Celebrities often complain about being trapped by fame. Their identities are swept up with their public personae. Audience members become so bound to these performances that there is never a chance to escape into private life.

For most people, this is not torture. Moping while signing autographs or rattling off a catchphrase is not that bad. Other times, it can be dire. Here are 10 times that celebs could not escape their most famous roles and it led to often tragic circumstances.

10 Drake Hogestyn Was Assaulted For Being A Demon

Soap operas have never been known for their restraint. Plotlines are as fantastical as logic, or lack thereof, allows. This same irrational spirit can bleed into the lives of the actors.

Drake Hogestyn has played John Black on Days of Our Lives for more than 20 years. During that time span, Hogestyn has been involved in ludicrous stories of double-crossing family members or people being resurrected as robots.

In one of his many deaths, the soap character John Black was killed off after a season-long battle with demonic possession. Longtime viewer Carl Raymond Cheney did not like this ending. He had his own ideas.

In the middle of the day, Cheney sneaked into Hogestyn’s house in Malibu. Bursting into the room of Hogestyn’s daughter, Cheney shouted, “Where is he? I will cast him out!”

Bible in hand, Cheney intended to exorcise John Black’s demon from the actor. Cheney attacked before the next season of the soap opera aired Black’s return.

Presuming Black was dead, this was Cheney’s one chance to save Hogestyn’s soul. The deranged fan assaulted everyone in the house, including pushing Hogestyn’s wife down the stairs. Joined by his son, Hogestyn beat up the intruder. They tied up Cheney until the cops arrested him.^[1]

9 Richard Belzer Is Always Stopping Crime

Richard Belzer has probably spent more time playing Detective John Munch than not. After his inception on Homicide: Life on the Street, Detective Munch was a mainstay of television for more than 20 years. He has investigated crimes on The Wire, The X-Files, Law & Order, and even Sesame Street.

All totaled, Detective Munch is the only fictional character played by a single actor to appear on at least 10 different TV shows. When he got bored busting criminals on the small screen, he arrested people in real life.

In 1996, a man ran through the set of Homicide: Life on the Street. He had just stolen over $100 worth of camera film from a nearby Rite-Aid. Trying to evade a pursuing security guard, the perp unknowing interrupted the filming. Rounding a corner, two cops stood with their guns drawn. The thief turned himself in.

The two cops were actually Richard Belzer and Clark Johnson in the middle of a scene. Belzer and Johnson held on to the criminal until the security guard arrived. The real police took it from there.^[2]

8 Steven Seagal Helped Take Down The Mafia

Steven Seagal is not known for being particularly choosy when it comes to his movie roles. In 2000, he was not given much of a choice. Former business partner Julius Nasso approached Seagal with a new contract. Nasso would produce and Seagal would star in movies on behalf of the Mafia.

For each movie, Seagal would have to pay $150,000. The money would fund future movies for the Mafia. Seagal was going to be their gateway to Hollywood millions.

Thanks to movies like Under Siege, the Gambino family believed that Steven Seagal could withstand some intimidation. The tough action star exterior came in handy when one of the mobsters told Seagal that the Mafia had planned to kill him if he did not go along.

Of course, nobody can be totally stoic with a gun in his face. The Mafia repeatedly laughed at how petrified Seagal looked in meetings. He got the last laugh, though.

Serving as a government witness, Seagal revealed the scheme at Peter Gotti’s racketeering trial. Wiretaps from federal officials uncovered Nasso’s role in the extortion, too.^[3]

7 Redd Foxx’s Last Laugh

Redd Foxx was hilarious even when he wished he wasn’t. Popularizing the notion of a comedy record, Foxx revolutionized stand-up. His success on vinyl led to even greater triumph with the sitcom Sanford and Son.

Through half-baked schemes, the titular Fred Sanford tortured his long-suffering son, Lamont. As the plans began to fail, Foxx’s Fred could always resolve it by grabbing his chest and saying, “It’s the big one! I’m coming, Elizabeth.” Foxx was so entertaining that he could make cardiac failures funny. They wouldn’t always be.

Years after Sanford and Son ended, Foxx starred in the show The Royal Family. Originally, the series went by the soon-to-be-ironic title Chest Pains.

During one of the rehearsals, Foxx was interviewed by Entertainment Tonight. Producers pulled him aside. The noticeably irritated comedian clutched his chest just like he had hundreds of times before. The pratfall-trained Foxx fell down dramatically. Everyone initially thought that he was just repeating one of his signature bits. He was not.

Nobody helped Foxx as he was having a real heart attack. He eventually received help, but it was too late. He succumbed later that night at age 68.^[4]

6 Sherlock Holmes Has Nothing On His Author

George Edalji was out of options. He had been accused of mutilating horses and livestock. He decided that there was only one person who could solve his case—Sherlock Holmes. With Holmes already busy not being real, Edalji reached out to the character’s creator instead.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was no stranger to letters. Multiple mystery fans had reached out to the writer with the hope that Doyle’s Sherlockian insight could crack their cases.

Doyle’s knack for detective work was not limited to the page. Upon meeting Edalji, Doyle noticed that Edalji was reading a newspaper 2.5 centimeters (1 in) away from his face. Doyle concluded that Edalji was shortsighted, so much so that he probably could not sneak around stabbing cows in the dead of night.

More importantly, livestock was still being killed while Edalji was in prison. Turns out that this case did not need expert deduction. Just like one of Sherlock’s stories, justice eventually prevailed. After Doyle personally found the real culprit, Edalji received a full government pardon.^[5]

5 Myra Davis And The Psycho Killer

A maniac breaks into a room as a woman screams for help that never comes. Minutes later, she is dead. In a nutshell, that is the story of Marion Crane in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. Sadly, that is not just Marion Crane’s story. Janet Leigh’s iconic performance inspired a generation of slashers. However, no copycat story was more terrifying than the real-life horror of Myra Davis.

Janet Leigh was not the only person in the shower that day. Psycho used two stand-ins on the set. Myra Davis stood in while the lighting was adjusted. Marli Renfro was the actual body seen in the shower during Norman Bates’s infamous attack. Decades later, the actresses had faded from public memory.

In 1988, Davis was long retired from acting. Old and alone, she hired a handyman named Kenneth Dean Hunt to help around the house. By this point, Hunt had spent quite a bit of time in mental hospitals and juvenile correctional facilities.

Brushing with a relative celebrity may have made him even more violent. According to one theory, he was fixated on Psycho and had fantasies of replicating the shower scene. Hunt raped Davis and strangled her with her underwear. She was 71. Hunt evaded justice for years until he killed another woman about a decade later.^[6]

4 Allen Funt Turned A Hostage Crisis Into A Joke

Everyone thought that Allen Funt was lying. They had a good reason. Lying was all that Funt was known for. As the perennial host of the 1960s TV show Candid Camera, Funt made his name from tricking people.

Candid Camera changed television forever by turning the focus on the American people. For the first time, the public could be part of the show at any moment. Upon hearing the show’s catchphrase, “Smile, you’re on Candid Camera,” the person breathed a sigh of relief knowing that whatever wacky moment had just happened was only a prank.

Not everything is a joke, though. In 1969, political radicals hijacked a passenger plane. Holding the pilot at knifepoint, they redirected the plane to Cuba. While those in the cockpit were panicking, the people in the cabin were celebrating.

By a bizarre coincidence, Allen Funt was sitting in first class. When he was noticed, one woman assured her fellow passengers that this was all just Hollywood magic. Convinced that they were about to be on TV, the stewardess started pouring champagne.

Peeking out of the door, even the hijackers could not believe what was going on. Funt protested the whole time that this was all real. Like the boy who cried “camera,” he was ignored.

No reveal ever came. Instead, the plane landed in Havana. The hostages filed out of the cabin, but they were no longer in a laughing mood. Summing up the ordeal, one passenger turned to Funt and said, “Smile, my ass.”^[7]

3 Superman Saved The Day From Pinochet

By 1987, Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet had proved himself to be one of the great supervillains in the world. His regime had killed about 2,000 citizens. Nearly 80,000 more had been tortured and interned. Additional hundreds had disappeared off the streets.

It was a dire situation. When Pinochet threatened to execute 77 prominent Chilean actors if they stayed in the country, everyone knew it was more than just an idle threat. Novelist Ariel Dorfman needed a hero. He got one in Christopher Reeve.

When Dorfman first called, he had not met Reeve. In his desperation, Dorfman had called every celebrity he knew in the hope that one of them could bring attention to the situation.

Familiar with the Superman franchise, Dorfman reached out to Reeve, who agreed to help. Presumably in an airplane, Reeve flew to South America. Together, the two men organized a rally to save the threatened actors.

Less bulletproof than his character, Reeve did not worry about the very real threats to his life. As he marched in the front of the crowd, his status brought international press. Chilean newspapers printed political cartoons portraying Pinochet losing a fight against the Man of Steel.

Pinochet bowed to public pressure and let the actors live. For his service, Reeve received numerous humanitarian awards. Echoing his most famous motto, he fought for truth, justice, and the Chilean way.^[8]

2 Harpo Marx Was Too Funny To Be A Spy

In 1933, Harpo Marx had a simple goal. He wanted to be the first US entertainer to tour the Soviet Union. The United States government had a different idea. They approached the beloved comedian with an offer. Harpo would tape an envelope to his leg and smuggle secret messages out of the Soviet Union. That same year, Harpo would play a spy in the movie Duck Soup. His real-life spy mission would be good practice for the film role.

Danger broke out early in the operation. For companionship and safety, Harpo traveled alongside other Americans. Absentmindedly, one of them exchanged dollars for rubles. A person could be executed for this offense.

Upon crossing the Poland-USSR border, Soviet officers pulled the travelers aside. Suspicious of the Americans, the Soviets searched Harpo’s bags. They pulled out various items, including steel kitchen knives, revolvers, a dozen wigs, costumes, makeup kits, and his signature harp. Though it was for the wrong reason, they suspected Harpo of being a spy.

However, his fellow Americans pointed out that these were all props in his act. He was allowed to go on and perform for Soviet Foreign Minister Maxim Litvinov. Harpo’s schtick nearly ended the mission before it began. It would also save it.

On the comedian’s return to the US, his train was again boarded near the Polish-Soviet border. With a secret packet of letters now strapped to his calf, Harpo was terrified that his cover was blown.

But the Soviet commanding officer did not want to kill him. Instead, they were throwing a feast in honor of his successful performances. Luckily, Harpo was used to keeping his mouth shut.

Having narrowly avoided death, Harpo spent the remaining week in a panic. For the next seven days, he never took the packet off his leg. Waiting to return to the US, he gave his leg the biggest scratch of his life.^[9]

1 The Disgraced Psychic Who Tried To Stop The Lincoln Assassination

Death haunted the Lincoln family. Willie Lincoln was only 11 when he died from typhoid fever in 1862. Both Mary Todd and Abraham Lincoln had a hard time coping with the devastating loss. While Abraham was thrown into an increasingly severe depression, Mary Todd turned to spiritualism.

Mary Todd held multiple seances in the White House in the vain attempt to talk to Willie again. Her favorite spiritualist was Lord Charles Colchester. Famous for his many powers, Colchester could allegedly read inside sealed envelopes, communicate with the dead, and see into the future.

Abraham Lincoln did not believe that any of this amounted to more than just sleight of hand. He dispatched journalist Noah Brooks to prove that Colchester was swindling Mary Todd in her time of grief.

During one of the seances, Colchester claimed to summon a ghost to play a set of instruments on a table. In the darkness, noises appeared from the shadows. Quickly, Brooks pulled out a match. Colchester stood there holding a drum.

Worried that Brooks could now expose him as a fraud, Colchester attempted to blackmail the First Lady. But he was discredited as a con man, and the Lincolns refused to talk to Colchester again.

It is tragic that Lincoln cut off ties. Colchester had one prediction left. It did not come from the spirit realm. Instead, Colchester had heard it from his new drinking buddy, John Wilkes Booth.

Following his sister-in-law’s death in 1863, Booth had reached out to Colchester. From there, a budding friendship started. In the weeks leading up to the assassination, Colchester and Booth were still hanging out together.

During these drinking bouts, the future assassin likely confided his plan to the psychic. Days before his death, Lincoln said that Colchester had told him about assassins in Washington. Convinced that it was a hoax, Lincoln ignored the warning. Colchester was famous for lying about seeing the future. The first time that he really could, nobody believed him.^[10]

Most horror fans have by now probably binge-watched their favourite horror movies a couple of times or are, at the very least, planning a horror movie marathon if lockdown doesn’t end soon. Scary movies featuring creepy kids are often more popular than slasher films or other types of horrors. For instance, Regan from The Exorcist will probably always come to mind first for her head-turning performance, as well as those weird kids from Children of the Corn. And who could forget diabolical Damian from The Omen or the ghost twins from The Shining. Some still feel a chill when they think about the jump-rope girls in Nightmare on Elm Street slowing singing ‘One, two, Freddy’s coming for you…’

On this list are 10 more child characters with the potential to make you have nightmares. Oh – this list has spoilers.

