History Main / CompositeCharacter

* The Ford Ranger is also from a similar background, only being available to this market [[SequelGap after more than six years]]. The new North American Ranger is built on the international T6-based Ranger chassis which the rest-of-world Ford Rangers are based on, as opposed to previous-generation Rangers which were vastly different vehicles.

* ''Art/NueCouchee'': The sculpture is meant to be an amalgamation of all the reclining Venuses ever produced, which results in a grotesque mass of misplaced limbs.

[[folder:Automobiles]]
* Chevy Colorado, after being discontinued in North America for years, has returned there, but it's based off of a Thailand-Brazilian GM project that had been released three years before.
* The Ford Ranger is also from a similar background, only being available to this market [[SequelGap after more than six years]]. The new North American Ranger is built on the international T6-based Ranger chassis which the rest-of-world Ford Rangers are based on, as opposed to previous-generation Rangers which were vastly different vehicles.

** ''CompositeCharacter/BatmanFilmSeries''

-->-- '''Phantom Secretariat''' (to [=BoJack=] Horseman), ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman''

A solution is to invoke artistic license and compress two or more such figures into a single character with traits drawn from all of them. [[PragmaticAdaptation For the sake of telling a proper story]] those contributions are relegated to the actions of only a few. Instead of showing the legwork of an entire team of intelligence officers to decipher important information, it's rolled up into one person putting it together. Instead of having three different [[TheSmartGuy smart guys]] on the team divided up into distinct fields, you make one of them an OmnidisciplinaryScientist and discard the others. It's a method of streamlining both the plot and the character interactions; there are fewer people to follow and everyone who is still around has more to contribute to the story.

** The title characters of ''Literature/SnowWhite'' and ''Literature/SnowWhiteAndRoseRed'' are commonly depicted as the same person. Their names are slightly different in the original German, and while the more famous one is a princess with a WickedStepmother ([[EvilMatriarch or mother]]), the latter is from a poor but far more functional family. (Also, they're explicitly described as a brunette and a blonde, respectively.)

** ''CompositeCharacter/PokemonCrossingFlyMeToTheMoon''

* In the Quintessential Stage of ''Radio/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'', Van Harl, the Vogon who's taken over the Guide in ''Mostly Harmless'', is combined with Zarniwoop, who was the editor-in-chief in the Secondary Phase and ''The Restaurant at the End of the Universe''. This does not appear to have been done to simplify the story (it doesn't); they simply liked Jonathan Pryce's portrayal of Zarniwoop and wanted him back.

** Any prince that shows up in a fairy tale might be rolled up into one for convenience, usually depicting him as a PrinceCharmless or a philanderer. (Surprisingly, the crossovers often leave the BalefulPolymorph princes separate.)

[[folder:Real Life]]
* In [[RealDreamsAreWeirder dreams]] there are often characters who are combinations of people that someone knows in real life, or that have the characteristics of several real life people, such as names, personalities, and appearances.
[[/folder]]

** Steve Rogers is combined with Steve Trevor, as the one who crashed into Themyscira, and later befriended Wonder Woman.
** The Red Skull is an avatar of Ares.

* In "[[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdPXC4UCSSwHojxa1avDzmvLN9_lwqDPr What if DC and Marvel Share the Same Cienmeati Universe]]":

Certain media, including RealLife, tend to have the time and space to utilize LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters, a large number of individuals with significant and/or necessary contributions to the storyline. But in an adaptation it can be difficult to offer adequate time and space so that each and every character gets their just due for how they impact the story. To be faithful to these characters may, at worst, make them come across as a living PlotDevice, existing only for the sake of the plot and not a fleshed out character of their own with individual talents, interests, and backstory.

This is frequently done in works BasedOnATrueStory, since no medium can compete with the LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters featured in RealLife. A fictional character also gets around [[ThisIsAWorkOfFiction any legal issues involving the depiction of real people]]. Whereas most of humanity's most interesting achievements have involved lots of people with different motivations, it suits the RuleOfDrama to simplify things to a handful of characters with well-defined objectives. Though there may be nameless individuals wandering around [[HeroOfAnotherStory with their own story to tell]], [[TheMainCharactersDoEverything the core plot is dictated by the people with names]]. Some might object to removing an important character and his or her contribution to the story, but on the other hand it means the story has a chance to be told.

** CompositeCharacter/TheDCU
** CompositeCharacter/MarvelUniverse
*** CompositeCharacter/UltimateMarvel

** CompositeCharacter/Earth27
** CompositeCharacter/PokemonCrossingFlyMeToTheMoon

** CompositeCharacter/MarvelCinematicUniverse
** CompositeCharacter/XMenFilmSeries

** CompositeCharacter/DCAnimatedUniverse