Not only character but also ideas are rip offs. You can argue who was first superhero team up. For example the avengers(1963), justice league (1960), fantastic four (1961), the mighty crusaders(1965), the thunder agents (1965), the league of extraordinary gentlemen (1990) But none of this can compare to the oldest superhero team up the Argonauts (460-450 BC)

Pfffff..... Comics are such a ripoff of cave paintings.

I suspect that one day Deadpool will refer to himself as a rip-off of Deathstroke. Because that's the kind of thing Deadpool would say.

Technically every fictional character is a rip off. Not just superheroes and supervillains but any fictional character. Everything is unoriginal to some degree and extent. When I first got into superheroes and comics, I never considered Marvel and DC characters copies and rip offs of one another. They're just similar but also original and unique in their own way. In the very end, it doesn't matter.

If we all truly believed rip-offs were inferior, we'd all be driving Ford and using Netscape.

who really cares if is dc ripping off marvel or marvel is ripping off dc what matter is if the character is good or not I dont care that the nova core may or may not be a ripoff of the the green Lantern core

"Copying is absolutely fine so long as were the ones doing it"...Fine Bros.

Just realised something... Every popular main shonen anime character made after 2004 is inspired by Luffy or Naruto, Luffy and Naruto are inspired by Goku, Goku was inspired by Supeman, Superman was inspired by Hercules, so the greeks invented Shonen anime and Half life 4 confirmed.

OKAY. I'M GONNA TRACE BACK MY FAVORITE CHARACTER. THOR= THE NORSE GOD THOR.

I think if the "rip off" is a good character on its own it should be accepted

I don't really care if certain characters like Hyperion draw big inspiration from characters like Superman, I start to get annoyed when the character is handled 100% the same with no changes at all. Dead pool may or may not have drawn inspiration from Deathstroke, but their personalities are completely different.

Rip-offs are one of my favorite aspects of comics. It's always fun to discuss where the inspiration came from,and I agree with you that it's not really relevant when it's blatantly obvious that a character is a rip-off of another, but it's really fun to point out when it is ;)

This guy on the Goku vs Superman forums said that "Superman is so lame, he never should have even existed" my reply "well then Goku wouldn't have existed, at least as the same way we know him today"

Spider-Man is probably the most unique comic book character ever. Seriously every popular or iconic superhero today has a rip off or an inspiration. Superman = Sentry, Batman = Moon Knight, Namor = Aquaman, Deathstroke = Deadpool, Wolverine = Lobo, Green Arrow = Hawkeye, Flash = Quicksilver. There is no DC equivalent to Spider-Man, the only one that comes even remotely close is Daredevil but he's a marvel character. I can't think of anyone else who can swing through city sky scrapers and match spidey's athleticism, wall-crawling, wall-running and amazing flexibility (no-pun intended).

This video was a huge relief, I've been planning this book I want to write for about three years now and it seemed that every week an original idea I had would end up being very similar to a popular idea or concept. I'm relieved to hear that I can still use all my ideas even though they slightly resemble other pre existing comic books, movies, or tv shows.

I'm a songwriter and my favorite quote is "Good artists borrow, Great artists steal"

The only unforgivable ripoff would be if the 2nd character has the same origin story, etc. Like if Marvel had made a Superman ripoff that came from a dying planet, was raised by Earthly parents, had limitless powers, and became a pivotal character in the Avengers. Hyperion is an obviously similar character given a similar origin on purpose, but Marvel never intended him to be Superman. Thus he is not a ripoff. It's borrowing from a sort of archetype alien-hero-among-us that DC created.

Scott, I love your channel, and I love the way you always go in so much depth. We should accept even the "rip offs", there is no logical reasoning to explain why we fight so much as fans, when it doesn't have any direct effect on us. And the whole whole DC vs Marvel wars online are kinda silly, because we are all fans of all these characters deep inside us. I actually wouldn't mind digging into the influences of my favorite characters, so exciting. Once again, thank you, for analysing these topics and giving us a new insight into the comic realm.

