History Main / OlderSidekick

->''"I continue to be utterly mystified by why Lex, who is old enough to drink and has an awesome mansion, keeps hanging out with a bunch of high school seniors. He’s got to be like 25 by now."''\\
--'''Chris Sims''' and '''David Uzumeri''' [[http://http://comicsalliance.com/recap-smallville-episode-4-8-spell/ on]] ''{{Series/Smallville}}'' ("Spell")

** It's actually a subversion; Roy and Hughes are the exact same age. Hughes just seems older because he's more laid back and has a wife and child.
** Also Fu, one of Ling's bodyguards. Fu looks 60 or 70, and Ling is only 15. Justified in that Ling is a prince, and Fu's entire family serves the royal line.

* TigerAndBunny has Wild Tiger, a super hero in his late thirties that is losing popularity due to his age. To boost ratings for Hero TV, Tiger's sponsors assign him to be the sidekick of the 23 year old hero Barnaby. The age difference between them is often emphasized, with Barnaby insultingly referring to Tiger as "Old Man" for almost the entire first season.

->'''David:''' LEX’S ROAD TO VILLLAINY BEGINS HERE: Providing ALCOHOL to UNDERAGE KIDS.\\
'''Chris''': Lex Luthor’s path to evil begins with beasting off the Riesling.\\
'''David''': I continue to be utterly mystified by why Lex, who is old enough to drink and has an awesome mansion, keeps hanging out with a bunch of high school seniors. He’s got to be like 25 by now.\\

* Captain Jack Harkness to the Doctor in the ''Series/DoctorWho'' two-parter "The Stolen Earth"/"Journey's End". [[spoiler:After being trapped under Cardiff for 2000 years]] in his spinoff show ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'', he's now [[spoiler:twice as old as the Doctor, who claimed to be 903 around that time]].
** Though naturally much younger than [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld The Doctor]], Wilf in [[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS4E17E18TheEndOfTime The End Of Time]] certainly looks the part, being the Doctor's oldest human companion.

* The actor who plays John Watson in BBC's ''{{Series/Sherlock}}'' is five years older than the one who plays Sherlock. However, the age difference isn't obvious and so far hasn't come up on the show.

* Tuxedo Mask, ''SailorMoon'''s [[CharacterExaggeration college-age]] boyfriend. He starts out as the MysteriousProtector, but quickly falls into sidekickdom by the end of the first season. Note that he's college-aged in the ''anime'', whereas in the manga he still was attending HighSchool.

* ''SengokuBasara'' has two instances of these. First is Date Masamune's BattleButler Katakura Kojuro, who has a good ten years on his master and is implied to be somewhat stronger, and second is Sanada Yukimura's {{Ninja}} Sarutobi Sasuke. Both examples also play the part of the HypercompetentSidekick to their rather young and inexperienced leaders, serving as a calmer counterpart to the HotBlooded teenagers. Incidentally, both masters and sidekicks are [[TheRival rivals]] to one another.

* In the third and fourth ''[[TortallUniverse Alanna]]'' books, having won her shield, Alanna goes out to roam the world. Her only travelling companions are her cat Faithful and Coram, technically in her employ, but more or less a father figure.

* SmallAnnoyingCreature and borderline TeamPet Riki, from ''{{Xenoblade}}.'' Although his cuteness makes his age difficult to ascertain and he talks like a small child, he's actually a forty-year-old father of ''[[MassiveNumberedSiblings nine]]''. [[spoiler: Technically speaking, Melia is older, but because she [[Really700YearsOld ages differently due to her race]], she's functionally the same age as the rest of the party.]]

* The [[Manga/{{Naruto}} Akatsuki]] usually pairs their members like this.

* Captain Haddock, {{Tintin}}'s sidekick, starting in 1941.

** Joe Biden, Vice President to BarackObama. Before him, LyndonJohnson, Vice President to JohnFKennedy.
** Then we have Dick Cheney's vice presidency to GeorgeWBush.

