Communist Superman and Deadpool Duck: The Most Unexpected Versions of Famous Superheroes

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Tomorrow, the movie "Burn, Burn Clearly" about the evil version of the young Superman will be released, and Lifehacker recalls how his favorite comic book characters have changed.

In the wake of the popularity of superhero films, even those who have never read graphic stories learned about comic book characters. But over time, many began to think that the authors are too much repeated. After all, everyone knows about the death of Batman's parents or the death of Spider-Man's uncle.

In comics, most of the plots really follow the same canon, only slightly adjusting the characters. But there are times when authors change their origins, characters and even the side on which they fight. And some of these stories have already made it to the screens.

The new film, Burn, Burn, Clear, produced by Guardians of the Galaxy writer James Gunn, tells the story of an alien boy raised in an ordinary American family. The character discovers tremendous powers, puts on a superhero costume. It would seem that everything repeats the familiar story of Superman. But the hero does not go to save the world, but simply takes revenge on everyone who offended him.

And this is not the first time when the fate of a character turned out to be completely different from what everyone used to expect.

1. "Superman: Red Son" - superman helps Stalin

One of the most unusual versions of Superman was created by screenwriter Mark Millar (author of comics such as Kick-Ass and Kingsman: The Secret Service). In his version, the ship with a small Kryptonian fell to the ground just 12 hours later and ended up in a Ukrainian collective farm.

The rest of the story is similar to the original. Superman also grows up and tries to protect the whole world. But he has a hammer and sickle on his chest, and first of all the Kryptonian helps Joseph Stalin, and after the death of the leader he himself becomes the leader of the USSR.

The comic strip balances on the verge of wit and madness: Millar turned all familiar plots inside out, showing the main villain of the comics Lex Luthor as the savior of the world, and Superman as the future tyrant. And the ending turns everything upside down. And there is also a Soviet Batman in a hat with earflaps.

A cartoon is already being developed for the comic, but so far little is known about it.

2. "Gotham by Gas Light" - Victorian Batman vs. Jack the Ripper

From this story, in 1989, DC's imprint Elseworlds was launched, in which the authors were allowed to tell alternative hero stories that had nothing to do with the main world.

The comic strip is set in 1889. Bruce Wayne, aka Batman, returns to his native Gotham. But soon the city is covered with a wave of crimes. And the suspicion falls primarily on Wayne himself.

Batman takes on the investigation and realizes that he faced the most dangerous maniac of the 19th century - Jack the Ripper. The comic offers a glimpse into the history of the Dark Knight at a time when there were no high-tech gadgets and communications, and people were divided by class and gender stereotypes.

At the same time, isolation from the main comic book series allowed the authors to change the characters of many characters. Therefore, it is almost impossible to predict the outcome.

The comic has already been filmed: in 2018, the full-length cartoon of the same name was released, exactly following the plot of the original.

3. "Flashpoint" - everything is out of place

In comics, global events sometimes occur that refresh the entire universe and restart it. This is the plot of Flashpoint 2011 from the current president of DC Entertainment Jeff Jones.

In this episode, Flash travels back in time to correct the most tragic event in his life - the murder of his mother. When he returns, he discovers the world is completely different.

Young Bruce Wayne was killed in an alley and his father Thomas became Batman, and Martha's mother went crazy. Aquaman grew up not on earth, but in Atlantis, and now his army is at war with the inhabitants of the land. Wonder Woman has taken over Britain and is trying to transform it into the new Themiskira.

Almost all the characters have changed, even Shazam is now different - these are six children who turn into one strong wizard. And the strongest hero of the earth, Superman, spent his whole life in captivity and never saw sunlight, so he looks like just an emaciated person.

And only Flash knows that once the world was different, and he needs to understand how everything can be fixed.

Based on this story arc, the full-length cartoon Justice League: The Source of Conflict Paradox was released. In it, the story is presented more succinctly, because in comics the action covers literally all the characters in the world.

4. "The Return of the Dark Knight" - Elderly Batman

Over the years, the release of comics, Batman has gone from a young man just starting the path of a superhero, to an experienced defender of justice. But still, most are accustomed to seeing him as a strong man in his prime. Moreover, the on-screen image of Batman looked like this until recently.

The most striking example of an aging Batman is the comic strip by the famous author of "300 Spartans" and "Sin City" Frank Miller called "The Return of the Dark Knight."

In this story, Batman is already over 50. He is tired, gray-haired and overweight. Bruce Wayne was absent from Gotham for a long time. During this time, the government subdued Superman and banned all other superheroes. Batman finds himself a new Robin (now a young girl) and enters the fight with a gang of mutants. And then he decides to fight Superman himself.

According to the plot of the comic, the cartoon of the same name was shot, accurately conveying the content. And then Zack Snyder took this story as the basis for the movie "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice."

The director changed the characters and their motives a lot, but the middle-aged Bruce Wayne and the fight in a heavy iron suit came straight from Miller's story.

