DC Characters Based Off Of Real Life People

[Riv86672]

That I could definitely see. I remember her on The Merv Griffin Show back then - she was hot stuff for us teens!

LOL, my mom watched her variety show on the Spanish Channel when i was a kid. She was a big part of me hitting puberty!

[The Darknight Detective]

LOL, my mom watched her variety show on the Spanish Channel when i was a kid. She was a big part of me hitting puberty!

Heh. I recall her show on one of the NYC UHF channels. Her clothes always looked like they were going to fall off any minute.

[Gaius]

I think Adams has said John Stewart was based on Sidney Poitier

[Riv86672]

Heh. I recall her show on one of the NYC UHF channels. Her clothes always looked like they were going to fall off any minute.

Yeah, they were hanging on by a thread!

[Timothy Hunter]

Does anybody know if any artists modeled characters,

Carter Hall
Ronnie Raymond
Arthur Curry
Zatanna
Barry Allen
Snapper Carr

off of any real life person?

[abetterday]

According to George Perez he modeled Cyborg off of his personality.

Steele/John Stewart was inspired by John Henry. Recently i've learned about John Henryism which is coping with stress by working long hours that consequently results in mental damage.

[j9ac9k]

I haven't seen it confirmed, but Maguire almost certainly based Max Lord on Sam Neil who played the Anti-Christ in "Omen3"

[Jim Kelly]

Sorry I missed this thread the first time around.

Jack Kirby based Morgan Edge on Kevin McCarthy--the actor not the politician.

Gil Kane apparently modelled the Guardians on David Ben-Gurion--not an actor, an Israeli prime minister.

A lot of characters were based on real people--just not celebrities. Joe Kubert modelled Shiera Hall, a.k.a. Shayera Thal, on his boss's wife--Jean Ordwein Schwartz--the secretary in the office that Julie had married, who was reportedly a stunningly beautiful redhead.

Julius Schwartz himself pops up all over the comics--artists loved to draw their boss. No one loved to draw Schwartz more than Sid Greene who had a habit of putting Julie in every story he pencilled and inked. I went through all the Elongated Man stories, years ago, and found Julie in almost every story that Sid did the full art on.

Kurt Schaffenberger loved to put himself in his comics work. Look at enough of his comics and you're bound to notice the handsome gentleman with the thick black hair and the pencil thin moustache lurking about.

Many artists use models. Stephen Sadowski used various people in Vancouver as models--even some that I knew--for his realistic artwork on JSA.

I don't think Mike Sekowsky's Wonder Woman is based on Diana Rigg. Not visually. If you look at his Superwoman in JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA 29 (August 1964), she looks virtually the same as his later Diana Prince. Maybe in terms of story concept, THE AVENGERS was one of many influences that they were drawing on--they being Carmine Infantino, Jack Miller, Mike Sekowsky and Denny O'Neil. But there are lots of other influences I could think of, like the comic strip character Modesty Blaise. In an issue of ALTER-EGO, there was an article from a fan who recounted going to see Sekowsky along with a friend, when they were young, and Mike showed them the idea for a female adventure strip he was working on--I think he later used that idea for his work on Wonder Woman.

[Mai Zen]

Does anybody know if any artists modeled characters,

Carter Hall
Ronnie Raymond
Arthur Curry
Zatanna
Barry Allen
Snapper Carr

off of any real life person?

Idk if it's staple design, but for Identity Crisis event, the artist based the characters on real life person, for example Zatanna is based on Phoebe Cates
phoebecates80s.jpg

You can check the rest here
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbr...ty-crisis/amp/

[Jim Kelly]

Snapper Carr was based on Kookie from 77 SUNSET STRIP (Ed Byrnes). But the colourist should have given him lighter hair. Byrnes was more blond. SUNSET STRIP was in black & white, so it's a forgivable error.

I recall message board discussions of which 1940s Hollywood stars Paul Smith used as models for the characters in THE GOLDEN AGE. I don't know if this was confirmed by Smith or if it's just fan conjecture. His characters do look distinctive. Maybe there's something about this in one of the books that have collected the series. Brian Donlevy sticks in my memory as the possible model for Alan Scott.

[BatmanJones]

Alfred was fat in his first appearance but the iconic design is based on his serial actor, William Austin. Similarly, Superman serial actor Lyle Talbot had a big influence on the look of Lex Luthor (and is still my favorite live-action incarnation — he’s like Silver Age Luthor come to life.

Are there really any other contenders for best Luthor? I’ve been disappointed with every single one, with Eisenberg being ten times worse than any other.

Also, I really love this thread. Thanks for it, OP.

[Timothy Hunter]

Did John Byrne base his revamp of Lex Luthor on Gene Hackman?

[John Venus]

Nope. According to Byrne, he was based on a certain then-up and coming NY real estate billionaire with a huge tower and ego to match. You might have seen him around the WH in the last four years.

[Jim Kelly]

In 1986, Byrne's Luthor looks more like Hackman than that other guy. Story-wise, it might be different (both were into real estate); however, SUPERMAN "the movie" was a big influence on John Byrne's reboot.

In the 1930s, Lyle Talbot was a handsome, romantic lead. Strange to see him later playing the heavy. I guess his career went the Frank Langella route.

[The Darknight Detective]

In 1986, Byrne's Luthor looks more like Hackman than that other guy. Story-wise, it might be different (both were into real estate); however, SUPERMAN "the movie" was a big influence on John Byrne's reboot.

In the 1930s, Lyle Talbot was a handsome, romantic lead. Strange to see him later playing the heavy. I guess his career went the Frank Langella route.

Talbot was a lead, but never in an A picture. I guess James Cagney, Dick Powell, Errol Flynn, Edward G. Robinson, Paul Muni, George Raft, Pat O'Brien, and even Joe. E. Brown made it difficult for him to move up the food chain at Warner Bros. Even Humphrey Bogart had to wait a few years before he became an A-lister there.