What are some of the best Shockers or Twists in mainstream comics?

August 3, 2011 10:22 AM

What are some of the best Shockers or Twists in mainstream comics? I'm trying to come up with some surprise reveals that were genuine in your typical superhero comic (Marvel/DC), instead of shocks for the sake of shocking. I've tried TVTropes, but those are too specific and spread out over countless tropes. I'm looking for what the hive mind considers the best twist, shocks or more specifically "reveals" in superhero comics. Most will be revealing a secret identity, but it doesn't have to be. I will put more weight on something that is an evolution of the comic as opposed to simply tying up a loose end of an individual story.
posted by unceman to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (33 answers total)

Best answer: Somewhat dated, but: I really didn't expect Kraven to kill himself.
posted by mhoye at 10:26 AM on August 3, 2011 [3 favorites]

The beginning of Alan Moore's run on Swamp Thing, when he revealed that Swamp Thing would never return to being Alec Holland, because he had never been Alec Holland.
posted by Faint of Butt at 10:26 AM on August 3, 2011 [5 favorites]

I sure didn't see the end of the Sandman series coming (and am upset about it to this day, what, 15 years later?). Not really about revealing a secret identity, rather about the demise of a very important character (trying hard not to reveal spoilers here).
posted by widdershins at 10:29 AM on August 3, 2011 [2 favorites]

Best answer: "I did it thirty-five minutes ago."

Not a typical superhero comic, but still.
posted by griphus at 10:29 AM on August 3, 2011 [15 favorites]

Animal Man 19 has a great moment in it (there's a frame grab of it here) where Buddy peers out of the page and declares that he can see you, the reader. If you've been into the story and had started to pick up on the meta elements of it, it's a cool shock.
posted by davextreme at 10:31 AM on August 3, 2011

The death of Iron Fist shook me as a kid. It perfectly highlighted how unpredictable and senseless death could be. And given that it took them something like 15-20 years before they decided to bring him back to life, as far as I was concerned, he was dead and stayed dead.

If you're willing to accept some alternate timeline stuff, I found Earth X was full of that kind of goodness. I loved the twist on having the Celestials setting up planets specifically to breed more Celestials, and Galactus as the predator. The Loki (and all "gods") being final stage mutants, formed on beliefs rather than simple sets of powers to be one of the best twists ever made. Wolverine as an eternal mutant, and Multiple Man become Wendigo was also freaky twists.
posted by yeloson at 10:33 AM on August 3, 2011

Also, the badass "pinnacle of human evolution, my ass" moment from Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers. I forget which book it was in, unfortunately.
posted by griphus at 10:35 AM on August 3, 2011

Best answer: Gwen Stacy's death was genuinely shocking and had major repercussions on Spider-Man, Mary Jane Watson, and others.
posted by GreyWingnut at 10:36 AM on August 3, 2011 [3 favorites]

The final issue of Quantum and Woody had a wonderful twist, but we never got to find out what it meant (it wasn't supposed to be the final issue.)
posted by Zed at 10:40 AM on August 3, 2011

The reveal of who Evey's torturers were in V for Vendetta.
posted by martinrebas at 10:42 AM on August 3, 2011 [4 favorites]

Best answer: The Joker shooting Batgirl (Barbara Gordon) in 1988's The Killing Joke.

It could easily have been one more example of how comics maim and kill female characters to drive male characters' stories, but the way they picked Barbara up and turned her into Oracle was excellent.
posted by Georgina at 10:47 AM on August 3, 2011 [5 favorites]

Best answer: The reveal of the new Green Goblin's identity in Amazing Spider-Man #179.
posted by martinrebas at 10:55 AM on August 3, 2011

The revelation of the killer in Armageddon 2001 is important because online speculation led to DC changing the ending. This was in 1991.

Similarly, Robin getting killed because DC had a call-in line and the fans voted for him to die was a pretty shocking moment.
posted by davextreme at 10:55 AM on August 3, 2011 [1 favorite]

The identity of the murderer of the Guardians of the Globe in Robert Kirkman's Invincible.
posted by johnofjack at 10:56 AM on August 3, 2011

"I did it thirty-five minutes ago."

griphus is referencing Watchmen, whose ending is so amazing/twisty/shockery that you will freak out.
posted by King Bee at 11:16 AM on August 3, 2011 [1 favorite]

The reveal of the original Green Goblin's identity waaaaay back in Amazing Spider-Man #39 was a big thing because after years of identity-teasing, not only was Gobby revealed to be Norman Osborn, the father of Peter's classmate Harry, but in the same story he captured Spidey and was the first person to unmask him.
posted by bettafish at 11:21 AM on August 3, 2011

