History Expy / WesternAnimation

* ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'':
** While Ellen Yin is an [[RaceLift Asian-American]] [[ComicBook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns Ellen Yindel]] and Ethan Bennett is the show's first Clayface, they are are more or less counterparts of Renee Montoya and Crispus Allen. Which is a bit funny because Renee Montoya originated in [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries B:TAS]] and became a CanonImmigrant. Yin also heavily resembles [[WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}} Elisa Maza]] as she wears the same outfit and Ethan Bennett is a stand-in Two-Face as before his transformation into Clayface, he had a long friendship with Bruce and called Batman "Bats," a la Harvey from ''ComicBook/TheLongHalloween''.
** Black Mask's final [[TheDragon Number One]] resembled an older version of Clover Ewing from ''WesternAnimation/TotallySpies'', only with an eyepatch and working for a crime boss.

* ''WesternAnimation/BewareTheBatman'' was intended to use some of Batman's lesser known enemies in place of his regular RoguesGallery. However, this means that some of those B and C-list villains have had their characters tweaked to fit into the roles of more well-known adversaries.
** Anarky; a grinning, white-faced maniac obsessed with Chaos is The Joker. His bizzare philosophical speeches on the nature of OrderVersusChaos and love of explosions puts him closest to the [[Film/TheDarkKnight Heath Ledger portrayal]]. Anarky is an especially egregious example, as in the comics he is a purposeful and intelligent teenage AntiVillain and champion of the downtrodden who was designed as to subvert AnarchyIsChaos and BombThrowingAnarchists, whereas the cartoon version is a giggling lunatic who creates mayhem and destruction for his own amusement.
** Magpie; a sultry, kleptomaniac leather-wearing female villain with an obsessive crush on Batman is Catwoman. Specifically, as a severely unbalanced schizophrenic, the [[Film/BatmanReturns Michelle Pfeiffer version]].
** Humpty Dumpty, who uses toys and puzzles is The Riddler. In one episode he even imprisons Batman and several others in a maze of rooms with each one containing a clue to a larger mystery.
** Tobias Whale, a physically deformed crime lord with an animal name is a more serious Penguin.
** Professor Pyg, as an ecoterrorist, could be considered a very loose Poison Ivy analogue.

* ''WesternAnimation/IronManTheAnimatedSeries'' had a CanonForeigner villainess named Hypnotia, who was a thinly-veiled Expy of Enchantress from the ''[[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]]'' comics.
** Elastika, another Canon Foreigner villainess, was an Expy of Zarana from ''Franchise/GIJoe''.

* ''WesternAnimation/MarvelRisingInitiation'': The comic book version of ''ComicBook/SpiderGwen'' exists in an alternate universe where it was Gwen Stacy, not her nerdy best friend Peter Parker, who was bitten by the radioactive spider. The ''Marvel Rising'' cartoon however makes Gwen's nerdy best friend a CanonForeigner named Kevin, who serves the same basic role. He even looks very similar to Peter [[spoiler: and gets killed off like him too]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan'', Tombstone was made into an expy of the Kingpin, [[ExiledFromContinuity who couldn't be used due to legal issues]].
* ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManAndHisAmazingFriends'':
** When created for the cartoon, Firestar's civilian identity bore a resemblance to Mary Jane Watson. The resemblance was actually remarked upon in the comics some time later. Likewise, her superhero powers make her a clear Expy of [[ComicBook/FantasticFour The Human Torch]], the only difference being the [[GenderFlip gender swap]] to give Spidey an [[AffirmativeActionGirl Amazing Female Friend]].
** Iceman's sister Lightwave was an expy of Aurora from the ''ComicBook/XMen'' and ''ComicBook/AlphaFlight''.
* ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries'':
** The show has a minor recurring expy of [[ComicBook/Agent13 Sharon Carter]] named "Agent X".
** Lt. Terri Lee is basically a {{Race Lift}}ed version of Jean [=DeWolff=].
* Talon from ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheNewAnimatedSeries'' was originally supposed to be Black Cat, but was changed to an original character once the producers snagged the rapper Eve for the part.

* ''WesternAnimation/StaticShock'':
** Static learns of a more experienced electric based superhero that existed before him, a man named Soul Power, an Expy of Black Lightning, whom they couldn't add to the show due to rights issues.

* ''The Franchise/{{Superman}} / ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} [[WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfSuperman Hour of Adventure]]'' from {{Creator/Filmation}} replaced Green Lantern's friend Tom Kalmaku with a similar KidSidekick named Kairo. The only real difference was that Tom was an Inuit while Kairo was an alien from Venus.
** And oddly enough Kairo later received ''his own'' Expy decades later in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' with the character of Kai-Ro, a young Asian boy who was chosen as Earth's new Green Lantern after John Stewart retired.

