Fantastic Four #580

[iamrman]

The Impossible Man has gone in to business with a supposedly reformed Arcade. Seems legit to me.

Kill it! Kill it with fire! Also, Arcade's face in that one panel...

shocked Pikachu face

Comments

[knight_moves]

I know it's the Marvel Universe, but they really let Arcade 'reform' after he killed multiple children? I mean, what does someone have to do on Earth-616 to be considered an irredeemable monster?

Oh, right, be a mutant.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

I probably shouldn't have laughed at this, but I like to think it just affirms the truth of it.

[morallyambiguousscience]

I don't know, Krakoa has shown being a mutant also lets you be "reformed" after massacring children

[akodo_rokku]

This is from the Hickman run, so it's before Avengers Arena.

[donnblake]

Still, though, before he got obsessed with the whole 'dropping superheroes into death mazes' bit, he was *already* a particularly lethal hitman.

(I never read Avengers Arena and don't particularly care to, but I've long thought there was potential in an Arcade story that pointed out the classic Arcade story set-up *starts* with the heroes captured and at his mercy. For all his quirks, dude's got skills.)

[starwolf_oakley]

In UNCANNY X-MEN #123, Arcade walked into Xavier's mansion and kidnapped Banshee and Storm after his robot garbage truck got the other X-Men. And taunted Spider-Man over the phone about it. Dude's got skills, indeed.

[zachbeacon]

Why would they allow Arcade anywhere near children?

I mean, I think this is before he killed all those teenagers but he's still an assassin.

[super_fly]

The same reason they'll turn on heroes who have saved the world hundreds of times for one perceived minor infraction

Probably something in the water.

[mastermahan]

On second thought, maybe I should rethink my John Wayne Gacy-branded clown dolls.

[zachbeacon]

I just think about the BtAS episode Riddler's Reform. At that point, he's traumatized his old boss (okay, justified) and tried to fry the brain of one of the few honest cop in the city. What parent would let their kids have toys he made?

Arcade is worse...even without the child murders.

[super_fly]

Therapist: Impossible Man with a realistically rendered face isn't real, he can't hurt you
Impossible Man with a realistically rendered face:

[remial]

my favorite Impossible man story is still "Anything you can do..." from the New Mutants annual, where he and Warlock get into a shapeshifting contest.

[zachbeacon]

I like the Superman/Silver Surfer crossover with him and Mister Mxyzptlk

[mastermahan]

I've always thought you could rehab Arcade by making it clear that he's not actually trying to kill the heroes. He genuinely could if he wanted to - he's a goddamn prodigy at kidnapping and his hero body count would be significant if he simply shot his helpless prisoners instead of releasing them into moderately escapable death mazes.

So instead people aren't hiring him to murder heroes. They're hiring him to keep heroes busy for a while and/or to test them in controlled conditions. Want to make sure Spider-Man won't interfere when you rob the science lab? Hire Arcade. Want to test your new healing inhibitor on Wolverine without the risk of getting stabbed? Hire Arcade.

[zylly]

That’s very similar to how Busiek revamped the Prankster at one point — professional distraction.

[scorntx]

-"I'm never having kids."-

Given how many women as he's (supposedly) gone out with to no result, doesn't seem like kids are something Johnny needs to worry about, one way or another.

(Jokes about him and Peter aside, maybe Johnny should go see a doctor, because someone who gets as much as he does surely should've gotten someone pregnant by now.)

[zylly]

Honestly, given how much trouble cosmic radiation infused DNA caused for both of Reed and Sue’s kids, it’s probably a good thing Johnny hasn’t gotten anyone pregnant.