The AI-powered English dictionary
plural retcons
A situation, in a soap opera or other fiction, in which a new storyline explains or changes a previous event or attaches a new significance to it. quotations examples
TLC: What do you say to the Legion fans who have become disenfranchised with the series due to its various retcons and reboots?
2003, Glen Cadigan, The Legion Companion, page 152
Fans talk of retcon—retroactive continuity—giving information that explains an earlier event, especially seeming plot contradictions or lacunae.
2005, Rhonda Wilcox, Why Buffy Matters: The Art of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, page 9
It's a little trick called retcon, short for "retroactive continuity," […] Yet I'm unsure even Millar is fully aware of the power given him by the retcon.
2006, Glenn Yeffeth, editor, The Man from Krypton: A Closer Look at Superman, page 155
third-person singular simple present retcons, present participle retconning, simple past and past participle retconned
To employ such a device. quotations examples
While ‘retconning' the scripts, I came up with a number of theories that throw new light on the Doctor, his past, and various other elements […]
2003, Jean-Marc Lofficier, The Nth Doctor, page 5
A lot of people were like, "Oh, they just retconned their own continuity. They should have used Kyle. I don't like that." So we just threw Kyle in there to say, "No, no, Kyle's still there. He still exists in the animated universe; he's just not stationed on Earth at the moment, regularly."
2004, Eric Nolen-Weathington, Modern Masters Volume 3: Bruce Timm, page 79
Retroactive continuity (aka retconning), would reveal that Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch are also Magneto's children, showing that this was a guy who was really committed to his cause
2006, Len Wein, ed., The Unauthorized X-Men: SF and Comic Writers on Mutants, Prejudice, and Adamantium 92
Luthor appeared a handful of times, Gary "retconned" the Toyman and created Terra-Man, and Superman would get a worthy opponent whenever Len Wein did a fill-in.
2006, Michael Eury, Daniel (CON) Best, Glen (CON) Cadigan, Mike (CON) Esposito, David (CON) Mandel, The Krypton Companion, p. 157
There’s a note of wistful, wishful thinking in all this retconning of reality — would that we could write a time jump into our own scripts!
2022 January 7, James Poniewozik, “Wondering When the Pandemic Will End? On TV, It Already Has.”, in The New York Times