Suspiciously Similar Substitute / Western Animation

• Capt. Murphy on Sealab 2021, replaced by Capt. Shanks after the death of Murphy's voice actor, Harry Goz. Lampshade Hanging occurs when Shanks (who is actually voiced by Goz's son Michael) tells the crew (and, indirectly, the audience) that he's a replacement, and if they don't like it, they can "go watch 'annie-may'".
• Futurama:
  • "Where No Fan Has Gone Before", having united almost all the Star Trek original cast, gave us a Suspiciously Similar Substitute named "Welshy" who apparently replaced James Doohan for a musical reunion in the 22nd century. This was almost certainly a pointed comment on Doohan's refusal to participate, since the late De Forrest Kelley was just The Voiceless and Welshy was quickly killed off. This was lampshaded in the episode's working title — "We Got Everybody But Scotty".
  • Lampshaded in "Godfellas" with Helper, a Bender replacement that makes wacky noises.
  • In "When Aliens Attack", Professor Farnsworth assumes Fry, Leela and Bender have died in the latest mission, prompting him to hire a nigh-identical trio.
    Farnsworth: [to the near-Leela, -Fry and -Bender duplicates respectively] You'll be the captain, you'll be the delivery boy, and you'll be the alcoholic, foul-mouthed... [notices regular crew standing in the doorway] Oh God, you're alive! ...I mean thank God! You're alive! [to the near-duplicates] Sorry. Check back in three days... a week, at the most.
• Darby replacing Christopher Robin in My Friends Tigger and Pooh. Though Christopher Robin does appear a few times in the later episodes.
• Sunbow's G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero series:
  • Lady Jaye and Scarlett are interchangeable, despite being written as very different characters in the Marvel comic.
  • Duke from the Sunbow series was essentially a carbon copy of Hawk from the Marvel comics, who was the originally established blond-haired leader of G.I. Joe. This change was done since at the time the animated series started, Hasbro was phasing out the original 1982 lineup and wanted to promote the newer figures being released in 1983, from which Duke was part of. Duke's character design even resembled the way Hawk was depicted in Sunbow's original TV ads for the G.I. Joe toys and comics (see here). When a second Hawk action figure was released in 1986, he was introduced to the animated series during the year's season as Duke's heretofore unseen commanding officer, getting an Adaptation Dye-Job in the process from blond to black hair.
  • When Hasbro relaunched the G.I. Joe toyline in 2001, they wanted to bring back Roadblock into the lineup, but couldn't due to trademark issues with the character's name. So Heavy Duty, an already-existing separate character, was made into a virtual Roadblock clone. The Spy Troops CG animated series tried to explain away their similarities by claiming they were cousins.
  • The DiC-produced continuation of the Sunbow series featured a journalist named Jose Riviera in the episodes "Injustice and the Cobra Way" and "Cobra Land". The character was practically Hector Ramirez in all but name, the reason he was used in place of Ramirez being unknown.
• King Larry replacing King Louie in House of Mouse. This was due to legal action when Gia Maione, the wife of original actor and now deceased entertainer Louis Prima, sued Disney for unauthorized use of her husband's persona because voice actor Jim Cummings' impression (as heard in TaleSpin) was too dead on. Part of the out of court settlement is that Disney could no longer use King Louie.
• Firestar was created for Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends after plans to use the Human Torch, the creators' original choice for a flame-wielding hero, fell through due to rights issues.
• The Simpsons:
  • Though the character existed before, Gil took Lionel Hutz's job as the family's lawyer after Phil Hartman died. Incidentally, Gil debuted in the same episode where Lionel Hutz had his last speaking role.
  • This trope is parodied in "Donnie Fatso", in which Fat Tony is replaced by his nearly identical cousin Fit Tony, who gains weight and is eventually called Fat Tony.
  • In the DVD Commentary to "Alone Again, Natura-Diddily", some of the writers joke that since they miss Maude Flanders, they should write an episode in which Ned gets remarried to a woman that looks and sounds just like Maude. In the 22nd-season finale, Ned begins dating and by the next season has married Edna Krabappel.
  • In "A Star Is Burns", C. Montgomery Burns hires Steven Spielberg's "nonunion Mexican equivalent", Señor Spielbergo, to direct the fictionalized biopic A Burns for All Seasons.
    Es muy bueno.
  • In "The Saga of Carl", Homer, Lenny, and Moe try to find a replacement for Carl after he leaves the country. Initially they try putting Lou the Cop in the role, but he storms out when he realizes all they're looking for is a new Token Black guy.
