Why didn't Circe's powers work on Plastic Man?
That plot never made sense to me.
I get it, she makes him into a pig, but since he is used to transforming, he just transforms back to normal, as he's in control of his every molecule.
But couldn't she just CHANGE his molecules?
I get it, she makes him into a pig, but since he is used to transforming, he just transforms back to normal, as he's in control of his every molecule.
But couldn't she just CHANGE his molecules?
posted by Brian Cronin at 6:08 PM
3 Comments:
Before I even start, I realize this is completely geeky and nerdy but...
Magic, at least in the DCU, seems to work on a literal, word level. If her power is "turn men into animals," then that is what she does, and HOW she does it is both irrelevant and inexplicable ("it's Magic!).
Since her power is not "remove men's superpowers," Plastic Man retains his abilities (much as Wonder Woman retained her strength and magic braclets when she was turned into a pig in JLU) and just kept changing back.
On the Teen Titans cartoon, they has a similar moment when Mumbo Jumbo turned the Titans into animals, and Beast Boy kept changing back. So Mumbo turned him into a lamp.
I figured the spell did work and Plastic Man's base form is now a pig, but since he was turned into a pig made of plastic he retained his abilities. His power isn't an add-on; it's a basic part of his substance.
This reminds me of a related question I've had. Originally, the "plastic" in Plastic Man's name meant "malleable". (Plastic was named plastic because it is.) At what point did some writer forget that and decide that Plas was actually made of plastic?
Lessee...
Joe Kelly definitely subscribed to the notion that Plastic Man was non-biological. It was a major plot point in his "Trial By Fire" arc in JLA, where J'onn was unable to mentally control Eel. And before that, Joe had Plastic Man torn to pieces,, left on the ocean floor for a couple of millenia, and reassembled in the present.
Plas was always drawn very shiny in Grant Morrison's JLA. I can't recall any scenes that implied he was made of plastic, but he sure looked it.
Back about the same time (1998), Dan Jurgens had Doomsday tear Plastic Man in half in "The Doomsday Wars." And he tore like, well, plastic. That would've killed Ralph Dibny, but Plas survived.
That's the earliest I can think of.
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