Superhero comics: What insane story/character developments do avid followers take for granted but would blow the minds of anyone only peripherally aware of them?

All of the Justice League have died at least once except Wonder Woman

Didn't Wonder Woman die some time in the 90s too? I wasn't reading WW's own title back then, but I remember in Morrison's JLA people mentioned she was dead, and her mother became Wonder Woman for a while.

Anyway, I thought it was kinda preposterous that DC actually brought back Egg Fu in 52. Okay, the new Egg fu was much less of a racist stereotype, but he still was a Chinese giant monster egg with a face, and there still was no explanation how such a thing came into being.

Okay you win Chinese Eggface Killah has exploded my brains.

I know Egg Fu from ambush bug.

Has anyone in this thread just made something up yet? How would we tell?

I can attest that the vast majority of this thread is true, believe it or not.

there still was no explanation how such a thing came into being.

KANIGHER SAYS... DON'T ASK - JUST BUY IT!

* The Power Pack have been revealed to all be aspects of The Hate Monger's personality, which was split into four and put into clone bodies by Nazi scientists hiding out in Genosha.

* Machine Man contracted machine cancer, and created tiny avatars of himself in order to enter his own body and befriend the rapidly mutating rogue metal cells. This backfired when the avatars achieved autonomy and declared his body to be the First Free Machine State. The original consciousness was overwhelmed, and Machine Man's corpse currently orbits Neptune and continues to grow exponetially and play host to a Utopian society of identical purple robots.

* Hawkeye is now the Herald of Galactus.

* MODOK was briefly president of the US in the Ultimates universe, and ironically did a pretty decent job.

* The current FF line-up is Mr. Fantastic, Sue Storm (Now known as the Invisible Lady), a cured Ben Grimm armed with an uzi, and Kuurgo, Master of Planet X.

One or more of the above may be made up.

i was about to say!

i really like your power pack idea tho'.

If Power Pack is Hate-Monger, can we bring back Razorback and his 18-Wheeler, Big Pig?

http://www.samruby.com/SpectacularA/Large/SpectacularSpider-Man014.jpg

Of course, in that storyline Hate-Monger was actually Man-Beast in disguise. Maybe Power Pack are actually Man-Beast in four parts because the Genoshan Nazi docs made a mistake?

By the way, I had those Spectacular Spider-Man issues with the great electrified mane of Razorback. Some of my earliest comics (1977 or 78?).

Big US1 fan here
http://ape-law.com/GAF/images/us1logo.gif

I remember US1! Ulysses somebody, with Poppa Wheelie and Wide Load Lady or something like that. Not bad, but Razorback was a mutant with the innate ability to drive any vehicle instinctively.

Killing Me Softly With His HATE

sorry guys, Egg Fu? A giant egg with a face? This is amazing.

Pre PC version, as Wonder Woman foe: http://www.supermanartists.comics.org/silverage/EggFu-WW157.JPG
http://www.supermanartists.comics.org/silverage/EggFu-WW157.JPG

PC version, as introduced in 52: http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/Egg%20Fu%203.jpg
http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/Egg%20Fu%203.jpg

On one hand, the idea of a giant talking mad scientist egg is kind of funny. But on the other: AMELICAN? oh god so racist, at least that didn't carry over to the reboot

I thought the 52 Egg Fu was merely a freaky monster who just happened to be egg-shaped, but when he was shot his shell actually broke and yolk spilled over...

HEEEE-HO!

EGG-FU VS. M.O.D.O.K. TS AND FITE!

I choose M.O.D.O.K. because I'm a Marvel zombie. And he's more boss.

I don't think Egg Fu makes any sense if he isn't racist.

I choose the Elvis Modoks from Nextwave.

hahaha Nextwave was so great

I think Nextwave fits this thread perfectly. One of the best things this decade for sure.

"Remember the bubble-gum chewing Jubilee clone from X-Force? Well..."

To be fair, Boom Boom was around well before Jubilee. Just sayin'.

I was gonna say, if anything Jubilee was Boom Boom + Kitty Pryde!

Oh yeah, right! I forgot.

First off, I wanna say it was really hard to figure out the exact words to search for to bring this thread back. Damn.

I haven't even read this, but apparently the Punisher had his head cut off by Wolverine's long lost son, then got brought back from the dead and is now some sort of undead Frankenpunisher on a superhero monster team with Morbius, Man-Thing and Werewolf by Night.

Someone tell me they've read this!

I have. Frank Castle is as confused about it as you are.

It's got to be less perplexing than that time he turned himself black

Where did that happen?

In the "I am murderous, black" storyline.

okay I might read about zombie Frankenstein Punisher

I haven't enjoyed it as much as I thought I would. Figure it's just a way to eventually rejuvenate Frank Castle by giving him a new body -- a Vietnam vet would be way too old to go around committing slaughter in 2010. Or have they already explained that one away? Did he get a dunk in the same stuff that makes Nick Fury never age?

have we mentioned Psylocke (i.e. Betty Braddock, Captain Britain's sister) being kidnapped and turned from an English woman with mild pscyhic powers into an Asian martial artist?

no one mentions Psylocke due to the risk of yr head exploding Scanners-style as you attempt to explain her entire back story

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psylocke#Fictional_character_biography

I mean, large chunks of this oscillate wildly between "o_O" and "O RLY?"

Looking at that - makes a little sense, at least US-wise, since she only appeared for three years here (ten years after her first UK appearance!) before the bizarre ninja transformation, so that original poofy haired incarnation didn't have time to set too long in our minds. But it was still pretty damn weird.

all this punisher stuff has to be ennis, right?

No, the Frankencastle thing is Rick Remender.

Where did that happen?

in "The Punisher," a comic book about the comic book character The Punisher

all this punisher stuff has to be ennis, right?

nah, apart from him having been gone for a couple of years before Frankencastle, the I Am Punisher (Black) thing was early-90s. Make sure to read the alt-text.

oh i how i loled.

jeeeeeezus

don't they explain the Punisher's age (or lack thereof) the same way they do Iron Man's, by pushing the war onvolved forward? At least in the main Marvel timeline; pretty sure Ennis's Max stuff kept it as Vietnam and made Frank appropriately crotchety.

Cold lampin'!

not a comic book dude, didn't read the whole thread, and a whole lot i read was inside baseball to me, but my mind was still blown several times, good werk.

Nightwing being the son of Zod blows my mind. I didn't know the name had an origin in the Superman comics at all.

The one from a few years ago that is pretty high on the yuck factor is the idea that Gwen Stacy, Spider-man's girlfriend who died in a battle with the Green Goblin in the early 70s in a recent story had that re-written that Gwen was sleeping with the Green Goblin and had had twins by him and that Mary Jane knew about it the whole time. That has to be one of the bigger WTF things I have come across since starting to read these things a few years ago. I guess it was all just a precursor to the idea that Spider-man would make a deal with the devil (or Mephisto--hope you remember my name) to get his secret identity back and save Aunt May.

All I can say is if you love Spider-man comics, in some ways you are just better off not knowing what has been going on the last 20 years or so. I don't even really want to know what that whole clone thing was about, it seems too weird.

Oh yeah, Catwoman had a kid, but not with Batman.