"Who Wants to Be a Superhero?" (2006) TV series

Seasons:

1 | 2 | unknown

Genre:

Game-Show | Reality-TV

Plot:

Eleven hopefuls create their own superhero alter ego in a competition judged by comic book maestro Stan Lee; the winner will be immortalized in a new comic book to be created by Stan Lee himself and released by Dark Horse Comics.

Plot Keywords:

Superhero | Contest

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Stan Lee	...	Himself (14 episodes, 2006-2007)
Richard Malmos	...	Narrator (9 episodes, 2006-2007)
Jarrett Crippen	...	Himself / ... (8 episodes, 2007)
John Stork	...	Himself / ... (8 episodes, 2007)
Melody Mooney	...	Herself / ... (8 episodes, 2007)
Matthew Atherton	...	Feedback / ... (8 episodes, 2006-2007)
Christopher Watters	...	Major Victory / ... (7 episodes, 2006)
Yan Feldman	...	Dr. Dark (6 episodes, 2007)
Dan Williams	...	Himself / ... (6 episodes, 2007)
Tonatzin Mondragon	...	Herself / ... (6 episodes, 2006)
Mary Votava	...	Herself / ... (6 episodes, 2006)
Nell Wilson	...	Fat Momma / ... (6 episodes, 2006)

Also Known As:

Who Wants to Be a Superhero? 2 (USA) (second season title)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Company:

POW! Entertainment

Trivia:

The majority of Season 2 contestants originally auditioned under code-names other than what they used on the show: the Defuser (Takedown), Hyper-Strike (Super Impact Man), Mindset (Omnicron), Mr. Mitzvah (Peaceman, Mitzvah Man), Parthenon (Paragon), and Whip-Snap (Lady Reckoning).

Quotes:

Stan Lee: [to Iron Enforcer after he brags about how lethal he is] Superheroes don't kill people. Superheroes save people.

Overall, not a bad show, but...

I remember watching "Who Wants to Be a Superhero?" two years back on the Sci-Fi Channel and thinking that this show was like reality television for comic book geeks, and therefore was a sure-fire way to get comic book geeks into the reality television market.

I'm proud to say that this show didn't get me into the reality TV craze, despite the fact that I'm one of those comic book geeks it's supposed to appeal to. (I'm an avid reader of Spider-Man and X-Men, both published by Marvel Comics, just to show you where I'm coming from.)

Basically, a group of wannabe superheroes get a chance to become immortalized in a comic book written by master comic book publisher Stan Lee (co-creator of my favorite superhero Spider-Man and the X-Men, among many others) himself and published by Dark Horse Comics, and a Sci-Fi Channel original movie based on their character. Lee is also the one presiding over the festivities.

The main problem with "Who Wants to Be a Superhero?" is the fact that to me, the "wannabe superhero" theme is just a gimmick that doesn't really add anything new to a tried-and-true genre that wore out its welcome a long time ago. Don't get me wrong, if I had a chance to have a superhero creation of my own immortalized in a comic book written by my personal favorite comic book publisher-hero Stan Lee, I would in a heartbeat, I really, really would - that's how big a fan I am of "The Man" and the medium.

Some of the "heroes" on this show are pretty colorful and interesting characters with some pretty imaginative origin stories, don't get me wrong, but unfortunately a lot of the supposed originality that this show has so much potential to unleash gets lost in the reality TV show antics that are so worn-out and tired.

Overall, it's not a bad show but I wish it just wouldn't fall to prey so easily to the usual reality television antics.

6/10