History AntiHeroSubstitute / ComicBooks

!!Other Comics

* In ''ComicBook/{{Promethea}}'', Stacia and Grace take over from Sophie as a SplitPersonalityTeam to be Promethea in the physical world during Sophie's quest into the Immateria. They have a somewhat more violent and hedonistic attitude to things, and end up fighting with Sophie when she gets back.

* This happens to Franchise/{{Batman}} a lot:
** During the ''Comicbook/{{Knightfall}}'' story arc, Batman was temporarily paralyzed by Bane and gave his cowl to Azrael, who quickly became a KnightTemplar after [[BrainwashedAndCrazy his latent brainwashing]] was accidentally triggered by Scarecrow's fear gas. This forced Batman to undergo TrainingFromHell under ComicBook/LadyShiva to fight [[FanNickname AzBats]] and reclaim his old identity. [=AzBats=] turned out to be a deliberate TakeThat at the fans who wanted Batman to be closer to ComicBook/ThePunisher than, well, Batman. ("You wanted Needlessly Violent Batman? There you go!") As it turns out, the only people that were all that thrilled with him were the makers and players of ''VideoGame/BatmanDoom'', a high-quality ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' mod. Well, maybe a few others, since after being bounced from the Batman position [[BreakoutCharacter his solo series lasted over a hundred issues]].
** Cheerful and lovable circus brat Dick Grayson was replaced by cheerful and lovable circus brat Jason Todd in the early 80s. Then, post-Crisis, in a rare case of a character being replaced by an AntiHero version ''of himself,'' Jason Todd was retcon'd into an eleven-year-old street kid who jacked the wheels off the Batmobile.
** Following his death and resurrection, he also spent a bit of time as a psychopathic version of ComicBook/{{Nightwing}}. Then, during the ''Battle for the Cowl'' event, Jason would also take up the mantle of Batman after [[spoiler: his apparent death]] and became a gun-wielding psychopath. He was played as the villain of the story, however.
** During the aforementioned ''Battle for the Cowl'', Two-Face also attempted to become the next Batman and Hush impersonated Bruce Wayne with the help of MagicPlasticSurgery.
** During the ''Batman and Son'' storyline, fake Batmen began showing up in Gotham City and committing crimes, and Bruce was forced to fight them. The eventual source of these was revealed to be psychological experiments conducted by the Gotham Police Department to create replacement Batmen should anything ever happen to the real one. This didn't turn out so well.
** Current Robin Damian Wayne is more of an AntiHero than his predecessor, but new Batman Dick Grayson has made it his goal to craft him into a true superhero and not an AntiHero.
** [[ComicBook/{{Batgirl 2000}} Cassandra Cain]] as ComicBook/{{Batgirl}} seems like this at first glance: she's a silent, intimidating woman covered in scars with a DarkAndTroubledPast, who wears a costume that wouldn't be out of place in a horror movie. [[SubvertedTrope However]], it quickly becomes clear that she's [[TheCutie an absolute sweetheart]] [[TheCape who might be even more idealistic than Barbara,]] [[ThouShaltNotKill literally being willing to jump in front of an assault rifle to protect a]] ProfessionalKiller from friendly fire. Her silence is due to learning disabilities [[TykeBomb deliberately induced during her]] awful childhood, and most of her creepiness is just due to her [[NoSocialSkills complete lack of social skills]] (when she ''wants'' to intimidate people [[UpToEleven it is apparent]]).
*** Cassandra's Batgirl outfit was previously worn by the Huntress during ''Comicbook/BatmanNoMansLand'', who played it straight.
** During the "Titans Tomorrow" arc, a potential future version of [[ComicBook/RobinSeries Tim Drake]] becomes a gun-wielding Batman.
** While Terry [=McGinnis=] of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' has most of the heroic qualities of the original, the series premise of a hot-headed SnarkKnight and former juvenile delinquent stepping into Bruce's place after the latter's retirement is very much in line with this trope.
