We’ve been spending about 15 years now where Marvel has been shoving their characters down our throats at every chance they get, so pretty much every superhero has become an iconic household name. But did you know that when some of these superheroes were first conceived, they were actually based on real people? Let’s take a look.
Nick Fury – Samuel L Jackson
Nick Fury was actually a Caucasian character for a very, very long time. It wasn’t until later when the Ultimate universe got their very own Nick Fury that he was first depicted as being black – based off none other than the very actor that would end up playing the character in the MCU. The new Nick Fury was such a huge success that by now pretty much every Marvel universe has moved on past the Caucasian Fury and went with a version of Sam Jackson.
Tony Stark – Howard Hughes
If you’re gonna write a superhero character that’s an eccentric billionaire, it only makes sense that you’d get your inspiration from a real life eccentric billionaire. That’s exactly how Tony Stark came to be. Rumor has it that Robert Downey Jr. even took it a step further and “updated” the character with some parts of Elon Musk in it, but the main focus of this character will always be Howard Hughes.
Wolverine – Paul D’Amato
You’re probably wondering who Paul D’Amato is, but he’s an actor that played a character in a movie nobody saw named Slap shot. It had such an impact on artist John Byrne that he decided to model Wolverine after the character D’Amato played. At the time, Wolverine was only supposed to be a one-and-done character but it’s become one of the most popular names in the Marvel franchise over the decades.
