DC Database
Don't have an account?
Register
DC Database
Advertisement
Register
DC Database
DC Database
129,885
pages
in: Good Characters, Secret Identity, Demons,
and 36 more

Zhu Bajie (Prime Earth)

Sign in to edit

Zhu Bajie[1], more commonly known as Shifu Pigsy, is a former comrade of the Monkey King and is currently acting as a mentor to his clone, the Monkey Prince.

Origins

Despite fighting to protect the world from Demons, Pigsy is himself a reformed pig demon,[2] a fact he is somewhat touchy about.[3]

He first met the Monkey King centuries ago, when they and a river demon known as "Sandy" were chosen to accompany Tripitaka on his pilgrimage to India. At the end of their journey to the west the others all achieved enlightenment but Pigsy was merely granted the title "Altar Service Attendant", which he insists was an enlightenment of sorts. Later, he and Monkey King fought alongside the forces of the Heavenly Realm against Darkseid. The lord of Apokolips was eventually driven away, but in the process Monkey King was hit by the Omega Beams and disappeared out of reality.[2][4]

In the modern era, Pigsy discovered that one of the Monkey King's clones had somehow developed an independent will and refused to revert back into a hair when ordered to. He found the clone living on Earth as a boy named Marcus, being raised by human adoptive parents and unaware of his true nature. As no normal clone would have rejected the Monkey King's control like that, Pigsy considered Marcus to be Sun Wukong's son rather than merely his copy.[5]

Gotham City

When Marcus was fifteen, Pigsy learned that the world was in danger from King Fire Bull, once known as Red Boy. He followed Marcus to Gotham City, planning to train him to face the coming danger; and began working as the janitor of Gotham City High School to get close to him, using the name "Mr. Zhu". After an incident where bullies pushed the severely hydrophobic Marcus into the school swimming pool, "Mr. Zhu" encouraged Marcus to face his fears and leap into the pool. Marcus initially refused, but after he was beaten up by the same bullies, Marcus jumped in and was transported to Water Curtain Cave, where Pigsy was waiting in his true form. He gave Marcus a circlet and unlocked his powers, telling him his training had begun.[6]

Marcus flew back through the portal in monkey form, and Pigsy protected his identity by shapeshifting into Marcus and going through the portal too, making it look as though Marcus had climbed out of the pool after the Monkey Prince had left. Marcus used his powers to attack the bullies who picked on him, but ended up fighting Batman and Robin. Batman accidentally cut Marcus's head off, which he could survive in monkey form but would kill him if he succumbed to fear and reverted to human form. Pigsy was able to reach Marcus and reattach his head just in time.

Pigsy flew them away but Marcus told him he wanted nothing to do with his destiny, removed the circlet and went home. The next day, with the circlet magically reappeared, he came to Pigsy and asked him to remove it, but Pigsy told him he couldn't. He also chided Marcus for using his powers to take revenge, saying he should only use them to help people. He told Marcus how to transform at will and began his training, constricting the circlet and flying away, saying he would only loosen it if Marcus could take an envelope from his hand.[7]

Marcus managed to snatch the envelope by tricking Pigsy, and Pigsy transformed the envelope into a mask to conceal Marcus' identity in case he ever reverted to human form in the field. He heard two low-level demons nearby and ended the lesson. As Mr. Zhu he tracked down the demons, who were posing as a hot dog vendor and his cart. Before he killed them, the demons told him that their master was raising an army to invade Earth and his first general had already arisen. He tried to warn Monkey Prince, but Marcus wasn't interested and left before Pigsy could constrict the circlet.

That evening the Penguin, possessed by the Monkey Kings' old enemy Golden Horn King, posted a video online demanding that Batman face him or he would kill two hostages. Pigsy went to Marcus' home to tell him what had happened, and Marcus realised that the hostages were his adoptive parents.[8] Pigsy told Marcus that they would need a detective to find his parents but Marcus refused to ask Batman for help, so he instead summoned Robin using a "Robin Signal" made of clouds. Robin initially refused to help, but agreed when Marcus agreed to answer any questions he had once his parents were safe.

Robin deduced that Golden Horn Penguin was at the old Stahl Auction House, where he and Batman had first fought. They snuck in and Marcus found his parents, but before he could free them they were attacked by Golden Horn Penguin. Batman had also worked out where Penguin was and came in to stop him. At the sight of Batman, Marcus had a panic attack and fell off his cloud. His body broke apart when he hit the ground, but Pigsy was able to coach him to let his fear flow through him and depart, allowing him to reassemble himself.