  • A very subtle example only confirmed via Word of God Lunchlady Doris was retired in the seventh season when her voice actress Doris Grau died. She supposedly returned in season 18 voiced by Tress MacNeille, but it turns out the character's name is Lunchlady Dora.
  • Sideshow Mel, Krusty the Clown's replacement for his previous sidekick Sideshow Bob after the latter framed him for arm robbery, has an awful lot in common with Bob—both are sophisticated, British-accented Classically Trained Extras with impressive vocal chops who are deeply tired of being the butt of Krusty's constant onstage slapstick and general disrespect. It seems Krusty didn't learn much from the last incident.
• When she was shoehorned into Pinky and the Brain, Elmyra Duff found a Replacement Goldfish in Rudy Mookich, a Nelson Muntz Expy who was just as much of an asshole as Montana Max, and Furrball and Byron were replaced by Mr. Pussy-Wussy and Mr. Shellbutt. Maybe that, along with the other conflicts in relation to Tiny Toon Adventures, was the real problem with Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain...
• Whizz The Robot became this in Noddy In Toyland, where he replaced Mr. Sparks the mechanic. He previously was not this in his introductory series Say It With Noddy.
• The Animated Adaptation of The Dukes of Hazzard mirrored its non-animated counterpart in using Coy and Vance instead of Bo and Luke for one season only, though that season was its first.
• The two-part Batman Beyond episode "The Call" was originally supposed to feature Wonder Woman as part of the future Justice League. When legal red tape prevented this, the writers replaced her with Big Barda, another dark-haired Amazonian Beauty with super strength and a red costume.
• Ben 10:
  • In Ben 10: Alien Force, a half of Ben's new alien forms were unmistakably overly similar to his alien forms from the Original Series (or outright Composite Characters. Chromastone was basically a rehash of Diamondhead with energy beams à la Eye Guy, Echo Echo of Ditto with Blitzwolfer's sonic howl, Humongousaur of Four Arms with the ability to grow tall like Way Big (nowhere near as tall, but the spirit is there), Jetray of XLR8 plus flight (Stinkfly) and breathing underwater (Ripjaws), Big Chill of Ghostfreak and Arctiguana, Brainstorm of Grey Matter and Frankenstrike, and Swampfire of Heatblast and Wildvine.
    • In the two-part, season 3 premiere of Alien Force, Chromastone was destroyed and has been replaced with Diamondhead. This could also count as Discard and Draw. This could easily be considered a reverse example, as Chromastone was something of this or an expy for Diamondhead in the first place. A later episode brought back Chromastone and revealed his connection to the alien race Diamondhead comes from.
    • SevenSeven in Alien Force to SixSix from the Original Series. Besides their names and armor colours (and the face under the helmet), the two are almost identical.
  • Ultimate Alien:
    • Fasttrack, who shares the exact same coloration and powers as XLR8, which is rather peculiar, as his existence could be considered redundant and unnecessary, considering Ben likely has XLR8 in his Ultimatrix, as almost every alien he's had in the previous two series is unlocked. Though he seems to be somewhat stronger and Matt Wayne did say that Fasttrack is stronger. Although unfortunately for this he isn't considered as popular as XLR8. Whom even sees use in the Man of Action Studios-helmed Heroes United Crossover with Generator Rex. Ultimately, it would be revealed that Fasttrack was just easier to draw.
    • Aggregor. A sociopathic alien with an open-shirted design voiced by John DiMaggio and with a connection to Kevin? Why does this sound so much like Ragnarok?
  • In Ben 10: Omniverse:
    • Servantis is a rather blatant one of Driscoll (the Forever King) from the Original Series, down to looking the same before his transformation into a Cerebrocrustacean hybrid.
    • It might be unintentional, but fans have noticed Maltruant the Chronosapien shares similarities with Malware, being from the same species as one of Ben's aliens with a Red and Black and Evil All Over color scheme and a name starting with "Mal".
    • Astrodactyl is a particularly big SSS of Jetray via being a flying speed-alien whose powers include firing energy beams.
    • Feedback turns out to be a downplayed one of Chromastone, as both functioned as Ben's "energy absorption" aliens and both were also "killed" at one point in Ben's career, though Ben wasn't as devastated about Chromastone since he was busy fighting Vilgax.
