Origins: Stories of Our Favorite Superheroes

With comics, movies, shows, and even books, there are too many origin stories to even think about counting. This isn't a complete list, or even a partially complete list.

These are just some great heroes, with some great origin stories that some people might not know about.

The Hulk AKA Bruce Banner

Most people think of the Incredible Hulk and imagine the huge, green beast that took a chunk out of Harlem and helped the Avengers save the world. But not many people think back to the true origin of the beast that resides inside of Bruce Banner's mind.

As a physical being, the Hulk was born during a botched experiment by the US Army. One injection, and Bruce Banner is leaking gamma radiation like it's his job.

But why was it the Hulk that came of this? What fueled the anger that created this beast? Where did it really come from?

Well, it came from the mind of a small child. Bruce Banner didn't become a world-famous scientist over night. In fact, he wasn't much of anything until the death, or murder, of his mother.

Bruce Banner's father, Brian, was an abusive drunk of a man. For years, he abused Bruce and his mother. But one day, it went too far. Brian murdered his wife right in front of their son. Bruce would remember the day for the rest of his life, never forgetting a detail of what he witnessed.

And this is what fueled the Hulk. The resentment and anger, the need for revenge and protection, the overall hatred that rested deep inside of Bruce Banner is what made the monster come to life. The gamma had a lot to do with it, sure, but the Hulk existed long before the exposure.

The Hulk has existed since Bruce Banner hid under his bed when his father started screaming. It existed as CPS took him away from his mother's bloody body. The Hulk always existed.

The gamma just gave him a body.

Magneto AKA Max Eisenhardt

Hey! I thought this list was for heroes?

And it sure is! In fact, Magneto is a hero that too many of us don't understand.

While most of us know Magneto as a villain to the X-Men, he's actually a very complex character. And while we may not agree on the hero-villain stance, we'll just have to agree to disagree for now.

Max Eisenhardt was born in Germany, which doesn't sound so bad. Apart from the fact that he was Jewish, and not too long after his birth, Hitler started invading. Max and his family tried escaping to Poland, but they were captured, and Max had to witness his family be killed.

After the brutal murder Max witnessed, he was sent to Auschwitz, where his torture continued. He was forced to become an operator of gas chambers. Max became the executioner of his own people, and eventually, he couldn't handle it any longer.

Max managed to escape with a woman named Magda, and they thankfully escaped to Ukraine. They even had a daughter whom they named Anya. Their life was looking up until Max's mutation started to kick in. When the town discovered that he was a mutant, they formed a mob, marched to his home, and burned it to the ground, killing Anya and setting Max up for a lifetime of pain.

Magneto usually wants the same thing that his "adversaries" want, but they disagree on the way to get to a solution. This makes Magneto look like the villain, but in reality, he's protecting himself and his people.

He couldn't do it all those years ago, so he's doing all he can now to make up for it.

Spider-Man AKA Peter Parker

Considering there's a film remake for Spider-Man every few years, there aren't many who don't know some version of Peter Parker's origin story.

It usually starts out the same. Peter Parker is a simple teenager, living with his Aunt May and Uncle Ben after the death of his parents. Peter is bullied in school, and of course nothing is even near perfect, but he's happy.

His happiness is interrupted for only a moment when he's bit by a radioactive spider on a class field trip. At first, he thinks nothing of it... until he doesn't need glasses anymore. And his reflexes improve. And webs start shooting out of his wrists.

All because of a simple spider bite, Peter Parker becomes a hero, and his life improves ten-fold. Unfortunately, it doesn't last long. Not long after Peter found out about his powers, his Uncle Ben was tragically shot down.

This is what truly fueled Peter's hero complex. He became a bit of a vigilante, living a double life as Spider-Man and as a basic teenage boy.

As if his Uncle's death wasn't enough, though, Peter would later start a relationship with a girl named Gwen Stacy. Nothing tragic about that, of course, until she needs Spider-Man's help. She's trapped, with no escape, and Peter tries with all his might to save her... but he can't. And he watches her die.

The loss of his parents was enough; and Uncle Ben's murder was worse. But knowing that he was responsible for not being able to save Gwen... it's unimaginable.

Deadpool AKA Wade Wilson

Thinking of Deadpool doesn't really bring up anything sad. He's been breaking the fourth wall and bringing humor to the Marvel Universe for decades. However, his origin isn't one that anybody would expect.

Wade Wilson was a mercenary. Sarcastic, witty, murderous, and far too eager to get his hands around someone's neck. While he's living a life of crime and, to him, fun, he finds love in a woman named Vanessa.

They live happily for a while, deep in love and happiness, until Wade is diagnosed with terminal cancer.

He hides his diagnosis from Vanessa, in hopes of finding a cure. His desperation reaches unstoppable levels, and he eventually agrees to try a very shady, definitely not FDA-approved program that may be able to cure him. Unbeknownst to him at first, the program is meant to force the mutant gene to activate, turning the subjects into mutants themselves.

For months, Wade is tortured with all kinds of things, which eventually does activate the mutant gene. His cancer is cured! He's healthy again! But it means nothing to him anymore. Because when the gene was activated, Wade became horribly disfigured and completely incapable of being hurt. Not to mention, he's been emotionally and mentally destroyed.

Alone and broken, Wade goes back to his mercenary ways in a whole new way. As Deadpool, Wade becomes a vigilante, hiding his scars and pain behind humor, sarcasm, and one or two breaks in the fourth wall.

Hawkeye AKA Clint Barton

Archer. Carnie. Deaf. Specifically? Human. But still a hero.

Clint Barton's life started out pretty similarly to Bruce Banner's. His dad was a drunk and abusive and his mother was too scared to even attempt to defend herself or her sons, Clint and Barney. So when Clint's parents were killed in a car accident, it was no surprise that he and his brother ran off and eventually joined the circus.

