10 Fictional Universes That Reset the Canon

Franchises should ideally be simple. If a story is successful, then it gets a sequel to expand on its ideas and give audiences more of what they loved. When a series dries up, studios either leave it alone or reboot it with fresh faces and novel narratives. Any layman can understand that process. Of course, some studios are particular about what they ditch and what they keep.

Rather than start over entirely, certain franchises simply hit the reset button on their canon. They select a specific point in the series’ history, continue the story from there, and disregard everything that came between. Some tales fashion a narrative reason for that change, but the results are the same. The creators preserve the elements that audiences like while cleaning up a convoluted continuity. This strategy can revitalize a tired series, but it could also further the confusion to the point of chaos. Given that messiness, fans probably pine for the streamlined tales of old.

Related: Top 10 Comic Book Characters the Movies Got Wrong

10 DC Universe

A common element of comics is the multiverse. This idea refers to the different timelines that arise from diverging choices. The DC writers used this device to explain the various versions of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and other costumed legends. Such a concept could be confusing, especially to someone not versed in the medium. DC sought to ease that confusion in 1985.

The result was Crisis on Infinite Earths. This massive crossover opened with a cosmic overseer known as the Monitor, who chronicled history throughout the multiverse. Unfortunately, his antimatter counterpart, the Anti-Monitor, began destroying the various universes without mercy. To counter this threat, the Monitor assembled superheroes from every reality, but they could only do so much. The epic ended with the remaining Earths fused into one. The surviving inhabitants remembered nothing of the ordeal, letting them commence the continuity anew. This approach worked at first, but the writers soon wanted to experiment again. Is another Crisis event incoming?^[1]

9 Star Trek

Star Trek is nearly as vast as space itself. Comprised of TV shows, movies, games, and books, this sci-fi franchise has explored the far reaches of the galaxy in search of strange new worlds. This mission involved countless crews of intrepid travelers, and their journeys raised poignant questions about ethics, morality, cultural differences, and the human condition. More to the point, they contributed to a centuries-long history of discovery, cooperation, and war. That was until 2009, when the franchise wound back the clocks.

Although the series had previously dealt with time travel, the 2009 film—simply titled Star Trek—took the premise to the extreme. The soft reboot saw the iconic Spock thrown through a black hole after failing to save the planet Romulus from a supernova. Sadly, a vengeful group of Romulan miners also went through the vortex, and both parties wound up a century in the past. On top of meeting a younger Spock and company, they inadvertently changed history from that point. Nothing from the prior entries applied to this new “Kelvin” timeline. Then again, subsequent shows like Star Trek: Discovery went back to the previous era, so only the movies explored this new frontier.^[2]

8 Star Wars

Star Wars is a similarly sprawling universe. At the outset, this sci-fi/fantasy saga comprised six movies. These blockbusters revolved around the Skywalker family. As these gifted heroes cultivated their sorcerous skills as Jedi Knights, their choices steered the fates of millions. Namely, their actions brought the end of the Galactic Republic and the rise of the Galactic Empire. While the episodic films covered these events, an “Expanded Universe” of books and games detailed everything in between. These extra adventures tackled further developed storied characters and even contributed new pieces to the intriguing lore. Adapting these tales would have pleased the most ardent fans.

On acquiring the IP, though, Disney nuked the Expanded Universe. The company sought to make its own additions to Star Wars. Rather than navigating around the prior material, the higher-ups declared it non-canon. The official continuity would only include the six films, two TV shows (Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels), and any products made by Disney. The old EU was now a line of alternative tales known as “Legends.” Of course, that didn’t mean Disney couldn’t repurpose its concepts into new shows and movies.^[3]

7 Terminator

Time travel practically defined the Terminator franchise. When unsuspecting ’80s woman Sarah Connor found herself targeted by a cyborg killer, she learned her assailant hailed from a hellish future where machines wiped out most of humanity, all at the behest of an AI called Skynet. Sarah’s unborn son, John, went on to lead the survivors to victory, so the titular Terminator aimed to erase him from history. This struggle had the opposite effect, as Terminator 2: Judgment Day concluded with Sarah and John destroying Skynet during its inception. Unfortunately, that full-circle narrative didn’t suit a franchise.

A slew of Terminator sequels came after T2. Each addition claimed to be the true follow-up to the beloved duology, disregarding previous attempts in the process. Terminator Genisys and Terminator: Dark Fate made this tactic into a plot point. Both featured characters going back in time to the first two films and kickstarting a fresh continuity, complete with another AI. Judgment Day truly was inevitable.^[4]

6 Dragon Ball

Dragon Ball had a real problem in settling on an ending. The series revolved around an adventurous boy/martial artist named Goku, who traveled the world in search of the wish-granting Dragon Balls. This quest brought him against ever-stronger opponents—a challenge he reveled in. This pursuit continued in Dragon Ball Z, where an adult Goku and his friends protected the realm from greater threats. After repeatedly trying to conclude the story, creator Akira Toriyama finally walked away after DBZ. However, Toei Animation sought to keep the franchise alive, so the studio continued the story with Dragon Ball GT. This show was the final chapter until the creator’s belated return.

