Marvel's Best Superman

I'm going to open this thread by stating that I am a Marvelite. I follow DC reasonably well (reboots and retcons are hard to keep up with... How many Robins has Batman had in the new 52? Jason was never Robin? WAH?!), but I hold no animosity toward them. I'm simply not attracted to how the JLA are a bunch of evenly matched god characters. I like the diversity the Avengers brings. You've got your Thors and Black Widows, and then your Captain Marvels and Iron Men who fit in between. Batman universe is a different story, but that's offtopic. I totally understand that others feel differently, and I appreciate diverse opinions.

Superman, however, is timeless.

He is the end all, be all Superhero. And because of this, Marvel has time and time again attempted to bring him to their universe. They'll change the hair color or give him a variation of powers so they don't get sued, but it's usually pretty obvious what they're trying to do. Copycatting... nobody loves to do it more than Marvel and DC. I've always felt the single biggest ripoff character has always been Aquaman. And no, I'm not saying this because I prefer Marvel, but this is actually a compliment to DC. Because as far as I can tell, he's the single most successful character who was blatantly copied from the other company. And you could even argue that he is more important to DC than Namor is to Marvel. Namor isn't a regular Avenger. Atlantis doesn't regularly factor into major crossover events. Namor isn't even amicable half the time. He may have a more diverse personality, but he's not on the big stage. Is there any way a DC JLA Alliance game could get to 64 characters without introducing Aquaman?

For awhile I've been thinking about all the characters Marvel has created who have been 'inspired' by Superman (some more distastefully than others). Wundarr is the most obvious, and that's probably why he didn't last very long. Hyperion is great, same backstory, near-identical powers... but they're only now trying to really give him the spotlight. We'll see where that goes in a few years. Gladiator is an interesting one, as he has the same powers, and the writer admitted he was an ode to Superman. He even went as far as to give him a name inspired by conjoining Superman's Krypton and Earth names (Kallark). As for Sentry, you really can't take a phenomenally strong flyer with energy projection powers, put him in a suit that features a flowing cape and a giant S, and then say, "What an improbable coincidence!" But even he was killed off after he didn't go over well. So is that it? Is that the best Marvel can do? None of these guys can touch the Aquaman success.

So what does it take to be a Superman 'inspired' novelty?

Let's run through the powers really quick, ranking them by most recognizable:

1. Enhanced Physical Skills.

When you think Superman, what immediately comes to mind? Super Strength. Durability. Speed. Agility. All that stuff. Even mental agility and intelligence (which is woefully underappeciated by the comic book community). He can comprehend and recreate Kryptonian technology after only learning it existed a few years prior. He may not be the world's greatest detective, but he builds impossible machines from off the top of his head.

2. Flight.

It's a bird, plane, yeah yeah. If Superman isn't picking up a car, then he's flying around the world. Definitely number 2.

3. Laser Vision.

Superman's long range weapon.

4. Freezing Breath.

Putting out fires, turning people into ice, stopping tidal waves. Don't see this one as often, but it's a classic Superman trait.

5. X-ray Vision.

The subtle, abstract power. This is gonna be a hard one to reproduce. If a character's got super strength, flight, and X-Ray vision, then it's a straight up knockoff. Like Spider-man's webs and Wolverine's claws, I feel this is his most unique move. This is the tricky one.

So. What if Marvel had successfully manufactured Superman into their Universe? What if he's been under our noses all along, and we just didn't realize it? It may not be as easy to spot as Aquaman, but I think it's there. The original X-Men. Xavier and the setup reek of the Doom Patrol, but the powers are mysteriously Kryptonian... 1. Beast 2. Angel 3. Cyclops 4. Iceman... and 5. Jean Grey, the abstract power. Yeah, she makes this flaky, but like I said earlier, if she could see through walls, it would have brought the army of DC advocates. Maybe if you press Stan Lee about it, he'd reply, "What an improbable coincidence!" But I feel this is Marvel's best and most successful attempt at Superman.

Thor was actually made to be Superman's Marvel counterpart and he's doing pretty well.

