Captain Ersatz: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|''I'm not Sonic! I'm my original character, Blonic!''
''And I'm not Tails. I'm my original character, Blails!''
''People really need to get their facts straight.''
|[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v{{=}}8fGFjoeyc6I BLONIC]}}
The character equivalent of a [[Bland-Name Product]].
This character's design is a mix of legal issues and homage. Just as someone who wants to incorporate a Wal-Mart into a story but can't manage the [[Product Placement]] might use "[[Brand X|Box Mart]]," a person who wants to write [[Superman|Captain Original]], but can't because a rival comic company owns the trademark, will create '''[[Captain Marvel|Captain Ersatz
Done when an artist or writer wants to use a character but for whatever reason [[Exiled From Continuity|isn't allowed to]] at the present time, especially due to uncertainty of ownership, or else certainty that that character is trademarked into someone else's continuity and isn't going to be loaned out.
This character tends to evolve into their own direction if they make later appearances.
Captain Ersatzes are somewhat rare in American parody, as their copyright law allows use of the original characters in parody. They also (usually) aren't found in [[Fanfic]]: that [[Sailor Earth]] is a [[Copy Cat Sue]] (and they can just outright use a [[Crossover]]). Sometimes multiple characters will be distilled into one, creating a [[Composite Character]]. The same doesn't hold true for Anime & Manga parodies though, which often resort to
Contrast [[Writing Around Trademarks]], where the similarity was unplanned and unwanted; [[Expy]], where a character is very similar to but not obviously supposed to be another character, and [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute]], who replaces an existing original in the same continuity.
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Compare [[Alternate Company Equivalent]], [[Lawyer-Friendly Cameo]], and [[Brand X]]. The [[Shotoclone]] is a particular application in [[Video Games]]. See also [[Counterpart Comparison]] and [[Expy]], for characters who are similar to earlier characters, but aren't actually carbon copies, and the musical version, [[Suspiciously Similar Song]]. If the character represents a [[Real Life]] celebrity, see [[No Celebrities Were Harmed]].
No relation to [[Captain Obvious]], [[
{{examples}}
== Advertising ==
* Ronald [[McDonald's|McDonald]]: The Washington D.C. version of Bozo The Clown, played by Willard Scott, was so popular public appearances would require police to direct traffic. After the show was cancelled, local franchise owners asked Scott to create a similar character to continue the promotion. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML263lBEVRE Ronald McDonald was born.]
** The original incarnation of McDonaldLand was a blatant copy of the cast and setting of [[Sid and Marty Krofft Productions]]' 70s-era children's show ''[[H.R. Pufnstuf]]''. The Kroffts (who had turned down an earlier request from McDonald's to license the ''Pufnstuf'' characters for advertising) [[wikipedia:
▲* Ronald [[McDonald's|McDonald]]: The Washington D.C. version of Bozo The Clown, played by Willard Scott, was so popular public appearances would require police to direct traffic. After the show was cancelled, local franchise owners asked Scott to create a similar character to continue the promotion. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML263lBEVRE Ronald McDonald was born.]
▲** The original incarnation of McDonaldLand was a blatant copy of the cast and setting of [[Sid and Marty Krofft Productions]]' 70s-era children's show ''[[H.R. Pufnstuf]]''. The Kroffts (who had turned down an earlier request from McDonald's to license the ''Pufnstuf'' characters for advertising) [[wikipedia:McDonaldchr(27)s legal cases#H.R. Pufnstuf .2F McDonaldland|sued and won]], forcing McDonald's to not only pay damages, but to dramatically retool McDonaldLand.
* The Bombadier, a [[Large Ham]] [[Napoleonic Wars]] soldier played by Rik Mayall in adverts for Bombadier Real Ale, is what Lord Flashheart would have been if he'd appeared in ''[[Blackadder]] the Third'', except he says "Bang on!" rather than "Woof!" Mayall even uses the same voice.
== Anime
* There's so many [[Neon Genesis Evangelion|Rei Ayanami]] knockoffs,
** [http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/8431/ayanamis.jpg What Measure is a non-Ayanami]?{{dead link}}
** There also are several Asuka Langley Soryu knockoffs (such like ''[[Dancougar Nova]]'' main character). Asuka herself is a ''[[Great Mazinger|Tetsuya Tsurugi]]''
* ''500 Manga Creatures'', a book that purported to provide manga clipart, might as well have been named "300 Manga Creatures Plus 200 Potential Lawsuits from Game Freak" thanks to its inclusion of somewhat obvious examples of this trope applied to the Pokémon franchise. Kyogre, Dratini, Dragonair, Zapdos, Shuckle, Metang, Metagross, Shroomish, Swablu, and Bagon are just the most blatantly obvious ones.
** Actually acknowledged in the book's description, where it claims that the characters include "Digimor ''(sic)'' and Pokémon-style creatures", among others.
* ''[[Angel Beats!]]'' has Yuri, who looks like a color swapped Haruhi from ''[[The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya]]'', only with straight bangs. She leads a group of students with a similar name to the group of students that Haruhi leads (SSS vs SOS) and even acts somewhat like her. Their backgrounds and goals are different, but their characters are pretty much the same otherwise. At least, initially.
* ''[[Angel Blade]]'' [[Hentai|H-series]] has a few characters that may be pretty familiar to some people, but the most-definitely-not-[[Kekko Kamen]] heroine is the most obvious example. Justified since AB is basically a parody of Kekko Kamen.
** At least two characters are CEs of [[Fatal Fury|Mai Shiranui]] (the director apparently includes one in every project he works on as a [[Shout-Out]], two more are basically the lead females of ''Gowcaizer'' renamed, and one more is Mizuki from ''[[Gravion]]'' given the same treatment.
* ''[[Bleach]]'' has one of the most famous Captain Ersatz, Orihime Inoue
* ''[[Clannad (visual novel)|Clannad]]''
** There is one notable difference between these two pairs of twins when it comes to [[Feminine Women Can Cook]]: The [[Lucky Star|Hiiragi twins]] play it straight. Tsukasa is a very good chef and is among the only things where her [[Dojikko]] tendencies do not show, and Konata often teases Kagami about her cooking. However, the [[Clannad (visual novel)|Fujibayashi sisters]] [[Inverted Trope|Invert]] this concept. [[Lethal Chef|Ryou's]] cooking, although it looks good, makes [[Team Pet|Botan]] faint in disgust while [[Supreme Chef|Kyou's]] food is great to the point where [[Deadpan Snarker|Tomoya]] is honest about how good it is.
* ''[[Darker
* ''[[Keroro Gunsou]]'' has, among others, Baio and Ouka Nishizawa, whose younger selves are heavily based on Ryu and Chun-Li from ''[[Street Fighter]]'', although in the present their lives are radically different.
** Other examples include Eddy Honda, one of Ouka's opponents in her street fighting days
* ''[[Gintama]]'' featured a large number of Captain Ersatzes throughout the series, most used for short parody scenes, like the [[Evil Overlord|intergalactic emperor]] Breeza
* In the ''[[Kino's Journey]]''
* ''[[Last Exile]]'''s creators admit that the character Alex Row was heavily based on [[Captain Harlock]].
* ''[[Princess Lover]]'' has Sylvia van Hossen, who is almost a complete clone of Saber of ''[[Fate/stay night]]''. Even to the point where several fans thought it was her until she was named. The only difference between them seems to be their backstory and Sylvia's much bigger breasts.
* ''[[
* ''[[Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo]]'' has Takane, who is a carbon copy of Chikane from ''[[Kannazuki no Miko]]''
* ''[[Soul Eater]]'' has [[Lucky Charms Title|Black]]☆[[Lucky Charms Title|Star]], who bears a striking resemblance to another [[Large Ham|loud mouthed]], [[Blasphemous Boast|overly confident]], [[Naruto|ninja in orange]] who's quite [[Highly-Visible Ninja|poor at being one
** If you compare the main cast to the one in [[Shaman King]], you can see a lot of uncanny resemblances. For example, Black☆Star looks like Horo-Horo, Death the Kid looks like Tao Ren, and Stein is just like Faust VIII.▼
▲* ''[[Soul Eater]]'' has [[Lucky Charms Title|Black]]☆[[Lucky Charms Title|Star]] who bears a striking resemblance to another [[Large Ham|loud mouthed]], [[Blasphemous Boast|overly confident]], [[Naruto|ninja in orange]] who's quite [[Highly-Visible Ninja|poor at being one.]] However, as the manga's progressed Black☆Star has matured and developed into his own character.
▲** If you compare the main cast to the one in [[Shaman King]], you can see a lot of uncanny resemblances. For example, Black☆Star looks like Horo-Horo, Death the Kid looks like Tao Ren and Stein is just like Faust VIII.
* ''[[Tenchi Muyo! GXP]]'' has Seiryo Tennan and Amane Kaunaq who are a [[Shout-Out]] to Tatewaki Kuno and Akane Tendo of ''[[Ranma ½]]'', including the obsessive stalker-violent tomboy childhood "relationship" to one another.
* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX]]'' has Daitokuji-sensei, who looks like a cross between [[Final Fantasy VII|Hojo]] and [[Fullmetal Alchemist|Ling Yao]].
* The title character of ''[[Kurohime]]'' is a [[Distaff Counterpart|gender-flip]] of [[Bastard!!|Dark Schneider]].
* In the obscure
* Since the distinction between copyright
** Konami would reference this in their ''[[Castlevania]]'' games with their own mock-Beholder, the [[Bilingual Bonus|Dogether]].
* Early translations of ''[[Lupin III]]'' had to change the main character into an Ersatz because the original author had never asked permission to create a character based on [[Arsène Lupin]]. He would be called "Rupan" or "Wolf" - or, in the French version, "Edgar of Burglary."
** Just like in the literature example below, Lupin III was forced to face off against "Herlock Sholmes III."
** In the
*
* In ''[[Guilty Crown]]'', there is an [[In-Universe]] example. Shu is similar to Gai, he wants to be, and Inori is similar to Mana, {{spoiler|Shu's older sister gone mad. She even looks like her, and is an [[Artificial Human]], and Mana will be reborn in her body.}}
* In the ''[[Dragon Ball]]'' franchise, Goku is meant to be a super-hero version of Sun Wukong the Monkey King, the protagonist of the 16th century Chinese epic ''[[Journey to the West]]'', the original manga being a very loose adaptation of the story. This is obvious to Japanese viewers, as Monkey King is a cultural icon in eastern nations, but not as apparent for Western audiences.
== Comic Books ==
* According to some accounts, [[Elongated Man]] was created because there were doubts as to whether [[DC Comics]] owned [[Plastic Man]], despite ostensibly acquiring all of Quality Comics' (Plastic Man's original publisher) assets. Quality Comics characters' legal status was murky, however. Ironically, Plastic Man turned out to be one of the few Quality characters DC Comics actually owned outright. Artist and co-creator Carmine Infantino plausibly [[Word of God|contradicts]] the above theory, however. He started as a one-off rival to ''[[The Flash]]'', one who wasn't expected to be an important ongoing character. Infantino also says he wasn't consciously thinking of Plastic Man at the time, though "It must have been in the back of my mind. I loved Jack Cole's work, so it had to be in my mind, maybe instinctively."<ref>''Carmine Infantino: Penciler, Publisher, Provocateur'' (2010 book)</ref>The alleged influence Plas had on Ralph's creation is lampshaded, with Plas calling Elongated Man a "D-list doppleganger".
** ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'' [[
** Parodied further on ''[[Batman: The
** The difference ''does'' get pointed out by Ralph that Plas is the jokester ex-con. Elongated Man is the ex-police detective. Also, one's powers are inherent, while Ralph has to drink a special formula to gain his powers.
* Ever wonder what comic strips are in the ''Daily Planet''? ''Way'' back in ''[[Superman]] #19'' (from 1942), readers got a glimpse of it, when a villain named Funnyface used a device to bring comic strip characters to life, the strips in question being Captain Ersatz versions of strips that were popular at the time: ''[[Dick Tracy (comic strip)|Detective Craig]]'', ''[[The Lone Ranger|The Solitary Rider]]'', ''[[Prince Valiant (Comic Strip)|Prince Peril]]'', ''[[Li'l Abner|Happy Daze]]'', and ''[[Flash Gordon|Streak Dugan]]''.
▲** Morrison made it a point to lampshade this so readers would get the point, too. The first time he sees Zauriel, [[Aquaman]] momentarily mistakes him for Hawkman. Later on, [[Superman]] invites him to join, saying, "there's always room in the Justice League for, well...a big guy with wings like you."
