Overlooked Superheroes

NOTE: Please proceed with caution! This article will contain spoilers for Final Fantasy XIII, Digimon: Digital Monsters, The Beauty and the Beast (1991 and 2017), The Big Bang Theory, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Supernatural, Glee, Harry Potter, and The Flash.

If you do not want to be spoiled by any of the entries therein, please proceed to the following character, who is from a franchise that you will be unspoiled for.

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If anyone recognizes me, they know I possess particular tastes in my favorite characters. The number one thing for me is that I have to relate to them. This character may not be the most well-loved, but he/she is the most well loved by me. I ended up falling in love with my favorite character of all time two years ago. He is a brainy mechanical engineer who happens to moonlight as a superhero, his name is Cisco Ramon. If you recognize who I'm talking about, then I'm extremely delighted. I hope you recognize why I say he may not be well loved by all, but is completely loved by me.

Everyone possesses a well-loved character that not everyone else loves, whether that is the villain, a sidekick (If you've seen Sky High, every time I think of the word sidekick, I hear Coach Boomer yelling "SIDEKICK!") that doesn't seem to receive the credit he/she deserves. Before my laptop had gone south and my sister's boyfriend rehabilitated it, it had contained a list of the top ten most overlooked and underutilized characters. The list was blinked into oblivion when my laptop had died, but one character was always at the top of the list, and that was Cisco Ramon. These characters, including Cisco, are all overlooked superheroes in their own rights, even if they're technically not a superhero like Dave Korofsky from Glee or any of the rest of the list.

Obera Dia Vanille: 'Final Fantasy XIII'

Vanille has to be one of my favorite characters from Final Fantasy XIII (Fun fact: XIII is 13 in Roman numerals.) can be sweet, fun and optimistic. When she lets her guard down, on the other hand, she beats herself up for what has happend to the people around her. I love Vanille because I can strongly identify with her. I am quite the same way myself. I beat myself up for things that I perceived were under my control and that I could have changed. Vanille and her journey with Fang, Hope, Snow, Sazh, and Lightning through trials and tests, and she don't seem to see how strong she absolutely is.

Vanille, from what I have seen, scouring the internet for hours, seems to be some people's least favorite Final Fantasy XIII character. As far as I am concerned, for me, it's Hope; he is such a whiney-baby. Anyway! Her strength and fortitude are greatly overlooked by these people.They think she's annoying and is way too chipper. I enjoy that about her. Her rebellious streak and loyalty remain things I admire about her. Vanille remains a force of good for the people who surround her. I'd have to say if I had to place her in a Hogwarts house. I'd set her in Hufflepuff for she is virtuous loyal and unafraid of toil.

Vanille, additionally, is a deep character, feeling guilty and responsible to the people who were transformed to l'Cie around her (l'Cie represent a branded magical race of people given a focus or goal to attain for the fal'Cie). Vanille wants to achieve everything she can, in her power to compel things to be right. I share these traits with her. She feels remorseful that Serah (pronounced "Sarah") and Dajh (pronounced "Dodge") were turned into l'Cie and tries her best to overcome for that. Sazh (pronounced "Sa-az") nearly slays her when she confesses to him. Ultimately, he realizes Dajh will wake up one day because he crystallized, just like Serah did, and he acquits her.

I guess I scarcely comprehend why people would find Vanille annoying. A capable medic (healer) that is way more valuable than Hope, a great ravager a vast amount of to and other, a tremendous saboteur. In the game, you can place your playable characters on an auto drive type state. Vanille seems to remain the sole character other than Lighting, Fang, and Sazh to logically cast her spells in a substantial way to enormously aid the party. Snow and Hope are pretty much useless, at least in my opinion. I solely play with the two of them in my party when I have to.

Vanille's heart, loyalty, courage, will for justice, and rigorous work are what make her an unsung overlooked superhero.

Joe Kido: 'Digimon: Digital Monsters'

(Sings badly) Digimon, digital monsters, Digimon are the champions (bad singing ends)! Digimon is an English dubbed anime that aired on Fox Kids as part of their afternoon and Saturday cartoon line up. It is about a set of kids who go away to summer camp, given a miniature device called a Digivice. Transported to the Digital World where they meet their partner Digimon. These children are christened Digi-destined. The Digi-destined and their partner Digimon help defend the Digital World from all sorts of evil Digimon and ultimately save the Digital World.

