Mysterion

Mysterion is the super hero identity of Kenny who appears in the episodes "The Coon", "Coon 2: Hindsight", "Mysterion Rises", "Coon vs. Coon and Friends", and "The Poor Kid". He is one of Mr. Garrison's fourth grade students at South Park Elementary masquerading as a vigilante under the pseudonym 'Mysterion'. He seemingly unveiled himself after the Coon persuaded them to for the good of the town, but the deleted ending showed that the 'Mysterion' was actually Kyle, dressing as Mysterion. Due to the way the characters' facial characteristics are—their eyes, lack of noses, and mouth — it was initially unclear who Mysterion was to the audience, but the townspeople recognized him immediately.

Originally, Trey Parker and Matt Stone intended for Mysterion to be a one-time character and had not planned for his identity to ever be revealed, or even intended for him to be a particular character and intended him, like Eric Cartman's father, only to cause debates among fans. However, during Season 14, Mysterion returned in a story arc beginning with "Coon 2: Hindsight" as a member of Coon and Friends, and in the follow-up "Mysterion Rises" his identity was revealed to be Kenny, and he possesses a superpower - his familiar inability to die as well as the fact no one remembers him dying.

Personality
Mysterion is the embodiment of the anti-hero character archetype. Much of his attitude and view of the world stems from his experiences as Kenny, from his poverty, his willingness to help others in a time of need, as well as his inability to convince his friends of his inability to stay dead, which he views as a curse. Most of the time he is calm and calculating, making him an excellent strategist. However, there are times when, usually when people fail to take him seriously or in discussions with the Coon, that his temper gets the better of him - he came very close to lashing out violently at Kyle when he said that not being able to die would be "pretty cool". On another occasion he said that he finds pissing Cartman off "extremely funny" - possibly the only time Mysterion has laughed. He also displays a different persona than his real-life self, coming off as more gruff, intense, authoritative and grounded, whereas Kenny (usually) tends to be more lighthearted, easily amused and annoyed, also tending to play more of a supporting role with his friends.

Despite being the near-exact opposite of the Coon, Kenny has used his alter ego to improve his own life to an extent - he convinced his parents to stop beating each other up, stop smoking marijuana (although he has only been semi-successful with both of these demands) and give their sons allowances. However, given his nature of being almost completely selfless under other circumstances, this is forgivable.

Appearance
Mysterion looks very much like a child superhero, as he wears a pair of white underwear briefs over his base suit, which is an off-lavender and has a bright green 'M' on the front of it. Around his waist, there is a plain, thin black belt with a dark grey, standard buckle. Brown boots adorn his feet. There is a dark purple cloak that drags on the ground wrapped around his neck and provides a shield for his hair or any defining features. This cloak has a bright green question mark made of some type of sturdy material attached to a spring that juts out from the top of Mysterion's head. Finally, he wears a black half-mask that covers his face from the bridge of the nose up.

Unfortunately, there are little clues as to what features Mysterion possesses that makes him distinctive. Like most children in South Park's animation style, Mysterion has a perfectly round head, an averagely sized body, two tilted oval eyes with black pupils, and a mouth. He is extremely agile, and can run away quickly enough to disappear while a string of fireworks are blowing up.

When he shows his face in "The Coon", that is Kyle, not Kenny, as shown in a deleted scene, where Kyle is in jail, and Mysterion walks up to him. The real Mysterion then shows his face. However, deleted scenes are non-canon in most television shows, so this may not hold true.

Character History
Mysterion was first introduced in "The Coon", when he appeared near Cartman (as the Coon) on the roof of Walgreens'. Cartman tried to find out his identity (a process largely relying on Mysterion "tripping up" over his own speech), but he fails. Mysterion leaves, and reports to the local police station the next night to report various crimes - mostly just public order offenses (however, the police are quite impressed). Upon leaving, he is confronted again by the Coon, who feels that he is being ripped off. Mysterion, rather than enter an argument, uses firecrackers to distract the Coon while he escapes. While Mysterion recruits Kyle to gather intelligence for him, Cartman teams up with Professor Chaos (Butters) to take down Mysterion - Chaos lays a trap to reel in Mysterion by threatening to blow up a hospital. The plot is successful, but instead of a clean take down, Mysterion - despite coming close to death at one point - comes out on top in a fist fight with Chaos and General Disarray (Dougie). Afterwards, though, Cartman convinces him to reveal himself to stop these attacks from happening. Mysterion reluctantly agrees, and reveals himself at a press conference (although it is still unclear to the viewer).

