First comic-strip superhero

Contrary to popular belief, Superman was not the first comic book superhero. That honour falls instead to The Phantom, created in 1936 by the American cartoonist Lee Falk, two years before Superman. The Phantom newspaper strip featured the adventures of Kit Walker, who sported a mask and a figure-hugging purple outfit as “the ghost who walks”. Like the superheroes that followed him, Kit Walker adopted his secret identity to right the wrongs of the world. Mandrake the Magician does not qualify as a superhero as he lacks a secret identity.