Henry's Asylum

Who Wants to be a Superhero?

A short while back, I noticed the commercials for a new “reality series” entitles “Who Wants to be a Superhero?” brought to us by none other that Stan Lee. I’ve always been a fan of Stan Lee going back to the days when one of my best friend’s mom used to craft his hair pieces and my friend subsequently received some nice autographed comics that I envied. Of course, Stan Lee is the legend that brought us some of the greatest comic and film superheroes of all time from the Marvel universe. However, I was convinced that senility had set in when I saw the ads for this new show. Be that as it may, I still decided to check it out when it finally aired. I was quite surprised. The man is truly a genius.

The show features a group of would-be superheroes ranging from the ridiculous (Cell Phone Girl) to the sincere (Fat Mama) to the hot (Monkey Woman – at least in my opinion. I’m not really sure why). But here’s the catch. These folks are given tasks to perform which, on the surface, appear to be tests of strength, speed and other “superhero” attributes. But, in actuality, the tests are designed to illustrate the less tangible aspects of a worthy superhero. Things like character, honesty, kindness, intelligence and resourcefulness. For example, in one test, the contestants were tasked with changing into their costumes in public (in an inconspicuous manner) and then run to a designated point while being timed. Sounds pretty straightforward, does it not? But here’s the catch. After changing into their costume, each “superhero” found themselves running past a crying child who appeared to be lost. Would they make it to their goal in the least amount of time possible? Or would they risk losing the race to stop and help that child? I couldn’t believe that nearly half the contestants screwed that one up. Time for one to be eliminated. More on that later.

posted by hbrennan @ 10:41 AM