Real Name:
Nick (probably); last name unrevealed
The Tick
Real Name:
Nick (probably); last name unrevealed
Identity/Class: Unrevealed
Occupation: Superhero, former superhero sidekick, caretaker for Omnipotus, newspaper crossword editor for World Weekly Planet, mental institute patient
Affiliations: Arthur (sidekick), Oedipus, Paul the Samurai, Man-Eating Cow, Mighty Agrippa, Madman, Invincible; formerly the Justly Compensated League
Enemies: Chairface Chippendale, Barry, Clark Oppenheimer, the Terror, Sagin, Chainsaw Vigilante
Known Relatives: Cloris (ex-wife), Dupli-Tick, Proto-Tick, Quasi-Tick, Primi-Tick (clones)
Aliases: Steve Hohenzollern, Horatio Hummelworth, Neville Need
Base of Operations: Arthur's apartment, The City; formerly Barry's mansion and underground headquarters, near NYC; formerly Evanston Clinic
First Appearance: New England Comics Newsletter #14 (New England Comics, July-August 1986)
Powers/Abilities: The Tick's nigh-invulnerability is his main power. He can withstand the voids of space, 1 billion volts of electricity for 5 minutes, seems impervious to bullets, mortar shells, hammers, farm equipment, tomahawks, clever insults, erosion, explosive decompression and severe poundings by genetically enhanced clowns. He is incredibly strong; no known limit has been established for his physical strength. He has lifted cars, toppled giant Ninja effigies, destroyed theme parks and hurled monoliths way up into the air. He has the amazing ability to leap across tall buildings in a single bound, usually crushing something when he lands.
His body is a weapon, a nigh-invulnerable shield against villainy. Not only is he one tough customer, he has also devised a set of maneuvers that he and Arthur use to fight crime. They only rarely work. The tights of justice are tingly and uncomfortable but it gets the job done and fits The Tick very well. His weak point are his antennae. They are very sensitive and are his sole source of balance. Without them he experiences severe bouts of vertigo.
History:
The origins of the world's dumbest superhero are shrouded in mystery. He
states he cannot remember his past before escaping from a Minnesota state
mental insitute, the Evanston Clinic, and making his way to The City, some
two hundred miles away. He sometimes claims to believe that he is in fact
a genuine tick, albeit a very large humanoid one, but since he lacks any
real resemblance to a blood-sucking arachnid (they are generally not large,
blue, and able to speak in complete sentances), most people discount this.
Wherever he sprang from, he soon began to establish himself as a superhero upon arriving in the city. With his naive innocence, becoming a true hero is his life's ambition; partly this is out of a desire to protect the weak and helpless, but mainly it's so he can play with the super-gadgets, the secret underground headquarters and everything else that makes up the standard super-hero lifestyle. To this end he procured a variety of super-gadgets; the Secret CrimeViewfinder, the Mighty Diner Straw, the Pez Dispenser of Graveness, his Hypnotic Secret Identity Tie, etc, most of which look and sound cool, but don't actually do much.
He also got himself a sidekick, Arthur, a former accountant clothed in a flying moth suit. The Tick takes his superheroing very seriously, reading Leotard Legends Monthly Magazine and watching Heroes every week to improve his crimefighting. He frequents Ben's Diner and the Bistro D'Burden, both of which are hangout spots for other superheroes. His biggest weakness is perhaps his short attention span, and his ability to be distracted by shiny objects.
Comments: Created by Ben Edlund.
Voice by Townsend
Coleman in the cartoon series. The Tick was also the subject of a short lived
(8 episodes) TV series on Fox TV in 2001, with Patrick Warburton playing
the titular hero. The show was produced and directed by Barry Sonnenfield
of Men In Black fame. A new live-action series debuted on Amazon Video in
2016, starring Peter Serafinowicz in the lead role.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Any Additions/Corrections? Please let me know.
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