Q: Possible to create an original superhero these days?

The title says it all. With thousands of superheroes in the comic world, would it be possible to create one thats still completely genuine?

Yes and No. It's hard to be completely original. Many characters that are created are inspired by something that's already been made. There's nothing wrong with that though, because I'd rather succeed at being creative with similar taste than fail by creating original crap.

Yes of course its possible.

Almost every song, book, movie, TV show, character etc, is made from at least some form of inspiration however minor or major. Superman was inspired from religious figures Samson and Hercules, while Batman was inspired from "The Mask of Zorro" and "The Bat Whispers" etc. In that sense, it's virtually impossible for a 100% original idea, but it is possible however to but a new spin or take on an existing idea.

Nothing will be completely original, but you can still have a solid and interesting character with preexisting themes.

No you can create something new but it'll probably have similarities examples

• Most street levelers espically the dark and gritty ones are bit like batman
• Most OP comic guys are like superman
• Most shonen heroes are like goku

Everyone rips stuff off even LOTR seen as the source of fantasy riped off myth,goku ripped of superman,starwars ripped off samurai films,DB ripped off japanese mythology,minecraft copies from like 10+ different games,all MMOS rip off wow, League rips of basically any blizzard RTS. Everythings a clone iam a game designer and a lot of people say "your ideas arn't new this has been". Everythings been done you just need to do it well.

Its hard to make an original fictional character in general, its not a super hero specific problem. I believe its more important to make the actual character as unique as possible than it is to give them unique abilities. For instance look at Flash and Quicksilver, despite differences in levels they have basically the same power, yet the characters couldn't be more different.

Originality comes from the author's portrayal.

If you took superman, put him into an original, interesting, and compelling story, then the story as a whole is unique.

DB did not rip off Japanese myth, it ripped off Chinese myth. The original story was basically a modern version of Way to the West.

@joshmightbe: my bad i forgot the books name.

Possible? Yes.

Will it be successful? That's a little less certain.

Definitely possible.

Possible? Yes.

I highly doubt its possible without drawing some kind of inspiration from somewhere.

nah. every possible origin has been explored, every possible superpowers have been explored. its not easy that's for sure