Bizarro
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Facts and Stats
- First appearance: Superboy #68 (1958)
- Powers: Originally Kryptonian powers, which later evolved into reverse versions, including freeze-vision, heat-breath, vacuum breath, spot-light vision, x-ray hearing, etc.
- Height:6'"2
- Weight:215 lbs
- Eyes: Blue
- Hair: Black
Summary
Bizarro is 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 (or Superboy) 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 ("I 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 Superboy was exposed to a "duplicate ray." In accordance with the science fiction concepts of Superman stories of the era, a subsequent version of Bizarro would relocate to "the Bizarro World," a cubical planet called Htrae [in keeping with Bizarro logic, Earth spelled backwards] 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 1985 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 Joker, brought to life by the cosmic 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.
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 decreased 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
See 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 has his final encounter with Bizarro, who had gone on a killing spree.
Superman has been off the Earth, doing research for the government. When he returns, he finds complete city blocks horribly destroyed, and is told Bizarro has gone berserk, smashing buildings and injuring innocent people.
Confronted by Superman, Bizarro tells him, "This am part of genius Bizarro self-improvement plan." Bizarro tells Superman that he has destroyed Bizarro world, as Krypton had been destroyed. His reason for killing so many humans is that Superman never kills, so Bizarro reasons that he should do the opposite. Bizarro then exposes himself to blue kryptonite, because Superman is alive so he must be the opposite and die. His last words are "... everything, him go d-dark... Hello, Superman. Hello."
Not much later, Superman's secret identity is exposed and all the members of his rogues gallery attempt to kill him and everyone associated with him. Superman later discovers that Mxyzptlk is the villain orchestrating the attacks, and was most likely responsible for Bizarro's strange(er) 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 the Animal Man storyline "Deus Ex Machina", 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 Mxyzptlk; his first appearance was in Superman vol. 2, #160, and he seems to be the longest lived Post-Crisis Bizarro yet; in a nod to Htrae, Jokerworld, the Joker's twisted version of Earth, is a perfect cube with Joker's image on each facet. Bizarro also retains most of the classic Bizarro speech patterns. The "Emperor Joker" Bizarro is not as chalky and angular as the original Bizarro. 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.
Originally created as the greatest hero of Jokerworld and leader of that world's JLA (Joker's League of Anarchy), Bizarro was one of a number of characters Mxyzptlk saved from that world after Joker lost the powers he had stolen from the imp. 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).
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.
One year later
With the publication of the Infinite Crisis limited series, DC took the opportunity to revise some characters' histories, and Bizarro seems to be one of those affected. Based on comments in Action Comics #855 and Action Comics Annual #10, Bizarro is now an "imperfect clone" of Superman. Based on his appearance in flashback in the the Titans East Special, he has existed for much longer than previously thought. There has been no mention of his Emperor Joker origins.
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 similarly to his pre-Crisis counterpart.
Recently, Bizarro has once again become affiliated with a square Bizarro World reminiscent of the Silver Age. Bizarro found he can create other Bizarros under the power of a blue sun, and used his new ability to populate the planet with new Bizarros. With Superman's help, he has become the new Bizarro World's greatest hero.
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". Superman/Batman #19 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, McGuinness, Vines). He is physically as powerful as Superman and can hold his own against him. 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. Superman/Batman #20 Superman/Batman #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.
Batzarro
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.
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.
Many new Bizarro characters were featured in Action Comics Escape from Bizarro World storyline, such as a Bizarro Justice League, featuring:
- Bizarro Batman, wearing a smily-face on his chest, and possessing a bat-treehouse.
- Bizarro Hawkgirl, who screeches like an actual hawk.
- Bizarro Wonder Woman, who ties herself up with her lasso to make others lie.
- Yellow Lantern, a reluctant member of the Sinestro Corps.
- Bizarro Flash, a greatly overweight Bizarro, who collapses after a few seconds of running.
Other Bizarro's featured in the storyline were a Bizarro Lex Luthor, Doomsday, Joker, and Brainiac.
The other Bizarros seem to have less powerful Bizarro Abilities, as a small group is shown to be able to hold Superman down, and Bizarro-Perry White is shown lighting a cigar with Fire-breath.
In Lord Havok and the Extremists #4, a Bizarro version of Wonder Women, called Bizarra, is shown to be a member of Monarch's army.
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. He maintains Bizarro's traditionally reversed speech with his one line, saying "Hello, everybody. Me very pleased to meet you," seconds before his death.
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.
In JLA: The Nail, Lex Luthor discovered Kal-El's abandoned spaceship and taken DNA samples from it in creating clones; the Justice League encounters these Bizarro-like duplicates used as Luthor's henchmen. These duplicates would break down and disintegrate after enduring a certain amount of stress. This was attributed to the imperfect nature of the duplication process, originally unable to deal with Superman's extraterrestrial nature.
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.
Justice League Adventures
An entire team of Bizarros is introduced in the Justice League Adventures comic book, including one based on the all-new character All-Star.
In other media
The Super Friends Hour
Bizarro's first non-comics appearance was in the animated series The Super Friends Hour, in the short episode 'The Revenge of Bizarro', in which uses a special ray to change the Dynamic Duo, Wonder Woman, Hawkman, and Hawkgirl into Bizarros, while Superman turns into a four-armed, four-legged individual after being exposed to red kryptonite. Later, he is defeated with blue kryptonite.
