If superheroes are great on their own, then mashing up two different superheroes to create
a weird new character should be even better, right?
Well, that’s not always the case.
The long history of Marvel Comics creating “mashup” characters has produced some
classics, but we’ve seen plenty of bad ones, too.
Best: Weapon H
The Incredible Hulk and Wolverine circled each other for years in a long, bloody rivalry,
with Wolverine’s unbreakable bones and adamantium claws matched up against Hulk’s indomitable
strength, with both sporting healing factors that render them nearly impossible to kill.
Put all of that together and you get Marvel's ultimate weapon.
Weapon H was the product of the infamous Weapon X program, responsible for the creation of
Wolverine and Deadpool, among others.
This time, they stole DNA from the Totally Awesome Hulk and Old Man Logan, to create
an utterly unbeatable weapon, and they succeeded.
The idea of a "Hulkverine" might sound like an unimaginative marketing ploy, but Weapon
H was at the center of a compelling, action-packed, and suspenseful story.
Unsurprisingly for anyone who read “Weapons of Mutant Destruction,” Marvel greenlit
the ongoing monthly Weapon H not long after the event's conclusion.
Worst: Captain Punisher
Civil War changed the Marvel Universe drastically, and one of its darkest moments brought the
assassination of Captain America.
In the aftermath, the Punisher decided he would take the job.
In Punisher War Journal #7, while investigating a violent white supremacist group, Frank Castle
donned a new red, white, blue, and black costume that combined Cap’s look and his own signature
skulls.
Castle's apparent admiration for the late Captain didn't inspire Punisher to change
his methods, though, and he wasn’t nearly as successful in the role as Steve Rogers.
Captain Punisher only lasted four issues, and never felt like it was meant to last much
longer.
If his ill-fated adventure hadn’t been enough of a sign that he should hang up the stars
and stripes, a confrontation with Bucky Barnes, who actually would become the new Captain
America, was enough to make Frank decide that being a Star-Spangled Avenger just wasn’t
for him.
Best: Storm, Goddess of Thunder
During a time when Storm of the X-Men had lost all of her weather-controlling powers,
she found herself in Asgard, where Loki tempted her with a gift of what seemed to be the power
of Thor.
When the New Mutants and X-Men arrived, Loki's magic clouded her senses, making her see them
all as villains.
At the story's climax, Loki unveiled a hammer called Stormcaster that he'd crafted for Storm,
which allowed her to nearly kill Wolverine with its magic, and even give the death goddess
Hela a run for her money.
Eventually, Storm was able to see through the illusions, relinquishing the thundering
power rather than keeping it and becoming Loki’s pawn.
That wasn’t the last appearance of this version of Storm, though.
Recent issues revealed a glimpse of Storm in the future, once again becoming an Asgardian
goddess of thunder.
Worst: WendiHulk
When Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness took over the Hulk's title in 2008, they kicked things
off by giving the world one popular alternate version of the green goliath: the Red Hulk.
Eight issues later, readers got a brief look at a version of Bruce Banner who was nowhere
near as compelling: the WendiHulk.
Finding himself in a tussle with not just one Wendigo, but a whole army of them, the
green Hulk was transformed into a giant, green, clawed, fanged, and furry monster who did
little more than look gnarly and yell "WENDIHULK!" a lot.
Brother Voodoo appeared out of nowhere (literally), cured him, and that was that.
Best: Spider-Gwen
Gwen Stacy's tragic demise might be the most famous and long-standing deaths in superhero
comic history, but on another Earth, Gwen never died.
Instead, it was her, not Peter Parker, who received a fateful bite from a radioactive
spider and used the resulting powers to fight crime as Spider-Woman.
Spider-Gwen was introduced in Edge of Spider-Verse, and she was an immediate hit with readers,
emerging from the event with her own monthly title.
She's since become a fixture at Marvel, appearing in cartoons and video games, and she's one
of the characters set to appear in the upcoming Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse movie.
She’s more than just a cool spinoff with a killer costume design, though.
The death of the main continuity’s Gwen Stacy in 1973 is generally seen as one of
the more important moments in superhero comics, but it also made her one of the earliest female
comic book characters to be killed just to further a male protagonist's plotline.
That Spider-Gwen became a breakout character shows that superheroes are moving in the right
direction, without removing the tragedy of the original story.
Worst: The Teenage Hulk
In the late '70s, Marvel started publishing What If, giving readers alternate versions
of classic stories.
In its 12th issue, we got the story of what would happen if Bruce Banner didn't get caught
in a gamma blast while trying to save a teenager named Rick Jones.
