Action Comics #421 saw Superman battle Captain Strong, the DC universe's equivalent to Popeye: a balding, rough-and-tumble sailor who gets incredible super-strength by eating a green plant (in this case "sauncha", a strain of seaweed infested with alien spores of unknown origin). DC ran with it, and subsequent appearances Strong gained a supporting cast of Expies to Olive Oyl, Bluto, Wimpy, Poopdeck Pappy, and the Sea Hag. The connection got a sly nod in one of his subsequent appearances: Superman was forced to fight a sea monster while still in civilian clothes, but Captain Strong saw him in the act. In order to protect his identity, Clark retrieved a can of spinach and draped it over his body, pretending it was another strain of sauncha. For the rest of the trip Strong would use the "sauncha" to pull off incredible feats, all while a beleaguered Superman did the real work from the shadows.
Superboy (1949) #10 introduces Lana Lang, a Superboy-obsessed girl who was determined to discover his secret identity, essentially serving as a teenaged expy of Lois Lane in the Superboy comics.
Yes, this little lass with a fatal curiosity is as pretty as Lois Lane...as inquisitive as Lois Lane...as harassing as Lois Lane...and even has the same initials as Lois Lane!
Legends of the Dead Earth: In Legionnaires Annual #3, the imprisoned superheroes whom XS meets on Almeer-5 in the 100th Century are all inspired by major Marvel Comics characters. The first two are Gender Flipped expies: Ava / Avatar, who receives her powers from the Spear of Destiny, is based on Thor while Melissa Trask / Metallica, a brilliant electronics engineer who built an armored suit for herself, is based on Iron Man. Bob Brunner, who was transmorphed into Behemoth due to an energy transfer accident, is based on the Hulk. He resembles a blue version of the Hulk but, unlike the Marvel Hero, retains his intelligence when he changes. Ultra-Man, a very powerful hero from an earlier time, is based on Captain America.
Pre-Crisis Supergirl had a crush on Dick Malverne, a guy who liked Linda, suspected she was Supergirl, and was determined to prove it... right like Lois Lane and Lana Lang liked Superman/Superboy, suspected he was Clark Kent and were determined to prove it. Linda specifically tells Dick is her Lana Lang. A Young Love short story revealed that Dick always knew, but after a while he decided to keep Linda's secret to himself.
Supergirl's best friend Thara Ak-Var is inspired by Jean Grey, being another female hero bonded with a firebird-shaped cosmic entity.
This films incarnation of Faora is closer to Ursa than the man-hating Faora from the comics. Recursive, as Ursa herself was a loose Expy of Faora.
A huge, non-verbal bruiser distinguished by his incredible strength and loyalty to Zod? Nam-Ek is this film's stand-in for Non.
Laurence Fishburne based his Perry White on Series/Minutes member Ed Bradley. Both even have a pierced ear.
Jenny was rumored to be a gender-flipped Jimmy Olsen, but the movie reveals her surname is "Jurwich" by the end (and high-resolution publicity shots showing her ID card will reveal this, too). Confusingly, a tie-in book does name her as "Jenny Olsen."
General Swanick is one for General Sam Lane (Lois' father), who has a prominent role in one of this film's sources, Superman: Secret Origin.
Lord Nor is an obvious one, although he doesn't share much in common with Zod beyond the external similarities: a beard, an aristo accent, and a pair of ever-present henchmen.
Rachel Harris, the Smallville sheriff who was good "friends" (or so she wanted Lois to think) with Clark growing up, is one for Lana Lang, as they couldn't get the rights to use her name at the time. An alternate universe Lana showed up later on.
Peter Boyle as Bill Church, filling in for our old friend Morgan Edge. His son and heir, Bill Church Jr. (Bruce Campbell), may well be a substitute for Bruno Manheim.
On the subject of Intergang, Mindy shares more than a little in common with Lorelai (Pamela Stephenson), a Machiavellian sex bunny in Superman III.
Jack Klugman showed up in an early episode, playing a huckster who's very similar to a Marvel Comics character, Funky Flashman.
Sorry, but Funky is a DC character, first introduced in Mister Miracle. The Marvel connection is that he is said to be a caricature of Stan Lee.
John Spencer's character in "Lethal Weapon"—in addition to spoofing kid's show hosts like Mr. Wizard and Bill Nye— shares similarities with The Prankster, a super-criminal who once enjoyed celebrity in The Uncle Oswald Show. Like Toyman, the Prankster was apparently split into two people for this series: Bronson Pinchot previously played an ex-con who sought revenge on Lois for putting him away, using weaponized "pranks" to ruin her life in various ways.
Kara Zor-El alias Supergirl doesn't exist in this continuity, but Kal-El did have a pre-arranged marriage to Zara, one of the survivors of Krypton.
Smallville: Chloe Sullivan originally started as an Expy for Lois Lane (the actual Lois was introduced later), as well as the Silver Age version of Lana Lang. As she began to grow apart from Lois, her journalism career was downplayed and her computer skills evolved to their current levels — making her now an expy for Oracle.
Tess Mercer, in her first two appearances, was referred to as both "an obscure regional VP" (unfit for her job of taking over for Lex Luthor) and a "pitbull in Prada." The first was said to her while they were up in the Arctic. The second, after she had firmly assumed control of her bald boss's former position. That's right, it's Sarah Palin. Of course, she's intended as a fusion of Mercy Graves and Miss Teschmacher (tending much more toward Mercy.)
The episode "Warrior", turned the in-universe fictional Warrior Angel into a Captain Marvel Expy.
There are some sharp similarities between Green Arrow's characterization and relationship with Clark, and that of Batman. Throw in the fact that The Dark Knight Trilogy likely meant the writers couldn't use Bruce, and that makes a lot of sense all of a sudden.
Appropriate, given that initially Green Arrow was very much the poor man's Batman in the comics, with his earliest stories featuring Speedy as a blatant Expy of Robin, as well as an Arrow-Mobile and even an "Arrow Cave."
Vordigan the Dark Archer is heavily based on Merlyn, Green Arrow's Evil Counterpart in the comics.
Davis Bloome and the version of Doomsday he turns into is basically The Incredible Hulk, but evil. He's a generally physically unimposing person with anger issues who turns into a Nigh-Invulnerable hulking monster with Super-Strength when overstressed. He's also a composite version with Doomsday from the comics, as he possesses his spikes, overall appearance, and reactive evolution abilities.
Cat Grant is based on Miranda Priestley. In fact, the casting call actually stated outright that the role needed a Miranda-type character.
The Maxwell Lord of this series seems to be much more clearly based on Lex Luthor from the comics than on Maxwell Lord from the comics. We even get an iconic scene of Superman confronting Lex outside his office window (Lex being smug in his untouchability and Superman not being able to do much at the moment) as seen in multiple adaptations reproduced here with Supergirl and Max.
We seem to be getting a “Lex Luthor wannabe of the season” setup. Season One has Max Lord, who turns out to be less evil than we thought (still willing to go pretty damn dark, but the worst he’s suspected of always turns out to not be him, and he does help sometimes.) while in season two, Lillian Luthor, Lex’s mom, turns out to be worse if anything. As for season three, enter Morgan Edge. We're left to wonder if he's a Lillian or a Lord, until he proves to be every bit as evil as Lex (but not as good at getting away with it.) Then comes season four, where the real deal shows up midway through and proves that none of the pretenders to the throne were anywhere in his league.
Within the overall Arrowverse if Barry and Oliver are Superman and Batman then Kara is Wonder Woman as noted by her ability to inspire the best to people. Bonus points for Lynda Carter (Wonder Woman from the 1970s TV series) is part of the show.
