Who Wants to Be A Superhero was reality show hosted by Stan Lee. Contestants dressed up as a comic book superhero of their own design. Each week, Lee challengeed the contestants to represent what "superheroes are all about." One or more deemed the least deserving were eliminated per episode. The grand prize winner would see their superhero featured in a Dark Horse comic written by Stan Lee and appear in a original movie to be aired on Syfy (formerly SciFi Channel and Sci-Fi). The winner also received a trip to Universal Studios.
Contestants[]
Season 1[]
| Photo | Superhero Identity | Real Name | Powers | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
  |
Major Victory | Chris Watters |
|
No |
  |
Cell Phone Girl | Chelsea Ward |
|
No |
  |
Levity | Tobias Trost |
|
No |
  |
Creature | Tonya Kay |
|
No |
  |
Feedback | Matthew Atherton |
|
Yes |
  |
Lemuria | Tonatzin Mondragon |
|
No |
  |
Nitro G | Darren Passarello |
|
No |
  |
Fat Momma | Nell Wilson |
|
No |
  |
Iron Enforcer | Steel Chambers |
|
No |
  |
Monkey Woman | Mary Votava |
|
No |
  |
Ty'Veculus | E. Quincy Sloan |
|
No |
Season 2[]
Episodes[]
Season 1[]
- Episode 1: The superheroes and their alter egos were introduced. It was revealed that during a party the contestant, Rotiart was unmasked as a spy who had secretly been recording their actions to help Lee deduce which one of them might have less than noble motives. Iron Enforcer was sent home because of his violent tendencies. Levity was sent home because of he was greedy, and Creature was sent home for flirting with the male heroes. Lee then gave the remaining contestants a communicator so they could talk to him personally. The first challenge was a "Quick Change." The contestants had to find an inconspicuous location in public and change into their costume and race to a destination. However, a child actress pretended to be lost and the true goal of the challenge was to bring the girl to her mother. After the challenge Lee revealed it's true purpose. Lee then eliminated Nitro G.
- Episode 2: In this episode Stan Lee gave the heroes another challenge. Each hero was to write questions to ask each other anonymously, then send the questions via peneumatic tube to Lee. Lee then announced the second challenge focusing on valor and will. Lee then announced that the remaining heroes would be given new costumes after the challenge. Following several interviews with the superheroes regarding Iron Enforcer's complete inability to fit in Stan Lee told Iron Enforcer that is a lousy superhero but would make a great supervillain. Enforcer agreed to the new identity. He was then given a new costume and renamed himself the Dark Enforcer and Stan Lee announced that life was about to become a lot more difficult.
- Episode 3: The episode started with Stan Lee interrupting the heroes' breakfast for a meeting. Lee then told them that a hero's villain is what defined them. The lights then flickered and then failed, building to the Dark Enforcer's entrance. He told the heroes that this had been a test of self-sacrifice and that while he could not know the true motives of those who had nominated themselves, they had given him the answer he wanted. Lee told Fat Momma that while she had failed the challenge, she had nominated Feedback out of concern and that in her own way she was trying to save him. Ty'Veculus, Lee said, had no such noble motives. The Warrior of Light was then asked to turn in his costume. In the lair, Fat Momma lashed out at the other superheroes, accusing them of dishonesty and manipulation in nominating themselves. In an interview, Lemuria stated that Lee wold have to "do a lot more than that to outsmart me" and that she would do anything to stay in the game. In the final moments, Fat Momma vowed to see all the heroes eliminated before her as "payback" for Ty'Veculus.
- Episode 4: The remaining superheroes patrolled the streets of Los Angeles to do some super deeds. The heros were then taken to a prison and met with a handcuffed prisoner. Major Victory went first. After being told he looked ridiculous, the Major agreed and removed his cape and gloves. The inmate then asked Major Victory about having his handcuffs removed to make him more comfortable. Major Victory moved behind the inmate and patted his shoulders three times. Upon return Major Victory stated that "Feedback has to hug the inmate three times? I'm gonna miss Feedback!" Feedback met the convict next. By this time, the man was asking repeatedly to have his handcuffs removed, or he would go back to the van. Feedback then asked the prison guard to remove the convict's handcuffs, then began talking with him. When Feedback asked why he was in prison the convict answered three counts of murder. At the end of the challenge Lemuria was asked to turn in her costume and leave the lair. At the end of the episode Feedback thanked Stan Lee for allowing him to stay in the competition and explained that after the loss of his father, Stan Lee's characters were the men he looked up to. Lee said he wasn't sure he deserved the that honor but was touched by it.
