The original Amazing-Man was Will Everett, a member of the All-Star Squadron. Decades later, the identity was taken up by his nephew, Will Everett III, who was a member of the Justice League and Extreme Justice. After his death, the identity was taken over by his cousin, Markus Clay, who was a member of the Justice Society of America. In the wake of the New 52 relaunch, a new Amazing-Man named Rocker Bonn has been introduced as a former agent of Checkmate.
Arn Munro of Young All-Stars is a weirdly recursive example; he was loosely intended as a replacement for the Golden Age Superman, who was retconned out of existence when Arn was created, but in-story he is the son of Hugo Danner, the protagonist of Gladiator, a 1930 novel that was an influence on Superman's creation.
Animal Man: The New 52Animal Man series establishes that there were previous champions of the Red dubbed Animal Man prior to Buddy Baker obtaining his powers and donning the mantle.
After decades as Aquaman's sidekick and a member of the Teen Titans, Garth, the first Aqualad, graduated to the Tempest identity and was ultimately killed off. Following his death, a new Aqualad named Kaldur'ahm (human name Jackson Hyde) appeared and became Aquaman's new sidekick. This Aqualad was initially created for the Young Justice animated series before being brought over into the comics.
Aquaman also had a replacement in Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis named Arthur Joseph Curry when he became the Dweller in the Depths. This proved to only be temporary, and the replacement Aquaman underwent Chuck Cunningham Syndrome.
There have been two Aquagirls (not counting a pair of one-shot characters that took the name for a single issue). The first was the Atlantean known as Tula, who was killed in Crisis on Infinite Earths. Decades later, a new character, Lorena Marquez, took up the identity. Tula was revived in the New 52, but does not use the name Aquagirl, nor is she a superheroine (she's Bash Sisters with Mera), while Lorena doesn't exist.
Mera briefly adopted the codename "Aquawoman". She ditched it not long after, but in the future of ''DC Future State", her and Arthur's daughter, Andrina "Andy" Curry, took up the codename once she became an adult and moved on from "Aqualass".
A very dark example occured with long-time rogue the Fisherman. Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis revealed his helmet is a xenoform parasite that attaches itself to every incarnation of the Fisherman and puppeteers the body. The one Aquaman fought isn't the first or the last.
The Atom: The first Atom was Al Pratt back during the 1940's, but the title was made most famous by the second bearer, Ray Palmer, in the 1960's. Palmer briefly passed on the identity to teenager Adam Cray during the 1980's, but became the Atom once again after Cray's murder. In 2006, Palmer was succeeded by Ryan Choi, but was again forced out of retirement after Choi was killed just a few years later during the Brightest Day event; the controversy over the racial implications of Choi's death saw the death itself getting fixed in Convergence, and in a younger version of Choi becoming the Atom alongside Palmer in DC Rebirth. (Adam Cray was also brought back in Rebirth, but not as the Atom.)
Black Canary: The Black Canary is an interesting case, having become her own legacy character. Originally there was only one Black Canary; however, as she was tied to WWII it eventually got to the point where she was clearly decades older than she had ever looked (and considerably older than her lover Green Arrow). This was "fixed" with the retcon that she was actually inhabiting the braindead body of her previously unmentioned daughter. Crisis simplified this creepy idea by simply establishing that there were two Canaries, assigning the Golden Age stories to the mother and the Silver Age ones to the daughter.
Blue Beetle: There have been three Blue Beetles. Unlike most other examples, all three are significantly different: Dan Garrett was a world adventurer who could use some of the Blue Beetle scarab's powers. Ted Kord, a wealthy industrialist, was a kind of lighthearted version of Batman, and the scarab never worked for him. Jaime Reyes is an Ordinary High-School Student who's fully bonded with the scarab, giving him a Power Suit which acts as a sort of Do-Anything Robot.
The concept also gets sent up in the pre-Flashpoint Jaime Reyes run of the comic, where it's revealed that aspiring supervillains actually have brawls—"title fights"—to earn the right to take on a deceased/retired villain's nom de guerre. The story arc goes on to unveil a second Doctor Polaris.
