Changes: Stupendous Man

Latest revision as of 19:32, 17 June 2023

Stupendous Man is a recurring character in Calvin and Hobbes. He is one of Calvin's many alter egos and an attempted superhero by Calvin. Calvin puts on a red mask and cape which his mom made him, and pretends that other people (mostly those who give him trouble) are villains or monsters. When Stupendous Man's antics get him in trouble, he takes off the costume, and reverts to "mild-mannered millionaire playboy Calvin" (a mashup of Bruce Wayne, the secret identity of Batman, and Clark Kent, the secret identity of Superman).

Stupendous Man is Calvin's second most frequent alter ego, although Calvin admits Stupendous Man has only won "moral victories", not physical ones. Stupendous Man is Calvin's most powerful alter ego, achieving such feats as flying a telescope lens into the atmosphere and turning time back a day. However, he uses these vast powers for mundane ends, either against supervillains (such as his Mom or his teacher) that Stupendous Man cannot defeat or on ultimately futile plans such as getting mild-mannered Calvin another day out of school.

Stupendous Chant[]

S for Stupendous!

T for Tiger, ferocity of!

U for Underwear, red!

P for Power, incredible!

E for Execellent physique!

N for ...um... something ...hmm, well I'll come back to that...

D for Determination!

U for... for... wait, how do you spell this? Is it "I"?

First Costume[]

On October 30, 1987, Stupendous Man made his debut appearance, albeit in a dramatically different costume than his famous crimson look. This costume was more minimal, apparently including only a simple domino mask and cape. Stupendous Man's first costume only appeared in three panels of the same strip, then vanished forever. Watterson of course, elaborated on it. It was the strip where Calvin was mulling over going down on the slide. Through Calvin's own eyes, it was off a high-rise skyscraper Metropolitan building.

While Stupendous Man's second costume drew from an eclectic range of pre-existing superheroes, this first costume was clearly based off of the costume of the DC Comics superhero and Batman sidekick Robin. In addition to both the domino mask and cape, Stupendous Man's first appearance borrowed much from the status quo of the Batman line of comics, notably the internal monologue (although Stupendous Man's was in the third person, as opposed to the comic book contemporaries first-person tense) and the glaring down on the city streets from above a conveniently placed skyscraper.

The only power Stupendous Man demonstrated in this costume was "ultra-sonic hearing," and this was matched by an apparent fear of heights.

The next appearance of Stupendous Man began with Calvin announcing that Calvin's mother had made him a superhero costume, suggesting that this strip may be apocryphal to the Stupendous Man canon. In the epilogue to the final story, Calvin's mom threatens to take the Stupendous Man costume away for good.

Current Costume[]

StupandHobbes — Stupendous Man's vigilant watch, as seen in 1988.

Stupendous Man's debut in his current form occurred on November 2, 1988, when Calvin's Mom made him a superhero costume consisting of a cape and cowl. Although the first two comic strips in this costume clearly show this as the entirety of the costume in real life, it was the third strip (and Stupendous Man's first Sunday appearance) that fully defined the familiar costume of Stupendous Man: yellow boots and gloves and a gold belt, augmented by the crimson cape and cowl and a red spandex jumpsuit, which only appears in Calvin's imagination.

Unlike his first incarnation, this Stupendous Man was clearly self-motivated, seeking only to fulfill Calvin's best interests, which usually meant circumventing Calvin's homework. This leads Calvin into conflict with all major females in his life, doing battle with Crab Teacher, Annoying Girl, Mom-Lady, and Baby Sitter Girl at various points. Invariably, Stupendous Man is defeated, although he did achieve a pyrrhic victory against Susie.

In Stupendous Man's final appearance, however, Calvin bemoans the loss of heroes in today's society, then dons the Stupendous Man costume (implying that it wasn't taken for good), declaring that, "as usual, the hero business is up to me."

DownloadedFile — Stupendous Man's colorful "intro".

