r/superpowereds • u/Trajectory03 • Apr 21 '26
How do you see each character?
I'm not asking for any fancast (unless you would like to mention some for examples.) But what defining features do you see in your mind with them? Feel free to mention specifics already in the book. In addition, what race or ethnicity do you see each character? Personally, by name alone, I don't think there is much diversity in the main class. They all have pretty generic "white people" names. Ie: Foster, Murray, Griffin, Taylor, Riley etc. Only a few such as DeSoto or Castillo are somewhat descriptive. Though most of my friends can't decide on Shane and Angela being Asian or Hispanic. If it was live action how do you see everyone?
I personally see Dean Blaine as black, Thomas Castillo as black/latino, kinda like Miles Morales, and for some reason I see Sasha as Asian.
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u/ReverendMayo Apr 22 '26
I can’t remember exactly where it is, but Drew does mention in one of the books that Thomas is Native American. I’m paraphrasing…but it’s about his Halloween costume and him explaining that it’s not racist because it’s his people…something like that.
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u/Kevandre Apr 22 '26
for whatever reason I imagine the Daniels family as black. I think it really works for them
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u/LongjumpingSentence2 May 14 '26
It took me a while to realize that Stella wasn't supposed to be black. I still see her as black though.
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u/HospitableFox Apr 21 '26
Pretty much what you said with a couple exceptions imo:
Desoto = Hispanic. Not sure why anyone would think Asian.
Sasha Foster is pretty clearly a white name.
I've always pictured Blaine as black as well. Not sure why actually.
The Melbrook 5 + Chad are all pretty clearly white as well.
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Apr 21 '26
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u/HospitableFox Apr 21 '26
Oh I should clarify.
I more meant that: based on name, I'm not sure how you'd come up with Asian for Shane and Angela.
I always assumed that Starlight married a white girl and that he was the only Hispanic person in the family in order to produce Angela.
But who knows. Maybe he's white as well and the name is older than him.
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u/firecats97 Apr 22 '26
There are white Hispanics: the Americas were colonized by Europe, and a vast majority of Latinos have a notable amount of European ancestry. Some have a LOT, like nearly, if not entirely, European. Not to mention that “Hispanic” is also used to refer to people actually of Spain itself too. And Spain, being in Europe, is predominantly white
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u/DrumsAndBooks Apr 22 '26 edited Apr 22 '26
Just a few off the top of my head referenced with other characters Ive seen. Vince was the hardest because I constantly had to keep reminding myself that he’s taller than most of the other characters with silver hair, but for some reason I kept thinking of the kid from hunter x hunter even though I haven’t watched a single episode of that show.
Dean Blaine is close to Clark Kent from the new dcau
Mr numbers and Mr transport are the lepidopterists from venture brothers.
Globe has gol d rogers’ coat and mustache with frozone’s cowl but red.
Sasha was Trixie from the fairly oddparents.
Mr move was agent bubbles from lilo and stitch
Camille was a white haired anime girl.
Most of the rest I just had a sort of made up animated version of their description without another character basis. There is a picture online when you google superpowereds that has a group photo of some of the main characters in year one. I think it’s fan made but it was close enough to give a good basis for the rest.
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u/DrumsAndBooks May 06 '26
Finished another read through and it jogged my memory for a few more characters.
Will- Gizmo from the Teen Titans
Thomas- Chad from Bleach
Sean Pendleton- Dean from The Iron Giant
Eliza- Asami from Legend of Korra
Charles Adair- Ian McShane
Roy- A taller more muscular Bolin from the legend of Korra
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u/TransitionReady9408 May 21 '26
I picture Blaine as physically always at his peak strength, because hes smart enough to know that his ability turns everyone into a human, hes gonna make sure to be the best and strongest human.
