History Main / ComicBookFantasyCasting

* Gendo Ikari and Kozo Fuyutsuki from ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' are heavily based on (respectively) Ed Bishop and George Sewell in their roles as Edward Straker and Alec E. Freeman in the TV series ''Series/{{UFO}}''. Their character dynamic is even very much the same as in ''UFO''.

** Creator/ClaudiaGray, for her novel ''Literature/StarWarsLostStars'', says that Thane Kyrell is Sam Reid, Ciena Ree is a young Creator/GuguMbathaRaw, Jude Edivon is Liza Weil, Paron Ree is Creator/LennieJames, Ved Foslo is Harry Shum, Jr., Kendy Idele is Parminder Nagra, and the Contessa is Creator/MichelleYeoh.

** Iris Wildthyme's incarnations in the Literature/EighthDoctorAdventures are modelled on Beryl Reid, Music/ShirleyBassey, and Creator/JaneFonda as Barbarella. (The ''AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho'' incarnation is modelled on Creator/KatyManning, but that incarnation is actually played by Katy Manning.)

* The general shape of [[Franchise/LupinIII Arsène Lupin III]]'s face and his haircut borrow heavily to Creator/JeanPaulBelmondo, who was [[invoked]][[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff surprisingly popular]] in Japan as a quintessential French badass / LovableRogue.

* Paul Kidby's illustrations of Sam Vimes in ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' cover designs and other art deliberately depict him as Creator/ClintEastwood. By contrast, Melvyn Grant, the artist of ''Where's My Cow?'', drew Vimes like Creator/PetePostlethwaite, who was said to be Creator/TerryPratchett's own fantasy casting for the role.

* In ''Manga/BananaFish'', several of the main characters are visually based on real-world celebrities. Ash was originally based on Swedish tennis player Stefan Edberg, though [[ArtEvolution his design changed over time]] to resemble Creator/RiverPhoenix. Max Lobo was based on Creator/HarrisonFord.

* It's hard to tell, given the blue hair and gold eyes, but April of ''Anime/DarkerThanBlack'' looks a fair amount like Creator/HalleBerry. Probably because her Japanese voice actress, Creator/TakakoHonda, dubs a lot of Berry's film roles – including that of ComicBook/{{Storm|MarvelComics}} from the ''Film/XMenFilmSeries'', who like April, is black and has weather-control powers.

* ''Manga/DoctorSlump'' had Dr. Mashirito as a recurring BigBad (as far as that goes in the comedy/satire genre), with facial features based on Akira Toriyama's editor, [[{{Tuckerization}} Kazuhiko Torishima]]. It's even lampshaded by a few panels where said editor calls up Toriyama to tell him not to draw Mashirito to look like him - for this scene, he is drawn with exactly the same face as Mashirito.

* The UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} of ''Manga/SaintYoungMen'' is drawn to look like Creator/JohnnyDepp. The comic occasionally lampshades the similarity - one of his bios says he would want Depp to play him in a movie about his life, and at one point, he distracts a group of {{Gyaru Girl}}s who are upsetting Buddha by posing at a 'Johnny Depp-like angle' and flirting with them in English. At another point, he tries on a {{Cosplay}} of [[Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean Jack Sparrow]], calling it 'fate'. When Buddha tries to persuade Jesus to change his hairstyle, he hands him a movie magazine containing some photos of Depp's various roles -- Film/EdwardScissorhands, Jack Sparrow, Theatre/SweeneyTodd and [[Film/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory Willy Wonka]] -- but Jesus decides to keep his original haircut due to the need to protect his celebrity image.

* Ash Lynx, the main character in ''Manga/BananaFish'', was initially based on the tennis player Stephen Edberg, and later Creator/RiverPhoenix. Another character, Max Lobo, was modeled on Creator/HarrisonFord.

