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Composite Character / The DCU

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The DCU

Composite Character in this franchise.
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Comic Books

The following have their own pages:

  • In the original Charlton Comics version of Captain Atom's origin, he reports to a General Eining. In Charlton Bullseye Eining is replaced as the Captain's superior by the corrupt General Wolfe. The Post-Crisis version combines them into General Wade Eiling, whose name is close to Eining's and has a similar role in the Captain's origin story, but is a villain like Wolfe.
  • Most incarnations of Two-Face in Batman stories from all media use the "obsessed with duality and primarily evil" personality of Paul Sloane, the second Two-Face from the Golden Age, but with Harvey Dent's background and name. The issue becomes a mite confused when both versions operate within the same continuity, as they do now (though Sloane now calls himself the Charlatan).
  • In the 1940s, Jack Kirby created "Brooklyn" of the Boy Commandos, a tough Brooklynite kid in a derby hat. In the 1970s he created Superman and New Gods supporting character Dan "Terrible" Turpin, a tough Brooklynite police officer in a derby hat. In Post-Crisis comics Turpin is an adult Brooklyn (in his original New Gods appearances, Turpin seems to have been a police officer since before World War II; another officer talks about "the old days, when you took the tommy guns away from the gangs!", which suggests the 1920s.)
  • In the original Vertigo continuity, Lucifer Morningstar and the First of the Fallen were two separate entities. In Hellblazer: Rise and Fall, "First of the Fallen" is one of Lucifer's titles. Even his appearance here as a Flaming Devil jives more with the First's more traditionally Satanic design in contrast to Lucifer's more androgynous, angelic qualities.
  • Post-Crisis DC also suggested that Tommy Tomorrow, the Silver Age "near-future of wonders" character, would have been Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth if the Great Disaster had happened, but in the (ha!) single future of the Post-Crisis timeline, it didn't. It remains to be seen if the various Tommys and Kamandis of the 52 Multiverse are considered alternate versions of each other.
  • Superwoman is usually depicted as Wonder Woman's evil Mirror Universe counterpart. This element is kept in Grant Morrison's JLA: Earth-2, but with the twist that in her secret identity, she's a journalist named Lois Lane. The Infinite Frontier incarnation of the Crime Syndicate would also establish an alternate Donna Troy as Superwoman instead.
  • The very first villain the Teen Titans ever fought was Mister Twister, who faded into obscurity after his defeat. Later, once the Titans had their own series, a new villain called the Gargoyle popped up on two occasions, but his real name and origin were never revealed. Post-Crisis, it was established that the Gargoyle was actually Mister Twister, who'd been transformed into a winged, demonic creature by the Antithesis, an Eldritch Abomination the Titans had previously fought back in The '70s.
  • Legion of Super-Heroes:
    • In the Threeboot continuity, Micro Lad/Colossal Boy is a combination of, you guessed it, Micro Lad (a villain from the original continuity who could shrink) and Colossal Boy (a hero from the original continuity who could grow). The twist is that this Micro Lad comes from Big City, where everyone is a giant, and his power is technically to shrink to normal human size. Virtually everyone but himself refers to him as Colossal Boy because the Micro Lad name is just too awkward and confusing to normal sized people.
    • Similarly, Plant Lad of the Threeboot continuity's Wanderers shares a heroic identity with a one-shot character from The Silver Age of Comic Books, but is otherwise a morally ambiguous version of Chlorophyll Kid from the Legion of Substitute Heroes.
    • The Legion/Star Trek (IDW) crossover had a composite race; our introduction to the mashup Mirror Universe includes a race of logicians with green skin, pointy ears and blond bowl-cuts. A later issue features a version of the Fatal Five in which Emerald Empress is an Orion, the Persuader is a Gorn, Tharok is Ruk from "What Are Little Girls Made Of?", Validus is a mugato from "A Private Little War", and Mano is a Benzite from Next Gen. Also the reveal that the Big Bad is an alternate version of both Flint the Immortal and Vandal Savage.
  • In the Lord Havok and the Extremists tie-in to Countdown to Final Crisis, the Extremists were, as ever, Alternate Company Equivalents of major Marvel villains. However, because the "heroes" of this version of Earth-8 were all terrible (the basic idea seeming to be "What if The Ultimates, but too much?") and the "villains" were actually more sympathetic, several of them have backstories where they originally had elements of Marvel heroes, until the Meta-Militia ruined everything. So Dr Diehard (Magneto) ran a mutant school a la Professor X; Tracer (Sabretooth) is given Wolverine's backstory as conflicted killer and amnesiac living weapon; and Dreamslayer (Dormammu) possesses (and is controlled by) a nun who became a powerful magic user who looked like a female Dr Strange.
  • The Man of Steel #5 introduces the Post-Crisis versions of Bizarro and Lucy Lane. Lucy's role in the story is identical to that of the one-shot character Melissa in the original Superboy Bizarro story from The Silver Age of Comic Books.
  • In Seven Soldiers: The Shining Knight, the final battle of the Celtic ur-Camelot includes a brief mention of "Gawain, the Silent Knight, attended by his wondrous hawks". In DC's "classic" Arthurian setting, the Silent Knight is an OC named Brian Kent, who had a falcon named Slasher.
  • In Shazam!: The New Beginning, Sivana is the composite of his original character with Billy Batson's greedy uncle Ebenezer Batson.
  • Superboy (1994): A few of the alternate earth Superboy analogues Kon-El teams up with to fight Black Zero are mash-ups of Kon and other DC characters:
    • The first earth Kon goes to is home to a Batman trained Kon-El who is combined with Tim Drake in costume, history and personality.
    • The second earth he visits is home to a girl with Kon's history, powers, fashion sense and personality mashed with Supergirl. Since there is no Superman on her Earth (which seems to be that of Elseworld's Finest: Supergirl & Batgirl) she was cloned from Kara.
    • Kamandi has Kon-El's powers but is otherwise based on Kamandi.
    • There's another Superboy analogue whose been combined with Aqualad.
    • And a another universe where Superboy, Guardian and Dubbilex have joined Ace Morgan as the Challengers of the Unknown.
  • There was a storyline in Superman/Batman in which they visited an alternate reality where the world's heroes were the Justice Titans, based in Gothamopolis and led by Hal Grayson, Night Lantern. (Amusingly, The Flash looks unchanged, until you learn his real name is Wally Allen). Their archenemies, the Brotherhood of Injustice, are composites of Batman and Superman's Rogues Gallery, led by Lex Joker. It turns out to be one of Dr Destiny's dreamworlds.
  • Wonder Woman (1987):
    • The Sangtee Empire takes its government, characterization and the skin tone of the ruling kreel from mashing together the Saturnain Empire and Masters of Neptune from Wonder Woman (Charles Moulton) and the Uranian warlords from Robert Kanigher's run, then setting the result outside of the solar system.
    • Artemis takes her origin and appearance from the redheaded Orana who replaced Diana as Wonder Woman for a time after a contest between the Amazons in the previous continuity, merged with another Amazon from that continuity; Artemis who was Wonder Woman before Diana, died in the line of duty and was brought back as a skeletal villain by Circe.
  • In Charlton Blue Beetle continuity, the first wielder of the scarab was the Great Pharaoh, who used it to trap Kha-Ef-Re, the evil pharaoh who became Dan Garrett's Starter Villain, the Giant Mummy. In the Post-Crisis DCU, the first weilder was Kha-Ef-Re, and his Giant Mummy form was just a Secret Test for his successor.

