Bizarro
| Bizarro | |
|---|---|
| File:ActionComics785.jpg Bizarro. Art by Ed McGuinness. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Superboy #68 (1958) |
| Created by | Otto Binder George Papp |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Bizarro #1 |
| Team affiliations | The Society Htrae (Pre-Crisis) |
| Notable aliases | Kent Clark |
| Abilities | Originally Kryptonian powers, which later evolved into reverse versions, including freeze-vision, heat-breath, vacuum breath, spot-light vision, x-ray hearing, etc. |
Bizarro is a fictional character, a doppelgänger of DC Comics’ Superman. Created by writer Otto Binder and artist George Papp, he first appeared in Superboy #68 (October 1958).
Due to a somewhat disjointed continuity, several versions of Bizarro have appeared in DC comic books, all of them inversions of Superman with gray or chalk-white skin, a twisted sense of logic which typically manifests as a superficial "opposite" of anything Superman would do or say and a resultant speech pattern ("Me am going to kill you" would mean "I will save you" in Bizarro speech). Due to his imperfections, Bizarro is frequently a foe of Superman, but sometimes finds himself in the role of hero (in this case, an anti-hero).
The original Bizarro was created when Superman was exposed to a "duplicate ray." In accordance with the science fiction concepts of Superman stories of the era, Bizarro relocated to "the Bizarro World," a cubical planet called Htrae which operated under "Bizarro logic" (it was a crime to do anything good or right) and which Bizarro populated with inverted versions of Superman’s supporting cast and other DC heroes.
The 1986 event Crisis on Infinite Earths rewrote DC’s continuity, eliminating Htrae. Since then, two Bizarro characters have appeared, one of them a flawed clone created by Lex Luthor. The second, longer lasting Bizarro, was an idea of the Batman villain the Joker, brought to life by the cosmic trickster Mister Mxyzptlk.
Bizarro has been a consistent enemy of Superman since his first appearance. Faithful adaptations of Bizarro appeared in the animated series Super Friends and series in the subsequent DC animated universe. Also, doppelgängers of Superman with some attributes of Bizarro appeared in live action adaptations.
Bizarro and the Bizarro World have become somewhat well known in popular culture, and the term Bizarro is used as to describe anything that utilizes twisted logic or that is the opposite of something else.[citation needed]
Pre-Crisis Bizarro
The original Bizarro was created in a laboratory accident. A scientist was demonstrating his newly invented "duplicating ray" to Superboy, testing it on a radium pellet and a jewel. However, the duplicated radium was non-radioactive and the jewel melted. The scientist then stumbled and knocked the machine, inadvertently creating an imperfect Superboy. Although the scientist insisted the duplicate was not alive, it nonetheless escaped from the lab. Although Bizarro wanted to be accepted, his appearance and erratic behavior scared people, especially since he had no idea of his own super-strength. He was befriended by a blind girl, shortly before Superboy realized the remains of the machine would act as Kryptonite to him. Bizarro headed straight towards Superboy, having somehow realized that the shockwave from his destruction would cure his friend's blindness.
The later Bizarro was created by Lex Luthor, who used the "duplicating ray" on the adult Superman and hoped to use the duplicate to attack Superman. However, this Bizarro did not cooperate and instead tried to emulate Superman. Unfortunately, his attempts to match the original's heroics were clumsy and destructive, and he kidnapped Lois. This was resolved when Lois created a Bizarro-Lois for Bizarro using the "duplication ray". Feeling rejected by the people of Earth, they moved to the world of Htrae, which had ancient advanced technology which was used to populate the planet with other Bizarros created in the same manner. Almost everyone on Htrae looked like an ugly Superman (and possessed super powers) or an ugly Lois Lane. On Superman's first visit to Htrae in Action Comics #264 (May 1960), he was arrested for being normal, but he plea-bargained a proposal to change the shape of the world into a cube (thereby making it imperfect) for his release.
Bizarro's only weakness is blue Kryptonite, created by using the same machine to duplicate green Kryptonite. Though Bizarro acts in what he believes to be the best manner, his Bizarro logic often causes him to act for evil.
Originally Bizarro's abilities were the same as Superman's but he was hit by a meteorite which reversed his powers: flame breath, ice vision, microscopic vision that actually increased the size of things, X-ray vision that could only see through lead, etc. Superman had to deal with these new powers in Superman #333 (1979) when Bizarro says he is going to save Lois Lane (meaning in Bizarro logic, he is going to kill her). Superman manages to trick Bizarro into thinking he has 'saved' Lois and returns to Bizarro World.
Appearance
Bizarro has chalky and sometimes rock-like skin, a pale complexion, and a misshapen face. While the original Bizarro costume was identical to Superman's, he later changed it to one with a reversed S-shield so he could be even more imperfect; subsequent modifications to the costume have included a dented belt buckle and poorly fitting boots, although these modifications weren't consistent between stories. Bizarro wears a medallion that says "Bizarro #1", in order to distinguish himself from the other Bizarros on Htrae.
