
Marvel vs. DC: Superman nominated as 'Ohio's official superhero,' snubs Incredible Hulk's Dayton connections
Reps. Adam Mathews, R-Lebanon, and Terrence Upchurch, D-Cleveland, are cosponsors of the bill, which would designate Superman as the "official superhero of the state," beginning on April 18, 2033, a year before Superman enters the public domain.
"Superman is the first and greatest of superheroes, even though personally I do prefer Batman," said Mathews. "But Superman was created in Cleveland and this summer is a great time to highlight this fact, because the newest movie was filmed primarily in Cleveland and Columbus, highlighting the art deco architecture that's become just as much a character of the DC Universe as Green Arrow, Green Lantern or the others."
Ohio isn't the only state to memorialize Superman in some fashion. Kansas — the home of the fictional Smallville, where Clark Kent was raised — inducted Superman into its state Hall of Fame in 2013. Additionally, Metropolis, Illinois, styled as "Super City," hosts the annual Superman Celebration each June.
Superman first appeared on the page of Action Comics #1, on April 18, 1938. The character was originally created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, both of whom were born in Cleveland to immigrant Jewish parents.
Siegel and Shuster's origins were a major influence on the earliest portrayals of Superman, as were the political and economic conditions of the time, said Jared Whittaker, manager of Super-Fly Comics and Games in Yellow Springs. Superman's earliest adversaries included greedy mine owners, crooked politicians, and labor racketeers. Lex Luthor's first appearance in the comics in 1940 casts him as a war profiteer who wishes to take over the world once Earth's nations have been weakened in conflict.
" At the time, you had a very depressed economic state," Whittaker said. "In the very first (issues), Superman is a hero for low-income people. Some of that includes people who are holding common people down."
As the world entered World War II, Spiegel and Shuster shifted to portraying Superman as a character that stood up for the defenseless, and even on occasion to Hitler himself, according to the Ohio History Connection.
"World War II had a big part in creating fictionalized battles, where the superheroes could go and fight," said Peter Bell, owner of Bell Book and Comic in Dayton. "Captain America was Marvel's symbol of freedom from the Nazis, and so Superman, even though he was not 'American,' but grew up in the US, and he was raised as a US person ... it made sense that Superman was their flagship at the time."
Hulk origin story in Dayton
Superman, however, isn't the only superhero with connections to Ohio. Bruce Banner, the alter ego of Marvel's The Incredible Hulk, was born in Dayton.
Given the choice, Bell said, he would have voted for the Hulk as Ohio's superhero, but "I'm a little biased towards my city," he said.
"When Marvel got started, Stan Lee and everybody wrote into our real world," said Bell. "Spider Man's from Queens, Captain America is from New York City too, and they actually used real cities in our country to ground those heroes in our reality. That's one reason why Marvel took off so well, because, 'Oh my gosh, Spider-Man, this is a kid who's just like me.'"
The Incredible Hulk was created by the legendary Marvel writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, and made his first appearance in his namesake comic in 1962. The series ran for only six issues, but the Hulk went on to appear in other comics, and the Incredible Hulk was relaunched in 1968.
Later, in the 80s and 90s, other Marvel writers including Bill Mantlo and Peter David fleshed out Bruce Banner's origins, including establishing his roots as the child of an alcoholic father in Dayton, Ohio.
The Hulk returns to Dayton in later issues of the comics, including one where he attempts to infiltrate a facility at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
As comics matured as a medium, Superman's "truth, justice, and the American way," gave way to darker stories with more complex themes in the broader comic landscape. However, Superman's simplicity makes him the better pick for a symbolic role, said Whittaker.
"Superman, for what this is supposed to represent, I guess it's probably better ... being the first superhero, and kind of being this kind of very revered character versus the Hulk. The Hulk isn't bad, but the whole 'gets mad and breaks stuff' thing doesn't really have a lot of the iconic, relatable feel to it," Whittaker said.
Other superheroes and comic book characters from Ohio include Black Alice, a teenage superhero from Dayton who appears in Gail Simone's Birds of Prey. Additionally, the cast of Scooby Doo is said to be from the fictional town of Coolsville, Ohio, and secondary character Tommy Glass — appearing in Scott Snyder and Rafael Albuquerque's American Vampire — is from Dayton.
"We are excited that Ohio is being shown off. As Superman enters the public domain in 2034, Ohio needs to be prepared to highlight to the whole world that, while the Cleveland native sons of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster have said he was born in Smallville, Kansas, Superman is from Ohio and he's ours," Mathews said.
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I have no reason or desire to watch First Steps again. It's not funny enough or exciting enough or unique enough or well-written enough to watch more than once. I would also not recommend you see this in theaters, simply because even while it looks good, there is very little that warrants a trip to the big screen. Definitely give it a watch when it lands on Disney+ because it's an okay superhero movie with a cool aesthetic and decent performances from its leads. But you're not missing anything by waiting a couple months. Fantastic Four: First Steps may be one of the best MCU films we've seen over the past few years, but this says more about the low bar Marvel and Disney have set than it does about the quality of this movie. It's possible I'm suffering from superhero fatigue, but I'd like to offer an alternative diagnosis: I'm suffering from superhero formula fatigue. These movies aren't doing enough to surprise and delight us anymore. They're falling back on cheap tricks. Read my review of Superman right here. James Gunn's film and Fantastic Four: First Steps have a very similar vibe, all feel-good 'let's come together to stop the bad guys' stuff but in the most generic, puerile way possible. It makes whatever our superheroes do feel much less super when the public just sort of echoes whatever the writers want them to about our heroes. Both films are also deeply formulaic and dull. Things happen, our heroes react, a potentially world-ending crisis is easily averted and everything is wrapped up in time for dinner. There is no friction, no tension between characters beyond brief, surface level disagreements. There are no consequences for our heroes' actions. And because there are no consequences, we never get heroes with any real agency. Where are the hard choices or sacrifices they're required to make? Where are the mistakes made that lead to worse outcomes or hard bargains? Things just happen. That's it. That's the script. Things happen, the end. Just enough jokey bits are tossed, like scraps from the dinner table, to distract us from the lousy script, the disappointing villains and the lackluster heroics. But hey, whatever. It's just a comic book movie!