Post-Flashpoint

  • In the very first issue of the original Action Comics, Superman beat the crap out of an abusive husband. A similar incident occurs in Action Comics (New 52), but with the vengeful husband going on to become the supervillain Kryptonite Man after blaming Superman for the dissolution of his marriage.
  • The New 52 version of Azrael is Jean-Paul Valley, but the armoured costume that triggers "The System" is called the Suit of Sorrows, which pre-Flashpoint was the armour worn by the Michael Lane Azrael.
  • Lincoln March/Talon/Thomas Wayne Jr. in Night of the Owls and Batman Eternal is a composite of two Thomas Wayne Jrs. in previous continuities: the pre-Crisis Earth-One version who suffered severe injuries in a car accident and grew up in Willowood Asylum, eventually becoming the Boomerang Killer and the Antimatter Earth version who takes on an owl-based identity - although another variant of this version also shows up from the New 52 version of Earth-3 in Forever Evil 2014.
  • The New 52 version of Black Canary has Pre-Flashpoint Dinah Lance's Sonic Scream, but her maiden name is Drake and Lance is her married name, like the Golden Age Black Canary (the pre-Flashpoint version's mother). Confusing things further, the Drakes were a florist/martial artist and a private detective, decompositing Larry Lance and Dinah Drake-Lance from the Canary elements. This was explicitly undone as of DC Infinite Frontier, with the current Dinah Lance once again stated to be the daughter of Dinah Drake.
  • Dark Nights: Metal:
    • The series introduces the post-Flashpoint version of Lady Blackhawk, who is quickly revealed to be Kendra Saunders, A.K.A. Hawkgirl.
    • It also introduces alternate versions of Batman from across the Multiverse, most of whom are Batman mixed with elements of other DC characters. These include:
      • The Batman Who Laughs (Batman and the Joker)
      • The Drowned (Batman and Aquaman)
      • The Dawnbreaker (Batman and Green Lantern)
      • The Red Death (Batman and Flash)
      • The Merciless (Batman and Ares)
      • The Murder Machine (Batman and Cyborg)
      • The Devastator (Batman and Doomsday)
    • The sequel, Dark Nights: Death Metal introduces even more:
  • In Darkseid War, the New 52 version of the Black Racer has Barry Allen as a human host. In addition to being a literal composite, he also has elements of the pre-Flashpoint "Black Flash", a Psychopomp in a black Flash costume.
  • In the New 52 The Flash, Zoom is Eobard Thawne from the 25th century who came back in time to destroy Barry Allen's legacy. However, his power is creating the illusion of superspeed by slowing down time, just like Hunter Zolomon, the Zoom who fought the Wally West Flash.
  • A Composite/Decomposite/Literal Split Personality version in the New 52 version of New Gods, with the Infinity Man. Originally the Infinity Man was just the Fusion Dance form of the Forever People. In Post-Crisis continuity he was given a backstory as Darkseid's brother, Drax. In the New 52, he's the part of Izaya the Inheritor who would rather be the Good Shepherd than a Well-Intentioned Extremist, explaining why New 52 Highfather is such a jerk. (And in New 52 continuity, Izaya is Darkseid's brother-in-law.)
  • New 52 Earth 2:
    • The Atom is a composite of the Golden Age Atom (the name Al Pratt and the atomic powers), his son Damage (elements of his costume), his godson Atom Smasher (the power to grow in size), and the unrelated Captain Atom (employed by the military).
    • And the fact Earth-2 Alan Scott is gay is taken from his son Obsidian, since writer James Robinson felt bad that de-aging Alan was removing a gay character from existence.
    • Red Tornado is a Fem Bot, combining elements of the Golden Age Red Tornado, Abigail Hunkel (or more likely her granddaughter Cyclone) and the male robot version. And it later turns out that Red Tornado is female because she houses the resurrected mind of Lois Lane.
    • Lee Travis, the original Crimson Avenger, is now an African American woman like Jill Carlyle, the second Crimson Avenger.
    • Red Arrow takes his costume and Code Name from Roy Harper, the original Red Arrow, but has the civilian identity of Connor Hawke, the second Green Arrow from the pre-Flashpoint continuity.
    • Tempest from Earth-2 in Future's End: Teen Titans looks exactly like Lagoon Boy, but takes his name from the first Aqualad's second identity.
    • Fury's codename and status as Wonder Woman's daughter come from the Infinity, Inc. member Hippolya "Lyta" Trevor, but her real name is eventually revealed to be Donna, which is taken from Donna Troy, the former Wonder Girl.
    • As a young girl, Huntress was originally the Robin of Earth-2.
    • The second Batman of Earth-2 is Thomas Wayne, Bruce's father, who secretly survived being shot by Joe Chill in this universe. This makes him a combination of the Earth-1 Thomas Wayne and the Pre-Crisis Batman of Earth-2, who was similarly middle-aged. He is also addicted to the strength-enhancing Miraclo drug, combining Thomas with Rex Tyler, the original Hourman.
    • Brutaal turns out to be a composite of Superman in the various Elseworlds where he's a servant of Darkseid, and Bizarro.
    • Captain Steel/Hank Heywood Jr. is a composite of Commander Steel/Hank Heywood Sr. (military background), Steel/Hank Heywood III (gained powers by being experimented on by Hank Sr.) and Citizen Steel/Nathan Heywood (bonded with weird metal).
    • James Olsen undergoes a Face–Heel Turn by the events of Earth 2: Society and takes on the identity of Doctor Impossible, who originated as an Evil Counterpart to Mister Miracle who appeared at the start of Brad Meltzer's run on Justice League of America.
  • Legion of Super-Heroes (2020):
    • Computo is a combination of the original version of the character and Danielle Foccart, who was briefly possessed by Computo's essence before taking the name for herself as a Legionnaire.