10 Horrific Inspirations For Terrifying Horror Movies

10 Mercy and Jonas

In The Witch, viewers are introduced to possibly the evillest twins after the Grady sisters in The Shining terrified audiences in 1980. While Mercy and Jonas, fraternal twins, may look like normal, everyday children at first glance, it soon becomes apparent that there is something very wrong with them. They accuse their older sister, Thomasin, of being a witch and taunt her every chance they get. They also delight in claiming to have forgotten their prayers, angering their deeply religious parents. At one point they writhe around on the ground during prayers, as if possessed. Moreover, they have creepy conversations with the family’s goat, Black Phillip. It also becomes clear that their playmate is truly evil as Black Phillip is, in fact, Satan himself. In disguise. The twins’ cute faces belie their intentions at first, which makes the unfolding of their true nature even more unsettling to watch.^[1]

9 Doris Zander

Doris Zander is a bit of an odd duck right off the bat. This is obvious even before she becomes possessed, her eyes turning white, creeping the living daylights out of another character in Ouija: Origin of Evil by exclaiming: “Do you know what it feels like to be strangled to death? First, you feel the pressure in your throat. Your eyes water, and you start to taste something very, very sour in your mouth. Then it’s like someone lights a match right in the middle of your chest, and that fire grows. It fills your lungs, and your throat, and all the way behind your eyes. And finally, that fire turns to ice; like pins and needles of ice are sticking into your fingers, your toes, your arms. You see stars, then darkness. And the last thing you feel… is cold.”

Doris goes on to draw stitches on the mouth of one of her dolls, claiming her deceased father did it “to stop the voices.” She also causes the death of two characters and just when you think they are finally rid of her demons at the end after her own mouth is sewn shut, she runs upside down on the ceiling in a mental hospital, giving viewers a jump-scare they are not wont to forget in a hurry.^[2]

8 Rhoda Penmark

In the 1956 movie, The Bad Seed, an innocent looking girl named Rhoda turns out to be pure evil too. Released four years before the critically acclaimed movie, Psycho, the film explores the psychopathic side that resides in a young girl who treats humans like they are absolutely nothing and regard their emotions as something alien.

Eight-year old Rhoda murders three people by means of drowning, arson and with the help of a staircase. While these killings happen off screen, the black and white film still manages to instil an uneasy feeling in viewers as they come to the realization that Rhoda is psychotic despite her big-eyed innocent look. After beating one of her fellow students and leaving him to drown, Rhoda arrives home from school early and asks for a peanut butter sandwich and a glass of milk before going out roller-skating as if nothing happened. While their handyman burns to death in the cellar after she started a fire and locked him in, Rhoda plays ‘Au clair de la lune’ on the piano over and over while he screams in pain and is engulfed in flames.^[3]

7 Samara Morgan

A list like this wouldn’t be complete without everyone’s favorite creepy kid, Samara Morgan. While she wouldn’t scare most people in 2020, when Samara crawled through TV screens in 2002, she pretty much freaked out everyone who laid eyes on her.

Sure, she has a good reason for being evil considering she was thrown into a well and left for death. But as expected, this elicits little sympathy considering that she is now a vengeful spirit with long, wet black hair hanging over her deformed face. Even before she became this unnerving, haunting spirit, she was able to burn awful images into the minds of her adoptive parents. She could also burn these images onto transparent film. She caused horses to commit mass suicide and is eventually thrown into the well after being suffocated by her adoptive mother.

Samara wasn’t done with the world after dying. She created a videotape which she cursed so that anyone who watched it would die 7 days later.^[4]

6 Stephanie

Stephanie is another sweet little girl with evil on the inside. Not only is she abandoned at home by her parents during an apocalyptic event (because they realized all is not well with their daughter), she also keeps the corpse of her brother in his room after she kills him.

Her parents eventually come back and bury their son’s body. The corpse returns to the house via the attic window, but Stephanie seems unaffected by this. Soon it becomes apparent that there is no apocalyptic monster on the loose. Instead, the young girl herself is the monster. And she’s not alone. After torturing and killing her parents and leaving them at her brother’s grave, she uses her telekinetic power to destroy the neighborhood in tandem with other telekinetic children around the world.^[5]

10 Creepy And Improbable Horror Movie Plots That Actually Happened

5 Brandon Breyer

What would happen if Superman used his powers for evil instead of good? While the movie Brightburn never explicitly states that its main character is Superman in an evil form, Brandon Breyer’s backstory closely resembles that of Kal-El. He crash-landed, presumably from another planet, and landed up in Brightburn where a married couple found and raised him.

Yet this is where the similarities to Clark Kent end. Brandon crushes a girl’s hand after she calls him a pervert in front of his peers. He uses his powers to kill the girl’s mother by piercing her eye with a shard of glass and then attacking her. He picks up a truck, with his uncle inside, and drops it forcefully to the ground, leaving the man with his jaw torn loose and bleeding to death. Brandon also kills his adoptive parents and causes a passenger plane to crash killing all 268 people on board. Oh, and he also dons a very creepy laced mask throughout the film.^[6]

4 Luke Lerner

Babysitting will never be the same again. After being scared out of her mind by what looked like a home invasion while babysitting, 17-year-old Ashley realizes the 12-year-old she’s looking after is the one that orchestrated the entire ‘attack’. Luke Lerner has a crush on Ashley and attempts to seduce her. When he is rebuffed, he becomes incredibly angry especially after Ashley calls him ‘mental’ for planning the home invasion prank.

Luke goes on to hit Ashley with a gun and with the help of his friend Garrett they also knock out and tie up Ashley’s boyfriend when he arrives at the house. Luke eventually kills his own friend and stabs Ashley. When she does not die, Luke tells his mom that he is worried about his babysitter and asks to go the hospital. This last scene happens during the credits, leaving the viewers to draw their own conclusions.^[7]

3 Michael Myers

Michael Myers is arguably one of the most unnervingly creepy characters ever created. He never speaks. He only terrifies his victims with his white mask and heaving panting while he stabs or chokes them.

Perhaps the scariest thing about Myers is that he finds you where you feel safest. That, and the fact that he started killing at the age of six when he murdered his own sister in cold blood while wearing a clown mask, makes for a very disturbing character. Sam Loomis, Michael’s psychiatrist, says of 6-year-old Michael that he had the devil’s eyes and an emotionless face. He also says that he spent seven years trying to keep Michael locked up because living behind the boy’s eyes was pure evil.

He was not wrong. After spending 15 years in an asylum after murdering his sister, Michael Myers escaped and spent another 23 years hunting down the rest of his family, killing several others that got in the way.^[8]

2 Eli

12-year-old Eli befriends the bullied 12-year-old Oskar in Let The Right One In and shares her secret with him; she is a vampire and has been twelve for a long time. Eli feeds on her neighbors and lives with a much older man.

In the film, she scales a hospital wall in search of a patient’s blood, and she cannot stand sunlight or eat food. Being a vampire, she must be invited in to be able to cross a threshold. When Oskar does not invite her in, she bleeds from her eyes, nose, and mouth in a very disconcerting scene. She eventually slaughters Oskar’s bullies, severing one’s head and arm. Throughout the film, Eli continually needs to feed on blood resulting in many casualties. Toted as a romance horror film, there is a lot more horror than love.^[9]

1Charlie

Everything 13-year-old Charlie does in the movie, Hereditary, is creepy. From the clicking thing with her tongue to the way she gasps for air when she ingests peanuts (which she is allergic to). She also snips the head off a bird with a pair of scissors. She keeps the head in a box alongside other animal heads. When she finally loses her own head, literally, she continues being creepy in the afterlife with her brother hearing the clicking sound when he least expects it.

Towards the end of the film it is finally revealed that Charlie wasn’t being the strangest and creepiest kid in the world on purpose. She was temporarily possessed by the demon Paimon, and her own soul was freed when she was decapitated while being driven to the hospital by her brother.^[10]

Top 10 Classic Horror Movie Misconceptions

Artists can take their inspiration from almost anything. That could include painters, musicians, and actors. They can draw on personal experience, other artistic works that they have found moving, or maybe they just make it all up on the spot and hope for the best. Whatever the case may be, it’s always interesting to learn that sometimes the inspiration for a character or performance is something you never expected. 

10. Melissa McCarthy Based her Bridesmaids Character on Guy Fieri

The 2011 movie Bridesmaids was a pretty big hit and helped Kristen Wiig’s star to rise in her post SNL career. However, the breakout star of the movie was actually Melissa McCarthy. She has gone on to have a very prolific career in comedy since that time.

In the movie, McCarthy’s character is kind-hearted, but also a little brash and inappropriate at the best of times. She’s like a bull in a China shop and provides a lot of the movie’s most over the top comedy. 

McCarthy has said in interviews that her inspiration for the character was Guy Fieri, the Food Network chef known for his spiky, bleach blonde hair and boisterous personality. According to McCarthy, she actually wanted her character to have the same hair as Fieri but the producers shot her down because they felt it would be a little too obvious what they were doing. 

9. Dr. Evil Was Based on Lorne Michaels, Which Dana Carvey Claimed he Came Up With

When Austin Powers came out back in 1997, it was one of those cultural moments that overtook polite society. It happens once in a blue moon with a rare comedy that people just can’t get out of their heads. Ace Ventura did it, Anchorman did it, and Austin Powers was no different. And by that we mean people couldn’t stop quoting it.  Everyone had an Austin Powers impression, or a Dr. Evil one. For a solid year you couldn’t escape people yelling “Yeah, baby!” or “Oh, behave!”

It turns out that Dr Evil himself was an impression that Mike Myers was doing. The character was based on notorious Saturday Night Live head Lorne Michaels.If you ever listen to an interview with Lorne Michaels speaking and keep this in mind, you’ll never be able to not hear it from now on.

In a strange twist, Dana Carvey, who was Mike Myers co-star on SNL and in the Wayne’s World movies, came out to say that the impression was actually his. He claims to have done the impression back in the day as the first SNL cast member to make fun of Michaels, but Myers stole it from him to make the Dr. Evil character. 

8. Christian Bale was Inspired to Portray Patrick Bateman by Tom Cruise

It’s hard to say if this one qualifies as a compliment or not, but probably not. Christian Bale, who is maybe most famous for being Batman these days, is also known for his role as Patrick Bateman in the movie American Psycho.

The director Mary Harron and Christian Bale had been looking at Bateman as though he were a Martian. The idea was that he was viewing Humanity like it was something he didn’t understand, so Bale needed to make his character into something alien and inhuman that was trying its best to fit in.

According to Bateman, he saw Tom Cruise on David Letterman’s talk show one night and described him as having “a very intense friendliness with nothing behind the eyes.” So he used that as inspiration for his dark and disturbed performance.

7. Jabba the Hutt is Based on Actor Sydney Greenstreet

Few film series’ have more behind-the-scenes lore and drama than the Star Wars universe. You’d be hard-pressed to argue that any film series in history has more fanatical fans. Part of that is because there’s so many interesting and unexpected things to learn about them. Like how Jabba the Hutt, the intergalactic space slug crime boss from Return of the Jedi was actually based on real life actor Sydney Greenstreet.

Back in the day, Greenstreet was huge, literally and figuratively. At his peak he weighed 350 lbs and was described as an “urbane fat man” and one of cinema’s most classic villains. The team that designed Jabba the Hutt was reportedly told by George Lucas to make him Look “alien and grotesque” so they settled on Greenstreet.

6. Bram Stoker Based Dracula, in Part, on Walt Whitman

Odd sources of inspiration is not a new thing by any means. We merely have to look at Bram Stoker’s most famous character, Count Dracula, to see that. Most of us know Dracula from Stoker’s book and the dozens of movies that have featured the character. And, it’s generally known in a historical context that Dracula was based partially on Vlad the Impaler, the Romanian prince from the 1400s. Less well known is that Dracula was also inspired by the poet Walt Whitman.

Stoker was a massive fan of Whitman’s poetry. He kept up a correspondence with Whitman, and if you read his letters it’s clear that Stoker thought the world of the man. It has also been speculated that his feelings went beyond professional and were perhaps romantic, though the two never met so it was more of a parasocial relationship than anything else.

Elements of sensuality in Dracula have been attributed to Whitman’s influence and the physical description of the vampire matches the poet as well.

5. Chewbacca was Based on George Lucas’ Dog

Hollywood has immortalized many dogs over the years. From Lassie to Benji to Santa’s Little Helper, people like dogs in their stories as much as they like real dogs in their real lives. And why not?  It’s not unfair to say that a lot of dogs on screen have more personality than the humans who act alongside them sometimes.

