Anti-Hero Substitute: Difference between revisions

Over the course of a long-running series, something happens to the main character. He [[De-Power|loses his powers]], makes a [[Heroic Sacrifice]], or gets [[Older and Wiser]] and decides to retire. Sometimes they [[Dropped a Bridge on Him]], or [[Put on a Bus|Put Him On A Bus]]. In a word, he's gone. But the story still goes on! [[Legacy Character|His role is taken by a]] [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute]], but one with a very different character. He's how the original hero would be if he were a [[Jerkass]], [[Anti-Hero]] or (most commonly) [[Nineties Anti-Hero]]. This guy is often an effect of [[Executive Meddling]], which arises when editors stupidly declare that audience stopped liking the first hero or never liked him at all; so he will be replaced with someone [[Darker and Edgier]]. Of course, most of time they are wrong: the original guy has so many fans that his replacement quickly becomes a [[Replacement Scrappy]].

 

 

This happened a '''lot''' during the [[Dark Age]] of Comics ([[The Nineties]]). Back then, it was common to expect readers to like the character, but writers have gotten smarter since then. Now, the [[Darker and Edgier]] version of the hero is commonly portrayed as a villain or a psychopath, as the [[Nineties Anti-Hero]] archetype has grown less popular over time.

{{examples}}

* This happens to [[Batman]] a lot:

** Cheerful and lovable circus brat Dick Grayson was replaced by cheerful and lovable circus brat Jason Todd in the early 80s. Then, post-Crisis, in a rare case of a character being replaced by an [[Anti-Hero]] version ''of himself,'' Jason Todd was retcon'd into an abrasive former street thug. He also spent a bit of time as a psychopathic version of Nightwing. Also, during the ''Battle for the Cowl'' event, Jason would also take up the mantle of Batman after {{spoiler|his apparent death}} and became a gun-wielding psychopath. He was played as the villain of the story, however.

** During the aforementioned ''Battle for the Cowl'', Two-Face also attempted to become the next Batman and Hush impersonated Bruce Wayne with the help of [[Magic Plastic Surgery]].

** Like ''Knightfall'' this was apparently a deliberate in your face. And the same thing pretty much is going on now with [[Bucky Barnes]] as Captain America. That said, Steve went on record in ''Heroic Age: Superheroes'' that there's not a man out there more fit to wear those colors than James Buchanan Barnes.

*** It should be noted that during Bucky's tenure as Cap, that while he did use his gun and his costume did invoke a [[Darker and Edgier]] angle,<ref>the costume had far more black than the red, white, and blue.</ref> the main conflict for Bucky was whether or not he could do right by Steve Rogers as Captain America. As such, Bucky would act as best of a hero as he possibly could during that amount of time as Cap.

* [[The Mighty Thor]] was replaced by Thunderstrike in [[The Nineties]], who was quite literally just another version of the original.

** This was a bit of a subversion, as Thor was much more willing to kill a dangerous foe than Thunderstrike was. Thunderstrike did, however, look the part. (He came across as a dork when he tried to sound like an anti-hero). Not only that, but Thunderstrike had previously ''been'' Thor himself.

* Happened, of all people, to [[The Authority]] once, when they were defeated by G8's agent and replaced with bunch of [[Nineties Anti-Hero|NinetiesAntiHeros]]. For many people Authority are a buch of [[Jerkass|Jerk Asses]] at best and [[Villain Protagonist]]s at worst, but comparing to replacements they looks like frickng saints.

** {{spoiler|Of course, the second the real Authority comes back, they start their revenge by killing in cold blood the}} {{spoiler|''only''}} {{spoiler|redeemable character among the new team: Rush, the Canadian replacement for Swift, who didn't kill anybody they wouldn't have and hated all her teammates. They catch hell for this later.}}

* ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro ni]]'' has a {{spoiler|Villainous example. Beatrice gave her title to Eva's hidden personality. When Eva-Beatrice was acting like a [[Complete Monster]] all-time, Beato get a few [[Pet the Dog]] moments, and got to make a [[Heroic Sacrifice]], after realizing her mistakes. Then it's revealed it was all a clever [[Batman Gambit]] she put in order to make Battler admit she's a witch.}}

** EP 5 replaces {{spoiler|Battler himself}} for {{spoiler|Furudo Erika}}. It's played with irony considering the second is more or less an aspect of the [[Big Bad]] and Battler is not incapacitated and actively fighting the against change.

** Considering the replacement's personality? Definitely, at least, invoked. {{spoiler|And now she's dead. In fact, she may have never been alive...}}

* Keppler, the [[Temporary Substitute]] for ''[[CSI]]'''s Gil Grissom, is a non-comics example.

* [[Ghost Rider]] has an odd example. He is already an [[Anti-Hero]] but in the nineties, a character named ''Vengeance'' showed up who was supposed to be a [[Darker and Edgier]] version of a character that was already the epitome of [[Darker and Edgier]]. A new Vengeance has since appeared—as a villain. And the de-powered original Vengeance seems to be a pretty nice guy these days.

** And now Johnny got tricked into passing his power onto new host. [[Word of God]] already confirmed that it's gonna bite him in the butt once he'll realize that new Ghost Rider may have few loose screws and he had just created another '''Anti-Hero Substitute''' for himself.

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Legacy Tropes]]