It's not an uncommon trope for comics, to be honest.
The audience surrogate (whether the kid sidekick or the young hero) starts off as a nerdy-yet-witty-and-lovable-loser, and eventually grows up to be a true superhero (despite comparatively limited or no powers) that all the ladies have the hots for (e.g. Dick Grayson, Bucky Barnes, Peter Parker, Kitty Pryde as a gender-flipped version).
I think the idea behind this is that people (or at least the comics fans) like to believe that if a regular guy like them were thrust into extraordinary circumstances, that they would eventually adapt and mature into the role and achieve stereotypical success (in the shape of power/money/fame/sexual attractiveness/etc). Even if most people would never want to endure horrific tragedy and train/fight on a daily basis, the idea that even a typical loser might have the potential to be a badass and a stud is a compelling one. The idea here is not dissimilar to the one behind The Replacement.
Then again, wish fulfillment is to some degree the driving force behind much of fiction, so it's probably not limited to the comics.
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It's not an uncommon trope for comics, to be honest.
The audience surrogate (whether the kid sidekick or the young hero) starts off as a nerdy-yet-witty-and-lovable-loser, and eventually grows up to be a true superhero (despite comparatively limited or no powers) that all the ladies have the hots for (e.g. Dick Grayson, Bucky Barnes, Peter Parker, Kitty Pryde as a gender-flipped version).
I think the idea behind this is that people (or at least the comics fans) like to believe that if a regular guy like them were thrust into extraordinary circumstances, that they would eventually adapt and mature into the role and achieve stereotypical success (in the shape of power/money/fame/sexual attractiveness/etc). Even if most people would never want to endure horrific tragedy and train/fight on a daily basis, the idea that even a typical loser might have the potential to be a badass and a stud is a compelling one. The idea here is not dissimilar to the one behind The Replacement.
Then again, wish fulfillment is to some degree the driving force behind much of fiction, so it's probably not limited to the comics.