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33 Eyebrow-Arching Pop Culture Origin Stories

October 01, 2021

If you watch superhero movies on a regular basis, creation myths are your go-to appetizer. And besides, the greatest things in contemporary culture aren't born but rather cultivated in time. Whether you're a baby who is born into a hopeless world, an adolescent underachiever who comes to understand responsibility and power, or a young demigoddess brought up on an Amazonian island, these narratives of entertainment are modern myths, full of adventure, suspense, magic, and distress... but only if you're not Wolverine, of course, whose origin consists entirely of immense pain but none of the happy stuff. Sorry for the inconvenience, bub.

What unusual circumstances led to the formation of these legendary good guys and bad guys? What real-life events inspired outstanding superhero comics? While there are no real-life gamma radiation explosions or nuclear spiders here, those true stories merely add to the legends that they created.

What do legendary pop culture icons and superheroes have in common? Both have fascinating origins.

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CRACKED.COM HAPPY DAYS Fonzie's famous ayyyy came about due to Henry Winkler's dyslexia. Не struggled to learn lines so he'd say ayyyy in lieu of dialogue. — 26 Origins Of Characters' Signature Traits

32

AIR BUD Before becoming the star player of a middle school basketball team, Buddy was owned by an abusive party clown named Norm Snively. e WOLVE K9 In the first Air Bud movie we see that Norm constantly yells at Buddy and forces him to perform at birthday parties under threat of violence. GRACKED.COM — Origin Stories That Are Over-The-Top Dark (For No Reason)

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WHen YOU THINK ABOUT ПТ BUGS IS An ODD name FOR A BunnY. не ACTUALLY GOT HIS nAme BecAuse OF A MISTAKE. BUGS BUNNY MODEL SWEET M.M.22. Animator Ben Bugs Hardaway asked one of the artists at Looney Toons to draw a rabbit. The artist complied, labeling the model sheet Bugs' Bunny. After the still-nameless rabbit had appeared in a few cartoons, producer Leon Schlesinger looked at the old sketch for its name. Не saw the caption, and the rest is history. CRACKED.COM Peter Bogdanovich, 2012: Who the Devil Made It? — 21 Horrifying Origin Stories Of Famous Characters

30

The Boos' shy but scary personality is based on one of the Super Mario developers' wives. The wife of developer Takashi Tezuka was normally a quiet person, but one day she exploded at him because he worked so much. So he decided to put her in the game as a character that becomes scarier when they're not looked at. CRACKED.COM — 26 Origins Of Characters' Signature Traits

29

It's no surprise that Yamask is a ghost Pokémon. But take a look at the Pokédex and you'll realize that it's a human ghost. And the mask it's carrying is their human face. CRACKED.COM — Origin Stories That Are Over-The-Top Dark (For No Reason)

28

THRee BLIND mice, see HOW THEY RUN. IS ACTUALLY ABOUT noBLemen executed BY BLOODY MARY. Some experts say the farmer's wife is a reference to Queen Bloody Mary I and her enthusiasm for torture and death. The three mice supposedly represent three noblemen who were prosecuted for conspiring against the queen. The noblemen were burned at the stake. The blindness of the mice is thought to represent Protestantism. CRACKED.COM Albert Jack, 2009. Pop Goes the Weasel: The Secret Meanings of Nursery Rhymes. — 21 Horrifying Origin Stories Of Famous Characters

27

Katniss THE HUNGER GAMES CRACKED COM Katniss is a plant from the genus Sagittaria, also known as the arrowhead plants. Sagittarius, of course, as any latin student or person on a date telling you about astrology knows, meaning archer. — Buzzfeed

26

Darth Maul got his facial patterns because his designer was trying to fix his mistakes. Designer lain McCaig was having trouble with a concept drawing for Darth Maul, so in frustration he stuck tape over all of his mistakes, creating a Rorschach pattern. Both he and George Lucas ended up digging the look. CRACKED.COM — 26 Origins Of Characters' Signature Traits

25

J. Jonah Jameson grew up with his stepfather, who abused his mother and him all the time. Не was a war veteran and decorated officer, and nobody suspected what he did at home. That made Jonah suspicious of anyone widely hailed as a hero. CRACKED.COM — Origin Stories That Are Over-The-Top Dark (For No Reason)

