The images of heroes in the minds of Russian youth are largely represented on the basis of products of mass culture (movies, books, music, computer games, etc.) perception. The article represents the results of a study, on the basis of which it is possible to reconstruct this space of heroes and correlate it with ideas about the real socio-political process. The conclusion is made about the predominance of movies and TV series as a type of leisure practice for young people. The choice of foreign films is made more often than domestic ones. Moreover, Soviet and some Russian movies produce more vivid images marked by young people than foreign ones. Russian youth uses the «hero of time» category, and with its help evaluates not only the layer of mass culture, but also the modern political process, highlighting its key figures. In this sense figures of Russian politicians from both the power and opposition spectrum come to the fore. Many respondents consider their parents to be heroes. Opinion leaders that work in social networks (bloggers, well-known media people) are considered to be the main factors that determine the preferences of young people in choosing certain works of mass culture. Their assessments appear to be more significant in comparison with the position of parents, teachers and special literature.