Steal? Ripoff? How about honoring artists that a creator is inspired by? It's like the "this or that" mindset. Why not "this and that"? As a "musician" it took me over 4 decades to give myself permission to create and perform what I dig the most without trying to be 100 percent original, which by the way is impossible. Don't wait like I did and just give credit where credit is due and honor your favorite artists. I just finished writing a song about Doctor Doom and there are a dozen musician's influence, a dozen comic book writers and various directors as visual references and the list goes on. And yes the song rocks, no apologies. Nice work, Scott. I'll You Tube the song and send you the link.

Whenever somebody says that a character is a rip-off of this character I will send them the link to this video.

There is a difference between ripoff and inspiration

So apparently Stan Lee was influenced to make Spider-Man due to the Spider, a lesser known crime fighter who didn't have any powers, huh go figure. Cool vid as always!

That was a nice expansion from a previous video. I like how I could see your thought process expand throughout the videos as you delved more into the subject.

I think I might make my own KZfaq channel talking about comics called...GeekSyncProductions!!

I totally agree that Deadpool is a rip-off of Deathstroke, but does it really matter? Deadpool is a parody, a way of comic relief and actually very original. So even though Slade Wilson came first, Wade was a very different cretion. Rip-offs are cool, sometimes :D

Some characters are homages to the others but I wouldn't say rip off..... There is always a few differences.

This was such a great episode. It could be my favourite one yet! I really enjoyed how this was about copying and rip offs but didn't feel like a dumb rip off or copy of a topic that has been done on youtube before. Well discussed and just fantastically interesting. Keep up the great work Scott!!!

As always perfect. For me, you are the most... in depth youtube channel focused on Comics. Great Work man!

Wow, just wow. Fantastic video. This was very Vsauce ish (another insperation)? Thumbs up bro.

I'm a musician and music and comics are alike in the the sense that anything after the 1960's is a rip off of something. But I really don't think it matters

Awesome video, very good points you raised there, Scott. As someone who is working on their original character, a kaiju named Monsturra, I have often battle with the idea what to make it completely original or just show my influences, but keep them fresh in a way. I'm still, in a way, doing that, but I have decided to stop trying to be completely original and just go with what I like.

Hey Scott, I enjoy that every time in this video I had a comment about what you were saying, you answered it immediately. Good job. I do feel though that there is a difference between ripping off characters and remixing them, which ties into what you were saying about what is done with the character after its creation. The Deadpool Deathstroke thing is an excellent example of this: though Deadpool's "source" might have been Deathstroke, he evolved far beyond that, giving the character more depth and eventually creating a character that is much different than its original "source."

Every single word he said is a rip off of one book I can't believe you did this to us That book is The dictionary!

i've never understood how hawkeye is a rip-off of Green Arrow. i mean, really? the both use bows? that's it? ok, batman punches people in an animal bases costume, and so does antman so there for batman = antman. there is no difference.

For one, this is my favorite video now probably mostly because of the way you talked about creativity and originality. And two, I love how right as I was thinking of things, Everything is a Remix for example, you went and said it. All bases covered. Great job Scott.

I love your videos so much, but this has got to be one of my favorites. You were fair, intelligent, and all-around great. I also may have fan girl screamed when you mentioned Cracked.

I love this debate because it's silly. Of course things are rip-offs. Why are they rip-offs? Because if it ain't broke don't fix it. Apple didn't score big with the iPod and say - well that went well, back to the drawing board! No, they knew they had a winner and they worked it evolved it - now we're on iPhone 6. Have there been shameless knock-offs? Hell yeah. But the worst offenders don't make money and get starved out. Another thing to consider is pizza. Pizza is great. It's delicious. Very ergonomic. Wonderful in many ways to be sure. And the best part is you can make it however you feel like! You want bacon? Done! You're vegetarian? Done! Comics are the same way - you take a general idea with a simple formula --> (hero + villain) / conflict And then you just test out different variables - powers, relationships, themes - like they're pizza toppings and you find what appeals most to your customers. Admittedly Superman and Batman have changed drastically in someways since their debut - according to how the fans respond. I personally see similar heroes less like "A is a shameless ripoff of B" and more to the tune of "Pepsi or Coke". They're both fine, offer a similar experience, and sure have a lot in common - but what suits you better? Its just choice. We don't see purely original ideas hit comics all the time because frankly a lot of them aren't very good, have little to no marketability, or would be so niche it's a net loss. It's a business too, stick with what works. To close, my personal favs: Black Adam and Sinestro. From that golden time when a villain was best served as an evil palate swap doppelganger of the titular hero. Both of them started as a "well the only way to challenge the hero is..." and insert the evil double (for all intents and purpose). But as fans evolved the stories and characters had to evolve with them. It wasn't good enough to simply say "I'm the bad guy because i'm bad" and now our characters need motives. Both Black Adam and Sinestro are now better classed as anti-heroes. They have a tragic past that motivates them and has skewed their outlook on the future, blurring the lines of morality. They want good things but are simply more pragmatic in their approach to achieve those goals. And to anyone who made it this far into my post - thank you! I'm long winded. Thanks for hearing me out. You're the real MVP!

