Public Domain Recreations

Some of you may have noticed that I like a good mental challenge and mind games. So, I often create such games and challenges for myself. One of my more recent challenges was to try to recreate some current comic book groups using public domain characters. Here's what I came up with; for the most part I'm pretty happy with them; I think I got fairly close. Let me know what you think and what you would do if you wanted to recreate groups this way. BTW, I chose to use the original, classic versions of these teams, so if anyone wants to try and use later versions, that might be interesting, too.

JLA: Atoman (Superman); Blackout (Batman); Yankee Girl (Wonder Woman); Barry Kuda (Aquaman); Airman (Hawkman); Vapo-Man (Green Lantern); Swiftarrow (Green Arrow); Dr. Synthe (Martian Manhunter); Red Robbins (Flash); Fly-Man (Atom) [Green Lantern was the tough one here, but I reasoned that Vapo-Man could theoretically create constructs out of air, which isn't too different from creating constructs from light/energy]

Watchmen: Atomic Thunderbolt (Dr. Manhattan); Skyman (Nite Owl); The Banshee (Rorschach); Miss Mask (Silk Spectre); Mad Hatter; (Comedian); Marksman (Ozymandias)

The Avengers: Minimidget (Ant-man); Ritty (Wasp); Vulcan (Thor); Yankee Doodle Jones (Captain America); Speed Centaur (Hulk); Bozo the Iron Man (Iron Man) [Hulk was my biggest challenge with this one, but I figured if you look at Hulk as being a heroic "monster," the same could be said of Speed Centaur, so that's what I went with]

DC's First Wave: Iron Vic (Doc Savage); Defender (Avenger); Alias X (Spirit); Grim Reaper (The Bat-Man); Tangi (Rima the Jungle Girl); Lady Fairplay (Black Canary); Skull Squad (Blackhawks)

Moonstone's Return of the Originals: Mask (Black Bat); Mr. Midnight (Phantom Detective); X the Phantom Fed; (Secret Agent X); Invisible Hood (Captain Zero); Dr. Nemesis (Skull Killer); Masked Angel (The Spider); Tech Carson (Rocketman); Mr. Nobody (Captain Satan); Boom Boom Branigan (Decimator Smith); Dean Denton, Scientific Detective (I. V. Frost); Dr. Miracle (Green Lama); Golden Eagle (G8); Dr. Styx (Green Ghost); Amazona (Golden Amazon); Amazing Man (Gladiator); The Raven (Moon Man); Major Mars (Captain Future); Three Cheers (Secret 6); Kaanga the Jungle Lord & Ann (Ki-Gor)

Cool list. Funny, because I was also working on a list of PD characters that work as close proxies to currently popular characters. There are mutliple possibilities for a number of these newer characters. I first wanted to point out that technically, Rima and the Blackhawks ARE public domain (just not as depicted in that comic). Clock and Midnight are perfect replacements for Spirit...since Midnight was pretty much intended to be his replacement to begin with.

For JLA, there are too many possibilities for both Batman and Superman to even mention. Navy Jones and the Shark are also good Aquaman stand ins, but I do like Barry. Moon Girl is a perfect stand in for Wonder Woman (even created by the same guy I think). Doll Man is a good one for Atom. There are a lot of possibilities for Green Arrow, but my favorites would be The Arrow and The Green Knight (another green archer)....not to mention the various versions of Robin Hood. Silver Streak is another good one for Flash, assuming you discount his later tendency to actually fly.

For Avengers, I would use the Golden Age Thor for Thor. Captain Freedom or Captain Battle for Captain America. Hulk is a tough one. The closest Golden Age analog is The Heap. Although there isn't much visual reference, you could also use Cuchularain, the original hulk. Or maybe Mr. Hyde (though he is inherantly evil). You could also sub in one of the unused archers for Hawkeye, Mighty Man or Green Giant for Giant Man, and maybe Iron Skull or Blue Flame for Vision. Wonder Man for Wonder Man. I believe there are some possibilities for Scarlet Witch/Zatana as well.

Interesting ideas, Argosail. I forgot that Rima & Blackhawks were actually PD, but just using them kind of defeats the purpose of the exercise for me. The same is true of using the PG Golden Age Thor. I actually considered that, but it was so easy that it almost seemed like cheating, so I went with another superhero/god from another pantheon!

