Marvel/ DC Counterparts

[JeyNyce]

Every comic book lover is always comparing Marvel & DC heroes.  One topic that always comes up is who is the Batman of the Marvel universe.  Some say it's Iron Man, Moon Knight, or the Black Panther.  A friend of mine told me that you can compare Batman to Black Panther.  He said that Black Panther's DC counterpart would be Aquaman.  I laughed at first, but after thinking about it he's right.  So my questions to you guys are  this:  Is Black Panther & Aquaman each other's counterparts?  Who would you think Batman's Marvel counterpart be?  And can you name some other Marvel/ DC counterparts?

[BentonGrey]

That's an interesting idea, JN, but I think the trouble with it is that Namor is the obvious Aquaman counterpart.  I can kind of see the BP argument, though.  He's a king of his own hidden country, he's noble and honorable, very intelligent, and a great leader.  Still, I think that Panther is more of a Batman parallel, though certainly not an exact one.  I've always thought of Captain America as Batman's counterpart, certainly not exact, but he serves a similar purpose within the universe in a lot of ways.  He's the human among gods, he is the default tactical leader of any team he's in, and he is completely unflinching in his pursuit of his ideals.  Of course, personality-wise they're very different.

Some obvious and (mostly) clear-cut parallels:

Iron Man / Steel
Thor / Superman
Hawkeye / Green Arrow
Namor / Aquaman
Ant-Man / The Atom
Angel / Hawkman
The Vision / Martian Manhunter
Quicksilver / The Flash
Scarlet Witch / Zatanna
Quasar / Green Lantern (I think?  I don't really know Quasar well)
Bucky / Robin

And then of course you've got the straight-up homage characters like how the Shi'ar Imperial Guard are almost note for note recreations of the Legion of Superheroes and how the Squadron Supreme is the Justice League.

For an interesting take on this whole conversation, think about which of those preceded, and thus perhaps inspired, the others. 

[JeyNyce]

I always thought of the Nova Corp as the counterpart to the Green Lantern Corp.  As for Batman, I figure Moon Knight would be his counterpart, more now that MK is becoming more of a detective crime fighter.

[HarryTrotter]

Darhawk was intended to be Batman expy,so he would be an obvious choice.But I would say Daredevil has some similarities too.
X-men/Doom Patrol
Seven Soldiers/Avengers
Thor/Thunderer
Hulk/The General
Darkseid/Thanos
Deathstroke/Deadpool
Most of them are intentional.

[JeyNyce]

How about Wonder Woman?  Would it be Storm? She-Hulk? Hercules or Thor?

[HarryTrotter]

Probably She-Hulk?

[kkhohoho]

How about Wonder Woman?  Would it be Storm? She-Hulk? Hercules or Thor?

None of 'em. Captain Marvel (formerly Ms.Marvel,) is the best bet, especially since Marvel's practically been pushing her to the point where she not only keeps getting a new series despite low sales, but is also getting her own movie. They really want her to be their Wonder Woman, and I think she's got what it takes to get there. That said, some characters are counterparts to other characters in different ways, so that will be reflected on my list with characters getting multiple comparisons. Without further adue...

Superman/Captain America
Superman/Thor
Batman/Captain America
Batman/Ironman
Batman/Black Panther
Batman/Moon Knight
Batman/Daredevil
Steel/Ironman
Wonder Woman/Thor
Wonder Woman/Captain Marvel
Aquaman/Namor
Red Tornado/Vision
Martian Manhunter/Vision
Static/Spiderman
Zatanna/Scarlet Witch
Atom/Hank Pym
Bumblebee/Wasp
Green Arrow/Hawkeye
Flash/Quicksilver
Green Lantern/Quasar
Green Lantern/Nova
Green Lanter/Rom Spaceknight
Challengers of the Unknown/Fantastic Four
Doom Patrol/Fantastic Four
Doom Patrol/X-Men
Teen Titans/New Warriors
Young Justice/Young Avengers
Justice League/Avengers
Outsiders/Defenders
Justice Society/Invaders
Doctor Fate/Doctor Strange
Darksied/Thanos
The New Gods/The Eternals
Etrigan/Ghost Rider
Vigilante/Punisher
Legion of Superheroes/ Future Guardians of the Galaxy
Omega Men&L.E.G.I.O.N/The Infinity Watch&Present Guardians of the Galaxy

Basically, Captain America is similar to Batman in terms of his tactical genius and martial ability, but is also similar to Superman in terms of his personalty, as well as his general status as the leader and moral center of his universe. Superman and Thor can also be compared due to both being the major powerhouses of their respective universes and Superteams.

