麻豆约拍

Who was the original superhero? Was it Superman? Spiderman? Or perhaps it was Wonder Woman who weighed in first? Think again. Thousands of years ago the Ancient Greeks, Romans, and Norse were already creating their own heroes with superhuman powers. In fact, many of our modern-day superheroes draw on the characteristics and skills of these kick-ass classical characters. Some even share the same name…

Here are eight ancient mythological superheroes who show Marvel and DC how it’s done.

Every superhero has to have his or her weakness – otherwise where’s the jeopardy? Superman’s is Kryptonite, for Wolverine it’s the Murasama Blade, and if the original Wonder Woman has her bracelets tied together by a man, she loses all of her superpowers.

Achilles was the hero of the Trojan War and the greatest of all the Greek warriors but he too had a simple weakness. Yes, you’ve guessed it, his heel.

When Achilles was a baby, a prophecy told that he would die young. Understandably anxious, his mother Thetis dipped him in the River Styx, which was thought to offer powers of invulnerability. But because she held him by the heel, this part of his body remained dry – a flaw in her plan.

In later iterations of the Achilles legend (although not in the Iliad, the original telling of his story) he is then killed by an arrow to the heel. The term “Achilles' heel” has come to mean a point of weakness, in spite of overall strength.

Odysseus is the legendary Greek king of Ithaca, best known as the eponymous hero of the Odyssey, which tells the story of his eventful decade-long journey home from the Trojan War. (Now that’s a commute and a half.)

Odysseus faces many challenges and hurdles along the way, but much like Batman, he outsmarts his adversaries using his wit, intellectual brilliance and guile.

When the king is captured by the Cyclops Polyphemus, the one-eyed giant gobbles up a number of his men.

But before any of these characters were a twinkle in a comic book creator’s eye, there was Circe – the most famous goddess of sorcery in Greek mythology. Circe lived on a mythical island with numerous nymph companions to keep her company. She was skilled in the magic of transmutation and illusion and through her vast knowledge of potions and herbs – and use of a magic staff – she would transform her foes, or in fact anyone she took a dislike to, into animals. When Odysseus visited, she didn’t think twice about transforming his men into pigs.

As the Invisible Woman from The Fantastic Four demonstrates, invisibility is another core superhero skill. One that the demi-god Perseus used to outwit an infamous beast from Greek mythology…

Perseus’s mother’s suitor was trying to disgrace and banish her overly-protective son by demanding the impossible: he asked that Perseus bring him the head of Medusa, a Gorgon whose gaze turned people to stone. Perseus, however, didn’t baulk at the challenge. He got himself an adamantine sword and a Cap of Invisibility (also known as the Helm of Hades) that turned anyone who wore it invisible, and approached the sleeping Medusa in her cave.

By only viewing Medusa through the reflection in his shield he managed to approach her safely and cut off her head. And with the helm of darkness to make him invisible, he escaped the two Gorgons hot on his tail.

These strong, warrior-like women are the inspiration behind the DC Comics’ hero of page and screen, Wonder Woman. Originally, her origin story was that she was sculpted from clay by her mother Queen Hippolyta and blessed with gifts of power and skill from the Greek gods.

In more recent iterations DC have changed her backstory so that Zeus is her father and not only does she come from a line of kick-ass Amazon women – she’s also a demi-god.