Superhero comics have changed a lot over their many years of existence, and that’s to be expected. In the early days of Marvel and DC, heroes would go up against mobsters and one-off villains who represented different social issues. The Silver Age was populated with convoluted, larger-than-life events that seemed more focused on having fun than making sense. Secret identities used to be the most important thing to heroes, and now they’re rarely mentioned. These types of changes reflect the current audience and climate they are published in, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but there is one piece of superhero lore that has been all but forgotten, and definitely shouldn’t be.
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Superheroes used to be populated mostly by civilian characters. The hero was the main focus, and there would be the occasional sidekick and assistant who knew their secret, but for the most part, the majority of the cast were regular citizens whom the hero knew in either of their identities. These characters added depth and a human perspective that can easily be lost when the story focuses on heroes, who can easily come across as gods among men. Ordinary humans grounded the heroes, but nowadays, they’re the exception rather than the rule, and that’s a major weakness of modern comics.
Civilians Bring Out the Hero’s Humanity
Civilian characters have been a part of superhero comics since the very beginning. Superman had Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Perry White, and plenty more. There’s also Spider-Man’s supporting cast, from Aunt May and Mary Jane to Flash Thompson and Liz Allen. What separates these supporting characters from superheroic assistants like Robin or Alfred is that while they would often interact with the superhero in their mask, they were friends, coworkers, family, or even enemies of the hero’s civilian identity. It gave the heroes a reason to take their masks off and be the people they are beneath. Without these characters, we’ve stopped seeing superheroes go to their jobs or work to hide their identities.
Beyond giving the heroes a reason to be human, they also offer a different perspective. Regular people often feel very differently about heroes, villains, and the everyday goings-on in their crazy world than the titular heroes do. The civilian characters offer a chance to add depth to the world, making it more than a sandbox where heroes and villains fight around cardboard cutouts. Normal people showing up regularly make the world feel more real. Alongside that, these characters are perfect bounceboards for stories. How many classic stories begin with a civilian character getting into some kind of trouble, or has them start a business, or something of the like, that inadvertently draws in a villain?
The Fall of Civilians, the Rise of Superhero Families
I love superhero families. The Batman Family, Superman Family, and Flash Family are three of the best groups of superheroes out there. They show the impact the central hero has on the world and are perfect connecting points for stories bigger than a single hero, as they understand the hero and their lifestyle like nobody else can. However, it’s also incredibly obvious that superhero families have supplanted the traditional supporting cast for most heroes. There’s only so much time to focus on side characters, so they instead focus on members of the Families, which are more established and closely connected to the main hero.
The Family members are always more connected because, more often than not, they always started as sidekicks or civilian characters in their own right. Lois Lane is the best example, as she was the de facto civilian character for decades, but nowadays she’s an active superhero as often as she is a normal person. Most of Spider-Man’s cast have famously become superheroes in their own right. The reasoning is simple. Everyone already loves these characters, so why not give them the chance to headline their own story? It’s much easier to have a superhero interact with another hero than a regular person, after all.
Civilian characters have gotten rarer because, over the years, heroes have tended more towards interacting with other heroes. Most of the famous civilian characters have become superheroes themselves because the comics want them to stay close to the hero, but need to give them a reason after decades of interpersonal drama. It’s much easier to just not have civilian characters to focus on the superhero action and drama, but in doing that, comics have lost a very important piece of relatability and storytelling avenue. They need to bring back normal people.
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