Iron Man and Batman are similar in that they're both billionaire playboys who represent the pratical side of their respective teams, and who rely on technology and gadgets to get by, though Iron Man and Steel can also be compared for obvious reasons. Black Panther... dressed all in black with an animal motif, obviously, but he's also a very competent and skilled planner and fighter and with a bunch of money and resources, and he was also a member of his universes' greatest Superteam well into the 70's before becoming a reservist. Next is Moonknight, who's a mostly non-powered vigilante who has a double-life as a millionare playboy, so that one's obvious. And lastly, there's Daredevil. While he does have superpowers, they mostly just compensate for his lack of sight, and a very skilled and well-trained fighter like Bullseye can still go toe-to-toe with him. On top of that, DD was also partially driven to crime-fighting by the death of his father, and while he couldn't see his father's death, well, I think the reason for that's pretty obvious.

I've already explained my reasons for the Wonder Woman/Captain Marvel comparison, but Wonder Woman and Thor are both powerful mythological based beings who each represent the third member in their respective Holy Trinity/Big Three.

Vision, like Martian Manhunter, is calm, collected, and not outwardly emotional, represents the soul of his team, and is almost always a member. However, Red Tornado is, like Vision, an android, who first showed up around the same time as Vision and who, after being created to betray the heroes, eventually joins them.  He was also the soul of the team while Martian Manhunter took the 70's and early 80's off, so he's got that going for him.

Quasar is like GL in that he's the 'Protector of the Universe' and has similar abilities, but Nova serves a similar role, and was even a member of a galactic organization of space-cops until they all got wiped out. (And not by Nova himself, thankfully...) And ROM and the Spaceknights also serve the same sort of role. (Speaking of which Benton, if you haven't checked ROM out, it's a fun classic series from the 70's&80's that I think you'd enjoy, so check it out if you want.)

The Challengers and the Fantastic Four are both groups of adventures who often come up against strange otherworldly threats and menaces. Same goes for the Doom Patrol. However, the Doom Patrol are also similar to the X-Men, being a group of being who could potentially be 'hated and feared, brought together by a crippled man in a wheelchair.

And I think that should do it for now.

[HarryTrotter]

I mentioned that in Multiversity thread,DCs Earth 8 parodies Marvel universe.CrUSAder,Machine-head etc.And heroes fight each other more then they fight villains.
Mad Dog,Bloodlines creation, is Punisher with a hokey mask.Bloodlines had a few of these.
Lex Luthor/Doctor Doom-Both are powerfull scheming villains who have fought almost every hero.But have also teamed up with the good guys on multiple occasions.
Extremists/various Marvel villains.

[Distorto]

Wolverine/Wildcat
Batman/Ghost Rider
Iron Man/Cyborg
Martian Manhunter/Hulk
Captain America/Dollar Bill
Spiderman/Blue Beetle

[daglob]

I've always figured that The Doom Patrol was DC's version of The Fantastic Four. Seems like when they did an animated version of the DP a couple of years ago, the character designs accentuated the resemblance.

Thing=Robotman
Torch=Negtative Man
Elasti-Girl=Mr. Fantastic
Chief= Mr. Fantastic also, but if you consider he is the teammate no one ever saw...

Interestingly, Distro, The Blue Beetle was originally more like The Green Hornet (suit and big car and all), then he became more like Batman for an adventure, then he began taking Vitamin 2-X and was Fox Comics' Superman. Then, the '60s Charlton version said "Kaji Da" and quicker than you can say "Shazam", was transformed into a powerful figure with mythological connections. I feel that Steve Ditko's version was a synthesis of Spider-Man and Batman, without being a copy.

