Mike Wheeler is the fiercely loyal leader of the core friend group in Stranger Things, the kid whose basement becomes headquarters for both Dungeons & Dragons campaigns and increasingly desperate plans to keep Hawkins from collapsing into supernatural disaster.

When Will Byers disappears, Mike refuses to accept that his friend is simply gone. That determination leads him, Dustin, and Lucas into the search that brings Eleven into their lives.

Mike immediately recognizes that El needs help rather than fear.

That instinct becomes one of his defining traits. He is emotional, stubborn, occasionally spectacularly bad at explaining himself, but his loyalty to the people he loves repeatedly pushes him toward danger instead of away from it.

Netflix identifies Mike as the leader of the Party, and that role fits well beyond the gaming table. He organizes plans, argues strategy, challenges adults, and keeps trying to hold the group together even as monsters, government conspiracies, adolescence, and romantic confusion make that task progressively less reasonable.

Other people in Hawkins may have supernatural powers.

Mike’s recurring specialty is convincing everyone to keep going.

Which, considering the survival rate of Hawkins extracurricular activities, is probably a superpower.