Corrupted Character Copy / The DCU

The DCU

Corrupted Character Copy in this franchise.

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Comic Books

• Animal Man: Tom Veitch's run features an in-universe comic book titled The Penalizer, with the titular character being an obvious send-up of The Punisher. Unlike Frank Castle, the Penalizer does not have a tragic backstory of waging a war on crime to avenge the deaths of his wife and children, instead being a full-on reactionary psychopath who enjoys what he does, will find any excuse to kill people without hesitation and seems incapable of dealing with any threat without resorting to lethal force.
• The Authority: Mark Millar's first arc had the team go up against twisted versions of Marvel's stable of heroes and even an evil version of Jack Kirby named Jacob Krigstein, who went after the baby that'd become Jenny Quantum/Quarx. The Americans, a stand-in for The Avengers, features the Commander, a stand-in for Captain America, as a Depraved Bisexual rapist; Tank Man, a stand-in for Iron Man, destroyed a maternity ward; and Thunder God, a ersatz for The Mighty Thor, is an accessory to Commander's rape of Apollo. A stand-in for Nick Fury also later proudly boasts of his racism and xenophobia while attacking Paris by declaring that he considered the French to be even less human than Asians, Mexicans and black people.
• Batman:
  • Bane was designed as an Evil Counterpart to Doc Savage, apropos given Batman heavily draws on the Shadow a major sales rival back in the day.
    • Like Doc, Bane was raised in an atypical all-male environment that heavily affected his emotional development, was introduced with three talented 'assistants' (Bird, Zombie and Trogg), and is arguably the peak of human mental and physical development. But Savage Doc strove to use non-lethal methods wherever possible even if he was willing 'dirty' his hands now and then. It also would never have occurred to Doc to take over a criminal enterprise as he saw criminals as anathema to social order rather than a reality to be exploited.
  • Hellgrammite is a corrupted character copy of Spider-Man, who doesn't merely wear a creepy costume and use his superhuman powers to move about in unnerving manners but has been physically altered by his condition to the point he no longer has external ears and has grown a tail! Also, while Peter Parker gained his spider-powers by chance and simply used them to start a career as a performer, Hellgrammite intentionally subjected himself with a mutagen in a bid to Take Over the World. While Spider-Man webs up criminals purely to restrain them, in at least one continuity can share his powers with his wife and daughter and is loosely connect to other spider-powered people through a "web of life", Hellgrammite encases anyone he deems he can use into cocoons for the purpose of turning them into monsters similar to himself that will serve in his army.
  • Black Spider is a clear villainous riff on Marvel's Friendly Neighbour Spider-Man. Rather than being a All-Loving Hero and Primary-Color Champion he's a dark coloured Ax-Crazy Vigilante Man who kills the criminals he hunts down rather than just webbing them up like Spidey does. He even has a similar working-class background to Peter as well as being motivated by the death of a loved one whose death he unintentionally caused. Except Black Spider has no sense of responsibility (something that defines his Marvel counterpart) and refuses to acknowledge that his actions make him a bad guy. Young Justice even gives him Web-Shooters, has him Wall Crawl, and gives him Spider-Man's voice from Greg Weisman's last project just to heighten the similarities.
  • Killer Croc is what Marvel's The Lizard would be if you took away the "scientist who changes back and forth into a monster" part. Croc is a scary reptile man beast who has a chip on his shoulder againist humanity like The Lizard, but since he lacks the chance to shift back into a human like Curt does (thanks to Spidey) Croc is much more corrupt and devious.
  • The Batman Adventures: Batman: The Adventures Continue has the Joker gain a blond henchman named Straightman who is well-built and said to be the result of an experiment to create a powerful soldier. While this clearly makes Straightman a villainous analogue to Captain America, it is zig-zagged in that the story makes it clear that Straightman is only on the Joker's side because the Joker sabotaged the procedure that created him so he'd be brainwashed into being loyal to the Joker, with Straightman ultimately proving himself to be a good man and succeeding in breaking free of the Joker's control.
