4. Simba (The Lion King)
It's widely known that The Lion King is an adaptation of Hamlet, but did you know that Disney also sought to rip-off a little-known Japanese cartoon for good measure? Displaying a brazen lack of regard for the original, Disney barely even changed the character in question; Simba from The Lion King is derived from a character called Kimba from Kimba: The White Lion, a character who had been around in manga form for over 4 decades before The Lion King showed up. It's not just the name, though; various iconic visual cues from the Disney film (such as posing upon Pride Rock) appear to be lifted directly from Kimba, and early test footage of The Lion King shows the lion as white, while Disney assert that the similarities are mere coincidence, a laughable claim that just about nobody believes. Even Matthew Broderick, who voices Simba, originally thought he was starring in a Kimba spin-off, and the plagiarism is so well-known that it has been hilariously parodied in The Simpsons.