With so many villainous characters in fiction, it's inevitable that some of their names,
personalities, gimmicks and appearances will be similar to others - there are only so many
different ways to be evil, after all.
That being said, you'll probably be surprised at just how many creators ripped off other
characters and real life people when it came to conceiving some of these well-known bad
guys.
Some of the most iconic evil-doers ever to appear in your favourite stories were actually
blatantly stolen from other sources - both real and fictional - and this video is going
to run you through just a few of them.
Here are ten superhero villains who stole people's identity.
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And before we start can you guess the movie from these emojis?
Stay tuned for the answer at the end of our video and be sure to keep watching for fun
trivia questions and fun facts along the way.
1.
Thanos Thanos is one of the most powerful villains
in Marvel Comics and is now the big-bad in the hugely popular Marvel Cinematic Universe.
However, he was actually based on a prominent DC villain - and it's not the one you might
think.
A lot of people believe that Jim Starlin took influence from Darkseid to create Marvel's
Mad Titan, but it was actually another member of the New Gods that influenced his creation
- none other than Metron.
Thanos' sits in a chair just like Metron does and, although Starlin did beef him up to be
more monstrous in his appearance like Darkseid is, it was indeed the lesser-known DC villain
who initially inspired the writer-cum-artist.
2.
Sinestro Sinestro is one of DC's most terrifying villains
- his powers are fuelled by fear, after all - so it may come as a surprise to you to learn
that his physical appearance is based on someone from the real world who was... less than terrifying,
to say the least.
That man was the late David Niven - an English actor and novelist who passed away in 1983.
Niven was the quintessential British cad, but he was far from evil and terrifying, yet
his unmistakable pencil moustache and widow's peak hairline are clear to see when you look
at the leader of DC's Sinestro Corps.
Trivia time: True or false - Prior to his life wielding rings of power in the DC Universe,
Sinestro used to be an arcaeologist.
Find out the answer at the end of the video.
3.
Magneto To look at Magneto, you certainly wouldn't
immediately think that his creation was inspired by the men who actually inspired it, but when
you think about it, it actually makes a lot of sense.
The men in question were Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. - both of whom fought for
civil and human rights, particularly for the black population - and Magneto does exactly
that on behalf of his fellow mutants (albeit in a very different way).
In the Marvel universe, the likes of William Stryker and Bolivar Trask represent the oppressive
forces that Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. took a stand against, and the parallels
between the pair and Magneto are clear to see.
4.
M.O.D.A.A.K.
We now come to the most obscure character on this list, as he's acually an alternate
version of the classic Marvel villain M.O.D.O.K.
This version of the character exists in the pages of Spider-Gwen, which takes place on
Marvel's Earth-65.
Instead of standing for "Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing", M.O.D.A.A.K.
is an acronym for "Mental Organism Designed As America's King", and he's based on none
other than America's current president Donald J. Trump.
M.O.D.A.A.K.
is a foreigner-hating, tiny-handed megalomaniac, and you only have to look at him to see the
obvious inspiration taken from the orange-faced businessman-cum-politician.
5.
Ultron Ultron has always been a popular villain,
but never more so than now, following his portrayal by James Spader in 2015's Avengers:
Age of Ultron.
It will probably shock you to learn, therefore, that he's actually copied from a very obscure
character in an equally obscure (and very dated) TV show and comic book from many years
ago.
In the late 1940s and early-mid 1950s, Captain Video and His Video Rangers aired on the DuMont
Television Network.
This was soon followed by a comic based on the show, which was published by Fawcett Comics.
Marvel writer Roy Thomas and artist John Buscema admitted basing Ultron on the villainous Mechano
from the franchise - a character so obscure that there are barely any images of him anywhere.
6.
Bane Now, this entry is a little different because,
in this case, we're specifically talking about Tom Hardy's live action version of Bane from
2012's The Dark Knight Rises movie, as opposed to the comic book version of the character.