  • Batman and Robin (2009): The Metaleks seems to be the cast of Bob the Builder if the cast of Bob The Builder were not construction workers, their sapient tools and talking vehicles but hostile terraformers with an inexplicable hatred of The British Ilse. However, when Superman is ambushed by a planet destroying fifth dimensional imp while on a Mission To Mars, The Metaleks come to his aide, as they hate planet destroying in general and only started "xenoforming" after this particular imp destroyed their origin world.
• Introduced in Dark Matter (2017), Damage is a Darker and Edgier take on the Hulk. Rather than being a Non-Action Guy scientist who was turned into a massive green goliath purely by accident and was forced to adapt and live with a rageful child-like alter ego like Bruce did, Ethan Avery is instead a soldier who desperately wanted superpowers and willingly signed up for the procedure, which turned out to be a cruel case of Be Careful What You Wish For. Additionally while the Hulk persona is innocent and sympathetic only resenting Bruce for shunning him, the Damage persona is cruel and insidious, manipulating Ethan into handing him control of their body by exploiting his resentments.
• Deathstroke: Red Lion from Deathstroke (Rebirth) is Black Panther as a racist, theocratic dictator. Marvel's Panther acknowledges and even uses the existence of gods to his advantage when he has to but otherwise practices and promotes a secular life style. Black Panther's time is also taken up dealing with ethnic disputes by people who otherwise think of themselves as the same race and would be much happier if divisions like full blown racism were things that didn't exist.
• Justice League International: The miniseries Lord Havok and the Extremists, to make a version of DC's Marvel-villain expies appear as almost the good guys, presents the Meta-Militia as every negative aspect of The Avengers, and especially The Ultimates, turned up to eleven. Tin Man (Iron Man) pushes a version of the Superhuman Registration Act that puts all metas in interment camps unless they join the Militia, then uses this to get elected President. Americommando (Captain America) is a former black ops agent, who succeeds Tin Man and takes advantage of the positon, while secretly still controlled by his military handlers. Blue Jay (Ant-Man) is almost completely crippled with self-doubt except when the Raven armor turns him psychotic. Wandajina (The Mighty Thor) is probably the most stable, with his supposed affair with Gorgon's lab assistant being entirely in the Doc Ock expy's paranoid mind, so naturally he gets killed. Gorgon himself is the "purer(?)" character copy of Doc Ock, as he still immoral but hasn't been driven so mad by an accident with his equipment as to commit mass murder to prove his superiority, as Doc Ock sought to do in his Spider-Man story.
• Kingdom Come:
  • Magog, being a Take That! at Rob Liefeld, is a Jerkass and demented version of Cable, though this is subverted somewhat as Magog manages to be redeem himself after a Despair Event Horizon and helps the Justice League. He still proves to be the villainous opposite of Cable in later comics though, as seen in Infinite Frontier where he joins the Injustice Incarnate whom mean to keep the worlds of the Multiverse separate, whereas Marvel's Cable is all about hopping between universes for the greater good.
  • Minor character Americommando is a bloodthirsty, psychotic version of Captain America.
• The Outsiders: Sparkler, part of the Force of July, is essentially Cannonball from New Mutants as a My Country, Right or Wrong patriot who mindlessly obeys the orders of his evil superior.
• Peacemaker: Originally owned by Charlton Comics, Peacemaker is another expy of Captain America. They’re both textbook Captain Patriotic Super Soldiers with distinct helmets and fighting prowess. However whereas Cap, particularly his post war version, is The Paragon who tries to avoid killing and often sees the best in everyone, Christopher Smith is an Anti-Hero who in the Post Crisis continuity became willing to kill anyone he personally deems a threat to America. Peacemaker essentially represents the ugly jingoistic traits Cap has outgrown since his debut. Same goes for DCEU Peacemaker and MCU Captain America. See below in the film section.
• Shazam!: King Kid is one to Peter Pan; both of them live in fantastical worlds that provide a home to lost children, have mystical powers, and never grew up. But while Peter Pan is a mischievous but altogether good-natured soul, King Kid is a tyrant who let his hatred for adults consume him to the point where he keeps the Funlands running by using everybody over the age of seventeen as slave labor, something Peter Pan would never stoop to.
