Comic Book Characters and Cancer
With the Question slowly dying of lung cancer in the issues of 52, I decided it was a good time to take a look at comic book characters who have developed cancer. Here’s the list I came up with. You’ll notice that I’m counting characters in regular comic book series and graphic novels, but not characters in autobiographical graphic novels.
Looking at this list, it makes me wonder: has any comic book character ever survived cancer through non-extraordinary means?
Survived
John Constantine (lung cancer) survived through intervention of the leaders of Hell - Hellblazer
Charlie Arrows (brain cancer) survived through intervention of other superbeings - The Establishment
Died
Mar-Vell - The Death of Captain Marvel Graphic Novel
Ted Knight (had terminal cancer, but died by sacrificing himself to stop the Mist) - Starman
Wally Weaver - Watchmen
Has Cancer Currently
Wong (brain cancer) - Doctor Strange: The Oath
David Qin (brain cancer) - Strangers in Paradise
Question (lung cancer) - 52
Status Unknown
Moloch - Watchmen
Janey Slater (lung cancer) - Watchmen
It’s also interesting to note that with the exception of Wong and David Qin, every other character had cancer inflicted upon them — in other words, it was caused by an external exposure (radiation, cigarettes, etc.)
November 30th, 2006 at 10:54 pm
Along with lupus, is this only malady that Aunt May *hasn’t* had?
December 1st, 2006 at 12:17 am
Moloch was shot dead to frame Rorschach.
December 1st, 2006 at 3:28 am
If Question didn’t get the cancer “naturally”, how was he infected?
December 1st, 2006 at 4:17 am
If John Constatine didn’t get the cancer from smoking, how was he infected?
December 1st, 2006 at 4:39 am
- Alpha Flight’s Diamond Lil had breast cancer, but with her invulnerable skin, her doctor had no way to operate her. Once she found an alien weapon capable of piercing her skin, the tumor was removed. So a bit of super-science involved to get around her invulnerability, but overall she was treated and cured in a normal way.
In the Miracle Cure columns:
- Deadpool has terminal cancer and joined the Weapon X program in a desperate attempt to find a cure. During the process he received his regenerative powers that keeps the cancer in check, though his powers have … side-effects.
- In Wildstorm’s the Establishment, the main character, Charlie Arrows, had a brain tumor. The tumor was removed by the Establishment’s Mr. Pharmacist, unleashing Arrows full superhuman powers.
In the No Cure for Cancer column:
- Baron Mordo, Dr. Strange’s archenemy developed terminal cancer. Incapable of curing himself, he tried to better himself. He redeemed himself before he died, but was recently resurrected due to some type of time-paradox in Spider-Man IIRC (only read the story where Mordo died, not his return).
- The X-Men’s Changeling had terminal cancer and tried to redeem himself as well, by becoming Xavier’s stand-in. Changeling was killed by Gro-Tesk.
- Squadron Supreme’s Tom Thumb died of cancer. The Scarlet Centurion gave him a cure from his own time, but in the Centurion’s future people were genetically different and therefore the cure was useless in the 20th century.
December 1st, 2006 at 7:10 am
Comics are a melodramatic medium. Giving a single, clear cause for cancer makes the writer’s job easier, even if the real world isn’t that straightforward.
It’s just how people think (as opposed to how cancer really works). Quite analogous to the people who are sure their cancer was caused by powerlines, or the factory up the street. There HAS to be a single, unambiguous cause for things, even if there isn’t.
December 1st, 2006 at 7:39 am
The Question has lung cancer? So DC continues to mishandle my favorite character ever. He probably got it from the chemical he uses to apply his mask.
December 1st, 2006 at 9:09 am
In 52, the big Q clearly got it from smoking. And Trench, if you don’t like to see the Q mishandled, I can’t stress enough how much you *shouldn’t* be reading 52 right now.
