It’s been a long time since I read the book, but the wiki says
That’s close enough to Batman for me.
I’m digging this chick from Pakistan The Burka Avenger is Pakistan’s first female superhero Burka Avenger is Pakistan's first female superhero - BBC Newsround
As someone mentioned, he is a “superhero” in the sense that he (and the Gauls of his village) have supernatural powers. However, I agree that the genre he belongs to is markedly different from the English-language superhero comics. I was only pointing out that Astérix is orders of magnitude more famous than Judge Dredd.
How about, say, Sir Gawain? He draws on bona fide superstrength you can’t aspire to, and à la Captain America carries a shield with a big recognizable ‘star’ emblem on it so everybody will know it’s him under all that armor. (And, like Cap, he’s a patriotic do-gooder who answers to the head of state.)
Well, Batman himself is an edge case. If he didn’t dress sort of like Superman, and if many of the things his mad skillz and fancy tech supposedly allow him to do were not so effing ludicrous, he would be just another regular (non-super) hero himself.
Heroes who are simply much better at fighting (and other stuff) than the people around them are as old as the hills (or at least the Iliad). I very much doubt that the Pimpernel was the first hero with a secret identity either. I can’t think of a good example at the moment, but it will probably come to me.
Just because someone argued in some book that the Pimpernel was the first superhero, does not make it true you know.
And, as I was mentioning the Iliad, I would say Achilles is a much better candidate, in most respects, for being the first superhero. He actually had a super power, and a secret vulnerability, like kryptonite. If he does not fit the mold, it is not so much because he had no secret identity, but because his secret vulnerability actually got him killed. (He was also kind of a jerk, but, arguably, so are Superman and Batman, and probably lots of other supers.)
…James Bond?
What, like Samson?
hence the non-parsed smiley.
John exists in a milieu where anyone can have supernatural powers/make demonic contracts/cast spells, though, which renders him somewhat less…exceptional?
But it’s not a costume, which to me is the signature thing about superheroes.
I’m not arguing that he isn’t a comic book hero, with all that that entails, just that he isn’t exactly a superhero. More like a closely-related category, like “Science Hero” - “Occult Hero” or somesuch, like guys from Lovecraft stories, Timothy Hunter or, in fact, Dream (who’s also palled around with superheroes on occasion).
I think you’ll find there isn’t a huge Tarzan fandom in Africa either…suffice to say he’s probably viewed as a bit of a colonialist fantasy.
He was pretty big in South Africa in the 80s, when he ran in an Afrikaans newspaper, FWIW.
Just to continue the hijack, how weird is it that nobody really bats an eye at Thor being a superhero alongside Captain America and Iron Man? I just now did a google image search for Superhero Halloween Costumes, and Odin’s hammer-wielding son who brews up thunder and calls down lightning was of course all over it.
Probably because in his first comic book series in the early '60s, he was young Dr. Donald Blake who discovered an old walking stick in a cave that gave him the power of Thor (and turned into a hammer) when pounded on the ground. If the hammer left his hand for more than 60 seconds, he transformed back into the powerless Dr. Blake. He used his newfound power to fight gangsters, spies, and supervillains. It was years later that he discovered that he really was Thor, banished to Earth and given amnesia by his father Odin, to teach him humility. So, he had all the traditional trappings of a superhero at the start, and the mythological elements were gradually brought in later.
Unless you’re talking solely about the movie universe, in which case… I have no idea.
I’m not sure whether or not this is in the spirit of the OP, as these are superheros based in other countries, but who were created and only appeared in US-published comic books, but how about the Club of Heroes and the Global Guardians?
And, even then, while the comics showed that the superhero was the actual Thor, from Norse mythology, they also showed how he and the other Asgardians (as well as the Olympians, like Hercules) were not actual deities, but long-lived, extremely powerful extradimensional aliens (who happened to be worshiped as deities in the past, by more primitive cultures).
Right. There, he’s just the Viking god who AFAICT only ever gets into battles – with frost giants or anyone else – due to Loki’s machinations, routinely going on and on about Asgard in between talking with Sif and Heimdall. If not for Marvel, would we even know his film was supposed to be a superhero movie?
He was at Dream’s funeral, too.
Also at the funeral were Doctor Occult and Phantom Stranger, also in trench coats. Mister E is another trenchcoated . . . supernatural based hero.
Yes and no. Demonic contracts may be up for grabs, but it’s definitely established that different magic users have different potential power levels. Constantine comes from a long line of powerful, but nearly cursed, magic users.
How is this a hijack? It gets right to the heart of this thread. If we can’t define what a superhero is, other than, “what I point at when I talk about superheroes,” the question asked in the OP is impossible to answer. (And I flatly do not agree that Sherlock Holmes’ powers were less supernatural than Batman’s. But that specific debate is a hijack, while the general question is not.)
furryman mentioned Sailor Moon. I would say that is by far the best answer mentioned so far, by the traditional definition of a superhero that Cartoonacy supplies. She’s got supernatural powers and a strong drive to help other people–yet she’s reluctant and also wants an ordinary life. She’s got a costume, super-villains to fight and a crew of people to help her, and she’s got an alter-ego that she has to protect. Basically everyone in Japan (and large parts of Asia) is familiar with her, and many people in the US are as well. Ultraman, the Power Rangers (with their Japanese antecedents) and even Astro Boy are also good examples.
Damn. They made it a miniseries. I may have to read this.
I keep seeing that idea posted here, but it isn’t even remotely true.
Darna is a superheroine from the Phillipines who’s been published pretty much non-stop since the 1950’s and has stared in loads of movies and TV shows. Cybersix is a hugely popular comic in Argentina that spun off both a live action and animated TV show. Serbia’s got Cat Claw. India’s Bollywood is constantly cranking out superhero movies like Krrish and Ra One.
Claiming that you can’t find true superheroes created outside the US because the US invented the genre is like claiming you can’t find rock music outside the US because the US invented rock and roll.
I hereby present Ōgon Bat, from Japan: superpowered do-gooder with nifty cape? Check. Slightly predates Superman? Check.
(See also: the Prince of Gamma, who “had an alter-ego of a poor street urchin wandering the streets of Tokyo. But when danger called, he would transform, appearing in a blue suit with yellow insignia, flowing yellow cape and headdress. The Prince of Gamma was super-strong, invulnerable and had the power of flight. He did battle with a bald-headed scientist and an alien from outer space with a visible brain.”)
Imdb’s page on the character “Judge Dredd” (They record most films internationally.)
http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0012709/?ref_=tt_cl_t1
2 films, 1 in development, 2 video games. OoOoOoOoo.
This is an old trivia question. Marvel or DC (or one of their forefathers) coined the term “superhero” and decided to jointly trademark it. Thus, “superheros” are in fact an American invention.
In another wikipedia article on the history of superheros, the greek myths and heroes are considered the first heroes, e.g perseus, hercules, etc. However, since chinese culture predates western culture by a buttload, chinese gods and legends would be the first.
I don’t think you understood my point. Judge Dredd is the UK’s most popular comic book character since his inception in 1977, with multiple spin-off publications and characters. That is his mark of popularity, not how many movies or video games based on him there are.
He certainly doesn’t compare to characters like Asterix, Tintin, and any Marvel or DC superhero, but direct comparison is not what the OP asked for: Who Are the Most Popular Superheroes Not Created/Based in the USA? The biggest in the UK is, in my estimation, Dredd.