Should heroes age?

[Crimz]

Was watching this video by Comicstorian that was talking about whether characters should age and pass on the mantles to others.




They make a good case. Passing on mantles like Iron Man to Riri may have gone down better if Tony was aging out of being a superhero and trained Riri to take his place. I like the idea that eventually these heroes will retire for good or maybe die heroically (permanently) and let a new generation take over. I wouldn't them to age in real time, but definitely age instead of this suspended animation they're in now. It would be cool to see the Marvel landscape look completely different with new and different heroes 20 years from now.

What do you guys think?

[leokearon]

They should age (which they have been), part of the experience is seeing these characters grow and develop as you grow. Spidey and other heroes wouldn't be as relatable if they were stuck in High School forever.

[Crimz]

They should age (which they have been), part of the experience is seeing these characters grow and develop as you grow. Spidey and other heroes wouldn't be as relatable if they were stuck in High School forever.

They did age but haven't for years. When they do age for a run they are usually reverted back at the end of it. Just look at X-Men students, Anole has graduated that school so many times.

[catbellysqueezer]

They should and my favorite hero is the second ant man, Scott Lang.

But in reality comics are a business and a lot of people hate change so it is a big risk.

[Dr. Skeleton]

No. A few years is enough.

[SpiderClops]

No. A few years is enough.

I agree. They should age, but not to the point of retiring or making "I'm getting too old for this ****." jokes.

[DurararaFTW]

I think they should, even to the point of retiring.

[Mike]

No they should not.

[XPac]

No. You don't want iconic characters like Bruce Wayner or Peter Parker retiring out of old age. These are proven cash cows, and it would be stupid to do that.

[Killerbee911]

No. You don't want iconic characters like Bruce Wayner or Peter Parker retiring out of old age. These are proven cash cows, and it would be stupid to do that.

If you developed the successor then it doesn't matter and Wally West and Kyle Rayner replaced the original just fine.And at some point in time Miles could replace Peter as the main Spiderman.

People often ignore that it is possible to improve on the original I mean you can make legit arguments that Barry Allen and Hal Jordan are better characters and use of the concept than Alan Scott and Jay Garrick.As crazy as it sounds you can make better characters than Bruce Wayne and Peter Parker.

[mrbrklyn]

Skeezix did.

[MyriVerse]

Nothing more depressing than reading characters stuck at the same age for 50 years.

Franklin should be about 17 by now, imo.
Teens in the 60s (Spidey, Johnny, O5 X-Men) should be in their mid-30s.
Cap, mid-40s (but thanks to SSS, it shouldn't physically matter).
People like Reed, mid-50s (but thanks to his powers, it shouldn't physically matter).

I think there should be a 3:1 time ratio, so it's been about 19+ years since FF#1.

[DrNewGod]

It depends. The FF has required a certain amount of aging recognition to allow for Richard's family. The Avengers and the X-Men have required a certain amount to account for the veritable legion of members they've each had.

However, there are some characters that simply aren't feasibly replaceable, and if you pass a name across enough different characters, it ceases to have any meaning as a brand (unless you have a scenario like The Nova Corps behind it).

[L.R Johansson]

No.

A few years of experience, but after that, they need to stay forever young, or forever matured. That's all you need, really.

And never, EVER should a hero retire! H*ck, that's one thing I like about Superman - with Earth-2 supes, one could do stories where he's been around for DECADES, but he's still vibrant, in his 40's-50's, not his 110's...

[Triniking1234]

They should but it's hard to keep track of the timelines of all the characters Marvel have.