For nearly a century, DC and Marvel Comics have been the most popular and influential companies that have shaped the superhero genre as we know it today. Almost every superhero trope in comics can be traced to these two companies, including origin stories. Every character needs a compelling backstory that explains their history, powers, personality, and motivations for becoming a superhero. And while DC and Marvel have been the only two big names in the business for the longest time, other companies, including Image, Dark Horse, and IDW, have emerged. To stand against Marvel and DC, these independent companies needed their superheroes to have incredibly unique and exciting origin stories, in which they have more than succeeded!
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Origin stories are crucial for establishing the hero and the world that they inhabit, which is especially difficult for independent companies because they don’t have the decades of lore to fall back on that Marvel and DC possess. Instead, these origin stories are built entirely from scratch and have created some of the most subversive and iconic superheroes outside of the big two.
10) Rocketeer
Like the character himself, the Rocketeer’s origin story pays tribute to Golden Age pulp adventure magazines and movie serials. Making his debut under Pacific Comics, Cliff Secord was a small-time stunt pilot who lived during the late 1930s. One day, Cliff discovers a mysterious jetpack hidden by gangsters on the run from the cops. Initially, Cliff wants to use the jetpack to make extra money. However, when a drunk pilot is at risk of crashing, Cliff jumps into action, dons the jetpack, and figures out how to operate it on the fly. After saving the pilot, Cliff is dubbed the Rocketeer and becomes Los Angeles’ high-flying protector. What this origin story lacks in complexity, it more than makes up for with its grounded and light-hearted approach. Cliff may have initially wanted to use the jetpack for personal gain, but when someone was in danger, he didn’t hesitate to put his life on the line and become a hero.
9) The Maxx
The backstory of Image Comics’ superhero, The Maxx, is equal parts surreal and groundbreaking. The origin of the giant homeless purple hero begins with social worker Julie Winters. After she’s assaulted and left for dead by a man she tried to help, Julie copes by creating a fantastical world called the Outback, where she’s a Jungle Queen. One day, Julie accidentally runs over a homeless man named Dave. Still hurt from the last time she tried to help someone, Julie covered Dave’s body and left him in an alley. However, Julie inadvertently opened a portal to the Outback that caused Dave to merge with her rabbit spirit animal. Having lost his memories and mutated into a giant purple creature, Dave, now known as the Maxx, swore to protect Julie from all danger. It’s an absolutely bonkers origin story that still manages to tackle themes of trauma and dissociation, as the Maxx is essentially Julie’s unconscious defense mechanism.
8) Savage Dragon
Image Comics’ Savage Dragon takes the concept of an amnesiac hero in a compelling new direction. This giant, green-skinned humanoid with a fin on his head was discovered unconscious in a burning field with no memory of his past by Chicago P.D. Captain Frank Darling. Frank helped the creature find a new identity as a superpowered cop named Savage Dragon. Initially, many people believed that Dragon was just another mutant running around Chicago. However, it was eventually revealed that not only was Dragon an alien but also an intergalactic tyrant. Originally known as Emperor Kurr, this cruel dictator intended to eradicate humanity so that his people could colonize the Earth. Kurr’s people rebelled against him by wiping his memory and dropping him off on the planet he planned to conquer. Savage Dragon’s origin raises thought-provoking questions on the nature of memory, identity, and whether a person (or alien) can move past their dark history.
7) X-O Manowar
One of Valiant Comics’ first and most popular characters has one of the most bizarre yet exciting origin stories in comics. Hailing from 5th-century Europe, Aric of Dacia was a barbarian who protected his people from the Roman Empire. However, everything changed when aliens called the Vine abducted and enslaved Aric. Years later, Aric led a successful rebellion against the Vine by bonding with a sentient suit of armor called Shanhara that found him to be worthy of its power. When Aric escaped to Earth, he discovered that centuries had passed and it was now the 21st century. As the hero X-O ManoWar, Aric must adjust to this new time period and act as its primary protector from all threats, both on Earth and across the stars. The origin of X-O Manowar somehow manages to successfully combine Conan the Barbarian with Iron Man in a way that’s both action-packed and emotionally compelling.
6) Kick-Ass
Where other characters become crimefighters out of altruism or repentance, Dave Lizewski, aka Kick-Ass, did so out of a misguided desire for escapism. In his story published by Image Comics, Dave started as a regular high school loser obsessed with superheroes and comic books. To escape his mundane life, he decided to don a green costume and try his luck as a masked vigilante. Unfortunately, because of his lack of training and naivety, Kick-Ass immediately found himself stabbed and hit by a car when he tried to stop some vandals. However, this embarrassing and near-lethal first attempt at crimefighting did come with an unexpected positive. Due to the extensive nerve damage and plating in his body from the accident and numerous surgeries, Kick-Ass’s pain receptors were drastically decreased. With this ability, he can fight longer and harder than the average person. It’s the perfect origin and superpower for a character who’s meant to be a cautionary tale on escapism, fan culture, and real-life superheroes.
