Superheroes in fantasy

[Kenneth Logan Jr.]

Not modern fantasy but medieval type setting. So far their have been Marvel 1602 and He-man and Masters of the Universe.

The idea is warriors in any type of armor with powers other than magic with secret identities in a fantasy setting doing typical superhero deeds. Some would wear masks or helmets to hide their true identities for whatever reasons.

Has anyone try this idea? Its been racking my brain lately. It would be fun to have Avengers/JLA and Batman villains (cut out the sci-fi elements) in a fantasy world. Right now I have a character who is a parody of Conan the Barbarian and Captain America with a streak of Frank Miller's Batman and have an accent like Andy Griffith. Just curious if anybody thought of doing something like this, and if so how do you do it?

 

[BWFoster78]

To an extent, isn't any character who has extraordinary abilities, at heart, a superhero?

 

[Shockley]

DC's Silent Knight is the best example.

He has a secret identity (and doesn't speak while in costume to avoid recognition) and does all the traditional super heroic things. Also, it's Hawkman.

 

[Kenneth Logan Jr.]

You know I almost questioned that about Harry Potter and how he is essentially across between Superman and Spiderman.

 

[Shockley]

I would strongly disagree with that assessment of Harry Potter.

 

[Kenneth Logan Jr.]

@ Shockley

I would disagree after reading this article (which is btw is riddled with spelling and grammar errors but this person make a solid comparison.)
hp_essays: Superman vs. Harry Potter

Also look at the fact that Harry senses Voldemort the way Peter's spidey senses tingles when things go wrong.

 

[Shockley]

I'll take the points one-by-one:

In appearance Harry Potter looks essentially like Clark Kent; except with green eyes and wind swept hair..."My brother from another mother" as they say.

Except that Clark Kent is also massive. He's muscular. Oh, and Harry Potter has a scar. So it seems to me that the only things they actually have in common (physically) is that they're both white males (except Superman isn't white, being an alien). The gender thing is even in contention, based on comments in one of the more recent Superman arcs, 'Walk.'

The mess about not knowing who Superman is

Superman has seventy years of fictional history. We know who he was attracted to in high school (Lana Lang) and who his best friend was (Lex Luthor). We know who his current best friend is (Jimmy Olsen). We have explicit depictions of every woman he has ever been attracted to, culminating in his wife (Lois Lane). We know how he spent his childhood (watching other kids playing sports, adventuring in the 31st century) and we know about his non-superhero adventures post-college.

I hate the word ignorance more than any other word, since it's something that's thrown around casually - but if anyone maintains that Harry Potter winning the Tri-Wizard Cup (as this dude does) makes him a more nuanced and deeper character than Clark Kent, well, he's ignorant of Superman and his long history.

This is an area where Superman comes up short imho.His power and near-invulnerability is no excuse for the lack of emotional, psychological and or intellectual complexity that is lacking in his tales but so present in the Harry Potter Series.

Superman's power is nowhere near max. He's been defeated several times (many times) and it's a cheap cop out. I mean, this guy claims to have read Death of Superman, and I think it's important to remember than important part of that arc (the naming part) was Superman being beaten to death in panel.

As to the emotional power of Superman's villains, that depends on what you consider emotional depth. Luthor's ultimate motivations (that without Superman, he would be the supreme being on Earth) are entirely believable. He has his own complex background, childhood, etc. and that's just one villain. Zod is incredibly complex, as are some villains as far down the totem pole as the Parasite or Magog.

Anyway, I did finish the article but I'm going to stop breaking this down right now because this is an awful article with awful points. Also, it doesn't compare the characters of Superman and Harry Potter - it's a hit article in Harry Potter's favor. Not what you promised at all. And gods, the writing. The writing.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Has anyone try this idea?

I'm doing that in a story I'm working on offline.

I'm writing one of my heavily cliched superhero characters, The Caped Avenger, as a knight in shining armor. He's one of the top men in a group called the Champions of Justice. See the "Quest of the Week" in the challenge forums. He'll show up this week along with his legendary sidekick, Errand-boy.

Basically, I'm reusing characters from a superhero-themed novel because I like medieval fantasy, but I also like super-strong heroic types walking through brick walls. It's just a fun way to enter a room.

 

[Kenneth Logan Jr.]

Well you guess read more Superman comics than I do...
Fair enough its not the best thing I've read but I will admit there is kind of a connection and I know Entertainment Weekly made a kind of comparison to Spiderman and also there is a book called Reading Harry Potter where it said and I quote references to "contemporary popular culture narratives like Superman and Spiderman comic books, with the mild mannered "nerd" saving the day."

I think there is a connection between them even if it is very faint.

 

[Shockley]

Well, I wouldn't consider Clark Kent a nerd. He's a big ol' farm boy.

They're all protagonists. That's how you do the vast majority of protagonists.

 

[Penpilot]

Would this count? Robin hood, aka Robin of Locksley, secret hideout in Sherwood forest. Sidekicks, Will Scarlet, Little John, Friar Tuck, all likely aliases. ;D Robin hood the Batman of the middle ages ... err... unless Batman travels to the middle ages... well then...

Also see Zorro and The Scarlett Pimpernel. The Scarlet Pimpernel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Pimpernel even has a League to help him.

 

[Kenneth Logan Jr.]

That would count.

 

[Devor]

Would this count? Robin hood, aka Robin of Locksley, secret hideout in Sherwood forest. Sidekicks, Will Scarlet, Little John, Friar Tuck, all likely aliases. ;D Robin hood the Batman of the middle ages ... err... unless Batman travels to the middle ages... well then...

Also see Zorro and The Scarlett Pimpernel. The Scarlet Pimpernel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Pimpernel even has a League to help him.

I was thinking Zorro, too. He is very much the super hero image, right down to the disguise and theatrics. Robin Hood is bland by comparison, and his real name is well-known, although I think a few versions involve someone else pretending to be Robin of Locksley.

If the main features of a super hero are a super-charged fighting style and a secret identity, well, there's plenty of options for the first, but fewer for the second. A secret identity wouldn't mean much pre-camera and pre-printing press unless you were famous.

 

[Kenneth Logan Jr.]

True with the second part, although Zorro and Pimpernel kept their identities hid in a non pre-camera world, even though the press would've eaten them up.