• In Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas, Max's girlfriend Mona is a semi-Jonas Quinn of Roxanne from A Goofy Movie; she's actually voiced by the same VA, Kellie Martin. The plot at hand is that he's bringing his girlfriend from college home for Christmas to meet his dad. Roxanne obviously met Goofy before, so they came up with a new, suspiciously similar girlfriend character. (And, to be realistic, how many of you were still with your high school crush/sweetheart in college?)
• In Total Drama Revenge of the Island, Pahkitew Island and the 2023 reboot, some of the new contestants are such to the original contestants.
  • Brick is one to Tyler, as they are loyal and kindhearted athletic types with "Leave No Man Behind" mentalities and serve as pain magnets for a season. To a lesser extent, Brick is also one to DJ, both having soft hearts and sensitive characters underneath their great strength and imposing appearance.
  • Dakota is one to Lindsay, as both are highly attractive and pampered but sweet Dumb Blondes who have the first major romance of their debut season (Lindsay with Tyler and Dakota with Sam).
  • Dawn is one to Bridgette, as both are kindhearted, pacifistic, blonde-haired, animal-loving Granola Girls who were among the first targeted for elimination by a season's Big Bad (Alejandro for Bridgette in World Tour and Scott for Dawn in Revenge of the Island; both eliminating them in a cruel and humiliating manner), thereby establishing the villains' threatening and despicable natures.
  • Jo is one to Eva, as both are violent and ill-tempered tomboyish Jerk Jock-ettes; however, Jo takes the general premise of Eva's character (brawn, serious attitude, and bullying character) and builds a much more complex and competent competitor than her (Jo lacks Eva's Hair-Trigger Temper, which is always the cause of the latter's downfall, and is much smarter than her).
  • Scott is one to Alejandro and Heather as they are all arrogant, manipulative antagonists, who feign friendship in order to get ahead. Like Heather, Scott is bad at hiding his true nature, becomes a Butt-Monkey as time passes, and eventually gets a Hispanic love interest. Like Alejandro, he gets severely injured towards the end of the season and is put into a mechanical suit to recover.
    • Scott is also one to Duncan. Both are considered to be the "bad boys" of their respective generations, placed fourth in their debut seasons, and had failed relationships with Courtney.
    • Alejandro himself is one to Justin, being a major Chick Magnet and Mr. Fanservice who uses their good looks to manipulate others and seduce girls for their own ends. However, Alejandro ultimately become Justin's More Popular Replacement due to the latter being a largely Flat Character who lacked Alejandro's competence at anything beyond the reach of his handsome appearance.
  • Zoey is one to Beth, as both are extremely nice but socially awkward girls with Friendless Backgrounds who seek to make friends and get everyone to like them. However she later becomes closer to Bridgette, sharing her role as the kindhearted Team Mom.
  • Cameron is one to Harold and Cody, being very intelligent and physically weak nerds (in fact, Cameron takes these traits up to eleven compared to them) who are part of a Bully and Wimp Pairing (with Jo for Cameron and Duncan for the other two). This is further affirmed in All-Stars, where Sierra literally sees Cameron as Cody. He also is one to Beth, sharing her nerdy appearance, small stature, Friendless Background, and servitude under a mean and manipulative girl (Jo for Cameron and Heather for Beth) whom they ultimately backstab in the end.
  • Sam is one to Cody, being a fellow techno-geek whose main plot involves pining after a girl who would normally be way out of their reach (Gwen for Cody and Dakota for Sam). The difference is that Sam succeeds, where as Cody fails twice. He's also one to Owen in All-Stars, sharing the latter's Big Eater tendencies, Nice Guy qualities, and being a major pain magnet.
  • Shawn is one to Ezekiel, as both are scruffy, toque-wearing Homeschooled Kids whose unusual quirks and lack of social skills usually isolate them from everyone else. Ironically, whereas Ezekiel was the first voted off in both of his participating seasons, Shawn became one of the finalists in his season (and unlike Ezekiel, found a love interest who helped him become less of a social outsider). He's also one to Harold, being a scruffy Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass with poor social skills and a romance with a larger dark-skinned girl (Jasmine for Shawn and Leshawna for Harold).
  • Topher is one to Sierra, as both are crazed Ascended Fans who totally obsess over Chris McLean and worship the very ground he walks on. The difference is that Topher wants to become the next Chris. He's also one to Justin, being a handsome narcissist who contributes little to the team beyond standing around and looking pretty.
  • Ella is one to Dawn, as both are oddball Nice Girls who are unfailingly kind to everyone, have an affinity with nature, and have befriended many animals. She's also one to Lindsay, due to both being incredibly sweet but naive and childish girls labelled "princesses" who have a one-sided conflict with a mean girl labelled as a "queen".
