Springsteen and Superheroes: Some Things Run in the Family

This week, Bruce Springsteen announced the "additional musicians" appearing with his E Street Band on the forthcoming Wrecking Ball tour. In support of the new Springsteen album due in the US on March 6, the tour begins in earnest on March 9 after an engagement at next week's Grammy Awards Ceremony, where Springsteen's 2011 album of reissues, The Promise, is nominated for its packaging design. So, what does all this have to do with comics? One of the additional musicians announced for the tour is saxophone player Jake Clemons, the newphew of Clarence Clemons, who played with Springsteen for decades until his death in June. Clemons was widely regarded as the most popular member of the band besides Springsteen himself and some fans and critics questioned whether it was even possible to replace him or whether the band would end, or at least rename themselves, after his passing. When Springsteen dismissed that notion, the "Big Man's" nephew, who played as some tribute shows for Clemons in recent months, seemed a natural choice but no comments were made for months, even after the announcement that an album had been recorded and would soon be released. It got us to thinking--a lot of things in comics really do run in the family. And then we wondered, who would be our favorite brothers, sons, nephews and the like to step into the shoes vacated by their loved ones? Well...! Havok (Alex Summers) He only sort-of counts, but it seemed important to get a Marvel character in the list somewhere so it came to Alex Summers, who took over as leader of X-Factor when the role was vacated by his brother Scott when, in 1991, the team's nature changed from "the five original X-Men" to "yet another X-team." Many fans who came of age in the '90s remember Havok more fondly than his older brother, primarily becuase of the years of strong writing in X-Factor and, later, Mutant X. Wonder Woman (Diana) While this version of the story is only one in a series of origins for the Amazon princess, the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths version of DC's mythology introduced the idea that Diana's mother, Hippolyta, had been the Wonder Woman of World War II's Justice Society of America and that her daughter had inherited that role long before inheriting the kingdom, and the just kind of settled into it nicely. Sgt. Rock (Joe Rock) Joe Rock, the grandson of Sgt. Frank Rock, was recently introduced in the underrated (and now canceled) Men of War as part of DC's New 52 reboot. Despite his relatively short publishing history, the sheer ambition of including that title in the much-ballyhooed reboot as well as the quality of the book he starred in earn him a slot on the list. Manhunter (Kate Spencer) While Kate didn't take the job directly from a family member, she makes the list as a result of her discovery that her grandparents were Phantom Lady and Iron Munro, a pair of characters featured prominently in Golden Age comics and Jerry Ordway's Infinity, Inc., respectively. As someone who never really had much use for superheroes prior to becoming a masked avengers rather hesitantly, the realization came as something of a surprise to Manhunter, and not necessarily the good kind, before Munro became a consistent and entertaining supporting character in her book. Green Arrow (Conner Hawke) The long-lost son of Oliver Queen took over the mantle from his father for a brief and memorable run in the 1990s, back when just about every DC character was being replaced or redesigned (think four Supermen, Azrael-Batman, Artemis as Wonder Woman and Kyle Rayner as Green Lantern, just for a start). Given the fact that Oliver's personality never really gelled with Eddie Fyers, a supporting character introduced during that run who became Conner's confidant and ad hoc sidekick, it brought a decidedly different dynamic to the book and introduced some really interesting conflicts when considering a Buddhist, pacifist superhero. Starman (Jack Knight) After his father was nearly killed during DC's Zero Hour event and decided it was time to hang up his cosmic rod, Jack Knight was glad to discover that it was not he but his brother David who would be taking over the family business. He had no interest (not unlike his cousin Kate Spencer) in the gig, but it was ultimately thrust on him after his brother was quickly killed by a gunman while on patrol. The result was 80 of the most entertaining issues in modern superhero comics, as Jack alternately acted as Opal City's savior and tried to hide from the superhero community in his junk shop. Captain Marvel (Genis-Vell) After his father died in one of the most well-known and surprisingly permanent deaths in comics history, Genis-Vell appeared nearly twenty years later in the fan-favorite reinvention of the property by Peter David (also responsible for much of X-Factor's best stuff, and so for another of the characters on this list). Even though he never appeared on-page with his father, the presence of the character was present throughout as he was used as a kind of signpost and something by which to gauge the son's performance as a hero--it made for riveting character work in an entertaining and clever book, which we were sorry to see go. Batman (Dick Grayson) While Dick isn't actually Bruce's biological son (that honor goes to Damien Wayne, the current Robin), his personality, ethics and decades of history leave him a much more well-suited replacement for Bruce (as he was, for about three years recently) than any other we've seen. The Phantom (Various) He'd be #1, if not for the fact that the comics industry doesn't really look at strip heroes in quite the same way as they do the heroes of floppy periodical comics. Built into the concept of The Phantom is an idea that he is perceived as an immortal being, but in fact is just a series of heroes born into a family who passes the power and responsibility of The Phantom down through the generations. The Flash (Wally West) The nephew of Barry Allen truly exceeded his uncle and mentor in almost every meaningful way, becoming THE Flash for more than a generation of fans and managing to last longer than just about any legacy hero; only Tim Drake really comes close, excepting the Silver Age heroes who were more like reinventions of the concept than inheritors to the throne. He's sorely missed, and with a little luck will pop up again on Earth 2.