24

CHUCK e. CHeese IS THE mouse MASCOT FOR KIDS, GAmes, & PIZZA. не STARTeD OUT A CIGAR- CHOMPING, PANTSLESS RAT. WHEW, IT TOOK YOU LONG ENOUGH... / WAS RUNNING OUT OF INSULTS LET'S FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET HOME. WHERE ARE WE? DON'T BE SO-0-0 MEAN TO.O.O BABY... CHUCK! SHUT UP ALREADY!! In Rat Tales, the comic book about Chuck E.'s adventures, he's snarky and sleazy, and his singing is so terrible that it actually destroys the restaurant. CRACKED.COM http://www.showbizpizza.com/info/promo/ptt/ptt_rattales.pdf — 21 Horrifying Origin Stories Of Famous Characters

23

Kramer SEINFELD CRACKED.COM Kramer is based on Larry David's neighbor, Kenny Kramer. Не was actually named Kessler in the pilot, but the real Kramer reached an agreement with NBC to use the rights to his last name, which sounds like a genuine Kramer subplot. — BusinessInsider

22

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles started out as a joke. One day in 1983, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird doodled a parody of hot comic book trends back then - mutants (like Uncanny X-Men), teenage superheroes, and ninjas. Eastman and Laird put them all together, and made them talking animals to make it funnier. CRACKED.COM — 26 Origins Of Characters' Signature Traits

21

CRACKED.COM According to an official book... Jake Blues was Elwood Blues the son of a was abandoned woman in prison at a newspaper for murdering stand. her husband. — Origin Stories That Are Over-The-Top Dark (For No Reason)

20

CUBONE IS An ADORABLE POKémon. AND IT WeARS THE SKULL OF ITS DEAD MOTHER AS A HAT. Cubone ox.16 60 BASIC - Lorals Headbutt 10 Bonemerang 20x coins This attack does x damage times the number of when . thinks da deal muches + uning Buryingmaker the كلية MADE rattle | I Area - - - +10 -20 Dreamstime COCK MOTOR The exact quote from the game: It always wears the skull of its dead mother, so no one has any idea what its hidden face looks like. Originally, the game designers were going to name the creature Orphan, but they — 21 Horrifying Origin Stories Of Famous Characters

19

Seneca Crane THE HUNGER GAMES CRACKED.COM Sharing a similar fate to Seneca Crane in The Hunger Games, Seneca was the name of a Roman statesman executed by the state. Let's hope the mortician shaved that beard off so nobody started laughing during the funeral. — Cracked

18

A000 The reason Goku from Dragon Ball Z has blonde hair when he transforms into a Super Saiyan is because while making the comic book, it was incredibly time consuming to paint Goku's hair black. As such it was left white, the same color as the paper. CRACKED.COM — 26 Origins Of Characters' Signature Traits

17

MEOWTH IS A MANEKI-NEKO GRAGKED.COM The beckoning cat, maneki-neko, is a good luck figurine that is often placed at the entrance of an establishment. Like with most of Meowth's official artwork and sprites, the maneki-neko is depicted with one paw raised. The good fortune that maneki-neko are said to provide is illustrated to great effect with Meowth's signature move, Pay Day. — Bulbagarden

16

Rogue's abilities of durability, flight, and super strength were stolen... from Carol Danvers. A young Rogue helped Mystique ambush Danvers, aka Ms. Marvel. FEC She absorbed all of the heroine's powers and put her in a coma. CRACKED.COM — Origin Stories That Are Over-The-Top Dark (For No Reason)

15

GUYBRUSH THReePWOOD IS A BRILLIANTLY SILLY name. AND IT CAme FROM A COMPUTER FILenAme. My name's Guybrush Threepwood, and I want to be a pirate! The pirate-wannabe character in The Secret of Monkey Island was nameless for ages. The programmers at LucasArts couldn't think of anything they liked, so they just called him the Guy. That probably would have been his final name if an artist hadn't created a brush file for the character, using a program called Deluxe Paint, which resulted in the filename guybrush.bbm. The name Threepwood comes from the book The Brinkmanship of Galahad Threepwood, and was — 21 Horrifying Origin Stories Of Famous Characters

14

Sirius Black HARRY POTTER CRACKED.COM One of the better known ones, Sirius is the dog star, and Sirius Black turns into a black dog. It also supplies the name of Sirius ХМ, the satellite radio company your dad still inexplicably pays for. — Cracked

13

24's Jack Bauer keeps shouting Damn it! because that was the only option. The creators needed to have him yell something when he's angry, but anything other than a curse word felt forced. Damn it! was the only one they could run on network TV, so they used that every time. CRACKED.COM — 26 Origins Of Characters' Signature Traits

