6 Really Cool Superhero Creation Stories You Probably Didn't Know
Miscellaneous / / June 15, 2023
Who became the prototype of the Joker and what color was the Hulk originally.
Comic book superheroes have many predecessors, from gods from ancient myths to pop culture characters. Before the advent of the first issues of Batman, American children of the 1930s read stories about Tarzan, cowboys and mysterious night sleuths, and in the movies looked at another famous masked hero - Zorro. But the year of birth of superheroes can be safely called 1938. Then Young Authors and Artists Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster for $130 sold to National Allied Publications a short story titled "Superman". By the seventh issue, the comic book about the hero was selling half a million copies. The request of readers did not go unnoticed: a year later, the first story about Batman, the flagship character, was published. of the future publishing house DC Comics, and in 1940 all the classic satellites of his stories appeared - from Catwoman to Joker. In 1939, the first comic book was published by Marvel, then called Timely.
Today, it is impossible to imagine modern popular culture without superheroes, and the worlds of comics have grown into gigantic universes about which encyclopedias and dissertations are written. We will talk about who came up with some famous characters and what cultural references can be found behind their backs.
1. Joker
First appearance: 1940
Creators: Bob Kane, Jerry Robinson, Bill Finger.
There is no canonical version of the Joker's biography in DC comics, and no one knows how he got his famous facial scars. With the history of creating a character, everything is also complicated. Batman's nemesis debuted in Batman #1 in April 1940. The character was created by artists Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson and screenwriter Bill Finger. These are generally recognized creators of the hero, but their versions of the events that preceded the appearance of the hero vary. These stories have one thing in common: all three recognizedthat the main prototype of the Joker was the actor Conrad Veidt in the image of the character Gwynplaine from the 1928 silent film The Man Who Laughs based on the novel by Victor Hugo.
Jerry Robinson arguedthat the villain's image is based on his design for a postcard inspired by the Joker's playing card. Then he came up with the name of the villain. Finger considered this concept unfinished and gave the drawing a resemblance to the hero of The Man Who Laughs. It was after this that a permanent sinister smile appeared on the face of the character.
Second artist Bob Kane disagrees with Robinson's version. According to him words, the playing card sketch appeared after the concept was created.
Bob Kane
Animator, artist.
Bill Finger and I created the Joker. The Joker looks like Conrad Veidt. Bill Finger had a book with a photo of Conrad Veidt, he showed it to me and said, "Here's the Joker." Jerry Robinson had absolutely nothing to do with it, but he will always say that he created it until he dies.
All participants in the events passed away, confident in their words, so the true story of the Joker is so unknown for certain. But what is known for sure is that the Joker could have been killed by Batman in the very first issue. But this decision changed the publisher: edition editor Whitney Ellsworth saw the character has the potential for a whole series, and not a separate issue, so the death of the Joker in the first issue was deliberately shown vaguely so that it would be possible to return it again. Bill Finger continued to develop the hero - it is to him that readers owe the fact that the Joker has become the main and main enemy of Batman.
2. Catwoman
First appearance: 1940
Creators: Bob Kane, Bill Finger.
Catwoman appeared in the same issue of the Batman comic as the Joker. The authors of the character are Bill Finger and Bob Kane, and neither the authors nor historians have any disputes about this. Kane decided that the Batman story lacked a character that could appeal to a female audience. Prior to this, since the start of the series about in 1939, no superheroines have appeared on the pages of the comic book. When creating Catwoman, the authors, as in the case of the Joker, inspired movie. Kane developed the image of the heroine, based on the appearance and roles of Hollywood stars of the 1930s - Jean Harlow and Hedy Lamarr. As planned, an elusive, independent and strong woman was supposed to dilute the boring male world of Batman, busy only with the capture of street thieves and gangsters, and add romantic tension to it. In this way, Catwoman resembles the type of fatal beauties from American noir films. At the same time, although in the first issue the heroine acts as an antagonist, she was not conceived as a villain. From the very beginning, the authors assumed that she could be both an ally and an enemy of Batman. Therefore, by the way, in the comics, she never killed her enemies.