* Creator/TamoraPierce often "casts" characters in her head in both her ''Literature/TortallUniverse'' and ''Literature/CircleOfMagic'' books--sometimes the actor themselves or a role they've played. Rosethorn, for example, is based on [[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Kira Nerys]]. (Yes, she's a Trekkie.) Rosto the Piper is played by Creator/JamesMarsters, which is pretty clear when you read Beka's description and then look at a picture of, say, [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Spike]].

* In ''Literature/CatchTwentyTwo'', Major Major Major Major's life is plagued by his resemblance to Creator/HenryFonda:
-->Major Major had three strikes on him from the beginning – his mother, his father and Henry Fonda, to whom he bore a sickly resemblance almost from the moment of his birth. Long before he even suspected who Henry Fonda was, he found himself the subject of unflattering comparisons everywhere he went. Total strangers saw fit to deprecate him, with the result that he was stricken early with a guilty fear of people and an obsequious impulse to apologize to society for the fact that he was ''not'' Henry Fonda."

* ''Laser Squad'' is guilty of this in the IBM PC version. The cutscenes exclusive to this version use trace-overs of various scenes and/or characters from ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'' for the Rebel Star team in the first level and the cyborgs in the second, while the team member portraits use various 1980s movie actors as facial sources - Lorenzo Lamas, Creator/MichaelBiehn, Creator/AlecBaldwin, Creator/RutgerHauer, Creator/MichaelIronside, Creator/JohnHollis (who makes up the entire enemy squad in the second mission) and, surprisingly standing out from the rest of the list, Creator/ErrolFlynn. In a bit of HilariousInHindsight, there are also people looking like Creator/AdamBaldwin and Creator/VinDiesel as Riddick as he appears in the BatmanColdOpen of ''Film/TheChroniclesOfRiddick''.

* The two female [[RomanceSidequest love interests]] in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' were modeled after real women (Leliana after an adult model Alexandra Stein, and Morrigan, after Victoria Johnson)--at least in the ''Sacred Ashes'' trailer (which not entirely dissimilar from the released game).

* ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'': Like with Bill Rizer in ''Contra'', [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/castlevania/images/1/15/Simon_Belmont_-_02.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20170930102218 Simon Belmont]] is also based off of Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger - in this case being his portrayal of [[https://cdn.britannica.com/31/182831-050-3F0A0CCE/Arnold-Schwarzenegger-title-character-Conan-the-Destroyer.jpg Conan the Barbarian]].

* In the ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'', [[DrillSergeantNasty Gunnery Sgt. Oscar Bardue (ret.)]] plays ComicBook/NickFury - in front of the in-universe majority shareholder of Marvel - thus giving readers their first real impression of who and what Bardue looks like.

* When Creator/JeffBennett was cast to replace Robert David Hall as Azmuth in the ''[[WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce Alien Force]]''[=/=]''[[WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien Ultimate Alien]]'' era of the ''Franchise/Ben10'' franchise, he was channeling Creator/ReneAuberjonois--which is probably why ''WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse'' decided to recast the role with Auberjonois himself.

* All eight playable main characters in the ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilOutbreak'' games resemble celebrities to some extent. The most blatant are Jim Chapman, who is basically Chris Tucker in ''Film/TheFifthElement'', and Kevin Ryman the maverick R.P.D police officer, who's Tom Cruise.

* In ''Manga/BananaFish'', several of the main characters are visually based on real-world celebrities. Ash was originally based on the tennis player Stephen Edberg, though [[ArtEvolution his design changed over time]] to resemble Creator/RiverPhoenix. Max Lobo was based on Creator/HarrisonFord.

* Whether intentional or not is unknown, but Natla in the original ''VideoGame/TombRaider'' game bears more than a passing resemblance to then-singer Victoria Adams (now better-known as socialite and fashion designer Victoria Beckham)

* Santiago Espinosa, BigBad of Harebrained Schemes' ''VideoGame/BattleTech'' computer game, bears a strong resemblance to Creator/GiancarloEsposito, right down to hsving a similar-sounding name.

