History CaptainErsatz / Literature

** The ''Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures'' companion Chris Cwej was stated to now be working for the Time Lords just before the licence ran out. He then appeared in the ''Franchise/BerniceSummerfield New Adventures'', referring only to his "employers", and in ''Faction Paradox'', where they were, of course, the Great Houses. In the anthology ''Cwej: Down the Middle'', his superiors are officially known as, well, the Superiors. They are also referred to as "the House-Dwellers" and "the Lords of Jewel". (The former suggesting the Great Houses, and the latter a MythologyGag to a name ''TV Comic'' gave to the Time Lords' home planet, before the series went with Gallifrey.)

* In a rather bizarre example, where CaptainErsatz meets AscendedFanon or who-knows-what, an erotic romance novel called ''The Stranger'' by Portia da Costa features an expy of [[Series/DoctorWho the Eighth Doctor]]. He has the same name as the actor who played Eight (Paul), and is almost exactly the same other than the name [[labelnote:1]]and being described as taller and younger than I personally would describe him[[/labelnote]], including the [[TraumaInducedAmnesia amnesia]]. And the heroine's surname, as some who've watched [[Film/WithnailAndI Withnail & I]] may know, was the surname of another character Paul [=McGann=] played. Oddly enough, this all merits a sort of ContinuityNod in a TieInNovel - the heroine is mentioned as someone the Doctor knew [[labelnote:2]]not, mind you, mentioned as someone he ''knew''[[/labelnote]]. {{Fandom}} has speculated about which TieInNovel writer is "Portia da Costa". So this means ''the Doctor'' has a ''published'' and ''semi-canon'' ADateWithRosiePalms full of {{Narm}}[[labelnote:3]]"Claudia realised that caressing himself was as much a comfort to the young man as it was an act of sex. He seemed reassured by his body's own responses. But that took nothing away from the eroticism of his performance."[[/labelnote]], among other things, out there.

*** SILOET, the successor to PRISM, is [[Series/{{UFO}} SHADO]].

*** Lunar Base is the Moonbase. It's also the Moonbase from ''Series/{{Space 1999}}''.

*** The Myloki are the Mysterons, and the unnamed aliens from ''UFO''.

* Charles Stross's [[Literature/TheLaundryFiles Laundry]] novel ''Literature/TheApocalypseCodex'' features cultured female superspy Penelope Hazard and her rough-diamond minion Johnny [=MacTavish=], who are barely disguised versions of Literature/ModestyBlaise and her sidekick Willie Garvin as magicians. It's even lampshaded with Hazard's codename within the Laundry, which is [[PunnyName BASHFUL INCENDIARY]].

*** Dr Ventham is Colonel Lake. (Named after actress Wanda Ventham)

** In ''Literature/TheQuorum'', several of the characters are fans of CaptainErsatz comics characters Amazon Queen (Franchise/WonderWoman) and The Streak (Franchise/TheFlash), with shades of Franchise/{{Superman}}), and one is a comics writer creating ''Comicbook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths''-style series about them for comics company "ZC".

** Amazon Queen and The Streak also appear in "[[http://johnnyalucard.com/fiction/online-fiction/coastal-city/ Coastal City]]", along with Green Masque (Comicbook/BlackCanary), the Darkangel (Comicbook/{{Batman}}), Gecko-Man (Comicbook/SpiderMan), the Outcasts (Comicbook/XMen), Teensy Teen (Comicbook/TheWasp) and Blubber Boy (sort-of Gi{{Comicbook/ant Man}}), Vindicator (a cyborg version of Comicbook/ThePunisher) and Nightgaunt (probably ''ComicBook/{{Spawn}}'').

* In ''What They Did To Princess Paragon'' by Robert Rodi, the eponymous Princess Paragon is very obviously Franchise/WonderWoman. Other characters created by Bang Comics include Acme-Man (Franchise/{{Superman}}), the urban vigilante Moonman (Franchise/{{Batman}}, complete with campy 60s TV series), and other members of the Freedom Front (Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica). Bang's rivals Electric Comics, meanwhile, created the explorer-team The Quasar Quintet (Comicbook/FantasticFour), the irradiated monster Sherman Tank (Comicbook/IncredibleHulk), and the superhero team The Offenders (Comicbook/TheAvengers).

