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Most commonly in comics but also in other media, there are parts of [[The Verse]] that, while in [[Canon]], aren't available to be placed in current stories for a variety of reasons.
 
Part of [[Executive Meddling]], with a dose of [[Viewers Areare Morons]] and maybe even a bit of [[Canon Dis Continuity]].
 
Such circumstances inspire many a writer to create a [[Captain Ersatz]] or an [[Expy]].
{{examples|Examples}}
 
 
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== Licensing Reasons ==
* [[Marvel Comics]] has had a bunch of series over the years that were integrated into the [[Marvel Universe]], only to be discarded when the licensing stopped. Typically Marvel keeps the rights to the characters who were created specifically for the comic books; these characters sometimes appear in cameos after the main characters can no longer be used.
** There was ''[[ROM Spaceknight]]'', who was created [[Merchandise -Driven|to sell toys]]. The thing is, while the comics series was a rousing success, the toy flopped. Inexplicably, Marvel has never been able to get the rights back. This has the side effect of preventing other comics in which he appeared from being collected in trades - most notably an issue of ''Heroes for Hire''. (ROM has been able to make a few cameos, unnamed, in his humanoid form.)
** [[Godzilla]] had a 24-issue series in which he fought SHIELD, the [[Fantastic Four (Comic Book)|Fantastic Four]], [[The Avengers (Comic Book)|The Avengers]], and countless other Marvel heroes. He then disappeared. Marvel has been able to "cheat" a bit here, though, by having the villain from the series later capture the big G (offscreen) and send him in a mutated mind-controlled form (practically a [[Captain Ersatz]]) against [[Iron Man]]. Red Ronin, a [[Humongous Mecha]] from the series, has made semi-periodic appearances since the series.
*** The SHIELD Helicarrier that was used to hunt Godzilla later appeared in ''[[The Incredible Hercules]]''. Like all Helicarriers, it fell from the sky. No, seriously, one issue later, Hercules' buddy knocked ALL the Helicarriers from the sky.
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*** After the end of the Millennium series of Godzilla films in Japan, Toho was willing to license out Godzilla, and Marvel took the opportunity to license Godzilla just long enough to reprint the 24 issue series as a single Essentials paperback.
** The ''[[Transformers]]'' and the ''[[G.I. Joe]]'' series were specifically set in [[Alternate Continuity|Alternate Continuities]] which were similar but not quite the same as the regular Marvel Earth.
*** ''[[Transformers]]'' was initially set on the regular Marvel Earth, with [[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|Spider-Man]] guest-starring in the third issue, although it was quickly shifted to an alternate continuity as the series went from a four-issue limited series to an ongoing title. Likely in reference to how unlikely this was to stick, Nick Fury appeared in one panel and [[Lampshade Hanging|demanded not to have to fight the giant radioactive lizard again]]. Sadly, this has meant that IDW's reprint TPB series cannot reprint said issue (a text synopsis was used instead) nor can they reprint any Marvel UK stories involving [[DeathsDeath's Head (Comic Book)|Deaths Head]] (another Marvel character that appeared in Transformers UK).
*** While [[DeathsDeath's Head (Comic Book)|Deaths Head]] is unequivocally a Marvel character, replacing the character with newer versions (Death's Head II and Death's Head 3.0) does neatly avoid the original's back story involving him being taken from the ''Transformers'' universe to the [[Marvel Universe]] via the [[Doctor Who (TV)|TARDIS]]. This causes problems in reprints of the original stories, though the gaps are usually [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] as the result of "incomplete" archives. Death's Head may have had a reprieve, however -- IDW was able to reprint the [[Doctor Who Magazine (Magazine)|Doctor Who Magazine]] comic strip in which he crossed over.
*** ''GI Joe'' also crossed over with the main Marvel universe on a couple of occasions, but these were tiny cameo appearances. In one issue of GI Joe [[Spider Man|J. Jonah Jameson]] happened to ask from a newspaper seller if they carried the Daily Bugle, though the actual character was not referred to by name. One issue of Spider-Man featured soldiers in a couple of panels who bore a striking resemblance to the Joes, though again, names were not mentioned.