@pcn24454: Eh, Thor has more in common with Wonder Woman than Superman.

Actually, going off that note I would say that he's Wonder Woman + Shazam.

Hyperion is Marvel's best Superman pastiche/copy/rip-off.

Jonathan Hickman's Hyperion is Marvel's best Superman incarnate. I even like him WAY more than I like Supes.

Hyperion is certainly the best named. "Super" and "Hyper" both etymologically derive from the Greek word " ὑπέρ" meaning "over." Both heroes also have the same number of letters in their names, with the suffixes "-man" and "-ion" both lengthening the name by three letters. Most importantly, however, Hyperion gets his name from the eponymous Titan who was closely related to the Sun in Greek mythology. Superman is, as Grant Morrison calls him, "the Sun-god from Smallville." The argument can be made, in fact, that the name Hyperion is actually an improvement over the original. The same can be said of Mark Millar's Superior, to a lesser extent.

@rideaspacecowboy: @wolverine08: @powerherc:

I really meant 'Best' as in 'Most Successful'. Hyperion is great, but all he's been is a here and there villain, only now joining the Avengers. That can't really compare to the original X-Men, even if you cut them off at Giant-size X-men 1.

the sentry is the best and can defeat him at his most powerful

I don't know, stop me when I'm wrong but I'm just going to mention someone Marvel technically ripped off DC and became more sucessful than it's DC counterpart.

Deadpool > Deathstroke. Hell, last year wasn't it, there was the huge rise of Deadpool. Figurines selling out, the comics were selling out massively, the character is appearing on media now, he's becoming a favorite to the mainstream audience. I honestly do feel if they wait long enough, they could build up Deadpool to be more popular than Aquaman. It's going to take massive build-up, but they should be able to pull it off. I also wouldn't say Marvel doesn't have "timeless" heroes.

I'd easily say Captain America is up there. I'd EASILY put Iron Man up there. Marvel works hard on establishing more characters, ones that they're definitely trying to build up with video game appearances, and show appearances such as Nova, in hopes they'll rise. I don't really feel like they need to knock off Superman.

It was like when DC tried to make their Captain America and it was literally non-existance because of the unique character they made. It would be like trying to copy Green Lantern, you can't do it. Superman has his own unique ability, and MULTIPLE powers where if they'd copy Superman, it'd be blatantly obvious. I think Thor is up there with Superman. About as closest as they should go.

On a side note, I don't know if Aquaman is famous or infamous outside of comic book fans. Let's try to realize, Aquaman is pretty much a joke when it comes to people outside of comic books. Don't know if they sets for braggng rights.

@sideburnguru:

Deadpool is a parody of Deathstroke, not a rip off.

@wolverine08: Okay "parody".

I'm saying, I think with enough time Marvel's Aquaman like "parody" could end up being Deadpool.

Most successful is still Thor compared to others.

Or Gladiator.

Well Wonder Woman has lightning powers now, so Shazam is unneeded.

That and the leader of Squadron Supreme, who are heroes.

@kgb725: lol this

Pretty much nailed it for me.

And how many comics did they appear in? 5? 10?

They have 167 appearances listed on here.

Yeah, you're right. They're a lot bigger than the X-Men ever were.

That was never my point. I was just pointing out that he's not what you originally stated.

Early Deadpool was a rip off, Joe Kelly re-wrote him as a parody

I prefer Gladiator. He has all the similar powersets, but is different enough from Superman in character, morals and motivations to be more than just a copy. Plus he's just badass.

For me it was & still is Gladiator.

Even though Thor is like 1,000 year older than Superman's been around. I don't see Thor in any way being a Superman-ripoff if anything its the other way around.

Hyperion is my favorite Superman ripoff but i think Gladiator is a close ripoff as well.

Idk about everyone else but i dont mind that they rip each others characters off as long as they are still slightly different. Also i wish they would trade characters every now and then....

THEY SHOULD HAVE A CHARACTER DRAFT!!! Treat characters like they treat athletes. Have contracts on them for so long (10 years max) and they can be traded and moved to lower tier publishers Like Vertigo and IDW to bring up other characters