What Does This Mean?
A fictional character who is a thinly disguised stand-in for a well-known character owned by someone else, such as a near copy with a changed name and look. The term is used in comics, animation and game criticism.
REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
""The cartoon's caped hero is such an obvious Captain Ersatz of Superman that even the logo looks familiar.""
LORE & ORIGIN
Wiktionary describes it as fandom slang combining "Captain" with "ersatz" (cheap imitation) and says the term was coined by TV Tropes in 2007. It lists later uses from 2010 to 2022, including Usenet posts, a tweet and Reddit threads; one example given is Foxy as a stand-in for Mickey Mouse. The related term "expy" covers a similar idea. A Captain Ersatz is a knock-off character, which is different from an homage that is openly credited.
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