* Franchise/{{Superman}}:
** In the "Death of Superman"[=/=]"Reign of the Supermen" story arc, Superman was killed and replaced by four guys who were all across the spectrum on this:
*** [[EmpoweredBadassNormal Man]] [[PoweredArmor of Steel]] was a complete ''inversion'' of this; if anything, he was [[UpToEleven even more heroic than the original]]. Also, unlike the other three, Steel admitted from the start he wasn't really Superman, but that he was trying to represent the spirit of what Superman stood for. He ended up getting his [[ComicBook/{{Steel}} own comic]].
*** [[CloningBlues Superboy]] came out swinging as a cheerfully-amoral UnscrupulousHero. While he was a legitimate crimefighter, he was fighting because [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatPerks being a superhero got him fame, fortune and hot chicks]]. He worked for ''Lex Luthor'', and later sold out to crooked talent scout Rex Leech, in both cases because they threw money and pretty girls at him.
*** [[NinetiesAntiHero Last Son]] [[LegacyCharacter of Krypton]], aka the Eradicator, was the real Anti-Hero Substitute. He was initially a brutal, inhuman vigilante, and it took a talk with Steel for him to mature into a more heroic figure. Even then, he remained ruthlessly logical and had few qualms about killing.
*** [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul Cyborg]] [[EvilCounterpart Superman]] wasn't really even an anti-hero, turning out to be EvilAllAlong.
** While neither passed themselves off as Superman, both [[ComicBook/KingdomCome Magog]] and [[Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica Proteus]] tried to usurp his position as the DCU's foremost superhero by being more ruthless, aggressive and proactive. Both were deliberately set up to fail; Magog went too far and Proteus was evil from the start.
** Also, in the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' mini-arc 'Hereafter', after Superman vanishes from the face of the planet after Toyman manages to pull of a successful attack on him, '''''Lobo''''', of all people, tries to step in as his replacement.
* ''Comicbook/{{Supergirl}}'':
** The original Supergirl -a classic Cape- was killed in the ''Comicbook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'' and replaced with Matrix, a shape-shifter mass of protoplasmic matter who took shape of a blond woman wearing a female version of Superman's costume for unexplained reasons. Matrix was unpredictable, prone to sudden outbursts of violence, and wore a {{Stripperific}}, spiky version of her costume for a while. To sum up, DC replaced [[https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/2a/7f/5b/2a7f5bfad3d75f836a24e71da0ad5655.jpg Kara Zor-El]] with [[http://static3.comicvine.com/uploads/scale_small/0/4/34957-5263-39047-1-supergirl.jpg this]].
** Later on, Matrix merged with a troubled human girl named Linda Danvers. [[https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/18/86/37/188637e318e00ef52ae2f2fb10812766.jpg Linda]] was also replaced with [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/93/Cir-El.jpg Cir-El]], a black-wearing, angry, angsty edgy teenager with a dark and troubled past. Cir-El was very unpopular, and she was soon replaced with a modern version of Kara Zor-El, who was also initially more abrasive and angsty than her pre-Crisis version - this was unpopular with fans and was eventually retconned as due to chronic Kryptonite poisoning, thus restoring her more idealistic and happy personality and finally inverting the trope.
* In ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': ''ComicBook/TheContest'' Franchise/WonderWoman was forced to give up her name and costume because her mother had a vision of her death. Her place was taken by ComicBook/{{Artemis}}, but in the end it was she who was killed, not Diana. The trope was also deconstructed, as Artemis's arrogant, abrasive and often overly violent conduct in the role undid a lot of Diana's hard work in getting Man's World to accept her and the Amazons and rubbed many of Diana's former allies up the wrong way, thus making things much more difficult for her than they had to be.
** This was essentially [[RecycledScript an update of an older story]] from [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 the 70's]], wherein Diana was briefly replaced as Wonder Woman by an abrasive redheaded Amazon named Orana. Orana was KilledOffForReal the very next issue, allowing Diana to reclaim her costume and identity.
* After being severely beaten, ''ComicBook/SpiderGirl'' briefly had her place taken by her crazed clone April. April later pulled a HeroicSacrifice to save the original Spider-Girl.
