Composite Character: Difference between revisions

Commonly involved in [[Adaptation Distillation]] and [[Adaptation Decay]]. See also [[Economy Cast]]. Sometimes a many-for-one [[Captain Ersatz]] / [[Expy]] is formed this way. Sometimes a cause of [[Adaptational Villainy]].

== Anime and Manga ==

* Jou's (rarely seen) brothers Shin and Shuu became Jim in the American dub of ''[[Digimon Adventure]]'' (and dubs based on it). Hilariously enough, the final episode shows the two standing side by side; this is never commented on. Whether or not this was intentional or a translation error is unknown.

** Also, central character Brian Slade, while most ostensibly based on Bowie, is also a composite character and bears definite traces of Brian Eno, Marc Bolan, and Jobriath.

* Michael Merriman (John Cusack's character in ''[[Fat Man And Little Boy]]'') is a composite of two real Manhattan Project physicists, Louis Slotin and Henry K. Daghlian, Jr. {{spoiler|Both died as the result of separate criticality accidents involving the same [[Artifact of Doom|"demon" bomb core]] ''[[Did Not Do the Research|after the Hiroshima and Nakasaki bombings]]''.}}

** On-set stills from ''Iron Man 3'' suggest that secondary villain Eric Savin/Coldblood will be wearing [[Norman Osborn]]'s Iron Patriot armour at some point.

* In ''[[Apollo 13]]'', a whole team of astronauts and engineers working to figure out how to power up the command module again was rolled into Ken Mattingly and a couple of other guys.

* ''[[The Tudors]]'': Henry VIII in [[Real Life]] had two sisters, Mary and Margaret. The character portrayed in the show is given the biography of Mary, but the name of Margaret; creator Michael Hirst said this was to reduce confusion on the set, since Henry's daughter Mary was a major character. (There are a number of Thomases in the show, but they're almost always referred to by their last names or titles—Cromwell, More, Wolsey, etc.)

** Also in The Tudors, Edward Seymour's wife Anne Stanhope has a storyline which is basically an altered (and expanded) version of his historical first wife's antics. This one doesn't have even a flimsy plot excuse, it's simply for the sake of more random sex - oh, and ensuring the complete lack of functional marriages in the show.

* ''[[Seinfeld]]'' - Elaine was a composite of various ex-girlfriends of Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David. (The other main characters were directly based on Seinfeld, David, and David's neighbor Kenny Kramer.)

* In the 1996 revival of ''[[The Liver Birds]]'', Polly James reprises the role of Beryl, except Beryl has become a composite of the Beryl she played in the first four seasons and Carol, Beryl's [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute|replacement]] in seasons 5-9. Most notably, Beryl has somehow acquired Carol's family.

* Technically, the rangers in [[Power Rangers]] with more than one ranger identity (I.E., [[Got the Call on Speed Dial|Tommy]]) fall under this trope. Some season-unique examples:

** Inverted in ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]'': The normal version of [[Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger|Zyuranger's]] [[Monster of the Week|Dora Franke]] became the Frankenstein monster, while his second and third forms Zombie Franke and Satan Franke became two different forms of the same character, Mutitus.

** [[Power Rangers in Space|Astronema]] melds together two villains from [[Denji Sentai Megaranger|Megaranger]]: Dr. Hinelar ([[The Dragon]] and [[The Starscream]], creator of [[The Psycho Rangers]] plot) and Shibolena (cyborg [[Dark Magical Girl]], surrogate daughter of a villain). Her brother, Andros, melds Mega Red together with Dr. Kubota ([[The Mentor]], had prior history with [[Dragon-in-Chief]]).

** Inverted once more in the conversion of [[Seijuu Sentai Gingaman|Gingaman]] to [[Power Rangers Lost Galaxy|Lost Galaxy]]. The [[Big Bad]] Captain Zahab was split off into Scorpius and his more direct counterpart, Captain Mutiny.

* The 1990s ''[[Justice League of America (TV movie)||Justice League]]'' pilot. Ice is Tora Olafsdotter, but has Sigrid Nansen's origin. [[The Flash]] is Barry Allen but has Wally West's personality, and [[Green Lantern]] is called Guy Gardner, but has elements of Hal Jordan and Kyle Rayner.

* Believe it or not, Robert Barone from ''[[Everybody Loves Raymond]]'' is one of these. His main mannerisms (being a cop, being divorced, jealous of his brother, doing "crazy chin", etc.) are taken from Ray's brother Richard, but his name is taken from Ray's ''other'' brother Robert. (When asked why the TV Ray didn't have two brothers like the real one, Ray claimed the real Robert was "the normal one" in his family, and therefore felt he wasn't interesting enough for the show).

* The made-for-tv adaptation of [[Stephen King]]'s ''[[The Stand]]'' merges Nadine Cross and Rita Blakemoor into one character. In the book, it was Rita who Larry Underwood met in New York, who was somewhat older than him. He only met Nadine later.

* Inverted in the ''[[Arrowverse]]'' [[The Flash (TV 2014)|''Flash'' series]], where [[The Flash]]'s enemy Reverse-Flash and Eobard Thawne (aka Professor Zoom) are different characters, both of them evil. In standard comic continuities, "Reverse-Flash" is another of Thawne's monikers.