History Main / DyingToBeReplaced

* The original (CharltonComics) BlueBeetle was mortally wounded in the line of duty, and had to hastily pass the mantle (though not the AppliedPhlebotinum behind his powers) off to Ted Kord.
** Who was killed off much later to introduce a third completely different version of BlueBeetle. Really, if they'd given the characters different names, it wouldn't have been such a problem, considering they all have different power sets.

* Holly Granger, the second Hawk (of the Hawk and Dove duo), was killed during ''BlackestNight'' so that Hank Hall (her deceased predecessor), could return to life and join the ComicBook/BirdsOfPrey.

* The UltimateMarvel universe contains a few other examples. A boy named Ray Connor became the new Comicbook/{{Daredevil}} after the death of Matt Murdock, while {{Wolverine}} was succeeded by his illegitimate son Jimmy Hudson. TheWasp was also killed and replaced by Petra Laskov, a DarkerAndEdgier version who works as an assassin for NickFury.

* In ''Manga/AkatsukiNoYona'', once a new "dragon warrior" is born, their predecessor slowly loses their powers and subsequently their life.

* In ''Manga/AktasukiNoYona'', once a new "dragon warrior" is born, their predecessor slowly loses their powers and subsequently their life.

* The [[EnsembleDarkhorse original]] [[MagnificentBastard Hobgoblin]] was recently reintroduced after ten years of being PutOnABus, only to be easily killed off by a Z-list ex-superhero-turned-villain named Phil Urich who took up his mantle. The fans were not pleased, not just Hobgoblin fans, but Urich fans as well. Urich was popular because he was an over-his-head, Z-list hero who really, really did not want to be a hero (going so far as trying to call the Fantastic Four to deal with a villain). Turning him into yet ''another'' insane Goblin villain robbed him of his uniqueness and was vastly out-of-character. Many fans consider what happened to be [[FanonDiscontinuity non-canon]] and are eagerly awaiting a retcon.
** On the other hand, Urich went insane ''[[DidTheResearch before]]'' he became the Hobgoblin, and he's actually filled the boots pretty well.
** Given the original's habit of using proxy Goblins, not to mention the fact that he has a ''freaking twin brother'', such a retcon wouldn't be too difficult.
*** [[AndThereWasMuchRejoicing And this is exactly what they went with]]. Phil Urich now [[PragmaticVillainy leases]] the Hobgoblin name.

*** The DCU has since undergone a CosmicRetCon which means Wally [[RetGone never existed]]. [[InternetBackdraft This did not go over well with the fans]].

* Barry Allen, the Earth-One ''{{Flash}}'', was killed off in ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'' so that Kid Flash, Wally West, could inherit his superhero identity. Oddly enough, an even older Flash, Jay Garrick of Earth-Two survived the Crisis.

* Ronnie Raymond, the original {{Firestorm}}, was impaled on a magic sword and exploded, directly becoming the [[FreakLabAccident Freak Accident]] that turned Jason Rusch into the next Firestorm. They recently brought back the original Firestorm and decided to merge him with Jason, which then resulted in Jason's partner Gehenna being killed off to make room for Ronnie. It's now been retconned so that Ron never died and he and Jason became Firestorm at the same time.

* In ''{{Film/Skyfall}}'' Judi Dench's M dies and is replaced by Ralph Fiennes' character Gareth Mallory. [[TropesAreNotBad This worked fairly well]], mostly because the replacement character got a reasonable amount of screentime during the movie and an EstablishingCharacterMoment or two to prove that he's ''not'' a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute.

* Steve Rogers, the original CaptainAmerica was killed off in the end of the ''Comicbook/CivilWar'' crossover, with his mantle passing to his former sidekick Bucky. Bucky himself apparently died during the ''Comicbook/FearItself'' storyline (suspiciously around the time the [[CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger Captain America movie]] was coming out) so Steve could reclaim the mantle. In a twist, it turned out that Bucky's death had merely been a fake-out so that he could return to the Winter Soldier identity.

* In ''DoctorWho'', while this generally happened to each Doctor for RealLifeWritesThePlot reasons, the most obvious example is the Seventh Doctor, who is brought back after being absent for six years just to be killed off in the first twenty-five minutes so he can be replaced by the actual main Doctor of the story, Creator/PaulMcGann's Eighth Doctor. The BBC even wanted this to be Creator/TomBaker's Doctor on the grounds that, since he's the most recognisable Doctor, it would be more shocking to the audience and more proof of quality to Paul [=McGann=]'s (fifth?) Doctor to see him die.

** He's not the only one; the first half of the movie is an exercise in killing off old characters to make way for [[MerchandiseDriven new toys]]. Sometimes in nigh identical roles, such as the [[OldSoldier]] Ironhide being killed off and replaced by the [[OldSoldier]] Kup.

** He's not the only one; the first half of the movie is an exercise in killing off old characters to make way for [[MerchandiseDriven new toys]].

May invoke TakeUpMySword.

* The Franchise/{{Batman}} foe Spellbinder was shot by his girlfriend after turning down an offer for demonically enhanced powers during the ''UnderworldUnleashed'' storyline, so she could receive them (and his identity) instead.

* Barry Allen, the Earth-One ''{{Flash}}'', was killed off in ''{{Crisis on Infinite Earths}}'' so that Kid Flash, Wally West, could inherit his superhero identity. Oddly enough, an even older Flash, Jay Garrick of Earth-Two survived the Crisis.

