Subject: Bizarro
Culture: American pop culture
Setting: DC Comics
Context (Event Photos, Primary Sources, Secondary Sources, Field Notes)
* Wallace 2014 p20
"Many villains follow a mirror-image theme to contrast them with their heroic counterparts, but few of them are as surreal as Bizarro. This reflection is a funhouse distortion with more than a few cracks marring its surface.
"Bizarro is able to match Superman in raw power, but his special abilities are reversed: freeze vision, flame breath, and X-ray vision that only lets him see through lead. He is strengthened by green kryptonite, but blue kryptonite will kill him."
* Misiroglu/Eury eds. 2006 p35
"The history of Bizarro, the defective replica of Superman, is as craggy as the creature's disfigured face. While the layperson or contemporary fan might regard Bizarro as the doppelganger of the Man of Steel, this tragic character first appeared in 'the adventures of Superman when he was a boy,' DC Comics' Superboy #68 (1958), written by Otto Binder and illustrated by George Papp."
"Superman is the paragon of superheroes, constantly defending the innocent with his unmatched power solely because it’s the right thing to do. Where most of his villains highlight the Man of Steel’s heroic qualities through their guile, debauchery, and malice, Bizarro Superman exists to question so-called “heroic nature.” Superman’s imperfect duplicate appears in many forms across many titles throughout DC’s long history, but the best versions left long-lasting impressions.
"Some are violent opposites of Superman acting on raw animal instinct while others seem to have a more complex inner morality. The best versions of Bizarro examine what makes a person good and, by extension, what makes Superman a hero. All iterations are plays on Frankenstein and the moral dilemmas of man-made life forms. None of them are all that evil in the grand scheme of DC villains, but they all pose uniquely potent problems for Superman and his allies."
"Though he's not the most intelligent of Superman's foes, what Bizarro lacks in brains he makes up for in brawn—as both villain and antihero.
"Few villains in the DC Universe are Superman's equal in power, but there is one who can always go toe to toe with the Man of Steel in a fight—his twisted doppelganger, Bizarro. The tragic result of a bizarre science experiment gone horribly wrong, Bizarro is an imperfect duplicate of Kal-El, with none of his intelligence or self-control. Looking like a pasty white, zombie-like version of the Last Son of Krypton, he invariably strikes fear into those he encounters. Often a creature more to be pitied than feared, Bizarro nevertheless is as dangerous as it gets...whether he means to be lethal or not.
"There have been many versions of Bizarro over the years, some created by science and some by magical means, but he has been a persistent thorn in the side of Superman since the earliest days of the Silver Age. Usually wanting nothing more than to be seen as the hero that his famous counterpart Superman is, he has often developed a strong hatred for his "perfect" brother. Sometimes misguided, sometimes genuinely malevolent, and even sometimes a true hero himself, Bizarro is nevertheless a force to be reckoned with."
Costume
"Often portrayed as a distorted and imperfect duplicate of Superman, Bizarro had different origin stories through the years, but he has chalky white skin and distorted features–and is often depicted with a backward “S” symbol on his chest. His actions and speech are often opposite or inverted compared to Superman’s. As a result, he became the source of humorous situations or, on the contrary, tragic ones."
