Bulletproof (comics)
Bulletproof is a fictional character, a comic book superhero from the Image Comics series Invincible. His first appearance was in Invincible #9. Before the name "Invincible" was settled on, "Bulletproof" was one of the proposed names of the main character of the series. Bulletproof's costume also appears to be based on early designs for Invincible's costume, and in Invincible's first visit to Art Rosenbaum, the tailor who supplies his costumes, Art's initial offering ends up being worn by Bulletproof.
| Bulletproof | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Image Comics |
| First appearance | Invincible #9 |
| Created by | Robert Kirkman Cory Walker Ryan Ottley |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Zandale Randolph |
| Team affiliations | Guardians of the Globe |
| Abilities | Flight Superhuman strength and speed Invulnerability |
| External image | |
|---|---|
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In Invincible #89, Bulletproof takes up the Invincible mantle while Mark recovers from the Scourge Virus.
Fictional character biography
Bulletproof attended the auditions for the new Guardians of the Globe held after the original Guardians were murdered. At this time he was not selected; however, after Robot's chosen team failed to live up to expectations, Donald, the Guardians' government liaison, made some changes to the team, including adding Bulletproof to the roster.
As well as being super fast (almost as fast as Red Rush) and having the ability to fly, Bulletproof is apparently almost as invulnerable as Omni-Man, although according to Bulletproof "not nearly as evil." Despite his supposed invulnerability, early in his career with the Guardians of the Globe, Bulletproof was hospitalized for several weeks after an encounter with the extraterrestrial creature Battle Beast. He has subsequently made a full recovery and remains an active member of the Guardians.
Bulletproof had a twin brother. It was revealed that his parents favoured this twin over Bulletproof; potentially because they disapproved of his career choice (artist) over that of his brother (scientist). It was revealed that Bulletproof's brother was inadvertently responsible for the development of his powers. During a botched experiment Bulletproof's brother attempted to kill him in an attempt to get powers of his own. Bulletproof survived the experiment and concealed the death of his brother for over a year. Bulletproof impersonated his brother, often visiting his parents as his brother and finding that he enjoyed having the love and approval of his parents even if it was not truly being given to him. Finally during a dinner with his parents and fiancée Bulletproof revealed the truth. His parents refused to accept his version of the death of his twin, blaming him for his twin's death and unleashing a tirade of verbal abuse on him accompanied by threats that they would go to the police. Bulletproof's fiancée lost her temper and hit his mother in the head with a frying pan, killing her. His father began to choke his fiancée and in a combination of panic, grief and rejection, Bulletproof killed his father. Bulletproof later concealed the crime by flying his parents' car with their bodies in it to a remote road and tossing the car off a cliff by the road.
Bulletproof betrayed the remaining Guardians of the Globe who had survived Robot's initial assault as part of his plan for taking control of the world. Bulletproof revealed the survivors' location to Robot in return for his freedom under Robot's new world order.
Alternate versions
- An older version of Bulletproof is seen to be one of the members of the Guardians of the Globe from the future who rescued Invincible when he became stranded in an alternate reality after an encounter with Angstrom Levy.