This is an article about the development of Superman.

Superman was the creation of 21 year old Jerry Siegel (1914-1996) and his friend Joe Shuster (1914-1992), young men whose parents had escaped the European pogroms before Hitler and who incorporated some key ideas from Judaism into the Superman script.

For example, Superman’s original name was Kal-El which means Voice of God in Hebrew. Kal-El was an abandoned baby raised by a non-Jewish woman, as was Moses.

And in the version which became a hit, Superman was “doing good in the world for goodness’ sake, not for rewards or recognition”.