10 Movies That Made Subtle Retcons They Hoped You Wouldn't Notice
9. Rocky's Non-Existent Brain Damage - Rocky Balboa
Rocky V is, in fairness, the entry into the franchise just about every fan would prefer to forget about.
Among its other transgressions it decided to reveal that Rocky (Sylvester Stallone) is suffering from irreversible brain damage due to his boxing career, making it impossible for him to continue boxing and therefore forcing him to retire.
To call it a bummer ending to Rocky's legacy is an understatement indeed, resulting in the film's commercial underperformance, critical disdain, and receiving seven Razzie nominations.
More than 15 years passed before Stallone decided to course-correct Rocky's send-off with the belated sequel Rocky Balboa, which gently ignores the whole brain damage diagnosis and has Rocky getting back into the ring for a final exhibition fight against a much younger opponent.
The result is an entertaining victory lap for the character, which rather than totally wipe Rocky V from the timeline instead prefers to quietly pretend its less-savoury elements basically never happened.
In interviews, Stallone has further explained the retcon, that Rocky's brain damage wasn't as severe as initially diagnosed.
Considering how miserable Rocky V was, fans were all-too-eager to accept the retcon, flying in the face of basic medicine and science as it was.