Ant-Man: The ultimate legacy character is Marvel Comics' size-changing hero Doctor Hank Pym; Pym has used five different superhero identities over the years (Ant-Man, Giant-Man, Goliath, Yellowjacket, and the Wasp), and no fewer than six people have adopted his discarded identities at various times.
Scott Lang and Eric O'Grady have both used the Ant-Man identity (Lang is currently using it).
Rita DeMara: the Yellowjacket one.
Bill Foster: both the Giant-Man and Goliath names.
Clint Barton and Erik Josten: the Goliath name (the latter being an interesting case, as he first used the name as a villain, before eventually doing a Heel–Face Turn and thereafter going by Atlas.)
Uniquely, Pym often ends up returning to his previous identities. For instance, during Pym's period as Goliath in the late 90s-early 00s, Clint Barton had long abandoned the Goliath name and powers to be Hawkeye again, and Bill Foster was retired from heroics.
At one point Pym even took the identity of The Wasp, a name originally held by his ex-wife Janet van Dyne. After being mocked by foes such as Absorbing Man and realizing he needed to move on, Pym discarded the Wasp identity in favor of retaking the Giant-Man identity. Subsequently, Pym's daughter and Janet's stepdaughter Nadia became the new Wasp.
What's more, Foster's nephew Tom currently uses his Goliath identity, thus bringing the total number of Pym legacy characters to eight. Tom wanted to be Black Goliath, a name Foster had used previously, but people kept getting the name wrong.
The recurring mecha supervillain Ultron (created by Hank Pym) created two more robots (The Vision and Victor Mancha) who both rebelled from him and joined the Avengers and the Runaways, respectively. The Vision was programmed using brainwave patterns from Wonder Man. Vision married Scarlet Witch, and had two children with her who were killed but their souls (and thus powers) were placed in the bodies of Wiccan and Speed (members of the Young Avengers; we'll get to them in a minute). Vision was then destroyed in the "Avengers Disassembled" storyline. In the aftermath, a young Kang the Conqueror uses his own shapeshifting power armor and data copied from the Vision's remains to become Iron Lad, another Young Avenger. Kang eventually goes back to his own time, but leaves the Iron Lad armor behind, which has now gained sentience thanks to the Vision program and has become a legacy character to Vision I.
The villain organization Zodiac had had many people hold the identity of various members over the years (The original Libra and Scorpio were respectively the father of Mantis and Nick Fury's brother). There was also a young man operating solo during Dark Reign using "Zodiac" as a codename.
Eventually, four of the Liberteens (Hope, Iceberg, 2D, and Ms. America) formed a new team called the Fantastix (complete with Ms. America changing her name to Ms. Fantastix), making those characters sort of legacies of the Fantastic Four.
Black Knight: The original Black Knight was an actual Arthurian knight named Sir Percy who had his mantle taken up hundreds of years later by his descendant Nathan Garrett, who became a villain. The mantle then passed to Nathan's nephew Dane, who famously became a hero and a member of The Avengers. A Well-Intentioned Extremist named Augustine du Lac was later introduced as an enemy of Black Panther, and an unnamed female teenage incarnation is a member of the "Young Masters" (a team of teenage maybe-villains modelled on Nathan's old team, the Masters of Evil). Dane, however, is still the "official" Black Knight.
Black Panther: The Black Panther is a title granted to the ruler of the fictional nation of Wakanda. The most iconic bearer of the mantle, T'Challa, became the Black Panther after the murder of his father T'Chaka. The title was briefly inherited by Kasper Cole in 2002 after T'Challa disappeared before he abandoned it in favor of taking on the White Tiger identity. T'Challa later briefly passed the mantle to his younger sister Shuri after being badly wounded in a plot by Doctor Doom in 2009's Doomwar before reclaiming it.
Captain America's return in The Avengers came with the backstory that he became a Human Popsicle near the end of World War II, and his sidekick Bucky wasn't so lucky. But since Cap and Bucky kept appearing well after WW2, how'd that happen? To the Retconmobile! Turns out 50s "Commie Smasher" Cap was another guy named William Burnside (later the villain known as the Grand Director) and his Bucky was not Bucky Barnesnote the real one was believed to be dead at the time, but was secretly active as the Winter Soldier, brainwashed by Hydra but Jack Monroe (later Nomad).
It is later established that, before Burnside's debut in the 50s, there were two previous Captain America who tried to succeed Steve after he was declared MIA near the end of WW2. William Naslund (formerly the Spirit of '76) held the title for a brief time before his death, after which the Cap identity was passed to Jeffrey Mace (formerly the superhero known as Patriot).
The Patriot, name that would later be used by the grandson of Isaiah Bradley. After Eli retired, the Patriot mantle would be taken up by a teen named Rayshaun Lucas during Secret Empire.
