Plastic Man: Difference between revisions

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A more somber version of Plas appeared in some issues of the (original) comic book series ''[[The Brave and Thethe Bold]]'' in the [[The Seventies|1970s]]; in this case Plastic Man was shown as having fallen in love with Ruby Rider, [[Femme Fatale|a rich but evil woman]], and being miserable as a result.

[[Post -Crisis]], they changed Plastic Man's origin to make him [[Darker and Edgier]]. Now he never was rehabilitated by monks, instead he tried to commit suicide because he considered himself no longer human, and Woozy was a mental patient. Hey, it was the [[Dork Age]]. Fortunately, later portrayals have been more positive: his first origin got restored, Plas is his cheerful self again, and he joined the Justice League where he proved his mettle.

More recently, Plastic Man has been appearing often in the animated version of ''[[Batman: theThe Brave And The Bold (Animation)|The Brave and the Bold]]''. In this version, Plas was a member of Kite-Man's gang, and it was Batman who caused him to fall in the chemicals (by accident) and then took it upon himself to reform the former criminal (who is shown as still having a hard-to-resist compulsion to steal.) Woozy is back as his sidekick, and Plas has a new girlfriend, Ramona, a redhead with a "New York" accent and an abusive attitude. Oh, and they have a baby too. He has proven an [[Ensemble Darkhorse]] in a series ''full'' of them. He had appearances on ''[[Super FriendsSuperfriends]]'' as well.

* [[Characterization Marches On]]: In the early comics, he was a textbook example of [[The Comically Serious]]. His most recent potrayal, the one in ''[[Batman: theThe Brave And The Bold (Animation)|Batman the Brave And The Bold]]'', is entirely different - over the years his personality changed dramatically, being mostly comic relief and [[Fun Personified]] these days.

* [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass]]: Due to the jokesy nature of most of his appearances, people forget that not only can he go toe-to-toe with most of the other big names in the DCU without much difficulty, but he's also a trained CIA operative and survived dismemberment for thousands of years.

* [[Fiery Redhead]]: Ramona in ''[[Batman: theThe Brave And The Bold (Animation)|Batman the Brave And The Bold]]''.

* [[Good Parents]]: He actively tries to be this for his own son after he had abandoned the kid his entire life. He once [[RefusedRefusal of the Call|refused the call]] out of fear that returning to life as [[Plastic Man]] would force him to abandon his son again. His son is the one who convinces him to go back into action.

** In the miniseries ''The Kingdom''(the sequel to ''[[Kingdom Come]]''), Plas's son reluctantly becomes a superhero named [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Offspring]]. It actually helps him understand what his dad went through and appreciate him even more. The hug between the two at the end of the storyline has got to be [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|the most adorable superhero father/son moment in comics history]]. [https://web.archive.org/web/20130504203043/http://pah2.golding.id.au/images/PlasticManOffspring.jpg Observe :)]

** While much has been made of the fact that he can't change color (or change color easily, [[Depending Onon the Writer]]), Plas is smart enough to use this common knowledge to his advantage, and has used shadowing and makeup to trick even Lex Luthor for an extended period of time.

* [[Heart Is an Awesome Power]]: Stretching powers in comics are usually portrayed as pretty silly or downright lame, but Plas has proven he could be downright SCARY if he wasn't such a clown. He has shrugged off abuse that would kill other members of the Justice League outright, can harden himself to dish out SERIOUS hurt on bad guys, can form sharpened shapes like knives and scissors that can slice through pretty much anything, shape-shift into pretty much any object imaginable and of incredible sizes both huge and tiny, and is effectively ''immortal''. {{spoiler|In the recent DC [[Crisis Crossover]], ''[[Flashpoint (Comic Bookcomics)|Flashpoint]]'', Plas is a bad guy, and has effectively proven one of the ''scariest'' antagonists in recent comics history by shoving his hand into a guys mouth and ''shredding him from the inside out.''}}

* [[Shapeshifter Weapon]]: Plas can turn into pretty much ANYTHING he can think of, and he can actually alter his density to be as malleable or as hard as he wants. If he turns his hand into a sledgehammer, he can explode your head with one swing. Of course, he's too much of a nice guy to actually DO something like that, but any bad guy that underestimates him is in for a [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass|RUDE awakening.]]

[[Category:Plastic ManCharacter]]]