A whole lot of big popular characters have what are called “legacy titles” meaning
that their name can transfer from one character to another for a multitude of circumstances.
Most commonly, it’s when one of them “dies” or if they take a break or if they just want
to retire from superheroing altogether.
Sometimes the name goes to a former sidekick or sometimes, it goes to a friend or sometimes,
it can even go to a villain like in a recent example of when Lex Luthor is a new Superman
and also there’s a bunch of other new Supermen at the time of this recording.
But today, I want to take a look at some of my personal favorite legacy titles, when a
big character hands off their name to another awesome character, but remember, these are
my personal favorites so some ones that you like might not be on there. It’s not an
objective list. Just let me have this. You’ll have your time to complain and put your own
in the comments at the end of the video. Let’s be real. You probably already started typing
your comments… Onto the video!
I’m going to start this video off strong with good old Batman. Now it was… strange
when Azrael filled in during Knightfall and I actually enjoyed Commissioner Gordon’s
brief stint as the Dark Knight, but there is only one true successor to the Cape and
Cowl, the first Robin, Dick Grayson.
Now, I’m going to be focusing on when Dick took over when Bruce was stuck hurdling through
time, not Knightfall. Mostly because I just love how well he worked with Damian Wayne.
Dick is hands down the true heir to the cowl and a lot of that is because as a character,
he’s Bruce Wayne if he didn’t have to work AS hard for training and had some semblance
of a family as he grew up. What’s interesting though is that at first, he didn’t even
want to BE Batman and that’s one of the many reasons why Battle For the Cowl is one
of my all time favorite Batfamily stories.
As Batman, Dick took Bruce’s son, Damian, under his wing as Robin. Although the two
butted heads at first, they grew extremely close and their current interactions are absolutely
adorable. I seriously wouldn’t have been upset if they had permanently killed off Bruce
Wayne and let Grayson keep dicking around as Batman.
While we’re on the subject of the Batfamily though, the Robins are an amazing example
of how to do legacy titles for sidekicks right. Each of the Robins were unique with their
own personalities, skills, and histories so when they all moved into their solo careers,
they feel like more well rounded characters. I actually did a video about all of the Robins
a while back so if you want to learn more about all of them and see just how far my
videos have come, then I highly encourage you to check it out.
One last thing before we get off the bats though. While I want to stay from alternate
universe stuff in this video which is why I’m not going to be talking about Miles
Morales even though I love him as Spider-Man, I have to give a huge shoutout to Terry McGinnis.
Look, it’s no secret that I am a HUGE fan of Batman Beyond and Terry skipping the whole
Robin process with Bruce guiding him every step of the way is fun in both the show and
the many Batman Beyond comics. I seriously wish there were more delightfully contrasting
duos like this in the comic book world in general!
Okay, now for something a little controversial. I like Jane Foster as Thor and I a m not afraid
to say it. Look, people are pissy that the Thor they know and love isn’t using the
hammer anymore, but I like the fresh take on this part of the Marvel universe. Plus,
I love the duality of her life considering that she’s literally dying from cancer,
but all of the chemotherapy is worthless since the hammer purges her of toxins whenever she
transforms meaning that she can’t get better and she is still dying!
To make things even more complex, she represents Midgard A.K.A. Earth on the Congress of Worlds,
but she’s also wanted by Odin for apparently stealing Mjolnir from his son!
Her books are good, but Jane FosThor gets such a bad rep online from people who have
never read comics and are simply reacting to the fact that the “evil SJWs” are ruining
Thor by replacing him with a girl even though those people probably don’t read comics
in the first place.
So hey, Blue Beetle. Now I’ll be the first one to admit that Blue Beetle isn’t a character
that I read extensively and that’s mostly because he’s typically a supporting character.
However, one thing I’ve always really liked about the three Beetles is that each one is
very different from the others.
Dan Garret used the Blue Beetle scarab and its magical properties to fight crime with
super strength, durability, flight, and energy blasts. You know, pretty typical stuff. His
protege on the other hand, Ted Kord, couldn’t get the scarab to work for him so he fought
crime with gadgets and martial arts like a blue Batman. The current Blue Beetle is the
one that y’all know from Young Justice, Jaime Reyes. He’s even more different with
the scarab turning into an advanced alien warsuit complete with advanced A.I. kind of
like a blue Iron Man… with wings.
Just the fact that we can get such drastically different characters from the same core concept
is absolutely amazing to me!
Okay now, another comic that many of you guys know that I am in love with is Superior Spider-Man
where a dying Doctor Octopus swaps bodies with Peter Parker, but upon the ‘ole switcheroo,
Doc Ock learns the famous lesson of power and responsibility. As he holds his old dying
body in his arms and Peter fades from the Earth, Ock vows to be a better Spider-Man
than Peter ever was. He’s going to be a Superior Spider-Man.