It was then revealed in Truth: Red, White & Black that there was another Cap, Isaiah Bradley, who had an experimental version of the serum they used on Steve tested on him in order to recreate it. He became the first Black Captain America.
After Cap was defrosted, he had two incidents where he took a different name, and others took the costume and name of Captain America. One of Cap's alternate identities, Nomad, the Man Without a Country, was adopted by Jack Monroe (formerly the fake Bucky of the 50s), and later by Rikki Barnes, the female Bucky from Heroes Reborn's Counter-Earth. John Walker wore Cap's "The Captain" costume to become USAgent.
In 1987 John Walker was chosen as the new Captain America after Steve Rogers chose to give up the identity rather than be a government stooge. During his tenure as Captain America he was partnered with Lemar Hoskins as Bucky (who quicly took the name Battlestar after the Unfortunate Implications of a black man going by 'Bucky' after the use of the word 'buck' about black men in the Antebellum South was lampshaded).
After Steve was killed in 2007-2008's The Death of Captain America, the name and shield passed to his Back from the Dead ex-sidekick Bucky Barnes, who became the new Captain America for a time and joined the New Avengers. When Cap finally came Back from the Dead himself, he decided to let Bucky keep the title and adopt a different name again. However, Bucky would apparently die in Fear Itself, only to be revealed to have faked his death and return to the Winter Soldier identity as a secret agent.
Later on, in 2014 Steve was temporarily aged into an old man after having the Super Soldier Serum drained from his body, resulting in Sam Wilson, the Falcon, becoming the second black Captain America; Steve's rejuvenation resulted in both Steve and Sam sharing the name. During the period when Sam was Captain America, a Mexican teenager named Joaquin Torres became the new Falcon.
Moonstone was originally Lloyd Bloch, a villain who got powers from a stone found in the Moon. Said rock was then expelled by Bloch once he was manipulated by Psycho Psychologist Karla Sofen, who then took it to become Moonstone herself, a title she has kept ever since (aside from being Meteorite in the early Thunderbolts and Ms. Marvel of the Dark Avengers). Even if Bloch got new powers to become Nefarius, he was still sore about it, twice targeting Karla for revenge.
Captain Marvel: The original Captain Marvel, Captain Mar-Vell, died from cancer in one of the first large-format graphic novels The Death of Captain Marvel. In the 1980s, a Coast Guard officer from New Orleans named Monica Rambeau gained energy powers and took the name "Captain Marvel", said to be because Marvel wanted to preserve their copyright on the name. Eventually, she traded hero sobriquets with the genetically engineered son of the late original Captain, Genis-Vell, who then operated under the name "Captain Marvel" after going by "Legacy" before. He was killed, and succeeded as "Captain Marvel" by his younger sister, Phyla-Vell, (Genis-Vell eventually came back, but took a different name, Photon — that Monica Rambeau had also used.) The original came Back from the Deadas a Shapeshifter Mode Lock Skrull. In 2012, Carol Danvers (formerly Ms. Marvel) took on the Captain Marvel name herself. As of 2014, Monica Rambeau goes by "Spectrum" while a girl named Kamala Khan is the new Ms. Marvel.
The moniker of Ms. Marvel has also been passed around a few times. After Carol Danvers' depowering at the hands of Rogue, the next person to take it up was Sharon Ventura, a wrestler who became romantically involved with the Thing. During the Dark Reign era, the supervillainess Moonstone took the identity for her own as part of Norman Osborn's Dark Avengers. After Carol's ascension to Captain Marvel, Kamala Khan took up the identity of Ms. Marvel.
Daredevil: A rarer villainous example is Lady Bullseye (Maki Matsumoto), a Distaff Counterpart to villain Bullseye. In a parody/inversion of the idea of heroic inspiration, Bullseye by complete accident "rescues" her from her Yakuza captors by slaughtering them all on an unrelated errand. Already pretty far gone psychologically at that point, she was inspired to become an assassin by his example.
Doctor Strange: The only one of Marvel's original characters to begin as a legacy character was Doctor Strange, who is merely the current Sorcerer Supreme. His legacy stretches back thousands of years (some say back to Agamotto himself).
Fantastic Four: The Human Torch was originally a Golden Age character from Timely Comics, who was on the cover of the first issue of their flagship title ("Marvel Comics"). He was a Frankensteinian android who could catch fire and fly. When Timely became Marvel in the 60's and Stan and Jack created the Fantastic Four, they reused the Torch's design, this time making him a young human. Eventually, Marvel started bringing back their Golden Age characters, which inevitably led to the two Torches involved in a Let's You and Him Fight situation.
