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"Me am hero! Me show you!"

Bizarro was Superman's deficient clone. He was a tragic figure and more misguided and manipulated rather than intentionally evil.

History[]

Bizarro and Luthor

Bizarro asks Lex Luthor who he is.

Bizarro was the prototype of an army of "Supermen" manufactured by Lex Luthor. At first, the clone looked and acted like Superman, but wasn't aware of his alter ego Clark Kent, seeing as he rescued the real Clark from falling off a cliff. However, the cloning process was unstable and the clone mutated in form and mind into a grotesque travesty of the Man of Steel, dubbed "Bizarro" by Mercy Graves. Bizarro set about imitating Superman's heroic actions with disastrous results: he prevented a bridge from opening in order to allow a boat to pass through thereby nearly causing the boat to crash, only stopped by the timely intervention of Superman, and he hurled a wrecking ball towards a park, believing he was saving a building. As far as he knew, he was Superman, and the appearance of the real Superman confused him, and he believed the real Man of Steel was an impostor.

Bizarro tries heroism

Bizarro's ill-conceived attempt to be a hero.

After meeting up with Lois Lane, he took her to the laboratory where he was born and discovered to his dismay that there were several Superman clones in production. After Luthor tried a failed attempt to kill him, Bizarro went on a rampage, destroying the lab and preventing the activated self-destruct sequence from being shut off. Superman arrived on the scene and allowed the group to escape, but Bizarro was still convinced that Superman was the impostor. However, once Bizarro saw Superman saving Lois, he realized that he was the actual duplicate, and accepted the fact that "me no am Superman". In the end, he actually performed a very Superman-like deed by sacrificing himself, so that Superman and Lois could escape the exploding laboratory. Lois wondered if it was possible that Bizarro could have survived, and Superman stated he was unsure as he had never been in that powerful an explosion.

Bizarro did indeed survive the explosion, however, and found himself homeless in the back country. He began searching the world for answers, but could find none until he saw a newscast about Hamilton revealing the existence of the Fortress of Solitude. Elated to find the information, Bizarro traveled to the fortress and soon found the Brainiac Orb. Before finding the orb, however, he saw Superman's wildlife preserve from The Preserver's ship and in Bizarro fashion, mistakenly believed that the animals were subject to cruel testing and released them as "you do nothing wrong". One such animal was a quadruped with sharp teeth who had become fond of Bizarro, whom he in turn aptly named "Krypto".

Krypto and Bizarro

Bizarro and his newfound pet Krypto.

Upon activating Brainiac's Orb, he asked who he was and where he came from. The orb, believing Bizarro to be Superman, explained that he was Kal-El and he came from the planet Krypton. Determined to be home again, Bizarro attempted to remake Krypton in Metropolis by throwing around scrap metal randomly in order to make it look like his idea of Kryptonian architecture. Bizarro also abducted a hotel doorman who wore a uniform that was similar to Kryptonian attire, making Bizarro think he was Jor-El. Bizarro set up a makeshift home in a theatre to duplicate the House of El, and Lois agreed to go inside to humor Bizarro. Superman's attempt to stop Bizarro backfired when he threw a chunk of Kryptonite at him, to which Bizarro simply claimed "rock pretty", and Superman realized too late that Bizarro's DNA was too dissimilar to be affected by Green Kryptonite the way super-powered Kryptonians were. Worse, Bizarro's pet "Krypto" tore open Superman's anti-Kryptonite suit, rendering him vulnerable to the Kryptonite. Before Lois and the doorman got rid of the Kryptonite, Bizarro commented how it was too bad Krypton had to be destroyed and flew off. He stole a missile from a military base and hurled it at Metropolis so that the story of Krypton would be complete with the reenactment of its destruction. It was only after learning that Lois would be killed as well that Bizarro abandoned his plan.

Bizarro's new home

Superman gives Bizarro his own planet to protect.