In the New 52 run, Jaime inherits the legacy of the scarab but not the Blue Beetle name, as the scarab's previous holder didn't take it.
In the DC Rebirth run, meanwhile, Ted and Jaime share the Blue Beetle name. Ted saw the scarab one time, and was inspired to take his superhero name from it, but eventually had to retire due to health issues. Jaime came along looking for someone to get the scarab off him, and Ted decided to come out of retirement and help Jaime be a superhero.
Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew!: Unknown to Fastback of the Zoo Crew, his uncle Merton McSnurtle is actually the long-retired Golden Age superhero the Terrific Whatzit, who like his nephew also possessed super-speed powers (plus several other abilities Fastback lacked).
DC One Million: Nearly everyone from the 853rd Century. In addition to Justice Legion A being legacy characters for the JLA (plus Starman and Hourman), Justice Legion B are the Teen Titans, Justice Legion L are the Legion Of Superheroes, Justice Legion T are Young Justice, and Justice Legion Z are the Legion of Super-Pets. Superman's friends include an Olsen and a Luthor, and the villains imprisoned in Pluto are mostly legacies for Batman's Rogues Gallery. There's also an Azrael, a clan of Green Arrows, a Captain Marvel, and so on.
Doctor Fate: Doctor Fate is a hard one to keep track of, even without the Continuity Snarl. The title passed from archaeologist Kent Nelson to mother-and-son duo Linda and Eric Strauss, then to Kent's wife Inza. Following Zero Hour: Crisis in Time!, treasure hunter Jared Stevens took up the mantle as simply "Fate", then was replaced by Hector Hall, who returned to being Doctor Fate. Hall in turn was succeeded by psychoanalyst Kent V. Nelson, the original Kent Nelson's grand-nephew. The legacy effectively got a fresh start after the New 52 reboot, with medical student Khalid Nassour taking up the mantle; his series eventually revealed that Kent Nelson had been Doctor Fate before him.
Ronnie Raymond, the original Firestorm, was killed off in the controversial Identity Crisis (2004) storyline and had his powers passed on to teenager Jason Rusch. Several years later during the events of Blackest Night, Ronnie was resurrected and merged with Jason. In the wake of the DC relaunch, a new Firestorm series was launched that retconned Ronnie and Jason into being teenage contemporaries who both became Firestorm together after being caught up in the same nuclear accident.
Firestorm's Arch-Enemy Killer Frost is also a legacy. The original Killer Frost was Crystal Frost, who died and was replaced by her protege, Louise Lincoln. A third Killer Frost named Caitlin Snow was introduced in the DC relaunch.
Immortal Man in Darkness is not actually immortal; the technology that gives him his powers will eventually kill him, and they simply keep replacing him. The "Immortal" name is a publicity thing. When one dies, there's a whole set of guys waiting in the wings to replace him. "You are immortal now!" And yes, pilots line up for the privilege to fly the Dragonwing even after being informed that it will be the death of them; the latest describes the first time he saw the craft as "love at first sight".
Accomplished Perfect Physician is the seventeenth to bear the title and wield the powers of the greatest medical mind on the planet. Played with in that he's not the guy who was supposed to succeed the title; he was a soldier sent to beat back Tibetan dissidents and inadvertently killed the actual successor before being strongarmed into taking his place.
During the 90s, in line with stories like Knightfall, The Death of Superman and Emerald Twilight, Oliver Queen became increasingly suicidal from the events of the Crossroads that lead him to murder a criminal as well traumatized from his best friend's fall from grace in Zero Hour: Crisis in Time!. Green Arrow Vol 2 #0 would introduce a plucky blasian 18 year old who way staying at the monastery that Ollie had returned to named Connor Hawke who was a massive fan of Oliver Queen and knew he was the Green Arrow. The storyline Where Angels Fear To Tread would reveal that he was Ollie's illegitimate son from a college relationship as well as feature Oliver's death. As a subversion of the Oliver Queen in The Dark Knight Returns, Ollie decided to sacrifice his life to save a missile from devastating Metropolis instead of becoming an amputee, passing off his mantle to his son. Connor Hawke would have a fairly good solo run of Vol 2's publication, becoming part of the JLA and becoming friends with the second half of the Hard-Traveling Heroes duo, Green Lantern Kyle Rayner. As Oliver was revived in Kevin Smith's Quiver storyline, the two decided to both fight under the same title of Green Arrow. Post-Flashpoint however, Connor was retconned out of existence before finally reappearing in DC Infinite Frontier as a supporting character of Robin (2021), finally reuniting with the rest of the Arrowfam in Green Arrow (2023).