5) The Crow
There’s perhaps no superhero who embodies the tone and aesthetic of goth and punk culture more than Caliber Press’s The Crow. Created by James O’Barr to work through the trauma of losing his fiancée, The Crow comics deal with themes of grief, death, vengeance, and unhealthy coping mechanisms. Eric Draven was a regular guy until gang members viciously attacked him and his fiancée. As Eric is paralyzed and left dying, he can do nothing but watch as his fiancée is assaulted and murdered. After his death, Eric is resurrected years later by an enigmatic, mystical spirit called the Crow. Over the centuries, the Crow has sought out people who have died failing to protect the people they loved. Acting as the Crow’s new avatar, Eric is essentially an invincible walking corpse driven only by vengeance as he hunts down the men who took everything from him. It’s a haunting and powerful backstory that emphasizes the themes on which the character was founded.
4) Invincible
Image Comics’ Invincible is a hero whose origin story is full of twists and turns. Mark Grayson is the half-human, half-alien son of Omni-Man, the most powerful and famous superhero on Earth. Mark grew up believing that his father and the other Viltrumites were a noble race that traveled the stars, helping others. So, when Mark’s powers emerged when he was a teenager, he naturally sought to follow in Omni-Man’s footsteps. However, it was soon revealed that everything Invincible thought he knew was a lie. The Viltrumites were in reality a bloodthirsty race of warriors who had killed billions in their eternal mission for universal conquest. Even worse, Omni-Man was part of that mission and even killed the Earth’s other heroes to make way for the Viltrumite Empire’s arrival. Despite his father and his Viltrumite heritage, Invincible stuck to his human morality and became Earth’s primary protector against the Viltrumites. Invincible’s backstory brilliantly subverts the “child of a superhero trope” while also showing how he’ll never abandon his humanity.
3) Hellboy
Dark Horse Comics’ premier superhero, Hellboy, is the ultimate case of nurture over nature. In 1944, the sorcerer Grigori Rasputin and the Nazis enact a ritual to summon the bringer of the apocalypse. When the ritual is completed, a small, half-human, half-demon baby is born with a giant stone right hand. Before Grigori and the Nazis could use the creature, they were thwarted by the Allied Forces, who adopted it and named it Hellboy. Despite his demonic past and appearance, Hellboy was raised by the kind and wise Professor Trevor Bruttenholm, who trained him to become the best agent of the paranormal investigative agency B.P.R.D. Hellboy has completely rejected his demonic nature and apocalyptic destiny. Instead, he has dedicated his life to helping protect humanity from the forces of evil. Hellboy’s origin is brimming with the occult and pulp adventure aesthetic his comics are known for, while also offering a nuanced exploration of how anyone can become a hero under the right circumstances.
2) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Across their countless comic, TV, and movie adaptations, everyone is familiar with the origins of the heroes in a half shell. Originally published under Mirage Comics, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ backstory began with their Master Splinter, who was initially an ordinary pet rat of a martial artist named Hamato Yoshi. After a villain killed Yoshi, Splinter fled into New York City’s sewers, where he found four baby turtles. All five of them were doused in radioactive ooze that mutated them into large humanoid creatures. Under Master Splinter’s tutelage, the four reptilian brothers Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Donatello learned the ways of ninjutsu. They became the Big Apple’s secret protectors. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ origin was a direct parody of Daredevil, with the reptiles bathed in the same radioactive waste that blinded the Man Without Fear. It’s a wild, funny, surprisingly heartfelt story that has been so successful it’s been adapted innumerable times.
1) Spawn
The superhero Spawn and his tragic origin laid the foundations of Image Comics, the biggest independent comic book company in history. Al Simmons originally was a highly trained assassin, but his employers had him killed to tie up loose ends. Al was then sent to Hell, where he was offered a deal by the demon Malebolgia. In exchange for his soul and becoming the general of Hell’s army, Al would be allowed to return to Earth and see his wife Wanda again. Although Al agreed to the deal, Malebolgia naturally tricked him. When Al arrived on Earth as a Hellspawn five years after his death, he was horrifically disfigured and Wanda had remarried and had a daughter with Al’s best friend, Terry. Instead of allowing the trauma to break his spirit, Al swore revenge against Malebolgia and the forces of Hell. As a Hellspawn unable to truly live or die, Al has one of the most tragic origin stories of superheroes in comics. Yet, Spawn’s overwhelming sense of justice and vengeance as he protects Wanda and her new family make him a deeply complex and awesome character.
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