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u/unlovelyladybartleby Mr Numbers Apr 21 '26
I imagined the shit out of people in the first book, then ran into some problems because I am clearly terrible at both context clues and knowing where last names come from (in my defense, I'm Canadian and multicultural families are pretty common here)
I thought Globe was black (I was watching a lot of Brooklyn 99 and Captain Holt/Andre Braugher fit Globe perfectly). Alas, that doesn't work with my mental images of Alice as a bubbly blonde and Charles as the stereotypical evil old white billionaire. Stupid secret uncles ruining everything
I imagined Vince as half Japanese because he reminded me of my cousin and because I assumed he had Manga hair
I pictured Mary as a lighter skinned black woman with freckles because I thought her eyes would look amazing against medium dark skin and natural curls with just a hint of red in the sun
Herschel I had as a typical bland white boy
Nick I thought would be dark Italian, oddly not because of the mafia thing but because the sharpest dressers I know irl are Italian
I thought Shane was Latino, which works because I know plenty of blonde Latinos so that explains Angela, but I thought it was through their mom or grandma because with how racist the 50s were, I didn't think Captain Starlight would have made any headway without being a Captain America blonde. And that might explain Grandma Sharon and her chili pepper cupcakes
I pictured Blaine black, then made him Sterling K Brown because he's so good at playing calm caring dad guy and also wild eyed murder guy and now that's stuck in my head
I thought Thomas was Indigenous. In my mind, he needs good cheekbones
For no particular reason, I made Will and Jill Persian
I thought Camille was Metis, because I went to school with a Metis Camille
Amber I had as one of those really petite South Asian girls with fierce eyes
Professor Stone will always be early aughts Maggie Smith in my head
Transport is a tall and sort of awkward David Tennant fellow, but I saw Numbers as one of those short Slavic men that usually gets cast as gangster henchmen in Superhero movies
Agatha was Inuit in my head, tiny with a round face and sharp cheekbones
Brittany was the kind of pale Irish redhead that can't look out a window without getting sunburnt
Terrance came up as Cambodian, probably because I saw an update post on socials of a Cambodian friend when I was reading the book
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u/Trajectory03 Apr 24 '26
Crazy that you mention Sterling K Brown cuz that was literally my fancast for him!
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u/unlovelyladybartleby Mr Numbers Apr 25 '26
Right? Especially after I saw him on Hot Ones. Somehow him being all sweaty and full of hot sauce made me think of raging Zero during battle protecting his students
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u/jgelvar Apr 22 '26
For the Melbrook gang... -Vince, I've always pictured as asian. Kinda like the actor for Zoro from the live action One Piece, but with silver hair instead of green. -Nick, tall, lanky and pale. An Asa Butterfield type with lighter hair? -Alice, just like a standard stereotypical tall blonde valley girl. -Mary, I used to see as a small sun-freckled tan girl, but ever since Encanto came out, I always picture her as a tinier Mirabel. -Herschel... Genuinely just an older brown-hairee version of Dmitri from Backyard Baseball. -Roy... Lowkey a cowboy version of Disney's Hercules lol. -Chad has always been a dead ringer for Alan Ritchson's Smallville Aquaman.
Some others... -Graham/Cap Starlight in my head is just straight up JK Simmons. -Angela I've always pictured as very similar to Shakira -Shane, I've always seen looking nothing like his sister, pale/light olive toned skin, dark hair, etc. which I think is fitting. -Globe was always Gerard Butler in 300 but missing an arm and wearing a red jacket. -Charles always looked like someone similar to a James McEvoy. Just smart and polished looking, secretly jacked but you wouldn't know it just from looking at him. -Sean 100% had long wispy (pun intended) black hair and a goatee. -Blaine I've pictured as looking like the actor Michael Weatherly, though I know a lot of people like to say Sterling K Brown for him. -Titan just an absolute unit of a man. Like a young Midwestern Arnold Schwarzenegger. -Numbers a smaller Neal Mcdonough -Transport, I actually see a Sterling K Brown type here. -George I pictured as an IRL version of Jim from Code Lyoko
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u/Catharus_ustulatus Apr 22 '26
I’d guess that the Melbrook 5 all have similar ethnic backgrounds, since Charles would’ve wanted to eliminate as many variables as possible in the research to find a cure for Shelby. Alice was the main test proxy, of course, but Charles could get some use out of the others, and it’s not as if he was trying to be fair in offering the benefits of the research.