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Poorly-Disguised Pilot: Difference between revisions
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* In ''[[Fables]]'', Jack goes to Hollywood and makes a trilogy of LOTR-ish films about him. He eventually gets caught and exiled from Fabletown, leading into the ''Jack of Fables'' series.
* The first three issues of the [[Retool]] of Adventures of the Fly called "Fly-Man" is basically this for the originally version of the Mighty Crusaders.
* Lampooned in ''[[
{{quote| '''Deadpool:''' "Bob, Agent of Hydra". One would almost think we were forcing you down our readers' throats as some kind of possible limited series pitch or something.}}
* The "Bloodlines" crossover in DC comics of the early 90s was basically one massive series of Poorly Disguised Pilots, with that year's "annual" issue for each ongoing series showcasing the origin of a new superhero. Although a few of these "New Blood" characters were featured in mini-series or new ongoing series, the only one that managed any kind of success was Garth Ennis's ''[[Hitman (Comic Book)|Hitman]]'', which spun out of ''[[The Demon]]''.
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* Heroic Publishing will occasionally use its ''[[Champions]]'' title in this manner.
** Likewise, ''[[Heroic Spotlight]]''.
* [[Marvel Comics]], at the start of the [[The Silver Age of Comic Books|Silver Age]], had what are now called "tryouts". For instance, one [[Fantastic Four (Comic Book)|Human Torch]] story featured a [[Captain America]] impostor and asked the readers if they wanted to bring back the real Captain America. On the other hand, the [[Fan Dumb|fevered imagination of fans]] (and/or the greed of comic book speculators) has been prone to see tryouts in Marvel's pre-superhero era even when links between the precursor and later characters are tenuous at best (e.g., a '50s monster character who happened to be called "Hulk," but otherwise has no resemblance whatsoever to the later [[
* [[DC Comics]] did the same thing earlier, occasionally trying out the ''idea'' of a character before going forward with "the real thing." DC's first [[Distaff Counterpart]] characters to [[Superman]] ([[Lois Lane]] temporarily getting powers and operating as "Superwoman" and [[Superboy]] [[Gender Bender|turning into a girl]] and operating as "Claire Kent, Super-Sister") were probably not tryouts so much as one-shot story ideas. But 1958's "The Girl of Steel" was clearly a dry run for [[Supergirl]]. In that story, [[Jimmy Olsen]] uses a magic totem to wish for a "Super-Girl" who would be a companion and helpmate for Superman. It doesn't work out all that well, and Jimmy ends up wishing the girl out of existence at her own request ([[It Makes Sense in Context]]... sorta.) Reaction was positive enough that DC introduced Kara Zor-El, the "real" Supergirl, shortly after.
* Both Marvel and DC often launched features from titles that had no "regular" star. Those features would then, if popular enough, get their own titles:
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** DC's ''Showcase'' launched a large number of successful features, including the [[The Silver Age of Comic Books|Silver Age]] versions of ''[[The Flash]]'', ''[[Green Lantern]]'' and ''[[The Atom]]'', ''Challengers of the Unknown'', ''[[Metal Men]]'', ''Sea Devils'', and many more.
*** The upcoming ''DC Universe Presents'' will likely do the same, starting with [[Deadman (Comic Book)|Deadman]], and continuing with ''[[Challengers Of The Unknown]]''.
** For various convoluted reasons, Marvel was limited to printing a certain number of titles in the '60s. When no longer under that restriction, Marvel launched several of its own ''Showcase''-style titles, such as ''Marvel Spotlight'', which launched features such as ''Werewolf By Night'', ''[[Ghost Rider]]'', and ''[[
*** Earlier, in the late 1960s, Marvel did it with "Marvel Super-Heroes", a larger-than-normal comic whose lead feature launched such stars as [[Captain Mar-Vell]], KaZar, and the [[Guardians of the Galaxy]], with classic 1940s and 50s stories backing it up!
** [[Archie Comics]] tried to salvage their failing 1960s superhero line by using "Mighty Comics" as their "Showcase", featuring such heroes as The Web, The Shield, The Black Hood, and Steel Sterling. It wound up killing the line for aout 15 years!
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* The notorious 'Punisher Goes Black' storyarc in 1992 that guest-starred [[Luke Cage, Hero for Hire]] served as a pilot for the 1990s Cage series.
** [[The Punisher]] himself had his own pilot in the pages of [[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|Spider-Man]] (man, Spidey is popping up a lot).
* Another famous case is [[Wolverine]]. He first popped up in an issue of the [[
* The second and third issues of the original ''[[Youngblood]]'' series gave one of the flip-sides to [[Shadow Hawk]] and Supreme, respectively.
** The fourth issue featured a prelude to [[Pitt]], but without the flip-book format.
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* ''[[MacGyver]]'': "The Coltons", after a 3-4 minute scene with Mac, became entirely about the exploits of a family of bounty hunters, each of whom had previously appeared in the series separately. The series never came to pass, but individual Coltons did continue to turn up for the remainder of the series.
* ''[[The Rockford Files]]'' had at least three Poorly Disguised Pilots during the run of the series. It did succeed in spinning off one short-lived series, ''Richie Brockelman Private Eye'', a series that had already had one stand-alone pilot two years earlier on the ''[[NBC Mystery Movie]].''
* ''[[Smallville]]'' had an episode almost entirely devoted to a reinvention of the classic [[
** Actually the Aquaman pilot starred Justin Hartley as Aquaman, rather than Alan Ritchson, who played the character in ''Smallville''. After the pilot failed, Hartley was cast as [[Green Arrow]] on ''Smallville''.
** Although nothing official has been stated, there was an episode of ''[[Smallville]]'' that quickly trapped Clark in order to bring in the newly formed Justice League (Green Arrow, Cyborg, Aquaman, and Impulse). This may have been testing the waters for a ''Justice League'' TV show, or it might just have been a ratings grab.
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