document_title: Constitutional Convention (United States)

question_text: at the constitutional convention who did the delegates agree should elect the president

question_tokens: at the constitutional convention who did the delegates agree should elect the president

text: Constitutional Convention (United States)

text: Historical context[edit]

text: Before the Constitution was drafted, the nearly 4 million inhabitants[4] of the 13 newly independent states were governed under the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, created by the Second Continental Congress. It soon became evident to nearly all that the chronically underfunded Confederation government, as originally organized, was inadequate for managing the various conflicts that arose among the states.[5]:4–5[6]:14–16 As the Articles of Confederation could only be amended by unanimous vote of the states, any state had effective veto power over any proposed change.[7] In addition, the Articles gave the weak federal government no taxing power: it was wholly dependent on the states for its money, and had no power to force delinquent states to pay.[7]

text: Once the immediate task of winning the American Revolutionary War of 1775 to 1783 had passed, the states began to look to their own interests, and disputes arose. These included a dispute between Maryland and Virginia over the Potomac River and opposition to Rhode Island's imposing taxes on all traffic passing through it on the post road. James Madison suggested that state governments should appoint commissioners "to take into consideration the trade of the United States; to examine the relative situation and trade of said states; to consider how far a uniform system in their commercial regulations may be necessary to their common interests and permanent harmony".[8]:92

text: Another impetus for the convention was Shays' Rebellion of 1786-1787. A political conflict between Boston merchants and rural farmers over issues including tax debts had broken out into an open rebellion. This rebellion was led by a former Revolutionary War captain, Daniel Shays, a small farmer with tax debts, who had never received payment for his service in the Continental Army. The rebellion took months for Massachusetts to put down completely, and some desired a federal army that would be able to put down such insurrections.

text: In September 1786, at the Annapolis Convention, delegates from five states called for a Constitutional Convention in order to discuss possible improvements to the Articles of Confederation. The subsequent Constitutional Convention took place in Philadelphia, convening in the Old Pennsylvania State House (then becoming known as Independence Hall) on May 14, 1787. Rhode Island, fearing that the Convention would work to its disadvantage, boycotted the Convention and, when the Constitution was put to the states during the next year of controversial debates, initially refused to ratify it, waiting until May 1790 to become the thirteenth, a year after the new federal government commenced.[9]

text: The Convention[edit]

text: Due to the difficulty of travel in the late 18th century, very few of the selected delegates were present on the designated day of May 14, 1787, and it was not until May 25 that a quorum of seven states was secured. (New Hampshire delegates would not join the Convention until more than halfway through the proceedings, on July 23.)[5]:103 James Madison arrived first, and soon most of the Virginia delegation arrived. While waiting for the other delegates, the Virginia delegation produced the Virginia Plan, which was designed and written by James Madison. On May 25, the delegations convened in the Pennsylvania State House.

text: George Washington was unanimously elected president of the Convention,[10] and it was agreed that the discussions and votes would be kept secret until the conclusion of the meeting.[5]:11 Despite the sweltering summer heat, the windows of the meeting hall were nailed shut to keep the proceedings a secret from the public.[History Alive! 1] Although William Jackson was elected as secretary, his records were brief and included very little detail. Madison's Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787, supplemented by the notes of Robert Yates, remain the most complete record of the Convention.[5]:162–64 Throughout the debate, delegates constantly referred to precedents from history in support of their position. Most commonly, they referred to the history of England, in particular the Glorious Revolution (often simply called "The Revolution"), classical history (mainly the Roman Republic and the leagues of Greek city-states), and recent precedents from Holland and Germany.

text: Outside the Convention in Philadelphia, there was a national convening of the Society of the Cincinnati. Washington was said to be embarrassed. The 1776 "old republican" delegates like Elbridge Gerry (MA) found anything military or hereditary anathema. The Presbyterian Synod of Philadelphia and New York convention was meeting to redefine its Confession, dropping the faith requirement for civil authority to prohibit false worship.[11] Protestant Episcopalian Washington attended a Roman Catholic Mass and dinner.[12] Revolution veteran Jonas Phillips, of the Mikveh Israel Synagogue, petitioned the Convention to avoid a national oath including belief in both Old and New Testaments. Merchants of Providence, Rhode Island, petitioned for consideration, though their Assembly had not sent a delegation.[13]

text: Manasseh Cutler came directly from the capital in New York and found himself a frequent dinner guest among the delegates. He carried grants of five million acres to parcel out among The Ohio Company and "speculators", including some who were attending the Convention.[a] A Philadelphia guest of Robert Morris, Noah Webster would write a pamphlet immediately after the signing. "Leading Principles of the Federal Convention" advocated adoption of the Constitution. It was published much earlier and more widely circulated than today's better known Federalist Papers.[15]

text: James Madison's blueprint[edit]

text: While waiting for the Convention to formally begin, James Madison sketched out his initial draft, which became known as the Virginia Plan and reflected his views as a strong nationalist.[6]:47 By the time the rest of the Virginia delegation arrived, most of the Pennsylvania delegation had arrived as well. They agreed on Madison's plan, and formed what came to be the predominant coalition. By the time the Convention started, the only blueprints that had been assembled were Madison's Virginia Plan, and Charles Pinckney's plan. As Pinckney didn't have a coalition behind his plan, Madison's plan was the starting point for deliberations.[6]:47

text: The Convention agreed on several principles. Most importantly, they agreed that the Convention should go beyond its mandate merely to amend the Articles of Confederation, and instead should produce a new constitution outright. While some delegates thought this illegal, the Articles of Confederation were closer to a treaty between sovereign states than they were to a national constitution, so the genuine legal problems were limited.[6]:64 Another principle they agreed on was that the new government would have all the powers of the Confederation Congress, plus additional powers over the states.[6]:64 Once agreeing on these principles, the Convention voted on the Virginia plan and signaled their approval for it. Once this was done, they began modifying it.

text: Madison's plan operated on several assumptions that were not seriously challenged. During the deliberations, few raised serious objections to the planned bicameral congress, nor the separate executive function, nor the separate judicial function.[6]:67 As English law had typically recognized government as having two separate functions, law making embodied in the legislature, and law executing embodied in the king and his courts, the division of the legislature from the executive and judiciary was a natural and uncontested point.[10]

text: The division of the legislature into an upper and lower house wasn't questioned either, despite the obscure origins of the English House of Lords and its role as the representative of the hereditary nobility.[6]:82 Americans had seldom known any but bicameral legislatures, both in Britain and in most state governments. The main exceptions to this were the dysfunctional Confederation Congress and the unicameral Pennsylvania legislature, which was seen as quickly vacillating between partisan extremes after each election.[6]:82 Experience had convinced the delegates that an upper house was necessary to tame the passions of the lower classes against the interests of wealthy merchants and landowners. Since America had no native hereditary aristocracy, the character of this upper house was designed to protect the interests of this wealthy elite, the "minority of the opulent," against the interests of the lower classes, who constituted the majority of the population.[6]:85[16]

text:
In England, at this day, if elections were open to all classes of people, the property of landed proprietors would be insecure. An agrarian law would soon take place. If these observations be just, our government ought to secure the permanent interests of the country against innovation. Landholders ought to have a share in the government, to support these invaluable interests, and to balance and check the other. They ought to be so constituted as to protect the minority of the opulent against the majority. The Senate, therefore, ought to be this body; and to answer these purposes, they ought to have permanency and stability.

—James Madison, quoted in Notes of the Secret Debates of the Federal Convention of 1787 by Robert Yates

tag: div

text: On Thursday, June 7, it was proposed that senators should be chosen directly by the state legislatures, instead of by popular vote, as this method was more likely to preserve the power of the upper classes. Convention delegate Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts observed that "the great mercantile interest and of stockholders, is not provided for in any mode of election-they will however be better represented if the State legislatures choose the second branch."[16] The proposal was carried unanimously.

text: The delegates also agreed with Madison that the executive function had to be independent of the legislature. In their aversion to kingly power, American legislatures had created state governments where the executive was beholden to the legislature, and by the late 1780s this was widely seen as being a source of paralysis.[6]:82 The Confederation government was the ultimate example of this.

text: Furthermore, in the English tradition, judges were seen as being agents of the King and his court, who represented him throughout his realm.[10] Madison believed that in the American states, this direct link between state executives and judges was a source of corruption through patronage, and thought the link had to be severed between the two, thus creating the "third branch" of the judiciary which had been without any direct precedent before this point.[10] Madison, however, did not believe that the judiciary should be truly independent, but rather beholden to the legislature rather than the executive. At the Convention, some sided with Madison that the legislature should choose judges, while others believed the president should choose judges. A compromise was eventually reached that the president should choose judges and the Senate confirm them.[6]:84

text: In a few areas, Madison's plan included provisions that had little support among the delegates. Few agreed with Madison that the legislature should be able to invalidate state laws, so the idea was dropped. While most thought there should be some mechanism to invalidate bad laws by congress, few agreed with Madison that a board of the executive and judges should decide on this. Instead, the power was given solely to the executive in the form of the veto. Many also thought this would be useful to protect the executive, whom many worried might become beholden to an imperial legislature.[6]:141 Also, during the deliberations, the New Jersey Plan was introduced, although it was more of a protest to the excessive national character of the Virginia plan, and was not seriously considered.[6]:230 The office of Vice President was also included later in the deliberations, mainly to provide the president a successor if he was unable to complete his term but also to provide presidential electors with an incentive to vote for at least one out of state candidate in addition to a "favorite son" from their own state or region.

text: The early debate[edit]

text: Each state was allowed to cast a single vote either for or against a proposal during the debates in accordance with the majority opinion of the state's delegates.[5]:83 Throughout the Convention, delegates would regularly come and go, with only 30–40 being present on a typical day.[5]:83 Consequently, if a state's delegates were equally divided in their views on a given proposal, or if too few of the state's delegates were in attendance to establish a quorum for the delegation when votes were being cast on a particular proposal, that state's delegation had essentially no effect on the outcome of the vote on the proposal. Thus, for example, after two of New York's three delegates abandoned the Convention in mid July with no intention of returning, New York was left unable to vote on any further proposals at the Convention, although Hamilton would continue to periodically attend and occasionally to speak during the debates.[5]:83

text:
All communities divide themselves into the few and the many. The first are the rich and well born, the other the mass of the people. The voice of the people has been said to be the voice of God; and however generally this maxim has been quoted and believed, it is not true in fact. The people are turbulent and changing; they seldom judge or determine right. Give therefore to the first class a distinct, permanent share in the government. They will check the unsteadiness of the second, and as they cannot receive any advantage by a change, they therefore will ever maintain good government. Can a democratic assembly, who annually revolve in the mass of the people, be supposed steadily to pursue the public good? Nothing but a permanent body can check the imprudence of democracy. Their turbulent and uncontroling disposition requires checks.

