Surviving The Cutting Room Floor

I remember the first day I became a comic book nerd. I was in elementary school and came down with a wicked case of strep throat. My mother took me to the doctor then to the pharmacy. The pharmacist told me to grab one of the comic books in the rack and it would help me get well. It was a Heathcliff comic. I read it from cover to cover. As I got older I started buying more and more books from that drug store. Spider-Man, Batman, Superman, and good old Archie! You know? The essentials.

As time marched on so did my curiosity for these characters. Most of them were created before my parents even met. So, I was curious as to their origins. I began researching a lot of my favorite characters and I found something very interesting. Four of the most famous comic book/TV/movie characters of all time almost didn’t make it out of editing.

We all remember Heath Ledger’s performance as The Joker in The Dark Knight. If a dumb simpleton would’ve had his way neither The Joker nor Batman himself would’ve ever made it to print. The same can be said for Wolverine and Spock. Yes—SPOCK!! Here is a little history lesson for you.

Let’s start with The Joker. Writer Bill Finger wrote the original Joker in the 1940s. His thought process was actually plausible, but would’ve spelled the end for the Laughing Villain after one issue. His beef? How good of a crime fighter would Batman have been if his villains kept coming back? Pragmatic, but DUMB!! It actually took an editor to tell Finger, “Yo, this guy rocks! Bring him back, man.” Ok, so that’s probably not a direct quote, but you get the idea.

Now before you throw Finger under the bus for wanting to kill off The Joker, you first have to pat him on the back before inserting the knife. Why? Well, by all accounts he saved Batman. But, wait, didn’t Bob Kane create Batman? Technically, yes, but it was Finger who actually swayed Kane to go ahead with the Caped Crusader. The idea was to create a vigilante who didn’t mind working over a few crime lords in order to dish out justice properly. Kane was wavering in his idea, but Finger stood firm and they both came up with one of the awesomest crime fighters of all time. Way to stay the course, guys!

The legend of Wolverine has more to do with nationality than anything. Wolverine was actually saved twice. The first time was at his inception. The original design had Wolverine looking like…well….an actual wolverine. I’m not kidding. He had fur and everything. Editors immediately stepped in and saw how ridiculous this was and demanded changes. So, we got the Wolverine we all know and love.

His second resurrection came in the 1970s. Slumping sales left Marvel with a dilemma on their hands. They had two characters that were not working out so well on the comic book racks. One was Wolverine and the other was Thunderbird. Editors felt that they were also too similar in looks and storyline. The solution? Allow John Byrne to decide which one stays and which one goes. I’m not kidding.

To help make up his mind he researched both characters. He decided to keep Wolverine because (drum roll please) he was Canadian. Seriously? Yes! Byrne, who is also a Canuck, felt it was high time to get a Canadian superhero off the ground and into super stardom. Oh, Canada!

Perhaps one of the most amazing characters to me to almost be cut is Spock. How in the world could anyone cut such a peaceful, amazing, and warm character like Spock? Well, NBC. When Gene Rodenberry first pitched the idea of Spock they were on board from the get-go. However, after filming began NBC execs felt strongly Leonard Nimoy’s character looked like Satan. Now if you tilt your head slightly to the right and put a picture of the Devil next to Spock you can see a little creepiness. Ok, fine he does look ominous.

So how was Spock saved? Believe it or not just as Roddenberry was meeting with the very execs who wanted to ax Spock, the latest numbers being offered to NBC from viewers came in just minutes before the axing began. Women LOVED Spock. And I mean loved him to the point they were writing letters asking Nimoy to walk around shirtless. I’m so glad that never happened, but I am happy Spock can live long and prosper.