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Jason and the Argonauts = Superhero Teams

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srebak Since: Feb, 2011
#1: Jan 17th 2014 at 4:35:15 PM

I once heard somewhere that the Heroes in Greek Mythology were the original source material for modern day superheroes. If that's true than would it be safe to say that the idea for Superhero teams (The Justice League, the Avengers, the Teen Titans) owes its existence to the myth of Jason and the Argonauts?

IndirectActiveTransport Since: Nov, 2010
#2: Jan 17th 2014 at 6:24:27 PM

Well that all depends. Marvel's premier teams, back in the day, were the Fantastic Four and the X-men, which, while superhero teams, are not like the Argonauts at all.

The Avengers/Justice League/Society/Defends sure, but only in the sense they gathered together a bunch of previously known characters. Jason is not very heroic, even by ancient Greek standards, as Medea did most of his work for him and he did not stay with the Argonauts for too long.

C0mraid from Here and there Since: Aug, 2010
#3: Jan 17th 2014 at 6:41:32 PM

Not really. For the most part superheroes weren't that directly inspired by mythology. Superhero teams were just the obvious idea of putting different superheroes in the same book and having them team up. The Fantastic Four is the earliest team I can think of that is both obviously superheroic and originally created as a unit, they were a response to the Justice League.

Am I a good man or a bad man?
shastab24 Since: Dec, 2010
#4: Jan 18th 2014 at 7:50:02 PM

I'd say there's a correlative, but not a causation. The Argonauts were a dream team, as it was. Hercules was even thrown in there, despite not having any opening in his myth story for him to go on such an adventure.

Still, superhero teams were the result of escalation for sales. One superhero sold well. Awesome! Timely decides two meeting each other will sell better. Even more awesome! DC thinks a team of established heroes will sell even better than that. Amazingly awesome!

Of course, that logic led to the tiring event comics every year, which severely diminishes that awesome factor.

Tanrage Since: Jul, 2010
#5: Jan 20th 2014 at 1:18:57 AM

Apropos of nothing, there's a DC character named the Olympian who possesses the Golden Fleece and through it has all the powers of the Argonauts.

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