How Stealing A Legacy Ruins Two Characters

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?

It should, because that’s the situation we’re in with Sam Wilson in both the comics and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. People liked the Falcon. Thanks to animation he’s probably made more out of comic appearances as Falcon than Steve Rogers has as Captain America. Steve had a namesake serial that wasn’t even Steve Rogers, a failed TV series with Reb Brown that never got past two TV movies, and a 1990s movie nobody talks about that tried to make a “no nukes” themed adventure. It wasn’t until his successes in the MCU that anyone was even giving Captain America the time of day as a regular character. He cameoed on a couple of Spider-Man cartoons, that lame Avengers: United We Stand cartoon, and had a recurring appearance on The Marvel Super Heroes in a roundtable with other Marvel heroes. He still hasn’t had his own solo animated movie but has appeared in various Avengers projects, except for the one where he was dead and his son took over. Until Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, Captain America Steve Rogers never took center stage in any Marvel project prior to the MCU.

Now look at Sam Wilson’s Falcon. Leader of the United We Stand team, an important member of Iron Man’s “factor” balance on The Super Hero Squad Show where Steve occasionally gave the “Squaddies” their marching orders, important to Avengers Assemble, and I think he was even part of, if not remembered by, the Ultimate Avengers movies and Next Adventures. Sam Wilson had his own identity, and the Falcon was considered cool, as well as one of the first black heroes of Marvel Comics. (Maybe the first but I don’t know where Black Goliath or Luke Cage’s “Power Man” years fit in the timeline and you could thrown in a SHIELD agent or Misty Knight if you go beyond the “super” tag.) Technically, Sam isn’t even the first black Captain America in continuity and Battlestar (because somebody claimed “Bucky” was a slur against black people for some reason somehow) could have become a Captain America if his story went that way. If characters were allowed to age and die, Patriot might grow up to be the next Cap. As it is multiple “Captains America” exist in true 616 history, with three in the MCU 1999999 history and keeping the idea of a black test subject.

Falcon doesn’t get so much love anymore.

So while people loved Sam Wilson as the Falcon, his own man with his own identity, being yet another also-ran Captain America weakens him as a character for people who only see Steve Rogers as Captain America. Even Bucky Barnes (his real name as a white boy in WWII, which is more weight against the “slur” explanation) didn’t stay Captain America for long, redeeming and claiming the “Winter Soldier” moniker for the good guys over the USSR. John Walker became US Agent and formed his own legacy, but Falcon already had that. They even had him give it up to a new Falcon, not that anybody knows who he is. Even in the MCU he hasn’t made much of an impact for the same reason: Sam Wilson is the Falcon, and putting someone else in the identity he created feels just as “sacrilegious” as trying to make someone else Captain America, and the comics tried even before there was a Sam Wilson.

Making matters worse is the constant attempt to push on the audience that Sam Wilson is Captain America now. The public isn’t buying it. Even the collectables are in on it. Hot Toys put out a Captain America figure with Sam as Cap and Steve Rogers as Steve Rogers for their tie-in figures to the upcoming Doom duology. The joke is that Steve is now Captain Shirtpants, as we get further and further away from superhero outfits in general. Ask Hawkeye. I saw someone mention that Thor isn’t wearing his comic garb anymore, too. Sam Wilson’s arc these days is convincing the audience that he’s Captain America rather than actually being Captain America or Falcon or anything other than an attempt to control a Brand Name rather than make a good character. The same people demanding Sam is Captain America refused to acknowledge him when he was Falcon because, unlike fans and apparently cartoon creators, they didn’t want to acknowledge him when he wasn’t big and popular like Captain America. You’re only important if you have that big name attached to you in the current Hollyworld and activist mindsets. Tell that to Burger King, who is selling their tie-in “Falcon” themed chicken wings (speaking of stereotypes) with Sam listed as “Falcon”  (as of this writing as I expect BK will be bullied into changing it) while in his Captain America style suit rather than Joaquin Torres. I look up Falcon in Google and Sam is what comes up.

