Ancient Superhero Theory

[HVulpes]

We all know the ancient astronaut theory which states that aliens with advance technology were the base for all the gods in mythology.

What if in the superhero comic book universes that Superheroes/Supervillains (who in literature have been called modern gods) were the base of religions for future timeline Earth or even alien worlds? Would being worshiped as god effect our heroes and villains, even after death?

Would this make an interesting story arc/miniseries/parallel Earth/alien planet?

[KJ Stewart]

We all know the ancient astronaut theory which states that aliens with advance technology were the base for all the gods in mythology.

What if in the superhero comic book universes that Superheroes/Supervillains (who in literature have been called modern gods) were the base of religions for future timeline Earth or even alien worlds? Would being worshiped as god effect our heroes and villains, even after death?

Would this make an interesting story arc/miniseries/parallel Earth/alien planet?

I struggle to think of a way in which any future could ever exist where all ordinary people are alive to worship the superheroes/supervillains, while all the superheroes/supervillains had died out in order to exist as a myth.

In order to make that outcome seem in any way feasible, the writers would have one hell of a task just to begin with.

[HVulpes]

I struggle to think of a way in which any future could ever exist where all ordinary people are alive to worship the superheroes/supervillains, while all the superheroes/supervillains had died out in order to exist as a myth.

In order to make that outcome seem in any way feasible, the writers would have one hell of a task just to begin with.

Not really. You have Dark Ages and near extinction events which might due it as Superhumans are rarer then normal humans in most Comic universes.

Alternative are: Aliens seeing heroes in action, shamans (in the future or an alternative earth's ancient past or another dimension/pocket dimension or alien world) viewing the adventure of modern Superheroes and seeing them as gods (call this the Mojo option), and so on.

[Dr Will Hatch]

I read an old issue of Hitman that was sort of like this. Tommy got temporally displaced in the 853rd century where everyone(well, everyone in the issue) wore an "icon" that gave them powers of past superheroes. The catch? Nobody knew jack **** about who the heroes were, or only had a very, very skewed idea of who they were and what they did(much like actual mythology).

[HVulpes]

Actually one of the theories of Ancient Astronauts is they are not aliens but humans (perhaps Genetically Engineered into the Greys) from the future.

Cue the heroes and villains of the 21st century being made gods of ancient times by time travel accident.

[T51R]

IMHO this sounds a lot like modern mythology, except that people convince themselves that their ancestors witnessed "miracles" instead of "feats," thanks in no small part to the feats being embellished over the centuries. So:

- Someone saw a Wuxia master running across water, thinks its a miracle.
- Someone saw a mini matter food replicator in action, being used to avert a famine. Thought it was magic.
- Someone saw a rather large bipedal battlemech. Thought it was a giant.
- Someone saw a lightsaber. Thought it was a magic sword.
- Someone saw a superhuman lift a building, thought he was Atlas.
- Someone saw Asura's Wrath being played. Thought it was a history lesson.

Depending on how you want to write the story and the context you're gonna put it in, its actually doable.

[Ghost]

Isn't this the backstory of Hancock?

Also, Unbreakable?

[T51R]

Isn't this the backstory of Hancock?

Actually, it really does seem to be!

[wayfarejourneyman]

In DC, this idea sort of existed. I forget exactly when, but there was an idea that at some point, there was a pulse of energy from the source wall. It flowed through the universe and empowered the first gods. Now the pulse has bounced back to empower metahumans.

I may be missing some of the fine details, but that was basicly the gist of things.