• Superman:
  • Zig-Zagged with Hank Henshaw. His origin is a clear riff on Marvel's Fantastic Four, with Henshaw himself in the place of Reed Richards (astronauts exposed to cosmic radiation, begin mutating superpowers, but in the DC version, the mutations don't stop and quickly kill them). By the time Henshaw resurfaced to take up a truly villainous mantle in The Death of Superman, he'd used his powers to style himself "Cyborg Superman," becoming a wholly unique character completely divorced from his origin as an Expy of Mr. Fantastic (instead borrowing heavily from The Terminator).He brings up the "ironic" similarities in an Intercompany Crossover, which made him have a much harder time than them and turn to evil instead.
  Hank: While residing in your computers I learned we share much in common. You four were bombarded by unique cosmic rays during a brave mission into space. My wife, I, and two of our friends experienced a similar fate while on the space shuttle Excalibur. The radiation that invaded our craft was both unexpected and unexplained. You four were blessed with tremendous powers and abilities. As were we, at first. Ultimately, though, my team lost their lives to the effects of the radiation. I survived as a nomadic intelligence, always forging new bodies of circuits and alloys. You swore to use your new for the good of mankind. Me, I resented my fate and the loss of my human body. I didn't fight for humanity. I declared war on it and its greatest champion.
  • Alexandra Allston the female Parasite from Adventures of Superman (2004) can be seen as an evil take on Rogue. Rather than just being a innocent teenage girl who becomes a supervillain thanks to an Evil Mentor before heel face turning into a hero, she's a formerly innocent teenage girl who becomes Drunk with Power thanks to her Power Parasite ability and has no change of heart. Indeed her attitude to towards her powers is the exact opposite to Rogue, who often has the I Just Want to Be Normal mentality, and would at any rate much prefer superpowers that don't exclusively hurt other people and was quite upset with how the memory taking aspects of her power affected her personally even when the life draining aspect on her victims was removed.
  • Manchester Black and the Elite from What's So Funny About Truth, Justice & the American Way? are clear ersatz of The Authority, themselves Anti-Hero expies of the Justice League of America. Like the Authority they style themselves as an Anti-Hero Team who kill villains, however the Authority benefit from being in a cynical setting with villains far worse than them. The Elite are part of an idealistic Reconstruction of Superman and Take That! to The Authority, being Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist villains to show why Superman's idealism and Thou Shalt Not Kill works (and how terrifying he'd be if he did kill).
  • Maxima, a redheaded space traveler with Psychic Powers, is a corrupted character copy of Jean Grey from X-Men. Jean Grey is an explorer, teacher and protector who really only did bad things because she was brainwashed by the super villain Mastermind, and even then only because she had a Cosmic Entity inside of her that said brainwashing attempt caused her to lose control of. This leads to Jean Grey being unfairly hunted by a galactic empire, who don't care about the fact she wasn't in full control of her actions, or that there were two other beings more responsible for what happened than she was. Maxima is the leader of the galactic empire and willingly uses her powers to devastate worlds and expand it. Jean Grey has an infamously Tangled Family Tree that faces tragedies largely out of her control, because she and her husband just so happen to be a genetic combination that leads to great power that other people want. Maxima actively seeks to create one, desiring powerful mates to father children that will continue her despotic legacy. Maxima does occasionally try to be a benevolent ruler and protector of the weak, but this is only for the sake of courting heroic males like Superman, not because she's genuinely altruistic like Jean Grey, and will gladly revert to her true colors when men like Lobo are on her radar. Her interest in Superman and Lobo in particular is a corruption of Jean Grey's Love Triangle with Cyclops and Wolverine. Also, during one of her stints with The Justice League Maxima is possessed by Eclipso, who was retooled into a Cosmic Entity not unlike The Phoenix Force by DC. The difference is that Jean Grey and The Phoenix Force get along and mean well, that Mastermind induced rampage aside. Eclipso and Maxima do not get along, as he was deliberately derailing her plans to get in Superman's tights for his own ends.
