Dick Tracy’s granddaughter is half human/half Lunarian (her mother was from the moon), and was born in outer space. Batman would be dull and pedestrian by comparison.
Comics are a medium. Power-fantasy and superhero stories are genres. The superhero genre makes up a large part of the American comic market, but not all of it, and in certain other international markets power fantasy plays a much smaller role.
Whether superhero stories are all about power fantasy depends wholly on how you define superhero stories. I define them as a subcategory, but as long as the author makes their definition clear, I’m good.
The OED mentions a use in the London Daily Mail in 1899 but no further information. Etymonline credits superman to Nietzsche in 1908. I can’t find a use in the newspaper database until 1909 and that one seems to riff on the Übermensch. Under the title Super-Heroes and Super-Women in the London Observer for Oct. 19, 1909, the article reported on a talk by Mr. Alfred Sutro, “the well-known dramatist.” His super-hero were clever men:
…who were unduly conscious of their cleverness and separated themselves from their fellows. … They would go through the world, helping no one and considering no one. Cruelty was the dominant note of this new school, a certain brutality, a certain callousness. …
The one great law was for the individual to extract all the pleasure out of life that he could. … The heroines were seldom mothers. They were superwomen, and one could not conceive a superwoman nursing a child.
So, very different from later usages. Sutro’s lecture was widely reported, even making it to small papers in the U.S.
Once a term is let loose in the open, no one can control its usage unless it suddenly becomes common and then ubiquitous. And even then it rattles around inside a large cage. Robot evolved in the same way, first applied to anyone who did things mechanically or repetitively and only later mainly as a mechanical object.
Are you looking at Superman or Superhero?
Superhero
Oxford
OED’s earliest evidence for superhero is from 1899, in the Daily Mail (London).
Etymonline
1908 (in a translation of Nietzsche), from super- + hero. Used in 1930 of Tarzan; modern use is from 1960s.
I can’t find a translation of ‘mensch’ that means hero.
The overwhelming majority of Marvel superheroes would not be considered superheroes in the (pre-1970) DC universe. The Fantastic Four aren’t crime fighters; neither are the Inhumans or the Silver Surfer. The X-Men fight other mutant factions for dominance in the mutant community, but have only foiled one bank robbery that I’m aware of, and that was mostly a public relations ploy. Thor and Hercules, handy guys to have around, are only on Earth at all because they are slumming for kicks.
Superheroes are people who have larger-than-life adventures. Quinn and Maubee from The Mighty Quinn are superheroes. Joseph Gordon Levitt’s character in Premium Rush is a superhero.
It means over man, literally.
?
“Mensch” just means a person/human being, at least in normal German.
Yes, that’s what I said. Uber = over. Mensch= man.
Quinn has the ability to summon pigeons and put people to sleep - he’s definitely a superhero.
I’m not familiar with Quinn, but if that’s so, give me a paper bag of bread crumbs, let me start one of my super-interesting conversations—bam! I’m a superhero.
You have fun. Personally, that’s not my cup of meat.
You just wait. When I become famous, everybody’s gonna jump for joy.
My stab: Possessing unique skills or abilities far beyond a normal dude or dudette, and using it for good in a way that is recognized as a force for good.
i’d agree with this, but not because of his training. Batman may have good but not super physical skills, but his science behind his gadgets is what makes him a superhero. It’s not the part on display, but it’s in the background.
Agreed. If Zorro or James Bond fought villains like the Riddler and Catwoman in a comic book, they would definitely qualify as superheroes.
Scoff if you will: Captain Sully is a superhero.
So, the Flying Nun?
I have not watched that, however from my assumptions she would qualify:
Flying seems like a unique ability and I do believe she is known for using it in a way as a force for good. (That recognition could be from the POV of the audience as well). Also a stretch here but since it’s a nun, if there is a very good relationship with God that accesses favors that would also qualify (if unique, if everyone has that and uses it as such then not.)
She was a superhero. It’s just that her supervillains were less inclined to exterminate the planet. 