Original subtitles

Super strength.

He's a normal guy, he becomes incredibly powerful.

Super speed.

He had very advanced capabilities.

And supernatural abilities.

Suddenly he's a god with godlike powers.

Throughout history, humans have told tales of beings with incredible powers.

But could these ancient stories

that continue to be retold today have extraterrestrial origins?

There's an intuitive knowing that these

stories are true, that beings did come from other planets to

save humankind.

Millions of people around the world believe we have

been visited in the past by extraterrestrial beings.

What if it were true?

Did ancient aliens really help to shape our history?

And if so, could there be a

connection between aliens and today's superheroes?

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X-ray vision.

Incredible strength.

The power of flight.

These are just a few of the superhuman abilities of modern

day comic book heroes.

But stories of beings with extraordinary powers have been

told throughout history, dating all the way back to ancient times.

The most famous are those

involving the Greek gods known as the Olympians.

These powerful beings could create earthquakes, become

invisible, and even harness lightning.

But there is an important difference between the Olympians

and the fictional superheroes of today.

The ancient Greeks believed that

the Olympians were real.

A huge difference

between the ancient world and

the modern world is we have

developed this-this very strict

sense of real and not real,

which really didn't matter so

much back then.

The ancients believed that these

heroes had been there, that they

were real people.

We're always looking at mythology as a basis for our storytelling.

A character like Wonder Woman is

immediately established in Greek mythology.

She's built on the story of the Amazons; there's Hercules,

there's Zeus: the Olympian gods play every aspect of who she is.

Could it be that today's superheroes trace their

origins back to the ancient gods?

And if the people who worshipped

these gods believed them to be

real, is it possible they

actually were?

Perhaps the answer can be found

by more closely examining the

stories of gods and heroes in

the ancient world.

The Dikteon Cave on the

Greek island of Crete is

believed by some scholars to fit

the location and description

given by the eighth century BC

poet Hesiod for the childhood

home of Zeus, the leader of the

Olympians.

Archaeologists have found

remains of religious offerings

here that date back 4,000

years to the exact period when

the stories of the Olympians

took place.

But could the ancient Greeks

have left these offerings to a

powerful being they actually

witnessed with their own eyes?

We have

these stories of these gods that

had these supernatural, magical

powers.

Let's be honest magical,

supernatural powers don't really exist.

So what was it that was described?

In my opinion, it was people who

had access to advanced technology.

There's an old saying one man's magic is

another man's engineering.

Magic is just some knowledge we

don't understand.

It is, therefore, super or above

our understanding.

It is transcendent, that's what "super" implies.

Ancient astronaut theorists believe the notion

that our ancestors actually

witnessed advanced technology is

supported by the fact that

similar stories of godlike

beings can be found on every continent.

Historian and author Joseph Campbell found that even

cultures that had never had contact with the outside world

developed similar hero stories.

So the fact that we have all these similar hero

stories from all around the

world, from different types of

ancient cultures, to me suggests

that they were visited by the

same teachers.

The myths came from ancient oral culture.

We don't know when, but you can

see almost identical gods

showing up in ancient India,

ancient Greece, and ancient Norway, so it was a long time

ago before these people started to spread out.

The power of flight, magical objects,

which allow the superhero to always be victorious.

Talismans that allow the superhero to change from an

ordinary human being to somebody who can access those magical powers.

Those are part of a number of

different stories of superheroes

that really span time and culture.

But what ancient astronaut theorists find most

intriguing is how remarkably

similar the tales of ancient

heroes are to the superhero

stories of today.

It's fascinating to me when you look at the

Superman stories and how

Superman has come from this

other planet, one that exploded.

He comes here with superpowers.

He can fly through the air, and

it's very much like the ancient

Sumerian stories and Hindu stories of these

extraterrestrial gods coming

from other planets to Earth in order to help us and move our

planet forward.

Even the iconic "S" on Superman's chest seems to

have been adapted from legends

told thousands of years ago.

Heroes and gods from ancient Greek, Buddhist, and Christian

religions are portrayed with symbols near their heart.

In Christian art, you will see Jesus wearing a glowing

robe with a glowing heart.

So, we see this correspondence here of this imagery of an

archetypal figure or a savior figure.

