Sidekick
The Left Hand of Vampire Hunter D, being mentally linked to the reticent protagonist, often reveals thoughts, feelings, and the physical condition of his host, as well as background elements of the story.
Examples include Porky Pig, who is more sensible and calmer than Daffy Duck in later short films; similarly, Sancho Panza is more rational than Don Quixote.
In other media, The Green Hornet's sidekick, Kato, has (especially since the 1960s television series with Bruce Lee) been depicted as a capable man of action, for instance in martial arts.
In Bones, for example, FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth often fulfills one of the traditional roles of a sidekick by providing translations for the brilliant but socially incapable Dr. Temperance Brennan.
Another example is the popular comic-strip soldier of fortune Captain Easy, who started as the two-fisted sidekick of the scrawny eponymous hero of the strip Wash Tubbs.
Frodo Baggins's Samwise Gamgee, and Harry Potter's Ron Weasley, as well as the afore-mentioned Sancho Panza and Doctor Watson, are notable sidekicks from fiction.
Heroic sidekicks such as Streaky the Supercat of Krypto the Superdog, Festus Haggen of Gunsmoke's Matt Dillon, or Gabrielle of Xena: Warrior Princess not only provide comic relief, but can occasionally be brave and/or resourceful and rescue the hero from a dire fate.
Kalimán, a heroic character depicted on movies, radio theatre and comic books, mentors a young lad named Solín.
Nevertheless, some villains do have sidekicks, including Lex Luthor's Mercy Graves, the Joker's Harley Quinn, Jigsaw's Amanda, Shao Kahn's Shang Tsung, Shinnok's Quan Chi, Ben Wade's Charlie Prince (from Three-Ten to Yuma), Light Yagami's Misa Amane and Ryuk, Wario's Waluigi, Dr. Eggman's Orbot and Cubot, and Magneto's Mystique (albeit only in the X-Men live action films).
Some well-known fictional sidekicks are Don Quixote's Sancho Panza, Sherlock Holmes' Doctor Watson, The Lone Ranger's Tonto, The Green Hornet's Kato, Shrek's Donkey and Puss in Boots, Aquaman's Aqualad, Mickey Mouse's Donald Duck and Goofy, Mario's Luigi and Yoshi, Sonic's Tails and Knuckles, Donkey Kong's Diddy Kong, Bugs Bunny's Daffy Duck and Porky Pig, Captain America's Bucky, Batman's Robin, and SpongeBob SquarePants's Patrick Star.
Examples include Ethel Mertz to Lucy Ricardo (I Love Lucy), Ed Norton to Ralph Kramden (The Honeymooners), Screech Powers to Zack Morris (Saved by the Bell), Major Roger Healey to Major Anthony "Tony" Nelson (I Dream of Jeannie), or even a group of people such as the Sweathogs to Mr. Kotter (Welcome Back, Kotter).
Sonic the Hedgehog is often accompanied by his sidekick Tails, and his would-be girlfriend Amy Rose also has a hero-sidekick relationship with Cream the Rabbit.
[8] Robin's instant popularity spawned a host of imitations, including such iconic characters as Bucky, Toro, Sandy the Golden Boy, and Speedy.
Psychologist Fredric Wertham decided that the phenomenon was a landmine of hidden Freudian issues, and that a sidekick's participation in violent encounters alongside his hero masked a sexual subtext.
Rick Veitch's graphic novel Brat Pack, and issues of Alan Moore's Top 10, address the seamy, exploitative, and potentially pedophilia-related aspects of the adult hero-teen sidekick relationship.
In the early 1960s, at the advent of the Silver Age, a new round of superhero sidekicks made their debuts, including Rick Jones, Aqualad, Snapper Carr, Kid Flash, and Wonder Girl.
Marvel Comics mostly got around the teen sidekick quandary by creating a selection of super-powered teenagers — heroes in their own right, such as Spider-Man, the Human Torch, and the X-Men.
There have been at least five iterations of Robin; while Captain America has had a diverse array of sidekick successors to Bucky, including the Falcon, Demolition Man, Free Spirit, and Jack Flag.