George Lucas is clearly a man who loves dogs. In fact, his own dog has been the inspiration for two of Hollywood’s most iconic characters ever. Lucas used to have an Alaskan Malamute that he named Indiana. You may recall in the movie Indiana Jones in the Last Crusade, Jones is asked about his nickname and what it means. There’s a joke that Indiana was their dog’s name, and therefore Jones himself is named after a dog. That comes directly from George Lucas and his sidekick Indiana.

The real life dog dates back much earlier.  Lucas has said he used to drive around with the dog in the passenger seat and go everywhere with him. He had her as a pet while he was writing Star Wars, and because she was his co-pilot next to him, and she was a large shaggy dog, she became the inspiration for Chewbacca the Wookiee.

Actor Peter Mayhew would go on to study the movement and behavior of zoo animals to perfect the character and bring him to life as a sort of pet, sort of sidekick. 

4. Gary Oldman was Inspired by Ross Perot and Bugs Bunny for his Fifth Element Character

Gary Oldman has had some amazing roles in his career ranging from Dracula to Commissioner Gordon to an intergalactic supervillain/fashionista. That last one, Zorg from The Fifth Element, was a standout if for no other reason than he was visually bizarre and Oldman hammed up the character to match the aesthetic. So how does one of the greatest actors of a generation create the persona of a space dictator? To hear Oldman tell it, all he had to do was draw inspiration from two of the most disparate sources you could think of. He based Zorg on politician Ross Perot and also Bugs Bunny.

Despite being a despotic space villain, Zorg has an over the top southern drawl drawn straight from Ross Perot. And as far as Bugs go, if you can’t find his cadence or delivery in Oldman’s performance, which is a little more subtle, the teeth are there as well.

3. Nic Cage based Big Daddy on Adam West

You would be hard pressed to find an actor with a more eclectic and baffling career than Nic Cage. He’s gone from Academy Award-winning performances to straight to streaming movies that are complete head scratchers, and everything in between. No matter what Cage does, however, you can absolutely guarantee that he is going to give it 110%. No one throws themselves into a role like Nic Cage.

In the movie Kick-Ass, he had a supporting role as the character called Big Daddy. Big Daddy was an obvious homage to Batman, so it’s no wonder that Cage, who was a well-known comic book enthusiast, looked to the history of Batman for some inspiration. He has said that he drew on the original Batman, Adam West, to inspire that performance.

Adam West’s Batman was already kitschy, and when mixed with Nic Cage’s brand of acting, the character came out very over the top and a lot of fun. Cage revealed he met West after the movie and asked him if he knew he had been channeling West’s performance to create the character. According to Cage, West replies that he saw him try to channel him.

2. Fonzie from Happy Days is Based on Sylvester Stallone

Henry Winkler first appeared on TV as Arthur Fonzerelli back in 1974. The character is still fairly well-known today even by younger generations, thanks to the Jumping the Shark meme if nothing else. For an entire generation and then some, the Fonz represented what it meant to be cool. So how did Winkler come up with the character? Thank Sylvester Stallone.

Winkler had made the movie Lords of Flatbush back in 1974 which also starred Stallone. When he was looking to channel coolness for his Fonzie character, he just put himself in the Stallone headspace. He’s even demonstrated in interviews how he would start subtly changing his voice to sound more and more like Sylvester Stallone, and then just guess what he thought Stallone would do in any situation.

1. Seth Green Based his Family Guy Character Voice on Buffalo Bill 

Animated series Family Guy has been on TV since 1999. That’s a heck of a long run for any show and speaks to the appeal and endurance of the comedy. Several of the voices of the characters are provided by series creator Seth MacFarlane, this includes Peter Griffin, Stewie, and Brian the Dog. Chris Griffin is voiced by actor Seth Green, and he took his inspiration from a very off-putting source.

In interviews, Green has explained that he auditioned for the role using a basic sort of surfer guy voice. But then he tried it again with something that he had made up with a friend. It was his impression of the Buffalo Bill character from the movie Silence of the Lambs, only a little higher pitch to make him sound younger. 

He and a friend had developed the voice as a joke, when they were wondering what kind of personal life the character might have outside of the confines of his creepy serial killer life. With his voice and mannerisms, the joke was that he had to be awkward and weird all the time. They made jokes about how he would deal with other real life situations like a drive thru and that gave birth to the Chris Griffin character. In so many words, Chris Griffin is supposed to sound like a serial killer who removes people’s skin.

Stories have to be bound by logic. Life does not. Authors usually draw upon interesting personalities for inspiration. For these ten people, the writers did not do them justice. As fantastical as many of the characters in the literary canon are, they cannot compare to the absurdity of the following ten people behind notable creations.

Top 10 Mysterious People Who Should Have Movies Made About Them

10 Alfredo Balli Trevino

Thomas Harris stumbled upon his muse on accident.^[1] Harris’ magazine initially deployed him to interview Monterey Prison inmate Dykes Askew Simmons. Simmons told Harris that he would have died in a botched escape attempt if not for Dr. Alfredo Balli Trevino’s generous help. As Harris questioned Trevino, the surgeon eloquently spoke on psychoanalysis’ merits. Harris, convinced Trevino was an employee, was shocked to learn that Trevino was a fellow prisoner with a gory background.

One does not inspire the most infamous criminal in history without being somewhat evil. In 1959, Trevino severed his lover Jesus Castillo Rangel’s throat with a scalpel. Trevino’s ability to navigate both educated articulacy and gruesome instincts inspired the suave cannibal turned serial killer Hannibal Lecter. For a depraved maniac, the actual Hannibal was relatively swell.

If you ignore the murder, Trevino used his surgical prowess for good. Out of prison, Trevino mostly treated elderly and poor patients. He never charged for his services. His patients commended him, “as a good guy.”^[2] Trevino spent his last years tending to those who needed his help the most.

9 Daniel Ruettiger

Unlike other entries on the list, Daniel Ruettiger never had an alter ego. As the titular underdog in the 1993 biographical football movie Rudy, “Rudy” has become shorthand for anybody who strives towards their dreams no matter the obstacles. The real Rudy put up a few of those obstacles himself.

When one becomes an emblem of athletic perseverance, they can slap their name on any item remotely associated with sports. Rudy exploited this to become a con-artist. The previously pure symbol of endurance branded his image on the “Rudy Nutrition” line of sports drinks.^[3] His attempt as a salesman was less triumphant than his career at Notre Dame. Failing to capture any audience, the company artificially inflated the penny stock’s value by defrauding investors with misleading statements. Allegedly, they illicitly profited $11 million.^[4] The scheme was exposed in 2008. “Rudy Nutrition” went out of business shortly afterward.

8 Dennis Ketcham

Dennis Ketcham never lived the idealistic childhood of his cartoon counterpart.^[5] Inspired by his son’s antics, Hank created Dennis the Menace, the mischievous scamp and eternal tormentor of neighbor Mr. Wilson. Naming his most famous creation after his child drove a wedge in the family. His mother, Alice, turned to alcohol. His father receded into his work at the expense of the same child he was depicting.

In 1959, Hank and Alice divorced. Later that year, Alice accidentally overdosed at 41. Hank coped with the loss by marrying Jo Anne Stevens. The family moved to Geneva. As Dennis struggled in Swiss boarding schools, his father sent him back to the United States. Hank stayed in Europe.

In 1966, Dennis joined the Marine Corps. After fighting in Vietnam, Dennis suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. For the rest of his life, he meandered through menial jobs. The only time Dennis ever spoke to his father again was to ask for some of the money made off his name.

7 Ebenezer Lennox Scroggie

Charles Dickens’ most iconic character exists because he had dyslexia. In a fog, Dickens ambled about a cemetery. On Ebenezer Scroggie’s tombstone, read the inscription, “Meal Man,” referring to his career distributing milled corn. With his poor eyesight, Dickens thought it said “Mean Man.”^[6] Shocked that anybody could be so callously remembered, Dickens envisioned an old curmudgeon who died unloved. Barely altering his protagonist’s name, this led to the grouchy miser Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol.

Curiously, the real Ebenezer Scroggie was nothing like his yuletide namesake. Whereas Scrooge was a stingy prude, Scroggie was a freewheeling bachelor who scandalized his peers. Scroggie got into trouble with the Church of Scotland after impregnating a servant in a graveyard. A General Assembly of the church was forced to stop after Scroggie grabbed a countess’ butt. No wonder the Muppets did not reenact this version of the story. However, Scroggie’s biggest claim to fame was giving William Smellie the concept for a book storing all the world’s information. Smellie turned that idea into the first edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica.^[7]

6 John Maher

In J. M. Barrie’s 1904 play Peter Pan, the single-minded Captain Hook is plagued by Tick-Tock the Crocodile, an omnipresent reminder of his encroaching mortality. The character is a whimsical reminder that death can come at any moment. Reverend John Maher knew this misfortune too well.

No one in the small village of Brede would have second guessed the parson. The only notable thing about the man was that he had a hook instead of a left hand. A convincing backstory of a carriage accident was good enough to deter any nagging questions. He spent his days honoring the Lord. That is until a former partner drove him insane.

The reverend lived a hidden life.^[8] Before leading Sunday services, Maher was pirate captain in the West Indies with a cohort named Smith. The two had a falling out. Maher abandoned Smith on a Caribbean island. After being rescued, Smith vowed to hunt down the man who left him for dead. Ultimately, Smith confronted Maher by threatening to reveal the reverend’s secrets. Maher was driven mad with guilt. J.M. Barrie lightened this story of blackmail into the bumbling duo of Captain Hook and Smee.

10 Bizarre People Behind Everyday Words

5 Sam Sheppard

The Fugitive stresses that Dr. Richard Kimble was truly innocent. In both the 1960’s television series and the 1993 movie starring Harrison Ford, the physician desperately tried to clear his name after being wrongfully accused of murdering his wife. The real mysterious death of Marilyn Reese Sheppard, wife of neurosurgeon Sam Sheppard, is much more ambiguous. This section will not discuss whether Sheppard got away with slaying his spouse in 1954. Instead, it will focus on his life once acquitted.^[9]

If one wanted to convince the public they were good husband material, it would not be the best idea to immediately marry a relative of the Nazi High Command. One week after being released from prison, Sheppard married German born Adriane Tabbenjohanns. Notably, Tabbenjohanns’ half-sister was Joseph Goebbels’ wife. Even Nazis have standards. When two of Sheppard’s patients died in surgery, Adriane divorced him.

Sheppard eased his depression with alcohol and a quixotic enterprise as a professional wrestler. Playing into his reputation, Sheppard performed for over 40 matches under the name “The Killer.” There he met his last wife, the 19-year-old daughter of his wrestling coach. It was a brief marriage. At 46, Dr. Sam Sheppard died of liver failure.

4 William Hickman

In the late 1920’s, William Hickman’s crime spree scandalized America. Hickman’s sociopathic tendencies were evident since he tortured animals as a child. Gradually, he upgraded to robbing gas stations and drug stores across the country. Along the way, he likely killed a girl in Wisconsin and his partner’s grandfather in California. His nationwide crime wave culminated in the depraved kidnapping of 12-year-old Marion Parker.^[10]

Hickman ransomed prominent banker Perry Parker $1,500 for his daughter’s safe return. Despite their correspondence’s guarantees, Marion was already strangled with a towel. At the drop site, Hickman positioned the corpse to look like she was still alive. By the time the horrified father discovered Marion’s real condition, Hickman was gone.

This needlessly cruel image stuck with author Ayn Rand. Dubbing Hickman a “superman,” Rand admired that somebody could function with such little compassion.^[11] Ayn Rand most directly referenced William Hickman for Danny Renaham in the 1928 novella The Little Street. To a lesser degree, Hickman’s philosophy informed staunch individualistic figures such as The Fountainhead’s industrial titan Howard Roark or Atlas Shrugged’s strong-willed John Galt. In his own demented way, Hickman certainly did whatever he wanted.

3 Robert Leroy Ripley

Robert Leroy Ripley’s name is synonymous with the surreal. His life reflected his bizarre proclivities. Famed for his “Believe It or Not!” cartoon series, Ripley traversed the world collecting oddities. Financed by newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, his travels to more than 200 countries netted him fascinating encounters with strange locals. He stored the relics from his adventures on his own private island. Shrunken heads, a menagerie teeming with exotic animals, and antiquities decorated his house. The centerpiece of his collection was a dried out whale penis and a particularly thorough assortment of erotica. He used those to entertain his self-described “harem” of women. He tended to have three to four live-in girlfriends at a time.^[12]

Ripley found great success with the ladies despite not being conventionally attractive. The most notable trait of the balding artist was his protruding teeth. His jagged dentures made it impossible to properly pronounce some letters. In the 1930’s, the Warner Brothers’ character Egghead shared this inability. Appearing in the cartoon, “Believe It or Else” Egghead donned Ripley’s trademark suit and spats combo and repeated the catchphrase “I don’t believe it.” Egghead, a more inept hunter than his inspiration, eventually morphed into Elmer Fudd.^[13]

2 Jean Ross

Fame alluded Jean Ross in life. She found it in fiction. Outside of a few movie cameos, her success as entertainer was limited to a small gig as a cabaret singer in the Weimar republic. One of the prominent political writers who saw her perform was Christopher Isherwood, who used her as the model for his 1937 novella Sally Bowles.

