabit - the creators need to keep telling stories about them, but they can only pile so high before the contradictions start caving in on themselves. They're easy fixes for an editor with an eagle eye and a tactful way with words, which is why it's so strange that some origins have managed to persist for so long. The following is a list of 7 characters who have pasts they (and most fans who know about them) wish could be swept under the rug - or simply just retconned - as soon as superhumanly possible...