Today, almost every superhero has an icon on his chest.

Could this be inspired by some piece of technology our

ancestors witnessed on an alien being like the arc reactor on

Iron Man's chest that powers his suit?

And might these similarities

mean the stories of Superman,

Batman, and Spider-Man are based

on our ancestors' experiences with extraterrestrials?

These are things that are common and

symbolic throughout these stories, and they, to me, imply

that we're talking about similar figures or figures that are here

for the same reason.

And that is to advance us forward.

What we may be seeing is the

reason why Superman may resonate

so much with us is not just

because we've heard the story

before in other forms.

But because our ancient

ancestors actually experienced

this story in a very, very real way.

In a very, very ancient time.

Is it possible that the reason we continue to be

fascinated by superheroes today

is that we're trying to

reconnect with similar beings

that lived among us thousands of years ago?

It is possible some deep part of us, perhaps in our

DNA or genetic memory, is remembering that there was a

time in which the gods, the extraterrestrials, did interact with us.

And that may be because, in the past, there were beings who were

more advanced than we here on Earth were, who were protecting

us from others who were very dangerous and harmful.

There's an intuitive knowing that these stories are

true, that these events actually happened, that beings did come

from other planets, other worlds to save humankind.

Could our modern stories of superheroes really be

inspired by encounters that early humans had with

extraterrestrial beings?

Perhaps further clues can be found by examining mankind's

earliest stories, in which super beings waged war... not against

humans, but against supervillains.

May 4, 2012.

The Avengers opens in theaters across America.

This blockbuster film chronicles six superheroes who band

together to battle extraterrestrial forces of evil.

Powerful superheroes have been popular in comic books and

movies for over half a century...

and nearly all have one very

dark and forbidding feature in common: supervillains.

The arch-nemesis really defines the hero.

You can see how whatever is most interesting or powerful about

the hero, the best villains are the opposite.

The archvillain is psychologically very powerful,

because there's an echo of that

archetype that's not just "me

versus danger and chaos," but

sort of "us versus them."

Stories of superheroes fighting

supervillains with the fate of

the world at stake are common

across many different cultures

and time periods.

In the modern Avengers pantheon,

Thor does battle with his evil

adoptive brother, Loki, to

prevent Loki from taking over the universe.

The story is inspired by ancient

Norse mythology, where Thor

engages in a similar battle with

Loki and his children at Ragnarok.

The Greeks had their own epic battle of the gods, which they

believed created the world as we know it.

The Titanomachy was a conflict between the Titans, who ruled

the world, and an upstart group

of gods called the Olympians.

Psychologists say these tales of good facing off against evil

have always been popular because

they allow people to project their hopes and fears onto

fictional characters in make-believe worlds.

But could there be another reason that these stories are

told again and again around the world?

Joseph Campbell concluded that somehow these

hero myths had pervaded all cultures.

And you have to wonder if this isn't because extraterrestrials

came here to our planet and were

heroes all over the world, and

so the same story was repeated

over and over again.

Is it possible that some of our ancient hero myths

recount specific events involving extraterrestrial

visitors in the distant past?

Ancient astronaut theorists say yes... and, as evidence, cite a

Sanskrit epic that describes an enormous war between gods that

came from the stars.

In old India, we have a clear

description in the Mahabharata which is the fifth book, the

so called Mausala Parva a clear description of a war in Heaven.

I mean, it reads like modern day science fiction,

this incredible battle between the gods.

Gigantic cities were said to have orbited the earth.

And when they came together at

the firmament, they were battling each other.

The city Dvaraka was right at the edge of the Arabian Sea.

Some of the explosion split the

city and then half of the city fell in the sea.

And it is described how two of these

cities were destroyed, cities on Heaven.

And for the people on Earth, it looked as if ten thousands of

little stars would fall down.

They are describing what are extraterrestrial gods with

superpowers, with airships, with

weapons, and it would seem that

these ancient epic stories are

the same as these superhero

stories that we're hearing today.

Could it be that modern stories, in which

superheroes battle archvillains

for dominance over the earth,

are actually based on ancient

wars between extraterrestrial forces?

Perhaps further clues can be

found in the Babylonian and

Sumerian origin myths.