The image of a cat for the first DC superheroine was chosen by Kane not only because, in his opinion, cats are easier. associated with women, but also due to the fact that the main character of the series was a man in a flying suit mice. Therefore, their relationship describe like an eternal game of cat and mouse.
In the first issue, the heroine appeared with the pseudonym "Cat". Her image then was far from the canonical image of a woman in a tight black suit. At first, she wore a green tunic and did not wear a mask. Although she didn't need it. According to the plot of the issue, the Cat hacked into jewelry stores, disguised as an elderly woman. The green color stuck to it until the late 1960s, then purple, gray and brown options appeared. Black only became the character's permanent color in the 1990s, following the success of Tim Burton's Batman movie and Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman.
3. Namor
First appearance: 1939
Creator: Bill Everett.
In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Namor appeared only in 2023 in the film Black Panther 2: Wakanda Forever, but historically this one of the first superheroes of the publishing house, created long before Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four and Iron person.
The character was created by artist and screenwriter Bill Everett. In the late 1930s, he worked for Funnies, Inc. and worked on the concept of the weekly edition of Motion Picture Funnies Weekly - his planned distribute free of charge in cinemas as promotional materials for future releases. Everett knew that his colleague Carl Burgos was developing the character of the Human Torch (not to be confused with the Human Torch from the Fantastic Four). The artist wanted to play on the opposition themes of fire and water, and he came up with Namor, the king of the oceans and seas. Also as inspiration for the creation of a harsh demigod who punishes people for their crimes against nature and instills panic in sailors, Everett calls South Sea Tales by Jack London and The Old Mariner's Poem by Samuel Coleridge.
The reference for the appearance of the hero was the statue "Flying Mercury" by the Italian sculptor of the 16th century Giambologna. In addition, in the image of Namor, it is easy to notice parallels with Superman: both characters are aliens with unlimited power in the human world. Only unlike the unshakable and sparkling DC hero, Namor acts like an anti-hero - that is, he does bad things, guided by his morals and the idea of \u200b\u200bjustice.
The idea of a Motion Picture Funnies Weekly promo didn't take off, and the few prints of Namor that were printed are now considered collector's items. Then the Funnies, Inc. moved to the publishing house Timely, the predecessor of "Marvel", and already with its help it was possible to print a comic book about the hero. And the Human Torch, originally conceived as a villain, eventually turned to the side of good and became Namor's constant rival throughout the 1940s.
4. Hulk
First appearance: 1962
Creators: Stan Lee, Jack Kirby.
The Hulk appeared in 1962 directly in the Incredible Hulk solo comic. The authors of the hero are Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. In the character of a weak scientist who uncontrollably reincarnates into a furious giant, many cultural references are easily guessed, first of all, the hero of the story “Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”. This influence recognize and creators, but add an important detail. Stan Lee was inspired to create a similar thug character by the popularity of another similar hero, the Thing from the Fantastic Four. This series was released a year earlier and became a huge commercial success. Other inspirations include Quasimodo and the monster from Frankenstein.
Stan Lee
Screenwriter.
I understood that people are more likely to give preference to someone who is far from perfect. I'm sure you remember Quasimodo, but is it easy for you to name someone beautiful and heroic from Notre Dame Cathedral? And then there's Frankenstein's monster. Nobody can convince me that he was a bad guy. […] I thought I might as well borrow Dr. Jekyll's story. Our hero also constantly changed his ordinary personality to a superhuman alter ego and vice versa.
The short, biting name, beginning with the Latin H, is inspired by the 1930s comic book The Heap, whose main character was a huge green monster from the swamp. However, the Hulk did not immediately acquire its canonical color. Initially, Stan Lee wanted him to be gray: so the new hero would look more like a monster from Frankenstein. But printing houses in the early 1960s could not accurately convey gray, and in different issues of the first issue its color varied from greenish to blue. As a result, the Hulk was repainted for the second issue. But in all later retellings of the history of his origin, it was emphasized that in the first days after the mutation, the hero was gray.