    • President Brande is largely based on R.J. Brande and his time as Earthgov president, but the elements of Brande being a female president and her more shameless, underhanded actions are strongly reminiscent of Jeanne Chu from the Reboot Legion.
  • Pre-New 52, Courtney Whitmore started off her crime-fighting career after finding the costume and belt of Sylvester Pemberton, the deceased Star-Spangled Kid. Later, she changed her name to Stargirl after Jack Knight, her teammate Starman, retired from the superhero game and left her his trademark Cosmic Staff. Courtney's New 52 origin combined both of her predecessors into a single character, with Sylvester Pemberton now reimagined as a deceased superhero called Starmannote , whose costume and Cosmic Staff were taken up by Courtney after his death.
  • Crime Syndicate (2021):
    • Alexander Luthor's female assistant/bodyguard at first seems to be an analogue of Mercy Graves or Eve Tessmacher, but merely turns out to be an alias of Ultragirl, the Earth-3 Supergirl.
    • As mentioned elsewhere, Superwoman is traditionally the Earth-3 version of Wonder Woman, but has used the name Lois Lane in certain continuities. Here, her civilian name is Donna Troy.
    • Savanna, Cheetah's Good Counterpart, has a costume and physical appearance that more closely recall those of obscure Teen Titans member Pantha.
    • Black Siren from the DC Infinite Frontier relaunch of Suicide Squad is a combination of two different evil Mirror Universe versions of Black Canary. Her costume and physical appearance are taken from a Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths character called Scream Queen, while her name was taken from Black Siren, an Earth-2 villainess who originated in Arrow.
  • In the DC Comics New 52 Superman titles, the Cyborg Superman is a composite of the original Cyborg Superman and Zor-El.
  • The New 52 Superman character H'el appears to take aspects of the Eradicator (obsessed with rebuilding Krypton), Bizarro (chalky skin, reversed S-symbol), Superboy-Prime (S-shield scar), and possibly the Golden Age character Halk-Kar (name, connected to the House of El but not exactly a member of it).
  • In 1990s New Titans, Donna Troy was going by the name Troia and wore Star-Spangled Spandex, as did her evil Kid from the Future Lord Chaos, who came back to the present and fought the Titans in the Total Chaos storyline. In Titans (Rebirth) Troia is the name of an evil future version of Donna who wears Star-Spangled Spandex and came back to the present to fight the Titans.
  • Wonder Woman (2011): The New 52 version of foe Cheetah is Barbara Anne Minerva (the third Cheetah Pre-Flashpoint), but uses Priscilla Rich and Debbie Domaine, the names of the previous two Cheetahs, as aliases.
  • Wonder Woman (Rebirth):
    • Doctor Cyber/Adrianna Anderson manages to combine two previously human characters into one AI, the previous Dr. Cyber Cylvia Cyber and Veronica Cale's only friend Dr. Leslie Anderson.
    • Silver Swan is a young former friend of Diana's by the name of Vanessa Kapatelis, just like the previous version. However, she's also a former ballet dancer like the original Earth-1 Silver Swan, Helen Alexandros.
  • The DC: Earth One line gets on on this.
    • In Batman: Earth One, Bruce Wayne's mother, Martha, is a member of the Arkham family, effectively combining Batman himself with Dr. Jeremiah Arkham.
    • In Superman: Earth One, General Zod is combined with Zor-El as he's Jor-El brother and hence Superman's uncle.
    • In Wonder Woman: Earth One, Maxwell Lord is actually the human identity of Ares, in a way that overlaps this trope with Hijacked by Ganon.
  • Justice League Infinity, set in the DC Animated Universe, features a version of Earth-D from the Legends of the DC Universe: Crisis on Infinite Earths oneshot. As in that book, Superman-D appears to be African-American. However, he's more closely modeled on Calvin Ellis, the President Superman from Earth-23 of the post-Flashpoint multiverse.
  • In the Halloween Special Are You Afraid of Darkseid?, the first story features a version of Bloody Mary of the Female Furies who is also the Bloody Mary of Urban Legends, having been trapped in the mirror dimension when her Mother Box malfunctioned.
  • The version of the Arkham Knight introduced in Detective Comics #1000 combines elements of the character's eponymous namesake from Batman: Arkham Knight (codename and status as an Evil Counterpart to Batman) and Lady Arkham fron Batman The Telltale Series (a female descendant of the Arkham family). The Arkham Knight is also a Decomposite Character as she's Jeremiah Arkham's daughter Astrid rather than Jason Todd (the original Arkham Knight) or Vicki Vale (Lady Arkham).
  • In another example of characters getting composited with themselves, after initially saying the Earth-One Green Arrow was in the Justice League and the Earth-2 GA (and Speedy) were in the Seven Soldiers of Victory, and then post-Crisis replacing the original GA with Quality Comics archer Alias the Spider, Stargirl Spring Break Special reveals that, in current continuity, Ollie and Roy were sent back to the 1940s by Clock King, where they joined the Seven Soldiers.
  • Static: Season One: The cast takes a lot of cues from their DCAU counterparts, to the point where the comic feels less like a reboot of the original and more akin to a Darker and Edgier version of the cartoon.
    • Hotstreak's real name is Francis Stone like in the DCAU instead of Martin Scaponi like in the original comics. In addition, he has the same Adaptational Superpower Change of the DCAU version, being a simple pyrokinetic instead of possessing Super-Speed that he uses to make fire.
    • Richie is used instead of Rick Stone.
    • D-Struct has the same name, backstory, and design as his DCAU version in his first appearance. However, his second appearance in Shadows of Dakota shows that he's able to shift between his Energy Being and human forms at will like the original comics' D-Struct, and can also assume another form that's more similar to the original D-Struct's design as well.