According to modern interpretations of the cuneiform

writing, the Enuma Elish

describes a celestial battle

some 5,000 years ago between two

groups of gods that may have actually resulted in the

destruction of a planet in our solar system.

Sumerian texts make mysterious references

to these other planets called Marduk and Tiamat.

And within our solar system,

there was some destruction here,

where one of them blew up, and this would be the theoretical

planet that was between Mars and Jupiter.

Astronomers have often said that there should be a planet there,

but instead, we have the asteroid belt.

Could the asteroid belt that circles the sun

between Mars and Jupiter really

be the remnants of a planet that existed in the distant past

a planet that was destroyed in an alien war?

And if so, are these ancient

events echoed today in the plots

of modern superhero stories?

In many ways, these stories, which are so

familiar to us in TV and movies and comic books, are really

coming to us from these ancient Sumerian and Hindu texts that

are thousands of years old.

Good versus evil is a longstanding theme that we see

in many ancient cultures, in which supernatural or

extraterrestrial beings are coming to our aid and helping us

against the greatest evil the world has ever known.

Modern stories of superheroes fighting

supervillains, based on real

extraterrestrial battles that took place above the earth

thousands of years ago.

Could it be true?

Ancient astronaut theorists believe the answer may be found

not with the stories of the gods themselves, but with their technology.

Lemnos, Greece.

3000 BC.

This island in the Aegean Sea is said to be the home of

Hephaestus, the Greek god of technology.

The son of Zeus and Hera, king and queen of the gods,

Hephaestus grew up on Mount Olympus, but he was a small and

physically deformed child.

Unhappy with her son's physical

problems, one Greek legend says

Hera threw him off the mountain.

He fell for nine days and nine nights and landed in the ocean.

There he was rescued by sea nymphs who took him to the

island of Lemnos.

Hephaestus became the blacksmith of the gods and he

set up his forge on the island of Lemnos, and volcanoes were

said to be entrances to his forge.

Working underneath an active volcano, Hephaestus is

said to have forged magical objects.

He eventually created the armor, weapons and other technology

used by the Greek gods and heroes.

Hephaestus is the god of the great forge and he is the builder.

He creates the armor that is impenetrable for Achilles.

He creates chariots.

Magical spears, magical breastplates

and so forth, which gave the gods all sorts of miraculous powers.

He's even said to have made the chariot that the god Helios, the

god of the sun, rode across the skies.

Some myths describe Hephaestus creating even more

fantastic devices, including a bronze bull that breathed fire

and is said to have had voices coming out of its nostrils and a

powerful robot named Talus that defended the island of Crete.

He made all these wondrous creations.

And when we look back at those stories, we have to ask, "Is it

possible that Hephaestus was an extraterrestrial being who

brought some advanced

extraterrestrial technology to Earth?"

Our ancestors had no experience with advanced

technology, so they would have

described alien visitors as

having superhuman powers because

of their frame of reference.

If they saw an extraterrestrial with access to incredible

"powers," which are due to advanced science, they

interpreted that as witnessing God.

And that was never the case.

Magical weapons have been a key feature of

heroic myths for thousands of years, but they play an even

larger role in the stories of modern superheroes.

1939.

With new Superman comic books flying off the shelves,

publishers rush to develop more heroes to satisfy the public's demand.

The one that makes the biggest impression is a hero of modern

technology... Batman.

Created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger, the Caped Crusader leaps

onto the comic book page and immediately into the pantheon of

pop culture gods.

The idea of Batman is that he is a normal person.

Nothing has given him super strength.

But he's a normal person who depends on his technology.

He has a utility belt with all kinds of modern gadgets.

And he has a Batmobile, and he has a Batcopter.

So he is a technological superhero in that sense.

Batman, for us, is probably one of the most

identifiable characters we have

with all of our fans, with all of our audience.

Because he's a human.

He doesn't do something that pushes the imagination beyond

something that we don't believe people can actually do.

In 1963, the comics gave birth to another iconic

character that is completely dependent on science for his

superpowers... Iron Man.

In the Iron Man story, there's this incredible suit

that can make him virtually into

a superman even though he's, he's a mortal.

This is a great melding of the human-machine interface.

This is how we use technology to do extraordinary things.