  • Atomic Skull is an evil riff on Ghost Rider being a Blessed with Suck burning Skull for a Head guy (who's even occasionally seen on a motorcycle) but the supernatural origins replaced with science based-ones. While he was initially portrayed as a delusional but well-intentioned, convinced he was the hero of a movie serial, and anyone standing in his way was one of the serial's villains, later appearances show the Atomic Skull has killed innocent people after embracing villainy. Harm to innocents was the one thing Johnny Blaze and Zarathos hated more than being bound together as a spirit of vengeance.
  • Lobo is mostly an exaggerated character copy of Wolverine, but he does exaggerate some of Wolverine's worst traits. Wolverine is at worst a standoffish man who doesn't want to be bothered when his services aren't needed and fully subscribes to Pay Evil unto Evil when they are needed but is not proud of what he is. When Wolverine claims to the best there is at what he does, but follows that what he does isn't very nice that's partially self loathing. While Wolverine is known for going into berserker rages where he'll attack anyone, these are the result of psychological trauma, he has little control over them and would rather they not happen. Lobo killed every last member of his own species because he wanted to be unique and then took to the stars to hire out his services so that he could be paid to keep killing people. Any selfless help Lobo gives anyone or anything is purely circumstantial, and the absence of an employer Lobo will start fights an initiate massacres just to relive boredom or "advertise" what he can do.
  • Equus is Wolverine if the project to turn Wolverine into an obedient Human Weapon was a complete success. While Wolverine's bones were coated in metal and he underwent extensive psychological conditioning Equus is a nearly fully converted cyborg whose original personality has been almost entirely overwritten. While he has similar knuckle area claws to Wolverine Equus equally functions as an even worse version of Wolverine villain Cyber.
  • Conduit is Marvel Comics character Cable if instead of being weakened by a techno organic virus he instead wore a suit of Powered Armor to increase his superpowers. Where Cable grew up in a Villain World Bad Future and was sired specifically to kill the villain responsible for it, Conduit was simply The Bully lashing out at the world in general and Superman in particular because his abusive father couldn't live with the fact his son was always being out shined by Clark Kent in sports. While Cable is willing to work with Apocalypse, the man he was conceived to kill, the man responsible for the state of his world and the virus destroying his body, in the event there is something even worse than Apocalypse, Conduit wants to torture and humilate Superman for being Clark Kent even as Superman dedicates most of his time to helping people and protecting the world. In the end Cable's powers aren't enough to hold off his infection any longer, he goes insane and dies, while Conduit dies by simply overtaxing his otherwise perfectly functioning powers in a last ditch effort to kill Superman.
  • In the Reboot Legion of Super-Heroes "trapped in the 20th century" period, they learned that Ferro had escaped from Doc 30, a mad scientist in a high-tech hover-wheelchair who bought young mutants for use in his experiments. As an evil Professor X, his team of wardens/enforcers (the broken "successes" of his experiments) were based on X-Men: The Knight Shift's leader Taser, who fired electric Eye Beams (Cyclops), his girlfriend Psych, who had Psychic Powers (Jean Grey), and the element-controlling Landslide (Iceman but Dishing Out Dirt) have all become deeply sadistic, while the monstrous Kritter (Beast) and wolf-like Fangg (Wolverine are entirely feral. Ferro's brother Douglas, who shares his Chrome Champion powers, would have been their Colossus, if Doc 30 had succeeded in breaking him.
• Watchmen: The series is full of these since it has a Cast of Expies is all over this with several Charlton Comics characters having now more well known and flawed expies.
  • Doctor Manhattan is this for Captain Atom. Both are molecular powered superhumans who can channel infinite energy and even reform themselves after getting atomised. However where Atom is at worst a Jerk with a Heart of Gold who genuinely cares about people, Manhattan being so god-like just becomes disillusioned with humanity to the point of letting a pregnant woman get shot in front of him and eventually leaving Earth altogether since he considers it unimportant in the grand scheme of things — only coming back briefly thanks to Laurie. Doomsday Clock makes reference to their connection when Atom and Manhattan clash. Doctor Manhattan is also this for Superman (with John even being liken to Superman In-Universe) both are super beings with unimaginable power who feel isolated from others and have a spunky dark haired 100% human girlfriend. However Manhattan is what Supes would be if he just stopped caring about people and forgo his connection to humanity completely.