Challenge of the SuperFriends
In this series, Challenge of the SuperFriends, Bizarro was depicted almost as an outright villain, and part of the Legion of Doom. In addition to his appearance in the "Challenge" episodes, Bizarro also appeared in "The Revenge of Doom," "Bizarroworld," "Revenge of Bizarro," and "Video Victims," which were all Superfriends shorts. Bill Calloway provided the voice of Bizarro.
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. Danny Dark provided Bizarro's voice in this episode.
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 is possibly based on Bizarro, he was not called that in the film nor possessed any linguistic problems, or facial deformities. 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
Until recently, the only live-action appearances to date of the traditional Bizarro were in the Superboy TV series which aired from 1988-1992. (This is not counting Superman III of course) 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 Lang 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. The animated series attempted to portray Bizarro as a tragic figure - cursed with Superman's powers and desire to use his powers to help people, but lacking the intelligence to do so properly.
As seen in his first episode "Identity Crisis", Bizarro is a failed experiment of Luthor's, who wanted to create a Superman clone that would follow his orders. The clone is created from a blood sample taken from Superman when he was weakened by Kryptonite during "A Little Piece of Home". At first the clone looks and acts like Superman, but 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, and Bizarro's form and costume changes. 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. His mental abilities and speech pattern also degrade; after his sudden confusion, he asks "what am me?" only to be teased by Mercy Graves replying "Bizarro! that's what you am". Bizarro's logic does not follow an opposite pattern; his "Bizarro logic" is resultant of his atrophied Superman mindset. Instead of doing bad because Superman does good, Bizarro tries to do good but can't understand what he sees. Bizarro, as far as he knows, is Superman, so the appearance of the real Superman confuses him, and he believes the real Superman is an impostor. Once he sees Superman saving Lois Lane; Bizarro realizes he is the duplicate, and sacrifices himself so that Superman and Lois can escape the explosion that destroys the lab where he was created.
In "Bizarro's World", Bizarro stumbles 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. Bizarro sets out to recreate Krypton in Metropolis, and then decides that he needs to toss a missile at "Krypton" to destroy it again. Superman stops him, and transports him to an alien moon which he can call home.
Bizarro remains pleased with this until his third appearance, "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 (voiced by George Newbern) 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 Secret Society (based on 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 The Great Brain Robbery, 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 episode "Gemini," Clark begins to behave unusually after his return from the Fortress of Solitude. At the episode's end it is revealed that "Clark" is actually Bizarro, while the real Clark is still in the Fortress trapped within a block of ice by Jor-El for his defiance in "Blue".
During this time, in the episode "Persona", Bizarro appears to be settling smoothly into Clark's life and even begins a relationship with Lana Lang. In an effort to rid himself of his weakness to sunlight and effectively remain posing as Clark, he tracks down the recently rebooted Brainiac. As Brainac is still too weak to be of any real assistance, the Kryptonian A.I. remarked that the Kryptonian Scientist Dax-Ur could help. While visiting Chloe at the Daily Planet, Bizarro learns of an ancient shield that Chloe found some time ago, and believes it to be in Kara's posession. He journeys to the Fortress in search of Kara, only to be ordered by Jor-El to leave. Soon afterwards, Clark is freed in order to put a stop to Bizarro's plan.
Going to Lionel Luthor (who is actually Brainiac in disguise) for advice, Clark discovers how to find Dax-Ur and that Bizarro can be destroyed by Blue Kryptonite, which he acquires during his visit to Dax-Ur.
When Lana discovers she had in fact been involved with Bizarro, she is devastated, and frightened upon glimpsing his true form under sunlight. She leaves to find Clark and Bizarro tries to stop her, but not before Clark arrives. Clark tries to attack Bizarro with the Blue Kryptonite but is no match for Bizarro's super-strength and is knocked aside. Lana takes the rock from Clark and confronts Bizarro herself.
Bizarro reveals his true feelings to Lana and tells her about how happy he is thanks to her, while scolding Clark for not being there when Lana needed him most. Lana agrees with Bizarro and the pair share a touching moment before Lana places the Blue Kryptonite in his hand. Shocked, Bizarro's body begins to disintegrate as the Kryptonite radiation overloads his body with power. In his final moments, Bizarro tells Lana that he loves her before exploding.
In contrast to other versions of Bizarro, Smallville's take on the character does not have any linguistic troubles, and the traditional deformed visage of his comic counterpart only appears occasionally. He is portrayed by Tom Welling.
Al Gough let Bizarro return in the future open, saying "There is ALWAYS a chance that this guy could show up". [1]
"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 the polar opposite or at least unsettling or creepy to those who know the original version.
- 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.
See also
- A. Bizarro (exact relation unknown)
- List of Superman enemies
External links
- History of Bizarro
- Don Markstein's Toonpedia: Bizarro
- Supermanica: Bizarro Supermanica entry on the Pre-Crisis Bizarro
- Supermanica: Bizarro-Superboy Supermanica entry on the original Pre-Crisis character.
