Because they are teenagers in high school, it could be very hard to make an R-rated teen superhero story unless you just make it a raunchy comedy like American Pie or Good Boys.

Their dating pool is much wider; if most “young” superheroes are 22-25, then their love interests can be in their 30s, 40s, 50s, etc., and they could be in adult relationships dealing with adult relationship problems.

Overall, teen superheroes is an annoying trope that goes nowhere. and exists only to create drama. Look at Superman and Lois. The only reason Jon and Jordan are teens is so there can be conflict with the parents. If Jon and Jordan were 21, they could be superheroes and go out and be vigilantes, and if Clark and Lois tried to stop it, Jon and Jordan would be in their rights to justifiably say, “Go suck our dicks,” because they are adults and can do what they want.

You don’t even really have to go into detail about their jobs; just give the characters a bullshit office job that you can argue pays good money, and just focus on the superhero aspect more, and the office job can replace the school setting as the place some of the other supporting characters or antagonists are. It’s that simple. It’s the same with American sitcoms with characters in their 20s who have nice apartments or houses; “they have good jobs” is a simple enough explanation.

And just for reference:

Peter Parker became Spider-Man when he was 15.

Matt Murdock became Daredevil when he was 22.

That means they are canonically 6 years apart or supposed to be.

But because Marvel won’t let Peter grow up, they make them 20+ years apart.

I want to see fewer teen heroes.

  • cRazi_man@europe.pub
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    14 hours ago

    USA seems to be very high-school obsessed generally. It seems that there really is a strong nostalgia for a time when you had time and ambition and potentially could be anything and were finding your real self and navigating your first relationships. Also, I wonder if comics used to be solely of interest to teenage boys at some point decades ago and it was much more successful to write stories they could relate to. Older readers would be able to relate to a time they’ve lived through anyway.

    Teenage stories have a place, but I agree it’s way overdone. I enjoy the more grown up superheroes a lot more. Peter Parker is much more interesting when he’s an adult. Daredevil is much more interesting for being a working lawyer and this complementing his superhero work.