Transformed by multiple adaptations, Bowles one consistent trait is that she is a sexually adventurous singer of middling talent. Reworked on stage and screen, Sally Bowles is most closely associated with Liza Minnelli’s Oscar worthy portrayal in Bob Fosse’s 1972 film Cabaret. She inspired the similarly glamorous libertine Holly Golightly in Breakfast of Tiffany’s. These versions pigeonholed Ross as simpleminded.

Ross was no ditz. Fleeing Germany following the rise of Nazism, Ross became a leftist journalist for the British publication The Daily Worker.^[14] Novelist George Orwell accused Ross and her husband Claud Cockburn of being secret propagandist. While Cockburn notoriously fabricated stories to promote Stalin’s regime as member of Comintern, Ross tenure as a war correspondent was marked by tales of the human loss. Embedded with Republican defenders, Ross witnessed nine aerial bombardments of the Spanish Civil War firsthand. The literary versions turned Ross into a star, but undermined her even more impressive real history as a brash investigator.

1 John Chapman

As a fixture of American folklore, the specifics surrounding Johnny Appleseed depend on the speaker. One universal feature of the pot adorned arborist’s tall tale is his communion with nature. This seemingly bizarre feature is the story’s most accurate part.

John Chapman was not motivated by an urge to promote botany. He was more infused by a mix of drunken bluster and divine calling. The apples he distributed over the Midwestern United States were planted to claim land and ferment for a stable source of booze.^[15] In an alcoholic daze, he entertained local children by sticking pins in his feet and walking on hot coals. Inebriation helped him brazen into the wilderness unafraid of the natural lurkers like rattlesnakes or black bears. Nature was not always as kind. In his twenties, Chapman removed a chunk of his brain after a horse kicked him in the head

This lobotomized state might explain how he started talking to angels. Along with each bundle of apples, Chapman carried the message of the Church of Swedenborg. Like founder Emanuel Swedenborg, Chapman remained celibate, except for having what he called “spiritual intercourse” with angels.^[16] Disney cut the part when Johnny Appleseed has drunken sex with ghosts.

10 New Facts About Famous People And Places

About The Author: The greatest fictional character Nate Yungman ever wrote was his social media persona. If you want to read more of his thoughts, you can follow him on Twitter, @nateyungman. If you had a question or comment, you can send him an email at [email protected].

Several TV shows like to bring in off-screen characters that are occasionally heard or partially seen and mentioned frequently. Despite the audience never being introduced to certain characters, they still manage to add a lot of humour to these shows and often impact storylines and on-screen characters. Here are 10 of the most noteworthy characters we never get to see.

Top 10 British Comedy Series

10 Mrs Wolowitz – The Big Bang Theory

Frequently heard but never seen, Mrs Wolowitz had an overbearing presence despite having no screen time on The Big Bang Theory. Her involvement in the show wasn’t just limited to her overbearing relationship with Howard, but also her significant relationships with Bernadette, Raj and Stuart.

After Carol Ann Susi- the voice behind Mrs Wolowitz- lost her battle with cancer, the show had her character also pass away. In ‘The Leftover Thermalization’ we see all of the main characters share their stories about Mrs Wolowitz. Despite having zero screen time, it just shows how much of an impact she had on the entire group.

9 Father Bigley – Father Ted

The first of many offscreen characters connected to a stream of bizarre anecdotes and backstories. The audience only learn about Father Bigley second-hand from other characters. He’s described as having ‘puffy fish lips bigger than the rest of his face’ and was once mistaken as dead when in actuality he just looked dead.

We only ever get small snippets about Father Bigley, never enough to form a fully rounded character. We hear a variety of bizarre, out-of-nowhere stories, including that he ‘befriended a priest who was sending arms to Iraq’, ‘he gave mass at OJ Simpson’s wedding’ and he ultimately ‘ended up in a home because he was going around starting fires.’

8 Scranton Strangler – The Office

The Scranton Strangler was a recurring figure throughout seasons 6-9 on The Office. The unidentified serial killer is referenced repeatedly at Dundler Mifflin, with Toby even being a juror at the trial of George Howard Scrub who was convicted of the crimes.

Despite the conviction, Toby claims he has doubts about whether Scrub was the right man, and many fans have come up with their own theories about who the Strangler really is. Mose and Creed are both popular suspects amongst fans, with references within the show that they have both killed before. The most popular theory is that Toby himself is the real Scranton Strangler, with even The Office’s official YouTube channel publishing a video titled ‘Making a Strangler’ dedicated to the theory.

7 Bob Sacamano – Seinfeld

Bob Sacamano is built entirely on the accounts from Cosmo Kramer. Another wacky character, we’re given snippets intermittently throughout the series about who he is. Unlike Father Bigley, Bob Sacamano has more of an impact on the lives of other characters, including giving Kramer (and consequently George) defective condoms, leaving George worried that he’s gotten a woman pregnant.

On top of that, we hear all sorts of stories about Bob from Kramer. According to Kramer, he was ‘once in a mental institution […] electroshock had no effect on him because his synapses were so large.’ He also ‘once contracted rabies’, ‘made a fortune from the toy paddles with the ball and rubber band’ and had a hernia operation and ‘due to malpractice, [he] now sits in a chair by a window repeating “my name is Bob.”’

6 Ms Sara Bellum – The Powerpuff Girls

It’s a common trope in cartoons to not show the adults’ faces, including Mammy Two Shoes from Tom & Jerry and The Proud Family’s Wizard Kelly. Ms Sara Bellum from The Powerpuff Girls is instantly recognisable regardless of her face never being visible. Her big hair, red outfit and curvy figure meant that we didn’t need to see her face to know exactly who Ms Bellum was. Although described by other characters as being very pretty, her main quality is her intelligence and described by the mayor himself as the ‘brains behind the man.’

In the 10th anniversary episode, ‘The Powerpuff Girls Rule!!!’ Ms Bellum’s face is finally revealed, kind of. For a brief moment, when her face is shown, her hair is covering one eye and the other is closed never revealing her eye colour or full face. The majority of her face is never seen, revealing very little and still leaving her full appearance a mystery.

5 Vera Peterson – Cheers

Vera Peterson is frequently on the receiving end of husband Norm’s phone while at the bar. Usually either making jokes about her, or avoiding her completely, pretty much everything we know about Vera is from Norm himself.

Who can forget the famous ‘Thanksgiving Orphans’ episode where we nearly saw Vera’s face, only for it to get covered in chocolate crème pie. Fun fact: Vera is voiced by Bernadette Birkett, the real-life wife of George Wendt who plays Norm!

4 Ugly Naked Guy – Friends

There’s very little that we really know about Ugly Naked Guy, but he’s a recurring topic of conversation amongst the 6 friends until he moves out from across the street in season 5. Instead of seeing the view from Monica and Rachel’s apartment, the audience only sees th1e group spying on Ugly Naked Guy and their reactions (often one of shock). On two occasion we see glimpses of the nudist; once when the gang are poking him from across the street to make sure he’s alive (‘The One With The Giant Poking Device’) and once when he answers the door to Ross (‘The One Where Everyone Finds Out’).

We don’t learn much about the identity of Ugly Naked Guy, probably because the main gang know next to nothing about him. We do know that sometime after 1993 he began to gain weight, as in ‘The One With The Flashback’ Phoebe states that ‘Cute Naked Guy’s really starting to put one weight.’ The most we learn about Ugly Naked Guy is his variety of hobbies and activities, including playing the cello, getting gravity boots, buying a ThighMaster, owning a cat and his Thanksgiving date that concluded in ‘Ugly Naked Dancing.’

3 Stan Walker – Will & Grace

Unlike other unseen characters on this list, we get a much more developed picture of Stan Walker thanks to wife Karen. His silhouette is seen once and on another occasion his arms are seen trying to touch Karen with Will in the room (‘New Will City’). He’s often described as being massively overweight and is said to wear a toupee that he never washes.

Stan is involved in several strange and elaborate storylines, most significantly being arrested for tax evasion, his divorce from Karen, his “death” and funeral, and finally the discovery that he was actually alive and had faked his death to protect himself from the mob. Pretty detailed for a man we never see!

2 Charles “Charlie” Townsend – Charlie’s Angels

For every other character on this list, although the audience don’t get to see them, the other characters of the show either do interact with them or have done so in the past. In Charlie’s Angels no one, including the Angels themselves, get to know the real face of Charlie.

No one knows much about Charlie and even though they interact with him all the time, even the Angels only know him by his voice. The ultimate mysterious figure, due to having so many enemies Charlie doesn’t let anyone other than Bosley know his face. Within the show, the Angels only hear his voice through a speaker box when receiving cases. As an audience, we see the back of his head, the occasional body part, but never his face.

1 Maris – Frasier

Maris Crane is possibly the most established, off-screen character we never meet. We get vivid descriptions of Niles’ first wife from all of the Crane family. She is significantly underweight- with Roz originally mistaking her for a hat rack- and a number of obscure medical problems, including being unable to produce saliva and a slight webbing of her hands.

Maris is disliked by both Frasier and Martin, even Lilith has a distaste for her. She has a big impact on Niles’ storyline, particularly when they get divorced. Despite being physically weak, her actions are often malicious and selfish, escalating from her affair whilst still with Niles to shockingly being jailed on suspicion of murder of a man she’s romantically involved with. Maris’ surprisingly wild plotlines ends with her escaping to her family’s private island that she cannot be extradited from.

Top 10 Best Recent TV Comedy Series

Let’s talk about 80’s and 90’s, an era loaded with Super Mario, Yoyo, pile of Cassettes and landlines. Those of us who were kids during that period grew up with Tom & Jerry, Mickey and Friends or Donald. We know the value of the only entertainment that was available for kids back then, other than indoor or outdoor games and general activities.

Most of us always came from school as a toddler and waited for Aladdin to come on his magic carpet on that black and white box. At that time, many countries telecast the famous cartoons like Mickey Mouse and Club House, He-Man and lots of hot cake cartoon programs in their Local languages.

The amazing Nana Patekar behind Sher Khan for the Mowgli telecast on Doordarshan in India is still a sensation on YouTube. But, when we all grew up indulging ourselves more into this cartoon world and jumped deep inside cartoons to recall our childhood attachments in their original versions, many of us must have found something hilarious. Not everything in that universe is always as innocent as it supposed to be and here is the list of Top 10 controversial trivia of cartoon characters.

10. Monster House

This famous production of Image Movers and Amblin Entertainment is an animated movie released in 2006, directed by Gil Kenan, which was distributed by Columbia Pictures. For the first time since “Back to the Future Part III”, Robert Zemeckis and Steven Spielberg worked together as executive producers in this movie.

As of now, this is the only animated film to feature an entirely original story and not based on existing source material. In one scene, with some extra attention, we can hear something ridiculous where our cast of characters Dj, Skull, Chowder and Bones, used as DJ, Punk, Freak, and Ketchup in the German version of the film, are all children, who are discussing the “anatomy” of the Monster House.

One kid points out the teeth, and then the tongue and then, again, he shouts, “That must be the uvula!” while pointing towards a chandelier. Another child promptly replies, “Oh, so this must be a female house.” The uvula, of course, a female character, in this film, somehow gets mixed up with the vulva.

9. The Spectacular Spider-Man

The Spectacular Spider-Man was developed for television by Greg Weisman and Victor Cook which is often referred to as the greatest Spider-Man cartoon ever made. After publishing “The Night Gwen Stacy Died” on 1973, Spider-Man Animated Series adopted the story in the episode, “Turning Point” where Gwen was replaced by Mary Jane. The Spectacular Spider-Man was acclaimed for its crisp dialogue and reintroduction of countless famous characters from the Spider-Man universe while still remaining loyal to the original comics.

It introduced some characters that would normally be disqualified from children’s programming, such as Black Cat concealed in a skin-tight, revealing uniform. The thing gets a little messy for its 10 years old target audience in one episode, in which Peter Parker hits high school. We all were curious to see tissues in his room, and then something splendid happens while he is chasing Black Cat around a warehouse.

While spraying his web all over, he hears Catwoman saying “You better not get your goop in my hair.” And he replies “Don’t worry; it comes off with ice or peanut butter.” Let’s leave the rest to the imagination.

8. Rugrats

Louis Kalhern “Grandpa Lou” Pickles is the senior most member of Pickles family from 1991 Cartoon Series, Rugrats, involving the daily life experiences that become adventures in the babies’ imaginations. It was created by Arlene Klasky, Gábor Csupó, and Paul Germain for Nickelodeon.

