8 DC Characters Shamelessly Ripped-Off From Marvel
2. Imperiex Is Basically Galactus
DC Comics
Anyone who's anyone knows that Galactus is the cosmic bad guy. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby early on in their tenure on Fantastic Four, the big bad purple giant has terrorised the galaxy for as long as Marvel has had its cosmic elements. DC, not exactly lacking in that area, must've been a little jealous too, as Imperiex - introduced in 2000 by Jeph Loeb and Ian Churchill - is pretty much their own version of the character.
The concept of lifting a cosmic template for another character isn't exactly alien to the industry; Marvel blatantly ripped-off Darkseid during the creation of Thanos. It's just that, as far as rip-offs do go, Imperiex just isn't all that interesting - a hangover of the medium's most notorious decade as much as he is a very forgettable character.
There are certainly better Superman villains out there, and it's not as though DC suffer a dearth of quality in that area, cosmic or otherwise. A bizarre addition, on the whole.
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.
