"Hold on a minute!" you may be shouting from your cubicle. "Not only is he one of the most famous and recognizable icons in the world, he is also the first superhero ever created! So how can he be a rip off of anything if he was the first, you idiot?"

Well, that's where you are wrong, hypothetical Cracked reader who is talking to us and for some reason insulting us even though you are figment of our imagination; Superman may be the first superhero, but not the first character with those superpowers.

He is a Rip-Off of:

Philip Wylie's wrote a pulp novel called Gladiator in 1930,starring Hugo Danner, a man whose father invents a secret formula that can create superpowers. Instead of selling it and making millions, he just injects it into his son, because, hey, why not? Hugo gains super strength, bullet proof skin and the ability to jump over the tallest building in a single bound. Jumping, not flying--so it's sort of different, right? Well, actually, in Superman's early years he couldn't fly either, just jump really high.

All he was missing was the laser/telescopic eyes and the million retarded powers Superman pulled out of his ass in the 50s. And it was published eight years before Superman appeared.

But superpowers are kind of standard, right? Super strength? Hell, Hercules had that! It doesn't mean it's a rip-off!

But the resemblance doesn't end there. Both Superman and Hugo Danner grew up in a small farming town. Supes in Kansas and Danner in Colorado. Both pretended to be meek and weak to prevent people from finding out about their superpowers. And both had a special place where they went to be alone: Superman had his fortress of solitude in the Arctic, and Donner had his own place in northern Canada. Of course, his didn't have the total emo name, which really only proves that he was less of a huge tool.

And to boot, the first image of Superman the world saw, the cover of Action Comics #1, recreates a scene of the Gladiator novel where Hugo loses his shit, lifts up a car and scares the crap out of everyone.

"And curse you for cutting me... I mean Clark Kent off in the intersection."

Oh sure, Gladiator doesn't have five movies, several TV shows, a crapload of cartoons, a 70-year-old still going comic book and millions of dollars from merchandise. But he sure had third base relation than Supes.

@omegma: Cracked.com?

Well, when you think of something revolutionary, it's gotta be inspired by something.

word, plus even thought action comics 1 wasnt published until 1938, the creaters had him in there head for years before.

wasn't it admitted they were inspired by this and many other things?

Mostly everything is inspired from something else. And sometimes the "rip offs" are better than their source.

Just a heads up for the people who think he is an original.

Definitely an inspiration not a rip off. Instead of looking at the similarities, look at the differences.

@logy5000: I agree

@amutant: So what you mean to say is that Sentry,Hyperion,Gladiator and other rip offs are better than superman.

@omegma: No that's not what I said. I said sometimes the "rip offs" are better than their source.

@omegma: he said sometimes not always lol

A secret formula that instantaneously grants powers does not correlate to an alien arriving on Earth as a child and developing his powers throughout the years.

Superman is inspired by Moses, Buck Rogers and Hercules. He is not a rip off...Plus cracked is pretty anti-Superman.

@bogey: If that is so then why is Sentry considered a rip off of Superman.Truth is Superman and his story that they both were raised in a farm and pretended to be weak around others before realizing their superpowers does correlate to him especially his power set which contains bullet proof skin,Jump at great heights and Super Strenght but Superman has been given additional powers over the years that the writers have pulling out crap from their butts.Sure the story is different because if you make a character named Mark Kent and give him powers like flying and laser eyes and a complete exact similar story then you will be hearing from DC's lawyers that they are going to cram down a lawsuit in your throat.There are a lot of similarities as I have mentioned above.

@sandman_: There are difference between inspiration and a rip off because inspiration might have a little similar back story but not the similar power set of his inspiration.By what looks of it seems that inspiration is a way to steal credit for an original character that was developed through sheer will and pure imagination and not taken from some other guys made character.They even had done that to doomsday cause they could not find a villain to kick superman's butt so they made a grey version of the Hulk with additional features and made him a great story for people to be told.

this hardly proves anything, there is absolutely no confirmation that this was anykind of inspiration for making superman, Superman is an original cuz he is The Original Super hero,his name literally coined the term! oh and his origin is completey different. n if this gladiator guy was supposed to be such a big deal for apparently influencing superman,how isn't he remembered like superman?

