Patrick O'Brian (New Earth)

A crook named Patrick "Eel" O'Brian was shot by a security guard and struck by a falling drum full of an unidentified acid, some of which entered Eel's wound. He was saved by a mysterious order of monks whose example cured his penchant for crime. The acid bath gave him the ability to change his shape. He wore dark glasses and a red and yellow costume as flexible as his body. Whatever shape he took, the colors remained the same, so there would be a red-and-yellow chandelier over a table full of plotting gangsters, or a red-and-yellow abstract painting hanging on the wall, but the villains never caught on until it was too late.

Plastic Man later acquired a sidekick called Woozy Winks, a doofus who was originally magically endowed with the power that nature itself would protect him from harm. That eventually was forgotten and Woozy became simply a dumb but loyal friend of Plastic Man.

Post-Crisis

See also: Post-Crisis

Eel O'Brian, abandoned by his criminal gang after being shot and exposed to the acid, wandered the streets as his new powers developed, frightening others and bringing the police and National Guard down on him as a dangerous monster. Eel was at first oblivous to the changes to his body, but after realizing that he was the monster everyone was going on about, he used his new abilities to escape his pursuers, but soon became so despondent over his new condition that he attempted suicide by jumping off a bridge.

Fortunately, he was interrupted by Woozy Winks, a former mental patient who was kicked out of an institution due to lack of funding (or as Woozy put it, "something called Reaganomics"), who desired nothing more than to return to the warm safety of a straitjacket and padded room. Eel and Woozy decided to work together and capitalize on Eel's new powers to make their fortunes (Eel wanting to get rich quick, Woozy just wanting his "old room" back), but couldn't decide whether there was more money in crime or crime-fighting, and resorted to flipping a coin to choose serving the law (though Woozy had his doubts early on). Eel, ending up with the name "Plastic Man" after a reporter misinterpreted his first choice, "Elastic Man", and Woozy set up a detective agency in New York City and had various misadventures.

The alteration that Plas was initially in the superhero business for the money has had an effect on his character development post-Crisis, notably in a JLA storyline by Mark Waid where he, along with other Justice League members, was separated into two people, his normal "civilian" identity and his superhero persona. While Plastic Man devolved from a person with a sense of humor into a constantly wisecracking and almost ineffectual idiot, the now "normal" Eel O'Brian struggled with the criminal tendencies he had suppressed as he had become comfortable with his role as a superhero, and wondered if he had actually changed for the better or if it had all been part of the super-hero "act". Ultimately, Eel was the driving force behind the other transformed Leaguers banding together to re-join with their superheroic selves.

One Year Later

See also: One Year Later

A young man with similar appearance and powers as Plastic Man emerged ^[1], indicating he was a member of the Titans during the one-year jump. He wears a white costume with red goggles. ^[2]

Plastic Man is seduced by Eclipso, being made to believe he is a joke among his fellow heroes, and the only way for him to get some respect is through Eclipso.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Malleable Physiology: Plastic Man's powers are derived from an accident in which his body was bathed in an unknown industrial chemical mixture that also entered into his bloodstream through a gunshot wound. This caused a body-wide mutagenic process that transformed his physiology. Eel exists in a fluid state, neither entirely liquid or solid. Plastic Man has complete control over his entire molecular structure.

Shape-Shifting, Malleability, Plasticity, Elongation: He can contort his body into various positions and sizes impossible for ordinary humans, such as being entirely flat so that he can slip under a door or using his fingers to pick conventional locks. He can also use it for disguise by changing the shape of his face and body. He can stretch his limbs and body to superhuman lengths and sizes. These stretching powers grant Plastic Man heightened agility enabling him flexibility and coordination that is extraordinarily beyond the natural limits of the human body. In addition, he can alter his bodily mass and physical constitution at will, there is virtually no limit to the sizes and shapes he can contort himself into. There is no known limit to how far he can stretch his body. The only limitation he has relates to color, which he cannot change without intense concentration. He can shrink himself down to a few inches tall (posed as one of Batman's utility belt pockets) or become a titan.

Invulnerability: Plastic Man's powers extraordinarily augment his durability. He is able to withstand corrosives, punctures and concussions without sustaining any injury (although he can be momentarily stunned). He is resistant to high velocity impacts that would kill an ordinary person, resistant to blasts from energy weapons, and is completely bullet proof. His bodily mass can be dispersed, but for all intents and purposes it is invulnerable.

