History CelebrityParadox / ComicBooks

** SelfDemonstrating/{{Deadpool}}, meanwhile, has mentioned on more than one occasion that he's seen the Spider-Man movies and knows that it's "doe-eyed Tobey Maguire" underneath the mask. But then, he is Deadpool, so maybe [[NoFourthWall he has seen the movie on the other side of the fourth wall]] or something.

*** SelfDemonstrating/{{Deadpool}} himself says in one issue that he looks like "Creator/RyanReynolds mixed with a Shar-Pei." No sign of the Shar-Pei, but who else would get the role when the live-action movie came out?

* ''ComicBook/PatsyWalker'' was a comic from UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks about teenagers similar to the ''Franchise/ArchieComics'' gang. Patsy Walker is ''currently'' the SuperHero ComicBook/{{Hellcat}}. It turns out that "Patsy Walker" and "Patsy and Hedy" comics exist in-universe and are ''exactly'' the same as the ones in RealLife: Patsy's mother wrote the comic, using her daughter and her friends as characters, and reality (that is, Hellcat's actual teenage life) was the inspiration -- meaning the comics are ''not'' the ''exact'' way her past went, but she does know people with those names who were ''sorta'' like that.

* As an in-joke to Creator/RobertDowneyJr playing the live-action Film/IronMan1 role, ''Comicbook/IronMan vs Whiplash'' has Tony Stark check into a hotel and pay an exorbitant amount to not have any questions asked (since he has been accused of a massacre). One of the hotel staff says he knows who Tony really is.. and guesses Robert Downey Jr.

* Non-actor version: One SelfDemonstrating/{{Deadpool}} comic [[Memes/{{Comics}} famously]] features a scene where he incites Franchise/{{Wolverine}} to violence by saying to Kitty Pride "Speaking of games, ever played ''Franchise/StreetFighter''?" and then {{Shoryuken}}-ing her in the face. Then Udon [[https://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/11116/111160825/4131097-1309150731166.jpg delivered a ShoutOut to that scene]] in their ''Comicbook/StreetFighter'' comic, where Ryu says "Speaking of comics, ever read ''Deadpool''?" and then Shoryukens Sagat.

*** In a few issues of the Silver Age ''Comicbook/TeenTitans'' series, the kids actually hid their helicopter behind a billboard advertising the Creator/AdamWest ''Series/{{Batman}}'' show. One wonders how Comicbook/{{Robin}} would feel about Burt Ward's portrayal of him.

* As an in-joke to Creator/RobertDowneyJr playing the live-action Film/IronMan role, ''Comicbook/IronMan vs Whiplash'' has Tony Stark check into a hotel and pay an exorbitant amount to not have any questions asked (since he has been accused of a massacre). One of the hotel staff says he knows who Tony really is.. and guesses Robert Downey Jr.

** Similarly, in ''ComicBook/ArkhamAsylumLivingHell'', Warren White notes that "Years from now, people will think Halliburton was the guy who made ''Film/EdwardScissorhands''." So, did Creator/TimBurton make ''Film/{{Batman}}'' and ''Film/BatmanReturns''?

** DC, prior to 1986 and Comicbook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths, did this using Earth-2 and claiming that the Earth-1 characters had comics about the Earth-2 characters but not about themselves. This explanation worked for characters like ComicBook/TheFlash, but wouldn't make sense for someone like Franchise/{{Superman}}, where both versions had the same secret identity.

*** An issue of ''ComicBook/TheFlash'' shows that Irey West has a poster from the ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' cartoon in her room. Ya know, the cartoon that had ''her dad'' as a guest star. Though interestingly enough, the cartoon rarely if ever used the heroes' real names. So in theory, ''Teen Titans'' could absolutely be a TV show in the Franchise/DCUniverse without jeopardizing the identities of the actual Titans.

* ''ComicBook/PatsyWalker'' was a comic from UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks about teenagers similar to the ''Franchise/ArchieComics'' gang. Patsy Walker is ''currently'' the SuperHero Hellcat. It turns out that "Patsy Walker" and "Patsy and Hedy" comics exist in-universe and are ''exactly'' the same as the ones in RealLife: Patsy's mother wrote the comic, using her daughter and her friends as characters, and reality (that is, Hellcat's actual teenage life) was the inspiration -- meaning the comics are ''not'' the ''exact'' way her past went, but she does know people with those names who were ''sorta'' like that.

