The Coon (Character)

The Coon or Coon for short, is the superhero (or rather, supervillain) alter-ego of Eric Cartman. He first appears in the self-titled episode, "The Coon". He was also the leader of Coon and Friends in "Coon 2: Hindsight", but he was kicked out by the other members because he was beating them up and blackmailing other heroes. The Coon eventually went to the evil side when he formed an alliance with Cthulhu in "Mysterion Rises". He embarks on a killing spree with Cthulhu, eventually making Cthulhu level the entire city of San Fransisco. In "Coon vs. Coon and Friends", he continues on his killing spree, making Cthulhu destroy the burning man, slaughter Justin Bieber and most of his fans, and banish his friends to the sunken city of R'lyeh. However, Cthulhu is eventually defeated when Mint Berry Crunch uses his godlike powers to seal him back into a another dimension. The Coon is made powerless and captured by the new Coon and Friends, of whom put him in the cell with Butters.



Appearance
The Coon wears a raccoon-like mask with raccoon ears with metal claws, a utility belt, a red cape with a capital "C" on the back of it, a raccoon tail, a white shirt with a capital "C", and a gray jacket and gray pants.

Personality
Like his alter-ego, Eric Cartman, the Coon is deemed selfish, egomaniacal, with a short temper, and wanted to be the only one with the spotlight, demonstrated as he tried to get rid of Mysterion so he can be South Park's only superhero. He defines being a hero as making the world a better place for himself.

He has a massive problem with concealing his identity - as Cartman, he is always going out of his way to promote the Coon and defends him when someone insults him (such as when Kyle called him "faggy"), then accidentally letting his identity slip several times as the Coon (Mysterion could tell he was Cartman from the fact that he said Kyle hated him, although he already knew by the Coon's weight)

Weapons/Tools
The Coon's primary weapons are sharp metal claws tied to his fingers (made to resemble a Racoon's claws). He uses them to scratch up a mans face in The Coon (the man comments afterward "ow, that really stings!"), and to beat up Mosquito and Mint-Berry crunch (they appeared to cause more serious injury as evidenced by the large amount of blood on Mosquito). He also uses his bare hands to hurt his enemies, such as when he punches Butters (Professor Chaos) in the face or when he kicks Mosquito in the face and groin. He is shown using a variety of conventional equipment such as computers, binoculars, and TV's, all of which have coon-themed names and labels on them. In "The Coon", he also uses large amounts of dynamite to try to blow up a hospital, but abandons the plot soon after Professor Chaos (Butters) is defeated. While usually preferring to scale buildings for transportation (usually through the use of ladders), he is not above simply asking his mom (who he refers to as "The Coon's faithful Butler) to drive him places (he refers to her car as "The Coon-Mobile").

History
Cartman assumed the identity of the Coon to wipe out crime in South Park, but his idea of crime differs from other superheroes, as he attacked a man he thought was a rapist when he was trying to kiss his date. In his regular identity, Cartman tried to spread the word of the Coon, even appearing as the Coon and giving the South Park police department Coon T-shirts, but no one really cared about him and the police were even annoyed by him when he went to report his "crimes".

One night patrolling, Cartman meets another superhero called Mysterion, who, like Cartman, wanted to get rid of crime in South Park, but was more successful - and popular - than Cartman. This made Cartman jealous and made him want to get rid of Mysterion so he can be South Park's only superhero. He enlisted the help of Professor Chaos and General Disarray to get rid of Mysterion. The Coon noticed he was crossed out of their list of Mysterion suspects and his identity was on a list of people who could be the Coon, but this was only because Cartman is fat. The Coon made a plan where Professor Chaos would make a broadcast about blowing up a hospital and Mysterion would show up to stop the crime, and they could catch him and unmask him to the public. Eventually, Mysterion does come and fights the villains, with Cartman coming unexpectedly and helping Mysterion fight the villains. After they run off in defeat, Cartman convinces Mysterion to unmask himself, but it was unclear to who he really was. Mysterion is took to jail and Cartman perceives victory that he is once again South Park's only superhero, but in an alternate ending, it was revealed Kyle was the Mysterion that unmasked himself to draw attention away from the real Mysterion, and Mysterion comes and unmasks himself to Kyle, still making unclear who he was.

The Coon reappears in "Coon 2: Hindsight", where it seems he and Mysterion (later revealed to be Kenny) have put aside their differences and is now leading a group of superheroes called Coon and Friends, consisting of Toolshed (Stan), TupperWear (Token), Iron Maiden (Timmy), Mosquito (Clyde), The Human Kite (Kyle), Mint-Berry Crunch (Bradley), and Mysterion. He has consisted his basement as his lair and has even kept Professor Chaos in a "holding cell" for six days, leaving him only with a bucket to poop in. He was even criticizing Mint-Berry Crunch about the flaws of his costume, and even just let him guard the base during missions. He has even set up Coon and Friends alarm systems in his teammates' houses, to the shock of their families, to call them for meetings. On a mission to stop a burning building, they get Cartman's mom to drive them to the crime scene, but the firemen try to back them away. Just then, another superhero, Captain Hindsight, tells them the things they should have done so the fire would not happen, and despite not actually helping but criticizing the non-executive flaws, the firemen thank Captain Hindsight for his help, and leave, with the building still going on fire and 14 people dying. This draws the attention of Coon and Friends, who want to recruit Captain Hindsight to be a part of their group.

Cartman, as his regular self, goes to Captain Hindsight's mansion and ask for him to join Coon and Friends, but Captain Hindsight says he works alone and refuses the offer. This angers Cartman, where he then attempts to blackmail Hindsight by having Butters dress up as Courtney Love and have sex with a hobo but with Captain Hindsight's face Photoshopped on the hobo. Hindsight actually believes this and it causes his reputation to crash, as the BP Oil Company drills into the Gulf and causes a dimensional rift for creatures to come and terrorize the citizens. The BP (who later change their name to DP) decide to drill into the Moon to get rid of the creatures, but it causes the dark lord Cthulhu to be summoned. To help out the people in the Gulf crisis, the Coon is forced to go with Mosquito's plan to make a bake sale to help the people in need, which the rest of Coon and Friends (with the exception of Cartman) agrees to. When they go to the grocery store to get ingredients for the bake sale, Cartman viciously attacks Mosquito and Mint-Berry Crunch. This causes the rest of Coon and Friends to vote Cartman out, and even gains the permission to use the basement from Cartman's mother, who grounds Cartman for beating up his friends and his swearing. Mysterion takes over Coon and Friends, and they go to stop the Gulf crisis, where Cartman becomes convinced that his friends have turned evil and goes out to stop him.

In Mysterion Rises, the Coon is trying to get to Cthulhu, but his flight is delayed because Cthulhu defecated on the runway. A little girl comes and asks Cartman if he knows Mint-Berry Crunch. This angers Cartman and he beats the girl up (but in his mind, saves the day). When Cartman does reach Cthulhu, he tries to get his attention by yelling at him, but the Dark Lord does not notice Cartman. He eventually realizes he has to be sweet and kind, so he does that, by introducing himself as the little Coon, and petting Cthulhu's belly. Soon enough, Cartman befriends Cthulhu. They are then shown flying and images are shown of them destroying various things Cartman hates, such as a synagogue, hippies, and even San Francisco. He is expected to return in "Coon vs. Coon and Friends".

Trivia

 * Cartman's way of disguising his voice and reporting his crimes to the police is similar to Batman. His plan to wipe out crime is also similar to Rorscach from Watchmen.