If you exclude ancient mythology: * (1882) [Captain Nemo][1] certainly qualifies (he's Jules Verne's equivalen of Batman). * (1897) [Abraham Van Helsing][2] also may qualify. He even had a supervillain to match (Dracula). * (1919) [Zorro][3] is also Batman mould. [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Nemo [2]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Van_Helsing [3]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zorro