Did you know there’s a strong chance the character of Superman — the beloved immigrant hero — was inspired by a legendary figure from African American folklore?

There’s no official evidence directly linking the superhero, created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster and first appearing in Action Comics No. 1 in 1938, to the folk legend of John Henry. But there’s compelling circumstantial evidence worth exploring. Historian Scott Nelson certainly thought so. He’s the author of “Steel Drivin’ Man: John Henry, the Untold Story of an American Legend,” published in 2006.

“I think it was an unconscious sort of thing,” he told the Associated Press in 2006. “Siegel and Shuster were both very liberal for their time, and they would have been very aware of the image that existed of John Henry.”

If you’re unfamiliar with the legend of John Henry, you were shortchanged in your American literature education. But that’s OK — I’m here to help.

According to legend, John Henry was a Black steel driver working on the railroads in the 1880s. He was known for driving spikes into rock faster than anyone else. When a steam-powered drill was brought in to replace manual labor, a contest was held. Henry went head-to-head with the machine and won — only to collapse and die from exhaustion, the hammer still in his hand.

Yeah — even in folklore, happy endings are hard to come by for us.

So how were the creators of Superman aware of John Henry? During the 1930s, the Communist Party — in an effort to appeal to Black workers — circulated posters of a balloon-muscled John Henry. Nelson’s book details how radical artists behind these images helped embed the iconography into American popular culture.

“In 1935 and 1936, these radicals were talking about John Henry, and it was in 1937 and ’38 and ’39 that they began to mainstream themselves,” Nelson said. “With Superman, they took a Black man and made him white and put him in tights.

But he looks almost exactly the same, and he did all these left-wing things in the early comics. The early Superman was fighting landlords and slumlords and evil mine owners.”

Yes, Superman once looked out for the poor, the oppressed and the innocent. But once he got corporate, he started defending property, enforcing laws — sort of like a police officer. He was also punching out monsters and supervillains, and I guess everyone in Metropolis benefited from that.

The latest cinematic portrayal of the hero in Superman, starring David Corenswet as Clark Kent, returns the character to his roots. This time, Superman’s immigration status is used to demonize him and cast doubt on his motives. He’s ultimately jailed by the government. The film doesn’t shy away from timely themes — immigration, justice, and the unchecked power of tech oligarchs — which has drawn ire from those who use the word “woke” like a slur.

Superman used to fight for people who didn’t have power. That spirit traces back to John Henry, who raced a steam-powered hammer to protect his job and dignity — giving everything he had for a future he might never see.

Superman isn’t coming to save us and John Henry laid his hammer down a long time ago. We are the heroes we’ve been looking for.