DC is the oldest American comic book publisher. It publishes comics of various genres, for instance, Superhero, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Action, and Adventure. From Superman to Batman and Wonder Woman, it has featured the most iconic characters in the DC Universe. Not just superheroes, it has featured most recognized villains as well, like The Joker, Darkseid, and Lex Luthor. Therefore, here, our main motive is to find out the top 10 oldest DC Heroes.
DC Comics have time and again come out with several new series, each helping in the world-building. Apart from heroes, the oldest people in DC comics are The Guardians. They were neither heroes nor villains. Let us discuss these top 10 oldest DC heroes one after another in great depth.
Doctor Occult
Doctor Occult is the oldest one in the list of the top 10 oldest DC heroes. His original name was Dr. Mystic, who debuted in the year 1935 through a comic book named New Fun Comics. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster were the men behind creating this wonderful comic and gave us our first DC superhero Dr. Occult.
Doctor Occult was an investigator, a magician, and also the first doctor superhero. He used to know certain hypnosis and was mostly involved in solving astral cases. His girlfriend, Rose Psychic, helped him in finding his supernatural powers.
Certain DC heroes are inspired by this superhero, like Doctors Fate and Superman. It would not be wrong to say that without Doctor Occult, we would have never come across other superheroes. He deserves more recognition among today’s generation.
Spectre
He is the oldest one and has existed since the creation of the universe. He was the angel of God’s wrath. Spectre first appeared in More Fun Comics #52 in the year 1942. The men who created this character were Jerry Siegel and Bernard Belly.
Spectre was the first superhero who possessed all the qualities of a god. He had the most strength, and he did not harm any innocent human. He was immune to all the mind control effects.
The things that were his weakness are he needed a human host in order to live among humans, he could get injured with sufficient strong magic, and he had limited power and boundaries. He was obliged to follow the instruction whatever was superimposed on him by Presence.
Superman
Who does not know about this superhero? Even today, people like to compare a strong man with Superman. After the arrival of the Action Comic Issue #1 in 1938, the word Superman has become a phrase. You must agree that Superman is the hero of heroes and does not need any introduction. The word Superman is enough to make you remember this cultural icon.
Superman is a symbol of integrity, justice, strength, and what not a normal person strives to be. Without this character, we would have never got other superheroes like Wonder Woman, Batman, and even Marvel Comics, which is famous as Fantastic Four.
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Zatara
Zatara is one of the oldest superheroes who was a magician and illusionist by profession. His good name was Giovanni “John” Zatara. He first appeared in Action Comic #1 in the year 1938 and was created by Fred Guardineer. He belonged to the Homo Megi species (who evolved parallel with homo sapiens). In Action Comic #1, we also got the first appearance of Superman.
Zatara had some features similar to Mandrake the Magician, like he had an East Indian friend Tong, with whom he shared his adventures. But the thing that made Zatara different from them was his ability to speak backward. His enthusiasm to become a magician dates back to his childhood, when his uncle, who himself was an illusionist, gave him a magic kit.
Zatara used to fight Moon Men, a Mad Lama, Egyptian Wizards, Zulus, an evil Druid, the Gorilla King, Mongol Warriors, and a Saturnian Terror using his knowledge of magician, the spirit world, telekinetic spell-casting, and elemental magic.
Batman
Debuted through Detective Comics in the year 1939, Batman is a symbol of integrity, hard work, justice, and sacrifice. The men behind creating this character were artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. After watching the murder of his parents in front of his eyes, he worked hard to gain strength so that he could eliminate crime from the world he was living in. The spin-off of Batman was released in the year 1940.
From the hardcore training, he became a genius-level intellect, martial artist, expert detective, strategist, master tactician, and also can utilize higher-tech equipment.
Crimson Avenger
Debuted through the Detective Comic Issue 20 in the year 1938, Crimson Avenger is among the top 10 oldest DC heroes. His original name in the comic was Lee Walter Travis. He is the first superhero who wore a mask to hide his identity. Unlike other superheroes, he is not a magician but well versed in using gadgets. This superhero also came to fight crime.
Later he teamed up with other superheroes groups like All-Star Squadron and Justice League.
Wonder Woman
The first female superhero, Wonder Woman, is one of the oldest superheroes in DC comics. Her official name is Princess Diana of Themyscira. She came from the island of Themyscira, and using her power; she fought against crime and war in the real world. Here, away from her home nation, she called herself Diana Prince. She is also the founding member of the Justice League.
Wonder Woman first appeared in All-Star Comics #8 between the years 1941 and 1942. The mind behind creating this marvelous character was William Moulton Marston and H.G Peter.
At first, it was written that she had been created by her mother, Queen Hippolyta, from the clay of Themyscira, and got life in the Amazon, where God gifted her some supernatural powers. But later, it was revealed that she was not created from the clay but the only child of Hippolyta and Zeus. When he left her, Wonder Woman got her upbringing from her mother and aunts, Menalippe and Antiope.
Wonder woman got an athletic look, and she fought with her Lasso of Truth (also renowned as Golden Perfect, Lasso of Hestia, Lariat of Truth, and Magic Lasso, which she used to extract the truth from criminals), Indestructible Bracelets (these were a pair of cuff worms, worn by wonder woman to control her emotions), Sword, Projectile Tiara, and Invisible Jet.
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Phantom
Phantom is one of the top 10 DC heroes, who first debuted through a newspaper comic in the year 1936. The American comic strip that featured Phantom was The Phantom. The superhero fights crimes by operating from Bangalla (a fictional African country).
The Phantom series is still published in daily newspaper strips and a color Sunday strip. The fictional character Phantom was written by Lee Falk. The journey of becoming a superhero was started when Phantom was a child and saw the death of his father, he promised himself that he would omit the crimes and injustice from the world.
He then created a legacy of the Phantom, which would pass from ancestors to the son. Unlike other superheroes, Phantom relied mostly on his inner strength, capabilities, intuition, and intelligence.
Phantom changed the dressing way of other superheroes by wearing skin-tight costumes and using masks that could cover his pupils. The character has been described as a transitional character.
The Clock
The Clock first debuted in 1936. He used to fight crimes in his mask and was also the first masked superhero who got featured in American comic books. The man behind the creation of this superhero was cartoonist George Brenner. It got first appeared in Funny Picture Stories and Funny Pages #6.
The Clock used to wear a hat, a black mask, and a tux while holding a cane. He used his enemy with gadgets and among all gadgets, the most important was the cane. The cane could transform his head into a projectile to fire tear-gassed.
The actual name of The Clock was Brion O’Brien, who belonged to an upper-class family. But watching all the crimes and injustice, he became a superhero. He mostly used to fight with gangsters, nazis, and some time with scientists. He also fought with Stuporman, who was a bulletproof superhuman.
Martian Manhunter
First appearing in Detective Comics #225 in the year 1955, Martian Manhunter is one of the top 10 oldest DC heroes. The character was created by Joseph Samachson and came from the planet Mars.
The original name of Martian Manhunter was J’onn J’onzz, and he is a member of the Justice League of America.
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