▲** In Morrison's X-Men run, he introduces a character named Fantomex who is based on the classic pulp characters [[Fantomas]] and [[Diabolik]].
* The primary ''[[Watchmen]]'' cast are Captain Ersatzes of [[Charlton Comics]] characters:
** For the ''Watchmen'' project Moore was initially commissioned to resurrect the original [[Charlton Comics]] characters, however, DC intended to continue the [[Charlton Comics]] characters and Moore's [[Deconstruction|story]] was obviously not compatible with that plan, therefore, by mutual decision of the author and publisher, Captain Ersatzes replaced the original characters.
** Before being changed to Charlton, the plan was to use the MLJ/Archie heroes that DC had rights to at the time. Thus, many of the earlier superheroes in Watchmen are Captain Ersatzes of MLJ/Archie heroes:
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*** The Comedian -> The Web (similar costumes, and The Web's domineering wife is reversed as an attempted rape)
** James Comtois' play ''Colorful World'' in turn employs second generation Captain Ersatzes of the ''Watchmen'' characters: Overman, Ramses, Tigress, Johnny Patriot, Peacekeeper...
* [[Marvel Comics]]' [[Deadpool]] (a.k.a. Wade Wilson) was originally a
** Later, at DC,long time Deadpool writer Joe Kelly paid tribute to this origin in ''[[Superman]]''/''[[Batman]] Annual #1'', where the Earth-3 counterpart of Deathstroke appeared as a thinly-disguised version of Deadpool, who was always interrupted before he could finish telling people his name. The comic was also drawn by Ed McGuiness, who worked on Deadpool's solo series for a very long time, beginning with the very first issue.
** Also, DC has a guy named Red Tool in [[Harley Quinn]]'s title who is a parody of Deadpool, making him a DC parody of a Marvel character who parodied a DC character!
** When Liefeld was dismissed from the [[Heroes Reborn]] '[[Captain America (comics)|Captain America]]' series, he decided to use re-use the unpublished art as a reprise of Joe Simon's character [[Captain Patriotic|Fighting American]], but licensing delays lead to the interim creation of
** Liefeld also created ''[[Youngblood]]'', a superhero team whose character lineup was based on the ''[[Teen Titans (Comic Book)|Teen Titans]]'' spin-off he proposed while working for DC Comics. [[Alan Moore]] then used the ''[[Youngblood: Judgment Day|Judgment Day]]'' crossover event to transform ''[[Youngblood]]'' into a pastiche of the ''original''
** Other Liefeld
*** New Men -> [[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]
*** New Force -> [[X-Force]] ''(original also created by Liefeld)''
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* British Comics Example: Thirteen-year old nerdy orphan who lives with an aunt and uncle, Billy Farmer gets scratched by a radioactive leopard. He begins to gain powers like those of a big cat, speed, strength, agility, night vision and a 'Leopard Sense' that tingles in the presence of danger. He takes to wearing a leotard in leopard spots and crime fighting as Leopard Boy/Leopard Man/''[http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/l/leoplime.htm The Leopard from Lime Street]'' (series title). Actually a very good [[Spider-Man]] rip-off with a British setting and nicely altered characters and powers.
* Another British comics example: In the 50s, when British publisher L. Miller ran out of ''[[Captain Marvel]]'' stories to reprint, he commissioned Mick Anglo to create a similar superhero, ''Marvelman'' (known in America as ''[[Miracleman]]''). Due to the exceptional quality of these stories (particularly Alan Moore's 1980s revival), Marvelman/Miracleman became a beloved character in his own right.
* Still another British comics example
* The original ''[[Doctor Who]]'' comic strips didn't have the rights to the Daleks at first, so they used similar enemies called Trods. Eventually the company did get the rights to use the Daleks, so they took advantage of it by creating a storyline in which the Daleks EX-TER-MIN-ATE the Trods!
** [[Marvel Comics]] also created eccentric time-traveler [http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/jagamble.htm Professor Gamble] and his enemies, the marauding robot army of [http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/incinerators.htm Incinerators], Ersatzes (Ersatzii?) of ''Doctor Who'''s Doctor and the Daleks respectively, with [[Shout-Out
** And now ''[[Community]]'' has gotten in on it with ''[[Inspector Spacetime]]'', complete with a time & space travelling red telephone booth, a similar theme song and the Dalek knock-offs, the "Blorgons", who shout "ERADICATE!"
* Nearly all the (non-series-star) characters in ''[[Planetary]]'' were created as Captains Ersatz of some existing character or trope, simply so the Planetary team could interact with visitors from many continuities.
** Notably, the evil Captain Ersatzes of the [[Fantastic Four]] are the [[Big Bad
* Superman has [[Shazam|Captain Marvel]] (now an inhabitant of the same comics universe), Hyperion (Marvel), Mister Majestic (who has actually met Superman and briefly replaced him), and [[Supreme]]. In the MMORPG ''[[City of Heroes]]'', Statesman occupies this role. Tabletop RPG versions include The Sentinel (Silver Age Sentinels), Protonik (Mutants & Masterminds, 1e) and the Centurion (M&M 2e).
** Also the Samaritan from ''[[Astro City]]''.
** The most recent Superman
** Statesman actually gets double points for being basically a [[Composite Character
** Then there is Plutonian (Tony) from [[Irredeemable]] who is an obvious Ersatz, yet is also a complex and divergent character in his own right. Of course, [[Mark Waid]].
*** Hornet from the same comics is an Ersatz of Batman.
** There is also Alpha One from [[The Mighty]] who has all of Superman's powers. He even has a secret headquarters.
** [[Milestone Comics]]' ''[[Icon]]'' is also something of a [[What If]] Superman ("What if Superman's rocket crashed in the Deep South circa 1840... and he was black?")
** ''[[Gold Digger (Comic Book)]]'''s Miracle, now Agent M, is described by one character as "movin' faster than '''bullets''' ... stoppin' '''trains''' ... and leapin' sky-scrapers in '''one hop'''...."
* The entirety of Big Bang Comics is like this, being a pastiche of [[The Golden Age of Comic Books|Golden Age]] and [[The Silver Age of Comic Books|Silver Age]] comics from... well, mainly DC. So read about the adventures of Ultiman ([[Superman]]), the Knight Watchman and Kid Galahad ([[Batman]] and Robin), the Blitz ([[The Flash]]), the Beacon ([[Green Lantern]]), the Atomic Sub ([[Aquaman]]), etc. This is lampshaded in DC's ''[[Final Crisis]]'', where Ultiman is seen as a member of the team of cross-dimensional Supermen.
** In fact, the entire Big Bang universe is super meta based on the real-life history of the characters emulated in the comics. Knight Watchman was created by two guys but only one gets any real credit or makes money off him, he had a well-received and influential cartoon in the 90s, etc.
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** Interestingly, one issue featured the Knight Watchman working alongside a Silver Age version of [[Shadow Hawk]] - essentially Batman teaming up with Batman.
* ''[[Hack Slash]]'' has sometimes included flashback panels of old enemies who haven't appeared in the actual comic yet, many of whom are [[A Nightmare on Elm Street|very]] [[Friday the 13th (film)|recognisable]]. The slasher "X-O", who makes a more substantial appearance, is very clearly a hybrid of [[Hellraiser|Pinhead]] and [[Batman|Mr. Zsasz]]. Also, the "Wunderkind" superhero comic that exists within the story is clearly a stand-in for ''[[Captain Marvel]]'', probably fictionalised because of the [[Loony Fan|unflattering depiction]] of its fans.
* In [[Astro City]], virtually all of the
* [[John Constantine]] has a Captain Ersatz, Willoughby Kipling, who appeared in the [[Doom Patrol]] in the early nineties. Willoughby was a foul tempered, drinking, smoking [[Knight Templar]].
** What a coincidence, ''[[Excalibur (Comic Book)|Excalibur]]'s'' Pete Wisdom fits the same description, and was created by [[Warren Ellis]], who later worked on ''[[Hellblazer]]''.
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*** Interestingly, the postboot Legion featured Gates, who may be an ersatz of an Imperial Guardsman who didn't have a clear Legion parallel previously.
** Considering the Imperial Guard were originally enemies of the ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X Men]]'', they arguably work as a deconstruction of the Superman mythos as well. They show what it might have been like if, instead of landing on Earth, Kal-El had wound up in some autocratic, politically unstable Alien empire where he was made to serve whatever ruler sat on the throne. Without Superman's moral center, Gladiator's just a blindly obedient thug.
* ''[[Supreme]]'''s entire universe is a tribute to DC's [[The Silver Age of Comic Books|Silver Age]]. Supreme is Superman, Supremium is Kryptonite, Suprema is Supergirl, Professor Night is Batman, Twilight is Robin, Darius Dax is Lex Luthor, Diana Dane is Lois Lane, Emerpus and Shadow Supreme are Bizarro, Glory is Wonder Woman, Doc Rocket is the Flash, [[Blackest Night|Black Hand]] [[Hilarious in Hindsight|is the Green Lantern]], Roy Roman is Aquaman, Mighty Man is Captain Marvel, the Fisherman is the Green Arrow...
** Even the tiniest things are different but plainly similar; rather than "super strength", Supreme has "strength supreme", and so forth. Supreme White and Supreme Gold are Superman Red and Superman Blue from a much-beloved Silver Age Imaginary Story, Original Dax is the Golden Age Lex Luthor... cataloguing every clear parallel to the Superman mythos would take all day, basically.
* [[The Avengers (Comic Book)|The Avengers]] fought an entire team composed of Captain Ersatzes called the Squadron Supreme, a thinly veiled [[Alternate Company Equivalent]] of the [[Justice League (animation)|Justice League of America]]. The members of the Squadron are:
** '''Hyperion''' -- [[Superman]]
** '''Nighthawk''' -- [[Batman]]
** '''Whizzer''' – [[The Flash]]
** '''Doctor Spectrum''' -- [[Green Lantern]]
*** This was part of a joint effort on DC and Marvel's part though, seeing as the JLA has faced off against a group of Ersatzes of [[The Avengers (Comic Book)|Marvel's finest]]:
** '''Silver Sorceress''' -- [[Scarlet Witch]]
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** '''TA''' -- The Wasp
** '''Tin Man''' -- Iron Man
*** Later we would see more in the Squadron's own comic:
** '''Amphibian''' -- Aquaman
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* Buck Wild from [[Milestone Comics|Milestone's]] ''[[Icon]]'' is a Captain Ersatz of ''several'' different characters. His original costume and powers are clearly based on [[Luke Cage]], he later wore a suit to fly and teamed up with a patriotic hero like [[the Falcon]] , got a special belt that gave him the power to shoot electricity like Black Lightning, and then finally became a grim soul avenger like [[Spawn]].
* Pretty much every villain faced by DC's ''Inferior Five'' is a Captain Ersatz of a character from a rival publisher. The evil agents of H.U.R.R.I.C.A.N.E. are based on the ''[[T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents|THUNDER Agents]]'', the Kooky Quartet on the [[Fantastic Four]] (with the nickname given to the Avengers after their first big roster shakeup), etc. Their version of Thor even mentions a comic book deal with a guy named [[Stan Lee|Stanley]], though he has to shave his beard off and bleach his hair blond first...
** Not to mention the [[Justice League of America|Freedom Brigade]], the parents of the Five themselves: Merryman (son of [[Captain America (comics)|The Patriot]] and [[wikipedia:Miss America (DC Comics)|Lady Liberty]]), Awkwardman (son of [[Superman|Mr. Might]] and [[Aquaman|The Mermaid]]), Dumb Bunny (daughter of [[Wonder Woman]]), The Blimp (son of [[The Flash|Captain Swift]]) and White Feather (son of [[Green Arrow|The Bowman]]).
* Black Cat is often thought to be a knock-off of [[Catwoman (comics)|Catwoman]] due to their extremely similar costumes and motifs, as well as their [[Dating Catwoman|forbidden romances with superheroes]]. However, this is a misconception, as the Black Cat was conceived as a foe for [[Spider Woman]], and Catwoman did not start wearing her iconic black leather outfit until the 80's, long after Black Cat debuted.
** This is lampshaded in an episode of ''[[The Spectacular Spider-Man]]'', where Black Cat uses the alias "Selina Drew" (Catwoman's real name is Selina Kyle) when going undercover as a female prison guard.
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* Marvel's ''Ultimate Adventures'' centered around Batman pastiche Hawk-Owl and his sidekick Woody. Accompanying them was Hawk-Owl's butler Daniel (Alfred). He also had an Asian chauffeur based on the Green Hornet's Kato, and his Aunt Ruth is a combination of Aunt Harriet from the '60s Batman show and Spider-Man's Aunt May. And the Principal is a parody of the Joker and Two-Face.
