ladydeath says:
"wow such tension over the first?"
I don't really care, I just need to be right.
If we are talking Costumed Superheroes, then Lee Falk gave us The Phantom
his comic is the first American publishing of The Phantom, who is now a worldwide hero. The Phantom made his debut on February 17th, 1936 and he was the first costumed hero. He was created by Lee Falk, who still today is working on his stories. The Phantom was the kind of hero that despite his normal "human" capabilities, fought crime with bravery and death defying stunts. Many future heroes would follow his lead
But yes truly before him Was Mandrake..
however the Shadow and Dick Tracy were created in 1931, where as Mandrake was 1934
So I'm gonna have to say "The Shadow"
Post Edited:2008-04-16 06:18:01
@obi_wan_kenobi_: Probably the first superhero who wore tights and stuff and was acting like a superhero was Superman but I may be wrong still Supes is considered one of the or THE first comic book superhero by many.
Superman debuted June of 1938 in Action Comics #1. However, there were previous characters from the newspaper strips that might count as superheros depending on how you define the idea. Characters like Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon come to mind. They don't have superpowers, but neither does Batman, and he's considered a superhero.
I addition to comic-strip sources and around the same time just before comics books, there were pulp-fiction magazines like The Spider, Master of Men and The Shadow. These characters predate Superman.
Delving further back in time, we get characters from mythology who are clearly superhuman. Hercules and Thor are prime examples. Thus, as far as extant literature from the ancient world is concerned, we can probably peg Gilgamesh as the first superhero.
Nelvana was Canada's first superhero in comics and she also debuted before Wonder Woman. She came out in1941 so that doesn't beat out the others mentioned in this thread, but I wanted to throw this character into the basket anyway.
@obi_wan_kenobi_: it was the phantom in 1936 by Lee Falk followed by superman in 1938
I'm tempted to say Wylie's Gladiator was one of the earliest "superheroes".
Pulp Magazine may also have some of the oldest "superheroes", too.
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