I LOVED this show when I was a kid! I genuinely treasured it so much that I ended up coming up with a Digimon of my own and played the video game Digimon Cyber Sleuth. I still enjoy this show, and I say it was WAY better than Pokemon. Digimon indeed spoke English (Japanese in the original dub) instead of declaring their names over, and over, again. It wasn't all "Coromon, Coromon, Coromon," it was, "Hello Ty, I'm Coromon!" I took a sigh of relief when I realized the Digimon indeed spoke English! That made the anime 100 times more entertaining for me over Pokemon. Yeah, sure I like Ash, Misty, and Brock. I did watch the show and enjoyed it, but not as much as I enjoyed Digimon. Each week and weekday (reruns were played during the weekday.), the Digi-destined Ty, Matt, Sora, Mimi, T.K., Izzy, and Joe would all explore the Digital World, learning more about it and beating either an evil Digimon, or a Digimon who had a black gear shoved into them somewhere, and save the day. The character I consider that was looked over a lot, and even later in season two, was Joe. I love Joe and Gomomon, a cute, almost seal like, Digimon who is white with purple spots, black claws, yellow eyes, and a bright red mohawk. Joe, with my siblings, seemed to be left behind. My brother preferred Ty and Sora, Tabitha liked Mimi and T.K., and I was willingly left with Izzy and Joe. My sister did end up changing her mind later and really started to like Izzy. Later, my sister and I would argue over who favored Kari more, she or I. Kari is Ty's little sister and she ended up joining later as the ninth Digi-destined, with her partner Digimon Gatoman.

Joe is a worry wart, very smart, and makes sure he and the others are prepared, even Gomomon has called him a worry wart. Joe is constantly frightened of everything, sometimes to the extent of being afraid of his own shadow, but he can come through when he is absolutely required. One of his most admirable traits is being reliable, in fact, he is so reliable he is presented the crest of reliability. Joe is very reliable. He remains the guy you go to if you need some knowledge, food, or a bandage. Joe is additionally extremely into school. It shows in the Digimon movie (I've exclusively seen the bastardized Fox amalgamation of the three films), that Joe enjoys school so much, that he volunteered to go to summer school! Yikes! I would have, under no circumstances, attended that! He is highly intelligent though, so this probably was preferable to sitting at home and reading all of the books, and learning materials, he had. Then walking a few miles, mounting a bike or taking a bus to the most local library in Kyoto. I envy his tenacity and self-discipline to attend school that much. I barely made it through university for heaven's sake! He proves this by employing his knowledge about spirits from the material world. He applies his knowledge to the Bakemon (a ghost-like Digimon), uses Sora's helmet and a chant to dismiss them, and saves the day. He is super intelligent. He exhibits many traits that make me question why people look over him so much. He represents not the leader, like Ty. He isn't relaxed like Matt, but he is extremely intelligent and reliable.

Joe is reliable and exceptionally intelligent, which aids him and his friends to get out of unpleasant situations and that is why he is an overlooked superhero.

LeFou: 'Beauty and the Beast'

"LeFou! Don't move from that spot, until Belle and her father come home!" orders Gaston, as he climbs on the asylum's carriage as it takes off.

"But-But-I-I!" sputters LeFou, as the carriage pulls into the distance. "Aw! Nuts!" Lefou cries in frustration that he is being ignored and smacks his arm on the snow-covered waterwheel connected to Belle's house, causing a minor avalanche cloaking him from head to toe.

In the night, Belle and Maurice arrive home. Lefou is disguised as a snowman, his uncovered arms sticking out of the snow holding two sticks. He gets excited as they enter their home and takes off to get Gaston.

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This has to be one of my favorite LeFou scenes in Beauty and the Beast. LeFou in a way, even though he is a villain is his own superhero. He puts up with so much abuse from Gaston, not only because Gaston remains his most constant friend, but because he is in love with him. Love causes us produce stupid things. Lefou is indeed quite a complex character if you look at him in the proper light.

When I was a kid, I consistently saw LeFou as a henchman. He was just a sidekick to the bad guy, and I never really gave him much attention. He always was automatically paired with Gaston. When I got maturer, especially when the 2017 live action version of the movie was coming out, I started to look at LeFou closer. Everyone was up in arms that LeFou was being portrayed as gay in the 2017 movie. I was baffled because I have been a fan since I was three. LeFou has always been gay, so I started screening the movie closer to collect my evidence.

Collecting the evidence to support my claims that he has always been gay, I uncovered something else about him - he is a battered friend. He is abused so badly by Gaston and this caused me to see LeFou in a different light other than, "he's the villain's friend so he's a villain too" point of view. That point of view isn't wrong, but it's not LeFou's only dimension. It's additionally why I feel he is an overlooked superhero.

LeFou puts up with so much of Gaston's crap because he feels he has to. Gaston seems to remain his sole friend, and it looks like not many other people in the village look at him as any sort of friend. They seem to just put up with him; he is the village fool. Heck, his name if you put a space between "Le" and "Fou" means fool in French. He is a loveable fool, misguided, I think overall that is why his name is LeFou, and why I enjoy him so much.

LeFou is an unsung hero because he puts up with Gaston's abuse. Gaston has struck him, suffocated him, thrown him around and he still comes back because he genuinely cares about Gaston. He puts up with Gaston's narcissism and self-importance. I think he is ignorant for going back, but I don't think he recognizes any other way. I think a sadness to him is never explored. I'd love seeing a movie, or even a cartoon short about LeFou and his life. There does seem to be evidence that he has experienced this type of abuse before, perhaps he was abused as a child. It's just a theory, but one I'd desire to explore. That—I think would be an interesting investigation in another article.

