Forbush Man

Irving Forbush, Marvel's bumbling fictional mascot-turned-hero, dons a cooking pot as a helmet and a red union suit as his costume to fight crime as Forbush Man — a deliberate parody of superhero conventions starring Marvel's own hapless office joke made flesh.

Born in the gleefully irreverent pages of Marvel's parody anthology Not Brand Echh in 1967, Forbush Man is one of the Silver Age's most delightfully absurd creations — a comedic figure conjured by Roy Thomas, Gary Friedrich, John Verpoorten, and Marie Severin at a moment when Marvel was confident enough to laugh at itself. Over nearly six decades, this unlikely character has popped up across titles like She-Hulk and Spider-Boy, sharing pages with heavyweights like Spider-Man and Squirrel Girl, which speaks to a strange, enduring charm that keeps editors reaching for him whenever Marvel wants a wink at the audience. With a key issue to his name and appearances still trickling in as late as 2026, Forbush Man is proof that a great joke, told at the right moment in comics history, can take on a life of its own.