*** Of course, since Circuit Breaker's motivation is that she ''hates Transformers,'' Marvel has no use whatsoever for her, unlike [[Bounty Hunter]] (uh, I mean [[Insistent Terminology|freelance peacekeeping agent]], [[Verbal Tic|yes]]?) [[DeathsDeath's Head (Comic Book)|Deaths Head]]. It seems pretty unlikely that we'll ever see her again ''anywhere'' at this point.
** ''[[NFL Superpro]]'', the only character whose entire existence can be considered a [[Dork Age]], was only stopped because the NFL pulled its license. He is still in continuity, and was mentioned in an issue of ''Marvel Team-up'' (as just Superpro) a year or three back. Robert Kirkman, writer of ''Marvel Team-Up'', wanted to actually use Superpro in a story, but wasn't allowed to.
** ''[[Micronauts]]'' was yet another toy-based comic. In this case, one concept from it, Captain Universe, managed to escape into the greater [[Marvel Universe]]. The non-toy based characters have made a few appearances in Marvel under the name "Microns", and one of these, Bug, played a decent-sized role in the recent ''Annihilation: Conquest'', and later joined the Guardians of the Galaxy.
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** Nor could BBC Books, which led to a prologue to ''[[Eighth Doctor Adventures|Vampire Science]]'' that hastily established the Eighth Doctor knew ''another'' [[Expy|female doctor in San Francisco]].
** Interestingly, the [[Doctor Who Magazine (Magazine)|Doctor Who Magazine]] comic ''was'' able to get away with using Grace twice (in "The Fallen" and "The Glorious Dead").
* In ''[[Transformers Generation One|The Transformers]]'', the Jetfire toy was a licensed reissue of the Bandai [[Super Dimension Fortress Macross|VF-1S Valkyrie]] toy, and the character was to resemble the toy [[Merchandise -Driven|for obvious reasons]]. However, difficulties with one of the entities involved with ''Macross''/''[[Robotech]]'' (It's not clear whether it was Big West, [[Tatsunoko Production]] or Harmony Gold who put their foot down) made it obvious to Hasbro, Sunbow and [[Toei Animation]] that the character could not be used without a major hassle. Instead, the cartoon featured "[[Captain Ersatz|Skyfire]]"... and the comic books used Skyfire but ''called him Jetfire.'' Thanks to the multiversal nature of ''[[Transformers]]'' fiction, none of this is a ''problem''--Skyfire and Jetfire are considered [[Alternate Universe]] counterparts who happen to be unusually divergent, and modern depictions tend to feature a "Jetfire" who [[Composite Character|combines elements of both]]--but it's still weird.
** Similarly, issues over the ownership of ''[[DeathsDeath's Head (Comic Book)|Deaths Head]]'' and ''Circuit Breaker''; Marvel ramrodded both into non-''Transformers'' appearances (Circuit Breaker appeared in cameo in ''[[Secret Wars II]]'' and ''Death's Head'' in an editorial cartoon) before they "officially debuted" in their respective ''Transformers'' comics to ensure that they own the two characters and not Hasbro, meaning that their issues can't be reprinted by IDW Comics. Which in the case of Death's Head, means that none of his UK stories ("Galvatron: Wanted Dead or Alive" and "The Legacy of Unicron") can be published in the United States (though both stories did see release via comic shops via importing of the UK published trade paperbacks). Circuit Breaker's situation is more complicated, as the first three TPBs had to replace her early appearances with text summaries, though apparently IDW was FINALLY able to strike some sort of deal with Marvel to reprint #72-80 in full come the release of volumes #5 of their reprint series.
* There has been a pullback of [[Wonder Woman]]-related characters due to an obscure clause in the licensing agreements that forbids their use in any project wherein they are not featured in a "starring" role. This has meant that the second Wonder Girl, Cassie Sandsmark, was initially not able to appear in DC's ''[[Young Justice (Animation)|Young Justice]]''. Prior to this, Donna Troy had been barred from appearing in ''[[Teen Titans (Animation)|Teen Titans]]'' and Wonder Woman was the only [[Justice League]] cast member left out of the crossover with ''[[Static Shock]]''.
