History Main / AffirmativeActionLegacy

** Invoked in-universe by the Doctor in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E4TheDoctorsWife The Doctor's Wife]]" and "[[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresS4E5E6DeathOfTheDoctor Death of the Doctor]]", who confirms the long-held [[AscendedFanon fan belief]] that Time Lords can indeed change [[GenderBender genders]] and [[RaceLift ethnicities]] during a regeneration, although [[TheNthDoctor his incarnations]] are all white men as of those stories. The first female (mainline) Doctor would be Creator/JodieWhittaker's Thirteenth Doctor, who debuted in the 2017 Christmas special.

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderVerse'' revolves around an Afro-Latino teenager Miles Morales, who becomes the new Spider-Man after his world's Peter Parker is killed by ComicBook/TheKingpin just like in the comics.
[[/folder]]

* In ''Film/Catwoman2004'', African-American Patience Philips is established as the latest successor to the Catwoman name.

* The Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse draws on a few from the comics:
** Film/{{Captain Marvel|2019}} in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse is the female Carol Danvers version instead of the older character of Captain Mar-Vell. Downplayed due to the fact that in this adaptation, Mar-Vell is (a) [[GenderFlip a woman]], and (b) never a superhero, but rather [[spoiler:Carol's late mentor and a defecting Kree scientist.]]
** In the final minutes of ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', [[spoiler: Sam Wilson, a black man, [[PassingTheTorch takes up the shield and mantle of Captain America]] from the retired white Steve Rogers, while ComicBook/{{Valkyrie|Marvel Comics}}, a [[WordOfGay bisexual]] woman of color, becomes the new [[OfferedTheCrown Asgardian ruler]] once Thor abdicates. Interestingly, Valkyrie's character progression is completely original to the films; unlike Carol as Captain Marvel or Sam as Captain America, there is no comic-book precedent for her as Thor's successor. In addition, it's implied that Morgan Stark may take up her late father's position as a PoweredArmor-using hero, although she is four years old and thus a long way away from doing so.]]
** ''Film/ThorLoveAndThunder'' adapts Jane Foster's time as Thor, although the original is still around and [[spoiler:Jane ultimately dies leaving the first Thor again as the sole bearer of the mantle again]] by the end.
** ''Film/BlackPantherWakandaForever'': The title of Black Panther has already been established to have a long lineage, and this film sees it pass from T'Challa to his sister Shuri. The film also introduces Riri Williams/Ironheart, who is reverse-engineering Tony Stark's armor and becoming the most direct successor to Iron Man (going from a white man to a black woman).

* One of the main characters in ''Film/TheSuicideSquad'' is Ratcatcher 2, the female successor of the original male Ratcatcher.

* During season 6 of ''Series/{{Arrow}}'', John Diggle (a black man) briefly takes over the mantle of Green Arrow from Oliver Queen (a white man).
* In season two of ''Series/{{Batwoman|2019}}'', Ryan Wilder (black gay woman) replaces Kate Kane (white gay woman) in the title role.