* Al Ewing's contributions to the ''Pax Britannia'' SharedUniverse (set in a SteamPunk {{Dystopia}} 20th century) feature El Sombra, a masked swordsman named Djego, whose main difference from Franchise/{{Zorro}} is that he's decidedly not a nobleman. ''Gods Of Manhattan'' is a TwoFistedTales pastiche which also includes Doc Thunder (Literature/DocSavage with a dash of [[Literature/{{Gladiator}} Hugo Danner]]), the Blood Spider (Radio/TheShadow with elements of Literature/TheSpider), the Blue Ghost (ComicBook/TheSpirit) and Jack Scorpio, Agent of S.T.E.A.M. (ComicBook/NickFury). The follow-up ''Pax Omega'' has Doc Thunder's powers develop until he's Comicbook/{{Superman}}, and Jack Scorpio's Yodelling Bastards (ComicBook/SgtFuryAndHisHowlingCommandos) who include El Sombra, Blood Widow (Blood Spider's ex; Comicbook/BlackWidow with [[Comicbook/SpiderMan Mary Jane Watson]] elements), Richard Reed ([[Comicbook/FantasticFour Reed Richards]]; his ancestor Franklin Reed is a play on Mr Fantastic's son, but is also a CaptainErsatz of Frank Reade and similar DimeNovel {{Teen Genius}}es) and Mike Moses ([[Series/TheATeam B.A. Baracus]]).
* In Austin Grossman's ''Literature/SoonIWillBeInvincible'', [=CoreFire=], Elphin, and Blackwolf are easily recognizable pastiches of Franchise/{{Superman}}, Franchise/WonderWoman, and Franchise/{{Batman}}, respectively. Other characters are also less-obviously drawn from other Marvel and DC characters. The central superhero group is sort of like a cross between the Avengers and the JLA, Doctor Impossible is a bit ComicBook/LexLuthor plus superpowers (and sympathy), Damsel is a bit Donna Troy + Ms. Marvel with some Storm thrown in, Rainbow Triumph is obviously Robin, Mister Magic is mostly Comicbook/DoctorStrange, and so on.

* Before creating the Wold Newton Family, Creator/PhilipJoseFarmer wrote a series of novels about John Cloamby, Lord Grandrith, who was raised by apes, and his half-brother Doc Caliban, a two-fisted adventurer. As well as serving as a {{Deconstruction}} of the pulps, these books advanced Farmer's early theories about the relationship between Literature/{{Tarzan}} and Franchise/DocSavage, without actually naming names.

* Al Ewing's contributions to the ''Pax Britannia'' SharedUniverse (set in a SteamPunk {{Dystopia}} 20th century) feature El Sombra, a masked swordsman named Djego, whose main difference from Franchise/{{Zorro}} is that he's decidedly not a nobleman. ''Gods Of Manhattan'' is a TwoFistedTales pastiche which also includes Doc Thunder (Franchise/DocSavage with a dash of [[Literature/{{Gladiator}} Hugo Danner]]), the Blood Spider (Radio/TheShadow with elements of Literature/TheSpider), the Blue Ghost (ComicBook/TheSpirit) and Jack Scorpio, Agent of S.T.E.A.M. (ComicBook/NickFury). The follow-up ''Pax Omega'' has Doc Thunder's powers develop until he's Comicbook/{{Superman}}, and Jack Scorpio's Yodelling Bastards (ComicBook/SgtFuryAndHisHowlingCommandos) who include El Sombra, Blood Widow (Blood Spider's ex; Comicbook/BlackWidow with [[Comicbook/SpiderMan Mary Jane Watson]] elements), Richard Reed ([[Comicbook/FantasticFour Reed Richards]]; his ancestor Franklin Reed is a play on Mr Fantastic's son, but is also a CaptainErsatz of Frank Reade and similar DimeNovel {{Teen Genius}}es) and Mike Moses ([[Series/TheATeam B.A. Baracus]]).

