retcon

/ret'kon/ retroactive continuity.

The common situation in fiction where a new story "reveals" things about events in previous stories, usually leaving the "facts" the same (thus preserving continuity) while completely changing their interpretation. For example, revealing that a whole season of "Dallas" was a dream was a retcon.

This term was once thought to have originated on the Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.comics but is now believed to have been used earlier in comic fandom.

[Jargon File]

Last updated: 1994-12-08

Nearby terms:

Restructured EXtended eXecutorrestructuringretconreteRETI

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