Radioactive Man (character)

Radioactive Man, within the world of The Simpsons, is a comic book superhero who acquired his powers after surviving an atomic bomb explosion. His sidekick is Fallout Boy, and his catchphrase is "Up and atom!"

Fictional Publication History

Within the Simpsons universe, Radioactive Man has been portrayed in many media since his debut in "Radioactive Man" #1 in 1952. In addition to comic books, he was featured in at least one 1940s or 1950s era black-and-white serial, sponsored by Laramie Cigarettes. The serials featured fictional actor Dirk Richter -- a parody of Adam West and George Reeves -- as Radioactive Man, and Buddy Hodges played Fallout Boy. Richter, reportedly born in 1922 (he was said to be 73 years old (and dead) in 1995), was apparently shot to death in a bordello sometime in the 1960s (a reference to the mysterious death of George Reeves, the first actor to portray Superman on television). Sometime in the 80s Troy McClure portrayed Radioactive Man in a Radioactive Man movie trilogy. Radioactive Man III featured Krusty the Clown as the presumably main villain Krusto the Evil Clown (a parody of the Joker) and featured Buddy Hodges as Fallout Boy's great grandfather. The trilogy consisted of:

• "Radioactive Man"
• "Radioactive Man II: Bring On The Sequel"
• "Radioactive Man III: Oh God, Not Again"

In 1995, a Hollywood studio attempted to film a Radioactive Man movie in Springfield. The movie starred Rainier Wolfcastle as Radioactive Man. The role of Fallout Boy was cast from local children. Bart Simpson, a huge Radioactive Man fan, tried out for the part, but it went to his pal, Milhouse Van Houten due to Bart being an inch too short. The origin of Fallout Boy was changed for the movie: Rod Runtledge acquires superpowers after getting run over by an x-ray truck and blasted in the face by the x-ray machine it was transporting. Still trapped under the truck, he meets Radioactive Man when the superhero arrives on the scene to lift it off him. Krusty the Clown was cast as villains Dr. Clownius and Silly Sailor. Wolfcastle is incapable of saying the "Up and Atom!" catchphrase correctly; it always comes out as "Up and at them," rendered as "Up and at zem," on account of Wolfcastle's German accent. The movie was never completed due to budget overruns caused by constant price-gouging by Springfield vendors, and Milhouse snapping from the pressure of the role, and refusing to continue to portray Fallout Boy - former child actor Mickey Rooney attempted to take over the role, with predictably miserable results. The unfinished project was presumably shelved. There was also a campy early 1970s TV series suspiciously resembling the Batman TV series, and boasted the appearance of an extremely flamboyant supervillain called "The Scoutmaster", who resembled Paul Lynde.

A knock-off of Radioactive Man exists. This comic book character is known as "Radiation Dude". Instead of using Radioactive Man's clever catchphrase "up and atom!" he just says "up and let's go."

The Bongo Comic

Radioactive Man has escaped from the fictional world of Bart Simpson to appear in a real comic book intermittently published by Bongo Comics, which has also published, since 1994, a number of comics featuring Bart Simpson, the Simpson family, and other characters from the television show.

Issue #1 of the Bongo comic differs from RM #1 as seen in Simpsons episode "Three Men and a Comic Book". While featuring a similar scenario and accident (Claude getting his trousers caught on barbed wire just before a mega-bomb explodes), the Bongo series' Claude was not wearing tattered clothes. In the books, Claude's survival is due in part to a large thunderbolt shaped chunk of metal being attached to his head. Throughout the book series the shard of metal was always attempted to be removed, but each attempt has nasty consequences which results in it being put back in his scalp again.

Maintaining the satirical standards of the television show, these comics often parody genre comic books, and the reader can follow the evolution of Radioactive Man from a 1950s irradiated hero through the politically reactionary or radical years of the 1960s and 1970s, and the dark, troubled years of the 1980s and 1990s comic book hero. Indeed, one comic displays a startling similarity to Alan Moore's Watchmen, with Radioactive Man taking the part of state-supported hero Doctor Manhattan. The comics are published as if they were the actual Simpsons universe's Radioactive Man comics; a "1970s"-published comic features a letter written by a ten-year-old Marge Bouvier, for instance.

Within the Bongo Comics, Radioactive Man is secretly Claude Kane III, a millionaire playboy whose personality was well-intentioned, but bumbling and not overly bright. In addition (which became a recurring storyline element), Claude's personality was permanently stuck in a conservative 1950s outlook on everything, no matter what the time era in question was. A running gag is that in order to preserve his secret identity, Claude is constantly wearing various types of hats, in order to conceal the lightning bolt-shaped shrapnel sticking out of his head.

Powers and abilities

Throughout most of the Simpsons TV series, very few references to Radioactive Man's actual super powers have been made. As a result, the extent of his powers are not known. It can be inferred that Radioactive Man has some level of superhuman strength and invulnerability. In one Simpson episode, Bart shows Lisa a comic where Radioactive Man is seen throwing a villain into the sun and quipping, 'Hot enough for you?'. In the planned Radioactive Man movie, a stunt was filmed in which he easily lifts a car off Fallout Boy. The Bongo comics expanded on his powers, giving him several which parodied those of Superman including super speed, flight, and the power to fire beams of "clean, nuclear heat" from his eyes. He is also bulletproof, but unfortunately for him he still feels pain from the bullets impacting on him (something he tries to hide behind a stoic face while cursing inwardly).

Appearances on The Simpsons

The Radioactive Man character has appeared numerous times over the course of the series. Some notable appearances include.

• "Three Men and a Comic Book" - First appearance. Bart, Millhouse and Martin collaborate and buy a mint Radioactive Man Issue #1, with bad results...
• "Radioactive Man" - Two Hollywood directors try to film a Radioactive Man movie in Springfield.
• "Treehouse of Horror III" - Millhouse dresses as Radioactive Man for Halloween.

Notes

There is a villain in Iron Man named Radioactive Man; he is unrelated to the Simpsons character.

Radioactive Man made an appearance in Bartman Meets Radioactive Man, a Nintendo Entertainment System video game.

Comic bibliography

See Radioactive Man (Bongo) for the real world releases and Radioactive Man (Comic) for in Simpsons universe.

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