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Who Wants to be a Superhero: Episode 1 (series premiere)
(S01E01) Uhm, yea.
Look, I admire Stan Lee. Back in the early 1960's he took Marvel Comics, which was in its death throes at the time, and turned it completely around by introducing a whole new group of superheroes, including such mainstays as Spider-man, The Hulk, The X-Men, and The Fantastic Four. These people didn't just have abilities beyond those of mortal men: they had feelings and hearts and realized that their powers came with a price. As Uncle Ben said to Peter Parker 'With great power comes great responsibility'. So, Mr. Lee had every right to become the icon that he is today.
But Stan . . . Stan, Stan, Stan. What the heck were you thinking when you created Who Wants to be a Superhero? Don't get me wrong, the concept is good: enlist normal people to dress up as original comic book heroes (with self-made costumes) and compete in an elimination tournament where the winner would get their own comic book and an original movie on the Sci-Fi Channel. However, the outcome that premiered was, well, not very good at all.
It was the 'superheroes' who where chosen that left the sour taste in my mouth. They were all fake. I wouldn't be surprised if some of them were professional actors (especially Disk Jockey Chris Watters as Major Victory. What a freaking ham!). It was also the editing of the show. It felt like much of it was scripted out, possibly because some of the original gatherings the heroes had just didn't pan out. One scene in particular that looked extremely fake was when the heroes walk through a garment factory to head towards their 'secret' lair. The scene of two Asian women arguing in their own language while these costumed idiots walk in and ask for the freight elevator just seemed like something you'd see on Reno 911.
Also, what the heck was that whole thing about Stan not being involved directly with the candidates. Everytime he spoke to them it was through a video screen. I personally felt that it was a bit humiliating for the contestants to be speaking to a television monitor all of the time. Gosh, even Donald Trump, who wields a considerably larger amount of power and money than Lee does, speaks to his candidates directly on The Apprentice.
Okay, the show itself. There were two eliminations during the premiere episode. The first took place right before the superheroes were about to enter their new headquarters. This was when Tobias Trost (aka Levity) was let go after a spy inserted into the group of heroes found out that Trost would create action figures of himself to sell for hundreds of dollars. Superheroes don't do it for the profit, Tobias!
The next elimination took place after their first assignment, which was to change from their real clothes to their costumes out in public. But it reality that wasn't the main purpose of the assignment. The actual goal was to see how many of these so-called heroes actually helped a little girl who was lost. There were two items here that told me that most of these men and women could never be true superheroes. First, they wore their civilian garb, but brought their costumes in bags. Hello? Didn't any of them think of wearing their costumes UNDER their normal clothes, just like Spider-man and Superman. The other thing was how many of these people missed the little lost girl. Didn't any of them notice the body mike she was wearing? Seesh!
The elimination took place on the roof of the heroes' lair. Stan presided over the proceedings from a video billboard across the way. He chose the heroes Nitro G (who changed his costume in public), Monkey Woman (who glanced at the lost girl, but kept on going) and The Iron Enforcer (who just really wants to kill everything) to explain why they should remain on the show. Monkey Woman gave a tearful speech on why she should remain, while the other two heroes pretty much apologized for their mistakes and moved on. After Stan took their arguments into consideration he let go Nitro G.
My wife, who loves to watch reality shows, said this about Who Wants to be a Superhero, 'This is the stupidest reality show ever made in the world.' My sentiments exactly, my dear.
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