15 Comic Book 'Firsts' You Didn't Know
6. Super-Chief - First Native American Superhero
In 1961, All-Star Western #117 debuted an Iroquois tribesman called Flying Stag. After Stag was imprisoned by a rival clan, he prayed for help from his Manitou spirit. The Manitou blessed him with a meteor rock which gave him the agility of a wolf, the swiftness of a deer, and the power of a thousand bears for one hour per day. Flying Stag adopted the moniker, the Super-Chief, and used his abilities to protect his tribe from injustice.
The meteor rock, which Super-Chief calls The Manitou Stone, is worn around his neck so he is ready to harness its power when he needs it. Although the word "manitou" is thrown around a lot when referring to Native-Americans, it belonged to the Algonquian tribe and wouldn't be used by an Iroquois. There are many mistakes like this in Super-Chief's stories simply because the writers didn't have enough research available about Native American culture.
50 years later, it was revealed that The Manitou Stone is actually... from Krypton! The Sunstone that powers Super-Chief is the very same material that Superman's Fortress of Solitude is crafted from. The Sunstone that Flying Stag discovered was blasted from Krypton immediately after the planet exploded.