History Main / InadequateInheritor

* In ''WesternAnimation/TopCat and the Beverly Hills Cats'', a wealthy woman left her entire fortune to her niece because she hates her other relatives. No reason for this hatred has ever been mentioned.

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* ''ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse'': whether or not Scrooge [=McDuck=] considers Donald Duck and Gladstone Gander to be this, thus leaving his fortune to the triplets Huey, Dewey and Louie instead, is a case of DependingOnTheWriter. Although the usual paradigm is that this is the case, as Donald is typically set up as too likely to squander it and Gladstone's luck-dependent laziness offends Scrooge, some stories instead present Donald as the heir, but one who desperately needs some training (at least in Scrooge's eyes).
** The decision to have the triplets be Scrooge's heirs was made most prominently in the 1953 Creator/CarlBarks story "Some Heir over the Rainbow". Taking advantage of the legend of a pot of gold at the end of every rainbow, Scrooge made a SecretTestOfCharacter. To test his potential heirs' skills, he wanted to give one thousand dollars to each one of them without them knowing the money came from him. Using three rainbows and three pots, he managed to give one thousand dollars to Huey, Dewey and Louie; another thousand to Gladstone and the last one to Donald. Donald spent the money on a down payment for a new car; Gladstone saw no immediate need for the money so he decided to hide it somewhere; and Huey, Dewey and Louie used their money to help a man search for a treasure. Before Donald's nephews had a return from their investment, Scrooge would, despite considering an "awful injustice" to allow Gladstone to inherit his fortune, choose the lucky bastard over Donald for being the least likely to squander it.

** Subverted with Ozymandias/Adrian Veidt: he was more than capable of inheriting his father's wealth, but instead he gave it all away and built his own financial empire.

[[folder:Fanfiction]]

** Like in canon, Dirhhennia was passed over in the succession in favor of Crescenta due to her lack of magical abilities. Unlike canon, though, their mother managed to smooth relations between them so there were no hard feelings. Dirhhenia arguably got the better deal, as Crescenta not only regretted taking what she believed was her sister's birthright, [[spoiler:she had stolen Dirhhenia's boyfriend from her, only to find he was a serial cheater.]]

* After being trained by Ranma in the ''ASOIAF''/''Ranma'' crossover ''Fanfic/WildWolfAsoIaFVersion'' Tommem has grown strong and independant enough that he seems like a real Baratheon. impressing his father enough to make him name his second son the crown prince over the coddled and cowardly Joffrey. [[spoiler: Joffrey of course sorts this out by having his younger brother poisoned at breakfast.]]

** [[spoiler: The Old Queen's spirit ultimately reveals that she's come to feel this way about [[FallenHero Jade]] as her successor, feeling that she's clinging too much to her human compassion. So she makes a [[DealWithTheDevil pact]] with [[TheStarscream Tara to help her overthrow Jade]].]]

* Dr. Evil and his son Scott in the ''Film/AustinPowers'' films. Dr. Evil is rather disappointed that his son doesn't want to follow in his footsteps, though Scott was heading in that direction in the second movie and becomes a near copy of his father in the third.[[spoiler: The irony is that by that point [[strike:Dr. Evil]] "Dougie" had [[HeelFaceTurn reformed]]]].

* ''Film/TheGodfather'': Sonny is the one who is being groomed as Vito's heir to control of the Corleone crime family. However, Sonny lacks the impulse control and attention to detail that made his father so successful [[spoiler:and it eventually leads to his death.]] As for his brothers, Fredo is too weak and incompetent to even be considered, [[spoiler: to say nothing of his later betrayal]], while Michael actually wants to leave and live a lawful life [[spoiler: until his father and older brother are shot.]] Then the sequel shows that [[spoiler:even Michael can't live up to his father's rule, as his ruthlessness ultimately alienates everyone closest to him.]]

* A tie-in book for ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'' reveals that Queen Skywynne's older child Jushtin was originally meant to be heir to the throne, but he was considered inadequate due to his gender (as the Butterfly line is matriarchal), leading to his younger sister Solaria being named the heir instead. Ironically, it's all but stated that Jushtin would've been the better choice; while he became a diplomat who created long-lasting alliances between Mewni and several other kingdoms, she was a genocidal, racist warmongerer who tried to kill all monsters and was killed by them in turn.