* ''Kill All Parents''' heroes are all strongly based on famous Marvel and DC guys. The list is long, but to give an example you have the Locust and Larva Lad standing in for Batman and Robin.
* Every alleged "hero" that [[Marshal Law]] finds himself up against is an Ersatz. The Public Spirit is Superman, Private Eyes is Batman, the Secret Tribunal are the X-Men, the Jesus Society of America are the Justice Society of America (and include a Captain America-like [[The Golden Age of Comic Books|Golden Age]] Public Spirit), the heroes holed up in a Manhattan asylum are all based on Marvel characters (and for the most part go unnamed). Pat Mills described Marshall himself as an unholy fusion of [[Captain America (comics)|Captain America]] and [[Judge Dredd]].
* ''[[Hellboy (comics)|Hellboy]]'''s backstory features the Torch of Liberty, a thinly-disguised Captain America stand-in.
* "Whatever Happened to the Green Pedestrian Palm?", a ''Future Shocks'' story, has a cast composed almost entirely of just-barely-veiled [[Parodies]] of American [[
** The Green Pedestrian Palm is blatantly [[Green Lantern]]; fittingly, a portrait of the real Green Lantern appears in the background of one panel.
** Optimum is [[Superman]]
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** Bathroom Buster is [[Daredevil]]
** The Rush is [[The Flash]]
** Captain Condom (<small>yes, that is his superhero name</small> might be [[Captain America (comics)|Captain America]].
** Astrodeus is Marvel's Galactus.
* [[The Authority]] faced off against Ersatzes of classic Marvel heroes in [[Mark Millar]]'s inaugural arc. The Americans were obviously Avengers pastiches with named ones being the Commander (Captain America), Tank Man ([[Iron Man]]), Hornet (Wasp) and Titan (Giant Man) while the rest were clearly based on Thor, Hulk, [[Black Panther]], [[Scarlet Witch]], Hawkeye, and the Vision. Later, they took down unnamed Ersatz teams resembling the X-Men, Inhumans, Fantastic Four (with additional Silver Surfer, Galactus, Watcher and H.E.R.B.I.E. knock-offs, all of which are most famously associated with the FF) and the Howling Commandos while other Wildstorm heroes fought Ersatzes of Spider-man, the Punisher, Daredevil, Elektra, Doctor Strange, Namor and others. The story's [[Big Bad]], Jackob Krigstein was an evil ersatz [[Jack Kirby]].
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** Stormwatch also featured The Changers, who were based on [[JSA]] members, including The High (Superman), Blind (Doctor Mid-Nite), The Doctor (Doctor Fate), The Eidolon (The Spectre), The Engineer (Green Lantern), Rite (Wonder Woman) and Smoke (Sandman).
** The Sons of Liberty, another group of Authority foes, are based on the [[Freedom Fighters (comics)|Freedom Fighters]]: Paul Revere (Uncle Sam), Maiden America (Miss America), Dyno-Mite the Human Hand Grenade (Doll Man with elements of the Human Bomb), Johnny Rocketman (the Ray) and Fallout (the remaining elements of the Human Bomb).
* [[Batman]] himself is a
* The original Guardians of the Globe in ''[[Invincible]]'' are clearly based on the original [[Justice League]]; the Red Rush is the Flash, War Woman is Wonder Woman, the Green Ghost is the Green Lantern, Martian Man is the Martian Manhunter, Darkwing is Batman, Aquarius is Aquaman, and the Immortal and Omniman are both Superman. They also had Black Samson, who seems to be based on Marvel's Doc Samson and [[Flash Gordon (comic strip)|Flash Gordon]].
** And we can't forget Damien Darkblood, Demon Detective, who is almost identical to Rorschach of ''Watchmen'' fame except slightly mellower.
** And many of Invincible's minor enemies are based on Spider-Man foes. The Elephant is the Rhino, Doc Seismic is the Shocker, Kursk is Electro, etc.
** And the Lizard League is a combination of [[G.I. Joe]]'s Cobra and Marvel's Serpent Society. Komodo Dragon in particular is based on the latter's Puff Adder.
** A case could be made that the new Guardians of the Globe are
* In Rick Veitch's ''Brat Pack'', Moon Maiden is an ersatz [[Wonder Woman]], while the Mink and Judge Jury split among themselves the role of Batman (the Mink is a flamboyant millionaire whose superhero career is undermined by rumors of homosexuality, while Judge Jury is a brutal vigilante who gives no quarter to the criminal element), and King Rad is the Green Arrow. A pivotal part in each of their stories is the presence of an ersatz Superman who eventually abandoned the city.
* ''Bob The Galactic Bum'' is an interesting example. During its original run, Lobo made an appearance as a supporting character. When it was reprinted in the ''[[Judge Dredd]] Megazine'' in the late noughties, they were unable to secure the rights to use Lobo. Thus, Lobo was replaced by a butch lesbian bounty hunter by the name of Asbo.
* In a more recent issue of the ''Meg'', Dredd went up against an amnesiac Canadian mutant codenamed Weasel, whose fingers have been replaced with 'unbreakium' claws. His skeleton has been swapped with solid Boing[[
** Another Dredd storyline in ''2000 AD'' had ''another'' mutant rights organisation organised by a bald professor, including [[An Ice Person]], a redheaded telekinetic, a guy with wings and a bestial guy. The twist? They ''weren't'' really mutants at all.
* [[Bongo Comics]]' line of comics based on ''[[The Simpsons]]'' (and ''[[Futurama]]'') features an occasional series of Radioactive Man comics (Bart's favorite superhero from the TV show) that pretends to be the "actual" comics from the Simpsons' universe, and parodies various superhero comic trends and styles from the 1950s through present (depending on the "year" the comic was "published"). In particular, Radioactive Man and his cohorts parody many comic elements:
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** Plus a pair of groups, Oldblood and WildB.R.A.T.S. based on [[Image Comics]] [[Nineties Anti-Hero]] teams [[Youngblood]] and [[Wild CATS|WildC.A.T.S.]] Ironically, the former team is made up of senior citizens.
* The Nigerian hero ''Powerman'' was intentionally created in order as a black version of [[Superman]].
* ''[[PS238]]'' is '''made''' of this trope. Virtually every main character is a
* Lampshaded and repeatedly played with in "Heal Thy Elf", an ''[[Elf Quest]]'' satire in that franchise's ''New Blood'' Special issue. At one point, the appearance of a thinly-veiled Charlie Brown
* ''[[Justice League of America|Justice League Europe]]'' once met a clan of Parisian [[Gargoyles]] named Behemoth, Seine, Angelique, Montparnasse, Montmartre, Champs-Elysse and Left Bank. Behemoth had an evil twin named Thomeheb and an ex-wife named Diabolique. The story was written by [[Greg Weisman]].
* The crime comic ''Kane'' has a hitman named Frankie who's basically Marv from [[Sin City]], face bandages, interior monologue and all... [[Elmuh Fudd Syndwome|until he speaks]]...
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* [[Man-Thing]] had Wundarr, a version of Superman who is never rescued from his spacepod due to the paranoid temerity of a certain old couple. Instead, he grows up tutored by computers until accidentally released by the title character.
* [[Alan Moore]]'s ''Terra Obscura'' turned previously unrelated [[Public Domain]] Golden Age heroes the Black Terror and Tom Strange into ersatz versions of Batman and Superman. The other heroes were made to correspond very roughly to various other figures from the era, but none so much as those two.
** Alan Moore also created the ''[[
* ''10th Muse'' supporting characters Venus/Mighty Maid and Wombat are, respectively, Supergirl and Batman (though ''both'' are female). Venus' introductory issue was an extended [[Shout-Out]] to the Supergirl mythos, as it were, and Wombat actually murders her own parents outside a movie theater because she thinks it will make her a better hero.
* In ''The Pro'', the League of Honor is blatantly a copy of the [[Justice League of America]]. To wit:
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* One of Marvel's earliest Golden Age heroes was the Angel, best described as "[[The Saint]] in a superhero context".
* Marvel and DC have used this to foster a [[Fake Crossover]] on occasion. One month, Marvel's Invaders and DC's Freedom Fighters both faced off against a group known as the Crusaders. In both cases, the Crusaders were ersatz versions of the other company's team.
* Winky, Blinky, and Noddy, aka "The Three Dimwits," were [[Bumbling Sidekick
* Captain Strong, a more "realistic" (for comic books' version of realistic) version of [[Popeye]], has sporadically met up with Superman over the last forty years.
* Many of [[Sin City|Sin City's]] characters are [[Shout-Out|Shout Outs]] to previous characters from pulp fiction and film noir:
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** Dwight is quite obviously based on [[Mike Hammer]].
** Miller was always disappointed in ''[[The Dead Pool]]'' (the movie, not the [[Deadpool|comic character]]) so he wrote what he thought should be the real final case of [[Dirty Harry|Harry Callahan.]] Enter: John Hartigan.
*** The Yellow Bastard is a horrific case in that [[Frank Miller]] has admitted that he was based off of a grown-up (and deranged) version of the [https://web.archive.org/web/20120630010744/http://www.bookpalace.com/acatalog/YellowKid.jpg Yellow Kid].
* ''Holy Terror'' by [[Frank Miller]] was initially conceived as a comic that would have Batman fighting al-Qaeda, and when DC refused to publish it as such the serial numbers got filed off. Nevertheless, it's still pretty obvious who "[[Batman|the Fixer]]", "[[Catwoman (comics)|Natalie Stack]]" and the police commissioner of "Empire City" are supposed to be.
* The mostly forgotton 1966 "Captain Marvel" from MF Enterprises had a rogues gallery composed almost entirely of Captain Ersatz'z. Including guys called Plastic Man (later changed to Elastic Man), Dr. Fate, The Bat (Later changed to The Ray), Tinyman (Captain Ersatz of Dollman),and Atom Jaw (Captain Ersatz of Iron Jaw, arch-foe of the then-popular hero Crimebuster)
* The Kindle-based comic book series [[Limekiller At Large]] features a number of these. The Blue Pangolin (The Ted Kord version of Blue Beetle), The Alloy Angel (Iron Man), Commander Dynamic (Superman), The Knoir Knight and Chickadee the Boy Diversion(Batman and Robin), Quantum Phyllis (Dr. Manhattan), and the American Ranger (a mash-up of Captain America and the Lone Ranger).
* Much of the cast of ''[[Jack Staff]]'' is made up of Ersatz versions of either [[Marvel Comics]] heroes, or British pulp comic heroes. This is because the series was originally pitched as a Marvel series. Jack Staff himself is based on Captain Britain and Union Jack; Becky Burdock is partially based on Captain Britain's sister Betsy Braddock/Psylocke. The Hurricane is Captain Hurricane, Tom Tom the Robot Boy is Archie the Robot, and General Tubbs is General Jumbo.
* Captain Strong was a character released by DC Comics in 1973, who was a pretty blatant rip-off of [[Popeye]], made after DC tried and failed to obtain the comic book rights to the actual Popeye [https://web.archive.org/web/20210902083259/https://comicvine1.cbsistatic.com/uploads/scale_medium/11114/111147698/4639645-4e3qfd.jpg (judge for yourself here)]. Although, he seemed to have evolved later into an [[Affectionate Parody]] of the character when making appearances in [[Harley Quinn]]'s comic during [[The New 52]].
== Film ==
* When director F. W. Murnau sought to make a movie out of Bram Stoker's book ''[[Dracula (novel)|Dracula]]'', but was unable to secure the rights, he made the movie anyway as ''[[Nosferatu]]'', changing the names of the characters. (Dracula, for example, became Count Orlok.) In this case, though, the attempt was unsuccessful: Stoker's widow sued for copyright infringement and won, bankrupting the production company... and getting an order that all copies of the film be destroyed. The movie survived through piracy.
* Detective Anna Ramirez in ''[[The Dark Knight Saga]]'' was originally supposed to be Renée Montoya, but her name was changed at the last minute.
* The ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'' trilogy is sometimes accused of this by ''[[Monkey Island]]'' fans, who cite similarities between Tia Dalma and the Voodoo Lady as evidence of their claim.
