this post was submitted on 31 Oct 2025
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What is the real world history of Super Man? Why not like Awesome Man or something similar? What was the process to come up with a Superhero and all of its lore? (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 month ago by Patnou@lemmy.world to c/askhistorians@lemmy.world
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I highly doubt someone woke up and completely came up with Superman and the history and such.

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[–] merde@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

übermensch

did you check the Wikipedia page on Superman about the influences?

The word "superman" was commonly used in the 1920s and 1930s to describe men of great ability, most often athletes and politicians. It occasionally appeared in pulp fiction stories as well, such as "The Superman of Dr. Jukes". It is unclear whether Siegel and Shuster were influenced by Friedrich Nietzsche's concept of the Übermensch; they never acknowledged as much.