Art and literature are full of both original and recycled ideas. Imagine the reaction to Shakespeare under this standard: "Who is this hack recycling other people's stories?"
It seems quite obvious to me what the OP is going for here, and it's not copying. There are certain traits of the Punisher that would lend themselves to what they're going for, and referencing the character would give the story a certain "real world" feel to it. However, since the fictional character has an extreme amount of plot relevance, there's a risk of legal action. So of course it would make sense to translate a few relevant traits of the Punisher onto a fictional character who influences your main character. I don't see that as copying, especially when the traits in question can be quite broad, and could apply to many characters from various forms of media. With your posts in this thread, you've exploded and erected some quite large strawmen. I'd advise you to cool off and think before you reply to folks.
Looks like this has turned into two discussions: legality v. creative ethics. You can't say a whole lot about the former without seeing the completed work, and even then you won't likely have a concrete answer. The objections on the basis of the latter are bizarre.
Wow. Just, wow. First of all, I suggest you pick up a copy of the book Steal Like An Artist. It's very short, you could get through it in a day. I'm certain you wont take this suggestion, but I'll offer it anyway. And then come down off your mighty high throne up there and have enough humility to know that others who came before have done it way, way better and it's worth trying to emulate them to develop your craft as you pursue your own "original" ideas. The Bard himself didn't write original material, he wrote old stories and familiar characters in such a new way that they became his own, and we've forgotten about all the versions before him. If you assume you're better than Shakespear, well, there's really no hope.
Turns out that it's a lot harder to think up a unique superhero than you'd imagine. I've now settled on Helios: The Solar Man (turns out there was a short-lived Marvel character called Solarman but I think I'll be safe...) Hope that's far enough away from The Punisher...
You could probably still get away with mentioning the classics like Punisher, just make sure that you focus on the one you came up with yourself EDIT: I just realized that I did exactly the same thing in my own story Thanks!
Skipping lightly through the mine field and trying not to get mired in any of the random bullshit lying arround the place, I would say that one point from marmosets post had merit - that being that the best way to do this might be to make up a superhero for your character to be obessed with/inspired by You can pull in some 'punisher' like traits without violating marvels IP , as pretty much everything has been done before , and you can't copyright a general idea - for example if your MC is obssessed with a super hero called "kick arse" who spends most of his life beating up bad guys , marvel can't really sue you because beating up the bad guys is pretty much a trait of every super hero in forever
They could still sue you and cost you a lot of money in court, they just wouldn't stand much a chance of winning, depending on the specifics. Even though Marvel tends to be litigious, I doubt they'd be too interested in pursuing unless 1) your work was successful, which increases the odds of an action being brought; and 2) they had at least some colorable basis that you were invoking their superhero (whether such a use was protectable or not being a separate issue).
well yeah anyone can sue over anything - i meant sue with a realistic chance of winning Emd of the day its like anything else 'steal little, steal often' if "kickarse" is a carbon copy of the punisher then you are in the shit, but if hes a bit of punisher, stirred vigorously with superman, and seasoned with captain america before being baked under a low heat and garnished with the arrow ' then hes just another generic super hero and its difficult to say which bit came from where (nearly every superhero is a cliche anyway) added to which you arent putting him forward as a superhero comivc character but only mooting him as a fictional comic book character that your MC reads sometimes and inspires the MC to start kicking the crap out of drug dealers , then its not likely that they'll see grounds for action
The problem with being blase about being sued is how much it costs to defend against even the stupidest lawsuit. There was a recent kerfuffle in Romancelandia with a publisher suing a blogger for defamation, and the suit never even made it all the way to court (preliminary motions, etc. but not the main trial) and the costs for the defence were well over $100K already when they settled. I don't have that kind of money lying around, and while one may hope to recover court costs, it's not something to be counted on.
Fair enough I'm in the UK where litigation is both less expensive and less common, plus costs are often deffered to the end of the suit and would usually be awarded against the losing side, especially when its clear that the whole thing was falacious Also personally I have legal costs insurance (as a perk of my bank account) that covers me for up to £5m for about £10 per month