[SickAlice]

Probably make an endless list since the inception of comic books was following market trends and one character or another is inspired from another (example: Batman/The Shadow) if they're not an outright anagram. I always liked the Batman/Steve Rogers comparison personally as hokey as that cross-over was. There's something very relative in how they're both men not just making more but everything of themselves in the face of unrealistically overwhelming odds and how they inspire those they come across. That unrelenting attitude they both employ. Else on the surface currently Moon Knight is the closest to Batman being his direct anagram and everything but when you think about it he doesn't measure up to the status nor determination that Bruce does in DC. I definitely wouldn't compare BP either with the exception of the run where BP took Dardevils place and become a Batman anagram of course. Batman being Bruce is always a hard one to compare because there is SO much depth and mythos to his character that you can practically reach and find a relation to another character out there and of course again because so much has been inspired after the fact by the numerous Batman stories over time.

[HarryTrotter]

On the Blue Beetle thing: Jaime Reyes and Miles Morales play a very similar role.
Just look at Amalgam comics and see which characters were combined.Like Iron Lantern,Ras Apocalypse and so on.

[President Raygun]

 I can't believe you all forgot the most obvious one: Man-Thing/ Swamp-Thing 

[daglob]

I can't believe you all forgot the most obvious one: Man-Thing/ Swamp-Thing 

...and then there was The Heap...

I'm skinning Nuclearman on a hex of Sentry, and while looking for reference I found a blog pointing out how similar the character are, but as to that...

Sentry=Triumph both=Superman
Wundarr (originally)=Superman
Captain Mar-Vell=Superman (with a dose of the big red cheese)
Daredevil=Batman
Thor=Captain Marvel
Dr. Doom=Lex Luthor (Silver Age version)


If Nightman was still really part of the Marvelverse, I would say he was their version of Batman.

I won't bring up all the Golden or Electrum Age versions.

[HarryTrotter]

Punisher could also be seen as a counterpart to Batman.Both lost their families,and both are kinda straight man to a weird universe around them.
Magog is Cable and Shatterstar combined.Again,intentional.
Hector Hammond/MODOK.
Spiderman and Superman share a colour theme and similar jobs.

[Distorto]

Thor=Lightning

[JeyNyce]

Thor=Lightning

Do you mean Thor/ Shazam (Captain Marvel)

[SickAlice]

Spiderman and Superman share a colour theme and similar jobs.

I read an infographic that art students study about that where there's specific color schemes used to denote a certain type of personality. Optimus Prime for example was lined up on the same color chart as Spider-man and Superman. Characters like Green Goblin, Hulk and Joker are on another bandwith. And so on. It has something to do with how the human mind equates color to personality. Good catch on that one.

[HarryTrotter]

^Thanks.
New Guardians(80s team)/New Mutants
Global Guardians/X-men

They were created by DC to copy X-men formula of ethnicly diverse superheroes.

[bearded]

An interesting tangent to this would be the Event counterparts, the most recent example being Secret War and Convergence. They are basically the same story. How many times has DC and Marvel done the exact same event at the same time?

[BentonGrey]

Good connections guys, very interesting.

[HarryTrotter]

Dont quote me on this one,but I think Hercules fought more then a few Wonder Woman clones over the years.
Mr Fantastic/Elongated man or Plastic man
Events:
Blackest Night/Necrosha
Spiderverse/Multiversity
AvX is maybe similar to JLA/Titans depending how you look at it.

[Distorto]

timberwolf = wolverine
captain america = Mister America

[BentonGrey]

timberwolf = wolverine
captain america = Mister America

Ha, and in a funny bit of synchronicity, Timberwolf in turn spawned Fang, who in turn gave Wolverine his second costume.