* In the 1976 [[Mystery Fiction]] spoof, ''[[Murder By Death]]'', various famous detectives are represented by
** Sidney Wang ([[Peter Sellers]]): [[Charlie Chan]]
** Dick and Dora Charleston (David Niven and Maggie Smith): [[The Thin Man (film)|Nick and Nora Charles]]
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** Miss Jessica Marbles (Elsa Lanchester): [[Miss Marple]]
** Milo Perrier (James Coco): [[Hercule Poirot]]
* The 1980 TV Movie ''Murder Can Hurt You'' itself seems to have been inspired by ''[[Murder By Death]]'', but with
* ''[[Spaceballs]]'' is full of ''[[Star Wars]]'' [[Expy]] characters, but Dark Helmet is obviously a geeky-looking parody of Darth Vader from ''[[Star Wars]]''.
* The [[Hammer Horror]] film ''X the Unknown'' was originally intended to be a sequel to [[Quatermass|The Quatermass Xperiment]]. However, they couldn't get the rights to the character of Bernard Quatermass at the time, so they made up a new character called Adam Royston. He is a [[Science Hero]] with the same general mannerisms as Quatermass, the only major difference is that his specialty is nuclear physics, not rocketry.
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* Officially, ''[[The Godfather]]'' isn’t about the Mafia at all. When the real Mafia began making complaints and threats, the filmmakers compromised, removing all references to "the Mafia" and "Cosa Nostra". So the film is actually about a fictitious crime organisation that just happens to be based around five fictitious Italian-American families – it’s usually referred to as "the Five Families" when mentioned on screen.
** Actually, some claim that the filmmakers pretended to compromise to avoid having to argue. In fact, the words "Mafia" and "Cosa Nostra" probably were not in the script to begin with. First of all, both titles refer to specific gangs, and no organized crime family that is not a member of either would use the terms. Secondly, if you *are* in the Mafia, do you really sit around talking about it with other people in it?
*** Yes, as [https://web.archive.org/web/20130822172040/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,878651,00.html too many mobsters] [http://articles.latimes.com/1991-08-03/news/mn-157_1_john-gotti have learned] after getting indicted. It's true they don't use the words "Mafia" though ... the usual hint is that, if someone new enters the conversation and one of the wiseguys introduces him as "a friend of ours", they can speak freely. Someone introduced as "a friend of mine" means otherwise.
**** Averted in ''Part II'', where during the senator hearings, the words Mafia and Cosa Nostra are mentioned multiple times (here by an outsider).
* A series of ''El Látigo'' ("The Whip") films were produced in Mexico. El Latigo is a ''very'' close imitation of the famous ''gringo''-created hero of Old California, [[Zorro]].
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** While BBV eventually did get licensing rights to various ''Doctor Who'' monsters, the Big Two remained exceptions. They never attempted fake-Daleks, but the Cyberons are, well, Cybermen.
** BBV eventually self-parodied this, with a video called "Do You Have A Licence To Save This Planet?" in which a swarm of ''Doctor Who'' monsters (and the Cyberons) are fought by Sylvester McCoy as ... the Chiropodist.
== Literature ==
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** Don't forget the [[Alien|Xenomorph]]!
*** That's more of a [[Lawyer-Friendly Cameo]], actually. Harry even quotes the second movie while fighting it.
* In [[Kim Newman]]'s novel ''The Quorum'', several of the characters are fans of
** And the ''[[Anno Dracula]]'' stories include a vampire slayer by the name of [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer|Barbie Winters]]...
* Michael Shea's novel ''Nift the Lean'' was written as a sequel to [[Jack Vance]]'s first Cugel the Clever novel before Vance himself wrote an official sequel. Thus, Nift is a
* Minister Faust's ''From the Notebooks of Dr. Brain'' features several of these: Omnipotent Man (Superman), Flying Squirrel (Batman), Iron Maiden (Wonder Woman/Thor) and Fly Brother (Spider-Man).
* In a rather bizarre example, where
* Most of the superheroes in Perry Moore's young adult novel ''Hero'' are blatant parodies of DC characters, [[Wonder Woman|Warrior Woman]] being the most obvious.
* ''[[Doctor Who]]'' again: In the [[Faction Paradox]] series the Time Lords become the Great Houses, who travel in Timeships (TARDISes) and are led by a War King who is clearly the Master. The Homeworld of the Great Houses was formerly defended by artificial beings called "casts" (Shaydes from the ''[[Doctor Who Magazine|DWM]]'' comic strip), and an attempt to produce semi-sentient casts created homicidal maniacs called "babels" (N-Forms from the Eighth Doctor novels). The Doctor himself is only referred to as "[[Perspective Flip|the Evil Renegade]]".
* In ''What They Did To Princess Paragon'' by Robert Rodi, the eponymous Princess Paragon is very obviously [[Wonder Woman]]. Other characters created by Bang Comics include Acme-Man ([[Superman]]), the urban vigilante Moonman ([[Batman]], complete with campy 60s TV series), and other members of the Freedom Front ([[Justice League of America]]). Bang's rivals Electric Comics, meanwhile, created the explorer-team The Quasar Quintet ([[Fantastic Four]]), the irradiated monster Sherman Tank ([[Incredible Hulk]]), and the superhero team The Offenders ([[The Avengers (Comic Book)|The Avengers]]).
* [[Horde of Alien Locusts|The Vord]] in the ''[[Codex Alera]]'' are straight out of ''[[
** The Zerg in turn are based on the aliens from, well, Aliens, just like the Protoss are based on the Predator race from guess-which-film.
* Before creating the Wold Newton Family, [[Philip Jose Farmer]] wrote a series of novels about John Cloamby, Lord Grandrith, who was raised by apes, and his half-brother Doc Caliban, a two-fisted adventurer. As well as serving as a [[Deconstruction]] of the pulps, these books advanced Farmer's early theories about the relationship between [[Tarzan]] and [[Doc Savage]], without actually naming names.
* Reading the ''[[Ciaphas Cain]]'' novel ''Cain's Last Stand'', it becomes obvious that Varan the Undefeatable is this to [[Adolf Hitler]], down to being described as looking exactly like him down to the moustasche and flashy uniforms, along with a similar personality. If it weren't for the mutations he has in the book, one would think Hitler himself paid visit to the ''[[Warhammer
** And it's pretty much open knowledge that the entire Ciaphas Cain series is a 40k version of ''[[Flashman]]''.
* In Mary Gaitskill's novel ''Two Girls, Fat and Thin'', Dorothy, the "fat girl" of the title, is a devotee (and at one point, employee) of novelist "[[Ayn Rand|Anna Granite]]" and her philosophy of "[[Objectivism|Definitism]]."
* Aslan from [[The Chronicles of Narnia]] series, is very clearly a Captain Ersatz of Jesus. He could be argued as an [[Expy]] until the third book, where Lewis makes Aslan's real world identity quite clear.
* This is a repeating theme in Jonathan Lethem's ''Chronic City'', which contains numerous
** One major character was the ghostwriter for eccentric playboy physicist Emil Junrow's witty memoir ''I Can't Quite Believe You Said That, Dr. Junrow'', who as described bears no small resemblance to [[Richard Feynman]], eccentric playboy physicist and writer of the witty memoir ''"Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!"''
** [[The Muppets]] are replaced in the pop culture of this world by "Gnuppets"
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* Al Ewing's contributions to the ''Pax Britannia'' [[Shared World]] (set in a [[Steampunk]] [[Dystopia]] 20th century) feature El Sombra, a masked swordsman named Djego, whose main difference from [[Zorro]] is that he's decidedly not a nobleman. ''Gods Of Manhattan'' is a [[Two-Fisted Tales]] pastiche which also includes Doc Thunder ([[Doc Savage]] with a dash of [[Gladiator (novel)|Hugo Danner]]), the Blood Spider ([[The Shadow]] with elements of [[The Spider]]), the Blue Ghost ([[The Spirit]]) and Jack Scorpio, Agent of S.T.E.A.M. ([[Nick Fury]]).
* The live-action TV series of ''[[The Tick (animation)]]'' replaced Die Fledermaus and American Maid, who were in the animated cartoon but not the original comic book, with Bat Manuel and Captain Liberty.▼
▲== Live Action TV ==
▲* The live-action TV series of ''[[The Tick]]'' replaced Die Fledermaus and American Maid, who were in the animated cartoon but not the original comic book, with Bat Manuel and Captain Liberty.
* ''[[Charmed]]'' had a demon character named Kira who could see the future, [[Actor Allusion|played by]] [[Charisma Carpenter]]. Carpenter played Cordelia on ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' and ''[[Angel]]'', who gained the ability to see when people were or would be in trouble.
* Whistler, who appeared in a few Season Two episodes of ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', was supposed to be a main character on the spinoff ''[[Angel]]''. Since the actor who played Whistler was unavailable at the time, the very similar character Allen Francis Doyle was created instead.
** Averted, however, in the episode "Buffy versus Dracula". Originally, writer Morti Noxon was going to use a Captain Ersatz of Dracula here, until Joss Whedon said, "Why not Dracula? He's [[Public Domain Character| public domain."]]
* Comparisons between Al Swearengen of ''[[Deadwood]]'' and Silas Benjamin of ''[[Kings]]'' are pretty inevitable: Both are played in the same highflown style by Ian MacShane; both are amoral and ruthless in attempting to maintain their grip on power but affectionate to those close to them, and both have a tendency to slip into lofty monologues. Except for their different wardrobes and Silas' network-mandated inability to curse like Swearengen, they're essentially the same character portrayed by the same actor.
* ''[[Star Trek:
* And ''[[Star Trek:
** Though [[Word of God]] has [[Flip-Flop of God|flip-flopped]] on whether this was done because Locarno was unrepentant and therefore unsympathetic, or because they didn't want to have to pay royalties to the writer of "The First Duty".
* Parodied on ''[[30 Rock|Thirty Rock]]'' when Jenna intends to star in a biopic about Janis Joplin, but because of legal issues, the pic will be about a Janis Joplin facsimile called Jackie Jormp-Jomp.
* The BBC did a
* ''[[Get Smart]]'' had a few examples:
** Comedian Joey Forman played a [[Charlie Chan]]-based
** Several one-off villains were also ersatzen; Wheelchair-bound mastermind Leadside was based on ''[[Ironside]]'', [[Yellow Peril]] caricature Dr. Yes was based on ''[[Dr. No]]'', etc.
** And Smart got his own
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNt8vplcx5Y This] music video is not only a cover of [[Britney Spears]]' song ''Lucky'', but the video is also a pastiche of [[Super Sentai]] - and the [[Humongous Mecha]] is [[Sarcasm Mode|most definitely NOT]] [[Mazinger Z]].
* In The Adventures Of Superboy, a super strong alien woman named Neila, who pursued Superboy romantically, appeared to be an ersatz version of the comics' Maxima.
* Parodied in ''[[Psychoville]]'' when in a [[Pantomime]] production of Snow White, the director has to remind his cast that they changed the names of the dwarves (to "Prof", "Blusher", "Sniffy", "Smiler", "Snoozer", "Grumbly" and "Loopy") so as to avoid being sued by Disney.
* ''[[Smallville]]'' had Captain Ersatzes for a shockingly-large number of DC characters. Adam Knight was Bruce Wayne, Gloria was Poison Ivy, Vordigan the Dark Archer was Merlyn, Pete Ross ended up becoming a Captain Ersatz of [[Plastic Man]]...the list goes on and on. One episode even had Lois cosplaying as an [[Show Within a Show|as an in-universe]] Captain Ersatz of [[Wonder Woman]]!
** That same episode had a boy transformed by a magic comic book into [[Show Within a Show|Warrior Angel]]. Whereas Warrior Angel was always an [[Expy]] of Superman (with his nemesis Devilicus as an [[Expy]] for Lex), this "Warrior Angel" was a clear
* ''[[Ten Items or Less]]'' has a parody of this tripe where the characters create a "Star Trok" Convention with "Blingons and Blomulans" (and [[Special Guest]] Jolene Blalock) so they don't get sued by Paramount.
* In ''[[The Event]],'' the President and his right-hand man are pretty much [[24|Palmer and Novick.]]
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'''Gus''': Exactly the same.
'''Shawn''': A virtual carbon copy. }}
* ''[[Casualty]]'' and ''[[Holby City]]'' get away with having a [[Lady Gaga]]
* [[Rhyme and Reason]], an ABC game show from 1975, was a Captain Ersatz of CBS's [[Match Game]] in that it had two contestants trying to match words (the rhyming word of a poem) with a panel of six celebrities.
* In 1961, Goodson-Todman created a Captain Ersatz of its own show [[The Price Is Right]] with ''Say When!!'', which had two contestants selecting items from a pool of merchandise and trying to not go over a target value. In turn, 1975's ''Give-N-Take'' was an ersatz ''Say When!!'' with a spinning arrow. When G-T revived ''The Price Is Right'' in 1972 for CBS and nighttime syndication, they turned it into an ersatz [[Let's Make a Deal]].