On Arrowverse's Earth 16, Oliver Queen was succeeded by Connor Hawke, who in the show is John Diggle's son.
Roy Harper is the original sidekick of Green Arrow under the mantle of Speedy. He retired from the role after falling out of contact with Ollie, becoming Arsenal in the New Titans storyline The Darknening, and, after finally reconciling with Ollie, became Red Arrow of the Justice League. The title of Speedy would then be passed onto Mia Dearden, a young HIV-positive teenage girl.
The Earth 2 version of Red Arrow is revealed to be Connor Hawke.
Bonnie King-Jones is Miss Arrowette, a young adult Olympic athlete who idolizes Green Arrow. As she grows up, she falls in love with a reporter named Bernell Jones and eventually marries him. The payout from his death allows her to raise her daughter as the superhero she always wanted to be, becoming a helicopter parent. Comic Book/Impulse reveals the second Miss Arrowette, or just Arrowette, Suzanne "Cissie" King-Jones who is Bonnie's daughter. After Max Mercury reports Bonnie to Child Services, she decides to become a better superhero in spite of her mother. She becomes a member of Young Justice before retiring after an attempted homicide.
Oliver Queen's rival, the Dark Archer or Merlyn, is an League of Assassins member by the name of Arthur King who is on the same level of proficiency of archery as Green Arrow. The New 52 would introduce a brand new version of the Dark Archer, this time being the Canon ImmigrantTommy Merlyn from Arrow who is the son of the show's version of Arthur King named "Malcolm Merlyn. Green Arrow (Rebirth) would integrate Arrow lore back into the comics by featuring the Malcolm Merlyn, the father of Tommy Merlyn and is meant to be the same Dark Archer as the "Arthur King" version of the character, as a secondary antagonist to the run.
In the Silver Age, Johnathan "Midas" Mallory is the Red Dart, a dart-wielding crook who convinced people he was a hero to help him get away with crimes. Green Arrow (Jeff Lemire) would reveal a female successor as part of the Longbow Hunters.
Alan Scott, the Golden AgeGreen Lantern, turned out to have unconsciously taken the name of the universe-spanning special forces group known as the Green Lantern Corps. His powers are even (indirectly) connected to theirs, revealed as the excess magic removed from the universe by the Corps' bosses, the Guardians. The Silver Age Green Lantern, who begat the Corps, was the revival style of legacy, notable for not quite being a legacy in-character.
On Earth 2 of the New 52, Alan is the only GL, with no sign of the Corps.
Hal Jordan has either lost or voluntarily given up his status as a Green Lantern several times now, with his role as the lead of the book usually taken over by another of Earth's GLs like John Stewart, Kyle Rayner or Simon Baz.
The Green Lantern Corps also makes legacies the standard practice, as when a Lantern dies his/her ring seeks out a suitable replacement. Two notable legacies within the Corps include the Korugarian Lanterns, where Katma Tui and later Soranik Natu have had to live down the reputation of their predecessor Thaal Sinestro; and the Rrab family, as Arisia Rrab is the fourth member of her family in a row to become a Lantern.
Hawkman: The Hawkman and Hawkgirl/woman Continuity Snarl began as a well-intentioned attempt to turn the Silver Age Hawks into in-story as well as revival Legacy Characters of the Golden Age ones. Since the originals were humans with a mystical origin and the second set were alien Space Police, and since several contradicting origin stories had been given for both pairs by writers who couldn't be bothered to give a rat's ass about continuity, this eventually snowballed into a tangled mess which resulted in all the various characters with "Hawk" in front of their names being merged into a giant crazy hawk-god thing and Put on a Bus for several years.
