This week's assignment was the presence of classical mythology in modern-day superheros. Since no one series is entirely based off of a single myth, I am going to bounce around from hero to hero. Guess I will start obvious and go obscure (yay deductive reasoning! or pure laziness)
Superman
His parallel to Hercules is a given; both heroes possess incredible strength and not to mention good looks. Hailing from the planet Krypton, Superman has no living family aside from his adoptive parents on Earth. Hercules has an equally strange upbringing. He is the son of Zeus and one of Zeus' many mistresses--Hera wanted nothing to do with him. Zeus was disappointed that his son was not immortal, so while Hera was sleeping he placed Hercules at her breast. After drinking her divine breast milk, Hercules became immortal. Just to settle a common misconception, Superman is not immortal. He was in fact killed in a 1993 issue. Probably noticing their grave mistake, the editors brought him back, ignoring his death. Nonetheless he died. Superman's well-known weakness is Kryptonite, an element from his own planet. This could be equated to Achilles' Heel (whoa whoa blog name!). In this way, Superman is probably a mix between Achilles and Hercules, as Hercules has no weakness aside from Hera's revenge and his more than numerous relations with women. Many women.
Superman has developed drastically since his inception in the 30s. Originally he was prone to cold-blooded violence, but a change in social attitude prompted the editors to change him into a virtuous idol. Concerning Superman's character Batman claims, "In many ways Clark is the most human of us all. Then he shoots fire from the skies, and it is difficult not to think of him as a god. And how fortunate are we all that it doesn't occur to him."
Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman is the feminine version of Superman. She has super strength, speed, agility, and power of flight (what a sex symbol!). Her character is an Amazon, reigning from group of warrior women (not to be confused with Minyans, a group of ugly women who killed all of their husbands). Funny enough, one of the Twelve Labors of Hercules was to capture the girdle of the Amazon queen Hippolyte (just another one of those Greek innuendos -ahem- I mean parallels) Fun fact: Wonder Woman is fluent in every language, yes even dog and alien. Aphrodite created her as the most powerful of Amazons and said to be superior to men.She is "beautiful as Aphrodite, wise as a Athena, swifter than Mercury, and stronger than Hercules." Damn.
Batman
Now for the obscure. Frank Miller, a cartoonist artist, remarks that Batman is a "dionysian figure, a force for anarchy that imposes individual order." So let's evaluate. Dionysus was the god of harvest and worship, a general bringing joy through wine and ecstasy. He could communicate with the dead, and he practiced super-secret-eyes-wide-shut rites. His nature is that of androgyny, depicted womanly as well as manly and always sporting fox skin, representing rebirth. His main goal was to dispense of care and worry, in a way like Batman. Batman was also super secretive-ish. Dionysus is also referred to as the god of epiphany, or "the god that comes." Which reminds me of the Bat signal. Heh.
Dionysus was extremely attractive--people would stop and stare, stunned by his prince-like qualities. Where am I going with this? Well...let's be blunt here, what would you say is the relationship between Batman and Robin? Now consider Dionysus. Yes this is obscure, but in this way I like to think I have found a parallel.
On that note, many thanks to Adam West.
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