Modern Mythology

people in the future <(-.-)> assuming we have one cynicism = 9001 will probably not have action figures because of either a zombie apocalypse or just everyone only plays video games. this is just an assumption of mine. Point is, action figures and these little statues of ours may seem alien to them. Its perfectly reasonable to assume that they may think of these toys as totems or shrines. Many of them have symbols that go with them; Superman's shield for example, its almost like a crucifix or Mjölnir pendant. The point I'm getting to is; we still have gods, just now we call them aliens or superheroes. The thing that I found most interesting while researching mythology is how closely the story structures reassemble modern day comic books as far as the overall narrative goes, the weird relationships between all of the characters, origin stories, the need to know some characters before you can understand others and where they stand etc. there are so many different stories and versions of these old gods nobody can decide what the legit cannon is was it Hephaestus who built Talos? Or was it Zeus? there's two different versions a lot like comic books I'll use Superman as an example, to sum up and explain my point. A lot of people have written their own take on superman. We can't really decide what is legit cannon and what is garbage the new 52 for example, not sure where that fits into anything, its a complete reboot but not many people like it. back to the main point tho these modern stories all greatly resemble mythology. they're stories about super powered beings from other worlds who protect us, or toy with us and have loads of adventures and great feats and who sometimes interact directly with mortals, even falling in love with them. its goes a bit deeper I suppose. Superman is pretty much the Zeus figure. Leader of the justice league, the most powerful dude, he was one of the earliest comic book characters and acts sort of like the father figure to all the younger superheroes. Superman also, like many figures in mythology, represents the standard of perfection in the culture that the myth comes from. speaking of the Justice League, the watchtower is pretty much Mount Olympus or Asgard. So we still have all these super beings, guardians from a higher level of existence. Superman is from another planet where everyone was super smart and had super advanced technology, ya see? higher beings right? there's also Superman Prime, where he literally becomes god. Its seems reasonable that people from the future could think that we worshipped Superman what with everyone wearing his shield on their shirts and hanging posters of him on their walls and telling stories about him being a god and referring to him as a god and getting way too overhyped for movies about him and pitting him against other super beings. so you see how we still have gods and mythology, and how ancient mythologies may have just been stories, their own version of comic books that we've misinterpreted slightly because of a language and cultural barrier. same stuff, just we use different words to describe it Gods/Demigods = Superheroes/Aliens The heavens = space/other planets Demons/Giants/evil beings = Supervillains Great hall of the gods Asgard/Olympus/whatever else = Towers/secret lairs It goes beyond superheroes too, but I couldn't be bothered going into this, its too deep. Catch my drift? TL;DR: Superheroes and aliens are the modern version of gods.