Elseworlds

  • Some DC Comics Elseworlds do this; for instance in Speeding Bullets Kal-El's rocketship is found by the Waynes and he becomes Batman, while Lex Luthor is in a chemical accident and becomes the Joker. In Darkest Knight, Bruce Wayne becomes Green Lantern, and Sinestro absorbs Joe Chill's mind and becomes a Joker stand-in who empowers Selina Kyle and Harvey Dent as Star Sapphire and Binary Star (Evil Star with Two Face elements) respectively. Conjurers has an interesting example with the Challengers of the Unknown; it uses versions of the then-current 90s Challs, but gives them the original team's nicknames. (Kenn becomes Prof, Marlon is Ace, Brenda is Red and Clay is Rocky.)
  • All-Star Superman
    • The Unknown Superman of 4500 AD is a cross between Superman and the Unknown Soldier.
    • The series' riff on The Death of Superman has Jimmy Olsen use an experimental serum to become Doomsday in order to battle Superman after the latter is turned evil by black Kryptonite.
  • DC's Ame-Comi Girls:
    • Duela Dent's father is Jack "the Joker" Dent, a combination of Harvey Dent and the Joker in the form of a relatively mundane gangster. This is probably to justify the fact that she's better known as the Joker's Daughter despite never actually being that in any other continuity.
    • Because there are no male superheroes in the setting, several heroines receive elements of their Spear Counterparts — for instance, Power Girl is Jor-El's daughter, Kara Zor-El's cousin and best pals with Jimmy Olsen, who alerts her with his signal watch at the first sign of trouble. Furthermore, Natasha Irons is Steel and the resident Gadgeteer Genius of the hero set, and Jesse Chambers (here The Flash rather than Jesse Quick) now has a characterization reminiscent of Bart Allen. Jade (in addition to now being Chinese) also has parts of Hal Jordan's origin.
  • In Batman '66:
    • The '66 continuity version of Dr Quinn/the Harlequin is obviously based on Harleen Quinzel/Harley Quinn, but her villain name and cat's-eye glasses suggest the Golden Age Green Lantern villain Molly Mayne/the Harlequin.
    • The comic reveals that False Face (a Silver Age comics villain, though much better known through his appearances on the TV show) is also this continuity's Clayface by giving his real name as Basil Karlo, Clayface I in the mainstream comics, and giving him a power-up to achieve Clayface's full shape-shifting ability as opposed to just face changing.
    • In the crossover with Legion of Super-Heroes, Robin replaces Superman in his Superboy days as the teenage hero of the 20th century the Legion go back in time to recruit.
  • In Batman '89 (set in the same universe as Tim Burton's Batman and Batman Returns), Robin is a teenage boy named Drake Winston. As is now commonplace in most adaptations featuring Robin, Winston is a composite of several different characters who've used the alias: He's Batman's first partner like Dick Grayson, was homeless like Jason Todd, and has a name, costume and bo staff inspired by Tim Drake.
  • Batman: Dark Allegiances: This continuity's Alfred Pennyworth also becomes Robin.
  • Batman: Two Faces: The story is a retelling of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, with the twist of Bruce Wayne being Jekyll and the Joker being Hyde.
  • In DC Comics Bombshells:
  • In Supergirl/Batgirl story Elseworld's Finest: Supergirl & Batgirl:
    • The Joker has traits from Bane, Metallo and the Kryptonite Man (he pumps a kryptonite-based drug into his blood to increase his muscle mass).
    • Captain Marvel is a bald African-American with rivets around his lightning bolt insignia. The implication seems to be that in this universe, a young John Henry Irons was given the magic word.
    • This universe's version of Kon-El was cloned from Kara rather than Kal and is therefore a spunky blonde girl even though their origins, powers, personalities and fashion sense are pretty much the same.
    • Supergirl herself is mostly based on the "classic" Kara Zor-El Supergirl, but the fact she's in a partnership with Lex Luthor under the belief he's a good guy is remeniscent of the then-current Matrix Supergirl.
  • In DC Comics' First Wave line of Two-Fisted Tales, featuring Doc Savage, The Spirit, etc. The Batman wields twin revolvers, in sharp contrast to his usual characterisation, and seems to be there because DC no longer had the rights to The Shadow.
  • In Gotham City Garage, Catwoman is the outlaw identity of Lex Luthor's assistant Mercy Graves, who is playing both sides against each other for her own mysterious ends.
  • The comic book tie-in to the DC Infinite Crisis video game features a version of Nix Uotan, the Last Monitor from Final Crisis and The Multiversity, in a role broadly similar to that of the original Monitor in Crisis on Infinite Earths. His associate is a version of Harbinger, except she's from Earth-48 and calls herself "Harbinger of the Forerunners". In Countdown to Final Crisis, Earth-48's Forerunners were a genetically-engineered warrior race created by the Monitors, and the most significant one was, like Harbinger, involved in assembling heroes from multiple worlds (but for very different reasons).
  • In the "Justice-League-as-Steampunk-scientists" Elseworld JLA: Age of Wonder, the Flash is Barry Allen but wears a costume closer to Jay Garrick's. And Starman is Ted Knight, but has black hair and wears regular clothes with a gold star-in-a-circle pin and green tinted goggles, looking more like an Edwardian version of Ted's son Jack.
  • In The Kingdom, Plastic Man has a son called Ernie who shares his powers and goes by the superhero identity Offspring. In Joe Kelly's JLA, regular-continuity Plas is given a son called Luke, who likewise shares his powers. In Countdown to Mystery, Luke takes the identity of Offspring.
  • The Legend of Wonder Woman (2016)
    • Donna Troy, who has often used "Troia" as a code name, gets merged with Diana's liflong Amazon friend Euboea to make a character named Troia.
    • The "Titan" turns out to be a combination of three villains traditionally associated with Green Lantern; the it borrows from the Legion's backstory as a robotic host for the twisted souls of a dying civilization that feared death and sought immortality, the Manhunters ties to the Guardians, group status and name, and the Anti-Monitor's appearance.
  • As part of the concept of Legends of the Dead Earth, the idea of DC's superheroes and their lives living on as stories for the generations of humanity living on post-Earth worlds sees some of the in-universe tales do this, combining different characters as the result of history distorting facts or misconceptions.
  • Smallville Season 11:
    • Barbara Gordon is Nightwing, complete with escrima sticks. Her costume is similar to Dick's in the comics, only with yellow "wings" (like Dick had originally) instead of blue or red, and occasionally purple highlights in the black sections, both suggesting the Batgirl costume. She also takes some personality elements from Stephanie Brown.
    • John Stewart is the last surviving Green Lantern of Earth, mirroring Kyle Rayner's status as the last Green Lantern when he was first introduced in the 90s. He also takes Hal Jordan's place as the Justice League's founding GL (as, like Kyle, Hal was killed in this universe).
    • Taking a note from the Earth-2 example above, Red Tornado is an android with the mind of the show's Tess Mercer (who, funny enough, was already a composite of Mercy Graves, Eve Teschmacher and Lena Luthor).
    • Mr. Majestic is his universe's Kal-El of Krypton.
  • In Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade Linda Lee's Evil Twin Belinda "Superior Girl" Zee has a few obvious Bizarro elements, but is thematically closer to "Dark Supergirl".
  • Superman & Batman: Generations:
    • Stephanie Trevor, the blonde daughter of the Golden Age Wonder Woman, who takes the name Wonder Girl in the sixties and joins a team of kid sidekicks, is an amalgam of Earth-1 Donna Troy, who has dark hair and isn't related to Diana but is called Wonder Girl and joins a team of kid sidekicks in the sixties, and Earth-2 Hippolyta Trevor, who is the blonde daughter of the Golden Age Wonder Woman, but calls herself Fury and joins a team of second-gen heroes who aren't sidekicks in the eighties.
    • Superman and Lois Lane take Superman's uncle Zor-El and aunt Alura In-Ze's roles as Supergirl's parents as a result of Supergirl being Superman's daughter rather than his cousin and Lois being her mother when Lois Lane normally has no familial ties to Kara.
    • In an odd mix between this and Decomposite Character, this continuity's Lex Luthor eventually turns out to be the Ultra-Humanite impersonating Luthor after transplanting his brain into the latter's body (a nod to how the two villains were initially interchangable due to both being evil geniuses who were bald and enemies of Superman), while Luthor's brain was subsequently put into a robotic body powered by kryptonite, becoming this continuity's Metallo in place of John Corben, after the Ultra-Humanite's death.
  • In Wonder Woman and the Star Riders the sole villain Purrsia combines Circe's (usually) purple hair and magic use with Cheetah's cat theme and driving motivation of stealing the hero's mystical items.
  • Wonder Woman: Tempest Tossed: Antiope takes her name from Diana's aunt, but her personality, appearance, job title, position as Hippolyta's most trusted advisor and the closest thing Diana has to a second parent from Philippus.
  • Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham:
    • In the mainstream DC universe, Ludvig Prinn was d-list character, alchemist and necromancer who authored The Mysteries of the Worm. Here, he was a wizard who, in his attempts to have the founders of Gotham City join his cult, was imprisoned beneath the city. He subsisted on the fungus that grew in the catacombs and eventually transformed into a monstrous creature the serves Ra's al Ghul. The monster is described as being reptilian and has an appearance that evokes both Batman villain Killer Croc and Swamp Thing.
    • This version of Man-Bat is an alternate form of Batman.
    • Several Batman villains are composited with Cthulhu Mythos characters, most notably Ra's as Abdul Azelhrad.
  • In the fantasy setting of Dark Knights of Steel, the Green Man is introduced as the Green Lantern counterpart, but for the first few issues we don't see him clearly. He turns out to be Alexander Luthor, who was driven mad by his Kryptonite power ring, and became the Joker. Later, Constantine summons Etrigan, but actually wants to speak to the demon's human form: Ra's Al Ghul, the Demon's Head.
  • The Superman Monster:
    • Superman serves the role of the Frankenstein monster, with his initially being pale and deformed upon creation and his creator being the story's equivalent to Lex Luthor calling to mind Superman's flawed duplicate Bizarro.
    • Eloise Edge, in addition to being the story's equivalent to Lois Lane, fulfills both the roles of Elizabeth Lavenza (being Vicktor Luthor's fiancee) and the monster's bride (in that Vicktor resurrects her after she is killed using the same methods he used to create the Superman Monster, only for her to leave him for the monster).
  • Batman/Lobo mentions that this continuity's Superman uses Jimmy Olsen as his civilian name, when normally Jimmy Olsen is a separate character who is among the Man of Steel's friends.

Vertigo & Wild Storm

  • The original version of Jenny Sparks from The Authority was a Caucasian adult and the spirit of the 20th century. Her successor, Jenny Quantum, was a young Asian child and the spirit of the 21st century. The Wild Storm combines both characters into the rebooted Jenny Mei Sparks, who is now an adult Asian woman and the latest spirit of technology.
  • In Fables several similar characters from different fairy tales are often revealed to be one person. Bigby Wolf was Big Bad Wolf in both The Three Little Pigs and Little Red Riding Hood. With an exception of Jack Sprat, if there was a character named Jack in any fairy tale, it was really Jack Horner, and if there was a unnamed witch, it was Frau Totenkinder.