You're right, there tons of Superman and Batman analogs, and quite a few Wonder Woman ones, too. So, a lot of it comes down to personal preference. Technically, I agree with you that Moon Girl is probably a little closer to Wonder Woman, but I really like Yankee Girl and wanted to use her somehow!

Who's Cuculararain; I never heard of that character? But using the Heap to replace the Hulk is genius; I wish I'd thought of it! My only excuse is that in my lists/files, I actually have the Heap listed as a villain. He's hard to classify, because he's not really a hero and not really a villain ... although you could make the same argument for the Hulk!

The Defenders:
Doctor Strange=Zardi the Eternal Man
Namor=Shark
Hulk=Purple Zombie
Silver Surfer=Mercury Man
Valkyrie=Diana the Huntress
Nighthawk=the Owl
Hellcat=Supergal (the sort of superhero identity of MLJ's Suzie)
[I couldn't think of anyone for Son of Satan]

The original New Teen Titans:
Robin=Tim (Kid Terror)
Kid Flash=Dash Dartwell
Wonder Girl=Golden Girl
Starfire=Wildfire
Cyborg=Heck if I know. A Frankenstein's Monster of some sort, maybe?
Raven=Ghost Girl

Good job, KnightRandom. I don't know why I didn't think to do the Defenders, myself. I'd never heard of Mercury Man, but when I looked him up, he does make a perfect Silver Surfer analog. And Purple Zombie for Hulk ... another great idea I wish I'd thought of! Son of Satan, how about Man in Black or Red Dragon?

The Teen Titans are tough because there don't seem to be that many youthful characters in the public domain. But I think you did a great job. You're right on Cyborg, though; he's especially tough. There were lots of human characters and a few robotic characters, but I don't recall ever seeing any Golden Age/Public Domain characters that combined the two. I guess before Martin Caidan created Steve Austin for the book Cyborg, the idea a human with robotic parts was rare at best (the only one I can think of is the French character, The Nyctalope, who had a mechanical heart ... but not the bionic parts that we see these days.

Great job Knight! Good ideas.

Yeah, cyborgs seem to be a pretty recent idea. The only Golden Age characters that seems anything like a cyborg would be Iron Jaw and Iron Skull. Skull was the only hero, but he is pretty far removed from the Cyborg character. I suppose you could rework the character Iron Lady to have bionic hands rather than magic gauntlets.

Crimebuster is another good one for Robin/NIghtwing. He was a very competent character.

Who is Ghost Girl? I see Ghost Woman on PDSH Wiki, but I'm very curious about the girl.

Iron Lady's origin implies that her mechanical gloves came from the Middle Ages or Rennaisance. Interestingly, there was an actual Rennaisance-era cyborg: Götz von Berlichingen (Wikipedia article), or Götz of the Iron Hand. That nickname isn't a metaphor. He was a German mercenary who had his hand blown off by a cannon and had it replaced with an iron prosthetic hand. He could use it to hold a sword and a pen. (That wasn't what he was most famous for, though: in Goethe's play based on his life, he gave a memorably rude insult to one of his enemies, and his name has been an euphemism for it ever since.) In a superhero world, Götz von Berlichingen or someone like him could have built more extensive prosthetics using alchemy or whatever, and these could serve as the origin of a more fully cybernetic version of the Iron Lady.

Crimebuster came to my mind as well. Ghost Girl was presumably a younger counterpart of Ghost Woman. It was late at night and I misremembered her name. That would make her origin more equivalent to that of Wonder Girl than Raven. (Wonder Girl came about when Bob Haney mistook the younger version of Wonder Woman for a sidekick.)

The Justice League

Superman - Wonder Man: Fred Carson is the perfect Superman substitute. He has all the same powers as the original Superman, and could easily be modified to get even more powers from his magical ring. I wasn't sure whether to go for him or Doc Strange/American Crusader, but in the end I decided I wanted a hero on the league with a magical artifact more than I wanted a scientist.

