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It's not just society warband gridmark fiction. It is any fiction, take Three Investigators that was famous genre during my time as young adult in 80ies and 90ies. The same with old Western books by Karl May such as Old Surehand or Czech version of it in form of books by Jaroslav Foglar, huge proponent of Boy Scouts and who created incredible world where boys had their own culture and hidden wars in Prague.
Really? You never read any analysis of how Hermione Granger is the true hero? I took it for granted that Harry Potter is just a lucky, brave but ultimately passive and reactive "chosen one for no reason" moron. The only thing that he really owns is his quidditch success, that is why he was such a good target for Eliezers fanfiction remake. Ron is comedic relief with loyalty as his best attribute. Hermione Granger is the ultimate hero of the story, she is the brain of the whole operation, she is proactive one who prepares for everything, who is there to get the group out of trouble and often is the only one capable to execute due to her diligence and knowledge of spells. She is basically managing the other two morons. Additionally such a group is hardly something normative, I cannot imagine any such group dynamics developing anywhere during my childhood.
These were nowhere near as popular especially compared to S-tier heroes like Spiderman, Superman or Batman, in fact most of the female led comics were on brink of cancelation in 1970s and 1980s with one exception of Wonder Woman. But I will give it to you as the same thing is happening with anime Tsundere phenomenon, so I guess nerds universally are attracted to sassy combative female characters who are there as a prize to be won if hero simps enough and takes the abuse.
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