* [[Comicbook/IncredibleHulk Hulk]] has both subverted and played this trope straight at the same time. After ''ComicBook/WorldWarHulk'', with the Hulk [[spoiler:imprisoned by the army]], his series was taken over by Hercules and a new series was launched with a mysterious ComicBook/RedHulk as the central character. ComicBook/TheIncredibleHercules subverted the trope quickly, proving he's anything ''but'' an AntiHero, while Red Hulk played it straight, acting like a ''total dick'' and [[spoiler:making Hulk lose his powers]].
** Earlier on in the 80s this trope popped up, with the normal destructive but rarely malicious green Hulk being replaced by an amoral jerkass grey Hulk named Joe Fixit. Green Hulk is an anti-hero to begin with but the trope still stands as Joe Fixit is several notches down the scale. The twist is Joe Fixit is just another of Bruce Banner's repressed personalities.
** And while we're on the subject: Dr. Leonard Samson was a nerdy little nebbish scientist who managed to de-Hulkify Hulk, turning him back into Bruce Banner. He then used a portion of the stored gamma energy to turn himself into Doc Samson, who wasn't really an anti-hero so much as he was just kind of an egotistical jerk. When he started wooing Betty, it convinced Bruce (who was initially ''thrilled'' to be himself again) to use the ''rest'' of the stored gamma energy to turn himself back into the Hulk.
* In an inverse of this trope, Franchise/GreenLantern Hal Jordan inexplicably [[FaceHeelTurn turned evil]] during the ''Emerald Twilight'' arc and the role of "original hero" as described by the intro was played by his replacement Kyle Rayner.
** Played straight, however, was Guy Gardner replacing Hal Jordan in 1985. To clarify: Guy Gardner is not some crazy killing machine or anything (unless you count the Warrior storylines where he's a living weapon); he just has more of a fly-off-half-cocked, kick-butt-take-names, punch-first-ask-questions-later personality than Hal.) He's the gym teacher everyone despised in high school.
*** While Guy fits, he technically didn't replace Hal. Hal resigned to spend more time with his girlfriend (who subsequently became a more psychotic version of Star Sapphire) and was replaced by John Stewart as Earth's GL. Later, during Crisis on Infinite Earths, a faction of the Guardians healed Guy from a coma and gave him a ring and mission. By the end of that mission, Hal was a Green Lantern again.
* ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica'':
** In TheEighties, Steve Rogers, the original Captain America, was replaced by John Walker, a NinetiesAntiHero version of himself. To his credit, Walker did eventually make an honest effort to emulate Rogers' ethics until the ComicBook/RedSkull completed his manipulation of him. When Rogers regained the mantle, Walker continued operating as the ComicBook/USAgent. In something of an inversion from the previous examples, the DarkerAndEdgier Walker wore the classic red, white, and blue Cap outfit, while Steve took up a black costume and shield as The Captain.
** Like ''Knightfall'' this was apparently a deliberate in your face. And the same thing happened with ComicBook/BuckyBarnes as Captain America. That said, Steve went on record in ''Comicbook/HeroicAge: Superheroes'' that there's not a man out there more fit to wear those colors than James Buchanan Barnes.
*** It should be noted that during Bucky's tenure as Cap, that while he did use his gun and his costume did invoke a DarkerAndEdgier angle[[note]]the costume had far more black than the red, white, and blue.[[/note]], the main conflict for Bucky was whether or not he could do right by Steve Rogers as Captain America. As such, Bucky would act as best of a hero as he possibly could during that amount of time as Cap.
* ''ComicBook/TheMightyThor'':
** In an inversion, Thor was replaced by Thunderstrike a.k.a Eric Masterson in TheNineties, except Thunderstrike was less likely to kill a dangerous opponent and he came across as a dork when he tried to sound like an anti-hero. Thunderstrike did however, look the part. Complicating the whole thing was that Thunderstrike had previously ''been'' Thor himself.
** Also [[DownPlayedTrope downplayed]] by Beta Ray Bill, who was somewhat more merciless compared to Thor but otherwise still a noble and courageous soul.