Are Batman and Iron Man modern representations of

what ancient astronaut theorists

believe the ancient gods really

were mortal beings with

advanced technology?

We see a similarity with modern-day

superheroes in some of the ancient texts of a god who wears

a special ring or holds a certain staff and can magically

become a creature of flight or can fly a magic carpet.

Many of the superheroes that we have today are just normal human beings.

But when they strap on their

technology, like Batman in his

super suit or Iron Man in his

flying capabilities, well, these

are just normal mortals that are

using advanced technology and

become superhuman or godlike.

Could modern day superheroes like Batman and Iron

Man be the true realization of

what our ancestors were

describing when they wrote about

powerful gods and heroes?

Was Hercules' great strength the

result of a robotic exoskeleton?

Could Hermes' power of flight

have been inspired by something

like a modern jet pack or

gliding suit?

And could Zeus' lightning bolts

have used electrical coils to

generate extraordinarily large voltages?

The ancient people simply used the vernacular of

the time to express what they were seeing, and as far as they

were concerned, this could only

be the work of a supreme being.

Superhumans using advanced technology.

Gods at war.

And extraterrestrials coming from the heavens.

Could these ancient tales really be evidence of an otherworldly

presence on Earth?

Perhaps further clues can be found in the stories of

superheroes hiding in plain sight.

July 3, 2007.

After spending decades as larger than life toys and

animated television characters,

the Transformers hit the big

screen with the American

premiere of their first feature

film.

The extraterrestrial storyline is a familiar one.

The Transformers, in a way, are m-mechanical versions

of Superman.

They come from another planet.

They can adapt to being here.

And then, as in a lot of

Superman stories, the enemy is from that planet.

There's some evil that follows them, that chases them down.

So, they're having this ancient

battle from their homeland, but they're having it here.

Unlike Batman or Iron Man, the Transformers

aren't humanoids that use technology.

They actually are technology.

But the most remarkable power

the Transformers use against

their foes is one of the most

important in all of heroic myth.

The ability to change from ordinary beings into

superheroes when evil threatens.

superheroes when evil threatens.

It's the archetype of metamorphosis or transformation.

Shape shifting, if you will.

This comes down to us from the ancient mythologies.

Shape shifting allows gods to interact with

humans in a way that they would not otherwise be recognized.

In fact, often times the god or goddess cannot appear to the

mortal in their full splendor because such a thing would

actually kill the mortal.

Ancient astronaut theorists suggest that stories

of gods living anonymously among

us are common because they

describe a time when

extraterrestrials did just that.

As evidence, they cite an

ancient story they believe bears

an uncanny resemblance to the

Transformers' shape-shifting myth.

A story about the Mayan god

Kukulkan who is portrayed

both as a flying serpent and a man.

We have descriptions of a winged serpent

that flew over our ancestors' heads.

But at the same time, we also

know that Kukulkan was also

someone that gave instructions

to the people in pretty much humanoid form.

So does that mean that Kukulkan

was, in fact, a shape-shifter?

Ancient astronaut theorists propose another possibility.

They contend that perhaps the

ancient people, being unfamiliar

with advanced technology,

witnessed an alien being in a spacecraft.

Imagine for a moment a craft lands, a hatch

opens and then the pilot walks out and gives instruction.

There isn't really a differentiation between the

machine and the person coming

out of it, because they didn't

understand the technological concept behind it.

The instructor then went back into the craft and took off.

All of a sudden, Kukulkan becomes this winged serpent that

flies across the sky.

Is it possible that this scenario may have actually

played out in the distant past?

And if so, did it inspire the shape-shifting myths that humans

have told for millennia?

We have the same stories, the core of the

stories, worldwide in most of the mythologies.

They are all linked together.

They had different names, were different heroes, different

personalities, but at the end, it was all the same

extraterrestrials having contact

with the humans some thousands

and thousands of years ago.

But could there be an even deeper meaning behind

the tales of otherworldly

heroes like the Transformers

and Kukulkan hiding among us?

Perhaps further clues can be found by examining the stories

of godlike beings disguising themselves as ordinary humans.

Superman hides his identity by

pretending to be mild-mannered newspaper reporter Clark Kent.

Wonder Woman disguises herself as a nurse named Diana Prince.

And Spider Man's alter ego is Peter Parker.