A deleted ending shows Kyle in prison for vigilantism, when the real Mysterion turns up and asks why Kyle did that - Mysterion reveals himself to Kyle in private.

In "Coon 2: Hindsight", Mysterion is a member of the organization called Coon & Friends, headed by Cartman, which fights crime together. Mysterion seems to be an unofficial leader, since everyone respects him over Cartman, and he tries to convince Cartman that there are bigger things to worry about (such as the Gulf Oil Crisis) than the appearance of a new superhero, Captain Hindsight, who doesn't actually do anything to stop catastrophes but instead explores what could have been done to prevent them. When Cartman beats up Mosquito and Mint-Berry Crunch (Clyde and Bradley), two fellow heroes, Mysterion and the others vote Cartman out of Coon & Friends, and Mysterion takes unofficial command as the group leave to help confront the Dark God Cthulhu, released by the irresponsibility of DP (formerly BP) in drilling.

In the continuation, "Mysterion Rises", Mysterion has decided to keep the group name Coon & Friends, simply because it annoyed Cartman (who has left to track down Cthulhu and ally up with him), and he found it extremely funny. The group are running a lemon bar stall to raise money to help with the crisis, but on return to their HQ (Cartman's basement) they find that the place has been trashed by Hindsight, who had been trying to find pictures of "him" having sex with Courtney Love (actually Butters in makeup). He threatens the group with a gun - Mysterion, after trying and failing to reason with Hindsight, pushes his head against the barrel and tells him to fire. The Human Kite (Kyle) tells him to chill out (revealing him to be Kenny in the process), but Mysterion asks the others to go. Hindsight tells Mysterion his "perfect 20-20 hindsight" is a curse - Mysterion manages to push that into insignificance with his own curse: his inability to die, worsened by the fact that nobody remembers his dying.

Later, the group meet in Clyde's room researching the "cult" of Cthulhu on the internet, where they stumble across a newspaper article about Kenny's parents being arrested for cult activity. At which point you can hear Kenny's real voice. This is the only episode in which you hear Kenny's true voice. He questions his parents as Mysterion, and they reveal where the meetings take place to him - as well as that they only went along for free beer, which Kenny doesn't find very hard to believe. The group go and spy on the meeting, where a particular passage from their book, the Necronomicon, interests Mysterion. Having seen the Goth kids at the meeting (since millenia of suffering and darkness "sounds pretty Goth"), Mysterion confronts them. They don't take him too seriously, but before he gets anywhere the cult leader turns up and tells them to kill him. Despite the rest of the group trying to intervene, the leader stabs Mysterion - who promptly wakes up in his bed. The others turn up, and Toolshed (Stan) asks Kenny why he "ran away". Kenny cannot answer, since they will not take him seriously - instead, he sighs in resignation.

In the conclusion, "Coon vs. Coon and Friends", Mysterion ponders where his power came from, while the others discuss what their "powers" are. The others don't take him too seriously when he tries to convince them that he actually can't die - he begins to lose his temper when Kyle says he thinks it would be cool to not be able to die - it actually "fucking hurts". Eventually, he resorts to shooting himself through the head in front of them. Later, the others are once again discussing their "powers" and where they came from, at Mysterion's (serious) suggestion that he should explore where his immortality came from. Cartman then reappears, and seems to be remorseful - but nobody takes him seriously. When he convinces them to come outside, he has Cthulhu banish them to the Sunken City of R'Lyeh (aside from Mint-Berry Crunch, who fled). Mysterion jumps onto a spike to get out and find a way to rescue everyone else. The improvised teleport works, and he returns to the Goths for information on the cult, which the Goths aren't too impressed with. Bradley passes by, sees Mysterion and changes into his own costume, and the two eventually track down Cthulhu after Mysterion reads that it takes an immortal to kill an immortal.

