Who was the first superhero to wear a mask?

Answer 1

The wearing of masks actually pre-dates the super heros. Consider The Phantom of the Opera, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Zorro, The Lone Ranger, The Green Hornet and kato ect.

The nearest I can find of the first 'superhero wearing a mask ' didn't start out super, never became really super, is more of an anti-hero, didn't start out wearing a mask and never developed a full one.

I am thinking of course of The Shadow. At first he was only very good at keeping to the shadows and at stealth in general. Later on he 'acquired' the ability to 'cloud men's minds' so that he was temporarily unseeable to individuals or small groups (except for his shadow of course). He delivered his own brand of justice, worked on both sides of the law to obtain his objectives, and had no qualms about killing his opponents. At first he had only a wide brimmed hat and upturned collars but later on he used a scarlet scarf to conceal the lower part of his face.

I would like to think of The Shadow (1930 or 1931) as being a sort of 'missing link' between the non-superheroes of the 19th century and those of the early 1930s.

After The Shadow we have a number of comic book heroes that do indeed wear masks: The Spider, The Phantom Stranger, The Clock, The Crimson Avenger, The Arrow, Batman; but none of these had any superpower, gadgets yes, but not powers.

And then we do have real superheroes such as Super Man and Captain Marvel but who do not wear a mask.

The first real superhero with a mask that I can think of is The Flame(1938).