While DC and Marvel have been building their comic book universes for decades, their cinematic ones are still pretty new. Right at the dawn of the new millennium, Fox kicked off their X-Men universe, with Marvel following suit in 2008 with their more Avengers-centric share continuity. Last but not least, DC finally got going on their extended universe with 2013’s Man of Steel.
Since each began, they’ve grown exponentially, with a number of movies planned for the next fews years and plenty of others sketched out beyond that. Just like in the comics, as time passes and our adult heroes age, they begin to sire offspring who often follow in their footsteps.
This year’s Spider-Man: Homecoming will give us our best look yet at what it’s like to be a young superhero on the big screen. But what happens when even Spidey grows up? Both DC and Marvel comics are full of new generations of superheroes (and villains) taking up the mantle of their parents or fighting alongside them. As comic book movie universes continue to grow, there’s a number of superkids we’d love to see in action. Here are 15 Superhero’s Kids We Want to See in the Movies.
15. Huntress / Helena Wayne
With the news that Catwoman will be joining the DCEU in Gotham City Sirens, and knowing that Bruce Wayne has been operating as Batman for quite some time, it’s also possible that Selina Kyle has been active for years. Though there’s likely going to be an age difference between Bruce and Selina, there’s still an opportunity to introduce their Bronze Age daughter, Helena Wayne. Back in the the ‘70s, Helena was conceived of as an Earth-2 answer to Batgirl. In that reality, she was the child of Batman and Catwoman, and raised by the two to share their skills (and wealth). Upon her mother’s death, she crafted the alter-ego Huntress to bring the villain responsible to justice.
If this all sounds a bit familiar, it’s because the Arrowverse version of Huntress, Helena Bertinelli, is based on a character of the same name who DC created Post-Crisis on Infinite Earths as the new Huntress. The movies, however, have the opportunity to give Bruce a daughter who will one day become a headstrong vigilante. With the DCEU having an unexplored past, Helena could already be a young woman, primed to become a vigilante in the years to come. Perhaps Bruce’s change after the death of Robin even drove Selina away, and back into a life of crime. It would also be great to explore a shared past between the Bat and the Cat, as the two attempt to reconcile their different lifestyles and see if the spark is still there.
14. Stature / Cassie Lang
While Helena could be an existing character that we’ve yet to meet, we’ve already encountered Scott Lang’s daughter Cassie in the MCU. Like in the comics, Scott’s motivation for stealing Hank Pym’s suit in Ant-Man is to provide for his daughter. Though we only get a few scenes with the young Cassie, Marvel fans are hoping the actor is locked into one of those notoriously lengthy contracts and will be sticking around as she grows. Not only would it be great to watch a superhero’s kid grow alongside them, but fans are eager to see her become the size-changing hero Stature.
We know that Marvel TV will be taking a crack at the children of supervillains with Runaways, but their other big teen team, the Young Avengers, is still primed for adaptation. In the comics, it’s Cassie’s anger at not being asked to join the team of teen heroes that causes her to grow gigantic. Turns out, she’d been stealing Pym particles from her dad most of her life; she just thought they hadn’t worked.
Once she can control her new abilities, Cassie begins fighting alongside the first incarnation of the Young Avengers (until Scarlet Witch kills her). While her death is a longshot in the MCU, she could easily grow up to be a young hero in her own right. Even better would be watching her slowly manifest powers as a child, growing up with the knowledge that she can change size and causing a headache for her parents.
13. Eleanor Camacho
In some ways, seeing Eleanor Camacho, the daughter of Deadpool, show up in a movie seems highly unlikely. But it’s the sheer insanity of it that could make it a reality. Assuming Fox has the rights to Eleanor, as she came into existence after the deal they made with Marvel, it would be incredible to see Wade Wilson continue with his insane shenanigans while attempting to raise a kid. In fact, replace her original fairly random mother with Vanessa Carlysle and it would make even more sense.
Though Vanessa is a mutant in the comics, she doesn’t appear to be in the movies, meaning Eleanor could maintain her half-mutant status. While she hasn’t manifested any abilities yet in the comics, it would make for some great comedy to learn that Vanessa is pregnant in Deadpool 2 and have the third film time-jump a bit to when Eleanor is a bit older. If the Deadpool franchise wants to continue pushing the envelope, what better way to do that than giving the ultra-violent and highly unstable Wade a young child to raise.
