Superman Through the Ages! Forum

I was thinking that it would be neat to form a list on every character that was based on Superman, now these characters must had to been made by other publishers besides DC!

Golden Age sons:

The Original Wonder Man
http://www.angelfire.com/art/wildwood/wonderman.html

Master Man
http://www.comicbooks.westumulka.com/masterman/

Captain Marvel
http://www.toonopedia.com/capmarv1.htm

Now there were lots of Characters that were based on Captain Marvel

Captain Thunder - DC Comics
Marvel Man aka Miracle Man - Warrior
Mighty Man - Image Savage Dragon
Prime -Ultraverse


More Superman Clones

Mighty Mouse - Cartoon
Gladiator - Marvel Comics
Hyperion - Marvel Comics
Wonder Man - Marvel Comics
Icon - Milestone
True-Man aka Maximortal
Apollo - from the Authority
Mr.Magestic - Wildstorm
Samaritan - Astro City
Supreme - Rob Liefiend
Solar - Valiant
Ultiman - Image "Big Bang Comics"

Parodies of Superman
The Saint - Image The Pro & the league of honor
Superduperman - Mad
Stuporman - Marvel

(http://www.bigbangcomics.com/Media/Ultragirl.jpg.gif)

How is Solar a Superman clone?

Doesn't Superman Jr. of the Super-Sons saga in World's Finest count as a son of Superman?  It's even twice referenced: (1) As the junior version, and (2) half of the Super-Sons (the other half being Batman Jr.).

I think originally these were intended to be the real sons of the Big Two.  But DC eventually retconned them into being computer simulations of what their sons would be like running on the Fortress of Solitude's supercomputer.  They only manifested once in the mainstream Earth-1 when the supercomputer had a glitch that formed the Super-Sons out of matter from the Kryptonian Disintegration Pit.

Solar may be considered a super-clone in the sense that just about any succeeding costumed super-hero with a dual identity is a copy of Superman.  He comes closer since the solar energy aspect was so played-up over the decades for Superman esp. Post Crisis.

Let's not forget:

Halk Kar (arguably, the Golden Age Mon-El)
Mon-El/Lar Gand/Valor/M'Onel/whatever...
Ultra Boy
Star Boy (original take before losing comet powers)
Vartox

In DC's 'Mazing Man comic, IIRC, they had a comics super-hero called Splendidman who was obviously a Superman-homage.

How about Tom Strong?

Arn "Iron" Munro of the JSA is supposed to be the Golden Age patch to the lack of the original GA Superman.  He has the powers of the original Superman, looks like the guy with a spitcurl albeit a white streak, and is the son of Hugo Danner (the Gladiator novel's protagonist that heavily influenced Siegel when creating Superman).  I'd count him as a definite super-clone.

Under parodies, don't forget the Caped Wonder from the Tick (New England Comics).

Oh, yeah!  Let's not forget The Reign of the Supermen ...

Steel/The Man of Steel

The Eradicator/The Last Son of Krypton

Superboy/Kon-El/Conner Kent

The Cyborg Superman


I don't know if gender is an issue but I'd count all the various incarnations of Supergirl as super-clones, too.

The original Kara Zor-El Supergirl

Power Girl

Andromeda/Laurel Gand (Post Crisis patch for the missing Supergirl in the Legion)

Matrix Supergirl

Linda Danvers/Matrix Supergirl

Linda Danvers Supergirl

Peter David's supposed Kara Zor-El Supergirl

Cir-El

The current Kara Zor-El Supergirl

I'm surprised nobody has yet mentioned the Pre-and Post-Crisis Ultraman from the Crime Syndicate of America (or "Amerika" in the recent JLA/CSA story arc).  

And of course there were the Bizarros...

Another "Super-Replacement" in the Legion of Super-Heroes was Richard Kent Shakespeare, aka "Impulse".  See http://web.archive.org/web/20030203121647/http://www.eskimo.com/~mohundro/lsh/shakespeare.html

I just remembered Superman encountered a number of alternates for himself in his own universe.

