Editing Impossible Man (section)

==Fictional character biography==

=== 1960s ===
When the Impossible Man first appeared, he was different from previous guest stars in that he was not a villain. The team first meet him at the Flamingo restaurant when they are summoned there to investigate a disturbance.  Written by Lee to be a [[Practical joke|prankster]] and [[hedonist]], the Impossible Man claimed to belong to the alien race of [[List of Marvel Comics alien races#P|Poppupians]] from planet Poppup in the "Tenth Galaxy", who all share a [[collective consciousness]] and the ability to shapeshift, as their planet is so dangerous they have the ability to evolve very quickly.<ref>{{cite book |last1=DeFalco |first1=Tom |last2=Sanderson |first2=Peter |last3=Brevoort |first3=Tom |last4=Teitelbaum |first4=Michael |last5=Wallace |first5=Daniel |last6=Darling |first6=Andrew |last7=Forbeck |first7=Matt |last8=Cowsill |first8=Alan |last9=Bray |first9=Adam |title=The Marvel Encyclopedia |date=2019 |publisher=DK Publishing |isbn=978-1-4654-7890-0 |page=184}}</ref> Seeking amusement, the character visits Earth for a vacation by turning himself into a spaceship, talking of a Poppup Tourist Bureau. After finding the [[superhero]] team the Fantastic Four and realizing nobody else on Earth has his power (therefore concluding he is the most powerful being on Earth), he constantly harasses them until they decide to ignore him and tell other people to do the same, forcing the Impossible Man to leave as he finds Earth so boring, and saying Earth will never get their tourist business. He gets his name after the [[Thing (comics)|Thing]] claims he is "impossible".<ref>''Fantastic Four'' #11 (February 1963)</ref>

=== 1970s ===
The character does not appear again until 1976. Acting as a ''[[deus ex machina]]'' in a storyline involving the cosmic entity and world-devourer [[Galactus]], the Impossible Man convinces him to consume Poppup instead of Earth, causing Galactus to seemingly die from 'cosmic indigestion'. Since the Poppupians were a shared consciousness they were happy to sacrifice their planet to stop Galactus, knowing that their culture would live on in the embodiment of its most adventurous member.<ref name=FF175>''Fantastic Four'' #175 (October 1976)</ref> The Impossible Man then makes a humorous appearance at the offices of Marvel Comics, where he causes havoc until Stan Lee promises to give him his own title.<ref>''Fantastic Four'' #176 (November 1976)</ref>

He offers peripheral assistance to the Fantastic Four when they are trapped in the [[Negative Zone]] by the [[Frightful Four]], a team of their enemies.<ref>''Fantastic Four'' #177-178 (December 1976-January 1977)</ref> The Impossible Man impersonates [[Jimmy Carter]] on the day of his [[Inauguration of Jimmy Carter|inauguration]]. The Impossible Man briefly takes Carter's place to foil an attempt to enslave him during an adventure with the [[Thing (comics)|Thing]] and the cyborg [[Deathlok]].<ref>''Marvel Two-In-One'' #27 (May 1977)</ref> He later saves the [[Invisible Woman]] from a fall and becomes fascinated with Earth movies.<ref>''Fantastic Four'' #183 (June 1977)</ref><ref>''Fantastic Four'' #184-185 (July - August 1977)</ref> When returning to the [[Baxter Building]], headquarters of the Fantastic Four, the Impossible Man is surprised and defeated by the villain Klaw, who, in an alliance with the [[Molecule Man]], attempts to kill the Fantastic Four.<ref name="Fantastic Four' 1977">''Fantastic Four'' #186 (September 1977)</ref> During the course of the storyline, the character recovers and, courtesy of his abilities, mimics and defeats Klaw in turn<ref name=":0">''Fantastic Four'' #187 (October 1977)</ref> and assists the Fantastic Four in stopping the Molecule Man.<ref>''Fantastic Four'' #188 (November 1977)</ref> The character continued his trend of general disruption during a visit to [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]] with the Invisible Girl.<ref>''Fantastic Four'' #193-195 (April-July 1978)</ref>