- Episode 5: The episode began with Stan Lee summoning the superheroes to tell them they would soon face the "toughest judges of all": school children. The heroes visited Arma J. Shull School and were introduced to a class of 4th graders. As a suprise, Lee had mock comic book covers in the classroom, one for each of the heros. Each hero then talked to the children about their origins, powers, and messages. Feedbacks origin story went over the heads of the children. Fat Momma had the children sing her theme song, and gave the children a message about bullying and how they should not let it get to them. Finally, Major Victory humorously explained his sperpowers of speed by running around the room, and his powers of sound by singing. Major Victory finished the challenge in 15 minutes and 25 seconds. Feedback reached the Dark Enforcer in 15 minutes and 40 seconds. Fat Momma, who stopped repeatedly for French fries, chicken fingers, a massage, and the short-haired woman's candy apple, completed the mission but her time was not posted on-screen. Back at the lair, Lee announced another elimination. Before the heroes could assemble on the roof, Fat Momma locked herself in the bathroom and asked to speak to an executive producer. She told the producer that she wanted to leave the show out of fear for Feedback, who she felt was taking the show so seriously that it would devastate him to be eliminated. Satin left him to be eliminated. Satin left the heroes to talk among themselves. Feedback assured her that if he were eliminated he would have no regrets.
- Episode 6: As the episode opened Stan Lee said that he will soon be crowning the next great superhero. As Lee gazed at comic book covers featuring Feedback and Fat Momma, he reviewed the various challenges they had faced and the superheroic traits they had exhibited through the course of the competition. Feedback went first and spoke again about how his father, suffering from chronic pain, had killed himself. Following his father's death, he looked to Lee's heroes for male role models. Feedback told Lee again that he was his hero and Stan Lee said that he was touched by Matthew's words. Nell said that her best moment during the show was when Lee told her he was proud of her. She said that her father was her hero. She believed that a strong man was the center of a strong family and that with her father growing older she knew that he wouldn't be with her much longer, so she cherished every day she had with him. Lee then told Fat Momma that she was one of his heroes. As the season ended, Feedback flew off-screen and was seen flying through space.
Season 2[]
- Episode 1: Lee indroduces the new heroes and brings them to the lair. As Stan is talking on his monitor a mysterious villain enters his room and the monitor turns off. The cloaked villain then gives the heroes a chance to save Stan Lee who is placed behind two waterways. The heroes then split into two teams to turn off the water valves. The blue team, which consists of Defuser, Ms. Limelight, Basura, and Parthenon, manage to shut off the valve in time. However, the red team, which consists of Hygena, Hyper-Strike, Mindset, Mr. Mitzvah, and Whip-Snap, is unable to complete the task in time. When the challenge ends the supervillain reveals himself to be Lee in disguise and that he faked his own kidnapping. Next the heroes investigate a robbery at a warehouse and talk to evasive Mr. Long to discover clues. They then go outside and discover that the tires to their vehicles have been taken off. As they put the tires back on, Basura, Hygena, and Parthenon notice the challenges of helping an elderly woman and helping a man carry heavy boxes. None of the superheroes noticed the lost dog. The show ends with Mr. Mitzvah, Braid, and Ms. Limelight nominated for elimination. Braid was the one eliminated. Then a mysterious villain, later identified as Bee Sting, says she will come after the superheroes.
- Episode 2: The superheros confront Bee Sting at an abandoned school, where she forces them to compete in a spelling bee. Each word has "be" in it and must be spelled with "bee" instead. Bees are released into their chambers for every word they spell wrong. After the heroes complete her challenge, they are covered in honey for their efforts. They arrive back at the lair where they change out of their superhero costumes and into civilian clothes. The next day, Lee has them put their ruined suits back on, and he interviews each of them one by one about their characters' origins. Then he issues them all new costumes. While most of the heroes were pleased with their new outfits, Hyper-Strike was disappointed with his and could be seen moping around the lair. After everyone celebrates the new suits, Lee calls for an elimination. Mr. Mitzvah, Ms. Limelight, and Mindset are nominated for elimination. Lee says that Mr. Mitzvah behaved in an unheroic mannerduring the Spelling Bee, and, because of his concern for his own wellbeing, he was unable to effectively help his team. Ms. Limelight was unable to articulate her superhero's abilities to Lee during her interview with him, and Lee felt that a superhero needed to be better able to perform under pressure. Mindset, however, is the second hero to be eliminated: Along with putting himself above his teammates by refusing to play the Spelling Bee according to Bee Sting's rules, he spoke inappropriately to Ms. Limelight, stating that she was "putting on an act" (in his exit interview he clarified that he was only saying that her "ditzy" persona is more like one of "the roles we all play in life" rather than a deliberate deception, though at the time she and the other contestants - along with many viewers - took him to mean the latter). The remaining heroes receive their communicators in the library. Meanwhile, Bee Sting makes a call to Dr. Dark.