Batman - Black Bat: Perhaps not the most inventive idea, but this pulpy detective is the perfect expy of Golden Age Batman, wielding a gun and scarring, as well as scaring, any criminal he captures. His night vision ability pretty much mimics the night vision modern Batman's cowl has anyway.

Wonder Woman - Diana the Huntress: Greek mythological influence? Check. Superstrength and flight? Check. Curiously outdated but effective weapon? Check. First name is Diana? Check. She may as well BE Wonder Woman.

Green Lantern - Rainbow Man: An adult-aged Rainbow Boy, he's pretty much the only Golden Age hero I've been able to find with any form of "construct" power similar to the Lanterns. Perhaps a bit flamboyant for a Golden Age team normally, but he can be the token fancyman of the team. Rainbow Man is a master of the entire emotional spectrum!

Flash - Silver Streak: I consider Streak to be the quintessential PD speedster, which is pretty much the reason he was chosen over Quicksilver or Red Robbins. I'd take him from earlier apperances, before he learned to fly.

Hawkman - Bird Man: Chosen over Airman because the wings appear to be natural, and also because as a Native American it injects some cultural variety into the group.

Aquaman - The Shark: I feel he's a better fit than Barry Kuda or Navy Jones since he has some actual superpowers that tend to match Aquaman's own.

Martian Manhunter - Dr. Synthe: An energy being who can shapeshift into any form, his energetic powers allow him to have near any power he wants, just like the Heroic Swiss Army Knife himself.

The X-Men

Professor X - Brain Man: An aged Brain Boy, this guy possesses all sorts of mental tricks and talents.

Beast - The Gorilla with a Human Brain: Really, there was no other choice. This guy is perfect as Beast's substitute

Angel - Raven: Suitably modified, this Quality character is perfect. Just make it that his suit is actually his human self, and that he really does have wings and a bird-like head. Solved.

Cyclops - Comet: The Comet is the original Cyclops, his vision releasing red beams of destructive energy unless covered by a glass visor. He can also fly, so he's inherently cooler than Cyclops too.

Iceman - Sub-Zero: The only survivor of a Venusian space voyage, this alien has the ability to fire freezing blasts. He was even turned into a living ice man by a cosmic accident. Scientists managed to revert him to his normal form, but you could easily implement voluntary changing to the ice form.

Marvel Girl - Nature Girl: One of the closest approximations to Marvel Girl I could find, she lacks telepathy but emulates Jean's telekinesis through her gravity manipulation, which allows her to fly and can create gravity shields. Additionally, she also controls plantlife, so she'd have more of an environmentalist bent to her than Jean.

The Fantastic Four & Friends

Mr. Fantastic - Plastic Man: Because it's fun to use a classic DC character as a substitute for a famous Marvel one.

Invisible Woman - Invisible Terror: Swapping her out for a male character, the Invisible Terror appears to be the only PD character I could find who had a biological/chemical method to become invisible, rather than just some device. Change it so the formula can be used any time without redosing and you have a good replacement.

Human Torch - Wildfire: Since Sue Storm is now Sam Storm, Johnny Storm becomes Jenny Storm, essentially. Wildfire is the woman of the team, and she can control fire, create constructs of flame and fly.

The Thing - Green Ghoul: Finding an analogue for the Thing was tricky, so I went with the idea of a reworked Green Ghoul, where the body of a human has been warped and transformed by dark magics. He's still super strong, he can still feel insecure about his appearance, it works fine.

Spiderman - Spider Queen: Long before Spiderman existed, there was another hero with web-shooter bracelets. She's that hero. She can't wallcrawl like spidey, but as the original webslinger she gets his spot.

Namor the Sub-Mariner - Navy Jones: I chose Navy Jones over Barry Kuda because his ancestry of the king of the sea, Davy Jones, would leave him more reason to be arrogant and smug.

The Avengers

Captain America - Captain Battle: The ultimate soldier and celebrated war hero, there is no better badass normal human to fill in Captain America's role as team commander.

Thor - Vulcan: He's the god of fire, whereas pretty much any other god character in the PD comics is Thor or just superstrong with no projectiles. At least this guy can shoot flame. Alternatively, you could also go Captain Marvel for a combination of godly powers and the thunder that Thor so adores.

