Same reason The Flash has been Wally West for twenty years? Or Supergirl for cases far more forgettable that still moved on through? Or how Wonder Woman was replaced with her own mom? I could go on, but this is a common occurrence which is why said hypothetical questions like this one exist.

And Dick isn't a temporary allure. He literally was his own superhero who lead a team of others AND got his own book too. While Azrael had the whole point from the start that it was a temporary gig and that the guy replacing Bruce was nuts. He wasn't retconned to be. That was the plan.

The ONLY Batman related option you'd have a point to is Jace and even he was meant to be an alternate future case. Not a real option to replace Batman. Where the only one actually placed in that viable slot was Jonathan Kent. Because he was the one who actually got his own book in the mainline after Future State not too long after. And speaking of Jonathan, the concept of him being Superman's legacy was brought into adaptations around three years or so after his creation in comics and audiences were either fine with it or loved it.

Obviously, the replacements of Barry and Kara worked because they were supposed to be permanent and, let's face it, the histories of those characters was so convoluted that the only way to fix them was with a serious reboot.

Does anyone even care that Diana was replaced by her own mom, who later became a goddess? Or even that Diana herself became a goddess? Those things a just footnotes in the history of WW.

I'm perfectly aware that Azrael was only supposed to be a temporary replacement, even a comic book enthusiast with a cursory knowledge of Batman can tell you that Azrael was never gonna replace Bruce on a permanent basis, and trust me, I've seen people on the Internet who resent the idea of Dick becoming Batman because, the way they see it, Dick should walk his own path and be his own man instead of riding on Bruce's coattails... Damian.

The example of Jonathan Kent is beyond invalid because he only became Superman thanks to the failed 5G initiative, which was so stupid that DC was forced to kill and use its remains for its main comics for the early 2020s until Joshua Williamson could come up with something better.

At the end of the day, people would prefer Bruce, Clark and Diana over people like Jace, Jon and even Yara Flor.

Jean-Paul Valley.

1. Kara was never set up to be replaced by Matrix. They killed her off to complete her arc and then needed another Supergirl in the new continuity in which Kryptonians were outlawed by the new head of the book. Unlike Wally, that was never set up. And even with Wally, you can't just say contrived exceptions exist when its just plain evidence to the contrary to legacies not being allowed long-term.

2. Wonder Woman was more of yet another example that these shakeups do happen. Not always that temporarily either. Like Diana being powerless and being a spy.

3. Damian is riding on coattails for being in the status all the Robins have been at. So that's irrelevant thinking when all of them have been there. And nobody said it had to be Dick, but he is an example of an actual legacy and not like Jean where it was more of a Reign of the Supermen case.

4. No, it isn't. Jon existed before Jace and Yara and were setup beyond Future State and whatever the 5G BS or whatever people peddle new arcs of continuity into. Not to mention even when taking that pathway seriously mainly seen through very slim leaks, Jon wasn't even the freaking plan. Mon-El was. Jon existed before this supposed era.

Ok...

1. I never said that Kara was killed off just to be replaced by Matrix. I don't think that was even part of the plan. Both Kara and Barry were killed off to show that DC was serious about the Crisis on Infinite Earths having long-term consequences to the greater continuity.

2. Again, I'm aware that shakeups do happen. They're not as permanent as some people think they are because the more DC pushes for a change regarding one of their biggest characters, the more likely they are to face backlash.

3. The big problem with Damian is that now that he exists, integrating the other Robins into stories is difficult because there are now 4 of them (6 if you count Duke Thomas and Stephanie Brown). Back in when Damian was introduced, Tim was worried that Damian was gonna replace him, and now, that's exactly what seems to be happening.

4. Yes, it is valid. Nobody was asking for Jon to suddenly be an adult and be the new Superman because Dan DiDio thought this would be a good idea.

You might not like it or even agree with it, but that's what DC was planning.

And again, that is a major change for DC that you can't just say is temporary or just dismiss as the exception when it lasted 20 years out of some major characters.

That's the BS they say. It's not what ends up resulting out of their long-term history of switch ups. They're just as many permeant changes as there are stagnant ones.

Except that was an arc that reached it's inevitable conclusion with Tim separating to his own arcs and life. Even going to college separate from the rest of the Bat adventures. That's a progression of the arc. Not proving the points within it right. If anything, it proved it wrong. And Stephanie's been Batgirl far longer than she's been Robin by now which Batgirls proved. While Duke isn't a Robin. He's The Signal first.

Dan's plan was for it to happen immediately. The dislike of him eventually being Superman was a minority. Especially when Clark having a book of a full family life with Jon and Lois was incredibly well received. We just didn't want things speedran through.

With all the changes happening left and right on DC, I don't see why people complaining about DC having a steel-clad status quo when, in reality, things change fairly often.

Also, I don't even think the dislike for Jon being Superman was a minority, at least if you use book sales as a reference. It wasn't even a knee-jerk reaction. People like Jon. They just don't want him to replace Clark on a permanent basis. Alternate universes and parallel timelines? Sure. Main DC Universe? Nope.

Because some do exist that fans have loved and still do. Hell, that's why stuff like this post exists.

People hated him getting a speed run in being aged up. They didn't mind the idea of Jon being Superman somewhere down the line. They ironically were more pissed of him replacing Conner due to being closer to his age than Clark's.

Surprised nobody has mentioned Thomas Wayne. Flashpoint Batman and Joker are awesome.

That's because prime Thomas is dead.