15 Embarrassing Phases Fictional Characters Want You To Forget
Midlife crises are inevitable.
![15 Embarrassing Phases Fictional Characters Want You To Forget](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/6/3/6/758636_320x180.jpg?v=2)
Look, we all go through cringeworthy periods. There’s nothing to be ashamed of (other than photos and social media posts from such times, that is). And fictional people are just like us -- after some time upon this Earth they go, “There has to be more to life than this,” and start trying new stuff. As they operate by their own rules, though, this new stuff isn’t a sports car or a radical haircut -- instead, it takes the form of unusual storylines and weird reinventions. As it happens, these often don’t stick -- and in fact, most of the time they really shouldn’t.
We’ve collected a few disconcerting creator-induced midlife crises of fictional characters, so you’ll feel better about having only gotten a gym subscription you never used.
![SUPERMAN BECAME AN ELECTRIC SUPERHERO OR RATHER TWO. In the late '90s, Supes went from being the world's most powerful man to the world's most powerfu](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/6/2/2/758622.jpg?v=2)
![The Thing was a whiny (and regular-looking) teen once.
In Hanna-Barbera’s Fred and Barney Meet the Thing (where, disappointingly, Fred and Barney neve](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/6/3/4/758634.gif?v=2)
![HE-MAN PUT ON PANTS TO FIGHT SKELETOR IN THE FUTURE. In The New Adventures of He-Man, a '90s sequel series to the classic show, a pants and ponytail-w](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/6/3/1/758631.jpg?v=2)
![Iron Man was killed and replaced by his teenage self.
In a confusing time travel plot during the ’90s, Tony Stark was revealed to have been brainwashe](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/6/3/2/758632.jpg?v=2)
![Wonder Woman had a stint as a kung fu detective.
In 1968, Wonder Woman lost her powers and her outfit, and spent the next five years roundhouse-kickin](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/6/2/6/758626.jpg?v=2)
![CAPTAIN AMERICA STOPPED BEING CAPTAIN AMERICA AFTER CAUSING NiXON'S DEATH. During the height of Watergate (you know, back when comics weren't p](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/6/2/9/758629.jpg?v=2)
![Zorro got a lightsaber and a bike.
Zorro fights injustice with just his sword in Spanish California -- so naturally, the series Zorro: Generation Z gi](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/6/3/3/758633.gif?v=2)
![THE LOONEY TUNES GOT A GRITTY REBOOT. Can you imagine Bugs Bunny and company as futuristic superheroes in the year 2772? I literally cannot, you say](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/6/3/0/758630.jpg?v=2)
![FRED FLINTSTONE WAS A COP (ALONG WiTH THE SHMOO. In the early '8Os, Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble had an ACAB phase (All Cavemen Are Brought back](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/6/2/5/758625.jpg?v=2)
![Storm became a female Mr. T.
In the ’80s, Mr. T was everywhere -- so Storm, of all people, was turned into Clubber Lang. In what started as a joke tha](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/6/2/8/758628.jpg?v=2)
![REMEMBER WHEN CONNOR MACCLEOD WAS AN ALIEN? In Highlander II: The Quickening, it's revealed that Macleod and all the other immortals are a](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/6/2/7/758627.jpg?v=2)
![THE PUNISHER WAS TURNED iNTO A LITERAL ANGEL. In 1998, Frank Castle stopped killing gangsters and killed himself instead just to return](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/6/2/4/758624.jpg?v=2)
![WOLVERINE WAS A NOSELESS BEAST FOR A WHiLE. In the '90s, Wolverine devolved into a more brutal, animalistic, adamantiumless version of himself- -which](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/6/2/3/758623.jpg?v=2)
![THOR WAS A FROG FOR A SPELL. In a 1986 storyline, the god of thunder became an actual, honest-to- the-Aesir frog, and joined his fellow](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/6/2/1/758621.jpg?v=2)
![Batman was a hollow-Earth truther.
The Dark Knight has had more than his fair share of weirdness (he’s the goddamn Batman, after all), but nothing is](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/6/2/0/758620.jpg?v=2)