I know this subject has probably come up before, but until this week I never realised that Marvel's Deadpool, Wade Wilson, mercenary/assassin, was such a rip off of DCs Deathstroke, Slade Wilson, mercenary/assasin. Not to mention Sentry, the super-powered character with a big S on his front, who has the power of a thousand exploding suns or something. Just wondering how Marvel get away with it?! The irony is that Deadpool is a much popular character than Deathstroke, who pre-dated him by 11 years...

Deadpool is a parody of Deathstroke.

This thread isn't going to go well

Marvel and DC have been ripping each other off since day one. What else is new?

Well if deconstructions, homages, pastiche, parodies, and so on are all rip offs, then everything and every character is a rip off of George who was a character invented 21 thousand years ago by Gruu the Cave Man.

If I could post picture there would be so many FACEPALM memes on this thread.

We all know!!! Let it go!!!! I can give ypu an entire list of Marvel/DC ripofffs!

Oooo look whats new on the vine

For the record, Hyperion is the closest Superman rip-off in Marvel.

DC rips off their own characters (i.e. Oliver Queen,Bruce Wayne).

They both do this. A lot of people forget Namor and Man-Thing came first.

Even then most Marvel and DC characters are inspired by characters from all fiction

The best will always be what happened to Fawcett comics, they create a charecter near identical to Superman (known today as Shazam), this new charecter outsells superman so National Comics (now DC comics) sues them.

Fawcett decide to close down to settle the legal fees (But return later with Dennis which is weird for being a charecter that appears to be a rip off of the UK charecter Dennis the menace but is just a coincidence)

Then DC rent and later buy the rights to the charecter and has him share the same universe as Superman... It's truly bizarre, it would be like DC buying dead pool then having him exist in the same universe as Deathstroke... As Dennis the menace proves there are only so many ideas out there, no two charecters are identical and you can't copyright a super power only a heros name, ... But I see what you mean, what next... MCU rips of Foxs X-Men, pretty likely to be honest, Fox creates an xmen with the powers of a spider, why not?... In the end it's all good and similarities will only be contested if some lawyers are going to make money out of it... Or like DC comics if some other publisher starts stealing all your business and you have nothing to loose lol

Also the fact Heros like Wonder Woman are just combinations of myths and legends and Marvel even worse just steal directly with Thor and Hercules, there is little point pointing fingers as ideas are often based on what we know, few pop into existences from nowhere... It's not like you can simply produce new ones, say in some kind of factory... ;)

I. THey (DC & Marvel) Have been stealing/borrowing/using eacH otHers $#!% for years.

II. AltHougH Wade is a "parody", DEADPOOL's x10's more unique, popular, pure awesomeness tHan Slade.

II. Superman "clones" can't be called clones anymore. Superman is tHe blueprint of a superHero. It is only natural for people to create Heroes like Supes.

-ABstract4$$#073-

@m3th: Id argue Namor was the first, but then that arguments been raging for years... Pants on the outside vs only pants ... The age old argument

http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2010/07/22/comic-book-legends-revealed-270/

@pietromaximoffistheman: actually both Man thing and Swamp thing are rip offs of the Heap which was just a play on common swamp monster stories any way

Well even Superman is a rip off of an even early character named Gladiator (not Marvel's one) So.....

@youmessinwithme: Omg, if your going to jump to novels then everything rips off Frankenstein, heck that's even probably based on works like Voltaires Micromégas, not sure of any other early sci fi, but I helped a friend do an article for her dissatation and it's amazing how much work was done in the 1700s I guess we can thank Newton for the lot and end it there ;)

Hehe

well it was still a graphic novel....

and Frankenstein? no. How is Superman, or Batman, or Thor, iron man, spider-man etc. possibly based of Frankenstein?

The Hulk is Based of a combination of Frankenstein's monster and Doctor jekel and mister hyde. But Stan Lee admits to that.

@youmessinwithme: really? I get classic out of print books from here http://www.classicly.com/books/gladiator/download_in_format/pdf#page3 (Admin please delete if the site breaks copyright, I apologise) if the original novel was a graphic novel I very much will keep an eye out for it cheap online.

