The sidekick superhero trope is an interesting one to think about within the scope of the Marvel Universe considering how few sidekicks exist within it. Sidekicks are littered across the DC Universe (most of them belonging to the Bat-Family), but sidekicks are seldom found in Marvel lore.
Marvel, of course, isn't without sidekicks entirely. Captain America still has his Bucky, Doctor Strange has Wong, Daredevil has Foggy, etc. But most noteworthy Marvel sidekicks can be counted on one hand. However, it's the forgotten Marvel sidekicks that fans don't even know about that round out a more surprising list.
10 Meet Alpha, Spidey's Friendly Neighborhood Sidekick
When he's not teaming up with The Avengers or the X-Men, Spider-Man has traditionally been a solo act, but in 2012, he finally acquired his own sidekick.
Debuting in Amazing Spider-Man #692 by Dan Slott, Humberto Ramos, Victor Olazaba, and Edgar Delgado, Andrew Maguire was an average, run-of-the-mill classmate of Peter Parker when he was blasted by an experiment gone bad and gaining several powers and becoming the world's first Alpha-level hero. This led to Spider-Man quickly taking Alpha under his wing to train him before he ventured off for his own solo hero run in Pittsburgh.
9 Meet Toro, Human Torch's Sidekick (Not The Fantastic 4 Version)
The Human Torch's name has been attached to the Fantastic Four for so long that it would be easy to forget that the character's name had originally belonged to a completely separate android who had its own Marvel-produced comic series back in the 1940s.
In it, he took on the sidekick services of one Thomas Raymond, whose parents worked under the man who created the robotic Human Torch before being slain in a train derailment. Thomas wound up living in a circus, not knowing about his powers until he came face to face with the Human Torch, who then proceeded to train Thomas - nicknamed Toro - to help him control his abilities.
8 Sun Girl Replaced Toro As Human Torch's Sidekick
At some point during the 1940s, Toro broke away from his android partner in hopes to look after his sick mother. Although he and his mentor would continue to team-up sporadically throughout the decade, The Human Torch was suddenly in need of a new sidekick.
Enter Sun Girl: originally merely a secretary for the original Human Torch, she decided to become his partner in crimefighting and his partner in love.
7 Bucky Wasn't Cap's Only Sidekick: Meet Free Spirit
Bucky is among the most well-known sidekicks in existence thanks to the time he has spent by Captain America's side, but as this list will come to reveal, Bucky is far from the good Captain's only sidekick. Another often forgotten sidekick to Steve Rogers is one Free Spirit.
As her name would suggest, Cathy Webster is a free-spirited woman who was once brainwashed to hate all men until she suffered radiation that altered her body and abilities in the same way that the Super Soldier Serum altered Steve Rogers. Once her mind was free, she joined Rogers in the fight for freedom as a superhero.
6 Dennis Dunphy Served As A Sidekick To Both Steve Rogers And Sam Wilson
This character has nothing to do with the Sylvester Stallone movie of the same name and everything to do with Wolverine and Daredevil, as the character's costume was intentionally made to be an amalgamation of the two, making his D-Man costume out of Logan and Matt Murdock's leftover suits that they no longer used.
What makes Dennis Dunphy so unique is that he has served as a sidekick to both Steve Rogers' Captain America and Sam Wilson's Captain America. Dunphy also happens to be a professional wrestler outside of his crimefighting duties, sharing a wrestling federation with characters like The Thing, and in groundbreaking fashion, he's revealed 31 years after his debut to be a gay man.
5 Before Captain America Pushed Him Out A Plane, Jack Flag Partnered With Cap
Many fans will recall the day that Captain America seemingly turned turncoat in Captain America: Steve Rogers #1 by Jesus Saiz and Nick Spencer, when Cap uttered "Hail Hydra" after pushing a man out of plane mid-flight. However, few can recall who that man was.
The man was Jack Flag, and he and Captain America have a long history dating back to the 90s when he served under Steve Rogers' computer hotline network. After weight lifting and training in martial arts, Jack Harrison adopted the name Jack Flag to join Captain America on the field as a real hero.
4 Dum Dum Dugan Was Fury's OG Right Hand Man
MCU audiences saw a character named Dum Dum Dugan make an appearance in Captain America: The First Avenger as one of Steve's fellow soldiers. While the appearance, mannerisms, and personality of Dugan in the movie are accurate to how he acts in the comics, his backstory is slightly different.
While still an agent of SHIELD, Dugan's settings steer closer to modern-day times as he originally served directly under Captain Nick Fury as his right-hand man. Even though fans may never see Dugan serve as an in-canon MCU sidekick to Fury, his role in the comics is important.
3 Lockheed Was The Best Pet Dragon A Mutant Could Ask For
Not every sidekick needs to be human or presents as a human being. There are also sidekicks like Lockheed who pull double duty as pets. Kitty Pryde found little Lockheed while on a mission with the X-Men and adopted him as her own. Just like a loyal pet, Lockheed is always ready to leap into the dangerous line of fire, firing with a lethal fireball if need be.
Bonus points go to Lockheed for being able to communicate so much with his body language and boisterous personality without ever actually uttering a word of English.
2 Sam Wilson's Nephew Who Died From AIDS
Fans of Falcon and The Winter Soldier may recall seeing Sam's two nephews, AJ and Cass, making an appearance. In the comics, however, one notable nephew to the future Captain America is one Jim Wilson.
Back in the late 70s, after Hulk's usual sidekick Rick Jones moved on to the Captain Marvel series, he was replaced by Jim, a Harlem resident who befriended both Bruce Banner and the Hulk because like the latter, Jim was different and shunned from the world because of it. Their friendship endured all the way until Jim's death of AIDS complications.
1 Golden Girl Succeeded Bucky For A Non-Rogers Captain America
The 1940s post-WWII era of Captain America is a confusing one to explain, especially considering that it was retconned in later years that the man who fans thought was Steve Rogers under the mask was actually a man named Jeffrey Mace.
During this period, after Bucky's presumed death, a woman named Betsy Ross - nicknamed after the colonial who sewed the American flag - stepped into the fray as Golden Girl, becoming both a love interest and a sidekick to Mace's Captain America before he died of cancer.