Editing Superhero (section)

===1940s===
[[File:AmericasBestComics1001.jpg|thumb|[[America's Best Comics#History|America's Best Comics #7]] October 1943]]

During the 1940s there were many superheroes: [[Flash (Jay Garrick)|The Flash]], [[Green Lantern]] and [[Blue Beetle]] debuted in this era.

Other pioneering superheroines include [[Fantomah]] and The [[Invisible Scarlet O'Neil]]. Fantomah, created by [[Fletcher Hanks]], was an ageless [[ancient Egyptian]] woman in the modern day who could transform into a skull-faced creature with superpowers to fight evil; she debuted in [[Fiction House]]'s ''Jungle Comic'' #2 (Feb. 1940), credited to the pseudonymous "Barclay Flagg".<ref name="toonopedia">{{Cite encyclopedia |last=Markstein |first=Don |encyclopedia=[[Don Markstein's Toonopedia]] |title=The Black Widow |url=http://www.toonopedia.com/blwidow1.htm |access-date=July 26, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240525215953/https://www.webcitation.org/66vunFgcm?url=http://www.toonopedia.com/clvoyant.htm |archive-date=May 25, 2024 |quote=Fantomah was the first female character in comics to use extraordinary powers in combatting evil. [[Woman in Red (comics)|The Woman in Red]] was the first to wear a flashy costume and maintain a dual identity while doing so. On the other hand, [[Black Widow (Marvel Comics)|The Black Widow]] was the first to do both. }}</ref><ref>[http://www.toonopedia.com/fantomah.htm Fantomah, Mystery Woman of the Jungle] at [[Don Markstein's Toonopedia]]. [https://archive.today/20240527053351/https://www.webcitation.org/6VxMoDjpg?url=http://www.toonopedia.com/fantomah.htm Archived] from the original on January 29, 2015.</ref>  A few months later, The Invisible Scarlet O'Neil, a non-costumed character who fought crime and wartime saboteurs using the superpower of [[invisibility]] created by Russell Stamm, would debut in the eponymous [[print syndication|syndicated]] [[newspaper]] [[comic strip]] a few months later on June 3, 1940.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://cartoonician.com/not-seen-but-not-forgotten-the-invisible-scarlet-oneil/ | title=Not Seen but not Forgotten: The Invisible Scarlet O'Neil | work=[[Hogan's Alley (magazine)|Hogan's Alley]] | issue=17 | date=May 11, 2012 | first=Tom | last=Heintjes | archive-date=June 12, 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130612085603/http://cartoonician.com/not-seen-but-not-forgotten-the-invisible-scarlet-oneil/ | url-status=dead | access-date=January 16, 2013 }}</ref>

In 1940,  Maximo the Amazing Superman debut in [[Big Little Book series]], by [[Russell R. Winterbotham]] (text), Henry E. Vallely and Erwin L. Hess (art).<ref>{{Cite book|last=Schelly|first=Bill|date=2013-06-18|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TyurDgAAQBAJ&q=maximo+big+little+book&pg=PA57|title=The Best of Alter Ego Volume 2|publisher=[[TwoMorrows Publishing]]|isbn=978-1-60549-048-9|language=en|access-date=November 21, 2020|archive-date=September 26, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240926162412/https://books.google.com/books?id=TyurDgAAQBAJ&q=maximo+big+little+book&pg=PA57|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Carper|first=Steve|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NXOdDwAAQBAJ&q=maximo&pg=PT259|title=Robots in American Popular Culture|date=2019-06-27|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-1-4766-3505-7|language=en|access-date=November 21, 2020|archive-date=September 26, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240926162852/https://books.google.com/books?id=NXOdDwAAQBAJ&q=maximo&pg=PT259#v=snippet&q=maximo&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:WowComicsNo2.png|thumb|left|upright|[[Mr. Scarlet]], the "Red Raider of Justice", a superhero appearing in ''[[Wow Comics]]'' (1940)]] [[Captain America]] also appeared for the first time in print in December 1940, a year prior to the attack on [[Pearl Harbor]] by the Japanese government, when America was still in [[isolationism]]. Created by [[Joe Simon]] and [[Jack Kirby]], the superhero was the physical embodiment of the American spirit during World War II.