Iron Man - Bozo the Iron Man: There's pretty much no choice here, this is the only robot character who can be piloted by a human in the PD comics. He's an IRON MAN!

Wasp - Yellowjacket: A man with the ability to control swarms of wasps, he's really not that impressive compared to the rest of the Avengers, to be honest. Alternatively, to more accurately mimic Wasp's powers, if not her theme, you could use Miss America, who has the power to shoot energy bolts and shrink

Ant-Man - Mighty Man: Naturally over twice as tall as most men, this great hero can increase his size to 100 ft and shrink to as small as a mouse, encapsulating Hank Pym as both Ant-Man and as Giant Man.

Hulk - The Heap: A monstrous anti-hero, this guy is pure PD Hulk.

Wow, Vagrant, you obviously put a lot of thought into this! I'm pretty impressed with your list and the reasoning behind your choices.

If you wanted to keep Invisible Woman a woman, does anyone know if Invisible Scarlet O'Neil is PD? I figure she must be, but that's totally a guess on my part. Then there are a few Human Torch analogs ... but the gender swapping actually works pretty well with these two, for some reason.

I also liked your aging Brain Boy and Rainbow Boy to have them fill in where needed. Very clever!

Since I only did the original X-Men in the revamp, I felt like doing more. I used the X-Men Evolution teams as my structure, since I quite like the balances of those particular iterations of the teams.

THE EVOLUTION X-MEN

Wolverine - Cat-Man: David Merryweather was raised in the jungle, and as such he's a harsh, gruff guy who's very much all about the fight rather than talking. He has nine lives, and as such he's lived for a long time, having originally crashed in the jungle around the dawn of the 20th century. His nine lives mean he's survived brutal injuries as well. He has cat claws for climbing, and enhanced senses.

Storm - Nelvana of the Northern Lights: A demi-goddess to her Inuit tribe, she possessed a battery of powers, until her tribe denounced her divinity and cast her out when she broke one of the fundamental laws of the tribe. Being stripped of her status as a demi-god, Nelvana now only possesses the abilities to fly and control the weather. She retains her calm and regal personality from her divine upbringing.

Nightcrawler - Blackout: A man whose body is altered by a science accident, he sprouts black fur all over his body and develops wolf-like features. This gives him the whole "unable to be normal" issue that Nightcrawler has. He's able to emit black smoke from his pores to hide in, and can even use directed releases of the smoke to perform agile jumps and fly.

Shadowcat - Ghost Woman: This one simply boils down to the fact that I couldn't think of any woman in PD who can simply phase through things, so consider this to be the era when Kitty was constantly phased unless she focuses. The fact that she can't be seen may add another level of intrigue to Ghost Woman's presence with the Omega Men.

Rogue - Golden Girl: Because I can't think of any PD women who can mimic/absorb other powers, I've had to style this choice on Rogue's Flying Brick era, when she'd permanently absorbed Miss Marvel's flying and superstrength. Given that Rogue's big thing has always been that she can't control her power and thus can't touch people, my version of Golden Girl would have the Heart of Gold actually fused into her own heart, so her superstrength is always going and she can't touch people for fear of badly injuring them with her wild strength.

Cannonball - Twister: Just as Cannonball creates that odd spiraling effect to go super-speed Twister would emulate this by creating tornadoes around his lower body and propel himself forward this way, though he doesn't have the durability to smash into things like Cannonball.

Magma - Flame Girl: Since I've already used Wildfire as a replacement for Human Torch, Flame Girl is pretty much the only option I have here, though she's not as close to Magma's powers as I'd like. Lava powers didn't seem to feature much in PD.

Jubilee - I actually have no idea for this one. I've drawn a blank as to any PD woman who fits her character. Defeated, damn!

Wolfsbane - It could be any female werewolf from PD sources, really. But since that kind of defeats the purpose of this, I'm going a more interesting direction. I'd revamp Wolf Carson, so that instead of being a convicted criminal, he's Rahne Carson, a teenage girl who permanently turned into a wolf. She feels a deep kinship with The Gorilla with a Human Brain, for obvious reasons.

Multiple Man - Target and the targeteers. Shamelessly ripping off from Project superpowers here, but I'd have Target being a single man who can split into three different human targets.

