Superhero

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Whiz Comics cover featuring Captain Marvel, published by Fawcett Comics in 1940

A superhero or superheroine is a

video games), as well as in Japanese media (including kamishibai, tokusatsu, manga, anime
and video games).

Superheroes come from a wide array of different backgrounds and origins. Some superheroes (for example,

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

1900s–1939

Fox Feature Syndicate's 1930s–1940s superhero the Flame

The word

Old West such as the San Diego Vigilantes[11] and the Bald Knobbers,[12] who fought and killed outlaws while wearing masks.[13] The French character L'Oiselle, created in 1909, can be classed as a superheroine.[14]

The 1903 British play

Thrilling Wonder Stories, the word superhero was used to define the title character of the comic strip Zarnak, by Max Plaisted.[19][20]

In the 1930s, the trends converged in some of the earliest superpowered costumed heroes, such as Japan's

Ōgon Bat (1931) and Prince of Gamma (early 1930s), who first appeared in kamishibai (a kind of hybrid media combining pictures with live storytelling),[21][22] Mandrake the Magician (1934),[23][24][25] Olga Mesmer (1937)[26] and then Superman (1938) and Captain Marvel (1939) at the beginning of the Golden Age of Comic Books, whose span, though disputed, is generally agreed to have started with Superman's launch.[27] Superman has remained one of the most recognizable superheroes,[27] and his success spawned a new archetype of characters with secret identities and superhuman powers.[28][29][30] At the end of the decade, in 1939, Batman was created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger
.

1940s

America's Best Comics #7 October 1943

During the 1940s there were many superheroes:

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 (Feb. 1940), credited to the pseudonymous "Barclay Flagg".[31][32] 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.[33]

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]

Mr. Scarlet, the "Red Raider of Justice", a superhero appearing in Wow Comics (1940)

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.

One superpowered character was portrayed as an

Elizabeth and their mutual lover Olive Byrne.[43][44] Wonder Woman's first appearance was in All Star Comics #8 (Dec. 1941), published by All-American Publications, one of two companies that would merge to form DC Comics
in 1944.

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.

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

Silver Age of Comics. During this era DC introduced the likes of Batwoman in 1956, Supergirl, Miss Arrowette, and Bat-Girl; all female derivatives
of established male superheroes.

In 1957 Japan,

Japanese television. 1958 saw the debut of superhero Moonlight Mask on Japanese television. It was the first of numerous televised superhero dramas that would make up the tokusatsu superhero genre.[45] Created by Kōhan Kawauchi, he followed up its success with the tokusatsu superhero shows Seven Color Mask (1959) and Messenger of Allah (1960), both starring a young Sonny Chiba
.

1960s

It is arguable that the

Quicksilver
), and many others were given their own monthly titles.

Typically the superhero super groups featured at least one (and often the only) female member, much like DC's flagship superhero team the

(who later joined the Avengers) with her brother, Quicksilver.

In 1963,

successful franchise which pioneered the Kyodai Hero subgenre where the superheroes would be as big as giant monsters (kaiju
) that they fought.

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,

Magical Girl
genre already existed, Nagai's manga introduced Transformation sequences that would become a staple of Magical Girl media.

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

martial artist directly inspired by the Emma Peel character from the British television series The Avengers (no relation to the superhero team of the same name),[50] but later reverted to Marston's original concept after the editors of Ms. magazine publicly disapproved of the character being depowered and without her traditional costume;[51] Supergirl was moved from being a secondary feature on Action Comics to headline Adventure Comics in 1969; the Lady Liberators appeared in an issue of The Avengers as a group of mind-controlled superheroines led by Valkyrie (actually a disguised supervillainess) and were meant to be a caricatured parody of feminist activists;[52] and Jean Grey became the embodiment of a cosmic being known as the Phoenix Force
with seemingly unlimited power in the late 1970s, a stark contrast from her depiction as the weakest member of her team a decade ago.

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

Ferris Aircraft and later took over the company from her father; Medusa, who was first introduced in the Fantastic Four series, is a member of the Inhuman Royal Family and a prominent statesperson within her people's quasi-feudal society; and Carol Danvers, a decorated officer in the United States Air Force
who would become a costumed superheroine herself years later.

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

Marvel NOW! branding initiative in 2013.[55] Superpowered female characters like Buffy the Vampire Slayer[56] and Darna[57][58]
have a tremendous influence on popular culture in their respective countries of origin.

With more and more

Japanese comic book character, Sailor Moon, is recognized as one of the most important and popular female superheroes ever created.[60][61][62][63][64]

Trademark status

Most dictionary definitions and common usages of the term are

generic and not limited to the characters of any particular company or companies.[7][65]

Nevertheless, variations on the term "Super Hero" or "Superhero" are jointly claimed by

descriptive" US trademark co-owned by DC and Marvel.[67] Both DC Comics and Marvel Comics have been assiduous in protecting their rights in the "Super Hero" trademarks in jurisdictions where the registrations are in force, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, and including in respect of various goods and services falling outside comic book publications.[68]

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

deaf superheroes with superpowers through the use of sign language.[72]

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

Native American in the superheroic tradition to headline a series.[86] In 1973, Shang-Chi became the first prominent Asian superhero to star in an American comic book (Kato had been a secondary character of the Green Hornet media franchise series since its inception in the 1930s.[87]). Kitty Pryde, a member of the X-Men, was an openly Jewish superhero in mainstream American comic books as early as 1978.[88]

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

Hulk
.

Certain established characters have had their ethnicity changed when adapted to another continuity or media. A notable example is

African-American both in the Ultimate Marvel as well as the Marvel Cinematic Universe
continuities.

Sexual orientation and gender identity

In 1992, Marvel

Iceman in an issue of All-New X-Men.[94]

Many new openly gay, lesbian and bisexual characters have since emerged in superhero fiction, such as

The Sandman series, Cloud from Defenders, and Xavin from the Runaways are all characters who could (and often) change their gender at will. Alysia Yeoh, a supporting character created by writer Gail Simone for the Batgirl ongoing series published by DC Comics, received substantial media attention in 2011 for being the first major transgender character written in a contemporary context in a mainstream American comic book.[96]

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

deaf superheroes whose powers derive from their use of sign language. The film was produced by and with deaf people and deals with Deaf culture, history and language.[72][100][101]

Subtypes

See also

References

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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