Alternative Versions of Superman - Homage Characters

Homage Characters

• Amalgam Comics' Super-Soldier is the almagamated version of Superman and Captain America; Clark Kent volunteered during World War II to become a supersoldier using a combination of an enhancement serum and cells taken from an alien spacecraft, plus a super-charge of solar energy. He carries an adamantium shield which resembles Superman's chest insignia.
• Robert Kirkman's Invincible of Image comics is a clear homage to Superman. Both are sons of a dying extraterrestrial race (though the aliens of Image's universe, the Viltrumites, are malevolent).
• "Superduperman!" was a parody comic seen in Mad Magazine #4, in which the title hero has "muscles on muscles", battles Captain Marbles (a parody of Captain Marvel), but in the end is still dismissed as "a creep".
• Various Marvel Comics characters: Robert Reynolds aka The Sentry, Kallark the Gladiator of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard, and Squadron Supreme, Supreme Power, and Squadron Sinister's various incarnations of Hyperion.
• The Plutonian resembles Superman in many ways: he possesses a similar costume and powers, operates under a bespectacled secret identity, and is the head of his world's premiere team of super-heroes, the Paradigm (which contains a few other members similar to the members of the Justice League). However, his relative lack of control over his powers, (perceived) ingratitude from the public and his own emotional instability eventually cause him to snap under the pressure of protecting the world, becoming the most dangerous supervillain of all time. He destroys cities and nations on whims, goes out of his way to inflict horrific punishments on random citizens to prove his points, and cuts a bloody swarth through his former allies and enemies alike. Near the end of the series, it is revealed that he is living energy, a "golem" shaped into human form by force of will - but was tragically warped because of the human whose qualities he inherited. He is ultimately reduced back into energy and sent through the multiverse in the hopes that someone can "fix" him; his essence is ultimately shown to inspire Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster to create Superman.
• Super-Turtle, an anthropomorphic superheroic turtle, was a series of long-running half-page gag strips that ran in various Silver Age DC comics starting in Adventure Comics #304 in 1963.
• SuperDan, A webcomic character who gains Superman like abilities after being bitten by a radioactive Superman