10 Amazing Legacy Superheroes Who Proved Fans Wrong

Think Bruce Wayne's the one and only Batman? Think again.

by Ewan Paterson
batman dick grayson
DC Comics

When it comes to the superhero genre, legacy characters are somewhat controversial. The shoes they have to fill are almost always big, and when they've got a massive legacy to inherit, fan backlash is a foregone conclusion.

Whether it be through an unwillingness to accept change or old fashioned bigotry, some of Marvel and DC's finest characters have had to contend with their fair share of hate over the years. Even Dick Grayson, who took over as Batman in 2010, had to deal with an inordinate amount of hate, and he's been around since the forties!

The matter of legacy and who's genuinely fit to inherit it is a particularly salient feature of the DC Universe, where heroes have come and gone repeatedly over the years. Things are a little bit different at Marvel, where most characters have largely retained their identity over the past fifty or so years. That's made the matter a particularly contentious one for the House of Ideas, and while there are plenty of instances where heroes will never manage to win over certain fans, they can still prove them wrong by starring in a plethora of fantastic storylines - as has been the case in nearly every example.

Legacy heroes are here to stay. Best get behind them while you can.

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Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.