** Played a bit straighter with Eric Masterson's son, Kevin Masterson. Not long after inheriting his father's Thunderstrike Mace, Kevin becomes the [[LegacyCharacter second Thunderstrike]]. While not even remotely evil or anything, being a young teenager in a slightly aged-up alter-ego body who was struggling with the loss of his father (who he felt was largely abandoned by the Avengers) definitely lends him to be more superficially anti-heroic than his dad was.
** As of mid-2017, there are ''three'' Thors running around. The Odinson himself, Jane Foster (wielding Mjolnir), and the "War Thor" - a traumatised [[spoiler: Volstagg]] wielding Ultimate Thor's hammer. The first two are straightforward heroes, but the third is very much this.
--->'''Narrator:''' Behold the War Thor, and prepare to bleed.
* Most of ComicBook/NormanOsborn's Comicbook/DarkAvengers were villains that had their costumes redesigned to look like familiar heroes (Bullseye as Hawkeye, Moonstone as Ms. Marvel, Venom as Spider-Man, Daken as daddy Wolverine). He went a bit overboard on this front during the Comicbook/DarkReign, creating the Dark (now Shadow) X-Men, making the HAMMER organization to replace ComicBook/{{SHIELD}}, and forming The Cabal, essentially a copy of the already morally ambiguous Illuminati, as well as his own Initiative with ComicBook/TheHood and his gang.
** Comparably, ComicBook/{{Venom}} could count as a rare villain-to-villain example of this. Eddie Brock, the original Venom was certainly a homicidal maniac, but he eventually was tailored into a NinetiesAntiHero of sorts. The third Venom, Mac Gargan (the Scorpion) is more evil than Brock and thus since he pretends to be a hero as part of the Dark Avengers, he's both an AntiHeroSubstitute for Franchise/SpiderMan (who he impersonates) ''and'' Venom. The second Venom (Angelo Fortunato) didn't last long enough to be considered a substitute. Once Flash Thompson became Venom, you could argue for it being an odd reverse villain-hero example; Flash being more heroic than Eddie at his very best. And then it went back to anti-hero again as Eddie
* Happened, of all people, to ComicBook/TheAuthority once, when they were defeated by G8's agent and replaced with bunch of {{Nineties Anti Hero}}es. For many people Authority are a bunch of {{Jerkass}}ses at best and {{Villain Protagonist}}s at worst, but comparing to replacements they look like fricking saints.
** [[spoiler:Of course, the second the real Authority comes back, they start their revenge by killing in cold blood the ''only'' redeemable character among the new team: Rush, the Canadian replacement for Swift, who didn't kill anybody they wouldn't have and hated all her teammates. They catch hell for this later.]]

* Comicbook/GhostRider has an odd example. He is already an AntiHero but in the nineties, a character named ''Vengeance'' showed up who was supposed to be a DarkerAndEdgier version of a character that was already the epitome of DarkerAndEdgier. A new Vengeance has since appeared -- as a villain. And the de-powered original Vengeance seems to be a pretty nice guy these days.
* Intentionally done again in the '90s, when the ComicBook/FantasticFour were [[ComicBookDeath presumed dead]], and Franchise/SpiderMan, ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}, [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk The Hulk]], and Comicbook/GhostRider took their places, swearing to avenge the heroes' deaths. Only three of the four were really {{Anti Hero}}es, but the extremely ill-suited-for-eachother group fought amongst themselves so much and were so bad at emulating the FF's legendary teamwork that Spidey was pretty much ineffectual in getting them to shape up and the whole team made the Fantastic Four's dysfunctional family dynamics look incredibly well-adjusted by comparison.
** Marvel played homage to that story a few years ago with even ''more'' antiheroic versions of those four - the abovementioned Red Hulk and Ghost Rider's DistaffCounterpart Alejandra, ComicBook/{{X 23}} and Flash Thompson's Comicbook/{{Venom}} (RedeemingReplacement to previous Venoms, but much more antiheroic than Spider-Man; he's a US Army soldier rather than a ThouShaltNotKill type superhero).