Superman then took Bizarro to another planet capable of supporting life but also uninhabited by any sentient life. Superman said Bizarro could reside on this world and defend it as Superman does Earth. Although unintelligent, Bizarro was astute to realize he was being set up when he remarked how the planet was totally empty. However, Superman said that was an issue he had not overlooked and revealed that he had brought along "Krypto" as well, who he allowed Bizarro to keep as a pet. Overjoyed at having a companion, Bizarro agreed to remain on this distant green world.

Bizarro and Mxy

Bizarro demands Mr. Mxyzptlk use his powers to help him.

For some time, Bizarro found happiness on his new planet, even recreating Metropolis from rocks and trees and remaking the Fortress of Solitude, from which he would pretend to "save" the trees from destruction the same way Superman would save people in harm's way. However, Mr. Mxyzptlk appeared before him and convinced him that Superman was his enemy, putting him on his new world only out of jealousy. After seeing a false image of Superman and his companions laughing at him, Bizarro became enraged and determined to get an apology. Being transported to Earth by Mr. Mxyzptlk, Bizarro first confronted Lois and later fought Superman, refusing to listen to reason. Bizarro eventually arose the victory of the fight, but was soon confronted by the SCU who carried weapons powerful enough to hurt and perhaps kill him. Fortunately, Superman arrived and saved him proving that he wasn't the enemy, and that Mxyzptlk had instigated the problem. Afterwards, Bizarro was returned to his world peaceful and contented once again. Although now he was with more company, as Mxyzptlk had been punished by the leadership of his home world for instigating problems on Earth, for which he was to be stripped of his imp powers and a term of three months on Bizarro World, being the brunt of Bizarro's heroic games.

He made his way back to Earth, and teamed up with Giganta to break Grodd out of prison. Wonder Woman pointed out to him that Giganta was merely using him for his strength. Both Bizarro and Giganta were defeated and taken to prison by Wonder Woman and Long Shadow.

At a later point, Bizarro became a member of Grodd's Legion of Doom. Here, he was experimented on by Grodd and Luthor before Bizarro's mind was altered that he did anything Luthor commanded. Controlled by backwards logic, Bizarro was a powerful tool for the Legion to use. He took part in the attack on Nanda Parbat where he killed several monks with his heat vision. Bizarro was also present during the attack on Gorilla City where he fought Superman. When Luthor's brain was switched with the Flash's brain, Bizarro suspected that something had happened to his leader but none of his fellow villains understood Bizarro's logic. Bizarro later sided with Luthor when he was attacked by Grodd and his loyal followers. During the fight, Bizarro tried to choke Grodd, but was pummeled by Rampage and hit by Electrocutioner's blast. Bizarro and the rest of the surviving villains helped the Justice League when Darkseid's forces attacked Earth. He aided Doctor Light, Black Canary, and Green Arrow in fighting the Parademons invading Rome. In the end, Bizarro and the others were given a chance to run off from the Justice League.

Powers and abilities[]

As he was a (disfigured) clone of Superman, Bizarro possessed the superhuman abilities of strength, speed, flight, durability, super senses, x-ray and heat vision. Bizarro's strength was roughly equal to Superman. He was capable of flying or running near Mach 3 and was durable enough to survive massive explosions or forces. Unlike his predecessor however, Bizarro was rather unintelligent (making him easily manipulated by beings such as Lex Luthor and Mr. Mxyzptlk) and was unaffected by Kryptonite.

Background information[]

  • Bizarro's theme in the series is a warped version of Superman's, playing the wrong notes intentionally, an analogy of Bizarro's own warped appearance and logic to that of Superman.
  • Bruce Timm stated that the production team originally considered to use Bizarro in Justice League, but at the end, they scrapped the idea.[1] Bizarro would subsequently return in Justice League Unlimited.
  • When Bizarro returned in the final season of Justice League Unlimited, a scar is visible on his forehead, which was part of Gorilla Grodd's plan to upgrade the villains during the Legion of Doom. Lex Luthor performed a little brain surgery on Bizarro to make him more controllable, which starts his warped sense of understanding to actually be backwards as it is in the comics.[2]

Appearances[]

Superman: The Animated Series

Justice League Unlimited

References[]


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