** The [[Wonder Woman]] (and, by extension, Donna Troy and Cassie Sandsmark) Embargo is no more. Wonder Woman has appeared in ''[[Batman the Brave And The Bold (Animation)|Batman the Brave And The Bold]]'' and Wonder Girl has joined ''Young Justice'' as of Season 2.
* [[Lauren Faust]] ran into this problem during the creation of ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]''. Turns out Hasbro lost the rights to nearly all of the 1980's character names (save for Applejack and Spike), so most of the main cast of the current cartoon ended up being [[Expy|expies]] of the originals with the G3 ponies' names.
* Don't expect to see [[Tarzan (Disney)|Tarzan]] ever again in any ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' game past [[Kingdom Hearts (Video Game)|the first]], even in the form of flashbacks or recaps, as Disney is unable to secure the ''[[Tarzan]]'' rights from the [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]] estate.
* Avoiding this is part of the reason that the Daleks have at least one obligatory appearance in ''Doctor Who'' in any given season, though in series 6, they managed to get away with a last-minute cameo appearance in "[[Doctor Who (TV)/Recap/S32 E13 The Wedding of River Song|The Wedding of River Song]]". In the license agreement with the estate of Terry Nation, the Daleks have to make regular appearances of some sort on the show (and Nation's estate has to be given final approval on any Dalek story) or the estate can exercise a clause allowing them to revoke all rights to the Daleks and shop the creatures around independent of ''Doctor Who''.
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== Commercial/Corporate Reasons ==
It is these that really get up in people's rig. These are almost entirely the result of [[Executive Meddling]].
* The Bat-Embargo in ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]''; [[Batman (Comic Book)|Batman]] characters couldn't appear in the series, because ''[[The Batman (Animation)|The Batman]]'' was airing at the same time, and executives feared "[[Viewers Areare Morons|confusion]]". A similar restriction was in place for ''[[Teen Titans (Animation)|Teen Titans]]'', although this one was mutual and prevented Robin from showing up on ''[[The Batman (Animation)|The Batman]]'' until the fourth season (which gave us Batgirl coming first). Later, when [[Aquaman (Comic Book)|Aquaman]] received the failed live-action pilot for the CW, Aquaman and his supporting cast could not appear on JLU either (leading to the creation of "Devil Ray", and, likely, the replacement of [[Wonder Woman]] for Aquaman in the plot of "To Another Shore").
** Also, both [[Plastic Man]] and [[Blue Beetle]] were referenced without appearing on-screen in ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]''; neither could appear properly due to licensing reasons. Both characters later showed up in ''[[Batman the Brave And The Bold (Animation)|Batman the Brave And The Bold]]'', and even starred in the first two episodes. Beetle eventually became one of the more recurring characters.
** The Bat-Embargo didn't go over entirely badly though, since it made room for [[Ensemble Darkhorse|interesting minor DCU antagonists]], like Amanda Waller, to appear in animation for the first time. Just goes to show how good writers can work around any problem. Still... not being able to fully complete the ''[[Super Friends]]'' [[Mythology Gag]] of including Scarecrow and the Riddler in the new [[Legion of Doom]] was sad.
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*** Probably the same reason drove Sony to the recent decisions regarding the ''[[Spider-Man (Film)|Spider-Man]]'' movies. Since the development of a fourth episode was tangled in [[Development Hell]] and the risk was either losing the license for taking too much time, or rushing to make an extremely disappointing movie (which they'd probably like to avoid after the third), they chose for a [[Continuity Reboot]] starting in 2012.
** Marvel made a deal with Sony and regained the animation rights for ''Spider-Man'' at the end of ''[[The Spectacular Spider-Man]]'''s run. Hence, due to only regaining the animation rights at-the-time recently, Spidey hasn't appeared on ''[[The Super Hero Squad Show]]'' despite one: having toys on the ''SHS'' toy line and two: most every other prominent Marvel character appears in the series as well.
