When it comes to superheroes, most people tend to think of the heroes who originated in the Golden Age of the late 1930s and 1940s, which birthed the likes of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Captain America, or the 1950s and ’60s that created the modern Marvel Universe and the Silver Age DC heroes. These heroes have loomed large in the public consciousness for decades, with storylines older than most of their readers. One might also think of the 1990s, the era that created now modern icons like Deadpool, Hellboy, and Spawn. There’s a common idea that all the great superheroes were created in the past, and nothing in the modern era has stuck. However, that just isn’t true.
More great superheroes are made every year, a point proven by the recent release and critically acclaimed video game Dispatch, whose colorful cast of characters will be fan-favorites for years to come. Many iconic heroes from the likes of Marvel and DC have been created in the 2010s and onwards, making them younger than the Marvel Cinematic Universe itself. Some have barely been around for a decade. These heroes have enriched their respective universes and gained mainstream popularity beyond the comics.
These are the 10 best superheroes released since 2010, in chronological order of their creation.
Kamala Khan / Ms. Marvel
First Appearance: All-New Marvel Now! Point One #1 (January 2014)
Created by Sana Amanat, Stephen Wacker, G. Willow Wilson, Adrian Alphona, and Jamie McKelvie
Ms. Marvel became the face of the All-New Marvel Now! publishing initiative, one that looked to introduce a new diverse batch of heroes for an ever-growing global market. Kamala Khan follows the Peter Parker mold of being an average teenage kid who gets superpowers, with her status as a Pakistani-American teenager in New Jersey giving her stories a unique and also universal feel to them.
Despite being created as part of a larger publishing initiative to boost the profile of the Inhumans over the X-Men, Ms. Marvel quickly became a breakout hero for Marvel Comics, with the first volume of her graphic novel becoming the best-selling comic of October 2014. With the character herself being a Marvel superhero fan, she is the perfect avatar for generations of fans. Ms. Marvel has since been adapted into an animated series, video games, and has been perfectly portrayed by Iman Vellani in the Marvel Cinematic Universe titles, Ms. Marvel and The Marvels.
Robbie Reyes / Ghost Rider
First Appearance: All-New Ghost Rider #1 (March 2014)
Created by: Felipe Smith and Tradd Moore
Many characters have held the title Ghost Rider, but Robbie Reyes made an impression from the moment he debuted in March 2014. Instead of a motorcycle, Robbie Reyes drives a flaming 1969 Dodge Charger R/T while the floating fire skull is replaced by a skull helmet.
Instead of being bonded with a spirit of vengeance like his predecessors, Robbie Reyes’s Ghost Rider is connected to the spirit of his serial killer uncle, and Robbie Reyes is able to placate his murderous thirst by going after evil souls. Robbie Reyes became the first Ghost Rider to join the ranks of The Avengers, and was so iconic that just two years after he debuted in the comics, he made the leap to live-action in Season 4 of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. played by Gabriel Luna.
Jessica Cruz / Green Lantern
First Appearance: Justice League #31 (August 2014)
Created by Geoff Jones and Ethan Van Sciver
Since the 2010s, DC Comics has introduced many great Green Lanterns, including Simon Baz and Jojourner Mullein. Yet one that has taken off with fans has been Jessica Cruz. Originally infected with the evil Ring of Volthoom, she later got a proper Green Lantern power ring. Cruz’s debut came at a time when discussions about mental health were entering the mainstream, and the character was written to have both post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and cases of extreme anxiety.
Those elements don’t stop her from being a Green Lantern; in fact, it speaks to her ability to overcome fear and the strength of willpower that puts her on equal footing with legends like Hal Jordan and John Stewart. In the eleven years since her comic debut, Jessica Cruz has gotten a big push in animated DC projects, including the animated film Justice League and the Fatal Five, the theatrically released DC League of Super-Pets, and will lead her own animated series, My Adventures with Green Lantern.
Gwen Stacy / Spider-Woman aka Spider-Gwen
First Appearance: Edge of Spider-Verse #2 (September 2014)
Created by Jason Latour and Robbi Rodriguez
Even though Gwen Stacy herself was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko back in the 1960s, the Spider-Gwen incarnation of the character has put a whole new spin on the character and redefined her for generations to come that it is now difficult to imagine her pre-superheroic comic book status. Introduced as part of the Spider-Verse comics, Spider-Gwen was a version of Peter Parker’s famous love interest who was bitten by the radioactive spider instead.
The character quickly exploded in popularity, getting her own comic in 2015, and has since become a major recurring part of the Marvel Universe. She was a main character in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, further increasing her mainstream popularity. After years of being defined as a character who is destined to die tragically, Spider-Gwen has rewritten the character’s fate to be a more interesting character in her own right.
Gwenpool
First Appearance: Deadpool’s Secret Secret Wars #2 (June 2015)
Created by Chris Bachalo, Christopher Hastings, Heather Antos, and Jordan D. White
Gwenpool‘s creation is directly linked to Spider-Gwen. Following Spider-Gwen’s debut, Marvel published a series of variant covers of Gwen Stacy-inspired characters. One of those was Gwenpool, who was the cover of Deadpool Secret Secret Wars #2, drawn by Chris Bachalo. Despite not appearing in the comic, she proved instantly popular with the character becoming the subject of fan art and cosplay. Writer Christopher Hastings and editor Heather Antos were tasked with creating a comic about the character, yet they were not allowed to tie the character into either Deadpool or Gwen Stacy due to not wanting to give either 20th Century Fox or Sony Pictures a potential character they could use in their X-Men or Spider-Man film franchise, respectively.
