Line #78 Main/AntiHeroSubstitute


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5	[[quoteright:349:[[ComicBook/{{Knightfall}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/substitute_anti_hero_azrael_1.png]]]]
6	[[caption-width-right:350:Anti-heroes are a super vicious, cowl-wearing lot.]]
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12
13	Over the course of a long-running series, something happens to the main character. He [[DePower loses his powers]], makes a HeroicSacrifice, or gets OlderAndWiser and decides to retire. Sometimes they DroppedABridgeOnHim, or [[PutOnABus Put Him On A Bus]]. In a word, he's gone. But the story still goes on! [[LegacyCharacter His role is taken by a]] SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute, but one with a [[DarkerAndEdgier very different characterization]]. He's how the original hero would be if he were a {{Jerkass}}, AntiHero or (most commonly) NinetiesAntiHero.
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15	Depending on how he's portrayed, he may be a ReplacementScrappy (especially if the original character were good on his/her own and the fans already like him/her) or a refreshing change (often happens if the fans are tired of having to look at the same hero over and over again). Sometimes the substitute may even be liked more than the original.
16
17	When the substitute is bad enough, there'll be often a storyline where [[HesBack the original hero is back]] and will have to fight the substitute for the position and wins. The substitute is then reduced to a villain (either minor or major) or just a minor hero. Alternatively, said substitute may be RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap by giving them CharacterDevelopment and/or (when said substitute took the original's name) a name change.
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19	This happened a '''lot''' during MediaNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks. Back then, it was common to presumptuously expect readers to like the new character, but writers have gotten savvier since then. Now, the DarkerAndEdgier version of the hero is commonly portrayed as a villain or a psychopath (or, sometimes, be redeemed), as the NinetiesAntiHero archetype has grown less popular over time. Some heroes were put through this in order to show why a hero shouldn't become DarkerAndEdgier as a subtle TakeThat to the fandom. For example, Super Patriot replaced Captain America temporarily in the 1980's to show that the Cap'n wasn't the jingoistic, nationalistic unthinking supporter of the United States government some fans thought he was or wanted him to be.
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21	SubTrope of SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute. May overlap with CostumeCopycat. Could be an ElCidPloy gone bad. Contrast with the RedeemingReplacement. Might be designed as a TemporaryScrappy, which is a purposefully dislikable character that enters and goes in a short span. Compare CorruptedCharacterCopy, which is similar to this trope but for {{Expies}}.
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23	----
24	!!Example subpages:
25
26	[[index]]
27	* AntiHeroSubstitute/ComicBooks
28	** AntiHeroSubstitute/TheDCU
29	** AntiHeroSubstitute/MarvelUniverse
30	[[/index]]
31
32	!!Other examples:
33	[[foldercontrol]]
34
35	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
36	* Happened to ''Manga/AstroBoy'' of all people in a one-shot gag manga Creator/OsamuTezuka did as a nostalgia piece for Bungei Shunju, a popular men's magazine of the day. After Astro's apparent death in the final episode of the first TV series, the ministry of science was ordered to create a replacement, but since they tried to make him more humanlike than the original, [[HumansAreFlawed he turned out to be a selfish, greedy, shiftless sex maniac]].
37	* Since ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' changes protagonists every part, this was bound to happen.
38	** Part 2: The [[GentlemanAndAScholar polite and academic Jonathan Joestar]] is replaced with the [[GuileHero streetwise and pragmatic Joseph Joestar]].
39	** Part 3: The [[FunPersonified goofy and cheerful Joseph Joestar]] is replaced with the [[TheStoic emotionally-distant and serious Jotaro Kujo]].
40	** Part 4: Basically the reverse happens: the emotionally-distant and serious Jotaro Kujo is replaced with the [[FunPersonified goofy and cheerful Josuke Higashikata]].
41	** Part 5: The [[NiceGuy kind-hearted Josuke Higashikata]] is replaced with the [[GoodIsNotSoft ruthless Giorno Giovanna]].
42	* When ''Anime/MazingerZ'' ended and ''Anime/GreatMazinger'' started, HotBlooded, happy go lucky, self-styled ally of justice Kouji Kabuto lost his main character spot to the ever frowning, warrior-first-hero-second (but still HotBlooded, we are talking giant robots here) Tetsuya Tsurugi. Needless to say there was a lot more angst this time around.
43	* In the ''Manga/{{Batman}}'' manga, the Hangman deliberately tries to do this to Batman, but [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope Jumps Off The Slippery Slope]] right at the beginning by [[EngineeredHeroics persuading a mentally-disabled man to commit a robbery]] and then killing him, to establish his vigilante credentials.
