I read about this guy last summer, when I first got a computer & started spending hours just looking up anything I could think of on the Internet. I was searching Doc Savage & came across some info on Gladiator. And it talked about how both characters were predecessors for Superman.
In fact, DC Comics later incorporated Hugo Danner, the lead character in Gladiator, into the DCU. I remember that. One of my favorite comic-book titles as a kid was ALL STAR SQUADRON. After the Crises it was revamped as YOUNG ALL STARS. They introduced a new character called IRON MUNRO, who was basically supposed to be the Earth 2 Superman's replacement in history. They did a 2-part story where it was revealed that Iron Munro was actually the illegitiment son of Hugo Danner. At the time, of course, I had no idea that that was a "real" character, I just figured it was made up for the story. But that's actually pretty cool the way they did that.
Hey, check this out. It's some website somebody wrote that details the fictitous histoy of Gladiator and Superman, with Captain America thrown in. It's pretty clever:
