10 Superheroes Who Changed Identities For The Better

in the world of superheroes branding is everything a good name and a memorable costume are what makes heroes like batman and spider-man so utterly brilliant they create an iconic identity that keeps the character recognizable no matter what changes they may go through but some identities just weren't built to last so let's take a look at the time that it worked out for the better as i'm jewels this is whatculture.com and these are 10 superheroes who changed their identities for the better number 10. james rhodes as tony stark's best friend and right-hand man james rhodes has always been a key part of the iron man franchise for decades after tony hung up his iron-plated underoos in the 80s following a relapse into alcoholism roadie was the natural choice to replace him however he never really seemed to inherit the role and was therefore relegated to the west coast avengers team with d-listers like us agent and the glorified janitor known as stingray it was clear that roadie wasn't a true successor just a stand-in until tony got his act together he eventually got his own suit of armor though and carved out a niche as a new superhero with a less flashy black and grey colour scheme and packing more heat than an average red state gun nut war machine proved to be very popular with fans to the point that many were crying out for him to make his big screen debut almost as soon as the first iron man film was announced war machine has had numerous ongoing series over the years and while never reaching the same popularity as iron man he's proven to be one of the most popular and enduring characters in the marvel universe number nine hank pym any list talking about superheroes rebranding themselves has got to mention hank pym at some point because this man has swapped identities more times than you've had hot dinners arguably the best change though was the first as ant-man pym was a founding member of the avengers but always felt like he didn't measure up to his fellow heroes which is pretty justified considering that one of his teammates was literally a god to combat this he reworked his pym particles through the classic comics method of let's just hope the readers don't know enough about science to realize how impossible this is to allow him to increase his height and strength now calling himself giant man hank was able to really grow as a hero pun intended eventually gaining the confidence to lead the avengers for a time and as an added bonus it gave wasp a set of powers distinct from pims and allowed her to become a hero in her own right rather than just being ant-man's sidekick hank would go on to create several more identities over the years that he would swap between based on his mental state including the uh rather morally dubious yellow jacket and the scientific doctor pym however giant man has always represented his highest point that of being a leader and a mentor number eight roy harper when green arrow was introduced he was unashamedly a cheap batman knockoff this of course meant that along with an arrow cave and an arrow mobile he had a teen sidekick named speedy for years roy harper languished as a second-rate robin until the award-winning story snowbirds don't fly where he was revealed to be a heroin addict this marked the beginning of roy's journey into becoming one of dc's most complex characters as he overcame his addiction becoming a secret agent and then even fathered a daughter with a supervillain known as cheshire symbolic of all this growth speedy changed into a gun-toting superhero known as arsenal and became a key member of both the titans and the outsiders a cult favorite harper balanced his superhero duties with his responsibilities as a father eventually roy changed his identity again reconciling with oliver queen and then taking up the mantle of red arrow and eventually becoming a core member of the justice league it's a rare thing indeed to see such a satisfying narrative arc in comics or at least it was until the horrible cry for justice where roy lost his arm and his daughter got addicted to heroin again and then beat up some muggers with a dead cat thankfully the new 52 ret conned anything anyway thanks dc number seven warren worthington so let's cut to the chase right here angel absolutely sucked as one of the original x-men warren's wings gave him the power of flight and that was about it now in real life the ability to fly would be pretty amazing but in the world of comics that's just everyone's preferred method of commuting to work and usually just precedes a sentence like they can also punch things straight into orbit but in this case he couldn't plus angel was a billionaire playboy and nothing bad has ever happened to him clearly something needed to be done to make him more interesting and that something ended up being warren having his wings destroyed by supervillains spiraling into depression and then seemingly killing himself luckily though or maybe luckily with a question mark he was saved by apocalypse who gave him new metal wings and transformed him into the horseman known as death after breaking free from apocalypse's mind control warren would rejoin the x-men as archangel his upgraded powers included the ability to shoot razor blades from his wings and darker and more violent personality have made him a focal point of some of x-men's best stories like the phenomenal uncanny x-force number 6. dick grayson so while most adult superheroes never seem to age it's become quite common to see their teen sidekicks grow up and adopt new identities of their own and the boy wonder that kicked all of this off was the original robin after being in his early teens for several decades dick grayson reached young adulthood in the 80s and decided it was finally about time that he put on a pair of bloody trousers as nightwing he set out to make a new name for himself and come out from batman's shadow and also cut off ties with the dark knight nightwing managed to be much more than just a batman light experience his fun personality and high-flying acrobatics proved popular with fans ensuring that eventually he became one of dc's main heroes now dick's gone on to lead both the teen titans and the outsiders as well as joining the justice league and star in his own long-running series he also patched things up with bruce and has even stepped in to take up the mantle of batman from time to time but always seems to return to the identity that made him the man that he was number five sam wilson so there are a number of people that have taken up the shield of