Epithets[]

Crimson Bolt
Mysterious Masked Man
Champion of Liberty
Defender of Free Will
Defender of Freedom
Advocate of Liberty
Friend of Freedom
Opponent of Oppression
Lover of Liberty
The Amazing Marvel
Foe of Tyranny
The Masked Man of Mega-Might
The Whirlwind Wonder
Champion of Liberty and Justice

Known Powers[]

Stupendous Man has an abundance of known powers:

Ultra-sonic hearing
Stomach of steel
Flight
Augmented speed and strength
High-speed vision
Stupendous powers of reasoning
Stupendous powers of concentration
Stupendous muscles of magnitude

Foes[]

Trivia[]

There are two other strips that ran Calvin as a superhero, but it is unknown if this is Stupendous Man.
Before Stupendous Man, a strip depicted Calvin turning into one of his comic book heroes, Captain Napalm.
Calvin tries his best to keep his identity secret to everyone else (except for Hobbes), though everyone can tell it's him.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{Alter ego
+|image = Stupendous.jpg
-|title1=
+|alter_ego_of = [[Calvin]]
-|image1=Stupendous.jpg
+|first = October 30, 1987
-|caption1=
+|last = August 31, 1995
-|alter_ego_of=Calvin
+}}'''Stupendous Man''' is a recurring character in [[Calvin and Hobbes]]. He is one of [[Calvin]]'s many [[:Category:Alter egos of Calvin|alter egos]] and an attempted superhero by [[Calvin]]. [[Calvin]] puts on a red mask and cape which his [[Calvin's mother|mom]] made him, and pretends that other people (mostly those who give him trouble) are villains or monsters. When Stupendous Man's antics get him in trouble, he takes off the costume, and reverts to "mild-mannered millionaire playboy Calvin" (a mashup of Bruce Wayne, the secret identity of Batman, and Clark Kent, the secret identity of Superman).
-|first_appearance=October 30, 1987
-|last_appearance=August 31, 1995
-}}
-'''Stupendous Man''' is one of [[Calvin]]'s many [[:Category:Alter egos of Calvin|alter egos]] and an attempted superhero by Calvin. Calvin puts on a red mask and cape wich his mom made him, and pretends that other people (mostly the women in his life that he hates) are villains or monsters. When things begin to tilt away from his favor, he takes off the costume, and becomes "mild-mannered millionaire playboy Calvin" (a reference to Bruce Wayne, the secret identity of Batman) once more.
-Stupendous Man is Calvin's second most-frequently employed alter ego, even though, according to Calvin, Stupendous Man has only won "moral victories" and not physical ones. He usually gets in trouble. [http://www.geocities.com/mbarton3/ch_stup_93.html] Stupendous Man is also Calvin's most powerful alter ego, achieving such feats as flying a telescope lens into the atmosphere and turning time back a day. However, these powers are largely wasted, either on supervillains Stupendous Man cannot defeat or on ultimately futile plans, such as getting mild-mannered Calvin another day out of school. During one comic, Calvin made a chant for Stupendous Man, however, it appears he cannot spell "Stupendous":
+Stupendous Man is Calvin's second most frequent alter ego, although [[Calvin]] admits Stupendous Man has only won "moral victories", not physical ones. Stupendous Man is Calvin's most powerful alter ego, achieving such feats as flying a telescope lens into the atmosphere and turning time back a day. However, he uses these vast powers for mundane ends, either against supervillains (such as his [[Calvin's mother|Mom]] or his [[Miss Wormwood|teacher]]) that Stupendous Man cannot defeat or on ultimately futile plans such as getting mild-mannered [[Calvin]] another day out of [[Elementary School|school]].
+== Stupendous Chant ==
 ::'''S''' for Stupendous!
@@ Line 25: / Line 23: @@
 ::'''D''' for Determination!
-::'''U''' for ...for... wait, how do you spell this? Is it "I"?
+::'''U''' for... for... wait, how do you spell this? Is it "I"?
+== First Costume ==
-Calvin was unable to finish his chant, however, as Miss Wormwood stopped him.
-==First Costume==
 [[Image:FirstCostume.JPG|left|thumb|Stupendous Man's first costume, as seen in 1987.]]