* ''Franchise/TheFlash'':
** ComicBook/WallyWest subverts this, thanks in large part to his CharacterDevelopment. When he took over the mantle of The Flash, Wally was initially quite a selfish JerkWithAHeartOfGold DeadpanSnarker looking to find a way to make a living off of heroics, but he also suffered from terrible depression and low self worth after Barry's death. However, several events (such as befriending the retired former villains The Rogues, especially the Pied Piper, and Chunk, a metahuman who accidentally caused massive property damage) showed Wally had a completely different view of supervillains, treating them with an open mind and acting more like a social worker, compared to Barry Allen who, as a police scientist, treated his heroics like cop work. Wally's subsequent Character Development had him grow out of his jaded selfishness and he became probably the most compassionate of the Flash franchise, and even more of TheCape than Barry.
** Happened to Wally West with [[FanNickname Dark Flash]], a mysterious character that turned out to be an alternate universe version of Wally who went by Walter. Unlike Walter, Wally wasn't able to save Linda Park in his equivalent of the ComicBook/TerminalVelocity story, and received some training under his universe's Savitar (a villain Wally defeated) before killing him. After Wally and Linda end up in his world, both were seemingly killed by Abra Kadabra, and Walter swore to avenge them. He started wearing a darker outfit and traveled to the main DC Universe. He was distrusting of other heroes and didn't reveal his identity to all but a select few, and was a bit more brutal in his methods. When Wally and Linda return, Walter is forced to leave, as he and Wally couldn't occupy the same universe for too long.
** Future Flash was a Barry Allen from a future timeline. He wore a blue outfit and killed his villains, because his failure to save the new Wally West resulted in him snapping and travelling back through time. Notably, he killed his villains on his way back, even though his plan would mean their actions wouldn't happen anyway. He fought the main Barry, who eventually got stuck in the Speed Force, and Future Flash took his place for a while. He eventually died.
* The [[TheAdjectivalSuperhero Irredeemable]] ComicBook/AntMan, Eric O'Grady, was this to the original Ant-Man, Hank Pym[[note]]not without his own problems - see OnceDoneNeverForgotten[[/note]]. O'Grady got his costume from stealing one of Pym's, and is an often lecherous, cowardly, and amoral man who nonetheless had some positive traits and often wished he was a better person. Not to be confused with Scott Lang, who while also stealing the Ant-Man suit, [[HealthcareMotivation only did it to save his daughter]] and was really sorry about it - if anything he was ''more'' heroic than Pym.
** O'Grady eventually [[DroppedABridgeOnHim got killed off]] (albeit in a HeroicSacrifice to save a child) right around the time Marvel decided to bring Lang back.
* ComicBook/IronMan
** Tony did this to himself, in a way. When his suit was damaged, he built the Comicbook/WarMachine armor. Not only did it have the appropriate DarkerAndEdgier name but it was loaded with [=BFGs=] and was colored black and gray. Stark wore the armor in a few issues, invoking this trope even though it was the same guy in the armor. After that arc, he gave it to Jim Rhodes, who is actually a bit nicer than Stark. It should also be noted that Rhodes replaced Tony as Iron Man for a couple of years due to Stark's alcoholism so in a way, it was an inversion of this trope.
** After being rendered comatose at the close of ''Comicbook/CivilWarII'', he was replaced by two characters. The main ''Invincible Iron Man'' book was taken over by a teenage girl named Riri Williams, who would eventually become known as Comicbook/{{Ironheart}}. The second book, however, was ''Infamous Iron Man'', which starred the former Comicbook/DoctorDoom in a new suit of Iron Man armor as he tried to become a hero.
** ''Comicbook/IronMan2020Event'' stars Tony's brother Arno Stark, a vicious anti-hero who takes over as the new Iron Man after [[spoiler:Tony comes to believe he died during ''ComicBook/CivilWarII'' because of the nature of his current body]].
* [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig-zagged]] for Franchise/SpiderMan in ''ComicBook/TheCloneSaga''. The original aim of the series, itself a continuation of a Silver Age storyline, was an attempt to roll back the creeping cynicism of the nineties. Whilst Peter Parker continued to spiral ever downward into depression and anger, [[ComicBook/ScarletSpider Ben Reilly]] was introduced as a LighterAndSofter Spider-Man with the same set of memories as the original, a powerful statement of just how far Peter had fallen.
