Hugo Danner - Comparison With Later Heroes

Comparison With Later Heroes

While no confirmation exists that Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel was influenced by Gladiator, Siegel did read the novel in 1932 and reviewed the book in his Science Fiction fanzine. He and co-creator Joe Shuster began developing Superman in 1934.

Superman as originally conceived came from an unnamed planet whose inhabitants were millions of years more evolved than humans. When they reached maturity, "the people of his race became gifted with titanic strength". Their advanced evolution and great strength accounted for Superman's superhuman abilities on earth. As Siegel described them: "When maturity was reached, he discovered he could easily: leap ⅛ of a mile; hurdle a twenty-story building...raise tremendous weights...run faster than an express train...and that nothing less than a bursting shell could penetrate his skin!"

Siegel and Shuster compared Superman's strength and leaping abilities to those of an ant and a grasshopper, respectively, as did Abednego for his son. Danner also claims descent from a far-off land (Colorado) inhabited by a race of super-strong, indestructible men. In order to keep his true "experimental" origins a secret, he tells his Legionnaire superiors, " place in America. A place that has scarcely been explored. I was born there. All the men of Colorado are born as I was born and are like me. We are very strong. We are great fighters. We cannot be wounded except by the largest shells.". Other examples of similarities include both of their biological fathers are scientists (Jor-El and Abednego), both grow up in rural settings (Smallville and Indian Creek, Colorado), both are imbued with a strong moral compass from a young age both lift cars over their heads, and both hide their powers from the world.

Wylie threatened to sue Siegel for plagiarism in 1940 but there is no evidence he carried through with the litigation. Historian Gerard Jones writes that, "Siegel flatly denied that Wylie's novel had influenced him in any way" although adding his own conjecture that "the timing and striking similarities ... would seem to leave no doubt of Gladiator's role"

One critic noted that Danner's "creation and upbringing by a scientist father recall Doc Savage's origins" and a "prototype for the famous scene in which the fledgling Spider-Man defeats a hulking wrestler to make money is found in Wylie's novel; Hugo's bout in the ring is similar to that in the Spider-Man's origin story in 1962's Amazing Fantasy #15."