5. "Injustice: Gods Among Us" - Tyrant Superman

In 2013, a fighting video game was released, based on the alternate history of the DC Comics universe. Later, the world was described in more detail in comics.

In the story, the Joker tricked Superman into killing his beloved Lois Lane and their unborn child. After that, a bomb explodes in Metropolis. The loss of a loved one during such an important period changes all Superman's principles.

Distraught with rage, he kills the Joker, and then decides to establish peace throughout the earth. But in the end, Superman becomes a tyrant. All heroes are divided into his followers and opponents, led by Batman. A war breaks out between the factions.

This brutal comic shows a change in Superman's personality that inevitably affects the entire world and even those who try to remain neutral. The authors mercilessly kill many of their favorite characters and change the action several times in completely unexpected ways.

6. "What if …" - butterfly effect

Marvel has a whole line of comics that tell how the world would change if this or that hero did differently. It began with the release of the story "What If Spider-Man Joined the Fantastic Four?"

Most often, the story is told on behalf of the supreme being, the Observer Uatu, who watches over the Earth. And in each small series, the authors take one event and, starting from it, show the changes in the world.

Over the years, many interesting stories have appeared: Captain America became the president of the United States, Peter Parker was killed not by Uncle Ben, but by Aunt May (or in general everyone survived), the Punisher became Venom, and the Hulk became a barbarian.

Marvel is currently planning an animated series based on the series. It is already known that the first story will be about Peggy Carter, who became Captain America instead of her lover.

7. “Marvel. Noir "- heroes in the thirties

An entire series of Marvel comics shows what heroes would look like if familiar stories were set in the thirties with the technology and mores of those times.

In this episode, Tony Stark is not just a millionaire and playboy, but also an archaeologist and adventurer. He has a battery in his chest that needs to be recharged. At the same time, Pepper Potts is his assistant journalist, writing under a male pseudonym.

Wolverine works as a private detective. He takes on the case of a wealthy Japanese woman who claims to be persecuted. But it soon turns out that this is due to the past of Logan himself. Noir Matt Murdock, who is known in the comics as Daredevil, of course, did not become a lawyer - in the thirties, such a position could not be occupied by a blind boy from a poor family. Therefore he sells newspapers on the street.

Spider-Man here wears a black suit and hat, and for the first thing he does not forget to grab a pistol. At the same time, his Aunt May calls on the streets to build communism.

The Noir series mixes superheroics well with the traditions of old detectives: gangsters, illegal alcohol, social stratification and corrupt cops appear here.

Unfortunately, these comics have not yet made it to the screens, only noir Spider-Man appeared in the cartoon "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse." But there is hope that sooner or later they will be filmed by Marvel.

8. "Ruins" - a rotting world of superheroes

One of the most controversial and scary comics from Marvel. The authors decided to show what would happen to superheroes if their formation took place in the real world. The plot revolves around a journalist who sees the world of comics only in dreams.

But in reality he is trying to study unusual people, and each of them has a very dark fate. Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider, but he did not acquire superpowers, but only contracted a deadly virus.

Bruce Banner was exposed to radiation and turned into a terrible mutant, consisting of tumors. This creature is called the Hulk, but it does not at all look like a strong monster. Matt Murdoch got into the eyes of chemicals, but he did not gain acute hearing and strength - he simply died of pain.

Stuntman Johnny Blaze sets his own head on fire while performing another stunt, but does not sign a contract with the devil and does not turn into Ghost Rider. He just dies of burns.

"Ruins" is a very small story arc of two issues, but they love it and at the same time hate it, because no one has yet dared to show the world of superheroes so doomed and dying out.

9. "Deadpool Duck" - talkative and feathered mercenary

Deadpool's stories have always featured weird and often comic plots. He had a chance to be a woman, a zombie, a dog, and also to get out of the world of comics and kill his creators.

But in 2017, one of the funniest versions of the chatty mercenary emerged. Due to a malfunction in the teleportation process, Deadpool finds himself in the same body with Howard the Duck. And now the hero has not only a red suit, but also feathers.

Even more fun, the cynical Howard becomes something of the character's inner voice. And two heroes have to fight for power over the body. And then they have to somehow find a common language in order to still split.

10. "Awesome Spider Pig" - two animals in one body

Spider-Man is also often presented to readers in unusual versions. One of the funniest is Spider Pig. This story was originally conceived as a parody of superhero comics, so absolutely everything in it is strange.

In the story, Peter was an ordinary spider who lived in the laboratory of the pig scientist May Porker. May invented the world's first hair dryer that runs on atomic batteries, but during testing was severely irradiated by it. After that, the scientist bit Peter, and soon he turned into a cross between a spider and a humanoid pig.

Subsequently, Peter Porker faced Captain Americot, Rabbit-Hulk, Ghost Goose, and many other comic book characters transformed into animals.

Like noir Spider-Man, Peter Porker appears in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, where he becomes the main supplier of jokes. And there are already rumors that he might get his own animated series.