* One episode of ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'', "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E145TheMasks The Masks]]," is about a group of greedy, selfish in-laws who visit a dying man only because they want a part of his large inheritance. The man gives them the condition that they can only inherit his fortune if they wear a set of hideous-looking masks until midnight. They succeed in fulfilling this condition (and as it turns out, the old man dies at the very stroke of midnight), but the man gets the last laugh on them as it turns out that the masks have permanently disfigured their faces to make them accurately reflect their personalities.

* The Indian epic ''Literature/{{Mahabharata}}'' has this as a recurring problem for the Kuru dynasty. First, the dynasty’s progenitor King Bharat states that none of his nine sons are worthy enough to inherit his kingdom, so he adopts a Brahmin boy and names him Crown Prince. Then we have Dhritharashtra who is first in line, but the kingdom elders deny him the throne due to his blindness. His brother Pandu is made king instead. When Pandu is forced to abdicate and leave, the elders’ concerns about Dhritharashtra are proven right - he ends up an EntitledBastard who is willfully ignorant of his son Duryodhan’s many character flaws. And finally, Duryodhan is also in line for his father’s throne, but everyone wants Pandu’s eldest son, the wise Yudhistir to become the heir. Duryodhan plots and wrests kingdom from his cousin and proves to be a grown up EnfantTerrible whose many transgressions include murder, attempted murder, attempted sexual molestation, DroitDuSeigneur [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and cheating at dice games]]. It takes a bloody civil war to depose him and put the capable Yudhistir back on the throne.

* A tie-in book for ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'' reveals that Queen Skywynne's older child Jushtin was originally meant to be heir to the throne, but he was considered inadequate due to his gender (as the Butterfly line is matrilineal), leading to his younger sister Solaria being named the heir instead. Ironically, it's all but stated that Jushtin would've been the better choice; while he became a diplomat who created long-lasting alliances between Mewni and several other kingdoms, she was a genocidal, racist warmongerer who tried to kill all monsters and was killed by them in turn.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'':

* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade'', Hugh is unable to use dark magic despite the family tradition, which leads his grandmother Niime to treat him like this, calling him a disappointment, an idiot, and pathetic. He's internalized it pretty hard - he concludes (falsely) that he isn't really her grandson, because he can't understand how he can't use dark magic when his father "had more talent for dark magic than [he] could ever hope for" and Niime is a skilled druid even in her advanced age - and says to her, "You must be disappointed that all you have left is a pathetic little grandson". Outside of their supports, he tries to project the image of himself as a talented, cool ladies' man when he acts like a {{Manchild}} half the time, implying that it's also saddled him with an InferioritySuperiorityComplex.

* In ''ComicBook/AstroCity'', Jack Johnson, the first Jack-in-the-Box, was a GadgeteerGenius who designed all manner of clown-based crimefighting equipment and fought with the proficiency of any BadassNormal. His son Zach, who only discovered the truth after the original's death, was, if anything, better than his old man. However, after Zach began training the third, a street orphan named Roscoe James, this left his own son, Jerome, somewhat out in the cold. As it turned out, Jerome was neither a mechanical whiz, nor was he a good athlete (his only attempt at it ended in a busted knee). While his father was entirely okay with this, as it meant he'd live a much safer life, Jerome still clearly felt unhappy he wouldn't be able to carry on the legacy--though he did end up saving a few lives thanks to his medical training.
* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'':

* In ''ComicBook/DarkCrisis'', this seems to be the view concerning Jon Kent as Superman. When Superman and the rest of the Justice League is claimed to have been killed, Jon goes out of his way to recruit a new Justice League. However, most of them refuse to join for different reasons, leading him to take up a RagtagBandOfMisfits. Black Adam, the SoleSurvivor of the League's death, runs Jon through the coals with his choices and tells him that it should have been ''Nightwing'' to lead the charge, not him.
* In Franchise/TheDCU, ComicBook/{{Darkseid}} is known to take a dim view of any of his lieutenants actually being able to control his empire after he dies... especially his son Kalibak.
** Of course, when he so much as disappears for a few days they immediately descend into declaring open war on each other, so it's probably a justified view.

