10 Reboots That Changed Comic Books Forever
Sometimes, a reboot can change the comic book industry forever!
When it comes to comic books, you don't have to read much before you come across a rebooted character or franchise. After all, many characters have been in print for decades, which leads creators to change them with the times. Superman couldn't be sitting at a typewriter in 2010 so he was updated to a more modern work environment.
That sort of change happens all the time, but when it comes to a reboot or retcon of a character or franchise that changed comics forever, you have to look beyond a simple technology upgrade/update.
There have been events in comics resulting in the deaths of popular and powerful characters, some that restructured entire universes, and even one or two that relaunched seemingly dead publishing houses.
While there have been hundreds of these sorts of reboots over the years, only a select few have had a significant cultural impact on the industry. These ten are arguably the most important to ever happen in the world of comic books and its associated media since the first comics were published nearly a century ago.
10. Ultimate Marvel
Marvel is no stranger to rebooting and reinventing their characters, but they tend to do it in different ways than DC. When Marvel reboots something, they do it on a whole other Earth. For Ultimate Marvel, that just so happened to be Earth-1610.
When that universe was launched in 2000, Marvel decided to recreate pretty much everyone in its roster as a reimagining in modern times. This was akin to their earlier rebooting in the Marvel 2099 universe, but instead of shooting a century into the future, all of Marvel's greatest heroes and villains were moved to the year 2000 along with the rest of us.
The reason this reboot worked - and changed comic books forever - has everything to do with its impact. A number of changes and characters were eventually brought over in 2015 when the Ultimate Marvel experiment came to a conclusion, but those characters and their changes had a lasting impact.
The alterations made to Spider-Man helped to alter the way the character was presented in animation and on film. Arguably, those changes helped to bring about what would eventually become the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but overall, the changes moved Marvel into the future in a positive and memorable way.