One superpowered character was portrayed as an [[antiheroine]], a rarity for its time: the [[Black Widow (Claire Voyant)|Black Widow]], a costumed emissary of [[Satan]] who killed evildoers in order to send them to [[Hell]]—debuted in ''[[Mystic Comics]]'' #4 (Aug. 1940), from [[Timely Comics]], the 1940s predecessor of [[Marvel Comics]]. Most of the other female costumed crime fighters during this era lacked superpowers. Notable characters include [[Woman in Red (comics)|The Woman in Red]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.toonopedia.com/womanred.htm |title=Don Markstein's Toonopedia: The Woman in Red |publisher=Toonopedia.com |access-date=March 26, 2016 |archive-date=May 27, 2024 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240527130911/https://www.webcitation.org/6bb3771bM?url=http://toonopedia.com/womanred.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.comics.org/details.lasso?id=675 |title=GCD :: Issue :: Thrilling Comics #v1#2 (2) |publisher=Comics.org |date=January 11, 1940 |access-date=March 26, 2016 |archive-date=February 23, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090223121820/http://www.comics.org/details.lasso?id=675 |url-status=live }}</ref> introduced in [[Standard Comics]]' ''Thrilling Comics'' #2 (March 1940); [[Lady Luck (comics)|Lady Luck]], debuting in the Sunday-[[newspaper]] comic-book insert ''[[Spirit (comics character)|The Spirit Section]]'' June 2, 1940; the comedic character [[Red Tornado (Ma Hunkel)|Red Tornado]], debuting in ''[[All-American Comics]]'' #20 (Nov 1940); [[Miss Fury]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.toonopedia.com/missfury.htm |title=Don Markstein's Toonopedia: Miss Fury |publisher=Toonopedia.com |date=April 6, 1941 |access-date=March 26, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240525211336/https://www.webcitation.org/66nTzorDi?url=http://www.toonopedia.com/missfury.htm |archive-date=May 25, 2024 }}</ref> debuting in the eponymous comic strip by female cartoonist [[Tarpé Mills]] on April 6, 1941; the [[Phantom Lady]], introduced in [[Quality Comics]] ''Police Comics'' #1 (Aug. 1941); the [[Black Cat (Harvey Comics)|Black Cat]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.toonopedia.com/blackcat.htm |title=Don Markstein's Toonopedia: The Black Cat |publisher=Toonopedia.com |access-date=March 26, 2016 |archive-date=May 25, 2024 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240525211456/https://www.webcitation.org/66nxomHOg?url=http://www.toonopedia.com/blackcat.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.comics.org/details.lasso?id=1572 |title=GCD :: Issue :: Pocket Comics #1 |publisher=Comics.org |access-date=March 26, 2016 |archive-date=March 1, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090301230257/http://www.comics.org/details.lasso?id=1572 |url-status=live }}</ref> introduced in [[Harvey Comics]]' ''Pocket Comics'' #1 (also Aug. 1941); and the [[Black Canary]], introduced in ''[[Flash Comics]]'' #86 (Aug. 1947) as a supporting character.<ref name=Amas&Nolen-Weathington2010>Jim Amash & Eric Nolen-Weathington, (2010), ''Carmine Infantino: Penciler, Publisher, Provocateur'' p.30-32</ref> The most iconic comic book superheroine, who debuted during the Golden Age, is [[Wonder Woman]].<ref name=WW>{{cite web |author=Curtis M. Wong |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/wonder-woman-gay-wedding_55d3924ce4b0ab468d9ebbb4?section=australia&adsSiteOverride=au |title=Wonder Woman Officiates Her First Gay Wedding |publisher=Huffingtonpost.com |date=August 19, 2015 |access-date=March 27, 2016 |archive-date=November 26, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151126070535/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/wonder-woman-gay-wedding_55d3924ce4b0ab468d9ebbb4?section=australia&adsSiteOverride=au |url-status=live }}</ref> Modeled from the myth of the [[Amazons]] of [[Greek mythology]], she was created by [[psychologist]] [[William Moulton Marston]], with help and inspiration from his wife [[Elizabeth (Sadie) Holloway Marston|Elizabeth]] and their [[polyamory|mutual lover]] Olive Byrne.<ref name=bu>{{cite web|last1=Lamb|first1=Marguerite|title=Who Was Wonder Woman?|url=http://www.bu.edu/alumni/bostonia/2001/fall/wonderwoman/|website=Bostonia|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070119055842/http://www.bu.edu/alumni/bostonia/2001/fall/wonderwoman/|archive-date=January 19, 2007|date=Fall 2001}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Malcolm |first=Andrew H. |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE1DF1539F93BA25751C0A964958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print |title=OUR TOWNS - She's Behind the Match For That Man of Steel - NYTimes.com |newspaper=New York Times |date=February 18, 1992 |access-date=March 26, 2016 |archive-date=February 14, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090214142359/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE1DF1539F93BA25751C0A964958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print |url-status=live }}</ref> Wonder Woman's first appearance was in ''[[All Star Comics]]'' #8 (Dec. 1941), published by [[All-American Publications]], one of two companies that would merge to form [[DC Comics]] in 1944.

[[Pérák, the Spring Man of Prague|Pérák]] was an [[urban legend]] originating from the city of [[Prague]] during the [[German occupation of Czechoslovakia]] in the midst of [[World War II]].  In the decades following the war, Pérák has also been portrayed as the only [[Czech Republic|Czech]] superhero in film and comics.