** The decision to have the triplets be Scrooge's heirs was made most prominently in the 1953 Creator/CarlBarks story "Some Heir over the Rainbow". Taking advantage of the legend of a pot of gold at the end of every rainbow, Scrooge made a SecretTestOfCharacter. In order to test his potential heirs' skills, he wanted to give one thousand dollars to each one of them without them knowing the money came from him. Using three rainbows and three pots, he managed to give one thousand dollars to Huey, Dewey and Louie; another thousand to Gladstone and the last one to Donald. Donald spent the money on a down payment for a new car; Gladstone saw no immediate need for the money so he decided to hide it somewhere; and Huey, Dewey and Louie used their money to help a man search for a treasure. Before Donald's nephews had a return from their investment, Scrooge would, despite considering an "awful injustice" to allow Gladstone to inherit his fortune, choose the lucky bastard over Donald for being the least likely to squander it.

* Golgoth, a villain who took over the world in ''ComicBook/{{Empire}}'', has been grooming his daughter who is an innocent princess lookalike, to take over after him. He discovers she actually killed his wife because she was ''holding him back'' and did several other very, ''very'' bad things. Following his example. [[spoiler: He snaps her neck. Sadly, of course.]]

* Subverted in ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' with Ozymandias/Adrian Veidt: he was more than capable of inheriting his father's wealth, but instead gives it all away and builds his own financial empire.
** There are hints (but nothing overt) that this was also largely influenced by the fact that his parents had been Nazis. Adrian changed his name and left any connection to them behind.

* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': All Might's former sidekick Sir Nighteye wasn't thrilled to learn that All Might had chosen Izuku Midoriya, whom he saw as a random Quirkless kid, to be the inheritor of One For All, and during the internship he constantly belittles Midoriya and tries to convince him to give the One For All to Mirio Togata, thinking that he'd be a better successor for having not only the skills and power, but also the personality to become the next Symbol of Peace. He later changes his mind when Midoriya [[ScrewDestiny defies Sir Nighteye's Foresight Quirk]], proving him that what he sees isn't set in stone. [[spoiler:And in an ironic twist, it's later revealed that [[CursedWithAwesome being Quirkless actually]] ''[[CursedWithAwesome made]]'' [[CursedWithAwesome Midoriya a better suited inheritor]], since One For All has the side effect of shortening the wielder's lifespan if they already have a Quirk upon receiving it]].

** Phantom Limb's [[LegacyCharacter family of costumed adventurers]] (suggested to have included Literature/{{Fantomas}} and ComicStrip/ThePhantom) rejected him because severe birth defects left him unable to take on a life of adventuring. He gained his superpowers during a botched attempt to make himself whole and take on "the mantle of his forebears". He later confirms to Dr. Girlfriend that he was disinherited at a young age and forced to work his way up from nothing, unlike the supervillains who fund their evil acts with trust funds.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' plays with this regarding [[spoiler:the title of "[[LegacyCharacter Kenpachi]]". Retsu Unohana, the first Kenpachi, determined that the young boy she fought centuries ago in Rukongai was strong enough to surpass her and inherit her mantle. However, because said child was an even bigger BloodKnight than she was, he subconsciously restrained his own power upon realizing that he was stronger than Unohana, afraid that if he killed her [[LonelyAtTheTop he would never again face]] a WorthyOpponent. This devastated Unohana, [[MyGreatestFailure who was ashamed of being so weak that she made her potential successor cripple himself like this]]. She then stepped down as Kenpachi and allowed others to inherit the title, yet deep down she always knew the people who kept succeeding her as Captains of the 11th Division were in truth pretenders in all but name. Eventually, the young boy from her past, now a stronger, grown man going by Kenpachi Zaraki, [[KlingonPromotion killed the incumbent Captain of the 11th Division and took over in his place]], becoming widely acknowledged by most Shinigami as the strongest Kenpachi in the history of the Gotei 13. When the Wandenreich invades Soul Society and Zaraki suffers a [[CurbStompBattle crushing defeat]] at the hands of [[BigBad Yhwach]], Unohana acknowledges that the time has come for her to restore his true power, and the two engage in a duel to the death where Unohana repeatedly kills and heals Zaraki, each death releasing the restraints he placed on himself. Once he becomes strong enough to land a killing blow on Unohana, [[GoOutWithASmile she happily allows herself to die]] after formally recognizing Zaraki as the true inheritor of the name of Kenpachi]].

