Harry Potter was a smash hit about a boy discovering he’s a wizard and going to school in a magical world full of wonder and adventure. Twilight didn’t hit quite that high a note, but the story of a teenage girl who learns her classmate is a vampire and falls in love with him did quite well. The Hunger Games popularized the dystopian genre with a bow wielding teenager stepping up to survive death games, have angsty romances, and fight the power.
As far as I can tell, nothing has quite hit that same kind of high since and it may be awhile until the next truly big wave. But if it were up to you, what would the next big thing be about?
Not having parents also avoids awkward questions like ‘why are his parents allowing him to regularly go into death defying shenanigans?’ and ‘Does this child not care about his parents by disobeying them and running into death defying shenanigans?’
Any future hero that has existing family and friends is going to have to explain why he’s rushing headlong into this new world without looking back.