History Main / DyingToBeReplaced

* Ronnie Raymond, the original ComicBook/{{Firestorm}}, was impaled on a magic sword and exploded, directly becoming the [[FreakLabAccident Freak Accident]] that turned Jason Rusch into the next Firestorm. During ''Blackest Night'', they 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. Then in ''The New 52'', history is retconned so that Ron never died and he and Jason became Firestorm at the same time. Gehenna, meanwhile, gets erased from history altogether.

* 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]]. [[BackFromTheDead It didn't take for long, though.]]

* Ronnie Raymond, the original ComicBook/{{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.

* Steve Rogers, the original ComicBook/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 [[Film/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.

* Tempest, the original Aqualad, was recently killed mere months before DC introduced the new Aqualad from ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'' into their continuity.

* 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.

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

* The collected edition of Creator/GrantMorrison's ''Comicbook/NewXMen'' 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 ''WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution'' and the [[Film/XMen 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 ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'' Kara Zor-El was killed off in ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'' and replaced with a non-Kryptonian Supergirl in ''ComicBook/TheSupergirlSaga'' due to the fact that DC wanted to do away with all Kryptonian characters other than Superman but they still need to keep a Supergirl around for copyright purposes.

* Barry Allen, the Earth-One ''Comicbook/TheFlash'', 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.

** 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 existence 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}}.

This trope is similar MentorOccupationalHazard from an in-setting standpoint, but differs significantly as a trope in that such a mentor exists only to die so the hero can replace them; victims of this trope, on the other hand, are always established characters in their own right.

[[AC:Anime/Manga]]

[[AC:Comics]]

* The collected edition of Creator/GrantMorrison's ''Comicbook/NewXMen'' 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 ''WesternAnimation/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.

[[AC: Film]]
* 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.

[[AC: LiveActionTV]]

[[AC: VideoGames]]
* In ''VideoGame/LegendOfDragoon'', this happens on several occasions - it's pretty much a given that all your party members will be Dragoons. So when you get a party member who is a dragoon, yet fight another Dragoon, guess what's going to happen - and guess who will take up the mantle? This is especially true with Lavitz, who has no reason to leave the party sans ''dying'' - which surely does happen.

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Each time a slayer dies, another has her power activated and replaces her predecessor. After Buffy's temporary "death", a new slayer (Kendra) was activated. Kendra was killed off after appearing in only a few episodes, and was replaced by Faith, [[EnsembleDarkhorse who came to be a lot more popular]] and was [[RoundedCharacter fleshed out a lot more]].

* The ComicBook/UltimateMarvel universe contains a few other examples. A boy named Ray Connor became the new Comicbook/{{Daredevil}} after the death of Matt Murdock, while ComicBook/{{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 ComicBook/NickFury.

* Non-comic example (initially): Optimus Prime may have survived getting blasted in the internals on an operating table by Laserbeak in the original ''{{Transformers}}'' series, but he dies after a lengthy duel and several "gut shots" in the [[TransformersTheMovie 1986 animated movie]] to make way for new leader (and [[MerchandiseDriven new toy]]) Rodimus Prime.

* Rather unusual for a TalesSeries game, ''VideoGame/TalesOfZestiria'' does this, somewhat controversially with [[spoiler: Dezel]].

* The original (CharltonComics) ComicBook/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.

* 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 ComicBook/NickFury.

*** The DCU has since undergone a CosmicRetCon which means Wally is now a teen again and was never the Flash.

** 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.

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

* Sabbac, an enemy of Captain Marvel Jr., was reintroduced to the ComicBook/PostCrisis [[TheDCU DC Universe]] in Judd Winick's ''Outsiders'' title... just long enough to be sacrificed by a mob boss to steal his powers.

This trope is similar to TheObiWan from an in-setting standpoint, but differs significantly as a trope in that TheObiWan exists only to die so the hero can replace them; victims of this trope, on the other hand, are always established characters in their own right.

* The collected edition of Creator/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 ''WesternAnimation/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.
* 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 [[Film/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.

* ''{{Smallville}}'' saw [[MagnificentBastard Lionel]] [[HeelFaceTurn Luthor]], the man who could easily be considered the BigBad of the first five or six seasons, get [[DisneyVillainDeath shoved out a window]] by his own son, [[FaceHeelTurn Lex Luthor]], who would remain the series villain until his [[NeverFoundTheBody death by exploding truck]] in season 8. The final season featured a Lionel doppelganger (played by the same actor of course) from an AlternateUniverse and Lex's resurrection via cloning.

* The original [[TheQuestion Question]], reporter Vic Sage, became a primary character in ''ComicBook/FiftyTwo'' as mentor and supporter to [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries Renee]] [[ComicBook/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.

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

* Sabbac, an enemy of Captain Marvel Jr., was reintroduced to the PostCrisis [[TheDCU DC Universe]] in Judd Winick's ''Outsiders'' title... just long enough to be sacrificed by a mob boss to steal his powers.