Superhero Legacies in Film

How Hollywood could stop rebooting its comic book franchises.

Let me start out by saying that I’m not against the idea of rebooting properties. Batman Begins was necessary to rehabilitate the character after the atrocious Batman & Robin. Casino Royale breathed life into a James Bond franchise that had turned into a parody of itself. I even enjoyed Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, which was the second attempt to reboot that film series. Sometimes, a reboot can be a good thing. But rebooting isn’t the only solution, and comic books offer a better way to keep a franchise going after the lead actor decides to hang up his or her tights: Legacy characters.

A legacy character is someone who takes up the mantle of another hero when they die, disappear, or retire. Sometimes they are former sidekicks, stepping into their mentor’s shoes. Others have no connection to the original hero but find themselves inheriting their powers or super hero identity through some chain of events.

Legacy heroes have been a part of comics for decades. Before its New 52 reboot a few years ago, DC Comics had four generations of heroes who called themselves the Flash, a father and son Green Arrow pairing, and more Green Lanterns than you could count. Superman died (briefly) and was replaced by four different heroes. Batman died (sort of) and was replaced by his former sidekick, Dick Grayson. The early 2000s introduced new takes on heroes like Firestorm and Blue Beetle, both of whom strove to live up to the legacy of their predecessors. There were two Batgirls after Barbara Gordon and four Robins after Dick Grayson.

Super hero legacies allow writers to introduce new characters while retaining the essence of the character.

When Tim Drake became the third Robin, he wasn't just another sidekick for Batman. He was a young man trying to live up to those who came before him. Would he make Dick Grayson, the original Robin, proud? Would he fall victim to the same rage that led to his predecessor Jason Todd’s untimely death? At the same time, Tim got to redefine who Robin is and what role he plays in Batman’s war on crime. The fact that the Robin identity has such a powerful legacy makes it important when the torch is passed from one young hero to another.

When Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy was nearing its end, talk of a reboot started before the final film was even released. But why reboot at all, when The Dark Knight Rises introduces a character whose sole purpose in the story is to become a replacement for Bruce Wayne as Batman? Why not just continue the series with Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s John Blake taking on the mantle of the Dark Knight? I’ve heard fans claim that moviegoers wouldn’t accept any Batman who wasn’t Bruce Wayne, but to most casual fans Christian Bale is Bruce Wayne. Wouldn’t they have an easier time accepting a new Batman than a new Bruce Wayne? And think of the possibilities of giving audiences a totally original Batman that they know nothing about. Comic book readers and non-readers alike would get to know this hero at the same time. I left the theatre excited about the prospect of a sequel where a young and inexperienced crimefighter struggles to live up to his own hero. Instead, we soon learned Batman would simply be recast (yet again) with Ben Affleck for the upcoming (and horribly titled) Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

I’m a DC fan, but one Marvel comic I have really enjoyed in recent years is Ultimate Spider-Man. That series killed off Peter Parker and replaced him with legacy hero Mile Morales. Andrew Garfield, the star of The Amazing Spider-Man films, has suggested that anyone could become Spider-Man. He even pointed to Miles Morales, as a possible direction forward after he leaves the series. The film’s producers immediately shot down the idea of anyone other than Peter Parker being Spider-Man. It’s this kind of thinking that gives us never-ending reboots instead of a story that moves forward. Miles is a great character, and a movie exploring what it means to live up to the legacy of Spider-Man could take the series in an exciting new direction. Instead, in all likelihood they’ll just cast another actor and retell the origin story for a third time.

The film Green Lantern was a failure on every possible level, but it presents the single best remaining option for a legacy hero right now. Instead of casting a new Hal Jordan, Warner Brothers could simply tell the story of a different Green Lantern. Decades of comic books present several options, from John Stewart to Guy Gardner to the most recent hero to be given a ring, Simon Baz. Baz has a particularly interesting story, one that isn’t tied to Hal Jordan the way Stewart and Gardner’s are. Or, if Warner Brothers wanted to do something really bold, they could make a movie about Kyle Rayner who became the Last Green Lantern after Hal Jordan went crazy and killed off the rest of the Corps. By bringing back Ryan Reynolds to play the villain Hal eventually became, they could simultaneously build on the disappointing first film and erase it from moviegoers’ minds forever.