Clint started off simple, cleaning animal cages and going unnoticed. That is, until the ring master found out that Clint was kind of skilled in archery. As in... he was pretty amazing. It took almost no time for Clint to become an act in the circus. He shot arrows off of the back of a horse and hit targets that should've been impossible. And things were going great, until his mentor, Trick Shot, and his own brother left him beaten and broken in a ditch.

This left Clint with nothing but an urge for revenge. He became a vigilante and a mercenary for hire, always searching for the two men who left him for dead. One of his encounters even left him 80 percent deaf (one of the very few heroes with physical disabilities). Eventually, Clint went too far, and was put on the watch list of a government agency called S.H.I.E.L.D. When S.H.I.E.L.D caught up to him, Clint was convinced by Phil Coulson to join them, rather than continue his life of crime.

Clint never went back to his life as a carnie or a criminal, but his archery skills made him one of the greatest heroes in the world, even as a human.

Cyborg AKA Victor Stone

Probably known mostly for his stints as a Teen Titan, Victor Stone is a hero with a strange and terrible origin.

Victor Stone was a star athlete in high school. He hoped and hoped that the more he did, the better chance he would have at gaining his father's approval. Unfortunately, his father was only ever focused on his scientific experiments, and Victor fell out of his view at a young age.

However, when Victor was deathly injured, he became the complete center of his father's attention. While his father did save his life, it was less for Victor's sake and more for the sake of science. You see, Victor's father didn't stitch him up and hope for the best. Instead, he filled Victor with wires and electronics, which turned his son into Cyborg.

With everything his father forced into his body, Victor truly became a cyborg. He had access to all of the technology in the world, with access to things that no one should know even exist. He was grasped by the technological world, and slowly, his humanity began to disappear.

Alone and turned away by society, Victor still yearned for his father's attention. Hoping it would be easier to gain now that he was half-computer, it was to no avail.

Eventually, completely pushed away by human society, Victor became a hero to those who abandoned him and fought alongside the best heroes in the world.

Batman AKA Bruce Wayne

Bruce Wayne may have the most-known origin story of any hero or villain in history. So obviously, we have to include him.

Bruce grew up rich and spoiled in every way. From a butler who took care of his every whim, to the fanciest home in Gotham, there was no way not to recognize the heir of Wayne Enterprise.

And Bruce became even more of a focus when his parents were mugged and shot right in front of his eyes. He witnessed as they dropped in front of him, with holes in their chests and blood seeping through their clothes. This, of course, is what eventually fueled him to become the vigilante known as Batman.

Years later, with too much money to count and enough privacy for the president, Bruce began building weapons, vehicles, and a suit for his altar ego. While he tried his best to save Gotham City from evil villains, such as the Joker, Scarecrow, and others, most of the city didn't see him as the hero he tried to be. In many fights he had, he caused a lot of damage and scared a lot of people, which lefts the city torn. Was the Batman a hero? Or a vigilante that needed to be in prison with those he fought?

He spent years and years protecting Gotham, even with the criticism he received from its' citizens. Hero or not, he was the city's protector, no matter what they thought of him.

Iron Man AKA Tony Stark

Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist. One of the more well-known heroes, Tony Stark may be a know-it-all, but not all of us know who he was before the suit.

He could've been his father, Howard's prodigal son, if it weren't for the fact that Howard spent his whole life hunting for Captain Steve Rogers AKA Captain America. After the Captain's plane went into the ice, people spent decades searching, but no one was as dedicated as Howard was. And this was the obvious reason that Tony was so ignored by his father.

Tony was a genius as a toddler, and only got smarter as he grew. Making AIs and robots and motors was never enough for Howard, though. After all, what was Tony compared to Captain America?

And as Tony grew, it only became more obvious that Howard simply didn't care about him. Tony had been kidnapped dozens of times, only to be held hostage for cash that his father almost always refused to fork over. It was hard for Tony growing up, knowing that his father didn't care about him, even when he had a gun to his head.

That all changed when Tony's mother and father were both killed in a car accident, or so it seemed. In reality, they were murdered by an assassin known as the Winter Soldier, but Tony wouldn't find out about that for decades. Either way, Tony hurt, knowing that his father died being disappointed in his only child. But Tony, being a Stark, hid his pain behind drugs and alcohol and expensive escorts.

For years, Tony ruled Stark Enterprises with the help of his "uncle" Obadiah Stane. Life wasn't amazing, but it was good, until Tony was kidnapped by terrorists. The Stark's had always made strong military weapons, and it seemed like a genius move to trap Tony and force him to create weapons for them.

However, Tony barely survived the abduction. The terrorists blew up the truck that Tony was in, nearly killing him, and killing multiple US soldiers in the process. By the time they had taken him to the cave, Tony had a massive hole in his chest, and the only way he could stay alive was with a car battery attached to the shrapnel deep within his chest.

For months, Tony was trapped in the cave, with only one other person for company, Dr. Ho Yinsen, who was also abducted to help keep Tony alive. Together, they worked to build a heart of sorts to allow Tony to travel with the car battery hanging from him. Eventually, the two built an Arc Reactor and embedded it into Tony's chest, keeping the shrapnel from moving, and truly saving Tony's life.

Eventually, Tony was smart enough to create a weapon that the terrorists would never expect. He created a suit of armor that had lasers and could withstand bullets. And somehow allowed Tony to escape Afghanistan alive, and unfortunately alone, as Yinsen was killed during the escape attempt.

His weapon-building days were over after the abduction. Instead, he changed Stark Industries into a company focused on peace and help. With the help of his assistant, and after many, many, many more tribulations, Tony Stark became a hero. And while his father and many others might not recognize it, Tony Stark is a hero.