Legacy heroes are a type of superhero whose codenames and/or personas are passed from pre-existing characters to newer characters. This often can come in the form of a descendant and/or relative of the pre-existing hero adopting or inheriting either the codename and/or attributes of the original.
Doctor Fate (also known as Fate) is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Gardner Fox and Howard Sherman, the character first appeared More Fun Comics #55 (May, 1940) during the Golden Age of Comic Books. Since his creation, several other characters have served as successor incarnations of the character within the mainstream DC Universe as legacy heroes, with each new version attempting to reinvigorate the character for contemporary audiences. As the original, he is sometimes also referred to as the Golden Age Doctor Fate.
The original character's secret identity is archaeologist Kent Nelson who encountered a cosmic being named Nabu, a member of the Lords of Order, while accompanying his father in an archaeological expedition during his youth. Unwittingly leading to his father's death upon releasing Nabu, the cosmic being pities him and raises him as a sorcerer although various retellings differ in Nabu's intentions and how Nelson is trained. Gifted the Helmet of Fate and several other artifacts, he becomes the hero and agent of the Lords of Order, Doctor Fate. A major character featured in titles based upon several teams such as the Justice Society of America, Justice League International, and Justice League, and one of the foremost sorcerers in the DC Universe, Nelson's most reoccurring conflict is his gradual loss of personal agency to Nabu and its effects on his relationships with others, including his love interest Inza Nelson.