I loved the one in Moore's From Hell, when the dieing Gull sees (among other visions) a very alive Mary Kelly with her little girls, which would mean he fucked up both his royal mission and the ritual he intended for himself. And he DOESN'T UNDERSTAND it's Mary, being the vain fucker he still is. Now, that's how you truly send off a villain with a proper "fuck you, you lose".
posted by Iosephus at 11:22 AM on August 3, 2011 [1 favorite]

One of the biggest twists I recall is an early Teen Titans story: the Judas Contract. For what was supposed to be a light side-kicks book, this arc was very dark, going from the typical light comic book fare of the early 1980s to some very uncomfortable places (betrayal, insanity, pedophilia, death) very quickly. It was well setup in the books with little foreshadowing. It was pretty mind-bending reading as a preteen.
posted by bonehead at 11:27 AM on August 3, 2011 [2 favorites]

the 'one more day' fiasco probably deserves a mention for some reason. The death of Batmans girlfriend in issues by... kevin smith? Also, death of superman and captain america?
posted by Jacen at 11:41 AM on August 3, 2011

I won't call it a twist particularly, but the end of Y: The Last Man was not what I expected.
posted by Kafkaesque at 12:19 PM on August 3, 2011

It's become a reviled trope (and for good reason) but when Kyle Rayner returned home to find his girlfriend dead and shoved in the fridge I remember being shocked. Whackadoodle bad guys suddenly attacking heroes was nothing surprising, but in this case it was not only done by someone whose outward face was that of a hero but was sneaky collateral damage against a hero's family/friends.

It wouldn't really be surprising anymore but the in the late-80s the gender-crossing reincarnation of Lancelot in CAMELOT 3000 and the conundrum that presented was a surprising twist. I haven't read it as a supposedly more enlightened grown-up but I don't recall it being offensive or salacious.

If we expand the definition of "twist" to include different takes on iconic characters then you could pretty much include all of Planetary. The take on Hulk is the one I found most mind-blowing.
posted by phearlez at 12:22 PM on August 3, 2011

"I did it thirty-five minutes ago."

griphus is referencing Watchmen, whose ending is so amazing/twisty/shockery that you will freak out.

"then I guess it's somethin' from the crank pile"
"I leave it entirely in your hands" probably qualifies as a twist as well.
posted by phearlez at 12:28 PM on August 3, 2011

Best answer: The Xorn reveal from Morrison's run on X-Men is a great example; I have heard that Morrison had planned the reveal as far back as his original pitch for X-Men, built up a very popular new character over an extended period then blew the whole mess to pieces.
posted by N-stoff at 1:12 PM on August 3, 2011

The reveal of Morningstar's lover in Volume 2 of Bill Willingham's excellent cult superhero series Elementals comes to mind.

Much of Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns was shocking and surprising as well, although it made perfect sense -- the end of the Joker, Harvey Dent, etc.

Alan Moore's unpublished Twilight of the Superheroes would have been pretty mind-blowing.

Tons of shocking moments in Brian Michael Bendis' amazing superhero-slash-police procedural Powers. Some that come to mind: the reveal of "Who killed Retro Girl?" (vol. 1); the unexpected turn in the middle of "The Sellouts" (v. 6); Walker's backstory in "Forever" (vol. 7); what happens to Deena Pilgrim at the end of "Legends" (vol. 8); what happens to Walker in "Cosmic" (vol 10)...

"Ex Machina" has some major twists and surprises, from the first volume to the end, especially when we learn the nature of Mitchell Hundred's powers.

Not superhero, but: Bill Willingham's "Fables" is well paced, and the reveal of the "Adversary" is a bit of a shock. Also not superhero: "The Walking Dead," especially the earlier volumes, have great cliffhangers.
posted by Saxon Kane at 1:19 PM on August 3, 2011

I'm not sure that genuine surprises are all that common in comic book stories. I mean, characters behave in "shocking" ways all the time (and when they do, it's usually featured on the cover of the book), but most of the time, actual twists, i.e. everything you thought about everything is wrong, are not what's going on. If you're looking for things like the reveal in The Sixth Sense or The Usual Suspects, I'm having trouble coming up with much. The reason you aren't finding many comic book references on TV Tropes for likely subjects is because comic books just don't seem to do this very often.

Revealing a secret identity? Shocking for the characters maybe, but part of the whole comic book schtick is that the readers are in on the secret.

Somebody getting killed? I mean, it happens, but even allowing for the handful of unexpected "real" deaths that seem to have stuck, these don't seem to have required much in the way of reevaluation of existing information.