Cartman had been using Cthulhu to kill various people he didn't like - synagogues, hippie festivals and the city of San Francisco had all fallen prey to Cthulhu. Mysterion arrives and confronts Cartman, who has misinterpreted the idea of being a hero and thinks that it involves making the world a better place for himself, rather than other people. Mysterion eventually demonstrates true heroism and offers his own life to Cthulhu in return for his friends - before this can happen, though, a message arrives from space for "Gok'Zarah", who turns out to be Mint-Berry Crunch. He subsequently uses his powers to defeat Cthulhu and rescue the remainder of Coon & Friends. When he eventually leaves to investigate what happened to his parents after putting Cartman in the holding cell with Butters, Mysterion gives up on trying to convince the others that he can't die, and commits suicide again to return home. 

In "The Poor Kid", Kenny is shown to have kept his alter ego - while he is not seen fighting crime as such, he has been protecting his little sister, Karen. After being moved into foster care, Karen becomes distraught and cries in her sleep - Mysterion, or as she refers to him, "Guardian Angel", appears at the window to reassure her that she is going to be okay, but he leaves when the foster father comes to investigate the noise. Later, when Karen is being bullied in the school playground for being both a new kid and fostered, Mysterion arrives, clinically dispatches the lead bully, Jessica Pinkerton, and warns everyone to keep away from Karen. He uses his tried-and-tested method of a firework string to excape without further incident. Finally, he distracts the agnostic foster parents by graffitiing question marks over the bedroom walls, leading them on a merry-chase, before escaping out a window, leaving a note to look in the fridge, where he has left a can of Blue Ribbon - after consuming it, the parents get arrested and Kenny - and his family - get reunited.

Vigilante Activities
Despite everyone's insistence on how important Mysterion was to the town, he appeared to stop relatively small crimes. The only crimes we saw him stop were public disorderly conduct and graffitti by reporting them to the police. He also beats up Professor Chaos (Butters) and General Disarray to stop them from blowing up a hospital (although fellow "hero" The Coon was really behind that plot) and his dialogue with Chaos indicates that he has probably stopped his "evil" plots before.

Weapons/Tools
In Coon vs. Coon and Friends, he is seen toting a handgun, although he never uses it for his vigilante activities, but only to shoot himself on two seperate occasions. The only tool we had seen Mysterion to use was a strand of firecrackers, which is illegal in the state of Colorado, in order to escape from the Coon. Mysterion uses firecrackers to distract the school students at Greeley when He takes Karen away from her tormentor and the crowd around them.

Mysterion uses a Mysterion Logo on a spring, like the one on His head, leaving it on a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer, as a sign that He was there.

Powers/Abilities
Mysterion seems to be more of a hand-to-hand combat fighter, as we see when he fights with Professor Chaos and General Disarray. Mysterion has great agility, as he made it to the top of buildings without the use of ladders, stairs, or elevators. In "The Poor Kid", he effortlessly beats up a school bully while protecting his sister.

In "Mysterion Rises" we are to discover Mysterion possesses a superpower - he is unable to die, always waking up in his bed every day as if nothing ever happened, with nobody remembering his death. He has died "countless" times, and is unaware of why himself. It is implied however, it has to do with the Necronomicon and the cult of Cthulhu. In "Coon vs. Coon and Friends", it was also revealed that he may use his immortality as a sort of improvised teleport: Since he will go back to his bed after he dies, he kills himself to be sent back there. He uses this technique to escape the sunken city of R'lyeh.

Mysterion has an unconscious ability to manipulate the memories of others; whenever he dies, witnesses forget the memory quickly. He seems unable to control this power, as he constantly tries to have his friends remember his deaths.

Mysterion is shown to be able to jump high enough to kick a taller girl in the head in " The Poor Kid ". He also shows great strength, able to carry Karen McCormick on his shoulders and climb up a gutter without struggling.

