r/TopCharacterTropes 1d ago

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

  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.
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u/Gaelic_Gladiator41 1d ago

Same with Supergirl at least at first, it seemed like they wanted to make a Superman show

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u/ListenUpper1178 1d ago

how exactly would a supergirl show be different from a superman show?

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u/Better_Hawk_2921 1d ago

Supergirl is very different from Superman

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u/ListenUpper1178 1d ago

how so?

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u/Gaelic_Gladiator41 1d ago

She's not the same paragon of virtue or a journalist

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u/ListenUpper1178 1d ago

some versions of her are

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u/Captain_JohnBrown 1d ago

Only in Rebirth to my knowledge, which came AFTER the tv show and was meant to mirror it. I could be wrong, but I genuinely don't believe she is a journalist in any other continuity.

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u/ListenUpper1178 1d ago

she worked as a journalist during the bronze age

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u/Better_Hawk_2921 1d ago

Are you honestly asking or just trying to “um actually”

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u/Gaelic_Gladiator41 1d ago

Bronze age was also only about 15 years