The Bizarro World
In the Bizarro world, a cube-shaped planet known as "Htrae" (Earth spelled backwards), society is ruled by the Bizarro Code, which states that it is a crime to do anything well or to make anything perfect or beautiful.
Later stories introduced Bizarro versions of Superman's supporting cast, including Bizarro-Perry White and Bizarro-Jimmy Olsen, created by using the duplicator ray on characters other than Superman and Lois Lane, as well as the children of Bizarro and Bizarro Lois. There was even a Bizarro-Justice League and Legion of Super-Heroes, as well as a "Bizarro-Kltpzyxm".
"Tales of the Bizarro World" became a recurring segment in Adventure Comics from 1961 to 1962.
On one occasion, Keith Giffen portrayed Htrae itself as being sentient - "Me am the Bizarro World. Planet Earth not think... therefore, me do" - and its only sane inhabitant was the Bizarro Ambush Bug.
Linguistics
Bizarro and the other inhabitants of the Bizarro world used an odd but predictable form of English. The most notable characteristics were:
- The lack of nominative case when using pronouns; Bizarro replaces pronouns that should be nominative with their analogues in the accusative case. Bizarro might introduce himself by saying "Me am Bizarro" instead of "I am Bizarro," for example.
- The lack of proper verb conjugation; Bizarro only uses the first person conjugation for any verb. For example, the verb "is" is always conjugated as "am", leading to sentences like "This am great".
- Speaking the opposite of what is really meant in a situation. Thus, "This am great" would mean that the thing isn't great at all. The exception would be "Me am Bizarro", which would actually mean what was said. Bizarro-English words are thus antonyms of the corresponding English words.
Death
In Superman #423 & Action Comics #583, Alan Moore wrote the final Superman story for the Pre-Crisis era (though subsequent writers have retconned it into being an alternate reality). In the beginning of Superman #423, Superman had his final encounter with Bizarro, who had gone on a killing spree.
Superman had been off the Earth, doing research for the government. When he returned, he found complete city blocks horribly destroyed, and was told Bizarro had gone berserk, smashing buildings and injuring innocent people.
Confronted by Superman, Bizarro told him, "This am part of genius Bizarro self-improvement plan." Bizarro tells Superman that he had destroyed Bizarro world, as Krypton had been destroyed.
"Bizarro? Come on out and show yourself! I want an explanation for this!"
"Ha! That easy! It am part of genius Bizarro self-improvement plan! See, me suddenly realize that me am not perfect imperfect duplicate! Maybe me not trying hard enough. Example: when your planet Krypton blow up by accident, you am coming to Earth as baby... so me decide to blow up whole Bizarro world on purpose and come to Earth as adult!"
"The Bizarro World? Blown up?!"
"Th-that's right! Ha ha! Pretty imperfect, huh?"
"Bizarro... what's happened to you? I can't believe you've really destroyed your homeworld!"
"Ha! That am only the beginning! Next, me realize that Superman never kill, so me kill lots of people! Them very grateful! Scream with happiness!"
"Killed people? Oh, merciful Rao..."
"...But then me finally understand what me need to be perfect imperfect duplicate: it am little Blue Kryptonite meteor that me carry in lead case for good luck!"
Bizarro holds the Blue Kryptonite before him.
"See... you am alive Superman... and if me am perfect imperfect duplicate, then me have to be... h-have to be..."
Bizarro staggers and collapses to the floor.
"Bizarro!"
"Uh... everything, him go d-dark... Hello, Superman. Hello."
Bizarro dies.
Not much later, Superman's secret identity was exposed and all the members of his rogues gallery attempt to kill him and everyone associated with him. Superman later discovers that Mr. Mxyzptlk is the villain orchestrating the attacks, and was most likely also the one responsible for Bizarro's strange(r) behavior.
Post-Crisis appearances of Pre-Crisis Bizarro
Though Bizarro was destroyed in the Crisis on Infinite Earths, his character later to be reimagined and reintroduced, the original Bizarro was able to make a few appearances. For instance:
- In Animal Man's Deus Ex Machina storyline, Psycho Pirate, while in Arkham Asylum, recreates characters removed from continuity, exposing the fourth wall to the protagonist. Bizarro appears as he did pre-Crisis.
Post-Crisis Bizarro
LexCorp Bizarros
Bizarro World was erased from the history of the DC Universe during the Crisis on Infinite Earths. Since then, two Bizarros have been created by Lex Luthor. However, in the post-Crisis version, the imperfections in the duplicates are eventually fatal. The first Bizarro created Post-Crisis appeared in Man of Steel #5 (1986), and made several attempts to "be" Superman, including wearing a jacket and glasses over his costume, although leaving it visible. He was apparently not capable of speech. As his non-living matter was continually flaking off, he was destroyed when he and Superman smashed into each other (the flakes of his body restoring Lucy Lane's vision, in homage to the original story).