=== 1980s ===
After helping the Thing defeat several villains at a party, the Impossible Man observes the Thing with his partner [[Alicia Masters]] and becomes lonely. The character then decides to reproduce - here an asexual process - by splitting in two. This creates fellow Poppupian the '''Impossible Woman'''.<ref>''Marvel Two-In-One'' #60 (February 1980)</ref> The pair later attempt to recreate their race and create the ''Impossible Kids'', with the entire "family" visiting the Thing.<ref>''Marvel Two-in-One'' #86</ref> When the Impossible Woman is missing, the character hires private investigator [[Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew)|Jessica Drew]] to locate her,<ref>''Spider-Woman'' #45 (August 1982)</ref> and has an encounter with the mutant [[X-Men]] after stealing artifacts from Earth to settle a supposed ''family dispute'' with the other members of his race.<ref>''The Uncanny X-Men'' Annual #7 (December 1983)</ref>

More comedic adventures followed, with the Impossible Man engaging in a shapeshifting competition with [[Warlock (New Mutants)|Warlock]],<ref name=autogenerated1>''The New Mutants'' Annual #3 (January 1987)</ref> causing havoc on an alternate universe version of Earth,<ref name=":1">''Excalibur'' #14 (November 1989)</ref> and trying to obtain the movie rights to the [[autobiography]] of professional sidekick [[Rick Jones (character)|Rick Jones]].<ref>''Avengers Spotlight'' #25 (November 1989)</ref>

=== 1990s ===
The Impossible Man finds and teases the cosmic being the [[Silver Surfer]] on two occasions, pleading for him to develop a sense of humor before battling the titan [[Thanos]].<ref>''Silver Surfer'' (vol. 3) #33 (January 1990) & #36 (April 1990)</ref> The character returns to Earth and causes more mischief,<ref>''Impossible Man Summer Vacation Spectacular'' #1 & 2 (August 1990 & 1991)</ref> encounters the hero [[Daredevil (Marvel Comics character)|Daredevil]] while looking for a lost child,<ref>''Marvel Comics Presents'' #91 (December 1991)</ref> starts a bar fight,<ref>''Marvel Comics Presents'' #97 (June 1992)</ref> watches the [[Eternals (comics)|Eternal]] [[Makkari (comics)|Makkari]] win a galactic [[marathon]],<ref>''Quasar'' #58 (May 1994)</ref> and invites various otherwise un-contacted heroes and supervillains to the wedding of Rick Jones.<ref>''The Incredible Hulk'' (vol. 2) #417 (June 1994)</ref>

After a brief encounter with the young superhero team the [[New Warriors]],<ref>''Marvel Comics Presents'' #162 (September 1994)</ref> the character enlists the aid of mutant team [[X-Force]] to instill some pride in his children,<ref>''X-Force & Cable'' Annual (December 1995)</ref> and enters into a wager with the alternate universe [[imp]] [[Mister Mxyzptlk]].<ref>''Silver Surfer/Superman'' (November 1996)</ref>

=== 2000s ===
The Impossible Man and the Poppupians make a cameo appearance in [[Noh-Varr]]'s origin story.<ref>''Marvel Boy'' #5 (December 2000)</ref>

The Impossible Man returns to Earth disguised as the Silver Surfer, and after teasing the hero [[Spider-Man]] warns of an alien invasion. The Impossible Man's race are also revealed to have survived, with their consciousness stored inside the character. With the aid of the Fantastic Four, the aliens and the newly reborn Poppupians are transported off world, merging into one race on Spider-Man's suggestion.<ref>''[[Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four]]'' #1-4 (May-August 2007)</ref>

=== 2010s ===
Later during the [[Chaos War (comics)|Chaos War]], the Impossible Man confronts Mikaboshi, trying to humor and reason with him while shapeshifting in various forms to divert him, but the Chaos King tires of him and brutally dispatches him. Impossible Man's last words are "I thought we were just playing around..."<ref>''Chaos War: Chaos King'' #1</ref>

Impossible Man returns to Earth where he witnesses a battle between [[Hulk]], [[Thunderbolt Ross|Red Hulk]], and [[Xemnu]] and uses the Valizian Compounder to fuse the former two into the Compound Hulk. Impossible Man watches as the Compound Hulk fights Xemnu's minion Kluh, a smart version of the Gray Hulk.<ref>''Hulk'' (vol. 2) #30 (April 2011)</ref>

Impossible Man is later shown to have a son named Adolf Impossible who has many of his father's fantastic powers and a more introverted personality. This causes Impossible Man to label Adolf as "entirely too possible" and plead with the [[Future Foundation]] to accept him and allow him to grow as a person.<ref>''FF'' (vol. 2) #11</ref>