** Subverted in Barry's return to comics, which didn't kill anyone. The line of succession so far has been: Jay being written out of existance to make way for Barry (Jay got better) who was killed to make way for Wally, who was PutOnABus to make way for Bart, who was killed to make way for Wally (Bart got better) who discovered Barry was really alive. Really it just means that being the Flash makes you reality's {{Butt Monkey}}.

* The collected edition of GrantMorrison's ''[[Comicbook/{{X-Men}} New X-Men]]'' run revealed that he had planned to kill off Rogue and replace her with a teen successor who was closer to the character's depiction in ''XMenEvolution'' and the [[Film/{{X-Men}} live-action movies]]. As Creator/ChrisClaremont had claimed Rogue as part of his ''X-Treme X-Men'' title, Morrison was unable to follow through with this plan.

* The original [[TheQuestion Question]], reporter Vic Sage, became a primary character in ''ComicBook/FiftyTwo'' as mentor and supporter to [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries Renee]] [[GothamCentral Montoya]]. Throughout the series he trained her in meditation, martial arts and learning to deal with her own inner demons (And boy, does she have some demons), until he died of lung cancer and Renee took over the mask and title of TheQuestion.

* The collected edition of GrantMorrison's ''[[Comicbook/{{X-Men}} New X-Men]]'' run revealed that he had planned to kill off Rogue and replace her with a teen successor who was closer to the character's depiction in ''XMenEvolution'' and the [[Film/{{X-Men}} live-action movies]]. As ChrisClaremont had claimed Rogue as part of his ''X-Treme X-Men'' title, Morrison was unable to follow through with this plan.

* ''DragonBall'': Goku was killed by Cell because [[AkiraToriyama the author]] wanted to replace him with Gohan, but his popularity made him return.

* NeilGaiman killed off the original BlackOrchid, Susan Linden-Thorne, in order to replace her with his own creation Flora Black. Flora later got this treatment herself in order to be replaced with the third Black Orchid, Suzy.

* Steve Rogers, the original CaptainAmerica was killed off in the end of the ''Comicbook/CivilWar'' crossover, with his mantle passing to his former sidekick Bucky. Bucky himself apparently died during the ''Comicbook/FearItself'' storyline (suspiciously around the time the [[CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger Captain America movie]] was coming out) so Steve could reclaim the mantle. [[spoiler: In a twist, it turned out that Bucky's death had merely been a fake-out so that he could return to the Winter Soldier identity.]]

* In ''{{Film/Skyfall}}'' [[spoiler:Judi Dench's M dies and is replaced by Ralph Fiennes' character Gareth Mallory]]. [[TropesAreNotBad This worked fairly well]], mostly because the replacement character got a reasonable amount of screentime during the movie and an EstablishingCharacterMoment or two to prove that he's ''not'' a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute.

* The [[EnsembleDarkhorse original]] [[MagnificentBastard Hobgoblin]] was recently reintroduced after ten years of being PutOnABus, only to be easily killed off by a Z-list ex-superhero-turned-villain named Phil Urich who took up his mantle. The fans were not pleased, not just Hobgoblin fans, but Urich fans as well. Urich was popular because he was an over-his-head, Z-list hero who really, really did not want to be hero (going so far as trying to call the Fantastic Four to deal with a villain). Turning him into yet ''another'' insane Goblin villain robbed him of his uniqueness and was vastly out-of-character. Many fans consider what happened to be [[FanonDiscontinuity non-canon]] and are eagerly awaiting a retcon.
** On the other hand, Urich went insane [[DidTheResearch ''before'']] he became the Hobgoblin, and he's actually filled the boots pretty well.

*** [[AndThereWasMuchRejoicing And this is exactly what they went with]]. Phil Ulrich now [[PragmaticVillainy leases]] the Hobgoblin name.
* The UltimateMarvel universe contains a few other examples. A boy named Ray Connor became the new {{Daredevil}} after the death of Matt Murdock, while {{Wolverine}} was succeeded by his illegitimate son Jimmy Hudson. TheWasp was also killed and replaced by Petra Laskov, a DarkerAndEdgier version who works as an assassin for NickFury.

* This is one of the reasons [[WesternAnimation/SouthPark Kenny]] was KilledOffForReal at the end of Season 5, rather than in the [[TheyKilledKennyAgain usual fashion]]. The final episode was meant to establish Butters' {{ascen|ded Extra}}sion to MainCharacter status and his replacing of Kenny, who the creators [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness had gotten tired of]].

* In ''{{Film/Skyfall}}'' [[spoiler:Judi Dench's M dies and is replaced by Ralph Fiennes' character Gareth Mallory]].

* The Comicbook/{{Batman}} foe Spellbinder was shot by his girlfriend after turning down an offer for demonically enhanced powers during the ''UnderworldUnleashed'' storyline, so she could receive them (and his identity) instead.

* Barry Allen, the Earth-One ''{{Flash}}'', was killed off in ''Crisis on Infinite Earths'' so that Kid Flash, Wally West, could inherit his superhero identity. Oddly enough, an even older Flash, Jay Garrick of Earth-Two survived the Crisis.

*** The DCU has since undergone a CosmicRetCon which means he's [[RetGone never existed]]. [[InternetBackdraft This did not go over well with the fans]].

* The Comicbook/{{Batman}} foe Spellbinder was shot by his girlfriend after turning down an offer for demonically enhanced powers during the ''Underworld Unleashed'' storyline, so she could receive them (and his identity) instead.