—Alexander Hamilton, quoted in Notes of the Secret Debates of the Federal Convention of 1787 by Robert Yates

text: The first area of major dispute was the manner by which the lower house would be apportioned. A minority wanted it to be apportioned so that all states would have equal weight, though this was never seriously considered. Most wanted it apportioned in accordance with some mixture of property and population.[6]:117 Though there was discussion on how to calculate property for this purpose, the issue of property was later dropped because of its difficulty, and an assumption that property would closely correlate to population.

text: Most accepted the desire among the slave states to count slaves as part of the population, although their servile status was raised as a major objection against this. The Three-Fifths Compromise assessing population by adding the number of free persons to three-fifths of "all other persons" (slaves) was agreed to without serious dispute.[6]:119 In 1783, when attempting to assess a national taxation system, the Confederation Congress had considered a three fifths ratio, which did not achieve unanimity.[6]:119[17] This compromise resulted in a large coalition of states, including the small slave states of South Carolina and Georgia, backing the Virginia plan and thus expanding the power of the primary coalition. That the lower house was to be elected directly by the voters was also accepted without major dispute.[6]:119

text: More contentious than the lower house was the question of the upper house. Few agreed with Madison that its members should be elected by the lower house. James Wilson suggested election by popular vote versus election by state legislature, but his proposal was shot down 10–1 by the delegates.[18] Most delegates didn't question the intelligence of the voters,[citation needed] rather what concerned them was the slowness by which information spread in the late 18th century.[6]:122

text: At the time of the Convention, they noted that local newspapers said little of current events, and what little they had was sketchy and dated. Local papers even said little about the meeting of the Convention.[citation needed] Alexander Hamilton proposed extending the term in office for senators to life, considering earlier proposals of four and seven years inefficient to enable the "rich and well born" to have a "distinct, permanent share in the government," which could "check the imprudence of democracy."[16] Moreover, Hamilton proposed that senators not be elected directly by the general public, but by "electors" chosen for that purpose.

text: Besides the problems of direct election, the new Constitution was seen as such a radical break with the old system, by which delegates were elected to the Confederation Congress by state legislatures, that the Convention agreed to retain this method of electing senators to make the constitutional change less radical.[6]:122 The more difficult problem was the issue of apportionment. The Connecticut delegation offered a compromise, whereby the number of representatives for each state in the lower house would be apportioned based on the relative size of the state's population, while the number of representatives in the upper house would be the same for all of the states, irrespective of size. The large states, fearing a diminution of their influence in the legislature under this plan, opposed this proposal. Unable to reach agreement, the delegates decided to leave this issue for further consideration later during the meeting.

text: The delegates couldn't agree on whether the executive should be a single person, or a board of three. Many wished to limit the power of the executive and thus supported the proposal to divide the executive power between three persons.[6]:134 The possible problems of this system, in addition to the knowledge that George Washington would probably be the first president,[citation needed] calmed the fears enough so that the proponents of a singular executive could accumulate a large coalition.[6]:134 This issue came up occasionally after the matter was settled, but was never again seriously doubted.

text: Another issue concerned the election of the president. Few agreed with Madison that the executive should be elected by the legislature. There was widespread concern with direct election, because information diffused so slowly in the late 18th century, and because of concerns that people would only vote for candidates from their state or region. A vocal minority wanted the national executive to be chosen by the governors of the states.[6]:136

text: The issue was one of the last major issues to be resolved, and was done so in the electoral college. At the time, before the formation of modern political parties, there was widespread concern that candidates would routinely fail to secure a majority of electors in the electoral college. The method of resolving this problem therefore was a contested issue. Most thought that the house should then choose the president, since it most closely reflected the will of the people. This caused dissension among delegates from smaller states, who realized that this would put their states at a disadvantage. To resolve this dispute, the Convention agreed that the house would elect the president if no candidate had an electoral college majority, but that each state delegation would vote as a bloc, rather than individually.[6]:136

text: As the Convention was entering its second full month of deliberations, it was decided that further consideration of the prickly question of how to apportion representatives in the national legislature should be referred to a committee composed of one delegate from each of the eleven states that were present at that time at the Convention. The members of this "Grand Committee," as it has come to be known, included Elbridge Gerry, Oliver Ellsworth, Robert Yates, William Paterson, Gunning Bedford, Jr., George Mason, William Davie, John Rutledge, Abraham Baldwin, and Benjamin Franklin. In its report to the Convention on July 5, the committee offered a compromise. The large states had opposed the Connecticut Compromise, because they felt it gave too much power to the smaller states. The Grand Committee's proposal added the requirement that revenue bills originate in the lower house and not be subject to modification by the upper house (although this Origination Clause would later be modified so that revenue bills could be amended in the upper house, or Senate).[6]:199 With this modification, the Convention in a close vote adopted the compromise on July 16. Nationalist delegates remained bitterly opposed, however, until on July 23 they succeeded in further modifying the compromise to give members of the Senate individual voting power, rather than having votes taken by each state's representatives en bloc, as had occurred in Congress under the Articles of Confederation.[19] This accomplished the nationalist goal of preventing state governments from having a direct say in Congress's choice to make national laws.[20] The final document was thus a mixture of Madison's original "national" constitution and the desired "federal" Constitution that many of the delegates sought.[6]:199

text: The first draft[edit]

text: The Convention adjourned from July 26 to August 6 to await the report of the Committee of Detail, which was to produce a first draft of the Constitution. It was chaired by John Rutledge, with the other members including Edmund Randolph, Oliver Ellsworth, James Wilson, and Nathaniel Gorham.

text: Though the committee did not record minutes of its proceedings, three key surviving documents offer clues to the committee's handiwork: an outline by Randolph with edits by Rutledge, extensive notes and a second draft by Wilson, also with Rutledge's edits, and the committee's final report to the Convention.[21]:168 From this evidence it is thought that the committee used the original Virginia Plan, the decisions of the Convention on modifications to that plan, and other sources, such as the Articles of Confederation, provisions of the state constitutions, and even Charles Pinckney's plan, to produce the first full draft,[6]:269–70[21]:165 which author David O. Stewart has called a "remarkable copy-and-paste job."[21]:165

text: Randolph adopted two rules in preparing his initial outline: that the Constitution should only include essential principles, avoiding minor provisions that would change over time, and that it should be stated in simple and precise language.[6]:270

text: Much of what was included in the committee's report consisted of numerous details that the Convention had never discussed but which the committee correctly viewed as uncontroversial and unlikely to be challenged; and as such, much of the committee's proposal would ultimately be incorporated into the final version of the Constitution without debate.[21]:169 Examples of these details included the Speech and Debate Clause, which grants members of Congress immunity for comments made in their jobs, and the rules for organizing the House of Representatives and the Senate.

text: However, Rutledge, himself a former state governor, was determined that while the new national government should be stronger than the Confederation government had been, the national government's power over the states should not be limitless; and at Rutledge's urging, the committee went beyond what the Convention had proposed. As Stewart describes it, the committee "hijacked" and remade the Constitution, altering critical agreements the Convention delegates had already made, enhancing the powers of the states at the expense of the national government, and adding several far-reaching provisions that the Convention had never discussed.[21]:165

text: The first major change, insisted on by Rutledge, was meant to sharply curtail the essentially unlimited powers to legislate "in all cases for the general interests of the Union" that the Convention only two weeks earlier had agreed to grant the Congress. Rutledge and Randolph worried that the broad powers implied in the language agreed on by the Convention would have given the national government too much power at the expense of the states. In Randolph's outline the committee replaced that language with a list of 18 specific "enumerated" powers, many adopted from the Articles of Confederation, that would strictly limit the Congress' authority to measures such as imposing taxes, making treaties, going to war, and establishing post offices.[6]:273–74[21]:170–71 Rutledge, however, was not able to completely convince all of the members of the committee to accept the change. Over the course of a series of drafts, a catchall provision (the "Necessary and Proper Clause") was eventually added, most likely by Wilson, a nationalist little concerned with the sovereignty of individual states, giving the Congress the broad power "to make all Laws that shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof."[6]:274[21]:171–72 Another revision of Wilson's draft also placed eight specific limits on the states, such as barring them from independently entering into treaties and from printing their own money, providing a certain degree of balance to the limits on the national government intended by Rutledge's list of enumerated powers.[6]:274–75[21]:172 In addition, Wilson's draft modified the language of the Supremacy Clause adopted by the Convention, to ensure that national law would take precedence over inconsistent state laws.[21]:172

text: These changes set the final balance between the national and state governments that would be entered into the final document, as the Convention never challenged this dual-sovereignty between nation and state that had been fashioned by Rutledge and Wilson.[21]:172

text: Another set of radical changes introduced by the Committee of Detail proved far more contentious when the committee's report was presented to the Convention. On the day the Convention had agreed to appoint the committee, Southerner Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, of South Carolina, had warned of dire consequences should the committee fail to include protections for slavery in the Southern states, or allow for taxing of Southern agricultural exports.[6]:269, 275[21]:173 Pinckney and his fellow Southern delegates must have been delighted to see that the committee had included three provisions that explicitly restricted the Congress' authority in ways favorable to Southern interests. The proposed language would bar the Congress from ever interfering with the slave trade. It would also prohibit taxation of exports, and would require that any legislation concerning regulation of foreign commerce through tariffs or quotas (that is, any laws akin to England's "Navigation Acts") pass only with two-thirds majorities of both houses of Congress. While much of the rest of the committee's report would be accepted without serious challenge on the Convention floor, these last three proposals would provoke outrage from Northern delegates and slavery opponents.[6]:275[21]:173–74

text: The final report of the committee, which became the first draft of the Constitution, was the first workable constitutional plan, as Madison's Virginia Plan had simply been an outline of goals and a broad structure. Even after it issued this report, the committee continued to meet off and on until early September.

text: Further modifications and concluding debate[edit]

text: Another month of discussion and relatively minor refinement followed, during which several attempts were made to alter the Rutledge draft, though few were successful. Some wanted to add property qualifications for people to hold office, while others wanted to prevent the national government from issuing paper money.[21]:187 Madison in particular wanted to push the Constitution back in the direction of his Virginia plan.

text: One important change that did make it into the final version included the agreement between northern and southern delegates to empower Congress to end the slave trade starting in 1808. Southern and northern delegates also agreed to strengthen the Fugitive Slave Clause in exchange for removing a requirement that two-thirds of Congress agree on "navigation acts" (regulations of commerce between states and foreign governments). The two-thirds requirement was favored by southern delegates, who thought Congress might pass navigation acts that would be economically harmful to slaveholders.[21]:196

text: Once the Convention had finished amending the first draft from the Committee of Detail, a new set of unresolved questions were sent to several different committees for resolution. The Committee of Detail was considering several questions related to habeas corpus, freedom of the press, and an executive council to advise the president. Two committees addressed questions related to the slave trade and the assumption of war debts.