Virtually every really popular superhero has a clear

and recognizable ordinary human identity.

It's an essential part of the superhero archetype that they be

able to look like us and feel like us and live like us, but

then be able to explode into their super-powered self.

We have a deep inner longing to have that story

retold, perhaps through some

sort of genetic memory written right into our DNA.

We seem to be remembering, on some deep level, a part of us

that can come in contact with extraterrestrial capabilities

and actualize them as we

ourselves reach the next level of human evolution or what may

have been a level that we had long ago and was deliberately

turned off in our DNA for some reason.

Is it really possible that we tell stories of

superheroes disguised as humans

because it is written in our

genetic memory that we have

special abilities hidden within ourselves?

And if so, what could be the source of those abilities?

We may not have originated on Earth.

We may have been seeded on Earth

by other humans who are far

older than we are and who are

far more genetically advanced than we are.

Perhaps some part of us remembers that there is a way in

which we could be exposed to

certain technologies that

activate this dormant DNA within

us, that propel us to the next

level of what it means to be

a live, evolved human being.

Could it be that stories of superheroes hiding

among us are so popular because

extraterrestrials have manipulated our DNA, hiding

extraordinary powers deep inside all of us?

Perhaps the answer can be found by exploring the stories of

heroes whose powers are the

result of genetic mutation.

New York City, 1962.

Marvel Comics editor Stan Lee

wants to create a new breed of superhero.

One of the masterminds behind the Fantastic Four and the

Avengers, Lee invents a character literally born out of

modern science: Spider Man.

Radiation was very much in the news at the time.

And I figured, well, let's let

him get his power through radiation.

And I figured the spider would

bite Peter Parker on the hand.

Since the spider was radioactive, I assumed that his

little spider sting would insert

some radioactivity into Peter's bloodstream.

Now, having radioactivity in your blood, especially if it was

spidery radioactivity, that

should give you some of the qualities of a spider.

Spider-Man's just a normal teenager until he's

bitten by a radioactive spider.

Suddenly, he's a combination of

normal person, but also a god

with godlike powers.

I thought, "He'll have the proportionate strength of a spider."

In other words, if a spider were

as large as a human being,

that's how strong the spider

would be which made Peter Parker very strong.

I also figured he could stick to

walls like a spider or any insect.

Although exposure to radiation scrambles

Spider-Man's genetic material,

there's a precedent for it in ancient mythology: genetic

manipulation through the mixing

of mortal and immortal blood.

Anjaneri, India.

Two miles outside this small village, in a cave surrounded by

forests and mountains, is where many believe one of Hindu

mythology's greatest heroes was born: Hanuman.

Hanuman was part god because his father was the

god of wind and his mother is a mortal human being.

So, then, obviously, uh, he has the qualities, the power of wind

god and he's able to fly and he is able to multiply in his size.

So because of that, he's definitely a demigod.

Hanuman is often depicted as half-man and

half-monkey, which underlines

his mixed bloodline.

Is it possible that this is a non-scientific way of describing

genetically engineered super beings, as ancient

astronaut theorists contend?

One of the common themes in ancient texts is

ancient gods or extraterrestrials coming here

and then manipulating our DNA

and changing us into more

superior beings.

As evidence of the genetic experiments they believe

took place in the prehistoric past, ancient astronaut

theorists cite depictions of hybrid creatures found in

cultures around the world:

winged horses in Assyrian and Sumerian myths, the

elephant-headed deity Ganesha

in the Hindu pantheon, and Khepri, the ancient Egyptian

god of the morning sun.

The Egyptian deity, Khepri, is shown as either a

beetle, or as a human with the head of a beetle.

And you have to ask, what are they trying to tell us here about Khepri?

Could he have been half human, half insect?

Some ancient astronaut theorists believe the

hybrids depicted by the ancients may have actually been the

result of extraterrestrial genetic experiments in the distant past.

These things aren't very far off from what we have

in our ancient tales of creation.

In the Sumerian epic of creation, we hear about the

Anunnaki literally putting their genetic marker on us and

creating us in their image and after their likeness.

Could genetic experiments long ago have been

part of an ancient alien effort to create the human race?

Some very strange things happened in the course of human evolution.