  • Dave to Noah, as they are both Non Action Snarkers of Indian descent who frequently gripe about the craziness or stupidity of everyone around them despite being Not So Above It All themselves (Dave is a huge Neat Freak while Noah is Brilliant, but Lazy in the extreme).
  • Twin cheerleaders Amy and Samey are these to Heather and Lindsay, as stereotypical popular high school girls (of the Cruel Cheerleader and Alpha Bitch varieties) with a dynamic in which one of each pair (Amy and Heather; both Alpha Bitches) mistreats the other (Samey and Lindsay; both kindhearted blonde cheerleaders) as an expendable lackey until they are finally backstabbed as a result of it.
  • Jasmine is one to Mike's personality Manitoba Smith, as both are Awesome Aussies and Action Survivors.
  • Sky is one to another of Mike's personalities - in this case, Svetlana, who is another Passionate Sports Girl with a kind heart underneath their competitive drive and the pride they take in their athleticism.
    • Sky is one to Courtney, particularly her nicer first season interpretation. They're both athletic and intelligent Determinator Competition Freaks with the capacity for civility, leadership, and being moral and reasonable people, as well as an unfortunate tendency to have their friendships and relationships destroyed by their obsessive need to succeed at and come first in everything. Sky also has a great deal in common with Zoey, being a Nice Girl and Only Sane Woman who possesses surprising strength and agility for her unassuming appearance.
  • Max is one to Mike's Superpowered Evil Side Mal, as both are born troublemakers and Card Carrying Villains who take pride doing things For the Evulz. Especially notable is that their names differ by one letter. The difference is that Max is entirely Played for Laughs while Mal is Played for Drama.
  • Rodney is one to DJ, as both are timid Gentle Giants with Black Dot Eyes. To a lesser extent, he's this to Ezekiel, being a socially inept Farm Boy best known for their troubles when it comes to girls (although Rodney's is because of being a Casanova Wannabe while Ezekiel is an Innocent Bigot). He also has a very similar color scheme to Scott, who was also raised on a farm.
  • Sugar is one to Owen, as both are dimwitted, overweight, blonde-haired Big Eaters and Extreme Omnivores with major Gasshole tendencies. But personality-wise, Sugar is more like Owen's Evil Counterpart, given that Owen is one of the nicest people on the show while Sugar is one of the meanest.
  • Scarlett is one to Harold, as both are nerdy, bespectacled redheads whose high intelligence tends to alienate them from their teammates who rarely care for or understand what they're talking about, but they are also much more than they seem (the difference being that Scarlett is a mentally unstable Bitch in Sheep's Clothing while Harold is a Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass). She's also one to Izzy's Brainzilla persona, being a crazy genius redhead (the difference is that Izzy's craziness is Played for Laughs while Scarlett's is Played for Drama).
  • Beardo is one to B, as both are heavyset African-Canadian teens with unusual talents who don't talk much and are among the first eliminated in their season. He's also one to Staci, due to being the first voted off their teams for annoying everyone with their vocals (Staci's constant lying and Beardo's sound effects)
  • Caleb is one to Justin, as both are male contestants who hypnotise everyone else with their looks and are early boots who get eliminated for something that is not their fault.
  • Wayne and Raj are this to Katie and Sadie, with both duos always being seen together and being known for being inseparable.
  • Julia is one to Heather, with both being a Deconstructed Character Archetype of an Alpha Bitch, and neither one being afraid of getting their hands dirty in order to get further in the game. Julia is also one to Scarlett in the sense that both pretend to be nice people before their true colors are revealed, though Julia is nowhere near as sociopathic as Scarlett is.
  • Lauren, a.k.a Scary Girl, is one to Izzy, as both of them are by far the most crazy and unpredictable of all contestants to date. The difference is that Izzy is more of a Cloud Cuckoo Lander type of crazy whereas Scary Girl is a Nightmare Fetishist type of crazy.
  • Axel is one to Shawn, as both of them are Crazy Survivalists who believe that a Zombie Apocalypse could take place in the future. Axel is also similar to Eva and Jo in the sense that the three are strong, athletic girls with a very short temper.
  • Priya is one to Sky, as both of them are athletic girls with a competitive streak, but still friendly and easy-going. both of them also make it all the way into the finale of their respective debut seasons.
  • Ripper is one to Sugar, as both come off as Evil Counterparts of Owen; being unpleasant and with a tendency to fart at a lot.