- Episode 3: The heroes awaken to learn that Dr. Dark had been seen at nearby Six Flags Magic Mountain amusement park. When they arrive, Dr. Dark instructs them to form teams of two, and that one of each team must ride the roller coaster Tatsu and search the track for four colored squares that corresponded with park locations. The other team member must go to these locations and retrieve a number that is part of a combination to one of four locks on a door, behind which, ostensibly, is Dr. Dark. In the park are fans who test the heroes by trying to stop them for picture-taking, which would reveal whether they would remain focused on the task or be distracted. Basura and Parthenon are the only ones to stop for the fans, but after a short time they continue on, telling the fans they had a task to do but will return. All the heroes arrive with their combinations except Hygena and Ms. Limelight, who were missing two numbers but were helped by Parthenon, who had discovered that all of the combinations contained the same four numbers. They open the door to discover Dr. Dark is not inside; instead, he appears on a television set and taunts them, claiming that he has found their lair. When the heroes return to the lair, they find a note from Dr. Dark suggesting there may be a mole within the group. This stirs dissension among the heroes until Hygena reminds them that Dr. Dark is the true enemy. When Mr. Mitzvah leaves the room, The Defuser says Mr. Mitzvah could be the mole. Parthenon is uncomfortable with the group talking behind Mr. Mitzvah's back, and when Mr. Mitzvah returns, he answers the groups questions about him. Lee asks the superheroes to complete a mission report, which yields the following
- Everybody thought they could have performed better.
- Two of the superheroes felt they let down their partners.
- Whip-Snap and Mr. Mitzvah were thought of more as sidekicks than superheroes.
- Parthenon, Hyper-Strike, Basura, and Mr. Mitzvah were accused of being the mole.
After Lee shares the results of the mission reports with the heroes, he calls for an elimination. He informs the remaining heroes that he has discovered who the mole is: no-one, and that they failed to consider where the idea of the mole came from (Dr. Dark himself). He then criticizes most members of the group for being willing to talk about a fellow superhero behind his back. Mr. Mitzvah, Basura, and Ms. Limelight are nominated, and Mr. Mitzvah is eliminated for consistently failing to demonstrate courage. As the remaining heroes begin to leave, Lee calls them back, saying that the day's events had been based on teamwork, and, as such, there would be another elimination. Hyper-Strike takes Mr. Mitzvah's place among those who had been nominated due to his failure to encourage Mr. Mitzvah to face his fears, but Ms. Limelight is eliminated in the end due to her inability to perform under pressure. The six remaining heroes return to the lair, where they discover that someone had broken in and stole their secret identities.
- Episode 4: As the heroes return to the lair from the previous episode's elimination, they realize that someone has broken in and trashed the place. The Defuser assumes a leadership role and leads the group on a search through the lair to see if anything was stolen. The superheroes notice that the safe containing their secret identities had been broken into and that their identities are missing. Parthenon also notices that Lee's prized possession, the first pencil he ever used to write a comic, is missing. The next morning, Lee contacts the superheroes, and informs them that, in addition to their secret identities, the safe also held a $50,000 check from Esurance to the Friends of Urban Forest. Lee instructs the heroes to go undercover as civilians to retrieve the stolen check and secret identities from Dr. Dark's agent, who was going to pass off the package fifteen minutes later. Each superhero needs to find people who are willing to give them a jacket, a pair of pants, and a pair of shoes to wear while they are undercover. While the heroes search for these garments, each of them is approached by a woman who claimed to have just lost her daughter, and she asks for their assistance in finding her. All of the superheroes except Basura decide to help the woman; Basura is reluctant to abandon the task at hand to help the woman. Eventually, each of the heroes manage to pull together a disguise, and Erin Esurance contacts them, saying that the only known thing about the agent was that the agent is wearing blue jeans, and that the agent has been instructed to hand over the package when asked, "I need ears. Can I have yours?" Parthenon succeeds in locating the agent and retrieving the package, which contains the stolen check and identities, but not the pencil. From here, the superheroes are taken to a comic book store, where they met Mike Richardson, the president of Dark Horse Comics. The heroes comic book covers were revealed, and Richardson tells the heroes that he looked forward to reading their comic someday. Later on back at the lair, Lee rewards Parthenon for retrieving the stolen goods from Dr. Dark's agent by allowing he and one hero of his choice to make a phone call to home. Parthenon speaks to each of the other heroes, who explain in turn who they would like to talk to, with the exception of Basura and Whip-Snap, who both say that they don't really have anyone to contact. In the end, Parthenon decides to let Hygena make the phone call, and she speaks to her husband Mark while Parthenon talks with his partner Derek, After the calls were made, Lee asks the heroes to complete another mission report, and the following comments were revealed to the heroes.
