1960s The Fantastic Four first encounter Impossible Man at the Flamingo restaurant when they are summoned there to investigate a disturbance. Written by Lee to be a
prankster and
hedonist, the Impossible Man claimed to belong to the alien race of Poppupians from planet Poppup in the "Tenth Galaxy", who all share a
collective consciousness and the ability to shapeshift, as their planet is so dangerous they have the ability to evolve very quickly. Seeking amusement, Impossible Man visits Earth for a vacation by turning himself into a spaceship, talking of a Poppup Tourist Bureau. After finding the
superhero team the Fantastic Four and realizing nobody else on Earth has his power (therefore concluding he is the most powerful being on Earth), he constantly harasses them until they decide to ignore him and tell other people to do the same, forcing the Impossible Man to leave as he finds Earth so boring, and saying Earth will never get their tourist business. He gets his name after the
Thing claims he is "impossible".
1970s Impossible Man did not appear again until 1976. Acting as a
deus ex machina in a storyline involving the cosmic entity and world-devourer
Galactus, the Impossible Man convinces him to consume Poppup instead of Earth, causing Galactus to seemingly die from 'cosmic indigestion'. Since the Poppupians were a shared consciousness they were happy to sacrifice their planet to stop Galactus, knowing that their culture would live on in the embodiment of its most adventurous member. The Impossible Man then makes a humorous appearance at the offices of Marvel Comics, where he causes havoc until Stan Lee promises to give him his own title. He offers peripheral assistance to the Fantastic Four when they are trapped in the
Negative Zone by the
Frightful Four, a team of their enemies. The Impossible Man impersonates
Jimmy Carter on the day of his
inauguration. The Impossible Man briefly takes Carter's place to foil an attempt to enslave him during an adventure with the
Thing and the cyborg
Deathlok. He later saves the
Invisible Woman from a fall and becomes fascinated with Earth movies. When returning to the
Baxter Building, headquarters of the Fantastic Four, the Impossible Man is surprised and defeated by
Klaw. Impossible Man recovers and, with his abilities, mimics and defeats Klaw in turn and assists the Fantastic Four in stopping the
Molecule Man.
1980s After helping the Thing defeat several villains at a party, the Impossible Man observes the Thing with his partner
Alicia Masters and becomes lonely. Impossible Man then decides to reproduce - here an asexual process - by splitting in two. This creates fellow Poppupian the
Impossible Woman. The pair later attempt to recreate their race and create the Impossible Kids, with the entire "family" visiting the Thing. When the Impossible Woman is missing, Impossible Man hires
Jessica Drew to locate her, and has an encounter with the
X-Men after stealing artifacts from Earth to settle a supposed family dispute with the other members of his race. More comedic adventures followed, with the Impossible Man engaging in a shapeshifting competition with
Warlock, causing havoc on an alternate universe version of Earth, and trying to obtain the movie rights to the
autobiography of professional sidekick
Rick Jones.
1990s The Impossible Man finds and teases the cosmic being the
Silver Surfer on two occasions, pleading for him to develop a sense of humor before battling the titan
Thanos. Impossible Man returns to Earth and causes more mischief, encounters the hero
Daredevil while looking for a lost child, starts a bar fight, watches the
Eternal Makkari win a galactic
marathon, and invites various otherwise un-contacted heroes and supervillains to the wedding of Rick Jones. After a brief encounter with the
New Warriors, Impossible Man enlists the aid of mutant team
X-Force to instill some pride in his children, and enters into a wager with the alternate universe
imp Mister Mxyzptlk.
2000s The Impossible Man returns to Earth disguised as the Silver Surfer, and after teasing the hero
Spider-Man warns of an alien invasion. The Impossible Man's race are also revealed to have survived, with their consciousness stored inside him. With the aid of the Fantastic Four, the aliens and the reborn Poppupians are transported off world, merging into one race on Spider-Man's suggestion.
2010s Later during the
Chaos War, the Impossible Man confronts
Amatsu-Mikaboshi, trying to humor and reason with him while shapeshifting in various forms to divert him, but Amatsu-Mikaboshi tires of him and brutally dispatches him. Impossible Man witnesses a battle between
Hulk,
Red Hulk, and
Xemnu and uses the Valizian Compounder to fuse Hulk and Red Hulk into the Compound Hulk. Impossible Man watches as the Compound Hulk fights Xemnu's minion Kluh, a smart version of the Gray Hulk. Impossible Man is later shown to have a son named Adolf Impossible, who has many of his father's fantastic powers and a more introverted personality. This causes Impossible Man to label Adolf as "entirely too possible" and plead with the
Future Foundation to accept him and allow him to grow as a person. ==Powers and abilities==