There is something very human about him. He contains his flaws, but he equally possesses his strengths. He remains a dear and loyal friend (another Hufflepuff), is durable, reliable (exceptionally so), and is always looking out for Gaston's best interests, like a good friend should. He tried getting Gaston's attention when he saw Belle walking through town so that Gaston could talk to her and try to court her, he supports what Gaston does and says (even if its not the most beneficial thing to do or say), he fulfills Gaston's requests like staying at Belle's place to inform him when Belle and Maurice came home, he also seeks his best to console his friend after Belle rejects his proposal and was humiliated in front of the whole village He helped him set up the wedding, gathered guests, and conducted the band. He resolves to do everything he can to please his friend.

Gaston clearly does not deserve the friendship he gets from LeFou. LeFou also accepts Gaston is a bad friend. Gaston never (from what we witness in the movie) treats LeFou with any sort of humanity, dignity or goodwill. I don't know if he constantly has, or until now would have, if he hadn't died. LeFou remains a trooper, all abused people are.

Please don't misinterpret my meaning. LeFou by no means represents a decent guy. He is a villain. He does storm the castle and wreaks havoc with the other villagers. Like the other villagers, he is confronted by something unfamiliar ("...we don't like we don't understand, in fact; it scares us, and this monster is mysterious at least...") to him. He is advised by the person he believes in the most that, that thing is dangerous and so he defends his home like everyone else. He also insults Belle's father, he calls Maurice a "crazy old loon," and many other names. He helps Gaston try to institutionalize him, and helps lock up Belle and her father in the asylum carriage. He is under no circumstances a decent guy.

The live action movie does a great job of humanizing him and establishing him as a more loveable character. I loved LeFou before the live action movie, but Josh Gad deems him even more loveable. He brings a certain vulnerableness to LeFou's character that we never saw in the animated 1991 movie. I enjoy how LeFou was written. He smartened up to Gaston's ways and ended up changing sides, that is what I consider good writing. I also thought that should have happened all the way through the animated version when I was a kid, and they ultimately completed that there.

LeFou is the underestimated, overlooked friend and that is why he is an overlooked superhero.

Doctor Leonard Hofstadter: 'The Big Bang Theory'

Doctor Leonard Hofstadter is an experimental physicist at Caltech in California, who mostly does work with lasers. He is best friends with Doctor Sheldon Cooper, Doctor Rajesh Koothrapali, and Howard Wolowitz. He is friends with Howard and Sheldon's spouses, Doctor Amy Farrah Fowler and Bernadette Wolowitz. He is a geeky nerd who loves Star Trek, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, Dungeons and Dragons, comic books, Game of Thrones, and many other geeky hobbies. He the son of Doctor Beverly Hofstadter, a psychologist and Neuroscientist, and Doctor Alfred Hofstadter an anthropologist. He has two older siblings. One is a lawyer and the other a researcher. He is married to Penny Hofstadter.

I love Leonard. He is my TBBT (The Big Bang Theory) crush! He is geeky and adorable. He dresses in usually a t-shirt, layered with a long sleeve button up over top, and some type of hooded sports coat over top, his glasses, and a pair of converse. He has many problems, but that is what makes him human. He is very lovable and needs much love. He can be sweet, charming, loving, intelligent, and clever. On the other hand, he has flaws like many of us do. He can be insecure, anxious, vindictive, and whines a lot, but I love him for it anyways. He came from a very cold family. His parents were too into their jobs to really love him properly. Beverly was always experimenting on him, and his father was more interested in bones to give him any love or affection. His siblings were also too into their studies to really give Leonard any sort of attention. Leonard is the warmest of his family. He clearly did not fit into his family, and, because of this he suffers from insecurities, has an attached love style. He is also lactose intolerant, has asthma, has myopia (an eye condition), and why he wears glasses, suffers from sleep apnea, and genetically could suffer from heart disease—if not now in the future.

Many people do not like Leonard and constantly overlook him towards the other characters in the show, like Sheldon (who even got his own spin-off show Young Sheldon), Raj and even Howard. While I didn't come from a cold upbringing, I think Leonard is the most relatable character, other than Amy. I feel about myself in many the same ways Leonard feels about himself: He's just isn't good enough. He puts on a fake vibrato sometimes to cover this up, but most of the time he voices his feelings. I think that is one of the great things about how he was raised, because of how Beverly used him as a psychology experiment, he voices his feelings instead of completely bottling them up. Beverly has, on occasion, gotten after him for sharing so much of his feelings, but I think that's even part of the experiment.

His school experience wasn't considerably better, like those of us who are awkward, different and intelligent he was bullied. I know this seems like a stereotype, but it isn't. It really isn't. Bullying by his classmates contributed even more to his insecurities and feelings of inadequacy. All of us have insecurities, but when you are bullied many of your insecurities come to the surface because your bullies pick that out in you. Yes, bullies are insecure too, and they cover their insecurities by picking on others, but those like Leonard and myself, we take that criticism by our peers and internalize it, it's only human to do so, especially at a young age.