* In ''Series/TheFlash2014,'' after Ronnie Raymond's HeroicSacrifice, both the potential successors to his role as Firestorm are black. Jefferson Jackson goes on to serve more time as Firestorm than Raymond ever did, appearing in ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow.''
* The TV side of the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse includes its share as well:
** ''Series/TheFalconAndTheWinterSoldier'' takes one of the examples from ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' and ends up deconstructing the trope with it, in that the "Affirmative Action" part ends up complicating things immensely. [[spoiler:The title of "Captain America" is [[CaptainPatriotic a major national symbol]]. How can a black man symbolize a country that has mistreated its black citizens for hundreds of years, and continues to do so? Sam starts the series deciding that he ''can't'', only for the government to turn around and give the identity to a white man instead. At the end of the season however, after said white guy goes off the deep end and Sam learns about the history of black super-soldiers in America and decides that it wouldn't be right to stop fighting for what's right despite all the injustices that happened to black people, he becomes Captain America instead and embraces the mantle.]]
** ''Series/Hawkeye2021'' sees Clint Barton starting up a friendship and mentorship of Kate Bishop, though it's not clear at the end if she's actively serving as a superhero now or if she's using his codename while doing so.
** Averted in ''Series/MsMarvel2022'', as while we still have a Pakistani-American girl following after a white woman; the actual "legacy" aspect of the comics is AdaptedOut. In the comics, Kamala Khan chose "Ms. Marvel" as a codename in honor of Carol Danvers, who had once gone by that title before becoming Captain Marvel. In this continuity, Carol had always been "Captain" and Kamala's name is presented as a case of StevenUlyssesPerhero instead since "marvel" is a valid translation of "kamal" in Urdu -- Kamala is certainly willing to exploit the similarity to her idol, but she's not actively setting herself up as Carol's successor.
** ''Series/SheHulkAttorneyAtLaw'': Bruce's cousin Jennifer gains his powers, though Bruce isn't going anywhere and she's continuing her own legal career rather than get involved in crimefighting the way he does. This doesn't stop some in-universe misogynists from whining about another woman "stealing" a hero's title from its original male owner (they're also heard complaining about "[[Film/ThorLoveAndThunder Lady Thor]]").
* ''Series/Stargirl2020'' revolves around the title character forming a new ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica after the originals are killed off by their archenemies. In addition to Stargirl herself (a teenage girl who uses the costume and staff of the deceased ComicBook/{{Starman}}), so far we have:
** Yolanda Montez, a Latina girl who takes over the ComicBook/{{Wildcat}} identity from Ted Grant, a white male.
** Beth Chapel, an African-American girl who takes over the Doctor Mid-Nite identity from Charles [=McNider=], another white male.
** On the villains' side, the new Fiddler is Anaya Bowin, a woman of Indian descent who is married to the original white male Fiddler.

* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'' has a meta example with Kaldur'ahm/Aqualad; however, in this continuity Garth [[RefusalOfTheCall never became Aqualad]], instead going straight to his Tempest identity. The series also has Mal Duncan take on the Guardian identity after the original abandoned it, like his original comic book incarnation (see above). In this version, Mal was never Herald. We also have Jaime as the Blue Beetle, with his Caucasian forebears, Ted Kord and Dan Garrett, both mentioned.
** In ''Outsiders'', Kaldur becomes the second Aquaman succeding Arthur Curry.
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' tends to use minority legacy heroes in favor of their predecessors, despite the show being primarily influenced by UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|Of Comic Books}}. The Jaime Reyes version of Blue Beetle, the Ryan Choi version of the Atom, and the Jason Rusch version of Firestorm are all used in major roles on the show. The only white legacy hero on the show is Dinah Lance, the second ComicBook/BlackCanary (the first being her mother, whom she's named after), the two exceptions being the Vic Sage version of the Question rather than Renee Montoya, and B'wana Beast instead of Freedom Beast. ''Brave and the Bold'' is essentially Modern Age comics with a Silver Age flair. Note that the originals sometimes appear as well. For example, two entire {{Flashback}} episodes dealt specifically with Ted Kord (Blue Beetle II).
* The Franchise/{{Justice League|Of America}} featured in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' has several examples of this. The new Franchise/GreenLantern is a Tibetan teenager named Kai-ro and ComicBook/TheAtom's successor is a black man known as Micron.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'' had an [[CanonForeigner entirely new character]] as the first Clayface; a black police officer named Ethan Bennett. Something of an inverse as well since the show established Basil Karlo (who was the first Clayface in the comics) as Bennett's successor.
* In ''WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012'', Peter briefly utilizes the Iron Spider armor and identity before ditching it. The Iron Spider identity reappears in Season 3, where it is taken up by the Korean-American prodigy Amadeus Cho (who's presented as Peter's academic rival). Several other Spideys appear, including Miles Morales. Much like his comics counterpart, he became Spider-Man after the death of his universe's Peter Parker. The main Peter Parker is understandably very stunned by this (especially when he sees the gravestone) after meeting Miles and being told the story. He later reassures Miles, since Miles feels burdened that he could've done something sooner to save the other Peter, so that he can fully embrace his new role and mantle.