text: A new committee was created, the Committee on Postponed Parts, to address other questions that had been postponed. Its members, such as Madison, were delegates who had shown a greater desire for compromise and were chosen for this reason as most in the Convention wanted to finish their work and go home.[21]:207 The committee dealt with questions related to the taxes, war making, patents and copyrights, relations with Indian tribes, and Franklin's compromise to require money bills to originate in the House. The biggest issue they addressed was the presidency, and the final compromise was written by Madison with the committee's input.[21]:209 They adopted Wilson's earlier plan for choosing the president by an electoral college, and settled on the method of choosing the president if no candidate had an electoral college majority, which many such as Madison thought would be "nineteen times out of twenty".

text: The committee also shortened the president's term from seven years to four years, freed the president to seek re-election after an initial term, and moved impeachment trials from the courts to the Senate. They also created the office of the vice president, whose only roles were to succeed a president unable to complete a term of office, to preside over the Senate, and to cast tie-breaking votes in the Senate. The committee transferred important powers from the Senate to the president, for example the power to make treaties and appoint ambassadors.[21]:212 One controversial issue throughout much of the Convention had been the length of the president's term, and whether the president was to be term limited. The problem had resulted from the understanding that the president would be chosen by Congress; the decision to have the president be chosen instead by an electoral college reduced the chance of the president becoming beholden to Congress, so a shorter term with eligibility for re-election became a viable option.

text: Near the end of the Convention, Gerry, Randolph, and Mason emerged as the main force of opposition. Their fears were increased as the Convention moved from Madison's vague Virginia Plan to the concrete plan of Rutledge's Committee of Detail.[21]:235 Some have argued that Randolph's attacks on the Constitution were motivated by political ambition, in particular his anticipation of possibly facing rival Patrick Henry in a future election. The main objection of the three was the compromise that would allow Congress to pass "navigation acts" with a simple majority in exchange for strengthened slave provisions.[21]:236 Among their other objections was an opposition to the office of vice president.

text: Though most of their complaints did not result in changes, a couple did. Mason succeeded in adding "high crimes and misdemeanors" to the impeachment clause. Gerry also convinced the Convention to include a second method for ratification of amendments. The report out of the Committee of Detail had included only one mechanism for constitutional amendment, in which two-thirds of the states had to ask Congress to convene a convention for consideration of amendments. Upon Gerry's urging, the Convention added back the Virginia Plan's original method whereby Congress would propose amendments that the states would then ratify.[21]:238 All amendments to the Constitution, save the 21st amendment, have been made through this latter method.

text: Despite their successes, these three dissenters grew increasingly unpopular as most other delegates wanted to bring the Convention's business to an end and return home. As the Convention was drawing to a conclusion, and delegates prepared to refer the Constitution to the Committee on Style to pen the final version, one delegate raised an objection over civil trials. He wanted to guarantee the right to a jury trial in civil matters, and Mason saw in this a larger opportunity. Mason told the Convention that the constitution should include a bill of rights, which he thought could be prepared in a few hours. Gerry agreed, though the rest of the committee overruled them. They wanted to go home, and thought this was nothing more than another delaying tactic.[21]:241

text: Few at the time realized how important the issue would become, with the absence of a bill of rights becoming the main argument of the anti-Federalists against ratification. Most of the Convention's delegates thought that states already protected individual rights, and that the Constitution did not authorize the national government to take away rights, so there was no need to include protections of rights. Once the Convention moved beyond this point, the delegates addressed a couple of last-minute issues. Importantly, they modified the language that required spending bills to originate in the House of Representatives and be flatly accepted or rejected, unmodified, by the Senate. The new language empowered the Senate to modify spending bills proposed by the House.[21]:243

text: Drafting and signing[edit]

text: Once the final modifications had been made, the Committee of Style and Arrangement was appointed "to revise the style of and arrange the articles which had been agreed to by the house." Unlike other committees, whose members were named so the committees included members from different regions, this final committee included no champions of the small states. Its members were mostly in favor of a strong national government and unsympathetic to calls for states' rights.[21]:229–30 They were William Samuel Johnson (Connecticut), Alexander Hamilton (New York), Gouverneur Morris (Pennsylvania), James Madison (Virginia), and Rufus King (Massachusetts). On Wednesday, September 12, the report of the "committee of style" was ordered printed for the convenience of the delegates. For three days, the Convention compared this final version with the proceedings of the Convention. The Constitution was then ordered engrossed on Saturday, September 15 by Jacob Shallus, and was submitted for signing on September 17. It made at least one important change to what the Convention had agreed to; King wanted to prevent states from interfering in contracts. Although the Convention never took up the matter, his language was now inserted, creating the contract clause.[21]:243

text: Gouverneur Morris is credited, both now and then, as the chief draftsman of the final document, including the stirring preamble. Not all the delegates were pleased with the results; thirteen left before the ceremony, and three of those remaining refused to sign: Edmund Randolph of Virginia, George Mason of Virginia, and Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts. George Mason demanded a Bill of Rights if he was to support the Constitution. The Bill of Rights was not included in the Constitution submitted to the states for ratification, but many states ratified the Constitution with the understanding that a bill of rights would soon follow.[23] Shortly before the document was to be signed, Gorham proposed to lower the size of congressional districts from 40,000 to 30,000 citizens. A similar measure had been proposed earlier, and failed by one vote. George Washington spoke up here, making his only substantive contribution to the text of the Constitution in supporting this move. The Convention adopted it without further debate. Gorham would sign the document, although he had openly doubted whether the United States would remain a single, unified nation for more than 150 years.[21]:112 Ultimately, 39 of the original 55 delegates ended up signing, but it is likely that none were completely satisfied. Their views were summed up by Benjamin Franklin, who said,

text: I confess that There are several parts of this Constitution which I do not at present approve, but I am not sure I shall never approve them. ... I doubt too whether any other Convention we can obtain, may be able to make a better Constitution. ... It therefore astonishes me, Sir, to find this system approaching so near to perfection as it does; and I think it will astonish our enemies ...[24]

text: Rhode Island never sent delegates, and two of New York's three delegates did not stay at the Convention for long. Therefore, as George Washington stated, the document was executed by "eleven states, and Colonel Hamilton."[21]:244 Washington signed the document first, and then moving by state delegation from north to south, as had been the custom throughout the Convention, the delegates filed to the front of the room to sign their names.

text: At the time the document was signed, Franklin gave a persuasive speech involving an anecdote on a sun that was painted on the back of Washington's Chippendale chair.[25] As recounted in Madison's notes:

text: Whilst the last members were signing it Doctor. Franklin looking towards the Presidents Chair, at the back of which a rising sun happened to be painted, observed to a few members near him, that Painters had found it difficult to distinguish in their art a rising from a setting sun. I have said he, often and often in the course of the Session, and the vicissitudes of my hopes and fears as to its issue, looked at that behind the President without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting: But now at length I have the happiness to know that it is a rising and not a setting Sun.[25][26]

text: The Constitution was then submitted to the states for ratification, pursuant to its own Article VII.[27]

text: Proposed plans[edit]

text: Several plans were introduced, with the most important plan being that of James Madison (the Virginia Plan). The Convention's work was mostly a matter of modifying this plan. Charles Pinckney also introduced a plan, although this wasn't considered and its exact character has been lost to history. After the Convention was well under way, the New Jersey Plan was introduced though never seriously considered.[6]:230 It was mainly a protest to what some delegates thought was the excessively radical change from the Articles of Confederation.[6]:230 Alexander Hamilton also offered a plan after the Convention was well under way, though it included an executive serving for life and therefore the delegates felt it too closely resembled a monarchy.[6]:137 Historians are unsure how serious he was about this, and some have speculated that he may have done it to make Madison's plan look moderate by comparison.[6]:137 The Connecticut Compromise wasn't a plan but one of several compromises offered by the Connecticut delegation. It was key to the ultimate ratification of the constitution, but was only included after being modified by Benjamin Franklin in order to make it more appealing to larger states.[6]:199

text: Virginia Plan[edit]

text: Prior to the start of the Convention, the Virginian delegates met and, drawing largely from Madison's suggestions, came up with what came to be known as the Virginia Plan, also known as the Large State Plan.[28] For this reason, James Madison is sometimes called the Father of the Constitution.[28] Presented by Virginia governor Edmund Randolph on May 29, 1787, the Virginia Plan proposed a very powerful bicameral legislature.[28] Both houses of the legislature would be determined proportionately.[28] The lower house would be elected by the people, and the upper house would be elected by the lower house.[28] The executive would exist solely to ensure that the will of the legislature was carried out and would therefore be selected by the legislature.[28] The Virginia Plan also created a judiciary, and gave both the executive and some of the judiciary the power to veto, subject to override.

text: New Jersey Plan[edit]

text: After the Virginia Plan was introduced, New Jersey delegate William Paterson asked for an adjournment to contemplate the Plan.[28] Under the Articles of Confederation, each state had equal representation in Congress, exercising one vote each.[28] The Virginia Plan threatened to limit the smaller states' power by making both houses of the legislature proportionate to population. On June 14 and 15, 1787, a small-state caucus met to create a response to the Virginia Plan. The result was the New Jersey Plan, otherwise known as the Small State Plan.[28]

text: Paterson's New Jersey Plan was ultimately a rebuttal to the Virginia Plan, and was much closer to the initial call for the Convention: drafting amendments to the Articles of Confederation to fix the problems in it.[28] Under the New Jersey Plan, the existing Continental Congress would remain, but it would be granted new powers, such as the power to levy taxes and force their collection.[28] An executive branch was created, to be elected by Congress (the plan allowed for a multi-person executive).[28] The executives would serve a single term and were subject to recall on the request of state governors.[28] The plan also created a judiciary that would serve for life, to be appointed by the executives.[28] Lastly, any laws set by Congress would take precedence over state laws.[28] When Paterson reported the plan to the Convention on June 15, 1787, it was ultimately rejected, but it gave the smaller states a rallying point for their interests.[28]

text: Hamilton's plan[edit]

text: Unsatisfied with the New Jersey Plan and the Virginia Plan, Alexander Hamilton proposed his own plan. It also was known as the British Plan, because of its resemblance to the British system of strong centralized government.[28] In his plan, Hamilton advocated virtually doing away with state sovereignty and consolidating the states into a single nation.[28] The plan featured a bicameral legislature, the lower house elected by the people for three years. The upper house would be elected by electors chosen by the people and would serve for life.[28] The plan also gave the Governor, an executive elected by electors for a life-term of service, an absolute veto over bills.[28] State governors would be appointed by the national legislature,[28] and the national legislature had veto power over any state legislation.[28]

text: Hamilton presented his plan to the Convention on June 18, 1787.[28] The plan was perceived as a well-thought-out plan, but it was not considered, because it resembled the British system too closely.[28] It also contemplated the loss of most state authority, which the states were unwilling to allow.