One was Hyperman who lived on the Earth-like world, Oceania.  His life closely parallelled Superman's and his weakness was to a blue radioactive substance from his homeworld just like green kryptonite was Superman's weakness.  His secret identity is Chester King.  He's involved with girl reporter Lydia Long.

You forgot one copy of Captain Marvel...(and you can't make this up!)

Thunder Bunny! That's right, I said it! It's about a boy who claps and turns into a Bunny:

(http://i7.ebayimg.com/03/i/04/bd/cc/57_1_b.JPG)

I'm a proud owner of Thunder Bunny #1, which I got from a grab bag...

Some of you seem to have missed one of Beppo's guidelines:

:s:

I noticed Captain Thunder, who was an ersatz Captain Marvel in the superbooks, was listed, so I thought DC was still game given that precedent.

My bad if I misinterpreted this.

Another character who seems to be based on Fawcett's Captain Marvel is Marvel's Captain Mar-Vell. Maybe not at first, but later, the way he ended up sharing his existence with Rick Jones, having to swap in and out of the real world, seemed very much like they were trying to bring the character more in line with being a more sophisticated version of his old namesake. (Roy Thomas, who was writing Marvel's Marv at the time, is a well-known fan of those oldie comics.)

OOPS!  Sorry about that -- I just got caught up with the flow of the "conversation" and forgot the original post.

OK, what about Warren Ellis' "Planetary" series from WildStorm?

1.  In Issue #1, an alternate universe counterpart of the JLA (including an obvious parallel Superman) attacks Doc Brass and his group of heroes.  All are slain except the maimed Brass.

2.  In Issue #10, the Planetary Earth's equivalent of Superman, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman were all slain by the evil Four before they could begin their superhero careers.  The alien baby was incinerated in his space capsule immediately after landing.

3.  "Planetary/JLA: Terra Occulta" created a reverse world where the regular heroes (Elijah Snow, Jakita Wagner, The Drummer and Ambrose Chase) take the place of the villianous Four.  They are opposed by Bruce Wayne, who invites Clark Kent and Diana Prince to join him.  While this Clark clearly has superpowers, he doesn't wear a costume.

now these characters must had to been made by other publishers besides DC!

That's key, the point here is to find how many other companies besides DC (DC owns Superman for better or worst, so they can make all the copies they want and they have made tons) have made tributes to Superman. Those Golden Age versions were not considered tributes by DC, so they were all sued and DC ended up buying Captain Marvel.

I only mention Captain Thunder because, DC didn't create Captain Marvel and he is the most famous copycat.

I stand corrected.  Like I said above, my bad.

OK, how about Marvel's Captain Ultra? While he has flight, invulnerability, and super-strength, he has the Martian Manhunter's weakness to fire.

I think we could push matters and suggest Ikaris of the Eternals.  His powers are very much like Superman's as his the colour-scheme of his outfit, though he's a blonde.

According to DC: Ralph Hinkly the Greatest American Hero.(Yes, they got sued by DC for he was a copy of Superman.:roll: )

Ultraman and his copies(Ultra-7, Gridman/Servo).  The person that turns into a fifty foot red and silver robot.  Japanese hero

Son Goku of Dragonball Z fame(Take a look at Son Gohan.  He looks like Superman and Clark Kent)

Sentinel from Silver Age Sentinels RPG and its associated books(Path of the Just & Path of the Bold)

Let's Goku was also based on both the Monkey King Legend and Superman. Goku was sent as an infant to Earth and his alien planet ultimately blew up too.  Akira Toriyama is a big fan and he even created another character named Suppaman in Dr. Slump.

Mad magazine also did Captain Marbles.

How SNL's Uberman played by Dan Ackroyd? :D  That skit came out to spoof Superman: The Movie.

One of the funniest lines was how he could see not only through Lois' clothes but Jimmy's too and he could see that Jimmy Olsen was a Jew.

