History Main / SuperiorSuccessor

** Deliberately Invoked in the case of Shoto Todoroki. Endeavor deliberately sought to birth a child that would be able to overcome the deficiencies of his [[PlayingWithFire Fire Quirk]] and have the strength and discipline to surpass [[WorldsStrongestMan All Might]]. That is why he married his wife, who has an unnamed [[AnIcePerson Ice Quirk]], so that his children could inherit a hybrid version of the two powers that would balance each other out. Todoroki was the only child in the family to be born with the desired Quirk. He is superior to his father because he does not suffer from overheating thanks to the ice power cooling the heat, and vice versa, he does not suffer from over freezing thanks to the fire warming up the cold.

* ''Fanfic/GodOfWarChainsOfTheHeart'': In the five years since the fall of Asgard, Thrúd has become this to her father. Thor, as the previous God of Thunder and wielder of Mjölnir, was a violent butcher who slaughtered countless under Odin's orders and was despised by many. Thrúd, after taking up her dad's hammer and old godly titles, strives to help protect the innocent of the Eight Realms from the many dangers that lurk it, and is well-regarded by the people as a hero.

** Gohan, who is only [[HalfHumanHybrid half-Saiyan]], is far more powerful than his full-blooded Saiyan father was at the same age. ''[[SuperMode Much]]'' [[SuperPoweredEvilSide more]] [[BewareTheNiceOnes powerful]]. Unfortunately, he got nerfed a bit in-between the Cell and Buu arcs, since he slacked off on his training. Then, the nerf bat hit him hard over in ''Anime/DragonBallSuper''...then got tired of that, began training again, and shows promise of ''still'' exceeding his father eventually even with all the upgrades his father got since then. [[spoiler: In ''Super Hero'' he transforms into Gohan Beast after witnessing Cell Max beat Piccolo into a pulp, and Gohan in that form effortlessly defeats Cell Max, possibly seen as another moment where Gohan surpasses his father.]]

%%* ''Franchise/StarTrek:'' Klingons believe in this. [[KlingonPromotion Obviously.]]

** Ashley Williams' grandfather was forced to surrender to the Turians invaders during the First Contact War. As a result, everyone in the Williams family was essentially blacklisted by the military, and she and her father were denied promotions, on top of being given [[ReassignedtoAntartica terrible assignments and postings]] despite their impressive records, simply because they shared his name. She eventually breaks the family stigma after serving with distinction alongside Shepard. Taken even further if she survived Virmire, where not only does she become a high-ranking officer in the Navy, but she can also potentially become the second Human Spectre after Shepard.

*** Yuna is forever living in the shadow of her father Lord Braska -- the latest summoner to defeat Sin and bring about the Calm. [[spoiler: She ends up defeating Sin for good]].

** Commander Shepard succeeds where Captain/Admiral Anderson failed, not only in becoming the first Human Spectre, but also in successfully stopping the anti-human Saren from potentially destroying humanity and more importantly stopping his attempt to bring about the Reaper invasion.
--->'''Anderson:''' My chance came and went. It's your time now.

** Krogan in general are all about this. Urdnot Wrex in particular can potentially surpass his father, a high-ranking but bloodthirsty warlord, and unify the Krogan into a single, peaceful, but still bloodthirsty people.

** Ashley Williams' grandfather surrendered to the Turians during the First Contact War, and thus she and her father was denied promotions due to his namesake. She eventually breaks the family stigma after serving with distinction alongside Shepard. Taken even further if she survived Virmire, where not only does she become a high-ranking officer in the Navy, but she can also potentially become the second Human Spectre after Shepard.
** Zig-zagged with the current cycle and their {{Precursors}}. In many ways, the current galactic civilization is highly less-advanced. In others, however, they have major advantages. This generation (thanks largely to Shepard) is the one that finally completes [[spoiler:the Crucible.]] Especially since [[spoiler:the current cycle was supposed to have ended some time ago, but a pocket of surviving Protheans have sabotaged the Reapers' Plan A after the demise of their cycle]].

