We all love origin stories, regardless of whether they’re in a movie, a comic book, or an animated series. The MCU and the DCU have given us so many of those in recent years, and while most of them are great, some of them didn’t quite live up to the fandom’s expectations or were straight-out wrong and clashing with the previously established mythology. Think Halle Berry’s 2004 Catwoman. That was a horrible origin story of a poorly adapted comic book character.
But the movie version of Catwoman isn’t the only character with a horrible origin story, and such flops aren’t limited to movies alone. So, this article won’t focus on poor movie adaptations and reimagined origin stories, but on comic books and characters whose origin stories were simply poorly written. Please note that some origin stories are meant to be humorous, and others are just plain offensive.
Arm-Fall-Off-Boy
People love superhero origin stories because they shape the mythology, set the tone, and reveal what drives the hero. These stories often come with the usual mix of super strength, speed, healing, or flashier powers like diamond skin or shapeshifting. But not all gifts are blessings. Some come at a steep cost, like Rogue from X-Men, whose powers isolate more than they empower.
And then, there’s Arm-Fall-Off Boy, whose name basically says it all. He’s a young hero from the 31st Century who has the unique ability to detach his limbs and use them as weapons. The in-universe origin story remains unknown, but how he came to be isn’t a mystery. Namely, the comic book writers tried to create a unique hero with never-before-seen powers, but the results are more comical than actually heroic.
Squirrel Girl
We already know how characters such as Spider-Man, Blue Beetle, Black Panther, and Cheetah got their superpowers. They all came into contact with an animal or have been gifted powers by different deities. But what about Squirrel Girl? Was she bitten by a radioactive squirrel, or perhaps granted superhuman powers by the hypothetical Squirrel God from Marvel Comics or DC Comics?
Well, no. Doreen Green hasn’t been bitten by a radioactive squirrel. She was born with a squirrel tail and the power to communicate with squirrels. While this is an unusual origin story and a seemingly useless superpower, Doreen / Squirrel Girl proved to be a formidable hero capable of defeating some of Marvel’s most powerful villains, such as Thanos and Doctor Doom.
Dogwelder
This one is as bad as it is disturbing, even by comic book standards, simply because the DC vigilante known as Dogwelder uses his blowtorch to attach dead dogs to criminals’ faces. Even more disturbing is the fact that he’s luring and killing the dogs he later attaches to the criminals. Just like Arm-Fall-Off-Boy, Dogwelder’s origin story isn’t exactly explained, and to make things worse, there’s really no explanation as to why this character was created in the first place.
He undeniably has some shock value, but the creation of such a character is completely tasteless and unnecessary, prompting us to wonder why he was even created in the first place. Fortunately, the Dogwelder didn’t last long, and he died in August 2000, only three years after he had been introduced to the audience.
Armless Tiger Man
Gustav Hertz, better known as the Armless Tiger Man, has a rather absurd and borderline offensive origin story. He was a circus performer who lost both his arms in a tiger attack but then gained the ability to grow tiger arms from his shoulders. This isn’t such a bad superpower; having superstrong arms with very sharp nails can come in handy during crime fighting.
However, many found the entire character distasteful and quite offensive, as it reduced people with disabilities to one-dimensional characters from comic book pages who are only capable of being heroic if they possess superpowers. Also, there’s really no mechanism for how his power works. Sure, Spider-Man was bitten by a radioactive spider, and Kraven achieved his powers through a combination of mystical potions and his own self-training. We highly doubt that the circus Gustav worked at also housed radioactive tigers.
The Red Bee
As previously mentioned, people love origin stories as they also explain how a superhero got their power. But what about heroes who have no powers? And no, we’re not talking about Batman; his superpower is being a billionaire. We’re actually talking about the Red Bee, an assistant district attorney by day, who dons the red and yellow costume by night and fights crime using bees.
It’s important to note that he has no superpowers whatsoever, and hence, he lacks a story that would explain said powers. Instead, he just trains bees to fight crime like people are training golden retrievers to play fetch. One of the bees, named Michael, also lives in this “utility” belt. With that said, he has made numerous appearances in DC comics over the years.
Final Thoughts
Not every superhero needs a grand and tragic backstory to be memorable, but there’s a fine line between quirky and outright ridiculous. Sure, Squirrel Girl managed to transcend her odd origin and remain a fan-favorite, but the Armless Tiger Man and Dogwelder are better off staying where they belong: in the footnotes of comic book history.
