Off-brand heroes

We post better/inferior versions of the originals

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underwaterman huh. really went all out with that one didn't they

its pronounced oondervaterman.

There isn't no Off-brand good spider-man stories.

Deathmatch was off-brand everybody, but the main character Dragonfly was a Spidey knockoff.
>inb4 Deathmatch is a shit
>it was called deathmatch right?
>even the name was generic

Statick is kind of a spiderman story, just on a black neigborhood.

I don't speak nazi so I wouldn't know

Is Superior Millar's Superman or Shazam?

I will say Shazam.

Superior is a good examle of a design that only works when drawn by a certain creator; its just a generic thing but since Leinel Yu drew it it looks distinct. The most notable aspect of it is the wrestler's belt; which I like because I've always liked the idea of modernizing Captain Marvel with a bit of a wrestler aesthetic, that being a good reference to what a little boy would consider a strong muscle man.

I was just wondering today, since I had an idea for a comic that used expies of existing characters:

Exactly how close can you get to the original character before you get into infringerino territory? We know the story of how DC won the infringement case against Captain Marvel, but obviously since then they haven't gone after Supreme, Mr. Majestic, etc. Is that just because Superman's concept is too ingrained in culture to be considered unique anymore, or does that apply to other characters?

For example, could someone do a character called Arachnid who has the exact same powers as Spider-Man, web shooters, a full body suit, and the same basic character? Would that be covered under parody or would it be infringement? If it's infringement, how much would have to be changed? Or does it all just come down to whether or not the IP owner decides it's too similar?

Just switch out names and change the origins.

The concept of a superhero in 1938 was far different than what it was in the 90s.

I thought that was Hyperion

This is what modern Superman should've been.

>For example, could someone do a character called Arachnid

I'd say the big thing to avoid here would be actually going with a spider theme. Go with some other animal and replace spider webs with just nets or grappling hooks. They could even be "super" ones that work just like Spider's webs, but avoid actually using "spiders".

It's German.

Also, note that at the time DC was going after Superman-like characters as soon as they debuted. Captain Marvel's case only was settled by 1950, but it was running since 1941, and various other characters were cancelled right after their debut issues due to DC suing them.

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Good info. My expy isn't actually Spider-Man, that was just an example because I'm wondering how close the powers can be. Spider-Man's powers were pretty unique so it would probably be harder to make an expy of him than characters like, say, Superman.

I'm also thinking of the case of Captain America and Liefeld's Fighting American where he could have a shield but not throw it like Cap does.

Personally I think the best expies aren't really based so much in powers or looks but more in spirit and tone.
Like AllMight is a great Superman knock off because he occupies Superman's role in the world and does a great job of distilling the same qualities people love in Superman. However he looks nothing like him, has different powers, and origins yet people still know "that's totally Superman"

both IMO

I agree, but there are also times where you're trying to tell a story with the exact character that you never would be able to because of shared universe/brand protection, like Moore's Supreme. Whereas someone like Mr. Majestic can play loose with the origin and powers because they just need the basic concept, Supreme needs to be as close to the actual Superman as possible because the long history of the character is part of the story.