After reading the Black Widow duology, I started wondering. When writing tie in or spin offs or side adventure books involving popular characters like Marvel heroes or whatever, are the original young adult characters really necessary?

I wrote in the Black Widow review that I had been expecting more insight to Natasha’s past and her missions from the Red Room, but it was vague. It was less about Natasha as a hero, but her as a mentor figure for the real main character.

I found the same in the DC’s new series giving side adventures to the heroes like Wonder Woman: Warbringer where there was some focus on her finding out about Man’s Land, it was also about the three unsuspecting teens who end up embroiled in Ares’ plot.

I know the point of these teen protagonists are to be the entry point for readers unfamiliar with the property. They’re the rookies who are being introduced to the world the same time as the readers, they’re relatable.

But I’m not interested in them. Not only do they have the same sort of coming of age, learning to harness their power character development. But since I already have some knowledge of Wonder Woman and her mythos, I don’t need to be reintroduced. Plus I picked the book up to see Wonder Woman’s journey, not this random person’s. I want to see her side adventures with the Amazons or Steve Trevor, not her teaming up with a civilian.

So what are your thoughts? Do you want the teen protagonist in the book or would you rather focus on the main event? Is it necessary to include the person in order to make it YA? Or should it be part of the New Adult genre since the heroes are generally in their twenties than their teens in the books?

Comment below!