Instead, it was Rick himself who got belted with gamma rays.
The teenage Hulk of What If #12 was hilarious.
Like the original Rick Jones, he spouted dialogue that definitely feels like it was written
by adults who were trying, and failing, to reproduce the cool slang of the youth.
He called Bruce Banner a square, grunted that the soldiers hunting him down armed with “shivs”
and “heaters” were “uncool," before deciding to "split" or "cut out."
When he agreed to join the Avengers, it was because, "Hulk digs it!"
When he battled Annihilus in the Negative Zone, he urged the villain, "Don't jive Hulk!"
The Rick Jones of the regular Marvel Universe would actually become the Hulk for a short
period, but never enjoyed this kind of wonderful dialogue.
Best: Franken-Castle
There are a lot of Marvel mashups that were created in the pages of What If or other weird
timelines, so if you saw the words “Franken-Castle” and thought it was the product of an alternate
reality, that’s understandable.
The truth, however, is that this one is 100% canon.
After helping to thwart an alien invasion by shooting the Skrull Queen, Norman Osborn,
better known to Spider-Man fans as the Green Goblin, was named the head of Homeland Security.
This did not sit well with the Punisher, but his attempt at assassinating Osborn didn’t
go as planned.
Instead, on Osborn’s orders the Punisher himself was killed by Wolverine’s son Daken,
who literally chopped Frank into pieces and threw him in the sewer.
The thing is, Frank didn’t die.
Instead, the Punisher awoke to find himself pieced together by the vampire Morbius, who
recruited him to protect an underground city of monsters.
With his corpse stitched up and reanimated by a mystical artifact called the Bloodstone,
he was rechristened as “Franken-Castle,” and stayed that way for an entire year.
Eventually, the Bloodstone’s magic regenerated his human body, but it remains the Punisher’s
most bizarre adventure ever, even weirder than the time he was a ghost who killed angels
with magic guns.
Worst: Piecemeal
Superheroes aren't the only ones who get mashed up; but in the case of Piecemeal, maybe it
would've been better if they were.
Shortly after its explosive 400th issue, Incredible Hulk teased its readers by revealing small
glimpses of a new and seemingly unstoppable villain.
Finally, Piecemeal struck in Incredible Hulk #407, and didn’t quite live up to the hype.
Piecemeal had the power to absorb and reproduce the abilities and appearance of super-powered
people, and in his first appearance, he looked to have the cybernetic arms of Silvermane,
the clawed hands of Sabretooth, the face of the Red Skull, the chest piece of Attuma,
and the facial hair of…
Abraham Lincoln maybe?
Even with the mighty beard of our 16th President, Piecemeal failed to be much of a threat to
the Hulk.
After months of buildup, he was speared through the torso and tossed into Loch Ness, which
was the last anyone ever saw of him.
Best: Cosmic Ghost Rider
Most mashup characters stop after combining two heroes, but Thanos #13 introduced the
world to Cosmic Ghost Rider, a full-on combo meal of the Punisher, Ghost Rider, Silver
Surfer, and maybe even Deadpool.
After the last of Earth's superheroes fell at Thanos' hands, a dying Frank Castle, aka
The Punisher, made a deal with the demonic Mephisto.
Marvel’s devilish villain cursed him with the power of the Ghost Rider, a demonic force
tasked with punishing the guilty.
With no one left on Earth, though, Castle went insane, and when Galactus journeyed to
Earth, looking for allies against Thanos, this new Ghost Rider offered to become his
new herald, gaining the cosmic power of the Silver Surfer.
Of course, Thanos eventually killed Galactus, but he and Cosmic Ghost Rider found themselves
unable to kill each other, and eventually teamed up as Marvel’s oddest possible version
of the odd couple.
Worst: D-Man
D-Man, aka Demolition Man, isn't really a Marvel mash-up.
He’s just a guy with a really bad costume.
Dennis Dunphy was introduced as a wrestler who was part of the Unlimited Class Wrestling
Federation, a wrestling organization for people with superhuman physical attributes.
He was a star in the ring with the enhanced strength he received by using an addictive
drug peddled by the Power Broker.
Eventually, Dunphy left the UCWF to help Captain America take the Broker down, and designed
the costume he's most known for: a mask made to look like Wolverine's, and the rest of
the outfit based on Daredevil's original red-and-yellow suit.
D-Man has since become little more than a joke in Marvel Comics, a character so minor
and so unloved he regularly goes through traumatic changes, including dying, only to show up
the next time without anyone explaining how he got better.