9 Comic Book Characters That Are Blatant Rip-Offs

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right? Well, yes and no. If the imitation is pretty much cut and paste, then it's a little bit obvious and borderline theft. In the comic book world especially, we've seen more than a few characters that are undoubtedly copycats. It could be in their look or personality, but there's no escaping the fact that you can smell the influence from a mile away. Whether it's right or wrong, though, we'll leave that up to you to decide. Many of these heroes and villains have gone on to have their own successful runs – some have even become more popular than the characters they're based off. Thus, we've decided to identify a few of the big ones that are "inspired" by others. As always, we welcome your thoughts on the topic, so don't be shy to let us know what you think in the comments section below the article. With the formalities out of the way, let's take a look at 9 comic book characters that are blatant rip-offs. Brace yourself for some harsh truths here, folks. 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. Imperiex Marvel isn't the only one taking crib notes, since DC has done the same to its biggest rival as well. Step forward Imperiex, a character that first appeared in Superman #153 in February 2000. As the main villain for the "Our Worlds at War" storyline, he shook up the landscape of our heroes' worlds, living up to his name as the Destroyer of Galaxies. Hmm… Now where have we heard something similar before? Obviously, Imperiex was DC's imitation of Galactus, the Devourer of Worlds. Truth be told, he did end up being the poor man's version of the Fantastic Four's popular antagonist – and he kinda sucked. You see, the late 1990s and early 2000s aren't fondly remembered as a great time for comic books. The stories were stale and the new characters were akin to recycled toilet paper, where you could appreciate the effort but you weren't too keen to experience it firsthand. While Galactus has undoubtedly stood the test of time – despite the best efforts of Fox to turn him into a giant fart cloud in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer – Imperiex is nowhere in his league. In fact, he's largely remembered as a "meh" by most comic book fans. Killer Croc This one is mostly about looks, since Killer Croc isn't renowned for having much between the ears in the first place. Whether he's hiding in the swamp or sewers, Waylon Jones is to Batman what the Lizard is to Spidey. The Lizard first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #6 back in 1963, while Croc popped up in Detective Comics in 1983. Initially, Jones was shown to be someone born with a form of atavism that gave him a reptilian appearance and traits. Over time, though, he's become increasingly more bestial in appearance and nature, which is explained as the disease taking over the human side of him. Nonetheless, it's obvious where the crux of Croc's stories come from. Much like the Lizard, it's the never-ending struggle of finding the balance between the man and monster, with the latter seemingly winning the battle. Mind you, living in a swamp or sewer will do that to a person – just imagine the stench in those places?! Bumblebee No, we're not talking about the yellow Transformer that does more spin kicks than Jean-Claude Van Damme; this is about Teen Titan member Karen Beecher, better known as Bumblebee. While she's recognized as DC's first African-American female superhero, her character's look and feel was taken from another heroine at Marvel: Wasp. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, Janet van Dyne's Wasp first appeared in June 1963 in Tales to Astonish #44. Since then, she's gone on to play a pivotal part in Ant-Man's arc and became an Avenger as well. In the MCU, Janet will form a part of 2018's Ant-Man and the Wasp, played by Michelle Pfeiffer. The character Karen Beecher first appeared in Teen Titans #45 in 1976 and then as Bumblebee in Teen Titans #48 in 1977. She's been in and out of the Titans – and also a member of the Doom Patrol – but she's back in action in Rebirth, appearing in Dan Abnett's Titans. Even now, she remains a deadstinger for Wasp. Bullseye A deadly marksman is hardly a novel concept and no comic book company can really claim they came up with that idea. That said, you cannot deny the similarities between Bullseye and Deadshot. While they may look nothing alike, both are renowned for their expert-level marksmanship and being hired thugs: Deadshot is a master of guns and Bullseye can turn anything around him into a weapon. It's the latter's ability to turn anything into a lethal projectile, however, which makes him arguably the better villain since he could kill you with a pencil if necessary. Although, we're sure that Suicide Squad fans will have something to say about this assertion. Regardless, we can't ignore the fact that Floyd Lawton was created before Bullseye. The character's origins can be traced back to 1950, while Marvel's assassin first appeared 26 years later in 1976. In this case, he's still the imitation. Ultron While Ultron has become one of the Avengers' most recognized foes, it's not hard to figure out where the idea of an AI gone bad comes from. In fact, you'd only need to look back at Action Comics #242 in 1958 to see which character he's based off. Obviously, we're talking about Brainiac – one of Superman's greatest adversaries. Highly powered, intellectual, and able to create more trouble than an unsupervised toddler in Toys R Us, Brainiac has brought many heroes to their knees – and continues to do so. Likewise, Ultron wants to see a world in his image and has no problem with exterminating the human race in order to make his dream a reality. He's deadly, calculating, and deftly capable of brewing up a storm in a teacup. Yet, make no mistake about it, Ultron is just a version of Brainiac under a different name. Ripclaw When you think of popular superheroes, Wolverine's name is right up there with the likes of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Spider-Man. In the '90s especially, his popularity soared through the roof and everyone fell in love with the grumpy Canuck who suffered from major anger management issues. Thus, it should come as no surprise that his demeanor and appearance served as a template for other similar characters in this time period – none more so than Ripclaw from Image Comics' Cyberforce series. Heck, even the name Cyberforce is similar to X-Force. Created by Marc Silvestri, who had worked on Wolverine before, Ripclaw's main thing was that he'd get animalistic and use his claws to shred his adversaries to pieces. C'mon, this is like buying a pair of knockoff Nikes called Mikes – it's not even trying that hard to mask the obvious inspiration. Black Cat Felicia Hardy is the sultry Black Cat, a cat burglar who dresses in skin-tight clothing and causes Peter Parker's Spidey Sense to tingle in more ways than one. In her continuity, there are moments where she portrays a villain and others where she's more of an antihero. Sounds oddly familiar to someone else in Gotham City, doesn't it? The Black Cat character is unquestionably influenced by Selina Kyle, AKA Catwoman. Like Hardy, Catwoman has portrayed both the villain and hero throughout her history, as she continues an on-off relationship with the hero of the city. But she's been doing it for a lot longer than the Marvel heroine, so don't forget that the DC kitty is the real OG here. It looks like Selina will be one-upping Felicia, though, by marrying Bruce Wayne. Even though Peter has shown remarkable interest in Black Cat over the decades, he's never popped the big question. Considering how much this character is inspired by Catwoman, however, don't be surprised if it happens sooner rather than later in Felicia's world. Tell us, do you agree with our choices? Can you think of any other comic book characters that are blatant rip-offs? Let us know in the comments section down below.