Pureheart the Powerful

<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

Pureheart the Powerful is a fictional comic book superhero version of Archie Andrews used in the 1960s as a comical attempt to link Archie to the superhero craze that began the Silver Age of Comics.

In 1965, Archie became Pureheart the Powerful, a caped superhero. This was the year before the debut of the Adam West Batman TV series. As the comics continued to use the Pureheart character, it became more camp. Different superhero and supervillian characters were introduced, with even Archie's eccentric friend Jughead becoming Captain Hero (as in "hero sandwhich", a joke because Jughead was always hungry). Reggie, Archie's rival, became the villainous Evilheart. Even Betty eventually became Superteen. Only Veronica stayed non-powered, presumably so that Pureheart could rescue her.

Pureheart even had his own comic book! Note Reggie as Evilheart in the green costume.

Archie seemed to just transform himself into Pureheart when trouble arose. He used what he called the "PH Factor" to trigger the change after reading about it in a book from the library. It was silly, and meant to be a kind of parody of the superhero genre. His superpowers were generic and never specifically detailed, presumably enhanced strength and speed.

This never intefered with the regular Archie stories because, unlike most comics today, Archie had no real continuity. In an Archie story, almost all stories never really recalled past happenings, and everything reset to zero at the beginning of every tale. So, if Archie somehow began to appreciate Betty in one story, and started showing her attention instead of Veronica, the next story you read would have everything back to the status quo as if the previous tale had never happened. In this way, Archie could be Pureheart the Powerful in some stories, but not in others. When the creators tired of him, he could just be forgotten.