Inferior Five: Each of the titular five half-rate superheroes was the son or daughter of one or more competent, and somehow familiar-looking heroes.
Infinity Inc. gives this a passing mention in 52, denigrating then-Titans Zachary Zatara and Little Barda as "blood brats," heroes who never actually earned their powers. The term "legacy powers" is also used, making this trope's title more or less canon, in a slang sort of way.
The Infinity Inc. seen in 52 also played this trope straight. They had new versions of Nuklon, Skyman, Jade, and Fury, all of which were mantles that belonged to members of the original team.
Justice Society of America: Being a team that has been active since WWII, it comes as no surprise that the Justice Society of America has inspired more than a few heroes to take up their mantles:
Following the death of the original Dr. Mid-Nite (Charles McNider) he was followed by two of his students who ended up with similar and similarly compensated sight disabilities; Beth Chapel as Dr. Midnight and Pieter Cross as Dr. Mid-Nite II.
The first Hourman was Rex Tyler whose son, Rick, followed in his footsteps after joining Infinity, Inc. After Rex died during the Zero Hour: Crisis in Time!crossover event and Rick retired due to health concerns over his extensive use of Miraclo, they were replaced by an android from the future named "Tyler".
The original Mister Terrific was Terry Sloane, a genius millionaire and Olympic athlete who had decided to become a hero after preventing a woman from committing suicide while he was attempting the same. His successor, Michael Holt, was likewise a genius and an Olympic athlete who was also suicidal after the death of his wife but, inspired by Terry Sloane's story, ended up taking the mantle and becoming a hero.
When Wildcat retired for a brief period of time during the 80s, he was replaced by his goddaughter Yolanda Montez. Then, upon discovering a hitherto-unknown son with conveniently catlike powers, Ted decided the son should use the same code name, with a bit of Lampshade Hanging regarding all the other legacies out there. Unusually, this led to both the original and the legacy being active on the same team with the same code name.
While the first and second holders of the Red Tornado hero name are unrelated Kingdom Come introduced a Red Tornado III who was the granddaughter of the first. The first Red Tornado also had a pair of sidekicks called the Cyclone Kids who got their own legacy character in their neice and Red Tornado's granddaughter who uses the superhero name Cyclone.
Vandal Savage eventually figured out this trope and decided to go wipe out a few 'hero lines'. He got a couple but failed some as well. A steel-based villain was sent to kill Commander Steel's family. He was stabbed in the mouth, bleeding ensued and that gave steel powers to the man's grandson. Way to go, Savage.
The original Invisible Man gets raped and killed by Hyde in retaliation to assaultingMina in Volume II. Black Dossier later reveals that in the 1940's, a League formed after the disbanding of the original League had a scientist named Peter Bradey (from the 1958 Invisible Man ITV series) become a new Invisible Man after recreating the invisibility formula from Griffin's notes. Unfortunately, he wasn't as effective because he had a cough from smoking that frequently gave him away.
Captain Nemo's daughter initially didn't want to continue her father's legacy until she was forced to do so in order to get even with several men who raped her. At the end of the Nemo spin-off trilogy, her grandson Jack takes up the mantle of Captain Nemo after her death.
In Superman: The Man of Steel Annual #5, Kaleb, the last survivor of the Krypton-like planet Hydros, is recruited by the rebellion to become the new Superman and fight the Empire.
In Superman Annual #8, the League of Supermen continue the legacy of Superman by protecting their planet from natural and man-made disasters.
In Adventures of Superman Annual #8, the Curatti Willigig comes to believe that he is Superman after he receives a considerable volume of information about Krypton from a message that Jor-El recorded for Superman 500,000 years earlier.
In Superboy Annual #3, successive metas have been chosen to protect and rule Aztlan by becoming Superman for 500 years. Each Superman chooses a young man to be Superboy, who eventually succeeds him.