** The ''Worlds Collide'' crossover, where the characters of DC Comics met the characters of Creator/MilestoneComics, had this since Marvel and DC were both fictional universes within the Milestone Universe. ComicBook/{{Icon}} expressed concern that he might not be strong enough to battle Superman, whom he remembered from the original Christopher Reeve ''Film/{{Superman}}'' film.

** WesternAnimation/DuckTales comics also exist inside his universe. He's mentioned that he likes to think of them as unlicensed fabricated adventures based on the colourful character of the city's biggest celebrity, Scrooge [=McDuck=], and would like to make a comic about him facing the copyright issues involved to prevent the comic's sale, but Creator/{{Disney}} hasn't at least yet relented to allowing its major animated series to be treated like a pirate release, even inside a comic.

** Related to Howard, a 2016 had Creator/LeaThompson hiring his services. Needless to say, when Aunt May listed the works she had done, ''Film/HowardTheDuck'' wasn't one of them.

* Non-actor version: One SelfDemonstrating/{{Deadpool}} comic [[Memes/{{Comics}} famously]] features a scene where he incites {{Wolverine}} to violence by saying to Kitty Pride "Speaking of games, ever played ''Franchise/StreetFighter''?" and then {{Shoryuken}}-ing her in the face. Then Udon delivered a ShoutOut to that scene in their ''Comicbook/StreetFighter'' comic, where Ryu says "Speaking of comics, ever read ''Deadpool''?" and then Shoryukens Sagat.
** This carries over to the video game ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom3'' which has both Deadpool and Ryu. Not only does he still use the Shoryuken, he explicitly recognizes the Capcom cast as originating from Video Games, stating he loves ''VideoGame/StreetFighter'' whenever he fights a charater from those games, among other things (though they never seem to react). Either Deadpool is merely BreakingTheFourthWall again, or the Capcom characters actually do have video games in the Marvel universe, as the plot involves a scheme between villains of both worlds to merge them into one Earth. No word on whether Marvel comics exist in the Capcom world, however.

** Related to Howard, a 2016 had Lea Thompson hiring his services. Needless to say, when Aunt May listed the works she had done, ''Film/HowardTheDuck'' wasn't one of them.

* The Spider-Man storyline "ComicBook/MaximumCarnage" mentions Music/WeirdAlYankovic on the very first page, showing that he exists in the Marvel Universe. Not only has Al mentioned Spidey in a few songs, such as "The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota," but "Ode to a Superhero" is all about Spidey's [[Film/SpiderMan1 2002 movie]]. Does "Ode" exist in the Marvel Universe as well?

* ''ComicBook/MarvelTeamUp'' #74, which has Spider-Man teaming up with the cast of ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'', has Creator/StanLee (the co-creator of Spider-Man) hosting ''SNL''.

** A [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] ''Superman'' story had Clark taking Lois to the movies... where a Fleischer Brothers ''{{WesternAnimation/Superman|TheatricalCartoons}}'' cartoon was showing before the main feature. HilarityEnsues as Clark goes to great lengths to ensure that Lois is distracted every time his on-screen counterpart changes identities. The story ends with Clark and his on-screen counterpart winking at each other, even as he wonders who [[MaxAndDaveFleischer the Fleischer Brothers]] ''are'' and how they found out all they did.

** The story "Where the Action Is" details a comic publisher who publishes embellished exploits of "real life" heroes and villains, with increasingly dangerous results. First, the hero Crackerjack shows up to complain about lack of royalty payments (the publisher puts him off with fast talk and HollywoodAccounting); then, the heroine Nightingale threatens him for insinuating that she and her partner are a lesbian couple (he brazens it out, noting that she'd have to reveal her {{secret identity}} in order to sue him). Finally the villain Glowworm corners the publisher at a convention and almost kills him for portraying him as a white supremacist (Glowworm has a radioactive sheen -- underneath it, as he puts it, "[[YouKnowImBlackRight You know what color]] I ''used'' to be?"). After the last threat, he decides to start a line of "cosmic" (alien/otherworldly) heroes and villains, since they are too [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence above mortal concerns]] to register complaints. [[spoiler:The building gets vaporized one morning several months later.]]

