Modern Folk Heroes
3 years ago
Having recently finished reading American Gods, and faced with Jared's newfound fascination with superheroes, I've ended up doing some thinking about the role of superheroes in our culture, and the degree to which themes are shared between historical folk heroes and modern superheroes is actually enough that there's really no point in making a distinction:
| Superhuman abilities | Secret identity | Secret haven | Arch enemy | Trickster | |
| Spider-Man | Strong, fast, agile, sticky. | Peter Parker | Aunt May's house | Lots of 'em. | Yes, and a smartass while he's at it. |
| Superman | Umm, yeah. | Clark Kent | Fortress of Solitude | Lex Luthor | Only with Mr. Mxyzptlk |
| Batman | Interestingly, only knowledge and discipline. | Bruce Wayne | Batcave | The Joker | When grossly outclassed, yes. |
| Sun Wukong | Immortal shape changer and master martial artist. | A monkey | Monkey cave behind the waterfall | Lots of 'em. | Absolutely. |
| Robin Hood | Incredible accuracy | Robin of Locksley | Sherwood Forest | Sheriff or Nottingham | Yes... disguises and all. |
| John Henry | Incredible strength | There were lots of John Henrys at the time... | The grave | A steam hammer | No... conspicuous in that used no tricks at all. |
- by jturner
- in News
Josh @ December 13, 2010 12:34 AM -- Fair enough... and the folks at both Marvel and DC go so far as to import some characters completely. Consider Hercules, Thor, Odin, Loki, etc.