If Superman Was The First Superhero Who Was The Second?

Superman is widely considered (wrongly or rightly) the first superhero, if that's true who would be considered the second?

Nobody considers him the first because he's not the first.

It depends on your definition of 'superhero'. There are older pulp heroes like Shadow or the Phantom, even Doctor Occult. But I guess Superman set the standard for the modern interpretation of the superhero.

As for the second? If Supes is the first, chronologically Zatara would be the second.

@awesam: Pretend he was then

@jonny_anonymous: he aint' just the batman of his day

Namor was the flying brick before him in terms of power set

supes was originally a supervillain

Wouldn't the first technically be Hercules from Greek Mythology?

Gilgamesh predates him as the first hero archetype

Hanuman was most likely the first Flying brick, Ghatotkaca (javanese) would be the first human-looking flying brick

without wings of course

@nerx: I said superhero not comic book character

@nerx: Doh forgot about Gilgamesh .

Sigh, He may not be the first champion with great powers, but yes, Superman is the first of the modern day tight wearing, superpowered superheroes.

@ms__omega: Not a superhero.

@jonny_anonymous: then vaesark with Phantom and Mandrake the magician

Gilgamesh is the very first super hero.

Batman or Captain Marvel depending upon the definition of Superhero.

Who are these?

@rustyroy:

Figures from indian myth (hanoman) gatotkaca is indian myth, but Indonesian version is the man of steel hundred of years before the man of steel.

Gilgamesh is the first hero ever, there are stone tablets with his story

Superman is considered the first mainstream superhero but not the first hero ever.

God.

Superman and Batman were originally murderers. So by technical default Captain Marvel/Shazam.

All the fun has been sucked from this thread

If we are saying Superman is the first, then after him would be Zatara

He's the first one with a red cape

Doc Savage,The Shadow, the Phantom, Gilgamesh, Titan, Popeye, Mandrake the Magician, John Carter of Mars etc all came before Superman

You also have heroes in western folklore and mythology like Robin Hood, Hercules etc

First comic book superhero (with powers) :Superman

First Superhero published: Springheeled Jack

Now to answer your question: Zatara would be second

action comics 1 has many characters like superman, zatara, tex thompson who later became mr america, etc.

I thought Superman was the 1st Superhero in Comics.

( + )

Batman

John Zatara

John Carter was the first Superman!

John Carter was the first Superman!

i think the green hornet was before him on the radio as a hero

Superman is the first superhero in terms of the first to go mainstream, and who set the blueprint for the modern day superhero. It's like with Hulk Hogan, he wasn't the first pro wrestler, but he was the first to go mainstream, and popularize the sports entertainer.

Exactly this, Superman was the first break-through superhero plus he solidified the term Superhero

before Superman,

Hugo Gladiator Danner, Doctor Occult, John Carter, Doc Savage Man of Bronze

.

If Thor counts as a Superhero nowadays, he was worshipped by Vikings way back in B.C. times... so, yeah.

lt depends

superman was the first superhero to be so popular so if your question is about what superhero when he appeared was as popular or close to superman in popularity the answer is DC's captain marvel

Captain marvel was huge back then