• Like its parent series, Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race has a few:
  • Taylor to Heather and Amy. All three are stereotypical rich, attractive, spoiled, and self-centered Alpha Bitches who constantly push their closest female teammate around (Kelly for Taylor, Lindsay for Heather, and Samey for Amy) until their victims finally snap and give them some much-deserved retribution. It's worth noting in this particular case, Taylor and Amy share the same voice actress.
  • Miles and Laurie to Bridgette, with all three being kind Granola Girls who love animals, care a lot about nature and the environment, and known for being vegetarians. The two also share a lot in common with Dawn in that regard.
  • Devin to Trent, as both are kind, caring, and generally mild-mannered young men who are major pain magnets, can be quite Oblivious to Love, and may behave rather obsessively or erratically when distressed over the state of their relationships. They even look somewhat similar.
  • Devin's partner Carrie is one to Bridgette, as both are sweet and kindhearted blondes noted for their extremely strong feelings for their romantic interests (Geoff for Bridgette and Devin for Carrie). They even share the same voice actress. But later on Carrie becomes one for Zoey, being a Nice Girl whose entire character seems based on a Will They or Won't They? with her season-long love interest (who in Zoey's case is Mike).
  • Adversity Twins Mickey and Jay to Cameron. Like Cameron, the twins are small, timid, and extremely physically weak teens who are hopeless in most physical challenges but still manage to pull through due to their resilience and determination. Notable in that the twins' designs were actually recycled from Cameron's original design.
  • Emma to Sky. Both have similar skin colours (although Emma is Asian whereas Sky is Native American), are very competitive and focused on the prize but remain good-natured and fair-minded characters despite that, and end up developing a romance with a contestant of Indian descent (Dave for Sky and Noah for Emma) despite coming into the game with no intentions for love, which ends up threatening their focus on the game.
  • Stephanie to Courtney, as both are massive Competition Freaks with dark skin whose aggressive and temperamental behaviour during the game leads to numerous arguments with their respective boyfriends (Duncan for Courtney and Ryan for Stephanie) and the breakdown of their relationship, despite both of them still having strong feelings for each other.
  • Jacques and Josee to Alejandro. They all have extremely admirable and charismatic public personas, as well as numerous talents, but are in fact cruel and ruthless Faux Affably Evil Bitch in Sheep's Clothing-types who will stoop to any level to win the competition. They even both debut in a season themed around world travel.
  • Sanders and MacArthur mirror Brick and Jo, forming a tough, disciplined, and physically capable dynamic in which one (Sanders and Brick) is much more moral, less aggressive, and less violent than the other (Jo and MacArthur).
• Transformers: Prime: Predaking, as a Warrior Poet Noble Demon who joins Megatron out of a desire for revenge against the Autobots who murdered his kin and later clashes with Megatron over honor, but does not join the Autobots just because of that; is very much similar to the late Dreadwing.
• In the 1980s, there was an animated Public Service Announcement featuring the Teen Titans. Since the producers didn't have the animation rights to Robin, they swapped him out for an extremely similar teen hero named the Protector.
• In DuckTales, Launchpad McQuack and later Fenton Crackshell both acted in the role Donald Duck had from the original Uncle Scrooge comics, namely being the other adult character working with Scrooge and the nephews. The writers of the show were worried that Donald's presence would outshine Scrooge and the nephews, which was why the two other characters were created and so they would serve as the fifth member of the Five-Man Band in the first and second seasons. However, Donald did notably have a minor recurring role in the first season, where he would properly retake his position from the comics in the few episodes he appeared in.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
  • The main characters were meant to be characters from G1, but had to be changed due to Hasbro's trademarks for said characters expiring. In this case though, it's less obvious with some because Lauren Faust based their personalities on her own interpretations of them from her childhood, not their canonical personalities. Surprise/Pinkie and Firefly/Dash are similar but the other three are not.
  • Starlight Glimmer serves as this for Sunset Shimmer. Both served as unicorn antagonists that were direct foils to protagonist Twilight Sparkle, before ultimately becoming redeemed and joining the main cast. However, while Sunset would only appear in the Equestria Girls spin-offs and would even become that series' de facto protagonist, Starlight was in the main show and simply became another member of the widening ensemble cast (though the sixth season is largely dedicated to her redemption arc).
