The X-Men's Bishop Was Originally Filipino? 8 Incredible Stories About The Creation Of Popular Superheroes

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Comic book history is full of creative pivots that turned near-misses into comic book legends. The creation of popular superheroes is never a one-and-done creative endeavor; it can take years or decades for a popular character to fully take shape and be embraced by fans.

The creation of popular superheroes often hinges on last-minute editorial changes, cultural shifts, or sheer luck, and those changes shaped the icons we know today. For example, Frank Castle, The Punisher, made his debut in The Amazing Spider-Man #129 in 1974. He was a generic vigilante and hitman with no backstory; legend has it he was originally a one-off character.

However, Marvel kept bringing the character back, and it took years for the Punisher mythos to become what it is today. However, when it comes to the creation of popular superheroes, that isn't a big change. Some characters became radically different than their original creative beginnings.

Here are 10 comic book characters with outrageous creative origin stories.

1. Wolverine

Wolverine's earliest concept was downright bizarre. The character was going to be a literal mutated wolverine cub transformed into a humanoid by the High Evolutionary. That idea was scrapped. In Wolverine's first appearances in The Incredible Hulk #180 and #181 in 1974, he was just a man.

Wolverine was originally a Canadian mercenary, not a mutant. His claws were attachments on his gloves, and he did not have a tragic, amnesia-ridden backstory. Wolverine was originally going to be a one-off throwaway villain, never to be seen again. The creation of popular superheroes is a slow and creatively chaotic process; Wolverine's backstory, mythos, and origin would take decades to fully develop.

2. John Stewart

John Stewart made his debut in Green Lantern/ Green Arrow #87 in 1971 during the legendary“Hard Traveling Heroes” storyline. Instead of patrolling space, Hal Jordan and Green Arrow began traveling across America, tackling race politics, corruption, climate change, social injustice, and other issues.

Stewart was the first Black Green Lantern; however, DC editorial was going to give him a tacky and on-the-nose name. John Stewart's first name was going to be“Lincoln Washington,” a caricature that would've aged terribly. He was given the name John Stewart, and he was an architect; he was retconned into a marine much later.

3. Mr. Freeze

When it comes to the creation of popular superheroes, modern fans must appreciate that if not for the 1966 Batman TV series, we would not have Mr. Freeze.“Mr. Zero”was originally a jokey, non-serious supervillain with an ice-themed gimmick. He didn't have a name and made his debut during the Silver Age of comics in Batman #121 in 1959.

After exposure to experimental chemicals, he wore a containment suit to survive and was a generic campy villain. If not for the name change to Mr Freeze and the character appearing in Adam West's 1966 Batman show, we may have never seen the character again. After his TV reinvention, the character got the official name“Mr Freeze” in Detective Comics #373 in 1968.

The modern and tragic“Victor Fries” character that we know today made his debut on Batman: The Animated Series in 1992. Arnold Schwarzenegger was cast as Mr. Freeze in 1997's Batman and Robin.

If it were not for 1966's Batman TV show and the 1992 cartoon giving him a tragic backstory, Fries destroying his body trying to cryogenically freeze his terminally ill wife, Mr. Free might have been forgotten to history.

4. Sunspot

When it comes to the creation of popular superheroes, this is or isn't a problem depending on whom you ask. Sunspot is a Brazilian mutant with the ability to fly and absorb and redirect solar energy as powerful blasts. The character made his debut in The New Mutants graphic novel in 1982.

Roberto da Costa's original aesthetic depiction was as a dark-skinned Afro-Brazilian mutant to expose racism issues in Brazil. However, da Costa has slowly become a victim of“whitewashing” over decades. Sunspot is now routinely drawn as having an extremely light skin complexion, and sometimes appearing nearly white, in modern comics.

Artist Bob McLeod, the co-creator of the New Mutants, publicly criticized the whitewashing and lightening of Sunspot's skin color in the 2020 film New Mutants. Some modern artists do make an effort to draw da Costa as an Afro-Brazilian with a dark complexion. However, he is now usually drawn as a Brazilian with a light skin

5 Incredible Hulk

Legendary comic book creator Stan Lee saw the Hulk as gray by default. Lee saw gray as a neutral, eerie, and symbolic color for the unknown. The character made his debut in The Incredible Hulk #1 in 1962. The Hulk was gray in the first issue and would change into the Hulk at night; anger, personal trauma, and stress were not the triggers for Hulk transformations then, as they are now.

The printers and presses of the era couldn't keep the gray shade consistent, producing blotchy results. By issue #2, Lee made the Hulk green, and history was made. That color became iconic and instantly recognizable across generations.

Sometimes, the creation of popular superheroes owes more to ink chemistry, creative intent, and a bit of luck.

6. Nightcrawler's Father is Mystique?

The creation of popular superhero stories usually features a lot of near-misses and what-if scenarios. Kurt Wagner, also known as Nightcrawler, is a deeply devout Catholic and mutant with blue skin who looks like a demon. After Kurt's mother, the shapeshifting mutant Mystique, gave birth to Kurt, the local Bavarian townspeople began hunting them.

Mystique threw the baby down a waterfall, where his father, the demon Azazel, took the baby. (Depending on the continuity, Kurt's father was a German baron or Azazel.) Kurt was found by a traveling circus and later became an X-Man.

In the 2023 comic X-Men Blue Origins, Kurt Wagner's origin was completely rewritten to make Mystique his mother and father. Now, Mystique uses her shapeshifting powers to assume the form of a man and impregnate her female lover, the mutant Destiny.

This controversial retcon is still the topic of fervent fan debate today.

7. Nightcrawler Was Originally a DC Hero?

Nightcrawler was never supposed to be an X-Men. Artist Dave Cockrum originally was going to make Nightcrawler a member of the Outsiders, an offshoot of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Nightcrawler was pitched to DC as a Legion of Super-Heroes alien. Editors dismissed Nightcrawler as“too weird.” When Cockrum moved to Marvel, he made Nightcrawler a mutant.

8. Bishop

Bishop, the popular time-traveling X-Man who can absorb and redirect kinetic energy, made his debut in The Uncanny X-Men #282 in 1991. Whilce Portacio, a legendary Filipino artist, designed Bishop as a Filipino mutant inspired by billiards legend Efren“Bata” Reyes. But Marvel editorial requested that Portacio make Bishop a Black character to expand representation.

Portacio adjusted the design, making Bishop an Australian Aboriginal instead. While Portacio did not get his Filipino superhero in 1991, Marvel did introduce Wave, its first Filipino superhero, in 2019.

The Creation of Popular Superheroes

Every popular superhero's origin story is usually a tug-of-war between vision and circumstance. From printing errors to cultural corrections, these eight stories prove that the creation of popular superheroes is a rarely straightforward event. It's a dance between art, commerce, and timing; and sometimes, the universe itself intervenes with a bit of luck.

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