In Impulse Annual #1, Trace Wyndham is recruited into the Invisible Resistance by the speedster Kinnock. After demonstrating to Trace that he can access the Speed Force, Kinnock gives him the name Impulse as it suits his impulsive personality.
In Flash Annual #9, Bryan Mallory receives the Holy Shroud, namely Wally West's Flash costume, from the Martian Manhunter and becomes the Flash so that he can defeat his twin brother Tristan.
In The Power of Shazam! Annual #1, CeCe Beck is accidentally transported to the Rock of Eternity by a magic weapon wielded by the Aberrant Dash Noir. Once there, she meets the elderly Captain Marvel, who has been asleep for so long that he does not know that Earth was destroyed. He gives Beck his powers so that she can protect herself when the Rock of Eternity is overrun by Aberrants and the security forces pursuing them. As such, Beck becomes the new Captain Marvel.
In Wonder Woman Annual #5, a female Ratbat receives memories of Wonder Woman's adventures on Old Earth from a memory transfer device. This experience inspires her to fashion a costume resembling Wonder Woman's and fight the Unremembered who are invading her territory.
In Batman: Shadow of the Bat Annual #4, Starman was the hero of Finger City before it fell to the Lizard-Men.
Phantom Lady: Phantom Lady was originally Sandra Knight in World War II. Then because time passes, she gave the mantle to her niece Dee in the 80s. Because time still passes on, Dee died passing it on to Sandra's grandaughter Stormy Knight in 2006. In 2012, the New 52 introduced the latest Phantom Lady, Jennifer Knight.
The Ray: The original Ray, Langford Terrill, had his identity taken up by his son, Ray Terrill, who in turn had the identity briefly taken over by a man named Stan Silver before returning to the mantle once Silver was revealed as a traitor. In the wake of the New 52 reboot, a new Ray named Lucien Gates was introduced. He acknowledges that he took his name from an existing hero, and DC Rebirth shows that at least one of the other Rays, Ray Terrill, is around in the new continuity.
Langford himself became a legacy character pre-New 52, taking up the mantle of obscure hero Neon the Unknown to become Neon.
Rose And Thorn: In a unique villain-to-hero example, Rose Canton, the Golden Age villainess Thorn, was eventually replaced by Rhosyn "Rose" Forrest, a feminist vigilante. Like her predecessor, Rhosyn suffers from a split-personality disorder, but possesses none of the superpowers held by the original. Though not an outright villain like her predecessor, the modern Thorn frequently uses lethal force and has found herself as both an ally and enemy of the Birds of Prey.
Gaiman's version of the character, instead of being the latest in the line, is presented as the original of which the earlier characters are merely imitations. Used straight as well: the original Dream dies at the end, passing on his powers to a successor.
In Gaiman's version, the Sandman is Morpheus, the Anthropomorphic Personification of Dream, and a being who is more powerful than most gods. In 1988, as Gaiman's series began, he escaped from a seven-decade-long imprisonment, which not coincidentally put him out of the way during the years in which the earlier Sandman characters had been operating.
The original Sandman was Wesley Dodds, a 1930s fedora-and-gasmask-wearing hero with a "gas gun" that knocked out criminals, leaving them for the police to pick up the next morning. In Gaiman's Revision, it was explained that this Sandman was (without being consciously aware of it) symbolically filling a gap left in the world by Morpheus' imprisonment. A later series with him, Sandman Mystery Theatre, revealed that he was originally driven by Dreaming of Things to Come, caused by said imprisonment.
DC also published, in the 1970s, a superhero called the Sandman who lived in a dream dome and patrolled people's dreams with his wife. In Gaiman's Revision, the dream world he patrolled was only a small part of the total Dreaming, staked out by a pair of rogue nightmares during Morpheus' imprisonment; the nightmares posed as his comic-relief sidekicks while manipulating this Sandman's actions to their own ends.
