<span class="SFPTagline">
From SCIFIPEDIA
</span>
(Redirected from
Super-hero)
The superhero is a literary archetype first developed in the United States in the mid-20th Century. The typical superhero is a human character that with one or more super powers that enable the character to perform feats no ordinary person could do.
Whether this powers of the super hero is science fiction in origin or by some fantasy element such as magic, all superhero stories are part of the speculative fiction genre.
Fiction that includes superheroes is particularly popular in comics. Since the 1980s, movies also have increasingly relied upon the superhero archetype.
History
The term Superhero was first coined to coincide with the appearance of Superman in 1938 under the banner of Action Comics.
Prior to that, superheroic types had appeared as early as the legend of Gilgamesh in Bablyonian mythology. Victorian era Pulp fiction, dime novels, and penny dreadfuls also featured larger-than-life characters normally involved in solving mysteries or cfimes with the use of esoteric or other-worldly abilities.
Some notables were Doc Savage, Tarzan, Zorro, Sherlock Holmes, The Phantom, The Shadow, and Popeye.
Related Terms and Articles
Click the Superhero Characters category at the bottom of this page to see specific characters. Click the Superhero Actors category to see information on actors who have portrayed superheros.
2008, SCI FI. All rights reserved.
