Follow TV Tropes

Following

Composite Character / Western Animation

Go To

Composite Character in Western Animation.


Shows/franchises witht their own pages:


Individual examples:

    open/close all folders 

    #-I 
  • Some of the minor puppy characters in 101 Dalmatians: The Series have elements of multiple characters from both the animated film and live-action film:
    • Two-Tone's general character came from the live-action movie, however her girlier personality in the series (as she was depicted as more tomboyish in tie-in media for the live-action movie) comes from Jewel, also from the live-action movie but not in the series (though she's mentioned in a few episodes).
    • Dipstick also came from the live-action movie, however his flea problem was a trait carried over from Fidget, who appears in the live-action movie but not in the series.
    • Wizzer originated from the live-action movie as well, however his color scheme (spotted ears and a red collar) gives him more of a resemblance to Freckles, who only appeared in the animated movie.
  • An odd In-Universe/meta version of this trope can be seen in Adventure Time, in regards to Fionna. At first she seems like nothing more than a gender flipped version of Finn, but a later episode suggests that her voice and various personality quirks were also sub-consciously taken from Ice King's girlfriend, Betty.
  • In The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Black Widow is a costumed S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who apparently defects to HYDRA, but is really a triple agent reporting directly to Nick Fury. Then he disappears, so she can no longer prove this. That's Spider-Woman's story in New Avengers.
    • Along those same lines, Mockingbird is given most of Spider-Woman's plot from Secret Invasion, right down to getting kidnapped and replaced by Veranke, the Skrull Queen.
    • Mockingbird actually was replaced by a Skrull in the comics, but the Skrull that did so is a minion of Veranke named H'rpa. Here, Veranke takes H'rpa's place as the identity of the Skrull impostor replacing Mockingbird.
    • Nick Fury's Season 1 design is a fusion of his Ultimate and classic designs. He's black like Ultimate Fury, but has a full head of hair with gray temples like the original Fury,note  and also wears the latter's trademark S.H.I.E.L.D. jumpsuit. Upon his return in season 2, he becomes more like his Ultimate self by shaving his head and growing a beard.
    • Baron Zemo is another one, mixing the first Zemo, Heinrich, (who fought Cap during World War II and leads Masters of Evil) with his son, Helmut, the second Zemo (costume and personality, the fact that his face was hideously disfigured due to Captain America's actions, which while something similar happened with the first Zemo, was instead his mask being glued to his face, and his actions with the Masters of Evil include the Siege on Avengers Mansion, a scheme done when Helmut reassembled the Masters of Evil a while after Heinrich's death).
    • The Enchantress takes the Space Phantom's place as the early villain who frames the Hulk to get the rest of the Avengers to turn against him, leading to his departure.
    • Viper takes Elektra's place as the villain who kicks off the Secret Invasion storyline after it's revealed she's really a Skrull.
    • In addition, the Skrull impostor among the Avengers is a composite of the Skrulls who replaced Edwin Jarvis and Hank Pym, replacing neither of them due to Jarvis being depicted as an artificial intelligence and Pym having left the Avengers at the time, he instead replaces Captain America, making him an example of this trope as well.
    • There is also Hulk, who takes from different versions of himself at different periods of time, mixing his original personality, well-known Savage Hulk and recent Green Scar Hulk, causing him to be a lot smarter and rarely use Hulk Speak.
    • The New Avengers are basically given the origin story of the Young Avengers (a failsafe program designed to seek out replacement Avengers in the event the team ever died or disbanded), the only difference being that while Kang the Conqueror is the enemy the team unites to face, this time he also is the reason the Avengers disappear (replacing Scarlet Witch's role), and that while the New Avengers roster does consist of Spider-Man, Wolverine, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and Thing, it also includes War Machine, whom was never part of the New Avengers in the comics. The New Avengers' actual origin story (the team assembles to combat a mass prison break) is given to the regular Avengers at the start of the series (with the prison break being caused by Loki rather than Electro, and instead of this taking place at one prison, the Raft, it takes place at four prisons).
    • William "Crossfire" Cross is given his cousin Darren Cross's role in Scott Lang's origin story.
    • While the Red Skull is largely the same as his comic book counterpart, his role of being responsible for Bucky's death via the explosion of a rocket plane that is until Captain America touched the Cosmic Cube and (unknowingly) altered reality to make it so Bucky survived the blast of the explosion in the 21st century resembles that of the first Baron Zemo, while the fact that he is portrayed as the mastermind behind Bucky becoming Winter Soldier resemble that of Aleksander Lukin.
  • The Avengers: United They Stand: The team's government liaison is a thin, clean-shaven Obstructive Bureaucrat named Raymond Sikorski. He bears little resemblance to his comic counterpart, a portly, mustachioed man who was generally helpful to the Avengers, and has much more in common with Henry Peter Gyrich, Sikorski's predecessor in the comics. In fact, the animated Sikorski's physical appearance and meddling nature (right down to forcing the Falcon onto the team) come directly from Gyrich.
  • The Batman:
    • Dr. Hugo Strange is initially introduced as the morally ambiguous director of Arkham Asylum, who views the insanity of Batman's villains (and Batman himself) as a fascinating riddle. While he soon becomes the Mad Scientist of the comics, the early appearances owe more to Dr. Jeremiah Arkham. Additionally, his role in the episode "Strange New World" was originally meant for the Scarecrow, though Strange does predates Scarecrow and some of Strange's earliest appearances saw him employ similar hallucinogenic toxins to what Crane's best known for.
    • In the final season, Firefly becomes this, when he came into contact with an isotope and gained the powers and (partly) the codename of minor Batman baddie Doctor Phosphorus.
    • Alan Burnett said the Flash was Barry Allen, but the character has a personality more in line with Wally West and Bart Allen.note  Like Wally, he also needed to consume large amounts of food to keep up with his ultra-fast metabolism.
    • The Batman in general had a lot of this, due to the Bat Embargo preventing them from being able to use villains from Batman Begins and The Dark Knight (Joker being the exceptions). Accordingly, Ethan Bennett/Clayface is similar to Harvey Dent/Two-Face (and a similar appearance and police career to Crispus Allen), Black Mask is similar to Ra's al Ghul, and Hugo Strange's later appearances (particularly Strange New World) use him as a stand-in for Scarecrow. They were also unable to use Robin due to Teen Titans (2003), so Batgirl wound up inheriting a lot of his Kid Sidekick traits (at least until Robin was able to appear in later seasons), including a personality akin to the Spoiler's.