12. Skaar
Even more than Deadpool having a kid, it seems downright absurd for the Hulk as we know him in the MCU to have an alien lovechild. Still, this year’s Thor: Ragnarok has already sown the seeds. We think it’s a safe bet that Planet Hulk will never be properly introduced in the MCU. For one, Marvel doesn’t have the full rights to make a Hulk solo film. Even if they did, they’re clearly pulling elements of the story for the upcoming Thor sequel, so they’re unlikely to return to that well. The good thing is that just by establishing that Hulk’s spent some time on Sakaar is enough for Marvel to eventually introduce Skaar down the road.
Beginning life in a What If Comic, Skaar became canon with 2008’s World War Hulk when readers learned of Bruce’s offspring with a woman from Sakaar. Stuck in permanent barbaric Hulk mode and with a proclivity for axes, Skaar could be growing up somewhere in the MCU right as we speak. That means that whenever Marvel wants to introduce them, they just have to have him show up on Earth looking for his dad, or have Bruce return to Sakaar. Perhaps Thanos’ threat in Infinity War will be so great that the young hero has to swoop in and save his dad’s life. Or better yet, maybe Taika Waititi will helm another Thor/Hulk roadtrip film, as the eccentric director would probably love the idea of introducing a kid for the Green Goliath.
11. Batgirl or Oracle / Barbara Gordon
We know J.K. Simmons sadly won’t be returning to The Daily Bugle, as he’s got a new gig at the GCPD. In the DCEU, he’ll be playing James Gordon, and we sure hope he has a daughter when we meet him. DC actually has two great options for how to move forward with Barbara Gordon if they bring her into their movie universe. The first is to make her Batgirl.
Debuting in the comics and TV show simultaneously in the ‘60s, Barbara Gordon becomes Batgirl after saving Batman’s life from Killer Moth. Though he’s reluctant to take her on, the two eventually begin working together. Whether the DCEU Batgirl would be active or retired, it would create a nice dynamic between Bruce and Gordon.
The other option is that we meet a Barbara Gordon who’s already been shot by the Joker and become paralyzed. This event unfolds in Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke, whose recent animated adaptation was a big hit. It would also increase the current Joker’s threat level if we knew he’d attempted to kill both a Batgirl and Robin. If that were the case, Barbara could become Oracle, the wheelchair-bound hacker who helps Batman (and the Birds of Prey) fight crime from afar like Felicity does on Arrow. Like with Huntress and Skaar, the potential is there if DC and WB are willing to follow through.
10. Wiccan and Speed / Billy Kaplan and Tommy Shepherd
If you thought Deadpool and Hulk having kids was crazy, wait until you hear about Wiccan and Speed. The MCU would have to do a ton of streamlining to make this work, but they’ve never been afraid of that before. And considering both Billy Kaplan and Tommy Shepherd are crucial to an eventual Young Avengers film, Marvel will have to make it work somehow. The broad strokes of their story are that they’re the kids of Scarlet Witch and the Vision (a wild idea on its own, but one that’s been slowly hinted at in the MCU already), pseudo-reincarnated after the events of House of M leaves them dead, which proves the breaking point for Wanda.
Most of the story couldn’t be in the MCU because it heavily deals with mutants, but Wiccan (who can warp reality like his mom) and Speed (who’s super fast like his uncle Quicksilver and is apparently not very clever when it comes to names) are both really cool characters and a core part of the Young Avengers that would be great additions to the movies. Plus, Wiccan has one of the best costumes in Marvel Comics and could give the movies their first LGBTQ character. However they decide to do it, we really hope to see Wiccan and Speed join the MCU in the near future.
9. Franklin and Valeria Richards
More than almost any entry on this list, having Franklin and Valeria Richards show up in a movie could be really easily done. The Fantastic Four as a property is built around family, so introducing the kids of Reed Richards and Sue Storm would be a natural progression. The bigger question mark is when we’ll next see Marvel’s First Family on the big screen.
Despite what Simon Kinberg keeps saying, it’s hard to imagine Fox taking another crack at the franchise. Whether they do a reboot or sell the rights to Marvel, like Spider-Man, no one needs to see the Fantastic Four’s origin again. What would be far more exciting is to see a new film kick off with them already being a well-established team with powers and both Franklin and Valeria in the picture.
This would streamline things and cut right to the good stuff, which is the 6-member extended family fighting crime, solving problems with science, and traveling the cosmos. We’d also get to see Valeria’s ruthless genius and Franklin’s reality-warping, which would be a lot of fun to watch Reed and Sue keep up with. Plus, the two kids bring us one step closer to making Matt Fraction’s and Mike Allred’s incredible FF run into a movie.
