Superhero Legacies: The Top 5

Superhero Legacies Take Up The Mantle

No hero can last forever. Eventually, they’ll face a final adventure. Maybe they bore audiences or their story ends with a heroic sacrifice. Where do you go from there? Why, a new character. A new hand takes up their sword and fights in that hero’s name, turning an identity into a legacy.

Superhero legacies are an excellent way to revitalize characters. You want to diversify a team? Introduce a new hero with an old identity and different background. A hero is dead? Another character fights in their stead. This is also a perfect way to progress an older character into a mentor role, dispensing sage wisdom to a young gun.

So what are the Top 5 Superhero Legacies? Let’s find out.

#5 Wolverine

One superhero legacy everyone has is their family. Mothers passing knowledge onto daughters, fathers teaching their sons, and that’s no different when superheroics is the family business. 

The Original: James “Logan” Howlett was a Mutant born in the 1880s. He lived a violent life, frequently surrounded by death, until he was kidnapped by Weapon X and experimented on. He was given adamantium bones and multiple layers of fake memories to change him into a weapon. He escaped and became a superhero called Wolverine.

The Legacy: Wolverine’s cowl has been taken up by his children. Daken was his illegitimate son who served as the Wolverine in Green Goblin’s Dark Avengers. Daken tried to kill his father several times before agreeing to a distant, uneasy peace.

Weapon X cloned Wolverine many times, resulting in a female version called X-23. She escaped with help from her creator, Dr. Sarah Kinney, who named her Laura. X-23 failed to assassinate Wolverine, but was taken in by the X-Men and became a hero. Laura took up the Wolverine identity while Logan was dead to honor him and agreed to share the name when he came back to life.

#4 Superhero Legacy: Captain Marvel

Superhero legacies don’t have to be a direct lineage. One hero may inspire another years or decades after they’re gone. It makes determining true successors tricky, but builds a disparate family.

The Original: Mar-Vell was a Captain of the Kree Armada. He was sent to spy on Earth and determine if humanity needed to be destroyed. Instead, Mar-Vell liked humans and became their protector. Humans misinterpreted his name as Captain Marvel. He was a hero for years before dying of cancer. Surprisingly, he’s never been resurrected.

The Legacy: Monica Rambeau became his successor after Mar-Vell’s death when media reports named her that. She eventually lead the Avengers and gave the name to Mar-Vell’s son, Genis-Vell.

Genis-Vell was darker than his father and became an anti-hero. He could see every possible future and tried to prevent the worst ones from happening. Precognition drove Genis mad. He destroyed and recreated the universe in search of a perfect timeline. That excused many retcons and led Baron Zemo to kill Genis-Vell.

The Captain Marvel identity found its true bearer in Mar-Vell’s old flame, Carol Danvers. She had fought alongside him as Ms. Marvel, then flew solo as Binary and Warbird. Captain America convinced Carol to step out of Mar-Vell’s shadow and shine as the new Captain Marvel.

#3 The Blue Beetle

Some superhero legacies share nothing aside from their name. Powers, personalities and styles can vary wildly, but a legacy bond still forms.

The Original: Dan Garret was an archeologist who discovered a blue scarab in a forgotten pharaoh’s tomb. By shouting “Khadji Da!”, he could summon armor and gained super-strength. He fought crime as the Blue Beetle until he sacrificed himself to save the world.

The Legacy: Ted Kord was a scientist who fought alongside Dan on his last mission and adopted the Blue Beetle name. The Scarab wouldn’t respond to him, so Ted used advanced technology and martial arts to fight crime. He joined the Justice League, but was betrayed and murdered by one of their allies.

Jaime Reyes found the Scarab after Ted’s death and learned it was alien technology. The Scarab gave Jaime a Power Ranger-esque armor with the ability to manifest weapons. Jaime became Blue Beetle to stop an invasion from the Scarab’s creators, The Reach.

#2 Superhero Legacy: Batgirl

Robin was a strong contender for our list. There have been at least five of them, but the Robin legacy is tumultuous at best. The Batgirl superhero legacy isn’t as famous, but it’s a lot more cohesive.

The Original: Barbara Gordon was Commissioner Gordon’s daughter. She battled supervillain Killer Moth while on her way to a costume party and was inspired to become a superhero. Barbara fought alongside the Bat-Family until she was paralyzed by The Joker. She hung up her cape and became their mission coordinator.

The Legacy: Barbara found a protégé named Cassandra Cain, unaware that she was the daughter of assassins Lady Shiva and David Cain. Cassandra took up the mantle with her blessing to help others. Barbara became her mentor and supported her online while teaching her to read and speak.

Cass became friends with a vigilante called Spoiler. Stephanie Brown had become a hero to “spoil” her supervillain father’s plans. She helped Cassandra build a life beyond being a superhero and was given the Batgirl identity when Cassandra became disillusioned with heroics.

Fun Fact: Barbara Gordon is a legacy character herself. The original Batgirl was Betty Kane, who fought crime and allegations that the Dynamic Duo were gay. The identity didn’t take off until Barbara, though, so Betty is often excluded from the legacy.

#1 Captain America

Superhero legacies aren’t new, but there’s never been one this high profile. With Chris Evans claiming he won’t be returning to Marvel for Avengers: Doomsday, someone new must wield the shield.

The Original: Poor health prevented Steve Rogers from joining the U.S. Army during World War II. He volunteered for Project Rebirth and was transformed into a super soldier. Dubbed Captain America, he fought against the Nazis, was frozen for decades, and emerged in modern times to keep fighting the good fight.

The Legacy: Attempts to replicate Steve began almost immediately. The first was Isaiah Bradley, the sole survivor of 300 Black soldiers kidnapped and experimented on to recreate the Super Soldier Serum. He stole Cap’s spare shield and costume to fight as a Black Captain America, but was imprisoned for his efforts.

After Captain America was seemingly killed, his former sidekick Bucky Barnes took his place. He worked with the government until Green Goblin’s takeover as head of SHIELD. Bucky fought as a fugitive, but abandoned the identity after his crimes as the Winter Soldier were publicly revealed.

Sam Wilson had fought as Cap’s partner The Falcon for decades. When Steve was artificially aged into an old man, he passed his title to Falcon. The new Captain America led the Avengers and fought as a solo hero. When Steve was rejuvenated, they agreed to share the title.

What is your favorite superhero legacy? Did we miss one more deserving? Tell us in the comments.

Image: Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/Captain America in Marvel Studios’ CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD. Photo by Eli Adé. © 2024 MARVEL.

Jared Bounacos

Jared Bounacos has written for Movie Rewind since 2016.