Superman Was Inspired By Heroes Such As Hercules And Flash Gordon What’s that?! There in the sky? Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No! It’s the Man of Tomorrow! Superman has gone by many names over the years, but one thing has remained the same. He has always stood for what’s best about humanity, all of our potential for terrible destructive acts, but also our choice to not act on the level of destruction we could wreak. Superman was first created in 1933 by Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel, the writer and artist respectively. In his unmistakable blue suit with red cape, and the stylized red S on his chest, the figure of Superman has become one of the most recognizable in the world. Superman as we know and love him today didn’t appear until Action Comics #1, published on April 18, 1938. Such was his success that he got his own comic in 1939, and the world has never looked back since. Superman was an idea of two high-school students Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. They sold the rights to Detective Comics for mere $130 (around $2100 in today’s time). The original concept of Superman was as a bald telepathic villain hellbent on world domination. Basically the love child of Lex Luthor and Professor X. Despite being able to fly faster than the speed of light in a vacuum, Superman is not faster than the Flash. In one comic, Barry Allen reminds Kal-El that, even though they’ve raced in the past, in the end, “I allowed you to participate and ultimately YOU CANNOT beat me in a race. Not now, not ever.” One of Superman’s latest powers is the Solar Flare, where he releases all the solar energy in his body at once, creating an explosion. He’s useless for 24 hours after this. Kryptonite was actually not in the original comics. It was invented for the 1940s radio show because the voice actor wanted some time off and they had to find a way to explain his absence. Superman’s original arch-enemy wasn’t Lex Luthor, but was instead a telepathic ape named Ultra-Humanite. In the 90s, Nicholas Cage was paid $20 million for a Tim Burton directed Superman that never got made. Many of Superman’s romantic interests have had the initials L. L. This includes Lois Lane, Lana Lang, Lori Lemaris, and Lyla Lerrol. It has been explained that Superman doesn’t wear a mask because he wants the public’s trust and people are less trustful of people who wear masks. The original reason for Lex Luthor hating Superman is that Superman made him bald. Batman has a piece of kryptonite entrusted to him by Superman in case Superman ever goes rogue. He was Censored during World War II. It was the time when the US was secretly experimenting with Nuclear Weapons, and an issue of Superman was released in which Lex Luthor attached Superman with a weapon he called an Atomic Bomb. Considering the seriousness of the matter, US Government delayed the story’s publication. The first edition of Superman Series presented him as evil. Published in 1932 titled ‘The Reign of the Superman,’ a homeless man named Bill Dunn was being experimented by a mad scientist who transformed him into Superman. Created with evil motives, the ‘Superman’ (read Bill Dunn) killed his creator and embarked on stock manipulation, racetrack winnings and earning money through illegal ways. The word ‘Superhero’ is patented by Marvel & Detective Comics (DC). They both have copyrights on this word and had a long rivalry over this word. However, they set aside their differences in 1979 and agreed upon using this word. According to Joe Shuster, Superman is inspired by heroes such as Hercules and Flash Gordon. Sources: Days of the Year Factinate Oh Fact.