Ground-Breaking Comic Heroes Before the 1950s

In 1934 Flash Gordon was first released as comic strips. After the huge success the TV-series was made and the further success followed. In 1984 a legendary, but also somehow trashy movie containing the soundtrack made by Queen was released. Flash Gordon was also mentioned in another "trashy" - in the intro song (yt) of the legendary cult rock musical The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975).

The first Batman comic was released in 1939 by Detective Comics (DC). After the release of The first movie, the stories around the winged vigilant had many successors in movies and TV-series. In 1989, Tim Burton's Batman renewed the interest of many people about the lead character Bruce Wayne. Christopher Nolan's trilogy about The Dark Knight (2008) gave the hype around Batman a new peak. Today the interest in the stories continues and new productions are in sight.

In 1930 "The Shadow" was a new radio play. It rapidly turned to one of the most popular radio plays in the USA. in 1931, the first comics of the shadow came on the market. They were adressed as pulp magazines, but had many fans. Detective Comics released a twelve-parted comic series in the mid 1970s. Over the decades some movies about the stories were released. In 1994 The Shadow was rebooted newly. Some users may remember it. There is a new reboot planed with Sam Raimi as the director.

Buck Rogers was one of the more earlier ground breaking comics which first was published in 1928 in the pulp magazine Amazing Stories and then by comic strips in news papers. After its first success, Buck Rogers appeared as a serial movie, TV-series and then in 1940 as a comic book. In 1979 another TV-series was produced by Universal Pictures. In 2021 a new Buck Rogers TV-Series with George Clooney as lead actor was announced.

In 1941, John Carter was first released as a comic strip on December 7th, the very day of the infamous attack on Pearl Harbor. It was made after the novel A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Later in 2012 the story was released as John Carter (2012). Some more info: comics.org

In 1941 the first Captain America comic was released. It has a huge list of titles from then until today. Cap is one of the most popular heroes since the comics were published. After the TV-series in 1944, several productions of the material have been released, like TV-movies, short movies, TV-series and at last the huge success of Cap America in the MCU movie series, which started in 2008.

The first comic was published in 1933. Some early film productions were loosely based on the material. After projects like 'The Thousand-Headed Man' were canceled, there was a first movie released, Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze (1975). A new movie with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is planned, simply called: Doc Savage

In 1936 The Phantom was first published as an adventure comic strip. At its peak, the strip was read by over 100 million people daily. It was a part of the TV-series Defenders of the Earth (1986) and later the movie The Phantom (1996) was released.

The first Superman comic was published in 1938. From 1940 to 1952, a radio play about Superman was very popular. From 1941 to 1943, a series of short movies was broadcasted on TV. Superman was and is surely one of the most successful heroes beside DC's Batman and Marvel's Captain America. In the late 1970s and 1980s a Superman film series which started with Superman (1978) was made and today the saga continued with a new reboot of the franchise by the movie Superman Returns (2006), and later again with another reboot: Man of Steel (2013).

In 1939/1940 The Flash was published as comic and the character was also a founding member of the JSA. Then his name was Jay Garrick. The original members of the JSA were Green Lantern, Doctor Fate, Hourman, The Spectre, Atom, Sandman and The Flash. In 1956 DC Comics reinvented The Flash and gave him the name Barry Allen. Basically it was the same guy. After the release of the TV-series The Flash (1990) and The Flash (2014), his character was also a subject in the DCEU movies Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), Suicide Squad (2016), Justice League (2017) and Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021). Another movie is announced: The Flash (2023)

Wonder Woman was probably the first superheroine in comics. The first time one of her stories was published in All Star Comics #8 1941/1942. The character was so popular that famous painters took notice and created their own artworks of Wonder Woman. One of them was Andy Warhole. Over the years there was made a TV-movie, a TV-series and a live action-show. Recently there was a very successful reboot with Gal Gadot as the lead character: Wonder Woman (2017).

Who doesn't know Popeye, the spinach addicted seaman? His first appearance was in the New York Journal in 1929. The stories were sent as radio play broadcasts from 1935 to 1938. Robin Williams played the iconic seaman in 1980.

