You Throw Like a Morlock!

Superheroes are iconic for many things. Symbols, costumes, gadgets, and, obviously, superpowers. However, while they may be known for flying and shooting lasers, not many people recognize their strategic attacks. One such attack being Marvel Comic's Fastball Special.

"The Fastball Special" is a combat maneuver executed by one character with super strength and another character of an agile size/weight. If you don't read comic books-you sadist-don't feel bad. You might have seen The Fastball Special before. The 1992 "X-Men" cartoon, "Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes", and "Ultimate Spider-Man" have all used this move in some regard. Even non-Marvel shows like "Transformers", "The Powerpuff Girls", "Ben 10", "Young Justice", and the anime "RWBY" have used this move. The icing on the extended media cake is in "X-Men: The Last Stand" where Wolverine and Colossus perform the move on a Sentinel during a training mission. Fitting since Wolverine and Colossus invented the move in 1975's "Uncanny X-Men #94". Ever since then the two of them have used the move in many X-Men adventures. However, what if I told you Marvel's iconic duo-attack wasn't originally theirs? Enter 1958's "Adventure Comics #253". In this Golden Age DC comic book, Dick Grayson/Robin The Boy Wonder travels back in time to when Superman was Superboy. The two of them have a team-up, one that includes a scene of Superboy throwing Robin. The original Fastball Special! Seems Chris Claremont read that story too!

So now that you know where the move came from, how is it used? Pretty simple. Hero A (the agile one) crouches on the palm of Hero B (the strong one). Hero B tosses Hero A in an Olympic "Shot Put" motion. Hero A proceeds to attack the targeted enemy at breakneck speeds! The move depends on a lot of factors. Strength of the toss, aiming, and the aerodynamics of the flung hero. Since it's such a simple team-attack it's been used by more than just Wolverine and Colossus. Wolverine has performed the move with The Hulk, The Thing, and She-Hulk. She-Hulk, by the way, commented on the firmness of Wolvie's butt. Wolverine also proves his worth as a teacher by instructing two Korean copies of himself and Colossus how to perform the move. Since he was recently a Dean at The Jean Grey School of Higher Learning it can be assumed he taught younger X-Men the move too. The move has also been used by non-mutant characters like Giant-Man and The Hulk, and Luke Cage and Iron Fist.

The Fastball Special is the perfect representation of what teamwork means to comic books. It takes a lot of force, but also a lot of trust to fling your friend into danger. You never know when your living projectile might hit something a little harder than flesh. But with this move being as old as Wolverine-and even Robin-it's not a stretch to say The Fastball Special is a piece of comic book history that will never go away. Not as long as there are friends to toss and things to hit!

Thanks for reading!