December 1st, 2006 at 9:20 am
There was a storyline in the Superman books during the 90s in which Perry White had gotten cancer from years of smoking. He recovered fully (and improbably), and was seen smoking cigars again One Year Later. Maybe it was retcon-punched away?
December 1st, 2006 at 9:35 am
Luckily I’m not. I was extremely turned off by last year’s Question mini-series and his new powers.
December 1st, 2006 at 9:42 am
“The Question has lung cancer? So DC continues to mishandle my favorite character ever. He probably got it from the chemical he uses to apply his mask.”
Something of the opposite, I think. IIRC (or more precisely, according to someone commenting on *52*), in the O’Neil Question series, one of the reasons he *stops* smoking is that the habit interferes with the mask chemical somehow, allowing it to detach at some inopportune moment. It appears he has lung cancer caused by his old smoking habit.
December 1st, 2006 at 7:43 pm
Martin Stein was dying of cancer, but got better after he was presumed dead. I understand Ronnie Raymond also had cancer for awhile, but I wasn’t reading comics at the time.
December 1st, 2006 at 8:45 pm
Ronnie Raymond had leukemia, not cancer. That was in Extreme Justice.
December 2nd, 2006 at 3:23 am
Here’s a question…
What if the Hulk got cancer?
Presumably, the cancer cells would keep dividing unstoppably, and would share the Hulk’s invulnerability and ability to repair tissue damage.
Eventually, the Hulk would have a mountain-sized tumor, and it would keep growing. Would it grow faster as he became more and more angry at it?
And if any cancerous cells were separated from his body, would they continue dividing?
December 2nd, 2006 at 12:26 pm
Status Unknown
Moloch - Watchmen
Janey Slater (lung cancer) - Watchmen
Edgar Jacobi aka Moloch - murdered by Adrian Veidt (Ozymandias) by gunshot to head
Janey Slater - presumed among the 3 million killed by Veidt’s clandestine attack upon New York City
December 3rd, 2006 at 8:34 am
Incredible Hulk #151 featured a monster called “The Crawling Unknown,” which was actually a gigantic living mass of cancer cells. A senator named Morton Clegstead, suffering from terminal cancer, got the idea that the Hulk’s gamma-irradiated blood could work as a form of radiation therapy, and injected himself with a sample. Instead, the cancer completely consumed him, transforming into an amorphous blob of cells that consumed anything it could get its pseudopods on.
http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/crawlunk.htm
There was a predecessor of sorts in a non-superhero comic: EC’s Vault of Horror #27 included a story (drawn by George Evans) about a backwoods guy who was diagnosed with cancer. Terrified of the prospect of dying, he sought out a witch and got her to make him immortal. Unfortunately, immortality didn’t cure his cancer…it just meant that he couldn’t die as the cancerous cells consumed the healthy ones. Eventually, he too became a gigantic amorphous blob.
December 3rd, 2006 at 7:05 pm
Rick Tyler had leukemia from Miraclo that got magicked away by…Amazo, was it? Or the android Hourman? One of them. Maybe both.
December 3rd, 2006 at 11:40 pm
Superman had a kryptonite-induced cancer. It was extracted in a Fantastic Journey-style-thing and became a sentient snakelike creature called Kancer. Seriously.
I -think- a character in the Invisibles gets a throat tumor that talks to him. (only mentioned, not shown.)
December 5th, 2006 at 7:13 am
During the ’80s Steve Dayton cured his brain cancer using the Mento helmet, using the Mento helmet on himself drove him “crazy.” In response he chose to ride around in a wheelchair, created the Hybrid and tried multiple times to kill the Titans. In the end Raven cured his mental disorder. I put “crazy” in quotes because his disorder was never well defined, is it ever in a comic book, and he went “crazy” a couple of times.
December 5th, 2006 at 11:58 pm
Hey wait a sec, didn’t Lex get cancer at one point from Kryptonite radiation?
March 5th, 2007 at 4:46 pm
Mysterio (Quentin Beck) had terminal cancer in “Guardian Devil” but he died by shooting himself.
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