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There are many progenitors who are significant contributors to the super-hero genre, but I would argue that the one predecessor who incorporated most of the elements of the super-hero genre in one place and created something that could be recognized as a "super-hero" once the term came into usage later was Lee Falk's Phantom which featured the following-
-costumed hero with mask, cowl and underwear on the outside of a skin tight spandex type suit
-secret identity and soubriquet-The Phantom was Kit Walker, also called the Ghost Who Walks
-recognizable symbol as part of the costume (the skull rings and skull belt buckle)
-secret origin and legacy
-a hidden lair to use as a base of operation (the Skull Cave)
-sidekicks and assistants-his horse and wolf
-contacts in the local law enforcement agency-the Bangalia Jungle Patrol-who would provide information and help on cases
-activities focused on crime-fighting of various sorts (though in a jungle not urban setting)
-arch enemies (such as the Singh Brotherhood)
yet all of this was in 1936 before super-hero comics debuted with Superman in Action Comics. Several of the others mentioned here were vitally important as progenitors of the super-hero genre, but none of them had as many elements that would become di rigeur in super-hero comics synthesized and coalesced in one place as the Phantom strip did. And it was a syndicated strip reaching millions paving the way for audience acceptance of all those elements working together as normal for other characters who would adopt them. However it was later than some of the others and may not have been as big an influence on Sigel and Shuster as some of the others, but it sure was influential on the audiences who would encounter super-hero comics and whose acceptance of those genre tropes were critical to the success of the genre when it did appear.
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[QUOTE=MRP;5642653]...Lee Falk's Phantom ...it was a syndicated strip reaching millions paving the way for audience acceptance of all those elements working together as normal for other characters who would adopt them...[/QUOTE]
That's a really good point. I'd never thought about that aspect of The Phantom's trail-blazing for the whole genre.
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Probably the Greek gods.
To go with a specific one, Hercules.
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I was considering several possibilities. Tarzan, Zorro, the Lone Ranger, the Green Hornet and even the Scarlet Pimpernel. But I'm trying to draw some distinction between mythical hero and something that comes closer to the modern superhero.
I'm going with Zorro because he seems to be the furthest back that includes a secret identity and has a lot of the trappings of what would become the superhero genre.
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For me it is Achilles, who is a normal human who gained a pretty singular superpower due to a specific origin story (his mommy did it!) and has a very specific weakness associated with his origin (also his mommy did it!) plus he is just an all around badass with a badass reputation. He's the only mythological hero character I read about where I thought "that could be me!" Plus his name is still relevant in popular culture today, which is even more badass.
Odysseus was a normal human with no powers and Hercules/Gilgamesh were demi-gods (seems like cheating). Samson comes close to meeting my definition but honestly I think he was also just a normal person. Strong but normal.
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[QUOTE=Scott Taylor;5643366]For me it is Achilles, who is a normal human who gained a pretty singular superpower due to a specific origin story (his mommy did it!) and has a very specific weakness associated with his origin (also his mommy did it!) plus he is just an all around badass with a badass reputation. He's the only mythological hero character I read about where I thought "that could be me!" Plus his name is still relevant in popular culture today, which is even more badass.
Odysseus was a normal human with no powers and Hercules/Gilgamesh were demi-gods (seems like cheating). Samson comes close to meeting my definition but honestly I think he was also just a normal person. Strong but normal.[/QUOTE]
Very interesting take. Invulnerability compromised by his origins. That's a good chunk of Superman's mythos.
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[QUOTE=Scott Taylor;5643366]For me it is Achilles, who is a normal human who gained a pretty singular superpower due to a specific origin story (his mommy did it!) and has a very specific weakness associated with his origin (also his mommy did it!) plus he is just an all around badass with a badass reputation. He's the only mythological hero character I read about where I thought "that could be me!" Plus his name is still relevant in popular culture today, which is even more badass.
Odysseus was a normal human with no powers and Hercules/Gilgamesh were demi-gods (seems like cheating). Samson comes close to meeting my definition but honestly I think he was also just a normal person. Strong but normal.[/QUOTE]
The only caveat I will put there and in putting it in comic terms is that Achilles invulnerability and being dipped in the Styx as a babe is a retcon, not appearing in the story of Achilles until the first century CE/AD i.e. well after the Homeric epics took their form that we know them in and the story of Achilles became part of the greater Greek culture). There are also earlier versions that refer to him as half-god, half-mortal, so just as much a demi-god as the ones you dismiss. Not to take away from your choice (it'a a good option), but there is a lot of variation in the story of Achilles depending on what source you are referencing, when it was recorded/written down/composed, and what region of the Hellenic world it was being told in/originated from, and some of those versions include elements that caused you to dismiss other mythological figures (like Hercules/Gilgamesh) as being valid choices for super-hero antecedents.
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Yah, this is the latter version of Achilles. Its funny that even back in those days there were retcons. Another thing Achilles has in common with more modern superheroes. :)
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[QUOTE=Scott Taylor;5644854]Yah, this is the latter version of Achilles. Its funny that even back in those days there were retcons. Another thing Achilles has in common with more modern superheroes. :)[/QUOTE]
That is hilarious :D
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OP says superhero, so that shouldn't disqualify Gilgamesh or Hercules. On top of those, the Chinese Warriors Three (Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Liu Bei) were all normal, if exceptional, humans.
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I'd say the Galactic Patrol from the Lensman series by E. E. "Doc" Smith.
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I think Superman is related to the one and only Jesus.
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[QUOTE=From The Shadows;5651187]I think Superman is related to the one and only Jesus.[/QUOTE]
Jesus was first to my mind, but then I thought of Moses. There are others who did amazing things before him, but Moses seems like the original Johnny Thunder and others who can call on other forces to do amazing, even outlandish things. Before Moses, it seems people were just trying to explain as much of the world as they could comprehend at the time. Moses really got into the fantastic, ridiculous nature of mythological fantasy, and used it to justify the entire book of Levticus