The Mighty Heroes

File:Mighty heroes 2437.jpg

Clockwise from top: Strong Man, Diaper Man, Tornado Man, Cuckoo Man, and Rope Man.

The Mighty Heroes was a lighthearted Superhero Parody cartoon that originally aired on CBS in 1966, reportedly created on-the-spot by animator Ralph Bakshi. The show featured a team of five misfit heroes — Strong Man, Cuckoo Man, Diaper Man, Rope Man and Tornado Man — protectors of the city of Good Haven. The show featured a fair amount of skewering of superhero tropes, and is seen by some as a precursor to Bakshi's work on Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures.

Dell Comics published a comic about the characters in 1967; decades later, one-shots with the characters were printed by Marvel Comics and Spotlight Comics.

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Tropes for this work include:

• Blow You Away: Tornado Man, who can turn his body into a vortex to grab and throw villains.
• Brainy Baby: Diaper Man, the leader of the team.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Cuckoo Man, appropriately enough.
• Five-Man Band
  • The Hero - Diaper Man
  • The Lancer - Tornado Man
  • The Smart Guy - Rope Man
  • The Big Guy - Strong Man
  • The Chick - Cuckoo Man
• Flying Brick: Strong Man, the Superman Expy.
• Fully-Absorbed Finale: One episode of Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures (also produced by Terrytoons) had a cameo which revealed that the Heroes had retired from super-heroics and started the law firm of Man, Man, Man, Man and Man.
• Let's Get Dangerous: Any supervillain better pray their Death Trap works, because when the team breaks free and regroups in the episode's second half, nothing can stop them!
• Power-Up Food: Both Diaper Man and Strong Man can drink from Diaper Man's milk bottle when extra strength is needed.
• Rubber Man: Rope Man, whose body is an unending length of rope.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Rope Man.
• Something Person: All of the heroes, naturally.
• Stock Superhero Day Jobs: Averted, as the heroes' civilian jobs tend to be unglamorous positions pertaining to their powers.
  • Strong Man is a mechanic.
  • Rope Man is a sailor.
  • Cuckoo Man runs a pet shop.
  • Tornado Man is a weatherman.
  • Diaper Man is a baby (natch).
• Super-Hero Speciation
• Superheroes Wear Capes
• Super Zeroes
• Team Spirit: Pretty much the only way the heroes achieve success.
• Up, Up, and Away: Averted with Cuckoo Man, who — despite dressing up as a bird — needs to repeatedly flap his arms to fly. Played straight with the rest of the team.