True/ False: Characters Marvel Stole From DC And Gave A New Name
Bad
news, hardcore Marvel nerds: many of your favorite characters were
probably remorselessly stolen from your terrible arch-nemesis. Yes, it's
true; DC Comics has been busting out awesome characters since 1934, so
they had a five-year lead when Timely Comics, which would eventually
become Marvel, launched in 1939, and Marvel's been trying to catch up
ever since. Sure, Marvel is pretty great, but it has quite a few
characters of questionable origin. Here are some of Marvel's greatest
pitted against their earlier DC counterparts, so you can be the judge.
(September 1963) The X-Men vs. The Doom Patrol (June 1963)
It's
a comic about a team of misfits who have been shunned by society,
coming together and learning to use their powers for good while fighting
for acceptance, under the leadership of a brainiac in a wheelchair.
They're called The Doom Patrol, and they were first published four
months before the X-Men even existed. The conspiracy deepens, however,
because in March of 1964, the X-Men were fighting the Brotherhood of
Evil Mutants, while the Doom Patrol was fighting The Brotherhood of
Evil. The similarities between the two comics were so strong that Doom
Patrol creator Arnold Drake accused Stan Lee of somehow stealing his
ideas, though it's never been proven. Maybe great minds think alike. Or
just have an inside track.
(1979) Black Cat vs. Catwoman (1940)
Originally known as simply "The Cat," Catwoman appeared in the first
issue of Batman in 1940 as a cat-themed burglar with no fancy powers,
and today, Catwoman is still a pretty standard, ultra-agile anti-hero
with a romantic interest in Batman. Marv Wolfman basically ripped off
the whole "literal cat burglar" Catwoman thing when he created Black Cat
in 1979, from the cat-themed anti-hero burglar thing all the way down
to her weird love of the hero, Spider-Man. Over time, Black Cat got
weird "bad luck" powers and a suit that gives her super-strength, but
she still has her origins as a cheap Catwoman ripoff.
(1991) Deadpool vs. Deathstroke (1980)
Rob Liefeld is notorious for not being able to come up with truly
original ideas, so when the Teen Titans fan showed his original drawings
of Deadpool to writer Fabian Nicieza, it was glaringly, shamefully
obvious that Deadpool was an unoriginal "homage" to DC Comics'
Deathstroke, and Nicieza ran with it. The terrible joke expanded to the
fact that Deadpool was eventually named Wade Wilson, after Deathstroke's
real name, Slade Wilson. Ultimately, Deadpool was such a stupid
character that he took on a life of his own, and became an ongoing and
hugely popular parody of comics themselves, while Deathstroke is still
just a boring assassin obsessed with killing super-teens. But he was
there first.
(1966) Super Adaptoid vs. Amazo (1960)
The idea of an android designed to copy the superpowers of a team of
heroes was created by Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson in 1960, and when
their Amazo robot faces off against the Justice League, he usually kicks
their butts for at least a little while. Six years later, Stan Lee came
up with a strikingly similar idea, sending a robot foe with identical
power-stealing powers up against the Avengers. Granted, Lee's Super
Adaptoid looks way cooler than Amazo's weird
grandpa-pants-pulled-up-to-his-nips thing, but that's all thanks to Jack
Kirby's awesome art. Unfortunately, Super-Adaptoid was just six years
too late to be the original.
(1968) Vision vs. Red Tornado (1963)
You may know Vision from Avengers: Age of Ultron, but he first
appeared in 1968 as an evil creation of Ultron designed to destroy the
Avengers. And just like in Age of Ultron, Vision ultimately turns
against his creator and becomes a hero as he searches for his humanity.
However, in 1963, a very similar set of circumstances were written for
the Justice Society of America, wherein a supervillain designed a robot
called Red Tornado to infiltrate and defeat the team. Team-destroying
androids are pretty common, and the two have different powers, but the
their costumes have just a few too many similarities to be purely
coincidental. Those huge, wide belts and enormous collars are way too
gauche to just be accidents…
(1976) Bullseye vs. Deadshot (1950)
Will Smith will be playing Deadshot in the upcoming Suicide Squad
film, but he'll look nothing like his 1950s origins, where he first
appeared wearing a top hat while attempting to replace Batman as the
hero of Gotham. Later, in the world of Marvel, another street-level
hero, Daredevil, would face a similar foe in Bullseye. Both Deadshot and
Bullseye are master marksmen who never miss their targets, experts at
hand-to-hand combat, have metal body enhancements, and come from abusive
families. They're basically a couple of sad sacks with really good aim,
and that aim is good enough to keep both of them working in comics and
on screen… but Deadshot was first by a longshot.
(1966) Boomerang vs. Captain Boomerang (1960)
Why Marvel comics would want to mimic DC Comics' boomerang-tossing
bad guy is anyone's guess, because both of them kinda suck. Obviously,
both characters were born in Australia, but while Captain Boomerang
primarily fights the Flash, Boomerang spends a lot of time fighting
Marvel's fast-talking Spider-Man. Both use ridiculous augmented
boomerangs that include everything from bombs to razors to probably
bumblebees or something, and Marvel's Boomerang even wears a boomerang
on his face, just so everyone knows what he does. At least Captain
Boomerang keeps it limited to a really terrible boomerang-print shirt.
Boomerang.
(1973) Thanos vs. Darkseid (1970)
Darkseid is Jack Kirby's giant-jawed alien overlord of Apokolips,
hell-bent on seeking out the anti-life equation and eradicating the
universe of all free will. Thanos, on the other hand, is the giant-jawed
overlord of Titan, fixated on making Death his girlfriend and
subjugating the galaxy. Both are super-strong, telekinetic teleporters
who seem to be ageless and can travel through time, and both are pretty
much the most powerful bad guy in their respective universes. You can't
really blame Jim Starlin for trying to come up with his own version of
Darkseid for Marvel Comics, because Darkseid is one heck of an awesome
villain. It doesn't get much cooler than soul-seeking eye-lasers.
And there you have it, Be the Judge and comment your decision below.
And there you have it, Be the Judge and comment your decision below.
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