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.
