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"Cultural appropriation" is, strangely, an attempt to do this even to things that can't be copyrighted, by people who otherwise can't stop complaining about capitalism.
On the flip side we have no end to Superman expies: Homelander, Omni-Man, The Plutonian, Brightburn. They're just deeply, deeply cynical and aimed at subverting the character. Which may say something about the audience.
In other words: not portraying the same values in the same package. I fail to see how this is anything other than agreeing with the grandparent post.
Most of those examples started as comics which have a much lower barrier to entry than AAA games or movies.
They became organically popular, at which point studios and corporations jumped on them for adaptations.
People did go out and make their own. And this is what they made and were rewarded for making.
Indeed, comics that did not portray the same values in the same package became popular.
This does not appear to refute the point.
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Or may say something about the creators?
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