Foolkiller: There have thus far been four individuals to take up the identity and mission of the Foolkiller: Ross G. Everbest, Greg Salinger, Kurt Gerhardt, and Mike Trace. While all have the goal of killing "fools", each has a different definition of the term (Everbest was a Knight Templar who killed people he perceived as sinners, Gerhardt and Trace were vigilantes with methods much like the Punisher - but more of a sociopath - who hunted criminals, and Salinger was simply a lunatic who claimed a fool was someone who "lacked a poetic nature". To emphasize how insane he was, when Spider-Man engaged him in a battle, an onlooker remarked that anyone who would fight Spider-Man would have to be a fool; Salinger agreed, and tried to shoot himself).
Ghost Rider: Originally, Johnny Blaze seemed to be the first and only Ghost Rider. This was later shown not to be the case.◊ Wherever injustice reigns, a Spirit of Vengeance will rise to punish the wicked...
The mantle's also been taken up independently of the Spirits of Vengeance by Robbie Reyes, the All-New Ghost Rider. Although not so independently, as it turns out.
Johnny himself is technically a Legacy Character, since the original Ghost Rider was Carter Slade, a schoolteacher who donned a spooky phosphorecent costume and rode a pale white horse to terrify evildoers in the Wild West as The Ghost Rider. For a time marvel tried to follow the One-Steve Limit by changing his name to Phantom Rider, but The Ghost Racers miniseries has since reinstated Slade as the original Ghost Rider.
Slade has also had his own cavalcade of successors over the years: Shortly after his death, his brother Lincoln assumed the mantle after seeing Carter's sidekick, Jamie, die while trying to do the same. Then, Lincoln's spirit possessed his descendant, Hamilton Slade, for various adventures until he was exorcised, and the same happened to Hamilton's daughter, Jaime, who seemingly retains ghostly powers to this day. And somewhere between Lincoln and Hamilton, Reno Jones of the Gunhawks briefly took the identity of Ghost Rider during the miniseries Blaze of Glory.
Great Lakes Avengers: The various Great Lakes Avengers/X-Men/Defenders comics have been parodying this with the Grasshopper. The first joined the GLA and died less than seven seconds later. Three other Grasshoppers have appeared in the team's comics, and none of them have had the same longevity as the first. A fifth one showed up in You Are Deadpool, and he was able to kick Deadpool in the face (that is, if he was able to) before expiring.
Clint Barton has taken on three identities in his lifetime:
His first was, of course, Hawkeye, and he was the first; the identity later was taken up by Kate Bishop at a time when he was believed dead (she chose not to take up the costume as well, out of respect), then got used by Bullseye during his time in the Dark Avengers. Currently, Clint is back to using it and, unusually, Kate is still using it without any "Hawkeye Jr." or "Lady Hawkeye" modification.
The second was Goliath, which, as explained above, he gained from Hank Pym.
The third one, Ronin, was gained from Maya Lopez, better known as Echo, who gave him her blessing after rescuing her from Japan. It has since been taken up by two others, Alexei Shostakov (Red Guardian), and Blade.
Trick Shot, Hawkeye's mentor, fits this. After he died, the Trickshot identity was taken up by Barney Barton, Hawkeye's older brother and a member of the Dark Avengers.
Heroes Reborn (2021): In the alternate universe where the Avengers were replaced by the Squadron Supreme, three heroes end up taking up the legacies of certain members of the Squadron: Sam Alexander becomes Doctor Spectrum's sidekick Kid Spectrum, Kamala Khan becomes Power Princess's sidekick Girl Power, and Miles Morales becomes the new Falcon following the death of the previous one.
Iron Fist: The Iron Fist was Retconned to being a legacy character, with a lineage stretching back hundreds of years. This is why Iron Fist is immortal: the position will never die, only its occupants. This is also true of the other immortal weapons; there will always be a Dog Brother #1, always a Cobra Warrior, etc.
In 1983, James "Rhodey" Rhodes became the new Iron Man after Tony Stark relapsed into alcoholism, fought in the Secret Wars (1984), and became a founding member of the West Coast Avengers. Then, after Tony was thought dead in The '90s, Rhodey took over the Iron Man identity once more, and later became War Machine after Tony returned. Rhodey then became Iron Man for a third time after Tony was forced to temporarily retire following the 2011 Fear Itself crossover.
Between his Comic Book Death at the end of The Crossing and his resurrection in Heroes Reborn, Tony was replaced by a teenaged version of himself from an alternate universe.
When Tony was rendered comatose at the close of 2016's Civil War II, his legacy was briefly carried on by both Riri Williams (in Invincible Iron Man) and Victor Von Doom (in Infamous Iron Man). However, Riri would later go on to call herself Ironheart instead of Iron Man and Victor would return to being Doctor Doom.
After the original Crimson Dynamo died, there have been no less than TWELVE wearers of the Crimson Dynamo armor. As of World War Hulk, Crimson Dynamo suits are apparently available for purchase on the black market to criminal and terrorist organizations around the world; the Gamma Corps takes on a few of them (rather easily) in their first official mission.