His confidence is improved by the people he surrounds himself with, but sometimes I think he has a superiority complex. He surrounded himself with Sheldon (who is socially awkward), Raj (who can't speak to women at first, who improves later after a disastrous breakup), and Howard (who is too overly sexual with women, but improves after meeting, dating, and marrying Bernadette). He surrounds himself with people who have issues to make himself feel better. Sheldon, Raj, and Howard additionally possess their strengths that challenge Leonard too. They all challenge Leonard intellectually. Sheldon with his superior intellect and eidetic memory, Raj with his knowledge of the cosmos, and Howard with his wisdom and technical expertise. He equally enjoys familiar hobbies with them like video games, MMORPGs (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games), board games, card games, TV shows, table top RPGs (Role Playing Games) and possesses a similar taste in food. I think all of them accomplish this with each other, though to some extent at least. Sheldon is the most significant perpetrator in my mind, his ego is as big as the universe—I swear!

Penny is a big contributing factor with the improvement of his confidence. In season one, he is timid and doesn't believe anyone like her would be with a guy like him. Penny proceeds to prove that wrong by courting him, sleeping with him, and ultimately wedding him in season nine. She picks on him, as the others do, but he tries improving himself so she'll desire him. Her confidence and tenacity rub off on him, and he seems to become more confident in himself as the series progresses. His confidence raises so much he even explores various relationships in-between when he and Penny are on and off in their relationship. Penny was absolutely magnificent for him in that regard, without her and her feminine influence I don't think that could have happened. His friends being geeky men frightened of talking to women, trying hard with women, or not interested in women at all, would have never been the proper influence to persuade him to introduce himself to girls to begin with. For example, when Leonard agrees to sleep with Leslie Winkle in season one, it's only because of a botched date with Penny.

I enjoy Leonard as a character. I find him adorable, lovable, quirky, and dorky. He is someone who I identify with very closely because when I am truly being myself, I can be very much like him. Leonard is one of the wrongly overlooked characters because he is so mortal. He is at quite a typical level when compared with his peers, and that makes him more relatable. Most people like Sheldon because his quirks make him funny, and thus more entertaining. Leonard sets people off because he is more human. Thus, his flaws are much more real and close to our own.

Leonard is sweet, geeky, and more human than the other characters in the show, and that is why he is an overlooked superhero.

Carl Grimes: 'The Walking Dead'

Any time I write out those words The Walking Dead, the theme song starts playing in my head. I hear the violins, other stringed instruments, backed up by the orchestra. My heart starts to race. I love this show, even though I stopped watching it in this most recent season. It will always have a special place in my heart for Carl Grimes. My favorite character is his dad, Rick Grimes, but Carl will always have a warm, special place in my heart. I see Carl like a son, just like Rick and when he died last season, I bawled like a baby like I was losing a son too.

Carl, Carl, Carl... most people hate him because he ended up leading a walker (zombie) back to the Greene family farm because he was "playing" with it. He was a kid, only seven years old. It was in the early days of the apocalypse, not even the adults, knew everything about how the new world worked, or how to really survive in it yet. Yes, his actions caused Dale to die, followed by Shane, and the Greene family farm was overrun with walkers. He was a kid. He didn't know all of that would happen! Kids that age don't really have much forethought. They think of the immediate things that are happening to them. Carl took a gun with him when he wandered off the farm to play, just in case he did run into a walker, at least he was prepared. He was going to kill the walker he ran into, but like most kids his age, he decided to play with it instead. The walker did get loose by Carl taunting him, but he was a kid that was playing. He immediately felt danger when the walker got loose, so he ran away. He didn't think of what would happen next. A kid Carl's age doesn't really think about cause and effect. Heck, I didn't learn the concept of cause and effect until eighth grade history class!

Carl did learn from his mistake and the experience of clearing houses to and from places to stay in between the Greene family farm and the prison. He had to grow up fast. Any kid would have to grow up fast in the zombie apocalypse. Sophia didn't get the chance, and Judith was born into it. He grew up so fast, in fact, that he became cold-blooded. One of the teens that came with a group from a place called Woodberry, with their Governor (and that's what he was called too "the Governor") to get revenge after Rick had a group rescue, Glenn and Maggie. He killed him. The teenager was approaching him, Judith and Hershel. He pulled out his gun, aimed, and shot. He shot the teenager so that what happened to Dale wouldn't happen again to Hershel and Judith.

I think people judged Carl too harshly. They expected him, a child, to adjust immediately to a new world full of experiences that he hasn't known yet. The adults had a hard time adjusting, so he as a child was following their lead, and they didn't even really know what they were doing yet. The world of The Walking Dead is where Night of the Living Dead was never made. They had no idea what zombies were, that is why they call Zombies walkers, biters, or geeks. He tried doing the right thing, but because he was a child, he got distracted by childlike things that wouldn't have been so deadly in the old world. It's impossible to expect a child to adjust that quickly. I should know, I'm a parent, and sometimes I expect more out of my child than I should.