Gladiator wasn't a Superhero though. and he wasn't an alien.

Edit:Not saying he wasn't inspired by Gladiator, just that he can't really be considered a rip-off

I far as i know superman was inspired as a telepathic villian before he becomes the hero we all know.
Some say he was based on John Carter,The X rays came later.
Anyway i still can't see how he is a rip off......the only similarities are of their powers.
Also Superman in his first years on publication was raised in an orphanage so origin-wise there are no similarities.
The kent farm origin came to life years later just so DC can give a valid excuse for the SUPERBOY title.

@squalleon: Superman was also influenced by Doc Savage, Savage had a secret base in the artic called the Fortress of Solitude and he was also know as the Man of Bronze, hell his first name is even Clark.

@ultimatesmfan: That's doesn't mean a thing, Batman was influenced by Zorror and the Shadow and they aren't anywhere near as popular

@omegma: Flying without wings, man of steel, where have I heard that before?

Sorry but no. The term Ripoff gets thrown around way to much on this website. Aside from super strength these two characters have nouthing in common that would suggest Supes is a ''ripoff'' yes he has strength but that where the similarities end.

Well there is another similarity and that is that they both were raised in a farm and pretended to be weak and pathetic in front of other people.He was a pulp fiction hero and Superman gained other powers such as laser eyes in other series so the viewers might be interested in him more than gladiator because that person was not working in a comic publishing company like DC and Marvel that their writers are communist and all.Most stories goes success such as Superman because when one singer produces a good song and the other people like it so you know what his new songs are they are based on that song but said and done in a different way.You are just being hypothetical.Gather some info on him.

Funny then, that you didn't mention Batman in that list, considering he was Number 1 and Supes was number 2.

Finally someone sensible enough to understand that rip offs can get more popular if they are produced by a large company such as DC.Swamp Thing and Man Thing are a rip off a character that was made 4 years before them.

@perezite: If I mentioned Batman then it would be on the Batman forum.That said I know you love belittling others but this time it ain't working.

Maybe, but that won't stop me for belittling you for how casually you like to drop the word rip-off. So, in other words: belittle, belittle, and belittle.

I always thought he was 'inspired' by the super strong Doc Savage. Man of Bronze / Man of Steel. Both have a Fortress of Solitude int the arctic, etc.

He was inspired by Gladiator in some ways sure. The same can be said about any super hero though. Batman = Zorro, Spiderman's morals aren't dissimilar from Superman's, Hulk = Mr Hyde, Iron Man = Metalo/Metallo, Captain America = Every patriotic superhero which was pretty much every superhero at the time. It's comics no big deal about it.

@etragedy: Gladiator was made before them so Doc Savage is another rip off.

Fun fact I already won you're just having a hard time comprehending it. Given your vastly inferior intellect I'd give you 50 years before you realize you've been defeated by yours truly La Araña Discoteca.
I don't blame you for thinking you can beat me. My rather humble demeanor is always mistaken for an opportune moment to defeat me but it is fact that I cannot be beaten. But I understand if you still want to believe that you're better even though you are not a lot of people cope with their losses the same you are now.
You have my sympathies.

@omegma: Sure. Of course, by that definition, all superheroes are rip-offs, but that's pretty much old news.

@etragedy: Believe me that they just have different names and they are the new version of Superheroes.

@omegma:

@squalleon said:

This,

and This!

so by your logic after superman came out every character who can fly and has super strength is a rip off of superman,screw the other powers(although there have been some identical powerset characters) but what ur saying is essentially this. super strength is a very broad super power the fact that ur super strong means every part of our body is strong so obviously ud be able to jump higher,tank (relative to humans) fatal blows etc. supes was based of samson and hercules, beings of super strength, so even if this gladiator guy was an inspiration, supes is far from being ripped off of him. plus obviously the concept of super strength didn't start with superman but the concept of super hero did. thats why he's original.

@etragedy: That's how it sounds the way people are using it in this thread, it's like saying that Harry Potter is a rip-off of King Arthur because they are both English orphans who have an old gray wizard to look up to and both appear in novels.

