Georgette Berne, Greek Mythology Connected to Modern Superheroes

Modern day American superheroes didn’t come out of thin air - they came in swinging from tower to tower and smashing a missile in a single punch. The pattern of superheroes will continue to evolve and live on for centuries, due to the human nature of needing someone - even if they are fictional - to inspire us to be better. Superheroes teach, when words can not. Similarly, in Ancient Greek mythology the heroes, usually demigods, are representations between the union of god and man. The heroes being someone greater than a mere human, someone more powerful to look up to. Although science replaced the notion of needing divine blessings to be great, the same patterns exist. A person is now blessed by science to uplift their community, instead of a God blessing someone. However a pattern that has survived over the centuries, is the notion of self sacrifice. Many Superheroes mythologically and modern, sacrifice themselves for a greater cause, hinting towards the famous quote “with great power comes great responsibility.” Self sacrifice doesn’t just include dying for a cause, it includes the sacrificing of giving up free

time to become an idol to many.

Ancient Greeks were polythesitic, meaning they believed in a multitude of gods and goddesses. The majority of the gods and goddesses lived at Mount Olympus, which is the highest mountain in Greece (U.S. History). Greek mythology is heavily tied into religion, used to explain the phenomenon of everyday life. Not only were the stories of gods and goddesses told, but the stories of heroes. Many of the heroes portrayed in Greek myth, were some kind of deity, however somewhere in fact human.

The first time we have seen the pattern of a superhero appear on paper occurred in 1936 as a comic. The Phantom also known as, “The Ghost Who Walks,” was the first heroic character, not the first superhero. Lee Falks, the creator, and Ray Moore, the artist, joined together to bring The Phantom to life in a comic, starting the wave of superhero appearances (“Phantom”). The phantom is a vigilante dressed in all purple, with a hood, eye mask, a skull belt, and most important a skull ring on his left hand. During the day, The Phantom is replaced by his alias Kit Walker. Is this sounding a little familiar? That might be because Batman is a modern retelling of The Phantom. Batman is a human vigilante who fights crime at night, and is a billionaire during the day under the alias of Bruce Wayne (“Superhero Timeline”).

Almost everything about Batman can be traced back to The Phantom. Both have a utility belt dawned on their vigilante outfits, both live in caves, and both protect their human identity when fighting crime. Batman’s utility belt holds batarangs, lock picks, lasers, a fingerprint analysis kit, grenades, and even a small nugget of kryptonite. Racing around in his batmobile, Batman took the streets to fight the ongoing crime that infested Gotham City. The story of Batman was first introduced in 1940 thanks to comic books. In the 1960s a tv show emerged about Batman, however the tv show didn’t follow the dark history of Batman, the tv show was campy and comical, while Batman in actuality was very dark. In 1989 Batman took to the big screens thanks to Warner Bros, with Michael Keaton as Batman (Batman). The trilogy of Batman played by Christian Bale is the first film to show Batman’s darker side, deviating from the camp version that has been portrayed. The trilogy includes, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and The Dark Knight Rises. Bruce Wayne became Batman, when he witnessed the senseless murder of his paretns when just a young boy. Batman is the retelling of the Greek goddess Artemis, and the Greek god Dionysus (ersuarez). While Batman is not portrayed as a female, he is still a hunter. Batman takes to the night to hunt down the evils that lurk in the shadows, to defend the innocents of Gotham City. Dionysus is the Greek god of festivity, and the grape wine harvest. Dionysus is a party god, which ties closely into the character of Bruce Wayne. Bruce Wayne is a billionaire

philanthropist who is often hosting and attending many galas (Batman). Dionysus is also the god of theatre and Ekstasis. Ekstasis, root word for ecstasy, is the experience of an emotion to the extreme sense. The experience is feeling something that is outside of yourself, a feeling that is overwhelming and controlling. A mask is an example of this experience, transforming into someone who is not oneself so that the facade can be held up. Batman loves the theatrics, which is ironic seeing as how is parents were brutally murdered in a theatre. The duality mask dawned in the Greek myth of Dionysis can be found in the costume of Batman (Brown). During the day Bruce Wayne is the party boy philanthropist, happy and content, while at night it’s the complete opposite. The vigilante full of vengeance comes out of the shadows, dawned in an all black costume to blend into the shadows.

In 1938 the first superhero with powers emerged in a comic book called Action Comics. Any guesses to who this might be? Superman (Britannica). Superman is originally from the planet of Krypton which has a red sun, making him mortal. However as a baby, Krypton was destroyed and Kal-El, Superman, was sent down to Earth. Now what’s important to note is that Earth is powered by the yellow sun. In the modern movies the yellow sun is what gives Superman all of his abilities such as flying, laser eyes, x-ray vision, freeze breath, bullet proof, and super strength. Superman during the working hours of the day works at the Daily Planet under the alias, Clark Kent. Clark Kent is your average human. He wears glasses, he’s clumsy, most importantly, he blends in. Part of what makes Superman such a great hero is, he doesn’t need the fame. Sure fame is nice and all, but it isn’t everything. Superman could be Super all the time if he wanted to. Superman could use his powers to get ahead of his co-workers. But he doesn’t. He saves his powers for the evils that face Metropolis every day. This makes him a hero. Someone who doesn’t save others for the benefits of themselves, someone who is willing to go outside and risk their lives, their identity to protect what’s most important; a community (Imdb).