Carl later becomes a full-fledged survivor, getting shot an additional time through the eye. Before the waker incident at the Greene family farm, Carl had gotten shot by a hunter named Otis, and nearly died, if it weren't for Hershal's veterinary training. Dealing with Negan, and finally when Rick was away recruiting for the cause to go to war with Negan, becoming a leader to the Alexandrians. He even put on a brave face in that same season after getting bit by a walker, while helping a physician who was being attacked by one. He wrote letters to those he cared about (even Negan). He spent one last day with his baby sister. He helped the physician get into the sewers that led to, and from, Alexandria. He cooked up a plan to knock Negan and his men off their feet, and a plan, for what was left of the Alexandrian people, to escape Negan and his men when all hell broke loose.

Carl became a man. He may have died out in the ruins of the chapel, but he had come to be a man. He learned from his mistakes; he had tried taking Negan head on. He had killed walkers and people alike. He had survived. He had been injured twice and survived. He had accomplished much in his few years on Earth. In the comics, he was supposed to merely be 13 by the time he died in the TV series. We know from the comics that Carl was supposed to live on, and there is even a two year time skip. In the show, he dies at what appears to be 18 or Chandler Riggs' age at the time of filming. If we suppose he was 13 in the show, instead of 18, and he was seven when the series started. That is 33 years worth of experience (if we suppose his experiences mature him to 40, internally) he learned crammed into six years! That's so much learning for a kid to know in six years! I'm 31 and I'm scarcely that hardened and experienced yet!

It is because he had to age and mature so quickly that he is an overlooked unsung hero from the universe of The Walking Dead.

Oberyn Martell: 'Game of Thrones'

Oberyn Martell received a brief tenure on Game of Thrones. He only survived seven episodes in season four before his gory demise in the fighting ring to The Mountain during a trial by combat on Tyrian Lannister's behalf. He and his wife/girlfriend Ellaria end up coming to Westeros from Dorne on the occasion of Joffery's marriage. He comes on the behalf of his older brother who is the King of Dorne. Oberyn is quick-witted, a vicious fighter, and experienced with both men and women in the bedroom.

I myself do not know much about Oberyn, and he was overlooked by me as I am quite smitten with the White Wolf of the North: Jon Snow and the Dragon to the South Daenerys Targaryen. A friend recommended Oberyn, and I'm appreciative he did, as I am able to learn about and appreciate an excellent character. Oberyn is fun to watch. His interactions with Lannisters are always laced with tension. He is charming, good looking, he looks like he'd be extraordinary in bed, and is a skilled combatant even acquiring himself the nickname, "The Red Viper."

His fighting prowess is what I'm going to be focusing on in this article. I wish I could have seen more of him and his combat skills. He fought expertly with a spear, and was graceful and fierce. He fought well and he grounded The Mountain with a wound to the shoulder and leg. He decided to show-boat though, demanding The Mountain confesses to raping and murdering his sister, Elia, and her children. The Mountain manages to sweep poor Oberyn's legs, and immobilizing him to the ground. Subsequently broke out his teeth, slowly gouging out his eyes with his massive thumbs, and completely crushing his skull in. As his skull imploded he confessed to the rape and murder of Oberyn's sister and her children.

I think when many people (myself included) think of Game of Thrones they think of Jon, Aria, Sansa, Tyrion, Cersei, Jamie, Brianne, The Hound, and Daenerys. Battles like Hoenheim and the Battle of the Bastards, and horrific events like the Red Wedding and Aria slaughtering all of the Frey family. Past characters who died and were important like Ned, Catelyn, Rob, or Tywin. I don't think people think of the people who were only there for a slight bit, like Oberyn, and other characters that seem minor. We may think of Oberyn when we see Ellaria in other episodes or his daughters the Sand Snakes. I don't think we celebrate him for his own merits.

It is Oberyn's quick tongue (in more ways than one), his quick reflexes, and his passion that make Oberyn Martell an overlooked superhero.

Adam Mulligan/Winchester: 'Supernatural'

Adam Winchester (technically Milligan) is the forgotten brother. There are technically three Winchester boys; they are Dean, Sam and finally Adam. Poor Adam was left behind in Lucifer's cage in Hell. Adam is John's third son. Adam's mother is not the same as Dean and Sam's, though. John met Adam's mother on the road while he was hunting. The two had a typical father-son relationship, which when the older boys found out, were very jealous of. That is the type of relationship they would have killed to have. Adam was then the envy of his brothers. All was not what it looked like the first time they met. Adam was essentially murdered, his body taken over by a ghoul. The boys had to slay the ghoul, therefore re-killing their baby brother. It was a good thing they hadn't become very attached to Adam. Adam was then resurrected by Zachariah and the angels to become Michael's vessel to fight Lucifer in the battle of the apocalypse. Dean was supposed to be Michael's vessel by being his sword, but Dean said no to the "dicks with wings."

Any of the Supernatural Fandom can tell you Adam is the most overlooked character in the whole series. Jo and Ellen are constantly remembered, consequently are Bobby, Missouri, John, Charlie, and Crowley. Unfortunately, Adam is always overlooked, he is condemned to burn in the fires of hell for all eternity. It's not that he is looked over by the fandom, oh heck no. It's the writers who overlook him. We, as a fandom, have been begging the writers of Supernatural to bring him back, or set him free, or something! We wanna know what happened or is going to happen to the youngest Winchester.

