Many superheroes lead lives like ordinary people. It is only the hero that is masked, and one masked man or woman looks much like any other masked person. The superhero logo sets this person aside and makes them instantly recognizable to others. The first superhero logos were blazoned on the chests of the superheroes for all to see.
The oldest and most famous superhero logo is Superman's "S" shield logo which appeared on Superman's chest in Action Comics #1 in April 1938. The yellow inverted triangle with the red "s" is one of the most recognizable logos in the world today. Remarkably, since it's inception as a letter S with red and blue on a yellow police badge symbol resembling a shield, the Superman logo remains virtually unchanged seven decades later.
From that first success, others followed, using the same superhero logo template that made Superman successful. Batman was the first in May 1939, the yellow oval symbolizing the moon and the stylized black bat firmly entrenched batman's hero status as a creature of the night.
In January of 1940 The Flash's superhero logo gave a generation of children a new hero to idolize and the yellow lightning streak inside a white circle on a red background soon became famous to comic readers everywhere. The success of the Batman logo and the Flash superhero logo was followed by The Green Lantern in July 1940, with a stylized white lantern on a green background serving as his icon.
Not to be outdone, Marvel Comics followed in DC's footsteps in 1962. A silver/grey spider on a web background concealed the mild mannered Peter Parker and became the iconic image of Spiderman. Marvel logos would continue to identify superheroes at a glance. The fantastic four were the first team needing their own logo and the circle with the number four inside it was born. This simple picture has continued to endure with only slight variations. The
superhero logo is here to stay and will continue to identify heroes from villains as long as children read comics or watch movies.