== Newspaper Comics ==
* During the late 1920s and early 1930s, the King Features Syndicate did several copycats of the Chicago Tribune strips, with ''Little Annie Rooney'' being an ersatz of ''[[Little Orphan Annie]]'' and ''Dan Dunn'' being Hearst's answer to ''[[Dick Tracy]]''.
** Another was ''The Nebbs'' (a copy of the Tribune's ''Gumps''), created by Sol Hess, who assisted Sidney Smith (creator of ''The Gumps'') during the early 1920s.
* ''[[Doonesbury]]'': Uncle Duke was Garry S. Trudeau's tribute/homage to Raoul Duke, Hunter S. Thompson's alias. Thompson for two decades was so upset he refused to read the comic.
* ''The Adventures of Aaron'' once ran a strip with "The Ghost of [[Calvin and Hobbes|Calvin]]". A couple footnotes make it clear: "Any similarities between Ghost of Calvin and ''Calvin and Hobbes'' is purely coincidental." See it [http://www.kerzap.com/calvin/aaron.tribute.html here].
* In the comic strip ''[[For Better or For Worse]]'', it originally seemed as if the artist had intended to pair Liz of with her next door neighbor, Christopher; when he and his family were dropped from the strip, Mrs Johnston altered his serial number and created [[Creator's Pet|Anthony Caine.]]
== Professional Wrestling ==
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** Arachniman, who is not like [[Spider-Man]] at all.
** Ray Lloyd was dressed up as the not-quite-[[Mortal Kombat|Sub-Zero]] wrestler Glacier (a character who has since popped up in CHIKARA, making for a better fit.)
** [[Hulk Hogan]]'s "Ultimate Surprise" in WCW, teasing that the [[Ultimate Warrior]] had joined WCW. Instead, it was "The Renegade", who was a blatant copy of the [[Ultimate Warrior]]. Ironically, in September
** Renegade wasn't even WCW's first
** Asya was a clone of the WWF's Chyna.
* Inverted by [[World Wrestling Entertainment|WWE]] during the mid 90's. After [[Scott Hall]] and [[Kevin Nash]] (Razor Ramon and Diesel, respectively) jumped ship to rival promotion WCW, WWE still owned the copyright to their characters. Out of legal necessity, and part of a [[Jim Ross]] [[Face Heel Turn]], they got replacement wrestlers to play Razor and Diesel, to act as J.R.'s enforcers and show off his power in the company. Rick Bogner played Fake Razor Ramon and Glenn Jacobs (who had already appeared as the [[Depraved Dentist]] Isaac Yankem, and who would later be better known as [[Kane (wrestling)|Kane]]) to play Fake Diesel. Only counts if it's possible to
** WCW then Ersatzed J.R. himself as 'Oklahoma', in an incredibly tasteless [[Take That]] (including [[Dude, Not Funny|mocking Ross's Bell's Palsy]]).
** Gillberg! Arguably a combination of this trope and [[Affectionate Parody]].
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** Wrestler Jay Lethal's Black Machismo gimmick was so named because, aside from being black, his appearance and mannerisms were virtually identical to those of the famous WWF wrestler [[Randy Savage|Randy "Macho Man" Savage]]. Of course, the gimmick was more of an homage/parody than a straight Captain Ersatz, and Lethal often took the gag a bit further by referring to other wrestlers by the name of some of Macho Man's contemporaries, rather than by their own names. He even had an appropriate hometown, Elizabeth, New Jersey.
** Stone Cold Shark Boy, though more a parody than a true Captain Ersatz.
** Black Reign was meant as a Captain Ersatz of [[World Wrestling Entertainment|WWE]]'s Goldust (specifically, drawn from his "The Artist Formerly Known As Goldust" period). This is more [[Writing Around Trademarks]] than anything, since Black Reign and Goldust are both played by Dustin Rhodes.
== Radio ==
* BBV's ''Audio Adventures in Time & Space'', starring Sylvester McCoy as "The Professor" and Sophie Aldred as "Alice", Ersatzes of ''[[Doctor Who]]'''s Seventh Doctor and Ace (also played by McCoy and Aldred) actually attracted enough attention from the BBC that they had to hurriedly makes some characterization changes.
** Another line of BBV audios starred Nicholas Briggs (who had previously played the Doctor in non-commercial fanvids) as the Traveler.
== Tabletop Games ==
* The ''Freedom City'' setting for the [[Tabletop RPG]] ''Mutants and Masterminds'' is filled with Captain Ersatzes of the characters from ''[[Astro City]]'', who in turn are mostly Captain Ersatzes of the most famous comic characters out there. The Freedom City [[Sourcebook]] even [[Lampshade Hanging|hangs a lampshade]] on this by ending with art of a road sign that reads, "You are now leaving Freedom City, please drive carefully", mimicking the ending tag from the ''[[Astro City]]'' comics.
** Their ''Paragons'' campaign setting -- intended to be a bit more gritty than four-color -- includes Captains Ersatz of characters from other companies' campaign worlds.
** In a picture in the 3E Hero's Handbook, there's even a character wearing a shirt that says "Ersatz" on the front.
* Looking for 1980s cartoon Captain Ersatzes, then you won't be surprise that [[Cartoon Action Hour]] has more than its fair share. For I.E, the Black Widow from "Strikeforce Freedom" is a blonde hair version of [[The Baroness]] from ''[[G.I. Joe]]''.
* The Swedish superhero game ''Supergänget'' (published in English as ''Supercrew'') features some among their quick examples - The Weasel ([[Wolverine]], but female), The Tomani ([[The Incredible Hulk]] with a [[Shout-Out]] to children's author Christine Nöstlinger) and Tapir Man ([[Spider-Man|Rhino]], and being a caricature of a friend of the author), among others.
* Play in any tabletop game long enough, and you will see a player or game master create an ersatz rendition of a character from another story, whether it be from science fiction, fantasy, history, or even modern politics. In particular, the iconic Drizzt Do'Urden of [[Dungeons
* The card game ''Sentinels of the Multiverse'' features homages to several well-known comic book characters, like Legacy (Superman), the Wraith (a female Batman), Tempest (Aquaman with hints of the Martian Manhunter) and Ra (Thor).
=== Gamebooks ===
* [[Generic Doomsday Villain|The Evil Power Master]], the villain in two ''Choose Your Own Adventure'' books has more than a few things in common with [[Flash Gordon| a famous villain known for being "merciless".]]
== Video Games ==
* Hazama is the standout case from ''[[
** Terumi, his ghost form, looks suspiciously like the [[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann|Anti-Spiral]].
* ''[[
** [[Pitfall|Pitfall Harry]] is also obviously inspired by Indy, and his [[Theme Music Power-Up]] in the second game sounds similar to the "Raiders March".
* Shinx, a lion cub [[Pokémon]] that is colored very unusually (blue and yellow), has mouse-like ears, and has a cheerful smile. [[Kimba the White Lion]], is that you?
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** Also the cover art for Metal Gear is based on a screen shot of Kyle Reese from Terminator.
*** Speaking of that, the first game had a Terminator ersatz named... [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]].
** They hang a lampshade on this in [[Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty]]: Solid Snake's "disguise" persona is "Lieutenant JG Iroquois Plissken". [[Spotting the Thread|Raiden catches him because of snake's headset and claimed rank.]]
* ''[[Mega Man (video game)|Mega Man]]'' began his life when Capcom wanted to make an [[Astro Boy (manga)|Astro Boy]] game, but could not acquire the rights. He's come into his own right since then, of course.
**
** The Killer Bullets in the first game resemble the Bullet Bills from ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'', which are ironically called Killers in the Japanese series. They never appeared in the series again, possibly due to Nintendo threatening legal action.
* In 1983, there was a laserdisc arcade game called ''Cliff Hanger'', where the protagonist was a [[Gentleman Thief]] named Cliff who looked suspiciously like the one [[Lupin III|from a popular manga and anime]]. Which makes perfect sense, because it uses animated footage from two ''[[Lupin III]]'' movies, most prominently ''The Castle of Cagliostro'', and some from ''The Mystery of Mamo''.
** Lei Wulong is a Captain Ersatz for [[Jackie Chan]].
** Marshall/Forrest Law is a...much more blatant [[Bruce Lee Clone|clone]] of [[Bruce Lee]].
** King is the
*** He also has elements of [[Rey Mysterio, Jr.]].
** Craig Marduk looks a lot like...either Nathan Jones (his future actor in the 2009 Live Action Movie) or [[Goldberg]].
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** Raven is apparently an accident. The character designer claims that he just wanted to make "A cool Black Guy". The final product ''strongly'' resembled Wesley Snipes as ''[[Blade (film)|Blade]]''.
** Christie Monteiro is modelled after Tyra Banks and was given a few of [[Britney Spears]]' dance moves in a couple of her ''Tekken 5'' win poses.
* ''[[Ghost Hunter]]'' is itself a
* One example of taking this too far comes from ''[[The King of Fighters]] 2001'' with the character K9999, a
* Along with the above-mentioned Statesman, ''[[City of Heroes]]'' has a lot of characters and concepts that are pretty clear homages to various comic book characters. The entire [[Mutants|Mutation origin]] is straight out of ''[[X-Men]]'', and the evil Arachnos organisation is essentially [[G.I. Joe|Cobra]] with the snake iconography replaced by spiders.
* [[Player Character|You]] in ''[[Overlord (series)|Overlord]]'', especially when you get your best armor and a [[Doomy Dooms of Doom|Mace of Doom]], you're [[The Lord of the Rings|Sauron]]'s equally [[Evil Twin]].
* Both ''[[Freedom Force]]'' games are rife with this. All of the characters have
** The Minuteman is [[Captain America (comics)|Captain America]], just wearing a funny 18th-century costume and using a staff instead of a shield.
** Mentor is [[Martian Manhunter]] with a touch of Professor X
** El Diablo is [[Fantastic Four (Comic Book)|Human Torch]].
** Man-Bot is a weird mixture of [[X-Men|Cyclops]] and [[Iron Man]]. [[Power Incontinence]] [[Powered Armor|In A Can]]. He also has [[Doctor Strange]]'s origin (rich asshole turned goody goody after screwing up his life in an accident)
*** Sounds an awful lot like Positron in the above ''[[City of Heroes]]''...
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* [[Virtua Fighter|El Blaze]] is NOT [[Professional Wrestling|Rey Mysterio]]. Rey Mysterio might be a little guy who flies around a lot in a mask and oversized pants determined to prove himself as good or better than the big guys, but he doesn't wear ribbons on his arms, after all.
** [[Street Fighter|El Fuerte]] just might be Mysterio, though, if Mysterio had a thing for cooking. Or he just might be Blaze, since they're both rather [[Large Ham|Large Hams.]] His outfit also bears more than a passing resemblance to El Místico.
* If it's possible for a ''series'' to have a
** Putting ''H.A.V.E. Online/Microvolts'' to shame though is ''Final Combat'', [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKS_QhtaWIA which] slightly ressembles ''Team Fortress 2''. And by "slightly resembles", we mean "is [[The Mockbuster]] of". Except that it also has straight Captain Ersatzes of the classes too (such as [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvrj70MNxEU the Rocket] for the Soldier and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpqWiprWAAE the Fatman] for the Heavy), so it counts on both. Moreover, the maps are stolen from ''[[Battlefield Heroes]]''.
** Xunlei would eventually joke about it, saying that Valve clearly stole their idea four years before they had it.
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* A curvy female mage who lives in a secluded part of the world, is an acquaintance with [[Knight in Sour Armor|a gruff older mentor]], [[Not Good with People|isn't very social]] and acts like a [[Deadpan Snarker]] to mask this personality flaw, and wears [[Stripperific|a cleavage-baring dress]] with [[Too Many Belts|a skirt made of belts.]] Now, did we just describe [[Final Fantasy X|Lulu]] or [[Dragon Age|Morrigan]]?
** [[Bullet Witch|Alicia]]
*** Lulu may be snarky, but is an incredibly good and ethical person. Morrigan is the [[Token Evil Teammate]] whose wanton cruelty has become something of a meme. Their roles in plot are dissimilar, their dresses are only similar in color (Morrigan's far more revealing and "rag-like," Lulu's elegant), and Morrigan is revealed to be quite an insecure, unworldly character compared to Lulu. Lulu openly is affectionate to people besides Tidus and is loyal to the central characters; Morrigan clearly has her own agenda. And the right answer is [[wikipedia:Morgan le Fay|Morgana]] or [[wikipedia:Medea|Medea]] or [[wikipedia:Circe|Circe]] or any number of the other inspirations for [[Hot Witch]], [[Dark Magical Girl]], and related tropes. This archetype is way too common for this comparison.