Luthor later recreated Bizarro to see if it would offer insight into how to stop the "Clone Plague". This Bizarro escaped, and kidnapped Lois Lane, taking her to "Bizarro World"; a warehouse set up like a surreal version of Metropolis. He subjected her to danger, so that he would be able to rescue her from it. She managed to escape, and Bizarro was recaptured by Lexcorp, where it subsequently died.
These Bizarros were similar to the original in appearance and abilities, although the second was less angular. While the first did not speak, the second had the speech patterns of the original.
Emperor Joker
A Later version of Bizarro has a very different origin, having been created by the Joker by the use of the powers of Mr. Mxyzptlk; his first appearance was in Superman vol. 2, #160, and he seems to be the longest lived Post-Crisis Bizarro yet.
Originally created as the greatest hero of a twisted world created by the Joker, Bizarro was one of a number of characters Mxyzptlk saved from that world. He was subsequently captured by the Pokolistanian dictator General Zod, who used to torture him for months, apparently just for the pleasure of beating someone who resembled Superman.
After escaping from Pokolistan with Superman's help, Bizarro recreated his Jokerworld headquarters, the Graveyard of Solitude, and at erratic intervals emerges to help or hinder Superman; the decision as to which being seemingly random, and the same amount of trouble caused either way.
To decide whether or not to join the new Secret Society of Supervillains, Bizarro challenged Zoom to a race (obviously meant as a homage/parody to the Superman/Flash races). However, due to Bizarro's complicated speech patterns, Zoom and Cheetah were not sure which end result of the race would convince Bizarro to join. Also, Zoom soon grew frustrated since Bizarro wouldn't run in a straight line (Bizarro would just zig-zag across the planet).
Infinite Crisis
Bizarro (probably unknowingly) became a killer in Infinite Crisis #1 (Oct, 2005) while a member of the Secret Society of Super Villains. After the Human Bomb killed Doctor Polaris, Bizarro, commenting that he liked the flashes of light that the Human Bomb's powers created, attacked the Bomb, hammering his face to produce more colorful explosions. Lincoln's body was pulped by the brutal beating received, his explosive nature not harming the impervious Bizarro. The explosions stopped even though Bizarro continued punching, indicating that the power ended at the instant of death.
During the Battle of Metropolis at the conclusion of the storyline, Bizarro was quickly defeated by Superman and Kal-L, the two Supermen making quick work of their 'twin.'
Bizarro's new attitude
During the publication of the Infinite Crisis limited series, the majority of DC Comics' superhero line advanced one year. One year later, Bizarro is a captive of Lex Luthor and has been watching television in a small room for thirteen months. As a result, he is much smarter than before (although still not close to an average intellect) and instead of talking backwards he talks similar to the early version of the Incredible Hulk.
Bizarro's new history
Furthermore, it seems due to the effects of Infinite Crisis that Bizarro was the clone created by Lex Luthor. His appearance is once again far more Zombie-like, but it may be that this Bizarro captured by Lex took on these qualities over time. It is also possible that due to the erasure of memories from the Emperor Joker Arc, that everybody believes this Bizarro to be the same as the Lexcorp Bizarros. It is also possible that the Bizarro from the Empero Joker Arc was folded into New Earth's History, and his history rewritten accordingly.It is also possible that Joker's Bizarro was a reanimated Clone Bizarro finally given the longevity needed to survive. It is unknown if Bizarro himself retains any memories of the Emperor Joker Arc.
Whatever the reason, it can be seen many times that Lex kept Bizarro in a cloning tube Recently, Bizarro has once again become affiliated with a Bizarro World reminiscent of its pre-crisis counterpart but under a Blue Sun. Also, unlike Htrae, on this world he is the world's most hated hero, and his alias Clark Kent is the man that Bizarro Lois loves, effectively reverse the original setup in Superman history.
Appearance
Unlike the original Bizarro, the "Emperor Joker" Bizarro is not chalky and angular. Instead, he has a light greyish skin-tone, yellow and red eyes, an overly muscular body, and a maniacal smile. Bizarro has a purple and indigo uniform, and the logo on his chest is inverted, so the "S" is backwards. The current Bizarro has the classic "Bizarro #1" engraved stone amulet.
Abilities
Originally, this Bizarro's abilities were the same as Superman's, but in homage to his Pre-Crisis counterpart, this Bizarro also developed reversed powers as well as adding things like "x-ray hearing" and "spotlight vision." Instead of possessing heat vision and freeze breath like Superman, he has freeze vision and flame breath, the latter recently shown in Batman/Superman #22 (Loeb, McCGuinness, Vines) He has also been discovered to be physically more powerful than Superman, but the nature of his fractured mind leaves him unable to access that potential.
In Action Comics #855 (Part one of the "Escape From Bizarro World" storyline), it is revealed that the light of a blue sun can give Bizarro extra powers, such as "Bizarro Vision", which creates Bizarro duplicates of any person it hits.
