5. Radioactive Man
Radioactive Man is a fictional superhero in The Simpsons universe, and a parody of several superheroes combined. His character was caught in a nuclear explosion and thus he became Radioactive Man, with his alter ego being a lazy rich guy named Claude Kane III. The character and his comic series were a focus of an early episode where Bart, Milhouse and Martin buy the rare first issue of Radioactive Man but treat it like it is the holy grail and become increasingly paranoid about who owns it, to the point they start fighting and the comic is destroyed via divine means. Milhouse later gets the role as Radioactive Man’s sidekick Fallout Boy in the film adaptation of the character, with Rainier Wolfcastle as Radioactive Man. Unfortunately, Milhouse gets cold feet and abandons the film during the most expensive scene where a river of acid carries poor Wolfcastle away screaming his best line of the series: “The goggles do nothing!”. Also, the episode had Mickey Rooney in a cameo and revealed Moe was a member of the Little Rascals. The last two points have nothing to do with Radioactive Man, I just felt like mentioning them.
4. Darkwing Duck
“I am the terror that flaps in the night! I am the cloud that rains on your hit parade! I am Darkwing Duck!” – Darkwing Duck was one of Disney’s best cartoons during the 1990s. In what felt like a parody of Batman and The Shadow, Darkwing Duck featured Drake Mallard (a parody of the Shadow’s alter ego Kent Allard) who lives in St. Canard caring for his adoptive daughter Gosalyn. As Darkwing Duck, he flip-flops between being good at his job and hopeless, often making dramatic but effective entrances in a puff of smoke and accompanied by his catchphrase from above. He is joined by his trusty sidekick, pilot Launchpad McQuack, who you likely know from DuckTales. Darkwing can be a good superhero, but his huge ego often clouds his judgement, and the original reason he became a crimefighter was to get into the headlines. His greatest aspect is his courage and sense of justice and he is willing to take on any evildoers. As he says, “Let’s get dangerous!”
3. The Green Loontern
Duck Dodgers was first introduced in the classic Looney Tunes short of the same name, but Daffy Duck’s hilarious alter ego was so popular he got his own TV series. The episode in question is called “The Green Loontern”, an obvious parody of Green Lantern. Due to a mix-up at the dry cleaner’s, Duck Dodgers ends up with Hal Jordan’s costume and his Green Lantern Ring, becomes a Green Lantern, and is dragged into a battle against an army of robots sent by Sinestro. The episode features a lot of cameos from Green Lantern characters, and some performances by legendary voice actors, including Tara Strong, John DiMaggio, John De Lancie, and comic book god Kevin Smith cameoing as Hal Jordan to trade costumes with Dodgers.