Adam is one character that we feel hasn't gotten any closure for what happened to him. Many of the other characters got moving on. Settle down in their own heaven, or even in Jo's case, being helped to move on by the boys when she comes back as a ghost. Adam is down in the cage, and we didn't even get to know him that well. I think that is why the writers didn't really do much with his story. They probably figured, "eh, we're just gonna pitch him in the cage, he doesn't need much background story." They pitched him at us, offered us a slight bit of information, and used him as angel skin and Lucifer bait. That sounds like something Dean would say...

Adam Milligan/Winchester is an overlooked superhero, not by fans but by his makers.

Dave Karofsky: 'Glee'

Dave Karofsky, at first we hated him, then we felt iffy about him, then we felt shocked by him, then we felt scared of him, then we felt sad for him, then we felt devastated. After that we found out those things it got better, but we still felt a little disgusted later, then felt disbelief, then we felt a lot disgusted and then we were resolved. That basically sums up the emotional roller-coaster this character puts us on from start to finish. Dave is a complex character, for only being a side character. He starts out a bully and then he becomes a hesitant acquaintance.

Dave starts out as your generic jock throwing slushies in Finn's face and defacing his yearbook photo. Later, he joins the football team and starts his bullying of Kurt Hummel, another member of the Glee Club. The first instance we really see on the screen of Dave bullying Kurt, is when he shoves Kurt and Tina into a wall of lockers when they're wearing their costumes for a Lady Gaga assignment for Glee Club. Dave targets Kurt because he is gay. Later, he continues bullying Kurt until one day he bullies Kurt yet again, Kurt gets sick of it and follows Dave into the school locker rooms to confront him. Kurt is saying his piece when Dave suddenly grabs him by the collar, and kisses him. Kurt is surprised, confused, and disgusted when Dave goes in for another kiss. He pushes Dave away and leaves. Later, Kurt and his new friend Blaine go and talk to Dave about coming out of the closet. Dave refuses and denies the kiss ever happened. He resumes bullying Kurt—getting even worse, to the extent that he threatens to kill Kurt if he tells anyone about the kiss. Kurt's dad eventually finds out about the bullying, Dave is expelled and Kurt is moved to a new school.

Dave does eventually come back to school. He still struggles with his identity as a gay man through having to perform with the Glee Club (because Mr. Schuester and Coach Beiste think it would be a good idea), Santana blackmailing him into being her fake boyfriend (because she saw him check out another boy's butt at school and knows that Dave doesn't want to come out of the closet yet), and she needs him to be her candidate for prom king. This eventually leads to her and him starting an anti-bullying club to get Kurt to come back to the school. It does work, and Kurt does return because he misses his friends. We, as the audience, and Kurt don't really know what to think of this or if we should trust Dave. Dave ends up eventually apologizing to Kurt, tearfully, about how sorry he is about bullying him.

Prom comes along, and Kurt brings Blane with him and Dave comes with Santana. That night when the votes for Prom King and Prom Queen are tallied, the announcement is called over the gymnasium. The Prom King is announced first; Dave has won prom king, he cheers as to do his friends and he makes his way to the stage to receive his crown and sash. After the noise dies down, the Prom Queen is announced. Instead of Santana being announced as Dave's Prom Queen, much to his confusion and disgust, Kurt is announced as Prom Queen as a write-in candidate! He makes his way to the stage and is given his sash and crown. In spite of how he feels about the situation. He and Dave have their dance. During their dance, Kurt tells Dave that this is his opportunity to come out of the closet and make a difference. Dave turns him down and walks away.

Dave then transfers schools to get away from McKinley High and the whole situation there. He wants to start anew where no one knows he is gay. He keeps it hidden well by going to gay bars, where his straight classmates would not go, but it ends up coming out anyway. A new classmate sees him at a local restaurant revealing himself to Kurt that he is his secret admirer. His new classmates and teammates tease him about it, and Dave can't take it and tries to hang himself. It was lucky his dad walked in when he did or Dave would have died. Kurt comes to visit him in the hospital, and they make up for the past. Dave shares his parent's appalling reactions of disownment and acting like its a curable disease. He breaks down into tears and apologizing for putting Kurt through hell and being unable to take it himself. Kurt accepts his apology and they become friends. Later on, he dates Blane, but they end up breaking up when Dave learns Blane really loves Kurt. There are no sour feelings between the two.

Daves story is very important as to why he is an overlooked superhero. He starts out this gruff, mean and angry guy. Through his experiences and making a new friend when he tries to commit suicide, he becomes a new man—a happy gay man. Many men struggle with coming out, many gay men have the same story as Dave and that is what makes him so important. Yes, Kurt is gay. He felt like he was coming out to his dad, but he was already so flamboyant that his dad knew by the time he was three. Dave's story, on the other hand, is the harder path to take. Gay men like Dave are perceived as "manly men" so they "can't be gay if they're so manly," many people say, and so it's hard for them to come out of the closet. The prejudice against being gay is so high, that it was even hard for me to come out of the closet. I even have great and understanding family members and friends. I can't imagine what it's like to come out with so much toxic masculinity (or femininity in my case) surrounding me like Dave.