    • Chief Angel Rojas is basically Dirty Cop and Bad Boss Commissioner Gillian Loeb with the build of Harvey Bullock, and made Hispanic and a police chief.
    • Ellen Yin combines the roles of both Ellen Yindel and Renee Montoya, and likewise with Rojas, Yin is a Race Lift (Yin is Asian-American, whereas the original Yindel was white and Montoya was Latina).
    • The Wrath has Killer Moth's original "protector of criminals" shtick and the brown and orange of Catman's costume. The original Wrath was a Cop Killer who wore red and purple.
    • The Robin used is Dick Grayson, but he wears Tim Drake's costume like in Batman: TAS, Batman Forever, and Teen Titans (2003) and uses a staff as his primary weapon like Drake and the TT version of Dick, and in a distant future, he ultimately does become Nightwing.
  • Batman: The Brave and the Bold:
    • Similar to Venom is Firestorm. In the original comics, Firestorm was an amalgam of slacker student Ronnie Raymond and physicist Martin Stein, then Raymond and Mikhail Arkadin, then Raymond on his own. After his death, the new Firestorm was teenager Jason Rusch, who would combine with whomever happened to be nearby but would eventually combine with his friend Mick Wong, then Stein, then Firehawk, then his girlfriend Gehenna. The animated version was formed by a combination of gym teacher Ronnie Raymond and his student, a pre-teen Jason Rusch (now a science whizz-kid to provide Stein's atomic knowledge). Unusually this switches their positions, as normally Ronnie was the physical body of Firestorm and Martin was the voice in his head, now, Jason is the intended physical body though with a lot of added musculature, and Ronnie speaks in his head, switching the muscle and brains around. As of Brightest Day and the New 52, the Rusch/Raymond combo has appeared in the comics as well.
    • In the comics, the Golden Age Cheetah was Priscilla Rich, a wealthy American socialite who had no powers and wore a cheetah costume, while the post-Crisis Cheetah was Barbara Anne Minerva, a British archaeologist who was turned into a superhuman cheetah creature by the plant god Urzkartaga. The TB&TB version of Cheetah is Priscilla Rich, but like her successor, possesses superhuman abilities that were given to her by Urzkartaga.
    • The TB&TB incarnation of Damian Wayne combines elements of three separate children of Bruce Wayne from different continuities - obviously he gets his name from Batman (Grant Morrison), but the story he appears in is more like the Golden Age "Imaginary Stories" with Bruce Wayne Jr. (complete with the Framing Story of Alfred writing fiction). And his mother isn't Talia, like comics Damian, or Kathy Kane, like Bruce Jr., but Catwoman like Helena Wayne of Earth-2, who became a vigilante in order to avenge the death of her mother, and continued on, taking her father's place after his subsequent death, in this case, both Batman and Catwoman die at once due to Joker's protege Joker Jr. rather than dying individually.
    • The Weeper in "Joker: The Vile and the Villainous" is based on a Golden Age character who was a foe of Bulletman, but the story itself is based on a team-up between Joker and a character called Willy the Weeper. The composite character has the original Weeper's real name and appearance (and is shown fighting Bulletman in flashback), but like Willy is an Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain who cries genuine tears for his victims.
    • Krull the Eternal is the Captain Marvel enemy, King Kull, in name and appearance (and is also shown as a member of the Monster Society), but with the backstory of Vandal Savage, plus some visual cues and a voice actor from Darkseid's son Kalibak.
    • The Hunter's name and appearance come from the Faceless Hunters who appeared in Strange Adventures. His role as humanoid frontman for Starro is loosely based on Cobi from R.E.B.E.L.S.
    • Equinox is two Justice League of America villains: Libra (balance-obsessed, cosmic-powered villain) and the Gray Man (embittered and crazy ex-agent of the Lords of Order).
    • OMAC enemy General Kafka is combined with the completely unrelated character Shrapnel, for no reason that's easy to figure out.
    • The Batman of Zur-En-Arrh is an existing character in his own right, but his civilian identity (largely unexplored in the comics, but heavily expanded on in the show) is heavily inspired by Clark Kent. Likewise, Vilsi Vayla is a combination of Vicki Vale (name and appearance) and Lois Lane (personality, voice actress, and relationship with the two Batmen).
    • In early episodes, Mongul and his sister Mongal often took over roles more associated with Darkseid and his lieutenants, like commanding the Female Furies and Steppenwolf. The show generally stopped doing this after Darkseid was properly introduced about halfway through Season 2.
    • The Reverse Flash is Eobard Thawne, but he has Hunter Zolomon's red and black eyes.
    • Jarvis Kord, Ted Kord's Evil Uncle, takes Max Lord's role as Ted's killer. He's even voiced by Tim Matheson, who voiced Lord in Justice League Unlimited.
    • The version of Phantom Lady who appears in "Cry Freedom Fighters" combines elements of three characters who have used the name. She has the origin and costume (well a more modest version of it) of Sandra Knight, the original Phantom Lady. She uses holographic technology just like Dee Tyler, the second Phantom Lady. And finally her use of invisibility and intangibility technology are borrowed from the third Phantom Lady, Stormy Knight.
  • Ben 10 (2016):
    • Kevin becomes a composite of the Kevin from the original series and Albedo from Alien Force, fittingly both Evil Counterparts to Ben. Here, Kevin has his own counterpart to Ben's Omnitrix called the Antitrix, which turns him into stronger and darker-looking versions of Ben's alien forms similar to Albedo's Ultimatrix in Omniverse. Unlike Albedo, Kevin's aliens are already stronger by default, whereas Albedo's needed their respective Super Modes to be stronger.
    • Rath, the tiger alien with Wolverine Claws, acquires Wildmutt's ability to track down scents and occasionally utilizes quadrupedal movement.
    • The movie Ben 10 vs. The Universe gives Vilgax a new backstory taken from elements of Myaxx and Albedo as Azmuth's former assistant. He remains a powerful warlord seeking the Omnitrix, but went rogue from Azmuth in a similar manner to Albedo, while being the same species, though opposite gender, as Myaxx, an assistant of Azmuth who briefly left him but rejoined him later on.