     Films 

Animated Films

The following have their own pages:

  • Batman: Mask of the Phantasm was adapted from the Batman: Year Two storyline. In the comic, the Reaper was Judson Caspian, whose daughter Rachael was in a budding relationship with Bruce Wayne. In the movie, Andrea Beaumont was both the Phantasm and the love interest.
  • In the Direct to Video movie Superman: Doomsday, there's only one replacement Superman, who has elements of three of the replacements in the original The Death of Superman arc: he's a clone like Superboy, he has a zero-tolerance approach to crimefighting like the Eradicator, and he's secretly working for a villain like the Cyborg.
  • Artemis from Wonder Woman (2009) has a personality and position in Themiscyra that's equal parts Artemis and Philippus from the Wonder Woman comics.
  • Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths:
    • This Superwoman is the thematic double of Wonder Woman, but her actual powers and origin are those of Mary Marvel.
    • There's a Crime Syndicate member named Vamp who physically resembles Vixen. However, her powers are based on Beast Boy, as she can transform into any animal, all of which retain the colour of her skin.
    • Sai's name and affiliation to the counterparts of The Outsiders suggest she is the Crime Syndicate counterpart to Katana. However, her overall appearance and cat-like mask are clearly based on the Teen Titans villain Cheshire.
    • Aurora's outfit, name and blond hair make her a counterpart to Halo, but her powers and rivalry with Green Lantern instead reference Star Sapphire.
  • One of the story routes in DC Showcase – Batman: Death in the Family sees Jason Todd survive the explosion, but with his face severely burned. After growing increasingly bitter and alienated, Jason dons a Badass Longcoat and begins murdering criminals. When combined with the bandages used to conceal his facial wounds, it becomes clear that rather than donning the mantle of the Red Hood as he did in the comics (and the original movie), Jason has instead become this universe's version of Hush.note 
  • One of the stories in Green Lantern: Emerald Knights is an adaptation of the Alan Moore story "Tygers", but has Qull's role as a prisoner interrogated by Abin Sur and responding by informing Abin Sur of the foretelling of Sur's death and the downfall of the Green Lantern Corps taken by future Red Lantern Corps founder and leader Atrocitus.
  • Justice League: Gods and Monsters sees this happen as part of the Elseworld premise.
    • Most notably, Wonder Woman being Bekka from New Gods as outside of existing in the same universe, Wonder Woman has nothing to do with the New Gods. Superman is also a version of Chris Kent (being General Zod's son) and Batman is Kirk Langstrom (Man-Bat).
    • Lex Luthor is Lex Luthor in name only; he is far more similar to Metron. He even gets the chair in the end.
    • Tina is basically Francine, Kirk's wife, with a different name. Her name however is meaningful as her replica is Platinum of the Metal Men who's also called Tina in other iterations.
  • The LEGO Batman Movie:
    • Batman himself, because the film takes place in a universe where all the previous incarnations happened, is one of almost every version of the character to date, but his costume is specifically based upon the first Tim Burton film, but with the glowing eyes of the DC Extended Universe incarnation.
    • Robin in the movie is Dick Grayson, but his large glasses and hairstyle are taken from The Dark Knight Returns' Carrie Kelly. His origin story throws out the circus trapeze act and instead has him already in an orphanage, where he empathizes with Bruce Wayne also being an orphan regardless of his background, just like "Robin" John Blake from The Dark Knight Rises.
    • The Joker has the purple suit and a hairpiece resembling his hairstyle in Batman: The Animated Series and the comics, but his forearms have tattoos similar to Jared Leto's take on the character.
    • Harley Quinn's outfit looks like the New 52 incarnation of the character, but uses the black and red colors from the original B:TAS design, and her pigtails are much longer, more resembling a jester's hat. She also dons a nurse costume very reminiscent of her Batman: Arkham Asylum design, but it's in her classic colors and obviously isn't a Naughty Nurse Outfit. Another outfit of hers is a dress with a black and red tutu similar to her Batman: Arkham Knight outfit.
    • While Barbara Gordon is still youthful, she's now Commissioner of Gotham City, which she was in Batman Beyond. Her Batgirl suit looks like a combination of Yvonne Craig's purple Batsuit and her recent Batgirl of Burnside redesign (particularly in the torso and boots), while her personality is taken from her time as Oracle.
    • Two-Face has the purple hair from Tommy Lee Jones' take on the character, but (half of) the face and voice of Billy Dee Williams. The left half of the suit being ruined and the level of damage done to the face also bring to mind Aaron Eckhart.
    • Bane's got the bomber jacket (and unique accent) of his Dark Knight trilogy incarnation, but his size and use of venom comes from the comics, while his mask is a mix of the two.
    • The Red Hood is a bizarre version. His figure is the tux and domed hood of the Joker, but under the hood, he has Jason Todd's mask. Yet he still seems to be a completely separate character. This is especially confusing since Batman in this continuity has obviously never had a sidekick before.
    • Chief O'Hara shares the name of Chief O'Hara from the '60s TV series, but her appearance and personality are much closer to that of Renee Montoya from the animated series and the comics.
    • In terms of Walking Spoiler characters, the Daleks seem to have the color scheme of blue, orange or red from their 2010 incarnations (there are no white or yellow ones, perhaps because in the actual show only one of each can exist). However, they also have flamethrowers, like the 1960s Daleks had, and their body shape seems more similar to the 2005 Daleks'.
  • Green Lantern: Beware My Power stars John Stewart, but his origin story of being the last Green Lantern after the destruction of the Corps who ultimately must battle the rogue Hal Jordan is taken from Kyle Rayner.
  • Batman: Under the Red Hood:
    • While he did play the role in Jason's recovery in the comics, Ra's al Ghul takes over Superboy-Prime's role as the actual person involved in Jason's resurrection, a change that was eventually brought into the comics.
    • The flashback to one of Jason's earlier adventures as Robin replaces Flash villain Captain Boomerang with the Riddler.
    • The flashback to Jason Todd's death shows him wearing a Robin costume similar to the one Tim Drake started wearing shortly after Infinite Crisis.

Live Action Films

The following have their own pages:

