Ever imagined what it would be like to create a superhero and have the chance for them to be immortalized forever in the pages of a comic book? A select few got to live that dream through Stan Lee‘s SyFy Channel reality series Who Wants To Be A Superhero? As one of the first architects of what would eventually become Marvel Comics, Stan Lee became synonymous with superheroes over the course of his career. Having created or co-created such superheroes as Spider-Man, the X-Men, Daredevil, the Hulk, the Fantastic Four, and many others, Stan Lee was instrumental in superheroes becoming the modern day mythology that they are. Between that and Stan Lee’s regular Alfred Hitchcock-style cameos in most Marvel movies, there were few people as well-suited to serve as the judge of a superhero-based reality show as Stan Lee.
Who Wants To Be A Superhero? offered numerous prizes to the winner of its two-season run, including a trip to Universal Studios Orlando, an appearance in a SyFy Channel Original Movie, and the winner’s character being the subject of a one-shot Dark Horse comic book. While Who Wants To Be A Superhero? had a relatively short run, the comics it produced are both still fun to look back on as a chapter in the legacy of Stan Lee and his role in shaping the superhero genre.
Looking Back On Stan Lee’s Who Wants To Be A Superhero?
Running for two seasons on the SyFy Channel from 2006 through 2007, Who Wants To Be A Superhero? presents nerds with the ultimate game show pitch – come up with an idea for a superhero, prove to Stan Lee himself you embody the most important character traits of a superhero, and your character will be enshrined forever in a comic book. In order to prove their character’s value to Lee, the contestants of Who Wants To Be A Superhero? were put through a series of challenges to test different core values essential to superheroes, such as courage, altruism, honesty, and self-sacrifice.
Needless to say, the turnout rate for who Wants To Be A Superhero? was huge, with the show opening with Lee meeting prospective contestants auditioning in character for the series. Despite its popularity on the SyFy Channel, Who Wants To Be A Superhero? ended after its second season without officially being cancelled or any specific reason being given for the show’s end. Despite this, Who Wants To Be A Superhero? found a second life on British television, with the series being aired on the U.K. network CBBC and shifting the focus from adults to children as its contestants, and acting as the de facto third season.
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Season 1’s Winner – Feedback
Who Wants To Be A Superhero? season 1 concluded with software engineer and lifelong Spider-Man fan Matthew Atherton winning the contest, with his character Feedback becoming the subject of the first comic book spun out from the show. In Atherton’s backstory for Feedback, an accident at a computer factory leaves him with newfound electrical powers, including anything technological in his immediate area shutting down in his presence (hence his name Feedback.) Atherton develops a dampening suit to enable him to control his powers. In addition to this and his ability to project surges of electricity, Feedback also has the power to temporarily absorb abilities from video game characters after playing them, though each usage of them comes at the cost of losing a portion of his memory. Atherton also coined his own special catchphrase for his superhero, “Time for some Feedback!”, which he uses throughout the show.
Feedback’s Dark Horse comic book, penned by Stan Lee, somewhat modifies his origin story, with Atherton once again a computer programmer and video game nerd who becomes an unwitting accomplice to a terrorist known as Ironside. After being struck by lightning while holding a video game controller, Atherton gains his electrical powers and takes on the identity of Feedback in order to put a stop to Ironside and his terrorist group. In the end, Feedback thwarts Ironside’s terrorist plot, with the villain and his gang being killed in a warehouse explosion, while the story ends with Atherton contemplating whether to reveal his powers to his girlfriend Sarah (modeled on Atherton’s real-life wife, who also appeared on season 1 of Who Wants To Be A Superhero?)
Season 2’s Winner – The Defuser
When Who Wants To Be A Superhero? returned for its second season, Jarrett Crippen emerged as the winner with his character, The Defuser. Modeled upon Crippen’s real-life career in law enforcement, The Defuser is a super-cop capable of functioning at 110 percent of human capacity, while relying upon non-lethal weaponry to apprehend villains. Additionally, The Defuser has night-vision enabling him to see in the dark for up to 60 feet. Like Feedback, The Defuser also has his own heroic catchphrase, heading into battle with “When the Defuser’s around, the bad guys are going down!”
Following his win on season 2, The Defuser’s Dark Horse comic book was penned by Jeremy Barlow, and featured a similar backstory of Crippen as a super-cop who develops non-lethal weaponry to fight criminals. The Defuser’s big mission in his solo comic involves rescuing passengers from a a hijacked plane, with his own wife, Norma, among them. The story also involves Defuser putting a stop to a rogue A.I. program, with assistance from a robot cop associate of his on the force.
When all’s said and done, Who Wants To Be A Superhero? stands as an endearing chapter in Stan Lee’s legacy of superhero storytelling. While the series itself remains a fun and charming reality-game show hybrid, Feedback and Defuser’s two one-shot comics a part of that legacy and capture the undying influence Stan Lee had and continues to have on nerd culture and the superhero genre.
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