Tony Stark’s inventions are not “natural.” They involve scientific principles no one else can (fully)duplicate. (Lots of lesser armor out there, but no other Iron Man suits.) Same with Hank Pym’s and Reed Richard’s tech.
Batman and Green Arrow are said to be “ordinary people” but…get real. People can’t do those things. They violate the laws of physics in pretty much every action scene.
Sherlock Holmes? All he does is actually pay attention to what he sees. Ordinary people like us can do that.
Anyway, this is a highjack, and I’d rather not go into it here. Maybe another thread.
For the definition, I often turn to Jeff Rovin’s Encyclopedia of Superheroes:
“In the realm of superheroes, these factors are usually true: superheroes have at least one superpower, whether physical or attributable to a weapon, instrument, or conveyance; they work actively and magnanimously for the common good; their values are neither vindictive or selfish; they tend to operate on Earth, though they may not be from this world; they achieve anonymity by assuming a mortal identity or alter ego; and they wear a distinctive costume.”
In modern times, the anonymity factor doesn’t play such a big part anymore. Most superheroes do still have an alter ego or code name, even if “*secret *identities” are out of fashion. I’d also qualify the first part by changing it to “one superpower or near-superhuman combat skill.”
Wasn’t Action Man just the original GI Joe rebranded for the European market? Then the 80’s Real American Hero reboot I know for a fact was rebranded as Action Force.
So no, not really a superhero, and probably not of non-American origins either.
The Phantom is who I immediately thought off, albeit his creator is an American. But the character of the Phantom is based in Africa, and I understand he is far more popular outside of the US than in it.
He was in a comic! He had super strength! (He is supposed to be an American, though, although very much a British creation. I think he is probably intended as a parody of American superheroes like Superman, as well as Cowboy type heroes.) His favorite food was cow pie, made from a whole cow, including the horns, and he wuold eat a whole one.
Is Kim Possible a superhero? Narrowly defined, no. The essence of the superhero genre is power-fantasy. Kim Possible has a more involved set of concerns. Yes, this is a matter of degree: Robin the boy wonder has a certain amount of teen angst, but it’s more of a sideshow to a sideshow to a sideshow to a subplot.
Actual, non-parodic superheroes, though seem to be a pretty strictly American cultural phenomenon (and one I am not relly sure that I, as a Brit, either understand or like).
The idea of a superhero is such an American one - even the Phantom, who is so lo-tech that he mainly rides horses and fist-fights his way out of trouble - that its probably hard to create an authentic local hero that is not intended as a conscious parody of US comic models or compromised as an americanist pastiche.
It appears the very first superhero(along with secret identity) was probably The Scarlet Pimpernel, and thus not American, though I’m in agreement with the rest of what you say. The Indian superheroes I linked to earlier are quite obviously at least inspired by the American ‘vision’ of such.
I think it’s not even close. Parc Astérix sees almost 2 million visitors a year. Over 350 million Astérix books have been sold, apparently more than any other European comic book hero. These books have been translated into 107 languages.
Judge Dredd has a completely different format that makes it hard to make direct comparisons but I sincerely doubt 2000AD has anywhere close to the readership Astérix has. Notice that on Wikipedia, Judge Dredd barely has any non-english pages, and they’re mostly stubs. If it weren’t for the films, he would be mostly unknown outside of the Anglosphere.
I’ll give you that Dream is sort of too out there to fit, but how is John Constantine not a superhero ? He’s got supernatural powers (even if the powers he uses the most are his con-man wiles and his ability to piss everybody off), he fights evil (or, again, royally pisses evil off), he’s got a relatively fixed signature look… He even hangs out with Swamp Thing, met Batman, and was at Green Lantern’s funeral.
Woops, I was trying to focus on the definition of the superhero. Yes, Kim Possible is American, but I don’t think she qualifies as a superhero under narrow definitions, even though she resides in a fantastic setting.
How is a he a super hero, as opposed to just hero? Surely having superhuman powers (perhaps naturally, or perhaps thanks to technology not available to others) is a far more crucial criterion of superherohood than just having a secret identity. The Pimpernel is just smart, athletic, and skilled. (I know Batman in theory does not have any superhuman powers, but to all practical intents and purposes, he really does.)
Every history of superheroes I’ve ever come across considers the Pimpernel to be The “Proto- Superhero” I think the idea is that even though he didn’t have superpowers he was the first literary character who had a secret identity. Don’t forget Zorro is also considered to be one of the great “proto- superheroes”
