BW Media Spotlight

There have been times in the past when a new superhero has taken the name of a previous one. Other times it’s the end of one character’s journey but another takes it up in the same continuity. It’s wrong to say that this can never work, and that’s certainly not where I’m going with this commentary. If anything, the problem with the Phantom is that despite legacy being of importance to the “immortal” legend of the Ghost Who Walks, the fact that they kept the same Phantom and his circle kind of screws up the concept. The Kit Walker of World War II is the same Kit Walker at the same age still acting as the Phantom in the second Iraq war and probably today. That’s a discussion for another time, but I’m not saying a mantle change can’t work, provided the reason for it is sound.

When Wally West (the white one, and it’s weird I have to bring up the difference because they’re two totally different Wally Wests in the same continuity) became the Flash, it was because DC comics didn’t know what to do further with Barry Allen’s character and wanted someone that they hadn’t stuck into a character they didn’t think they could evolve. I’m not sure what the reasoning was for replacing Jay Garrick with Barry in the first place. When the other Wally took over as Kid Flash in more recent years it was because Dan DiDio and I believe Geoff Johns didn’t want to bring Wally back despite all the fans he had, and just made a new Wally, race swapping him to use the culture war to defend not restoring Barry’s replacement because “Barry’s your Flash now” was literally a rule DiDio said to the audience.

Strangely enough, the inspiration for this commentary comes from the report that God Of War: Laufrey has been delayed for some rework.

I was going to discuss this originally, but I wouldn’t say anything different from when the game was first announced. Instead of having Frey potentially be the real hero of the Norse trilogy from behind the scenes, I later suggested that a prequel where you get to play out the tales of the lady frost giant we heard about during the game would have been better, allowing her to showcase her own legacy. We know she survives, but if you’re playing the game AS Frey, surviving is the goal anyway. Some fans would have even accepted Atreus getting his own name, not as the God Of War but on his own adventures. Frey’s dead when the first game starts, and the franchise as usual was supposed to be about Kratos’ path of self-redemption after the events of the original Olympus set games. Frey potentially taking that from him, which we’ve seen through so many recent games, movies, shows, and comics, turned some fans off to her when before she was an fascinating part of the mythos. This is the trend we’re discussing, because now a vocal part of the fanbase isn’t so happy with a character they used to like. Sound familiar, Marvel fans?

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