*** Spider-Man can really suffer from this. For the many different Marvel cartoons out there, Spider-Man rarely ever crossed over for any team-ups. He did formally appear on the 70s ''Spider-Woman'' cartoon series, but outside of that? Borderline [[Lawyer -Friendly Cameo|Lawyer Friendly Cameoes]] on ''[[X Men (TV)|X Men]]'' and ''[[Fantastic Four Worlds Greatest Heroes]]''. In fact, in an episode of ''[[Fantastic Four (Animation)|Fantastic Four]]'', viewers can see a cameo of [[The Clone Saga|Scarlet Spider]] instead of ol' web-head. Before 2012, if Spidey was going to team-up with another hero, it had to be on one of his shows instead of one of theirs.
** Video games (at least those in the 6th-7th generations of consoles) are, similarly, not affected by the contracts on virtue of [[Activision]] currently holding the video game rights to the ''entire'' Marvel comic book universe as well as those to the ''Spider-Man'' and ''X-Men'' film tie-ins (and before them, there was ''[[Capcom vs. Whatever|Marvel vs. Capcom]]''), with one notable exception...
*** ...namely, [[Sierra]] had the game rights to the comic and film incarnations of the Hulk (by proxy of being owned by Vivendi, which also owned Universal Studios, which held the film rights to the character at the time) meant that only Bruce Banner could appear in [[Activision]]'s ''[[Marvel Ultimate Alliance]]'' (They did sneak in the Hulk's arm in the FMV preceding the final stage though); after Activision and Vivendi merged into Activision Blizzard, the Hulk was finally released as a Xbox 360 exclusive DLC character, and is an unlockable character in the sequel.
* Sandman could not appear on ''[[Spider-Man the Animated Series]]'' or the concurrently-running ''[[Fantastic Four (TV)|Fantastic Four]]'' because he was to be the villain in the aborted [[James Cameron]] film. The writers attempted to get around the Sandman ban by using Hydro-Man in his place. Electro was the other villain meant to be used in the Cameron film, preventing his use for most of the series, but the film fell through while the show was still running, so they eventually wrote him in with a completely different identity than his usual one, which had the interesting effect of highlighting just how dangerous someone with Electro's powers would be if they used them intelligently, something the ordinary Electro struggles with.
* Herbie the Robot infamously replaced the Human Torch on ''[[The Fantastic Four (Animation)|The Fantastic Four]]'' cartoon because Universal had the rights to the Human Torch for another project but never used them. It is not the case as rumored that [[Viewers Areare Morons|worrying studio executives feared that children would attempt to light themselves on fire]].
** Rights issues similarly prevented the Human Torch from being in ''[[Spider Man and His Amazing Friends]]'' and thus led to the creation of Firestar.
* [[George Lucas]] has placed an [[Executive Veto]] on new Wookiee or Hutt Jedi in the ''[[Star Wars]]'' [[Expanded Universe]]. Lowbacca, an existing Wookiee Jedi, was effectively [[Put On a Bus]] because of this, and Obsidian had to scrap the plans for making Hanharr a Dark Jedi in ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]] II''.
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== Other Reasons ==
* [[Hawkman]] was declared off-limits by DC editorial from 1996-2001, due to the character's [[Post -Crisis]] [[Continuity Snarl]], caused by the 1989 reboot of the character, even though both Hawkmen were already established in Post-Crisis continuity. For his run on ''JLA'' (which featured the old favorites or their [[Legacy Character|Legacy Characters]]), [[Grant Morrison]] created Zauriel as a stand-in for Hawkman.
* There was a small amount of furor for ''[[Super Robot Wars Original Generation]]'' after its first [[Animated Adaptation]] ''Divine Wars'' removed nearly every appearance of the Huckebeins, [[Humongous Mecha]] [[Expy|that basically look like]] [[Gundam|Gundams]] with the [[Serial Numbers Filed Off]]. Many fans feared the exile of the entire line, especially after the previews of the Original Generation [[Video Game Remake]] on the [[Play Station 2]] also omitted them. These fears ceased when the game itself came out, as all Huckebeins were present and accounted for.
