Sidekicks are fledgling heroes that usually stick by older and more experienced heroes for a long time. They're often considered weaker than their mentor hero, but that isn't always the case. Oftentimes, sidekicks start off as sidekicks because their powers are so vast and volatile that they need a mentor to help them control said powers.
In mainstream superhero comics, this is usually the case for a while. It takes a long time for sidekicks to gain control of their powers, but they usually get the hang of it eventually as time passes.
10 Wiccan Can Warp Reality
Wiccan and Speed are the magically-conjured children of Avenger Scarlet Witch, aka Wanda Maximoff. Wiccan, aka Billy Kaplan, isn't a traditional sidekick. His superhero began with a membership on the Young Avengers team in the wake of Avengers Disassembled.
However, Billy's reality-warping powers kept developing and escalating over time, and he would go onto seek some help from Doctor Strange. However, he knew that he would need to confront his mother eventually, and he and the Young Avengers tracked down the Scarlet Witch during The Children's Crusade.
9 The New Power Man Needs Training From The Iron Fist
Victor Alvarez lost his father, Shades Alvarez, on the same day he discovered he had superpowers. His apartment building was bombed, leaving a seemingly indestructible Vic in the rubble. He was found by Iron Fist, and Danny Rand showed the new Power Man how he could draw chi from a location's history. This is the root of Vic Alvarez's powers.
It took Victor a long time to learn how to do this, and the immense power therein made this a difficult power to control. However, Power Man seems to have gotten a hang of it, and he's gone on to join the Champions.
8 Kid Flash Has Trouble With Super-Speed
Whether it is Wally West, Wallace West, or Bart Allen, every Kid Flash has had difficulty controlling his superpowers. That's just the nature of being able to move at near-light speed and being a teenager.
In reality, it seems like no Flash or Kid Flash has really gotten ahold of their powers completely, as they seem to be in a constant state of flux. Thankfully, Wally and Wallace had Barry Allen to mentor them, and Bart Allen had Wally West, Max Mercury, and Jay Garrick to help him get ahold of his powers.
7 Signal Learning At The Hands Of Batman And The Outsiders
Signal, aka Duke Thomas, was a part of a Robin team called We Are Robin before being taken under the caped wing of Batman. At first, it just seemed that Duke Thomas was just a skilled fighter, and he took the name Signal.
However, it was later revealed (by the Joker of all people) that Duke Thomas is actually a metahuman. Batman helped foster Duke's powers, but Bruce eventually enlisted the help of Black Lightning and a new team of Outsiders to further mentor Duke. It's not really clear what all of Signal's powers are yet; it is known that he can emit light, see perfectly in the dark, control darkness, and has some degree of precognition.
6 X-23 Needs To "Unlearn" How To Be A Killer
X-23, aka Laura Kinney or Wolverine, is a clone of Logan that was also intended to be an assassin. However, after a few missions for Weapon X, Laura was able to break free of her programming with the help of Wolverine and the X-Men. However, things aren't that simple.
Under the tutelage of Wolverine, Laura learned how not to be a killer and to control the animalistic instincts that come with her heritage. Logan wanted Laura to become a better version of himself, and she has been succeeding in this so far.
5 Naomi McDuffie Joined The Justice League
Naomi isn't really anyone's sidekick, but she has had to seek the help of other heroes to control her powers. She originates from another Earth that was destroyed by its metahuman population and was raised on Prime Earth. She eventually joined Young Justice, but her powers are still unknown to her and seem to be in flux.
Most recently, she's joined the Justice League in a further attempt to gain control over her powers. While she is still learning how to control these abilities, she seems well on the path to becoming one of DC's greatest heroes.
4 Jubilee Needs The X-Men And Generation X For Power Control
Jubilee joined the X-Men at an early age. She was orphaned after her parents died in a car accident, and she tracked down the then-underground X-Men and became their then-youngest member. Wolverine sort of made her his sidekick, but it wasn't long before she joined a young mutant team called Generation X.
Given the volatile nature of her powers, it took Jubilee some time to get control over them. She almost killed her time by accident more than once, in one instance blowing up Proudstar Hall with Generation X inside. Banshee and Emma Frost tried to watch over Generation X and help Jubilee control her powers. Even though she lost her powers on M-Day and even became a vampire for a while, Jubilee has since regained her powers and is an adept hero and member of Excalibur.
3 The New Mutants As The Next Generation Of X-Men
The New Mutants were originally sort of a sidekick team. As the X-Men went onto grow and become an experienced superhero team, Professor Xavier wanted to start again with a new team of young mutants who needed help controlling their powers. Magneto later joined up to help the young team.
In their original lineup, the New Mutants were made up of Cannonball, Sunspot, Dani Moonstar, Wolfsbane, and Karma. However, others such as Magik, Cypher, Rictor, Warpath, and others. Now, on Krakoa, the New Mutants are paying this forward and training young mutants on the island.
2 Supergirl And Her Tutelage Under Wonder Woman And Superman
When Supergirl was first reintroduced in Jeph Loeb and Michael Turner's Superman/Batman title, she was a teenage girl who didn't understand English and had no understanding of her new power. This frightened Batman, but Superman saw it as an opportunity to reconnect with his Kryptonian family and train someone who could be a better version of himself.
To this end, Superman and Batman put Kara under the care and training of Wonder Woman for a time, though Superman still worked to help her control her powers.
1 Superboy Has Potential As A Truly Powerful Hero
One of the most promising, and potentially powerful, sidekicks is Superboy Jonathan Kent. He is a hybrid of a Kryptonian and a human as the son of Kal-El and Lois Lane. What this means for his powers is still unclear, but Superman has worked hard to train his son, though Jor-El and the Legion of Superheroes have played a big part of Superboy's development.
Future State and the upcoming Superman: Son of Kal-El title by Tom Taylor and John Timms seems to imply that Jon is destined to take over as Superman, and he's already exhibiting abilities and skills apart from Kal. However, the true destiny of Jon Kent remains to be seen.