Berserker - Firebrand: Just as Berserker shoots electricity from his hands, so too does Firebrand. That's really all the reason I need for this replacement. I would have used the more wellknown and less confusingly named Sparkman, but for the mutants I have a strict policy of not using people who get their powers temporarily, or from devices, as these people have the choice to be normal any time they want. Mutants do not.

Sunspot - Ray: Sunspot absorbs light to transform into a black "solar form", with flight, superstrength and heat blasts. Ray absorbs any energy he wants and can fly and re-emit the energy however he wants. Give him a glowing form and he's a perfect stand-in for Sunspot.

THE BROTHERHOOD OF MUTANTS

Mystique - Shape: Another character I'd have to twist a little, I'd remove the childish mentality and make his real appearance more "statue-like" to fill the role of Raven's real looks.

Avalanche - Nature Boy: The only character with any real form of earth manipulation, I'd obviously strip him of any other elemental affinities for his role as Avalanche.

Blob - The Blob is a tough one to replicate, as there are very few overweight characters in the public domain. I'll cheat a little and use my own open-sourced character, Morbos, to replace him, but I'd probably cut the transformation abilities to keep him more blob-like.

Toad - Lizard: A scaly wall-crawling villain, he works pretty well as a replacement for the Toad.

Quicksilver - Quicksilver. The most obvious replacement ever.

Scarlet Witch - Fantomah: Since she's pretty close to being a villain anyway, given her dark nature and freaky transformation, plus her pretty much unlimited magical power, Fantomah works great in this role.

Boom Boom - Dynamite Thor: I had to break my rule of no permanent powers here, nobody in PD just chucks explosions, and I really couldn't think of anyone. So there we go.

THE ACOLYTES OF MAGNETO

Magneto - Magno: Oh my lord, what a shocking surprise!

Gambit - Human Bomb: At a touch, this man is able to make objects explode, though there is a slight delay, so he can throw the objects he touches away before they explode. He must wear gloves at all times as he cannot control his ability to make things explode.

Sabertooth - Mr. Hyde: I couldn't find an appropriate PD comic character, so I've again had to break my rules and use a literary character. In this version, Jekyll has been completely subsumed, leaving only the wild Hyde on this earth. The formula has also accelerated his healing and granted him increased longevity.

Colossus - Man o' Metal: He's a big ol' guy who can transform his body into metal and gain superstrength. Sound familiar? Of, and he bursts into flame as well. Neat.

Pyro - Torch: I could have gone with an actual pyrokinetic, but Torch is the perfect villain to use for Pyro, just give him flame control and you're good to go.

Mastermind - Magic Agent: A man with the talents of hypnosis, telepathy and illusions, he has his own mental crutch, which is that he has created in himself a psychological need to be holding a unique coin in his hand before he can consciously use his mental talents. Magno is able to control Magic Agent by his magnetic possession of the coin.

Another interesting list of choices, Vagrant. The one that really intrigued me was Blackout for Nightcrawler. Because of the dark fur, when I think of Blackout in terms of a Marvel character, I always think of the Beast (during his blue fur stage). But your explanation makes perfect sense as to why he works for Nightcrawler, as well!

Here is my list:

