9 Comic Book Characters That Are Blatant Rip-Offs

Deadpool

Yes, indeed. The Merc with the Mouth is a total knockoff of DC’s Deathstroke and not the other way around like most people think. C’mon, his real name is Wade Wilson, while the Terminator’s is Slade Wilson. Heck, any further similarities and DC could file a plagiarism lawsuit against Marvel.

Deadpool co-creator Rob Liefeld was a self-professed fan of Teen Titans and when Marvel needed an assassin for New Mutants, Liefeld delivered his first design for the merc. Ever since then, a lot of people have pointed out how similar the character looked to the Titans’ infamous foe.

While Liefeld says the two characters are nothing alike, Wade has become something of a pastiche of Deathstroke and the physical similarities are totally obvious to anyone with a pair of eyes. Sure, we love them both for different reasons, but let’s call a spade a spade here: D’pool is not entirely original in the slightest.

Vision

“Can I copy your homework?”

“Sure. Just don’t make it too obvious.”

“No problem.”

This isn’t a difficult one to spot, considering that Vision and Red Tornado are essentially the same character. They’re androids with red skin, capes, and enjoy posing in the same manner as they take flight. Seriously, if you weren’t a comic book fan, could you tell them apart?

Appearances aside, even their origins are identical: evil villain utilizes advanced technology to create an android with the mission to exterminate the superhero team. The android revolts and ends up joining the team, becoming an invaluable member in the process and one who tries to discover his humanity.

While Red Tornado is still a favorite of longtime DC fans, his popularity has diminished over the years and you don’t see him around too often nowadays. Out of the two androids, Vision is arguably the more popular and most recognized now, even though he was created afterwards.