Feature: When Tony Stark Meets Odysseus: Why Marvel Is Our Modern Mythology

What do a billionaire in a flying tin suit and a Greek king lost at sea actually have in common? On the surface, it’s a stretch. One has an arc reactor; the other has a wooden boat and a very angry Poseidon. But in his book Tony Stark, Odysseus, and the Myths Behind Marvel, classicist Peter Meineck argues that the MCU isn’t just popcorn cinema. It is a direct evolution of the stories humanity has been obsessed with for thousands of years.

The big swing here is that mythology didn’t die out; it just upgraded its hardware. Ancient Greeks didn’t huddle in theaters to watch perfect people. They went to see Odysseus, a guy who was brilliant, resourceful, and often his own worst enemy. Peter draws a straight line from Odysseus to Tony Stark, noting that neither is the strongest guy in the room. That’s Achilles or Thor. Instead, they are both “men of many turns” who invent their way out of a crisis. Seeing Tony Stark as a modern Odysseus reframes his whole arc. He is the classic clever hero who has to reckon with the fact that his brain often creates the very monsters he has to fight.

Peter doesn’t just stick to the guys in the suits; he digs into the narrative DNA shared across the entire Marvel roster. He looks at Wanda Maximoff through the lens of Medea, exploring the terrifying intersection of grief and world-altering power. He also connects Wolverine to the ancient Berserkers, walking that thin, bloody line between a protector and a monster. The book avoids the boring trope of saying one character is a carbon copy of a specific god. Instead, it asks the same questions the Greeks did: What does power actually cost? Can a person ever truly outrun their mistakes?

We tend to treat pop culture and the classics like they live in different universes, but Peter argues they are the same neighborhood. In a world that feels increasingly chaotic, we’ve returned to stories about complicated, damaged people trying to do the right thing with impossible power. We aren’t looking for flawless icons; we are looking for reflections of ourselves, just with better special effects. Whether you’re a die-hard MCU fan or a mythology nerd, it’s a reminder that storytelling is humanity’s oldest piece of technology. The setting changes and the capes get more aerodynamic, but we are still just sitting around the fire trying to figure out what it means to be a hero. We’ve been telling these stories all along. We just gave them a new suit.

Tony Stark, Odysseus, and the Myths Behind Marvel: Ancient Heroes in the Modern World

by Peter Meineck
on February 17, 2026
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A fun and entertaining foray into Ancient Greek mythology through the lens of some of Marvel’s most popular characters—including Iron Man, Black Widow, and Wolverine—and an investigation into why classical stories continue to resonate with modern audiences.

Since its inception, Marvel has created—in comics and on the silver screen—a vast, intricate universe brimming with superheroes and superhumans. Yet Marvel exists in a much larger mythological tradition, one that dates back to the Ancient Greeks and their tales of gods and heroes.

Professor of Classics Peter Meineck traces Marvel’s lineage back to its earliest roots at the dawn of human culture. Using Marvel’s most beloved heroes (and antiheroes), such as Spider-Man and Deadpool, Meineck demonstrates how ancient themes continue to appear in our stories today and reintroduces characters like Achilles and Odysseus from Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. He shows the connection between Black Panther and the legend of Atlantis and reveals that disabled heroes like Daredevil have existed since the days of Hercules. What do Scarlet Witch and the sorceress Medea have in common? As grieving mothers outcast from society, quite a lot, actually.

Through it all, Meineck explores why these stories endure and remain so relevant today. He examines how the legends have shifted to reflect society’s changing values and warns of the perils of misinterpreting such stories. Most importantly, he asks the million-dollar What do our modern myths say about us?

Tony Stark, Odysseus, and the Myths Behind Marvel is a rollicking journey from legends of old to the pop-culture stories of today.