def superscript_numbers(text, remove_brackets=True):
    """
    A helper function that converts a string's numeric characters into their superscript Unicode variations

    :param text: String to process
    :type text: str
    :param remove_brackets: If True, removes bracket characters that would be considered non-standard formatting.
                            Mostly used to handle the case of empty passages such as Luke 17:36. Defaults to True.
    :type remove_brackets: bool
    :rtype: str

    >>> superscript_numbers('[0123456789]')
    '⁰¹²³⁴⁵⁶⁷⁸⁹'
    >>> superscript_numbers('Antidisestablishmentarianism')
    'Antidisestablishmentarianism'
    >>> superscript_numbers('[7]', False)
    '[⁷]'
    """
    superscript_text = text
    if remove_brackets:
        # The strip method can't be relied on here, as the string itself can be space padded at times.
        # Using sequential replacements should be OK, unless there are more characters to handle.
        superscript_text = superscript_text.replace('[', '').replace(']', '').replace('(', '').replace(')', '')
    superscript_translation_table = superscript_text.maketrans('0123456789', '⁰¹²³⁴⁵⁶⁷⁸⁹')
    return superscript_text.translate(superscript_translation_table)