Superhero
This article possibly contains original research. (March 2012) |
A superhero or superheroine is a
and video games).Superheroes come from a wide array of different backgrounds and origins. Some superheroes (for example,
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
1900s–1939
The word
The 1903 British play
In the 1930s, the trends converged in some of the earliest superpowered costumed heroes, such as Japan's
1940s
During the 1940s there were many superheroes:
In 1940, Maximo the Amazing Superman debut in Big Little Book series, by Russell R. Winterbotham (text), Henry E. Vallely and Erwin L. Hess (art).[34][35]
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
One superpowered character was portrayed as an
1950s
In 1952, Osamu Tezuka's manga Tetsuwan Atom, more popularly known in the West as Astro Boy, was published. The series focused upon a robot boy built by a scientist to replace his deceased son. Being built from an incomplete robot originally intended for military purposes Astro Boy possessed amazing powers such as flight through thrusters in his feet and the incredible mechanical strength of his limbs.
The 1950s saw the
In 1957 Japan,
1960s
It is arguable that the
Typically the superhero super groups featured at least one (and often the only) female member, much like DC's flagship superhero team the
In 1963,
The kaiju monster Godzilla, originally a villain, began being portrayed as a radioactive superhero in the Godzilla films,[46] starting with Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964).[47] By the 1970s, Godzilla came to be viewed as a superhero, with the magazine King of the Monsters in 1977 describing Godzilla as "Superhero of the '70s."[48]
1970s
In 1971,
The 1970s would see more anti-heroes introduced into Superhero fiction such examples included the debut of Shotaro Ishinomori's Skull Man (the basis for his later Kamen Rider) in 1970, Go Nagai's Devilman in 1972 and Gerry Conway and John Romita's Punisher in 1974.
The dark Skull Man manga would later get a television adaptation and underwent drastic changes. The character was redesigned to resemble a grasshopper, becoming the renowned first masked hero of the Kamen Rider series. Kamen Rider is a motorcycle riding hero in an insect-like costume, who shouts Henshin (Metamorphosis) to don his costume and gain superhuman powers.
The ideas of
Both major American publishers began introducing new superheroines with a more distinct feminist theme as part of their origin stories or character development. Examples include
In 1975 Shotaro Ishinomori's Himitsu Sentai Gorenger debuted on what is now TV Asahi, it brought the concepts of multi-colored teams and supporting vehicles that debuted in Gatchaman into live-action, and began the Super Sentai franchise (later adapted into the American Power Rangers series in the 1990s). In 1978, Toei adapted Spider-Man into a live-action Japanese television series. In this continuity, Spider-Man had a vehicle called Marveller that could transform into a giant and powerful robot called Leopardon, this idea would be carried over to Toei's Battle Fever J (also co-produced with Marvel) and now multi-colored teams not only had support vehicles but giant robots to fight giant monsters with.
1980–present
In subsequent decades, popular characters like
With more and more
Trademark status
Most dictionary definitions and common usages of the term are
Nevertheless, variations on the term "Super Hero" or "Superhero" are jointly claimed by
Critics in the legal community dispute whether the "Super Hero" marks meet the legal standard for trademark protection in the United States: distinctive designation of a single source of a product or service. Controversy exists over each element of that standard: whether "Super Hero" is distinctive rather than generic, whether "Super Hero" designates a source of products or services, and whether DC and Marvel jointly represent a single source.[69] Some critics further characterize the marks as a misuse of trademark law to chill competition.[70] To date, aside from a failed trademark removal action brought in 2016 against DC Comics' and Marvel Comics' United Kingdom registration, no dispute involving the trademark "Super Hero" has ever been to trial or hearing.[68]
Minority superheroes
In keeping with their origins as representing the archetypical
Female superheroes and villains
Female super heroes—and villains—have been around since the early years of comic books dating back to the 1940s.[73] The representation of women in comic books has been questioned in the past decade following the rise of comic book characters in the film industry (Marvel/DC movies). Women are presented differently than their male counterparts, typically wearing revealing clothing that showcases their curves and cleavage and showing a lot of skin in some cases.[74][75] Heroes like Power Girl and Wonder Woman are portrayed wearing little clothing and showing cleavage.[74][75] Power Girl is portrayed as wearing a suit not unlike the swimsuits in the T.V. show Baywatch. The sexualization of women in comic books can be explained mainly by the fact that the majority of writers are male.[75] Not only are the writers mostly male, but the audience is mostly male as well.[76][75] Therefore, writers are designing characters to appeal to a mostly male audience.[76][77] The super hero characters illustrate a sociological idea called the "male gaze" which is media created from the viewpoint of a normative heterosexual male.[77][78] The female characters in comic books are used to satisfy male desire for the "ideal" woman (small waist, large breasts, toned, athletic body).[77][79][75] These characters have god-like power, but the most easily identifiable feature is their hyper sexualized bodies as they are designed to be sexually pleasing to the hypothetical heteronormative male audience.[74][78][79][75]
Villains, such as Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy, use their sexuality to take advantage of their male victims.[75] In the film versions of these characters, their sexuality and seductive methods are highlighted. Poison Ivy uses seduction through poison to take over the minds of her victims as seen in the 1997 film Batman and Robin. Harley Quinn in 2016's Suicide Squad uses her sexuality to her advantage, acting in a promiscuous manner.
Through the overdeveloped bodies of the heroes or the seductive mannerisms of the villains, women in comic books are used as subordinates to their male counterparts, regardless of their strength or power.[80] Wonder Woman has been subject to a long history of suppression as a result of her strength and power, including American culture's undoing of the Lynda Carter television series.[81] In 2017's Wonder Woman, she had the power of a god, but was still drawn to a much weaker, mortal male character.[78] This can be explained by the sociological concept "feminine apologetic," which reinforces a woman's femininity to account for her masculine attributes (strength, individualism, toughness, aggressiveness, bravery).[78] Women in comic books are considered to be misrepresented due to being created by men, for men.[77][79]
The Hawkeye Initiative is a website satirizing the sexualized portrayal of women in comics by recreating the same poses using male superheroes, especially Marvel's Hawkeye.[82][83][84]
Ethnic and religious minorities
In 1966, Marvel introduced the
Comic-book companies were in the early stages of cultural expansion and many of these characters played to specific
In addition to the creation of new minority heroes, publishers have filled the identities and roles of once-Caucasian heroes with new characters from minority backgrounds. The African-American
Certain established characters have had their ethnicity changed when adapted to another continuity or media. A notable example is
Sexual orientation and gender identity
In 1992, Marvel
Many new openly gay, lesbian and bisexual characters have since emerged in superhero fiction, such as
The Sailor Moon series is known for featuring a substantial number of openly LGBT characters since its inception, as Japan have traditionally been more open about portraying homosexuality in its children's media compared to many countries in the West.[97][98] Certain characters who are presented as homosexual or transgender in one continuity may not be presented as such in others, particularly with dubbed versions made for international release.[99]
An animated short The Ambiguously Gay Duo parodies comic book superheroes and features Ace and Gary (Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell). It originated on The Dana Carvey Show and then moved to Saturday Night Live.
Language minority
In 2017, Pluin introduced
Subtypes
See also
- Category:Parody superheroes
- Real-life superhero
- List of superhero debuts
- List of superhero teams and groups
- List of Latino superheroes
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Further reading
- William Irwin (ed.), Superheroes: The Best of Philosophy and Pop Culture, Wiley, 2011.
External links
- The dictionary definition of superhero at Wiktionary
- Media related to Superheroes at Wikimedia Commons