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
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That’s the usual pitch that you hear every
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it out. I’m going to stop rambling now.
I’m very tired. I haven’t eaten today.
Bye.