This version of the Sandman hit the legacy character jackpot. He's Hector Hall, the son of the Golden Age Hawkman and Hawkgirl. He joined the legacy team Infinity, Inc. as the Silver Scarab, then became the faux-Sandman after his death. Prior to that he married Lyta Trevor, who was the daughter of the Golden Age Wonder Woman. After Morpheus returned him to the realm of the dead, Hector was reincarnated and took on another legacy mantle as Doctor Fate, until he died yet again, only to be reunited with his and Lyta's son, who was now the new Dream (as well as arguably the old Dream).
The Sandman's former sidekick, Sandy Hawkins, drew from both Sandmen when he joined the JSA; he took on the gas mask and sleep gas of Wesley Dodds, and the prophetic dreams that connected him to Dream. He was also briefly ensnared by the aforementioned rogue nightmares and forced to play out the adventures of the '70s Sandman.
Grant Morrison played with this when they created a new version of the Shining Knight. Apparently the entire King Arthur story repeats itself every so often. The original Shining Knight, Sir Justin, came from the anachronistic 5th century of La Morte D'Arthur, and ended up in World War II. The third Knight, Sir Ystina, is the same character's counterpart from a much earlier Camelot which has more of a "Celtic twilight" feel, who ended up in the 21st century. This is parodied in the Demon Knights series, when Jason Blood and Xanadu, both refugees from the anachronistic Camelot, are accosted by Ystin, who insists that they're lying about being survivors of Camelot. But because her accusations are in Welsh, none of them understand her. Jason shrugs and advises his companions to smile and nod.
Boy Blue, successor to Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys.
Dyno-Mite Dan, successor to T.N.T and Dan the Dyna-Mite (he bought a knock-off of his predecessors' rings on E-bay).
The Manhattan Guardian, successor to the Guardian (the paper he works for bought the rights to the name and image when the secret government project the Guardian worked for went under).
Bulleteer, successor to Bulletman and Bulletgirl and descendant of Aurakles, the first superhero.
Shazam!: The Shazam legacy is quite an odd one. The first champion for the wizard was Teth-Adam, who became Black Adam. Black Adam didn't work out and, centuries later, the wizard chose Billy Batson, who'd become Captain Marvel/Shazam. The wizard would die in Infinite Crisis and Billy would replace the wizard while his adopted brother Freddy Freeman would take over as "Shazam". Then, the New 52 happened, the wizard was revived and this time Billy and his adopted siblings became his champions.
The Spectre: DC's Spirit of Vengeance, the Spectre, got retconned into a legacy with the John Ostrander series. The Spectre itself has existed almost since creation began, but has been compelled to take mortal hosts following the Crucifixion.
May have been the book responsible for the revival of the Legacy Character concept in The Modern Age of Comic Books. It introduced Jack Knight, the son of the Golden Age Starman and reluctant holder of the mantle, as well as grouping together all the unrelated characters who had used the name "Starman" over the years — apparently simply due to the coolness of the name — in a Myth Arc filled with atmosphere and scintillating characterization. One version even appears to have been inspired by the Ziggy Stardust song of the same name (complete with a Lampshade Hanging saying it was the other way around), which the original character preceded by about thirty years.
After the series ended, Jack Knight handed off his Cosmic Rod to Courtney Whitmore, AKA the second Star-Spangled Kid / Stargirl, who was a product of a different legacy — her stepfather was Stripesy, the adult sidekick of the Golden Age Star-Spangled Kid. (Though the Star-Spangled Kid had used a variant of Starman's rod, a Cosmic Belt, during the '80s in Infinity, Inc.. The JSA's legacy connections are complicated.)
When the JSA was rebooted following Infinite Crisis, a new Starman joined the team. It was eventually revealed to be the LegionnaireStar Boy AKA Thom Kallor, who had previously spent time on Earth-22. While all he shares with the other Starmen is the name and the ability to fly, Thom has the power of density manipulation and schizophrenia... and his suit is a map of The Multiverse and can function as a portable Cosmic Treadmill to allow easy multiversal travel.
The original, pre-Crisis Superboy was Clark Kent himself during his teen years in Smallville. Post-Crisis, it was established that Clark was never Superboy, and the first Superboy was a clone of Superman named Kon-El, later Conner Kent. Then Infinite Crisis happened and established that Clark had briefly been Superboy, making Conner the second.
