Get ready for a serious dose of “awww” as Marvel Comics turns a 12-year-old transgender girl into its latest superhero. While we might like to wish Iron Man could fly you to safety in the middle of a disaster or Black Widow could kick terrorist ass, the heroes of Marvel Comics are sadly confined to fiction.

Now, Marvel is doing its bit to highlight members of the public who do their best to be part of the real Avengers. From saving lives to helping those less fortunate, there are plenty of people who deserve their own spot as one of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes — and they don’t even need a blast of Gamma radiation or a magic hammer to do it.

Disney+

The latest project sees a transgender girl get her wish to be remembered as a superhero. It all came about when Rebekah Bruesehoff apeared in a new Disney+ show called�Marvel�s Hero Project. In the series, Disney celebrates real-life heroes that don’t always get the recognition they deserve.

The episode revolved around Rebekah’s work as a campaigner after she championed LGBT-inclusive education in New Jersey. Her fight came to the forefront when the Trump administration took a firm stance against rights for trans students.

Marvel Comics

Marvel has made The Mighty Rebekah available to read online for free. The story includes a brick being thrown through Rebekah’s window and the lessons she tries to teach her friends. As the Mighty Rebekah says, “They can�t take that away from me hate us for who they are, because they don�t really know who we are.

�They just think we�re different� and that scares them. If people took the time to actually get to know us, they�d see we�re just like any other kids.

�Same dreams. Same hopes. Same fears. And they�d see we all want the same thing: to be accepted.

�No matter how many stones they decide to throw our way, we can�t just let it break us. This is who we were born to be. No one can change that.�

The company is also donating $10,000 to�The Trevor Project — that supports LGBTQ youth in crisis.

Disney+

It’s definitely more progressive than the Marvel Cinematic Universe — which is continuously called out for its lack of diversity. As the MCU heads into a new era of female-focussed movies, we’re also promised the franchise’s first openly gay superhero in The Eternals.

Although Avengers: Endgame included an openly gay character, fans were annoyed that this was little more than a cameo from director Joe Russo. Elsewhere, Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie will be flying the pride flag in Taika Waititi’s Thor: Love and Thunder as the spunky Asgardian searches for her ‘queen’.

Who knows, maybe we’ll see the Mighty Rebekah coming to the MCU somewhere further down the line?

[Featured Image: Marvel Comics]