8 DC Characters Shamelessly Ripped-Off From Marvel

5. Killer Croc Is Just Like The Lizard

Killer Croc DC
DC Comics

While Killer Croc has cemented his place in Batman's rogues gallery with a series of stellar appearances ("...I threw a rock at him!"), the Dark Knight's scaly adversary isn't entirely original, or perhaps as compelling as another reptilian villain from the medium.

Doctor Curt Connors - AKA the Lizard - made his comics debut in 1963's Amazing Spider-Man #6, and proceeded to become one of the character's most iconic and tragic adversaries in doing so. Killer Croc, on the other hand, made his first appearance in 1983 as a largely physical threat for Batman to deal with. While he's since blossomed into something a little bit more than that, conforming more to the horror genre than your average everyday brute, those visual comparisons to the Lizard are difficult to ignore.

Plus, there's also the fact that there's just a whole lot more to Curt Connors than Croc himself. The Lizard, prior to and immediately after his transformation, plays a pivotal role in the development of Peter Parker's transformation into Spider-Man. Croc, on the other hand, often acts as a menace and little else when pitted against Batman, lacking the depth to compete with the Caped Crusader's most revered adversaries, critically speaking.

There's a great deal to separate the pair, but if we were to play favourites with our reptiles, the Lizard would win each time.

Advertisement
Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.