@ThomasElliot: I write many things, and for some reason I enjoy writing anything related to comics. Rather this blog was pointless, futile, or a complete waste of time....... I could really careless because it was something that I stumbled upon when making a video and decided to add along with my video.

I also write other stuff besides possible Rip-Offs, mostly scripts.

@SupremeHyperion: Very few, but what interests me the most about Rip-Offs and inspirations is rather a character was nothing more than a mere copy and paste with very little difference.

Actually, I'm pretty convinced Stan's Iron Man concept was "influenced" substantially by the tech described in Robert Heinlein's seminal science-fiction novel, Starship Troopers. (Note: The 1997 feature film and subsequent DTV sequels didn't accurately adapt the source material in terms of weaponry and technology.)

Grand Master Heinlein serialized the 1959 story as "Starship Soldier" in The Magazine Of Fantasy & Science Fiction before expanding to novel length and retitling as Starship Troopers, which won the 1960 Hugo Award.

Heinlein's descriptions of the battle gear used by the future soldiers bears an uncanny resemblance to Iron Man. Difficult to believe Stan wasn't familiar with Heinlein.

Although there are obvious similarities with Metallo, reading Starship Troopers suggests Heinlein had a much larger influence on the development of Iron Man.

Very interesting observation! I had no idea that some character by name Metalo exists!!

I'd say the most obvious and most logical inspiration for Iron Man is the suits of armor worn by knights. You know, a man in a suit of armor. That should be self-evident; it doesn't take a genius to draw that conclusion. Duh. Anything else is convoluted speculation.

i second

@sinestro_GL: O__O really

Intresting theory you got , i never thought about it like that , always thought of tony stark as an original twist for batman but with the points you make i can see the whole metallo-ironman theory being a possibility. However if Stan Lee ever got inspiration from the competition i think he made sure that it wasn't extremely obvious that it was a knock off . I think now in days we see that more with characters from newer publishers for example image just to mention one .

Makes sense.

Iron Man should really be able to beat down metallo

Nobody has mentioned the TONS of pulp magazines that could and have influenced comic book characters... The Black Bat/Batman... The Spider/Spider-man... and I know I saw more than a few "men in metal suits" on the covers of the old pulps.

Sometimes a "rip-off" is obvious... but, when you fall into such a deep pool of creativity... ya never know what might stick to you.

Doc Savage alone fought swamp creatures, metal men, and men/women with enhanced human abilities.

Wonder what Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers were doing in those days?!?

Huh. I had no idea that version of Metallo existed. It is interesting to think that Stan Lee may have borrowed from Golden Age Metalo for Iron Man, and now HE is the quintessential man in a metal suit. Although I really kinda doubt it.

yes.

really dont know,but alot of marvels character were originated by some of the dc characters.

Typical Marvel haha jk

Interesting read. I'd like to see more articles like this.

Metallo is now just an iteration of the almighty Cyborg Superman.

Does anyone else so want to see Metallo vs Iron Man now?

A guy with a robot suit. Such a unique idea. How could more then one person come up with it? I mean it's not like Japan had anything that could have helped inspire Ironman years before...oh wait...

Seems like everyone was ripping off everyone back in the day. They were all just rehashing ideas from something else. Even superman is a rip off. Check out number 5 in this article. http://www.cracked.com/article_17299_6-famous-characters-you-didnt-know-were-shameless-rip-offs.html

@mtharman: So anyone who disagrees with you makes them a troll right? Now I have to ask, are you the one that is upset? Because the other guy clearly said he wasn't gonna comment anymore but yet you felt the need to reply to him. Sooo why waste the time of making such a long comment. Do you not have anything else to do with your life?

@teerack:

Confession: I was bored and wanted to write something, found it when stumbling upon a picture where Metallo looked remarkably like Tony Stark.

Of course it's poor evidence to prove that Iron Man was inspired from Metallo, but a wonderful and playful topic to bring up. Sadly it seems that the RIP-OFF concept is quite frowned upon on here by quite a few.

I am sure there is a long list of Marvel ripping off DC.

Well, to be honest, most popular super-heroes are inspired by other characters.

Batman was inspired by Zoro, Superman was inspired by Tarzan as well as a fanzine character called the Super-Man who was supposed to be a bald telepathic madman (also written by Siegel), I think even Spider-Man was inspired by a pulp fiction character called the Spider. So I wouldn't be surprised, as there are some obvious similarities (though I think the resemblance between Tony Stark and Corben is pure coincidence). Nice observation though, and it's nice to learn a few things.

@gambit1024: not inspire marvel steals way to much from dc they take a bunch of dc ideas

@laserlambert: Doom patrol had the whole mutant outsider to society crap going before the X-Men so get over it.

@crimsonalchemist: Doom Patrol beat X-Men by like 3 months. Doom Patrol is way better than X-Men IMO mainly because they actually feel like they are rejects of the superhero and because DC doesn't go overboard with them so when we do see the Doom Patrol it's actually pretty cool and not overdone.

woulden't be the first time nor the last.

Batman was also inspired by a 1926 movie called The Bat, Bob Kane was a big film buff.

And the original idea for The Punisher, came from the The Batman....... seriously.

@anjales: The Super-Man was Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster testing the character of Superman actually. I don't consider that a rip off really.

@supremehyperion: That's the point I was thinking: nothing is fully original, everything has a little "touch" from other characters from movies, series and other comics. The hard work is to make something that is not a rip off and that is good enough! Not only for comics, but for tv shows, movies, songs, etc.

@laserlambert: But your argument sinks because Robotman was made in 1949....