Edward "Eel" O'Brian, aka Plastic Man, is one of the two tritagonists (alongside Green Arrow) of the animated superhero TV series, Batman: The Brave and the Bold. He was once a henchman of Kite Man and had Batman responsible for the accident that gave him his stretching powers as well as his path towards redeeming himself by becoming a superhero. Additionally, Plastic Man takes his role as the Dark Knight's ally.
He is voiced by Tom Kenny, who also voiced as Raimundo Pedrosa from Xiaolin Showdown and SpongeBob SquarePants.
Biography[]
Reformed petty thief Eel O'Brian got a second lease on life as a flexible former felon working at Batman's side. The rubbery shape-shifter is part one-man comedy show, part malleable merchant of justice, doling out wisecracks and hard knocks with haphazard glee. And while the call of cash still rings in his ears, the little Batman on his shoulder yells much louder.
History[]
Backstory[]
Edward "The Eel" O'Brian was a member of Kite Man's gang. When Kite Man and his men tried to rob a chemical factory, Batman showed and stopped them. During the fight, Plastic Man was knocked into a vat of chemicals but got saved by The Caped Crusader after his mutation. In court, Plastic Man helped testify against Kite Man. Batman then promised to take care of Plastic Man's rehabilitation.
Story[]
Batman and Plastic Man evade the security system in Terror on Dinosaur Island!
In "Terror on Dinosaur Island!", after defeating Gentleman Ghost with help from Fire, Batman was mad at Plastic Man for trying to take all the stolen money.
The main episode begins with Batman and Plastic Man flying over the ocean in the Bat Plane while the former lectures the latter about his actions. The duo soon receives a distress call which turns out to be Gorilla Grodd stealing a yacht. After a short battle Grodd uses his mind controlling powers to destroy the Bat Plane. Thinking Batman dead, Grodd and his gorillas return to their hideout on Dinosaur Island. It is revealed that Plastic Man and Batman survived the blast and the two head towards Grodd's hideout.
After being chased through the jungle by several dinosaurs, Batman locates Grodd’s hideout. While initially evading the security systems, Plastic Man sets one off when bragging about his accomplishments. Grodd and his gorillas emerge from there hideout to fight the duo. At first having the upper hand, Plastic Man is then thrown into the jungle and Batman is captured. Inside the hideout Grodd reveals his plan to turn all humans into apes with his E-Ray. He tests the device on Batman, which successfully turns him into an ape. Meanwhile Plastic Man infiltrates the hideout, but is distracted by Grodd’s gold vault; he then eats much of the valuables before going to rescue Batman. The two battle Grodd’s army, and Plastic Man is forced to spit out all the gold he consumed at the attacking gorillas, while Batman battles Grodd. When it appears that Batman fails to stop Grodd’s machine from turning everyone in the Bahamas and Florida into apes, it backfires, and all the apes in the area are instead turned into humans. Batman reveals that during the scuffle he subtly reversed the effects of the E-Ray. After Grodd's defeat, Plastic Man collects the loot and Batman shows that he trusts Plastic Man again.
In the prologue of "Journey to the Center of the Bat!", Plastic Man and Elongated Man team up to fight Babyface but they start a rivalry on which one is closer with Batman, after defeating the henchmen, they get trapped with Babyface still standing, only for them to be rescued by Batman.
In "Game Over for Owlman!", after Owlman was committed crimes dressed as Batman, Plastic Man helped a group of heroes attempt to catch him. Plastic Man failed miserably managing to lose the framed Dark Knight, getting caught by Owlman. Later as he was getting tortured but he managed to escape and help the big-headed psychic Batman defeat Brain.
In "The Fate of Equinox!", Plastic Man gets summoned to give his powers to Batman for the battle with Equinox and names Batman's titan form, Bat-Monolith. After Equinox's defeat, Plastic Man gets his powers back.
In "Long Arm of the Law!"'s prolouge, Plastic Man helps Batman save boy scouts from Shaggy Men while trying to be quiet. They rescue the scouts but when one of the scouts sneezes Plastic Man accidentally awakens the Shaggy Men so he and Batman fight and defeat them. In the main plot, Plastic Man gets his own sidekick, Woozy Winks and introduces him to his life as a superhero until Ramona, Plastic Man's unsupportive and cynical of his pursuit of justice wife forces the two to take Baby Plas to the museum. Everything goes well until Rubberneck commits a crime, so Plastic Man goes to stop him while Woozy Winks is left keep an eye on Baby Plas so Plastic Man fights Rubberneck along with Batman and they manage to defeat him as Plastic Man gets blown into pieces but as he was getting back together, one of his pieces gets stolen by a mysterious figure. Later as Plastic Man and Woozy Winks are back home, Ramona finds out about the fight and snaps at her husband but then Batman shows up and analyzes that Plastic Man is bit shorter due to the missing piece, Plastic Man thinks it could be many of the non-supervillain enemies he has made but Batman figures the real villain behind this, Kite Man. Plastic Man wants to join Batman in capturing Rubberneck but Batman tells him to stay with his family, however Plastic Man and Woozy Winks sneak into the mission and they fail to capture Rubberneck and Batman scolds Plastic Man for not staying with his family as it turns out that they're Kite Man's target. After arriving at Kite Man's hideout and finding out about his plan, Plastic Man allows Kite Man to turn him into stone for the safety of his family but he's turned back to normal after Woozy Winks messes up with the laser. He fights Kite Man who has gained plastic powers by accident, defeats him and saves his family in the end.