8. Superboy / Jon Kent or Christopher Kent
There have been a number of people who’ve held the title Superboy over the years in the comics, but we’re just going to focus on the two most likely to show up in the DCEU. The first is the most recent Jon Kent (there have been a lot) and Superboy. Appearing two years ago in Convergence: Superman #2 at the dawn of DC’s Rebirth, Superboy is the young son of Clark Kent and Lois Lane. He’s got all the powers of his pop and has joined him as his crime fighting sidekick. Considering how young he is, it’d certainly be possible for the DCEU to introduce a son for Lois and Clark in the coming years and it’d provide a fascinating dynamic that would do a lot to humanize the Man of Steel.
The second possibility for a child of Lois and Clark is Lor-Zod, also known as Christopher Kent. He’s actually the biological son of General Zod, but his heroic nature leads to Lois and Clark adopting him. Though it’d make sense for DC to align their films with Rebirth and introduce Jon, Zod’s son would be rife for dramatic exploration and would be a lot easier to fit into the story given he could already be of-age somewhere out there. Either way, we’d love to see DC bring a Superboy into their film continuity.
7. Nomad / Ian Rogers
Ian Rogers, the adopted son of Captain America and eventual holder of his former Nomad title, would require a good bit of narrative rewriting. Still, it’s hard to deny that seeing big-hearted Steve grappling with raising a son would make for a great film. We don’t know what’s going to happen to Cap after Infinity War, but if Chris Evans gets another shot at the character in a solo movie, some version of Steve’s time with Ian would be fascinating.
The story is truly one for the comics, as it involves Steve being transported to Dimension Z, an alternate world where Armin Zola reigns supreme over an army of mutates. He also has two kids, one of which Steve absconds with in an attempt to rescue the child. From there, Steve and Ian live out in the wastelands for years while time stands virtually still back in his reality. We won’t spoil too much of it, but suffice to say that Steve eventually winds up back on regular Earth, while Ian (now considerably older) soon follows.
Ian then takes up the name Nomad and joins the Sam Wilson/Captain America fighting crime. That latter bit would likely have to wait, but introducing a young son for Steve opens up a ton of story possibilities, while his future as Nomad could provide something for Marvel to work toward as their current generation of Avengers slowly age out of their roles.
6. Spider-Girl / Mayday or Annie Parker
Like Superboy, Marvel has had a few different Spider-Girls. Though we’d absolutely love Spider-Gwen to make her way into the MCU, we’re more interested in Peter Parker’s and Mary Jane’s two daughters. The first, May “Mayday” Parker, debuted in one of Marvel’s What If comics before her popularity saw her get a book in their late ‘90s MC2 imprint. As the alternate reality child of Peter and Mary Jane, May gets all of Spidey’s powers and eventually becomes a hero herself. We last saw a version of her during Spider-Verse, and given her complex nature, we likely won’t see her in a movie anytime soon, unless Marvel and Sony adapt the dimension-hopping arc.
A more current daughter of Peter and Mary Jane, Annie, also fights crime alongside her parents in another alternate Marvel world first glimpsed during Secret Wars. Like May, the specifics of Annie’s story won’t fit into the MCU anytime soon, but the general idea of Peter and Mary Jane having a daughter with powers who becomes Spider-Girl could be adapted in some form. The one big barrier to all of this, of course, is Pete’s age right now. Given that he’s in high school, we probably won’t see him sire children anytime soon. Still, we’ve got an eye towards the future and would love this idea to play out at some point in Tom Holland’s time with Marvel.
5. Ahura Boltagon
The biggest thing preventing Ahura Boltagon, the son of Black Bolt and Medusa, from appearing in a movie is that Inhumans is already scheduled to be a TV show on ABC. While this appears to be replacing the long-planned movie about the Royal Family, there’s still a chance the whole gang could show up in a future film. After all, Marvel has been heavily pushing the Inhumans in the comics over the past few years, so we find it hard to believe they’ll never appear in a film in some form.
If they do, we’d love to see Ahura show up. Not only does he eventually join the Future Foundation, providing one more link between the Inhumans and Fantastic Four, but he offers us an opportunity to see what the child of two Inhumans who have gone through Terrigenesis would be like. In the comics, he’s had telepathic powers since birth, but recently went through actual Terrigenesis and activated even stronger skills.
A young window into the long and complex history of the Inhuman Royal Family would give audiences a surrogate, and a son would help to humanize the silent and powerful Black Bolt. After all, as a telepath, Ahura is one of the few people who could actually hold a conversation with his father.