*** The unnamed detective who narrates the ''Anno Dracula'' story "Castles in the Air" and the ''Literature/DiogenesClub'' stories "The Big Fish" and "Literature/SevenStars: The Trouble With Barrymore". The Who's Who at the back of ''The Secret Files of the Diogenes Club'' (which calls him "the Gumshoe") comments that if he's ''not'' Literature/PhilipMarlowe then it's a very big coincidence. (In the case of the ''Anno Dracula'' version, this coincidence extends to retiring to Poodle Springs.)

* Al Ewing's contributions to the ''Pax Britannia'' SharedUniverse (set in a SteamPunk {{Dystopia}} 20th century) feature El Sombra, a masked swordsman named Djego, whose main difference from Franchise/{{Zorro}} is that he's decidedly not a nobleman. ''Gods Of Manhattan'' is a TwoFistedTales pastiche which also includes Doc Thunder (Franchise/DocSavage with a dash of [[Literature/{{Gladiator}} Hugo Danner]]), the Blood Spider (Radio/TheShadow with elements of Literature/TheSpider), the Blue Ghost (ComicBook/TheSpirit) and Jack Scorpio, Agent of S.T.E.A.M. (ComicBook/NickFury). The follow-up ''Pax Omega'' has Doc Thunder's powers develop until he's Comicbook/{{Superman}}, and Jack Scorpio's Yodelling Bastards (ComicBook/HowlingCommandos) who include El Sombra, Blood Widow (Blood Spider's ex; Comicbook/BlackWidow with [[Comicbook/SpiderMan M.J. Watson]] elements), Richard Reed ([[Comicbook/FantasticFour Reed Richards]]; his ancestor Franklin Reed is a play on Mr Fantastic's son, but is also a CaptainErsatz of Frank Reade and similar DimeNovel {{Teen Genius}}es) and Mike Moses ([[Series/TheATeam B.A. Baracus]]).

** Samantha Dane is Alexandra DeWitt from ''ComicBook/GreenLantern''.

** Samantha Dane is [[StuffedIntoTheFridge Alexandra DeWitt]] from ''ComicBook/GreenLantern''.

* Creator/DouglasAdams's book ''Literature/DirkGentlysHolisticDetectiveAgency'' was based on a script he'd written for ''Series/DoctorWho'' ("''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E6Shada Shada]]''") that had never been completed due to a studio workers' strike. The character of Dirk Gently was created to replace the Doctor in the book, and the character of Richard [=MacDuff=] created as a Companion figure. Dirk Gently proved such an engaging character that Adams wrote a sequel, ''Literature/TheLongDarkTeaTimeOfTheSoul'', and was working on a third book [[AuthorExistenceFailure when he died]]. ''Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency'' actually borrows from both the above mentioned ''Shada'' and another Doctor Who serial, ''City of Death'', which Adams co-wrote. Compare the BigBad's plan in both.

*** Jasper and Squeak are WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry,

*** The unnamed detective who narrates the ''Anno Dracula'' story "Castles in the Air" and the ''Literature/DiogenesClub'' stories "The Big Fish" and "Seven Stars: The Trouble With Barrymore". The Who's Who at the back of ''The Secret Files of the Diogenes Club'' (which calls him "the Gumshoe") comments that if he's ''not'' Literature/PhilipMarlowe then it's a very big coincidence. (In the case of the ''Anno Dracula'' version, this coincidence extends to retiring to Poodle Springs.)

* ''Harry Potter and Bào Zǒulóng'', often mistranslated as ''Harry Potter and Leopard-Walk-Up-to-Dragon'', includes a dedication to Creator/JKRowling, an original first chapter, an introduction to the second chapter introducing Harry the Hobbit, followed by almost the entire text of ''Literature/TheHobbit'' with chapter names like "Flying Broom 2000" and most of the character names changed to those from ''Literature/HarryPotter''. The cover features an ersatz Maleficent from ''Disney/SleepingBeauty''.

* '''Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse'':

* ''Psychohistorical Crisis'' by Donald Kingsbury is closely based on ''Literature/{{Foundation}}''. The unnamed Founder is Hari Seldon; the Overt Arm and Covert Arm of the Plan are the Foundation and the Second Foundation; and the warlord Cloun the Stubborn is the Mule. There's also an ancient robot called Danny-Boy who's a bit of a TakeThat to R. Daneel Olivaw and the CanonWelding of ''Robots and Empire''.