** The entire premise of ''Comicbook/SuperiorSpiderMan'', which sees Otto Octavius becoming a DarkerAndEdgier Spider-Man after performing a FreakyFridayFlip with Peter Parker and then leaving him to die in Ock's frail body. As Spider-Man, Otto spies on criminals 24/7 with automated "Spider-bots" equipped with cameras, employs a private mercenary army called "Spider-Patrol 7", and even has his own force of eight-legged HumongousMecha decked out in Spider-Man's classic red and blue. Notably, where Peter was the classic HeroWithBadPublicity who was frequently treated as a criminal nuisance by the cops and the press, Otto frequently ''gives orders'' to the police and city hall.
* ComicBook/EmmaFrost. While she never adopted the name or costume, she essentially became this to Comicbook/JeanGrey after the latter's death in ''New X-Men'', replacing her as the team's resident telepath, the Institute's headmistress and Cyclops' bedmate. This was a status that she was aware of and more than one character (including a teenage Jean) has needled her about it.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Promethea}}'', Stacia and Grace take over from Sophie as a SplitPersonalityTeam to be Promethea in the physical world during Sophie's quest into the Immateria. They have a somewhat more violent and hedonistic attitude to things, and end up fighting with Sophie when she gets back.
* ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'': Inverted. Monica Chang, the second Comicbook/BlackWidow, is far more pure and upstanding than her predecessor, who killed children in cold blood and was secretly TheMole to a super-powered terrorist army that takes over the United States in one arc before being killed. After Monica dies in ''Ultimatum'', a third Black Widow (the Peter Parker clone known as Jessica Drew/Spider-Woman) takes over, and is is equally heroic.

-->'''Narrator:''' Behold the War Thor, and prepare to bleed.

** ''Comicbook/IronMan2020'' stars Tony's brother Arno Stark, a vicious anti-hero who takes over as the new Iron Man after [[spoiler:Tony comes to believe he died during ''ComicBook/CivilWarII'' because of the nature of his current body]].

** In TheEighties, Steve Rogers, the original Captain America, was replaced by John Walker, a NinetiesAntiHero version of himself. To his credit, Walker did eventually make an honest effort to emulate Rogers' ethics until the ComicBook/RedSkull completed his manipulation of him. When Rogers regained the mantle, Walker continued operating as the U.S.Agent. In something of an inversion from the previous examples, the DarkerAndEdgier Walker wore the classic red, white, and blue Cap outfit, while Steve took up a black costume and shield as The Captain.

* The [[TheAdjectivalSuperhero Irredeemable]] ComicBook/AntMan, Eric O'Grady, was this to the original Ant-Man, Hank Pym[[note]]not without his own problems - see OnceDoneNeverForgotten[[/note]]. O'Grady got his costume from stealing one of Pym's, and is an often lecherous, cowardly, and amoral man who nonetheless had some positive traits and often wished he was a better person. Not to be confused with Scott Lang, who while also stealing the Ant-Man suit, only did it to save his daughter and was really sorry about it - if anything he was ''more'' heroic than Pym.

** ''ComicBook/WallyWest'' subverts this, thanks in large part to his CharacterDevelopment. When he took over the mantle of The Flash, Wally was initially quite a selfish JerkWithAHeartOfGold DeadpanSnarker looking to find a way to make a living off of heroics, but he also suffered from terrible depression and low self worth after Barry's death. However, several events (such as befriending the retired fromer villains The Rogues, especially the Pied Piper, and Chunk, a metahuman who accidentally caused massive property damage) showed Wally had a completely different view of supervillains, treating them with an open mind and acting more like a social worker, compared to Barry Allen who, as a police scientist, treated his heroics like cop work. Wally's subsequent Character Development had him grow out of his jaded selfishness and he became probably the most compassionate of the Flash franchise, and even more of TheCape than Barry.