Origins
Bluto used to be a good friend of Popeye before Olive Oyl came along. He had a huge crush on her but she sadly did not have one for him. Bluto has always been rough and mean though as a sailor though, and would pester Popeye on a daily basis. He also was deeply in love with Olive Oyl, and even when she said that she didn’t like him, he would go as far as kidnapping her so the she would.
Creation
Bluto is a cartoon and comics character created by Elzie Crisler Segarin 1932. Bluto was a recurring character in shorts produced by Fleischer and Famous Studios, although he was created by Segar, Paramount (although it bought Fleischer Studios and created Famous Studios) claimed to own the name Bluto, so King started calling it as Brutus in the 1960 animated series, parallel to this, in the comics, Bud Sagendorf created the Sea Hag‘s son, Sonny Boy, who looked like Bluto, other similar villains appeared over the years, in 1978, in the series The All -New Popeye Hour, King Features called the character Bluto again, in recent stories, Bluto and Brutus are twin brothers.
Character Evolution
Once the Popeye cartoons went out of production in 1957 Bluto’s name was changed to Brutus in fear that Paramount Pictures would sue for many people (wrongly) thought that they owned the rights to the name.
This name change also tinkered with Bluto’s persona as well, no longer making him a fellow sailor with Popeye but a criminal or bank robber who had no romantic interest in Olive Oyl.
In 2008, Brutus is revealed as Bluto’s twin brother in an Ocean Comics one-shot.
Major Story Arcs
“Return Of Bluto”
In this story written by Bobby London, the original 1932 Bluto returns and notices a lot of fat, bearded bullies who called themselves Brutus (each one a different version of Popeye’s enemy over the years) has taken his place.
Powers & Abilities
Bluto has immense strength for a person, and can lift roughly 30-50 tons alone. His skin is also very hard as shown in a few Popeye episodes when a blade couldn’t cut him and Popeye’s punches wouldn’t hurt him.