Regeneration: He is able to regenerate and/or assimilate lost or damaged tissue, though it does take a long time, its far faster than an ordinary human.

Telepathic Immunity: He is immune to the effects of telepathic power (mostly immune to mind control. In the past, he has been observed having been vulnerable to mind scans and mind wipes. Also he is able to use J'onn's telepathic link when he was with the JLA.)

Immortality: Plastic Man does not appear to age; if he does, it is at a rate far slower than that of normal human beings. In the aftermath of the JLA story Arc "Obsidian Age", Plastic Man was discovered to have survived for 3000 years as little more than crumbs on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. He is now over 3000 years old and is still active as a superhero.

Ultrasonic Detection: His body will start to "ripple" when an ultrasonic frequency is triggered.

Abilities

Skilled Thief: Plastic Man was once a very talented professional thief. Although no longer a criminal, he has insight into their mindset, enabling him to be an effective sleuth. He is also a lateral thinker and much smarter than he lets on.

Weaknesses

Extreme Temperatures: His semi-liquid form remains stable at relatively high and low temperatures...provided that the temperature change is gradual. A sudden change, induces a complete change of phase, creating a truly solid or truly liquid form. Plastic Man was incapacitated in the JLA story arc, "Tower of Babel", when mercenaries froze and shattered his body. Once thawed and reassembled, he was physically unharmed (though emotionally traumatized). In the JLA story arc "Divided We Fall", Plastic Man is shown to have some weakness to extreme heat (intense heat vision attack from a martian) and was temporarily melted.

Paraphernalia

Equipment: None known.
Transportation: None known.
Weapons: None known.

Notes

There were at least three different Plastic Men portrayed in his various appearances during this time period. Originally, the Plastic Man series in the 1960's tied in the son of the original as interacting with the Inferior Five, later identified as residing on Earth-Twelve ^[3] this version of Plastic Man with his son actually resided on Earth-Two as DC later acknowledged that all golden age adventures of Plastic Man had occured on that Earth, including some post-War tales which could not have taken place on Earth-X, and Earth-Twelve hosted various cameo versions of Earth-One characters). A subsequent version appearing with Batman in Brave and the Bold and Justice League of America was identified as residing on Earth-One. Afterwards, the Quality Comics version was specified as being a member of the All-Star Squadron and Freedom Fighters, originally of Earth-Two and later moving to Earth-X. This version died during an extended period of World War II while on the latter world.

Trivia

Plastic Man was featured in his own short-lived animated series in 1979 called The Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show where he was voiced by actor Michael Bell. In the cartoon, Plastic Man worked for a government agency assigned to tracking down and defeating bizarre criminal organizations. He was partnered with a fellow agent named Penny and had a plucky sidekick named Hula Hula. Often referred to simply as "Plas", Penny and he were eventually married and had a son named Baby Plas. Like his father, Baby Plas had the same ability to stretch and reform his physical features and even wore his own pair of baby-goggles. ^[4]

Plastic Man is almost never seen without his trademark goggles on. One of the few exceptions was during the "Id" storyline in the pages of JLA when the members of the JLA were separated into two distinctive identities: their super-hero guise, and their civilian guise. In this story-arc, Eel O'Brian reverted to his old criminal tendencies and viciously beat up a meek and timid Bruce Wayne.

Links and References

Footnotes

↑ Teen Titans Vol. 3, #34
↑ similar to that of Offspring, Plastic Man's son in the earlier DC miniseries The Kingdom. No mention has been made whether the new character is Plastic Man's son Luke in the comics, but in Geoff Johns's script for the issue, it is revealed that he is indeed Luke as Offspring. He was not mentioned by Robin as being a member of the current roster.
↑ Mike's Amazing DC
↑ Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show at the Internet Movie Database (IMDB)

[0] Teen Titans Vol. 3, #34

[1] similar to that of Offspring, Plastic Man's son in the earlier DC miniseries The Kingdom. No mention has been made whether the new character is Plastic Man's son Luke in the comics, but in Geoff Johns's script for the issue, it is revealed that he is indeed Luke as Offspring. He was not mentioned by Robin as being a member of the current roster.

[2] Mike's Amazing DC

[3] Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show at the Internet Movie Database (IMDB)

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[3]

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Patrick O'Brian (New Earth)

From DC Database

Contents

History

Pre-Crisis