5 Marvel Street Level Heroes Who Can Lead the Way Instead of Spider-Man and Daredevil

Marvel Comics did something interesting by setting the epicenter of their superhero community in New York City, creating some of the greatest street-level heroes ever. When you think of street-level Marvel heroes, there are loads that come to mind, but the two who have defined street-level Marvel the most are Spider-Man and Daredevil. The two of them are the standard bearers for the vigilantes of the Marvel Universe, each of them filling an important role. Spider-Man is the more powerful of the two and he ends up facing the biggest threats. His popularity also means that he’s often the bridge between the rest of the street-level heroes and the major groups. Daredevil represents the grittier side of the vigilante world, the heroes who deal with the worst criminals and don’t always follow all of the rules.

They are the two poles around which street-level Marvel orbits, but they are just the tip of the iceberg. While you can make the argument that DC’s vigilante community has its advantages, street-level Marvel has been home to the greatest heroes, people that have changed the way street-level superheroes work in comics. While Spider-Man and Daredevil are the two most recognizable, there are numerous other street-level heroes who can easily slot into their spaces as leader of their community. They’re the best of the best, each of them playing an important role in the city. These five street-level Marvel heroes could lead the way better than Spider-Man and Daredevil, showing how deep the House of Ideas’ street-level bench is.

5) Ben Reilly

The Clone Saga is often unfairly maligned. Marvel made a lot of mistakes with the way it told the two-year long story, but it did get some things right, especially Ben Reilly. The Scarlet Spider was able to charm readers right from the start, becoming one of the most compelling characters of the mid ’90s. While a lot of fans didn’t like that it was revealed that Ben was the “real” Spider-Man, it was mostly because of what that meant to Marvel history more than any dislike for the character. Since the end of the Clone Saga, he’s come back numerous times, with fans actually liking the character. However, for some reason, Marvel can’t leave well enough alone and has since made him into a villain. Most fans would rather see him as a hero and it would be a snap to make him into a major one. People buy Spider-Man comics and if Marvel announced a book that brought the Spider-clone back for a major new role in the Marvel Universe, fans would buy it. Ben is an awesome hero with the right name recognition; Marvel could rebuild their street-level titles around him with little trouble.

4) Shang-Chi

Shang-Chi is one of those characters with a long history that doesn’t actually have all that many “best of all-time” stories. He’s often been the forgotten part of the Marvel Universe. He was introduced in the mid ’70s, when Marvel was undergoing something of a second renaissance. The character was created because of the popularity of kung-fu movies, becoming the martial arts/spy character of the mid ’70s. However, he never really found his way out of the C-list anthology titles of the day. Even joining the MCU wasn’t enough to make him popular enough to sustain a solo series. However, that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. Imagine a Shang-Chi book set in New York City with him going up against his father or maybe an all-new crime boss trying to take over his family legacy that you find out is a brother or something. Shang-Chi is a character who you can basically do the same kind of stories as Daredevil with, except instead of lawyer stories, you can play up his history as a spy. He has the name recognition, thanks to the MCU, and there is a lot of love for the character. Readers want a reason to love him and he’s perfect to help redefine Marvel’s street-level heroes.

3) Luke Cage

Luke Cage also came up in ’70s Marvel, based on the blaxploitation films that were popular with the Marvel staff at the time. He would soon get teamed up with Iron Fist and became one of B-list’s Marvel’s most beloved names before fading away in the ’80s. Marvel tried to bring him back in the ’90s to no avail, but the ’00s proved to be the perfect time for him. Cage, by Brian Azzarello and Richard Corben, turned heads as one of the first MAX titles and he was soon brought into the Avengers comics thanks to writer Brian Michael Bendis. In the mid ’00s, Cage was one of the most popular Marvel characters around, but once Bendis lost his position as the main Avengers writer, Cage faded away again. It’s about time for Luke to get another chance on top. He’s just finished a stint as the mayor of New York City and he’s about to join the Avengers all over again. Cage is ready to reach the top, making street-level Marvel cool in his own inimitable way.

2) White Tiger

White Tiger is a character who I have a lot of inexplicable love for. Back in the early ’90s, when I started reading comics, I got my hands on some ’70s books, including one that had a lot of the early adventures of Hector Ayala, the hero known as White Tiger. The first Hispanic Marvel hero, Hector became a vigilante using an Amulet of Power he found outside the Sons of the Tiger kung-fu school. He was a pretty generic hero – guy from a rough neighborhood gets his hands on object that gives him powers and becomes a hero – but his adventures mixed kung-fu weirdness with street crime stories perfectly. Hector would end up getting killed and replaced by two of his nieces as White Tiger, establishing a cool legacy for the mantle. White Tiger is just begging for a writer who cares; you can take this concept of the Ayala family working to protect their neighborhood while embroiled with the destiny of this ancient mystical amulet and do all kinds of things with it. White Tiger is one of those Marvel mantles that has a lot of great history behind it and it’s about time they used that history.

1) Jessica Jones

Jessica Jones has become a Marvel legend. She was created by writer Brian Michael Bendis for the series Alias, a Marvel MAX book that took a warts and all look at the life of superpowered private detective Jessica Jones. She was once the C-list hero Jewel and went to high school with Peter Parker until a mission against the Purple Man destroyed her live completely, giving her an interesting place in the history of the superhero community. She worked for years in the seedier corners of the Marvel Universe and eventually started running with Luke Cage, Daredevil, and Iron Fist, marrying Cage and becoming an Avengers mainstay for several years. Jessica is a character that everyone loves and it’s weird that Marvel doesn’t really take advantage of this. She’s a hero that could easily be positioned at the top of vigilante community; her place in the history of Marvel TV – she was part of the Netflix Daredevil universe before all of that was folded into the MCU – gives her the kind of name recognition that Marvel demands of its popular characters. It’s about time Marvel put her at the head of their street-level heroes.

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