Boris Bullski was the first Titanium Man, another Russian villain for Iron Man with a legacy. The Gremlin was the second Titanium Man who operated while Titanium Man I was still alive, and was killed during the Armor Wars. After Boris Bullski (Titanium Man I) got killed, a third Titanium Man cropped up during Civil War, though it's unclear whether it was indeed another man using the armor or if it was a somehow revived Boris Bullski.
The identities of Whiplash and Blacklash have been taken by other people outside of Marc Scarlotti.
While Scarlotti was going by "Blacklash", Leeann Foreman took up the name "Whiplash" and fought Spider-Man and the X-Men. She's since taken up the name of "Snake Whip" during Hunt for Wolverine.
After Scarlotti's return to using "Whiplash" himself and subsequent death, a couple took up both identities and the "Bondage Is Bad" theme Scarlotti rocked during his final crimes.
A character based on Ivan Vanko from Iron Man 2 also appeared, with a modified name (Anton Vanko, no relation to the original Crimson Dynamo, who was also the other character Ivan was based on), even sporting a green wig similar to the green hair Scarlotti had as Blacklash.
Additionally, Big Hero 6 had a run-in with a program that could take over people that had them assume the name of "Whiplash",one of whom being Big Hero 6 member Honey Lemon.
The villain Blizzard is another villain example. The first one was a guy named Gregor Shapanka, but after he died, his suit and name were passed to a guy named Donnie Gill. A man named Randy Macklin also briefly took up the identity.
Ka-Zar: The Ka-Zar that is known today is not the first; the Golden Age character is another Tarzan wannabe accompanied by a lion (not a saber-toothed tiger.) He was last seen in The '40s, alongside the first Human Torch. The current Ka-Zar does not seem to have a connection to him.
Luke Cage: Power Man is a complicated example. The first Power Man was a villain named Erik Josten before the name passed to its most famous holder, Luke Cage. Luke currently goes by his civilian name and no longer wears a costume, so the identity has since fallen to Victor Alvarez, an Afro-Latino teenager who fancies himself a "hero for hire."
Spider-Man 2099, there's Miguel O'Hara, better known as ., Spider-Man 2099 is this to Peter Parker, with the only exception being the Timestorm incarnation.
Some of his villains include Vulture 2099, Venom 2099 and Goblin 2099. Some alternate variants of 2099 have even more.
The Avengers 2099 and the X-Men 2099, which are in many cases comprised of individual legacy characters as well.
The pages of X-Men 2099 also have a brief mention of an 'Order of the Foolkillers'.
There's a Strange 2099, a Moon Knight 2099 (though the most recent version is not technically a legacy character, but simply Khonshu himself in the guise of Moon Knight), a Ghost Rider 2099, a Hulk 2099, a Daredevil 2099, an Iron Man 2099, a Black Widow 2099, a Winter Soldier 2099, a Hawkeye 2099, a Valkyrie 2099, and many more. Most recently, even a Spider-Woman 2099 has been introduced.
Peter Parker's daughter May "Mayday" Parker takes up the role of Spider-Girl to fight crime. Later she's aided by a new Scarlet Spider (The Black Cat's daughter) and her own clone (who becomes a toss-up between a traditional Spider-Girl crusader and a homicidal Venom-like avenger).
There's also a new Green Goblin, the original's grandson Normie, though he eventually hands the role back to former heroic Goblin Phil Urich.
During the 90s, Thor was briefly succeeded by a man named Eric Masterson after the original was banished by Odin, who soon took on the identity of Thunderstrike after the Thor mantle was returned to the original. Thunderstrike was later killed and now his son Kevin operates as the new Thunderstrike and a member of the Avengers Academy.
After the Fear Itself crossover in 2011, Thor was briefly replaced by Tanarus, who took over as the new God of Thunder. Subverted when it turned out that Tanarus was actually Thor's enemy Ulik the Troll in disguise as part of a scheme by Karnilla.
As part of the Marvel NOW! Initiative in 2014, Thor became unworthy and lost the ability to lift Mjolnir after the events of Original Sin, leading to the the mantle of Thor being passed onto a terminally illJane Foster, who proves herself worthy of lifting Mjolnir. Then, during the events of War of the Realms, Jane becomes the Valkyrie after Brunnhilde is killed by Malekith the Accursed.
Nova: The original Nova was Richard Rider, who was depowered after the cancellation of his series. The title passed to the unrelated Frankie Raye, who ran with the identity until her apparent death (years later she was revealed to be alive in the Heralds mini-series). Rider regained his abilities and the Nova identity until his death during the Thanos Imperative storyline, and has now been replaced by Sam Alexander, a new teen Nova.