Hawkeye is just too different to GA to be a RIPOFF.

One of my favorite videos on KZfaq. Brilliant job . Keep it up !

Hey Scott I've been watching your videos for a while and just wanted to say they're awesome and I like how original they are.

Hey Scott, great video. I see your point and I agree, but, for example, Superman was inspired by old myths of gods. Thanos was "inspired" solely by Darkseid. Green Arrow was inspired by Robin Hood, Batman, and other older vigilante characters. Hawkeye was just "inspired" by Green Arrow. "Inspirations"/Rip-offs are seen prominently in Marvel, at least for me. DC takes inspiration from older, classic, ancient characters who are no longer in use. Marvel, whether it really is inspiration or not, takes them from simultaneously existing characters. From the same medium.

I don't care who was made first. What really matters is who made it better.

Big fan of the channel but this might be the best video / topic uploaded to date. Awesome work!

Hey dude. Loved the video! Just wondering if you'd ever do a video showing what's on the shelf behind you. Just interested lol

hey scott, its me again. this is probably one of my favorate "meta comic talks"(lets face it, this stuff is rather diffrent from the original comic misconception) I doubt that everything that needs to be said has been, I just dont think people should take these sparks of greatness for granted and expect it from every single artist. as an active member on sites similar to DeviantArt, I can tell you that the "you cant steal this" mentality is really REALLY strong. there people that even think that they can "own" a style and can take down anyone that looks similar to theirs, though I've only seen 1 example of that. Im glad you put this video up, and Ill link it to most of my artsy pals.

I don't find comic rip off that big of a deal, I just use ally point out when two character are similar, by the way they acted or their powers

Love this channel and I don't even read comics. Keep up the good work!

I've missed comic misconceptions in its full blown glory. Great vid, gives me confidence as a ameteur comic artist/ creator.

***** kind of like how in the comic storyline, "deadpool kills the marvel universe" he starts jumping through dimensions and killing moby dick, tom sawyer, etc, because he was told that to kill the modern hero's, he had to kill the inspiration behind them. and as he's killing them, he sees them as their modern day hero counterparts.

"There is no such thing as originality" Comic book fans, please make peace...

I am very glad you said this, the ripoff argument is the most annoying one and it bugs me seeing it in pretty much every comment section.

This was a really nice video. then you shared that awesome quote and now its a Great Video =) thanks for sharing Scott, made my day in some wierd way.

Holy crap Scott spoke about The Phantom! Thank You Scott! I am so happy!

I always thought of this show as a comic version of game theory

Oh man awesome mention Scott I luv game theory!!! And comic misconceptions!!!

Also I think this video is the ultimate breaker for all arguments on who's better, who's a rip off and who's stronger. It's just influence and the power of the creative writer on how a certain character is written to over power challenges and the fans that believe so much in their favorite hero.

I always hate when DC fans claim Marvel characters are ripoffs ignoring Batman is pretty much the Pimpernel and Superman is pretty much John carter.

Awesome video! Interesting to hear you list your influences though as I wouldn't think you're ripping off any of them.

2 things you should get a nerd sync the onside made for your background set it would look amazing when it's slightly out of focus. Second just a quick tip when it comes to video editing really love your stuff but some of the cuts a really short as much as I love your video it felt really jumpy because several times you would cut from the wire to the close up within a span of 7 seconds. Perhaps a good way to avoid this would be cutting some more images of things that you were talking about. This would also help so you don't have to cut the audio and video at the same time which is another way of blending the two when you do make a cut. Anyways hope that helps please keep being awesome and thanks for the video. Ok sorry extra thing while I'm down here love the podcast have you considered make it slightly longer at all?