Post-Crisis Bizarro has encountered Blue Kryptonite on two occasions. The first was pre-Infinite Crisis Batzarro presented him with a ring set with a stone of it (Batman/Superman #25). The ring caused Bizarro to speak normally and act rationally, as well as granting him a 12th level intellect. The effect seems to be the opposite of the expected outcome. Instead of killing this Bizarro, it has the imperfect effect of making him intelligent. Still, he feared the ring. The ring appeared to have no effect on Batzarro since he is a Batman clone. Post-Infinite Crisis Luthor created a version of Blue Kryptonite that affects Bizarro just like Green Kryptonite affects Superman (Action Comics Annual #10).
Linguistics
Post-Crisis Bizarro adopted all of the linguistic idiosyncrasies of his Pre-Crisis self, but also negated every possible word in the sentence. Though the usage was slightly inconsistent, this usually included:
- Negating verbs.
- Replacing adjectives with their opposite.
- Replacing certain nouns with their opposite.
The ultimate end of this caused sentences to frequently have double and triple negatives. Combined with the fact that Bizarro's logic is already flawed, this caused some of his dialogue to be very difficult to follow.
As of Action Comics #845, Bizarro has learned how to speak more normally by watching television for thirteen months. As a result, he no longer negates the meaning of every possible word in the sentence and now speaks almost exactly like his Pre-Crisis self.
Other Bizarro characters
While the Superman-like Bizarro is the predominant one, anyone with milky-white or crystalline skin (depending on the artists' design) and who speaks with Bizarro's odd linguistic pattern can be considered to be a Bizarro in the DC Universe.
A Bizarro version of Batman debuted in World's Finest Comics #156. Jeph Loeb introduced a Bizarro-Batman, Batzarro, into the DC universe in Superman/Batman #20 (June 2005). His origin is unknown, but his speech patterns are almost identical to those of Bizarro. According to Bizarro, "Him no come from same place as Bizarro #1. That am why we am so different." This can be taken to mean that they come from the same place, which is why they are so similar. Unfortunately, because of Bizarro's twisted logic and grammar, this may very well be incorrect.
Others
In DC One Million, for example, there are references to a future Bizarro epidemic where the condition spreads like zombism. In JLA: The Nail, the Justice League encounters Bizarro duplicates used as henchmen.
Many Bizarro duplicates would break down and disintegrate after enduring a relative amount of stress. This was attributed to the imperfect nature of the duplication process, originally unable to deal with Superman's extraterrestrial nature.
A Bizarro-Superboy was created by Project Cadmus, when they used Luthor's process in their attempts to clone Superman. It was also used to create a Bizarro-Harley Quinn after Bizarro developed a crush on Quinn. Similar processes to Luthor's were used by Two-Face to create a Bizarro-Supergirl and Brainiac 5.1 to create a post-Crisis Bizarro-Legion. There was also a miniseries by Steve Gerber and M.D. Bright, A. Bizarro, about a Bizarro who was the duplicate of an ordinary man who happened to look like Superman.
In Teen Titans Match, a clone of Kon-El, has deteriorated to the point where he resembles Bizarro and speaks backwards like Bizarro does.
In Superman Family a non-living duplicate of the Earth-Two Superman's villainous alter ego, the Flying Tiger, was created with similar powers to his living template. This copy manifested a weakness to green kryptonite, unlike Bizarro's weakness to blue Kryptonite, and was phased out of existence by the same device that created him.
In May of 2005, a fake news website set during DC's lost year reported that the Kentucky Derby had been won by a talking horse named Bizarabo, who won the race by running backwards.
Other versions
Elseworlds
In Superman: Red Son, Bizarro was an imperfect clone of Superman created by Lex Luthor. His costume resembled that of the "normal" Superman, but his monogram was a shield with "U.S." printed on it. He had red hair and odd-looking skin with blisters and distended veins. He sacrificed himself to save London from a nuclear missile.
In the Frankenstein pastiche, The Superman-Monster, Viktor Luthor's Creature originally resembles Bizarro, although he sloughs off the chalky skin later in the story.
DC produced an anthology, Bizarro Comics, featuring offbeat and irreverent stories by alternative comics writers and artists featuring various DC Universe characters. The anthology's chief conceit was that all of its contents (aside from the framing sequence) were created by Bizarro himself. A second, conceptually similar, anthology entitled Bizarro World has been released.
All-Star Superman
In the pages of All-Star Superman, there are several different versions of Bizarro.
• Bizarro clones are the workforce used by P.R.O.J.E.C.T. under Leo Quintum. They reside in a universe with tremendous gravity called the Underverse, and they speak like the regular DC Universe Bizarro.
• In #4, Superman turns into an evil, Bizarro-like being under the influence of Black Kryptonite, which is drawn from the Underverse.
• A new Bizarro World is introduced in #7, a cuboid "planet-eater" comes from the Underverse, which "in its own crude way is trying to mimic the Earth - to appear less threatening as it moves in for the kill". Once Superman injures the planet (by smashing into it at a high rate of speed), it retreats into the Underverse.
