Heroes Like Us?  

Comic Book Franchise Characters & Diverse Adolescent Audiences

Research Report - July 2025

With the next phases of the DC and Marvel Cinematic Universes kicking off, the market for superhero films remains undeniable, including among teens and adolescents. Adolescents today are the most diverse generation of movie-goers we’ve ever seen, but many of the most successful superhero films continue to center White, male superheroes. There are notable exceptions, but even some of these feature characters of color or female characters were originally White and male, such as Captain America or Thor. How do today’s adolescents relate to characters in popular superhero franchises?

Key Takeaways

Teens Want to be the Hero, but the Heroes They See are Mostly White Men: Respondents were 10x more likely to relate to superheroes vs. other character types. 70.1% of the characters in the 14 popular franchises we examined were White and 71.2% were male. As a result, the majority of survey respondents, regardless of race or gender identity, indicated that they related most White, male characters.

Personality & Story Arc: The Keys to Connecting with Adolescents: Over a third of participants (36.9%) said that the biggest reason they connected to the character they related to the most was that the character shares their own personality trait(s).

Bravery is the Superpower Teens Value Most: For all adolescents, bravery, being a good friend, and seeking justice are valued more than any other virtues.

Teens represent the largest and most diverse generation in the world, but the media they consume does not represent this diversity, and women and people of color remain underrepresented on screen (Scharrer et al., 2022). Our investigation of Authentically Inclusive Representation (AIR), among top movies as measured by US opening weekend box office earnings, consistently shows that films with diverse casts make more money for studios and are good for the filmmaking industry, a finding that was confirmed by the 2025 Hollywood Diversity Report. 

With this in mind, our research sought to understand which superhero and supervillain characters teens related to the most and why. To do this, CSS partnered with global insights and strategy firm National Research Group (NRG) to survey 12,180 adolescents aged 13-24 about the 14 most popular comic book franchises among that age range. 

Teens Want to be the Hero, but the Heroes They See are Mostly White Men

Everyone, even female and nonbinary respondents, tended to relate most to male characters. Male participants overwhelmingly selected male characters as those they relate to most, but female and nonbinary participants also chose male characters more often than female characters.

However, when considering the gender composition of the notable characters in the 14 franchises we examined, it becomes clear that males are overrepresented among superhero franchise characters:

However when respondents are presented with more female characters (> 28.8%), they relate to them more often across the board.

Gender of Characters Respondents Related to Most in Franchises with More Female Characters

In light of these findings, it is not surprising that female adolescents aged 13-24 loved The Incredibles and Suicide Squad much more frequently than the overall population: these franchises give them the chance to connect with characters who share their identity.

Personality & Story Arc: The Keys to Connecting with Adolescents

Over a third of all participants (36.9%) said they related to a character based on shared personality traits. This was more than the number of adolescents who said the biggest reason was the character’s relationship(s) (17.9%) or a shared identity (17.2%) combined. This ranking was consistent across race and gender demographics.

Why participants connected with their most relatable character

Adolescents find common ground in the stories and especially the personalities of the superhero film characters. Given this potential, creators should aim to give key characters authentic, multidimensional personalities and relatable story arcs to effectively reach young audiences.

Bravery is the Superpower Teens Value most

The top character virtues that adolescents associate with the characters that they relate to are bravery, a desire to seek justice, and being a good friend. 

To better understand what features of a character’s personality adolescents are connecting to most, we examined which character virtues respondents saw in the character they related to the most. 

Virtues that participants chose most often:

These three virtues were the top three across gender and race. When designing heroes to appeal to adolescents across demographics, these qualities serve as an excellent starting point. We believe superhero stories have the power to shape the world young people believe is possible. By seeing heroes who look like them, think like them, and face the same challenges they do, young people can find role models and expand their sense of what they can achieve, who they can become, and the futures they dare to imagine.

Special Thanks to:

This work was made possible through the support of the Funders for Adolescent Science Translation (FAST) and the data infrastructure powered by the National Research Group (NRG).

How to cite this report:

Como, A., Puretz, M., Hines, A., & Uhls, Y.T. (2025). Heroes Like Us?: Comic Book Franchise Characters & Diverse Adolescent Audiences. Center for Scholars & Storytellers. https://www.scholarsandstorytellers.com/heroeslikeus

Authors

  • Amber Como, MA, RDT

    2024 FAST Fellow

  • Matt Puretz, MA

    Senior Researcher

  • Alisha J. Hines, PhD

    VP of Research & Programs

  • Yalda T. Uhls, MBA, PhD

    Founder and CEO