* The [[{{Naruto}} Akatsuki]] usually pairs their members like this.

* Despite his 11-year seniority, Kisame from ''{{Naruto}}'' acknowledges his junior partner Itachi as the strongest of the duo and does everything he says without question. So that would indeed make him the sidekick.

* Han Solo to Luke Skywalker in ''StarWars'', where the older, more worldly ([[TheSnarkKnight and cynical]]) Han serves as a foil to the [[WideEyedIdealist younger and more idealistic]] Luke. Later they develop a [[BigBrotherMentor older/younger brother]] kind of relationship.

* Modern-day paladin Michael Carpenter plays this role whenever he pairs up with Harry Dresden in ''TheDresdenFiles''

** Karrin Murphy [[spoiler:who is four years older than Harry]] also fits this role.

* John Watson in BBC's Sherlock

* Pop from ''Dai no Daibouken'' is a few years older than the protagonist Dai.

* Though there are many fans who don't want to think of it this way, Kamina of TengenToppaGurrenLagann is really just an OlderSidekick to the true main character, Simon.

* Phoenix's regular partner in the ''AceAttorney'' saga is his young assistant Maya Fey, but when he needs extra assistance he calls Maya's older sister Mia fey, who fits in this trope. Also, Mia's assistants were her mentor's Marvin Grossberg and Diego Armando, both older than her. Then Apollo was assisted in his first case by his mentor Kristoph Gavin, and later Phoenix himself, and finally in the Spinoff ''AceAttorney Investigations'', Edgeworth will be helped by the older Detective Gumshoe.

* Sid Waterman (WoodyAllen) to Sondra Pransky (ScarlettJohansson) in ''Scoop''.

[[quoteright:300:[[DanDare http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Dan-Dare-and-Digby_6528.jpg]]]]

* Digby, DanDare's PluckyComicRelief sidekick.

See also MsRobinsonBoyWonder. Contrast with TheObiWan.

* In Books 3 and 4 of ''TheFaerieQueene'', the only female knight, Britomart, is accompanied by her old nanny, Glauce, disguised as her squire.

* Sergeant Lewis to InspectorMorse in the original novels.

* Marc to Jame in PC ChroniclesOfTheKencyrath.
* In ''TheChroniclesOfPrydain'', [[WanderingMinstrel Fflewddur Fflam]] is the OlderSidekick to [[FarmBoy Taran]] and [[RebelliousPrincess Eilonwy]], who are barely out of their teens. He subverts the expectation that he would be more mature and responsible than them, however, being something of a [[WideEyedIdealist romantic and a daydreamer]] ([[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass although he's still handy in a fight]]).
* In the ''{{Belgariad}}'', [[MosesInTheBullrushes Garion]] has several older companions who're basically there to fight his battles, since he's still a child and has no real combat training for most of the series. By the time of the second quintology, several years have passed and he's more than capable of taking on enemies himself, so his former companions get a side story throughout the books instead of being part of Garion's party.
* In ''TheElenium'' by the same author, middle-aged knight Sparhawk has an even older squire called Kurik. When asked by his childhood friend why he didn't just let Kurik retire, since every other knight in the order had learned to make do without a squire by this point, Sparhawk replied that Kurik had been placed in his service since he was a boy and he wouldn't even know where to begin in telling his oldest companion his services were no longer required.

* Mike to Gus in ''BreakingBad''. Neither is particularly ''young'', but Mike is clearly older.

** Itachi (21) and Kisame (40)
** Deidara (19) and Tobi/[[spoiler: Obito Uchiha]] (possibly mid-30's)
** Hidan (22) and Kakazu (51)

* In ''{{Harry Potter}}'', both Ron and Hermione are - albeit slightly - older than the title character.

* Jake in ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime''.

* Mike to Gus in ''BreakingBad''. Neither is particularly ''young'',, but Mike is clearly older.