Deconstructed in The Punisher MAX with Jenny Cesare. She is a traumatized, abused ex-Mafia-wife who helps Frank fight back against the widows of some Mafia guys he killed when they try to take revenge, and when he is incapacitated by gunshot wounds towards the end of the arc she wears his costume and does most of the killing in his name. Then, when her revenge fails to make her feel any happier, she screws Frank in a final effort to reawaken her emotions, and shoots herself when it doesn't. The general message is that anybody who wants to be Frank is a deeply disturbed and misguided individual. This comes close to upsetting Frank, and he decides to kill even more bad guys to reduce the number of people who get traumatized in the world.
The mainline comics retired Frank Castle at the end of Punisher (2022), with him having a Heel Realization after being called out on his violent ways and abandoning the role. Enter Joe Garrison, former agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., who in Punisher (2023) took up Frank's role and codename after his own family was killed in a home bombing.
Rom: Spaceknight: It is revealed that there is a Space Knight named Starshine who has feelings for Rom and ends up getting killed by the Dire Wraiths when she protects Rom from a shot fired behind his back. Later, Brandy Clark succeeds Starshine when the deceased Space Knight posthumously passes her powers onto Brandy and Brandy is mystically bound to Starshine's original Space Knight armor by a Dire Wraith warlock named Dr. Dredd. A third Starshine would later appear in the 2000 Spaceknights miniseries.
Runaways: In a case of an established group becoming legacies of a group with a retroactive history, the Runaways become a new incarnation of the J-Team in Runaways (Rainbow Rowell). The original J-Team was said to be active the 1980s and had been defunct since then. The Runaways meet Doc Justice, a former member of the team, and decide to revive the J-Team, complete with taking on the mantles of the former members. Victor Mancha became Kid Justice, Nico Minoru became the Gloom, Molly Hayes became Blue-J, Karolina Dean became Princess Justice, and Chase Stein became Gun Arm. Only Gert Yorkes ends up without a new identity to adopt, but she does want to support the rest of the team. This is also deconstructed as Gert learns the Dark Secret of the J-Team: that Doc Justice treats his teammates as C-List Fodder, casually killing off members in battle as soon as he feels that the populace has forgotten about them. Notable in that Karolina's identity as Princess Justice is actually the fifth version of that character.
Shang-Chi: The first Razor-Fist was killed at the end of his first story. One of his two successors was also killed. The Marvel Universe is now on its third Razor-Fist, which feels a little harsh when you consider that the role means replacing at least one of your hands with blades. The Master of Kung Fu story that introduced the second and third Razor-Fists included some speculation that the original employer of all three, Carlton Velcro, had been discreetly arranging suitable amputation 'accidents' for promising candidates.
Six Guns: Many legacy characters of Marvel's western heroes were introduced in the New Old West miniseries. There's a female Tarantula, a motorcycle-driving Black Rider, and a Two-Gun Kid who is an actualkid.
Ben Reilly, Peter's clone, took over as Spidey for a short time in the 90's.
Ben Reilly himself inspired a legacy. Before he became the second Spider-Man, Ben went by the name of Scarlet Spider. Years after his death, the Scarlet Spider identity was adopted by Kaine, another clone of Peter Parker.
In Avengers: The Initiative, there was a trio known as the Scarlet Spiders, named for Ben's alter ego, and using suits based on the "Iron Spider" suit Tony Stark created for Peter during Civil War; only one is still alive, but he's still active as the Scarlet Spider.
In Identity Crisis, Spidey is wanted for murder, so Peter adopts not one but FOUR alternate identities. These identities were eventually adopted by the Slingers after he returned to the Spider-Man identity; Eddie McDonough (who became the Hornet), Ritchie Gilmore (who became Prodigy), Johnny Gallo (who became Ricochet), and Cassie St. Commons (who became Dusk). Eddie eventually died fighting Wolverine, and the villain Cyber subsequently went on a crime spree in the guise of the Hornet. As of Spider-Man Beyond, the Hornet identity has been taken over by the original Prowler, Hobie Brown (who created the Hornet's jetpack in the first place).
Peter himself was a legacy character during this time, as the Dusk and Hornet identities were already used by an alien superhero he'd encountered in the Negative Zone during Webspinners: Tales of Spider-Man and Scotty McDowell respectively.
In Superior Spider-Man (2013), the Spider-Mantle was held by Otto Octavius, who became Spider-Man by pulling a Grand Theft Me on Peter Parker, who died in Otto Octavius' body. Doc Ock agreed to be a hero after seeing the memories of the original Spider-Man. He also agreed to live Peter Parker's life as well and prove to be superior in both identities. Peter returned at the end of the story.
The Green Goblin/Hobgoblin: One interesting twist Marvel has also used is for someone to steal the villain's identity and technology and use it for themselves. Norman Osborn was one of the most common victims as the Green Goblin, as his weapons and goblin motifs were repeatedly stolen.
They were discovered by his son Harry Osborn first.
Then by Harry's psychiatrist, Dr. Barton "Bart" Hamilton.
Then by Roderick Kingsley who became the first Hobgoblin.