44	* The ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' franchise has of course run the gamut of protagonists over its [[LongRunners nearly 40-year history]], but probably the biggest example of this is Mikazuki Augus, protagonist of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamIronBloodedOrphans''. The heroes of the last few ''Gundam'' series before him (particularly [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED Kira]] [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny Yamato]], [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam00 Setsuna]] [[Anime/Gundam00AWakeningOfTheTrailblazer F. Seiei]] and [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamAGE Kio Asuno]]) were {{All Loving Hero}}es and {{Messianic Archetype}}s who [[MartialPacifist deliberately avoided killing even enemy combatants]]. In contrast, Mika is a CombatPragmatist {{Child Soldier\|s}} who doesn't spare his opponents a second thought; if you attack him or his [[TrueCompanions "family"]], he's going to kill you, and God help you if you actually [[ExtremeMeleeRevenge hurt someone he cares about]]. He also contrasts with most other Gundam protagonists by '''not''' being a WarriorTherapist, and even shutting down opponents who try the same by telling them "YouTalkTooMuch", or just straight up [[KilledMidSentence killing them mid-sentence]]. His character is actually quite divisive among the fandom, with some detractors even claiming that his cold-blooded, merciless nature makes him a straight-up VillainProtagonist.
45	[[/folder]]
46
47	[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
48	* Franchise/MonsterVerse:
49	** ''Film/KongSkullIsland'': 1970s Monarch operatives Bill Randa and Dr. Houston Brooks are a precursor counterpart to 2010s Monarch operatives Dr. Ishirō Serizawa and Vivienne Graham in ''Film/Godzilla2014'', being a tight-knit pair of an older mentor operative and a younger protégé scientist who work together to understand, investigate, and if needs be to try and combat the {{Kaiju}} in the world. However, Randa and Brooks' morals are a significantly darker shade of gray than Serizawa and Graham's were: the worst that the latter two ever deliberately did was to cover up the existence of monsters and the true cause of the Janjira disaster until the masquerade was doomed, and to try and preserve {{Kaiju}} specimens for as long as possible so long as they weren't posing an immediate threat to human life; whereas Randa and Brooks endanger dozens of non-Monarch people (from Landsat personnel whom are effectively untrained civilians to Vietnam War vets whom were ''just about to'' go home to their families), by tricking them into the expedition for their own ends without telling them anything about what might be living on Skull Island. Serizawa and Graham were idealists, almost to a fault, whom were awed by Godzilla, but they still wouldn't put preserving the male MUTO ahead of protecting human life -- Randa on the other hand initially sees all the kaiju including Kong as conscienceless monsters that will destroy civilization if left alone, and he wants to expose their existence to the U.S. government in the hopes they will authorize an extermination campaign against the creatures for the sake of all humanity; while Brooks, to a lesser extent, doesn't think twice about brutally and callously carpet-bombing an uncharted island's herds of benign deer wildlife in order to get his seismology readings on the HollowEarth.
50	** ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'': [[GriefInducedSplit Emma and Mark Russell]] are substitutes for the late Joe Brody from ''Film/Godzilla2014''; having lost family (their son) as a casualty of the Kaiju destroying a city years ago, and having never quite moved past it while continuing to focus more on their own grief than on what really mattered to them, just like Joe. From the film's start, Mark and Emma embody different aspects that Joe had combined: Emma is a driven {{workaholic}} who has become a scientific genius and pioneering expert in using bio-acoustics to better understand the Titans, while Mark has become an emotional recluse, has lost his glamorous former-job amidst the emotional fallout, and has estranged himself from the rest of his family. However, both of them are, in their own ways, a lot more dickish and moody than Joe ever was: Mark is a [[HotBlooded hot-headed]] [[{{Jerkass}} jerk]] who is holding a one-sided enmity [[AnimalNemesis against Godzilla]] for his involvement in Mark's loss, and he's prone to [[MisdirectedOutburst lashing out with anger and self-righteousness at the people whom are doing nothing but try to help him]], plus he can't even say that he spent all those years he was isolating himself and neglecting his family doing something semi-''productive'' with his grief like Joe did; [[spoiler:whilst Emma, instead of merely using her wits to seek answers on why she suffered while being unintentionally inattentive to her family like Joe; instead uses her wits to ''engineer the likely deaths of millions to billions'' in an "[[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans ends justify the means]]" effort to save the world, and she's emotionally manipulated her daughter into being her accomplice without a thought whilst literally leaving her daughter's father for dead]].
