Be aware that this trope is naturally prone to SPOILERS.
Times where someone takes up another's quest, mission or legacy after their death in Comic Books.
- Astro City:
- The Confessor is succeeded by Altar Boy after the Confessor is revealed to be a vampire and killed in battle.
- Jack-in-the-Box II initially took up the mantle to capture the crime boss his father died pursuing.
- Starbright is replaced by his former Arch-Enemy after the original dies on a mission.
- Done indirectly with Stormhawk — after he dies in a Heroic Sacrifice, the medallion that granted his Beast Man Fusion Dance powers returns to his home, where his wife enshrines it. Later, a burglar steals the medallion, then accidentally becomes G-Dog as a result.
- Batman:
- After having his back broken in Knightfall, Bruce Wayne gives the Mantle of the Bat to Jean-Paul Valley, only to take it away after he goes nuts, and temporarily gives it to Dick Grayson.
- When Bruce was declared dead at the end of Final Crisis, Tim Drake and Jason Todd become Batman before Dick officially takes up the position (and keeps it long after Wayne returns) as Batman with Damian Wayne as his Robin in Batman and Robin. Dick stayed as Batman even after Bruce's return to the costume. Bruce is out and about taking his operation global with Batman Incorporated while Dick is the Batman of Gotham. Sadly, Dick gave up the title of Batman with the New 52, returning to his Nightwing persona.
- In the golden age Batman #55, Bruce Wayne is put through this when a dying cop gives him the "Glory Badge", a special badge given to exceptional GCPD officers. He decides to honor the man's wish to become a cop and keep up the tradition. After a while, a case ended up nearly ended up spoiling his identity as Batman and when things work out for him, Bruce decides to retire and passes the badge down to another to continue the tradition.
- Blue Beetle: The Blue Beetle legacy has been kinda like this. Dan Garret was friends with Ted Kord when Ted took over the role from Dan when he was killed. Though Jaime Reyes didn't know Ted, being around other heroes (and getting the Scarab stuck in him) lead to him to really take over the role.
- Captain America: In The Death of Captain America, Bucky Barnes came back from the dead only to see his former hero Steve Rogers get assassinated, in time to pick up his Mighty Shield. Upon Steve's inevitable resurrection, this briefly became Passing the Torch before Steve went back to being Captain America and Bucky went on / back to being Winter Soldier.
- Between Steve's death and Bucky taking up the shield, Tony Stark tried getting someone to fill in. Clint Barton took the job for about five minutes until an encounter with Kate Bishop (and a What the Hell, Hero?) made him reconsider.
- ElfQuest: The comic plays this straight with the sword New Moon, forged for the wolfrider chieftain Bearclaw. When he dies, he begs his son Cutter to finish the job, and literally invokes the trope:"Finish it for me... Tam, my chief-son...Take New Moon. Your hand is mine now...When you strike...I will strike too..."
- The Flash: Wally West inherits the legacy of his uncle, Barry Allen, who is killed in the middle of Crisis on Infinite Earths.
- Green Lantern: This is a mechanism built-in to the rings and it seems most Lanterns gain their ring immediately in the wake of their predecessor's death (some villains, e.g. in Justice, abused this rule by incapacitating the current GL without killing him, so that his successor isn't "activated"). Sometimes the Lanterns recruit and sometimes a dying Lantern gets to play the Take Up My sword trope straight as Abin Sur did with Hal Jordan.
- Justice Society of America: The murder of Mr. America and his family inspires his old FBI partner to take on the role.
- Les Légendaires: After the Cycle of Anathos, Jadina replaces Danael as leader of the group. While already pretty badass in the first part of the series, she goes through a huge Xenafication.
- Paperinik New Adventures: Attempted, as after the fall of Xerba under the Evronian invasion, the colony ship Antra, one of two that managed to escape, went straight to Earth to warn humanity of the threat and provide us with their advanced technology (that the Evronians feared, prompting the Evronians to fake peaceful intentions to cover the invasion), knowing that, coupled with humanity's warlike nature, they would be able to fight off the Evronians and counterattack, but were intercepted off Saturn. A member of the crew still managed to escape and reached Earth with a database of all Evronian technology but used a disguise that included an Evronian tracker to find Paperinik, prompting a reaction that destroyed the database.