The solution was to make Gwenpool, whose real name was Gwendolyn “Gwen” Poole, a person from the real world who found herself transported into the Marvel Comics universe and having all the knowledge and meta-fourth wall breaks that concept entails. Since her debut, Gwenpool has become one of the most iconic and beloved new characters created in the 2010s and has gotten an extra boost in popularity thanks to her association with the popular Marvel Rivals character, Jeff the Land Shark.
Lunella Louise Lafayette/ Moon Girl
Marvel, 2023
First Appearance: Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur #1 (November 2015)
Created by Brandon Montclare, Amy Reeder, and Natacha Bustos
Created to be a direct (but standalone) follow-up to Jack Kirby’s Moon Boy and Devil Dinosaur, Moon Girl was a nine-year-old girl super genius from Louisiana named Lunella Louise Lafayette. Discovering she has Inhuman DNA, she learns she can swap consciousness with Devil Dinosaur after his original partner dies. The character’s initial solo series ran for 47 issues from 2015 to 2019. In 2023, the characters were adapted into a critically acclaimed animated series, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, which aged up Moon Girl to be 13, dropped her Inhuman connection, and gave her a super suit made out of gadgets she created herself.
Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur have since been adapted into the popular series Spidey and His Amazing Friends and are part of the W.E.B. Program at Avengers Campus in Disney’s California Adventure. Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur are a nice reminder about superheroes as the ultimate wish fulfillment for children, and are wonderful characters who could (and should) be a major player in the MCU’s future.
Jackson Hyde / Kaldur’ahm / Aqualad
First Appearance: Brightest Day #4 (August 2010) / Young Justice “Independence Day” (November 26, 2010)
Created by Brandon Vietti, Greg Weisman, and Phil Bourassa
Aqualad had an interesting road to creation. He was initially created for the DC animated series Young Justice, but DC Comics liked the character concept so much that they were able to have him debut in the comics four months before the premiere of the animated series. The biological son of Aquaman’s archenemy, Black Manta, Kaldaur’ahm’s true parentage is kept secret from him and taken in as Aquaman’s protégée, Aqualad.
The series established Aqualad as a born leader with a complex sense of loyalty, even becoming a deep undercover mole to infiltrate the villainous organization The Light, leaving many of his team members in the dark. Aqualad’s comic counterpart established him as an openly gay hero, an element brought into Young Justice. Even though the Garth incarnation of Aqualad might be the first, the Jackson Hyde / Kaldur’ahm version has quickly eclipsed him as a generation’s image of Aqualad and one that fans eagerly await to join the DCU.
Riri Williams / Ironheart
First Appearance: Invincible Iron Man Vol. 2 #9 (July 2016)
Created by Brian Michael Bendis and Mike Deodato
Created in 2016, partially to tie in with the release of Captain America: Civil War, which prominently featured Tony Stark / Iron Man, Riri Williams was poised to be Iron Man’s successor. Despite being associated with Iron Man, Ironheart has forged her own path apart from him. Riri Williams is a 15-year-old super genius who creates her own Iron Man-like suit. Not taking the name Iron Man or Iron Woman, with Iron Maiden off the table for copyright reasons, Riri Williams transformed herself into the superhero Ironheart.
Even though Ironheart is less than a decade old, she has had a significant impact on the Marvel Comics universe and Marvel media. She has been both a member of the Champions and Avengers, and was a starring character in the animated series Marvel Rising, alongside fellow heroes on this list, Ms. Marvel. Riri Williams has also become a major player in the MCU, with Dominque Thorne playing the character in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and her own solo series Ironheart, in addition to voice roles in What If…? and Marvel Zombies.
Nia Nal / Dreamer
First Appearance: Supergirl “American Alien” (October 14, 2018)
Created by Robert Rovner and Jessica Queller
Like Harley Quinn before her, Nia Nal / Dreamer is a character who originated in adapted media before being brought into DC Comics. Created for the Supergirl television series, Nia Nal was based on and meant to be the ancestor of the Legion of Superheroes character Naru Nal / Dream Girl. Played by Nicole Maines, Dreamer became the first transgender superhero on television and immediately struck a chord with the audience. She became a series regular on Supergirl for its final three seasons and guest-starred in the final season of The Flash. Dreamer’s abilities include precognition, astral projection, and energy constructs.
In 2021, Dreamer made her DC Comics debut in DC Pride #1 in a story written by Maines herself. In 2024, Maines wrote Bad Dream: A Dreamer Story, a graphic novel with art by Rye Hickman. Not only is it great to see Maines take such a creative hand with Dreamer, a character she originated on screen, but also to see such a positive representation of a transgender superhero so widely embraced at a time when there has been open hostility to transgender individuals’ rights.
Miles Morales / Spider-Man
First Appearance: Ultimate Fallout #4 (August 2011)
Created by Brian Michael Bendis and Sara Pichelli
Easily one of the most famous superheroes introduced since 2010, Miles Morales / Spider-Man originally debuted in the Ultimate Marvel Universe and was later brought into the main 616-Marvel Comics universe due to his popularity. Originally inspired by Donald Glover wearing a Spider-Man shirt in Community (with Glover later voicing Miles Morales in Ultimate Spider-Man and playing the character’s uncle Aaron Davis in Spider-Man: Homecoming), Miles Morales emerged in the aftermath of the death of the Ultimate Peter Parker and marked a turn in the Ultimate Comics universe.
A modern spin on the Spider-Man mythology for the 21st century, Miles Morales has quickly become one of Marvel Comics’ most famous heroes, thanks to starring roles in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and roles in PlayStation’s Spider-Man video games. Miles Morales is Spider-Man as much as Peter Parker, and for many people, he is their favorite take on the web slinger.