Prof. X...first non-villain in a wheelchair?

Cafe Society
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Professor Charles Francis Xavier first appeared in 1963–The X-Men #1 (September 1963) to be specific. I had a discussion at the steampunk con last weekend about heroes with disabilities and we need information.

Clearly bad guys have disabilities for the same reason the monsters are ugly–to let us know we don’t want to be them. But we can only hope that the whole “inner badness is reflected on the outside” meme has had its day and should fade away.

Anywho, can anyone cite an example–fiction, film, comics–of a good guy with a disability that happened before 1963?

Thanks!

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Is Xavier really that good?

Stranger

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From DC’s My Greatest Adventure, June 1963, we have the Doom Patrol with the Chief (Niles Caulder), also in a wheelchair.

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10 Disabled Comic Book Superheroes

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Professor X’s goodness may be debatable. (I really don’t, know – I’m not into the whole X-Men thing.)

However, Ironside debuted in 1967. Surely Det. Ironside’s goodness is not debatable. He was always after the bad guys.

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And Fawcett’s Whiz Comics #25 (Dec. 1941) brought Freddy Freeman, who was a crippled teenager. Granted when he said the magic words (“Captain Marvel”) he became Capt. Marvel Jr., who wasn’t crippled, but the secret identity stayed on crutches or wheelchairs.

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Raymond Burr as “Ironside”?
Granted, its was condescending as hell.

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There was some sort of chick superhero show on the tube a few years ago. I think it was set in the DC universe. Anyway, one of them, who was disabled, lived in the top of a skyscraper. That’s all I remember.

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Lionel Barrymorebegan using a wheelchair full-time in 1938. While in a wheelchair Barrymore appeared in more than 40 movies. Besides being the bad guy in* It’s a Wonderful Life*, Barrymore played Dr. Leonard Gillespie, the grumpy but wise mentor of Dr. Kildare, in more than a dozen movies.

Going beyond wheelchairs, don’t forget Harold Russell, who lost both hands in World War II and was fitted with hooks, then went on to win an Academy Awarde for his role in* The Best Years of Our Lives*.

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From Spain: Goliath, the gigantic sidekick of Capitán Trueno, is one-eyed. Characters created in 1956.

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That was Birds of Prey. The one in the wheelchair was Barbra Gordon/Batgirl.

Also, 2002 was not before 1963.

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Does blindness count? Blind detective Max Carrados goes back to 1914.

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I can’t think of any that predate Max Carrados, but Zatoichi, the blind swordsman goes back to 1962, predating Prof X and the Chief.

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Technically, he got two Academy Awards for that performance - he was given an honorary Oscar for “bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans”, then later that evening won for Best Supporting Actor.

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That’s just an alternative fact.

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Zorro had Bernardo, his trusted ally who was in on the secret and helped him pull off alter-ego heroics while pretending to be a deaf-mute.

That is, he really was mute; he just faked the deafness, the better to eavesdrop on conversations as That Guy Who Obviously Isn’t Eavesdropping On Conversations.

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Robert Heinlein’s “Waldo,” (from 1942) has myasthenia gravis, so is too weak to walk or even stand.

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I guess there’s Johnny Tremaine (or, as Bart Simpson said, “Johnny Deformed”).

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Going waaay back: the ancient Greek god Hephaestus was born deformed. His mama Hera cast him out bodily from Olympus, and he limped ever since.

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Also, Tiresias, the blind prophet of Apollo.

Also, transgender, sort of.