Retcons? Make no mistake, comic book writers are changing the significance of things in the past every other month, but most of the time these take the form of retcons, so they don't count as "twists," because they aren't revealing anything as much as they're just rewriting history.

I think there are three things going on here that make these sorts of twists uncommon in comic book stories. First, genuine plot twists seem to work best within the bounds of a fairly closed-ended story. So a novel, a movie, maybe a season of a television series. But for ongoing works with no clear end in sight, there's less incentive to do this sort of thing. It takes a good amount of buildup, with the payoff only coming at the end. If you're doing a one-shot work, this isn't that hard, because the audience is going to get "paid" by the time they finish. But with comics and TV shows, the audience generally wants some sort of payoff every time.

Second, comic book writers are... not exactly known for their literary brilliance. Churning out a book or three a month is absolutely a skill, but it's a different skill than, you know, careful plotting. Seriously, I've probably read a couple-three hundred comic books this year alone, and with the exception of Alan Moore--who is responsible for many of the few genuine twists in comic book history--most of the writing is mediocre at best.

Third, and perhaps most importantly, comic book writers move from property to property quite frequently. A given author will generally write a year or two of a given book before moving on. Longer runs happen, but aren't the norm. A lot of authors may not have the opportunity to successfully build up to the kind of twist we're talking about.
posted by valkyryn at 1:57 PM on August 3, 2011

This is hardly a world-shaking twist, but I am fond of the scene in Spiderman #42 where Peter Parker is being set up with his aunt's friend's daughter. After dreading it, he finally meets her:

http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lh3lzzKJj61qatg29o1_500.jpg
posted by Mr. Justice at 2:17 PM on August 3, 2011

Best answer: The reveal at the end of Thunderbolts #1.
posted by roosterboy at 3:27 PM on August 3, 2011

Secret Warriors is full of twists and turns, double-crosses and red herrings but the final major twist that arrives in issue 26 is a cracker.

Also, the proof that the pen is mightier than the sword in Superman: Red Son is a worldview-altering bodyblow for that Superman and a total surprise to the average reader.

I was also totally caught out by the identity of the killer in Identity Crisis.
posted by MUD at 4:14 PM on August 3, 2011

I was pretty shocked when Peer parker and Mary Jane decided to take the devil's offer. That may be because I thought it was bullshit in terms of defying the characters in order to jam in a reboot.
posted by cmoj at 4:37 PM on August 3, 2011

I would definately nth the reveal of Xorn's true identity and the end of Planet X storyline in Morrison's X-Men run. So upsetting to fanboys (and editors) that Marvel had to go and ret-con the whole thing several months later.

Another "shock" and twist was the destruction of Oa, The Guardians and the entire Green Lantern Corps by Hal Jordan in the Emerald Twilight storyline in Green Lantern back in the 90's. So shocking was this that a dedicated fan movement (HEAT-- Hal's Emerald Action Team) sprang up, making life miserable for DC editorial and the creative team of the new Green Lantern for years---to the point that they finally gave in and brought the whole shebang back.
posted by KingEdRa at 5:18 PM on August 3, 2011

Well, this would count as a "reveal," and one that might not be as shocking in modern comics, but I had been reading G.I. Joe for six years when they actually finally revealed Snake Eyes' face in a full, complete, lighted shot. And it was really graphically drawn to a then-13-year-old reader. Actually, I would say it is still a fairly graphic image.

It was interesting not only because the book made reference to his "ruined" face from almost the first issue, but also because Snake Eyes was (is) far and away the most popular character in the mythos and his face underneath his mask was (is) seriously un-handsome. As with many things in comics, though, they eventually gave him a more handsome face... but they've mostly kept him silent through the years.

To one of valkyryn's points about writers hopping titles, the writer of Joe, Larry Hama, was on the book from the first to the last issue of a 155 issue run, with just a handful of issues written by others.
posted by Slothrop at 7:01 PM on August 3, 2011 [1 favorite]

The reveal in Mark Millar & Steve McNiven's Old Man Logan where we find out exactly what happened to make Wolverine "retire" was a pretty big "holy sh*t" moment for me. (Though it's an alternate universe storyline.)
posted by D.Billy at 8:46 PM on August 3, 2011

Also, Bendis' run on Daredevil had lots of surprising developments and major changes for the character's status quo. I have only read a bit of Brubaker's follow-up run (which was just as good as Bendis, though different) so I don't know if that trend continued.
posted by Saxon Kane at 12:45 PM on August 4, 2011