  • Batman Film Series: When it comes to this film series, there are a lot of composite characters in this series.
    • Batman (1989):
      • Vicki Vale was actually a combination of the comic's Vicky Vale (in terms of name and occupation) with Silver St. Cloud (in terms of personality and characterization), a love interest of Batman from The '70s who knew his secret identity. Silver was originally going to be the character's name but the producers thought the name was too silly for a mainstream movie.
      • The film's version of the Joker is given the defining role of Joe Chill.note 
    • Batman Returns has a version of the Penguin that seems to combine elements from his comic book counterpart but also to another member of Batman's rogues gallery, carrying prominent traits of Killer Croc. Things like his origins as a part of the wealthy Cobblepot family, his affinity for birds, his basic physical build, his resentment over being an outcast, and his trick umbrellas harken to the Penguin of the comics. But his much more monstrously deformed condition, how he was bullied/ostracized because of it even further, has some more bestial tendencies in places, and his time as a sideshow performer of some kind with a circus more closely align to Croc.
    • Batman Forever:
      • Forever gives us a composite origin for Robin, who is Dick Grayson in name and occupation (circus acrobat, alongside his parents), but gets his origin combined with the Post-Crisis Jason Todd's (Two-Face responsible for parents' death, and wanting to kill Two-Face for it). By extention, this merges Two-Face with Tony Zucco (the murderer of Dick's parents). In Batman & Robin, Dick inherits Jason's brash attitude and recklessness.
      • The same movie's take on the Riddler as an eccentric though introverted scientist working for Wayne Enterprise's whose big project is some sort of mind manipulation device is similar to the take on Jervis Tetch, aka the Mad Hatter, from the acclaimed Batman: The Animated Series. However his desire to prove his genius/greatness, his compulsion for leaving riddles and playing mind games, as well as his deep feeling of under-appreciation are reverent to the Riddler of the comics. And Jim Carrey's manic portrayal of the character is directly inspired by the performance of Frank Gorshin in the 1960s show.
    • Batman & Robin:
      • Mr. Freeze is a composite of two very different versions of himself. The tragic origins, including a sick wife he tried to cure but had to freeze to preserve, come from his Batman: The Animated Series version, while a lot of his behavior — themed henchmen, Card Carrying Villainy, and ice puns — are taken from the 1960s Batman (1966) show.
      • Alicia Silverstone's version of Batgirl, Barbara Wilson, is Alfred Pennyworth's niece rather than Commision Gordon's daughter like in the comics. This makes her a bit closer to Daphne Pennyworth, the daughter of Alfred Pennyworth's older brother Wilford. However, Daphne Pennyworth is a considerably obscure character, having appeared in only two issues of the original Batman comic book (#216 and #227) back in the late 70's.
  • The Dark Knight Trilogy
    • Batman Begins
      • The movie Arnold Flass resembled Harvey Bullock more, being dark-haired, overweight, and unshaven rather than being blonde, fit, and clean-shaven as in the comics, but he does have the comics' version's corruption.
      • The film Gillian Loeb is Michael Akins with Loeb's name, being young, African-American, and honest, rather than being old, corrupt, and Caucasian. That said, he's still antagonistic towards Batman (due to being a vigilante).
      • Ra's al Ghul's alias Henri Ducard also fits this trope. In the comics, Henri Ducard was one of the people Bruce Wayne hired to teach him to be good at everything ever. However, he was not a member of the League of Shadows, let alone its leader, or even associated with al Ghul at all.
      • Lucius Fox's role was expanded to fill his normal role as CEO along side the role of tech support, which was occasionally filled by others or left unexplained and filled in gaps about how Batman uses Wayne Corp resources in his crimefighting.
    • The Dark Knight Rises
      • John Blake has elements of the first three Robins: He grew up on the streets like Jason Todd, he deduced Batman's identity as a teen like Tim Drake, and he's an orphan who becomes a police officer as an adult and Batman's eventual successor like Dick Grayson. His real name being Robin is also an obvious nod.
      • Bane's role as a chief enforcer/guard for an al Ghul running the League of Assassins (called the League of Shadows in the films) is arguably reminiscent of the comic book character Ubu.
  • The Green Lantern (2011) movie establishes that Parallax was once Krona, a completely separate villain in the comics. He also takes Legion/Atrocitus' role as the one responsible for Abin Sur's death.
  • In Swamp Thing:
    • Alice Cable is an amalgam of Abby Arcane and Matt Cable, being a government agent with the surname Cable, and Swamp Thing's love interest with a first name starting with "A".
    • Anton Arcane takes the role of the gangsters who destroyed Alec's lab.
  • In the 1950 film serial Atom Man Vs. Superman, the titular Atom Man, originally a recurring villain in the radio show, was made into the alter ego of Lex Luthor, who had previously only appeared in the comics.

     Live-Action TV 

Live-Action TV

  • Doom Patrol (2019):
    • Heinrich Von Fuchs is a mash-up of the comics' interpretation of General Immortus (being an aged man who has artificially prolonged his lifespan and is affiliated with the Brotherhood of Evil, Immortus existing in this series as a separate character who is female) and Dr. Bruckner (being a Nazi scientist responsible for turning Morden into Mr. Nobody).
    • The show's interpretation of Dorothy Spinner's imaginary friend Darling Come Home has a personality closer to another imaginary friend from the comics known as Pretty Miss Dot, particularly in being a benign big sister figure to Dorothy rather than the abusive mother figure her comic incarnation was.
    • The Chief takes Rhea Jones' role in defeating Red Jack. This is another one of the rare examples that overlap with Decomposite Character, as Rhea Jones was previously shown to exist in this continuity as a founding member of the original Doom Patrol.
    • In yet another example that overlaps with Decomposite Character, while Isabel Feathers is initially introduced as a minor character before later revealed to be this continuity's General Immortus, Robotman takes General Immortus' role in crippling the Chief when the episode "Portal Patrol" reveals that he caused Niles Caulder to become a paraplegic through a Stable Time Loop.
  • In The Flash (1990), Barry Allen is given one of Wally West's love interests, and also the need to eat large amounts to "refuel". The costume also looks more like Wally's, with the lightning bolt "belt" coming to a point.
  • Gotham:
    • Harvey Bullock in this adaptation mixes elements of the Bullock from the comics (scruffy looking and highly cynical but basically decent) with the Year One character Arnold Flass (Gordon's corrupt first partner) - though the original version of Bullock was corrupt before turning over a new leaf. Interestingly, the actual Arnold Flass does later appear, and even makes Season 1 Harvey look like a supercop by comparison.