- The Phantom: This is the basis of the Phantom, a title that passes from father to son. No Phantom has ever died of old age or retired, the title is always passed to the next inheritor after the current one has been mortally wounded. The present-day Phantom is the 21st to hold the title.
- Spider-Man:
- Ultimate Spider-Man: The death of ultimate Spider-Man led to Miles Morales becoming the new Friendly Neighborhood Webslinger. The first arc of the new Ultimate Spider-Man series gave a Perspective Flip in which it's revealed that Miles had his power long before Peter ever died. He was adamant not to become a super hero but after witnessing Peter's death, Miles was overcome with guilt due to his own inaction, and decided to carry on his legacy.
- In the mainstream universe, Peter Parker, his consciousness trapped inside Dr. Octopus' dying body, is able to convince Octavius, who is inhabiting Peter's body, to stop being a villain and not to soil the name of Spider-Man with his villainous acts. Octavius agrees, setting the stage for him to become the Superior Spider-Man. It doesn't last as Doc Ock descends back into his selfish antics, leading him to revive Peter and just die.
- Spider-Girl has a pretty painful one with Spider-Verse as her father is killed by Daemos and, after dealing with the Inheritors, she's given Peter's old costume by Mary Jane, who proceeds to dump her Spider-Girl name and go by Spider-Woman. Then, it turns out that poor ol' Mayday hasn't gotten over Peter's death, she still wishes she could have killed Daemos when she had the chance, everyone's still calling her Spider-Girl and the villainess Enthrallia has decided to hypnotize New York's heroes into thinking Mayday was an impostor who killed Peter and took his costume.
- Star Wars Legends:
- The Tales of the Jedi comics had Nomi Sunrider, the Force-sensitive wife of a Jedi, take up his lightsaber and become a Jedi herself after he was killed in battle before eventually becoming the Grand Master of the Jedi Order.
- The comics Nomad and Rebellion centered around a Badass Normal mercenary named Darca Nyl, who's given a lightsaber by a dying Jedi after his son is killed by a Dark Jedi the dying man was attempting to capture. During his quest for revenge, he's mistaken for a Jedi multiple times and ends up becoming a Knight Errant helping anyone he can along the way.
- Superman:
- The Death of Superman led to no less than four Supermen standing up to replace or impersonate him. Three were Anti Hero Substitutes; the fourth was as much of a Cape as the original (if not more so), and was regarded as a legitimate successor to Superman even after the original returned. It helps that he was the only one not claiming to be Superman, just following his legacy.
- In DC Rebirth, the pre-Flashpoint Superman, post-Flashpoint Supergirl, Lex Luthor, Lois Lane and Lana Lang took up the Post-Flashpoint Superman's mantle after he died. He specifically asked his cousin to take up his cape in The Final Days of Superman, and Lois doesn't get through one issue before Lana's forced to take up her sword in Superwoman.
- In alternate universe story The Death of Superman (1961), Lex Luthor manages to murder Superman. However, Supergirl captures him and takes over for her cousin afterwards.Supergirl: You can stop wasting bullets! I have all of Superman's astonishing powers! Gangdom may have succeeded in treacherously killing Superman, but I'm going to carry on his great work!
- In The Leper from Krypton, Superman is dying from an incurable alien disease, so he builds a rocketship and sets course towards a star where his body will be cremated. Supergirl takes her cousin's place when he leaves Earth, but a world-wide crime wave is overwhelming her, so she comes up with the idea to find a Superman substitute and spread a false survival story. Since the Kandorians cannot decide on a proper substitute, she asks Batman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter and Aquaman to take turns in impersonating Superman until the Kandorians pick one replacement.
- Teen Titans: The short-lived Titan Bushido inherited the mantle after the death of his mother. His family had been protecting Japan for generations up to that point.
- The Twelve: The Human Flame was given his fire-powers by the previous holder who was on death's door after being injured in a shootout. However, he feels enormously guilty over it because he held off calling an ambulance in the hopes of the man passing the powers to him rather than risk them being lost with his death. After becoming the Human Flame, he makes up a fake back story about getting the powers by being experimented on by a Mad Scientist. At the end of the story, the Flame is badly injured in the final battle against Dynaman and passes the power to The Phantom Reporter.
- V for Vendetta: When V is killed, Evey takes his place, carrying out the major plan he was killed to prevent and then continuing the role.