You haven't REALLY won then, have you? For, is not the purpose of a debate to convince the other side that you're right? On that matter, are not the majority of debates, by that nature, pointless since I don't recall people on any side of a debate ever switching sides because of the other side's argument.

But, speculation aside, I know your not stupid. Misguided, sure, but not stupid. Sometimes people like you infuriate me to no end, but I know you're not stupid. That's reserved for Hollywood big-wigs.

No. What you have is an incorrect definition of what a "rip-off" is.

That's all.

I'm sure your a bright person with prospects...which is why you like to spend time commenting on Comicvine (note: this is less a poorly concealed slap in your face, per say, and more a slap at mine for being so lazy on the process of actually working towards a better future that I spend SO MUCH of my time here).

Given that this post seems somewhat aggressive and that you called yourself La Araña Discoteca, I read your comment in Darkest Timeline Troy's voice.

Sorry to disappoint you, but Superman is primarily ripping off John Carter and the Barsoom books that started publishing in the 1910's.

Like John and Kal have very similar origins of their abilities; presence on a planet that's alien to their birth grants them immense physical abilities that the native population does not share and both eventually rise to become the heroes of the world they landed on.

Superman ISN'T a rip-off.

@bogey: That describes John Carter of Mars, and he inspired Superman, Star Wars, He-Man and many more.

@vance_astro: Agreed.There is a difference from being inspired and being a rip-off.

Sure.

True.I mean,look at Batman and the Shadow.But this is just inspired,not a carbon copy/rip off.As said by dccomicsrule2011

1) Old news

2) No one cares

3) The word "rip-off" is used so haphazardly in these threads that its lost meaning.

@cameron83: Exactly. If Gladiator wore a bright blue and red costume flew around the world saving people with heat vision, ice breath, superspeed etc. Superman would be a rip-off be he doesn't so he isn't.

• did you read what i wrote GA superman wasn't raised in a farm.
  
• GA Clark Kent wasn't like the Byrne Clark.Look it up GA Clark is anything than weak a willfull strong reporter ready to defend his ideals.
• THE heat vision CAME LATER and i mean 20 years later....JUST READ WHAT I WROTE..here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powers_and_abilities_of_Superman .

Look, you really have no idea of superman's backstory as a character.You are embarassing yourself by trying to defend a false argument.If superman is based on someone that would be Doc Savage to a digree.

Yes Siegal and Shuster used many aspects of many different characters to create Superman including apects of Wylie's Gladiator. It didn't seem to bother Wylie that much because he had the chance to sue National Publications, but chose not to. The funnier part is that National later sued the hell out of Fawcett because Captain Marvel was a ripoff of Superman.

But, originalilty is overrated anyway. No one can create a character or story in a vacuum. Anything anyone writes will be inspired by something else. No one calls Solid Snake a ripoff of Snake Pliskin even though Kojima explicitly stated he was inspired by the John Carpenter created character.

@omegma:

Also by your logic.

Star trek is a rip off Star wars because both have the word star in their names and both franchise's have starships.

To tell you the truth i didn't post in this thread just to defend superman.I mostly posted just to make you understand what a rip off means.

A rip off is a perfect dublicate something that is completely compatible with the original in every aspect.

You could say that superman's powers is a rip off but not SUPERMAN HIMSELF cause the characters lack common background,genre,personality etc.

Wow so just because someone before Supes had the same powers that makes him a rip off? Pff, then everything ever is a rip off with that rationale. It's called influence. Every creation gets an influence from somewhere. That shouldn't take away from Supes at all. Also who even knows or cares about this Gladiator guy? Virtually no one. Superman on the otherhand has resonated with people for decades. So even if Supes was a rip off, which he isn't as he's his own character (Im pretty sure Kryptonians didn't exist until him - thats sarcasm by the way), it doesn't really matter as he's still a far better character.

Also, Batman was inspired by the Shadow and Zorro. But that doesn't make him a rip off. Is he not more recognizable than both of those characters now for good reason? People called Green Arrow a Batman and Robin Hood rip off, but Ollie has been around for decades. He has his own show now! Come off it man, this rationale is stupid. Characters and their traits have been borrowed from and used for years, doesn't make them a rip off. Nobody has a monopoly on superpowers or character traits.