Egg Fu
| Egg Fu | |
|---|---|
 Wonder Woman #158 (November 1965), cover art by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Wonder Woman #157 (October 1965) |
| Created by | Robert Kanigher (writer) Ross Andru (artist) |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Edgar Fullerton Yeung Chang Tzu |
| Species | Anthropomorphic egg |
| Team affiliations | Intergang Great Ten Science Squad |
| Notable aliases | Chang Tzu, Egg Fu the Fifth, Dr. Yes |
| Abilities | Teleportation device |
Egg Fu is a fictional character appearing in DC Comics publications and related media, commonly as an adversary of the superhero Wonder Woman.[1] Most frequently represented as an enormous sentient egg (and often, inexplicably, of Chinese descent), he was created by Robert Kanigher and Ross Andru[2] in 1965's Wonder Woman #157. Over the years, multiple versions of the character have appeared with varying backstories and alternative names (including Egg Fu the Fifth, Chang Tzu, and Dr. Yes) to battle not only Wonder Woman, but also the Metal Men, Checkmate and Harley Quinn.[3]
In early appearances, the character was a Yellow Peril ethnic stereotype, complete with caricatured Asian facial features and dialogue written in a phoneticized Chinese accent.[4][5] Later appearances of the character have striven to maintain his Asian ethnicity while de-emphasizing his historically racialized characterization and removing overt associations with Chinese culture and language.
Publication history
Egg Fu was created by Robert Kanigher and Ross Andru.[2] He first appeared in 1965's Wonder Woman #157,[6] and died in the same issue. One year later, Egg Fu the Fifth, a relative of the original Egg Fu, debuts in Wonder Woman #166 (November 1966). Soon after, Dr. Yes (a reference to Dr. No), Egg Fu's robot twin, appears in Metal Men #20 (June/July 1966).
Fictional character biography
Pre-crisis history
Original Egg Fu
Egg Fu is a Chinese Communist agent, perplexingly shaped like an egg the size of a house, with a Charlie Chan-like speech pattern, who uses his mustaches as whips against his enemies.[7] In Egg Fu's first appearance, Steve Trevor is captured by the Chinese mastermind and turned into a human bomb. Egg Fu then launches Steve and a doomsday missile at the American fleet. Wonder Woman intercepts Steve, who has become a deadly menace. Unable to save him, she redirects his path into the enemy missile. The explosion destroys the missile, Steve, and Wonder Woman herself, but the fleet is saved. Informed of her daughter's demise, Queen Hippolyta gathers the remains of Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor and returns them to a laboratory on Paradise Island. Using an atomic structure reassembly beam, she restores Steve and her daughter. However, Steve's body is still infused with explosive energy. Wonder Woman finds that her own body has also become explosive, making them both a danger to the world.[8] They leave Paradise Island. Wonder Woman plans to use the explosive power against Egg Fu. He sends his troops against her, but they fail in their task to overcome her. A piece of anti-matter removes the explosive matter from Steve and her, then the Amazon defeats Egg Fu.[9]
Egg Fu the Fifth
Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor investigate the disappearance of an American submarine. While flying over the ocean where it disappeared, Wonder Woman's plane is fired upon by an enemy freighter. Steve boards the ship, then disappears too.
Wonder Woman's plane is drawn underwater into a giant seashell. Frogmen attack her and take her prisoner. She is brought to a secret base controlled by Egg Fu the Fifth, a relative of the original Egg Fu. Held prisoner by her own magic lasso, Wonder Woman offers to dance for Egg Fu. She then performs a bracelet-clashing dance which cracks Egg Fu and allows her to escape and rescue the stolen submarine.
Dr. Yes
Dr. Yes, Egg Fu's robot twin, uses a giant robot to capture Will Magnus, leader of the Metal Men. The team travel to Dr. Yes' base, where he brainwashes them, believing that "when the Amelicans see how these gleat heroes of theirs have turned tlaitors -- they will doubt anyone's stlength to lesist us!" [sic]
The giant robot takes the Metal Men to a football stadium that is celebrating "
Post-crisis history
Post-crisis Egg Fu
Following the
Egg Fu is actually a product of
Chang Tzu
Following the events of Infinite Crisis, a new version of Egg Fu appears, calling himself Chang Tzu (likely a reference to Chuang Tzu, or possibly Sun Tzu), an agent of Apokolips.
Chang Tzu (Chung Zhu) is the mastermind, along with
Shortly after Black Adam escapes confinement on Oolong Island, Chang Tzu is shot apart by one of his kidnapped scientists, Dr. Will Magnus.[2] Magnus claims to be acting irrationally due to a lack of medication. A new, smouldering egg was seen hidden in Chang's shattered remains.[10] When he later reappears and is asked about his seeming destruction, he explains: "My third incubation ended four months ago".[11]
Chang Tzu later re-appears as the main villain in 2007's "Checkout" storyline that crossed over between the Outsiders and Checkmate series. The UN-sponsored clandestine agency devoted to meta-human special operations capture the then-wanted super-hero team led by Nightwing and coerce them into helping invade Oolong Island. A team of operatives from both groups reaches the island, but Sasha Bordeaux and Captain Boomerang are taken captive by Chang Tzu, who subjects them both to excruciatingly torturous studies in order to examine their own respective meta-abilities. Their teammates eventually free them and the group retreats, their mission a failure, with Chang Tzu still remaining at large. While studying her unique physiology consisting of human tissue and artificially intelligent nanotechnology, Chang Tzu takes a morbid interest in Bordeaux, remarking:
- "Never in my wildest dreams... did I imagine I would meet a creature I pitied more than myself".[12]
As revealed to
His name is unclear as it has been inconsistently presented; he is introduced as Chang Tzu,[13] but is subsequently referred to as both Chung Zhu[14] and Chung Tzu.[15] It may be possible that he has multiple names; Chang himself explains that "Egg Fu" is one of his "Nine thousand and nine unmentionable names", and immediately kills a guard who laughs at his mention of it.[14]
Chang Tzu reappeared in a short story published in Wonder Woman #600, where he is defeated by Wonder Woman, Power Girl, and Batgirl.
Eggy
In the New 52, a character nicknamed "Eggy" is introduced in Harley Quinn (vol. 2) Annual #1. He is Edgar Fullerton Yeung, an egg-headed scientist who is secretly experimenting on Poison Ivy at Arkham Asylum, but he ends up reforming with the help of Harley Quinn and gets himself a job.
Eggy appears throughout the DC Rebirth iteration of the Harley Quinn series.[16]
In other media
Video games
- Chang Tzu appears as a boss and NPC in DC Universe Online.
- Chang Tzu appears as a playable character in Lego DC Super Villains.
Miscellaneous
- Egg Fu appears in Batman: The Brave and the Bold #16. This version is a demonic entity known as Y'ggphu-Soggoth.
See also
References
- ISBN 9780811842334. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
- ^ OCLC 213309017
- ISBN 978-0345501073.
- ISBN 978-1605490557.
- ISBN 9781477318973. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
- ^ Wonder Woman #157 at the Grand Comics Database.
- ISBN 0-8160-1356-X.
- ISBN 978-1593936068. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
- ^ Wonder Woman #157–158 (October-November 1965)
- ^ 52 Week 49
- ^ Checkmate (vol. 2) #15
- ^ Checkmate (vol. 2) #16
- ^ 52 Week 25
- ^ a b 52 Week 29
- ^ 52 Week 45
- ^ Harley Quinn (vol. 3) #1-8, 12-14, 17, 18