Hardy based Bane's voice, accent and some of his physical traits on a man named Bartley
Gorman, who was the self-proclaimed king of the gypsies, a bare-knuckle boxer, and an
Irish traveler.
Gorman died of cancer in 2002, but if you watch any footage of the late fella, you can
clearly tell where Hardy lifted some of the Bane persona from.
Trivia time: Bane's father was a villain in his own right in the DC Universe, but what
was the character's name?
a) King Snake.
b) Firefly.
c) Count Vertigo.
We'll let you know the answer at the end of the video.
7.
Darth Vader Okay, so Darth Vader isn't a villain to any
characters who typically get labelled as "superheroes" but, to many, that's exactly what Luke Skywalker
is.
Moreover, Vader has appeared in comic books, as well as movies and other media, so we feel
happy to include him here.
Vader was based on both Marvel's Doctor Doom and DC's Darkseid.
Like Doom, he is scarred, wears a mask and armour, and has "D" and "V" as his initials
and, like Darkseid, he is a warlord - one who operates on the "dark side" of the Force,
no less.
George Lucas is a huge comic book fan - as evidenced by his 1986 Howard the Duck movie
- and has credited both of these iconic villains as being his inspiration for the iconic Lord
Vader.
8.
Clayface Classically, Clayface is the name of the Batman
villain otherwise known as Basil Karlo (there have been others, but that's the incarnation
of the character we're talking about here).
Originally just a scorned actor in a mask, he went on to obtain a malleable, clay-like
body that gave him superhuman physical attributes and enabled him to shape-shift.
Inspiration for the character actually came from three real-life actors.
He was based on Lon Chaney, who was famously known as "The Man of a Thousand Faces", while
his name was a combination of fellow actors Basil Rathbone's and Boris Karloff's.
9.
Harley Quinn Harley Quinn is such a quirky and unique individual
that it's hard to imagine anyone in the real world being an inspiration for her creation,
but someone actually was!
The person in question is actress Arleen Sorkin - and she even went on to voice the character
in the DC animated universe!
Sorkin is a friend of Paul Dini - one of Harley's creators along with Bruce Timm - and both
her personality and name went partially towards creating the iconic character.
"Partially" is the key word there, because you have to assume that Sorkin isn't quite
as crazy as the Joker's certifiably insane girlfriend!
Trivia time: Complete this Harley Quinn quote from 2016's Suicide Squad movie - "Love your
perfume!
What is that?
The stench of ?what?"
We'll reveal all at the end of the video.
10.
The Joker We finish with a twofold entry now, as this
entry specifies the influence behind both the comic book version of the Joker, and the
most iconic live action movie version of the Joker.
The story goes that a 17-year-old named Jerry Robinson showed DC Comics' writer Bill Finger
a Joker playing card he'd drawn up from memory.
Finger then suggested they supplement this "sinister clown" with the creepy permanent
grin featured in a silent movie called The Man Who Laughs - a movie in which Conrad Veidt
played a man whose face has been disfigured so it looks like he's grinning from ear-to-ear.
The resemblence to the Joker is undoubtedly uncanny, so he's not as original as some people
might think.
Finally, we come to Heath Ledger's version of the character from 2008's The Dark Knight.
The Oscar-winning portrayal took influence from a number of sources.
Ledger's voice and mannerisms were mainly inspired by musician and actor Tom Waites,
but Ledger also took influence from musician Sid Vicious and actor Malcolm McDowell's portrayal
of Alex DeLarge in A Clockwork Orange.
And the answers to the trivia questions were: False.
Sinestro was an anthropologist, not an archaeologist.
Bane's father was the villain known as King Snake.
And the missing word from the Harley Quinn quote was "death".
Thanks for watching our video about ten superhero villains who stole people's identity without
asking.
Can you think of any other villains whose identities were stolen from elsewhere?
And the answer to the movie emjoi is: [insert answer here]
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