It's amazing how a character you read about can pass through the ages, forever young and never aging.  Living on forever in the hearts, and in the minds of the people who have read of the character.  LIterature transcends time and as an offset of that, the characters in those very literary works transcend time as well.  Take The Importance of Being Earnest, a play by Oscar Wilde that was made in the 1800's, just yesterday I saw a movie about that very play made in 2002.  That's nearly two millenniums after it's initial creation.  It's inherent in our society, the desire to learn, and to idolize, and to recreate. 
 
  Stories are passed down and given new meaning as they are retold throughout the ages.  The folk tale of the Big Bad Wolf and the Three Little Pigs still incites fear in some kids today, as they lay in their beds tucked in tightly underneath their bed covers.  Listening intently to the tale the mom would spin to them as she retold the very story her mom told her in what seems like so long ago.  She remembers the same scene and even though she hasn't read the story in such a long time, to this day, thanks to the words of her mother, she is still able to recite the story with the utmost care and the most incredible attention to detail — as if she, herself, was sitting down reading the very book of folk tales she recalls so easily. 
 
  Stories are creations of utmost care and importance, no matter the day or the time none of that changes.  Aspiring writers today, still sit down at their desks with a blank sheet of paper simply wondering, how to make their characters shine brighter than any other.  To recreate the legacy passed down many millennia ago by authors of the same kind, as they create the basis for characters we may never actually think of.  In a world of such literary merit, anything that can conceivably be created has already been created.  It's just a matter of how you describe it  — whether it be a character, a plot, or a setting; it's all been done before, and each of us are aware of that. 
 
  The stories of today, will only lead to a everlasting legacy that will pas down forever.  While High School English students are forced to read Hamlet, Frankenstein, A Farewell to Arms, The Giver, The Pride and the Prejudice, Of Mice and Men, The Grapes of Wrath, and Homers' Odyssey, the very students that will sit in those very desks decades into the future will end up being forced to read Harry Potter, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Twilight, The Da Vinci Code, The Lord of the Rings, and things of that nature.  And just like how we went to our friends, spouting complaints about how those very novels we read sucked, those future students will end up doing the same.  And in those words, that stories legacy is reflected. 
 
  Characters are universal and one character made by another person will always inspire a different character from another author.  Like the wizard Merlin, from the Arthurian Legend defines the trope of a wise teacher.  A man of calm personality as he guides his student to a successful future and positive growth.  And his creation and legacy in turn, inspired the creation of many characters we now know of today, characters like Gandalf the White, and Albus Dumbledore.  And those very characters, in turn, inspire characters of the same nature in future reiterations.  Those reiterations all lead back to Merlin, and his legacy grows. 
 
  Comic books are the same.  The characters transcend time, and even if Stan Lee were to die, Spiderman would still move forward into the future, carrying forth the ideas of his creator, and the morals we all look up to.  Many characters are older than we are, and yet, despite many years passing never seem to lose a step, nor do they fade away.  It's their legacy.  Superman and Batman will always transcend the very time we are forced to follow.  And even if I had never read a single Comic Book in all my life, I would still, to this day, be able to tell you all of Superman's powers, and all of Batman's vehicles.   
 
  It's a testament to them, and the creative aspect of their loving creators. 
 
  Grandparents, to this day, still sit down on their knee the grandchildren they had dreamed of, and they recite the stories of characters that they remember their very Grandparents doing the same.  Stories of Captain Marvel, the Flash, Hal Jordan, Green Arrow, Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and so many more.  Through the words they voice, they pass down the legacy and the love they feel for the characters to a new generation, and that generation will only do the same at a later date. 
 
  And though, we are destined to die, we can still live on, in the legacy of characters we read of so many times.  From the Greek Gods of Ancient Greece, to the haunting tales of Witches and Ghouls of the early 14th century to the late 18th century.  Though we may die, the characters do not. 
 
  The heroes we idolize, from our childhood to the day we die, we love them and we idolize them, and in turn, we end up reliving them and their legacy. 
 
  A legacy that transcends time.