Often, in a show, they'll want to
parody the 60s
Batman-style
Super Hero. However, if they do, the vast majority of the time it'll be a
Super Hero who
was active back then... but now is old, decrepit, and retired.
Usually, they'll still wear their old costume for no apparent reason, which will fit badly over their gone-to-seed bodies. If they had a
Side Kick, he (this character is almost universally male) will also be there, and still be called "
Something Boy" or "Something Lad" despite the fact that he's past middle age. Expect stories of the
Glory Days.
The first appearance of this character will usually involve the main characters trying to bring him back into action, either to defeat an also-returned villain or to bring him out of his post-retirement funk.
This can also be applied to
WWII-era heroes; the character is nearly the same except for the type of outdated slang he uses.
This character rarely shows up in actual
Super Hero comics. Instead,
Comic Book Time usually applies; heroes don't age unless the story calls for them to or unless they don't appear in a comic for a while. If one does age, they'll usually still able to hold their own, often having their powers or equipment make up the difference. The original (Jay Garrick) Flash and the (Alan Scott)
Green Lantern are major examples of this; they may be in their 80s but between their adventures that led to their physical ages being slowed and their powers, they are respected elders in the
The DCU's superhero community. Others become still-active
Cool Old Guys, just look at the
Justice Society of America.
There is a significant chance that said character will be played by
Adam West,
in reference to his character on the 1960's
Batman series.
If this is a recurring character, they're likely to play the role of a
mentor, although they many can still
duke it out with the best from time to time. Although they may complain about their backache and leg injuries once the battle's over.
Examples:
- The Dark Knight Returns has an old superhero bar. The kicker is, the book is set in the future, so all the superheroes are (in the current continuity) young and active.
- It's also an old supervillain bar. And, this being a book about the badassery of Batman, if there's one thing that can spoil the mood, it's mentioning the Bat.
- Spongebob Squarepants's Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy are shining examples of this trope. After the back-to-action episode, they become Recurrers, their plots usually involving some returned supervillain they used to fight.
- Ironically, no one in their Rogues Gallery seems to have aged at all. With the exeption of the retired Atomic Flounder.
- This is justified because the Dirty Bubble is a literal bubble, and Man Ray was frozen in tartar sauce.
- The Powerpuff Girls had Captain Righteous and Lefty, who had split up quite some time ago over a relatively minor squabble. They only came back because the Mayor insisted they were the only ones who could defeat The Ministry Of Pain, their equally-ancient arch-nemeses, who the Girls only held back on because Blossom believed they should be "respectful to one's elders".
- The extremely short-lived Legends of the Superheroes had, as its second and final episode, a Celebrity Roast for "Retired Man".
- Pokemon had Gligarman, a Batman parody who tried to continue the superheroing business, but was completely useless except in selling his own merchandise.
- The video for the song "Kryptonite" by Three Doors Down was built entirely around this trope.
- Timothy North from Kim Possible used to play the Fearless Ferret. He was voiced, naturally, by Adam West.
- Also a subversion as Timothy North thinks he was a real hero, but was actually just an actor on a tv show who was delusional.
- Adam West also appeared as a similar character in The Fairly OddParents, named... Adam West. He had played "Catman".
- Batman The Animated Series had a similar character, the Grey Ghost, except that he was a throwback to the pulpy '40s era rather than the '60s superheroes, and he was played as a straight homage rather than a parody. He was voiced by... you guessed it... Adam West.
- It is worth pointing out though that Grey Ghost was a character in a show which Bruce Wayne watched religiously as a child, not an actual superhero.
- Hey, he acquitted himself pretty well when he intervened in the final fight. Guess he did his own stunts.
- The Dark Knight Returns shows Batman as this. At roughly age 50 Bruce puts on his costume again and tries to play the hero.
- And by the time we get to Batman Beyond, Bruce Wayne himself is the retired superhero who plays mentor to the new Batman, Terry. Bruce does occasionally join in with a well-timed use of the environment or jab with his cane, though.
- Plus there's the first two episodes with Inque. In the first one, when she snuck into the batcave Bruce took her on with a firehose (While wearing the Gray Ghosts mask), and in the second, When Inque catches Terry and demands "The old guy" come out so she can get him, Bruce arrives wearing a powered armor prototype he had earlier told Terry was much to stressful on it's wearer to be used.
- The inept and morally ambiguous Captain Quark from the Ratchet And Clank series, who seeks a "comeback" to his previous madly-famous status.