I'm not a "feminazi," and am not one of those far left people, but I do believe this is an important message. Anything in excess is bad. ANYTHING. I just want to express that. I don't want to get political or anything, I just want to express that Dave's journey is important. It matters and merits being talked about because other men go through the same thing.

Dave's struggles, fears, experiences, and vulnerability are what make him an overlooked superhero.

Ronald Weasley: The Harry Potter Film Franchise

"...Red hair and a hand-me-down robe, you must be a Weasley!" snarls Draco Malfoy, in the entrance way from the boathouse, up to the entrance hall.

Ronald Weasley, Harry's tried and true best friend. The poor lad has had a hard time in the Harry Potter film franchise. Ron, in the books was smart, snarky, willing to put up a fight, and was loyal to his friends. He was the source of information about the wizarding world, wizarding laws, and some of the people and legends within for Harry and the reader. That was all pretty much wiped out when the books made the leap to film, and it really makes me upset. He became overlooked because he became the comic relief.

Ron, yes, has always had a difficult time taking tests, and doing his homework, but most kids do. That doesn't make him a total dunce, as they portray him in the movie, giving many lines of his knowledgeable dialogue to Hermione. He had an attitude and would shoot off his mouth frequently, whether it was to fellow students or faculty at Hogwarts. The only people he didn't do that with were his parents, Professor McGonagall, and Professor Dumbledore. In the movie franchise, the only bit of snark we see from him is a small amount towards Draco. Many of his attitudes were transferred to Harry and Hermione. His willingness to fight for his friends stayed somewhat especially with the slugs scene being so integral, but as soon as we get to the spiders in the forbidden forest, many get sidelined until we get to Deathly Hallows Part One. The loyalty they pretty much left alone. They kept true to his attitudes about friendship, and I applaud that as friendship plays a central theme throughout the books and movies.

He is the source about living in the wizarding world, knowledge of the wizarding laws, those who live therein, the legends of the wizarding world. They gave most of it to Hermione. I love Hermione, ask anyone who knows me and they will tell you. I even dressed up as Hermione for Halloween two years ago. But, the writers of the script messed it up badly! Instead of being the informant on the wizarding world and how it works to delegate it between various characters, which doesn't make sense! We'd hear about certain things from Fred and George, whom Harry barely hangs out with. It makes sense he would barely hang out with them because usually older siblings and younger siblings don't hang out all that much in their school years, so Ron would not want to be around them, especially in a big castle like Hogwarts. He would be looking for space, away from his brothers, because at home they live in such a small house. Trust me I'm the eldest of three, my siblings and I would part ways at school, or at family get-togethers, we just didn't stick together when we didn't need to. In the books, it was Ron that told Harry all about Parseltongue, not Hermione. He was portrayed as a much smarter character in the books, but in the movies, he's basically a buffoon for our entertainment.

Ron is so much more than what he is portrayed as on the silver screen! Many didn't know about his year on the Quidditch pitch, didn't know about his middle name (Bilius) or hear how and why that is his name. There are so many more things that could have been done with the character. If they really needed comic relief, Harry provided enough on his own, plus they should have left Peeves in! Peeves is the comic relief, not Ron!

Ron is also portrayed as though he doesn't know his way around a wand. Yes, he struggles with some spells (Wingardium Leviosa, turning his rat yellow, and Transfiguration), but he excels at charms. He and Hermione would run circles around Harry in charms class. He was making things move, at least an inch or two, in a class where Harry had made his roll around the table or wiggle. He was not an absolute idiot! Even got the hang of Wingardium Leviosa exactly like in the movie. When in a real world, situation, he learns well under pressure. I recognize that because I learned that way too.

Ron is now overlooked because of his horrible portrayal in the movies, by the writers. Rupert Grint is an excellent actor and he really tried to give Ron the best on-screen portrayal he could. I don't blame Rupert. I accuse the writers. The first two films were accurate about his character. The only things slightly off character were his reactions to when fluffy drools on him in Sorcerer's Stone (Philosopher's Stone everywhere else but America), and the spiders in Chamber of Secrets. The other movies established him as a joke. The only exceptions were when he had a tender scene with Hermione, when he wasn't talking to Harry in Goblet of Fire, and when he left in Deathly Hallows Part One. In the other films, Ron was just a joke to be sacrificed to the entertainment gods.

The rewriting and appalling treatment of a well-loved character are why Ron is an overlooked superhero.

Francisco "Cisco" Ramon: 'The Flash'

And last, but certainly not the least... my favorite overlooked superhero, who is actually a superhero (drum roll please!)...

Cisco Ramon!

I have been waiting for two years to write this. Its either something comes up, my computer blows up, or I am so stressed I don't even feel like writing. This time I am not letting anything get in my way! Flood, tornado, forest fire, my hand being chopped off I will not let anything get in my way.