Mysterion can jump from great height and not be hurt, or even phased, by the pain that a normal person would feel. He jumps off a building and in front of The Goth Kids in ' Mysterion Rises ", and in " The Poor Kid ", he jumps out of a second floor window in his foster parents house.

Identity
Before Mysterion was revealed to be Kenny, Cartman had named Craig, Kyle, Kenny, Stan, Clyde, and arguably Wendy as suspects, and during the unmasking Cartman claims he'd "knew it all along; [he] even said so before!" However, Mysterion is shown confronting Kyle in private, which ruled him out. Mr. Garrison pointed out Mysterion is a member of his class. No female had been listed as a suspect on Professor Chaos and General Disarray's wall of Mysterion suspects, which implies Mysterion as a male, and in addition, the amateur drawing of Mysterion shows a clearly male character with a masculine form and jaw, as well as a very deep voice. Also, the underwear worn are 'male' underwear, even farther ruling out Wendy or any other female student as a suspect.

He is able to move around without aid, so he could not have been Jimmy or Timmy. Also, he remained extremely calm under pressure and did not twitch, making Tweek extremely unlikely and it couldn't have been Token because Mysterion is clearly white. Clyde was shown sleeping in class the day after Mysterion and the Coon (Eric Cartman) met, which some fans claimed he was tired from his activities as Mysterion. However, other students are shown also tired, so it may have simply been to illustrate disinterest in the Coon's identity.

In the Season 13 DVD, the deleted ending of The Coon reveals that the boy unmasked at Town Hall was Kyle, and he was arrested as a result. Mysterion, however, appeared to Kyle outside his cell and revealed his face, repeating the gag again. While this would also dilute both Garrison and Cartman's clues, it is a general rule of thumb in fiction for deleted scenes to be non-canonical.

In Coon 2: Hindsight, the Mysterion suspects are narrowed down to two people: Kenny and Clyde and. Kenny and Clyde were called out by Cartman and he said "I even said it was you,", unlike Bradley, who was not even on Professor Chaos' suspect list, nor accused by Cartman. Stan is shown as a separate hero within Mysterion's presence, ruling him out, and Craig does not appear in the episode.

In Mysterion Rises, it is revealed he is Kenny McCormick, after he urges Captain Hindsight to shoot him.

Allusions to Superheros/Supervillains
Mysterion seems to share similar characteristics with various other superheroes, particularly those from DC Comics' Batman franchise. Matt Stone and Trey Parker state on the commentary for "The Coon" he was intended as a parody of modern "dark' superhero films, using The Dark Knight and Watchmen as examples.

The Spirit
Some of Mysterion's quotes are very similar to those of The Spirit. One such example is the quote, "The city needs my help. It cries for protection, and I will answer the call to save her".

Batman
Batman, the alter ego of Bruce Wayne, often uses a low voice to disguise himself. Mysterion did this as well so none of his classmates or the people he knew as a regular child would recognize his voice. The contact that Mysterion had with the police was similar to that of Batman's partnership with the police commissioner of the city of Gotham, James Gordon; both of them report to their respective informants for relaying information about crime. Also, Mysterion's manner of disguise and choice of words allude to Batman's, for they both hide their defining features, especially around the face, and consider themselves symbols of their cities/towns. They both speak only when necessary and tend to spend more time alone, prowling the streets for crime. His reluctance to work with other heroes is also similar.

Rorschach
Rorschach, one of the central characters of the graphic novel and film Watchmen, is mentioned by Stone and Parker in the DVD commentary as a major inspiration, along with Batman, for Mysterion. Like Batman, Rorschach has a deep, throaty voice similar to Mysterion's. Also in one scene, Mysterion speaks directly to the viewer via inner dialogue, and his inner dialogue is similar to Rorschach's journal throughout the film and graphic novel.

The Riddler
One of Batman's most prominent foes, the Riddler shares his icon, the question mark, with Mysterion, who wears it atop his cloak. While question marks mean different things in regards to each, they are similar in appearance, with the exception that Mysterion's is bright green and Riddler's are many colors.