  • In Beware the Batman, Slade Wilson/Deathstroke has a lot of similarities with Tommy Elliot/Hush. They both have a deep resentment of Bruce Wayne because he had better parental figures, both know he is Batman, both feign friendship with him to get closer to him and both enact a complex scheme to ruin his life, including faking their own death. Pre-plastic surgery Slade even resembles Tommy from the comics. Word of God admitted that the series was going to feature Hush before using a "similar" villain instead.
  • The Black Lightning shorts on DC Nation imply that Black Vulcan, Black Lightning's Captain Ersatz from Super Friends, was simply an identity that he used in the past.
  • Castlevania:
    • Since the events of Castlevania: Lament of Innocence are altered in this continuity with Dracula explicitly existing before he waged war with Leon Belmont rather than being his former friend Mathias Cronqvist who became a Fallen Hero, his wife Elisabetha is merged with his second wife Lisa (Alucard’s mother) here and there’s no mention of him being married prior. Given the events of Lament of Innocence were introduced retroactively (after Lisa was introduced) and Lisa is an apparently a reincarnation of Elisabetha anyway, it’s a sensible change.
    • Trevor is obviously based on his original NES version (with modern touches to his design taken from Castlevania: Curse of Darkness) but he also multiplies similarities to other Belmonts such as Simon, Richer, Christopher and Julius in terms of personality, skill and weaponary. Notably the chain whip Morning Star Trevor uses was actually first wielded by Christopher originally. This version of Trevor also adopts Grant’s throwing knives speciality in his absence.
    • The show’s version of Death is based on The Grim Reaper Recurring Boss of the games but due to his Adaptational Badass into Final Boss and overarching role of using Dracula to usher in the apocalypse he’s really got more in common with Greater-Scope Villain Chaos the Eldritch Abomination God of Evil introduced in Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow who was always there behind the scenes.
  • Castlevania: Nocturne:
    • Nocturne's version of Tera, rather than being based on her Rondo of Blood or Dracula X Chronicles appearance, instead uses a large portion of Annette's character design from Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles, and additionally has magic abilities similar to Sypha Belnades. She also ends up fulfilling Annette's classic role by being forcibly turned into a lesser vampire by Erzsebet, albeit as a Heroic Sacrifice here to spare Maria a Fate Worse than Death.
    • Erzsbet while primarily based on her Bloodlines version takes many elements from both Dracula and Carmilla, having the Dark Messiah avatar of a God of Evil elements of the former and the powerful Lesbian Vampire who relishes young maidens’ blood of the latter. Her design is also a big Shout-Out to Vampire Hunter D’s Carmilla.
    • Drolta has the name and role of Bathory's minion in the Bloodlines instruction manual, an original Hotter and Sexier character design (with references to being a former Egyptian priestess possibly being a nod to Astartes from Portrait of Ruin), wears a horned tiara identical to that of the Succubus from Lament of Innocence, and has a One-Winged Angel form which resembles the Succubus from Symphony of the Night, right down to being able to extend the tips of her wings into spear-like tendrils. And just like the Symphony of the Night Succubus, she meets her end by Alucard's sword.
  • Dexter's Laboratory:
  • The 2019 version of DC Super Hero Girls:
    • Much like Super Best Friends Forever, Barbara Gordon is the Batgirl used, but her personality is more in-line with Stephanie Brown's.
    • Also like SBFF, Supergirl has the build and personality of Power Girl, only this time, she also sports Pee Gee's shorter hair; the episode "#PowerSurge" even sees her take up the identity and costume of Power Girl. Additionally, her civilian outfit evokes the Conner Kent Superboy's original costume.
    • Supergirl's mother Alura takes Jor-El's place as the one who imprisoned General Zod, Ursa and Non in the Phantom Zone just prior to Krypton's destruction.
    • Robin is Dick Grayson, but has the more obnoxious and negative personality traits of Bratty Half-Pint Damian Wayne. And, like many modern adaptations, he uses Tim Drake's bo staff.
    • Much like the below-mentioned Harley Quinn, Condiment King takes the name of "Mitchell Mayo" like the In Name Only version introduced in Birds of Prey and the appearance of the original Buddy Standler version.
  • In Deathstroke: Knights & Dragons, the H.I.V.E. Queen is Rose Wilson, usually known as the teen Anti-Hero Ravager in the comics.
  • Dilbert revived LOUD HOWARD, a character who'd proved quite popular with readers of the strip but who the author thought was too flat to make much use of. To make him more interesting, the show merged him with Nervous Ted and had him shout constantly about trivial worries.
  • The 1990s Discworld animated series replaces the unnamed Mended Drum barman in Wyrd Sisters with Hibiscus Dunelm, the new proprietor in Soul Music. Soul Music also gives Adrian "Big Mad Drongo" Turnipseed all the lines belonging to the other two students at the High Energy Magic Building, Skazz and Tez the Terrible.
  • DuckTales (2017):
    • New character Lena is an Expy of Minima DeSpell from the 80s comics, being Magica DeSpell's niece who befriends Webby. However, her backstory of actually being Magica's shadow who was granted sentience after being separated from her host comes from a one-shot character from an episode of the original 1987 DuckTales cartoon.
    • As revealed in the Grand Finale, Webby is also April, of April, May and June, although in this continuity they are Opposite Sex Clones of Scrooge, rather than Daisy's neices.
  • The Fantastic Four (1967):
    • "The Invasion of the Super-Skrulls" ends with the FF forcing the titular villain to shapeshift into a cow, and then hypnotizing him into believing he really is a cow so that he'll never hurt anyone again. That's not how the Super-Skrull was beaten in Fantastic Four #18 (The issue the episode was adapted from), but is how the group of Skrull invaders in Fantastic Four #2 were disposed of.
    • Alicia Masters never appeared, so when the show did an adaptation of the original three-part Galactus storyline from the comics, her pivotal role was instead given to Sue Storm.
  • In The Fantastic Four (1978), Medusa takes her husband Black Bolt's place as the ruler of The Inhumans.
  • Terri Cloth is one of the five main Garbage Pail Kids in the Garbage Pail Kids Cartoon, but she is actually a combination of two trading card characters: Terri Cloth/Dee Faced (her head being completely devoid of facial features) and Ugly Hans/Jan Hand (her face being on her hand).