    • Some elements of Barbara Keene's personality seem to be lifted from her son in the comics, James Jr. Namely, her rocky relationship with her family and her murderous tendencies. Her relationship with Ra's may give her a hint of Whisper A'Daire, too.
    • Matches Malone, who in the comics is a low-level gangster notable mostly for Bruce Wayne using his name after his death as an undercover criminal alias killed Thomas and Martha Wayne, making him the counterpart to Joe Chill. Additionally, Hugo Strange is the one who ordered it, combining him with Lew Moxon, who was the gangster who hired Chill in those continuities where the murder of the Waynes wasn't just a random mugging.
    • Jack Gruber's use of electricity on criminals is reminiscent of the Electrocutioner, while also bearing similarities with Maxie Zeus in Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth by Grant Morrison as well as the Earth-One Dr. Hugo Strange, who not only wears glasses but also escaped Arkham with inmates he uses as test subjects.
  • The 1997 Justice League of America television movie:
    • Ice is Tora Olafsdotter, but has an origin similar to Sigrid Nansen (with her superpower coming from a scientific experiment instead of being something she was born with).
    • The Flash is Barry Allen but has Wally West's personality.
    • Green Lantern has Guy Gardner's name and costume, but lacks his trademark Jerkass personality and awful haircut. Instead, his more heroic personality and traditional good looks come from Hal Jordan, while his mask and insignia come from Kyle Rayner.
  • The Sandman:
    • In "A Hope in Hell", Squatterbloat, the demon who greets Morpheus at the gates of Hell and leads him to his meeting with Lucifer, is a combination of two demons from the comic book version of the story: a Squatterbloat who was only the gatekeeper and Etrigan who led Morpheus to the meeting. Etrigan, being a pre-existing character with links to several other DC properties, was left out of the TV version to avoid complications.
    • In the comic book version of the Doll's House arc, Rose's mother is still alive and accompanies Rose on her trip to England as well as being seen living with Rose and her brother Jed at the end of the arc. In the TV version, she died shortly before the story starts and her role in the plot is added to another character, Lyta Hall.
    • In the comic book version of the Doll's House arc, there were two rogue nightmares, Brute and Glob, hiding out in Jed's dreamscape. Their role in the TV version is taken by a single rogue nightmare named Gault.
  • Smallville featured Tess Mercer, a combination of Mercy Graves (Lex Luthor's assistant from Superman: The Animated Series), Miss Tessmacher (One of Lex's underlings from Superman: The Movie), and Lena Luthor (Lex's sister from the comics). In the Season 11 comics she becomes Red Tornado, essentially the New 52 Brain Uploading Gynoid version of the Tornado decomposited from Earth-2 Lois and composited onto Tess.
    • Also Chloe, often regarded as an Expy of Lois Lane, but is actually this trope being a combination of Lois Lane (intrepid reporter) and the comic version of Lana Lang (Unlucky Childhood Friend from high school) and she spent most of high school trying to uncover Clark's secret much like Lana and Lois tried in the Silver Age. Then again, Lana Lang started off as an Expy of Lois, so its no wonder.
    • For that matter, the version of Green Arrow appearing in Smallville is essentially Oliver Queen filling Bruce Wayne's role in the DC Universe. Like the comics' Green Arrow, he's a Badass Normal vigilante from Star City with a Robin Hood-themed M.O. and an arsenal of deadly arrows. Like Batman, he's the main force behind the founding of the Justice League and Clark's closest ally in the superhero community. note 
    • The Star-Spangled Kid is Sylvester Pemberton, but sports a Badass Long Coat and Cosmic Staff like the Jack Knight version of Starman.
    • While his true name is Bart Allen and he is eventually given the codename Impulse, he's advertised as the Flash for his debut episode, and is a composite of all of them: his fake ID cards have the names Jay Garrick, Barry Allen, and Wally West.
  • Stargirl:
    • Much like the Smallville example, Sylvester Pemberton was still Courtney's predecessor, but was called Starman rather than Skyman, and used the Cosmic Staff wielded by Jack Knight in the comics.
    • The Fiddler is a woman of Indian descent named Anaya Bowin, a combination of the original comic version of the Fiddler (a white man named Isaac Bowin) and Virtuoso (an Indian woman who took up Bowin's enchanted violin after his death). As the secretly villainous principal of Courtney's high school, she's also combined with Principal Sherman from the original Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. comics. Interestingly, despite this, it's indicated that Isaac Bowin also exists in this continuity.
    • Dragon King (whose real name was never revealed in the comics) is given the surname "Ito," taken from Dr. Ito, another of DC's Yellow Peril villains.
    • Rather than the caped, catlike outfit she sported in the original Golden Age comics, Tigress instead wears the costume her daughter Artemis had in the 90s JSA series. However, like the Fiddler example, Artemis also exists in this continuity, but takes on the identity of Sportsmaster II rather than Tigress.
  • Swamp Thing (2019): Abigail Arcane is merged with Linda Holland, the late wife of Alec, whom is Adapted Out of the show. In the comics Abby has an overtly mystical background rather than a science-based one, so the show gives Abby Linda’s role of being a fellow doctor and scientist like Alec along with being there the night he is killed and “reborn” as Swamp Thing since Abby wasn’t introduced at that point in the comics. Given they’re both the love interests of Alec and Swamp Thing it works out rather neatly.
  • Titans (2018):
    • Just like in the animated series, the show's version of Robin is Dick Grayson, but uses Tim Drake's costume and bo staff.
    • Jericho's mother Adeline Kane is Asian like Lillian "Sweet Lili" Worth, another of Deathstroke's flames from the comics.
    • Speaking of Jericho, he takes his older brother Grant's place as the Wilson son whose accidental death inspires Deathstroke's blood vendetta against the Titans. In fact, there's no indication Grant exists in this universe.
    • Aqualad is the original Garth iteration of the character, but has the hydrokinesis powers of Kaldur'ahm/Jackson Hyde, the second Aqualad in the comics.
    • This version of Hawk is a recovering drug addict, a trait seemingly lifted from his fellow Teen Titan Speedy, who does not appear in the show.
    • Ravager is combined with Terra, having the latter character's role as the girl who joins the Titans but was actually working for Deathstroke the whole time.
    • The Scarecrow replaces (depending on the continuity) Superboy-Prime and Alexander Luthor Jr., Ra's al Ghul, or Talia al Ghul as the one behind Jason Todd's resurrection, due to a Lazarus Pit in Arkham Asylum.

