Superhero
A superhero or superheroine, is a character who typically possesses superpowers or abilities beyond those of ordinary people; is frequently costumed, concealing their identity; and fits the role of the hero, typically using their powers to help the world become a better place, or dedicating themselves to protecting the public and fighting crime. Superhero fiction is the genre of fiction that is centered on such characters, especially, since the 1930s, in American comic books, as well as in Japanese media.
Superheroes come from a wide array of different backgrounds and origins. Most superheroes usually possess non-human or superhuman biology, while others derive their status from advanced technology they create and use; others may use or possess objects that have superhuman, mystical, or alien powers, or study and practice magic to achieve their abilities. The Dictionary.com definition of "superhero" is "a figure, especially in a comic strip or cartoon, endowed with superhuman powers and usually portrayed as fighting evil or crime," and the Merriam-Webster dictionary gives the definition as "a fictional hero having extraordinary or superhuman powers; also: an exceptionally skillful or successful person." Terms such as masked crime fighters, costumed adventurers or masked vigilantes are sometimes used to refer to characters such as the Spirit, who may not be explicitly referred to as superheroes but nevertheless share similar traits.
Some superheroes use their powers to help fight daily crime while also combating threats against humanity from supervillains, who are their criminal counterparts. Often at least one of these supervillains will be the superhero's archenemy or nemesis. Some popular supervillains become recurring characters in their own right.
History
Influences
Antecedents of the archetype include mythological characters such as Hanuman, Gilgamesh, Odysseus, and David, and demigods like Heracles, and Perseus, all of whom were blessed with extraordinary abilities, which later inspired the superpowers that became a fundamental aspect of modern-day superheroes. The distinct clothing and costumes of individuals from English folklore, like Robin Hood and Spring-Heeled Jack, also became inspirations. The dark costume of the latter, complete with a domino mask and a cape, became influential for the myriad of masked rogues in penny dreadfuls and dime novels.The vigilantes of the American Old West also became an influence to the superhero. Several vigilantes during this time period hid their identities using masks. In frontier communities where de jure law was not yet matured, people sometimes took the law into their own hands with makeshift masks made out of sacks. Vigilante mobs and gangs like the San Diego Vigilantes and the Bald Knobbers became infamous throughout that Old West era. Such masked vigilantism later inspired fictional masked crimefighters in American story-telling, beginning with the character Deadwood Dick in 1877.
1900s–1939
The word superhero dates back to 1899. The 1903 British play The Scarlet Pimpernel and its spinoffs popularized the idea of a masked avenger and the superhero trope of a secret identity. Over the next few decades, masked and costumed pulp fiction characters such as L'Oiselle, Jimmie Dale/The Grey Seal, Tarzan, John Carter , Zorro, Buck Rogers, The Shadow, Night Hawk, Lensman and Flash Gordon, film serial heroes Judex and Ravengar and comic strip heroes such as the Mandrake the Magician, Magic Phantom, Phantom, began appearing, as did non-costumed characters with super strength, including the comic-strip characters Patoruzú and Popeye and literary characters such as Hugo Danner and Aarn Munro. Another early example was Sarutobi Sasuke, a Japanese superhero ninja from the Japanese folklore and children's novels in the 1910s; by 1914, he had a number of superhuman powers and abilities. France produced early examples like the superheroine L'Oiselle, created in 1909 by French writer Renée Marie Gouraud d'Ablancourt under her pen name René d'Anjou. The character, whose real name is Vega de Ortega, is notable as one of literature's earliest winged heroines, utilizing artificial wings for flight and the cyborg Nyctalope, possessing two revolutionary enhancements for the period - enhanced nocturnal vision and an electromechanical cardiac implant, Famany, the "flying man" of a German comic story of 1937, who uses a winged apparatus to fly over New York and who becomes embroiled in the world of crime, had only one appearance.The pulp magazines of the 1930s served as a crucial breeding ground for early superhero concepts through their innovative comic features:
In August 1936, Thrilling Wonder Stories published Zarnak by ax Plaisted. In August 1937, a letter column of the magazine, the word superhero was used to define the title character. Another groundbreaking character emerged in August 1937, Olga Mesmer, "The Girl with the X-ray Eyes," featured in a single-page comic strip in Spicy Mystery Stories.
