History of Superhero Genre

Definition

Though born in comic books, superheroes have become so ubiquitous in multimedia that encountering superhero imagery seems to be a daily occurrence. The word “superhero” traces back to as early as 1917 as “a public figure of great accomplishments” but gained most prominence when heroes moved from comic books into other popular culture media.

Introduction

Born from mythology and popular culture sources such as 1920s pulp fiction, the American superhero carries an extensive lineage. Superhero history falls into the various agreed-upon ages of comics: Stone Age (pre–1938), Golden Age (1938–56), Silver Age (1956–70), Bronze Age (1970–85), Dark Age (1985–98), and Modern Age (1998– ).

Superhero comics serve as source material for advertisements, films, television, and video games. While comic books remain in publication, mainstream access to superheroes largely comes from multimedia revisions, revamps, and remakes. A notable trend with superheroes is the growing transmedial interconnectedness—that is, the world-building that links the printed page with other media. What follows are conflicting narratives of each generation’s superheroes and the ability for serious enthusiasts and casual fans to reconcile competing versions of the same characters. For example, the Superman of the Smallville television series (2001–11) is not the Superman of the Young Justice (2010– ) cartoon, the one of the Batman: Brave and the Bold (2008–11) cartoon, or the one seen in many comic books.

Parallel to their growing prominence, superheroes have gone from adult fare to children’s medium, from camp plaything to serious film subject, and back again. Thus, the history of superheroes is a shadow history of the United States, providing insight into how cultural points of view shift over time.

The Golden Age

While characters such as Dr. Occult, Lee Falk’s the Phantom, the Green Hornet, and the Crimson Avenger all predate Superman’s arrival in 1938, the accepted generic conventions of the superhero first coalesced in Superman, marking the beginning of the Golden Age. Before Superman, prototypical superheroes existed mainly in newspaper strips; Superman was the first to appear in comic books with original material. Following the somewhat surprising success of Superman, the Bat-Man (later simply Batman) debuted in 1939.

The Golden Age included an explosion of superhero characters created to cash in on the success of Superman. These include the first Human Torch, the Sub-Mariner, Captain Marvel, Robin, the Spirit, Plastic Man, Wonder Woman, and Captain America. The rampant production of superhero characters and stories often relied on a formulaic pattern without ongoing story continuity. In essence, the Golden Age was an age of serial contact with largely interchangeable superheroes. Themes guiding superhero stories during this time included dealing with absent, dead, or otherwise lost parents and the need to defend and sustain a sense of positive idealism.

How superheroes maintained positivity changed over time, however. Superheroes battled more gangsters when mobsters headlined the news, and then stories acquired a jingoistic bent with characters battling Nazis during World War II.

Meanwhile, Superman’s radio show (1940), cartoon (1941), and live-action serials (1948) plastered the superhero across multimedia formats. The Superman radio show introduced a transmedial aspect by creating Kryptonite as a foil to Superman. The early connection between comics and other media serves as evidence for superheroes carrying cultural appeal behind the page.

The Golden Age ended partly because of changes in distribution methods, the widespread consumption of television, and outcry from psychologist Fredric Wertham. By this point, the comic book industry’s self-regulating Comics Code restricted the content in comic books, and all but a few characters (Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, most notably) stopped appearing.

The Silver Age

The Silver Age began with the reconception of the Golden Age character the Flash as a more explicitly science-based hero. The Silver Age responded to the space race and featured many science-fiction-influenced heroes, including the Legion of Super-Heroes, a revised Green Lantern, the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, Spider-Man, Iron Man, and the X-Men.

The age included much of the idealism of the Golden Age but with a growing sense of unease. Significant in this age was the influx of Marvel Comics characters. Unlike DC Comics characters, which generally maintained a lighthearted, almost camp sensibility, Marvel injected psychological realism into its stories, challenging the neat conception of superheroes as superidealized humans. Spider-Man/Peter Parker struggled with everyday problems such as paying rent and dating, just as the Thing of the Fantastic Four wrestled daily with his monstrous appearance. Nonetheless, superheroes remained largely a white male phenomenon.