text: Pinckney's plan[edit]

text: Immediately after Randolph finished laying out the Virginia Plan, Charles Pinckney of South Carolina presented his own plan to the Convention. As Pinckney did not write it down, the only evidence of the plan are Madison's notes,[29] so the details are somewhat vague. It was a confederation, or treaty, among the thirteen states. There was to be a bicameral legislature made up of a Senate and a House of Delegates. The House would have one member for every one thousand inhabitants. The House would elect Senators who would serve by rotation for four years and represent one of four regions. Congress would meet in a joint session to elect a President, and would also appoint members of the cabinet. Congress, in joint session, would serve as the court of appeal of last resort in disputes between states. Pinckney did also provide for a supreme Federal Judicial Court. The Pinckney plan was not debated, but it may have been referred to by the Committee of Detail.[30]

text: Connecticut Compromise[edit]

text: The Connecticut Compromise, forged by Roger Sherman from Connecticut, was proposed on June 11.[28] In a sense it blended the Virginia (large-state) and New Jersey (small-state) proposals. Ultimately, however, its main contribution was in determining the apportionment of the Senate, and thus retaining a federal character in the constitution. Sherman sided with the two-house national legislature of the Virginia Plan, but proposed "That the proportion of suffrage in the 1st. branch [house] should be according to the respective numbers of free inhabitants; and that in the second branch or Senate, each State should have one vote and no more."[28] This plan failed at first, but on July 23 the question was finally settled.[28]

text: What was ultimately included in the constitution was a modified form of this plan. In the Grand Committee, Benjamin Franklin successfully proposed the requirement that revenue bills originate in the house. But the final July 16 vote on the compromise still left the Senate looking like the Confederation Congress. In the preceding weeks of debate, Madison, King, and Gouverneur Morris each vigorously opposed the compromise for this reason.[31] Then on July 23, just before most of the convention's work was referred to the Committee of Detail, Morris and King moved that state representatives in the Senate be given individual votes, rather than voting en bloc, as they had in the Confederation Congress. Oliver Ellsworth of Connecticut, a leading proponent of the compromise, supported their motion, and the Convention adopted it.[19] As the personally powerful senators were to receive terms much longer than the state legislators who appointed them, they became substantially independent. The compromise nonetheless continued to serve the self-interest of small-state political leaders, who were assured of access to more seats in the Senate than they might otherwise have obtained.[20]

text: Slavery[edit]

text: Among the most controversial issues confronting the delegates was that of slavery. Slavery was widespread in the states at the time of the Convention.[21]:68 At least a third of the Convention's 55 delegates owned slaves, including all of the delegates from Virginia and South Carolina.[21]:68–69 Slaves comprised approximately one-fifth of the population of the states;[32]:139 and apart from northernmost New England, where slavery had largely been eliminated, slaves lived throughout all regions of the country.[32]:132 The majority of the slaves (more than 90%),[32]:132 however, lived in the South, where approximately 1 in 3 families owned slaves (in the largest and wealthiest state, Virginia, that figure was nearly 1 in 2 families).[32]:135 The entire agrarian economy of the South was based on slave labor, and the Southern delegates to the Convention were unwilling to accept any proposals that they believed would threaten the institution.

text: Commerce and Slave Trade Compromise[edit]

text: Whether slavery was to be regulated under the new Constitution was a matter of such intense conflict between the North and South that several Southern states refused to join the Union if slavery were not to be allowed. Delegates opposed to slavery were forced to yield in their demands that slavery practiced within the confines of the new nation be completely outlawed. However, they continued to argue that the Constitution should prohibit the states from participating in the international slave trade, including in the importation of new slaves from Africa and the export of slaves to other countries. The Convention postponed making a final decision on the international slave trade until late in the deliberations because of the contentious nature of the issue. During the Convention's late July recess, the Committee of Detail had inserted language that would prohibit the federal government from attempting to ban international slave trading and from imposing taxes on the purchase or sale of slaves. The Convention could not agree on these provisions when the subject came up again in late August, so they referred the matter to an eleven-member committee for further discussion. This committee helped work out a compromise: Congress would have the power to ban the international slave trade, but not for another twenty years (that is, not until 1808). In exchange for this concession, the federal government's power to regulate foreign commerce would be strengthened by provisions that allowed for taxation of slave trades in the international market and that reduced the requirement for passage of navigation acts from two-thirds majorities of both houses of Congress to simple majorities.[6]:318–29

text: Three-Fifths Compromise[edit]

text: Another contentious slavery-related question was whether slaves would be counted as part of the population in determining representation of the states in the Congress, or would instead be considered property and as such not be considered for purposes of representation.[33] Delegates from states with a large population of slaves argued that slaves should be considered persons in determining representation, but as property if the new government were to levy taxes on the states on the basis of population.[33] Delegates from states where slavery had become rare argued that slaves should be included in taxation, but not in determining representation.[33] Finally, delegate James Wilson proposed the Three-Fifths Compromise.[28] This was eventually adopted by the Convention.

text: Framers of the Constitution[edit]

text: Fifty-five delegates attended sessions of the Constitutional Convention, and are considered the Framers of the Constitution, although only 39 delegates actually signed.[34][35] The states had originally appointed 70 representatives to the Convention, but a number of the appointees did not accept or could not attend, leaving 55 who would ultimately craft the Constitution.[34]

text: Almost all of the 55 Framers had taken part in the Revolution, with at least 29 having served in the Continental forces, most in positions of command.[36] All but two or three had served in colonial or state government during their careers.[6]:65 The vast majority (about 75%) of the delegates were or had been members of the Confederation Congress, and many had been members of the Continental Congress during the Revolution.[21]:25 Several had been state governors.[6]:65[36] Just two delegates, Roger Sherman and Robert Morris, would be signatories to all three of the nation's founding documents: the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution.[36]

text: More than half of the delegates had trained as lawyers (several had even been judges), although only about a quarter had practiced law as their principal means of business. There were also merchants, manufacturers, shippers, land speculators, bankers or financiers, two or three physicians, a minister, and several small farmers.[6]:65–68[36] Of the 25 who owned slaves, 16 depended on slave labor to run the plantations or other businesses that formed the mainstay of their income. Most of the delegates were landowners with substantial holdings, and most, with the possible exception of Roger Sherman and William Few, were very comfortably wealthy.[6]:66–67 George Washington and Robert Morris were among the wealthiest men in the entire country.[36]

text:
Connecticut

Oliver Ellsworth*
William Samuel Johnson
Roger Sherman

text:
Delaware

Richard Bassett
Gunning Bedford, Jr.
Jacob Broom
John Dickinson
George Read

text:
Georgia

Abraham Baldwin
William Few
William Houstoun*
William Pierce*

text:
Maryland

Daniel Carroll
Luther Martin*
James McHenry
John Francis Mercer*
Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer

text:
Massachusetts

Elbridge Gerry*
Nathaniel Gorham
Rufus King
Caleb Strong*

text:
New Hampshire

Nicholas Gilman
John Langdon

text:
New Jersey

David Brearley
Jonathan Dayton
William Houston*
William Livingston
William Paterson

text:
New York

Alexander Hamilton
John Lansing, Jr.*
Robert Yates*

text:
North Carolina

William Blount
William Richardson Davie*
Alexander Martin*
Richard Dobbs Spaight
Hugh Williamson

text:
Pennsylvania

George Clymer
Thomas Fitzsimons
Benjamin Franklin
Jared Ingersoll
Thomas Mifflin
Gouverneur Morris
Robert Morris
James Wilson

text:
South Carolina

Pierce Butler
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney
Charles Pinckney
John Rutledge

text:
Virginia

John Blair
James Madison
George Mason*
James McClurg*
Edmund Randolph*
George Washington
George Wythe*

text:
Rhode Island
Rhode Island did not send delegates to the Convention.

text: (*) Did not sign the final draft of the U.S. Constitution. Randolph, Mason, and Gerry were the only three present in Philadelphia at the time who refused to sign.

text: Several prominent Founders are notable for not participating in the Constitutional Convention. Thomas Jefferson was abroad, serving as the minister to France (nonetheless, Jefferson, in a letter to John Adams, would describe the delegates approvingly as a gathering of "demi-gods").[37]:13 John Adams was in Britain, serving as minister to that country, but he wrote home to encourage the delegates. Patrick Henry refused to participate because he "smelt a rat in Philadelphia, tending toward the monarchy." Also absent were John Hancock and Samuel Adams. Many of the states' older and more experienced leaders may have simply been too busy with the local affairs of their states to attend the Convention,[6]:65 which had originally been planned to strengthen the existing Articles of Confederation, not to write a constitution for a completely new national government.


document_title: List of superhero debuts

question_text: who came first captain marvel or captain america

root

text: List of superhero debuts

text:
Character / Team / Series
Year Debuted
Creator/s
First Appearance

Spring Heeled Jack
1878
George Augustus Sala or Alfred Burrage as "Charlton Lea"
Spring-Heeled Jack, the Terror of London

tag: table

text: The folkloric Spring-heeled Jack came to be featured in a series of Penny Dreadfuls as a villain. However, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, he was reinvented as a crime-fighter with a disguise, secret lair, and gadgets, hallmarks of superheroes.[3]

tag: p

text: Newspaper comics[edit]

text:
Character / Team / Series
Year Debuted
Creator/s
First Appearance

Hugo Hercules
1902
Wilhelm Heinrich Detlev Körner
Chicago Tribune

text: Despite its short run, it's widely seen as the earliest superhero fiction comic.

text: Play[edit]

text:
Character / Team / Series
Year Debuted
Creator/s
First Appearance

The Scarlet Pimpernel
1903
Baroness Emmuska Orczy
The Scarlet Pimpernel

text: Often cited as perhaps the earliest superhero akin to those to become popularized through American comic books.[4][5][6][7]

text: Magazine[edit]

text:
Character / Team / Series
Year Debuted
Creator/s
First Appearance

John Carter of Mars
1911
Edgar Rice Burroughs
A Princess of Mars

Tarzan the Apeman
1912
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Tarzan of the Apes

The Night Wind
1913
Varick Vanardy[8] (Frederick Van Rensselaer Dey)
Alias the Night Wind

The Gray Seal
1914
Frank L. Packard
"The Adventures of Jimmie Dale" 1917 book version of 1914 and 1915 stories in People's Magazine

The Scarecrow
1915
Russell Thorndike
Doctor Syn: A Tale of the Romney Marsh

Zorro
1919
Johnston McCulley
"The Curse of Capistrano" All Weekly Story

text: Notable non-superhero characters that influenced the superhero genre[edit]

text:
Character / Team
Year Debuted
Creator/s
Media
First appearance

The Red Shadow
1926
Oscar Hammerstein II, Otto Harbach, and Frank Mandel
Play
The Desert Song

Buck Rogers
January 7, 1929
Philip Francis Nowlan
Newspaper Comic
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century A.D adapted from the story "Armageddon 2419 A.D." (Amazing Stories, August, 1928).

text: Radio[edit]

text:
Character / Team / Series
Year Debuted
Creator/s
First Appearance

The Shadow (as announcer voice)
1930 (July 31)
Maxwell Grant (Walter B. Gibson)
Detective Stories