5. Nadia Van Dyne
First appearance: 2016
Creators: Mark Waid, Alan Davis.
It may seem that all comic book characters were invented half a century ago, and now publishing houses are only doing what they are rethinking old concepts. But new characters are still appearing. Nadia Van Dyne is an Ant-Man character who debuted in comics in 2016. In the story, she is the daughter of Hank Pym (the original Ant-Man) and his first wife Maria. Nadia did not know her parents, because immediately after her birth she was kidnapped and brought up in the "Red Room" - the same organization from the USSR that trained international spies (for example, the Black Widow grew up there). But Nadia managed to escape, find her stepmother Janet Van Dyne (the original Wasp from The Avengers) and learn about her own past.
Nadia Van Dyne is part of a generation of teenage superheroes that became popular in the 2000s. These include Ms. Marvel, as well as other newcomers of the decade: Ironheart (the girl prodigy who replaced Iron Man), Miles Morales (the new Spider-Man) and Brown (a new incarnation of the Hulk). Nadia Van Dyne thus became a young version of the superheroes with the powers of Wasp and Ant-Man. But the similarities don't end with skill alone. The authors of the character were inspired by the actress Evangeline Lilly, who played the Wasp in the movie Ant-Man. Her character in the film is called Hope Van Dyne. The authors chose the Slavic version of the name Hope and named the new heroine Nadezhda. And Nadia in the comics has a portrait resemblance to the actress.
Nadia is not the only superheroine of Russian origin. As a rule, such characters were villains, but there are exceptions, such as Colossus or Black Widow. Most of them were created during the Cold War, so today they can be caught in stereotypes. But superheroes are also invented in Russia. And soon new ones may be added to the already known Major Grom. Yes, in Moscow passed the second creative hackathon, the participants of which had to come up with domestic superheroes. The works were evaluated by members of the Russian Guild of Film Producers, so, perhaps, we will soon see original superhero projects on the screens of cinemas.
6. Storm
First appearance: 1975
Creator: David Cockrum.
Storm is one of Marvel's most famous female characters and the first black superheroine in history. She made her debut as part of the revamped X-Men team in 1975. The original line-up, introduced in 1963, did not include many of the iconic representatives of this universe, such as Wolverine or Rogue. According to the plot of the New X-Men series, the old team ended up on a living island, which began to exterminate mutants. Not everyone survived such an adventure, but the creators were counting on this: in this way they wanted to replace unpopular characters with new ones.
In this series, the X-Men have become an international team solving issues on a planetary scale. Before that, the heroes were only Americans. The new concept required representatives of other races and nationalities. So, Colossus (from Russia), Night Jumper (from Germany), Petrel (a representative of the indigenous peoples of North America) and Storm (originally from Kenya) debuted in this series. Artist Dave Cockrum speaksthat the publisher planned to enter international markets and therefore commissioned a story about an international team of heroes.
A black character was originally planned for the new concept, but Storm didn't show up right away. Dave Cockrum first invented the heroine of the Black Cat (not to be confused with the Black Cat from the Spider-Man comics). She was wearing a Storm costume without a cape, a collar with a bell, and a hairstyle with buns on her head like cat ears. She could transform into a humanoid cat. But during the preparation of the series, there was a big break, during which comics about Tigra, a woman with similar abilities, became popular with Marvel. Kokrum decided not to repeat himself and re-invented the heroine, adding canonical white hair and a cloak.
They decided to take new abilities from another character. The second artist in the series, Roy Thomas, developed the superhero Typhoon, who can control the weather. He offered to give his concept to Storm. So there was a final image of the heroine. Typhoon ended up not appearing in any form, because the creators decided that there were already enough men in the team.