Okay I could be running head first before the "Go" is shouted, but do you think within the next 30 to 40 years DC will "retire" Superman/Clark and Batman/Bruce so that their sons take up the mantle? Or any other younger heroes taking up their mentor mantles/becoming a big hero themselves?

I like to think so. Honestly I don't believe Bruce will survive in 50 years, I'll give him 30 to be safe, but if he doesn't die before that mile marker then I'd think he either becomes the Bruce from Batman Beyond or he becomes someone else while one of his sons takes on the Bat mantle. I started thinking of this mainly because of Rebirth. Now, I don't think it will happen soon, but I feel like Rebirth has seeded the thoughts that these younger characters are growing up. Damian turned 13 and will be in the Teen Titans. Nightwing and his gang/friends aren't teen titans anymore, but their still in the shadows (partially) of their mentors. Finally, Superman has a son, and while I think there will be lots of great content for Father/Son bonding on his end I can't help but feel these are at least seeds on the original generation growing older while the younger one comes slowly into more providence.

So, what do you think about this, and do you think Bruce/Clark and everyone else will at some point pass on their legacies? If so, how long would you say it would be until then?

Geoff Johns did say that DC is treating Rebirth like The Force Awakens in that it has the feel of the old DC, but the story is definitely moving forward. So yeah, Clark is still going to be my Superman, but maybe one day Jon will be my son's Superman.

No, not at all. Clark Kent/Bruce Wayne as Superman/Batman are like Robin Hood, King Arthur, Three Musketeers; there will always be stories about them (always being as long as DC continues to exist and publish comics). In a cultural sense, they are more than simple characters; they are pop culture/pop fiction institutions.

DC has teased Clark/Bruce hanging up the capes in the past, but they never stuck with it and they never will. The other characters may grow and evolve like Dick Grayson grew up and became Nightwing (or Roy Harper, Donna Troy, etc.) DC may even play around with alt universe versions of Bats and Supes without Bruce and Clark, but the main continuity will (for the most part) always have Clark and Bruce.

@rdclip: I agree. Plus they're established movie characters with strong brand recognition with audiences. Although I think things are likely to change more in the next fifty years than in the previous fifty in relation to movies and books, so who knows what the future holds.

People keep making King Arthur and Robin Hood movies, and I think people will keep making Superman and Batman movies. Hard to imagine Nightwing, for instance, taking over.

And if they're keeping Superman and Batman then they might as well keep Clark and Bruce, just for clarity and, again, brand recognition.

At the same time though you have to wonder how many more times an audience now or in the future needs to see/read Bruce's parents gettin shot or baby Clark being discovered by Ma and Pa bloody Kent...

Maybe... They can do a beyond series wherein Jon and Damian is Superman and Batman. But I dont see Clark and Bruce passing the torch.

Oh, please we had this before at the end of the day there are characters that fit the role of future Batman, but they never will be Batman outside of an elseworld and if they did get the name they would be replaced with the originals a few years later. I mean remember when Dick Grayson was Batman? Remember what became of that?

@ultimatepower6: Like this:

@jb681131: Yeah, but I was thinking in actual continuity.

Given enough time, it's all new to somebody.

I could see them doing their own little Ultimate line up where it's books dedicated to the younger generation getting older and taking up the mantles or becoming something else of their own.

@rainshadow777: Superhero movies don't really need to constantly go over origin stories. I would bet that the opening flashback of BvS is the only time we will see the Waynes being killed in the DCEU (at least I hope). I was okay with MoS being an origin story, considering that the last time the movie going audience saw Krypton being blown up was in Donner's first movie in the tail end of the 70's.

@rdclip: let's hope you're right about BvS being the last time we have to see it (for a decade or so at least). I'm sure most of you felt like I did when watching the movie for the first time and realising, yep, they're doing the parents scene again.

No it won't be the last. And it can't be. In the comics, he regularly thinks about it or nightmares about it. That's also the reason why he takes care of those Robins. That's also the reason why he does some sharities, to honor them. It's Batman's reason to be and to go on.

I always wanted to see who would be the next Black Canary but DC ruinned that with Black Canary must not have kids and made Sin go to live in off-screen land (even thought Roy Harper is in her eyes an"adoptive son" and she help raise Lian Harper).

I feel the only Baton Pass that will happen with JL is going to be with The Flash or Green Lanterns.

@jb681131: Sure it's his motivation, and I'm fine with it being a constant in his world, but I don't think movies need to literally play the scene out again and again.

As someone said, it was thirty years ago. Bruce needs to build a bridge and get over it.

No. I'd like for something new to happen within respectable grounds but I don't see anybody replacing the old characters.

Not a chance.

I can't see it happening. There could be temporary storylines about them passing down the torch, but Superman is the first superhero and Batman is Bruce Wayne. They'll go on for as long as I can predict. Plus, personally, I feel that's what Marvel is trying to do by keeping the same hero names with new people as those heroes (new Iron Men, new Hulks, new Spider-men, etc), and it doesn't really seem to be working great. But that's my opinion. I think as long as DC keeps decent stories, there won't be an issue.