  • Downplayed but Dan Dreiberg aka Nite Owl II is this for both Ted Kord Blue Beetle and Batman. Like Batman and Blue Beetle he’s a rich Gadgeteer Genius with his own themed aircraft and impressive hand to hand skills. Except while Ted and especially Bruce are super cool heroes who in the latter case Really Get Around, Dan by contrast is an overweight sad sack with virility issues. Not to mention Dan had to sell his technology since as he put it spending millions on dollars on crimebusting equipment to fight purse-snatchers and prostitutes isn't exactly the most economically sound thing to do. Played With though as it can argued Dan is the Virtuous Character Copy compared to Batman since he greatly lacks the rage, brutality, paranoia and arrogance that make up a lot of the Dark Knight’s character.
  • Ozymandias is this for Peter Cannon, Thunderbolt as they’re both Charles Atlas Superpower Genius Bruisers who trained in the east and learned to how have complete control of their minds and bodies. Yet while Cannon despite his mental problems that led to him briefly retiring is still deeply altruistic Ozy by comparison has a terrible Lack of Empathy for people’s lives compared to “the greater good” and despite his good intentions is arrogant, coldly aloof and monstrous in his actions killing three billion lives to create peace. Later Thunderbolt comics notably have him be a more heroic analogue of Ozymandias showing someone with the same background and abilities wouldn’t be so sociopathic and morally askew. Like Nite Owl above, Ozymandias can also seen as this for Batman both being handsome aloof peak human super genius billionaires who live in ivory towers and want to make the world better. However whereas Batman despite his flaws cherishes human lives and refuses to kill, Ozymandias has no such qualms — even on a massive scale.
  • The Comedian manages to be this for Peacemaker as they’re both patriotic Gun Nut super soldiers who reach Sociopathic Soldier levels violence and cruelty. Except for as bad as Peacemaker gets in his Pay Evil unto Evil he still has standards and lines he does not cross in contrast to the Comedian who’s a despicable rapist who actually killed an innocent Vietnamese woman he got pregnant with his child among many other things. The Comedian is also this for Captain America too being a Captain Patriotic soldier as well but unlike Cap he’s a My Country, Right or Wrong leering bastard.
  • Played With regarding Rorschach being this for The Question. On the surface he plays this straight as while the original Steve Ditko Question though ruthless was clean cut and respected the police, Rorschach by contrast is a gross and unhinged Vigilante Man who is willingly to kill cops when cornered by them and actively murders criminals. On the other hand what makes Rorschach a Virtuous Character Copy compared to the Question is how he actually subverts the self oriented Objectivism basis of his and the Question’s character displaying several altruistic traits towards innocent people especially women and children. Even Rorschach’s death can be seen as self sacrificial something Objectivism strives against.
  • Downplayed but Sally and Laurie Juspeczyk aka Silk Spectre I and II are this for fellow DC mother and daughter Legacy Character Black Canary i.e Dinah Drake and Dinah Laurel Lance. Both Black Canaries and Silk Spectres are Ms. Fanservice action girls but where Dinah and Laurel are idealistically heroic Sally and Laurie though good people at heart are more realistically flawed, troubled and often have selfish motivations.
  • Byron Lewis aka Mothman from the Minute Men is another one for Batman being an Idle Rich who decides to fight crime dressed up as a winged creature. However where Batman had a selfless reason to fight crime (murdered parents), Byron instead did it to make himself feel better out of guilt for his privileged upbringing and desire to be idolised by others. Unlike Bruce the pressure of being a hero leads a drinking problem and a Sanity Slippage which gets Byron put in a sanatorium.
