superhero (fictional character)

Superman was the first widely hailed superhero, appearing in Action Comics #1 in June 1938, and he was the prototype for the many costumed superheroes that followed. Superheroes and comic books—like the mediums of radio, film, and television that would so affect their history—largely developed in the United States through American popular culture and then spread to the world, and the history of their advancement and commercial success have been defined by several “ages”: the Golden Age (1938–54), the Silver Age (1956–69), the Bronze Age (1970–80), the Late Bronze Age (1980–84), and the Modern Age (1985–present).