Roderick Kingsley then brainwashed Arnold "Lefty" Donovan into becoming the second Hobgoblin.
Roderick Kingsley also brainwashed Ned Leeds into becoming the third Hobgoblin.
Then by Jason Philip Macendale (previously Jack O' Lantern, soon to be another Legacy Character) who became the fourth Hobgoblin (who stole them from the first Hobgoblin).
Then by an unknown criminal during Secret War who became the fifth Hobgoblin.
Then by Daniel Kingsley, brother of the first Hobgoblin, who became the sixth Hobgoblin.
And then yet again by Phil Urich, who had a short-lived career as a superhero in the Green Goblin guise, who later took on the Hobgoblin name becoming the seventh Hobgoblin, then he became the Goblin Knight.
Norman also had a henchman act as his stand-in after he returned in The Clone Saga; the identity of this Goblin was never revealed.
Roderick Kingsley sent his butler Claude to distract the Goblin Underground as the Hobgoblin, becoming the eighth Hobgoblin, but he was killed by the Goblin Knight.
It got so bad that the first Hobgoblin had to come out of retirement to personally kill off the fourth Hobgoblin for being such a pathetic villain it made the original feel bad. This led to a conflict between him and Osborn (who still held a grudge against Kingsley for stealing his equipment and identity) and Kingsley decided to retire for good.
Many symbiotes have had multiple people bond with them and use their codenames.
Venom is this, as six hosts have now bonded with the same symbiote and taken the Venom name. Eddie Brock is the first Venom host to use the name Venom, and is a villain/anti-hero depending on his mood. Angelo Fortunato was the second Venom and also villainous, but his tenure was short-lived and he's usually forgotten about. Mac Gargan (Scorpion) was the third Venom and also villainous, also taking on the Spider-Man name while posing as the wallcrawler on Norman Osborn's Avengers. Flash Thompson was the fourth Venom and the first straight-up heroic one; usually he's called Agent Venom to distinguish him from the traditionally villainous role of Venomnote In this case, Flash wanted to be a new Spider-Man, but the name "Venom" was chosen due to the fear it instills in people. Lee Price returned to the title's villainous origins before losing the symbiote to Eddie Brock. Following King in Black, the Venom symbiote is now bonded to Eddie Brock's son Dylan, as Eddie is now the King in Black, the god of the symbiotes.
Carnage has had two non-temporary hosts. The first and most well-known is Cletus Cassady, a serial killer who created the name. The second is Karl Malus, a Mad Scientist, though the symbiote eventually returned to Cletus.
Toxin has had three hosts. The first was Pat Mulligan, an NYPD officer who tried to use it heroically. He was killed off-panel and the Toxin symbiote was bonded to Eddie Brock, who used it in villainous ways. The Toxin symbiote eventually made its way to teenager Bren Waters after returning from the brink of death.
Anti-Venom, while not a traditional symbiote, has had two people use it as an identity. The first was Eddie Brock, when Mr. Negative created the Anti-Venom symbiote by accident — Eddie used it in mostly heroic ways before it was destroyed. Later on, a second, synthetic Anti-Venom was created and was accidentally bonded to Flash Thompson, who became the second Anti-Venom — again, usually prefaced with an 'Agent' — and acted in a heroic capacity.
The Scream symbiote is the one instance where one of the Life Foundation symbiotes has done this. The other four very rarely use their names and have had a large variety of hosts. In contrast, Scream has only had three hosts, all of whom have used the name. Donna Diego is the original Scream and was active for about a decade-and-a-half before being killed along with the Scream symbiote. The symbiote was resurrected by Knull and bonded with Patricia Robertson, who immediately took up the Scream name. Then Patricia sacrificed herself and Andi Benton (formerly Mania) got bonded and became the new Scream.
In addition to those mentioned above, a lot of Spider-Man rogues have had Legacy Characters:
The Vulture, Adrian Toomes, was briefly succeeded by Blackie Drago and Clifton Shallot. There was also another Vulture named Jimmy Natale, who briefly replaced Toomes before being killed by the Punisher, and a group of Vultures called the Vulturions. It should be noted that Adrian hates imposters, and often seeks revenge on anyone assuming his title.
Otto Octavius died for a time, so Carolyn Trainer became the new Doc Ock until Otto was revived. Later, Luke Carlyle briefly became Doctor Octopus after stealing Otto's Tentacles and copying them.
The original Mysterio, Quentin Beck, faked his death so his acquaintance, out-of-work stuntman Danny Berkhart, could adopt the role for a time. Then when Beck actually did die (before somehow coming back), a teleporting mutant named Francis Klum adopted the mantle. There's also "Mysterion", an unknown man who bought Mysterio's suit from Roderick Kingsley and battled the Superior Spider Man.
After the original Kraven the Hunter died in Kraven's Last Hunt, his son Vladimir became the Grim Hunter. Then his other son Alyosha became the new Kraven the Hunter. Since then, even more of Kraven's family has shown up, eventually all teaming up to ressurect Kraven in Grim Hunt.