Francisco Ramon, who is known as Cisco Ramon is my favorite character - ever! I said this up at the top of the article. He is a valuable member of Team Flash, a mechanical engineer at S.T.A.R. Labs, Barry Allen's best friend, Caitlyn's closest male friend, is a super geek who uses all of his pop culture knowledge to use the best references ("Are you cloud city Vader-ing me right now?"), has a special connection to every Wells that has joined the team, and is known to the public as the superhero Vibe. Cisco doesn't really fit in with his family. He dreads seeing them when he has to. His older brother Dante was the one his parents doted on, he was a musician, which his family understood better than Cisco's proclivity with science and mechanics. Dante, unfortunately, dies in a car accident with a drunk driver. This is one of the changes that happen when Barry reverts Flashpoint timeline. His family undervalues him, and I don't know why I am surprised, but The Flash writers undervalue him, along with a good amount of the audience.

On the other hand in his comic, he is an electronic salesman by day, and is working for A.R.G.U.S. and is the leader of the Detroit Branch of The Justice League by night. Cisco, in fact, is the youngest Justice League Branch leader. Unfortunately, his comic only lasted for ten issues. It seems Cisco isn't only undervalued on TV, but in the New 52 multiverse as well. Cisco received his powers when he was a little kid when he was "caught in an event horizon of a boom tube" when Darkside entered his universe. His eldest brother, Armando, completely vanished, leaving him and Dante behind. When we catch up with him during the events of the comics (which the Flashpoint timeline was closer to) Dante is a moocher and constantly is asking Cisco for money, or to go out gambling with Cisco's paycheck. Cisco is consistently having to refuse Dante money or spotting him small amounts here and there because he wants to go to college.

Either way in the show or the comics Cisco has concussive vibrational powers, and he can open breaches which are portals to other places and earths. He can touch anything and get, what he calls, a "vibe" off of it. He can see people, places, and events. He is a valuable tool when it comes to finding lost people, finding places where villains have been, or seeing an event that happened or have yet to happen. The only exception to this miraculous trait is if the thing isn't involved with a certain person, place or event. Cisco in season five of The Flash tells Barry that he can't vibe what happened to Grace Gibbons parents if the ATM is new. They are lucky though that by chance there happens to be a mark left behind from the explosion on the concrete wall for him to vibe.

Cisco has a genius level intellect, is highly skilled mechanically, is a prodigy hacker and a just and loyal friend. Cisco is quite clearly another Hufflepuff. Even when his friends treat him like dirt, he is still there for them. Earlier in season five, he helps Caitlyn find her dad after figuring out he didn't die. Cisco put himself through a lot, and came out with many nose bleeds from vibing her dad's possible location because of wounds he had on hands from Cicada's dagger.

The next episode they find him and something doesn't sit quite well with Cisco, he even says so. Caitlyn gets angry tells Cisco to shut up and go away. Barry makes sure Caitlyn is alright and leaves to talk to Cisco. Cisco is up grumping in the lobby when Barry finds him. Barry tells him about how Caitlyn is feeling and how they should support her and be happy for her. Cisco agrees, but he says they should also be cautious because they don't know if they can trust Caitlin's dad yet. He tells Barry that he should talk to Caitlyn, not as a dad who just got his daughter (Nora) back, but as a friend concerned for her safety. Barry agrees, and they go back to the cortex.

They arrive just in time for Caitlyn to be knocked out. Barry and Cisco stand over Caitlyn waiting for her to come to, and in spite of how badly she treated him, Cisco still loves and helps his friend. He even encourages her and tells her that they'll eventually find him. Cisco is amazing, his sense of humor is great and he can be a bit snarky. ("Yep, I'm still here creepin' n' peepin'!") His arguments with Harry are pretty comical sometimes, even though Harry can be kind of abusive.

I am actually planning on writing an extensive lengthy article about Cisco because I don't feel he is appreciated enough. He is overlooked and under appreciated. He indeed deserves having his own show, even though I don't think Carlos Valdes would be up for it. Cisco/Vibe demonstrates vast potential, he could be one kick-ass superhero. I'd love seeing him do more stuff, and be more involved. I feel like since Ralph Dibney entered the scene in "The Elongated Night," (which happened to also be a Cisco-centric episode where we meet Gypsy's dad, Breacher) that they have been grooming the character and Hartly Sawyer to accept Cisco's place. I don't like it, but if the rumors are true, Carlos is leaving and it makes sense.

Cisco is an extraordinary person and character. His genius intellect, mechanical mind, kind heart, and all over ingenuity, are why I believe he is an overlooked superhero.

Well, that's it for this list. These aren't the only overlooked superheroes, not by a long shot. I still have quite a few suggestions from a friend of mine to check out. I absolutely feel these characters deserve to be in the spotlight. They seem to be the characters that are left out of the top ten lists on YouTube. The lists of favored characters of most people and some are just plain hated for no reason. I would really like learning about more so I can give them a spotlight in the future.

If you think of any please send them to my twitter @EllenLouise8814! I'd love compiling another list, this one was fun to do!

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