The Lone Ranger
1933 (January 30)
George W. Trendle
The Lone Ranger

Tonto
1933 (February 25)
Fran Striker
The Lone Ranger

The Green Hornet and Kato
1936 (January 31)
George W. Trendle and Fran Striker
The Green Hornet

text: Pulp fiction[edit]

text:
Character / Team / Series
Year Debuted
Creator/s
First Appearance

The Shadow (as character)
1931 (April)
Maxwell Grant (Walter B. Gibson)
"The Living Shadow" The Shadow Magazine #1

Conan the Barbarian
1932 (December)
Robert E. Howard
"The Phoenix on the Sword" Weird Tales

Doc Savage
1933 (March)
Kenneth Robeson (Lester Dent)
The Man of Bronze

The Avenger
1939 (September)
Kenneth Robeson (Paul Ernst)
"Justice, Inc."The Avenger Magazine #1

text: Newspaper comics[edit]

text:
Character / Team / Series
Year Debuted
Creator/s
Series

Mandrake the Magician
1934 (June 11)
Lee Falk
Mandrake the Magician

The Phantom Magician[9]
1935 (April 15)
Mel Graff (fr)
The Adventures of Patsy[10]

The Phantom
1936 (February 17)
Lee Falk
The Phantom

text: Other media[edit]

text:
Character / Team
Year Debuted
Creator/s
Media

Ôgon Batto (the Golden Bat)
1930
Takeo Nagamatsu
Kamishibai
(Japanese scroll show)

Hugo Danner
1930
Philip Wylie
Gladiator (novel)

text:
Character / Team
Year Debuted
Creator/s
Media

Dan Dunn
1933
Norman Marsh
Original Comic Book Character

Dick Tracy
1931 (October 4)
Chester Gould
Newspaper Comic

Flash Gordon
1934 (January 7)
Alex Raymond
Newspaper Comic

text: Comic book[edit]

text:
Character / Team
Year Debuted
Company
Creator/s
First Appearance

Doctor Occult (Doctor Mystic)
1935 (October)
DC
Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster
New Fun Comics #6

The Clock
1936 (November)
Comics Magazine Co
George Brenner
Funny Pages #6 or Funny Picture Stories #1

Sheena, Queen of the Jungle
January 1937 (in Britain, 1938 in USA)
Fiction House
Will Eisner and S.M. "Jerry" Iger
Wags #1

Olga Mesmer
August 1937
Culture Publications
Watt Dell
Spicy Mystery Stories

Superman (Clark Kent)
1938 (June)
DC
Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster
Action Comics #1

Zatara
1938 (June)
DC
Fred Guardineer
Action Comics #1

Americommando (Harold "Tex" Thompson)
1938 (June)
DC
Ken Fitch, Bernard Baily
Action Comics #1

Fatman (Bob Daley)
1938 (July)
DC
Ken Fitch, Bernard Baily
Action Comics #2

Arrow
1938 (September)
Centaur Publications
Paul Gustavson
Funny Pages vol. 2 #10 (or #21)

Crimson Avenger (Lee Travis)
1938 (October)
DC
Jim Chambers
Detective Comics #20

Batman (Bruce Wayne)
1939 (March)
DC
Bob Kane, Bill Finger
Detective Comics #27

Namor the Sub-Mariner
1939 (April)
Marvel/Timely
Bill Everett
Motion Picture Funnies Weekly #1

Wonder Man (Fox)
1939 (May)
Fox Publications
Will Eisner
Wonder Comics #1

The Flame (Gary Preston)
1939 (June)
Fox Publications
Will Eisner
Wonderworld Comics #3

Sandman (Wesley Dodds)
1939 (July)
DC
Gardner Fox, Bert Christman
World's Fair Comics #1

Blue Beetle (Dan Garret)
1939 (August)
Fox Publications
Charles Nicholas
Mystery Men Comics #1

Green Mask (Michael Shelby)
1939 (August)
Fox Publications
Walter Frehm
Mystery Men Comics #1

Bozo the Iron Man
1939 (August)
Quality Comics
George Brenner
Smash Comics #1

Amazing-Man (Centaur Publications)
1939 (September)
Centaur Publications
Bill Everett
Amazing-Man Comics #5

The Human Torch (Jim Hammond, original)
1939 (October)
Marvel/Timely
Carl Burgos
Marvel Comics #1

Angel (Thomas Halloway)
1939 (October)
Marvel/Timely
Paul Gustavson
Marvel Comics #1

Shock Gibson
1939 (October)
Brookwood Publications
Maurice Scott
Speed Comics #1

Ultra-Man (Gary Concord, Jr.)
1939 (November)
DC
Jon L. Blummer
All-American Comics #8

Doll Man
1939 (December)
Quality Comics
Will Eisner
Feature Comics #27

text: Newspaper comics[edit]

text:
Character / Team / Series
Year Debuted
Creator/s
Series

The Spirit
1940 (June 2)
Will Eisner
The Spirit

Invisible Scarlet O'Neil
1940 (June 3)
Russell Stamm
Invisible Scarlet O'Neil

text: Comic book[edit]

text:
Character / Team
Year Debuted
Company
Creator/s
First Appearance

Flash (Jay Garrick)
1940 (January)
DC
Gardner Fox, Harry Lampert
Flash Comics #1

Hawkman (Carter Hall)
1940 (January)
DC
Gardner Fox
Flash Comics #1

Johnny Thunder
1940 (January)
DC
John W. Wentworth, Stan Asch
Flash Comics #1

Whip (Rodney Gaynor)
1940 (January)
DC
John B. Wentworth, George Storm
Flash Comics #1

The Shield (Archie)
1940 (January)
MLJ/Archie
Harry Shorten, Irv Novick
Pep Comics #1

Captain Marvel (DC Comics)
1940 (February)
Fawcett Comics/DC
C. C. Beck, Bill Parker (comics)
Whiz Comics #2

Electro (comics)
1940 (February)
Marvel/Timely
Steve Dahlman
Marvel Mystery #4

Spectre (comics) (Jim Corrigan)
1940 (February)
DC
Jerry Siegel
More Fun Comics #52

Doc Strange
1940 (February)
Nedor Comics
Richard E. Hughes, Alexander Kostuk
Thrilling Comics #1

Hourman (Rex Tyler)
1940 (March)
DC
Ken Fitch, Bernard Bailey
Adventure Comics #48

Black Marvel (Daniel Lyons)
1940 (March)
Marvel/Timely
Al Gabriele and unknown writer
Mystic Comics #5

Blazing Skull (Mark Todd)
1940 (March)
Marvel/Timely

Mystic Comics #5

Robin (comics) (Dick Grayson, original)
1940 (April)
DC
Bob Kane, Bill Finger, Jerry Robinson
Detective Comics #38

Catwoman (Selina Kyle)
1940 (April)
DC
Bob Kane, Bill Finger
Batman #1

Bulletman and Bulletgirl
1940 (May)
Fawcett Comics/DC
Bill Parker (comics)
Nickel Comics #1

Doctor Fate (Kent Nelson & Nabu)
1940 (May)
DC
Gardner Fox, Howard Sherman
More Fun Comics #55

Scarlet Avenger
1940 (June)

Harry Shorten, Irv Novick
Zip Comics #1

Uncle Sam (comics)
1940 (July)
Quality Comics/DC
Will Eisner
National Comics #1

Green Lantern (Alan Scott, original)
1940 (July)
DC
Martin Nodell, Bill Finger
All-American Comics #16

The Red Bee
1940 (July)
Quality Comics/DC
Toni Blum, Charles Nicholas
Hit Comics #1

Daredevil (Gleason Publications)
1940 (September)
Gleason Publications
Jack Binder (comics)
Silver Streak #6

Atom (Al Pratt)
1940 (October)
DC
Ben Flinton, Bill O'Conner
All-American Comics #19

Vision (Timely Comics)
1940 (November)
Marvel/Timely
Joe Simon, Jack Kirby
Marvel Mystery Comics #13

Red Tornado (Ma Hunkel)
1940 (November)
DC
Sheldon Mayer
All-American Comics #20

Quicksilver (Max Mercury)
1940 (November)
Quality Comics/DC
Jack Cole (artist), Chuck Mazoujian
National Comics #5

Justice Society of America
1940 (Winter)
DC
Gardner Fox
All Star Comics #3

Black Terror
1941 (January)
Nedor Comics
Richard E. Hughes, Don Gabrielson
Exciting Comics #9

Professor Supermind and Son
1941 (February)
Dell Comics

Popular Comics #60

Captain America (Steve Rogers)
1941 (March)
Marvel/Timely
Joe Simon, Jack Kirby
Captain America Comics #1

Starman (Ted Knight) (Ted Knight)
1941 (April)
DC
Gardner Fox, Jack Burnley
Adventure Comics #61

Doctor Mid-Nite (Charles McNider)
1941 (April)
DC
Charles Reizenstein, Stanley Aschmeier
All-American Comics #25

Sargon the Sorcerer
1941 (May)
DC
John B. Wentworth, Howard Purcell
All American Comics #26

Hawkgirl (Shiera Sanders Hall)
1941 (July)
DC
Gardner Fox
Evelyn Gaines

All-Star Comics #5

Whizzer (Robert Frank)
1941 (August)
Marvel/Timely
Al Avison, Al Gabriele
USA Comics #1

American Crusader
1941 (August)
Nedor Comics
Writer and artist unknown
Thrilling Comics #19

Blackhawk (DC Comics)
1941 (August)
Quality Comics/DC
Will Eisner, Chuck Cuidera
Military Comics #1

Miss America (DC Comics)
1941 (August)
Quality Comics/DC

Military Comics #1

711 (Quality Comics)
1941 (August)
Quality Comics/DC
George Brenner
Police Comics #1

Human Bomb
1941 (August)
Quality Comics/DC
Paul Gustavson
Police Comics #1

Plastic Man
1941 (August)
Quality Comics/DC
Jack Cole (artist)
Police Comics #1

Phantom Lady
1941 (August)
Quality Comics/DC
Arthur Peddy
Police Comics #1

Nelvana of the Northern Lights
1941 (August)
Hillborough Studios (Canada)
Adrian Dingle
Triumph Comics #1

Johnny Quick (Johnny Chambers)
1941 (September)
DC
Mort Weisinger, Chad Grothkopf
More Fun Comics #71

Captain Flag
1941 (September)
MLJ/Archie
Joe Blair, Lin Streeter
Blue Ribbon Comics #16

Fighting Yank
1941 (September)
Nedor Comics
Richard Hughes, Jon Blummer
Startling Comics #10

Aquaman
1941 (November)
DC
Mort Weisinger, Paul Norris
More Fun Comics #73

Green Arrow (Oliver Queen) and Speedy (comics)
1941 (November)
DC
Mort Weisinger, Greg Papp
More Fun Comics #73

Sandy the Golden Boy
1941 (December)
DC
Joe Simon and Jack Kirby
Adventure Comics #69

Seven Soldiers of Victory
1941 (December)
DC
Mort Weisinger
Leading Comics #1

Wonder Woman (Diana Prince)
1941 (December)
DC
William Moulton Marston, H. G. Peter
All Star Comics #8 / Sensation Comics #1

