In-universe conspiracy theories

[Missy]

There's a funny gag in Captain America #695 where some dude goes on this conspiracy theory rant about the froze-in-ice story being BS; he calls anyone who believes it "icers."

So that got me thinking: what in-universe conspiracy theories would exist in any comic book universe?

[Dread]

Batman keeps getting older but Robin stays the same age.

Think about it.

[Dread]

Seriously though, I would definitely be inserting cults based on cosmic beings. A Galactus death cult. A fringe science cult based around High Evolutionary. Maybe this already exists, but a peace and love movement around Wundarr the Aquarian. That shit has to be rampant in the Marvel U. 

In DC, there's a ton of lunatics running around shouting about the Source Wall.

[Missy]

You could even do an allegory about climate change with the Galactus death cult. The cultists (climate change deniers) say, "This happens all of the time. Look at the other planets he's devoured." While Reed is like, "Yeah, but, I can push back on him. We can stop this from happening."

Speaking of death: the average comic book citizen must have strong opinions about returning from the grave. It must be thought that those who come back are clones or androids or different people in the same costumes, because why do only those living in the costumed world get a return ticket?

In the DC Universe, Heaven and angels are a proven fact, but there must be those who claim said angels are actually from another reality or they're higher level aliens.

Mutants come from something the government puts in the water.

The big one for me is reality-merging and altering. Over in his current crop of books, Bendis has a few background characters openly talking about the recent combining of the Marvel and Ultimate universes. Chatter like this would grow on the Internet, leading to people coming out with stories about how they're younger, their wife is a different person, no one else remembers the noisy neighbor who's now gone. Someone might even have the only remaining picture of Peter Parker revealing himself to be Spider-Man during Civil War. There have to be enough clues laying around the Marvel and DC universes to make people believe what we already know about their worlds: reality changes all of the time, and the world governments are hiding it.

[Dread]

3 hours ago, The Master said:

You could even do an allegory about climate change with the Galactus death cult. The cultists (climate change deniers) say, "This happens all of the time. Look at the other planets he's devoured." While Reed is like, "Yeah, but, I can push back on him. We can stop this from happening."

Speaking of death: the average comic book citizen must have strong opinions about returning from the grave. It must be thought that those who come back are clones or androids or different people in the same costumes, because why do only those living in the costumed world get a return ticket?

In the DC Universe, Heaven and angels are a proven fact, but there must be those who claim said angels are actually from another reality or they're higher level aliens.

Mutants come from something the government puts in the water.

The big one for me is reality-merging and altering. Over in his current crop of books, Bendis has a few background characters openly talking about the recent combining of the Marvel and Ultimate universes. Chatter like this would grow on the Internet, leading to people coming out with stories about how they're younger, their wife is a different person, no one else remembers the noisy neighbor who's now gone. Someone might even have the only remaining picture of Peter Parker revealing himself to be Spider-Man during Civil War. There have to be enough clues laying around the Marvel and DC universes to make people believe what we already know about their worlds: reality changes all of the time, and the world governments are hiding it.

"Do you guys remember when Supergirl wore a skirt? I feel like things were different back then."

[Missy]

Until Wolverine joined the X-Men (with the shifting timeline, it would have been no sooner than 2007), there would have been urban legends about the forever-living feral man dating back to at least the first World War.

Considering how often Magneto has fought alongside the X-Men, one could make the in-universe claim he and Xavier have been in cahoots from day one.

Guy 1: I'm telling you, man, there is no mutant war.
Guy 2: What are you talking about?
Guy 1: You know Magneto, right?
Guy 2: I know of him.
Guy 1: He was a bad guy, then a good guy, then bad, good, bad, and good again I think.
Guy 2: So?
Guy 1: So? He's a terrorist, or so we're told.
Guy 2: Fuck off with that "or so we're told" stuff. Dude's killed, like, thousands of people.
Guy 1: Or so we're told.
Guy 2: Oh fuck off.
Guy 1: Hear me out.
Guy 2: Do I have a choice.
Guy 1: Shut up. Look, Magneto shows up with this "Brotherhood of Evil Mutants." (Who calls themselves evil?) So, like, his guys and the X-Men fight for years. Then Xavier goes away or whatever, and suddenly this so-called "evil" mutant is running the show. This happens a few times, right?
Guy 2: Yeah.
Guy 1: So, like, that's the point. Xavier and Magneto have always planned this out. It's a morality play to get humans on their side.
Guy 2: ... that literally makes zero sense.
Guy 1: If the world's biggest terrorist (who used to lead a team with "evil" in its name) can come to the side of the angels -- if he can see Xavier's path of peace and coexistence is the right one -- then humans will eventually follow.
Guy 2: What about all of the people Magneto's killed?
Guy 1: False flags, brother. False fucking flags.

[Molly]

Lex Luthor built Superman in a lab to boost his own defense contracts. 

[Molly]

The Fantastic Four are USSR cosmonauts who defected after being disfigured. 

[Missy]

Oh shit! Those are wild!

[Dread]

I feel like after it was revealed that dozens of heroes were shapeshifters masquerading as human heroes for years in order to invade the earth, human civilization would have imploded in anarchic pandemonium.

[Dread]

Gotham City is an experiment by the military industrial complex in order to run constant martial law drills. Think Jade Helm on a grande and continuing scale.

[Molly]

There is no Themiscyria. Diana is the product of a Captain America style super soldier project launched in WWII. Most of her Greek enemies/allies are failed attempts to replicate her. Especially Ares, as introducing the Y chromosome drives his aggression totally out of control. 

[dc20willsave]

Zatana, Dr. Fate? Part of a vast Satanic Network trying to undermine Christ. That so called angel that ran around with the Justice League was just to throw us off their trail.

[Missy]

27 minutes ago, Preston said:

Lex Luthor built Superman in a lab to boost his own defense contracts. 

And he created Bizarro to throw people off the scent. If he openly created a failed Superman clone, no one would suspect he's the mastermind behind the creation of Superman.

[Dread]

12 minutes ago, The Master said:

And he created Bizarro to throw people off the scent. If he openly created a failed Superman clone, no one would suspect he's the mastermind behind the creation of Superman.

Eradicator and Cyborg Superman were other such failed experiments, thought dead, but now hold the secret until they can spill the beans...when they find a media figure who isn't a lying liberal scum...like Glorious Godfrey. That Clark Kent guy definitely wasn't any help.