Ever since Old Man Logan came into being, we've rediscovered our love for octogenarian superheroes. They may be long in the tooth and gray around the head, but some of these veteran characters prove that older and wiser beats younger and dumber. Of course, there's older and then there's certifiably ancient. The members of the Justice Society of America like Jay Garrick, the original Flash, and Ted Grant, aka Wildcat, often show up in modern continuities as aged-up remnants of a different era of superheroics. In Astro City, characters grow as each new chapter in the story unfolds, some continuing their superhero careers under new guises and some eventually hanging up the cape. With a few exceptions, it's one of the only examples in the genre of characters ageing in real time.
Old Man Logan, on the other hand, reaches the unrealistic 250-year mark, thanks to his healing factor. Similarly, despite his youthful, scarred looks, Deadpool isn't exactly a young whipper-snapper for the same reason. God-like beings like Thor and Superman have those spring chickens beat though, and by several thousands of years at that. The only thing cooler than being introduced to heroes who are already old, or suddenly being whisked decades ahead into their lives, is the classic cliche of an older version of a character bursting through a time portal from some future hellscape with an eye patch, amputated limb and a desperate warning to their confused younger self to not do the one thing that will result in said hellscape happening. But enough about the old men! Let's talk about some cool -- and not so cool -- older ladies, instead!
19 COOLER: SUPERGIRL
The New 52 continuity featured a universe known as "Future's End," a point in time where Supergirl struck out on her own from the Justice League United team. Her adventures in space were cut short by Cyborg Superman, who remade her in his image and enlisted her to work for Brainiac alongside him as a second "Herald."
The pair of robo-Kryptonians eventually managed to break free of Brainiac's control and made it their mission to create a brand new Krypton. Her cybernetic enhancements -- including an Edward Scissorhands-style replacement hand -- were terrifyingly great, but Kara ended up being de-cyborgized by her ex-boyfriend, Captain Comet, in the end.
18 NOT AS GOOD: WONDER WOMAN, AQUAWOMAN & DARK RAVEN
In the timeline of "Titans of Tomorrow," a terrible event that claimed the lives of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman altered the course of history, making DC's young team of ex-sidekicks grow into darker versions of their former selves. It all kicked off in the Teen Titans/Legion Special #1, in which the Teen Titans come to the aid of the Legion of Superheroes in the 31st Century.
The Titans return to their own time and are shocked to discover their alternate selves have resorted to more fascistic methods of peacekeeping, including torture and fear-mongering -- not exactly the team the we know and love. Cassandra Sandsmark is the new Wonder Woman, Lorena Marquez is Aquawoman and Raven is the demonic Dark Raven.
17 COOLER: INVISIBLE WOMAN
Reed Richards is no stranger to the whole doppelganger thing, but over the course of Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch's run on Fantastic Four, his wife came face to face with one of her own. During the "Death of the Invisible Woman" arc, the couple hire a new nanny, Tabitha Denevue, for Franklin and Valeria Richards. But Tabitha isn't what she seems.
In Fantastic Four, Vol. 1 #560, the older woman single-handedly takes out Reed, the Thing and She-Hulk, before facing off against Sue. It turns out that Tabitha is actually Earth-807128's Susan Storm, and proves to be the superior version -- besting Susan with mastery of their powers. Her destructive path is later brought to an end by Doctor Doom.
16 NOT AS GOOD: CATWOMAN
In typical gritty Frank Miller style, The Dark Knight Returns doesn't sugarcoat the reality of what happens to our favorite characters when they get older. Though Bruce Wayne is a grizzled warrior in a mech suit, Superman has been reduced to a shadow of his former self, while Selina Kyle is almost unrecognizable.
Of course, it's unfair to expect people to look the same forever, and with her days of cat burgling and midnight rendevouz with the Bat long behind her, Selina has a right to age naturally and look however she wants. It's just a shame that we didn't get to see an old Catwoman allowed to be as fearless as old Batman.
15 COOLER: THE RANGER SLAYER
In the Boom! Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers comics, there exists an alternate timeline known as the "World of the Coinless," in which Tommy Oliver was brought back to Rita's side and went on to help her conquer Earth under a new name: Lord Drakkon. In this dark world, many Power Rangers lost their powers and even their lives fighting for the planet's freedom.
Even more dastardly was what Drakkon did to fan favorite Pink Ranger, Kimberly Hart. After she fails to assassinate him, Drakkon captures and enslaves her, transforming her bow into the Bow of Darkness and her identity into the Ranger Slayer. Though we miss the pure-hearted Pink Ranger, it's hard to beat a Ranger gone rogue for coolness.