  • In the original G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero animated series, the General Flagg that appears in the original "MASS Device" mini-series has the same name and role as the General Flagg from the comics, but his character design resembles that of General Austin, General Flagg's adviser from the comics.
  • G.I. Joe: Renegades:
    • Vinnie Hauser has the first name of most incarnations of Lt. Falcon, but is the brother of Duke like Falcon's animated counterpart.
    • Heavy Duty is an American soldier and Roadbock's cousin like his original incarnation, but his real name is that of his film counterpart's, Hershel Dalton (as opposed to Lamont A. Morris).
  • Harley Quinn (2019):
  • He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2021):
    • Ork-0 is modeled after the wizard Sidekick Orko, but is also a Robot Buddy "created" by Man-At-Arms, giving him the same origin as Roboto.
    • Kronis eventually becomes Trap Jaw with the Power of Havoc, while serving Skeletor as an Evil Genius in place of Tri-Klops.
    • Three other characters are composites of the original Man-At-Arms as Duncan got an Age Lift. Cringer is the Team Dad, Kronis was formerly the Man-At-Arms for Eternos, and Man-E-Faces is Teela's adoptive father figure.
  • Hit-Monkey combines Lady Bullseye with her predecessor, the original Bullseye, giving her the latter's Sadistic personality and status as The Dreaded.
  • Iron Man: Armored Adventures:
    • The Mandarin combines elements of his comic counterpart and his son, Temugin, specifically, while not the original Mandarin (that would be his older stepfather Zheng Tong), Gene Khan is intended to be Temugin, but becomes the main Mandarin that opposes Iron Man.
    • Blizzard has the real name of Donnie Gill, the better-known Blizzard II in the comics. But his backstory as an embittered ex-Stark scientist who created the cryosuit comes from Gregor Shapanka, the original Blizzard.
    • And Justin Hammer is Titanium Man.
    • Kevin O'Brien, known as the armored hero Guardsman in the comics, is instead the second pilot of the Crimson Dynamo armor.
    • Once again, Ghost takes on Spymaster's role as the thief of Iron Man's designs during the "Armor Wars" adaptation.
    • Whitney Stane is a composite of Whitney Frost (as Madame Masque) and Ezekiel Stane (as Obadiah Stane's child and a user of the Iron Monger armor).
    • The Black Knight used in the show is the villainous Nathan Garrett version, but sports the costume and clean-shaven appearance of Dane Whitman, his heroic successor.
      • The same combination (Garrett's personality and identity, Whitman's costume and physical appearance) was used for the Black Knight's appearance in the Avengers: United They Stand tie-in comic.
  • Iron Man: The Animated Series:
    • Julia Carpenter has a lot of elements of Pepper Potts thrown in. This is especially obvious in the second season, where her romance with Tony is given much more focus. She also uses mechanical web-shooters like the ones worn by Peter Parker, unlike in the comics, where she possesses the ability to conjure psychokinetic webbing.
    • In the comics, Force kick starts the Armor Wars storyline after it's discovered that his armor contains stolen Stark technology. Later in the same story, the Russian hero Titanium Man II dies after a battle with Iron Man. The show combines both roles into Crimson Dynamo, a Russian villain who is killed during a battle with Iron Man, and whose death starts the whole "Armor Wars" plot after Stark technology is discovered within his charred armor.
    • Additionally, Iron Man calls Crimson Dynamo "Yuri," seemingly indicating that it's Yuri Petrovich inside the suit. However, the armor he wears is that of Valentin Shatalov, one of the men who later used the Crimson Dynamo identity in the comics after Petrovich was arrested and exiled to Siberia.
    • Also, in the original Armor Wars storyline, Justin Hammer was responsible for distributing the stolen Iron Man technology to various shady characters. One of Hammer's clients was another Corrupt Corporate Executive named Edwin Cord, who used Stark's designs to build the Firepower armor. In the TV series, Hammer is both the one who sells Tony's designs and the businessman who uses that same technology to create Firepower.
    • In general, the show's version of "Armor Wars" combined a lot of characters, often by giving roles held by certain characters in the comics to ones who were already in the show's cast. Examples include Hawkeye being the teammate who Iron Man is forced to fight during his raid on the Vault instead of Steve Rogers, Ghost taking Spymaster's role as the one who is revealed to have stolen Tony's designs, Blizzard and Blacklash being the ones who perform the botched plane hijacking instead of the Raiders, and the Mandroids being Tony's targets at the Vault instead of the Guardsmen (with the Mandroids even sporting armor that looks more like the ones the Guardsmen wear in the comics).
    • Speaking of which, the show's Titanium Man is the original Boris Bullski version, but his armor design is heavily influenced by that of the Gremlin, the second Titanium Man in the comics.
    • The second season also makes the modular Iron Man armor a composite suit, by giving it the ability to transform into different models, including the Hydro Armor and the Silver Centurion, which were separate (and previous) models in the comics.
  • In Ivanhoe (Burbank Animation), De Bracy does not appear (although he is mentioned), and Front-de-Bouef is the one who is infatuated with Rowena.
  • Ivanhoe: The King's Knight features...
    • Prince John combined with Athelstane, as Rowena's fiancé via an arranged marriage while she loves Ivanhoe and he her.
    • Philip de Malvoisin combined with Waldemar Fitzurse, as Prince John's advisor.
    • Reginald Front-de-Boeuf combined with Maurice de Bracy, as one of Prince John's knights who is in love with Rowena.

    J-R 
  • Johnny Test has Hank Anchorman in every season following the first; he looked much different in the first season before his design was changed to a human version of the one-off robot anchorman from "Sonic Johnny".
  • The Toyman in Justice League Action is Asian like the Hiro Okamura version of Toyman, but is also a villain like the previous iterations of the character. He also has the diminutive stature of the Toyman from Superman: The Animated Series.
  • Legion of Super Heroes (2006) pays tribute to Superman's entire legacy of Phantom Zone criminals in the form of Drax, a young Kryptonian with a big 'Z' on his chest and an inexplicable British accent who was born in the Phantom Zone and has design elements of the non-Kryptonian Zod from Superman: Birthright.
