**1. Introduction**

Superhero culture is one of the most popular genres of today's entertainment world [1, 2]. The spectrum of superhero culture ranges from comic books to action figures to cinematic blockbusters. The superhero genre has many outlets for success, ranging from superhero toys that made up 77% of Marvel's revenue in 1998 [3] to the Marvel

Cinematic Universe that earned over 12 billion dollars in sales through 2017 [4]. Although comic book superheroes have been traditionally followed by the "geek" or "nerd" culture, in recent years, their influential reach has become mainstream [5, 6]. Comic stories often express perceptions in culture, politics, and social desires within a given point of time [7]. With the superhero genre fan base increasing and moving from small groups to the mainstream, their media influence grows with it [8]. Yet the effect of the genre on the perception of various demographic groups remains relatively unexamined. The powerful effects of stereotypes in media along with the impact of superhero culture in media inspired this study. We hope to add to the scant empirical data that examines this rapidly growing media culture. The present study examines the relationship between stereotypes based on race and sexual orientation and the portrayals of superheroes. We hope to provide a clearer understanding of how comic book superheroes are perceived when presented to potential fan bases.

## **2. Representation and stereotypes in comic media**

Journalist Walter Lippman [9] described stereotypes as pictures in our heads. Social psychologists further define them as structured sets of beliefs that contain the perceiver's organized knowledge, beliefs, and expectancies about some human group [10–12]. These structures are the foundation of common forms of racism in today's society [13]. Racial/ ethnic group stereotypes are considered the most powerful influences in self-image and identity and person perception [14, 15]. They are often acquired through both direct and indirect sociocultural/social learning [16, 17], one such prominent indirect mechanism being the consuming of media messages, such as those from television.

Representation in media presents opportunities for significant social change. Findings show that viewing minority television characters can increase acceptance of members of outgroups to the majority [18]. Research has found that being able to identify with gay fictional characters establishes empathy, which leads to increases in acceptance [19]. A 2016 study by McLaughlin and Rodriguez found that being able to identify with gay fictional characters could lead to acceptance while at the same time reinforcing gay stereotypes. Stereotypes can be both positive and negative [20–22]. When gay characters are shown portraying even positive stereotypes, they do not allow the characters to be full and complex individuals [23]. Chung [24] found that being exposed to media that only contains stereotypical portrayals of sexual minorities results in its consumers developing false assumptions of sexual minorities. The intersection of racial and sexual identities may result in stereotypes surrounding sexuality altering the extent to which racial characteristics/stereotypes are ascribed to racial/ethnic minority men [25].

Stereotypes are often implied from facial appearances and physical attributes [26]. Similarly, superhero figures are often evaluated by their appearance and attributes [27]. Comic books often depict gendered and racialized images [28, 29]. These, in turn, can affect how other media outlets portray gendered and racialized superheroes [27, 30–32]. Although Marvel has taken steps to embrace different angles and diversify their media [33], and there have been attempts at stereotype reduction in the media [34–39] stereotypical portrayals persist.

DC Comics and Marvel Comics have introduced various gay and lesbian comic characters in their mainstream comic books since 1988, but most of these characters have only received minor roles [40]. Portrayals of sexual minorities have historically been rare in media, with existing depictions often represented in a stereotypical way [24]. Despite increasingly progressive legislation and positive gay representation in

television and film, stereotypes of gay men and lesbians have remained consistent in recent media [41]. Regular exposure to media stereotypes can contribute to the development of stereotypes that may then perpetuate upon exposure to further stereotyped content [42].

Many of these effects outlined above are driven mechanistically by priming effects, a cornerstone of media psychology entailing that exposure to a media message or theme triggers thoughts and attitudes within a person related to that message that are already in place [43]. Additionally, the consistent activation of such connections between groups and ideas reinforces them. These connections are picked up and perpetuated upon even if limited only to implicit symbolism and cues within media that may not even be intended, but instead seem to be product of existing, stereotyped-aligned views that appear on the surface to be race-neutral [44]. In one study, participants exposed to equivalently violent portrayals of Black and White media characters more readily associated Black people with violent behaviors and weapons across both implicit and explicit batteries [45], an association that was not duplicated for participants exposed to the White character. Further, some evidence suggests that American media is both rife with stereotyped depictions of people of color [39] and may be excessively prone to depict people of marginalized racial backgrounds in line with negative stereotypes compared to other media sources in the world [46], offering ample opportunity for stereotypes to propagate in media consumers via consistent priming. Marginalized characters that consumers enjoy and identify with, even when maintaining an overall positive public opinion, may still prime and reinforce stereotyped attitudes within consumers if they are portrayed in stereotyped ways, even when such a portrayal may have been intended positively [47].

Much of the prior work has been limited to the use of stereotypical images and stimuli as research primes. Characters in media that stand as foils to these typical stereotypes of people of marginalized identities, such as comic book heroes of color, are relatively uninvestigated in what reactions they elicit compared to more stereotyped oriented characters. This is especially relevant given media representations of people of color may not necessarily be best evaluated by how stereotyped they are, but how distant their depiction is from values of mainstream culture [48], suggesting that limiting stereotype research, especially that involving priming stimuli, to only that which is in line/not in line with a stereotype may be limiting. The present study will advance the sparse empirical literature about the perception of people of different races, especially people of color, while using non-stereotyped stimuli that is matched visually across conditions save for race and gender. Future research can build upon our findings by examining how to combat these stereotypes of comic characters instead of reinforcing them. In line with prior work, we hypothesize that participants primed with images of originally created hero characters of different races will attribute characteristics to the characters that are consistent with the stereotypes of that superhero's race and sexuality, despite such representations being non-stereotyped.
