Neomythological

Samuel F. Johnson initiates a wave of neomythological criticism by isolating aspects of Indo-European culture in the poem: a tribal coronation rite, rites of passage, and a totemic hero.

Fantasy, on the other hand, rarely utilizes science, relying instead on magic, mythological and neomythological beings and devices and outright invention for conflict and setting.

By this time, however, Maciste had lost his individuality and had become indistinguishable from the many Herculeses, Atlases, and other assorted neomythological strongmen, all played by a host of American bodybuilders.