The question of how characters like Iron Man, Superman, Batman, and Thor differ and what category they belong to has existed for not long, but spans a full hundred years. Although Marvel may have succeeded in the film industry, DC is the true pioneer in the genre of superhero comics.
DC Comics has taken a prominent place in the world of American publishing, becoming one of the oldest and largest publishing companies. It helped shape a new style of storytelling that later became an integral part of American pop culture. Characters such as Superman, Batman, the Joker, Lex Luthor, and Darkseid gave a unique look to the DC universe, where superheroes and supervillains with rich histories coexisted.
However, the establishment of DC Comics and its iconic heroes did not happen overnight. The beginning of this story dates back to 1934, after which a series of significant events led the company to its current position. The very start of DC Comics was quite unusual. Its founder was Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson, who previously served in the army. Notably, he staged a revolt in the American army, accusing it of favoritism in promotions, and wrote a letter to the President of the United States.
Later, an incident occurred in the army that resulted in Malcolm Wheeler being wounded. His family claimed it was an assassination attempt, but the army classified it as a simple mistake. After becoming completely disillusioned with the army, Malcolm Wheeler began working on comic book characters and founded National Allied Publications.
In February 1935, National Allied released its first issue, New Fun: The Big Comic Magazine #1. This issue was so successful that by December of the following year, the company released its next series, New Comics #1. New Fun: The Big Comic Magazine was the first comic book to publish original content instead of reusing parts of newspaper strips.
In 1936, National Allied Publications was preparing to release its third series, Detective Comics (DC), from which the name DC originated. Nevertheless, due to financial difficulties, the first publication of this crime anthology was postponed until March 1937. Since Wheeler-Nicholson faced serious debt problems, he had to find a partner to launch this series—this was Harry Donfeld, a publisher and distributor of pulp magazines.
As a result of this merger, Detective Comics Inc. was formed. Later, Donfeld acquired the remaining part of National Allied Publications, which led to Wheeler-Nicholson leaving the company. Then, in June 1938, DC found a new incarnation, and a new term appeared in the market—superhero. It was then that the first superhero character appeared: the Man of Steel lifting a car over his head on the cover, i.e., Superman. After this event, the story followed its historical path.