Toriyama crafted two new entries in Dragon Ball Super and Dragon Ball Daima. These stories pitted the heroes against multiverse warriors, cosmic gods, and the Demon Realm. Moreover, they took place right after DBZ. Combined with the creator’s involvement, that fact relegated GT to an alternative piece of fan fiction. Once again, though, these new tales cherry-picked popular concepts from the non-canon tales and reworked them for the current continuity, albeit while doing them better.^[5]

5 X-Men

DC wasn’t the only superhero universe to hit the reset button. Inspired by Marvel comics, the X-Men films presented a new breed of human with a mysterious gene. These mutants had incredible powers, potentially making them a danger to themselves and those around them. The movies dealt with the prejudice they received from the human race, which prompted extremist responses on both sides of a messy conflict. Unfortunately, that messiness translated to the scripts, as the series soon suffered from continuity errors amid declining quality. The solution to these problems lies in the source material.

X-Men: Days of Future Past took cues from the iconic comic storyline to rejuvenate the franchise. Trapped in an apocalyptic future of mutant-hunting robots, the older films’ characters sought aid from their younger peers/counterparts from the X-Men: First Class prequel. These past iterations prevented the horrific future from occurring. This change also conveniently reversed the unpopular decisions seen in prior movies. Most importantly, it let the sequels shift focus to the younger cast as they worked toward a brighter tomorrow. Then again, the franchise quickly muddied the mainline continuity with Logan, Legion, Deadpool, and other offshoots. The X-Men flicks were as scattershot as the comics.^[6]

4 Final Fantasy VII

As the series’ most popular entry, Final Fantasy VII was among the few games to be expanded on. The original title focused on Cloud Strife: an enhanced mercenary who joined an ecoterrorist group to stop the greedy Shinra Company. This conflict heralded the return of a malevolent warrior named Sephiroth, who had mysterious ties to Cloud’s past and sought to harness the planet’s energy for his vengeance. These narrative elements saw several expansions through various spin-offs, prequels, and sequels, but the projects saw a mixed response. Fans instead preferred to revisit the classic.

Developer Square Enix granted that wish (in a sense) with the Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy. On the surface, these titles retold the old story, but they did so with a twist. Aware of his impending defeat, Sephiroth constantly tried to change the narrative through temporal tweaking. The resulting plot rearranged many familiar beats and wove in threads from the spin-offs, such as Crisis Core and Dirge of Cerberus. By melding past, present, and future, it strove to be the most all-encompassing FFVII project.^[7]

3 Mortal Kombat

Like many fighting franchises, Mortal Kombat became deceptively dense in its lore. The basic premise was a group of martial artists defending Earth (or “Earthrealm”) from sorcerous forces of other worlds. However, this simple battle between good and evil ballooned into a multigenerational war with an ever-expanding roster. These characters each accrued a busy history, doubtless spurred by the games’ increasing emphasis on dense story modes. “History” soon became the keyword.

Mortal Kombat 11 presented a temporal goddess named Kronika. This condescending deity wanted to erase the whole timeline to restore the equilibrium. The fight to stop her drew combatants from nearly every entry, many of whom fought their current counterparts. Amid all the bloodshed and backstabbing, Liu Kang emerged as the new Keeper of Time. He used this power to reset the timeline, paving the way for Mortal Kombat 1. This sequel introduced younger versions of established characters and reacclimated them to their proper roles. In essence, it served as an alternative origin for both them and the franchise.^[8]

2 Halloween

Like many horror hits, Halloween inspired a long series of sequels. The first film was a simple story about a masked mental case named Michael Myers stalking teen babysitter Laurie Strode. The sequels diluted that formula with plot twists involving family relations and witchcraft. If they weren’t expanding on Myers’ backstory, they were shifting perspective to Laurie’s daughters and granddaughter. The only thing more confusing than these connections was determining which entries actually counted.

The Halloween sequels liked to pick and choose which storylines to follow. They stopped building on their predecessors and only followed the early entries. Like the Terminator series, every movie claimed to be the true successor by disregarding everything except the first two films. Halloween 4, Halloween H20, and 2018’s Halloween were all guilty of this. It drove fans as crazy as Myers.^[9]

1 The Marvel Cinematic Universe

Few movie franchises have been as dense as the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Starting with Iron Man in 2008, this series of interconnected films introduced superhero icons from throughout Marvel’s comic history. These standalone adventures built to several crowd-pleasing team-ups, eventually culminating in a grandiose struggle against a cosmic despot named Thanos. The crossover flick Avengers: Infinity War saw the villain gather the mystical Infinity Stones and wipe out half of all life. The heroes obviously couldn’t let that stand.

Avengers: Endgame was all about undoing that damage. Using Ant-Man’s tech to create a time machine, the Avengers combed through history to find the Infinity Stones before Thanos, thus letting them restore the lives he snuffed out. Doing so not only resurrected numerous dead characters, but it created countless alternate timelines and opened the door to the multiverse. Both outcomes fueled the series for years to come.^[10]

fact checked by
Darci Heikkinen