History Main / PracticallyDifferentGenerations

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTimeVITheSecretOfSaurusRock'': We learn that Cera (who, despite her VagueAge, is still a child) is an aunt to two three-horn hatchlings named Dana and Dinah, thus proving that she has at least one older sibling who is already at an age that he/she can have children. This sibling is not seen, however.

* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': Peter Parker is an orphan raised by his Uncle Ben and Aunt May, who looks more like his grandparents. The usual explanation is that Ben was significantly older than his younger brother Richard, who was Peter's father.

* Franchise/{{Batman}}'s eldest adoptive child Dick is mentioned to be twenty-six in "Nightwing: 321 Days" while his biological son Damian is ten during "Batman Reborn," published two years later. Accordingly, Dick had a PromotionToParent while Bruce was believed to be dead. Bruce's other adoptive children Jason, Tim, and Cassandra are all in between Dick and Damian in age, with Tim said to be seventeen during "Batman Reborn."

* An unintentional example occurred with Comicbook/GreenArrow's sister Emiko Queen. She was originally introduced in the rebooted Comicbook/{{New 52}} continuity, where Oliver Queen, a.k.a. Green Arrow (who, prior to the reboot, was a veteran hero and old enough to have an adult son) had been significantly deaged to somewhere in his 20s. As such, Ollie having a teenage sister was nothing out of the ordinary. However, ''Comicbook/DCInfiniteFrontier'' subsequently reintroduced most of the pre-New 52 continuity, including Connor Hawke, Ollie's aforementioned twenty-something-year-old son, which had the side effect of aging Ollie back up. Because of this, Oliver is once again seemingly in his mid-to-late 30s at the youngest, despite having a little sister who is still in high school. This also means that Emiko is younger than Connor, despite technically being his aunt.
* Franchise/SpiderMan is an orphan raised by his Uncle Ben and Aunt May, who look more like his grandparents. The usual explanation is that Ben was significantly older than his younger brother Richard, who was Peter's father.
* This comes up quite frequently with ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}'s offspring, thanks to his HealingFactor, and he's had numerous ''other'' children over the decades. Most notably, ComicBook/{{Daken}} was born in the 1940s, putting him in his 70s. His sister-by-cloning, ComicBook/{{X 23}} is 20. ''Her'' sister-by-cloning Gabby is physically 13 but is YoungerThanTheyLook because she was rapid-aged to that point.
* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'': ''ComicBook/WonderGirl'' Cassie Sandsmark is several thousand years younger than her half-siblings like [[ComicBook/HerculesUnbound Hercules]], Ares and Athena, whom their father Zeus fathered in antiquity. Like in Myth/ClassicalMythology, it's a consequence of Zeus both being immortal [[ReallyGetsAround and never keeping it in his pants]]. This is {{played for laughs}} when Sandsmark learns of her heritage, as she continues to idolize Wonder Woman, and Wonder Woman continues to treat Sandsmark like a younger sister or even a daughter, despite the fact Cassie is Wonder Woman's ''great aunt''. [[spoiler:In the ComicBook/New52, Wonder Woman is changed to be Cassie's aunt due to Zeus being Diana's father, with Cassie becoming the daughter of one of his demigods instead.]]

* The first line of a popular joke about the different branches of UsefulNotes/Judaism lampshades how common this is in large Orthodox families: "At an Orthodox wedding, the bride's mother is pregnant. At a Conservative wedding, the bride is pregnant. At a Reform wedding, the rabbi is pregnant."

* Franchise/{{Barbie}} is [[VagueAge either]] in her late teens or 20s (her exact age has [[{{Retcon}} varied]]), and is much older than all the siblings she's had over the years: Skipper (originally a preteen, gradually [[AgeLift aged up]] to 16, then back down to 14), Stacie (a preteen), the discontinued Tutti and Todd (small children, though Todd was later reintroduced as Stacie's twin), Chelsea (7 years old), Kelly (a toddler), and Krissy (an infant).

* Franchise/{{Barbie}} is [[VagueAge either]] in her late teens or 20s (her exact age has [[{{Retcon}} varied]]), and is much older than all the siblings she's had over the years: Skipper (originally a preteen, gradually [[AgeLift aged up]] to 16, then back down to 14]], Stacie (a preteen), the discontinued Tutti and Todd (small children, though Todd was later reintroduced as Stacie's twin), Chelsea (7 years old), Kelly (a toddler), and Krissy (an infant).

** Two specific cases involve Hermes: in the first, he's [[one day old AdorablyPrecociousChild]] when he steals adult Apollo's cattle, and his mother Maia brings up his being just a toddler to rebuke the accusations; in another, he's already an adult when he delivers Dionysus from Zeus' thigh, names him, and brings him to his aunts for fostering.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'': According to official sources, Violet is 14 and Dash is 10. Their little brother, Jack-Jack, is a baby.

More often this is because they're half-siblings, with the younger sibling being the result of a MayDecemberRomance on their shared father's part. Or they're full-blooded siblings, but one was born early into their parents' relationship (likely a TeenPregnancy) and the latter in their late 30s/40s, maybe even 50s with an AbsurdlyElderlyMother. Or long after having their first kid, the parents chose to adopt (or vice versa; parents who are having trouble having kids might adopt a child then later succeed in giving birth).

* Some productions of ''Theatre/KingLear'' cast Goneril and Regan as many years older than Cordelia, further highlighting the difference between the wicked older sisters and the pure-hearted youngest one, and possibly hinting that Cordelia had a different mother than the first two. An extreme example is in the 2018 TV movie adaptation, which cast 59-year-old Creator/EmmaThompson as Goneril, 51-year-old Emily Watson as Regan, and ''22-year-old'' Creator/FlorencePugh as Cordelia.

