Well, just about everybody it seems. Who hasn’t thought about it? Or, had one of those discussions about, if you could only have one superpower, which one would it be? Wow, I wish I would of thought of that earlier, that would have been a great question to ask. Anyway, Sci Fi Channel is once again giving a group of wannabe superheroes the chance to be immortalized in comic book form.
The TVaholic hasn’t really watched much of Who Wants to Be a Superhero?, but when offered the opportunity to listen in and possibly ask questions of Stan Lee, the host of the show and the creator or co-creator of some of the most beloved comic book superheroes, like Spider-Man, The Hulk, Daredevil and the Fantastic Four, how could one say no.
On the conference call were Stan Lee and the executive producer of the show, Andy Scheer. They were really great and both seem to really love creating and putting on the show.
One of the first questions was: Why do you think people are interested in the show or stories and movies about superheroes in general? Stan thought that it might be that as children we all love fairytales, but we put them aside as we get older and comic book tales of superheroes fill that void nicely for some adults. Andy thought that pretty much everyone would like to “feel that a part of them could be a hero.”
A question was posed, a couple different times, about the differences between Season 1 vs. Season 2. Andy talked about how they decided to make it more like a giant live action comic book, by adding an overall narrative story arc to the entire season and to put them up against real villains. He also mentioned how challenging it is to create ideas to fool the new set of competitors after they have had a chance to watch and study the first season.
Stan was asked about, what qualities make up an everyday hero? He talked about things like “loyalty,” “self-sacrifice” and “courage” and how the show, while trying to be fun and entertaining, attempts to test each of the heroes to show they possess theses types of characteristics.
It was interesting that of the 1000s that auditioned for the show, it wasn’t just the freaks and geeks you might conjure up in your head would try out for a show like this, but that there were lots of doctors and lawyers and other professional types that tried out. Although, Stan mentioned that people tried out wearing suits of “just about every fruit and vegetable” you could think of. So, there were plenty of the former as well. It was also interesting to learn that some had tried out for Season 1 and didn’t make it, but tried again this year and did, like Hyper-Strike.
Stan talked at one point about how surprised he was at the closeness the competitors develop. That they really become friends and are truly disappointed when one of them gets sent home, even though they really want to win the competition themselves. Also, that many of the first season competitors still keep in contact with each other.
When asked about the changing landscape of comics and comic characters, Stan talked about how he believes there is only one constant, it being that people want to be “entertained” and that things sometimes change, so they continue to be entertaining.
Stan was later asked: why he thought that average age of comic book readers was skewing older? He thought that it might have something to do with the quality of the artwork and the writing you find in comics these days. He mentioned how many talented film and television writers have gotten into writing comics books.
Overall, it was an enjoyable hour, as Stan Lee is one of the most jovial and energetic 85 year olds you could ever come across. He is very passionate about what he does and continues to want to do more and more of it. Including getting to be more than just a talking head on a big screen in this season of the show.
Who Wants to Be a Superhero? airs on Thursday nights on Sci Fi Channel. Tonight you will find last week’s episode replaying, where the contestants face off against their first villain, followed by this week’s new episode where the heroes get paired up to meet this week’s challenge.
What do you think of Who Wants to Be a Superhero? Who’s your favorite hero this season?
This series was hilarious. At first I wasn’t sure about it, as some of the folk in it were just irritating. But it turned out pretty good, well, entertaining at least. The best guy definitely won…