     Video Games 

Video Games

  • According to the interview tapes for Two-Face in Batman: Arkham City, Carmine Falcone replaces Sal Maroni as the one responsible for Harvey Dent's disfigurement and transformation into Two-Face.
    • In fact, quite a lot of the characters in the Arkham series borrow aspects from different Batman continuities. The baseline for most of the characters come from the comics and '90s animated series, but then you have touches and references to other versions mixed in.
  • One of the Alternate Universes in Infinite Crisis is a loose adaptation the Elseworlds Batman Vampire trilogy, but sees Ra's al Ghul replace Dracula as the villain who turned Batman into a vampire and Damian Wayne replace Dick Grayson as the Robin who becomes a vampire.

    Web Animation 
  • Cyborg's depiction in the 2015 version of DC Super Hero Girls is based primarily on his incarnation in Teen Titans (2003), but he also has hair like his mainline comics counterpart and has the chest insignia of his New 52 incarnation.

     Western Animation 

Western Animation

  • The Batman:
    • Dr. Hugo Strange is initially introduced as the morally ambiguous director of Arkham Asylum, who views the insanity of Batman's villains (and Batman himself) as a fascinating riddle. While he soon becomes the Mad Scientist of the comics, the early appearances owe more to Dr. Jeremiah Arkham. Additionally, his role in the episode "Strange New World" was originally meant for the Scarecrow, though Strange does predates Scarecrow and some of Strange's earliest appearances saw him employ similar hallucinogenic toxins to what Crane's best known for.
    • In the final season, Firefly becomes this, when he came into contact with an isotope and gained the powers and (partly) the codename of minor Batman baddie Doctor Phosphorus.
    • Alan Burnett said the Flash was Barry Allen, but the character has a personality more in line with Wally West and Bart Allennote . Like Wally, he also needed to consume large amounts of food to keep up with his ultra-fast metabolism.
    • The Batman in general had a lot of this, due to the Bat Embargo preventing them from being able to use villains from Batman Begins and The Dark Knight (Joker being the exceptions). Accordingly, Ethan Bennett/Clayface is similar to Harvey Dent/Two-Face (and a similar appearance and police career to Crispus Allen), Black Mask is similar to Ra's al Ghul, and Hugo Strange's later appearances (particularly Strange New World) use him as a stand-in for Scarecrow. They were also unable to use Robin due to Teen Titans (2003), so Batgirl wound up inheriting a lot of his Kid Sidekick traits (at least until Robin was able to appear in later seasons), including a personality akin to the Spoiler's.
    • Chief Angel Rojas is basically Dirty Cop and Bad Boss Commissioner Gillian Loeb with the build of Harvey Bullock, and made Hispanic and a police chief.
    • Ellen Yin combines the roles of both Ellen Yindel and Renee Montoya, and likewise with Rojas, Yin is a Race Lift (Yin is Asian-American, whereas the original Yindel was white and Montoya was Latina).
    • The Wrath has Killer Moth's original "protector of criminals" shtick and the brown and orange of Catman's costume. The original Wrath was a Cop Killer who wore red and purple.
    • The Robin used is Dick Grayson, but he wears Tim Drake's costume like in Batman: TAS, Batman Forever, and Teen Titans (2003) and uses a staff as his primary weapon like Drake and the TT version of Dick, and in a distant future, he ultimately does become Nightwing.
  • In Batwheels:
    • Robin is Duke Thomas, but his outfit and being Robin at the age of twelve are taken from Damian Wayne and interest in mysteries comes from Tim Drake.
    • The show's version of Batgirl is Cassandra Cain, but her suit seems inspired by Barbara Gorgon's "Batgirl of the Burnside" outfit and Duke's Signal suit. Her being a snarky biker and use of a domino mask under her helmet are taken from Barbara Wilson from Batman & Robin.
  • In Beware the Batman, Slade Wilson/Deathstroke has a lot of similarities with Tommy Elliot/Hush. They both have a deep resentment of Bruce Wayne because he had better parental figures, both know he is Batman, both feign friendship with him to get closer to him and both enact a complex scheme to ruin his life, including faking their own death. Pre-plastic surgery Slade even resembles Tommy from the comics. Word of God admitted that the series was going to feature Hush before using a "similar" villain instead.
  • The Black Lightning shorts on DC Nation imply that Black Vulcan, Black Lightning's Captain Ersatz from Super Friends, was simply an identity that he used in the past.
  • DC Super Hero Girls (2019):
    • Much like Super Best Friends Forever, Barbara Gordon is the Batgirl used, but her personality is more in-line with Stephanie Brown's.
    • Also like SBFF, Supergirl has the build and personality of Power Girl, only this time, she also sports Pee Gee's shorter hair; the episode "#PowerSurge" even sees her take up the identity and costume of Power Girl. Additionally, her civilian outfit evokes the Conner Kent Superboy's original costume.
    • Supergirl's mother Alura takes Jor-El's place as the one who imprisoned General Zod, Ursa and Non in the Phantom Zone just prior to Krypton's destruction.
    • Robin is Dick Grayson, but has the more obnoxious and negative personality traits of Bratty Half-Pint Damian Wayne. And, like many modern adaptations, he uses Tim Drake's bo staff.
    • Much like the below-mentioned Harley Quinn, Condiment King takes the name of "Mitchell Mayo" like the In Name Only version introduced in Birds of Prey and the appearance of the original Buddy Standler version. Also like the Mitchel Mayo version, he used to be a fast food employee before becoming a supervillain.
    • This continuity's Toyman is Winslow Schott, but he uses a mecha resembling one used by an alternate future version of Hiro Okamura in Sean McKeever's run on Teen Titans and his second appearance has him wearing the jester costume of Jack Nimball.
  • In Deathstroke: Knights & Dragons, the H.I.V.E. Queen is Rose Wilson, usually known as the teen Anti-Hero Ravager in the comics.
  • Green Lantern: The Animated Series:
    • "Heir Apparent" is loosely adapted from the first arc of the 2006 Green Lantern Corps comic, but has Soranik Natu's role as a Green Lantern Faking the Dead to expose Ragnar as the one responsible for the death of his sector's Green Lantern in a crazed attempt to be seen as worthy of Corps membership taken by Kilowog.
    • The Anti-Monitor ends up becoming the mind of Ranx the Sentient City, when they were completely separate individuals in the comics.
  • Harley Quinn (2019):
  • Justice League Action:
    • This continuity's Toyman is Asian like the Hiro Okamura version of Toyman, but is also a villain like the previous iterations of the character. He also has the diminutive stature of the Toyman from Superman: The Animated Series.
    • Hal Jordan is the series' featured Green Lantern, but has a personality closer to Guy Gardner's and has black hair instead of brown, which makes him look like Kyle Rayner.
  • Legion of Super Heroes (2006):
    • The series pays tribute to Superman's entire legacy of Phantom Zone criminals in the form of Drax, a young Kryptonian with a big 'Z' on his chest and an inexplicable British accent who was born in the Phantom Zone and has design elements of the non-Kryptonian Zod from Superman: Birthright. In addition, the spikes on him are reminiscent of Doomsday and the pale skin may be a nod to Bizarro as well.
    • Kel-El/Superman X is effectively a composite of Kon-El (clone of Superman) and the Superman of the 853rd century (successor to the Man of Steel from even further in the future), with a little bit of Mon-El (affiliation with the Legion and immunity to Kryptonite) thrown in as well.
    • This continuity's version of Starfinger is a mash-up of the original Lars Hanscom version and the Char Burrane version, having the powers of the former and the physical appearance of the latter.
  • In the Arrowverse animated series Freedom Fighters: The Ray, the title character's look and name come from Raymond Terrill, the second Ray in the comics. His sexuality comes from The Multiversity's version of Lanford Terrill, the original Ray. His origin appears to be based loosely on Lucien Gates, the New 52 Ray, with Lanford's journalism background.
  • My Adventures with Superman
    • While she has the name and powers of Livewire, her role as an arms dealer and mercenary who initially uses super-tech and serves as the Starter Villain of a Superman animated show owes a lot to the DCAU version of Metallo. She even tries to dispatch Superman with a robot that he struggles with due to inexperience during a heist, like that iteration of Metallo did.
    • The General's moniker and ruthlessness in regards to helping his country are taken from the comics character General Wade Eiling, while his name and status as Lois' father are both taken from General Sam Lane.
    • Mist/Kyle McDougal is a composite of Bevan McDougalnote  and the Golden Age villain Mistnote . His connection with Silver Banshee might also make him a reference to Silver Mist, an obscure Steel villain.
    • Dr. Anthony Ivo is a composite of his original comics self, his android Amazo, wearers of the Amazo armor such as Kid Amazo, and the various incarnations of Parasite, and just a hint of Lex Luthor. This physical appearance also takes notes from T.O. Morrow, at least until he accidentally deforms himself into an appearance more akin to Ivo's usual comic self.
  • Super Best Friends Forever:
    • The Batgirl used is Barbara Gordon but her personality in more in line with Stephanie Brown.
    • Likewise, the classic Kara Zor-El Supergirl is used, but she's fused with Power Girl as she's more muscular like PG and has Karen's more rougher personality.
  • Superfriends: The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians episode "The Wild Cards" did this with Royal Flush Gang member Ace by revealing him to be the Joker in disguise.
  • Teen Titans (2003)
    • Robin is an amalgam of the first three characters who went by that name, although he is mainly implied (and later confirmed in the tie-in comics) to be Dick Grayson. He has Dick's origin and future identity as Nightwing, but Tim Drake's fighting style, costume and detective skills. And to a lesser extent, Jason Todd's anger issues.
    • While the Warp in the comics had Villain Teleportation, the Warp in this show was clearly meant to be DC supervillain Chronos, what with his time-travelling powers and whatnot.
    • Kole has her comic book counterpart's powers and personality in addition to taking Lilith's role as Gnarrk's companion.
    • Before Deathstroke's daughter appeared in the animated series continuity proper, Terra's character combined elements of Rose Wilson and Tara Markov, particularly the abusive relationship the comic version of Wilson had with her father, and the long, blonde hair of Wilson's that fell over one eye, creating a visual comparison with Slade.
    • Raven has her comic book counterpart's powers and backstory in addition to taking Donna Troy's role as Starfire's Heterosexual Life-Partner.
    • In the tie-in comic, Battalion is still a member of the Titans from Killowat's home dimension, but this version of the character is an alternate incarnation of Cyborg rather than Alexander Lyons.
    • This continuity's version of the Doom Patrol has Mento replace the Chief as the team's leader.
    • Word of God gives no indication that they were aware of it, but this version of Slade inadvertently mirrors the original Wildebeest from the comics, who was himself a Diabolical Mastermind of no clear identity or motive.
  • Teen Titans Go!: In an inversion of how Mento took his role as the Doom Patrol's leader in the 2003 cartoon, this continuity has the Chief take Mento's role as Beast Boy's adoptive father.

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