In "Death Race to Oblivion!", Plastic Man and Woozy Winks gets summoned by Mongul to participate in his death race as Plastic Man gets to be the car while Woozy Winks the driver, they're the first races to lose and get imprisoned on War World but with the help of Guy Gardner and Green Arrow, they break free, destroy War World and watch as Batman defeats Mongul.
In "Cry Freedom Fighters!", Plastic Man saves Batman from alien tyrants and they both get saved by Uncle Sam. After finding out where the aliens come from and why they are doing it, Plastic Man meets The Freedom Fighters and Uncle Sam wants him in his team. Plastic Man lies about being patriotic because he wants to be in a team and he even got kicked out of The Justice League. Plastic Man fights along with The Freedom Fighters and Batman saving aliens from the planet Qward but when they go to take down The Supreme Chairman of Qward, they fail as only Plastic Man and Uncle Sam escape. As Uncle Sam is slowly dying, Plastic Man tells him the truth and Uncle Sam tells him the true meaning of being a patriot and tells him to unleash the spirit of freedom as he fades away. Plastic Man motivates the good Qwardians to join him in the fight and so Plastic Man breaks in and the heroes and Qwardians sing "Yankee Doodle Dandy" bringing Uncle Sam back to life. The heroes defeat The Supreme Chancelor as Plastic Man delivers the final blow. In the end, Plastic Man becomes a Freedom Fighter and even gets congratulation from President Obama but Plastic Man doesn't know him as he asks rudely who he is which presumably terminates his position in The Freedom Fighters.
In "Night of the Batmen!", after Batman got heavily injured, Plastic Man told Batman that everyone knows due to Aquaman's new book. After Aquaman, Captain Marvel and Green Arrow became Batman's replacements, Plastic Man joined in as he used his powers to shape himself into various looks of Batman before deciding to take the shape of himself in a Batsuit. Then he gets to fight Catwoman (which is different from the one we know) as she easily recognized him. After their victories, the four heroes meet and argue about who is the better Batman until they get caught by The Joker. Luckily for them, they get saved by the real Batman and in the end, they join him and his alternate versions in protecting Gotham.
In "Triumvirate of Terror!"'s prologue, Plastic Man is on The Justice League International's baseball team playing against The Legion of Doom's baseball team.
In "Bold Beginnings!", Plastic Man is held hostage along with Green Arrow and Aquaman, and he can't use his powers to escape due to being frozen. After Green Arrow explains his first mission with Batman, Plastic Man narrates how he tried his first solo mission as he goes undercover as Stretch Weeler attempting to foil Babyface's plans but it turns out that Babyface already knows as he glues Plastic Man to a wall and puts a bomb in attempt to frame and kill the superhero. Plastic Man tries to get rid of the bomb but luckily for him it gets defused by Batman. Together the two heroes fight Babyface and his goons and defeat him. After Mr. Freeze arrives interrupting Aquaman's story, Batman saves the trio and together they fight Mr. Freeze in his goons. After Mr. Freeze's defeat, Plastic Man joins Green Arrow and Batman in destroying glaciers while Aquaman is left watching the criminals.
Personality[]
Although he was supposed to be reformed, Plastic Man still had many criminal tendencies. For instances when he and Batman are confronting Gentleman Ghost who has committed a robbery, after Batman breaks the Gentleman Ghost’s bags holding the stolen cash, Plastic Man goes after the money instead of fighting. When infiltrating Gorilla Grodd’s hideout to save Batman, he is distracted by Grodd’s stolen gold and diamonds, and delays going after Batman to take some for himself.
Despite this, Plastic Man still has a heart and becomes serious on certain occasions. For instance when he infiltrates Grodd's hideout trying to rescue Batman. But, he sees the money and tries to stay focus he sees a gem and quickly gets the money that's when he launches the money at Grodd's soldiers to give Batman enough time to disable the E Ray. Plus, he also realized what he's done after letting Kite-Man kidnap his family, then he gets turned to stone by his machine, he is soon turned to normal and battles Kite-Man and saved his family and he also sang the Yankee Doodle Went to Town, trying to get Uncle Sam back to life.
Powers & Abilities[]
Plastic Man uses his powers to aid Batman rescue boy scouts from Shaggy Men.
Plastic Man has the ability to stretch his limbs and body to superhuman lengths and sizes. He can contort his body into various positions and sizes impossible for ordinary humans, such as a shovel, cash register and even a car. Normally he uses his hands like large mallets.
These stretching powers grant Plastic Man heightened agility enabling him flexibility and coordination that is extraordinarily beyond the natural limits of the human body. They also grant him heightened agility enabling him flexibility and coordination that is extraordinarily beyond the natural limits of the human body.
Plastic Man's powers extraordinarily augment his durability. He is resistant to high velocity impacts that would kill an ordinary person, resistant to blasts from energy weapons, and is bulletproof. His bodily mass can be dispersed, but for all intents and purposes it is invulnerable.
Trivia[]
- This version of Plastic Man has his forename changed from Patrick to Edward in the show.
- Despite being married, seems to have crush on superwomen like Fire, Phantom Lady and Catwoman presumably due to his relationship with Ramona being toxic.