Marvel Superhero Equivalents

Angel - Birdman
Ant Man & Wasp - Minimidget & Ritty
Baron Zemo - Baron Doom
Bartoc - The Manx
Beyonder - Stardust
Black Cat - 13, Black Cat
Black Widow - Black Widow, Undercover Girl
Blob - Curtains, The Fat Fiend
Bullseye - Dark Archer
Captain America - Captain Freedom
Colossus - Man O' Steel, Fearless Flint
Cyclops - Dynamo
Daredevil - Daredevil
Dr. Doom - Claw, Sorceress of Zoom, Green Sorceress
Dr. Strange - Yarko, Ibis, Voodini
Eel - Eel (Ace)
Electro - Lightning Man, Thrilla, Electru
Elektra - Veiled Avenger, Huntress (Quality)
Falcon - Falcon, War Eagle
Fire Star - Wildfire
Gamora - Ylla
Ghost - The Mist (MLJ)
Giant Man - Mighty Man, Green Giant
Hawkeye - Arrow
Hulk - Cuchularain, Mr. Hyde
Human Torch - Blue Flame, Captain
Hydro-Man - Mr. Aqua
Ice-Man - Sub-Zero, Dr. Frost
Immortus - Master Man (Quality)
Iron Man - Bozo, Scoot Suit Sammy, TNT Todd
Kang - Moloka
Kazar - Tarzan, Kona
Kingpin - Mr. H, The Boss, Fat Fiend
Kraven - The Hunter, Iron Jaw
Lizard - Lizard, Toad, The Cobra
Madame Masque - Illyria, Dark Angel
Magneto - Dr. Magno
Man-Thing - Heap
Mandarin - The Emperor, The Mandarin
Mephisto - Mephistopholes
Ms. Marvel - Marvel Maid, Super Ann, Bulletgirl
Mr. Fear - Dr. Fear
Mole Man - Ant Queen
Mysterio - The Crystal, The White Terror
Mystique - Twisto
Namor - The Shark
Nebula - Yrina
Nick Fury - Captain Battle
Porcupine - Porcupine
Punisher - Hangman, Red Ann
Pyro - Flame, Torch
Quicksilver - Quicksilver
Red Skull - Faceless Phantom, Skull, Scarlet Skull
Sabertooth - Hideous, The Panther, The Cobra
Satanish - Green Ghoul
Sentinels - Najar
Shadowcat - Blue Fire
Shanna - Sheena
Silver Surfer - Mercury Man
Skrulls - Imagos, Volta Men
Sleeper - X-33
Spider-Woman - Spider-Queen
Thanos - Jagga the Space Raider, Super Fiend
Thor - Thor
USAgent - Liberator
Viper - Baroness Blood, Satana, Lady Serpent
Vision - White Streak
Vulture - Vulture (Ace)
Wonderman - Wonderman
Wolverine - Twilight
Yellow Claw - Fu Manchu


DC Superhero Equivalents

Amethyst - Lustra
Aqualad - Algie
Aquaman - Barry Kuda
Atom - Human Fly, Doll Man
Bane - The Boss, Iron Jaw, Ornitz
Batgirl - Owl Girl, Black Cat, Kitten
Batman - Owl, Black Bat, Black Owl, Black Fury, Cat-Man, Green Mask, Blue Beetle
Black Manta - Sea-Devil
Brainiac - Cerebex, Super-Brain, Droon, The Thinker
Captain Cold - Icicle
Catwoman - Tiger Woman
Cavalier - Cavalier
Cheetah - Tigerwoman
Circe - Circe, Nagana
Dr. Arcane - Dr. Mortal, Landor
Dr. Fate - Master Mystic
Firestorm - Atoman, Atomic Thunderbolt
Flamegirl - Flame (Spark)
Flash - Silver Streak, Red Robbins
Green Arrow - Green Knight
Hawk-Man - Air-Man
Heatwave - Torch
Icicle - Frost
Joker - Clown, Funnibone
Killer Croc - River Man, The Crab
Lady Blackhawk - Black Venus, Flyin' Jenny
Lex Luthor - Mr. Twist
Lightning Lad - Lash Lightning
Lois Lane - Fran Fraser, Betty Boyd, Jane Martin
Merlyn - Archer, Phantom Archer
Monsieur Mallah - Gargantua
Mr. Freeze - Frost
Riddler - Puzzler, Dr. Riddle
Robin - Crimebuster
Scarecrow - Scarecrow, Dr. Fear
Silver Banshee - Madame Satan
Spectre - Phantasmo, Dr. Synthe, Mr. Justice
Starfire - Wildfire
Swamp Thing - Heap
Superboy - Golden Boy, Captain Marvel Jr.
Supergirl - Golden Girl, Mary Marvel
Superman - American Crusader, Captain Marvel
Two-Face - Nadya Burnett
Wonder Woman - Moon Girl, Yankee Girl, Amazona
Zatanna - Margo, The Magician


Other Universes
Dick Tracy - Duke Kelly
Flash Gordon - Dan Hastings, Nelson Cole
Freddy Krueger - Mr. Slumber
Ghostbusters/Grimm - Grimm, The Ghost Doctor
Indiana Jones - Explorer Joe, Clutch Cargo
James Bond - Super Spy, Richard Hannay, Bulldog Drummond
Mandrake - Spectro, Yarko, Ibis, Voodini
Spirit - Midnight, The Clock

