Sidekicks and Spare Tyres: The problem with Teenage Superheroes.

 I've always been a sucker for this trope. Teens with powers coping with adolescent drama, family etc... while having to deal with extraordinary abilities and battling supervillains. But in large scale, comic book 'universes', they present a big problem. The previous, older generation isn't going anywhere, and never will.

Miles Morales and Dick Grayson (or Jason Todd, Tim Drake, Damien Wayne, etc...) are never taking over for Peter Parker and Bruce Wayne, because those characters are immortal, ever-youthful and will never go away.

So these wonderful characters are ALWAYS going to be trapped as sidekicks or 'Spare Tyres' (or eliminated in some way). At the moment, there's a character called Spider-Boy in Spider-Man comics. Is he destined for the Miles Morales route? As a spare tyre version of a spare tyre character? Or the Araña character, pretty much forgotten but destined to be wheeled out whenever Marvel needs to renew its trademark?

Because that Spider-Man name is taken. Forever.

And the more time passes, the more of these characters are going to be created, ever-more tightly bunched up behind a set of never-changing predecessors created decades ago, who aren't going anywhere.