Back in 1993, after Superman died (for a little while), four newcomers each claimed to be the new (or, in some cases, old) Man of Steel.

After the original returned, the other four hung around in one capacity or another for years, going by the handles Cyborg Superman, Eradicator, Steel and Superboy. None of them was just called “Superman.”

I guess that’s a relic of a bygone era, as there are multiple characters going by the monikers of not only Superman, but Robin, Spider-Man, Batgirl, Wolverine and Aquaman. Yes, Jason Mamoa has made the King of Atlantis cool enough that multiple people want to be Aquaman at the same time.

Fair warning: this grumpy old comic fan is about to tell some name-sharing superheroes to get off his lawn.

It’s nothing new for multiple characters to share a codename. When a character dies, disappears, retires or turns into a homicidal maniac, a sidekick, acquaintance or random stranger often steps into the role. But since all of these conditions — in comic books anyway — are temporary, the original eventually reclaims the mantle.

Sometimes, the replacement hangs around in another superheroic capacity. When Tony Stark hung up the Iron Man armor, Jim “Rhodey” Rhodes stepped in. Stark eventually came back and Rhodey adopted the War Machine armor and corresponding codename.

Human Eric Masterson wielded Mjolnir in place of Thor for a while and went by his name. But when the original returned, Odin gave Eric a weapon of his own, called Thunderstrike, which was also his new working title.

Jane Foster took up the hammer when Thor was no longer worthy to lift it, and he ceded the title of Thor to her, going by “Odinson” for a while.

There have been multiple Green Lanterns — before, during and after Hal Jordan’s tenures. But Green Lantern is more of a title than an identity. There’s a Green Lantern or two in each of the 3,600 space sectors they protect. Still, when Golden Age Green Lantern Alan Scott (not a member of that fraternity in most stories) returned to active duty, he was considerate enough to readers to go by Sentinel.

Even after “Crisis on Infinite Earths “ put them in the same continuity, Jay Garrick shared the Flash name with Wally West, who took it over after Barry Allen vanished in the aforementioned crossover. But then Barry came back, Wally retired and came back, and now I think they’re all Flashes?

Miles Morales became Spider-Man in the Ultimate line of comics after that version of Peter Parker died. He and the core Marvel Parker met up in the aptly titled “Spider-Men” limited series, but that was a temporary thing … until Marvel’s worlds collided and Morales dropped into the 616. Both characters had been established as Spider-Man and both kept the name (though a current storyline has Morales facing charges of copyright infringement).

Superman’s son, Jon Kent, kept rapidly aging to the point that he could no longer be called Superboy, so now they’re both Superman. And after roughly 374 different characters have served as Batgirl, two of them are starring in a new title, “Batgirls,” mentored by the original, Barbara Gordon (who at least is going by Oracle again these days). DC has also solicited the titles “Aquamen,” co-starring Arthur Curry and Jackson Hyde, and “Robins,” with multiple bat-sidekicks.

Similar things are happening at Marvel. Besides the Spider-Men, the original Wolverine is slicing and dicing his way through multiple titles, while the former X-23, bears the name in the flagship “X-Men” title.

Sharing or competing over names can make sense in stories, i.e. when Sam Wilson and Evil Fake Steve Rogers both went by Captain America. And I suppose allowing legacy characters to keep the names after their predecessors return is a way of acknowledging fans of both characters.

But it’s still frustrating when there are so many characters going by the same name for no apparent in-story reason. At the very least, it robs us of innovative new codenames, like Captain America also-ran U.S.Agent.

Evan Bevins is the writer of the webcomic “Support Group.” Contact him at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com.