Rugrats was awarded with over 20 awards during 13 years of continuous broadcasting which includes 4 Daytime Emmy Awards, 7 Kids’ Choice Awards, and also its own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Grandpa Lou is one of the most controversial cartoon characters by Nick. It gets controversial when in one episode, Grandpa Lou rents some movies for the infant Tommy, Dil, and Angelica to watch.

He takes two movie cassettes naming “Reptar Come Home” and “Reptar Redux”, starring the kids’ favorite atomic dinosaur, Reptar. Along with these, he brings his personal favorite movie, “Lonely Space Vixens” where a green vixen hiding her private parts with shells in front appears as a cover picture of the cassette, to which he adds, “That’s for after you go to bed.”

7. The Flintstones

This famous cartoon series created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera was one of the oldest cartoons that broadcast in television. Aired from September 30, 1960, to April 1, 1966, the original work was first broadcast on ABC channel, America.

The Flintstones rarely got more sophisticated than Stone Age chauvinism and using woodpeckers as typewriters. That is, except for the time they quietly slipped a hilarious joke into an episode right into its tightly knit screenplay. In that episode, Fred and Barney go to the store for the purpose of filling their stone wardrobes.

Fred asks Barney about his preference of clothes he wants to buy. Barney replies that it will be good if he gets something that makes him look a little taller. Fred suggests, with a laugh, to buy another head for that height increment he wants. Barney promptly replies, “What do I need three of them for?” And it is obvious to understand about the second head, and you’ll also break into a laughter like the way they laughed after that.

6. Madagascar

Madagascar, a famous animated film, directed by Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath, was released in movie theaters on May 27, 2005. This is the film in which pineapples grow on trees in the jungle, whereas, in reality, pineapples grow on the ground.

If you carefully watch the scene where Skipper, the talking monkey reads a newspaper, you will notice that the newspaper is the comic itself. There is no real way to do that if you want to use a certain offensive synonym of ‘poop’ in any animated movies for children. But, to salute the amazing naughtiness of the voice of Ben Stiller, Chris Rock and David Schwimmer behind those amazing animals, scriptwriter, Mark Burton, Billy Frolick, Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath came up with a great idea.

In one particular scene where Alex, the famous lion character, voiced by Ben, and Marty the zebra, voiced by Chris, are running towards each other on the beach while theme music of Chariots of Fire playing in the air, Marty somehow manages to understand the not-so-loving run of Alex towards him and suddenly switches direction while yelling Sugar Honey Iced Tea. So, why was the Sugar Honey Iced Tea used there as an expressive outcome? Try to figure out the original word by reading only the first alphabets.

5. Powerpuff Girls

This famous cartoon series was created by animator Craig McCracken and produced by Cartoon Network Studios for Cartoon Network. Craig originally developed the show back in 1992 as a short cartoon title called “Whoopass Stew!”, while in his second year at California Institute of the Arts.

A continuous 7-year broadcasting with whopping success started from November 18, 1998, till it aired the final episode on March 25, 2005 which was nominated for six Emmy Awards, nine Annie Awards, and a Kids’ Choice Award. On June 16, 2014, In Comic-con Cartoon Network proudly announced plans to reboot the series in 2016. Its earlier original episodes are full with fun and laughter.

But, it goes extremely funny in one of the episodes when Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup bring one of their friends, Robin, home and introduce her to their dad, Professor Utonium, and they say that he is the guy who accidentally made them in the laboratory. Robin, being a normally born child, replies, “It’s Okay, Professor, I was an accident, too,” which made the professor drop his jaw.

4. Dexter’s Laboratory

This thick-accented little science prodigy is a marvelous gift for children by Genndy Tartakovsky for Cartoon Network. The same fellow that Star Wars creator George Lucas hired to direct Star Wars: Clone Wars. After it premiered on April 28, 1996 by 1999 it has telecast 52 episodes including a television movie. This concoction of tech and science for kids was not always as decent as it apparently seems.

The fact is that “Dexter’s Rude Removal” is the name of the episode which Cartoon Network refused to air due to the characters’ swearing. Later, Cartoon Network’s late night program, Adult Swim, eventually uploaded it on YouTube and got 500,000 views within 24 hours. Later, “Dial M for Monkey: Barbequor” episode featured Silver Spooner, a spoof of the Silver Surfer from Marvel Universe, which was perceived by Cartoon Network as a stereotype of gay men.

In “Nuclear Confusion” episode, while Dexter searched for the third clue by Dee Dee and went to Neighbor Lady’s house, that lady bent over to pick up a cookie she dropped onto the floor and he sees ‘Dad’s Trophy’ written across her buttocks on those purple pants.

3. Toy Story

The unforgettable 1995 animated adventure film, produced by Pixar and directed by John Lasseter is still a must watch for any kid. it was distributed solely by Walt Disney Pictures. Tom Hanks gave voice for Woody the plastic cowboy while Tim Allen amused us as space ranger Buzz Lightyear. But, it has also got a character for adults in a twisted way.

Do you remember that toy with bare legs and a hooker replacing her upper body? Yes, you got it right; there is a hooker in children’s film for adult entertainment for those toys. As an interesting fact, we can see that while Woody is a regular toy, his mouth alternates between closed and smiling to partially open.

Moreover, there’s a part of the splendid Pixar sequel Toy Story 2 in which Star Command space ranger Buzz Lightyear gets the toy equivalent of an erection. During the scene where Buzz is introduced to cowgirl Jessie when she’s just leaping around Andy’s room, Buzz stares at her while his eyes pops out due to excitement. And suddenly, his wings pop up and start flashing. There is no better way to show the plastic toys getting ‘turned on’ than this.

2. Aladdin

Aladdin is a Middle Eastern folk tale from The Arabian Nights successfully adapted by Walt Disney Pictures in cartoon back in 1992. This amazing series of three movies and tv series directed by John Musker and Ron Clements showcased Scott Weinger as Aladdin and Robin Williams as The Genie.

Disney successfully supported homosexuality 20 years back in a twisted way with a scene from the movie where Aladdin almost drowns after being kidnapped and dropped into the sea by Jafar’s goons. Genie saves his master and says out of genuine affection for Aladdin, “I’m getting pretty fond of you, kid,” and later adds, “Not that I want to pick out curtains, or anything.”

Later, in the movie “Aladdin and the King of Thieves”, Aladdin establishes himself as a fatherly character. That movie contains a hilarious reaction from Genie during Aladdin and Jasmine’s wedding sequence. There’s an earthquake, to which Genie reacts while muttering “I thought the Earth wasn’t supposed to move until the honeymoon.”

1. Donald Duck

“Der Fuehrer’s Face” aka “Donald Duck in Nutzi Land” won Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film at the 15th Academy Awards Directed by Jack Kinney under Walt Disney Productions and released in 1943 by RKO Radio Pictures, it is the only Donald Duck film to receive an Academy Award till now. The film contains Wallace’s original song, “Der Fuehrer’s Face” which was actually released earlier by Spike Jones.

Even the clouds and trees are shaped as swastikas in the movie to portray Hitler’s intensity on Germany at that time. In one scene of that movie, Donald faces and “Hails” the portraits of the “Fuehrer” Adolf Hitler before arriving at the factory’s bayonet-point, to starts his 48-hour daily shift screwing caps onto artillery shells in an assembly line.

The same film also featured Donald getting motivated while reading Mein Kampf and wearing Nazi band in his hand. In another scene, in Donald’s nightmare, he sees the shadow of a figure holding its right hand up in the form of a Nazi salute.

He begins to do so himself until he realizes that it is the shadow of a miniature of Statue of Liberty. While being proud of his United States citizenship, he embraces the statue. The movie gets more controversial when it ends with two sets of “Hails” and a tomato is thrown at a caricature of Hitler’s angry face and forms the words “The End”.

We also end here with Donald while expecting a colorful animated dream tonight, after indulging with all those cartoon characters above. Starting from black and white two-dimensional cartoons where characters hang in the air before they fall down from the cliff, till today’s state-of-the-art 3D superior animation movies, controversies and hidden messages are all there, but, what attracts most is far beyond those controversies.

It is the feel that they provide while viewing those animations which always leave a mark on our memories. Irrespective of our age, we all have enjoyed, and will continue to enjoy, those cartoons from our childhood, till Popeye is happy with Olive and there is enough money in Uncle Scrooge’s bank to dive in.

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The 80s were an excellent decade for filmmaking. After the structural and technological experimentation of the 70s, the great 80s filmmakers- George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, John Hughes, Robert Zemeckis, and John Carpenter, to name a few- were able to focus their craft and turn out some of the most widely beloved films in history. Over thirty years later, there are still dozens of films from the 80s that are routinely placed in “must watch” and “best of” lists. But nothing is perfect, and even the best movies can have some pretty abysmal characters within. Looking back, a lot of characters in the 80s were not quite the heroes or innocent sidekicks we thought they were. Whether it’s due to shifting political climate, changes in cultural concepts of heroism, or that we were just too blinded by cool special effects at the time to notice, some pretty bad characters have been labeled as the good guys. Time to change that. Here are ten of the worst characters from 80s movies.

10 James Dalton – Road House

It pains me to say it, but Patrick Swayze’s James Dalton, the protagonist in 1989’s action-brawler Road House, is just walking, talking, high-kicking nonsense. Dalton makes the list because of sheer unbelievability. Though Swayze performs admirably as the character, it’s the character himself who sinks the oily, neon-lit ship.

James Dalton is a cooler, or as everyone else on planet Earth would say, a bouncer. Somehow he’s become famous for bouncing, which I guess means his bar has the fewest unwanted guests? Even though zero unwanted guests is the average number for any establishment at any given time? Anyways, he’s become such an outstanding bouncer by studying tai chi, meditation, and philosophy, apparently. But despite his enlightenment, he still refuses to wear practical, non-bulge-highlighting clothing or drive a car that isn’t a giant phallic substitute. To top that off, his transcendence melts away the instant he’s threatened, causing him to rip out people’s throats with his bare hand. Seriously, he did that. Left an open, bleeding hole in a guy’s neck and everything. Dalton is a man of many faces, and they all belong in different movies.

9 Long Duk Dong – Sixteen Candles

Long Duk Dong makes the list for being cruelly insulting to an entire continent, even for his time. Yes, Sixteen candles came out back in 1984, but by then it was well-known that crapping all over an entire culture was a no-no. “The Donger” as he calls himself, exhibits essentially every Asian stereotype writer/director John Hughes could think of, including being accompanied by a gong hit every time he came on screen.

The character was widely criticized immediately following the film’s release by several high-profile groups, but their concerns were shrugged off by John Hughes and Universal Pictures. Yet criticism remains to this day; even star Molly Ringwald recently reflected that the character, “is a grotesque stereotype.” What began as an ignorant attempt to get cheap laughs has since become an enduring symbol of insensitivity, earning The Donger a spot on the worst list.

8 Howard the Duck – Howard the Duck

There’s no controversy here. Howard the Duck is one of the single worst movies ever made. Even diehard Marvel comics nerds (maybe especially diehard Marvel comics nerds) can find little to like about this two-hour piece of flaming duck crap. The movie tries to make Howard the Duck a snarky, wise-cracking anti-hero ala Ferris Bueller (see below), but only managed to force a few half-assed duck puns and phone in a character arc (/motivation/backstory/personality, etc.), before they roll credits. There is seriously nothing in this movie to love, unless you are into human-on-anthropomorphic-bird relationships, in which case: good on you, not here to judge.

7 Lewis Skolnick – Revenge of the Nerds

This is another case of behaviors aging poorly, but unlike the overt mockery that is Long Duk Dong, this one is insidious and creepy. Revenge of the Nerds is a good movie, for the most part. It did the world a good deed by helping to shift the typical movie hero from square-jawed jock a**holes to relatable, clever underdogs. But for all the respect it gives to misfits, it very pointedly disrespects women.

The nerd girls are publicly called pigs by a whole fraternity; the movie’s heroes break and enter into a female dorm, watch them undress, then steal their underwear; and to top it off, our main protagonist Lewis Skolnick decides to win over the popular girl’s heart by… raping her. That’s the actual climax of the film. We’re supposed to laugh and cheer at that. Pretty hard to root for the underdog when they’re a cruel sociopath.

6 Ferris Bueller – Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

“You can never go too far.” -Ferris Bueller, 1986. Yes, you can, Ferris. And only insane people think that, Ferris. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is 103 minutes of a privileged, conniving, scheming, lying, narcissistic, manipulative, bullying, ungrateful, compassionless little jerk taking advantage of everyone that cares about him. The casualties of his campaign of exploitation include his best ‘friend’ Cameron, his ‘girlfriend’ Sloane, his high school dean, the school’s secretary, a Ferrari 250 GT California, his sister, his mother, his father, and worst of all the real Abe Froman, Sausage King of Chicago.