Quotes

 * "I’m an angel keeping watch over the city at night. As violence and darkness take over the streets, I work to rid the city of crime. I’m the symbol this town needs."
 * "I might be Craig, and then again, I might not be. My identity must remain a secret. You cannot know."
 * "I assume you must be Cartman because you’re fat."
 * "Kyle hates Eric Cartman. Are you saying you’re Eric Cartman?"
 * "I cannot stand here and make idle conversation any longer. The city needs my help. There are innocents to protect."
 * [Inner dialogue] "I could no longer sit by and watch as my city became a cesspool of crime. I have lived in South Park all my life. I decided it was up to me to keep this town safe. Nobody at school knows my double life. To them, I’m just another fourth grader, but tonight, I am Mysterion."
 * "The city needs my help. It cries for protection, and I will answer the call to save her."
 * "I cannot be unmasked, for then I would stop being a symbol. I need help. Somebody who can do background checks for me, do some investigating."
 * "Citizens, tonight has shown me that I have no choice but to unmask myself."
 * "As long as my identity is a mystery, this will just happen again and again. It has to end. I will show my face."
 * "I didn't mean you should dress up and pretend to be me to take the fall." (deleted scene)
 * "I guess I owe you that much..." (to Kyle when asked who he is, deleted scene)
 * "I am Mysterion. I have joined forces with other superheroes in my neighborhood to help save the Gulf. Even the other heroes do not know that unlike them, I do have a power. A power they will now begin to understand. And all will know who and what I truly am."
 * "Then do it! Pull the trigger, Hindsight- if you don't believe us then you don't have a choice. Pull the trigger, you pussy!"
 * "I can't die. I've experienced death countless times. Sometimes I see a bright light. Sometimes I see Heaven, or Hell. But eventually no matter what I wake up in my bed wearing my same old clothes."
 * "You wanna whine about curses, Hindsight? You're talking to the wrong fucking cowboy."
 * "I can't die."
 * "Pretty cool? Do you know what it feels like to be stabbed? To be shot? Decapitated? Torn apart? Burned? Run over? It's not pretty cool, Kyle! It fucking hurts!"
 * "No, Stan, I'm being serious! I really really can't die!"
 * "Aw, that fucking hurts!"
 * "And it won't go away, and nobody will believe me! [walks away, then turns around] Remember this time! Try and fuckin' remember!" [pulls out a gun and shoots himself in the head]
 * "You guys have no memory of me shooting myself in the head, do you?"
 * "What we need to do is talk to people in that cult! I wanna know where my powers come from."
 * "Will you guys listen to me?! I actually have a power that I actually want to know about!"
 * "What are you doing with that thing?!"
 * "I don't know, but... I feel like... I've... been here before"
 * "I'm going to try to get you all out of here. If this works. Or, I could be wrong."
 * "That god you pray to just took away all my friends."
 * "How do I fight him?!"
 * "Tell me what that means!"
 * "That's it! That's the place I just was!"
 * "And what about Cthulhu's power? Why can't Old Ones die?"
 * "Wherever Cthulhu is!"
 * "Maybe, but with any luck I might find the reason for my powers."
 * "You don't understand!"
 * "Hey, fat boy!"
 * "To the sunken city of R'Lyeh fallen from the stars! [approaches him] You little fucking prick! What is wrong with you?! What kind of sick fuck does that to his friends?!"
 * "You are the bad guy, fat boy! YOU!"
 * "For you! You're making it a better place for you!"
 * "No! This is what superheroes do! [walks up to Cthulhu] You banished me but I'm back! What does that make me?! [that gets Cthulhu's attention] Bring back my friends! Take me!"
 * "Only an immortal can kill another immortal! [to Cthulhu] Here's your prize! Take this curse away from me, you big pussy!"
 * "Go on! Kill me before I kill you! But bring my friends back, wuss!"
 * "No! Come back! I have to know what I am! Come back!"
 * "Come back, you fat piece of shit!"
 * "Yeah. I'm tired, guys. I think I'm gonna go to bed"
 * "Who cares if a hero doesn't want to be part of Coon and Friends?"