Dick Tracy is one of the characters, people who are older than 40 years of age surely heard of. The stories were published first time in 1931. In 1937 the launch of a series of 15 movies was initiated. In the 1950s a TV-series was broadcasted and later Warren Beaty played Dick Tracy in the movie Dick Tracy (1990). I guess some people are waiting for a dignified reboot.

In the summer of 1934, the first Mandrake the Magician comic was released. First it was published in comic strips of newspapers. In 1935 the first comic book was published. The last creator retired in 2013. There was a 15 minute series on The Mutual Broadcasting System from November 1940, until February 1942. Two movie productions about the stories were made: Mandrake, the Magician (1939), Mandrake the Magician (1954). In 2007, Baldwin Entertainment Group purchased the rights and since then the fans of Mandrake wait for a modern adaption of the movie.

Sheena, Queen of the Jungle was first published in 1938. The original comic played in Africa, but in the 1980s the makers set the playground to South America. Irish McCalla first portrayed the spear wielding amazon-like woman in the TV-series of the 1950s. There was a movie made in 1984 and another TV-series in 2000.

Namor The Sub-Mariner was first published in 1939 in Motion Picture Funnies Weekly & Marvel Comics #1. Last one was the first comic book of Timely Comics, which was the predecessor of Marvel Comics. From the 1950s until 2013, Namor had several apperances in different TV-productions. Universal holds the copyrights, so Namor wasn't released by Disney. But according to the Wikipedia article, Kevin Feige keeps the possibility open to make another MCU movie of it.

In June 1940 another masked crime-fighter entered the stage. The Spirit was published by Register and Tribune Syndicate as a 16 page tabloid-sized comic book insert, distributed in the Sunday edition of newspapers. The were also comic strips about The Spirit in newspapers and a TV-movie made in 1987. The latest reboot was The Spirit (2008).

Tintin is one of the oldest candidates on the list. The comic Tintin in the Land of the Soviets is the first published comic with Tintin. It was published in 1929 in Belgium. The conservative Belgium newspaper Le Vingtième Siècle first published the comic strip. Later it became one of the most popular comics in Europe, known as The Adventures of Tintin. There were several radio plays and movies in cinema. Steven Spielberg directed the last movie by using modern techniques like motion capturing in The Adventures of Tintin (2011).

First published by Fawcett Comics in 1940, it became so popular that it beat Superman to the big screen when Captain Marvel starred a movie serial in 1941, Adventures of Captain Marvel. After a legal battle with DC Comics due to a copyright case. Captain Marvel publication ended, until Fawcett lended and then sold the character to DC. In the 1970s there was a live action TV-series and a cartoon, and today he was made famous again in the film Shazam! (2019) from the DCEU. More movies with Shazam are comming.

Aquaman first appeared in 1941. He appeared from time to time in cartoons and had a failed pilot for a tv series, he finally starred in a big production when Jason Momoa played him in the DCEU-movie Aquaman (2018). It was a big success. More movies with Aquaman will come soon.

Green Arrow first appeared in 1941, and he has become an important character in the comics. He never was in television until he was a guest star in Smallville, and finally in 2012 he starred in his own show, Arrow, which gave origin to the CW Arrowverse. In 2014 there was also a TV-mini-series released. I guess there is more on the way.

With Spy Smasher, another Fawcett character appeared in comics in 1940 and got a movie serial in 1942. He is mostly forgotten today, but according to the user Pencho15, who was a very big help in the making of this poll, the series is probably one of the best there are. It's a honourable mention.

in 1938, Spirou & Fantasio were published for the first time. The comics from France were a huge success in whole Europe and translated into several languages. In the next decades until the 2010s, countless stories were published, followed by a TV-series from 1993 to 1995. In the 1960s, radio plays were broadcasted. A movie was released in 2018: Les aventures de Spirou et Fantasio (2018)

Blackhawk, another group of DC Comics military heroes, debuted in 1941 and they had their serial in 1952.

Plastic Man, a comic character first published in 1941 by Quality had a cartoon tv series in 1979.

After first appearing in More Fun Comics in 1940, Congo Bill, an African adventurer maintained some popularity for a couple of decades and he was a back feature for Superman in Action Comics. He still appears in comics from time to time, and he starred in his own serial in 1948.