    • The spikes on him are reminiscent of Doomsday. The pale skin may be a shout out to Bizarro as well.
    • Kel-El/Superman X is effectively a composite of Kon-El and the Superman of the 853rd century, with a little bit of Mon-El thrown in as well.
  • Looney Tunes:
  • Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors: Ghost Spider is Gwen Stacy, but her dyed pink hair is taken from Gwenpool, another character she inspired.
  • Marvel's Spider-Man:
    • In the comics, the Jackal has a brother named Raymond, who is a teacher at Midtown High. Here, the Jackal is Raymond. Additionally, he's fused with Arthur Stacy as he's Gwen's uncle.
    • Flash Thompson is a jock like in the comics, but is interested in science (but not very good at it) like his Marvel Cinematic Universe counterpart, and cuts his hair extremely short like his Amazing Spider-Man counterpart. He also displays the Reformed Bully characteristics that he eventually gained in The Amazing Spider-Man and the post-high school issues of the original comics. Additionally, while he did have his Agent Venom time, this Flash takes over Eddie Brock's role as the symbiote's first post-Spidey host.
    • Kraven fused the skills of his 616 self, the reality show stardom of his Ultimate counterpart, and a look his second son Alyosha wore when he fought The Punisher.
    • Gwen Stacy is a fusion of her 616 and Spider-Gwen incarnations. An arc adapted from Spider-Island also sees her in a role similar to Carlie Cooper.
    • Screwball is Liz Allan instead of a separate person.
    • Harry Osborn, much like in the Ultimate Spider-Man comics, is the Hobgoblin, in this particular case, he's fused with post-Face–Heel Turn Phil Urich as this Harry has spiky black hair, as opposed to the reddish-brown of past versions of Harry, and wields a flame sword. However he is not evil this time, and another case of this trope applies when his father Norman Osborn uses the name instead of being Green Goblin.
    • Electro is based on the second one, Francine Frye, but has an Energy Being form similar to the Ultimate incarnation of Max Dillon, her being black might also be from The Amazing Spider-Man 2's version of Dillon, and she's also an Engineer like Dillon.
    • Anti-Venom turns out to be Groot, with the suit being formed when his natural alien antibodies interact with a Venom symbiote.
    • Tiberius Stone's connection with Alchemax during Superior Spider Man's reign is taken from his comic counterpart. However, his hairstyle and role as Alchemax's CEO both come from Tyler Stone, his son from Spider-Man 2099. He also takes Donald Roxxon's place as the one behind the illegal experiments that transformed Tyrone Johnson and Tandy Bowen into Cloak and Dagger.
    • Swarm turns out to be Jefferson Davis, Miles Morales's dad, taking up a similar role to his brother Aaron as the Prowler.
  • The enemy robots in Mega Man: Fully Charged take cues from robots from the orginal series whenever possible. For example, Wood Man appears to be a combination of his classic counterpart, as well as having ninja tricks like Shadow Man and a solider's mentality like Commando Man.
  • In the Moominvalley episode "Snufkin and the Park-Keeper", the kindhearted and well-meaning Hemulen policewoman appears to be based on the kindhearted cousin of the officious (and male) Hemulan jailer in Moomnsummer Madness. The Park-Keeper himself serves a more active role in the investigation, essentially taking the novel jailer's place.
  • On the animated version of Mortadelo y Filemón, they had the Agente Bestiájez fulfilling the roles of many one-off characters in the comics, probably so they could reuse his design and voice actor.
  • My Adventures with Superman
    • While she has the name and powers of Livewire, her role as an arms dealer and mercenary who initially uses super-tech and serves as the Starter Villain of a Superman animated show owes a lot to the DCAU version of Metallo. She even tries to dispatch Superman with a robot that he struggles with due to inexperience during a heist, like that iteration of Metallo did.
    • Dr. Anthony Ivo is a composite of his original comics self, his android Amazo, and the various incarnations of Parasite, with just a hint of Lex Luthor.
    • Kyle McDougal composite of Bevan McDougalnote  and the Golden Age villain Mistnote . His connection with Silver Banshee might also make him a reference to Silver Mist, an obscure Steel villain.
  • A few of the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic ponies are Composite Characters with other ponies, due to loss of trademark on the G1 ponies that were meant to be used. Surprise became Pinkie Pie, Firefly got turned into Rainbow Dash, Glory became Rarity, Twilight became Twilight Twinkle (though her name was changed to "Twilight Sparkle"), and Posey became Fluttershy.
    • Pinkie Pie is the best example of this. G1 Surprise was a fun-loving prankster who used that quality to confuse her enemies when it was time to get dangerous. However, G3 Pinkie Pie was a party planner. FIM Pinkie has Surprise's madcapness and then some but she's the foremost party planner in Ponyville. A lot of FIM characters are a G1 character's personality with a G3 character's name, but the FIM Pinkie Pie is really a fusion of Pinkie Pie and Surprise instead of just being Surprise in Pinkie Pie's colors. (Compare to Rainbow Dash, whose G3 incarnation was more like Rarity in personality, none of it carrying over to FIM RD aside from her color scheme. Her personality was inspired by the personality Lauren Faust gave her childhood g1 Firefly toy.)
    • Surprise was originally a Pegasus, and Posey an Earth pony, but the races were switched for their G4 counterparts.
    • In the case of Applejack, Hasbro actually kept her trademark and thus just updated her G1 design to the G4 style, but she did inherent human character Megan's cowgirl aesthetic and Team Mom status, as well as Truly's Southern accent and fondness for Hats. Applejack's older brother is a composite of some of the G1 Big Brother Ponies and gained G3 Applejack's color scheme.
  • In the Arrowverse animated series Freedom Fighters: The Ray, the title character's look and name come from Raymond Terrill, the second Ray in the comics. His sexuality comes from The Multiversity's version of Lanford Terrill, the original Ray. His origin appears to be based loosely on Lucien Gates, the New 52 Ray, with Lanford's journalism background.