14 NOT AS GOOD: HARLEY QUINN
This is not the only older version of Harley Quinn you'll see on this list, but it is our least favorite of the two. Much like The Dark Knight Returns' retired Selina Kyle, Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker presented a realistically aged-up and weakened version of the Joker's loyal henchwoman. In Batman: The Animated Series, Harley was presumed dead after falling off of a cliff.
However, in Return of the Joker, the identical twins in the Jokerz gang, Dee Dee, are revealed to be the grandchildren of an elderly woman that could only be Harley. It's a fun easter egg, and we're glad to see that our favorite female jester lives on, but nullified Grandma Harley isn't a patch on the original.
13 COOLER: THE KINGDOM COME HEROINES
Alex Ross and Mark Waid's seminal Kingdom Come Elseworlds mini-series tells a story of intergenerational friction between superheroes, as well as Lex Luthor up to his old tricks. Years into an alternate future, classic heroes reunite the Justice League -- alongside newer ones -- after a disaster leaves millions of Americans dead.
The epic scope of the story means that virtually all of these greying characters are more impressive than ever. Wonder Woman's exile from Paradise Island has filled her with unspent aggression; Power Girl is now Power Woman and with about 200% extra muscle; while Big Barda sports an eye patch, which is basically visual code for "old and awesome."
12 NOT AS GOOD: "JEAN GREY"
When it comes to alternate versions of yourself, Jean Grey has just about everybody beat. While there are definitely some older Jean Greys floating around in multiple timelines that put their younger selves to shame, Earth-9997's Jean is sadly not one of them. She first showed up in 1999's Earth X, #0, and has a lot in common with her Earth-616 iteration.
Where the differ is that Earth X's Jean loses her telepathic powers, and later her mentor, Professor X, thanks to a cull of psychic mutants when the Skull is born. The X-Men split and Jean leaves Cyclops for Wolverine. Wedded bliss slowly descends into discontentment, however, with the pair losing interest in themselves and each other, and then calling it quits... before Jean reveals that she is actually Madelyne Pryor!
11 COOLER: OLD WOMAN LAURA
Proving that any Wolverine is amazing at any age is Laura Kinney as Old Man Logan's female counterpart, Old Woman Laura. We've followed Laura from a savage child as X-23, to a wayward teen as part of the X-Men to finally taking on the Wolverine mantle that she was always destined to have. Her striking new suit on the cover of All-New Wolverine #33 already made the even older heroine look the business.
Unlike Old Man Logan, Old Woman Laura -- now Queen of Mandripoor -- inhabits a fairly utopian future. Even so, Doctor Doom manages to disturb the peace enough for Laura to have to borrow her old alter ego back from her younger clone, Gabby. There's also a fun shout-out to an older Valeria Richards, now "Doctor Richards."
10 NOT AS GOOD: HEROINE
The Runaways' Gert Yorkes is loved by fans for breaking the mould. She is a straight-talking teenage girl with dyed hair, a realistic body size and some great home truths about what having power and responsibility really means. She was once told by Spider-Man that she had Avengers potential, a compliment that was also accidental foreshadowing.
Gert not only joins the Avengers, she ends up leading them. While this sounds great on paper, in practice... not so much. Future Gert, who goes by "Heroine," time-travels back to warn present-day Gert about a tragedy involving Marvel heroes, but the younger Gert is unimpressed with her older self's leadership role. Fatally wounded, Herione dies soon after this, and unfortunately, her meddling spells doom for present Gert, too.
9 COOLER: MAGIK, SORCERER SUPREME OF THE GALAXY
The title of Sorcerer Supreme is one that can only be held by one person per world, whose magical prowess is greater than anyone else's. Earth-616's notable holders have been Agamotto, the Ancient One and, most famously, Doctor Stephen Strange. Other worlds have their own, such as the Dark Dimension's Clea.
Even Limbo -- a strange, demonic realm -- has one: the X-Men's own Illyana Rasputin, aka Magik. The Soulsword-wielding mutant is powerful enough as Limbo's ruling Sorcerer, but in Earth-TRN640, Illyana graduates from the New Xavier School to eventually become Sorcerer Supreme of the Entire Galaxy. We don't see much of her, but we can only assume her powers are by then off the charts.
8 NOT AS GOOD: MERRY, WOMAN OF 1,000 GIMMICKS
Meredith Pemberton isn't just an old character -- she's an old creation, too. Merry made her debut all the way back in 1948's Star-Spangled Comics #81, where her popularity got her promoted from sidekick to title character in just five issues. Merry married a secret supervillain and had two kids, but was presumed dead when her husband's identity was revealed.
As so often happens in superhero comics, Merry was actually found still alive and kicking in her old age. She showed up in Young Justice, Vol. 1 #16 as Gimmick Woman, not Girl, as part of a team of Golden Age ex-sidekicks intent on persuading DC's current crop of teen heroes to pursue a less risky line of work. Unsurprisingly, Old Justice weren't well-loved.