* ''[[Tales of Legendia]]'' features the Oresoren, who are intelligent fuzzy creatures who are good with machines and have a [[Verbal Tic]]. Anyone familiar with ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' would recognize them as being similar to Moogles. It might be a coincidence... until you realize that one of the most significant Oresoren is named "Quppo", pronounced exactly the same as the verbal tic of the Moogles ("kupo").
* ''Human Grand Prix'' for the Nintendo 64 didn't have the rights to use the actual names of drivers, meaning that the game was filled with drivers with names such as Hamon Dill,<ref>Damon Hill</ref>
* ''Cannon Spike'''s playable roster is composed almost entirely of characters from existing Capcom properties. The sole exception is Simone, who is just a hairstyle and a slight wardrobe change away from being Lieutenant Linn Kurosawa from Capcom's ''[[Alien vs. Predator]]'' arcade game, whose ownership is apparently tied up with [[Twentieth Century Fox]].
* The ''[[World Heroes]]'' series has quite a few. Kim Dragon is a blatant clone of Bruce Lee. There's also a professional wrestler named Muscle Power who looked ''exactly'' like [[Hulk Hogan]] in his first appearance. They shaved off his mustache in the console releases of the first game and all the sequels, presumably so that Hogan wouldn't get any ideas about suing ADK.
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* Francis York Morgan of ''[[Deadly Premonition]]'' is one of Dale Cooper of ''[[Twin Peaks]]'', only perhaps even weirder and his [[Must Have Caffeine|love of coffee]] taken to fortune-telling levels.
* [http://archives.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/8/82/Action_Replay_DSi.jpg A recent Action Replay DS package.] Warning: May include Not-Pokémon-At-All and Not-[[Super Mario Bros.|Bowser]]-At-All, among other Not-Game-Characters-At-All.
* The freeware [[Girls Love]] [[Visual Novel]] series ''Morning Star'' is heavily inspired by ''[[
* Tohru Adachi of ''[[Persona 4]]'' looks (and acts) like [[Death Note|Matsuda]]. {{spoiler|At least, up until [[The Reveal]].}}
* For the web game ''Caesary'' (which has actually been advertised on TV Tropes itself), there's this [[Hot Amazon]] character... which is blatantly meant to be a [[Wonder Woman]] knockoff. Seriously, the only differences are that she has more armor and (slightly) less clothing. Link here: [http://g.caesary.net/regpv.do?cno=dc&scno=0&lp=dccs001&gclid=COjYwsXS6aICFQiX2AodxV7iYw\]{{Dead link}}
* [[Halo|343 Guilty Spark]] talks like [[Star Wars|C-3P0]]. "Hello, I am 343 Guilty Spark, the monitor of Installation 04", and "Your behavior is not in accordance with established protocols".
* The SPANKED-up [[Action Bomb|suicide bombers]] in ''[[Grand Theft Auto III]]'''s "Kingdom Come" mission behave eerily similar to the Exploding BOBS from the ''[[Marathon Trilogy|Marathon]]'' series.
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* Since the characters in ''[[Dragon Quest]] VIII'' were designed by Akira Toriyama, many of them are ersatzes of ''[[Dragonball Z]]'' characters; eg Hero=Kid Gohan, Trode=Namek Elder, Angelo=Trunks, Kalderasha=Mr. Satan, Valentina=Pan, Jessica=Bulma.
* There's a fairly strong fan case in ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' for Prince Arthas Menethil's suspicious similarity to one [[Elric of Melnibone|King Elric VIII of Melniboné]].
* The characters in ''Cyclomaniacs'' are mostly hilariously blatant
* Walter Sullivan from ''[[Silent Hill 4]]'' looks like the late [[Nirvana|Kurt Cobain]].
* Heather Morris from ''[[Silent Hill 3]]'', and Lisa Rogan from ''[[The House of the Dead (series)|House of the Dead]] 3''. And both are the daughter of the protagonist of the first game in their respective series.
* The iPhone ''[[Punch
* Nearly every NPC in ''[[Billy vs. SNAKEMAN]]''. Some of your allies even change who they are ersatzes of as they level up.
* In ''[[Poker Night At the Inventory]]'', there's a character who looks and sounds suspiciously like [[Tales of Monkey Island|Reginald Van Winslow]] but wears different clothing and is credited only as "The Host".
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* ''[[Wet (video game)|WET]]'' seems to this for the Kill Bill films.
* One of the Dream Club characters Rui is an Ersatz of [[Baka to Test To Shokanju|Baka No Test's]] Himeji. Heck it even has Hitomi Harada voicing her. Making Rui the future version of Himeji (Aka teacher by day, hostess by night)
* Most of the survivors in ''Bitejacker'' are based on either classic game characters (like [[Super Mario Bros.|Mario]] or [[
* The Dropship pilot from the ''[[
** ''[[
* Kuon Sumeragi from the Examu fighting game ''Daemon Bride'', resembles [[Mobile Suit Gundam 00|Setsuna F Seiei]], complete with the same [[Mamoru Miyano|voice actor]] and the last name (Setsuna's boss is ''Sumeragi'' Lee Noriega).
* Several [[Original Generation]] mecha from ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' bear a strong resemblance to other [[Humongous Mecha]] franchises:
** The Huckebeins are most [[Sarcasm Mode|definitely NOT]] [[Gundam
*** This actually made the anime adaptations of ''[[Super Robot Wars Original Generation]]'' problematic, despite the fact that it's owned by the company that made ''[[Gundam]]''. ''Divine Wars'' ended up cutting out the Huckebeins entirely, while ''The Inspector'' introduced the Exbein, which is simply the Huckebein with the head changed to look less Gundam-y. This then resulted in [[Canon Immigrant|Canon Immigration]], as the Exbein is slated to appear in ''Original Generations the Second''.
** The [[Super Robot]] Grungust is the ersatz combining aspects from both [[Mazinger Z]] and [[Daitarn 3]], with Mazinger Z's [[Eye Beams]], [[Rocket Punch]] and [[Chest Blaster]] for weapons, and Daitarn 3's [[Shoulders of Doom]], blue-and-gold-and-red paint scheme, [[Transforming Mecha|plane mode and tank mode]], and [[BFS]].
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* At least some of the player-species in the classic economics-edutainment game ''[[MULE]]'' are examples of this, the most obvious being the Packer and the Gollumer, who are respectively [[Pac-Man]] (with legs) and ''[[E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial|ET the Extraterrestrial]]''. The Bonzoid is pretty much a human-sized one-eyed [[King Kong]]. The Flapper and the M.U.L.E.s themselves bear more than a passing resemblance to the two types of [[Humongous Mecha|Imperial Walkers]] from ''[[The Empire Strikes Back]]''.
* China has many online mon games, but some of them more like "Pokémon" in terms of gameplay. Altough at first one may think it's all original with those emoticon-like graphics, few games have few ''Mons'' that are ripoffs of certain Pokémon. For worse, they "evolve" from a completely different Mon. See [http://news.4399.com/aolaxing/yabi/muxi/201107-29-106726.html here] for an example. Of course there were used to be a plant-Kirlia/Gardevoir and Cyndaquil-like families, but they're probably taken down some time.
** Non Pokémon examples include the ersatzes of [http://news.4399.com/aolaxing/yabi/shuixi/201008-20-75843.html Crikey] from [[Ty the Tasmanian Tiger]] and [http://news.4399.com/aolaxing/zixun/201107-14-104276.html Amaterasu] (compare the pose!),
* ''[[Double Switch]]''. More than once, there is a mention of the Egyptian goddess Isix. Must be Isis they are talking about. Isn't Isis in the [[Public Domain]]?
* In the arcade version of ''[[Strider Hiryu|Strider]]'', [[The Dragon|Solo]] is an ersatz of [[Star Wars|Boba Fett]]. The Grandmaster, although resembling Emperor Palpatine, was actually based on Sauron from ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' according to the developers.
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* In [[Acclaim]]'s ''[[Legends of Wrestling]] II'' career mode, regional promoters are somewhat based on existing promoters [[Vince McMahon]], Ted Turner (WCW), Paul Heyman, Christine Jarrett, Jim Crockett and Hiro Matsuda.
* Billy and Jimmy Lewis from ''Rage of the Dragons'' are obvious stand-ins for Billy and Jimmy ''Lee'' from ''[[Double Dragon]]''. The game was initially developed as a ''Double Dragon'' spin-off, but the developers were unable to secure the rights to the license. The game's sub-boss character, Abubo, is also an obvious stand-in for ''Abobo''.
* The [[Hentai]] game ''Season of the Sakura'' was really blatant about this, with the primary cast all coming from famous anime; the protagonist's father and school principal are [[Tenchi Muyo!|Nobuyuki and Yosho/Katsuhito Masaki]], his homeroom teacher is [[Neon Genesis Evangelion|Misato Katsuragi]], his best friend is [[Neon Genesis Evangelion|Kensuke Aida]], and the girls he can romance include [[Magic Knight Rayearth|Hikaru Shido, Umi Ryuzaki, Fuu Houji]], [[Neon Genesis Evangelion|Rei Ayanami, Asuka Langley]], [[Kaitou Saint Tail|Seira Mimori, Meimi Haneoka]], and [[Welcome
* The [[Nintendo DS]] fighting game ''[[Windy X Windam]]'' has character designs that are heavily based on ''[[Guilty Gear]]''. Big is basically Potemkin minus his gigantic gauntlet; swordsman Kirikou is Ky Kiske with fire abilities instead of lightning; and Jack and Stin are clones of Slayer and Bridget, respectively.
* Every character in ''[[Battle Golfer Yui]]'' is clearly a reference to other characters from Japanese media.
** Yui Mizuhara is a reference to the protagonists of [[Shotaro Ishinomori]]'s works, primarily [[Kamen Rider Black]]'s Kotaro Minami. She even is forcibly turned into a cyborg, rescued by a defector of the organization, and has to fight against her former organization. Black Fire and Black Sun are similar titles as well.
** Mitsuru Hagata is a reference to Mitsuru Hanagata from [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_of_the_Giants Star of the Giants], with a Hoshi as his rival and an Akiko as his crush.
** GeGeGe no Kitako is a reference to [[GeGeGe no Kitaro]]. She even has an eyeball parent guiding her. And she attacks Yui because Otter Man<ref>a reference to Nezumi Otoko</ref> forged a letter.
** Kaiketsu Dibot is a reference to [[Kaiketsu Zubat]], complete with a desire to avenge Asuka.
** Professor G is a combined reference to [[Mazinger Z|Doctor Hell]] and [[Kikaider|Dr. Gill]]. He even has brainwashed cyborgs as minions and a flute that controls {{spoiler|Ran}}. Prof. G even uses Gil as his alias.
** {{spoiler|Ran Ryuzaki/Shadow Thunder}} is a reference to [[Kamen Rider Black|Shadow Moon]] and [[Kikaider|Hakaider]], complete with important connection to main character.
== Web Comics ==
* ''
* Done a number of times in ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' when it decides to parody certain stories, such as ''[[Star Trek]]'', ''[[Star Wars]]'', and ''[[Alien (franchise)|Alien]]'' characters in "[http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=970929 The Sci-Fi Adventure]" or ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]'' characters [http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=020902 in the growing] [https://web.archive.org/web/20030922090613/http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=030915 number of] [http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=050822 "Torg Potter"] [http://pics.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=080305 stories].▼
▲* ''8BitTheater'' is home to the Sulk, Arachna-Dude, Alloyed-Guy, and the Mediocre Four.
** While on the topic of Sluggy, [[Fans]] brings us, [
▲* Done a number of times in ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' when it decides to parody certain stories, such as ''[[Star Trek]]'', ''[[Star Wars]]'', and ''[[Alien (franchise)|Alien]]'' characters in "[http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=970929 The Sci-Fi Adventure]" or ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]'' characters [http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=020902 in the growing] [http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=030915 number of] [http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=050822 "Torg Potter"] [http://pics.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=080305 stories].
▲** While on the topic of Sluggy, [[Fans]] brings us, [http://www.faans.com/index.php?p=2065 Doctor Irving Riffington].
* Cousin Dougal in ''[[Platinum Grit]]'' is an eight hundred year old sword-wielding immortal Scotsman. And his last name is [[Mc Wickening]].