Demons mobbed Batman and Robin, and Golden Horn Penguin began to devour Batman's qi. Marcus attempted to escape with his parents but Pigsy told him that his mission was to protect the heroes of Earth from demons, as if they consumed enough heroes they would become unstoppable, and gave him a can of blessed soda to exorcise the demon from Penguin. Marcus managed to stop Golden Horn Penguin draining all of Batman's qi and banish Golden Horn King from Penguin's body. Batman attempted to arrest Marcus and Pigsy for questioning but Pigsy created a smokescreen of magic clouds and then transformed into a safe which Marcus hid in. Pigsy also conjured a cloud and sent it to fly away, which Batman and Robin chased, assuming they were getting away. Pigsy took Marcus home.[9]

Amnesty Bay

The Shugel-Shens moved to Amnesty Bay almost immediately afterwards to take new jobs with Black Manta and escape Batman. Pigsy followed Marcus to Amnesty Bay, where he opened a food truck serving seaweed soup. Marcus was attacked in the street by a strange girl named Shellestriah and Pigsy gave him a battle staff which allowed him to fight her off, but she fled into the ocean where Marcus would not follow her. Pigsy told Marcus that fate had brought him to Amnesty Bay to face his fears, but Marcus still refused to go in.[10]

The next day, Pigsy told Marcus the story of how Monkey King had overcome his fear of death to achieve enlightenment, but Marcus was still hung up on his inability to overcome his fear and took the wrong lesson from the story, pointing out that Monkey King would not have been banished from reality if he had been too afraid to fight Darkseid. Marcus' parents released Silver Horn King from another gourd at Manta's behest. They channeled Silver Horn King into a hermit crab, which grew to immense sizes and rampaged through the town. Marcus was able to easily exorcise the demon from the crab with another can of soda, and Silver Horn King fled into the sea in spirit form. Black Manta and Marcus' parents followed him into the water and, determined to keep his parents safe, Marcus dove in after them, discovering he could breathe underwater. Pigsy and Marcus were immediately surrounded by the Atlantean Guard.[4]

They were arrested and taken to Aquaman and Mera, who Pigsy attempted to flirt with. While they were being interrogated, a messenger ran in and told Aquaman that a pillar of iron had appeared in Atlantis' Dragontown neighbourhood, which Pigsy immediately realised must be the Monkey King's battle staff Ruyi Jingu Bang. The two broke free of their restraints and swam to Dragontown. Marcus attempted to take control of the staff but it refused to recognise him as its master, so Pigsy told him to meditate and communicate with the staff.

Aquaman chased them to Dragontown, and Black Manta and Marcus' parents also arrived on the scene, pursuing Silver Horn King. Aquaman and Black Manta brawled and bumped into Marcus, breaking him focus. Pigsy told Marcus to focus on the staff but Marcus was only concerned with protecting his parents and abandoned the staff, even as it continued to grow and potentially endanger the city. To try to get him to focus, Pigsy activated the circlet, but Marcus fought through the pain and used his powers to raise his parents, along with Black Manta, to the surface. Aquaman confronted him for helping Manta and declared them villains. Pigsy tried to defuse the situation but Marcus attacked him in a rage.[3]

Before the fight could really begin, a horde of Trench swarmed into Dragontown and began attacking everyone in sight. Pigsy told Marcus to focus on Jingu Bang while he fought off Shellestriah, who was fixated on eating Marcus. Marcus was unable to get the staff to obey him and so when the possessed Trench King began to drain Aquaman's qi, Marcus jumped into the fight unarmed. This proved to the staff that Marcus was worthy and it flew into his hand. Marcus easily defeated the Trench King and drove Silver Horn King out of his body. They returned to the surface, and Pigsy told Marcus he was proud of him for overcoming his fears and risking his life for the good of others.[11]

Lazarus Planet

Marcus and his family moved again to Metropolis, and once again Pigsy followed his student to his new home. Pigsy was happy to find that Marcus was fitting in better and making friends easily at his new school, and told Marcus that his confidence and social skills were improving as he embraced his role as the monkey.

Pigsy was kidnapped by Tannarak and Jinx, two sorcerers working for his old ally-turned-enemy Nezha.[12] Before he was captured he was able to create a miniature clone of himself and send it to warn Marcus that Nezha was coming and to be ready.[13] The sorcerers took him to Lazarus Island, where Nezha interrogated him for information on his "son" King Fire Bull. Pigsy smugly told Nezha that King Fire Bull was already on Earth and looking for him.[1]

Nezha was plotting to take control of every human on Earth using the power of the Lazarus Pits. To this end he had also kidnapped many of the world's mages and was forcing Black Alice to drain their power and channel it into the Helmet of Fate; and had brainwashed Robin into serving him. Batman came to the island to rescue his son, and found and freed Pigsy while investigating Nezha's fortress. With the aid of Talia al Ghul, Batman was able to take the Helmet and used its power to battle Nezha. He also freed Robin of his mind control and teleported the captured mages to safety, but Pigsy cast a spell of his own to prevent Black Alice leaving, sensing she would be needed. He was proven right when Nezha mortally wounded Batman. Pigsy guided Alice on how to channel the Lazarus magic to heal him and, when Batman was restored, he told the humans to flee before the island erupted.[14]

