#ComicBytes: Five comic characters that DC copied from Marvel
The comic industry has two giants, DC and Marvel. With a slew of comic characters under their belts, there is a never-ending debate among fans about whose characters are better. There have also been accusations from both sides about stealing ideas. We have already told you about the characters Marvel copied from DC. Now here are five characters DC copied from Marvel.
In the spirit of copying
Ghost Rider was Marvel's heavy metal entry in comics. Johnny Blaze, a stunt driver with a penchant for leather made a deal with Mephisto, giving him the fiery abilities of the Ghost Rider. DC's Atomic Skull shares eerily similar powers and the demonic pact history. While Ghost Rider appeared in 1972, Atomic Skull got his looks in 1991, proving DC clearly stole from Marvel.
What could have been great, but was copied
DC came up with the concept of a hero shrinking and beating enemies in 1961 by introducing Atom. Marvel used this to make Ant-Man in 1962 but soon followed with Wasp, a female winged character. DC's Bumblebee was its first female African-American superhero. However, it ripped her off Wasp, including external appearance and superpowers. Remarkably, Wasp showed up in 1963, 13 years before Bumblebee.
The cheating tendency taken to galactic proportions
While Marvel's Thanos was based on DC's Darkseid, DC too took the idea of Imperiex from Marvel's Galactus. Galactus embodied a change in the enemy, where conquering was not the motive, but devouring was. While Galactus could devour planets. DC made Imperiex even stronger, making him capable of destroying universes with the Big Bang's power. Galactus appeared in 1966 while Imperiex came in 2000.
Same writer and same ideas for comics
Black Panther is one of Marvel's most popular heroes. The benevolent King of Wakanda is the first Marvel hero of African descent, appearing in 1966. DC's response to this character was Red Lion, in 2016. He is a dictator in Buredunia, also a fictional African country. They also look similar, unsurprisingly since Christopher Priest, Lion's creator worked on Black Panther for a long time.
Surfing the waves of copying
Over the comics, only two heroes have the claim over water- Marvel's Namor and DC's Aquaman. They both have powers of communicating with marine life, controlling water and super strength, speed, stamina, and swimming abilities. However, Namor appeared in 1939 and Aquaman in 1941. Nonetheless, Aquaman was first hailed as an Atlantean, since Namor the Submariner's Atlantean origin was only introduced in 1949.