 * "Look, all we need to do is wait for the next disaster, then try to beat Hindsight to the scene."
 * "My God! Another oil spill could mean absolute devastation for the Gulf!"
 * "Agreed."
 * "We all have a say in this organization, Coon! Let Mosquito talk!"
 * "Those people down there need help! Sometimes being a hero means helping in smaller ways"
 * "He means we need to discuss things with you!"
 * "Aw, I don't wanna tell him. TupperWear, you tell him!"
 * "But we get the headquarters and all the equipment."
 * "We've already discussed this with her. Mrs. Cartman?"
 * "Please escort the Coon out of our secret base."
 * "I am Mysterion. Though only nine years old, I dedicate my life to helping people - when I'm not in school. [the book opens to a random page. On that page he is defeating Professor Chaos] For months now I've been protecting my town from crime. But now, something has happened that even I cannot fight alone. [a picture of the oil rig, updating every few seconds to show the spread of the oil slick] The BP Oil Company has drilled and caused a spill in the Gulf like no other. The President of BP apologized."
 * "But they drilled again, and tore open a portal into another dimension."
 * "I have joined forces with other superheroes in my neighborhood to help save the Gulf. But even the other heroes do not know that unlike them, I do have a power. A power they will now begin to understand. And all will know who and what I truly am!" [a swarm of ?'s flies around the screen, and the name of the episode appears]
 * "Becauses it pisses Cartman off beyond belief, and I find that [chuckles] extremely funny."
 * "Hindsight, that isn't Courtney Love! Our former member, the Coon, tricked you!"
 * "Then do it! [walks right up to the pistol and places himself at the end of the barrel] Pull the trigger, Hindsight! If you don't believe us then you don't have a choice! Pull the trigger, you pussy!"
 * "You guys go! I'll deal with this prick!"
 * "I said it's fine! Just go!"
 * "I've experienced death, countless times. Sometimes I see a bright light. Sometimes I see heaven. Or hell. But eventually, no matter what, I wake up in my bed, wearing my same old clothes. [turns away] And the worst part? Nobody even remembers me dying. I go to school the next day, and everyone is just like, "Oh hey Kenny." Even if they had seen me get decapitated with their own eyes.
 * "Uhh, what? [goes to see. He looks at the screen and his expression changes to one of dismay. His parents are pictured getting arrested along with the creepy man and Mr. Adler, shop teacher, among others. In normal boy voice] What the fuck?! I m-I mean, [going into his superhero voice] uh, what the fuck?!" [takes over as Human Kite leaves the chair]
 * "Makes sense. Unrelenting despair and a thousand years of darkness sounds pretty goth."
 * "What does it mean? "That is not dead which can eternal lie"?"
 * "You're going to tell me everything you know!"
 * "These people still meet? Where?"
 * "What happened at those meetings?"
 * "What should I do? [shown getting a massage] Should I forget about the past and not care about my powers?"
 * "Maybe I should just... disappear."
 * "Ten years ago you were arrested for being in some kind of cult."
 * "Karen McCormick is off limits. Do you understand?! Make sure everyone in this school knows!"
 * "Don't try Karen, do."
 * "You are not alone, Karen. No matter where you go, no matter what you do, I will always be here. Do you understand?

Episodes In Which He Is Prominent

 * "The Coon" - He is stealing Cartman's superhero chance.
 * "Coon 2: Hindsight" - Mysterion is in part of Coon and Friends
 * "Mysterion Rises" - Mysterion is seen part of Coon and Friends again However, took Cartman's place as the leader. also his true identity is Kenny McCormick
 * "Coon vs. Coon & Friends" - Mysterion is still part OF Coon and Friends still However, He wanted to know his powers come from and wanted to know how to fight Cthulhu.
 * "The Poor Kid" - He comforts his sister (without her knowing it's Kenny), protecting her from Jessica Pinkerton, and getting the Weatherhead couple arrested for drinking and abusing kids.

Deleted Ending to The Coon
thumb|300px|right|watch until 0:54Here is Mysterion unmasking himself in The Coon﻿.