** It's better than that: no one was especially afraid after ''Divine Wars'', because the Huckebein ''did'' show up, just briefly in the last episode as blueprints. When a second trailer came out for the remake, the Huckebein animation was removed and replaced with a different unit. At this point, a malicious but clever fan spread rumors then-Bandai (before their merge with Namco) had sued Banpresto over its use of the Huckebein, which for some reason a huge amount of the fanbase believed, ''despite'' Bandai OWNING Banpresto and later merging completely with them. Cue massive screaming to the point that Banpresto found out about the rumor and intentionally kept it alive [[It Amused Me|for the sole purpose of amusement]].
*** It's happening again in ''The Inspector'', the [[Animated Adaptation]] of the second game. [[Super Robot Wars Alpha|Brooklyn "Bullet" Luckfield's]] usual Huckebein MK II he begins with is replaced by a brand new, anime-exclusive machine: a mass-produced Wildschwein (which looks less like a Huckebein). This really doesn't matter in the long run, since Bullet will later acquire a more powerful Super Robot. Most fans believe Namco Bandai doesn't want a knockoff of their popular Gundam [[Expy]] making what amounts to a cameo appearance, since most of the cast will be using their character-exclusive [[Humongous Mecha]] by the end of the show.
**** Fortunately, the show ''does'' justify on the disappearance of the Huckebein MK III: the writers simply have [[The Federation]] scrap the project. Thus, rather than relegate [[Super Robot Wars Alpha|Ryoto Hikawa]] to the MK III, he gets to pilot the EXbein, another anime-exclusive unit which, in-story, is the ''[[Super Prototype|prototype]]'' to the intended MK III. Then again, any [[Super Robot Wars]] fan isn't entirely fooled to see the EXbein ''is'' the MK III: the difference is simply removing the signature V-fin on its head, while adding a pair of giant SRX-like visors around the eyes. The fact the mechanical designer for the EXbein is the same person who designed the Huckebein says something about the similarities between them.
**** The EXbein's later topped by [[Super Robot Wars Original Generation|Ratsel Feinschmecker's]] "Guarbein" MK III Trombe, which is essentially his intended Huckebein MK III R Trombe with a Guarlion Custom's head and shoulders. [[Hilarity Ensues]] as Ratsel, who's really Elzam von Branstein with a [[Paper -Thin Disguise|terrible disguise]], is piloting a Huckebein with a terrible disguise.
***** {{smallcaps|Vigagi: GuarBein?! Your camouflage can't fool me!}}
* ''[[The King of Fighters (Video Game)|The King of Fighters]]'' has also now suffered from this as SNK is now eliminating all references to the character K9999 who WAS a [[Captain Ersatz]] of [[Akira (Manga)|Tetsuo]]. Notably for ''King of Fighters 2002 Ultimate Match'', which is a remake of a game that originally had K9999 in it, they replaced him moveset-wise with the new character "Nameless" or Ж´.
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* During the 90's, Marvel Comics held a contest where readers were able to design a villain for the ''[[Thunderbolts]]'' title. The winning character, Charcoal, proved popular enough that he was added to the team as a main character. The fan who created Charcoal soon threatened to sue Marvel for ownership of the character right around the time he was [[Death Is Cheap|supposedly killed off]]. Though the death was meant to be temporary and the lawsuit never gained any traction, the writers decided to leave Charcoal dead due to the actions of his creator. He has not been seen or mentioned since.
* The ''[[Pokémon (Anime)|Pokémon]]'' anime has two examples, one involving a ''move''.
** The Porygon line was never featured (and the evolutions not shown ''at all'', despite the show's [[Merchandise -Driven|nature]]) after the first form's "[[The Scapegoat|involvement]]" in an incident involving [[Epileptic Flashing Lights]]. Qualifies as a combination of Legal and Corporate, as the episode containing the incident in question is under an actual legal ban.
** The move in question is [http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Earthquake Earthquake], never used after the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Chuetsu_earthquake 2004 Japan Earthquake] (a [[Filler]] episode was also never aired due to this). A sister move, [http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Magnitude_(move) Magnitude], was used only once in Johto's Tournament Arc, predating this incident.
** It must be noted that these edicts only apply to [[Alternate Continuity|the Anime]]. For example, Green in ''[[Pokémon Special (Manga)|Pokémon Special]]'' has a [http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Blue%27s_Porygon2 Porygon2] on his main team.
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