Were there superheroes in the ancient world?

Do you think superheroes were a new invention? Hi, I'm Kellie, and I'm here in the Ancient Near Eastern Art galleries. I'm Kim Benzel, and I'm a curator in the Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. Were there any superheroes in the ancient times? Oh yes. Do you see those big guardian figures, the gateway figures? They're a mix of a bull, a bird, and a human. I see the human head. There are wings and there are bull hooves. Who are these amazing creatures? Anything that's a combination of human and animal, or different types of animals, in one figure is supernatural. They protect the palace, so they're actually doing the work of a superhero. The superhero in our world, it's a human with some sort of animal power, right? We name things that we think have power after animals, powerful animals, and very much the same ones. Really powerful sports cars, you have the mustang or you have the jaguar. So when you think of a superhero today, what comes to mind? I picture a person with a cape or some sort of special gear. So do you think you have any superpowers? Ice skating would be one, because at first it's very hard, but you eventually learn good moves, jumps, spins, that will look professional when you compete and perform. When I watch the Olympics, and I watch really great skaters, to me they look like they fly. There's a little figure, he's the beginning, the idea of taking on the powers of the natural world. I notice the bull horns would make him look as if he were a god. The horned animals were thought to be powerful. I see the cape and a bird of prey's feathers. He's trying to get the powers of that very powerful bird of prey. And then when we look at this big guardian figures they have wings. This might be the first superhero. I think you might be right. This is Kellie reporting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Good stretch!