captain america over the years but the newest might be the most controversial falcon has been one of captain america's closest friends for decades often partnering up with the sentinel of liberty to fight crime using his incredible power of flight and slightly goofier power of being able to talk to birds after a fight against the villain iron nail used up the last of his super soldier serum in steve's body it left him as an old man and he was forced to retire and so appointed sam as his successor now this being comics it wouldn't be long until sam reverted back to the identity of the falcon with steep stepping back into the part to play captain america following well uh the unpleasantness that was secret empire but his live-action counterpart is currently tearing things up as the sentinel of liberty in the mcu number four bucky barnes during world war ii captain america fought the nazis with the help of his teenage sidekick bucky however when he was revived in the modern age it was revealed that bucky had been killed in the same explosion that had left cat frozen in ice for years afterwards bucky was considered to be a character that absolutely could not be brought back to life while this being comics the impossible definitely was possible because he was resurrected in the incredible captain america story the winter soldier this story retconned bucky's death revealing that he also survived the explosion albeit missing an arm and was fished out of the ocean by the soviet union they then brainwashed him and turned him into a badass cybernetic assassin kept young over the years by staying in cryogenic suspension between missions it also revealed that bucky was older than originally portrayed in the comics and was actually a trained spy explaining why exactly everyone was cool with cap throwing a teenage boy into literally all of the war zones winter soldier started off as a villain but cap managed to break his old friend's brainwashing and he now helps the heroes as an international and sometimes extraterrestrial secret agent number three barbara gordon batgirl actually started off life as a character introduced to diversify the 60s batman tv show before making the jump over to comics the daughter of james gordon barbara proved to be a popular character and a welcome addition to the batman family unfortunately she was retired in the 80s and then things got even worse when alan moore got his hands on her shortly after in the killing joke the joker shot her through the spine as part of a plan to drive commissioner gordon insane barbara was paralyzed from the waist down her crime fighting days were over possibly making this the most high profile victim of comics women in refrigerators trope also it seemed because it was revealed later on that barbara was actually the secret identity of oracle who had been the mysterious hacker that had been seen in the pages of suicide squad as oracle barbara became indispensable to the heroes of the dc universe with her keen intelligence and hacker know-how eventually forming the all-female team birds of prey more importantly she was also a disabled superhero something both marvel and dc really don't have enough of of course that all went out of the window with the new 52 and barbara was back to being batgirl thanks again dc number two carol danvers an officer of the us air force carol danvers was a close friend of the original captain marvel and after being given similar powers to him by a machine called the psych magnetron joined him as the superhero miss marvel miss marvel went on to star in her own series where she proved herself as an outspoken feminist fighting for the rights of women to be equally as respected as men famously captain marvel eventually died after a battle with cancer leaving a pretty big pair of boots to fill carol seemed like the obvious choice to replace him but was constantly passed over for other heroes and seemed to fade away into the background only making sporadic appearances thereafter the character has had a resurgence throughout the past decade becoming a core part of the avengers after suffering a great deal of hardship in the 80s and 90s this culminated in her finally taking up the mantle of captain marvel proving herself as a true successor to the role and an equal to the original and number one wally west barry allen became the flash after a freak lab accident gave him super speed a few years later the exact same thing happened to his nephew wally and instead of questioning his lab's lacks attitude towards health and safety barry took him on as his sidekick known as kid flash much much later barry sacrificed himself to save the world during crisis on infinite earths and wally had to step up and become the flash unlike dick grayson's occasional stints as batman wally's time as the flash lasted for decades at first he struggled with being slower than barry but he grew into the role and became faster than even his old mentor and also found more creative uses for his super speed such as creating whirlwinds but what really made wally special though was his treatment of his villains instead of the usual punch-to-the-face method of rehab while he would treat his foes like the down on their luck human beings that they actually were and tried to help them stay on the straight and narrow he even made reformed criminal pie piper an essential part of his team while he was another casualty of the new 52 though vanishing from continuity however he did return as part of dc rebirth restoring the emotional heart to the dc universe thanks dc for real this time oh wait what's that uh he lost his mind at massacre superhero sanctuary and is now the living embodiment of dc's exploitation of watchmen and the new doctor manhattan oh brilliant cool cool run cool and there we go those were 10 superheroes who changed identities for the better i hope that you enjoyed that and please let me know what you thought about it down in the comments section below as always i've been jules you can go follow me over on twitter at retroj with the zero or you can swing by liv and let's dice that's dice with a c where i do all of my streaming outside of work as well as my warham about reports and it'll be great to see you over there my friends as always i've been jules you have been awesome never forget that and i'll speak to you soon bye

Channel: WhatCulture Comics

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Rating: 4.8982558 out of 5

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Id: KmM7l8lTm_4

Length: 11min 43sec (703 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 31 2021