Thunder Bunny rules! I remember his black & white comic when I was a kid. So many memories. . . :)

 -Def.

How many remember Wally Cox voicing this famous animated cry?


"There's no need to fear -- UNDERDOG is here!"


From 1964 to 1973, the Underdog cartoon show began with a clear "wink" at Superman:


First voice:  "Look, up in the sky -- it's a bird, it's a plane, it's a frog..."

Crowd:  "A FROG?"

Underdog:  "Not bird, nor plane, nor even frog, it's just little 'ole me, UNDERDOG !"

Very good point, Gary.

Mar-Vell was so much like Superman in many ways.  His name had the Kryptonian hyphenated convention.  He came from a high-gravity world like Superman did.  His later costume was the classic red-and-blue that Superman made ubiquitous for super-heroes.  He later had powers partly derived from converted solar radiation.  His race, the Kree, seems to be a derivative of Krypton/Kryptonians, and they're similarly ultra-advanced like the Kryptonians were.

I'd say Mar-Vell had more in common with Superman himself than Captain Marvel.

The Marvel Thor may be considered a derivative Superman.  His powers are similar.  He has the dual ID Superman started for super-heroes.  His costume bears a certain resemblance to the blue-and-red costume of Superman.  Stan Lee even has stated that he was creating 'super-god' when he made Thor.

heck, even Spiderman!

He wears red and blue and Peter works for a newspaper with an overbearing boss just like Clark.

Spiderman, but...

"Is he strong?  Listen bud..."  8)

Superman and Spider-Man have a lot in common...alliteration, red and blue, newspapers...

But Spider-Man is more of a Jimmy Olsen clone, IMO, except with permanent powers.

But, Jimmy's comics were better :)

Arguably, any super-powered hero is a clone of Superman but finding extremely similar knock-offs and tributes is harder.  There were several Canadian supers during the 1940s that emulated all or part of the Superman idea (ie, super-strength, costume, secret identity) like Commander Steele, Nelvana, etc.  Has anyone mentioned Marvel Man/Miracleman from the UK yet?

More recently:

(http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/s/supshamo.jpg)

First Appearance: Super Shamou (Inuit Broadcasting Corporation, 1980s)

Powers/Abilities: Flight. Other powers unknown

History: Super Shamou is an Inuk (Eskimo) super hero. He protects the wilderness of Canada, looking out for unwary travellers who fall foul of the unforgiving conditions, and children in particular. As well as rescuing such individuals, he also makes sure to teach them some realities of life in the North.

Comments: Super Shamou is the world's first Inuk (Eskimo) super hero. He was created by Barney Pattunguyak and Peter Tapatai © Inuit Broadcasting Corporation. This comic was drawn by Nick Burns and the translations were done by Micah Lightstone.

http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/s/supshamo.htm

Time to list clones of Superman's cousin-Kara.

From Japan:
Iczer-1
Moldiver
Hyperdolls
Maris the Chojo

From Marvel
Ms. Marvel

Heroic Publishing:
Flare-Take a look for yourself :)   That's all supposed to happen in the comic
http://www.heroicpub.com/flare/graphics/preview33/pagecover.jpg

Sparkplug

Since I don't closely follow Marvel Comics, it wasn't until recently that I learned Ms. Marvel's civilain identity was Carol DANVERS.  Gee, I wonder if she has any relationship to Linda Danver's adoptive parents?   :wink:

And in Brian Michael Bendis' "Powers" series, the late Retro Girl was symbolically a parallel Supergirl, especially in her (carefully-maintained)public image and the outpouring of grief after her murder.

I think these are really stretching it. Maris is super-strong, and the similarities pretty much end there. Iczer-1, if I remember right, was artificial life (which makes her more similar to the post-Byrne Matrix Supergirl) and used a sword. She had maybe a couple of the same powers as Supergirl classic, but again, that's as far as the similarity goes.

I haven't read/seen Moldiver nor Hyperdolls, so I can't comment on those.