I agree with your last statement. For me, it doesn't matter if it was a ripoff or inspired by, what matters is what you do with it. It all boils down to that. Nice video, BTW! Two thumbs up! :)

Honestly I only have a problem when it's clear that the thing only exists to rip off something else. I saw this one thing on Netflix called Karate Panda that looked like a low budget Kung-Fu Panda, that is something I'd call shameless and a rip off but calling Quick Silver a Flash rip off? No, they are two different characters who's main power is speed, that is it. Moon Knight and Batman? Gadget based heroes with a lot of money, but the characters, stories and personalities are way different. Thanos and Darksied? Well I don't know a lot about Darksied but I know for a fact that he doesn't worship Death and he is a god where as Thanos is simply a genetic mutant of his species. They are both immortal but for different reasons, Darksied is a god, he has that naturally but Thanos was simply cursed to not die by Death herself. People who claim these characters are ripoffs only take one glance at them without looking into them. They definatly have similarities and I doubt that they didn't look at the other character for some inspiration but they aren't carbon copies, you will get a different experience from either, they aren't rip offs.

I came to the comments to rant about how Quicksilver is a ripoff of Flash! Just kidding, I will say that Quicksilver hasn't had a good costume in the longest and maybe they should ripoff the new Wally West costume haha.

Thank you Scott for putting my thoughts into a video so that the thousands of people who watch this will understand that Rip offs do t really matter. And Awesome Video

Here's an idea for an episode, "Does continuity matter in comics?". Also nice video and keep up the good work. I'm very curious to see what the new show on this channel is going to be.

"The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun." ~ Ecclesiastes 1:9

Just found out Darksied is a ripoff of Marvel Kang The Conquor.

General guideline that applies across the creative spectrum... copying/stealing from something that is already well known and established and not changing much in your creation... rip off... stealing from multiple obscure sources to make something more popular than the sum of their parts... is cool.

I loved this Video ... and it was not anywhere near what I expected it to be. Well Said!

And this is why I dont take the criticism/complains/ bitching of unoriginality and/ rip-off serisuly nor take them into consideration. its all ojective and depents on an individual bias view. If you dont like it, its a ripoff. If you do then it a inspiration. And most of the time we dont care as it popular and we liked them. "Aquaman is rip-off of Namor": Ok, And? Namor were never likable for years. And when the last time Namor appear outside of comic compare to Aquaman? "X-men is a rip-off of Doom Patrol" And Doom Patrol were a rip-off of the fantastic four. Whats your point? Hell, I bet y'all just heard about Doom Patrol from Teen Titans cartoon. "Arrow is a rip-off of christopher nolan batman": No shit! Green Arrow in the comic has always been a Robin hood batman for years. The was why he exist. So making a show about a character who similar to a more popular character, taken influences from that said popular character much successful movie franchise into the show was inevitable and it worked. "Saint Row is a rip-off GTA": Duh, that probably why we love them so much. And for any fanboy about "Swamp Thing is a rip-off of Man-Thing" "Deadpool is a ripoff of deathstroke" "Thanos is a rip-off Darkseid" Hell even "The Punisher is a rip-off of The Executioner": Dude, Who more active? Who were more succsful in catching readers attention more? Who been in more live action movie apprearce? Cause that really matters in the long one. Now, im not knocking on those characters, im just saying.

What a completely boring, safe, politically correct answer. Of course every characters are different now that many people has touched and wrote those characters. But the original thief had one thing in mind : to hitch a ride on the popularity of other character. Or just lazy design.

1:25 Hercules and Samson weren’t the biggest inspirations for Superman though. Those were clearly Hugo Danner from the novel „Gladiator“ and of course John Carter.

This video was great! I keep telling people this. So many people don't understand. Every comic fan should watch this video.

No it really doesn't matter, he said it all depends on how the character is written

Speed Demon (Marvel) is a rip off of Flash (Wally West) it even was done intentionally and says so in Speed Demon's Wiki page and Flash was inspired by Hermes.

I agree with this video. As a kid I always thought it was interesting how each comic company has similar characters. I do believe that everyone can be inspired by someone else but not everyone will take an interest in every character yet all of these popular characters have a following which makes each of them unique as their own characters and to us.

