"Gladiator" by Philip Wylie is a science fiction novel published in 1930. A scientist creates a serum that grants superhuman abilities and injects his pregnant wife without her knowledge. Their son Hugo Danner is born with incredible strength, speed, and bulletproof skin—but spends his life hiding these gifts from a fearful world. As Hugo searches desperately for purpose and belonging, he confronts the isolating burden of being different. Widely considered an inspiration for Superman, this groundbreaking novel explores what happens when extraordinary power meets ordinary human longing. (This is an automatically generated summary.)