In the eighth issue, Superman is stranded on Bizarro World as his powers fade in the red sun. He meets an intelligent Bizarro (see below) who informs him that Bizarro World fears him and wishes to keep him happy. Besides the previously-created Bizarro Superman, Bizarro versions of Green Lantern and The Flash, (as well as a Bizarro Jor-El called 'Le-Roj') appear to help Superman escape Bizarro World.
• The Bizarros are a form of infection that the planet spreads to Earth; they are immune to the Underverse's harsh environment and can survive in space. At first, the Bizarros appear as emaciated, grey humanoids with hollow eye sockets and pale, lumpy skin. When they touch a person, that person becomes a version of a Bizarro. One Bizarro grabs Superman, and it takes on the appearance of the regular Bizarro. The Bizarros hate sunlight and warmth, and people who take steroids and performance pills are immune to their touch. Once the 'All Night' comes (when the Bizarro World organism returns home to the Underverse) most Bizarros are absorbed by the planet.
On Bizarro World, only one out of billions has the mental abilities of a normal human being. This Bizarro introduces himself to Superman as Zibarro. Although Zibarro resembles Superman, his powers are not revealed.
Amalgam
In Amalgam Comics, one of Spider-Boy's enemies is a Cadmus Project DNAlien called "Bizarnage", an amalgam of Bizarro and the Carnage symbiote from Spider-Man. In Unlimited Access #4, Access visits a number of alternate Amalgam Universes, one of which is a version of Bizarro World, inhabited by numerous imperfect Spider-Clones.
In other media
Challenge of the SuperFriends
Bizarro's first non-comics appearance was in the animated series Challenge of the SuperFriends. In this series, Bizarro was depicted almost as an outright villain, and part of the Legion of Doom.
The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians
The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians had a more faithful depiction as a well meaning bumbler. In the episode "The Bizarro Super Powers Team", he made Bizarro clones of Wonder Woman, Cyborg, Firestorm, and even a Bizarro-Mxyzptlk who goes by the name Kltpzyxm.
Superman III
In Superman III, Superman is turned evil by a computer genius named Gus Gorman, an associate to the villainous Ross Webster. Gorman discovers Superman's weakness to be Kryptonite, and attempts to synthesize it. Laced with tobacco tar as a substitute component, the resulting synthetic Kryptonite behaved like Red and Black Kryptonite, aside from the standard green coloring. Upon exposure, Superman slowly became evil and eventually split into two people. Although this evil Superman shared similarities to Bizarro, he was not called that in the film nor possessed any linguistic problems. He did, however, appear closer in personality design to Ultraman. Despite being an equal match, Clark Kent managed to kill this evil incarnation at the climax to their junkyard brawl by strangling him, whereby the evil Superman vanished into thin air as a result.
Superboy
The only live-action appearances to date of the traditional Bizarro were in the Superboy TV series which aired from 1988-1992. He was played by Barry Meyers and appeared in 7 episodes. The first two-part story featuring Bizarro, titled "Bizarro the Thing of Steel" (part one) and "The Battle with Bizarro" (part two), was based on the first Bizarro story from the comics. In this version, Bizarro was created when Superboy jumped in front of a duplicating machine created by Professor Peterson (played by George Chakiris) after it was struck and activated by a lightning bolt. Like in the comic, Bizarro was not truly a villain, but his backward ways of thinking led him to cause trouble and fight Superboy. This Bizarro was an unstable duplicate, meaning he would eventually spontaneously explode. Superboy and Professor Peterson attempted to "kill" the supposedly non-living being with green kryptonite, but this attempt failed. They then duplicated a chunk of kryptonite with the machine and created white kryptonite, which instead of killing Bizarro, actually cured and stabilized him.
In a later two-part story, entitled "Bride of Bizarro", Bizarro was manipulated by Lex Luthor into attempting to kill Superboy with the promise that Luthor would create a Bizarro female for him to love. Luthor eventually kidnapped Lana and created a Bizarro duplicate of her. This Bizarro-Lana prevented Bizarro from killing Superboy by convincing him that Luthor was an evil man.
Later still, in another two-part story ("To Be Human") Bizarro-Lana exploded due to the inherent instability in Bizarro duplicates, sending Bizarro into a deep depression. Superboy took Bizarro to a research lab where a scientist found a way to make Bizarro human by transferring Superboy's brainwaves into him. The transfer cleared up Bizarro's confused mind, making him think like a human, and removed his powers. He was made into the image of the scientist's deceased son through skin grafts. But the transfer process left Superboy's mind clouded and weakened his powers and he was injured and taken captive by a villain called "Chaos", who planned to kill him by throwing him off the tallest building in the city. The only one who could save Superboy was Bizarro (now going by the name Bill Zarro). But to do so, he had to reverse the transfer process and become Bizarro again. He saved Superboy at the cost of his humanity.