In a change from the Golden Age, Silver Age stories included situations in which the heroes did not always win or, at the very least, did not escape difficult situations completely unscathed. Late in the Silver Age, continuity took hold in comics and created a rich history of interlocking stories, particularly with the Marvel superheroes. The continuity did not extend to the media representations of superheroes, however; the cartoons and television shows, with their interchangeable episodes, seemed more in line with the Golden Age themes than with those of the Silver Age. Significantly, the highly rated Batman live-action television series (1966-68) debuted in this era and left a lasting impression on Americans’ popular understanding of superheroes. The Silver Age ended in 1970, largely as the result of shifting cultural mores in the United States.

The Bronze Age

The shiny heroes of the Silver Age did not fit with the more pessimistic social climate of the Bronze Age. By this time, the superheroes’ luster had faded. Some called this period “the death of comic book innocence,” for the Bronze Age included the death of Spider-Man’s girlfriend Gwen Stacy and Batman’s return to dark avenging detective.

In 1970, DC’s space-faring Green Lantern and the left-wing archer Green Arrow teamed up as “Hard-Traveling Heroes” to confront real-world problems such as racism, pollution, and drug abuse. In 1971, the revision of the Comics Code opened the door for the return of horror with new, dark heroes such as Swamp Thing and Ghost Rider.

Major comic book publishers also introduced more minority characters to reflect the diversity of the United States and to capitalize on the blaxploitation and kung fu crazes of the time. Making their debuts were urban-inspired African American characters such as Power Man/Luke Cage, Black Lightning, and the mutant Storm of the X-Men. The X-Men were revised from White middle-class teenagers to a highly diverse lineup that included the clawed Canadian hero Wolverine. Also, the violent vigilante the Punisher began slaughtering criminals throughout the Marvel Universe in a manner that would prefigure the Dark Age.

Meanwhile, technology advanced, and the potential for special effects grew. Accordingly, superhero projects exploded, including the live-action television series Shazam! (1974–77), Wonder Woman (1975–79), and The Incredible Hulk (1978–82); the cartoons Spider-Man (1967–70) and Super Friends (1973–77); and films such as Swamp Thing (1982) and the Superman franchise starring Christopher Reeve, beginning in 1978.

The end of the Bronze Age remains in dispute. While the Golden Age and Silver Age possess more definitive beginnings and endings, the boundaries of the Bronze Age, the Dark Age, and the Modern Age are less firmly established.

The Dark Age

The Dark Age began in the 1980s and was so named for both the shift to “grim and gritty” dark heroes and the rise and fall of comics publishing that occurred in the 1990s. The age is generally characterized by a darkening of heroes and a predominance of new antiheroes.

In 1985, DC attempted to reorganize and revise more than forty years of stories with the Crisis on Infinite Earths (1985–86), obliterating its own continuity to various degrees. This event’s aftermath included reboots of flagship characters Superman and Wonder Woman.

Another starting point of the age may be Frank Miller’s gritty depictions of Batman’s future and past in Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (1986) and Batman: Year One (1987). At the same time, independent presses introduced characters such as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Miracleman, Alan Moore’s critique of superheroes. Moore’s further dystopian dismantling of superheroes, Watchmen (1986–87), continued the darkening of superhero comics by deconstructing the social and political utility of character archetypes.

Other aspects of the grim side of superheroes included the crippling and sexual assault of Barbara Gordon/Batgirl in Moore’s Batman: The Killing Joke (1988) and the controversial Batman: A Death in the Family (1988–1989), in which Robin Jason Todd dies, partly because fans voted for his demise. Marvel followed the dark trend with the angst-ridden X-Men, the spin-offs of which became the company’s best-selling franchise. Antiheroes, such as the mutant Cable, turn the teenage New Mutants team into a pro-mutant strike force, or X-Force. By 1988, Spider-Man’s most significant villain of the age, Venom, brought bitter justice to some and psychopathic serial violence to others.

Following the deconstruction of the genre, superheroes were rebuilt when director Tim Burton revitalized the genre with the 1989 film Batman. Drawing popular attention back to comics, the film incited the comic book explosion of the early 1990s. Key to this era was the overspeculation of superhero comic books with stunt story lines like the “Death of Superman” and “Knightfall,” with Superman, Batman, and many other highly recognizable DC characters being temporarily replaced by new and often bloodthirsty versions.

