Being a Sidekick Doesn’t Suck

It’s a running stereotype that has been around since comic books first began. Sidekicks are considered jokes, cannon fodder, or, in some bizarre circles, objects of pedophiliac fantasy (Pick up Top Ten Vol. 2 if you want to see a great story about that). But in the actual world of super hero comics I have observed that being a sidekick is a noble calling and leads to great things for the young hero or heroine involved.

Nightwing

To me, the idea of being a sidekick is akin to being an intern or an apprentice. You are a young and inexperienced individual who is learning the ways of your trade from an older and more experienced individual. This is a belief that it would seem most comic book writers share. When the sidekick first appeared in comics, it was an attempt to add a lighthearted youth with whom the main hero could banter. But now, sidekick is a mere stepping stone to becoming a true strong independent hero.

With a few exceptions, nearly all of the early sidekicks in the DC and Marvel Universe grew up to be heroes in their own right. The Teen Titans, a young team of sidekicks, is the perfect example of this. Robin (Dick Grayson) grew up to become Nightwing. Aqualad grew up to become Tempest. Speedy grew up to become Arsenal and then later Red Arrow and a full fledged member of the Justice League. All them grew out of the shadows of their former mentors, or in some cases grew into their mentor’s role. Kid Flash (Wally West), when his mentor Barry Allen (The Flash) perished in the Crisis on Infinite Earths storyline, the young sidekick stepped into the role and became the new Flash, continuing a strong super hero legacy. Even Dick Grayson wore the mantle of Batman for a little while.

Bucky

Winter Soldier

Though sometimes when a sidekick steps out of the shadow of his mentor it isn’t always as a hero. A few years back Captain America’s World War II era sidekick Bucky was brought back to life as a Soviet trained assassin codenamed The Winter Soldier. The same happened with Jason Todd (Robin 2) who was resurrected as The Red Hood, a brutal vigilante who abandoned the non-lethal methods of his mentor Batman who believes the only way to really defeat criminals is to adopt their methods as your own. But whether a hero or a villain, these former sidekicks grew into interesting and complex characters, not just the tag along heroes that they are stereotypically thought of as.

A perfect example of this is the Disney movie Sky High. In this film the world they occupy is so blessed with super-heroes that a special school exists to teach the offspring of these heroes. Now a super-hero school is not a new concept (X-Men). But when the protagonist attends his first day of class he finds that the young heroes are divided into two groups based on their powers. 

The cool and awesome powers get classified as “Heroes” while the lamer powered students are grouped into “Sidekicks”. Now of course the story of the film ends up having the underdog sidekicks saving the day. But here’s the problem. First as I’ve already stated, sidekicks are usually younger than their super hero mentors. So maybe they assign the newly graduated sidekicks to a hero who graduated a while ago, but according to one of the sidekick teachers, that is not the case. Also, if you were a hero, why would you want a sidekick with a defective power? Marvel’s the Human Torch (original torch Jim Hammond, not FF Jonny Storm) had flame based powers and he had a young sidekick named Toro who had the same powers. That makes sense.

Now it is true that comic book characters are ageless and will outlast the fans of today and tomorrow. But in the world they inhabit it is assumed they will age and possibly one day die. That is why sidekicks are important. Sidekicks are to become the next generation that will take over protecting the world when one day the hero is no longer able to keep up the fight.