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Chad Carter
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Posted: 06 November 2010 at 2:30pm | IP Logged | 1  

 

Talk about de-uniqued: women characters in comics. Either they are almost all knockoff versions of male characters or they "talk tough" in exactly the same manner, hate chavinism, and yet all wear sexualized costumes emphasizing their T & A instead of being about functionality.

I can only think of a few unique women characters, and only one unique superhero:

  • Rita Farr, who was an unheard-of leader in the 1960s and chose her career over her marriage. The only superhero on this list.
  • Maggie Sawyer, troubled detective.
  • Heather Hudson, core strength of Alpha Flight without a power to her name.

JB's Sue Richards is right there, but she's swamped by decades of mishandling all around that short time period.
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Chris Wood
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Posted: 06 November 2010 at 2:43pm | IP Logged | 2  
Of course, I also neglected to mention Skaar and other "Sons of Hulk," as well as multiple Black Panthers.

 I certainly agree, Caleb, that these creations dilute the brand. I think it's basically laziness, as well as trying to squeeze every dollar out of a popular character, not understanding that it will have the opposite effect in the long run.

As to the laziness, it's somewhat analogous to when virtually every new character was a mutant -- an easy explanation for their powers. It's also very easy to create another version of a popular hero, rather than craft a creative origin story for someone new.
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Robert Bradley
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Posted: 06 November 2010 at 3:00pm | IP Logged | 3  
Ant-Man (Pym)/Ant-Man II (S.Lang)/Ant-Man III (O'Grady)/Stinger (C.Lang)

Black Panther IV (T'Chaka)/Black Panther V (T'Challa)/Black Panther VI (Cole)/Black Panther VII (Shuri)/Coal Tiger (T'Chaka)

Black Knight I (Sir Percy)/Black Knight IV (Garrett)/Black Knight V (Whitman)

Black Widow I (Voyant)/Black Widow II (Romanova)/Black Widow III (Belova)

Captain America (Rogers)/Captain America II (Naslund)/Captain America III (Mace)/Captain America III/Captain America IV (Burnside)/Captain America V (Roscoe)/Captain America VI (Walker)/Captain AmericaVII (Barnes)/USAgent (Walker)/Isaiah Bradley/Patriot III (Bradley)/American Dream (Carter)

Captain Marvel I (Mar-Vell)/Ms. Marvel II (Danvers)/Captain Marvel II (Rambeau)/Genis-Vell/Phyla-Vell/Hulkling (Altman)/Earth Sentinel (Foster)/Blacklight (Freeman)

Daredevil (Murdock)/Daredevil (T'Challa)

Ghost Rider (Blaze)/Ghost Rider (Ketch)

Giant-Man (Pym)/Goliath I (Pym)/ Goliath II (Barton)/Black Goliath (B.Foster)/Goliath III (Josten)/Goliath (T.Foster)/Stature (C.Lang)

Hawkeye I (Barton)/Hawkeye III (Bishop)

Hercules/Argo

Hulk (Banner)/Red Hulk (Ross)/She-Hulk (Walters)/She-Hulk (Ross)/Skaar/Doc Samson (Samson)

Human Torch I (Hammond)Toro (Raymond)/Human Torch II (Storm)

Iron Man I (Stark)/Iron Man IV (Rhodes)/War Machine (Rhodes)

Namor/Namora/Namorita

Quicksilver (Maximoff)/Speed (Sheppard)/Blue Streak (Kelso)

Scarlet Witch (Maximoff)/Wiccan (Kaplan)/Crimson Curse (Harkness)

Spider-Man (Parker)/Spider-Man (Reilly)/Spider Woman (Drew)/Spider-Woman (Carpenter)/Spider-Woman (Franklin)/Spider-Girl (Parker)

Thing (Grimm)/She-Thing (Ventura)

Thor (Blake)/Thor II (Norvell)Thor III (E.Masterson)/Thunderstrike I (E.Masterson)/Beta Ray Bill/Thor-Girl (Tarene)/Thunderstrike II (K.Masterson)/Thena II (MC2 Universe)

Vision I (Aarkus)/Vision II (created by Ultron)/Vision III (Young Avengers)

Wolverine/Daken (Akihoiro)/X-23 (Kinney)/Wild Thing (Logan)/Sabreclaw (Hudson)

Yellowjacket (Pym)/Yellowjacket (DeMara)
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Chris Wood
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Posted: 06 November 2010 at 3:11pm | IP Logged | 4  
Nice job, Robert! Far more comprehensive than my initial effort.
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Robert Bradley
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Posted: 06 November 2010 at 3:33pm | IP Logged | 5  
Oh I'm sure there are many more Chris!
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Steve Lieber
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Posted: 06 November 2010 at 4:36pm | IP Logged | 6  
I've always wondered if one reason for creating a duplicate version of a character is as a form of insurance against legal claims by the original creators' heirs. If I was making decisions at Marvel and I was concerned a court ruling might assign all rights to Captain America to the Simon & Kirby heirs, I'd want to have a character like USAgent handy.

(Please note that that was just an example. I'm not implying anything about Captain America, the heirs, or USAgent.)
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Brian Floyd
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Posted: 06 November 2010 at 6:38pm | IP Logged | 7  

I noticed two things from Robert's list:

1. I thought T'Challa was still the Black Panther but was taking on Daredevil's "Man Wihout Fear" nickname.

2. Isn't the Young Avengers' Vision supposed to be Vision II in a new body, more or less?

 
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Chris Wood
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Posted: 06 November 2010 at 6:51pm | IP Logged | 8  
I think you're correct on #1, but the Young Avengers' Vision has a more convoluted origin, I'm afraid -- something to do with Kang and Nathaniel Richards. He's certainly not the same Vision.
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Wallace Sellars
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Posted: 06 November 2010 at 8:18pm | IP Logged | 9  
Also, if Marvel/DC cannot de-unique characters like Power Man by
making more Power Men knock-offs, they proceed to remove his
"costume" for a gangbanger outfit, or a t-shirt. Thus, in some weird way,
Marvel/DC makes Power Man a racially-profiled generic.
---
Sadly, Marvel has a new Power Man. I agree with you about the loss of the
original's costume (and name) though.

Don't forget the original Captain Marvel and all of the miscellaneous
Marvels that have appeared over the years.
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Brian Miller
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Posted: 06 November 2010 at 9:27pm | IP Logged | 10  
The original Power Man was a villain.
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Robert Bradley
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Posted: 06 November 2010 at 9:49pm | IP Logged | 11  
Eric Josten --> Power Man --> Smuggler --> Goliath --> Atlas

almost as bad as....

Clint Barton --> Hawkeye --> Goliath --> Golden Archer --> Ronin

and of course

Henry Pym --> Ant-Man --> Giant-Man --> Goliath --> Yellowjacket --> Wasp
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Joe S. Walker
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Posted: 06 November 2010 at 10:15pm | IP Logged | 12  
"I think Green Lantern gets a pass because that is part of the silver age character from the beginning."

Unlike the terrible, dumb idea of having a whole range of coloured Lanterns.
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