Frankenstein is the original sci fi novel, it is about creating something with science, it does not predate gods but it's very much the first super scientist and super human (monster depending on the point of view), but Micromegas had aliens traveling to earth long before Shelly penned the first novel, it's a wonderful short story about the different point of view aliens have and how they might view us, superman reminds me a lot of the micromegas charecter, maybe not in height but in difference to humanity... In my opinion anyway... I'd recommend both to anyone, but it's all up for debate...

Not gonna use the gif cause its been used to death over the site but yeah.beating a dead horse

Superman is obviously a rip-off of Gilgamesh.

BEGONE!

I'v never seen so many pepole use the term rip-off wrong than I do with comic fans.

Another rip off topic, must be saturday.

Thank you. This.

Spoiler is kinda of knock off of moonknight

@humanrocket said:

I love You.

What I would like is if either company could come up with a unique new character all their own. Now that would be impressive.

No, she's not.

yep. even stan lee himself stated one of his guys played golf with a dude from dc and was told about jla wich stan got the idea for the fantastic 4.

Word

@jake_fury: you need to watch the UK tv series Misfits, now they are some original powers lol

DC does the same thing so dont just bash Marvel

@joshmightbe: Which confirms my other statement.

It amazes me how many people are so quick to call a character a Marvel or DC rip-off when most of the characters are inspired from other characters.

This.

@pietromaximoffistheman: Almost every fictional character that has been come up with in the past 500 years has been at least inspired by something that came before. For instance Joker was originally intended as a one issue throw away character that was pretty much a rip off of a character from a silent movie called The Man Who Laughed, Superman was originally pretty much just a scifi version of Moses with a bit of Hercules tossed in. Batman is basically a modern take on Zorro.

Man-Thing came before Swamp-Thing. so DC ripped of Marvel, but in most instances Marvel rips off DC. like Catwoman from DC being ripped off in Marvel as Black-Cat.

@hillbillymorangie: Not arguing tHat Superman was tHe first. However, Superman is tHe blueprint of a generic Hero. THe traits are cape, logo on cHest, protects city, can easily travel tHrougH tHe city (fly), super powers, and Has a secret identity.

Namor may be first or wHoever it was but Supes is tHe blueprint.

June'sVeryOwn

@m3th: I agree that's what people think, I guess that's the beauty of 'ripping off' each other, it doesn't matter that Captain Marvel flew before Superman, his cape/logo on chest were stolen from superman,...

Superman is an amazing rip off of everyone, during his development if someone was doing something new, then NAP and later DC just gave superman those powers too, there are some very good papers on the development of superman...

I guess the question is, is it powers or the general look that there is an issue with being ripped off? If Marvels new Captain Marvel gets a cinema release, will she just be seen as a rip off of superman, can fly, super strong, super fast, fires energy... It is all in the eye of the beholder and who unfortunately when it comes to the cinema are the comic ignorant majority...

@hillbillymorangie: Good points. THanks for the lesson. I didn't know tHat about Superman.

-ABstract4$$#073-

@m3th: I dunno, but my favorite is 1986s Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, which clearly rips off wolverine... But I guess it all depends on your point of view... I'm sure many would argue that Millers work while excellent isn't cannon (alternate universe) same can be said for any authors that gave Supes new powers for their runs alone.

Which adds an interesting point, if a writer creates a hero that can control gravity for Marvel then he moves to DC and creates a new but similar charecter, is he ripping off his original charecter? How much of a heros look / ability would you give credit to the writer / artist for and how much to the publishing house? It's all a messy minefield, probably why there are so few legal battles now... If only fox, Disney, Sony and Warner Bros would take notice.... Sigh

Some of you are saying "i got a full list of ripofs...blah blah blah" go on, share that list.

can i still like both companies?

Marvel is sh*t

I believe aquamam is a ripoff of Namor.

does it matter? as long as they create great stories.

There are so few original idea's left that it would be nigh impossible to find a character in any comic that does not emulate or resemble another characters traits or powers. Even if you gender swap them or give them a different ethnicity they will still be rooted in standard superhero tropes.The difference is how they are written and the direction they take the powers given.