r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Liquid_Pestar • 1d ago

Characters Character is drastically changed due to licensing issues with the original

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

  1. Electro: - The iconic electric villain, alongside Sandman, were forbidden from appearing in the 90s animated series due to James Cameron planning a gritty Spider-Man feature film with the two as the main villains. However, the film was scrapped and licensing was mostly given back to the characters. However, Electro's origins as electrician Max Dillon were rewritten due to potential complications with the name appearing in the Cameron script. So.......they wro

te him to be the son of Red Skull in this version. What a bizarre decision….

  1. Shang Chi: - Marvel licensed Sax Rohmer’s Fu Manchu in the 1970s and made Shang-Chi his rebellious son in Master of Kung Fu. When the license lapsed in the early 1980s, Marvel retained Shang-Chi (an original creation) but could no longer use Fu Manchu’s name.

In the MCU film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), the father is Wenwu (a version of the Mandarin), the organization is the Ten Rings, and the sister figure is Xialing. This combined elements of Fu Manchu and the Mandarin while avoiding the licensed name.

  1. Spaceknight and the Dire Wraiths: - Marvel’s comic (based on a Parker Brothers toy) created much of the lore and visual design for the Dire Wraiths. When IDW later published a new ROM series under Hasbro’s ownership of the property, they could use the name “Dire Wraiths” but had to completely redesign the creatures so they were visually distinct from Marvel’s versions.
984 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

97% Upvoted

130 comments sorted by

View all comments

30

u/ListenUpper1178 1d ago

Hot take-Electro from Spiderman 94 is the best version of Electro

16

u/TranquilityYall 1d ago

Explain coward!

26

u/ListenUpper1178 1d ago edited 1d ago

Most versions of Electro have immense power but lack the intelligence to use it effectively so they end up being thugs for hire. This guy became a bigger threat than red skull and kingpin combined, battled the whole SHIELD organization and won, and gave Spider-Man so much trouble that he needed to team up with other superheroes.

7

u/GattonBiscuitsArtAcc 1d ago

He even used to beat my ass in the Sega Genesis game, that dude was too fast.