* In ''WesternAnimation/NextAvengersHeroesOfTomorrow,'' Thor's successor is his daughter, Torunn. {{Inverted|Trope}} with Pym, who becomes a male Wasp rather than succeeding his father as Giant-Man.

** Out-of-universe, Creator/AntonioBanderas was the first Hispanic actor to play the role of Zorro. This is no small irony considering that the character has always been portrayed as either a Spaniard or a Mexican (depending on exactly a particular story is set), but his previous actors had all been Americans, of varying heritages but none of them Latino.

* ''WebOriginal/{{FNAFNG}}'': The next-generation of the Fazbear Legacy is comprised of five girls: Bearennice[[note]]Freddy and Beartha's daughter[[/note]], Carol[[note]]Toy Chica's and Chica's adoptive daughter[[/note]], Sarah[[note]]Foxy's and Mangle's daughter[[/note]], Enigma[[note]]Springtrap and Marionette's daughter[[/note]], and Danielle[[note]]Brenda and Roselle's adoptive daughter[[/note]]), and two boys (Kristian[[note]]Bonnie and Toy Bonnie's adoptive son[[/note]] and Paradigma[[note]]Springtrap and Marionette's son[[/note]]). Of them all, three of them are openly LGBT, with Carol being bisexual, Enigma being pansexual, and Danielle being a lesbian.

* ''WebOriginal/{{FNAFNG}}'': The next-generation of the Fazbear Legacy is comprised of five girls: Bearennice[[note]]Freddy and Beartha's daughter[[/note]], Carol[[note]]Toy Chica's and Chica's adoptive daughter[[/note]], Sarah[[note]]Foxy's and Mangle's daughter[[/note]], Enigma[[note]]Springtrap and Marionette's daughter[[/note]], and Danielle[[note]]Brenda and Roselle's adoptive daughter[[/note]]), and two boys (Kristian[[note]]Bonnie and Toy Bonnie's adoptive son[[/note]] and Paradigma[[note]]Springtrap and Marionette's son[[/note]]). Of them all, two of them are openly LGBT, with Carol being bisexual, and Enigma being pansexual.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderVerse'' revolves around an Afro-Latino teenager Miles Morales, who becomes the new Spider-Man after his world's Peter Parker is killed by ComicBook/TheKingpin just like in the comics.

** Beth Chapel, an African-American girl who takes over the ComicBook/DoctorMidNite identity from Charles [=McNider=], another white male.

* ''Series/TheFalconAndTheWinterSoldier'' takes one of the examples from ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' and ends up deconstructing the trope with it, in that the "Affirmative Action" part ends up complicating things immensely. [[spoiler:The title of "Captain America" is [[CaptainPatriotic a major national symbol]]. How can a black man symbolize a country that has mistreated its black citizens for hundreds of years, and continues to do so? Sam starts the series deciding that he ''can't'', only for the government to turn around and give the identity to a white man instead. At the end of the season however, after said white guy goes off the deep end and Sam learns about the history of black super-soldiers in America and decides that it wouldn't be right to stop fighting for what's right despite all the injustices that happened to black people, he becomes Captain America instead and embraces the mantle.]]

* Averted in ''Series/MsMarvel2022'', as while we still have a Pakistani-American girl following after a white woman; the actual "legacy" aspect of the comics is AdaptedOut. In the comics, Kamala Khan chose "Ms. Marvel" as a codename in honor of Carol Danvers, who had once gone by that title before becoming Captain Marvel. In this continuity, Carol had always been "Captain" and Kamala's name is presented as a case of StevenUlyssesPerhero instead since "marvel" is a valid translation of "kamal" in Urdu -- Kamala is certainly willing to exploit the similarity to her idol, but she's not actively setting herself up as Carol's successor.