Superhero (nonfiction)

Superman is a well-known superhero. Painting by Alex Ross.

In modern popular fiction, a superhero (super-hero, super hero) is a type of heroic character who possesses extraordinary talents, supernatural phenomena, or superhuman powers and who is dedicated to a moral goal or protecting the public.

By most definitions, characters do not require actual supernatural or superhuman powers or phenomena to be deemed superheroes.

Merriam-Webster dictionary gives the definition as "a fictional hero having extraordinary or superhuman powers; also : an exceptionally skillful or successful person".

Dictionary.com limits the defintion to "A figure, especially in a comic strip or cartoon, endowed with superhuman powers and usually portrayed as fighting evil or crime."

Terms such as masked crime fighters, costumed adventurers or masked vigilantes are sometimes used to refer to characters such as the Spirit, who may not be explicitly referred to as superheroes but nevertheless share similar traits.

Some superheroes use their powers to counter day-to-day crime while also combating threats against humanity from supervillains (nonfiction), who are their criminal counterparts.

Often, at least one of these supervillains will be the superhero's archenemy.

In the News

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  Belief in superheroes fails to save Wayne family.

Nonfiction cross-reference

• Supervillain (nonfiction)
• Villain (nonfiction)

External links:

• Superhero @ Wikipedia