I've seen media where a character is able to clone/replicate themselves in an instant. These clones help fight off enemies either directly, or serve as a distraction.
So I've wanted to know, what the first fiction that used this idea?
It doesn't even have to be a superpower. Like maybe some story used holograms in a similar way?
The Chinese story The Journey to the West was written in the 16th century, and features Sun Wukong, one of the most well-known figures of Chinese fiction.
Quoting from the 2011 translation by Anthony C. Yu:
The Monstrous King shifted his position and struck out. Wukong closed in on him, hurtling himself into the engagement. The two of them pummeled and kicked, struggling and colliding with each other. It is easy to miss on a long reach, but a short punch is firm and reliable. Wukong jabbed the Monstrous King in the short ribs, hit him on his chest, and gave him such heavy punishment with a few sharp blows that the monster stepped aside, picked up his huge scimitar, aimed it straight at Wukong’s head, and slashed at him. Wukong dodged, and the blow narrowly missed him. Seeing that his opponent was growing fiercer, Wukong now used the method called the Body beyond the Body. Plucking a handful of hairs from his own body and throwing them into his mouth, he chewed them to tiny pieces and then spat them into the air. “Change!” he cried, and they changed at once into two or three hundred little monkeys encircling the combatants on all sides. For you see, when someone acquires the body of an immortal, he can project his spirit, change his form, and perform all kinds of wonders. Since the Monkey King had become accomplished in the Way, every one of the eighty-four thousand hairs on his body could change into whatever shape or substance he desired. The little monkeys he had just created were so keen of eye and so swift of movement that they could be wounded by neither sword nor spear. Look at them! Skipping and jumping, they rushed at the Monstrous King and surrounded him, some hugging, some pulling, some crawling in between his legs, some tugging at his feet. They kicked and punched; they yanked at his hair and poked at his eyes; they pinched his nose and tried to sweep him completely off his feet, until they tangled themselves into confusion.
Raktabīja in Hindu myth has blood that springs up a whole new Raktabīja with every drop that falls. It probably dates to between 250 and 550 AD/CE. This certainly predates the Journey To The West, though Sun Wukong is older than that specific story.
The 1943 French short story "Les Sabines" by Marcel Aymé might not be considered a superpower since the title character uses it for mundane purposes.
Possédant le don d'ubiquité, Sabine se dédouble en épouse de l'employé Antoine Lemurier et en amante du jeune peintre montmartrois Théorème. Pour financer ses dépenses, elle devient aussi lady Burburry en épousant un riche Anglais; elle commence alors à multiplier ses amants autour du monde, dans toutes les classes sociales.
Translated:
Possessing the gift of ubiquity, Sabine splits into the wife of the employee Antoine Lemurier and the lover of the young Montmartre painter Théorème. To finance her expenses, she also becomes Lady Burbury by marrying a wealthy Englishman; she then begins to multiply her lovers around the world, in all social classes.
Found in the TV Tropes entry for Self-Duplication. I feel like there has to be some earlier fairy tale or piece of mythology with the "creature chopped in half creates two copies" like the Sorcerer's Apprentice bit in Fantasia.
The Greek philosopher Pythagoras was said to be in two places at once:
Almost unanimous is the report that on one and the same day he was present at Metapontum in Italy, and at Tauromenium in Sicily, in each place conversing with his friends, though the places are separated by many miles, both at sea and land, demanding many days' journey. (Porphyry, Life of Pythagoras)
This is from a biography that was written in the third or early fourth century AD. Its wording suggests that there are earlier accounts. That said, one could argue that this account could imply teleportation instead. Pythagoras lived much earlier, dying around 495 BC.
