I'm new here.
Anyways my situation is that for my English class I'm writing a paper depicting the similarities between characters in fiction that begin their stories with overwhelming abilities such as overpowered strength, speed or intelligence and how their "character" can be compared to characters that have to gain such abilities throughout their stories. Everyone seems to have done contrast pieces of these so I wanted to do a comparison instead.
This means I am giving examples in the paper of the characters and their stories.
My concern is if I need to give any references or if mentioning the characters is enough. I've checked and they're all in the public domain; classic characters like Hercules, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Tarzan of the Apes, Captain Nemo, Captain Ahab and Sherlock Holmes so I assume they're fine given I'm just mentioning them and not quoting anything but I would like to check on it.