Was thinking about Tom King's current run on Wonder Woman, which I'm enjoying quite a bit, and I got around to thinking about the Sovereign, whom I believe was created specifically for this story. As a big fan of the old-school Doom Patrol, it dawned on me that, with just a little bit of tweaking, the role the Sovereign plays could have easily been filled by longtime DP foe General Immortus.
That got me thinking: what are some other cases where a new character has been introduced in a role that could've been swapped out for an established villain, supporting character, second-tier hero, etc.? And to clarify, I'm don't mean characters who would have had to go through radical tweaks/reimaginings to make it work...just known characters who could've easily been slotted into positions that instead went to brand new characters.
Anyone spring to mind?