51	[[/folder]]
52
53	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
54	* At the beginning of season five of ''Series/BoardwalkEmpire'', Nucky Thomson has replaced his bodyguard Eddie Kessler, [[spoiler:who committed suicide when being blackmailed by the FBI.]] Kessler was affable, decent, but determined and capable in a fight -- by no means a hero, but [[ALighterShadeOfGrey one of the nicest characters in the setting]], and fast becoming a MoralityPet for Nucky. The replacement is silent, menacing, and viciously brutal in a fight -- even slicing the ear off a dead attacker and keeping it in his suit pocket. The implication is that Nucky [[spoiler:hates that he got personally attached to Kessler only to lose him, and has hired a bloodthirsty stoic he won't mistake for a friend.]]
55	-->'''Senator:''' Doesn't say much, does he?\
56	'''Nucky:''' [[BeingPersonalIsntProfessional That's what I like about him.]]
57	* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': When one Slayer dies another girl is called forward to take her place. Well Buffy did die and despite being revived is replaced by Kendra, a KnightTemplar whose sole focus is on hunting and killing vampires regardless of who they are. When she died she was replaced by Faith, very much an AntiHero before, during and after her FaceHeelTurn. Not a typical example, since Buffy was only dead for a few minutes at most; so she continued being the main character and maintained the role as the main slayer. With Faith as the "active" slayer, if she died, a new slayer would have taken her place, but Buffy's later [[BackFromTheDead (temporary)]] death did not have any effect.
58	** ''{{Series/Angel}}'' also did this with Spike, to comedic effect. Where Angel would pound rapists into the pavement and receive a smooch as reward (to Spike's vocal disgust), "Blondie Bear" just chides the girls for stupidly walking home at night ''and'' alone.
59	* Johnny Lawrence in ''Series/CobraKai'' is like Miyagi in that he mentors young people... but he's also a JerkWithAHeartOfGold.
60	* Keppler, the TemporarySubstitute for ''Series/{{CSI}}'''s Gil Grissom. He was prone to bending the rules a lot more than Grissom, and nearly got the whole team in trouble with his "reverse forensics" plan to nail a criminal they couldn't otherwise touch.
61	* It has happened in ''Series/DoctorWho'' four times so far.
62	** When the mild-mannered Fifth Doctor died and regenerated into the Sixth, who was frequently a JerkAss, controversially violent, and started his life by trying to kill his own companion in a bout of post-regenerative psychosis. (Not that Five didn't get up to some violent acts himself, but he seemed much more conflicted about it.)
63	** The Eighth Doctor sat on the sidelines during the Time War, a major interstellar conflict set in-between the classic series and the revamp. Upon learning that a seemingly fatal incident he was involved in actually was fatal, meaning that [[YouAreAlreadyDead he was already dead]], he chose to drink an elixir that was specifically formulated to give Time Lords more-than-usual conscious control over the nature of their next self. This allowed him to become the "War Doctor", who was specifically crafted by his former self to be a person who would [[ShootTheDog do anything necessary]] to end the war. What the War Doctor eventually did led to his subsequent selves refusing to even consider him deserving of being called "the Doctor", to the point that it's strongly implied that he is the one thing in the universe that Eleven is most frightened of.
64	** They did it again when the Eleventh Doctor regenerates into the far more abrasive and openly ruthless Twelve, with his main character arc for his first season revolving around whether he still counts as a "good man", which he himself doubts.
65	** And ''again'', revealed gradually with Thirteen, as while Twelve [[CharacterDevelopment developed]] into a much softer version of himself, he also had a buttload of trauma that unlike the other Doctors he had no time to process, plus wanted to die for real, so Thirteen represses ''everything'', shuts herself off and her simmering rage comes out in a sadistic GrinOfAudacity at the villains in season 11, and outright yelling at her companions in season 12.
66	** To a lesser extent, there was also the transition from Three (a well-dressed, gentlemanly iteration who was something of a JerkWithAHeartOfGold but was generally heroic) to Four (a manipulative, egotistical, vaguely loopy {{Manchild}} with a much more casual attitude towards death, who dressed like a RummageSaleReject to conceal a mind like a steel trap, albeit one with something of a wonky spring).
67	*** Among companions, IntrepidReporter Sarah Jane Smith was replaced by Leela, a FuturePrimitive who was very willing to kill (an impulse Four did little to rein in). Later, chirpy health nut Mel was replaced by a proud juvenile delinquent and DemolitionsExpert Ace.
68	* ''Series/{{Elementary}}'': In the third season, Watson is replaced as Sherlock's apprentice by Kitty Winter, a grim, snarky young punkish woman who is deeply traumatized by having been raped and tortured in the past, and has a distinctly violent and ruthless streak, [[spoiler:and ends up fleeing New York City after torturing and disfiguring the guy who abused her.]]
