Usual disclaimer: I am not a lawyer and in this site questions about these issues have to be always taken as ideas, thoughts or experiences, never as technical advice.

That said, first of all, certainly words in themselves are not trademarked per se. I very much doubt that the word "superhero" or its variants could even be trademarked. And even if they were, I very much doubt that such trademarking would make any sense in any judicial dispute.

Second, however, yes, character names can be and often are trademarked. Sure, if you take the name of a character and change it *enough*, you might be safe from issues regarding the trademark of the original name. The practical problem is how much is "enough". It is something that can't be determined a priori. Therefore, there is always risk.

That kind of risk is, often, enough of a burden. Specially for independent developers. You have to consider that the problem of being sued is not only loosing, but even before that, wasting time and resources on the matter. Time and resources that are, of course, far more costly to you than to big companies like Marvel and DC.