- The Defuser is quick to seize control.
- Whip-Snap is open about many things, but I still feel there's something missing. (The Defuser admitted to making this statement)
- Hyper-Strike has yet to come out of his shell. (Again, The Defuser admitted to saying this)
After the heroes are shown the results of the mission reports, Lee calls for another elimination. Once on the rooftop, Basura, The Defuser, and Hygena are nominated for elimination. Lee is concerned with Basura's unwillingness to help the mother look for her child. He nominates The Defuser because he felt that he needed to lead without inhibiting his fellow superheroes, and Hygena is nominated because, due to her inability to step outside of her comfort zone, her own phobias got in the way of her goals. Basura is eliminated because, Lee says, "A superhero needs to be an assertive and decisive leader, and in that aspect, Basura, you've fallen short." Meanwhile, Dr. Dark is seen in a lab, where he claims that he has finally succeeded in extracting Lee's DNA from the stolen pencil.
- Episode 5: The heroes awaken to an electric mess and alarm. A breaking news story reveals that Dr. Dark is redirecting electricity for his own use. To stop him, the heroes must travel through his redirecting electric tunnel and remove five electric fuses - though it contains the weaknesses of the heroes, which were copied from the folders stolen at the end of episode three. All of the heroes were able to get the fuses out and restore power. The heroes had a night at a restaurant, and they had to work off their bill when they did not have money to pay it. The nexy day, Dr. Dark took a page from the Dark Enforcer's book by revealing embarrassing secrets of the superheroes.
- Whip-Snap: Stayed out all night when a crush would not allow her in the house and confiscated (i.e. stole) a car.
- Hygena: Has a private love of burlesque dancing.
- Parthenon: Has a bedroom themed after the pilfering pirates of old.
- Hyper-Strike: An embarrassing moment from his circus past when he had to deal with a waxy floor and slippery costume.
- The Defuser: He did not join his classmates for graduation from high school because he was always goofing around, and while under the influence of alcohol, he destroyed a public bathroom.
After Dr. Dark left the lair, it was time once again to fill out mission reports. The heroes said the following:
- The Defuser and Parthenon are believed to be the strongest.
- Whip-Snap tends to overreact when under pressure.
- Hygena is underperforming her tasks.
- More then half the heroes believed Whip-Snap was the weakest.
Whip-Snap was clearly devastated from what the mission reports had to say. Hyper-Strike would later speak with Whip-Snap, saying he was one of the heroes that voted her the weakest. Hyper-Strike believed it would be weak of him to call another hero weak without telling it to them himself.
After the mission reports, Stan Lee called for an elimination, nominating Whip-Snap (on her self-doubt), Hygena (on allowing her fears to slow her down when completing missions) and The Defuser (for giving a fan a piece of his costume). Whip-Snap was sent home.
After the heroes went to sleep, Dr. Dark used the electricity he collected to create a clone of Stan Lee.