Liberator (Nedor)
1941 (December)
Nedor Comics
Writer and artist unknown
Exciting Comics #15

Captain Marvel, Jr.
1941 (December)
Fawcett Comics/DC
Ed Herron, Mac Raboy
Whiz Comics #25

Wildcat (comics)
1942 (January)
DC
Bill Finger, Irwin Hasen
Sensation Comics #1

Mister Terrific (comics)(Terry Sloane)
1942 (January)
DC
Chuck Reizenstein, Hal Sharp
Sensation Comics #1

Air Wave
1942 (February)
DC
Murray Boltinoff or Mort Weisinger, and Lee Harris (illustrator)
Detective Comics #60

Johnny Canuck (as superhero)
1942 (February)
[Canada]
Leo Bachle
Dime Comics #1

Manhunter (comics) (Paul Kirk)
1942 (April)
DC
Jack Kirby, Joe Simon
Adventure Comics #73

Manhunter (comics) (Dan Richards)
1942 (March)
Quality Comics/DC

Police Comics #8

Robotman (Robert Crane)
1942 (April)
DC
Jerry Siegel, Leo Nowak
Star-Spangled Comics #7

Commando Yank
1942 (July)
Fawcett Comics/DC

Wow Comics #6

Captain Commando
1942 (August)

S.M. "Jerry" Iger, Alex Blum
Pep Comics #30

Kid Eternity
1942 (December)
Quality Comics/DC
Otto Binder, Sheldon Moldoff
Hit Comics #25

Mary Marvel
1942 (December)
Fawcett Comics/DC
Otto Binder, Marc Swayze
Captain Marvel Adventures #18

Canada Jack
1943 (March)

George Menendez Rae
Canadian Heroes Vol. 1, #5

Miss America (Marvel Comics)
1943 (November)
Marvel/Timely
Otto Binder, Al Gabriele
Marvel Mystery Comics #49

Grim Reaper (Nedor)
1944 (May)
Nedor Comics
Author unknown, artist Al Camy
Fighting Yank #7

Superboy (Clark Kent)
1945 (January)
DC
Don Cameron, Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster
More Fun Comics #101

All-Winners Squad
1946 (Fall)
Marvel/Timely
Martin Goodman (publisher), Bill Finger
All Winners Comics #19

Black Canary
1947 (August)
DC
Robert Kanigher, Carmine Infantino
Flash Comics #86

Moon Girl
1947 (Fall)

Gardner Fox, Sheldon Moldoff
The Happy Houligans #1

Golden Girl (Betsy Ross)
1947 (December)
Marvel/Timely

Captain America #1 (As Betsy Ross); Captain America #66 (As Golden Girl)

text: Other media[edit]

text:
Character / Team / Series
Year Debuted
Creator/s
First Appearance

Maximo
1940
Russell Winterbotham
Maximo, the Amazing Superman(Big Little Book)

text: Comic book[edit]

text:
Character / Team
Year Debuted
Company
Creator/s
First Appearance

Captain Comet
1951 (June)
DC
John Broome, Carmine Infantino
Strange Adventures #9

Phantom Stranger
1952 (August)
DC
John Broome, Carmine Infantino, Sy Barry
Phantom Stranger #1

Marvelman (later Miracleman)
1954 (February)
[U.K.]
Mick Anglo
Marvelman #25

Captain Flash
1954 (November)

Mike Sekowsky (artist, writer unknown)
Captain Flash #1

Martian Manhunter
1955 (November)
DC
Joseph Samachson, Joe Certa
Detective Comics #225

Batwoman (Kathy Kane, 1st ver)
1956 (July)
DC
Edmond Hamilton, Sheldon Moldoff
Detective Comics #233

Flash (Barry Allen, 2nd ver)
1956 (October)
DC
Robert Kanigher, Carmine Infantino
Showcase #4

Challengers of the Unknown
1957 (February)
DC
Jack Kirby
Showcase #6

Legion of Super-Heroes
1958 (April)
DC
Mort Weisinger, Otto Binder
Adventure Comics #247

Super Girl (tryout version)
1958 (August)
DC
Otto Binder, Al Plastino
Superman #123

Adam Strange
1958 (November)
DC
Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky
Showcase Comics #17

Herbie Popnecker
1958 (December)

Richard E. Hughes, Ogden Whitney
Forbidden Worlds #73

Lady Blackhawk
1959 (February)
DC
Jack Schiff and Dick Dillin
Blackhawks #133

Supergirl (Kara Zor-El)
1959 (May)
DC
Otto Binder, Al Plastino
Action Comics #252

The Fly (Archie Comics)
1959 (June)
Archie Comics
Joe Simon, Jack Kirby
The Double Life of Private Strong #1

Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) (Hal Jordan, 2nd ver)
1959 (October)
DC
Julius Schwartz, John Broome, Gil Kane
Showcase #22

Kid Flash
1959 (December)
DC
John Broome, Carmine Infantino
The Flash #110

text: Television[edit]

text:
Character / Team / Series
Year Debuted
Creator/s
First Appearance

Captain Video
1955 (April 1)

Captain Video

Gekko Kamen (Moonlight Mask)
1958
Kōhan Kawauchi
Moonlight Mask

text: Comic book[edit]

text:
Character / Team
Year Debuted
Company
Creator/s
First Appearance

Justice League
1960 (February)
DC
Gardner Fox
The Brave and the Bold #28

Captain Atom
1960 (March)
Charlton Comics/DC
Joe Gill, Steve Ditko
Space Adventures #33

Elongated Man
1960 (May)
DC
John Broome, Carmine Infantino
The Flash vol. 1 #112

Groot
1960 (November)
Marvel
Stan Lee, Jack Kirby
Tales to Astonish #13

Hawkman (Katar Hol, 2nd ver)
1961 (February)
DC
Gardner Fox, Joe Kubert
The Brave and the Bold #34

Flygirl
1961 (July)
Archie Comics
Robert Bernstein, John Rosenberger
Adventures of the Fly #13

The Jaguar
1961 (September)
Archie Comics
Robert Bernstein
The Adventures of the Jaguar #1

The Atom (Ray Palmer, 2nd ver)
1961 (October)
DC
Julius Schwartz, Gardner Fox, Gil Kane
Showcase #34

Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Human Torch (Johnny Storm), The Thing)
1961 (November)
Marvel
Stan Lee, Jack Kirby
The Fantastic Four #1

Ant-Man (Henry Pym)
1962 (January)
Marvel
Stan Lee, Jack Kirby
Tales to Astonish #27

The Hulk (Bruce Banner)
1962 (May)
Marvel
Stan Lee, Jack Kirby
The Incredible Hulk #1

Spider-Man (Peter Parker)
1962 (August)
Marvel
Stan Lee, Steve Ditko
Amazing Fantasy #15

Thor (Thor Odinson)
1962 (August)
Marvel
Stan Lee, Jack Kirby
Journey into Mystery #83

Doctor Solar
1962 (October)
Gold Key Comics
Paul S. Newman, Matt Murphy
Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom #1

Wonder Wart-Hog
1962
Underground
Gilbert Shelton
Bacchanal

Magnus, Robot Fighter
1963 (February)
Gold Key Comics
Chase Craig, Russ Manning
Magnus Robot Fighter 4000 A.D. #1

Iron Man (Tony Stark)
1963 (March)
Marvel
Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Don Heck
Tales of Suspense #39

Doom Patrol (The Chief, Robotman (Cliff Steele), Elasti-Girl (Rita Farr), Negative Man)
1963 (June)
DC
Bob Haney, Arnold Drake, Bruno Premiani
My Greatest Adventure #80

Wasp
1963 (June)
Marvel
Stan Lee, Jack Kirby
Tales to Astonish #44

Doctor Strange (Stephen Strange)
1963 (July)
Marvel
Stan Lee, Steve Ditko
Strange Tales #110

X-Men (Professor X, Cyclops, Angel (Warren Worthington), Beast, Iceman, Marvel Girl)
1963 (September)
Marvel
Stan Lee, Jack Kirby
X-Men #1

The Avengers
1963 (September)
Marvel
Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Dick Ayers
Avengers #1

Quicksilver
1964 (March)
Marvel
Stan Lee, Jack Kirby
X-Men #4

Scarlet Witch
1964 (March)
Marvel
Stan Lee, Jack Kirby
X-Men #4

Black Widow
1964 (April)
Marvel
Stan Lee, Don Rico, Don Heck
Tales of Suspense #52

Daredevil (Matt Murdock)
1964 (April)
Marvel
Stan Lee, Bill Everett
Daredevil #1

Hawkeye (Clint Barton)
1964 (July)
Marvel
Stan Lee, Don Heck
Tales of Suspense #57

Teen Titans
1964 (July)
DC
Robert Haney, Bruno Premiani
The Brave and the Bold #54

Wonder Man
1964 (October)
Marvel
Stan Lee, Jack Kirby
Avengers #9

Zatanna
1964 (November)
DC
Gardner Fox, Murphy Anderson
Hawkman #4

Metamorpho
1965 (January)
DC
Bob Haney, Ramona Fradon
The Brave and the Bold #57

Hercules
1965 (June)
Marvel
Stan Lee, Jack Kirby
Journey into Mystery Annual #1

Animal Man
1965 (September)
DC
Dave Wood, Carmine Infantino
Strange Adventures #180

Mighty Crusaders
1965
Archie Comics
Jerry Siegel, Paul Reinman
Fly-Man #31

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents
1965 (November)
Tower
Wally Wood
T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #1

Silver Surfer
1966 (March)
Marvel
Stan Lee, Jack Kirby
Fantastic Four #48

Black Panther
1966 (July)
Marvel
Stan Lee, Jack Kirby
Fantastic Four #52

Nightshade
1966 (September)
Charlton Comics/DC
Joe Gill, Steve Ditko
Captain Atom #82

Blue Beetle (Ted Kord, 2nd ver)
1966 (November)
Charlton Comics/DC
Steve Ditko
Captain Atom #83

Batgirl (Barbara Gordon)
1967 (January)
DC
Gardner Fox, Carmine Infantino
Detective Comics #359

Banshee
1967 (January)
Marvel
Roy Thomas, Werner Roth
X-Men #28

Question
1967 (June)
Charlton Comics/DC
Steve Ditko
Blue Beetle #1

Black Knight
1967 (December)
Marvel
Roy Thomas, John Buscema
Avengers #47

Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell)
1967 (December)
Marvel
Stan Lee, Gene Colan
Marvel Super Heroes #12

Carol Danvers (a.k.a. Ms. Marvel, Binary, Warbird)
1968 (March)
Marvel
Roy Thomas, Gene Colan
Marvel Super Heroes #13

The Creeper
1968 (March)
DC
Steve Ditko
Showcase #73

Vision
1968 (October)
Marvel
Roy Thomas, John Buscema
Avengers #57

Polaris
1968 (October)
Marvel
Arnold Drake, Don Heck, Werner Roth, Jim Steranko
X-Men #49

