Hugo Danner
| Hugo Danner | |
|---|---|
 Hugo, from the 1949 edition of Gladiator. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Alfred A. Knopf, Marvel Comics, and Wildstorm |
| First appearance | Gladiator (1930), Man-God (Marvel Preview #9: Winter, 1976), Legend #1 (March 2005) |
| Created by | Philip Gordon Wylie |
| In-story information | |
| Team affiliations | French Foreign Legion |
| Notable aliases | Le Colorado |
| Abilities | Superhuman Strength, speed, and durability Superhumanly dense tissue Accelerated healing factor |
Hugo Danner (1894 - 1922) is the fictional protagonist of the 1930 novel Gladiator, by Philip Gordon Wylie. Born with superhuman abilities through prenatal chemical experimentation, he tries to use his powers for good, making him an early example of the superhero. However, unlike most superheroes, Danner grows disillusioned with his inability to find a permanent outlet for his great strength, and dies frustrated.[1] DC Comics' Superman is commonly thought to be based partially on Danner.[2]
Brief biography
During the closing years of the 19th century, Colorado science Professor Abednego Danner searches for a way to improve the innate weaknesses of human biology and create a new "race that doesn't know fear—because it cannot know harm."[3] After fourteen years of research he finally discovers "alkaline radicals" that vastly improve "muscular strength and the nervous discharge of energy."[4] Following very successful animal testing, which yields super strong tadpoles and a bulletproof kitten capable of taking down cattle, he injects this super-serum into the womb of his pregnant wife, Matilda. Hugo is born on Christmas day several months later.
Hugo lives with his parents throughout his teen years and leaves after graduating high school to attend college and travel the world. In the years that follow, Hugo's special powers lead him through a number of adventures— college football star, boxer, circus strong man, sailor, pearl diver, WWI supersoldier, steel mill worker, bank teller, farm hand, political disarmament advocate, and Mayan excavator—but his unique stature among mortal men forever brings him grief. Eventually, he turns to God for answers and is struck down by lightning.
Powers and abilities
Superhuman Strength
Even during his early years, Danner displays superhuman strength. He demolishes his wooden crib as a newborn,[5] saves a man's life by lifting a two ton supply wagon at six,[6] and uproots entire trees at ten.[7] He progressively grows stronger as he gets older. During his twenties, he can stop and kill a charging bull with a single punch,[8] bend a railroad rail,[9] lift a seventy-five millimeter howitzer cannon singlehandedly,[10] lift a car and it's driver singlehandedly,[11] rip open a five foot thick bank vault,[12] and easily catch a falling 8,000 pound block of stone.[13] Danner's physical strength also extends to his legs, allowing him to leap great heights and distances. He can leaped forty feet into the air at ten.[14] During WWI, he leaps one hundred yards and it only takes him a matter of minutes to travel several miles.[15] His strength does not seem to have a limit, however, he is still susceptible to fatigue.
Superhuman speed
At ten he can run faster than a train and can run up a steep incline without any depreciation in locomotion.[7] During his freshman year in college, he tries out for the football team and easily breaks the world track record, though he actually doesn't run at his full speed.[16] While in the service of the French Foreign Legion in WWI, he traverses thirty-seven miles round trip in just thirty minutes; all while carrying 2,000 pounds of food, water, and ammunition for his unit.[17]
Superhuman durability
Danner first learns of his body's superior resistance to physical injury during WWI.[18] Bullets and bayonets glance off his tough skin.[19] He believes he can even survive a plane crash.[20] The only weaponry capable of penetrating his skin at the time are the largest artillery shells.[21] Danner is, however, vulnerable to lightning, which ultimately kills him.[22] He still feels the effects of the elements; sweating under the heat of the son and freezing during winter.
