Marvel Comics started publishing superhero stories after DC, so there have always been fans who accused the company of creating copycat heroes. That said, not all the characters that fans point to are copycat heroes, either. Some heroes debuted around the same time as their DC counterparts, while other characters only share similarities on a surface level. There are even some Marvel characters that actually existed first chronologically, making it look like DC created the copycat heroes in those cases. Despite this, there are only so many unique heroes, and the idea of copycat Marvel heroes remains something fans will always like to argue about.
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From Marvel characters who have the same characteristics as DC heroes and villains, to others who just have similar powers, here is a look at Marvel heroes fans think are copycats of DC characters.
5) Vision
Vision debuted in Avengers #58 in 1968. He was a synthezoid that Ultron built to use as a weapon against his enemies. However, Vision rebelled against his creator and ended up becoming a member of the Avengers. He became more human as time wore on, and even fell in love with and married the Scarlet Witch. However, from the start, DC fans claimed Vision was a copycat of Red Tornado. In DC, Red Tornado was also built by a villain and turned into a hero before joining the company’s biggest team.
However, there was one problem. Red Tornado debuted in Justice League of America #64 in 1968. Red Tornado debuted in DC two months before Vision in 1968, making it impossible that either was a copycat of the other, as both characters were in development around the same time. If anything, they were both copycats of the robot characters becoming popular in movies and fiction around the same era.
4) Namor
Anyone who calls Namor, the Sub-Mariner a copycat hero to DC’s Aquaman is wrong on every single level. While both are underwater heroes and rulers of their versions of Atlantis, Namor existed in comics first. Namor made his debut in Motion Picture Funnies Weekly #1 in 1939, the same year that Superman and Batman were created. Like Captain America, he predated Marvel Comics by decades.
Aquaman, on the other hand, debuted in More Fun Comics #73, two full years after Namor made his comic book debut. They are also extremely different characters, with Namor an arrogant antagonistic antihero who will often team with villains against heroes, and Aquaman is almost virtuous, a genuine hero who is almost always on the side of good. However, as two water-based heroes based in Atlantis, the comparisons between Namor and Aquaman will always be there.
3) X-Men
The accusations that Marvel Comics ripped off Doom Patrol when creating The X-Men have always been around. The X-Men are a team that consists of misfit heroes, gathered together by a brilliant man who uses a wheelchair who sets them up as a team that will defend a world that fears them. Doom Patrol is the exact same thing, with even more strange looking outcasts, but still with the same character type of a brilliant man in a wheelchair leading them.
Even more damaging to Marvel is that Doom Patrol’s villains are the Brotherhood of Evil, while the X-Men’s are the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. However, much like Vision and Red Tornado, the debut books were way too close together. Doom Patrol debuted in June 1963, and the X-Men arrived three months later. Since books are finished long before their release dates, it is unlikely Marvel copied DC with these characters, even if Doom Patrol co-creator Arnold Drake believes that is what happened.
2) Moon Knight
There are a lot of people who consider Moon Knight to be a Batman copycat. There are some clear things that show that Moon Knight was at least inspired by Batman, which leads credence to this argument. Both men base their operations at night, with the full intention of striking fear in criminals. While Batman wears black to work in the shadows, Moon Knight wears white so the bad guys see him coming, but both are a way to increase the fear-level in their enemies.
They also have great wealth, created specialized vehicles to get around, and even have similar gadgets, such as Batman’s bat-a-rang and Moon Knight’s crescent darts. However, Moon Knight has his supernatural aspects that are nothing like Batman, he will kill his enemies, which Batman will never do, and his DID is a clear separation of the two. That said, Moon Knight is more directly based on The Shadow, and not Batman.
1) Man-Thing
Man-Thing and Swamp Thing have a history similar to that of The X-Men and Doom Patrol. However, there are bigger rumors at play here that have many conspiracy theorists claiming Marvel ripped off DC, or even in some cases, the other way around. However, the truth is that Marvel and DC both ripped off a very different character. Man-Thing debuted in January 1971 and Swamp Thing in November 1972.
This would mean, if anything, DC ripped off Marvel, even if Swamp Thing is the more popular characters. Marvel actually considered legal action against DC. There were rumors that a former employee switched companies and revealed the plans for the swamp-based character. That was possibly true since both characters had the same origin story. However, the real truth is more complicated. Marvel and DC both ripped off the Golden Age character known as The Heap, the first swamp monster who debuted in 1942 for Hillman Periodicals.
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