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' plays with this regarding [[spoiler:the title of "[[LegacyCharacter Kenpachi]]". Retsu Unohana, the first Kenpachi, determined that the young boy she fought centuries ago in Rukongai was strong enough to surpass her and inherit her mantle. However, because said child was an even bigger BloodKnight than she was, he subconsciously restrained his own power upon realizing that he was stronger than Unohana, afraid that if he killed her [[LonelyAtTheTop he would never again face]] a WorthyOpponent. This devastated Unohana, [[MyGreatestFailure who was ashamed of being so weak that she made her potential successor cripple himself like this]]. She then stepped down as Kenpachi and allowed others to inherit the title, yet deep down she always knew the people who kept succeeding her as Captains of the 11th Division were in truth pretenders in all but name. Eventually, the young boy from her past, now a stronger, grown man going by Kenpachi Zaraki, [[KlingonPromotion killed the incumbent Captain of the 11th Division and took over in his place]], becoming widely acknowledged by most Shinigami as the strongest Kenpachi in the history of the Gotei 13. When the Wandenreich invades Soul Society and Zaraki suffers a [[CUrbStompBattle crushing defeat]] at the hands of [[BigBad Yhwach]], Unohana acknowledges that the time has come for her to restore his true power, and the two engage in a duel to the death where Unohana repeatedly kills and heals Zaraki, each death releasing the restraints he placed on himself. Once he becomes strong enough to land a killing blow on Unohana, [[GoOutWithASmile she happily allows herself to die]] after formally recognizing Zaraki as the true inheritor of the name of Kenpachi]].

* ''ComicBook/RobinSeries'': While the Rahul Lama is unquestionably disappointed with his grandson's arrogance and views on martial arts he still leaves his school to him in hopes that he'll change and with the sad knowledge that the ancient art he's the last living master of will likely die with him. Following his death his grandson indeed proves to be a SketchySuccessor and their martial arts school ends up replaced with a fast food joint.

** Doctor Rusty Venture is this to his father, Jonas. Jonas was everything Rusty isn't: [[TheAce tall, muscular, attractive, successful at seemingly everything, beloved 'round the world, a perennial hero, and the leading figure of a massive empire of both superscience and business]]. Rusty, by contrast, is stringy, bald, homely, a BunglingInventor suffering from countless neuroses, generally held in derision, a NominalHero on most days, and [[IncompetenceInc struggling to keep the decaying family business alive]]. Later on, though, this starts being zigzagged, as it becomes increasingly apparent that Rusty, though not boasting anything resembling Jonas's talent, is a far better man.

A successful bigwig, be it in business, politics, magic or even world conquest, is growing old, and in preparation for an eventual retirement and death, looks to their adult children to see who among them can [[TakeUpMySword take up]] [[TakingUpTheMantle their mantle]]... and is faced with incompetence, TheSlacker, disinterest, or a CorruptCorporateExecutive in the making. These are by no means an exhaustive list of possible shortcomings, indeed just about anything that can make a parent ask "WhyCouldntYouBeDifferent" is grounds for this trope. Special mention should go to times when the Inadequate Inheritor is not good/heroic enough, [[EvilParentsWantGoodKids too evil]], or ''[[MinionWithAnFInEvil not evil enough.]]''

** Even with that, the trope is a subject of some concern in ''Arrows of the Queen,'' albeit to a lesser degree: Queen Selenay's daughter Elspeth is such a RoyalBrat that her mother and the royal Court fear she won't be Chosen and a suitable Heir will have to be selected from among the other Heralds. One of Talia's first responsibilities upon being Chosen as a Herald is to attempt to civilize Elspeth enough that she might be capable of becoming a Herald.
** A non-Herald example appears in the ''Literature/LastHeraldMageTrilogy'', where Vanyel Ashkevron, firstborn son of Lord Withen, looks and acts nothing like his father and is TheUnfavorite. After some misguided attempts to 'shape him up,' Van is packed off to Haven, where he finds his true and tragic destiny as... well, the title character.

** In the third season episode “King’s Ransom”, we learn that the previous King of the Royal Flush Gang thought that the current King (his son-in-law) would be inadequate. This turns out to be true: while the current King is cunning enough to concoct a plan that would benefit himself, his self-centeredness leads him to make decisions that ultimately lead to his daughter making a HeelFaceTurn, his son being arrested and the gang brought to complete ruin.