Markup View

Author: vorpalgirl

Aug 11th 2016 at 2:34:31 PM

DC Comics (and Marvel, I'm sure) has done this a few times and I think the key thing here is  that unlike a lot of other classic Mentor tropes  (e.g. Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars)  they're not yet retired from active duty, aren't necessarily killed off, and may even continue working alongside their mentees - in ADDITION to seeing the lead-up to their Passing the Torch a bit.

A PERFECT pair of examples: Batman and the Flash. Batman, with his various Robins and Batgirls who've grown into their own heroes under his tutelage, and the Flash, who graduated from LegacyCharacter who Passed the Torch, to BackFromTheDead  and, as of now, working alongside the redheaded Wally West as they share the title of The Flash.

In fact, each of those characters' has got a major book ongoing right now that has an arc that is in some way basically this trope as I understand it:

*In the ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'' era of ''ComicBook/DetectiveComics'', the story is kicked off when Batman realizes there's a BigBad he can't take on alone that is watching a lot of the young vigilantes out there (namely, the new versions of [[ComicBook/Batgirl2000 Cassandra Cain]], [[ComicBook/Batgirl2009 Stephanie Brown]], and Tim Drake), so he enlists ComicBook/Batwoman to help him train them to work as a team before they get themselves killed. He plays a role in training them but interestingly Batwoman is the one who is entrusted to become the mentor figure to the younger characters (and to Clayface, for some reason, who is on a redemption arc of some sort). She's an established heroine in her own right, but her military background means she understands working in teams better than Bruce does, so Batman convinces her to take on their little group of rag-tag misfits to mentor them into a perfect crime-fighting team. It's in no way indicated that Batwoman is planning to retire, and there's no implication (yet, at least) that the popular character is being killed off; she just happens to be taking on a leadership and mentorship role to a group of newbies. In fact, Batman explicitly states that he's bringing her on ''because'' she's skilled enough and experienced enough to be a mentor, making this not only an example of the trope but one acknowledged in-unvierse.

*In the ComicBook/DCRebirth era of ''ComicBook/TheFlash'', the ongoing story of the rebooted book kicks off with Barry's friend getting speedster powers like his own...along with a bunch of other random civilians, in a freak MassEmpoweringEvent. He starts working with his friend, and then the other newbies, and notes repeatedly that he's forgotten how much he enjoyed being a teacher (mentor) to other speedsters, which he used to be for the redheaded Wally West when the latter was  Kid Flash. This is in fact therefore a ''cyclical'' trope that keeps being reused with Barry Allen, who enjoys being a mentor as much as he does doing his normal superhero duties.