SHU: Homage Character Examples

You’ve learned some tips on how to create your own superhero homage characters like the ones shown in the poster on the right. Now here are some examples that have appeared over the years, from the popular to some you probably hadn’t heard of.

• Samaritan
• Confessor
• The Incredibles
• Die Fledermaus
• American Maid
• Crusader, Darkblade, and Amazonia
• Squadron Supreme
• Glory

• Samaritan (Astro City): A Superman-inspired hero from Kurt Busiek’s Astro City, there are similarities between the two (powers, media-related job, iconic nature, etc), but a main difference besides his origin is that Samaritan is always on the go fighting villains and preventing disasters, leaving himself little time for a personal life.

• Confessor (Astro City): Astro City’s Batman-style character, this hero is a former priest who was turned into a vampire and became a crime-fighter as a means of atonement for giving into the temptation that caused him to be bitten.

• The Incredibles: This family of superheroes, from the film of the same name, is styled after the best known family of heroes, the Fantastic Four, the differences being the switching around of powers and the nature of the family, two superhero parents and their children.

• Die Fledermaus: A Batman parody from the comic book The Tick, not only does his costume look more bat-like, but he is also a coward more likely to run from danger as opposed to Batman’s focused determination to face it.

• American Maid: probably the only competent superhero in the world of The Tick, based on Wonder Woman with some Captain America influences who throws her tiara and stiletto heels (no, really) as weapons against villains.

• Crusader, Darkblade, and Amazonia: The three main heroes from the webcomic Love and Capes, who are clearly based on DC Comics’ “Big Three”, Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, with Darkblade as Crusader’s best friend and Amazonia as a former love interest that serves as a source of irritation and inadequacy for Crusader’s current girlfriend Abby.

• Squadron Supreme: Marvel Comics’ take on the Justice League who appeared in the pages of The Avengers and exist in a separate reality from the main Marvel Universe, members include Hyperion (Superman), Nighthawk (Batman), Power Princess (Wonder Woman), Doctor Spectrum (Green Lantern), the Whizzer (Flash) and more.

• Glory: An homage to Wonder Woman created by Rob Liefeld, who was the daughter of an Amazonian queen and a demon lord and struggled with her two halves.