4. Impulse / Bart Allen
Just like Spidey, the Barry Allen of the movies is a bit too young to have a child. What makes Bart Allen a possibility, however, is how wrapped up in time travel he is. Born in the 30th century and using the name Impulse, Bart is the grandson of Barry Allen and Iris West. He’s also related to Kid Flash, Professor Zoom, and Cobalt Blue, making him part of the lineage of almost every Speed Force user. He then travels back to our present and serves as a hero, eventually becoming Kid Flash and later the Flash himself. Part of this story played out in Young Justice, and we’d love to see Bart appear in a future Flash movie if Ezra Miller’s film becomes a hit and deals more with the time travel we saw teased in Batman V Superman.
This certainly wouldn’t happen in the first few movies, but it’d be exciting to see a still-young Barry Allen, possibly just beginning his relationship with Iris and having to grapple with a future version of one of his heirs. Impulse also amps up the manic energy Barry already has, giving Flash a taste of what it’s like for everyone else to deal with a speedster. The Flash Family offers some of the lighter and more fun aspects of DC Comics, so introducing this in the relatively bleak DCEU would help differentiate their properties.
3. Daken / Akihiro
Logan will see Wolverine take on a child of sorts when he meets X-23, one of his genetic offshoots. But Daken is a whole different beast. The biological son of Logan and his former Japanese wife Itsu, Akihiro provides a window into Wolverine’s past in the country he’s long been connected with. Like his father, the man who eventually becomes Daken has super senses, an extreme healing factor, and claws he can unleash from each hand (two from the knuckles and one from the underside of his wrist). Even more than his father, he operates in a moral gray area, which he often exploits thanks to his ability to control pheromones.
Fox could continue exploring Logan’s humanity by providing Daken as his dark counterpoint (the character literally served as Dark Wolverine during Siege). He’s also fairly fluid with his sexuality, giving Fox a chance to explore an underrepresented area of their canon. We know Ryan Reynolds wants Deadpool and Wolverine to team up in a movie together, but given Reynold’s recent comments about Deadpool’s own comic book sexuality, we’d love to see Wade and Daken take bromance in a superhero movie to a whole new level.
2. The Robins / Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, and Damian Wayne
First, it has to be said that we know Tim Drake was left out of the lineup. That’s only because the DCEU seems to have firmly established that both Dick Grayson and Jason Todd have come and gone. If there were to somehow be a third Robin (considering we’ve yet to even meet the first two), it’s more likely to be Damian Wayne. Not only is he the current Robin in the comics, but he offers a fresh spin on the formula by being Batman’s actual son (while the other Robins are more adopted children). Tim Drake was more or less a Dick Grayson analog designed to wash the taste of Jason Todd out of reader’s mouths, but as the latter’s since become the popular Red Hood, his movie trajectory would be a good bit different.
If we were ever to see any Robin in action, Damian makes the most sense as the only active one. Through him, we can explore Batman as a parent who has to deal with a child raised by assassins. If Dick and Jason were to show up, it’d be in modern times as Nightwing and Red Hood respectively. They could even arrive in the same film, with Nightwing showing up to help Batman deal with the threat and mystery of the Red Hood. Those two are almost guaranteed to arrive at some point, but introducing Damian down the road would make for some very compelling storytelling.
1. Viv and Vin Vision
If you thought Vision’s first set of kids were strange, wait until you hear about his new family. As bizarre as the story is, however, it actually might be the easiest and most interesting to bring to the big screen. Viv and Vin are Vision’s children with Virginia, but he actually created all three of them. In last year’s Vision #1, we learn that Vision has imprinted Scarlet Witch’s brain waves onto a duplicate of himself to create a wife. He then imprints both of their brain waves on two children, Viv and Vin. The idea is that the family will humanize him, and it’s a mind-bending exploration of what it means to be alive.
Unlike many of the kids on this list who don’t yet exist, let alone being old enough to be superheroes, Vision could create his offspring at any time. It’d be amazing to see Wanda and Vision attempt a relationship during Infinity War, only for the whole thing to fall apart and cause Vision to strike out on his own. Phase 4 could then give us a Vision solo film where the events of the recent comic can unfold. It’d be one of the boldest directions for a superhero movie yet, playing on the themes of Age of Ultron, Westworld, and the current LMD arc on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. As wild as the whole thing sounds, it also feels the most possible, and it’s certainly one we’d be excited to see.
Which superhero’s kids do you want to see in a Marvel or DC movie? Let us know in the comments.
