Generictized names

What all some hands down characters that if you create they will be generic if reported/caught?
I know stuff from like Marvel and DC
Are their any other area's that if you create a character from a tv show,movie,book,etc
that if you create anything that looks like that character and the same name you will be generic?
Why am I asking?
Because I have no clue what all you can do and what you can't do XD so just looking for any type of info on it.
Thanks =D

The rule is nice and simple:

If somebody else owns the rights to the character, you can get genericed for copying it. Book, TV show, movie, doesn't matter. Copyright is copyright. Katniss Everdeen, Superman, and Captain Jack Sparrow are all equally against the rules.

Sufficiently obscure characters may escape genericing for a while, or even indefinitely, but that's mostly because nobody will realize to report them, not because they are actually allowed.

No. The EULA is quite clear on the subject.

Make an homage character.

Example:
Name: Kid Kard Game aka: Kid Squirtellage

"after his swim in toxic waste, little Joey developed super water squirting powers. Fond of a popular kids card game and television show, he dressed in his favorite Halloween costume of his very favorite character from that cartoon/card game to take on injustice! Kid Kard Game, I choose you!

Rule of thumb: If you think it might get you in trouble, you probably shouldn't do it.

Some copyrighted names tend to slip through the cracks and don't get caught.

You should also keep in mind it isn't JUST the name that matters, it is also the appearance, description, power sets, etc

Having a blonde male character named "Phoenix" who is a fire/fire blaster wearing a black, red and yellow costume and glowing phoenix wings isn't necessarily stepping on Marvel's toes...

Now having a red headed female named "Phoenix" who is a mind/forcefield controller or mind/psi dominator, wearing a green (or red or white) costume with a golden bird emblem on the chest and wearing long gold gloves and gold thigh high boots, whose description says she's married to a guy named Scott... well then you really have a problem.

Name
Costume
Description
Powers

I try to only report those that infringe upon at least 3 of the criteria, although name and costume are usually the most damning of the four, as they are the most visible.

And there is some room for play on a few of these where I'd still report:

-Powers; this can be tricky, as many copyrighted characters have powers that just don't exist in CoH, or have so many powers that choosing two powersets doesn't do the character justice. Be your Batman look-a-like a sj/sr scrapper, a ma/dark stalker, or a something/devices blaster, he's likely getting reported.

-Costume; let's face it, as robust as our costume creator is, sometimes it lacks that one little detail, won't let two specific (and otherwise perfect) pieces be used at the same time, or the patterns fall just short of what you'd like. An Energy/energy blaster by the name of Iron Guy with a red/yellow colour scheme and the jewel chest detail is more likely to get me to report him than an Energy/energy blaster by the name of Iron Guy who looks like a medieval knight in grey plate armour.

-Name; For starters, obvious spelling mistakes to get around filters are obvious. If two other criteria match, no amount of "supah mahn", "Super Man 2.0", or "xXSupermanXx" are going to save you. Using a nickname of the character like "The Man of Steel" might earn you a bit more respect, but won't save you from the report button.


This three strikes system helps allow for things like tribute/cosplay costumes, and names of things that existed long before DC/Marvel/(insert company here) used it for one of their characters (Kyriani had mentioned an example using Pheonix).

Despite all of the above, if the character you are copying is not familiar to me, I can't report it. Heck, if it's sufficiently obscure (Like a character from a Magic: the Gathering card)- I, personally, would probably just let it go.

And just because these are what I go by doesn't mean that someone can't report you for less. And the GMs who look into the reports usually tend to err on the side of caution. In some cases you might even be able to escalate and have your name restored (I seem to recall stories on the forums of Jim Butcher running around as one of his characters from The Dresden Files, getting generic'd and then then having the name restored on the basis that he owns the character. And one about someone who got generic'd for having the same name as an NPC, but had the name restored because the character existed before the NPC in question was even added to the game).