* ''The Price of the Stars'' by Debra Doyle and James D. Macdonald is set a generation after a major [[Franchise/StarWars interstellar conflict]]. The heroes of the previous generation include a princess whose entire planet was destroyed by the enemy as an example to those who would resist; her husband, who before he joined the fight was a smuggler who famously did a notoriously difficult bit of navigation with record efficiency; his friend, a tall alien whose species tend to communicate via BilingualDialogue; and an adept of an order of psychic {{Warrior Monk}}s with a signature weapon.

* ''The Refrigerator Monologues'' by Creator/CatherynneMValente is a satire on sexist tropes in superhero comics. As such, all six of the main characters are extremely transparent Ersatzes of dead or otherwise maltreated female characters from DC or Marvel:

* In ''[[Literature/TheInfernalDevice Moriarty: The Great Game]]'' by Creator/MichaelKurland, amongst the sinister figures following Benjamin is a fat man named Gottfried Kasper and his obsequious sidekick Ugarti, clearly intended as versions of [[Film/TheMalteseFalcon Casper Gutman and Joel Cairo]] (with the Cairo character named after Creator/PeterLorre's character in ''Film/{{Casablanca}}'', Ugarte).

* In Creator/KimNewman's novel ''The Quorum'', several of the characters are fans of CaptainErsatz comics characters Amazon Queen (Franchise/WonderWoman) and The Streak (Comicbook/TheFlash), with shades of Franchise/{{Superman}}), and one is a comics writer creating ''Comicbook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths''-style series about them for comics company "ZC". The novel also mentions Dr. Shade, a British comics character who resembles Radio/TheShadow, whose first appearance was in Newman's story "The Original Dr. Shade", which in the course of describing the character's fictional publishing history performs a LampshadeHanging by mentioning that ''The Shadow'''s publishers once sued over the resemblance. Amazon Queen and The Streak also appear in "[[http://johnnyalucard.com/fiction/online-fiction/coastal-city/ Coastal City]]", along with Green Masque (Comicbook/BlackCanary), the Darkangel (Comicbook/{{Batman}}), Gecko-Man (Comicbook/SpiderMan), the Outcasts (Comicbook/XMen), Teensy Teen (Comicbook/TheWasp) and Blubber Boy (sort-of Gi{{Comicbook/ant Man}}), Vindicator ( a cyborg version of Comicbook/ThePunisher) and Nightgaunt (probably ''ComicBook/{{Spawn}}'').
* ''Literature/AnnoDracula''
** Secret agent [[Film/JamesBond Hamish Bond]] in ''Literature/DraculaChaChaCha''.
** "The Other Side of Midnight" includes a vampire slayer by the name of [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Barbie Winters]].
** The unnamed detective who narrates the ''Anno Dracula'' story "Castles in the Air" and the ''Literature/DiogenesClub'' stories "The Big Fish" and "Seven Stars: The Trouble With Barrymore". The Who's Who at the back of ''The Secret Files of the Diogenes Club'' (which calls him "the Gumshoe") comments that if he's ''not'' Literature/PhilipMarlowe then it's a very big coincidence. (In the case of the ''Anno Dracula'' version, this coincidence extends to retiring to Poodle Springs.)

* ''Psychohistorical Crisis'' by Donald Kingsbury is closely based on ''Literature/{{Foundation}}''. The unnamed Founder is Hari Seldon; the Overt Arm and Covert Arm of the Plan are the Foundation and the Second Foundation; and the warlord Cloun the Stubborn is the Mule. There's also an ancient robot called Danny-Boy who's a bit of a TakeThat to R. Daneel Olivaw and the CanonWelding of ''Robots and Empire''.