Lois & Clark : The New Adventures of Superman
In the first season episode Vatman Lex Luthor creates a clone of Superman which he intends to kill the real Man of Steel and replace him with one he can control. Even though the clone appeared identical to Superman in appearance, also played by Dean Cain, he clearly was the series version of Bizarro. The character was portrayed as immature and naive. In fact at one point Lois Lane, starting to suspect that the clone was not the real Superman, referred to him as "bizarre".
Superman: The Animated Series
In Superman: The Animated Series, Bizarro is a combination of Pre-Crisis, Post-Crisis, and original material; he was voiced by Tim Daly, who also provided Superman/Clark Kent's voice. As seen in his first episode "Identity Crisis", Bizarro is a creation of Luthor's, although he was never intended to be what he became. Rather, Luthor wanted to make an exact Superman clone, one whose only difference was that he followed Lex's orders which explains why his powers are exactly as those of Superman, instead of having opposite powers such as ice vision and heat breath. He took samples of Superman's DNA (gathered from blood left from his Kryptonite-induced weakness during "A Little Piece of Home") and grew Superman clones, the first of which to be released looked and acted exactly like Superman, down to the do-gooding, yet he does not seem to be aware of his alter ego Clark Kent when he rescues the real Kent from falling off a cliff. The duplication breaks down, though, and Bizarro's form and costume changes (as angular as Pre-Crisis, but coloured like Post-Crisis). This version has washed-out colors on his costume with a deformed (but still forward) S-shield, pale skin, and his posture suggests that his limbs are twisted. After his sudden confusion, he asks "what am me?" only to be teased by Mercy Graves replying "Bizarro! that's what you am", which established this to be his name in later episodes.
Closer to the original Superboy character, or the post-Crisis Luthor-created Bizarros than the more familiar versions, Bizarro's logic does not follow a purposefully opposite pattern; his "Bizarro logic" is resultant of his atrophied Superman mindset. Instead of doing bad because Superman does good, Bizarro is distinctly trying to do good but can't understand what he sees. For example, he sees a bridge folding up to let in a boat and thinks the bridge is breaking, causing him to push it together again and seal it with heat vision, failing to recognize what the boat was doing there. Also, he tried to save an elderly woman from being run over by a bus by punching the bus, unaware that the bus contained passengers. Bizarro, as far as he knew, was Superman, so the appearance of the real Superman confused him, and he tried to maintain the idea within his own mind that he indeed was Superman with the real Superman being an impostor ("Me am Superman! Me am hero!"). This dissipated when he saw Superman saving Lois Lane; since he associated saving Lois with being Superman, he realized the truth and then, apparently sacrificed himself so that Superman and Lois could escape the explosion that destroyed the lab where he was created ("Me am not Superman. You am Superman... Superman always save Lois...). Despite a few gags at his expense, the animated series attempted to portray Bizarro as a tragic figure - cursed with Superman's powers, fragmented parts of his mind, memories, feelings (such as the attraction to Lois) and even Superman's desire to use his powers to help people, but lacking the intelligence to do so properly.
"Bizarro's World", his next episode, highlighted the next step in Bizarro's confusion. Now aware that he is not Superman, he wanders for months before accidentally stumbling on the Fortress of Solitude, where the Fortress' computer mistakes him for Superman and tells him that he is Kal-El, explaining his Kryptonian heritage. Now with a new mistaken identity, Bizarro sets out to recreate Krypton in Metropolis, and then his faulty logic presumes that he needs to toss a missile at "Krypton" to destroy it again. Superman stops him, and gives him an alien moon which he can call home. Bizarro remains pleased with this until "Little Big Head Man", where Mr. Mxyzptlk convinces Bizarro to attack Superman because he and his friends were supposedly making fun of him. This is a lie, of course, and at the end, a de-powered Mxyzptlk is stuck on Bizarro's moon as his "friend."
Justice League Unlimited
There seems to have been a change in Bizarro's mind by the time Justice League Unlimited rolls around, though, because in "Ultimatum" he returns, now in confused love with Giganta (even though she's just using him to break Grodd out of jail):
Bizarro: Me do anything for woman I love! Even break her boyfriend out of jail!
Wonder Woman: And what's gonna happen then?
Bizarro: Uh... (punched out by Wonder Woman)
He had also joined the Legion of Doom near the end of the series, now functioning under "Bizarro logic" as commanded by Luthor - Luthor says, "Superman is your best friend," and Bizarro immediately understands that he must kill him. The reason for this change in Bizarro's mindset is not explained in the episode, but producer Bruce Timm pointed out at Toon Zone that Bizarro is, in fact, a victim of brain surgery. He's been altered by Luthor specifically to do as he commands (coming full circle with Lex's original intention for Bizarro). The clue for this in the episodes where he appears is that Bizarro now has a big gray gash across his forehead - scarring from the operation.
It is worth noting that when Lex Luthor and the Flash switch minds in one episode, Bizarro is the only one who notices anything is amiss, though his thought process precludes his being helpful: "Ever since you plug into monkey's head (referring to the brain machine), you am acting perfectly sane and rational... am you Bizarro's mommy?"