  • In the 1973 Russian animated version of The Nutcracker, which combines aspects of Tchaikovsky's ballet and the original story, the Nutcracker Prince is a composite of the original Nutcracker/Drosselmeyer's nephew and Princess Pirlipat. In the original story, the Mouse Queen casts a spell on Princess Pirlipat and turns her ugly; Drosselmeyer's nephew breaks the spell, but due to a mishap in the process, he turns into a nutcracker. In most productions of the ballet, this whole backstory is cut, and the Nutcracker's human form is simply a Prince Charming. The Russian animated version splits the difference: the Nutcracker was originally a prince, but transformed into a nutcracker by the Mouse Queen in much the same way she enchants Pirlipat in the original.
  • In the animated miniseries of Robert A. Heinlein's Red Planet, Jim Marlowe's friend Frank Sutton is Adapted Out, with his role in the original book instead filled by Jim's sister Phyllis.

    S-Z 
  • In the final episode of the first season of Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo "Ransom of Scooby Chief", which mostly focuses on Scrappy and his friends (Velma, Daphne and Fred are only seen at beginning and end, Shaggy and Scooby spend most of the episode kidnapped), the three of them show combined traits of the typical gang:
    • Scrappy of himself and Fred, taking the role of The Leader and initially being the one to initiate the rescue operation.
    • Duke of Velma and Scooby, showing signs of being The Smart Guy and holding Scrappy back when he gets too hotheaded (Which Scooby usually does)
    • Annie of Shaggy and Daphne, being the one girl and relying on Duke and Scrappy to figure things out, and being rather cautious when it comes to the kidnappers.
    • The cast of The New Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo Show featured Daphne as a regular but not Fred or Velma, so Daphne became a composite of all three characters, taking on Fred's role of the leader of the group and Velma's role as the smart one who analyzes the clues, while still occupying her old role as Damsel in Distress.
  • Season five of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power introduces Melog, who is a shapeshifting creature like its 80s counterpart. However, it also fulfills Clawdeen's role as Catra's pet lion. Noelle Stevenson wanted to bring in Clawdeen originally, but placed Melog in that role because Clawdeen is too similar to Lion in Steven Universe.
    • In She-Ra: Princess of Power, Flutterina was her own character, as was Swen. In the reboot, they are merely disguises used by the shapeshifting Double Trouble.
  • Silver Surfer: The Animated Series:
    • Frankie Raye takes Alicia Masters' place as the human woman who convinces the Surfer to turn against Galactus and spare Earth.
    • Drax is changed from a dead human recreated by Kronos to a living brain in an android body built by Mentor. This essentially makes him the show's equivalent of ISAAC, the advanced Artificial Intelligence created by Mentor in the comics.
  • The Simpsons:
  • The Smurfs (1981):
    • Greedy Smurf is a composite of both Baker Smurf and Chef Smurf and the original comic book version of Greedy.
    • Painter Smurf in the cartoon show combined elements of the comic book version and Sculptor Smurf. He still is that way in the live-action movie series.
    • Brainy combines himself with King Smurf from the original comic book story to become the title villain in the cartoon show episode of the same name.
  • In The Spectacular Spider-Man, Montana of the Enforcers and the Shocker (originally Herman Schultz in the comics) are now a single character. His partner in the Enforcers, Fancy Dan, becomes Ricochet (two heroes in the comics continuity, one of whom was Spidey himself). The Ox also gets a power suit, but stays the Ox.
    • Their boss, Lonnie "Tombstone" Lincoln, also uses the alter-ego "Big Man," originally Frederick Foswell in the comics. (Interestingly, Foswell was in the series, and said that he knew if anyone was the Big Man, it wasn't Lincoln; it's unclear if something would have developed with this had the show not been Screwed by the Lawyers.) As a billionaire Villain with Good Publicity he's also far more reminiscent of The Kingpin than thug-for-hire comic Tombstone, or even the original Big Man, who was more of a street gang leader. Word of God says they were originally going to include the Kingpin as "the Big Man of Crime," but had to Write Around Trademarks since they were only allowed to use official Spider-Man characters. Kingpin is technically a Daredevil villain now, so Sony didn't have the rights to him.
    • And the Cat, Black Cat's Gentleman Thief father, is combined with Uncle Ben's killer, which in turn makes Black Cat combined with Jessica Carradine.
    • There's also Sable Manfredi. Her role as the loyal daughter of the elderly crime-lord Silvio "Silvermane" Manfredi comes from Alisha Silver in Spider-Man: The Animated Series. Her name and appearance are clearly based on Nazi-hunter and occasional Spidey ally Silver Sable (Silver Sablinova).
    • Liz Allan's brother Mark has a gambling addiction, much like Betty Brant's brother Bennett in the comics.
  • In Spider-Man (1967), Mary Jane Watson is Captain Stacy's niece, presumably to fill the void left by Gwen Stacy, his daughter in the comics.
  • In Spider-Man: The Animated Series:
    • Felicia Hardy and Mary Jane Watson both received characteristics of Gwen Stacy due to Gwen being Demoted to Extra. Felicia retains Gwen's original Lovable Alpha Bitch characterization from her early appearances, while Mary Jane has her more wholesome personality from later comics, as well as receiving Gwen's death, although she is trapped in another dimension instead of dying.
    • The Hobgoblin is largely based on the original version of the character (believed at the time in the comics to have been Ned Leeds, but later confirmed to be Roderick Kingsley a few years after the show ended). However, when finally unmasked, it's revealed that the show's version of the Hobgoblin is Jason Phillip Macendale, the second major Hobgoblin in the comics.
    • Electro mixes in elements of Albert Malik, the second Red Skull, by having Electro's costume and powers and much of Malik's background by being a Russian Agent, having ties to the conspiracy of the deaths of Peter's parents, and impersonating the real Red Skull.
    • Tombstone is turned into an enforcer for Silvermane, a role in the comics that's primarily held by minor Spider-Man villain Man Mountain Marko.
    • Spider-Carnage is created when the Carnage symbiote merges with an alternate universe version of Peter Parker, unlike in the comics, where Spider-Carnage was the result of a merger between the symbiote and Ben Reilly.
    • Much like the live-action Daredevil movie would do years later, the show made the Wilson "The Kingpin" Fisk the one responsible for the murder of Jack Murdock, combining Fisk with Roscoe "The Fixer" Sweeney, the man who killed Jack in the comics.
  • Super Best Friends Forever:
    • The Batgirl used is Barbara Gordon but her personality in more in line with Stephanie Brown.
    • Likewise, the classic Kara Zor-El Supergirl is used, but she's fused with Power Girl as she's more muscular like PG and has Karen's more rougher personality.
