Holding Out For A "Hero"- Stan Lee Style

According to SciFi Wire, comic-book king Stan Lee said that he hits upon something basic in his upcoming new reality show, "Who Wants to Be a Superhero?," which heads to the SciFi Channel this summer.

"It's quite simple," said Lee, who created classic heroes during his tenure at Marvel Comics. "Every kid wants to be a superhero. It's something that's in every kid."

In "Who Wants to Be a Superhero?," a group of people dressed in costumes of their own design will take part in a series of weekly challenges. At the conclusion of each episode, Lee will appear and, much like Donald Trump on NBC's "The Apprentice," dismiss one of the contestants.

"We're going to test the applicants and find out which of them really has the stuff to be a superhero," Lee said in an interview. "The challenges will be mental, moral and physical. We certainly won't ask anybody to fly through the air like Superman or swing on a web like Spider-Man. But there are other things that go into determining whether somebody has the right stuff to be a superhero."

Nash Entertainment and Lee's Pow! Entertainment will produce the six-episode, one-hour weekly competition reality series that will challenge 11 finalists to create their very own Superhero and reward the winner with ... immortality. The winner will walk away with their Superhero immortalized in a new comic book created by Stan Lee himself and the winning character will also appear in an original SciFi Channel movie. Though, I suspect that the character may be played by someone other than the original contestant.

Lee said that the show was a relatively easy sell. "But the main thing was that the SciFi Channel understood that this show would not simply be about comic-book geeks," he said. "It's really about the heart and soul and desire to live a comic-book dream. The network understood that this was not a show to make fun of people."

Lee also told SciFi Wire that Pow! Entertainment is developing TV and film projects featuring an entirely new slate of comic characters in 2006, including a pair of animated DVDs that introduce the first Latin superhero, a struggling actress who has the power to shapeshift into any character she desires, and a super Ring Starr who might even do some singing. Pow! has also just wrapped "Lightspeed" (about a being with super speed as the title implies) for the SciFi Channel.

The Peter Parker and Clark Kent types out there who are just dying to don some multicolored tights can apply to "Who Wants to Be a Superhero?" via the "Superhero" website or via the SciFi Channel's website.

I have a feeling this is going to be a very painful show to watch. You know I'm not going to miss a minute of it! --Shannon Nolley

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