6 Superstars Whose Gimmicks Were Totally Ripped Off From Comics

We've done superstars who were ripped off from movies... and superstars ripped off from video games... The Europeans have centuries of Renaissance art, including statues and paintings. The Japanese (and sometimes Koreans) have anime and manga as their primary source of visual art (on top of their own traditional art). What to Americans have that makes them stand out in terms of €˜visual culture€™? Apart from some impressive architecture, sculptures and early art, the United States has two real art forms: Comic books and wrestling. Comic books are rich tapestries of storytelling, political commentary, and often inhuman or unique characters. Many comic books tell the stories of (extra) ordinary people whose lives mirror our own, or have a message to tell. Comic book characters can fit virtually any mold: they can be morally-upstanding and righteous (Superman), brooding, soft-spoken vigilantes (Batman), or eloquent and philosophical idealists (V), just to name a few. For most of its history, professional wrestlers had to get people€™s attention by becoming more than human. This often meant adopting a gimmick. While some gimmicks are unique and come from a wrestler€™s own imagination, for others, they have to find a pre-existing character from somewhere else and mold it to fit their wrestling careers. In the WWE, most wrestlers€™ gimmicks usually came from that incomprehensible netherworld that is Vince McMahon€™s twisted genius. The early 1990s, for example, showed us some of that: a wrestling garbage man, a wrestling IRS worker, a wrestling voodoo priest€I could go on forever. But over the years, there were times when the two great American art forms, wrestling and comic books, came together to create interesting characters. These are 6 wrestling gimmicks that were either based or ripped off of comic book characters.