10 Popular Comics Characters Imported From Other Media

First appearance: One of Batman: The Animated Series' standout episodes was a charming and beautifully animated piece of metafiction with November 1992's Beware The Gray Ghost. 1960s Batman Adam West voiced actor Simon Trent, famous for portraying The Gray Ghost, a hero based around Batman antecedent The Shadow who, thanks to some exciting film serial adventures, inspired the young Bruce Wayne and, thus, had a hand in creating Batman.

Trent even comments that the Batcave looks an awful lot like the "Gray Ghost Lair" from his movies. (The Batcave is another import from non-comics media, having been created for the 1940s film serials).

In comics: In 1998, the character showed up on the page in Batman: Gotham Adventures, a comic set in the continuity of The Animated Series. In 2010, a version of The Grey Ghost (with its different spelling and now the creation of actor Clancy Johnson) appeared in the mainstream DC continuity with a part in a Batgirl story arc, although the character did not have much in common with the Animated Series' version.

Post-New 52, however, Simon Trent has arrived in the Batman canon with an appearance earlier this year in the pages of Gotham Academy.

And back again?: There have been no appearances for Trent and The Gray (or Grey) Ghost on screen outside of the DC Animated Universe continuity, but he does seem like the kind of character that is likely to appear sooner or later on Gotham. There is, however, a Gray Ghost cameo in the video game Arkham series, showing up on a movie poster in Arkham Knight.