** This is the key to [[SuperEmpowering One For All]] being so powerful. It's a cumulative Quirk that gets stronger as it's passed on. Essentially, once series protagonist Izuku Midoriya fully masters it, he'll be more powerful than All Might ever could hope to be. [[spoiler:He reaches this point by default when it's revealed that One For All absorbed the Quirks of the previous users, with Midoriya being the first user to unlock the [[AllYourPowersCombined usage of these extra powers]].]] [[spoiler: He is also one by default when it's revealed that One For All has a RapidAging effect that only applies to users who already had a Quirk. However, because Midoriya was born [[UnSorcerer Quirkless]] just like All Might, this makes him immune to the aging effect.]]

** Commander Shepard succeeds where their mentor and superior officer, Captain/Admiral Anderson failed, becoming the first human Spectre.

** Garrus Vakarian's father is a civilian with ties to the Turian Primarch, hinting at a very illustrious career. Garrus himself not only advises the new Primarch but is also on the frontlines fighting the Reapers and forging peace with races throughout the galaxy.
** Tali'Zorah can potentially take her father's place on the Admiralty Board and succeed where he failed: by taking back Rannoch, the quarian homeworld.

** Ashley Williams' grandfather surrendered to the Turians during the First Contact War, and thus her father was denied promotions due to his namesake. She eventually breaks the family stigma after serving with distinction alongside Shepard, and [[spoiler: if she survived Virmire]] becomes a high-ranking officer in the navy.

** This is the key to One For All being so powerful. It's a cumulative Quirk that gets stronger as it's passed on. Essentially, once series protagonist Izuku "Deku" Midoriya fully masters it, he'll be more powerful than All Might ever could hope to be, [[spoiler:and he can already be considered to reach this point since he's the first inheritor capable of [[AllYourPowersCombined using the Quirks of the previous generations of wielders]]. Because he was born Quirkless like All Might, Izuku does not suffer from RapidAging, making him even more powerful than most of his predecessors.]]
** Invoked with Shoto Todoroki. He is fully intended to succeed his father Endeavor as a fire-based hero, but where Endeavor and the rest of the Todorokis have a certain threshhold for heat before burning themselves, Shoto can regulate the temperature with the ice Quirk inherited from his mother ''and'' not succumb to that Quirk's low heat tolerance. Endeavor deliberately sought to birth a child that would be able to overcome both deficiencies, and have the strength and discipline to beat his {{One Sided Rival|ry}} All Might.

* ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys2'' at first appears to play this straight; the "Toy" versions of the main robots have several highly-touted features, and the original cast are quite literally broken-down relics. But then [[spoiler:you learn that this is a ''prequel''. The subversion comes in when the Toy robots are decommissioned and destroyed when management concludes they were malfunctioning, and the main cast are rebuilt. And they grow a ''lot'' smarter between the second game and the first. Especially Freddy himself.]]

* ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'': Raizen, one of the most powerful demons, can only eat human flesh since his body rejects anything else. When he meets his descendant Yusuke, he says Yusuke has the potential to surpass him and is better since Yusuke can eat regular food.

* ''VideoGame/{{XenoGears}}'': Each of [[spoiler:Fei's past incarnations]] were unable to prevent the CycleOfHurting that claimed their loved ones, until Fei is able to destroy [[spoiler:Deus]], freeing himself and Elhaym from the cycle of death and reincarnation.

** [[Characters/MarvelComicsOttoOcatvius Otto Octavius]] attempts to [[InvokedTrope invoke this trope]] when he becomes the [[ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan2013 Superior Spider-Man]]. He ultimately learns that he is ''not'' Superior in any way.

* ''Fanfic/AllForLuz'': Shigaraki considers [[Characters/AllForLuzLuzNoceda Luz]] to be this, and not because of her moral character. Its because her mind isn't worn away by the Quirk vestiges and more importantly [[spoiler:she awakened the All For One Quirk in a single month, something he couldn't achieve in his century long lifetime.]]

* ''Fanfic/AllForLuz'': Shigaraki considers Luz to be this, and not because of her moral character. Its because her mind isn't worn away by the Quirk vestiges and more importantly [[spoiler:she awakened the All For One Quirk in a single month, something he couldn't achieve in his century long lifetime.]]