At the same time, alternative voices in the superhero genre somewhat destabilized the dominance of the major publishers DC and Marvel. Image Comics, an independent press serving as a confederation of established illustrators, began to publish Savage Dragon (1986– ), Spawn (1992– ), and Witchblade (1995– ). Known for both its style of characters, with bulging muscles and exaggerated breast sizes, and for action-oriented stories, Image wrapped a shiny exterior around its gritty heroes. In reaction to all the brutality in mainstream comics, the tongue-in-cheek Tick (1988–1993) appeared as a lighthearted spoof of the superhero genre and comic fans in general.

Milestone Comics began publishing stories with neglected minority characters and story lines with such characters as Static, Hardware, and Xombi. Though their tenure with Milestone was short-lived, the characters, diverse in race and sexual orientation, later entered the mainstream DC Universe.

Perhaps the largest coup in terms of superheroes came from DC’s Vertigo imprint. Coinciding with the so-called British invasion of creators, this division moved in a markedly different direction from the big-stunt events of DC’s flagship characters and instead took superheroes in a postmodern direction. Peter Milligan’s Shade the Changing-Man (1990–1996), Grant Morrison’s Animal Man (1988–1990) and Doom Patrol (1989–1993), and Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman (1989–1996) transitioned lesser-known Silver Age characters into more mature properties. As these titles moved further away from questions of superheroics, they were collected under the Vertigo Comics umbrella outside of the main DC Universe.

The end of the Dark Age may best be signified by the fall of the Batman film franchise with the Joel Schumacher-directed Batman and Robin (1997). Largely lambasted for its camp portrayals and odd, sexualized costumes, the production cast doubt on the success of superhero films until Bryan Singer’s X-Men (2000).

In the Dark Age, superheroes experienced increased visibility and transformation in other media. The connection between comics and other media continued with the television show Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1993-1997). Additionally, Batman: The Animated Series begat further series within the same animated universe and created a franchise that eventually brought obscure characters mainstream attention.

The Modern/Multimedia Age

Many fans and comics studies scholars offer different opinions in regard to the Modern Age of superheroes, particularly as to whether it exists as its own era or as an extension of the Dark Age or even the Silver Age. The Modern Age may be best understood as the contemporary production in superhero comic books and media.

One point of transition between ages may be September 11, 2001 (9/11), and the comic book industry’s response to the terrorist attack. Marvel and DC, as well as numerous independent publishers, produced comics to aid in fundraising after the terrorist attacks. In the aftermath of 9/11, the superhero has been increasingly questioned and placed in political situations; for example, in Civil War (2006–2007), heroes are asked to register with the government in a nod to US Homeland Security initiatives. Superhero narratives have grown increasingly complex, with current story lines making more transparent political statements.

In terms of multimedia, beginning in the 1980s, the video and computer game market relied on superheroes as big draws and made superheroes interactive phenomena. Each superhero film or cartoon garnered its own game adaption, thus creating an interactive aspect to superheroes. Marvel vs. Capcom and Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe even used existing video game universes to expand the reach of iconic superheroes. Similarly, multiplayer online games (MMOs) such as City of Heroes (2004) and DC Universe Online (2011) have created whole worlds and digital social systems for superhero fans. Other popular games include Insomniac Games' Spider-Man (2018) and Spider-Man 2 (2023), as well as Marvel Rivals (2024).

In the 2020s, some comic book artists, writers, and publishers were starting to use artificial intelligence (AI) to streamline creative processes and distribution, speed production, tailor content and marketing, and make the industry more accessible to creators and audiences. At the same time, the industry grappled with ethical questions about the impact of AI on the human workforce and intellectual property rights. Representatives from major publishers like DC Comics and Marvel Comics stated they did not allow the use of AI in their works.

Impact

The comic book and graphic novel industry has always been dominated by the superhero genre. Although largely still relegated to the puerile morass of popular culture, in reality, superheroes compose a rich tapestry of American history and are big business globally. Superhero history further reveals how the comic books have made use of transmedia, connecting marketing and products long before television and film companies followed suit.

In any medium, the nature of the superhero is one of change, transformation, revision, and redeployment. As American and global cultures change, so do superheroes. Anyone born since the 1930s has been touched by the wide reach of superheroes and their history.

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