5 All the Ghostbusters – Ghostbusters

Another painful admission for me: the Ghostbusters are just not good guys. Yes, they saved New York twice, but in doing so they played god, not just with spirits but with human lives. For one thing, the guys punish every ghost they encounter with eternal prison. Eternal. Prison. Not just for the big bads like Vigo and Gozer, no every ghost gets the same infinitely harsh deal. Even if one ‘Buster just happens to see an innocent murder-victim ghost floating by on her unfinished business of finding her killer- BOOM: eternal prison in a box.

And, in Spengler’s own words, the four untrained ‘Busters carry unstable nuclear reactors on their backs. One of the film’s supposed villains, an EPA inspector, correctly determines this and tries to regulate these portable atom bombs, but the four jerks with no training and too much confidence shut him down and ridicule him. And really, if your film’s protagonists are chiefly in conflict with the EPA? Maybe they’re not the best people.

4 Daniel LaRusso – The Karate Kid

It’s impossible to make this point better than Barney Stinson already has, but Daniel LaRusso is not the real Karate Kid. Johnny Lawrence is, by almost any metric, the protagonist in that story. Lawrence grew up without knowing his father and abused by his stepfather. He took up karate as a way to regain his agency and become his own person. He poured his heart and soul into his craft but even then lost early in his first tournament. His steadfast determination caused him to double down on his training, and he eventually became the best fighter in the city, and in doing so moved beyond his fear and loathing for his step-father. Hero’s journey completed. Enter Daniel LaRusso, who bullies Lawrence and settles all of their disputes with violence instead of getting to know the tortured soul that Lawrence hides. Then LaRusso steals the championship from Lawrence with an illegal face kick, in what has to be one of cinema’s greatest tragedies.

3 Everyone – Weekend at Bernie’s

This goes without saying: failing to report a death, tampering with the body, and disturbing a crime scene are bad ideas. But dressing the body up, puppeting it for days, and even letting someone have sex with it without telling them… that’s another level. Larry and Richard, the supposed protagonists of Weekend at Bernie’s, are creepy, selfish monsters. But they’re not alone. The rest of the cast are either vapid, coke-addled partiers or members of the mob. So really, no one comes out of that movie looking squeaky clean. I give Weekend at Bernie’s two decomposing-thumbs-puppeted-with-string’s down.

2 Doc Brown – Back to the Future

Imagine you’re a parent (say, Lorraine McFly) and your son (Marty) tells you that he spends all his free time hanging out with an 80-year-old man (Doc Brown). Moreover, this old man is a failed nuclear physicist and regularly has your son help him test his experimental new nuclear technology. Even more, the old man has dealings with Libyan terrorists. Still more, the old man thinks your son is the perfect candidate to test the completely unfounded, unregulated, unknown science of time travel. How would you feel about this situation between the old man and your son? In this case, as Lorraine, you would probably feel fine, because that way the younger version of you gets to have sex with your son in 1955. This movie is messed up.

1 The Ewoks – Return of the Jedi

Some Star Wars fans love the Ewoks, some hate them. The debate has raged on for over 30 years with no end in sight. So let’s end it: the Ewoks are garbage characters. The original Star Wars trilogy is an unbelievably mixed bag of good and bad film components. On the one hand, the movies brought sci-fi to the mainstream, revolutionized special effects, and are each a detailed love letter to Joseph Campbell’s treatises on comparative mythology. On the other hand: Ewoks.

The end of Return of the Jedi was a cathartic climax to an adventure a decade in the making, and scenes like those in Palpatine’s chambers crackle with emotionality and high-stakes drama. Yet for some reason (toys), George Lucas chose to alternate those scenes with long, slapstick sequences of Ewoks fumbling their way through the forest (because of toys). The intense anxiety of Darth Vader choosing between letting his only son die and killing his mentor is sandwiched between shots of fat, fuzzy forest beavers pawing at Stormtroopers (to sell toys). Lando and Ackbar’s desperate final assault on the second Death Star is thrilling but cuts to some hairy, bucktoothed tater-tots slapping AT-ST’s with their grubby hands (which sold more toys). I just wish I could figure out why (I want to go buy toys).

“Saturday Night Live” is an institution. Not just in comedy, but in all of entertainment. The show is now nearer to fifty than not, and over those many years has showcased wave after wave of comedy’s best, from Bill Murray through Will Ferrell to Kate McKinnon. Altogether, the prodigious cast has produced thousands of original characters, many of them, cultural icons. But among those, a few are a bit iffy in terms of taste.

Decades of constantly evolving culture have rendered some of “SNL”‘s most famous characters dated, obsolete, or even downright offensive. That’s not to say that they aren’t funny or that they shouldn’t have been on the air, just that it can be eye-opening looking back on our changing etiquette. To that end, here are ten of the most borderline—and actually offensive—characters to appear on “Saturday Night Live.”

10 The Samurai

Comedy was easier in the 70s. One racist caricature, and you’ve got a recurring hit sketch. No late nights for that writing team, just a quick assemblage of phony Japanese-sounding mumble-screams, and the whole crew is home by four. The ticket to Easy Street in question is John Belushi’s character, the Samurai.

The Samurai would appear with a new occupation every time—sometimes a hitman, hotel owner, or disco dancer—but always the lowest common denominator in humor. The entire premise was that a medieval-era samurai was somehow in the current era and had found a new occupation. That’s it. Belushi gave his all to the role physically, as usual, but he had virtually no dialogue to work with. Everything he ‘said’ was just racist phonetic aping of Japanese. Eventually, every sketch would fizzle out until it ended, with no structure or thought, just five minutes of a funny accent and indignity.

9 The Continental

Christopher Walken has hosted “SNL” seven times, enough to have developed his own recurring character. That character, a vaguely ethnic, hapless dilettante named the Continental, is also an endless fountain of #metoo fuel.

Every Continental sketch starts with the character fumbling his way through a date at his luxurious suite until that woman decides to escape. Apparently, his constant allusions to stalking her, drugging her, and even chloroforming her somehow sours her grapes. But when she moves to leave, the Continental inevitably blocks her exit, forcing her to stay, even going so far as to lock her in and try to swallow the key. Worst of all, the camera acts as the woman’s eyes, putting us all in the action as a sleazy old pervert tries to molest us.

8 The D-ck in a Box Dudes

Speaking of creepy grown men, there’s “D-ck in a Box.” One of Lonely Island’s biggest hits, the song “D-ck in A Box” featuring Justin Timberlake, is still a popular rewatch and singalong. But in addition to being catchy and fun, it’s also rapey and gross.

The concept behind “D-ck in a Box” is a simple question: How do you trick a woman into seeing your penis? It has been asked before, often answered with a flung-open trench coat. But it was always hindered by those pesky labels like ‘flashing’ and ‘indecent exposure’ and ‘non-consensual.’ Finally our brave heroes found the solution: hide your penis in a box and give it to a woman who is expecting a nice gift. That way she can be doubly disappointed.

7 Stefon

Bill Hader’s Stefon was probably the best recurring “SNL” character of the last couple of decades. The pop that Seth Meyers would elicit upon cueing up the guest character was unparalleled. But as funny as the character was, it was just as problematic in many ways.

For one, like so many other “SNL” characters over the years, his stereotypical homosexuality made him a constant punchline. For another, Stefon used the term midget in almost every appearance, despite the facts that 1.) that hadn’t been the appropriate term for a decade before he first used it, and 2.) even within the narrative, Meyers repeatedly told Stefon that the word was offensive, which Stefon ignored. At one point, Stefon heeded Meyers’s advice, correcting midget to ‘fun-sized.’ Stefon also had a running storyline in which he tried to seduce Meyers, built entirely on the premise that “no” means “yes.” 

6 Stuart Smalley

Unlike Stefon, whose homosexuality was just one piece of the bit, Stuart Smalley was gay—and that was really the whole joke. Well, that and the fact that Smalley’s father was an alcoholic (haha?). But he only drank because his son was gay, so we’re back to comedic square one.

Smalley, played by future (and now past) senator Al Franken, spoke in a stereotypical lisp, wore Malibu Ken outfits, and was in touch with his feelings. In the 90s, that was enough to make him an evergreen gag. In one sketch, he talks about his father beating him and his mother, and because Smalley was too effeminate to stop the assault, it’s (theoretically) funny.

5 Pat

When people see an old sketch and react with, “man, that wouldn’t fly today!” there is a solid 50% chance it was a Pat sketch. Played by the criminally underrated Julia Sweeney, Pat’s whole deal was—nay, every aspect of their entire existence was—based around the fact that Pat presented as equal-parts man and woman.

Pat had an androgynous name, dated others with androgynous names, wore androgynous clothes, had androgynous habits, etc. The joke was predicated on the outdated notion that only two genders were unwaveringly defined and completely immiscible. In the real world, even in the 90s, people aren’t split 50/50 between football-lumberjacks and ballerina-princesses, but no one in Pat’s world seemed to know that. At least the sketch had a fun game built in where the supporting cast slyly tried to coax information out of Pat that would confirm their gender. That at least beats the Samurai, who just kind of… samurai-ed.

4 Governor David Paterson

There are a few characters on this list whose entire bits are one-dimensional and offensive—the Samurai, Stuart Smalley, Pat, and as we’ll get to, the Ambiguously Gay Duo. But there’s only one character who can boast the hat-trick of being one-dimensional, offensive, and an actual person. That’s Governor David Paterson, as played by Fred Armisen.

Paterson was the actual governor of New York State in the late aughts and was legally blind. For “SNL,” this was a goldmine and they routinely dug into that mine for sweet, sweet disability jokes. Paterson would bump into furniture, use binoculars to read, and stumble in front of the camera, unawares. At least Armisen got to flex his superb space-work.

3 The Word Association Guy

This sketch aired in “SNL”‘s first season and starred Chevy Chase as a man conducting a job interview for potential hire Richard Pryor. Chase and Pryor begin a word association game as a test, which escalates quickly.

The pair exchange racial slurs until Chase throws out a full, uncensored n-word on primetime, network television. The sketch is quick, simple, funny, and feels punk rock and dangerous in the spirit of those early years. It has become a historic television moment, despite—or rather because—it went farther than any sketch has dared before or after.

2 The Ambiguously Gay Duo

After Stefon and Smalley, we round out the ‘gay people are funny’ trilogy with one the most offensive recurring “SNL” sketch ever: The Ambiguously Gay duo. The sketch was an all-star exhibition, created by Robert Smigel and voiced by Stephen Colbert and Steve Carell as the titular duo, a pair of muscular male superheroes who seemed completely unaware of their homoerotic behavior.

In an obvious parody of early Batman and Robin, the pair spouted endless catchphrases that were equal parts enthusiastic and inane. The twist was that the phrases and all the superhero moves they accompanied were clearly gay.

The duo drove a penis-shaped car, flew by mounting each other, dodged bullets by doing ballet, and defeated evil by putting any number of penis-shaped objects in an equal number of butt-shaped objects. The joke was that they had no idea how it all looked, and as offensive as it all is, the jokes still hold up today.

1 Canteen Boy

Even after all that, there is a clear winner: Canteen Boy. Though most Canteen Boy appearances were offensive due to their consistent mocking of the mentally challenged (despite what the disclaimer claimed), one sketch went a whole lot further. It is offensive enough to not exist on YouTube at all, save for mentions by third parties. The sketch in question is when Alec Baldwin led Canteen Boy’s scout troop and naturally… tried to molest him.

Baldwin spends a night in the woods with Canteen Boy and tries his damndest to seduce him, mental disability or no. He takes his own shirt off, tries to get Canteen Boy drunk, forces the scout into his own sleeping bag, nuzzles him, and even sucks his finger. The sketch was topical, as accusations about scout leader sexual assaults were common at the time. That made the sketch even more offensive to victims and their families. And no matter when it airs, jokes about molesting the mentally challenged are justifiably bound to raise a few hackles.

Every comic book enthusiast has their favorite character. When it comes to comics snagged for the big screen, nothing makes fans quite as happy as when a characters’ importance as portrayed in the comic universes is mirrored in the movie. Studios who nail the results are raking in the cash, especially now that countless DC and Marvel films are released every year.

The result? A lot of comic book characters are being given their 15 minutes of fame. Batman, Captain America, Iron Man—the movies produced for these classic characters have packed a punch at the box office. Even lesser-known superheroes like Starlord have been a hit. 

Unfortunately, some superhero characters aren’t given their well-deserved due and are practically unidentifiable from their canon. And fans aren’t having it. 

It could be a lack of canonical knowledge by the writers, creative liberties gone wrong, or less screen time than they deserve. Either way, it’s an issue that’s affected even the largest production companies. Here are the top 10 comic book characters that were poorly represented in the movies. 