- Episode 6: The heroes wake up to find that Stan wants to test their code-breaking skills. He says that it is a very elementary code that a fourth grader can solve, thus they will solve it at a school with the help of fourth graders. The fourth graders are split up and assigned a hero, where they work together with their hero to solve the part of the code that they have (a fourth of the code was given to each hero). Parthenon was the first to finish, but he did most of the work himself without allowing the children to help. Hygena was the last to crack her portion of the code, but she allowed the children to participate. Hyper-Strike is shown as bonding wth his group better than the others. The Defuser says that he could not have solved the code without the assistance of the children. Afterwards, the heroes are duped by an evil clone of Stan Lee to do random things at a park, which they all blindingly obey, thinking it's the real Stan telling them to misbehave. Most significantly, Parthenon borrows a mother's care to do a tap-dance but does not return it to her, the Defuser asks a random citizen for advice on hoe to handle a "Super Wedgie," and Hygena causes traffic problems. Eventually, the Defuser gets suspicious, but he doesn't say anything to Evil Stan. The heroes are then told to investigate a crate in an abandoned building where Stan Lee's first pencil is being hidden. Hygena finds the pencil, but the crate is closed on the heroes and Dr. Dark taunts them with an hour-long deadline before he ships their crate to a "dark place." Hyper-Strike and Pharthenon lead the team in finding a way out while The Defuser merely helps due to his feeling that the two are better leaders in this situation. After the heroes broke out of the crate and returned to the lair, Stan (who assures the heroes that it really is him) tells the heroes to fill out another mission report. The following was said, all regarding the crate mission:
- Hygena could have been more involved.
- The Defuser shouldn't have dropped the pole (The Defuser defends himself by saying that he did not drop the pole, but it broke by itself, which it did.)
- Parththenon was pushy in getting his point across.
On the rooftop, Hygena, Parthenon, and Hyper-Strike are called for elimination, Hygena for her continued meekness as well as disrupting traffic, Parthenon for his pushiness as a leader and inability to bond with the children, and Hyper-Strike for inadvertently putting the schoolchildren in danger by revealing his secret indentity to them (it was, however, in an attempt to show children not be ashamed of their real names). In the end, Parthenon is asked to turn in his costume, as it is revealed that none of the children from the earlier code-cracking endeavor consider him to be their favorite superhero. Soon after, Dr. Dark enlarges Evil Stan to skyscraper size and sends him out to destroy the city.
- Episode 7: The superheroes attempt to stop a now giant, rampaging Evil Stan by going to a power plant and cutting off it's source of power. However, the place is guarded by attack dogs (which was similar to a challenge on Episode 2 Season 1). Hygena formulates a plan to offer herself as bait and distract the dogs while the Defuser and Hyper-Strike work on shutting off the power. While the Defuser hates to see a fellow superhero go down, he pushes himself to move on. The Defuser and Hyper-Strike form a human chain between two electrical towers, shutting off the power supply to Evil Stan and causing his destruction. Back at the lair, Stan rewards the superheroes with action figures of themselves. Next, the superheroes are sent to be guests on the talk show Reality Remix. The hidden test was to see if the heroes would reveal any personal information even when there weren't any visibly active cameras. All three of them failed this challenge. At the nomination ceremony, all three of the remaining heroes are nominated for elimination. Stan announces that the superhero who will be leaving the lair this week is no one, and that they will all get to stay finalists for the last episode.
- Episode 8: The final three learn action maneuvers from ECW (Extreme Championship Wrestling) wrestler Balls Mahoney, perform in front of a green screen, and then defeat Dr. Dark. Stan Lee speaks to each of the contestants as their real selves. At Universal Studios Hollywood, he announces that the winner is the Defuser.
Episode summaries[]
Season one progress table
Season two progress table
Theme[]
Gallery[]
The season one contestants
The season two contestants and Stan Lee
Major Victory
Cell Phone Girl
Cell Phone Girl
Levity
Creature
Feedback
Lemuria
Lemuria
Lemuria
Nitro G
Nitro G
Fat Momma
Fat Momma
Iron Enforcer
Iron Enforcer
Dark Enforcer
Monkey Woman
Monkey Woman
Monkey Woman
Ty'Veculus
Ty'Veculus
Hyper-Strike
Hyper-Strike
Hyper-Strike
Ms. Limelight
Ms. Limelight
Braid
Braid
Mindset
Mindset
Mr. Mitzvah
Mr. Mitzvah
Parthenon
Parthenon
Hygena
Hygena
Whip-Snap
Whip-Snap
Basura
Basura
Basura
Defuser
Defuser
Stan Lee
Notes[]
- Stan Lee also hosted a British version of the series.
- The SyFy movies about the winners were never made. However, Feedback had a brief cameo in the SyFy movie Mega Snake.
- Who Wants to be a Superhero TV Trailer
- Stan Lee wrote the Feedback comic. However, the Defuser comic was written by Jeremy Barlow.