As an aspiring author I want to say that sometimes you borrow from other works without even realizing it. I was writing up a quick prompt to practice my prose and it was only when I was re-reading it that I realized how much I borrowed from other works.

Namor > Aquaman

Black widow is a rip off of Hawkeye and boobs

I am not too into comics. At least not as deep into it as most of the people probably watching this video, but the message Niswander points out can be applied to virtually every medium. I often find myself looking at several different characters and thinking "hmm this would be more interesting if his backstory had some elements of another character." Cool vid, can't wait to see more.

I just noticed the blackest night Lantern rings behind you.

i m a rip-off of my parents

Pfft! I am completely original!

I'm starting to love this channel more and more

Scott, this might be the most intelligent vid you've done. I love this one.

My favorite super here is a ripoff. Nova (Rich)! Even though Nova would 100% stomp Green Lantern....

moonknight > batman

Just real big props for naming Bill Finger first among Batman's creators. The way it should be.

Love your channel guys. It helped me get off of heroin. (Get it? Heroin?) lol

Fun true story: I was reading Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye (amazing comic book, go read it!) and I noticed little references to the novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, so I was very excited for that, because to implement the ideas of the novel into the Transformers universe is something brilliant. So I reached James Roberts (the comic writer) via Twitter and asked him if he drew inspiration from the novel. He said something that was like "I adore the novel, but I didn't reference it on purpose, or at least I did not in a conscious way". So, it is perfectly possible for a writer to take inspiration from another work without doing it consciously

**Lists all my favorite channels as inspiration** Hell yeah!

I'm totally with you on this one, Scott. It's about how characters are used, not just how they're made. How many people know the origins of their favourite characters? It really doesn't matter. I personally love Agent Cooper from Twin Peaks and Big Boss from Metal Gear, I've got no idea what inspired them because it simply does not matter. It's the fact that they're great characters in their own rights.

I remember when you replied that quote to me and I have never forgotten it since.

This really helped me in thinking of a certain thing, that I can't tell anyone yet :p Thanks!

Dude. This. Was. Beautiful. Honestly. I just did a post on this stuff on Comics Amino. I only scratched the surface but this video got right down to the very bottom. This is exactly how people should think about the comic rip off stuff, especially with your examples of Batman and Superman influence. In my post, I had said that I only believe a character is a ripoff if his origin, background, and/or his abilities are the same as another character, without any acknowledgement of influencing factors. Ability alone isnt enough. So, Green Arrow and Hawkeye aren't even close in that view. But this way of thinking is much more open minded and logical. Sir, you are the personification of Excelsior!

I loved this video. Great points. Excellent execution. To say the least, perfection.

Hey Scott, can you do an episode about Marvel's civil war event? I'm really curious about how the heck the status quo of the comics could ever get back to normal (ie, was the superhero act ever repealed?). However, I know you really like going into the behind the scenes of comics-could you talk about the psychology of security vs freedom? I just finished reading the event and I'm kind of hyped.

As for characters being inspired by others? Well I do have a character I have thought of named Silver. She, as well as her team mates were characters I made in Mortal Kombat Armageddon, using it's Kreate a Kharacter. I imagined her with super speed which anyone who is reading this could probably figure. I am not sure I was aware of Quicksilver at the time, I think I read some comics but I am pretty sure I only knew the main stream ones that everyone would know about like Batman and Superman. The first character I made on that game was a gold colored ninja called gold so I was just making team mates for him and gave Silver super speed, I wasn't thinking of Quicksilver when I was thinking her up. I'd still like to do something with her, as well as all the other characters I have created, but now that I am aware of Quicksilver, I either need a name change or a seriously different origin because I don't want people thinking I made girl Quicksilver. XD I also have an oc that I realize has a similar origin to Leela from Futurama with being sent to an orphanage to have a better life, I can't recall if I had watched that episode or not, but I wasn't thinking of it when I came up with that part of his past.

You actually mentioned "Game Theory" in this video. That was cool

Great video..... so direct to the point.

This argument is really good because it doesn't stop at comics. You can see "remixes" of other works in movies, books, and ESPECIALLY TV shows where the story has the same basic layout, but maybe a different story or different conflicts the protagonists face.