* In a rather bizarre example, where CaptainErsatz meets AscendedFanon or who-knows-what, an erotic romance novel called ''The Stranger'' by Portia da Costa features an expy of [[Series/DoctorWho the Eighth Doctor]]. He has the same name as the actor who played Eight (Paul), and is almost exactly the same other than the name [[labelnote:1]]and being described as taller and younger than I personally would describe him[[/labelnote]], including the [[TraumaInducedAmnesia amnesia]]. And the heroine's surname, as some who've watched [[Film/WithnailAndI Withnail & I]] may know, was the surname of another character Paul [=McGann=] played. Oddly enough, this all merits a sort of ContinuityNod in a TieInNovel - the heroine is mentioned as someone the Doctor knew [[labelnote:2]]not, mind you, mentioned as someone he ''knew''[[/labelnote]]. {{Fandom}} has speculated about which writer of the {{Television Tie In Novel}}s is "Portia da Costa". So this means ''the Doctor'' has a ''published'' and ''semi-canon'' {{Narm}}ful [[ADateWithRosiePalms Date With Rosie Palms]][[labelnote:3]]"Claudia realised that caressing himself was as much a comfort to the young man as it was an act of sex. He seemed reassured by his body's own responses. But that took nothing away from the eroticism of his performance."[[/labelnote]], among other things, out there.

* In a rather bizarre example, where CaptainErsatz meets AscendedFanon or who-knows-what, an erotic romance novel called ''The Stranger'' by Portia da Costa features an expy of [[Series/DoctorWho the Eighth Doctor]]. He has the same name as the actor who played Eight (Paul), and is almost exactly the same other than the name [[labelnote:1]]and being described as taller and younger than I personally would describe him[[/labelnote]], including the [[TraumaInducedAmnesia amnesia]]. And the heroine's surname, as some who've watched [[Film/WithnailAndI Withnail & I]] may know, was the surname of another character Paul [=McGann=] played. Oddly enough, this all merits a sort of ContinuityNod in a TelevisionTieInNovel - the heroine is mentioned as someone the Doctor knew [[labelnote:2]]not, mind you, mentioned as someone he ''knew''[[/labelnote]]. {{Fandom}} has speculated about which writer of the {{Television Tie In Novel}}s is "Portia da Costa". So this means ''the Doctor'' has a ''published'' and ''semi-canon'' {{Narm}}ful [[ADateWithRosiePalms Date With Rosie Palms]][[labelnote:3]]"Claudia realised that caressing himself was as much a comfort to the young man as it was an act of sex. He seemed reassured by his body's own responses. But that took nothing away from the eroticism of his performance."[[/labelnote]], among other things, out there.

** The short story "Doctor vs Doctor" by Gareth Roberts in the ''Doctor Who Annual 2006'' features the renowned detective and LockedRoomMystery expert Dr Merrivale Carr, who is Literature/DrGideonFell renamed after his creator and John Dixon Carr's ''other'' detective, Sir Henry Merrivale.

** Seyton later makes a cameo in the ''DoctorWhoMissingAdventures'' novel ''The Shadow of Weng-Chiang'' by David [=McIntee=], which features more prominently a character based on Radio/TheShadow, except that instead of being a MightyWhitey who learned Eastern mysticism, Mr Woo/Yan Cheh is actually Chinese. Hsien-Ko, the immortal daughter of Li H'sen Chang from "The Talons of Weng-Chiang", is somewhat reminiscent of Literature/FuManchu's daughter Fah Lo Suee, although that might just be because she's a DragonLady.

* ''Psychohistorical Crisis'' by Donald Kingsbury is closely based on ''Literature/{{Foundation}}''. The unnamed Founder is Hari Seldon; the Overt Arm and Covert Arm of the Plan are the Foundation and the Second Foundation; and the warlord Cloun the Stubborn is the Mule. There's also an ancient robot called Danny-Boy who's a bit of a TakeThat to R. Daneel Olivaw and the CanonWelding of ''Robots and Empire''.
* The short story "Doctor vs Doctor" in the ''[[Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse Doctor Who]] Annual 2006'' features the renowned detective and LockedRoomMystery expert Dr Merrivale Carr, who is Literature/DrGideonFell renamed after his creator and John Dixon Carr's ''other'' detective, Sir Henry Merrivale.

* ''Psychohistorical Crisis'' by Donald Kingsbury is closely based on ''Literature/{{Foundation}}''. The unnamed Founder is Hari Seldon; the Overt Arm and Covert Arm of the Plan are the Foundation and the Second Foundation; and the warlord Cloun the Stubborn is the Mule. There's also an ancient robot called Danny-Boy who's a bit of a TakeThat to R. Daneel Olivaw and the CanonWelding of ''Robots and Empire''.