Mac Gargan gave up being the Scorpion for a time, during which Elaine Coll became Scorpia, a female version of the villain (who has continued the role even when Gargan returned). Then during the time Gargan was Venom, another woman came to call herself Scorpion. However, this new Scorpion (Camilla Black) is a hero with different powers.
The Rhino, Aleksei Sytsevich, attempted to quit the super-villain biz, only for a new Rhino to emerge, challenge him, and tragically kill Sytsevich's fiancée, prompting Aleksei to return to the role of Rhino and kill the upstart.
Electro, Maxwell Dillon, is actually the third to use the name. The first was a robot hero without electrical powers, and the second was an electrical supervillain with the Dirty Commies who fought Captain America. Max would eventually gain his own Distaff Counterpart legacy character in Francine Frye during Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy.
The Beetle, Abner Jenkins, became MACH-1 of the Thunderbolts, and has genuinely reformed. A new Beetle, Janice Lincoln, has since emerged. (and in-between both, Leila Davis, widow of minor villain Ringer, became the Beetle in a government-sanctioned group like the Thunderbolts, the Redeemers)
Jason Macendale created the villainous identity of Jack O'Lantern, a role he abandoned when he became the Hobgoblin. A few Jacks O'Lantern have appeared since, including a mercenary who worked for the Red Skull, Danny Berkhart and Maguire Beck (Mysterio's cousin) collaborating as "Mad Jack", and even a few other unidentified individuals.
The Rose, a masked crime boss and lieutenant-cum-rival to the Kingpin. The first was Richard Fisk, Kingpin's own son. The role was then taken by Detective Sargent Blume of the NYPD, then by news reporter Jacob Conover, then by scientist Philip Hayes.
Man-Beast takes over the identity of the Hate-Monger from Adolf Hitler, using it to manipulate the Legion of Light cult and force Spider-Man and his new ally Razorback to fight each other.
A new Kangaroo (Brian Hibbs) showed up years after the demise of the original (Frank Oliver).
Minor Spidey-villain Cyclone was killed by Scourge. A new Cyclone showed up in Thunderbolts, having procured the equipment designed by the original.
The Big Man and the Crime-Master were both killed. Their identities were usurped by Big Man's daughter and Crime-Master's son respectively. Later, another Crime-Master appeared to challenge the Flash Thompson Venom.
Spider-Woman: There have been at least three different women to use the Spider-Woman mantle; Jessica Drew, Julia Carpenter, and Mattie Franklin. Drew currently has the title again, and operates as a member of The Avengers.
Julia Carpenter took up the new identity of Arachne after Jessica began calling herself Spider-Woman again. She now goes by the name Madame Web, a mantle she inherited after the death of the original.
Squadron Supreme: When the Squadron returned to their own universe, they found another Nighthawk operating, the original being dead. The new one was the biological child of the original's worst enemy, and became the original's adopted son after the original Nighthawk had killed his father.
Venus: Thor and Loki guest-starred in Venus' solo comic. It's a bizarre case of being the same folks and yet not being them. All were depicted as actually being the mythical characters just like the current ones, so they're the same... but the portrayal was completely incompatible with the current ones, so they can't be. The Norse and Greek gods apparently coexisted in Olympus, and Loki had been exiled. Both looked completely different from the way they do now as well. In Venus' case, there is also a modern version portrayed very differently in the pages of Hercules' comic, but we know what happened there: The Golden Age Venus is a siren (but a good one) who took on the identity and is not the goddess herself as previously thought. The actual goddess is the one from Hercules and insists on being called by her Greek name, Aphrodite, while the one from Venus remains Venus. That she knew a Thor and a Loki who were nothing like the current ones hasn't been addressed.
The Vision: The Young Avengers Vision isn't the second, but the third. The first is an alien cop called Aarkus. He can fly, create illusions of himself, generate cold, and teleport (but the destination must have smoke! Why? Because he's from a dimension called Smokeworld, duh.) Visually, the android Vision looks like an update of him, but they're quite different characters beyond that.
White Tiger: The White Tiger is a somewhat confusing case. The first White Tiger was Hector Ayala, who was replaced by an unrelated female White Tiger – who was in reality an actual Bengal Tiger who was given human form. The third White Tiger was Kasper Cole, a mixed-race police officer. After Cole faded into obscurity, another new White Tiger was introduced in the form of Angela Del Toro, a Latina cop and Hector's niece. She eventually died and was resurrected as a villain before being freed and apparently stripped of the mantle. The title now rests with Ava Ayala, Hector's previously unmentioned teenage sister, who currently attends the Avengers Academy.