Guardians of the Galaxy (1st version)
1969 (January)
Marvel
Arnold Drake, Gene Colan
Marvel Super-Heroes #18

Havok
1969 (March)
Marvel
Arnold Drake, Don Heck, Neal Adams
X-Men #54

Falcon (Sam Wilson)
1969 (September)
Marvel
Stan Lee, Gene Colan
Captain America #117

text: Television[edit]

text:
Character / Team / Series
Year Debuted
Creator/s
First Appearance

Ultraman
1966
Eiji Tsuburaya
Ultraman

Captain Nice
1967 (January)
Buck Henry
Captain Nice

Mister Terrific (Stanley Beamish)
1967 (January)

Mr. Terrific

The Mighty Heroes
(Strong Man, Cuckoo Man, Tornado Man, Rope Man, Diaper Man)

1966
Ralph Bakshi
Mighty Mouse Playhouse

Space Ghost
1966
Alex Toth
William Hanna & Joseph Barbera

Space Ghost and Dino Boy

Birdman
1967
Alex Toth
William Hanna & Joseph Barbera

Birdman and the Galaxy Trio

Ultra Seven
1967
Eiji Tsuburaya
Ultra Seven

text: Radio[edit]

text:
Character / Team / Series
Year Debuted
Creator/s
First Appearance

Kalimán
1963
Rafael Cutberto Navarro and Modesto Vázquez González
Kalimán

text: Comic book[edit]

text:
Character / Team
Year Debuted
Company
Creator/s
First Appearance

Sunfire
1970 (January)
Marvel
Roy Thomas, Don Heck
X-Men #64

Valkyrie
1970 (December)
Marvel
Roy Thomas, John Buscema
The Avengers #83

Squadron Supreme
1971 (February)
Marvel
Roy Thomas, Sal Buscema
The Avengers #85-86

The Forever People
1971 (February)
DC
Jack Kirby
The Forever People #1

New Gods
1971 (February)
DC
Jack Kirby
New Gods #1

Mister Miracle
1971 (March)
DC
Jack Kirby
Mister Miracle #1

Big Barda
1971 (March)
DC
Jack Kirby
Mister Miracle #1

Man-Thing
1971 (May)
Marvel
Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway, Gray Morrow
Savage Tales #1

Swamp Thing
1971 (July)
DC
Len Wein, Bernie Wrightson
House of Secrets #92

The Defenders
1971 (December)
Marvel
Roy Thomas
Marvel Feature #1

Luke Cage a.k.a. Power Man
1972 (June)
Marvel
Archie Goodwin, George Tuska
Luke Cage, Hero for Hire #1

Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze)
1972 (August)
Marvel
Roy Thomas, Gary Friedrich, Mike Ploog
Marvel Spotlight #5

Drax The Destroyer
1973 (February)
Marvel
Mike Friedrich, Jim Starlin
Iron Man #55

Brother Voodoo
1973 (September)
Marvel
Len Wein, Gene Colan
Strange Tales #169

Shang-Chi
1973 (December)
Marvel
Steve Englehart, Jim Starlin
Special Marvel Edition #15

Punisher (Frank Castle)
1974 (February)
Marvel
Gerry Conway, Ross Andru
The Amazing Spider-Man #129

Iron Fist
1974 (May)
Marvel
Roy Thomas, Gil Kane
Marvel Premiere #15

Deathlok
1974 (August)
Marvel
Rich Buckler, Doug Moench
Astonishing Tales #25

Wolverine
1974 (October)
Marvel
Len Wein, Herb Trimpe
Incredible Hulk #180 (cameo last panel), #181 first full appearance

Captain Canuck
1975

Richard Comely, Ron Leishman
Captain Canuck #1

All-New, All-Different X-Men (Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Thunderbird)
1975 (May)
Marvel
Len Wein, Dave Cockrum
Giant-Size X-Men #1

Gamora
1975 (June)
Marvel
Jim Starlin
Strange Tales #180

Moon Knight
1975 (August)
Marvel
Doug Moench, Don Perlin
Werewolf by Night #32

Power Girl
1976 (January)
DC
Gerry Conway
All-Star Comics #58

Star-Lord
1976 (January)
Marvel
Steve Englehart, Steve Gan
Marvel Preview #4

Captain Britain
1976
Marvel
Chris Claremont, Herb Trimpe
Captain Britain Weekly #1

Spider-Woman
1977 (February)
Marvel
Archie Goodwin, Jim Mooney
Marvel Spotlight #32

Black Lightning
1977 (April)
DC
Tony Isabella,
Trevor Von Eeden
Black Lightning #1

3-D Man
1977 (April)
Marvel
Roy Thomas
Marvel Premiere #35

Firestorm
1978 (March)
DC
Gerry Conway, Allen Milgrom
Firestorm, The Nuclear Man #1

Alpha Flight
1979 (April)
Marvel
Chris Claremont, John Byrne
Uncanny X-Men #120

Black Cat
1979 (July)
Marvel
Marv Wolfman, Keith Pollard
The Amazing Spider-Man #194

text: Television[edit]

text:
Character / Team / Series
Year Debuted
Creator/s
First Appearance

El Chapulín Colorado
1970
Roberto Gomez Bolaños
Chespirito (segment: El Chapulín Colorado)

Kamen Rider
1971
Shotaro Ishinomori
Kamen Rider

G-Force
1972

Kagaku ninja tai Gatchaman (Battle of the Planets)

Six Million Dollar Man
1973 (March 7)
Martin Caiden
The Six Million Dollar Man movie (based on 1972 novel Cyborg)

The Bionic Woman
1975 (March 16)
Kenneth Johnson
The Six Million Dollar Man (episode: "The Bionic Woman")

text: Comic book[edit]

text:
Character / Team
Year Debuted
Company
Creator/s
First Appearance

Kitty Pryde
1980 (January)
Marvel
Chris Claremont, John Byrne
Uncanny X-Men #129

Emma Frost
1980 (January)
Marvel
Chris Claremont, John Byrne
Uncanny X-Men #129

Dazzler
1980 (February)
Marvel
Tom DeFalco, Louise Simonson, Roger Stern
Uncanny X-Men #130

She-Hulk
1980 (February)
Marvel
Stan Lee, John Buscema
Savage She-Hulk #1

Elektra
1981 (January)
Marvel
Frank Miller
Daredevil #168

Omega Men
1981 (January)
DC
Marv Wolfman, Joe Staton
Green Lantern #136

Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers
1981 (November)
DC
Jack Kirby
Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers #1

Rogue
1981 (November)
Marvel
Chris Claremont, Michael Golden
Avengers Annual #10

Rocket Raccoon
1982 (May)
Marvel
Bill Mantlo, Keith Giffen
Incredible Hulk #271

Monica Rambeau (a.k.a. Captain Marvel, Photon, Pulsar)
1982 (December)
Marvel
Roger Stern, John Romita, Jr.
The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #16

New Mutants
1982 (December)
Marvel
Chris Claremont
The New Mutants, Marvel Graphic Novel #4

The Maxx
1982
Comico
Sam Kieth
Primer #5 (as Max the Hare), The Maxx #1 (as The Maxx)

Robin (Jason Todd)
1983 (March)
DC Comics
Jim Starlin, Max Collins
"Batman" #357

Lobo (DC Comics)
1983 (June)
DC
Roger Slifer, Keith Giffen
Omega Men #3

Outsiders
1983 (July)
DC
Mike Barr, Jim Aparo
The Brave and the Bold #200

American Flagg
1983 (October)
First Comics
Howard Chaykin
American Flagg #1

Atari Force
1984 (January)
DC
Gerry Conway, Roy Thomas, Ross Andru
Atari Force #1

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
1984 (May)
Mirage
Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1

Power Pack
1984 (August)
Marvel
Louise Simonson, June Brigman
Power Pack (Vol. 1) #1

West Coast Avengers
1984 (September)
Marvel
Roger Stern, Bob Hall
West Coast Avengers (Vol. 1) #1

Femforce
1984 (September)
AC Comics
Bill Black, Stephanie Sanderson, Mark Heike
Femforce Special

Julia Carpenter (a.k.a. Spider-Woman, Arachne)
1984 (October)
Marvel
Jim Shooter, Mike Zeck
Secret Wars #6-7

Northguard
1984
[Canada]
Mark Shainblum, Gabriel Morrissette
New Triumph featuring Northguard #1

Zot
1984
Eclipse Comics
Scott McCloud
Zot! #1

Mr. Monster
1984

Michael T. Gilbert
Vanguard Illustrated #7

Fleur de Lys
1985
[Canada]
Mark Shainblum, Gabriel Morrissette
New Triumph featuring Northguard #5

Nagraj
1986 (January)
Raj Comics
Sanjay Gupta
Nagraj #1

X-Factor
1986 (February)
Marvel
Bob Layton, Jackson Guice, Josef Rubinstein
X-Factor #1

Booster Gold
1986 (February)
DC
Dan Jurgens
Booster Gold #1

Savage Dragon
1986 (February)

Erik Larsen
Megaton #3

Watchmen
1986 (September)
DC
Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons
Watchmen #1

Super Commando Dhruva
1987 (April)
Raj Comics
Anupam Sinha
GENL #74 Pratishodh Ki Jwala

Excalibur
1988 (April)
Marvel
Chris Claremont, Alan Davis
Excalibur: The Sword is Drawn

The Crow
1989 (January)
Caliber
James O'Barr
Caliber Presents #1

Robin (Tim Drake)
1989 (August)
DC Comics
Marv Wolfman
Batman #436

New Warriors
1989 (December)
Marvel
Tom DeFalco, Ron Frenz
Thor #411

Dawn
1989 (December)
Sirius Entertainment
Joseph Michael Linsner
Cry for Dawn #1

text: Television[edit]

text:
Character / Team / Series
Year Debuted
Creator/s
First Appearance

Ralph Hinkley
1981 (March)

The Greatest American Hero

Thundercats
1985
Tobin "Ted" Wolf & Rankin/Bass Productions

Silverhawks
1986
Rankin/Bass Productions

Tigersharks
1987
Rankin/Bass Productions

text: Comic book[edit]

text:
Character / Team
Year Debuted
Company
Creator/s
First Appearance

Cable (comics)
1990 (March)
Marvel
Louise Simonson, Rob Liefeld
The New Mutants #87 X-Men #201 (January 1986, as Nathan Summers)

Gambit (comics)
1990 (August)
Marvel
Chris Claremont, Jim Lee
X-Men #266

Bhokal
1991 (January)
Raj Comics
Sanjay Gupta
Bhokal #1

Darkhawk
1991 (February)
Marvel
Tom Defalco, Mike Manley
Marvel Age #97

Deadpool
1991 (February)
Marvel
Rob Liefeld, Fabian Nicieza
The New Mutants #98

X-Force
1991 (April)
Marvel
Rob Liefeld
The New Mutants #100

Jesse Quick (daughter of Johnny Quick and Liberty Belle)
1991 (April)
DC
Len Strazewski, Mike Parobeck
Justice Society of America (vol. 2) #1