* ''[[Quentyn Quinn, Space Ranger]]'' (itself a [[Spin-Off]] from ''[[Tales of the Questor]]'' IN SPACE!) has recently taken a rusty razor blade to the ''[[Star Trek]]'' franchise. Quentyn meets the crew [https://web.archive.org/web/20130312225649/http://www.rhjunior.com/QQSR/00016.html in this strip].
* The majority of the cast of ''[[Sonichu]]'' consists of ''Sonic'' [[Palette Swap|recolors]]. Firstly, Sonichu is an ersatz that the author made sometime in the 1990s when a teacher wouldn't allow him to use [[Sonic the Hedgehog]] or Pikachu in a class project due to copyright. There's also Simonla Rosechu, who was originally a (male) [[Fan Character]] created by a troll who's a fan of ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'', but Chris decided to [[Gender Flip|change his gender]] and turn him into a Rosechu before using her in the comic. Add in two characters based off Zelda (Zelina Rosechu, Clawdorf and Darkbind Sonichu), [[Sailor Moon|Sailor Megtune]] and various others. The only characters who seem to be completely original are Kel, a generic Pokémon trainer, and Count Graduon, the [[Anthropomorphic Personification]] of Chris's high school graduation.
* ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20130817082623/http://workhate.co.uk/?p=9 Captain Broadband]'' has a clown pop up at one point to [[Suspiciously Specific Denial|specifically]] inform the audience that Captain Broadband was created long before another blue garbed, [[Nigh Invulnerability|nigh invulnerable]] [[The Tick (animation)|superhero]]
* Mr. Raven from ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'' seems a heck of a lot like [[Harry Potter (novel)|Snape]].
* ''[[Attack of the Super Wizards]]'' stars public domain characters, one of whom, Stardust, was created to be an ersatz [[Superman]]. The comic also includes ersatz versions of Krypto, Lois Lane, Batman, Wonder Woman, Cthulhu, Alan Moore, and others.
* [[Anti-HEROES]] makes no secret about being inspired by ''[[The Order of the Stick|Order of the Stick]]'' and besides having characters in the same style has some fairly similar characters:
** Kaal is pretty much Belkar if he was a ghost,
** Aldran is a magic user like Vaarsuvius and has the [[Deadpan Snarker]] personality of Vaarsuvius and Roy and an [[Evil Twin]] (or possibly Good Twin), just like Elan.
** Kerris and Lana are both pretty much Haley, except the first is a [[Horny Devils|Tiefling]] and the second is a vampire, and Kerris' species also makes her quite similar to the villain Nale's succubus girlfriend, Sabine.
* Batdragon of [https://web.archive.org/web/20130719023505/http://www.drunkduck.com/Dragon_City/ Dragon City] and his daughter Batdragongirl both fit this trope as they're parodies of Batman and Batgirl (respectively).
* ''[[The Order of the Stick|Order of the Stick]]'' gives us [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0253.html Larry Gardener].
** And Zzdtri is a spoof of Drizzt, and his status as an [[Overused Copycat Character]]. His first appearance has him dragged away by copyright lawyers, but he later returns having realized that parody is protected under Fair Use.
* ''[[Nerf Now]]'' [http://www.nerfnow.com/comic/2069 illustrates] how this works.
== Web Original ==
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* ''[[Englishman]]'' uses blatant spoonerised names of any real life individuals who appear.
* ''[[The Angry Video Game Nerd]]'' has spawned possibly enough imitators on ''[[YouTube]]'' to start a list. Noteworthy mentions include ''[[The Irate Gamer]]'' and ''Game Dude''.
* Musical example in popular [[YouTube]] spoof series ''[[How It Should Have Ended]]''. Ever since the ''[[Terminator]]'' episode, they have been using tunes which bear a rather obvious resemblance to the actual soundtrack, even the iconic ones like ''[[Star Wars]]''.
* Quite common in [[Slash Fic|Original Slash]]. [http://community.livejournal.com/bb_shousetsu Shousetsu Bang* Bang], an original yaoi magazine on [[
* Also, Celsan Automotive LLC on [[
* Ever since [[Marble Hornets]] came up with totheark, nearly every single [[Slender Man]]-related blog/video series has had a similar character.
* In the ''[[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]]'', there are many. More than many, really. Too many to mention. A short listing includes: Ultra-Man ([[Superman]]), Bungie ([[Plastic Man]]), Guardsman ([[Green Lantern]]), Achilles ([[Batman]]), Arachne ([[Spider-Man]]), The Damocles Directive (The Suicide Squad), Quantum (Captain Atom), The Golden Marvel ([[The Golden Age of Comic Books|Golden Age]] [[Superman]]), Morningstar ([[Power Girl]]), and Jock (The Taskmaster).
* Doctor Octogonapus, not [[Spider-Man|Octopus]], from [[The Lazer Collection]].
* [[Whateley Universe]] authors like doing this as spoofs. At [[Super-Hero School|Whateley Academy]] the team The Vindicators is definitely the classic [[The Avengers (Comic Book)|Avengers]], with Kismet for the Scarlet Witch and Donner as a dopey [[The Mighty Thor|Thor]] (among others). And Elite League are all expies of the animated [[Justice League]] seven.
* ''Fake Theme Park'' sometimes resorts to this:
{{quote|[https://twitter.com/FakeThemePark/status/672974982637592577 Due to copyright disputes, the only song we're able to play in the park this month is "Dominic the Italian Christmas Donkey."]
[https://twitter.com/FakeThemePark/status/673550136186941440 "Santa Claus" is trademarked, so get ready to meet Jolly Judgmental Winter Gift-Giving Red-Suit Mage!] }}
== Western Animation ==
* From the early years of [[The Golden Age of Animation]], we have the Warner Bros. star Foxy, whose image is adorned at the top of this page, and whom some of you might even remember appearing in the ''[[Tiny Toon Adventures]]'' episode
** In fact, he and Roxy had to be completely redesigned for ''
* Probably the most well known
** ...and that guy was, in turn a pretty obvious Captain Ersatz of [[Felix the Cat
* [[Woody Woodpecker]] is a rather obvious one of the early Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny prototypes. No surprise, since the Bugs Bunny prototypes and [[Woody Woodpecker]] were made by Ben Hardaway, who was a prominent writer in the [[Woody Woodpecker]] cartoons after he left Warner Bros. for Universal Cartoons.
** [[Mel Blanc]] himself voiced Woody for his first few appearances (and invented that famously annoying laugh) before being replaced because of his contract with Warner Brothers.
* [[DC Universe]] characters occasionally get
** For a fairly minor C-list [[DC Universe]] hero, Black Lightning has an awful lot of animated
*** Black Vulcan was created by Hanna-Barbera for ''[[Superfriends]]''.
*** One episode of ''[[Static Shock]]'' features the temporary comeback of a retired 1960s hero named "Soul Power." While the writers of the show wanted to use Black Lightning, [[Executive Meddling|DC's executives refused permission]].
**** Tantrum from the episode of that show with the same name is basically a Captain Ersatz of the Incredible Hulk.
*** Even Black Lightning ''villains'' get
*** On top of that, ''JLU'' featured a
*** ''[[Batman: The Brave And The Bold|Batman the Brave And The Bold]]'' has ''finally'' bucked the Black Lightning trend, with his appearance as the de facto leader of the Outsiders. Of course since he's a teen on this show he's now a
** ''JLU'' featured a thinly-disguised
*** This was lampshaded in an actual issue of ''Aquaman'', where someone mistakenly thinks Black Manta is actually called Devil Ray.
** ''[[Justice League]]'' also had Aresia and Tsukuri, who were heavily inspired by the heroines Fury and Katana, right down to wearing very similar costumes. According to [[Dwayne McDuffie]], Tsukuri was partially based off Lady Shiva as well.
** While featuring characters who mostly predated the Marvel versions by decades, the team-ups between Dr. Fate, Aquaman, and Solomon Grundy, were meant to mirror Marvel's, ''[[The Defenders|Defenders]]'' (Fate = Dr. Strange, Aquaman = Sub-Mariner, Grundy = Hulk. The latter even acted and talked like the Hulk on the cartoon). They were later joined by AMAZO, a Silver Surfer mirror. Hawkgirl was the stand-in for Nighthawk.
** [[The Question]] became a more kid friendly clone of [[Watchmen (comics)|Rorschach]], making him a
** ''[[Batman: The Animated Series|Batman the Animated Series]]'' episode #18, "Return of the Gray Ghost" has Simon Trent, the star of a 1950s "costumed crimefighter" TV show, finding out that he was the inspiration for The
** ''[[Superman: The Animated Series|Superman the Animated Series]]'' introduced Luminus and Mala, who were essentially Doctor Light and Ursa with the serial numbers filed off. There was also Angela Chen, who was essentially [[Race Lift|an Asian American version of]] Cat Grant. She was even given Cat's job as a gossip columnist and her infamous rivalry with Lois Lane.
*** Mala's lover was Jax-Ur. While Jax-Ur is a supervillain from the comics, this Jax-Ur has little to do with his comics counterpart, and is General Zod in all but name.
** One episode of ''JLU'' featured Supergirl and several other heroes going to Tokyo to fight a giant turtle with tusks, which flew by retracting its legs into its shell and replacing them with rockets, causing it to spin like a flying saucer, but which was definitely ''not'' [[Gamera]].
** Also from ''JLU'', the aforementioned "Defenders" fought... "[[Cthulhu Mythos|Ic'thulutu]]."
** In the ''[[Justice League]]'' episode "Legends," four of the leaguers get zapped into an alternate universe populated by parodic Captain Ersatzes of Golden Age DC heroes. (For example, there's the Green Guardsman, whose power ring doesn't work against aluminum.) In-universe, the John Stewart [[Green Lantern]] read all their comics growing up. The episode had originally been written to explicitly feature [[Justice Society of America]] characters, but [[DC Comics]] publisher Paul Levitz refused permission. This wound up being a fairly positive bit of [[Executive Meddling]] all around, both for the episode itself and because it allowed for greater use of JSA characters down the road.
*** The same episode featured the Justice League fighting a giant robot that looked almost exactly like one of the title mecha from ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]''. The commentary from [[Bruce Timm]] confirmed this was intentional.
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* Schizophrenic and completely divorced from reality, Loogie from the Jetix series ''[[Get Ed]]'' is so similar to Sheen from Nickelodeon's ''[[Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius]]'' that it hurts.
* [[Little Audrey]] was created by Paramount's [[Famous Studios]] to be a Captain Ersatz of [[Little Lulu]], who Paramount lost the rights to make cartoons of. Both characters would survive for decades in comic books and eventually both wound up under the ownership of the same company.
* [[Mighty Mouse]] is a Captain Ersatz of an older, similar character who appeared in animated shorts called Super Mouse, which was something of a prototype for Mighty Mouse. The original ''Super Mouse'' cartoons were - and occasionally still are - shown, with the narration edited with the character's name changed to "Mighty Mouse".
* Since they couldn't use other [[Godzilla|Toho Monsters]] for ''[[Godzilla: The Series]]'', the writers simply created their own monsters as a sort of [[Homage]] to classic Japanese Godzilla foes. Examples include a giant Megapede/Cicada monster instead of Mothra, a garbage eating [[Nanomachines|Nanomachine]] cluster instead of Hedorah, a [[Robot Me|cyborg version of the original American Godzilla]] instead of Mechagodzilla, and even a robotic yeti as a replacement for [[King Kong|everyone's favorite giant ape]].
* The Galafems and their queen, Hippsodeth from ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]'' are obvious stand-ins for the Amazons and their queen, Hippolyta.
* ''[[Animaniacs]]'' and its spinoffs have episodes that include [[Barney and Friends|"Baloney" the Dinosaur]].
** Also Googily Goop, an obvious parody of [[Betty Boop]].
* From the black-and-white ''[[Looney Tunes]]'', Buddy is both a
* ''[[Spinoff Babies|Baby]] [[Looney Tunes]]'' had [[The Powerpuff Girls|The Super Sunshine Girls]].
* Speaking, anyone had the impression that the [[Totally Spies!]] episode [[Spear Counterpart|"S.P.I"]] is too similar to [[The Powerpuff Girls|PPG]] episode [[Spear Counterpart|"The Rowdyruff Boys"]]? It's like the [[Ensemble Darkhorse|Boys]] quit [[Cartoon Network]] and worked for Marathon!
** Made more suspicious by the fact that in another episode the teen Spies were wearing the same colors as the [[PP Gs]] (not the exact dresses, but the colors matched still!).