10 Maria Hill in Marvel’s “Avengers” Series

There are many errors in the “Avengers” movie series that twisted the logic of the original story. Some of these slips were relatively small while others will make you wonder if filmmakers paid any attention at all.

In the comics, Maria Hill is part of SHIELD’s top-ranking officers and a divisive director. She’s ambitious, motivated, and aggressive—always ready to do what it takes to take care of the world. This part of her personality often brought her into war with other heroes.

In the film, Hill acts as a second-in-command who blindly follows every command, practically manipulated by Fury. Marvel should have let her powerful personality shine, just like in the comics. Her role wasn’t as well embraced in the film as it deserved.

9 Mandarin in “Iron Man 3”

Many comic book fans hate Mandarin for his characterization not being anywhere close to the comic book character. We realize that Aldrich Killian is the movie’s archrival, as shown by Guy Pearce, but his status of being Iron Man’s main enemy wasn’t depicted in Iron Man 3.

Instead, the movie made him seem to be a different character—more like a confused drug addict and a mysterious terrorist, which may have been controversial. The Mandarin we now know is just a bland character represented by an unaware actor, while the guy behind the scenes is totally different.

8 Lex Luthor and Doomsday in “Dawn of Justice”

Many fans were unmoved by “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.” The illogical plot and inconsistent characterization received a lot of criticism.

Typically, Lex Luthor is portrayed as a master manipulator with well-defined goals. Yet in the film, Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex throws away a long-standing characterization. Even his head looked completely different from how he’s supposed to look, forgoing his traditional bad-guy baldness for long locks. The story was highly exaggerated and couldn’t even be compared to real life.

It’s pretty evident that Doomsday wasn’t well-placed in the film either. Why would Superman decide to fight in space? To spare human lives, of course. The worst part is when Doomsday falls from space and effortlessly lands in between two metropolises. Yeah, right.

7 Ben Affleck’s “Daredevil” and Jennifer Garner’s “Elektra”

We have to ask: did Ben Affleck have zero interest in playing Daredevil? Because he didn’t make much of an effort. Daredevil is the most basic and one-dimensional translation of Frank Miller’s lawyer-turned-blind-vigilante. So much wasted potential. In all honesty, the movie represented Matt Murdock’s character respectfully. But the movie was generally dull and unexciting.

And while Jennifer Garner is a good actress, many critics claim that Elektra’s material and direction were all over the place. Like Affleck, Jennifer was honest in press interviews, claiming that she thought the movie was bad. She also said that she only did it because of her contractual commitments to the franchise.

6 Bean in “Enders’ Game”

Originating from the Orson Scott Card book, Enders’ game was later translated into a comic book character in 2008. Bean was among the last of Ender’s friends at Battle School, helping Ender with the Dragon Army and a team member of Ender’s as they fought against the buggers. Unfortunately, he wasn’t well-developed in the movie, especially compared to the comic book character.

It’s clear from the canon that Bean was a factor in Ender’s victories as he ranked number two in Battle School. The two supported each other on several occasions. Besides that, the only students who got represented well in the movie were Petra Arkanian and Bonzo Madrid, making everyone else nothing more than a shadow as in the comics.

5 Halle Berry in “Catwoman”

Many actresses have done so well with Catwoman since the ’60s. In the original TV series of “Batman,” Eartha Kitt and Lee Meriwether played her role to pure purr-fection. But how about Halle Berry?

Even Halle Berry agreed with the general public when she showed up for her Razzie Award for Worst Actress for her “Catwoman” film. It was a bad performance, but not because Halle Berry didn’t take her role seriously. It was probably due to the poor characterization of Catwoman. Almost everything about her changed in the movie. Even her name, Selina Kyle, was changed to Patience Phillips in Berry’s version. Ultimately, she failed to depict the DC character in many ways.

4 Venom in “Spiderman 3”

After the first two successful movies in the trilogy contributed to creating superhero films as cinema essentials, “Spiderman 3” failed to live up to standards. It became more of a flopped attempt to give some characters an edge.

Journalist Eddie Brock and the Venom symbiote, combine to become Venom, Spiderman’s greatest antagonist and arguably one of the most iconic comic villains. Eddie Brock is portrayed as a heavily built guy in the comic characters with a bad attitude, perfectly matching his personality.

Brock’s visual appearance on-screen hardly showcases the true comic book character. His metamorphosis is underdeveloped in the film, making his transformation into venom untrue to this character.

3 Deadpool in “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”

In the initial parts of the movie, Ryan Reynolds took a role in “X-Men Origins” as Wolverine, well-played as depicted in the comic book character. His general demeanor was partly to the source material for a wise-cracking impolite assassin—a pretty good start.

Then in the final act, Deadpool’s personality and classic physique were changed to entirely something else. Deadpool is the Merc with the mouth (as he should) but, after he made his transformation, Deadpool was without a mouth.

His lips were practically melted shut. They also stole powers from Cyclops. He never had the mutant powers of teleportation and Cyclops’s eye beams that he later possessed in the film. His iconic traits from the comic book characters weren’t portrayed. Talk about straying from the canon. 

2 Bane and Mr. Freeze in “Batman and Robin”

“Batman and Robin” is largely considered one of the worst comic book movies, and loads of its criticisms are well-earned. In the comics, Bane is supposed to be a genius tactician and an outstanding fighter, built with muscles. Big muscles.

The stories are about Bane overpowering Batman in all aspects—physically, mentally, and emotionally—with a well-executed plan to accomplish his goal. Yet in the movie, he looks like a big chubby guy with way too many painted-on veins. It’s safe to assume that the creators never read any of the comic book counterparts, or they just decided to create their own altogether. He ought to have matched the character of Batman both intellectually and physically. 

This was close to a slap in the face of every fan of the comic book character. And, of course, we can’t forget about the hilarious Mr. Freeze. The original sub-zero scientist was a devious genius whose frozen bones were practically the secret to eternal youth. Portrayed in the film by Arnold Schwarzenegger, this laughable bank robber in a cryo-suit was a far cry from his memorable terminator-esque style. 

1 Galactus and Doctor Doom in “Fantastic Four”

From the low-budget movie in 1994 to the 2015 “Fant4stic” disappointment, all its film adaptations have, in some way, altered the comic book characters. Through all four movies, even after Marvel sold its film rights to “The Fantastic Four,” none of them has yet managed to get the characters just right. The pacing, acting, the story, and the special effects have all been interfered with.

Doctor Doom was turned into a strange-looking creature that resembled Silver Surfer—with much less personality. He’s undoubtedly the character comic book fanatics love to hate. It would have been more interesting to watch what Doctor Doom would turn out to be if they hadn’t messed with his character.

When translating the Marvel characters who unleash a swirl of emotions on the screen, we can’t forget Galactus. His traditionally daunting appearance deserved more than just their derisory weak depiction of an enormous giant in purple armor. We have to wonder how no one caught that before the film finished. You’d have to know something was missing in your film if a cloud in space is your villain.

Just since the year 2000, when the original X-Men movie premiered, there have been well over 100 live-action movies and television series that featured comic-book-inspired superheroes. Then there are the countless animated movies and television series since then. And yet, the opposite is not true.

Very few of these shows have impacted the comics, and fewer still create characters that become a part of the comic canon. Such rare characters are called canonical immigrants. Here are 10 characters that started out in other mediums but ultimately became recurring characters in comics.

Related: Top 10 Worst Comic Supervillains

10 Batgirl (DC: Batman titles)

For comic book historians, April 14, 1954, was a watershed moment. That was the day Fredric Wertham published Seduction of the Innocent, a warning that the overt violence and hidden references to sex and drugs in comics could encourage criminal activities in kids. While not the moral screed it is often portrayed, a 2012 study of Wertham’s evidence found that he falsified and twisted data to fit his theories. A week after Seduction’s publication, Wertham appeared before the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency which was televised. Wertham told the committee and America that comics were more of a threat to youths than Hitler had been to the world. People panicked, and parents across the nation began canceling subscriptions and throwing comic books in the trash. That summer, 15 comic book publishers went out of business, and the surviving publishers launched the Comics Code Authority to rescue their reputations and sales.

Sales for Detective Comics—better known as DC comics—also took a hard hit after Wertham claimed Superman was a fascist, Wonder Woman was a lesbian, and Batman and Robin were gay lovers. In 1956, to repudiate the latter claim, DC introduced a love interest for Batman in the guise of Kathy Kane, who, like Batman’s alter ego, had inherited a fortune and, like Robin’s alter ego, was a circus performer. And she was also combating crime as Batwoman. In 1961, feeling Robin—who had for 20 years been perpetually a teenager—was left out, DC introduced Betty Kane, a niece of Kathy’s, as Robin’s love interest. Betty also idolized Batwoman and designed her own costume and gadgets to become Bat-girl (with a hyphen). But Bat-girl never caught on, and when the legendary editor Julius Schwartz took over as head of the Batman titles in 1964, he dropped Bat-girl along with other Bat-Family members such as Bat-mite and Bat-hound.^[1]

In 1966, the live-action Batman series debuted on television, and its success re-sparked interest in the Batman titles and may have even saved them. But by the third season, the show’s ratings were dropping, and producer William Dozier—who was also the narrator—came up with an idea to add a female hero to the show to appeal to female viewers. Dozier went to Schwartz, asking him to develop a female character who was the daughter of an already established character, Commissioner James Gordon. Schwartz—along with Gardner Fox, creator of Justice Society and Justice League of America—took that idea and created Barbara Gordon, a librarian by day and Batgirl by night. Artist Carmine Infantino created her look.

But the ABC executives needed to be convinced Batgirl was needed in the show, so Dozier created an eight-minute short where Batgirl rescued Batman and Robin from the villain Killer Moth. Batgirl was not allowed to punch Killer Moth because that was too un-lady-like. She instead became a kicker. Dozier then asked Schwartz to introduce Batgirl in the comics to create a buzz for the upcoming season of Batman. So Batgirl appeared first in Detective Comics #359 (January 1967), but only after she was created for television. Since then, several women have worn Batgirl’s cowl, and she is a regular in the Batman titles. She has now and then been given her own title, and work has already begun on a Batgirl movie.^[2]

9 Firestar (Marvel: X-Men titles

Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends was a Saturday morning cartoon series that debuted in 1981 on NBC and ran for three seasons. It went in an unusual direction by placing Spider-Man’s alter ego, Peter Parker, as a college student at Empire State University with two roommates who are also superheroes: Iceman (Bobby Drake) and Firestar (Angelica Jones). The producers originally wanted a fire and ice theme in Spidey’s roomies and wanted Iceman from the X-Men and the Human Torch (Johnny Storm) from the Fantastic Four. But Universal Studios had optioned the Human Torch character for a potential solo project that ultimately never happened. As a result, the Human Torch could not be used by anyone. So the producers created their own character with the ability to manipulate microwave radiation to fly and shoot flames from her hands.

Some of the names the production toyed with initially were Heatwave, Firefly, and Starblaze. One of the writers, Dennis Marks, christened Firestar’s alter ego—Angelica Jones—after an old girlfriend. In the show, Firestar is identified as a former X-Men along with Iceman, but when her backstory was fleshed out in the comics, she is initially trained as a Hellion at the Hell Fire’s Club. One of her earliest missions was to fight against the X-Men. Later she joined the New Warriors, where she became a hero and was even given her own comic-book miniseries.^[3]

8 Jimmy Olsen (DC: Superman titles)

It’s hard to imagine Superman or his alter ego Clark Kent without his BFF Jimmy Olsen, but Jimmy has sat out a portion of Superman’s 83-year history. It’s true that just months after Superman’s introduction in the summer of 1938, Action Comics #6 had an anonymous young man with red hair and freckles arrive in Metropolis staring dreamily at a billboard that declares the city is the “Home of Superman!” He muses, “I’m going to get a job and live in Metropolis. Gee, wouldn’t it be wonderful if I met Superman! But I won’t have that luck.”

Later, DC would retcon that character to be Jimmy Olsen. But in reality, the character wasn’t introduced until Olsen became a cub reporter for the newspaper The Daily Planet during the April 15, 1940, radio program The Adventures of Superman. The radio serials relied almost entirely on conversations and sound effects to tell the story, and Jimmy Olsen—and The Daily Planet’s head editor Perry White–were created as conversation foils for the program. Jimmy became so popular, his comic book persona was introduced in the November/December 1941 issue of Superman #13.