In addition to fictional sources, the superhero archetype may also have been influenced by real-life strongmen such as Siegmund Breitbart, Joseph Greenstein, Eugen Sandow, and Charles Atlas. Charles Atlas, in particular, gained lasting cultural visibility through his mail-order fitness program and his iconic advertisements published directly in comic books.
The trends converged in some of the earliest superpowered costumed heroes, such as Japan's Ōgon Bat and Prince of Gamma, who first appeared in kamishibai. Superman and Captain Marvel at the beginning of the Golden Age of Comic Books, whose span, though disputed, is generally agreed to have started with Superman's launch. Superman has remained one of the most recognizable superheroes, and his success spawned a new archetype of characters with secret identities and superhuman powers. At the end of the decade, in 1939, Batman was created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger. This era saw the debut of one of the earliest female superheroes, Magician from Mars, created by John Giunta and Malcolm Kildale for Centaur Publications in Amazing-Man Comics. She appeared in five issues, predating many other Golden Age superheroines. Jane 6ᴇᴍ35, later known as Q-X3, was a hybrid of Earth and Martian origins born on Mars. As a baby, she was exposed to a beam of cathode rays, which, combined with her hybrid physiology, gave her extraordinary powers, including superstrength, telekinesis, illusion creation, and even matter transformation.
1940s
During the 1940s there were many superheroes: The Flash, Green Lantern and Blue Beetle debuted in this era.Other pioneering superheroines include Fantomah and the Invisible Scarlet O'Neil. Fantomah, created by Fletcher Hanks, was an ageless ancient Egyptian woman in the modern day who could transform into a skull-faced creature with superpowers to fight evil; she debuted in Fiction House's Jungle Comic #2, credited to the pseudonymous "Barclay Flagg". A few months later, the Invisible Scarlet O'Neil, a non-costumed character who fought crime and wartime saboteurs using the superpower of invisibility created by Russell Stamm, would debut in the eponymous syndicated newspaper comic strip a few months later on June 3, 1940.
In 1940, Maximo the Amazing Superman debut in Big Little Book series, by Russell R. Winterbotham, Henry E. Vallely and Erwin L. Hess.
File:WowComicsNo2.png|thumb|left|upright|Mr. Scarlet, the "Red Raider of Justice", a superhero appearing in Wow Comics Captain America also appeared for the first time in print in December 1940, a year prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese government, when America was still in isolationism. Created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, the superhero was the physical embodiment of the American spirit during World War II.
File:WhizComicsNo02.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Whiz Comics cover featuring Captain Marvel, published by Fawcett Comics in 1940
One superpowered character was portrayed as an antiheroine, a rarity for its time: the Black Widow, a costumed emissary of Satan who killed evildoers in order to send them to Hell—debuted in Mystic Comics #4, from Timely Comics, the 1940s predecessor of Marvel Comics. Most of the other female costumed crime fighters during this era lacked superpowers. Notable characters include the Woman in Red, introduced in Standard Comics' Thrilling Comics #2 ; Lady Luck, debuting in the Sunday-newspaper comic-book insert The Spirit Section June 2, 1940; the comedic character Red Tornado, debuting in All-American Comics #20 ; Miss Fury, debuting in the eponymous comic strip by female cartoonist Tarpé Mills on April 6, 1941; the Phantom Lady, introduced in Quality Comics Police Comics #1 ; the Black Cat, introduced in Harvey Comics' Pocket Comics #1 ; and the Black Canary, introduced in Flash Comics #86 as a supporting character. The most iconic comic book superheroine, who debuted during the Golden Age, is Wonder Woman. Modeled from the myth of the Amazons of Greek mythology, she was created by psychologist William Moulton Marston, with help and inspiration from his wife Elizabeth and their mutual lover Olive Byrne. Wonder Woman's first appearance was in All Star Comics #8, published by All-American Publications, one of two companies that would merge to form DC Comics in 1944.
In the 1943 cartoon parody of Superman, Super-Rabbit, Bugs Bunny ingests "super-carrots" created by Professor Cannafraz and acquires various super powers including the ability to fly, super strength and invulnerability. Like his counterpart, Bugs also assumes a mild mannered secret identity by donning glasses and a hat and switches into a super hero costume in a phone booth.
Pérák was an urban legend originating from the city of Prague during the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in the midst of World War II. In the decades following the war, Pérák has also been portrayed as the only Czech superhero in film and comics.