The Tick

Tick and Arthur are invited to join The Superhero League, which upsets Captain Liberty since they only accept white dudes. (And Arthur, who’s Jewish, yet surprisingly that doesn’t come up in this episode). The League is run by “The Champion,” a not-particularly-well-cast Superman type. Meanwhile, Cap decides to sue the League for discrimination, and ends up hiring a lawyer who is, in fact, the secret identity of The Champion. Hilarity utterly fails to ensue.

A superhero called “The Immortal” is coming through The City on a book-signing tour. He’s evidently this version of the Tickiverse’s version of Superman. (In the Comics and the Cartoon, the Seldom-seen Superman Parody is called “The Cape,” and his real name is “Clark Oppenheimer,” and he’s much more straightforward than the TV iteration). Everyone is in awe of The Immortal, including Arthur who, as a much younger guy, camped outside a hotel to get his autograph.

Arthur is at the Happy Panda or someplace equally inconsequential when he sees Mindy Waxman, a girl he loved in high school who didn’t know he was alive. The only time she talked to him in 4 years was when she hit him with her car. “I threw up, I was so happy.” She comes over and talks to him, and it turns out she’s got a thing for superheroes, so she’s immediately hot for Arthurs’ chubby bod. Arthur is elated and terrified (He’s such a nebbish!) and quickly realizes she’s only into him for the costume, not because of who he is.

Arthur decides to tell his mom and his sister (“Dot”) about his new “Lifestyle Choice.” They decide he’s crazy, and slap him in a nuthatch run by a guy named “Peacock,” who attempts to cure people of their predilection for Superheroism. It quickly turns out that Mr. Peacock is, himself, a latent superhero, and spends all night in his office trying on his patients’ confiscated costumes. Arthur discovers this, and is thrown into solitary.