[HarryTrotter]

Night Trasher is yet another Batman copy.Marvel REALLY liked these.
Continuing Darkseid/Thanos chain there is Mongul,who copied Thanos.Jim Starlin had so many ideas,right?   
And Kang would probably be somewhere in this mix.
King Faraday/Nick Fury
Highfather/Odin
Something Im surprised nobody pointed out Impossible Man and Mr Mxyzptlk.
Star Brand was supposed to be Green Lantern expy.

In a meta sense,Battle for Bludhaven was supposed to emulate Stamford tragedy and set the DCU on a path to something like Civil War.Thank God everyone ignored it. 

[kkhohoho]

In a meta sense,Battle for Bludhaven was supposed to emulate Stamford tragedy and set the DCU on a path to something like Civil War.

I can see it now: Batman grows a suspiciously infamous mustache enforces a law that has yet to pass and throws his friends and allies into Interdimensional Guantanamo the Phantom Zone on the grounds of superheroes needing to 'be responsible'; the Atom and Mr.Terrific II, being two of the smartest minds in the universe, go along with it on account of doing so being 'the next logical step'; Blue Beetle III feels torn between his loyalties to either side and unveils his secret identity in the process, which leads to his mother dying and him making a deal with Neron to revive her at the cost of his relationship with his girlfriend; Wonder Woman had already previously disappeared, sacrificing herself to break the cycle of Titanmachia, and Batman has the Atom and Mr.Terrific grow a clone of her to fight in their cause; and in the end, Superman surrenders, falling to his knees after seeing the sheer destruction that has been caused, and later dies from a Kryptonite bullet fired at his brain by the Atomic Skull, with Supes' kryptionian blood pouring down the black&white steps in a scene of sheer unconstrained bleakness, tragedy, and grief.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaanyway, I thought of another one: Raven/Magick. Both have rather different personalities, but they're also both teenagers/young adults who are doing their best to fight against a dark evil within them, and if it were unleashed, it could destroy the world. They're also members of teams of other teenagers/young adults, and they've both A)succumbed to the evil inside them at least once, and B)died only to come back from the dead later on. So I think it's a pretty apt comparision, all things considiered.

[HarryTrotter]

In a meta sense,Battle for Bludhaven was supposed to emulate Stamford tragedy and set the DCU on a path to something like Civil War.

I can see it now: Batman grows a suspiciously infamous mustache enforces a law that has yet to pass and throws his friends and allies into Interdimensional Guantanamo the Phantom Zone on the grounds of superheroes needing to 'be responsible; the Atom and Mr.Terrific II, being two of the smartest minds in the universe, go along with it on account of doing so being 'the next logical step'; Blue Beetle III feels torn between his loyalties to either side, and unveils his secret identity in the process, which leads to his mother dying and him making a deal with Neron to revive her at the sake of his relationship with his girlfriend; Wonder Woman had already had previously disappeared, sacrificing herself to break the cycle of Titanmachia, and Batman has the Atom and Mr.Terrific grow a clone of her to fight in their cause; and in the end, Superman surrenders, falling to his knees after seeing the sheer destruction that has been caused, and later dies from a Kryptonite bullet fired in his brain by the Atomic Skull, with Supes' kryptionian blood pouring down the black&white steps in a scene of sheer, unconstrained bleakness, tragedy, and grief.

HAHA...NO. 
More along the lines of: people mistrust superbeings because they have caused a great tragedy(Blowing up a mostly empty city,in this case) and the government takes a hardline approach to metahumans.Ignoring the fact that people who blew up Bludhaven were working FOR the government.In short,the story is a mess that was supposed to set up DCU like Marvel Universe post Civil War.Again,that never came to be,since the story was ignored,thank God.
PS. Injustice is still ongoing,so dammit stop giving them ideas! 

[BentonGrey]

Kk...my gosh, that is hilarious and depressing in equal measure.  Ha.

[HarryTrotter]

Ghost rider/Spectre
Maybe you could say Beyonders are similar to the Guardians of the Universe?
Im running out of ideas,here. XD
Does Wildstorm counts,because that would be whole page worth.
Maybe Mephisto/First of the fallen?

[JeyNyce]

Superman/ Icon
Hardware/ Iron Man