* [[WesternAnimation/IronMan Tony Stark]] is not only drawn to look like Creator/RobertDowneyJr in ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'', but sounds like Downey, too. You could be forgiven for thinking that his voice actor, Creator/EricLoomis, is doing a pretty good impression of Downey, but as it turns out, [[http://marvel.com/news/story/15715/the_avengers_earths_mightiest_heroes_voicing_iron_man that's actually Eric's normal voice]].

* WordOfGod from Creator/MarissaMeyer is that Linh Cinder from ''Literature/LunarChronicles'' was modeled after Mew Azama, the actress who played Sailor Jupiter in ''Series/PrettyGuardianSailorMoon''.

* Recently, it has been [[https://twitter.com/KonoRobu/status/1231260128571273216 pointed out]] that actor Bjorn Andrésen as he appeared in ''Film/DeathInVenice'' was a major influence of Main/{{Bishonen}} characters in TheSeventies (and beyond) on manga such as Gilbert Cocteau from ''Manga/KazeToKiNoUta'', Reinhard von Lohengramm from ''Anime/LegendOfGalacticHeroes'', Griffith from ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'', and Oscar from ''Manga/TheRoseOfVersailles'', among others. Some even pointed out that [[Franchise/{{Gundam}} Char Aznable]] bears a resemblance to Andrésen.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' ran into some legal trouble by using Music/{{Gackt}} as basis for Squall's design (mostly due to outfit resemblance), although Gackt was a fan of the series and appeared in an InkSuitActor capacity as a ''Franchise/CompilationOfFinalFantasyVII'' character in later games. Creator/TetsuyaNomura has always claimed that Squall was based on Creator/RiverPhoenix. Cid Kramer also has a very strong resemblance to Creator/RobinWilliams.

** Creator/ClaudiaGray says that in ''Literature/StarWarsLostStars'', Thane Kyrell is Sam Reid, Ciena Ree is a young Creator/GuguMbathaRaw, Jude Edivon is Liza Weil, Paron Ree is Creator/LennieJames, Ved Foslo is Harry Shum, Jr., Kendy Idele is Parminder Nagra, and the Contessa is Creator/MichelleYeoh.
** Creator/ClaudiaGray seems to like this trope, as she released an entire fancast for ''Star Wars: Bloodline''. Greer Sonnel is Creator/PriyankaChopra, Ransolm Casterfo is Creator/TomHiddleston, Lady Carise is Jamie Chung, Tai-Lin Garr is Creator/KenWatanabe, Arliz Hadrassian is Creator/SoniaBraga and Joph Seastriker is Creator/JoshHutcherson.

*** Otacon's appearance and mannerisms are based on Creator/HideoKojima. This had not been Kojima's idea.

** Creator/ClaudiaGray says that in ''Literature/StarWarsLostStars'', Ciena Ree is a young Creator/GuguMbathaRaw, Paron Ree is Creator/LennieJames, Ved Foslo is Harry Shum, Jr., Kendy Idele is Parminder Nagra, and the Contessa is Creator/MichelleYeoh.

* ''VideoGame/{{Contra}}'' is essentially what would have happened if Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger and Creator/SylvesterStallone decided to team up while they were still in their prime to take on [[Film/{{Alien}} Xenomorphs]].

** Roboute Guilliman bears quite a resemblance to Creator/MarkStrong in some of his artwork. Ferrus Manus looks a bit like Creator/JohnBernthal, especially his appearance as [[Series/ThePunisher2017 The Punisher]]. Eldrad Ulthran in official art where he is helmetless looks a lot like Creator/HugoWeaving's [[Film/TheLordOfTheRings Elrond]].

** Wulfhild looks like Creator/JuliaStiles as she appeared in ''Film/SaveTheLastDance'' or ''Film/TheBourneIdentity'', only shorter and with [[RapunzelHair longer hair]].