History Main / SuperGods

[[redirect:SuperHeroGods]]

Perhaps it's because of the connection of incredibly attractive and powerful people intervening in our daily lives with saving the world. Perhaps it's because having the godlike serve to protect our lives is the closest we can get to getting the divine to be serve us. Perhaps it's what comes naturally of making a character stronger than the strongest person. Whatever the case, comic book writers (and others) have seen the obvious logic in not just making godlike superheroes, but making ''gods'' superheroes.

[[OlderThanTheyThink The ancient Greek myths]] (as well as those from any number of other ancient cultures) often featured the heroic (by the standards of the time) adventures of various Demi-Gods, usually people with mixed Divine and Mortal parentage since the Gods themselves were usually too busy being complete dicks [[KarmaHoudini and getting away with it]], because, well they are the Gods...

Note: There's a lot of overlap with PhysicalGod, so this trope ''only'' refers to mythological gods or original divinities becoming superheroes.
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!!Examples:

* ''TheMightyThor'' of MarvelComics is one of the first (and more obvious) examples.
** ''TheUltimates'' takes an interesting look at Marvel's Thor, focusing on the fact that anybody who claimed to be a god would immediately be classified as insane. The existence of superpowers only makes it worse, of course, as his powers are not entirely inexplicable.
** As is the ''IncredibleHercules.''
** And Ares, god of war, new member of [[Comicbook/TheAvengers the Avengers]].
** The Egyptian gods appear from time to time as well.
** Snowbird from ''AlphaFlight'' is an Inuit demigoddess. Her family would make occasional appearances in the book, and their enemies, the Great Beasts, were recurring villains.
* The NewGods, though the degree to which most of the New Gods are ''gods'' rather than HumanAliens with superpowers and advanced technology varies a lot.
** JackKirby originally conceived them as new characters to introduce into the Thor mythos--they were literally a ''new'' pantheon for modern times, hence all the technological and modern imagery, rather than ancient chariots and swords. But he jumped ship to DC and took them with him. In that sense, the name "NewGods" is something of an [[TheArtifact Artifact.]]
* The gods of ''[[http://www.pantheaobscura.com/ Panthea Obscura]]'' actually ''set out'' to be superheroes.
* The upcoming Image comic ''God Complex''.
* Inverted in TheSavageDragon: Thor is an villain.
** Thor also appeared in TheElementals. Not too surprising, since all the supers there have magical or mythological origins.
* [[http://superdickery.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=904:45-smash-pages-of-god-hitler-crucified-my-son&catid=35:propaganda-index&Itemid=35 This trope taken to the logical extreme.]]
* Parodied, along with [[TheFundamentalist conservative Christian]] views of God, in ''TomTheDancingBug'''s [[http://www.fecundity.com/pmagnus/godman.html "God Man"]] strips.
* Given this is a Supers Trope, you know there's a ''WhateleyUniverse'' example, and here it is: The New Olympians may or may not be the classical Greek Gods reborn. They certainly think they are, and have appropriate powers.
* The comic series ''{{Supergod}}'' by WarrenEllis revolves around various countries' attempts to create superheroes based on their religion or mythology. The projects have mostly... [[{{Understatement}} not quite]] [[AxCrazy fulfilled]] [[EldritchAbomination their]] [[BewareTheSuperman hopes]].
* The GoldenAge Marvel heroes Mercury and Venus were ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. In modern continuity, Mercury was revealed to be Makkari of the Eternals, and Venus was revealed as merely a Siren.
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<<|{{ComicBookTropes}}|>>

* In FreedomCityPlayByPost, a setting not friendly to gods WalkingTheEarth, there still several divinely empowered heroes. Unusual in that it contains [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Freedom Angel]], a Christian take on the trope.

** JackKirby originally conceived them as new characters to introduce into the Thor mythos--they were literally a ''new'' pantheon for modern times, hence all the technological and modern imagery, rather than ancient chariots and swords. But he jumped ship to DC and took them with him. In that sense, the name NewGods is something of an [[TheArtifact Artifact.]]

** JackKirby originally conceived them as new characters to introduce into the Thor mythos--they were literally a ''new'' pantheon for modern times, hence all the technological and modern imagery, rather than ancient chariots and swords. But he jumped ship to DC and took them with him. In that sense, the name NewGods is something of an [[theArtifact Artifact.]]

* The GoldenAge Marvel / Timely characters Mercury and Venus were ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. In modern continuity, Mercury was revealed to be Makkari of the Eternals, and "Venus" was revealed as merely a Siren.

* The GoldenAge Marvel / Timely characters Mercury and Venus were ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. In modern continuity, Mercury was revealed to be Makkari of TheEternals, and "Venus" was revealed as merely a Siren.

Perhaps it's because of the connection of incredibly attractive and powerful people intervene in our daily lives and save the world. Perhaps it's because having the godlike serve to protect our lives is the closest we can get to get the divine to be serve us. Perhaps it's what comes naturally of making a character stronger than the strongest person. Whatever the case, comic book writers (and others) have seen the obvious logic in not just making godlike superheroes, but making ''gods'' superheroes.

** The Eternals.
*** The Eternals are actually a race of immortals, not true gods, though they ''have'' been mistaken for gods ([[CanonImmigrant and were obviously based on them]].) They even fought the Olympian gods in an issue of Thor!
**** It's interesting to note that in the comic itself, the Gods were based on the Eternals in some cases; they inspired some of the first stories/myths about gods, [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve human belief in those gods then made them physically real]].

* The NewGods.

* The comic series ''Supergod'' by WarrenEllis revolves around various countries' attempts to create superheroes based on their religion or mythology. The projects have mostly... [[{{Understatement}} not quite]] [[AxCrazy fulfilled]] [[EldritchAbomination their]] [[BewareTheSuperman hopes]].
* DC usually shys away from this trope but two examples would be Zauriel, a Jude-Christian angel and The Spectre who depending on which origin you use, might be a fallen angel charged to act as God's vengeance for his own redemption or might be a direct manifestation of God's wrath. Hercules once briefly tried to be [[WonderWoman Wonder Man]] when WonderWoman had been missing for a while, but he's not cut out for it like his Marvel universe counterpart. Otherwise, while multiple pantheons of gods exist in the DC Universe, they don't become superheroes.
** Come to think of it WonderWoman herself has pseudo-divine origins (very much like one of the many typical demi-god Heroes of Greek Myth)
** Well Orion sometimes acts as a superhero. But the degree to which most of the New Gods are ''gods'' rather than HumanAliens with superpowers and advanced technology varies a lot.