• Wonder Woman
  • Wonder Woman (2006): Circe's stint as Wonder Woman was a corruption of Winged Victory, an Astro City character of rival comic book company Image. Winged Victory cut back on the classical mythology and spy smashing of Wonder Woman to focus more on the mission to guide "Man's World" for the better, and she took particular interest in arresting men who targeted women. Still, Winged Victory was a law abiding vigilante who was simply compelled by her own powers to help women before men. Wonder Woman Circe was similarly rooted in "man's world", was similarly laser focused on male criminals targeting women, but rather than being granted power by a supernatural group Circe stole it and Wonder Circe was a Hanging Judge, Jury, and Executioner performing mass extrajudicial executions, something Winged Victory had been framed for. No, it's not a Take That! at Astro City/Image, as the return of DC's Multiverse made Earth 34's Herculina an accurate, positive Captain Ersatz of Winged Victory. Writing that Frame-Up as an actual rampage was just too tempting apparently.
  • Wonder Woman (Rebirth) antagonist Doctor Shannon Crawford is a corrupted character copy of Marvel Comics protagonist She-Hulk. Where Jennifer Walters was dying from blood loss and turned into the same kind of rampaging monster her cousin Bruce Banner becomes after a transfusion, Shannon Crawford was a sickly woman who betrayed Wonder Woman, first studying Wonder Woman's genetic material in an attempt to suppress her powers and, after developing a serum that could put Wonder Woman into an involuntary sleep, further experimenting on Wonder Woman in an effort to cure herself of a genetic disease. While the blood transfusion does save Walters's life, the serum Crawford uses on herself only turns her into a rampaging monster, removing her fatigue and bulking up her frail frame but doing nothing to remove the cause of her symptoms. Furthermore the serum is fleeting, as while She-Hulk is more or less a permanent change to the body of Walters, Wonder Woman's blood and plasma are actively rejecting the body of Crawford. Rejection being in fact what's driving her Unstoppable Rage, lack of control driving the exaggerated muscle mass. While Jen Walters becomes suicidal at the ideal of involuntarily killing someone while "Hulked Out" Shannon Crawford kills herself when Wonder Woman restrains her and insists there are better treatments for Shannon's illness, out of depression for putting so much effort into nothing. Finally, while Jennifer Walters ends up making her transformation more controllable than The Incredible Hulk, Shannon Crawford's serum is injected into trained soldiers who can control Wonder Woman's power far better than she could, to the point they don't "Hulk Out" at all and can even fly...though Diana's blood and plasma still rejects their bodies and causes them to act irrationally.

Films

• Henri Ducard aka Ra’s Al Ghul from Batman Begins is very similar to Qui-Gon Jinn both being played by Liam Neeson and act as the cool Master Swordsmen Mentor Archetype to the heroes. Though Qui-Gon was a good man with a strong moral compass who cared for his protégés while Ducard being really the global terrorist Ra’s, wants to purge corruption through any means necessary. Even if it means killing millions of innocent people and he outright tries to kill his student Bruce aka Batman when he stands in his way.
• Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman features a character named Kathy DuQuesne, who is named in reference to Kathy Kane, the Batwoman of the comics. Much like The Brave and the Bold example below, the makers of the movie intended to straight-up name her "Kathy Kane", but were asked by DC to change it because the movie's Kathy is more of a ruthless Anti-Hero than the comic book version.
• DC Extended Universe
  • SHAZAM! (2019): Dr. Sivana could easily be compared to Harry James Potter, if Harry never had any friends or proper guidance. As a child he had black hair and thick glasses, matching the boy wizard's exact physical description. He comes from an abusive family and he's suddenly approached by a wizard who offers to give him the chance to wield great magical powers. The scar he gets on his eye when he gains the power of the Seven Sins even resembles a lightning bolt. The deviation begins with Sivana being consumed by vengeance and a desperate need to feel powerful, while Harry Potter is usually shown to be humble and rarely uses his magic in a vengeful way outside of some harmless pranks.
  • The Suicide Squad: John Cena directly compares Peacemaker to "a douchey, bro-y Captain America", both being Captain Patriotic agents of liberty. However, while Cap is willing to go against his government and expose its unethical conspiracies, Peacemaker intends to cover up his country's dirty work in order to keep the peace, even being willing to murder his teammates to prevent them from exposing it. This also goes for pretty much the kind of character archetype John Cena tends to play; Peacemaker, like many of Cena's past roles (right back to his WWE days), is a patriotic military man who cherishes peace and liberty. However, while normally this would be played as a good thing, here Peacemaker is portrayed as a delusional killing machine, and others are disturbed by both his dedication to his mission and the methods he employs.