12

EXEGGUTOR IS A JINMENSHI GRACKED COM The coconut-like heads of the Exeggutor are similar to the jinmenshi, which are fruit that resemble smiling, human heads. The legend states that when the fruit laughs too much, they fall. Maybe the human qualities of the fruit contribute to the psychic typing of Exeggutor's line. — Geek And Sundry

11

In The Little Mermaid, Ariel got her red hair to set her apart from Splash's Madison. She was originally meant to be blonde, but five years earlier, Splash came out, featuring Daryl Hannah as a blonde mermaid. Disney wanted to make Ariel stand out, so they went with red, giving Ariel her iconic look. CRACKED.COM — 26 Origins Of Characters' Signature Traits

10

CRACKED.COM Ellen Degeneres inspired Dory's most recognizable trait even before she signed on to portray the forgetful fish. Finding Nemo director Andrew Stanton was struggling to write the character without it sounding annoying until he heard Ellen Degeneres changing topics mid-sentence five times on The Ellen Show. Dory was then modeled after the way Degeneres speaks. — 26 Origins Of Characters' Signature Traits

9

R2-D2 was named after something a film crew member blurted out. George Lucas and his crew were looking for 'Reel 2, Dialogue 2' of his movie THX 1138, and he heard someone ask for 'R2D2.' Не liked that, and wrote it down in his notebook. CRACKED.COM — 26 Origins Of Characters' Signature Traits

8

Smurfette was created to be a honey pot to trap the smurfs. The recipe Gargamel used to bring her to life called for sugar and spice but nothing nice, a dram of crocodile tears, half a pack of lies, a chatter of a magpie, and the hardest stone for her heart. Her hair turned blonde when Papa Smurf countered the spells. CRACKED.COM — Origin Stories That Are Over-The-Top Dark (For No Reason)

7

Link from The Legend of Zelda got his name because he was supposed to travel to the future. According to Miyamoto, the Triforce fragments were originally computer chips, and Link was going to be a link between a fantasy setting and a futuristic one. The futuristic elements were dropped, but the name stuck. CRACKED.COM — 26 Origins Of Characters' Signature Traits

6

Ewok Meat

CRACKED.COM In the Star Wars universe, raiders visit Endor to hunt Ewoks for their meat. One of the favorite dishes of the Outer Rim worlds is Ewok Jerky. — Origin Stories That Are Over-The-Top Dark (For No Reason)

5

GRACKED.COM The Simpsons have their iconic looks because Matt Groening believes that cartoon characters should be recognizable from a silhouette. — 26 Origins Of Characters' Signature Traits

4

CRACKED COM Before getting superpowers and living on Earth, SILVER SURFER lost both his parents to suicide on his utopian home planet, Zenn-La. His mother killed herself when he was just seven years old because she couldn't stand how perfect life on Zenn-La was. Years later, his father followed suit after being accused of plagiarism. — Origin Stories That Are Over-The-Top Dark (For No Reason)

3

Why is Silent Bob silent? According to Kevin Smith, it is because Jason Mewes talks. A LOT. . was like we could have a buddy that stands there, who's essentially his sounding board, who he just talks at all the time. CRACKED.COM — 26 Origins Of Characters' Signature Traits

2

Furiosa was stolen from the Green Place and traded to Immortan Joe to be one of his wives (read: breeder). MAD MAX FURYROAD Joe found out she was infertile and discarded her. She then hid among the war pups and slowly became one 240 of them. 49 CRACKED.COM — Origin Stories That Are Over-The-Top Dark (For No Reason)

1

EVERYONE knows THAT RAGE MAKES THE HULK STRONG. BUT THE THING THAT STARTeD HIS FITS OF RAGe? CHILD ABUSE. NO CHILD YOUK AGE SHOULD BE ABLE TO BUILD SOMETHING SO INTRICATE! YOU MAY HAVE FOOLED YOUR MOTHER.. FWAK! --BUT I'VE KNOWN WHAT YOU WOULD BECOME EYES SINCE THE BEGINNING! BRUCE! BRIAN. CHILD , NO NORMAL HE'S SOMETHING YOU ARE CHILD. NOT THAT ONE! DIFFERENT... NGANE . HOW INHUMAN COULD YOU HIT a - In a 1985 Incredible Hulk comic, it's revealed that Bruce Banner's father violently beat him as a child and killed his mother. When he's college-aged, Bruce finally — 21 Horrifying Origin Stories Of Famous Characters

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