Winter Guard: Russian heroes who work for the Russian government in the Marvel Universe tend to be replaced a lot. (Many are little more than Badass Normals who the Kremlin can replace by passing the equipment to someone else if the current owner dies or is in jail.) The current Crimson Dynamo is the thirteenth one. The current Red Guardian (aka Vanguard) is the seventh, and the leader of the Winter Guard. The Titanium Man is an odd case; Boris Bullski was the first man to wear the armor and Kondrati Topolov (aka the Gremlin) was the second, but, since Toplov's death, several others wearing the armor have appeared, with their identities unrevealed. (At least some of them might actually have been Bullski, but this has not been verified.)
Wolverine's nemesis Silver Samurai is one example. The original was a guy named Kenuichiro Harada, who was replaced by his son Shin after his death.
Spoofed in Wolverines: Following Wolverine's death, Deadpool decided that the world needed a Wolverine in it, so took it upon himself to become the new Wolverine. It...didn't work out so well, with Wade not only just getting his ass kicked by She-Hulk for his trouble, but receiving a colossal fourth wall-straining lampshade hung on just how difficult it is for legacy characters to work by Dogtagger.
Ultimately played straight. When the normal Marvel Universe resumed following Secret Wars, X-23 (Laura Kinney) took up the Wolverine name and costume in Logan's honor in All-New Wolverine.
Jubilee is the second to have the name and the power set. She seems to be a "we wish we could use that character but can't, so let's make a new one" case: the first Jubilee was part of the Bratpack, a group of kids brainwashed, empowered, and turned into adults by Mojo. They haven't been seen since pulling the plug on the plan reverted them to normal kids and the de-aged Captain Britain (and some others) to his true adult self. Some time later, the X-Men encounter an unrelated girl in a mall with the same powers and code name, and she even introduces herself similarly. The original one, while using her 'fireworks' to attack, said her name was Jubilee, whose every move is a celebration. The more familiar one, while using her 'fireworks' to show off, said her name was Jubilee because with her, every day is a celebration.
The code name for the more familiar one is also justified in that her full name is Jubilation Lee, and Jubilee happens to be her nickname.
Rachel Summers is the daughter of Cyclops and Jean Grey from an alternate future. She has taken on both of her "mother"'s identities, as Phoenix and latterly as Marvel Girl. Now, she's got her own name as 'Prestige'.
Apocalypse was eventually revealed to be a legacy character, with the gray-skinned Egyptian En Sabah Nur in fact being the eighth Apocalypse charged by the Celestials with advancing evolution on Earth. When Uncanny X-Force killed En Sabah Nur, the mantle was passed on to the Horseman Death - who also happened to be their teammate Archangel. Cue Archangel becoming the new Apocalypse.
Starting from Dawn of X, Betsy Braddock became the new Captain Britain. At the same time, her discarded Psylocke identity is taken up by Kwannon, formerly known as Revanche. This is fitting, as Betsy regained her old Caucasian body following the body swap with Kwannon, and Kwannon's body is what most people think of when they think "Psylocke".
The Shi'ar Imperial Guard has several legacy characters in its ranks.
This is played with in the War of Kings crossover — on his way to the throne of the Shi'ar Imperium, Vulcan kills the Guardsman Smasher. Later, as Emperor, he's reviewing the Guard, and comes to Smasher. His reaction is: "Didn't I kill you?" Smasher explains that he's a new guy in the same uniform. Then he gets killed a short time later. Yet another Smasher then appears, and spends half an issue thanking Imperial Guard commander Gladiator for choosing him to fill the uniform. Then Gladiator kills him. A new, female Smasher, Isabel 'Izzy' Kane, is part of the Marvel NOW!Avengers relaunch, and has since had rather better luck - she married Cannonball and had a child with him.
Over the Shi'ar Imperium's long history, this has apparently added up to a LOT of Guardsmen. When Neutron is killed (and replaced), we see the vault where he's buried - and it seems to be filled with thousands of caskets.
Young Avengers: Wiccan, Speed, Iron Lad, Vision II, Hawkeye II, and Patriot have all been members of the Young Avengers, which is composed entirely of Legacy Characters. But there's the twist that some members' apparent legacies differ from their actual ones: Hulkling takes his name from The Hulk, but is actually Captain Marvel's kid; Wiccan looks like he takes after Thor (he started out as "Asgardian"), his powers actually come from the Scarlet Witch; and Iron Lad modeled himself after Iron Man, but he's actually a teenage Kang the Conqueror.
Downplayed with America Chavez, who was also in the Young Avengers team for a time. Out of universe she's marketed as the modern version of Marvel's Golden Age character Miss America, but in-universe "America" is genuinely her first name, and according toKieron Gillen, she probably doesn't even know that the previous character existed.
Unfortunate Implications of a black man going by 'Bucky' after the use of the word 'buck' about black men in the Antebellum South was lampshaded).
◊ Wherever injustice reigns, a Spirit of Vengeance will rise to punish the wicked...