69	* In the final episode of ''Series/TheFalconAndTheWinterSoldier'', [[spoiler:John Walker becomes U.S. Agent, a darker (literally) and more brutal version of Captain America under Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine]].
70	* ''Series/MonarchLegacyOfMonsters'': [[Characters/MonsterVerseMonarch Monarch's deputy director Verdugo]] fills in for the Franchise/MonsterVerse 2010s movies' Ishirō Serizawa and Vivienne Graham as the onscreen head of Monarch's operations during the series. Though well-intentioned, she's not nearly as idealistic or scrupulous as Serizawa and Graham are. A [[GoodIsNotNice cold and acidic boss]] who's envious that she's only the ''[[AlwaysSecondBest deputy]]'' director, Verdugo disparages the heroes -- her underling Tim especially -- at nearly every turn, in contrast to Serizawa and Graham's kind and respectful demeanors towards others including their employees. [[spoiler:Whereas Serizawa and Graham respect all life both human and monster, Verdugo is willing to dismiss the {{distress call}} and leave the heroes for dead when she thinks there are [[TheNeedsOfTheMany much more pressing concerns on Monarch's plate]] -- this leads Tim to hit his RageBreakingPoint, publically chew Verdugo out, and [[TakeThisJobAndShoveIt resign from Monarch in protest]], whereas Serizawa and Graham were both regarded highly and with fondness by their colleagues including Chen, Stanton, Coleman and Mark in ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'']].
71	[[/folder]]
72
73	[[folder:Video Games]]
74	* The introduction of K' in ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters '99'', blatant attempt at DarkerAndEdgier, had a very mixed reception. Unlike most examples however, he received enough CharacterDevelopment to [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap save him]] from [[ReplacementScrappy the heap]], and is now a [[EnsembleDarkhorse fan favourite]]. Then SNK went even ''further'' down the line with VillainProtagonist Ash Crimson in the next arc. The reception was even ''[[CreatorsPet more]]'' [[AmericansHateTingle mixed]] until again, like K', he got enough Character Development to be redeemed in the eyes of the fandom. The arc after that bucked the trend, as Shun'ei is a fairly [[NiceGuy decently behaved guy]] - although he still ended up a BaseBreakingCharacter.
75	* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfDragoon'' has [[FriendToAllLivingThings Shana]] get benched and lose her power as a Dragoon. Her successor is Miranda, a WarriorPrincess with a penchant for punching people.
76	* Plutia in ''VideoGame/HyperdimensionNeptuniaVictory'' is considered a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute for Compa from earlier games, as both are TheDitz and CombatMedic. Unlike Compa, however, Plutia is less heroic and more like a TokenEvilTeammate, [[TheDreaded scaremonger]] and VillainProtagonist, especially as Iris Heart; she pretty much spends most of her time scaring friend and foe alike. Much like Ash Crimson above, the reception was mixed, even in the West where she's generally better received.
77	* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog''
78	** While he never outright replaces the eponymous protagonist, Shadow the Hedgehog plays this completely straight. Introduced as an even darker rival for Sonic, Shadow served as the KnightOfCerebus for the entire franchise with his surprisingly dark backstory for a series that was mostly kid-friendly up to that point. He would then go on to become the {{Deuteragonist}} and have a major role in almost every game he appeared in along with Sonic, culminating in [[VideoGame/ShadowTheHedgehog starring in his own self-titled game.]] Reception to Shadow has been...[[BaseBreakingCharacter mixed]] to say the least.
79	** E-123 Omega serves as a replacement for E-102 Gamma. Both were robots [[HeelFaceTurn formerly]] in the service of Eggman. But while Gamma was an AntiVillain who switched sides out of care for others and [[NiceGuy in general grew to be a kind-hearted soul]], Omega on the other hand is a full front AntiHero who is easily one of the most violent characters in the series and it's quite clear that the prime reason he's even on the heroes side is the fact they oppose Eggman.
80	[[/folder]]
81
82	[[folder:Visual Novels]]
83	* ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'':
84	** Villainous example. Beatrice gave her title to Eva's hidden personality. When Eva-Beatrice was acting like a monster all-time, Beato get a few PetTheDog moments, and got to make a HeroicSacrifice, after realizing her mistakes. Then it's revealed [[spoiler:it was all a clever BatmanGambit she put in order to make Battler admit she's a witch.]]
85	** 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 BigBad and Battler is not incapacitated and actively fighting against the change.
86	[[/folder]]

Context Main / AntiHeroSubstitute