  • Starlight Glimmer can also be considered a substitute for Twilight Sparkle's early characterization prior to becoming an alicorn. The similar name, similar design, the Obsessively Organized tendencies in her personality, the lack of social background and naivete, and the immense magical potential and ability that leads to her becoming being taken in as a student in the study of Friendship by an Alicorn Princess, just like Twilight originally was. This led to Lampshade Hanging on at least one occasion, where another character had problems telling the two apart.
  • The Student/Young 6 from season 8 essentially fulfill a similar role to the one the Cutie Mark Crusaders had in the beginning, and while the Crusaders still show up, the Student 6 have popped up much more frequently.
• Its status as a Sequel Series to Avatar: The Last Airbender makes some amount of this inevitable in The Legend of Korra, but the most striking examples are...
  • Korra's Mako for Avatar's Zuko, as the brooding, troubled firebender who has a tendency to get embroiled in shipping wars.
  • And Korra's Bolin for Avatar's Sokka, as the wisecracking, sarcastic and somewhat bumbling comic relief. They both even have a similar inferiority-complex arc in their respective third seasons, Sokka because he's a Badass Normal in a group of super-powered kung-fu wizards (until he finds a mentor and gains skill in swordsmanship), Bolin because he is only a "normal" Earthbender without a specialization like Mako's lightning-bending or Toph's metal-bending (until he learns how to lavabend).
• Speaking of Avatar: The Last Airbender, Admiral Zhao died at the end of the Book 1 finale and gets replaced with Princess Azula, who is sent to drop the hammer and finish her predecessor's job. However, where Zhao was a hacksaw, Azula is a finely honed scalpel and ends up a far bigger threat.
• The 2019 reboot of DC Super Hero Girls replaced adaptational heroines Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy with Zatanna and Green Lantern, and reverted the two back to villainesses/anti-heroines.
• Kim Possible had Monique replacing Ron Stoppable because he moved away from Middleton (the Kim Possible original movie was made for TV and was produced for the Disney Channel and Walt Disney Television Animation). It only lasted a few minutes.
• SheZow had a sickly version of the main character, thus getting Kelly (his big sister) to become the superhero(ine) for a day (a la Freaky Friday).
• Brittany from Alvin and the Chipmunks is one of these. A year prior to her and her sisters appearing, a solo Chipette named Charlene appeared in an album called The Chipmunks Go Hollywood. She had a blonde ponytail and was Alvin's love interest. A year later the other two Chipettes were introduced alongside Brittany, with Charlene being replaced. The main difference between the two is that Charlene had lighter hair and a black nose. Brittany is a rare case of the substitute being more well-known than the original.
• Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm had several examples:
  • Oniro was a rather blatant stand-in for Shang Tsung, even possessing the latter's trademark Shapeshifting abilities and a variation of his Catchphrase ("Your soul will belong to me!" instead of "Your soul is mine!"). He was presumably created due to the show loosely following the canon of the first live-action movie, where Shang Tsung was killed by Liu Kang during the final battle. Shang Tsung himself would later be resurrected in the show's ninth episode, eliminating any further need for Oniro to exist.
  • One episode had a Canon Foreigner named Ruby, a female assassin dressed in red. Ruby was a Heroic Seductress and an old childhood friend of Kitana, you know, kind of like the one with the name of a green precious stone. (The reason Ruby was used in place of Jade was because the writers wanted her to have a background with Ermac too, and it seemed designing a new character was preferable to them than messing up the core character's background).
  • Reptile was replaced with Komodai, a virtually identical Lizard Folk ninja in a green outfit. Like Shang Tsung, the real Reptile was likely absent due to having been killed off in the movie.
  • Baraka was replaced with another Tarkatan warrior named Karbrac, whose name was even a phonetic anagram of Baraka's.
• Namor couldn't be used in The Fantastic Four (1967) due to licensing issues, necessitating the creation of an Expy named Prince Triton.
  • The Namor segment of The Marvel Super Heroes cannot use the Fantastic Four, the solution was to use the X-Men with the name Allies for Peace, interestingly, there were no restrictions for Lady Dorma and Doctor Doom, who appeared in both series.
• The Lizard appeared as a recurring villain in Ultimate Spider-Man (2012), but was permanently cured in the fourth season. When the show's two-part Grand Finale necessitated getting the Sinister Six back together for one last battle, the writers had Doctor Octopus randomly turn Crossbones into the new Lizard.
• Superman: The Animated Series:
  • Cat Grant was dropped in favor of a Canon Foreigner named Angela Chen, who was pretty much the exact same character apart from having a different name and being Asian-American.