** DC, prior to 1986 and Comicbook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths, did this using Earth-2 and claiming that the Earth-1 characters had comics about the Earth-2 characters but not about themselves. This explanation worked for characters like TheFlash, but wouldn't make sense for someone like Franchise/{{Superman}}, where both versions had the same secret identity.

*** An issue of ''TheFlash'' shows that Irey West has a poster from the ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' cartoon in her room. Ya know, the cartoon that had ''her dad'' as a guest star. Though interestingly enough, the cartoon rarely if ever used the heroes' real names. So in theory, ''Teen Titans'' could absolutely be a TV show in the Franchise/DCUniverse without jeopardizing the identities of the actual Titans.

*** SelfDemonstrating/{{Deadpool}} himself says in one issue that he looks like "RyanReynolds mixed with a Shar-Pei." No sign of the Shar-Pei, but who else would get the role when the live-action movie came out?

*** One of the strangest cases of this trope is a non-canon Superman story from the Golden Age where Lois and Clark watch one of the WesternAnimation/SupermanTheatricalCartoons... and it explicitly shows Superman and Clark Kent changing back and forth. The only explanation given is that Siegel and Schuster are somehow clairvoyant, and Superman spends the whole thing trying to distract Lois whenever it mentions Superman and Clark Kent are the same person - though presumably it won't matter by tomorrow.

** The ''Worlds Collide'' crossover, where the characters of DC Comics met the characters of MilestoneComics, had this since Marvel and DC were both fictional universes within the Milestone Universe. ComicBook/{{Icon}} expressed concern that he might not be strong enough to battle Superman, whom he remembered from the original Christopher Reeve ''Film/{{Superman}}'' film.

* In the UltimateMarvel universe, one issue of ''Comicbook/UltimateSpiderMan'' involved Spidey's exploits being filmed by Creator/SamRaimi to save money on CGI for a blockbuster movie starring Tobey Maguire.

** In ''{{Ultimatum}}'', Peter's buddy Kong suggests that he and his friends go see ''Film/TheDarkKnight''.
** Also subverted in the UltimateMarvel universe: when discussing which actors should play the various members of the Ultimates, ComicBook/NickFury nominates Creator/SamuelLJackson for himself. This being an obvious meta-reference, as Marvel had based Ultimate Nick Fury's likeness on Jackson, with the agreement that they'd cast him for the movie version when the time came.

* IDW's ''ComicBook/BackToTheFuture'' mentions that Marty's rival Needles is a big Music/RedHotChiliPeppers fan. Needles' actor in the movies was Michael "Flea" Balzary, who has been the Chili Peppers' bassist since 1983, leading one to wonder if Needles (or anyone else) ever noticed the resemblance.

** ClarkKenting provides an InUniverse example and justification: one proposed reason nobody realises that Superman is Clark Kent is that they think that Clark Kent is just a guy who happens to look like Superman. Doesn't hurt that there are several characters in the DC universe who happen to have varying shades of resemblance to the Man of Steel, whether it's literal dopplegangers like the Cyborg Superman or just guys who happen to look vaguely similar like Bruce Wayne.

*** An issue of ''TheFlash'' shows that Irey West has a poster from the ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' cartoon in her room. Ya know, the cartoon that had ''her dad'' as a guest star. Though interestingly enough, the cartoon rarely if ever used the heroes' real names. So in theory, ''Teen Titans'' could absolutely be a TV show in the DCUniverse without jeopardizing the identities of the actual Titans.

** The ''Worlds Collide'' crossover, where the characters of DC Comics met the characters of MilestoneComics, had this since Marvel and DC were both fictional universes within the Milestone Universe. ComicBook/{{Icon}} expressed concern that he might not be strong enough to battle Superman, who he remembered from the original Christopher Reeves ''Film/{{Superman}}'' film.

*** An issue of ''TheFlash'' shows that Irey West has a poster from the ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' cartoon in her room. Ya know, the cartoon that had ''her dad'' as a guest star.
*** Though interestingly enough, the cartoon rarely if ever used the heroes' real names. So in theory, ''Teen Titans'' could absolutely be a TV show in the DCUniverse without jeopardizing the identities of the actual Titans.

* Howard Wolowitz and his friends from 'Series/TheBigBangTheory'' make a cameo appearance in a 2009 issue of ''ComicBook/PowerGirl''. One wonders if the gang own that particular comic book...