Next Men
1991 (September)
Dark Horse
John Byrne
Dark Horse Presents #54

Parmanu
1991 (October)
Raj Comics
Sanjay Gupta
Nagraj and Super Commando Dhruva #1

Bishop (comics)
1991 (November)
Marvel
Whilce Portacio Jim Lee
X-Men #282

Spawn
1992 (May)
Image
Todd McFarlane
Spawn #1

War Machine
1992 (June)
Marvel
Len Kaminski, Kev Hopgood
Iron Man #281

Eternal Warrior
1992 (June)
Valiant Comics
Jim Shooter
Solar: Man of the Atom #10

WildC.A.T.s
1992 (August )
Image Comics
Jim Lee

Supreme
1992 (August)
Image
Rob Liefeld
Youngblood #3

Doga
1992 (November)
Raj Comics
Tarunkumar Wahi, Sanjay Gupta and Manu
Curfew

Stormwatch
1993 (March)
Image
Jim Lee
Stormwatch #1

Gen¹³
1993 (September)
Image
Jim Lee, Brandon Choi
Deathmate #Black

Hellboy
1993 (December)
Dark Horse
Mike Mignola
Next Men #21

Prime
1993
Malibu Comics
Gerard Jones, Len Strazewski, Norm Breyfogle
Prime #1

Static
1993
DC
Dwayne McDuffie, John Paul Leon
Static #1

Bheriya
1994 (January)
Raj Comics
Dheeraj Verma
Bheriya #1

Purgatori
1994
Chaos! Comics
Brian Pulido, Steven Hughes
Lady Death #3

Generation X
1994
Marvel
Scott Lobdell, Chris Bachalo
X-Men #318

Starman (Jack Knight)
1994
DC
James Robinson, Tony Harris
Zero Hour #1

Astro City
1995
Image
Kurt Busiek, Brent Anderson
Astro City #1

Mr. Hero the Newmatic Man
1995

Neil Gaiman, James Vance, Ted Slampyak
Neil Gaiman's Mr. Hero, The Newmatic Man #1

X-Man
1995
Marvel
Jeph Loeb, Steve Skroce
X-Man #1

The Thunderbolts
1997
Marvel
Kurt Busiek, Mark Bagley
The Incredible Hulk #449

The Authority
1999
Wildstorm/DC
Warren Ellis, Bryan Hitch
The Authority vol. 1 #1

text: Movies[edit]

text:
Character / Team / Series
Year Debuted
Creator/s
First Appearance

The Rocketeer
1991
Dave Stevens

Meteor Man
1993

text: Television[edit]

text:
Character / Team / Series
Year Debuted
Creator/s
First Appearance

The Adventures of T-Rex
1992
Lee Gunther & Michael Wehl

Power Rangers
1993
Haim Saban
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers

VR Troopers
1994
Haim Saban
VR Troopers

Masked Rider
1995
Haim Saban
Masked Rider

Beetleborgs
1996
Haim Saban
Big Bad Beetleborgs

Astralborgs
1997
Haim Saban
Beetleborgs Metallix

Shaktimaan
1997
Mukesh Khanna
Shaktimaan

text: Comic book[edit]

text:
Character / Team
Year Debuted
Company
Creator/s
First Appearance

Black Fox (Dr. Robert William Paine)
2000
Marvel
Roger Stern, John Byrne
Marvel: The Lost Generation #12

Buzz
2000
Marvel
Tom DeFalco, Ron Frenz
Spider-Girl #18

Night Eagle
2000
DC
J.M. DeMatteis, Mike Miller
The Adventures of Superman #586

Sentry
2000
Marvel
Paul Jenkins, Jae Lee, Rick Veitch
The Sentry #1

Typeface
2000
Marvel
Paul Jenkins, Mark Buckingham
Peter Parker: Spider-Man v2 #23

Orpheus
2001
DC
Alex Simmons, Dwayne Turner
Batman: Orpheus Rising #1

Spike
2001
Marvel
Peter Milligan, Mike Allred
X-Force #121

Ultimate Marvel characters
2001
Marvel
various
Ultimate Spider-Man #1

X-Statix
2001
Marvel
Peter Milligan, Mike Allred
X-Force #116

X-Treme X-Men
2001
Marvel
Chris Claremont
X-Treme X-Men #1

Runaways
2002
Marvel
Brian K. Vaughan, Adrian Alphona
Runaways vol. 1 #1

Invincible
2002
Image
Robert Kirkman, Cory Walker
Noble Causes: Family Secrets #3

Super Buddies
2003
DC
Keith Giffen, J. M. DeMatteis, Kevin Maguire, Joe Rubinstein
Formerly Known as the Justice League #1

X-23
2003
Marvel
Craig Kyle
NYX #3

Anya Corazon
2004
Marvel
Fiona Avery, Mark Brooks
Amazing Fantasy vol. 2 #1

Doc Frankenstein
2004

Geof Darrow, Steve Skroce, Wachowski Brothers
Doc Frankenstein #1

Freakshow
2004
Marvel
Chris Claremont
Excalibur vol. 3 #1

Young Avengers
2005
Marvel
Allan Heinberg, Jim Cheung
Young Avengers #1

Blue Beetle (Jamie Reyes, 3rd ver)
2006
DC
Keith Giffen, John Rogers, Cully Hamner
Infinite Crisis #5

Crimson Chin
2006

Butch Hartman
The Fairly OddParents #1

Miss Martian
2006
DC
Geoff Johns, Tony Daniel
Teen Titans vol. 3, #37

The 99
2007
Teshkeel Comics
Naif Al-Mutawa
The 99 #1

Atomic Robo
2007

Brian Clevinger, Scott Wegener
Atomic Robo #46

Bob, Agent of HYDRA
2007
Marvel
Fabian Nicieza
Cable & Deadpool #38

Forerunner
2007
DC
Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray, Jesus Saiz.
Countdown #46

Anna Mercury
2008

Warren Ellis
Anna Mercury #1

Blue Marvel
2008
Marvel
Kevin Grevioux
Adam: Legend of the Blue Marvel #1

Kick-Ass
2008

Mark Millar
Kick-Ass #1

She-Hulk (Lyra)
2008
Marvel
Jeff Parker, Mitch Breitweiser
Hulk: Raging Thunder #1

Guardians of the Galaxy 2nd version
2008 (April)
Marvel
Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning
Annhiliation Conquest #6

Achilles Warkiller
2009
DC
Gail Simone, Aaron Lopresti
Wonder Woman (vol. 3) #30

Haunt
2009
Image
Robert Kirkman, Todd McFarlane
Haunt #1

King Chimera
2009
DC
Matthew Sturges, Fernando Pasarin
Justice Society of America (vol. 3) #24

Mot
2009

Nick Simmons
Incarnate #1

text: Movies[edit]

text:
Character / Team / Series
Year Debuted
Creator/s
First Appearance

David Dunn
2000
M. Night Shyamalan
Unbreakable (film)

The Incredibles, Frozone
2004
Brad Bird
The Incredibles

Catwoman (Patience Phillips, 2nd ver)
2004

Catwoman

Sky High students and graduates
2005
Paul Hernandez, Robert Schooley, Mark McCorkle
Sky High

Krrish
2006
Rakesh Roshan
Krrish

Zenith Team (Captain Zoom, Concussion, Mega-Boy, Wonder, Houdini, Princess, Marsha Holloway)
2006
Adam Rifkin
Zoom

John Hancock
2008
Vincent Ngo
Hancock

text: Television[edit]

text:
Character / Team / Series
Year Debuted
Creator/s
First Appearance

Danny Phantom
2004
Butch Hartman
Danny Phantom

Ben Tennyson
2005
Man of Action (Duncan Rouleau, Joe Casey, Joe Kelly, and Steven T. Seagle)
Ben 10

Heroes
2006
Tim Kring
Heroes

Kamen Rider Dragon Knight
2009
Steve Wang
Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight

text: Comic book[edit]

text:
Character / Team
Year Debuted
Company
Creator/s
First Appearance

Biały Orzeł (White Eagle)
2011
Wizuale (Poland)
Maciej Kmiołek & Adam Kmiołek
Biały Orzeł #1

Soundman
2012

Brian Bondurant
"Power Couple!" (part of Kumate Works anthology)

Captain China
2012
Excel Comics [China]
Chi Wang & Jim Lai
Captain China #1 - The World's Greatest Communist Super Hero!

Ms. Marvel
2014
Marvel
Sana Amanat
Captain Marvel #14

Spider-Gwen
2014
Marvel
Jason Latour and Robbi Rodriguez
Edge of Spider-Verse #2

Gwenpool
2016
Marvel
Chris Bachalo
Howard the Duck Vol 6 #1

text: Movies[edit]

text:
Character / Team
Year Debuted
Company
Creator/s
First Appearance

Cutthroat, Charge, Shadow, The Wall
2011

Jason Trost
Vs

Andrew Detmer, Matt Garetty, Steve Montgomery
2017

Emilio Insolera
Sign Gene

text: Television[edit]

text:
Character / Team
Year Debuted
Company
Creator/s
First Appearance

Powell family
2010
Ra. One
Greg Berlanti, Jon Harmon Feldman
No Ordinary Family

The Cape
2011

Tom Wheeler
The Cape


document_title: Breakaway rim

question_text: when did the nba start using breakaway rims

text: Breakaway rim

text: A breakaway rim is a basketball rim that contains a hinge and a spring at the point where it attaches to the backboard so that it can bend downward when a player dunks a basketball, and then quickly snaps back into a horizontal position when the player releases it. It allows players to dunk the ball without shattering the backboard, and it reduces the possibility of wrist injuries. Breakaway rims were invented in the mid-1970s and are now an essential element of high-level basketball.

text: In the early days of basketball, dunking was considered ungentlemanly, and was rarely used outside of practice or warm-up drills. A broken backboard or distorted rim could delay a game for hours. During the 1970s, however, players like Julius Erving and David Thompson of the American Basketball Association popularized the dunk with their athletic flights to the basket, increasing the demand for flexible rims.[1]

text: While several men claim to have created the breakaway rim, Arthur Ehrat is recognized as the inventor by the Smithsonian Institution's Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention & Innovation.[1][2] A resident of Lowder, Illinois, Ehrat worked at a grain elevator for most of his life and barely knew anything about basketball. In 1975, his nephew, an assistant basketball coach at Saint Louis University, asked him to help design a rim that could support slam dunks. Using a spring from a John Deere cultivator, Ehrat designed a rim that could bend and spring back after 125 pounds of force were applied to it. He called his device "The Rebounder". In 1982, he was awarded a patent for his invention, which was officially called a "deformation-preventing swingable mount for basketball goals".[3]

text: The breakaway rim was first used by the NCAA during the 1978 Final Four in St. Louis.[3] Although Darryl Dawkins notoriously shattered two backboards with his dunks in 1979,[4] the old-style bolted rim structure was not phased out of the NBA until the 1981–82 season, when breakaway rims debuted as a uniform equipment upgrade.