Now I have talked ad nauseum about this book on my Where to Start Spider-Man video, but
to quickly explain why I enjoy this run so much, I just love how Superior Spidey uses
villain tropes as a hero such as henchmen and I also like how Ock tries to balance Peter’s
crazy life and learns that it’s not as easy as it seems. It’s difficult being a hero,
lover, friend, nephew, going back to school, and running a tech startup all at the same
time. It’s kind of like trying to run two YouTube channels while trying to write for
other channels, have a social/love life, and trying to keep healthy all at once. I can
tell ‘ya, it’s hard.
Oh and speaking of Spider-Man, I really like the 2011 run of Scarlet Spider. The original
Scarlet Spidey was Ben Riley, a clone of Peter Parker from a storyline that is so convoluted
that we CAN NOT go into it during this video. Needless to say, he dies and the Scarlet Spider
legacy goes to another Spider-Man clone named Kaine. The official tagline for this series
was “All of the power, none of the responsibility.” Kaine didn’t initially want to be a hero,
but kind of had to because of crazy random happenstances, but it was awesome seeing him
evolve into a hero in and of his own right. This was a surprisingly great read and that’s
coming from someone who knew absolutely nothing about the character before hopping in.
Next up, Wally West. Starting off as Kid Flash, Wally took over for Barry Allen after his
supposed death during Crisis on Infinite Earths. Wally was The Flash for around TWENTY YEARS
and for entire generations of comic book readers, THIS was their Flash. In fact, The Flash from
the Justice League cartoon show? That was Wally, not Barry. While Barry Allen is still
my favorite Flash, Wally was able to do more with the Speed Force than any other speedster
that we’ve seen in the DC Comics and we also saw his family life’s origins to full
fruition. It really sucked to see this version Wally West vanish when the New 52 started,
but it is amazing to have him back with Rebirth and that he’s a Flash again like he deserves
to be. None o that Kid Flash nonsense. Wally earned that title and it is awesome that he
gets to keep it.
Okay, now we have Falcon as Captain America or as I like to call him, Captain Falcon.
For years, Falcon was Cap’s sidekick never really got taken seriously as a standalone
character, but when Steve Rogers was drained of his super soldier serum, Falcon stepped
in as his replacement. Outside of dealing with racial issues, Sam Wilson doesn’t exactly
play by the rules, especially with S.H.I.E.L.D. He’s been very critical of many government
decisions and that does not win him a lot of points with some of the average citizens
in America. Though, he’s still a proper Captain in his own right, so much so that
once Steve Rogers got better, the two of them got to be Captain America at the same time.
“But Drake, why are you talking about Falcon instead of Bucky Barnes?! Bucky Barnes is
a way better Captain America than Sam Wilson! How dare you?!” Guys! This is a confession.
I didn’t read the story arcs where Bucky Barnes was Captain America. I read a LOT of
comic books all the time. My list is huge and my backlist is huge. I want to read it.
I want to read all that stuff. I just haven’t yet. That’s why Falcon’s on this list
instead of Bucky. Okay, please stop. Next character.
I’ll admit that I haven’t read a whole lot regarding The Question and I got most
of my exposure to him from the Justice League cartoon, but the subplot between him and Renee
Montoya in the storyline 52 went from one that I barely cared about to one of my absolute
favorites in this really crazy, intertwined story. I really enjoyed the mystery and action
they went through and even though I’m trying to avoid spoilers because it is a great read,
I have to give you this little detail because when The Question’s died and he passed on
the identity to Montoya, it was such a punch in the feels that I love it!
I’d like to end things off with the current Ms. Marvel Kamala Kahn. This girls is funny,
cute, sassy, has fun powers, and her books are quality. Now, the original Ms. Marvel,
Carol Danvers, is a character that I’ve mostly been keeping up with after she became
Captain Marvel so I can’t speak much for her older days, but what I can say is that
Kamala is FANTASTIC!
This is one of my favorite characters of the past few years. She’s basically a superhero
fangirl who also becomes a superhero and that basically writes itself which… it does!
Even though it’s great to see more Pakistani heroes in comics, Kamala is a great role model
for pretty much everyone and features stories that are chock full of social commentary,
especially regarding what it’s like to be a millennial. A lot of this stuff hits home
pretty hard and I’m just glad that we have Kamala in this current age when we needed
her the most.
And there you go! Some of my personal favorite legacy characters in comic books. I couldn’t
fit all the ones that I liked in here, but this is probably the creme de la creme of
mine. Did I leave any out that you guys are a big fan of? Well then let me know in the
comments. I’m actually very excited to see if I missed some awesome characters ‘cus
like I mentioned, I want to read Bucky and there are other characters that I do want
to read up on, I just haven’t had time, but I’m always looking for things to add
to my backlog, but uh hey!
Thank you for watching this video and if you want to see more, please consider subscribing.
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That’s the usual pitch that you hear every YouTuber say, but uh. Please go and check
it out. I’m going to stop rambling now. I’m very tired. I haven’t eaten today.
Bye.