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'' had a few.
** Sarasim was an Expy of ComicBook/{{Cyborg}}'s love interest Sarah Simms (possibly with elements of his later girlfriend Sarah Charles [[CompositeCharacter thrown in as well]]), the Puppet King was based off the Puppeteer, Billy Numerous was based off Multiplex, and Larry was based off ComicBook/BatMite.
** Bumblebee and Jinx had more in common with Marvel heroines ComicBook/TheWasp and ComicBook/ScarletWitch, respectively, than their comic book counterparts.
** There's also a few characters serving as visual {{Shout Out}}s to various DC heroes, such as Private H.I.V.E. looking like the Guardian and Val-Yor looking like ComicBook/CaptainAtom.
** A computer virus from an episode is based off of Keramon from ''Anime/DigimonTheMovie''. They look nearly identical and they both [[spoiler: end up splitting into multiple (read: Thousands!) of copies in an attempt to do something horrible and are only stopped at the last second]].

* Colonel Moss from ''WesternAnimation/WolverineAndTheXMen2009'' was heavily based on [[ComicBook/UltimateXMen Ultimate]] John Wraith, right down to having the same mustache and a backstory involving Wolverine scarring his face.

* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010''
** Black Spider, an operative for the League of Shadows, despite being based on a DC character named Black Spider, he's Spider-Man if Spider-Man was evil. He makes wise cracks during battle, he's voiced by [[WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan Josh Keaton]], and he even refers to swinging through the city as 'web slinging.' Of course, "Evil Spider-Man" was pretty much the premise for the original comic character as well.
** This show's version of Lex Luthor borrows heavily in terms of both personality and methods from [[WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}} David Xanatos]], who was also created by ''Young Justice'' showrunner Creator/GregWeisman. In particular he trades in Luthor's megalomania for Xanatos' calm savviness. When the show was UnCancelled, Luthor regained many of his character traits from the original comics.
--->'''Luthor/Xanatos''': Revenge is a sucker's game.
** Sportsmaster is a badass American mercenary, a total asshole, the father of one of the heroines and has two kids with a Vietnamese woman who may or may not have been shot in the spine. [[ComicBook/{{Watchmen}} If he starts crying and going on about how "life is just a sport" or something like that, he's a lost cause.]]
** Tye Longshadow, [[GenderFlip Asami Koizumi]], and Eduardo Dorado, Jr. are [[ReimaginingTheArtifact modernized]] and less-stereotypical Expies of Apache Chief, Samurai, and El Dorado, three of the CaptainEthnic {{Canon Foreigner}}s from ''WesternAnimation/SuperFriends''. ComicBook/{{Static}} takes the place of Black Vulcan, becoming something of a CompositeCharacter. ''Outsiders'' sees Ed Dorado, the El Dorado expy evolve into CanonCharacterAllAlong as he takes up the codename of "El Dorado".
** This version of Comicbook/KlarionTheWitchBoy is a [[HumanoidAbomination Lord of Chaos]] with an erratic personality, which some fans have noted makes him a lot like the Child, a different DC villain. Funnily enough, season four includes the Child in [[EvilVsEvil a rivalry]] with Klarion, and had to distinguish them by giving the Child a GenderFlip and AdaptationalPersonalityChange.

** Memnock is basically has resemblances of Agent Wendell Pleakley as both are aliens who share similar skin colors, have some effeminate interests, are fascinated with the cultures of Earth, and work for an extraterrestrial government but Memnock does not cross dress and is more manly than Pleakley. Memnock also shares similar traits with Mr. Black as both are agents who like cooking and are voiced by Bill Mondy.

* [[Characters/TheOwlHouseEdaClawthorne Eda Clawthorne]] from ''[[WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse The Owl House]]'' is one to [[Anime/TenchiMuyo Ryoko Hakubi]] due to having similar designs and personalities.

* [[Characters/KingOfTheHillHankHill Hank Hill]] from ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' is an expy of Mr. Anderson from ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButtHead'', only younger, without a ButtMonkey status, and more fleshed out as a character. His wife Peggy also resembles a younger version of Tom's wife Marcy.

** Vin Moosk from "Operation: K.N.O.T." is a spoof of Minsc from ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'', right down to being voiced by Creator/{{Jim Cummings|1952}}.

* Eda Clawthorne from ''[[WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse The Owl House]]'' is one to [[Anime/TenchiMuyo Ryoko Hakubi]] due to having similar designs and personalities.

* ''WesternAnimationTomAndJerryKids'': The WesternAnimation/{{Droopy}} segments of the show include the characters [[TheRival [=McWolf=]]] and [[MsFanservice Miss Vavoom]] which are clearly based on the Wolf and Red from Creator/TexAvery's ''WesternAnimation/RedHotRidingHood'' cartoons.