10 Popular Comic Book Characters Who Have Completely Vanished
8. Animal Man
Animal Man, aka Buddy Baker, was created for Strange Adventures #180 in 1965. Buddy was a stuntman who borrowed the abilities of animals due to a pair of yellow aliens. Animal Man spent decades on the periphery of the DCU. He was even part of a team of similarly unsung heroes given the unfortunate moniker of “The Forgotten Heroes”.
Under the writing talents of Grant Morrison, Animal Man became a vegetarian and an animal rights activist. He also learns that he is connected to the metamorphic field instead of simply being empowered by aliens. His expanded sense of reality allows him to “realize” he is in a world of fictional beings and to meet his “writer”. He even forces the “writer” to resurrect his murdered wife and daughter because there is no story reason to leave them dead.
Under writer Jamie Delano, Animal Man was killed and became an “animal avatar" for the Red, the force that sustains all animal life. He creates the Life Church of Maxine before slowly returning to superheroics and drifting back into semi-obscurity. As groundbreaking as the Grant Morrison run on the character was, it is very hard to sustain that level of hype forever. Also, when you have two characters that have very similar power sets - as in the case of Buddy and Vixen - chances are high that most writers will choose the gorgeous female.