  • DC had a rule at the time that Superman was the last Kryptonian. Supergirl had to be made into a Canon Foreigner. However, all they did was slightly change her backstory so that she wasn't Superman's biological cousin and she wasn't from Krypton, but a sister planet which also exploded. Her personality, general design, and even first name are the same as the Kara Danvers/Linda Lee version of the character.
• As covered in the Comic Books section, the Spawn franchise eventually had to deal with the murky legal status of Angela due to a dispute between Todd Mc Farlane and Neil Gaiman over ownership of the character. This meant that Angela was unceremoniously dropped from the TV series, leading to the introduction of an extremely similar character named Jade in the third season.
• In the Soft Reboot to The Magic School Bus, The Magic School Bus Rides Again, Professor (formerly "Ms") Valerie Frizzle passes the torch to her sister Fiona Frizzle. They look near identical, sound similar, go by the same name, and are both upbeat Cool Teachers.
• The Powerpuff Girls (1998) and its reboot both have episodes featuring "fourth Powerpuff Girls". Bunny and Bliss are both purple themed, both are biologically unstable, and both are taller than the main trio. The difference is that Bliss is more realistically tall than Bunny and that she's the long-lost older sister of the others.
• When told the Scarecrow was off-limits, The Batman replaced him with Hugo Strange for the episode "Strange New World", a change looked upon favorably since the Scarecrow's presence would've given away that Batman was really dosed with a hallucinogenic compound that made him see zombies everywhere rather than Gotham's citizens being turned into zombies.
• Mickey Mouse started out as this to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. This extends to Minnie Mouse being one to Oswald's wife Ortensia. Both Mickey and Minnie were created by Walt Disney because he lost the rights to Oswald. The four characters designs were near identical and they played extremely similar roles. Eventually, Characterization Marches On and Early Installment Character-Design Difference took place. As of Oswald's revival in Epic Mickey, he and Mickey aren't that similar anymore. Minnie and Ortensia still bare similarities, however at least Minnie now has a different design from Ortensia.
• VeggieTales: For VeggieTales in the House, Mr. Nezzer was replaced by a substitute called Ichabeezer because, according to Phil Vischer, DreamWorks Animation believed he was a black stereotype. ^note For clarity, Vischer based Mr. Nezzer's voice on an imitation of Oogie Boogie from The Nightmare Before Christmas, who spoke with a jazzy flair and was voiced by a black actor.
• Pinkalicious & Peterrific: In the original Pinkalicious books, Pinkalicious had two friends named Molly and Rose. In the series, they were written out and replaced with Jasmine and Lila, respectively. Both of them look very similar to Molly and Rose.
• The factions in Beast Wars are the Maximals and Predacons. How do these two groups differ from the Autobots and Decepticons? Very slightly. Although somewhat justified as these Maximals and Predacons are descendants of said factions from the far future, the Autobots and Decepticons respectively. Still quite impressive how despite many centuries of evolution the factions share a few traits with their ancestors (although size definitely wasn't one of them).
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003) has three Shredders, with the latter two heavily resembling the first one, despite being separate characters:
  • The Demon Shredder is somewhat justified, as he is said to be the inspiration for Ch'rell to take on the mantle of the Shredder, hence their similarity. The Demon Shredder also feels different enough to be seen as his own character.
  • Played completely straight with the Cyber Shredder in Back to the Sewer. This Shredder is formed from a digital backup of Ch'rell's personality. So apart from his drastically different looks, he is essentially the same character as the first Shredder.
  • Khan, also from the Back to the Sewer season feels very similar to early series Hun. Both simply exist to be a lackey to the Shredder who's named after a historical conqueror. (Atilla the Hun and Gengis Khan). This character is probably created as such, since Hun permanently severed his ties to the Shredder and went his own way.
• When Disney scrapped the Star Wars Expanded Universe when they bought the franchise, they took a lot of characters with it. While some have come back, like Thrawn, there are also a number of these floating around. Like for instance a certain Jedi in Star Wars Rebels who survived Order 66, has a samurai-like haircut, is very distrustful of clones, was a founding member of the Rebel Alliance, and goes into a deep depression after being blinded by a character voiced by Sam Witwer. Whether intentional or not, Kanan Jarrus bears a striking resemblance to the now Legends character Rahm Kota from The Force Unleashed.
