So You Want to be a Sidekick: A Modern Teen’s Guide
Lately, you’ve decided you want to fight crime and battle evil, but you know you haven’t got the chutzpah to manage solo. Luckily for you, there’s a whole, wonderful world of sidekickery to satisfy your vigilante needs!
So who should you team up with? Well, good news! I’ve made a list of heroes who tend to work in duos or would, at least, be amenable to that sort of thing.
1. Batman. The Dark Knight seems like the kind of guy who’d prefer working solo, so he can brood and stuff, but it turns out he doesn’t mind spending time with pubescent boys! The plus side is you’d get to work with Batman. The negative side is he’d want you to wear that outfit.
Yup, that’s the one.
2. Sherlock Holmes. Another loner type, it turns out Holmes is happiest when he has someone stupider than him hanging about so he can show off his marvelous intellect. Luckily for Holmes, everyone is stupider than him, so it’s not like he needs to slum. The plus side is now you’re John Watson! The negative side is if you’re not actually John Watson, you don’t really get to spend time with Sherlock Holmes.
If you are John Watson, I’m still looking for Sherlock Holmes’ autograph. Could you help me out?
3. Captain America. Captain America had Buddy, which, as a superhero sidekick name, is even worse than Robin. The plus side is Buddy totally turned evil, so Captain America is absolutely in the market for a new sidekick. The other, even better plus side is that Captain America looks like Chris Evans now. The negative side is there is no negative side. Run to him! Run to Captain America!
Run to Captain America and his glorious cheekbones!
4. Green Arrow. Green Arrow is like Robin Hood, but he wears even more green than a man trying to blend into a forest landscape. He’s worked with Speedy and, apparently, Speedy II, because why shouldn’t sidekicks have sequels, right? The negative side is you’d probably be stuck lugging all his arrows around. I can’t think of a plus side.
You’d probably have to take all these pictures of him too, because a brooding selfie is hard.
5. The Green Hornet. The Green Hornet is another guy who wears green to fight crime. I’m not sure why this is a thing. I don’t know much about him, except that Bruce Lee was really great. So, actually, I don’t know anything about the Green Hornet, except that Kato was his sidekick, and Kato was great. The plus side is you’d be the new Kato. The negative side is we live in a world without Bruce Lee.
“Don’t mind me. I’m just a harmless chauffeur.”
6. Superman. I know it seems like Superman works alone, because, seriously, who can keep up with a demigod who has all the superpowers? But you’re forgetting the plucky Jimmy Olsen, who is absolutely useless, but never gets laser-visioned by Supes! The plus side is you’d probably never be in danger because of your association with Superman, as you would be like a gnat compared to the monstrous villains he faces. The negative side is gnats get squished.
Man, people drawing comics back in the old days just didn’t try very hard, did they?
7. Archie. I’m just putting Archie here because I found Jughead on a list of sidekicks. They probably fight crime sometimes, I don’t know.
“Is ‘fighting crime’ what the kids are calling it nowadays?” — My Mom
8. Iron Man. Iron Man is a guy who wears, like, a robot to fight crime. As War Machine, you would also get to wear a robot, and you would have an even cooler name. The plus side is those things I just listed. The negative side is wearing a robot sounds heavy.
“Seriously, my back is killing me.”
9. The Flash. The Flash’s sidekick is Kid Flash, although I think maybe Kid Flash is the Flash now, and has a new Kid Flash? Also, doesn’t it seem like Speedy should be the Flash’s sidekick, and not Green Arrow’s? The plus side is you’d get to move at speeds that are fatal to most mortals. The negative side is you probably have to have some kind of mysterious accident, like getting struck by lightning while petting a cheetah, to gain that ability.
I guess I should say that thing about petting a cheetah wasn’t meant to be a euphemism.
10. Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman doesn’t need a sidekick. Wonder Woman works alone. Wonder Woman is an Amazon goddess, and she can kick ass all on her own, unlike the boys here. The plus side is that Wonder Woman seems nice, so she’d probably let you hang around and pretend like you’re sidekicking. The negative side is seriously, kid, she can handle this on her own, so why don’t you just step out of the way?
“Have you asked Superman if he’d like your help? He might like your help.”
The Green Hornet actually looks pretty awesome
Mostly because of Kato. Like the old TV show before it, mostly because of Kato. (I’ve never heard the radio show, so I’ve got no opinion on that.)
There is just something about a man in a mask kicking ass that is just so ....
*Sighhhh*
Doesn't hurt that he looks like this.
Oh, Kato. I love the way you design weapons and use them, and design awesome cars and drive them, and beat people up. In slow motion even! Kato, you are everything I have ever dreamed of, even if you’re not Bruce Lee anymore.
Yeah, it would be too evil for Hollywood even to bring you back from the dead for this film.
And Seth Rogen! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Rogen flick, except for Donnie Darko, apparently, which doesn’t count because HATED IT. So I didn’t know what to expect from Rogen, but he seemed pretty funny, actually, and not annoying at all. It could be because it was just a 3 minute trailer, but I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.
Look at 'im go! Go, Green Hornet, go! (Yes, sometimes captions are hard. Why do you ask?)
(I know, that doesn’t seem like me at all, does it? I mean, he’s a white guy with horribly, dreadfully, awfully bad hair. Why am I not pre-judging him? Is it because of Kato? Does the calming influence of Kato mellow me out that much?)
(Also, I didn’t realize Jay Chou was in Curse of the Golden Flower, or that he is a Chinese pop musician.)
Having done an image search for him, it's now glaringly obvious.
(Seriously, what is it with American martial arts films and Asian pop musicians, anyway?)
Seen here: Korean pop star Rain. It's a conspiracy! A conspiracy, I tell you!
So, yeah, The Green Hornet looks like it probably won’t suck. I blame Kato for that.
And maybe this kick-ass explosion, a little bit.
Hollywood Hates Me 