Live-Action TV

• Smallville:
  • Greg Arkin from "Metamorphosis" is a high schooler who gains superpowers after being bitten by kryptonite-irradiated bugs, just like a certain Wall-Crawler.... but unlike Spider-Man, Greg is shown to be a creep obsessed with Lana and his new powers only make him worse—not to mention that said powers are presented as being very gross and inhuman.
  • Dawn Stiles from "Spirit" is a petty, vain, selfish Alpha Bitch, whose powers are nearly identical to DC superhero Boston Brand aka Deadman.

Western Animation

• Batman Beyond
  • The Terrific Trio, a Fantastic Faux who mix-and-match certain elements between each other; Magma has the backstory of Reed Richards and a powerset that's a mix of The Thing and the Human Torch, while Freon is Susan Storm with an inverted version of the Human Torch's powers, and 2-D Man has the powers of Mr. Fantastic with almost no personality. They start off as heroes, but after they learn their conditions are unstable and that their friend Dr. Hodges was the one who orchestrated the accident that gave them their powers to take Magma out of the picture, and after the public, the military, and law enforcement turn on them, they become emotionally destroyed and try to duplicate the accident, not caring that the radiation would destroy the city. A conversation between Batman and Magma lampshades this accordingly.
    Batman: I've gotta shut that thing off! Thousands of people will die! Mag-Dr. Morgan, you can't let that happen! You're a hero, remember?
    Magma: No, I'm an accident. Real heroes, they make a choice. I never did.
  • General Norman is possibly based on Nick Fury, acting as liaison between a superhero team and the government. He doesn't trust said superheroes, and launches a military attack to destroy them upon being informed of a slight chance they could be losing their sanity.
• Batman: The Brave and the Bold:
  • "The Criss Cross Conspiracy" features a crime-fighting "Bat Lady" named Katrina Moldoff, who closely resembles Kathy Kane, the original Bat-Woman in the comics. After being publicly unmasked by the Riddler years ago, she goes off the rails and tries to kill the Riddler as revenge for her humiliation... In Batman's Body!
  • Additionally, there's the Faceless Hunter, herald to Starro the Conqueror. Much like the Silver Surfer, the Faceless Hunter made a deal with Starro to become his scout when the latter invaded his planet. Turns out the deal was to destroy the planet, as the Faceless Hunter's pacifistic people looked down on his occupation. Starro, finding that he couldn't control beings without faces, was originally going to simply leave.
• In Beware the Batman, Magpie is this to Catwoman. They're both female villains with a romantic interest in Batman—but while Catwoman is typically portrayed as being an antihero that Batman often tries to reform, Magpie is a dangerously unstable psychopath that Batman eventually decides is Beyond Redemption. And in contrast to Catwoman and Batman's famous relationship, Magpie is a Yandere Stalker with a Crush whose attraction towards Batman is not reciprocated at all, even before he gave up trying to reform her.
• Justice League
  • "Legends" is a homage to the old comics where the Justice League would travel to a parallel world and team up with its heroes, the Justice Society. In the episode, the heroes the Justice League meet are the Justice Guild, expies of the Justice Society. The members of the Guild are portrayed as having views very much in tune with their time, which causes some friction with the League and their more modern views. The final reveal is that the real Justice Guild was killed saving the world, and the versions the Justice League meet are embodied figments of another character's imagination.
  • In "Starcrossed", Earth is visited by a group of Hawkgirl's people, the Thanagarians. The group's leader, Hro Talak, closely resembles Katar Hol, Hawkgirl's Thanagarian partner in the comics, but turns out to be a Crazy Jealous Guy and a Well-Intentioned Extremist who becomes the story arc's main villain.
  • Galatea from Justice League Unlimited has Power Girl's costume with a smaller Cleavage Window and no cape. She's a clone of Supergirl who's sadistic and hates Supergirl because her very existence reminds her that she's just a clone.