  • One of Star Wars: The Clone Wars ’s fan favorite characters started out as one of these. Originally, the role as Anakin’s second in command would have been filled by ARC Trooper Alpha, but George Lucas realized that would mean the entire main cast of the show would have names starting with the letter “A” (Anakin, Ashoka, Artoo, and Alpha) so he vetoed the idea and a substitute named Captain Rex was born. Eventually however, Rex would develop his own personality as a more kind hearted leader who would eventually join the Rebel Alliance, where Alpha seemed to believe Murder Is the Best Solution.
• Monsters at Work:
  • Roze, the new administrator of Laugh Floor F, is one to her twin sister Roz, both being slug creatures with a deadpan sense of humor, are portrayed by a man in a deep, gravely voice, and are feared by Mike Wazowski. Roze, however, has no mole or glasses, dyed her hair pink, wears a green shirt instead of a red one, and actively goes out of her way to bother Mike.
  • Duncan, the Token Evil Teammate of MIFT, is a smooth-talking, shift-eyed schemer who's looking to move up in the company, and is willing to kill his coworkers if they pose any possible threat to his ascension. Aside from him being competent at his job, not wanting to backstab his boss and is willing to wait until he retires (or dies), and actually being courteous to his other teammates, Duncan is practically a slightly nicer version of Randall.
• Superfriends:
  • The original 1973 series featured a pair of teenage sidekicks to the Super Friends named Wendy and Marvin as well as a Team Pet known as Wonder Dog. Starting with the second series The All-New Super Friends Hour, the three were replaced by the Wonder Twins (Zan and Jayna) and their pet alien monkey Gleek.
  • In the Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show episode "The Case of the Dreadful Dolls", the villain is the Dollmaker, who has a lot in common with the series' incarnation of Toyman (mainly in that he's a toy-themed villain who wears a clown-like costume and is voiced by Frank Welker). Toyman was apparently supposed to be the antagonist of the episode before the production team found that they no longer had the rights to use Toyman and had to make do with a new villain, which is supported by a lot of evidence in the final version of the episode (particularly, the Dollmaker's hideout being in Schott's Toy Factory^note The original Toyman's real name is Winslow Schott. and the Super Friends regarding Dollmaker as if he were a previously encountered enemy).
• Scooby-Doo has an interesting example via the Hex Girls, who act as one to Josie and the Pussycats (who had previously guest-starred in a episode of The New Scooby-Doo Movies, back when Hanna-Barbera used to own their Animated Adaptation). While their gimmicks are different, both are Blonde, Brunette, Redhead trios of teenage girls who perform as a musical band and help to solve mysteries, similarities that were highlighted a little further for the band's appearance in Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? (which incidentally is a Spiritual Successor to the aforementioned series).
• On Laff-A-Lympics, Dick Dastardly and Muttley were originally intended to be the captains of the Really Rottens, but it's been reputed that Heatter-Quigley (who was co-credited on Wacky Races) co-owned the characters. In Dastardly's stead was the Dread Baron (a comic book posits the two are brothers) and in Muttley's stead was Mumbly who was actually created a year prior.
• In Star Trek: Prodigy, the Diviner is modeled on Khan Noonien Singh—a powerful tyrant who's trying to save his people and despises the Federation for a well-intentioned act that doomed them. It's not flagrantly obvious because he's teased as having a nobler purpose behind his misdeeds. But when he finally reveals the whole truth to Gwyn, it's that he was on the "xenophobe" side of the war that destroyed his people after the Federation contacted them and revealed a wider galaxy, and he came back in time to destroy the Federation first.
• Archer spent 13 seasons revolving around the title character's combative relationship with Lana Kane, his partner in the field. Then, in the 14th and final season, Lana was Kicked Upstairs to run the agency — and almost immediately recruited a new agent named Zara Khan, who had a similar dynamic with Archer. Just to ram the point home, the episode in which Khan was recruited finished with Archer yelling "Zara... Zara!" in exactly the same way he would previously have yelled "Lana... Lana!"
• Kaeloo: In seasons 2-4, Pretty was an Alpha Bitch and a jerkass who enjoyed fatshaming Kaeloo, insulting everyone around her, and bullying her kind-hearted and soft-spoken Butt-Monkey sister Eugly. In season 5, Pretty undergoes a sudden offscreen Heel–Face Turn and becomes super nice with zero explanation, almost as if she were a completely different character; the same season introduces Stumpy's little sister Cramoisie, who is... a jerkass who enjoys fatshaming Kaeloo, insulting everyone around her, and bullying her kind-hearted and soft-spoken Butt-Monkey sister Violasse. She even has green eyes and primarily wears red clothes, just like Pretty.

---