Video games
Bizarro appeared in Superman 64 and Superman: Man of Steel as a supervillain.
Bizarro also appears as a villain and playable character in the Superman Returns video game. Bizarro is only playable for a short period of time and during that time you have to cause as much damage that's indicated on the screen. A cheat code exists for the Superman Returns Two-Disc DVD which allows you to play as him for an unlimited period of time.
Smallville
In the Smallville season 6 finale "Phantom", the last of the escaped Phantom Zone criminals requires a Kryptonian host to survive. The creature, who was consistently referred to as "the phantom," was designed and built on Krypton, using genetic modification, but was trapped in the Phantom Zone when it became dangerous. The creature bonds with Clark Kent's DNA and becomes an exact duplicate of the Kryptonian. (Though wearing a dark navy-blue jacket and dark reddish purple shirt, as opposed to Clark's red jacket and blue shirt) Lionel Luthor attempts to use green kryptonite against the duplicate, but it only strengthens it. When Clark asks "What the hell are you?" the duplicate replies, "I'm you, only a little more bizarre." A short time later the duplicate's face changes from an exact copy of Clark's to one resembling Bizarro's signature rock-like, misshapen face.
The Season 7 premiere for the series will be entitled "Bizarro".
"Bizarro" references in pop culture
In popular culture, "Bizarro ___" eventually became a popular term for a version of a character who, while not always evil, is unsettling or creepy to those who know the original version.
Television
Seinfeld
- The television series Seinfeld, with its many Superman references and in-jokes, devoted an episode to the Bizarro concept, "The Bizarro Jerry", with Elaine dating a mirror opposite of Jerry who had his own Bizarro versions of friends George, Kramer, and Newman. He has an apartment that is a mirror image of Jerry's. To complete the allusion, Kevin (the Bizarro Jerry character) even uses the peculiar way of speaking, ending the episode with "Me so happy; me want to cry" and has a statue of Bizarro (to Jerry's Superman) in his apartment.
Captain Planet
- Captain Planet and the Planeteers featured Captain Pollution, a twisted clone of Captain Planet that combined the concepts of Bizarro and Reverse Flash. Captain Pollution's powers were all pollution-based, and he talked like a surfer. As with the first Bizarro, he was created by scientific means, using a duplicator ray to create twisted versions of the five elemental rings that summoned Captain Planet. His colors were primarily magenta and yellow, unlike Captain Planet's red, blue and green.
Sealab 2021
- Sealab 2021 (which aired on Cartoon Network) has satirized the Bizarro concept (episode #17).
South Park
- Episode 105 of South Park, called "An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig", features a clone of Stan Marsh that is mutated in appearance, and wreaks havoc on the town.
Drawn Together
- The reality television parody, Drawn Together, featured a Bizarro Captain Hero at one point and as Captain Hero laments "What happens in Bizarro world, stays in Bizarro world" regarding a homosexual fling with his Bizarro Self.
Sailor Moon
- Episode 33 "The Final Sailor Senshi, Venus Appears" of Sailor Moon(US dub episode 29 "Sailor V Makes The Scene") features Ziocite impersonating Sailor Moon. His duplicate disguise is in "Bizarro" colors of magenta and violet.
Ugly Betty
- In the pilot episode of Ugly Betty, Marc refers to Betty, Christina, Nancy and Zelda as "The Bizzaro version of Sex and the City."
WWE
- Sometimes, when a WWE show comes from Canada, Jerry "The King" Lawler refers to the country as "bizarro world", where the locals root for heels like Edge because they hail from Canada.
- WWE Superstar Kane had a feud with a "Fake Kane" in the summer of 2006. This would be considered a Bizarro reference because he dressed the way Kane 'used' to dress, making him an opposite. This was not the first time WWE would do a Bizarro Reference. Kane's Brother Undertaker had a feud with a "Fake Undertaker" in the summer of 1994.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- In the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "The Wish," Cordelia Chase refers to that reality as "Bizarro World." She uses the term again later in the Angel episode "You're Welcome", when she learns that former evil vampire Spike has reformed and become a hero and Angel is now head of the Los Angeles office of the evil law firm Wolfram and Hart ("What kind of freakin' Bizarro World did I wake up in?!").
Stargate SG-1
- In the Stargate SG-1 episode "Ripple Effect" Col. Mitchell refers to an SG-1 team from an alternate reality as "The Bizarro SG-1"
He-Man
- In the toy and cartoon series of the 80's He-Man, there was a character named Faker, who was created by the villain Skeletor to take on He-Man. He looked just like He-Man, but had blue skin.
The Simpsons
- In The Simpsons episode "I Am Furious Yellow", the Comic Book Guy states "Stan Lee insulted me! But in Bizarro World, that means he likes me!"
- In The Simpsons episode "Worst Episode Ever", the Comic Book Guy states "Two ten-year-olds running my store? What is this, Bizarro World?"
All That
- In an earlier segment of All That 2 kids are day dreaming of a world where people do opposite logic of things and the planet is shaped just like Htrae, only everyone is blue, instead of white.