  • On The Super Hero Squad Show, Scorpio (Nick Fury's brother in the comics) is Nick Fury himself using the identity to infiltrate and thwart Dr. Doom's plans.
  • King Koopa from The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! and its two followups combined franchise villain Bowser with Wart from the second game. His first name is still Bowser and he has his basic appearance and personality, but his color scheme and the fact the he wears a crown comes from Wart.note  He also has the 8 bits, who worked for Wart in the games, as his henchmen, though he later got the Koopalings when their games were adapted.
  • Teen Titans (2003):
    • Robin is an amalgam of the first three characters who went by that name, although he is mainly implied (and later confirmed in the tie-in comics) to be Dick Grayson. He has Dick's origin and future identity as Nightwing, but Tim Drake's fighting style, costume and detective skills. And to a lesser extent, Jason Todd's anger issues.
    • While the Warp in the comics had Villain Teleportation, the Warp in this show was clearly meant to be DC supervillain Chronos, what with his time-travelling powers and whatnot.
    • Kole has her comic book counterpart's powers and personality in addition to taking Lilith's role as Gnarrk's companion.
    • Before Deathstroke's daughter appeared in the animated series continuity proper, Terra's character combined elements of Rose Wilson and Tara Markov, particularly the abusive relationship the comic version of Wilson had with her father, and the long, blonde hair of Wilson's that fell over one eye, creating a visual comparison with Slade.
    • Raven has her comic book counterpart's powers and backstory in addition to taking Donna Troy's role as Starfire's Heterosexual Life-Partner.
    • Jinx has her comic book counterpart's powers and role in addition to taking Magenta's role as Kid Flash's love interest.
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:
    • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987): In the original comic book, Splinter was the pet rat of ninja master Hamato Yoshi, who gained anthropomorphic qualities after exposure to the mutagen. Here, Splinter is Hamato Yoshi himself, who gained rat-like qualities due to the mutagen.
    • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003): In the first cartoon, the Shredder was teamed up with an exiled, brain-like alien megalomaniac who got around in a robotic body. In this series, the Shredder IS an exiled, brain-like alien megalomaniac operating a robotic body. Although Word of God is that the show runners tried to keep the two dissimilar, Turtles Forever went one step further and gave the 2003 Shredder a body with the same Make My Monster Grow function Krang's android body once displayed. (Shredder even said that Krang's technology and the Utroms worked well together.)
    • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012):
      • Splinter and Hamato Yoshi are the same person once again. He's also the guy who originally bought the turtles before they were exposed to the Ooze, taking the role of Chet, the little boy who bought them in their original origin story from the comics. Sadly, this Splinter shares ultimately with another element of Yoshi: his canonical fate of being murdered by the Shredder.
      • The show reintroduces Krang, but as a species of aliens called "The Kraang", who wear human disguises and operate covertly, combining the character with the alien species of the Utroms. As of the fourth season, they have partially gone back on this, showing that the Krang are a Hive Mind faction that have all but taken over the Utrom race.
      • April O'Neil has some similarities with the fifth turtle Venus de Milo from Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation, mainly in that both characters are teenagers, have psychic powers, wear ponytails, and wield the tessen as their weapon. This is most notable because many fans saw Venus as a Replacement Scrappy for April.
      • The Shredder, like his film counterpart, takes his brother Nagi's part in the Love Triangle between him, Yoshi, and Tang Shen, but his part in killing her and being raised alongside Hamato Yoshi is taken from Yukio Mashimi, the stand-in for Nagi in the 4Kids adaptation.
    • Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sees sees Lou Jitsu revealed as Splinter—and much like in the 1987 and 2012 cartoons, he's a mutated and still-living Hamato Yoshi, instead of Yoshi being dead and Splinter being his mutated pet rat.
  • Thomas & Friends:
    • This was a shrewd method of giving the lead character more roles in early episodes adapted from The Railway Series novels. Whenever the original novels utilized a generic or unadapted engine, Thomas would be used in its place. For example, he is the engine that tries to push Henry out of the tunnel in "The Sad Story of Henry", or the rude engine that fetches James' trucks in "Troublesome Trucks", both of which were unnamed background characters in the original books.
    • The Fat Controller also took the role of the controller of the Skarloey Railway when it came time to adapt those books. Later on Mr. Percival was created to take the role of the Thin Controller from the original books.
    • In "Percy Takes the Plunge", the unknown tank engines from outside the railway are replaced by Bill and Ben. Likewise, in "Thomas and the Special Letter", Jinty is replaced with Oliver.
  • In the Nelvana adaptation of the Tintin book, The Red Sea Sharks, Sheik Bab-El-Ehr's part as the rebels' leader is absorbed into Mull Pasha's (Bab-El-Ehr himself had no screen time anyway in the book).
  • Tiny Toon Adventures had Little Sneezer, a cross between Chuck Jones's Sniffles and Friz Freleng's Little Blabbermouse. Somewhat Zig-Zagged in that Sniffles himself became more reminiscent of Little Blabbermouse once Chuck Jones grew out of his Disneyesque phase.
  • During the 1940s and 1950s, MGM's animation studio used two bulldogs named Spike: the famous one seen in Tom and Jerry, and the one Tex Avery made up for his own shorts. Avery's Spike is mostly gone from most modern media involving the characters due to the One-Steve Limit, and when he does appear, he goes by the name of Butch in order to distinguish them. However, for The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show, the Tom and Jerry Spike takes the role of both, acting as an adversary for the cat and mouse and as a character Droopy would interact with (and occasionally be pit against).
  • In The Transformers, Laserbeak takes Buzzsaw's role as the Decepticons' main spy (as use of the latter was often discouraged), which also resulted in his original Interrogator function being absent.
  • Transformers: Animated:
    • While based on the original Optimus Prime, Animated's version of Prime takes after Optimus Primal in that he's a rookie hero and low-ranking member of the good guys, has a blue face with a retractable faceplate, and a mouth similar to how Primal's looked in Beast Machines.
    • Megatron is a combination of his original cartoon incarnation and his larger and more vicious live-action movie incarnation, but with a little dash of his Beast Wars namesake added in.
