Marvel and DC heroes come ‘directly’ from Homeric epics, Christopher Nolan says
By Casey Cooper-Fiske, Press Association Senior Entertainment Reporter
The Odyssey director Christopher Nolan has said Marvel and DC superheroes come “pretty directly” from the Homeric epics.
The 55-year-old director, who previously directed the Batman Dark Knight trilogy of films, will release his big-screen adaptation of the ancient Greek story starring Tom Holland, Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway and Robert Pattinson in July.
Asked if the Greek heroes were an inspiration for modern superheroes on US chat show The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Nolan said: “Very directly, they are, they’re the original superheroes.
“Even comic-book culture, whether you’re talking about Marvel or DC or the rest, a lot of it comes pretty directly from the Homeric epics.
“The thing about Homer is nobody knows if that was a person, they don’t know, I mean, Homer, in a way, is the sort of George Lucas, maybe of his time.
“I mean, nobody really knows who this person was or whether it was more than one person.”
The story of The Odyssey follows Odysseus, the Greek king of Ithaca, on his long and perilous journey home following the Trojan War as he encounters mythical beings such as the Cyclops Polyphemus, sirens and the nymph Calypso while attempting to reunite with his wife, Penelope.
He added: “The thing about Homer is it’s the Marvel of its day, I mean, that’s the thing, and so I think there’s very directly this desire for us to feel or believe that Gods can walk amongst us, and I think the modern comic book is kind of our expression of that.”
The director, who also helmed films such as Oppenheimer, Dunkirk and Interstellar, said he first encountered The Odyssey story during a school play when he was “four or five”, adding “it’s a story that we all kind of know a bit about” but he had adapted it so fans could “come to it really fresh”.
Nolan's film will also star Zendaya, Charlize Theron and Lupita Nyong’o, and will be released in cinemas on July 17th.