* ''[[Super Mario Bros Super Show]]'' (the animated segment)
* The Muses of ''[[Hercules (
* Clearly done for copyright reasons, ''[[Arthur (animation)|Arthur]]'' has Henry Skreever ([[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]), Persimmony Glitchet ([[A Series of Unfortunate Events|Lemony Snicket]]), Bionic Bunny ([[Superman]] and [[The Six Million Dollar Man]]), Dark Bunny ([[Batman]]), Mary Moo Cow ([[Barney and Friends|Barney the Dinosaur]]... although given that an episode focuses on its cancellation in favor of "Stock Market Today", it may also be an homage to the locally produced children's shows which were once popular in the 70's and 80's), the Love Ducks ([[The Teletubbies]]) and the Vegimorphs (''[[Animorphs]]'').
* ''[[6teen]]'' uses this constantly,
** Ironically, in
** Whether or not Ron the rent-a-cop is a
* ''[[The Real Ghostbusters]]'' included
** The funny thing, Dracula is a [[Public Domain Character]], they didn't needed to "create" a
** Dracula was indeed mentioned in that episode; in-universe, the original novel was, according to Tepes, a fictional account of the history of his family, with many liberties taken.
* ''[[Kappa Mikey]]'', a parody of anime, contains tons of characters who are legal rip-offs of real anime characters, in the same vein as ''[[Drawn Together]]''. The character Gonard gets bonus points, since he is believed by fans to be an expy of [[Dragonball Z|Goku]], thanks in no small part to both of them sharing the [[Sean Schemmel|same English voice actor]]!
* Depending on who you ask, The Dread Baron and Mumbly are either these, or Expys. According to some accounts, Hanna-Barbera was in a legal conflict with Heatter-Quigley (who helped co-create ''[[Wacky Races]]'') over who owned the rights to the Dick Dastardly and Muttley characters, which led to the creation of the new characters for the show [[Laff-A-Lympics]]. Others point out that Mumbly actually pre-dated Muttley (though he originally was a ''good guy''.)
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*** It's been noted that Heatter-Quigley was given an on-screen credit on [[Wacky Races]] in spite of the fact that the live game show segment they were to have made as part of the show was scrapped. The Heatter-Quigley billing appears nowhere on [[Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines|either of]] [[The Perils of Penelope Pitstop|the show's spinoffs]], but it does appear in the copyright tag of a ''Dastardly & Muttley'' comic book story, "Truce Or Consequences" (Gold Key, Hanna-Barbera Fun-In #10, January 1972).
* ''[[The Venture Brothers]]'' has quite a few. Dr. Orpheus is [[Doctor Strange]]. Jefferson Twilight is [[Blade]]. The Groovy Gang are a bunch of psychotic parodies of Mystery, Inc. from ''[[Scooby Doo]]''. There are a lot, and they're mostly played for laughs. Surprisingly ''averted'' with Jonny Quest, Race Bannon, and Dr. Zin. When the creators found out the same people own the right to their show and ''[[Jonny Quest]]'', they had them make ''actual'' appearances. Later on, they had to start calling him "Action Johnny" for trademark reasons. Intellectual property law is a cruel mistress.
* ''[[The Fairly
** Although Catman gets complicated, as he's an actual Batman villain (with the same costume), who is himself a thinly-veiled stand-in for a Golden Age hero named Catman.
* The [[Five-Man Band]] of ''[[Monsters vs. Aliens]]'' are Captain Ersatzes of 1950's B-Movies:
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** Dr. Cockroach [[Morally-Ambiguous Doctorate|PhD]] --> [[The Fly]]
** The Missing Link --> The [[Creature from the Black Lagoon]]
** Insectosaurus --> Mothra
* Almost every episode of ''[[The Simpsons]]'' has one. A few examples: Sherry Bobbins (explicitly), "Angelica Button and the Dragon King's Trundle Bed", Count Fudgeula, Itchy and Scratchy, Menthol Moose, Rainier Wolfcastle (married to Maria Shriver Kennedy Quimby)... the list goes on and on.
* The wrestling episode of ''Ben10'' has a shocking number of comic book characters getting the treatment: [[X-Men|Wolverine, Cyclops,]] Wonder Man, [[Batman|Killer Croc]], even a gang boss based somewhat on Kingpin. The clincher? {{spoiler|Wolverine and Killer Croc were adopted by [[Spider-Man|Aunt May]].}}
* On the 1981 [[Filmation]] series ''Blackstar'' respect for a certain no-longer-living [[J. R. R. Tolkien|author]] could not prevent the introduction of "[[The Hobbit (novel)|Trobbits]]".
* A few episodes of ''[[Codename: Kids Next Door]]'' mention a show called "Dr. Timespace and the Continuums" (''[[Doctor Who]]''). In the [[Christmas Episode]], they fight Yule-themed pastiches of the X-Men. Yes, including a [[Wolverine]] with candy cane claws.
* The ''[[Batman Beyond]]'' episode "Heroes" had three obvious references to the [[Fantastic Four]] in form of another superhero team called the Terrific Trio: the stand-in for Mr. Fantastic was changed to "the 2D man", the Invisible Woman gained ice powers and was dubbed Freon, and the Thing and the Human Torch were merged into one character, Magma. The idea is then ruthlessly deconstructed with the "accident" {{spoiler|having been set up by a jealous admirer}}. Plus the mutation not only causes an end to normal life, but eventually ''psychosis''. [[Take That|Then they all go rogue and die.]] And the Captain of the shield like organization is not Nick Fury mixed with J. Jonah Jameson with a Hitler mustache.
* The [[Genius Cripple|Disabled Professor]] in ''[[Family Guy]]'', whose name is apparently Steve, is an ersatz [[Stephen Hawking]], with a similar [[Machine Monotone]] voice.
* ''[[Tiny Toon Adventures]]'' very briefly shows a parody of Ren and Stimpy (in this case they're a squirrel and a chicken instead of a cat and dog) and Beavis and Butthead (who are portrayed as two furry animals, Beaver and Hoghead) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXaQdkTYc4w here].
* ''[[
** During the Daemon arc, Frisket, Matrix, Enzo and AndrAla encounter a mod user character who is a spoof of [[Austin Powers]]. While playing, Frisket reboots into a version of Mr. Bigglesworth, Matrix reboots into an exact version of Doctor Evil (complete with placing his pinky near his mouth in a sinister fashion if the shout out wasn't already enough), Enzo reboots into a version of Mini-me, and AndrAla reboots into a Fembot. In one scene, AndrAla actually shoots the Austin Powers user while trying to lure her in bed, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lrVdNctp0E as seen here].
** In "My Two Bobs", there was also a Dragon Ball Z/Pokémon parody.
** Almost all of the games are a Shoutout to various other pieces of popular culture, so if a episode featured a game (which it usually did) you're bound to find a few Captains or so among the cast.
* ''[[The Grim Adventures of Billy
** Hoss Delgado, an Ersatz of [[Escape from New York|Snake Plissken]] and [[Evil Dead|Ash Williams]].
*** Not to mention a splash of [[Mad Max|Max Rockatansky]]
** There is also an entire
** [[Dracula]] is a recurring character on this show, but seems to have been intentionally based on [[Blacula]].
* ''[[The Tick (animation)]]'''s animated series had a lot of these. Amongst the most prominent was Die Fledermaus (a [[Batman]] parody), American Maid (a female [[Captain America (comics)|Captain America]]), and Big Shot ([[The Punisher]]).
* An episode of ''[[The Mask (animation)|The Mask]]'' dealt with Stanley Ipkiss/The Mask spending time with and causing mischief with his favorite cartoon characters The Goofalototots Stinko, Pinko, and Snot, who are obvious expys of Yakko, Wakko, and Dot from ''[[Animaniacs]]''.
* '''''[[Spell My Name with a "The"|The]] [[Third Person Person|Boulder]]''' knows that '''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender|he is]]'''
** At the time [[Mick Foley]], who voiced ''The Boulder'' made a living off of [[Affectionate Parody|having fun with]] [[Dwayne Johnson|The Rock]].
* Whenever a character from another series appears on ''[[MAD]]'' (often), their design is modified slightly to ward off potential lawsuits - even for characters that are owned by its parent channel [[Cartoon Network]]. Example: when [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|Applejack]] appears in the "[[Cowboys and Aliens|Cowboys and]] [[Ben 10: Alien Force|Alien Force]]" skit, she wears a floppy [[Southern Belle]]-style sunhat instead of her normal cowboy hat, has two bands on her tail and ponytail instead of one, has a variation on Rarity's cutie mark, and is colored reddish-pink instead of orange.
* The [[Dexter's Laboratory]] universe has Major Glory, a [[Captain America (comics)|Captain Ersatz America]].
** Major Glory has bits of [[Superman]] in there, too, and then there's his housemate, [[Spell My Name with a "The"|The]] [[The Hulk|Infraggable Krunk.]]
** Let's not forget the Viking God of Ragnarock 'n' roll, [[The Mighty Thor|Val Hallen]].
* In [[Secret Squirrel]] (H-B, 1965), the villain Yellow Pinky was a Captain Ersatz of James Bond villain Goldfinger.
* In [[Rango]], there is a brief appearance by [[Hunter S. Thompson]]'s own
* [[Homestar Runner|Ostrich Thing with The Balls]] from [[Regular Show]].
* [[Jimmy Two-Shoes]] antagonist Luicus is basically another [[My Gym Partner's a Monkey|Principal Pixiefrog]].
* [[
* [[Scaredy Squirrel]] has this effect on [[Diddy Kong Racing|Conker]] [[
* Bonkey the Green Dragon from ''[[Recess]]''.
* The main characters of ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' started as [[Lauren Faust]]'s sketches of characters from the '80s show. Hasbro told her that Applejack and Spike were the only names and designs from that period that they still had rights to. So Faust [[In Name Only|renamed]] and [[Palette Swap|recolored]] the other five based on more recent characters in the franchise:
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* ''[[Johnny Test]]'' featured a parody of ''[[Pokémon]]'' called ''Tinymon'', including a spoof of Ash Ketchum named Blast Ketchup and most obviously, a spoof of Lugia named Screechareen.
* [[The Ricky Gervais Show]] has [[Monopoly|Knobopoly]], [[Operation|Knobration]] and [[Chess|Chess Cock]].
* An episode of ''[[Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi]]'' titled ''In the Cards'' features a trading card game called [[Yu-Gi-Oh!|Stu-Pi-Doh]].
*
** The obviousness of Irma Langenstein from [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987 series)| the 1987 series]] being the Captain Ersatz of Jeanette of The Chipettes.
** Also, Karai - who first appeared in a 1993 comic and later in the [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003 series)| 2003 series]] - may have been at least partially based on Lotus from the 1987 series episode "Lotus Blossom". The characters looked similar, and both had a crush on Leonardo, despite being on the villains' side. The fact that Karai was the [[Final Boss]] of ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighters]]'' (where character designs are based on the 1987 series) complicates this even more.
* ''[[Rick and Morty]]'' were this, originally. The two protagonists were in a short parody film of ''[[Back to The Future]]'' where they parodied Doc Brown and Marty McFly. However, they were quickly adapted to an original series.
* In the ''[[Futurama]]'' episode "How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back", the creature guarding the entrance to the Master In-Pile is obviously a beholder, a popular monster in ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]''. Of course, seeing as [[Gary Gygax]] himself designed the beholder and was known to be a fan of the show (even appearing as a guest star in one episode), he likely approved.
* Many of the bad guys on ''[[Laff-A-Lympics]]'' were this, due to a snafu over who owned rights to the names. The Great Fondoo even mentions this in the ''[[Robot Chicken]]'' sketch that parodies ''[[Munich]]'' using the ''Laff-A-Lympics'' cast.
** Dread Baron was the most obvious, and clearly supposed to be Dick Dastardly.
** The Creepy family were in fact the Gruesomes, who first appeared in ''[[The Flintstones]]'' - the Gruesomes in turn were expies of the J. Evil Scientist Family.
** Daisy Mayhem was an evil version of ''[[Li'l Abner]]'' character Moonbeam McSwine, the only Captain Ersatz on the show where the source is not from Hanna-Barbera.
* In ''[[The Owl House]]'', Lilith's mentor, Flora D'splora. Her name, short hair with bangs, dark complexion, monkey-like Palisman, and archeology expertise makes is obvious [[Dora the Explorer| who she is supposed to be]]. Luz even lampshades it by suspiciously saying, "I have questions about that name," when she shows up in "Elsewhere and Elsewhen". The fact that voice her actress is Eileen Galindo, who was also the voice of Dora's mother in that cartoon seems to confirm it.
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