We go from Neanderthals with no apparent "missing link"

whatsoever, and all of a sudden, our brain size doubles, our

thumbs becomes more usable,

we can walk erect more easily.

There's a large number of

changes that take place in a very short time.

Might the entire human species have been created

by extraterrestrial genetic experiments in the past?

And could our genetic memory of

this be the reason we create

genetically altered superheroes

today, including mutants like

the X-Men and the Incredible

Hulk and hybrids like Hawkman,

Animal Man, and Spider-Man?

Is it possible that when we are seeing superhero

movies, that on some level we are remembering having been

changed before?

That perhaps we were like the Neanderthals before, and this

already happened, we already had

some sort of genetic upgrade

that brought us to the next level of human evolution?

Are modern comic book stories of hybrids and

mutants actually inspired by an

ancient alien intervention

thousands of years ago?

And might we create these stories because we are

subconsciously aware of

something greater within ourselves?

Ancient astronaut theorists say

yes, and believe that our own

recent technological advances

may be bringing us closer to a

reconnection with our alien past.

Livingston, New Jersey.

May 2001.

Scientists at the Institute for

Reproductive Medicine made headlines when they revealed

they had created the world's

first genetically modified baby.

Using a process called cytoplasmic transfer, they

implanted mitochondrial DNA from a second mother into an egg

to make it easier for it to bond with sperm and form a viable fetus.

When scientists performed genetic tests on the babies born

out of this process, they detected genetic material from a third parent.

The reason the cytoplasmic transfer is

controversial is because it's human manipulation of the human

germ cell line, in other words

the, um, cell line that is passed from parent to offspring.

We typically just inherit our genetic material from both of

our parents, so there's a direct line of descent.

With the introduction of cytoplasmic transfer, suddenly

you have, um, humans manipulating that germ line,

that cell line, or DNA line passed on from parent to offspring.

If perfected, genetic manipulation could

could allow scientists to introduce DNA from an unlimited

number of people into a fetus.

This would allow them to rid babies of genetic disease.

But it could also, theoretically, let them tinker

with natural traits to create superhumans that are much

faster, stronger, and smarter than those that have come before.

You are altering the genetic future of the human

race based on your sort of current, um, preferences, let's

say, for a person's traits.

It's sort of into perpetuity affecting the genetic line

of descent in humans.

And so, that's something very different than had ever been

performed before, and that's certainly controversial.

The concept of altering genes whether these

genes are in food, animals, or

humans has always created a

firestorm of protest.

In this case, the controversy

forced an American moratorium on

cytoplasmic transfer.

Even so, scientists say the

technology may eventually be

developed that will allow us to give superpowers including

amazing strength, eyesight, and

intelligence to our children while they're still in the womb.

Today more than ever, we're capable of playing god.

We have incredible superpowers at our fingertips

with genetic technology and you have to ask, "Are we

trying to duplicate what we saw

the gods possessing in the ancient world?

Are we hardwired or programmed to develop these technologies so

that we can equal our makers?"

Do we yearn to become like the advanced beings

that ancient astronaut theorists

believe created us thousands of years ago, and might this be

why superhero stories continue to fascinate us?

I think the reason why people like these superhero

stories that literally go back thousands of years is because

they're possibly explaining our actual human origins.

Every culture around the world talks about an intervention

event where beings from the

heavens came down and gave us knowledge.

If we really are the product of alien genetic

experimentation as ancient astronaut theorists believe,

might our own DNA resemble that

of otherworldly beings?

And if so, are we becoming more and more like our makers,

through our own technological breakthroughs and genetic advances?

In many ways, our society has come full

circle where in ancient times we

had extraterrestrials here

manipulating our DNA, and now

we're the ones who are

manipulating our own DNA to also

create a more advanced human species.

Who knows what's possible?

It's a brave new world.

Everything changes and we have abilities that are so different

that it's as if a quantum shift in human evolution has taken place.

Are ancient stories of heroes and gods with

mythological powers really based

on encounters with extraterrestrials?

And might modern-day superheroes be inspired by our desire to

reconnect with these powerful beings?

Could characters like Batman...

Spider-Man...

and Superman be the humans of tomorrow?

Perhaps as our technology continues to advance, we are

drawing closer to coming face-to-face with our alien

ancestors.

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