Then the New 52 happened, and established that Clark had never been Superboy again, and Conner Kent was again the first Superboy, again a clone. He was replaced by his Evil Counterpart and the source of his DNA, Jon Lane Kent, the future son of Superman and Lois Lane, though the public didn't know Superboy was switched out. Both entered Comic Book Limbo, just in time for the Pre-Flashpoint Superman to return, with Lois and his son, Jonathan "Samuel" Kent. Jonathan helps his dad for a bit before becoming the second, but really the third, Superboy... before DC fused the Pre-Flashpoint and New 52 Supermen's histories together, and it's unclear if Clark was ever Superboy anymore.
Supergirl: You can stop wasting bullets! I have all of Superman's astonishing powers! — Gangdom may have succeeded in treacherously killing Superman, but I'm going to carry on his great work!
After the death of the original Supergirl, several characters (Matrix, Andromeda, Linda, Cir-El...) took up the mantle of Supergirl before Kara Zor-El returned to the main universe in "The Supergirl from Krypton (2004)".
In The Final Days of Superman, Superman tells his cousin that he is dying and asks her to carry on in his name. In Supergirl (Rebirth), she joins the Department of Extra-normal Operations to help her restore her powers and carry on her cousin's work.
During The Death of Superman arc, there were four vigilantes that took up the mantle, two claiming to be the original revived with one turning out to be the actual villain and a third identifying as a clone of the original. The last, John Henry Irons, was claimed by a psychic that his body was possessed by Superman's spirit after he lost his own, though Irons himself openly admitted that he wasn't Superman from the start and that he wore the shield and cape in honor of the man who once saved him.
New Super-Man features the Chinese government creating a Justice League of China, with Chinese versions of Justice League members, including Kenan as Super-Man, Baixi Wang as Bat-Man, Deilan Peng as Wonder-Woman, and Chinese-American Avery Ho as the Flash.
DC Future State sees Clark's son, Jonathan Kent, taking on his father's mantle after his father's disappearance.
Superman: Space Age: Hal Jordan is killed fighting Brainiac, leading John Stewart to take over.
Swamp Thing: The original Swamp Thing was Alex Olsen, who appeared in one House Of Secrets story, before the more famous Alec Holland incarnation was created. The mythology created by Alan Moore and his successors would make both incarnations part of a lineage of Erl-Kings that dated to before humanity.
There are three Atoms in this continuity, with the current Atom being the son of the second Atom and the grandson of the first.
Tangent: Superman's Reign, the Fully Absorbed Finale where the remaining Tangent heroes team up with the Justice League to stop the Tangent universe Superman, has Lori Lemaris become the second Tangent Manhunter after the death of her predecessor.
V for Vendetta: After V dies, Evey figures out that V had been preparing her to become V herself. Which she then does.
Watchmen: Alan Moore referenced this, creating Legacy Characters in the context of a contained story. The "original" Silk Spectre retired early in this world's history and started training and stage-mothering her daughter to succeed her, while Nite Owl I handed over his mantle to an admirer.
There have been four Cheetahs: Priscilla Rich, Deborah "Debbie" Domaine, Sebastian Ballesteros, and Barbara Minerva.
Doctor Poison is another legacy villain, with the original's granddaughter taking up the code name and amoral scientific practices of her grandmother.
For a time prior the W name itself was a legacy title. Diana's mother was retconned to have been the first Wonder Woman via time travel after taking up her daughter's mantle in Wonder Woman (1987), and in Wonder Woman (2006) Donna became the new Wonder Woman after Diana left the role after she was in a position where she was forced to kill.
In The '70s in Wonder Woman (1942), Diana lost the Wonder Woman identity to a redheaded Amazon named Orana after being defeated by her in a ceremonial tournament. She would later reclaim the identity after Orana was killed. Then, in The '90s in Wonder Woman (1987), Diana lost her mantle to another redheaded Amazon, Artemis, before once again regaining it after her successor's demise.