    • Blackarachnia is a combination of her Beast Wars namesake and Elita One from The Transformers, with her design featuring elements of all of Blackarachnia's appearances in the Beast era.
    • To go along with Blackarachnia being a fusion of her namesake and Elita-One, Sentinel Prime has the color scheme, age and role as the second guy in Optimus's Two Guys and a Girl trio from Dion from "War Dawn", whilst having the name and position of Sentinel Prime from The Transformers (Marvel).
    • The Japanese dub actually did this to everyone by making them all the same characters as the ones in the live action movies. Especially Bulkhead, who was actually even renamed "Ironhide". However, that's a very informed trait that doesn't show up in the series itself. In fact, comedic elements were added to that particular character that make "Ironhide" even less like Movie Ironhide than Bulkhead was.
    • Inverted (or something; we're not quite sure what) with Skywarp and Cyclonus. In Transformers: The Movie, Cyclonus may or may not be an upgraded Skywarp (blame error-prone animation for a confusing Transformation Sequence.) The Animated version, however? Skywarp is one of several clones of Starscream, each with one trait of the original taken up to eleven. Skywarp represents his cowardice. As for Cyclonus, he's a brief cameo, but All There in the Manual tells us that his "internal chronometer" is way off, he is seeking someone named Galvatron (that's Megatron's upgraded form in G1 and several other series), and he has some circuitry in common with Starscream, particularly his (now disabled) self-preservation instinct. This hints without saying that Cyclonus is from the future and used to be Skywarp.
  • Transformers: Prime:
    • Airachnid at first appears to be an Expy of Blackarachnia. However, personality-wise, she appears to be more a combination of Lockdown and Tarantulas, with just a little bit of the Predator thrown in.
    • Arcee looks and acts more like Chromia than her G1 counterpart, who was pink, Team Mom and The Heart rather than being blue, an Action Girl and Lady of War.
    • Shockwave combines the logic-driven mad scientist characterization of his G1 incarnation with the hulking death machine appearance of his Movie counterpart.
    • As with Transformers: Animated, Megatron has taken cues from both his G1 self (his voice actor albeit deeper, the buckethead, his lower legs resemble a pistol's handgrip) and film incarnations (sharp angles on his shoulders, two-toed feet, a demonic face with shark-like teeth, and alt-mode).
    • The Prime Scraplets are a composite of two Transformer-eating species from the Marvel Comic: The Scraplets (name, small size, that those almost eaten look like having a disease) and the Mechaniballs (general shape, not as small as actual Scraplets, and a more direct, physical approach to eat rather than the Scraplets' "infection and multiplication" one).
    • While a case of All There in the Manual between Transformers: Fall of Cybertron and Transformers: Exiles, the Nemesis is a reformatted Trypticon.
  • When Nickelodeon re-introduced America to Winx Club in 2011, they crammed the first two seasons into four, one-hour specials. The season two special, "The Shadow Phoenix," merged Lord Darkar with Professor Avalon by making the latter a disguise. In the original full season, the Avalon the Winx met was an imposter working for Darkar. The change caused a Plot Hole in the third season, since the real Avalon had arrived at Alfea by then.
  • In W.I.T.C.H. comics Nerissa's Dragon Shagon and bestial Kor were random man and his dog turned into her servants. In the cartoon this fate is given to Will's boyfriend Matt and his pet dormouse.
  • In X-Men: The Animated Series:
    • Lady Deathstrike is Wolverine's former lover from Japan, a backstory that was taken from Mariko Yashida, Logan's longtime girlfriend from the comics. Deathstrike's father, Professor Oyama, was himself combined with Abraham Cornelius, the scientist in charge of the adamantium-bonding procedure that was used on Logan at Weapon X.
    • The Phalanx was amalgamated with the Technarchy.
    • The adaptation of Days of Future Past combines that story with another time travel story (the X-Men traitor), and Bishop, the time traveler from the latter, also stands in for Kitty Pryde, the original traveler from the former.
    • Any other role that was originally Kitty's was given to Jubilee. These include the scene from the first episode where Jubilee is kicked out of an arcade after breaking one of the machines (something that happened to Kitty in Uncanny X-Men #180), and the classic "Kitty's Fairy Tale" issue being loosely adapted as "Jubilee's Fairytale Theater" in the final season.
    • Beast mentions that Magneto is the one who crippled Professor Xavier, an act performed by an alien named Lucifer in the original comics.
    • Crossing over with Decomposite Character, "Captive Hearts" gave the role of the X-Man Callisto kidnapped to be her mate to Cyclops, with Angel, who originally held the role, appearing later on.
  • In X-Men: Evolution, Avalanche seems to be a combination of the comic book Avalanche (name, role with the Brotherhood) and Rictor of the New Mutants (appearance, the details of how his powers work, occasional consideration of a Heel–Face Turn). The hotheadedness comes from both of them.
  • In Wolverine and the X-Men (2009):
    • Marrow appears in the Bad Future, where she befriends Rover the Sentinel and takes on the role of Tom Skylark in the comic book Bad Future Here Comes Tomorrow, only without the Technopathy that explained how Tom had made friends with a Sentinel. Instead, she was given it by Polaris.
    • The show's version of Arclight is a male like the Age of Apocalypse characters, but sported the powers of the classic Marvel version who's a woman and wears a Spear Counterpart version of her costume.
    • Master Mold is combined with Danger, the evil sentient A.I. from Joss Whedon's run. Because of this, Master Mold is depicted as a Fem Bot.
    • Silver Samurai is merged with Noburu Hideki, Mariko's fiance from the original Wolverine (1982) mini-series. This causes a bit of Squick, since Silver Samurai is Mariko's BROTHER in the original comics.
    • Angel's father, Warren Worthington II, was a combination of his incarnation in X-Men: The Last Stand (a misguided man who thinks he's helping mutants when he's really helping himself who realizes the error of his ways, though here, it's too late to really do anything) and Cameron Hodge (being the one who has Angel's wings amputated).
    • Toad is basically the Earth-616 version with the Ultimate look.
    • Mystique, who's a mix of Mystique as we know her, and Silver Fox, Wolverine's former love interest and fellow captive at Weapon X.
  • The Peloto from the Zipi y Zape 2003 animated series was a mixture of the Professional Butt-Kisser Peloto from the comics with Sapientín's Insufferable Genius traits.

Top