Who will follow Feedback into the Sci Fi Channel superhero hall of fame? We’ll find out this summer, when the network’s wacky and heartwarming reality series Who Wants to Be a Superhero? returns for its second season (View audition photos).
First, though, the show’s producers–including Superhero co-creator and Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee–must locate the next group of would-be crime-fighters who will compete in weekly tasks designed to showcase their abilities, expose their flaws and reveal whether or not they have what it takes to become a true hero. As in season one, that decision ultimately falls to Lee, the creator of Spiderman, the Fantastic Four, the Incredible Hulk, the X-Men, the Avengers and other Marvel heroes too numerous to mention, who is also the star of the series.
Last season Lee chose Feedback–in reality a software engineer named Matthew Atherton from Colorado Springs–as the top hero. (Feedback is perhaps best remembered for sobbing while telling Lee how much his work had meant to him during his childhood.) Atherton’s grand prize consisted of an appearance as Feedback in an upcoming Sci Fi Channel movie (filmed last fall in Bulgaria) and a Feedback comic book written by Lee.
Lee attended the recent New York Comic Con, a mammoth comic book and fantasy convention filled with hundreds of exhibits and displays that was also the site of the New York City auditions for season two of Superhero. (Auditions were also held in Los Angeles and several other cities.) Feedback and a number of heroes from last year’s show, including Fat Momma and Major Victory, appeared at the Con as well. Major Victory, in fact, was on hand to conduct interviews for scifi.com with would-be heroes as they arrived to try out for the show. “I’m like the Ryan Seacrest of scifi.com,” he told MediaVillage between interviews. (Victory and Feedback will be returning to New York next week to appear at a Sci Fsi Channel event and do interviews to support season two of the series.)
While working the Con to promote upcoming projects from his new company, Pow Entertainment, Lee stopped by the makeshift Superhero studio and conducted a few auditions himself with colorfully costumed people who answered to such names as SuperCharge, Blade Girl, Hard Luck, Buck 50, Peaceful Dragon (who claimed to be visited and motivated by the late Bruce Lee) and the scary Lord Gigundus.
When asked by Lee to identify his super power, Gigundus roared, “I’m really, really charming!”
Pressed for more information, Gigundus revealed he has a dark side that could come in handy when fighting crime.
“Listen, man,” he growled. “You better like me right now or I’ll be a nasty superhero!”
Interestingly, not all of the heroes on hand wanted to audition for the show. One fellow in blue spandex who called himself KnightSeeker was happy to be interviewed by Major Victory and by MediaVillage about his novel, his Web site (knightseeker.com) and the movie he plans to star in, but he drew the line at appearing on a reality series–something, he explained, that a serious hero doesn’t have to do. (View more audition photos)
When he was through questioning Peaceful Dragon, Hard Luck and the others, Lee spent a few minutes with MediaVillage reflecting on season one of Superhero and revealing details about the next cycle of the show. An edited transcript of that conversation follows.
MediaVillage: Will there be any changes to Who Wants to Be a Superhero? in season two?
Stan Lee: Rather than changes, I would like to refer to them as improvements. We’ve analyzed all the things that we thought needed to be improved. There weren’t that many because we loved the old show. But we did find some. And we’ve added a few new ideas that I hope will be surprises. We’re really very excited about the eight new episodes that we’re going to do. We had six last time and the network gave us eight this time. We’re going for ten next year!
MV: Does that mean there will be more heroes in this cycle?
SL: Yes, we’ll have more superheroes this year because of the additional episodes.
MV: Does that make the audition process more demanding?
SL: Sure. Not so much for me. Auditions are being done all over the country in different cities, and there are different people [taping] them. At some point we’ll gather them all together and the people from the network and our company and the production company (Nash Entertainment) will all get together and then we’ll make our final determinations. It won’t be easy, because some of these applicants are incredible. They are so imaginative and so colorful I wish we could take 50 of them.
MV: Are they more colorful and imaginative this year than last?
SL: Oh yes, I think because they’ve seen the show and they have an idea now what they can do that will top what they have seen.
MV: We’re there any surprises for you last year during the show?
SL: The biggest surprise was how popular Fat Momma was! One surprise was how well the show was received, and the fact so many people told us they loved it because they felt it had heart, that it wasn’t just a lot of difficult trials. We cared about the heroes, and what was even more interesting was they cared about each other! They stopped thinking of themselves as rivals and they really felt bad for everyone who was eliminated.
MV: There were some very emotional moments during the first season. Are there any that stand out in your memory?
SL: I think the time when Feedback said how important I had been in his life because he had had an unhappy childhood. That really touched me. And the way a lot of the [challenges] worked out, like when they were all dressed up in protective garb and they had to go from the fence to the doorway and the dogs were in between. They wouldn’t have been hurt because of what they were wearing. The dogs couldn’t have bitten through, but it was a scary thing for them. And the scene with the superheroes in the school, the way the children reacted to them. There were a lot of really touching moments.
MV: What is happening with the Feedback comic book?
SL: I have already written it and it has been illustrated and it’s now being printed. It turned out to be a good story.
MV: Are any of the other superheroes in it?
SL: No. We had promised it to Feedback and we didn’t want to dilute the effect.
MV: What’s coming up from Pow Entertainment?
SL: The big things that we’re doing at the moment are DVDs. We have one that’s on sale now, an animated movie called Mosaic. It’s about a lovely teenage girl who wants to be a professional actress, but she gets a superpower and then has to save the world. I tried to do it the way I have done all the comics, where there are a lot of personal problems and a lot of relationships amongst the people that ring true and are interesting. We have another animated DVD coming out shortly called The Condor about a Hispanic teenage skateboard wizard with a super power. It also has a lot of dramatic touches. And then we have [a DVD] with Ringo Starr as the star. It’s also animated. He’ll do the voice and provide the music. It’s going to be a very funny adventure movie called Ringo probably. He’s the main character. I think it’s going to be a tremendous hit. We have a great script.
MV: Anything else?
SL: I think that Pow Entertainment is really on the way with DVDs. We’re also working on a number of movie and television projects and some mobisodes. With the movie and television things we’re not allowed to discuss them because the studios like to make the first announcement.
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