I one time tried to see if I could put together a JLA out of public domain characters. This was in response to the DC reboot--I wanted to create a story that could show that a reboot could be done with respect to the characters, to send off the old and leave people ready for the new. Sadly, I have yet to finish it, because I have other, more pressing projects and wouldn't want to feel obligated to look for artists for it, too (as I would feel if I had finished writing it). Anyways, I came up with some analogues I liked (and tried to have them be as close, not just in powers, but in secret identities, to their DC counterparts):

Superman - Lash Lightning
Supergirl - Lightning Girl
Batman - Cat Man
Robin - Kitten
Wonder Woman - Diana the Huntress (but I considered Amazona)
Green Arrow - Arrow
Green Lantern - Diamond Jack

There were other heroes, I believe, but I have them written down somewhere that I'm too lazy to look for them, and the important ones were the Trinity. And I had some villains, too, with the only one I remember at the moment being the Clown standing in for the Joker. I know I had a Ra's al-Ghul and a Decreator (Doom Patrol foe--its analogue not being a supervillain per se, but a Lovcraftian god).

But I also can't help but think of some lesser-known heroes out there and their analogues. After all, I follow Heroes Unite and Heroes Alliance, which makes me often wonder who they could match up against (especially since, as I am part of the latter comic, I could someday actually write a story where they meet their analogues). The only definite ones I can think of right now is Lash Lightning for Energize and Doll Man for the Flea (whose comic link I forget at the moment).

And then there's my characters from my comic Karabear Comics Unlimited, which I often wonder about, as well. Maybe people can actually help me out in that regard. The characters are:

Tempore - a guardian of cosmic order who can fire energy blasts, fly, create interdimensional portals, and can see all "correct" futures for every universe under his charge
Eiderdown - controls feathers and can turn her body into feathers
Fractal - creates fractal-patterned energy constructs (maybe Diamond Jack, but you guys have good construct users listed above, too)
Astral - astral projects into a form which has super strength, durability and speed, as well as flight
Sparkle - strength which increases (as well as her size) with strong emotion (like the Hulk, but without the base "human" form)
The Swimmer - can make the air take on properties of water (while still remaining breathable), which allows her to swim though it as a sort of flight
The Runner - a sea creature who uses gadgets (generally likes to be on land, though he can't breathe air and has to use breathing tanks to support himself above water)

Other, minor characters include:

Ammon Man - shoots almonds out of his hands, at varying intensities
Technica - a technopath
Noggin - a telepath
Purple Power - flight and energy blasts
Locomotive - strength and durability that increase as her speed increases (powers based off of Marvel's Juggernaut)
Masticator - flight, super strength and durability gained from consuming human flesh (the more innocent the better); carves weapons out of their bones and his costume is made of their skins (obviously a villain)

But it would also be interesting to see what people think could work for some other characters on the web, like Mindmistress, who is the smartest superhero ever.

Press Guardian with some tweaks can make a good stand-in for Green Hornet.

Regarding Watchmen, in case anyone didn't know, the main characters were originally going to be the actual Charlton characters, until DC decided it would save them for mainstream comic use, and so they got tweaked slightly.

Here are a couple of lists:

tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/CaptainErsatz/ComicBooks

Rorschach -> The Question
Dr. Manhattan -> Captain Atom
The Comedian -> Peacemaker
Nite Owl -> Blue Beetle II (Ted Kord)
Ozymandias -> Thunderbolt
Silk Spectre -> Nightshade/Black Canary/Phantom Lady
Mothman -> The Fly
Hooded Justice -> The Hangman
Captain Metropolis -> The Shield
Silhouette -> The Black Witch (a.k.a. Darkling)
Dollar Bill -> The Comet (one of the first superheroes to die)
Silk Spectre I -> Fly Girl
Nite Owl I -> Blue Beetle I (Dan Garrett), and/or The Black Hood (similar costumes) [I would say it's pretty likely he's based on Dan Garret]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchmen#Characters has some insights too.