Because Siegel and Shuster were both Jewish

Siegel himself noted the influence of mythic heroes in the traditions of many cultures, including Hercules and Samson.[7] Scott Bukatman sees the character to be "a worthy successor to Lindberg ... [and] also ... like Babe Ruth", and also representative of the United States' dedication to "progress and the 'new'" through his "invulnerable body ... on which history cannot be inscribed."[41] Because Siegel and Shuster were fans of pulp science fiction,[6] it is widely assumed that the 1930 Philip Wylie novel Gladiator, featuring a protagonist, Hugo Danner, with similar powers, was an inspiration for Superman,[42] though no confirmation exists for this supposition.[43]

Comics creator and historian Jim Steranko believes that the pulp hero Doc Savage is another likely source of inspiration, noting similarities between Shuster's initial art and contemporary advertisements for Doc Savage: "Initially, Superman was a variation of pulp heavyweight Doc Savage".[44] Steranko argued that the pulps played a major part in shaping the initial concept: "Siegel's Superman concept embodied and amalgamated three separate and distinct themes: the visitor from another planet, the superhuman being and the dual identity. He composed the Superman charisma by exploiting all three elements, and all three contributed equally to the eventual success of the strip. His inspiration, of course, came from the science fiction pulps",[44] identifying as another possible inspiration "John W. Campbell's Aarn Munro stories, about a descendant of earthmen raised on the planet Jupiter who, because of the planet's dense gravity, is a mental and physical superman on Earth."[44]

Because Siegel and Shuster were both Jewish, some religious commentators and pop-culture scholars such as Rabbi Simcha Weinstein and British novelist Howard Jacobson suggest that Superman's creation was partly influenced by Moses,[45][46] and other Jewish elements. More recently, this interpretation has been endorsed by biographer Larry Tye.[47] For example, Superman's Kryptonian name, "Kal-El", resembles the Hebrew words ??-??, which can be taken to mean "voice of God".[48] The suffix "el", meaning "(of) God," is also found in the name of angels (e.g. Gabriel, Ariel), who are flying humanoid agents of good with superhuman powers. Tye suggests that this "Voice of God" is an allusion to Moses' role as a prophet.[47] Moreover, Kal-El's parents send him away in a vessel, delivering him to new adoptive parents in an alien culture in order to save him from impending doom, just as Moses' parents do.[47] "The narratives of Krypton's birth and death borrowed the language of Genesis.