Superhero Universe: Supporting Characters

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Superhero stories can’t all be battles with supervillains. That gets boring, quick. To help make things interesting for your heroes’ civilian lives, here are some character types that can make up the supporting cast of your universe.

SHU Supporting Cast - Up Close and Personal
SHU Supporting Cast - Family Ties
SHU Supporting Cast - The Neighborhood
SHU Supporting Cast - Civilian Life
SHU Supporting Cast - Public Figures

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SHU - Up Close and Personal

The Love-Interest: Someone your superhero is interested in and/or in a relationship with; possible problems in trying to keep superhero life secret or with love-interest having to deal with it. (Example on left: Lois Lane (reporter) wife of Superman who didn’t care much for Clark Kent at first).
The Best Friend: Your hero’s closest friend in civilian identity… good candidate for being the Confidant; can also be another hero who can help swap stories.(Example: William Clockwell, best friend of Image Comics hero Invincible)
The Confidant: Someone who is in-the-know on a hero’s secret identity; acts as both a source of venting and aid in help keeping cover; other support characters (love interest, parental figure, etc) can also fill this role. (Example: Alfred, Batman’s faithful butler)

SHU - Family Ties

The Parental Figure: Person who helped raise a superhero through childhood and still offers the occasional bit of advice… can be a mother, father, aunt, uncle, grandparent, or anyone older who fills role. (Example: May Parker, Spider-Man’s aunt who serves as primary rock in his life)
The Family: The hero’s family… can include parents, siblings, wife, children, etc; can be a source of support (civilian or hero identity, depending on if they know) or irritation. (Example: Jonathon and Martha Kent, Superman’s adoptive parents who taught him his values)
The Mentor: Person who may have taught your hero in the skill or skills he uses to fight evil; usually thinks student still has something to learn (usually does); could be an older hero (maybe retired) passing on skills. (Example: Stick, mentor of Daredevil who taught him to fight and use enhanced senses)

SHU - The Neighborhood

The Neighbor: Lives near your hero, be it the house next door or apartment in the same building; can be a friend or someone who annoys the hero; hero’s attempts at keeping his identity secret can be a good running gag and story element.
The Bully: Enjoys making life miserable for the hero in his civilian life… hero being unable to do anything because of need to keep identity secret; bully can be popular despite attitude or be hated by all and not care. (Example on right: Flash Thompson, who made high school miserable for Peter Parker)

SHU - Civilian Life

The Boss: The hero’s employer in his civilian job, who usually gives the hero grief about “disappearances”; other traits depend on type of job and kind of person you want Boss to be. (Example: Perry White, Clark Kent’s boss at the Daily Planet)
The Employee: Works for the hero in his civilian identity (if in position to have people working for him)… can be a butler, nurse, secretary, assistant, etc; can know the hero’s identity and be a source of support. (Example: Karen Page, secretary of Daredevil’s civilian identity Matt Murdock)

SHU - Public Figures

The Government Agent: Part of or head of agency that deals with major threats; can work with hero in dealing with threats or has shaky relationship depending on view of heroes. (Example: Nick Fury, agent and head of SHIELD)
The Police Chief: Both inside man for a hero and one who often summons him when there’s trouble; can be biggest support for the hero within police or keeps relationship secret, depending how hero is viewed by public. (Example shown on left: Commissioner Gordon, Batman’s strongest ally and supporter)
The Reporter: Reports the news on a hero’s exploits; can be both a help to the hero or a foil depending on how news is delivered or what Reporter will do to get a story. (Example: J. Jonah Jameson, editor of Daily Bugle out to prove Spider-Man to be a menace)

These types of characters can be found in any kind of story, not just superhero comics, as all fiction needs supporting characters. Depending on what kind of hero you’re creating, you can find an appropriate character to go with it for a buzzing kids world.