-On October 30, 1987, Stupendous Man made his debut appearance, albeit in a dramatically different costume than his famous crimson look. This costume was minimalistic at best, apparently including only a simple domino mask and cape. Stupendous Man's first costume only appeared in three panels of the same strip, then vanished forever. Watterson of course, elaborated on it. It was the strip where Calvin was mulling over going down on the slide. Through Calvin's own eyes, it was off a high-rise skyscraper Metropolitan building.
+On October 30, 1987, Stupendous Man made his debut appearance, albeit in a dramatically different costume than his famous crimson look. This costume was more minimal, apparently including only a simple domino mask and cape. Stupendous Man's first costume only appeared in three panels of the same strip, then vanished forever. Watterson of course, elaborated on it. It was the strip where Calvin was mulling over going down on the slide. Through Calvin's own eyes, it was off a high-rise skyscraper Metropolitan building.
 While Stupendous Man's second costume drew from an eclectic range of pre-existing superheroes, this first costume was clearly based off of the costume of the DC Comics superhero and Batman sidekick Robin. In addition to both the domino mask and cape, Stupendous Man's first appearance borrowed much from the status quo of the Batman line of comics, notably the internal monologue (although Stupendous Man's was in the third person, as opposed to the comic book contemporaries first-person tense) and the glaring down on the city streets from above a conveniently placed skyscraper.
@@ Line 40: / Line 37: @@
 ==Current Costume==
 [[Image:StupandHobbes.JPG|right|thumb|Stupendous Man's vigilant watch, as seen in 1988.]]
-Stupendous Man's debut in his current form occurred on November 2, 1988, when Calvin's Mom made him a superhero costume consisting of a cape and cowl. Although the first two comic strips in this costume clearly show this as the entirety of the costume, it was the third strip (and Stupendous Man's first Sunday appearance) that fully defined the familiar costume of Stupendous Man: yellow boots and gloves and a gold belt, augmented by the crimson cape and cowl and a red spandex jumpsuit.
+Stupendous Man's debut in his current form occurred on November 2, 1988, when Calvin's Mom made him a superhero costume consisting of a cape and cowl. Although the first two comic strips in this costume clearly show this as the entirety of the costume in real life, it was the third strip (and Stupendous Man's first Sunday appearance) that fully defined the familiar costume of Stupendous Man: yellow boots and gloves and a gold belt, augmented by the crimson cape and cowl and a red spandex jumpsuit, which only appears in Calvin's imagination.
 Unlike his first incarnation, this Stupendous Man was clearly self-motivated, seeking only to fulfill Calvin's best interests, which usually meant circumventing Calvin's homework. This leads Calvin into conflict with all major females in his life, doing battle with [[Crab Teacher]], [[Annoying Girl]], [[Mom-Lady]], and [[Baby Sitter Girl]] at various points. Invariably, Stupendous Man is defeated, although he did achieve a pyrrhic victory against Susie.
@@ Line 63: / Line 60: @@
 ==Known Powers==
+Stupendous Man has an abundance of known powers: [[File:SteelStomach1.jpg|thumb|300px]]
 :*Ultra-sonic hearing
 :*Stomach of steel
@@ Line 77: / Line 74: @@
 * [[Mom-Lady]]
-* [[Susie Derkins|Annoying Girl]]
+* [[Annoying Girl]]
 * [[Crab Teacher]]
 * [[Baby Sitter Girl]]
 == Trivia ==
-* There is another strip that ran Calvin as a superhero, but it is unknown if this is Stupendous Man.[[File:Calvin-hobbes-superman.gif|thumb|220x220px]]
+[[File:Calvin-hobbes-superman.gif|thumb]]
+* There are two other strips that ran [[Calvin in Superhero Form|Calvin as a superhero]], but it is unknown if this is Stupendous Man.
+* Before Stupendous Man, a strip depicted Calvin turning into one of his comic book heroes, [[Captain Napalm (Alter ego)|Captain Napalm]].
+* Calvin tries his best to keep his identity secret to everyone else (except for Hobbes), though everyone can tell it's him.
 [[Category:Superhero alter egos]]
 [[Category:Stupendous Man universe]]
 [[Category:Alter egos of Calvin]]
-[[Category:Supporting characters]]
 [[Category:Alter egos]]
 [[Category:Superheroes]]
 [[Category:Calvin's imagination]]
 [[Category:Characters in Calvin's imagination]]
+[[Category:Recurring characters]]
+[[Category:Characters]]