By Christopher Pimentel Jr., October 13, 2026
Far deeper than ink on the page, Hispanic superheroes offer many Cal Poly Pomona students a sense of safety and belonging as Hispanic Heritage Month comes to an end Oct. 15.
According to articles published in the Medium and the Purdue Exponent, society can develop a sense of hope and change through superheroes. Currently, there is a focus on mental health, as seen in DC’s Absolute comic series, Martian Manhunter, who is now limited by his mental illness, and The Flash, whose powers are a physical manifestation of his anxiety.
Just as there was a need for representation in comics during the civil rights movement, in discussions of mental health issues today, there is still a need for accurate depictions of the Hispanic community as only 3% of characters in Marvel and DC are Hispanic, according to Teen Vogue.
The importance of representation in superhero media ties into the importance of why the U.S. celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month in the first place. The Hispanic community has held an important role in the country’s history and how the U.S. is shaped today. Whether its business owners, activists, artists, public servants, those who serve in the U.S. military, Hispanic Americans help grow and strengthen the country’s democracy, according to the National Museum of the American Latino.
“I think we focus so much on the original superheroes … We ignore people who we haven’t done media of,” said criminology student Savannah Rago Polston. “And I think it’s incredibly important to always bring new people into the things (media) and new backgrounds into it because media has a huge influence on how people see themselves and how they see other people.”
Mainstream superheroes of Hispanic descent are often limited to Mexican or Puerto Rican backgrounds, such as Jessica Cruz’s Green Lantern, Jaime Reyes’ Blue Beetle and Miles Morales’ Spider-Man, have only recently been introduced this century, starting with Blue Beetle in 2006.
It is important that the Hispanic community has these fictional characters to relate to and gain inspiration from.
“The only Hispanic characters that I can think of are Miles Morales and Blue Beetle,” said mechanical engineering student José Montaño. “But the only reason I really know about them is from the movies. Although I think I was able to relate to Blue Beetle the most because we were both Mexican and it felt familiar.”
The representation was accurate in Blue Beetle because of the close-knit family dynamic, which is an important factor in his everyday life, according to Montaño.
Montaño credited the successful representation to the movie’s cast and screenwriter Gareth Duneth-Alcocer, who is of Mexican descent. Montaño said if the cast and screenwriter were not as involved with the Mexican community, then he never would’ve seen the movie.
According to an interview with Collider, Puerto Rican filmmaker and director Ángel Manuel Soto hired Mexican actors, such as Damián Alcázar and Adriana Barraza, who incorporated cultural aspects into the story to ensure authentic Mexican representation to ensure authentic Mexican representation.to ensure authentic Mexican representation.
“They bring their own authentic experiences to the movie, and that helps a lot to inform the conditions we want to put the Reyes family in,” Soto said. “We want the Reyes family to live in a world that affects their environment, that affects their decisions. Like, for example, in my case, from Puerto Rico – displacement, colonialism, gentrification. Those are things that are real threats, home insecurity, not putting food on the table, proper health care. All those things that are our villains.”
This approach to filmmaking is what Uruguayan American TEDx speaker Raquél Peréz said was the standard for any media representation of the Hispanic community during her event at the University of Rhode Island. Peréz highlighted that accurate representation also involves allowing the outside world to see the depth of the community, which is what literary studies student Oscar Gomez wants to see today.
Gomez emphasized the need for representation in superhero media given the fear caused by the current presidential administration’s use of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement federal agency.
There is a need for more representation of Hispanic superheroes in mainstream media because the community needs a way to feel safe and have a sense of belonging, according to Gomez.
While there is a need for more representation, some students, such as electromechanical engineering student Jasson Urias-Diaz, emphasize it must also be accurate. He mentioned the impact of mainstream media stereotypes, such as Speedy Gonzalez’s large sombrero or exaggerated accent, leaving a lasting negative effect on the community.
“Because there’s also other people consuming the media and a lot of times it’s usually their first impression (of) that type of person,” Urias-Diaz said. “It just helps reinforce stereotypes on the type of individual they’ll be meeting in the future based off whatever they consumed.”
Rago-Polston echoed this concern, as she mentioned studios will introduce token characters solely to fill out the cultural background with no consultant of the community developing the character. As a result, she highlighted that studios should introduce lesser-known characters of the community, like Sony did with Araña in Madame Web, while making sure their backgrounds are tied to the storytelling.
Peréz warns the Hispanic community in her TEDx event that if the community ever falls victim to the stereotypes set by the media, it must combat the media itself or the movie producers. No matter how small a person may feel compared to large media corporations, Peréz encourages the community to action and use their voices to demand the change toward better Hispanic representation.
As the world continues to evolve, the representation of cultures in comic books and superheroes should evolve alongside it because, for many Hispanic students, these fictional characters are not just pieces of entertainment, but a way to feel seen in the world.
Graphic by Christopher Pimentel