>>508975365
A lot of people (and directors) draw parallels between Superman and Jesus, but I'm going to argue that the origin of Superman is actually the Golem of Jewish folklore.

For those who are unfamiliar, according to Jewish traditional stories, the Golem was a man-shaped creature made of sculpted clay brought to life by a rabbi to be the protector of the Jewish people. It was thought to be super-strong and nigh-invulnerable. Here's where things get interesting. Part of the process of bringing it to life involved inscribing the Hebrew word for TRUTH on its forehead. Sound familiar? "Truth, justice, and the American way!"

Siegel and Shuster, the two men who created Superman, were Jewish. The original Superman did not fly, did not have heat vision or super-speed; his sole powers were super-strength and nigh-invulnerability. But beyond this, the very first issue of Action Comics, the first appearance of Superman, has him smashing a car over his head. It's become so iconic that people don't really notice how unusual this is. It's not Superman beating up a bad guy or defeating some villain, it's Superman destroying a car for seemingly no reason. It's important to note that the car had just become the most visible and important symbol of factory industrialization -- and the government which most embodied full-throated support of industrialization in 1938, when Superman first made an appearance, was Nazi Germany.

I believe Siegel and Shuster invented Superman based on the legend of the Golem, and that they did so as a symbol

This post got 1100 upvotes btw.