September 15 to October 15 is National Hispanic Heritage Month. To mark the month, I thought I’d look at seven Latino characters in comics and animation. I’ve previously written about some of them, so those posts are linked to or (per older posts) updated here.
Aviva Corcovado (“Wild Kratts”)
Aviva is a main character on the PBS Kids series “Wild Kratts.” She serves as the Wild Kratts crew’s chief engineer and inventor. Said inventions include the show’s signature “creature suits,” allowing the Kratt brothers to turn into the various animals they study.
Dora Márquez (“Dora the Explorer”)
“Dora the Explorer” debuted on Nick Jr. in 2000, and became the channel’s signature preschooler show in the 2000s and early 2010s. (Since the mid-2010s, the signature Nick Jr. show is clearly “Paw Patrol.”)
The original show’s premise involves Dora, a young girl, going on various adventures with her friend, Boots the monkey. The adventures range from helping animal friends to visiting her extended family, including Dora’s cousin, Diego, who has his own spin-off series.
Occasionally, Dora deals with the show’s main antagonist (such as it is), Swiper the Fox. Swiper’s a thief, but can be easily stopped by Dora and Boots chanting three times: “Swiper, no swiping!”
A live-action theatrical film, “Dora and the Lost City of Gold,” was released in 2019. The plot sees Dora search a jungle for her missing parents, while also facing hired mercenaries (which seems a bit darker than the TV show). A follow-up film, “Dora and the Search for Sol Dorado,” was released in 2025 on Paramount+.
Inez (“Cyberchase”)
Inez is one of the main characters on the long-running PBS Kids series “Cyberchase.” At nine, she’s a few years younger than her “Cybersquad” teammates Matt and Jackie, but is also the most cerebral of the three, possessing a large vocabulary. Of course, Inez, as well as her Earth teammates Matt and Jackie, also has strong math skills, per the show’s initial focus.
On Earth, Inez lives with her family in an apartment building. As shown in a few later episodes (after the show’s shift to ecology topics), Inez is of Mexican and Colombian heritage, and hails from Chicago.
Jaime Reyes (Blue Beetle)
While there’s been several previous holders of the Blue Beetle identity (dating back to the Golden Age of comics and across several publishers), Jaime is the first who’s a person of color. Jaime first appeared in “Infinite Crisis” #3 (February 2006), and was created by Keith Giffen, John Rogers, and Cully Hamner.
A Mexican-American student in El Paso Texas, Jaime has grafted to his spine a scarab of extraterrestrial origin, which provides him with a weaponized exoskeleton/battlesuit on demand. When not fighting evil, Jaime spends time with his supportive family and friends.
Jaime has made a number of media appearances, and seems to be the most popular version of Blue Beetle for such. These appearances include various video games, “Batman: The Brave and the Bold,” “Smallville,” and “Young Justice.” Most prominently, Jaime starred in his own live-action movie, “Blue Beetle,” which was theatrically released in 2023.
Luz Noceda (“The Owl House”)
Luz is the main star of the Disney Channel series “The Owl House.” She’s a cheerful but eccentric 14-year-old Dominican-American girl from a fictional Connecticut town. One day, Luz accidentally ends up in an alternate fantasy dimension (the “Demon Realm”) that houses a group of islands dubbed the “Boiling Isles.” Once there, Luz befriends Eda Clawthorne, a snarky outlaw witch, and Eda’s dog-like roommate, King. Eda and King live in a house appropriately dubbed “the Owl House.”
Luz, who’s always been interested in magic (she’s a fan of a magical fantasy book series), asks Eda to train her in becoming a witch. Despite Luz not having any innate magic, Eda eventually agrees to train Luz, and lets Luz stay at the Owl House. Over the show’s three-season run, Luz learns about magic, the world she’s in, and her new friends. She even gains a girlfriend, making Luz the first LGBTQ character to headline a Disney Channel series.
Miles Morales (Spider-Man)
Miles Morales debuted in “Ultimate Comics: Fallout” #4 (August 2011). Created by Brian Michael Bendis and Sara Pichelli, Miles became one of the most popular new superhero characters to debut in the 2010s. He’s also one of the few success stories of the “Ultimate” universe (Earth-1610), an alternate Marvel Universe with mostly “edgy” takes on the main Marvel Universe heroes. Miles initially served as the successor to his world’s version of Peter Parker; a 2015 storyline saw Miles and his cast/history folded into the main Marvel Universe (Earth-616), where he now coexists alongside “our” Peter Parker.
Miles has similar powers as Peter Parker, thanks to being bitten by a genetically engineered spider. A few of Miles’ unique powers include the ability to become invisible and a bio-electric “venom strike.”
Also unlike Peter, Miles’ parents are both (usually) alive. His mother is Afro-Puerto Rican, while his father is Black.
Since his debut, Miles has become a popular mainstay in both the comics and in spin-off media. Along with costarring in Disney Jr.’s “Spidey and His Amazing Friends,” Miles is the star of the Oscar-winning theatrical film “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.”
Sheen Estevez (“Jimmy Neutron”)
Sheen first appeared in the 2001 “Jimmy Neutron” theatrical animated film, and became a main co-star of the TV series.
Sheen is one of Jimmy’s best friends. He’s a Mexican-American boy noted for being easily excitable, ditzy, and having a short attention span. Sheen’s also got an all-consuming obsession with his favorite fictional superhero, Ultra Lord; this leads Sheen to collect any and all merchandise, facts, etc., related to Ultra Lord, sometimes to others’ annoyance.
One signature example of this, which has become a popular online meme, is Sheen bringing an Ultra Lord action figure to show-and-tell at school; his teacher, Miss Fowl, notes “this is the seventh week in a row you’ve shown Ultra Lord in class!” Sheen insists this week is different because he brought a (slightly different) collector’s edition figure.
Image, from left to right: “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” (Sony/Marvel), “The Owl House” (Disney), and “Dora the Explorer” (Nickelodeon)
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