The O.C.
- In an episode of The O.C., Ryan Atwood refers to a character named Chili as "Bizarro Seth", pointing out that he is the exact opposite of Seth Cohen in every way.
Fairly Oddparents
- In the Nickelodeon TV Show, Fairly Oddparents, Fairy Godparents have opposite versions of themselves known as "Anti-Fairies", Bizarro versions of Fairies that act the opposite of normal fairies. They first appeared in the episode "That Old Black Magic." Cosmo's Anti-Fairy has a British accent and is known to be highly intelligent, while Cosmo is a simpleton and Wanda's Anti-Fairy seems to have similar dim-witted actions to Cosmo.
SNL
- In the 1980s, Saturday Night Live lampooned NBC (its home network) in grey-and-white sketches depicting The Bizarro Network ("Here's a million dollars - Go make Supertrain!")
TMNT
- On the 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon, in the episode "Turtles in Space - Part One", the Turtles walk pass a turtle sensei with four rat ninjas, one of whom says something in an alien language that's subtitled as "Cowabunga!" Michelangelo jokes by saying "Bizarro World".
Futurama
- In an episode of the animated series Futurama titled the Farnsworth Parabox, Professor Farnsworth forbids the crew to look inside a mysterious box. Leela can't resist taking a peek, discovering the box to be a gateway to a parallel universe where Fry and Leela are married, Bender is gold and Dr. Zoidberg is blue.
Literature
- There is a fledgling literary movement calling itself Bizarro (see bizarro fiction) featuring a collection of authors (including Carlton Mellick III, Chris Genoa, Jeremy Robert Johnson, Kenji Siratori and Steve Aylett) and small presses (Eraserhead Press, Raw Dog Screaming Press, and Afterbirth Books) who specialize in weird, offbeat fiction.
- Neil Gaiman's Sandman comic used the Bizarro concept (although using a different name) as an important plot element; it was a comic book read by the characters in the story arc A Game of You.
- The comic strip This Modern World occasionally transforms into "This Bizarro World" in which all the characters are crude duplicates of our world and speak in a Bizarro-like manner.
- Al Franken's book Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations features a parody of Republican politicians and other right-wing personalities using "Bizarro speak" - in other words, saying the opposite of what they really mean. Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, is referred to as "Bizarro Newt".
- In Mark Millar's Wanted, Fuckwit is based on Bizarro.
- The Marvel Comics storyline Infinity War featured numerous evil clones made of all the involved heroes, each a twisted version in the style of Bizarro. All but one were killed in the story - the six-armed Spider-Man doppelgänger survived, to be killed during Maximum Carnage.
- A Daredevil character created by voodoo, known as Hellspawn, bears resemblance to a Bizarro. He is a villainous mock-up of his counterpart, Matt Murdock.
- In an issue of Radioactive Man, Radioactive man travels to a mysterious world where there are several clones of him with stone faces known by the name of "Strange-o's". Unlike Bizarro, their grammar is near perfect.
- In Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again, as Superman attempts to attack the batcave, he is attacked by a robot Bizarro, with a Bizarro #12 plaque around his neck. Including bizarro talk: "me love you so much me want to make you die very painful death."
- Cartoon Network Presents #12 featured a Peter Potamus story in which Peter and So-so pay an unexpected visit to Bizarro World. The story shows off opposite versions of various Hanna-Barbera characters and situations, such as Yogi Bear cleaning up Jellystone Park and refusing the picnic baskets that Ranger Smith steals for him, Mr. Peebles not wanting to sell Magilla Gorilla, and Wally Gator wanting to stay in the zoo.
- In the Norwegian Comic strip M, there are several strips featuring bizarromads from htrae. This twisted inverted version of the main character Mads loves to clean, speaks with weird grammar and reads the holy bible every night before going to sleep.
- A drawing in Gay Comics took the concept to it's logical (?) conclusion: same sex Superman and Lois Lane couples declare "Everyone am Gay in Bizzaro world!"
- The Alan Moore version of Supreme included two homages to Bizarro. Emerpus was Supreme's counterpart from a mirror dimension, who literally did everything backwards. The Shadow Supreme was a duplicate with a similar origin to Bizarro, but was actually evil.
Other media
- The band None more Black reference Bizarro in the song title Bizarro Me. This however may be an indirect reference via Seinfeld as many other song titles on the album are Seinfeld references.
- In the first Destroy All Humans! game, one of the G-men, when scanned, may say: "Bizzaro... world... pretty."
See also
- A. Bizarro (exact relation unknown)
- bizarro fiction
- List of Superman enemies
External links
- Don Markstein's Toonpedia: Bizarro
- Supermanica: Bizarro Supermanica entry on the Pre-Crisis Bizarro
- Bizarro Mailbag (superdickery.com), a satirical feature illustrating Bizarro's unique speech patterns
| Characters | |
|---|---|
| Locations | |
| History and themes | |
| Ongoing publications | |
| In other media | |
| Related | |