  • Cadmus seems to have a penchant for creating this trope, as before there was Galatea, they created the Ultimen, a collection of copies of the Canon Foreigners from Superfriends: Long Shadow for Apache Chief, Wind Dragon for Samurai, Juice for Black Vulcan, and Shifter and Downpour for the Wonder Twins. Even Superman finds Wind Dragon too corny for his liking and their New Powers as the Plot Demands, a staple of the classic Superfriends cartoons, is a sign that their powers are unstable and that they're suffering from Clone Degeneration. After learning that they're clones, they eventually decide to rebel and destroy the cloning tanks despite Long Shadow's protests of them endangering innocent people, and the Justice League has to stop them.
  • Aresia from the episode "Fury" is modeled on Lyta Trevor/Fury of Infinity, Inc., but is a Straw Feminist who thinks she can prove herself to the Amazons by killing all men, even when the Amazons themselves try to stop her.
• My Adventures with Superman: This version of Ivo seems to take a fair bit of inspiration from Tony Stark, AKA Iron Man, who is similarly a dramatic, fashionable, and flashy CEO of a billion-dollar company that develops a combat suit to protect the world from harm. He's even referred to as "Tony" instead of Anthony. However, Marvel Tony only made the Iron Man suit as a response to his experiences with war and the life-threatening heart injury he attained in the process, is very careful of who has access to the technology, and despite some narcissism, is a genuinely heroic man. Ivo is an amoral jerk more akin to Lex Luthor, who picks on anybody he sees as beneath him and intends to sell his evidently dangerous invention to anybody who can pay enough cash, despising Superman for gaining the attention and love of Metropolis. Also, before he became Iron Man, Tony Stark was clean with no criminal record or interest in making money through crime despite his flaws and was a very successful businessman. Dr. Anthony Ivo had illegal collections before he became the parasite and was immoral enough to make money through crime, and then we learned that the board of directors of his company was going vote him out as CEO with one of the board directors telling him that he's broke, it's all the stated that he hopes that his new power suit would save his wealth and company with him being too delusional and narcissistic to see that even if his presentation is successful it will not save his company.
• Superman: The Animated Series:
  • In "Where There's Smoke", the unnamed man who runs the Center for Paranormal Studies, a school that helps kids with superpowers learn to control their abilities, is a bald man with powerful psychic powers. Admittedly, he does not use a wheelchair and he has different powers, but it’s still pretty blatant he’s at the very least a Shout-Out to Professor X. However, while Xavier may have Well-Intentioned Extremist tendencies in his darker incarnations, he wants peace and serves as a mentor to his students. The CPS leader wants to use Volcana as either a living weapon or an experimental subject and doesn't care what happens to her in the process.
  • On top of that - true to Bruce Timm's unending love for Jack Kirby, the rogue government agents appear to be based on prominent members of S.H.I.E.L.D.; Agent Kurt is clearly based on Nick Fury (leader with eye patch), Timothy on "Dum Dum" Dugan (bowler hat and handlebar mustache), Gabriel Jones (Agent #1), and Jasper Sitwell (blonde crew-cut and glasses).^note On a lesser note, the uniforms worn by workers at the underground facility greatly resemble that worn by agents of AIM, a longtime SHIELD enemy.
• Teen Titans (2003)
  • Val-Yor is a Captain Atom look-alike who deconstructs the idea of a Noble Bigot.
  • Professor Chang is based on Hannibal Chew from Blade Runner, having the same outfit, same actor, and same occupation. The difference is Chang is evil, dangerous, and willingly works for the villains.
  • Billy Numerous and See-More are evil teenage versions of X-Men members Multiple Man and Cyclops respectively.
  • Private HIVE is a teenage version of the Guardian whose devotion is to an Academy of Evil.
  • Kyd Wykkyd has a design and demeanor emulating Batman.
  • Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo: Commander Uehara Daizo resembles Detective Zenigata from Lupin III, and initially plays the role of Inspector Javert when Robin becomes a fugitive like Zenigata does in his pursuit of Lupin. The difference is that Zenigata is a good man at heart who upholds the law and will even ally with Lupin to take down a greater evil, while Daizo is a corrupt cop who engineers his heroics for his own gain.

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