Quick, name a cartoon character who came from outer space, was adopted by a human family, and has superpowers?
Right, Bamm-Bamm Rubble.
In an October 3rd, 1963 episode of The Flintstones, about "a modern prehistoric family," Betty and Barney Rubble are upset because they can't have children -- apparently Barney's sperm count is a little low. They wish on a falling star, and the next morning a baby appears on their doorstep, asleep in a turtle shell, holding a club.
He can only say "Bamm-Bamm," so that becomes his name. He turns out to have superhuman strength, easily carrying furniture and tossing his adopted father around.
I didn't see The Flintstones often, so I didn't notice that the writers failed to make much use of Bamm-Bamm's potential. His supernatural origins were rarely mentioned, and his super-strength became little more than a comic nuisance.
No gay symbolism: in fact, he began expressing toddler heterosexual interest, mooning over toddler-next-door Pebbles, romancing her in baby-talk. Eventually they were closing episodes by singing the treacly Sunday-school song "Open Up Your Heart (and Let the Sun Shine In)." Yuck.
In 1971, a highly publicized spin-off appeared, The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show (1971-72, and rerun long after). With the characters as teenagers.
But Bamm-Bamm dit not transform into Superboy.
He and Pebbles went to high school and belonged to a rock band, like everyone on Saturday morning in the 1970s.
No mysterous origin. No superstrength. He wasn't even built -- he had skinny arms and legs and a shapeless lump of a body.
More after the break
Pebbles, on the other hand, was a Betty and Veronica pin up. Dig the heterosexual male gaze in this cover from Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm #36 (Charlton Comics, 1976): shapeless slab vs. bikini babe.
Three animated movies in the 1990s age Bamm-Bamm into adulthood. He and Pebbles marry and move to Hollyrock, where he becomes a screen writer. They have two children, Roxy and Chip.
Even the Halloween and cosplay costumes usually pair Bamm Bamm AND Pebbles.
A heterosexist conclusion to a story that originally seemed loaded with gay promise.
See also: Kelton's Hot Photos, Part 2: James Dean, Orson Welles, Bamm-Bamm Rubble, and a n*de Pontius