I hardly see any similarities between Superman and Sentry.
Robert is a broken man, given godlike power and a human psyche to cope with it.
As you know he has his other half the Void. He deals with Agoraphobia and Schizophrenia and Generalised Anxiety Disorder daily, which is why a lot of the time he removes himself from battle (Civil War comes to mind). I don't recall Superman having to daily deal with a mental illness or mentally combat a dark half. I'm obviously willing to grant you some characters are copies of Supes, but not in some cases are characters like Sentry copies. They are completely different.
I could say a lot more but I don't think it's right at all to suggest Sentry is a rip off. Him and Superman are infinitely different.
I agree with you on Hyperion and Glads. Hyperion is pretty much a direct pastiche of Superman. Glads also shows a very strong resemblance. But not Sentry. They are miles apart. If you were to put Gladiator and Hyperion next to Superman and explain their stories and their powers you would say yeah these are at least intentional pastiches or copies.
But if you put Superman and Sentry next to each other and told their stories and powers it's completely different. If anything in a crossover I see Superman as someone who helps Sentry in bad times. He has that typical keep your chin up attitude. Him and Sentry would be awesome together.
__________________
Last edited by One_Angry_Scot on Nov 14th, 2014 at 05:33 PM
You make a great point. I guess Sentry is the least like Superman compared to the other two. But what the hell is Marvels problem trying to copy Superman, he can't be copied.
I don't see why they do this. No one runs to the stores to read the latest Hyperion comic, or dresses up as Gladiator for Halloween, or Hyp for that matter.
Marvel has Hulk, Thor and Ironman.
DC has Superman and Batman and Flash.
They are household names.
Hyperion will never be Superman and it only makes marvel look bad.
Before I reply I think I need to elaborate on "Robert is a broken man given godlike power and a human psyche to cope with it".
Now I wont start banging on about who beats who here as that isn't the place so don't take this next part as me meaning so.
Sentry is given power but a human psyche. So when he has his super hearing he can hear the screams of dying children in Africa. He is given the mental frailties.
But Superman is given power but has a (for lack of a better phrase) a "comic character psyche". In which he is blessed with this power but he can merrily travel with his superhearing and not care about somebody dying in a war torn African country.
I think perhaps in some cases it may be to attract people to a character. I mean think about it (don't mean that rudely). Superman was technically the first most popular superhero ever to exist. He was the personification of a whole genre. So perhaps some of it involves Marvel thinking hey we need to cash in on this. More so with Hyperion I think.
I think with that they just aren't symbolic. Superman is effectively a world wide brand. If you travelled to say Malaysia wearing a Superman shirt they would know who or what the shirt signified. But they would have no clue of what DC Comics is.
Gladiator just didn't have that much exposure. Plus I don't think he particularly symbolizes anything as much as Superman did on the whole.
Philip Wylie's novel Gladiator (1930) and Doc Savage (1933) both predated and were inspirations (rip off material) for Superman.
Not sure what inspired this thread, but, as someone who has no problem with you, i'd just like to say, STFU and stop trolling.
Basically. He started the modern super hero boom so of course is copied a lot but he too was influenced by others before and not the first hero. But it doesn't make him any less iconic.
People who do stuff like this about how others copy him aren't doing him any favors by focusing on his status as first, instead of the actual quality of the character.
Superman is a superhero that appears in comic books published by DC Comics, and is considered an American cultural icon.[1][2][3][4] The Superman character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, high school students living in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1933; the character was sold to Detective Comics, Inc. (later DC Comics) in 1938. wikipedia.
The American way bit may be what he said. But the superman's soul, the version that inspires people and who they think of when they think of a great hero.
Isn't bound by the american way. He is a symbol of the human spirit. And yeah the american creators and DC likely thought america was the best and the greatest hero should be about america. The real superman, the soul that DC likes to talk about being this great thing is the good inside of humanity as a whole and not about what is really the american way or not. He does what's right regardless of politics, nation, or allegiance.
__________________
Props to Scythe for the sig
Last edited by Lek Kuen on Nov 15th, 2014 at 06:00 AM