- Both the animated version of The Tick and Freakazoid visited superhero retirement homes.
- The Tick also reversed the trope in an episode that featured "The Terror", a frail, partially senile 104-year-old supervillain who comes out of retirement to conquer the world. His stable of minions include a college student he believes to be Joseph Stalin and Man-Eating Cow. MEC was originally a hero, but the network forced the change.
- A variant of this occurs in Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2, where one stage revolves around an elderly version of the Japanese folk hero Momotaro being called out of retirement to once again drive away the oni from Onigashima. He goes and fights them, then for some reason convinces them to open a theme park. Seriously.
- Captain Blue in Viewtiful Joe visually matches this trope, but can still fight with the best of them.
- Watchmen plays this trope straight. They do not mention... Adam West.
- The Alan Arkin movie The Return of Captain Invincible is equal parts this trope and Rocky Horror Picture Show, attempting to play the whole mess for So Bad Its Good laughs. It vastly overshoots the mark.
- Soul Power, Sparky and their nemesis Professor Menace in Static Shock.
- The comic book series Welcome to Tranquility is based on the idea of a whole town full of old superheroes (and supervillains), more or less retired.
- Chronically unappreciated All-American Boy in Sky High is the past-his-prime sidekick without the retired superhero (his mentor, The Commander, is still operating at his peak, while All-American Boy is now teaching "hero support" classes in the titular hero school).
- Mr. Incredible is not as old as most of the examples shown here, but fifteen years after his forced retirement he is noticeably out of shape, and is still holding on to his glory days, even doing superhero work in secret.
- The scene in which he gets back INTO shape is entertaining. When an ordinary middle-aged man gets in shape he goes to the gym. When a Nigh Invulnerable middle-aged man with superhuman strength gets in shape... he hits the railroad yard.
- Carried to extremes in Earth X, which was specifically about these aging heroes in a world that appeared to be passing them by. Particularly egregious cases: Spider-Man (who returned to action in a Halloween costume that could not conceal his spare tire), Mr. Fantastic (bearded, and living as "Dr. Doom" out of guilt), Captain America (still in good shape — time doesn't affect the Super Soldier Serum, it seems — but bald, despondent, and wearing a tattered American flag as a costume), and Wolverine (a drunken slob married to a disgusted Jean Grey).
- The otherwise forgettable Hammerman (Yes, M.C. Hammer as a superhero) played the Mentors angle, with Hammerman's predecessor (Soulman) hanging around to show him the ropes.
- Parodied in Earthworm Jim with the Puce Dynamo.
- The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic books and cartoon have the Justice Force, a team of old superheroes called back into action when members of the team begin getting kidnapped.
- Back when the titular hero of Nightwing still lived in Bludhaven, his downstairs neighbor was a hero from the World War II era, the Tarantula. Even having grown up with superheroes, Nightwing was still fascinated by the man.
- The Authority. In response to the titular team staging a bloodless coup, a Big Bad brings back a stable of WW 2 superheros who are decrepit and senile in a retirement home. He reverses their aging and turns up their powers and sets them loose to start a revolution. Things go very wrong. Now the leader of the team impales cops on the American flag and anyone who freely chose the Authority religion gets slaughtered.
- Gun X Sword has the El Dora V, a Combining Mecha piloted by a Five Man Band (well, four- The Chick of the team is dead) of old guys who come out of retirement to protect their town. Their first opponent constantly complains that their methods are obsolete, but they manage to win in the end. The show takes the opportunity to homage all kinds of Super Robot shows from the '70s, '80s, and '90s, including Combattler V and Gao Gai Gar.
- Uh... Kingdom Come?
- Astro City is rife with examples of this trope, as it establishes a long history of generational superheroes. Some (e.g. The Confessor, The Hanged Man) are extraordinarily long-lived, but some have retired and still make appearances in various capacities (many of them at former hero The Black Badge's bar, Bruisers).
- And then there's the story "Old Times", where the aged Supersonic is called out of retirement to deal with one last crisis.
- The Jesus League of America, one of the many thing fought by Marshal Law. They're zombies.
- Are we forgetting Evil Inc? Captain Heroic and Evil Atom, for starters.
- The Adventures Of Sonic The Hedgehog, episode "Over the Hill Hero" has Captain Rescue.
- When George and Harold invent Captain Underpants, their first comic book issue starts off by saying that all the other superheroes in the world had become too old to fight crime.
