When it comes to modern superheroes and whether or not they can be considered as the new Olympians, here are a few facts to consider. First, the Olympians were gods. This is important. Modern superheroes are entirely human and don’t come with any religious connotations. Modern superheroes do, however, closely resemble the ancient human heroes who worshipped those same Olympian gods.
Until recently it was believed that ancient tragic heroes met their demise because of some fatal character flaw. Recent research, however, has suggested that this is a misunderstanding. It turns out that it was just a case of bad luck.Get more information here. http://www.boris-johnson.com/2011/04/02/protogenoi-primordial-gods-25e225802593-part-ii/ This is interesting. If you think about it, so many modern superheroes seem to have some sort of handicap. Could this be connected to the older fatal flaw/bad luck narrative? By the way, what do you think of those narratives? Do you find one or the other more satisfying? Anyway, the handicap thing is certainly a classic and very effective literary device. How interesting would superheroes be if they had no vulnerabilities? In any case, Superman, Spiderman, and all the other modern superheroes are the direct descendants of ancient human heroes like Achilles, Ajax and company, and not the Olympian gods those same heroes worshipped.