* The FramingDevice of several ''WesternAnimation/{{Barbie}} films involves Barbie telling her younger sister Kelly a story; Barbie appears to be in her twenties, while Kelly looks no older than ten, giving them a gap of around a decade. Barbie is depicted as a CoolBigSis imparting comfort and wisdom to her little sister. This trope also appears in some of the individual films:

* In ''WesternAnimation/BarbieAndTheMagicOfPegasus'', it's revealed that Brietta the pegasus is actually [[spoiler:Annika]]'s older sister, whom she didn't know existed for much of her life. [[spoiler:Annika]] was born after Brietta was [[ForcedTransformation turned into a pegasus]] on her sixteenth birthday, which would make [[spoiler:Annika]] at least sixteen years younger than Brietta. [[spoiler:Funnily enough, when Annika uses the Wand of Light to turn Brietta human again, Brietta looks the same age as Annika though [[OlderThanTheyLook she should be in her thirties]] (it's possible [[AWizardDidIt magic]] had something to do with this)]]. The two quickly bond as sisters despite the age gap and lack of direct interaction up to this point; Brietta also reveals that she's secretly [[BigBrotherInstinct watched over]] [[spoiler:Annika]] all her life.
* In ''WesternAnimation/BarbieAsRapunzel'', Prince Stefan is stated to be almost eighteen years old, with a masquerade ball celebrating his birthday being a plot point, while his younger brother and three sisters all appear to be under ten years of age.

* In ''WesternAnimation/BarbieAsRapunzel'', Prince Stefan appears to be about twenty years old, while his brother and three sisters are all about three.

* PracticallyDifferentGenerations/RealLife

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime'': In ''VI: The Secret of Saurus Rock'' we learn that Cera (who, despite her VagueAge, is still a child) is an aunt to two three-horn hatchlings named Dana and Dinah, thus proving that she has at least one older sibling who is already at an age that he/she can have children. This sibling is not seen, however.

* An unintentional example occurred with Comicbook/GreenArrow's sister Emiko Queen. She was originally introduced in the rebooted Comicbook/{{New 52}} continuity, where Oliver Queen, a.k.a. Green Arrow (who, prior to the reboot, was a veteran hero and old enough to have an adult son) had been significantly deaged to somewhere in his 20s. As such, Ollie having a teenage sister was nothing out of the ordinary. However, ''Comicbook/DCInfiniteFrontier'' subsequently reintroduced most of the pre-New 52 continuity, including Connor Hawke, Ollie's aforementioned twenty-something-year-old-son, which had the side effect of aging Ollie back up. Because of this, Oliver is once again seemingly in his mid-to-late 30s at the youngest, despite having a little sister who is still in high school. This also means that Emiko is younger than Connor, despite technically being his aunt.

* An unintentional example occurred with Comicbook/GreenArrow's sister Emiko Queen. She was originally introduced in the rebooted Comicbook/{{New 52}} continuity, where Oliver Queen, a.k.a. Green Arrow (who had typically been depicted as a middle-aged man prior to the reboot) had been significantly deaged to somewhere in his 20s. As such, Ollie having a teenage sister was nothing out of the ordinary. However, ''Comicbook/DCInfiniteFrontier'' subsequently reintroduced most of the pre-New 52 continuity, including Connor Hawke, Ollie's son (who himself is in his early 20s or late teens at the absolute youngest), which had the side effect of aging Ollie back up. As such, Oliver is once again seemingly in his 40s or very late 30s, despite having a little sister who is still in high school. This also means that Emiko is younger than Connor, despite technically being his aunt.

Siblings tend to be relatively close in age. But there's a wide period where someone can become a parent, which can result in ''decades'' of difference in age. One sibling may be in diapers when the other is already at university or even has children of their own. They're practically in different generations despite being from the same generation. This could lead to BigBrotherInstinct, and for a slightly shorter age gap, AnnoyingYoungerSibling.

* In ''WesternAnimation/BarbieAndTheMagicOfPegasus'', it's revealed that Brietta the pegasus is actually [[spoiler:Annika]]'s older sister, whom she didn't know existed for much of her life. [[spoiler:Annika]] was born after Brietta was [[BalefulPolymorph turned into a pegasus]] on her sixteenth birthday, which would make [[spoiler:Annika]] at least sixteen years younger than Brietta. [[spoiler:Funnily enough, when Annika uses the Wand of Light to turn Brietta human again, Brietta looks the same age as Annika though [[OlderThanTheyLook she should be in her thirties]] (it's possible [[AWizardDidIt magic]] had something to do with this)]]. The two quickly bond as sisters despite the age gap and lack of direct interaction up to this point; Brietta also reveals that she's secretly [[BigBrotherInstinct watched over]] [[spoiler:Annika]] all her life.

* ''ComicBook/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheSearch'': Kiyi is the maternal half-sister of Zuko and Azula, who're 14 and 12 years older than Kiyi, respectively.

* This comes up quite frequently with Comicbook/{{Wolverine}}'s offspring, thanks to his HealingFactor, and he's had numerous ''other'' children over the decades. Most notably, Comicbook/{{Daken}} was born in the 1940s, putting him in his 70s. His sister-by-cloning, Comicbook/{{X 23}} is 20. ''Her'' sister-by-cloning Gabby is physically 13 but is YoungerThanTheyLook because she was rapid-aged to that point.

* In Literature/TheBible, Abraham has two sons, Ishmael and Isaac, born fourteen years apart. Then, when both are already married adults, he marries again and has six more sons, though they're much less important to the narrative.

Sometimes there is also a PlotTwist where it turns out [[FamilyRelationshipSwitcheroo the older sibling was really the parent]] and had the younger “sibling” at [[TeenPregnancy a young age]].