The superhero is often called a unique American phenomenon. Inspired by comic books, particularly the Superman series in the early 1930s, superheroes with superhuman strength and a desire to save the world became the stuff of many a child’s, and also numerous adults’ dreams and fantasies. Yet Superman was not the first literary character to which the term superhero could have been applied. Certainly many of the heroes from earlier literature: Gilgamesh, Beowulf, Hercules, Zorro (appearing first in 1919), Sir Lancelot, and others were superhero types.
What made the American take on the superhero unique, at least in its onset, was an attempt to scientifically explain why the superhero had special powers. In Superman’s case, he is actually an alien, and was born on the planet Krypton. He can fly, see through metal (except lead), has extraordinary strength and speed.
The superhero is usually someone who must live a dual existence, concealing his super powers from the world. This idea is not exactly new either; Zorro wears a mask to conceal his identity, and King Arthur spent time masquerading as the Black Knight. With early superheroes, the dual identity gave rise to a common feature — the awkward, frequently geeky character who never gets the girl. Clark Kent, Superman’s alter ego is an inadequate, fumbling and bumbling character. A few superheroes lack a secret identity, like the group who makes up the Fantastic Four.
Superman is a born superhero, as opposed to those who are made superheroes. Others are mere earthlings who derive their superpowers from exposure to toxic chemicals, poisonous bites from insects (Spiderman), or genetic mutations (X-Men). A few superheroes do not have special abilities, but instead are effective because of their manipulation of science. Batman is considered a superhero, but relies mainly on fancy gadgets and superior understanding of science, as well as martial arts skills to fight crime. Zorro when considered a superhero is simply a gifted and intelligent athlete and superior swordsman.
Most superheroes sprung to life in the pages of comic books, and very quickly, the superhero genre began to change. Though there were many ideal Superman types, with extremely upright moral principles (Spiderman, Wonder Woman), morally conflicted superheroes also began to emerge. For example, Batman, in certain interpretations sometimes is portrayed as extremely dark, and certainly some of the X-men can barely be called heroes. The Hulk is another example of a superhero who is sometimes overwhelmed by his own power.
Virtually all superhero types suffer a high degree of angst, and in addition to average crime fighting, usually battle against mortal enemies, who may also have superhuman abilities. Most are condemned to live secretive lives and have extremely poor relationship records. The superhero also fights alone, though comic books have spawned a few superhero groups, and have also grouped well-known superheroes together into crime fighting organizations like the Justice League.
Hollywood quickly became immersed in filming superhero stories, at first primarily as television stories, or film shorts. With the first Superman film in 1978, superhero movies became intensely popular fare, though sequels of the film were considered inferior. Batman in 1989 revived the genre, and since then film audiences have been happy to watch Darkman, Spiderman, the X-men, the Hulk, Zorro, Hellboy, the Fantastic Four, the Shadow and numerous others. Actually not all of these film adaptations have been well received, and some have been noted for being exceptionally lousy movies.
Hollywood has also created its own superhero types. The Pixar film The Incredibles features a very enjoyable crime-fighting family. Sky High also continues the trend of the superhero family. In fact, there seems some wish fulfillment in these two last films. Perhaps as directors grow middle-aged, and a little round about the middle, they still would like to be superheroes, or at least recognized for the superhuman strength it takes to parent children! Americans have responded well to these films, particularly Pixar’s movie, suggesting we may only be seeing the beginning of the superhero family genre in film.