Superman is the modern day Heracles. Superman and Heracles are both adopted kids who fell from the “heavens.” Both boys have extraordinary powers, but were raised on less than extraordinary terms. Heracles was the son of the Greek god Zeus, and Alcmene, Zeus’ consort, causing him to have many enemies before he was even born. As just an infant the Greek goddess Hera, Zeus’ wife, used her powers to prevent Heracles from becoming the ruler of Mycenae. Hera sent two snakes into Heracles’ crib one night to kill him. However Heracles was unusually strong and killed the snakes before they could kill him. Hera continues to torment Heracles for years to come, and one day finally pushes him over the edge. Heracles was faced with an eternity of guilt for things that had happened, and so he sought out the Greek god Apollo, the god of truth and healing. The Greek god Apollo

ordered Heracles to perform 12 heroic labors to achieve immortality and to finally be guilt free. Heracles completed these tasks, and devoted the rest of his life to saving those who could not save themselves (History.com Editors). In the same way that Superman devoted his life to saving others.

Spiderman is the representation of the golden age of Science Fiction. Peter Parker, the hero under the Spiderman mask, was bitten by a radioactive spider on a field trip. As a result of the spider bite, ordinary Peter Parker gains the powers of super strength, speed, agility, “spider sense” and the ability to climb onto walls. Spiderman is the first teenage hero to ever make an appearance in comics, that wasn’t a side kick, but instead the main hero of the story. The first spiderman comic came out in 1962, in Marvel’s Comics Amazing Fantasy no. 15. Peter Parker, a science nerd, synthesized web fluid and created his own web shooters that enabled him to swing all across Queens. From the very beginning of his story, it is obvious that he is very different from the past superheroes people have read about. Instead of selflessly dedicating his gifts to the better of society, he instead used his new powers to become a television celebrity. After his first televised appearance Spiderman lets a robber escape, showing he has no care to be an actual hero. A couple days later his uncle, Ben Parker, is killed by the same robber that Peter let get away. In his last moments Ben tells Peter, “with great power comes great responsibility.” After Ben’s death, Peter realizes he needs to use his powers for good. He becomes the friendly neighborhood Spiderman, saving those being robbed. He never expected to become a big hero. It doesn’t matter which Spiderman movie you look at, whether it’s Tobey’s, Andrews, or Toms, they all have one major thing in common. They started out as an inexperienced hero doing small heroic actions, and turned into a hero saving their cities, or in Tom’s case the galaxy (“Spider-Man”).

Peter Parker is a quick witted nerd, which connects him to the Greek god Hermes. Hermes is the trickster deity of the gods. Hermes is known for being clever, the same thing Peter Parker is known for (Cartwright, “Hermes”). Hermes in his youth stole several things such as Poseidon’s Trident and Artemis’ arrows. During the Marvel movie Captain America Civil War, Spiderman was on the side of his mentor Iron Man fighting against Captain America. In this fight Spiderman steals Captain America’s shield, a direct connection to the trickster Hermes. Another thing that Hermes and Spiderman have in common is their youth. Hermes is the second youngest deity to live at Mount Olympus and to be worshiped (“Hermes”). Spiderman is the youngest member on the Avengers team.

Iron Man differs from the other heroes I have mentioned, he does not have a secret identity. Everyone knows that Tony Stark is Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Tony Stark is a billionaire industrialist who is best known for inventing new technologies. He has designed many weapons for war through his

business, Stark Industry. Tony Stark went overseas to an active area of war, to consult with a business on his technologies. During his time overseas he was injured, and kidnapped. This is what caused his inspiration to build the first Iron Man suit. Tony went on to build hundreds of suits, and use them to fight against evil. He is a part of the hero team known as the Avengers. Dadaeleus is a mythical Greek inventor, architect, and sculptor (Britannica). He is best known for his invention of the Icarus’ Wings. Daedalus and his son Icarus were trapped above the same labyrinth that held the minotaur, to escape, the great inventor Dadealeus invented two sets of wings. The wings made up of melted beeswax and feathers would melt at a high altitude and the feathers if gotten wet at sea level would no longer be able to fly (The Icarus Phenomenon). These wings carried the men out of the labyrinth to safety (Cartwright, “Daedalus”). Iron Man in his captivity used random scrapes around him to build the first model of an Iron Man suit. This suit allowed him to escape from his kidnappers and go home. Once arrived at home, Tony Stark didn’t go back to his normal life. He fixated on the Iron man suit, determined to make it better, determined to make it a success. Both Iron Man and Dadaeleus invented technologies that could be used for the benefits of others and themselves.

The pattern of superheroes will continue to evolve, the only question is how? Who will be the next superhero to take to the skies? These questions cant be answered right now, but the hope that one day we will be able to is enough. The hope that superheroes will continue to thrive, continue to be role models for the generations to come. Superheroes will always be with us until the end, guiding us on the right path, and guiding us to hope. Hopefully one day the human race can be their own superheroes. Standing up for what is right, giving others hope and support in the dark, taking to the skies swinging from tower to tower.

*Works Cited page available upon request.