33 Eyebrow-Arching Pop Culture Origin Stories

If you watch superhero movies on a regular basis, creation myths are your go-to appetizer. And besides, the greatest things in contemporary culture aren't born but rather cultivated in time. Whether you're a baby who is born into a hopeless world, an adolescent underachiever who comes to understand responsibility and power, or a young demigoddess brought up on an Amazonian island, these narratives of entertainment are modern myths, full of adventure, suspense, magic, and distress... but only if you're not Wolverine, of course, whose origin consists entirely of immense pain but none of the happy stuff. Sorry for the inconvenience, bub.

What unusual circumstances led to the formation of these legendary good guys and bad guys? What real-life events inspired outstanding superhero comics? While there are no real-life gamma radiation explosions or nuclear spiders here, those true stories merely add to the legends that they created.

What do legendary pop culture icons and superheroes have in common? Both have fascinating origins.