Later, King Fire Bull attacked the Hall of Justice, where Marcus, Robin and Black Alice were sheltering. Alice used her powers to draw the wild magic from the Lazarus Storms and return it to the sorcerers Nezha had stolen it from. Pigsy tracked her to the Tower of Fate and warned her to stop but she continued regardless. Although she succeeded, the power she had absorbed caused her to disappear, transported to an unknown realm. The assembled mages defeated King Fire Bull, and Pigsy returned to Metropolis.[15]

The Devil Nezha

With the day seemingly saved the heroes dispersed back to their homes. However Marcus had hung back to talk to Robin and saw Batman, who had been possessed by Nezha, knock Robin unconscious and carry him away. He told Pigsy what he had seen and Pigsy told Marcus that Nezha was weakened, but the longer he remained in Batman's body the stronger he would become, and they needed to return him to his original body as soon as possible; before he became strong enough to kill King Fire Bull and take his power, at which point he would be powerful enough to take over the world. Marcus went to rescue Robin while Pigsy retrieved Nezha's body from the Himalayas and the Red Armillary Sash that had kept his darker impulses in check during in his time as a protection deity. Marcus and the entire Bat-Family were barely able to keep Nezha occupied until Pigsy arrived with Zatanna and the Enchantress. Pigsy bound Batman's body in the sash and the two sorceresses transferred Nezha's spirit back into his body. They imprisoned Nezha on Lazarus Island in a magic cage.[16]

The Truth Revealed

After Nezha was defeated again, Marcus and Pigsy returned to Metropolis. Marcus told Pigsy that he wanted to kill King Fire Bull for hurting his mother. Pigsy warned him against it, telling him that a desire for revenge was what led Red Boy down the dark path to becoming King Fire Bull in the first place. Marcus agreed not to pursue vengeance but, unbeknownst to Pigsy, he was lying.[15]

Marcus and Pigsy assisted Supergirl with the cleanup in Metropolis after the Lazarus Storm. While they were working Shellestriah suddenly appeared. Marcus assumed she wanted to fight but she said she had tracked them down so she could study under Pigsy, who accepted immediately despite Marcus's objections.

The group was attacked by skeleton demons, who attempted to capture Supergirl. Their magic allowed them to overpower her so Marcus created a band of clones from his hairs to fight them off. Thanks to the training he received from the Monkey King, his clones were full-sized and indistinguishable from him. Marcus and the clones smashed the skeleton demons into pieces, but they revealed to Marcus that he was a clone rather than the son of the Monkey King, sending him into an anxiety attack. While Marcus was panicking, the skeleton demons reformed into a single giant creature, which snatched Supergirl. Pigsy and Shellestriah tried to stop it, but it got away.

They followed the creature over the Atlantic Ocean, where Shellestriah dove down into the water to try and pick up the scent of any blood Supergirl may have spilled. Meanwhile, Pigsy had brought Marcus along as he continued to spiral. He forced Marcus to calm down and meditate and go back through his memories. Marcus remembered coming to Earth as a baby, and under Pigsy's guidance was able to push past that memory and access his earliest memories, of being created from the Monkey King's hair to fight in the battle against Apokolips. Pigsy revealed he already knew this but also said that no normal clone would have done what he did and told him he was more than a simple copy of the Monkey King, he was his essence, his son. Marcus said none of that mattered if he was just a hair but Pigsy told him to focus on his memories of his human life, which made him who he was, and that he needed to believe he was real for it to be so. Marcus said he chose to believe he was real and reverted to human form while the clones disappeared. Marcus thanked Pigsy and hugged him.

Shellestriah followed Supergirl's trail back to an island in the Atlantic Ocean. They raced to the island, where they found Supergirl fighting King Fire Bull. King Fire Bull tried to mock Marcus about his nature as a clone, saying he was the true child of gods, while Marcus was just a hair. However, Marcus had accepted who he was and was unshaken by his words. He created an army of clones to fight the skeleton demons and King Fire Bull. Marcus and a band of clones overpowered King Fire Bull and were about to beat him to death, but Pigsy stopped him, reminding him that his experienced defined who he was and asked him if he wanted murder to be part of that. Marcus decided to spare King Fire Bull and they imprisoned him back in the globe.[5]

Powers

Abilities

Equipment

  • Powdered Immortal Eye

Weapons


  • This character or object is an adaptation of Zhu Bajie, a character or object in traditional stories. These include, but may not be limited to religious texts, myth, and/or folk lore. More information on the original can be found at Wikipedia.org.

Related

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Batman vs. Robin #3
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Monkey Prince #0
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Monkey Prince #7
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Monkey Prince #6
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Monkey Prince #12
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Monkey Prince #1
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Monkey Prince #2
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 Monkey Prince #3
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Monkey Prince #4
  10. ↑ Monkey Prince #5
  11. ↑ Monkey Prince #8
  12. ↑ Monkey Prince #9
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Lazarus Planet: Alpha #1
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Batman vs. Robin #4
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Lazarus Planet: Omega #1
  16. ↑ Batman vs. Robin #5
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 DC Festival of Heroes: The Asian Superhero Celebration #1


Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.
More Fandoms
Advertisement