Except there's a pretty direct line from Western vigilantes and detective novels to pulp heroes to superheros, and a lot of that predates fascism. They have more in common with gun nuts daydreaming of the day they get to stand their ground than fascists. Imagine something insightful about rugged individualism and how late much of the country got real police forces here; I'm too tired to formulate it.Alan Moore made the argument that superheroes are American exceptionalism made human and that they speak to a latent desire for fascism or some shit.
In chronological order . . . John Carter kind of serves as a prototype for super powered men. I mean, for modern fictional characters. Guys like Hercules and Beowulf obviously set a bit of a precedent here. Heroes like Zorro and The Shadow created the whole mysterious vigilante archetype. The Phantom is influential of the superhero aesthetic, from the tights to the mask. All of these characters pre-date Superman. That said though, the fascism angle does make a bit of sense as well. It was an argument that was brought up against comics many times, as I read in The Ten Cent Plague. I think maybe if enough people make that argument, there might be something there. Then again though, the people who were saying super heroes were embracing fascist ideals were trying to attack comics from any angle they could, so maybe their argument needs to be taken with a few grains of salt.