7 COOLER: OLD LADY KAMALA KHAN
An older Kamala Khan made a wonderfully surprising cameo in the aforementioned "Old Woman Laura" storyline... as the President of the United States, no less. We also glimpsed a future Ms. Marvel filled with cosmic energy giving Kang a scare in Avengers: Back to Basics, #6. However, our vote for the best mature Kamala is with "Old Lady Kamala," leader of the Inhumans in Exiles #1.
Along with Blink, Iron Lad, Valkyrie and a chibi version of Wolverine, the silvered-haired senior has a blunt stare and blunt name: "Khan." We're used to Kamala as a spirited young woman who fangirls over Wolverine and invents new words, but this take-no-prisoners Khan is a welcome alternative.
6 NOT AS GOOD: FUTURE TWILIGHT SPARKLE
Twilight Sparkle of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic has the greatest magical potential of any unicorn, which you'd think could only improve in the future. In "It's About Time," Twilight is visited by her downtrodden future self... from next Tuesday. The episode is a perfect send-up of the cliche of characters going back in time with a warning about terrible things that will happen.
Future Twilight disappears before she can deliver said warning, but her present self takes one look at her haggard appearance and assumes something awful will happen. She spends the rest of the episode trying to work out what it is, only to realize Future Twilight was just trying to warn her not to worry so much about time travel.
5 COOLER: OLD LADY HARLEY
With her new lease of life, independent from her abusive ex-boyfriend the Joker, Harley Quinn has been able to have wilder adventures than ever before in her own solo stories. Recently, she's taken up residence above a waxwork museum filled with statues of famous bad people in Coney Island, along with her numerous pets and her faithful taxidermy beaver, Bernie.
Thirty years into the future, in Harley Quinn, Vol. 3 #42, New Coney Island is the stomping ground for a more hardened Harley, complete with buzzed white hair, tattoos and a faithful Bernie the Beaver skeleton. Old Lady Harley, parodying both Old Man Logan and Mad Max: Fury Road, has even proven good enough to land her own spin-off miniseries.
4 NOT AS GOOD: RAVEN
The Teen Titans first hit our screens in animated form in 2003; a series that balanced the light and the dark well with the Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Raven and Beast Boy having to face enemies that almost tore their team apart, and then going out for celebratory pizza when they inevitably won.
The episode "How Long Is Forever?" was one of the darker ones. When Starfire flies through a time portal into the future, her absence in the past results in the rest of the team becoming embittered and separated. Worst affected is Raven, who has retreated so far into her own mind she can't tell what's real and what's not. On the plus side, we get to see Robin aged-up into Nightwing.
3 COOLER: ELASTIGIRL
The Incredibles tells the story of how two former superheroes combat the restrictions of middle-age to get their groove back. Before she became Mrs. Incredible, Helen Parr was the stretchy heroine, Elastigirl, who can extend her body up to 30 meters. Elastigirl met and married fellow hero, Mr. Incredible and raised a family with him.
As their eldest children reach adolescence, Helen is suddenly forced to come out of retirement to rescue her husband after he's captured by new supervillain, Syndrome. Though she might be rusty at hero-ing, an older and wiser Helen commanders a plane, keeps her kids safe from enemy fire and breaks into Syndrome's lair on her own. Don't underestimate a stay-at-home mom!
2 COOLER: WONDER WOMAN OF THE 853rd CENTURY
Like Superman, Wonder Woman is a deity amongst men on Earth. Hundreds of years into the future, she achieves actual godhood when the Goddess of Truth recreates her from a marble statue and appoints her to rule and watch over the planet Venus, now inhabited by the Amazonians. Wonder Woman of the 853rd Century also becomes a member of Justice League Alpha.
In the DC One Million world, Wonder Woman's powers are pretty much the same as her original's, but her accessories have had a major upgrade. Her Lasso of Truth literally burns with righteousness, her jet is now an invisible spaceship, and while her matching, bullet-deflecting bracelets can project forcefields and offer combat strategies to her.
1 COOLER: KATE PRYDE
You can't talk about visits from ghosts of time travelling futures in superhero media without mentioning X-Men: Days of Future Past. The classic X-Men story revealed a world in the not-so distant future where Sentinels had taken over most of the U.S and eradicated or imprisoned swathes of the mutant population -- including the X-Men.
The few team members still at large were Colossus, Wolverine, Storm and Kitty Pryde (now just Kate) who you know had to have become pretty hardened to be among the survivors. Kitty was relatively new to the team then, so the fact that Kate played the most pivotal role in changing the past proved that the new recruit had a bright future ahead of her.