Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-26120048-20170601231558/@comment-366087-20170604025844

Many a villain are *formulaic* villains. Because they are written according to formulas, tropes, and archetypes. Which means that MANY will be similar.

Rips-offs in the entertainment industry is also a known given, despite any protests to the contrary. For example, Marvel and DC have the same Character Archetypes, both Heroic and Villainous, as wells sidekicks, minions, and "Common Man caught between them". It is a known fact that at some point or other one or another Production House looked at a rival's success and demanded: "Make our own version!!".

On top of that, you have the fact that Marvel and DC have been buying up other companies for so long and importing them into their Shared Universes compounding the entire issue. I forget who originally published Captain Marvel (Shazam)(I lost my collection in a flood a couple decades ago), but DC eventually bought them. Which was why you have him and Superman as almost the same character and villains Dr Sylvana and Lex Luthor as reflections of each other.