After a few more appearances, Jimmy Olsen disappeared from the Superman titles for most of the 1940s, considered the Golden Age of comics. But in 1952, Olsen was resurrected in the television series Adventures of Superman, and interest in the reporter/photographer reignited. In 1954 and lasting nearly 20 years, Olsen had his own title called Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen. Perhaps the title was best remembered for the issues where Olsen was transformed into everything from a monster-sized turtle, a genie in a bottle, a human porcupine, a six-armed octopus (a sextapus?) and Elastic Lad, an early version of Elongated Man. In this title, readers were first introduced to Darkseid, the New Gods, and the cast of characters in the Fourth World.^[4]

7 Phil Coulson (Marvel: Avengers titles)

The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) encompasses to date 25 movies, more than a dozen television series, and a handful of podcasts. And what actor has had more screen time than any other? That’s right, Clark Gregg playing Agent Phil Coulson. Introduced in the first MCU movie—Ironman (2008)—he appeared in four more movies, two straight-to-video shorts, one web series, and all 136 episodes of ABC’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Gregg’s Coulson had a small and easily forgettable part in Ironman annoying Pepper Potts and Tony Stark before helping them thwart Obadiah Stane’s plans to murder them. But Gregg made the most of his role. Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury didn’t appear until the post-credit scene of that film, and both he and Gregg appeared in the sequel Ironman 2 (2010).

A year later, it looked as if the MCU was finally going to be launched with the release of Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger before the release of an Avenger movie in 2012. But the script for Thor was scrapped just weeks before principal filming, and writers Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz were tasked with quickly writing a new screenplay. While piecing together the story, Miller and Stentz decided that they needed S.H.I.E.L.D. to be involved. But Samuel Jackson was still negotiating his contract to play Fury, and with time growing short, they turned to Gregg’s Coulson. This led to a pivotal role in Avengers (2012) and the lead in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. beginning in 2014.

Coulson had become so popular with the first two Ironman movies that he appeared in comic books for the first time in issue #6 of the 2011-2012 series Battle Scars that delved into Nick Fury’s backstory. Coulson was an Army Ranger serving in Afghanistan, fighting alongside and saving the life of Marcus Johnson, Nick Fury’s son. In the comics, Coulson was given the responsibility to work with superhumans because he collected their memorabilia and studied their strengths and weaknesses. This made him exceptionally gifted in dealing with challenging personalities such as Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, and Wade Wilson (aka Deadpool).^[5]

6 Sakura Kasugano (UDON: Street Fighter titles)

It may not seem so remarkable that Sakura Kasugano did not originate from comic books. After all, if you know who she is, you most likely encountered her in one of the many other mediums she has appeared in, specifically a Capcom Street Fighter game from 1994 onward. In 2017 when Street Fighter turned 30, Capcom polled fans to see who was the most popular out of the 109 playable Street Fighters they’d introduced both in the mainline games and spin-offs. After more than 150,000 votes, Sakura topped the list. Her boyfriend and mentor Ryu, considered the protagonist of the Street Fighter series, only made 9th place. Of the dozen original characters from the first Street Fighter arcade game, Sagat was 7th, Ken 15th, Gen 30th, Adon 33rd, Eagle 60th, Retsu 69th, Geki 80th, Birdie 87th, Joe 96th, Mike 99th, and Lee 100th.

Sakura’s creator Akira Yasuda gave her an unusual look, a Japanese schoolgirl uniform with a mini-skirt, sailor blouse with a yellow scarf tied in front, red sneakers and red combat gloves, and a white headband Ryu gave her. Her personality was also made to be relatable to a young audience, as she was a teenager and awkward, yet skilled in Ryu’s “Shotokan” fighting style. She has appeared in at least 21 different video games, almost all of them as a playable street fighter. She has also appeared in anime and American animated television productions. She was a lead character in a straight-to-home video live-action movie, the subject of a manga series, and appeared in at least 70 issues of Street Fighter comic book titles.^[6]

5 Rocksteady and Bebop (IDW Comics: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles titles)

Of all the villains the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) face, Shredder and Krang are the most formidable. But the most beloved are the giant warthog and rhinoceros Bebop and Rocksteady. When Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman created and published the first TMNT comics in 1984, it was inspired by characters such as Marvel’s Daredevil and the New Mutants, along with Frank Miller’s Ronin, and the self-published comic about an anthropomorphic aardvark named Cerebus. For instance, the turtles—like Daredevil—have a Ninjitsu mentor, their archenemy was the Foot (a play on Daredevil’s the Hand), and are mutated by a mysterious liquid in a container that fell off a truck. While a parody, the story in that first comic was adult, featuring dark subjects such as the beating of a girlfriend, revenge, drug and arms smuggling, and murder. There was little room for comic relief characters such as Rocksteady and Bebop.

In 1987, while negotiating with Playmate Toys for a line of toys based on TMNT, Eastman and Laird were asked to develop more characters for the line. Laird developed Bebop and Rocksteady for them, something he would soon regret. Bebop was named after a form of jazz music, Rocksteady after a type of Reggae music. The next year, the animated Saturday morning series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles premiered, geared more for kids, the storyline tweaked to be more light-hearted. And Bebop and Rocksteady were made to be deeply stupid, inept, and goofy. This made them a fan favorite for everyone but Laird. His animosity toward the characters was part of why they did not appear in the second 1991 TMNT movie. Instead, a mutated gray wolf (Rahaz) and alligator snapping turtle (Tokka) were introduced. Bebop and Rocksteady made their first comic book appearance in 1988 when the title was published by Archie Comics. In 2011, the titles moved to IDW Comics. ^[7]

4 Isis (DC: Shazam titles)

Like Thor in Marvel comics, Isis is based on an ancient god, in this case, an Egyptian one, daughter of the earth god Geb and sky goddess Nut, sister to the gods Osiris, Seth, and Nephthys. Isis married her brother Osiris (the Egyptian royals did that a lot), but their brother Seth killed Osiris out of jealousy and later cut Osiris into itty, bitty pieces. Isis resurrected Osiris into a sort of Egyptian zombie, reassembled her husband’s various pieces—except his penis—and kept them together by wrapping him in bandages like a mummy. She then coupled with this penis-less zombie/mummy (yeah, don’t know how that worked) and gave birth to another god, Horus. Not only could she resurrect the dead, but she could also transform into birds or animals.

Fast-forward a few millennia to September 6, 1975, when producers at Filmation introduced a brand new female superhero for the second half of the live-action Shazam!/Isis Hour as part of CBS’s Saturday morning line-up (it was only during syndication that her show was renamed The Secrets of Isis). Her debut made her the first female live-action television superhero preceding The Bionic Woman by four months and Wonder Woman by seven. The show featured a high school teacher who found an amulet during an archeological dig that gave her the powers of the legendary god. It lasted two seasons and 22 episodes with a few cross-overs to fight alongside Captain Marvel in Shazam!. She appeared in comics for the first time in Shazam! #25 (Sept-Oct 1976) and garnered her own series shortly after. But she was not as popular as hoped, and aside from a few appearances in animated programs, Isis disappeared from all forms of media by the early 1980s.

Isis was reintroduced in 2006 as part of DC’s massive reboot, 52. This time she was an Egyptian slave delivered to the anti-superhero Black Adam, the despotic ruler of Kahndaq, a fictional country situated on the Sinai Peninsula. After they married and Isis softened Black Adam’s temper, she was killed in a battle, the first of many times she would take a dirt nap, then be resurrected. She has also appeared in a 2010 episode of Smallville, on Legends of Tomorrow in 2016, and is expected to appear in the movie The Black Adam, scheduled to be released in 2022.^[8]

3 Luis (Marvel: Ant-Man titles)

The MCU has been responsible for creating a number of supporting characters for their movies and television shows, with Phil Coulson only one of them. There’s astrophysicist Dr. Erik Selvig, a character played by Stellan Skarsgard and introduced in Thor (2011). He went on to play a pivotal role in The Avengers (2012) and appeared in Thor: The Dark World (2013) and Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015). His intern Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings), was also created for Thor and appeared in Dark World and the series WandaVision (2021). There’s also the precocious kid, Harley Keener (Ty Simpkins), in Ironman 3 (2013) and Senator Stern (Gary Shandling) in Ironman 2 (2010) and Captain America: Winter Soldier (2014). Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. introduced several characters such as Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen), Raina (Ruth Negga), and Gideon Malick (Powers Boothe). But one supporting character has fans clamoring for more of him: Luis from Ant-Man (2015).

Luis, unfortunately, has not been given a last name, but Michael Peña’s portrayal with his infectious smile and his running gag where he tells a long, convoluted story to convey a simple premise has made the character unforgettable. His popularity was such that Luis has already appeared in some Ant-Man titles beginning with Astonishing Ant-Man #1 in 2015. There’s been speculation that Luis might be given a superhero role in the coming Ant-Man 3, something Peña has been campaigning for since Ant-Man 2. ^[9]

2 X-23 (Marvel: X-Men titles)

Writer Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost created X-23 in 2003 for the animated series X-Men: Evolution. Billed as a more youthful Wolverine, Laura Howlett is Wolverine’s clone developed by HYDRA to be the perfect assassin. But the DNA sample they collected from Wolverine was damaged, and genetic variations—including the sex of the clone—were administered. HYDRA isolated and abused Laura to repress her emotions and deprive her of morals, trained her in killing techniques, and like Wolverine, strengthened her claws—two in each hand and one in each foot—with indestructible adamantium. Premiering in an August 2003 episode, she became so popular that by December of that same year, X-23 made her debut in comics, NYX #3.

Since then, X-23 has appeared in well over 2,000 issues of X-Men titles, becoming Wolverine’s daughter figure, fighting alongside him and eventually replacing him. Her popularity was such that it was inevitable she would find herself on the big screen. It happened in 2017 in Hugh Jackman’s final film as Wolverine, Logan. An X-23 solo film has been planned, but with Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox, returning X-Men and Fantastic Four to Marvel Studios, the plans are still uncertain.^[10]

1 Harley Quinn (DC: Batman titles)

Arguably among the most popular female comic book characters of all time, Harley Quinn certainly does not fit the typical mold of a comic book character, hero or villain. She’s existed less than 30 years, yet her character has more depth than characters who’ve existed twice that. She is, after all, insane, a murderess, and is gleefully—and I do mean gleefully—unscrupulous. She makes interesting choices in lovers: on the one hand, the homicidal eco-terrorist Poison Ivy (yes, her writers acknowledge that Harley and Ivy have more than a friendship); on the other hand, the psychotic mass murderer Joker who relishes abusing her. And, like the Joker (and, for that matter, their nemesis Batman), she has no real superpowers (at least most of the time, she doesn’t). Except maybe that she is joyfully unpredictable, making her—in a word—fun.

No one is more shocked at Harley’s popularity than the people who pieced her together. That began way back in 1987 when the actress Arleen Sorkin was playing the recurring character Calliope Jones on the soap opera Days of Our Lives. Calliope was a loud, flighty woman with a “Noo-Yawk” accent, and Sorkin was always coming up with ideas to make her character fresh. After attending a screening of the comedy Princess Bride, Sorkin went to the Days of Our Lives showrunners to ask if they could have a bedtime story dream sequence with kings and queens in medieval clothes. They agreed and dressed Calliope as a court jester and had her roller skate into court to cheer up the royals with lame jokes and a quarter moon imprinted on the back of her underwear.

Fast-forward to 1991, when writer Paul Dini was a freelance writer working on scripts for Batman: The Animated Series set to air on Fox Kids. Dini and Sorkin had been college friends, and Sorkin had sent Dini a VHS tape of her favorite Days of Our Lives bits, including the court jester scene. Dini was working on a script that featured the Joker and wanted an interesting character to play one of the villain’s henchmen. Dini remembered that in the 1960s’ live-action Batman, the Joker, Penguin, and Riddler all had henchwomen and thought it might be the direction he wanted to go. Sick and at home one day, Dini popped Sorkin’s tape in his player, and when he came upon the court jester scene, he began to make connections. The Joker was inspired by playing cards, as were the male and female versions of the Harlequin. It seemed a natural combination, and Harleen Quinzel—Harley Quinn—was born.

Bruce Timm gave Harley her look. Harley was supposed to be a one-off character appearing in just one episode—“Joker’s Favor”—but Timm threw himself into researching harlequin costumes and developed the black and red outfit with ruffles, the two-pointed Jack-in-the-Box cap with pompoms at the tips of the two tails. Sorkin was asked to voice Harley, and she used a combination of Calliope and Ellen Green’s depiction of Audrey in the musical The Little Shop of Horrors to form the voice and personality. To get the right pitch and accent, she practiced singing “Adelaide’s Lament” from the musical Guys and Dolls. When Dini saw the animation paired with Sorkin’s voice, he knew they had something special, especially when Mark Hamill agreed to voice the Joker. The dynamic between Hamill’s and Sorkin’s characters convinced the writers to bring Harley back for more episodes.

Harley made her comic book debut the next year in The Batman Adventures #12, a comic in DC’s Animated Universe. As her popularity grew, she was brought over to the mainstream DC universe and written as a much darker, more tragic character. She became darker still when she joined the Suicide Squad, and it was as a member of that team that she finally hit the live-action big screen in Suicide Squad (2016), subsequently appearing in Birds of Prey (2020) and Suicide Squad 2 (2021).^[11]