Superhumanly dense tissue
Danner's bodily tissues have a somewhat greater density than the tissues of an ordinary human being. Though he has an athletic build, his strength is far greater than what his smaller build would naturally allow. People guess him to be 155 lbs, but, in reality, he actually weighs 211 lbs.[23]
Accelerated healing factor
Danner's body can heal damaged tissue much faster and more extensively than an ordinary human can. He collapses from exhaustion and wounds sustained from artillery shells after he goes berserk against the Germans to avenge a friend's death. When he wakes up in an army hospital, he finds "his wounds had healed without the necessity of a single stitch."[24] Long periods of comatose sleep (up to 20 hours) and the consuming of huge meals also aid in his regenerative process.[25]
Links and similarities to Superman
Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel first read Gladiator in 1932, two years after it had initially been published.[26] He would later review the book in his Science Fiction fanzine.[27] In June of 1933, he wrote "The Reign of the Superman" (under the pen name "Herbert S. Fine"), with co-creator Joe Shuster on pencils, which tells the story of scientist that injects a homeless man with material from an extraterrestrial meteor.[28] After escaping, the test subject discovers he has been given telepathic powers and becomes a super villain bent on taking over the world.[29] The creation of a powerful man through science mirrors Hugo's own origins. In 1934, Siegel called upon the examples of Samson and Hercules to remake his bald telepathic villain into a super strong hero.[30] Incidentally, Abednego compared Hugo to the same mythic characters early in Gladiator.[3]
Superman's origins have been drastically retconned over the years, but when he was originally conceived, he 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!"[31] Their evolution and great strength accounted for Superman's superhuman abilities on earth. Superman's early powers were relatively limited compared to his later incarnations:
"When maturity was reached, he discovered he could easily: leap 1⁄8th 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!"[31]
Siegel and Shuster compared his strength and leaping abilities to an ant and a grasshopper,[32] the same as Abednego does for his son.[33] Hugo also claims decent from a race of superior indestructible men. In order to keep his true "experimental" origins a secret, he tells his Legionnaire superiors "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."[34] Other examples of similarities include both of their fathers are scientists (Jor-El and Abednego),[35][36] both grow up in rural settings (Smallville and Indian Creek, Colorado), both work as circus strong men,[37][38] and both lift cars over their heads in their first appearances.[39][40] Because of these vast similarities, Wylie sued Siegel in 1940 for plagiarism.[26]
See also
- Iron Munro, Hugo's non-canonical son.
- John Carter of Mars, an Earth man who travels to Mars and gains superhuman strength because of the planet's lighter gravity.
References
- ^ Wylie, Philip. Gladiator. New York: Shakespeare House. 3rd Edition, 1951
- ^ Feeley, Gregory (2005). "When World-views Collide: Philip Wylie in the Twenty-first Century". Science Fiction Studies. 32 (95). ISSN 0091-7729. Retrieved 2006-12-06.
{{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help) - ^ a b Wylie: pg. 16
- ^ Wylie: pp. 4-5
- ^ Wylie: pg. 17
- ^ Wylie: pg. 24
- ^ a b Wylie: pg. 28
- ^ Wylie: pg. 150
- ^ Wylie: pg. 67
- ^ Wylie: pp. 102-103
- ^ Wylie: pg 141
- ^ Wylie: pg. 136
- ^ Wylie: pg. 182
- ^ Wylie: pg. 26
- ^ Wylie: pp. 103 and 119
- ^ Wylie: pp. 40-41
- ^ Wylie: pp. 99-100
- ^ Wylie: pg. 97
- ^ Wylie: pp. 100 and 108-109
- ^ Wylie: pg. 120
- ^ Wylie: pp. 101 and 108
- ^ Wylie: pg. 187
- ^ Wylie: pg. 43
- ^ Wylie: pg. 110
- ^ Wylie: pp. 26 and 100
- ^ a b Jones, Gerard. Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book. New York: Basic Books, 2004 (ISBN 0465036562), pg. 80
- ^ Jones: pg. 82
- ^ Jones: pp. 82-83
- ^ Jones: pg. 83
- ^ Petrou, David Michael. The Making of Superman the Movie, New York: Warner Books,1978 (ISBN 0-446-82565-4), pg. 13
- ^ a b Action Comics #1, pg. 1 (June 1938)
- ^ Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (a). "A Scientific Explanation of Superman's Amazing Strength--!" Superman, vol. 1, no. 1 (Summer 1939). National Periodical Publications.
- ^ Wylie: pp. 4 and 29
- ^ Wylie: pg. 101
- ^ Jor-El was first referred to indirectly in Action Comics #1 in 1938, which only mentioned a scientist who sends his son to Earth. He made his first full-fledged appearance in the Superman newspaper comic strip in 1939, where his name was spelled as "Jor-L".
- ^ Wylie: pg. 1
- ^ Action Comics #7 (December 1938)
- ^ Wylie: pp. 68-71
- ^ Action Comics #1, pg. 9
- ^ Wylie: pg 141
External link
- Complete "Gladiator" novel at archive.org.
- Hugo Danner, Gladiator at internationalhero.co.uk
- Man-God Character info.
- Site Dedicated to Gladiator which has cover scans of nearly every edition, essays on Gladiator and a scan of a lengthy handwritten inscription by Wylie regarding Gladiator.