The Tick

Origin

Little is known of the Tick's past. What is known, however, is that he was interned in an insane asylum while already costumed as the big blue hero. He grows bored of his confinement and heeds destiny's call to do something more. He breaks out to be a superhero.

Creation

Written and drawn by Ben Edlund.

Major Story Arcs

The Tick arrives at the City and becomes a hero almost by accident by unwittingly breaking up the interrogation of an old man being performed by ninjas. The ninjas follow the Tick but are unable to keep up with abilities to jump from tall buildings without getting hurt. He somehow ends up in a train tunnel and meets another hero of the City, the Caped Wonder. He tracks this hero down to the newspaper the Weekly World Planet and accidentally gets a job alongside the Caped Wonder. He also get quickly fired and has to resume his hero duties.

Powers and Abilities

• The Tick is nigh-invulnerable, which makes him able to withstand intense trauma. This does not keep him from feeling pain. Crashing into the ground or having a bullet shot into his teeth won't break his body, but he will still feel the discomfort of it all.
• The Tick probably has super strength. And if it is not super then it is certainly impressive.
• He is capable of jumping dozens, maybe hundreds of feat in the air.
• The Tick is bulletproof.
• He has a "drama power," which gives him the ability to make any situation more dramatic by his mere presence.
• Though not necessarily a power, The Tick's battle-cry is said to baffle, or stun, his opponents. Before battle, he yells out, "SPOON!"
• The Tick claims thet when Destiny speaks, she speaks to him.

Other Media

The Tick has had three television shows over the years.

First, "The Tick" animated series ran for three seasons from 1994 to 1996. It aired on FOX Kids Saturday mornings. While some of the episodes borrowed from the original Tick comic books, many of the characters in the animated show were not in the comics, like Die Fladermaus, and American Maid.

The second television show was a live-action series, where the Tick was portrayed by Patrick Warburton. In it, The Tick and Arthur battled more everyday problems, like getting Tick an ID card, or going to court. The two other main characters in the series were Batmanuel and Captain Liberty, characters not in the comics but also not in the cartoon (though similar to Die Fladermaus and American Maid). Tick rarely battled major villains, though he did do tangle with The Terror and The Red Scare.

Both series change up the Tick's origin. The animated show has the Tick audition for his city assignment and the live action show has the Tick protecting the citizens frequenting a bus stop before he is tricked into leaving, in which he becomes the hero of his destination.

In the Amazon Prime series, The Tick is portrayed by Peter Serafinowicz. In this show, he is first seen battling members of a gang called the Pyramid Gang, and afterword's gives a high tech flight suit to Arthur Everest, with the intention of inspiring him to be a superhero. Arthur at first mistakes him for an imaginary friend, but is proven wrong when he see's his sister, Dot interact with The Tick. After The Tick and Arthur save the City from the Terror, they become a full fledged super duo. They were even asked to join the defense agency known as AEGIS.