It can’t have escaped the notice of any mainstream comics reader that the current editorial staff and head writers at DC don’t seem to be hugely fond of the last generation or two of “legacy heroes”. The past few years have seen a number of contemporary incumbents of long-standing identities either outright killed off or simply otherwise removed from their role so that the guy who had the job when Geoff Johns was a teenager can take it back instead. It’s an odd phenomenon, and one that’s symptomatic of a wider malaise in DC’s comics at the moment – which is that with the odd honourable exception, such as Grant Morrison’s peerless Batman run, the non-crossover-related issues of Tomasi’s Green Lantern Corps or Palmiotti/Conner’s Power Girl, very little at DC is about the excitement of ideas. Instead, it’s just about “look at these characters, look how COOL they are!” – and in lots of cases, that attitude stems from fond memories of how “awesome” they used to be. The suggestion seems to be that while in the 1990s we bought comics on the strength of artists like Lee and McFarlane, and in the 2000s we bought them on the strength of writers like Bendis and Ellis, in the 2010s the main motivation for picking a particular comic off the shelf is whether it features a character you liked to sit in your bedroom and read twenty or thirty years ago.

It means that the identity of the character behind the iconic mask becomes less important – and so writers begin to think they can screw around with it to fit their own personal preferences. I’ve written recently about the problems faced by the return of Barry Allen – and the most galling thing about it is that, in the year or so since Allen has actually been back, there’s been no decent storytelling reason put forward for his taking over the role. If Johns had a vision for the quintessential Flash story that could only be told with Barry and not Wally West, I’d understand it – but the evidence from his series so far suggests that he doesn’t.

(The irony, incidentally, is that the majority of the characters being put back in their original places weren’t actually the first incumbents of their particular roles. There’s no reason why they have a right to be The One And Only Version, yet the rule seems to be Silver (or, perhaps more accurately, Bronze) Age Trumps All.)

It’s doubly frustrating when the character that’s held the job most recently actually had a lot of trouble taken to be established as an engaging figure in their own right. A striking example is Jaime Reyes – thankfully spared the “de-legacy” cull, so far at least – who had to deal with the hurdle of the fact that, for many of us, Ted Kord was a character we didn’t want to see shoved aside to make way for someone fresh and new, but ended up starring in one of the best comics DC has published for years. And this very week there’s a sense that a good deal of character establishment has been thrown entirely down the drain, by virtue of DC killing yet another legacy hero (whose identity I won’t spoil until after the jump) in order to clear the decks for their predecessor’s return. And it just leaves you wondering: is anyone safe any more?

So as Ryan “The Atom IV” Choi joins the likes of Kyle Rayner, Wally West, Arthur Joseph Curry, Connor Hawke and Jason Rusch in being unceremoniously shoved out of the way, what other legacy heroes might find themselves in danger should Geoff Johns happen to notice that they were created while he was an adult?

Jaime Reyes / Blue Beetle III. Odds against regression: 2/1
Possibly the most at-risk at the moment. And no, I’m not just saying that because of the undertones of casual/subconscious racism that others online have perceived in the recent regressive trend at DC. But given the increased focus on the JLI characters of late, it’s hard not to suspect that the return of Ted Kord will be a major plot point in the DCU at some point over the next year or so. They even tested the waters by having a pre-death version show up in Booster Gold. As much as I’d love to see Ted back, though, I steadfastly hope it’d only be in his civilian guise – because Jaime has arguably made the role of Blue Beetle as a superhero his own in a way Ted never really did. I’d even go so far as to call him the best legacy hero since Jack Knight. Hopefully his status as a popular guest star on the Brave and the Bold cartoon will be enough to save him – but given the current trend, I honestly wouldn’t rule out any bit of foolishness.

Renee Montoya / The Question II. Odds:6/1
The odds against this are lengthened by the fact that no-one had really had much to say about Vic Sage for years anyway before his excellent turn in 52 - a turn that was specifically designed around the idea of killing him off and setting up Renee as his replacement. Plus, her backup strips in Detective Comics have been fairly well-received, and besides – if DC were to kill off their popular Dominican-American lesbian character, they really would have questions to ask on the treatment-of-minorities front.

On the other hand, they put Ryan Choi in a matchbox. You can’t rule anything out.

Damian Wayne / Robin V. Odds: 10/1.
Damian won’t be Robin forever, of course. But although immediately after Batman RIP, if you asked me about the likely plan for the character I’d have suggested that he’d be Robin for the duration of Batman and Robin before handing back to Tim Drake, twelve issues of B&R have shown that’s clearly not going to happen. Morrison has rather brilliantly established Damian as a great character in his own right, one who is a good Robin, and who wants to be Robin – and so he now fits into the role in a way that was previously difficult to imagine. Can’t wait to see how he gets on when his Dad reclaims the Cowl, too. So if Tim Drake does move on from being “Red Robin”, it won’t be to go back to being Robin; and when Damian isn’t Robin any more, it won’t be Tim (or Dick, or Jason) that the mask goes back to.

Stephanie Brown / Batgirl VI. Odds: 4/1.
Cassandra Cain was an especially popular character with certain fans and creators, and you suspect it’d only take the right person getting involved with the Batbooks to have Steph booted out of a legacy role for a second time. Won’t happen soon, especially since she has her own series, but if and when she does stop being Batgirl, I’d put good money on the reason being a quiet ninja girl taking back her place. Still, at least Steph clearly won’t be replaced by her Silver Age equivalent – if there’s one thing DC will never undo, it’s Barbara Gordon’s disability.

On the other hand, they put Ryan Choi in a matchbox. You can’t rule anything out.

Mikaal Thomas / Starman II. Odds: 20/1.
Ted Knight: dead. David Knight: dead. Will Payton: dead. Jack Knight: retired, never to be brought back under pain of mass fanboy anger. Yeah, despite actually technically being a returnee Starman himself (having re-taken the role recently, some years after Jack’s retirement), Mikaal is pretty unlikely to have the name taken back by any of his predecessors, particularly as long as James Robinson’s in charge. There’s still Thom Kallor running around, of course, but he’s from the future anyway. Still, given the name’s history, there’s probably more chance of it being used by yet another new legacy hero.

Rick Tyler / Hourman II. Odds: 50/1.
It’s very unlikely that anyone would ever decide to do something nasty to Rick Tyler and replace him with his father, Rex. Because nobody gives a crap about Hourman.

Hal Jordan / Green Lantern II. Odds: 100/1.
You have to admit that if someone came along in ten or fifteen years and decided to kill off Hal Jordan again because they’d grown up reading Kyle Rayner stories in the late ’90s and considered him to be The One True Green Lantern… it’d be fucking funny.

Or better yet… replace him with Alan Scott.

Dick Grayson / Batman II. Odds: Evens
Just a hunch, really.