Before WWII, the first major comic book superhero was Superman. Many of his first storylines were about being a social justice warrior, saving a person from a burning building or stopping a group of thugs trying to rob someone. These were all in response to the social insecurity of people from the Great Depression. However, after the involvement of the US and WWII, a new character Wonder Woman began to address different issues. Originating from an island of all women, Wonder Woman was made to inspire peace in men's hearts during the violent battles of WWII. One famous superhero coming from Marvel was Captain America, and on his first cover shows him punching Adolf Hitler across the face. Captain America was supposed to inspire patriotism and get the country motivated for war.
After WWII, as we all know, came the Cold War. This time period fostered many superheroes that were either scientists or military personnel. This theme reflected America's goal to have weapon superiority over the Soviet Union, specifically the nuclear bomb. After the launch of Sputnik in 1957, much of the focus for the US had been to narrow the missile gap, which didn't actually exist. Some of these characters are Barry Allen, a scientist transformed into the Flash from an accident, and Hal Jordan, a test pilot for different military planes and jets eventually becoming the Green Lantern. The Fantastic Four also had relations with the Cold War, getting their powers from cosmic rays emitted from a test rocket. Many more characters would see their beginnings during the Cold War, including Bruce Banner, Tony Stark, and Soviet Spy Natasha Romanov.
In later years of the United States, there would be many more issues that would give inspiration to comic book superheroes, like Black Panther and the X-Men. Likewise, it is cool to see how the history of this country has influenced the characters we see on the big screen that we know and love today.
Sources:
https://www.avclub.com/how-the-cold-war-saved-marvel-and-birthed-a-generation-1798246215
I remember this stuff from when I was a kid, big fan when I was little, never knew that some of this stuff was influenced originally from this source material.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was really interesting to see how events during history ended up becoming inspiration for many comic books. I also think it's interesting how some heroes were used as propaganda for soldiers, like Captain America during WW2. While we see heroes today as just characters for entertainment, they were probably seen as something much more when they were first created.
ReplyDeleteI was really surprised how much current events influenced the goals of the comic book heroes and what their origin stories were.
ReplyDelete