In the same promotion, Shuri isn’t listed as Black Panther. Elsewhere, Miles Morales isn’t listed as Spider-Man in most promotion because everyone thinks of Peter Parker, while Disney Junior still uses T’Challa as Black Panther (I believe LEGO does as well) while Miles was given the nickname Spin to not confuse the kids, explaining that Miles really likes doing spin moves and they didn’t want to confuse their computer with two “Spider-Mans” and a Ghost Spider. Miles was Peter’s replacement in the first Ultimate universe, but nobody calls him Spider-Man in the fandom when he exists with other versions of Peter. The only reason Riri Williams hasn’t made it as her own character once she finally moved away from trying to replace Tony Stark is because she’s usually a horrible person the way she’s written. Only in cartoons has she been at all likable. Unlike Harley Quinn and the Joker you can break her completely from Iron Man and actually make her better. Unless you’re the MCU, of course.

Harrison Ford’s too old to keep playing Indiana Jones? Granted. They tried a young Indiana Jones series in the 90s but that failed to make the same connection the movies did. They tried passing the torch twice to new characters, but for his son they chose the not well received Shia LaBeouf in a story often mocked for replacing supernatural with aliens. I don’t know the franchise, so I can’t comment. It was still a better shot than the last attempt, a female replacement that required them to damage Indy to make her look better, and given an attitude fans complained about a lot. None of them failed to catch on because nobody could pass the torch when they knew how to do it. Recasting Indy has been pushed around, but again, they tried that with Young Indiana Jones, and it didn’t go over as well as recasting James Bond, the Doctor (Who), or various voice roles for actors who retired, died, or got caught up in the “resemble the person you’re voicing even though nobody can see you” movement.

The Marvel Family is better remembered than the Captains Marvel. And some of them were related, too.

You shouldn’t have to ruin the old character to get the new character liked. It worked for Ethan Hunt and the Mission: Impossible franchise (making the hero of the TV series, Jim Phelps, the villain of the first movie) because the movie fans probably didn’t see the show and Peter Graves chose not to damage the role that was a big part of his career. The lengths the comics went to in order to align Nick Fury with Samuel L. Jackson, but black Nick Fury based on Jackson already existed in the first Ultimate universe and Marvel Studios saw an opportunity to use his star power to draw viewers to the MCU that was forced to use then minor characters like Iron Man and Thor. However, those are exceptions based on extenuating circumstances. Every other time it’s tried fans of the original character just hate the new character for spitting on the characters they already like.

That means that you not only made heroes who lasted for decades into villains, annoying the fan base, you ruined any chance of the new character being accepting. White Wally was accepted because of his time as Kid Flash, Barry’s sidekick, earning his own legacy with the other Teen Titans, and Barry’s noble sacrifice to attempt to save the multiverse along with Supergirl. (Technically they both failed, but that’s another conversation.) Black Nick Fury was accepted because of Sam L and the Ultimate universe, not because White Nick, or Nick Fury, Sr (Black Nick was his son in 616, and I still want David Hasselhoff appearing as Samuel L’s dad in the MCU…look it up), was out blowing up planets. Carol Danvers still gets remembered more for her Ms. Marvel than being the latest attempt by Marvel Comics to keep Billy Batson from getting his Captain Marvel name back. Personally I thought she was more interesting in her Warbird period. Kamala Khan taking the name is because Marvel believes “we’re Marvel Comics, so we should be the only ones to have ‘Marvel’ named heroes”, which is probably why they took Marvelman in. Folk even believe that aging up and gaying up Jon Kent was in hopes of replacing Clark Kent, whether that’s true or not because history has shown it likely.

So here we had characters already liked ruined and new characters never given a chance to come into their own to steal legacies, big names in the hopes that the branding alone would speed up their popularity to match characters who have been around since the Great Depression, or activists and other members of the “everything for meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee” crowd who need their characters to be the most important ever without actually trying to earn it. Instead of taking other legacies, allow them to form their own. You’ll have more fans rather than less, because we can like more than one character or character type. Imagine if we actually were reliving Frey’s greatest hits instead of using her to rewrite more history. We should be creating more legacies, not less.