5 Superman Rip-Offs Who Became Beloved Characters In Their Own Right

Superman birthed the comic medium, so in a lot of ways, every superhero that has come after him is a rip-off of the Man of Steel. However, as the decades have gone by, there have been certain ideas that have become a part of what we consider a “Superman rip-off”. There are pieces of superhero iconography that are one hundred perfect Superman, and they have been modified in numerous ways by numerous creators, sometimes for DC, but most often for other publishers. There’s a certain type of characters that we’ve all seen in all kinds of superhero projects that you look at and think to yourself, “That’s Superman; that guy’s the Superman of this universe/planet/show/movie.”

Superman is one of the greatest characters ever, and as such, he contains multitudes. There are so many characters out there who’s entire existence is owed to the fact that a creator wanted to do something with Superman that they couldn’t do with the hero. These characters, in a lot of ways, are conversations about the Man of Steel and his place in comics. These five Superman rip-offs are varying levels of beloved, each of them symbolizing a different aspect of comics’ greatest hero.

5) Hyperion

Hyperion was created for one reason; not to pay homage to Superman, but to be buried by his competition. Hyperion and the rest of the Squadron Supreme, sometimes known as the Squadron Sinister, were created for the specific purpose of being defeated by the Avengers, to show that Marvel’s greatest heroes could defeat the Justice League. However, something interesting happened; readers liked these characters, with Hyperion changing into pretty much the exact kind of hero that Superman is. 1985’s 12-issue masterpiece Squadron Supreme took that type of hero and made him a benevolent dictator, establishing a trope. In the early ’00s Marvel MAX Squadron Supreme reboot Supreme Power, he became the government controlled alien god, his life tailored to make him into the ultimate “hero” for the status quo. Exiles gave readers the insane King Hyperion, the villain Superman that killed everyone. Jonathan Hickman’s best of all-time Avengers run brought him back as a “conflicted” Superman type, and yet another couple of versions have debuted since then. Hyperion has been basically every kind of Superman you can imagine over his existence, which is what makes him so interesting.

4) Captain Marvel/Shazam

So, as we look at them now, Captain Marvel/Shazam (I’m sorry, Mark Waid, but I can’t do the Captain) isn’t a Superman rip-off. He’s not an alien from another world with a secret identity, he’s a little boy imbued with magic who becomes a superhero. However, he’s also the original Superman rip-off, with the Billy Batson back story added to make him more of a wish-fulfillment character for little boys. In fact, he became more popular than Superman, outselling the Man of Steel. DC took legal action and sued Fawcett Publications out of existence, gaining ownership of the garish superhero universe created around the good captain. The publisher brought Captain Marvel/Shazam back in the Bronze Age, and since then, he’s become a pillar of the DC Universe, beloved by fans of the publisher (as a note, I didn’t include Miracleman/Marvelman on the list because he’s only a second generation rip-off of Superman — he’s a rip-off of Shazam, who is a rip-off of Superman).

3) The Sentry

There are some people out there who will say the Sentry isn’t beloved, but I exist, so the character is beloved by someone. He’s also one of the most interesting Superman pastiches out there. In 2000, it was announced that Marvel was going to create a new comic based on a character created by Stan Lee that was never published and that everyone had forgotten about (who never actually existed, by the by; it was just an ad campaign). The Sentry introduced readers to Robert “Bob” Reynolds, a man with the power of a million exploding suns and massive mental health issues. It was revealed that he had once been the Sentry, a powerful hero who formed the backbone of the hero community. The Sentry was a Marvel attempt at Superman, giving the hero a massive drawback in the mighty Marvel manner — crippling mental issues that manifested as the Void, which was so dangerous that the world had its memory wiped of the Sentry. Since then, the Sentry has become one of Marvel’s most overpowered characters, a sometimes hero/sometimes villain that can be super interesting. However, Marvel never seems to care enough to actually make him into something special. The Sentry is amazing and I hope one day gets his due.

2) Homelander

Homelander was created in the Superman mold, but he was meant to be the opposite of everything the Metropolis Marvel is. He’s a self-centered, petulant monster, someone who no one could stop so they never learned what the word no meant. Homelander was worshiped and praised by the people, who were sold a lie about who he really was, and he did whatever he wanted. He was an instrument of fear, not hope, and he’s become one of the most popular Superman analogues of all time, thanks to The Boys and his portrayal by Antony Starr. It wasn’t the first time we get an evil Superman analogue, but he’s always been one of the most depraved.

1) Omni-Man

Omni-Man is the perfect inversion of the Superman formula. He follows nearly all of it to a tee, but instead of being a benevolent man, he’s secretly the agent of an intergalactic power sent to spearhead an invasion of Earth. It’s a wonderful subversion, but the best part is that living as a hero, learning to be human, breaks the hold his people had over him and makes him become something of a hero again, actually becoming the person he once pretended to be. In a lot of ways, Omni-Man is a paean to the power of Superman; it shows that what the Man of Steel does is just as important as who he is, and that love can overcome evil to create the kind of hero that everyone can respect.

What’s your favorite Superman rip-off? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!

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