The Adventure Begins... Again - July 26
Last year, it was Matthew Atherton,
a software engineer by day, and a crimefighter by the name of
Feedback at night, who got the ultimate prize of being
immortalized in pen and ink in his own comic book.
BUT... There is another hero out
there with a heart of a champion... and Stan Lee is out to find
out who it is. Prepare for the adventure to begin again with
season 2 of "Who Wants to Be a Superhero!" But if this incoming
league of heroes thinks that they know how to play this game...
they're in for a surprise.
The search began in 11 cities and
yielded thousands of super types of all makes, models, spandex
sizes, and... umm.. powers. Thousands more grabbed their home
video cameras and filmed themselves in action. From that
impressive many comes only a select few, which Stan met at his
secret headquarters... somewhere in America.
Once Stan made his decisions, he
had his sentinel, last year's winner Feedback, deliver the news.
"Stan Lee wants YOU to be a superhero!"
This year's league of heroes...
Ms. Limelight - aka Trisha
Paytas; Byron, IL; barista
Hygena - aka Melody Mooney; Sherman Oaks, CA; homemaker
The Defuser - aka Jarrett Crippen; Austin, TX; police
detective
Basura - aka Aja de Coudreaux; Oakland; artist
Mr. Mitzvah - aka "Sir Ivan" Wilzig; Miami;
multi-millionaire
Mindset - aka Phillip Allen; Coral Springs, FL; cashier
(won his place by public vote on Scifi.com)
Parthenon - aka Dan Williams; Orlando; college professor
Braid - aka Crystal Clark; Bloomington, IL, former CIA
Hyper-Strike - aka John Stork; Plainfield, VT; circus
performer
Whip-Snap - Paula Thomas; Dallas; security officer
Feedback escorts our new team
into the lair, part place to sleep and eat, part museum to Stan
Lee. Gee, nepotism much? We can already see little riffs between
Basura (who is messy) and Hygena (who's a clean freak) AND
Mitzvah (who's a loner) and... well, everyone else.
In a room that appears through
the magic of SciFi post-production (I'm sure it was pretty
impressive when they saw it for the first time), Stan welcomes
our true believers. As before, our heroes will be tested more on
the lines of what makes a hero from the inside out, like
honesty, integrity, and courage. He'll be watching their every
move, and in the end, only one will receive the greatest prize
in reality TV history... immortality. That comes in the form
of...
- a comic book written by Stan
- his or her own action figure
- a role in a SciFi Original Movie
... but not all is as its seems.
As Stan gets to the meat and potatoes of the contest, there is
an interception by a cloaked figure, who tells the heroes to
divide into two teams and head to the north and south aqueducts
of the city's water plant if they ever want to see their
precious mentor alive again.
Mindset, believing full well that
they could be set up for a trap, believes that there's no other
choice than to play the villain's game. The teams are set up
thusly...
Defuser, Basura, Braid, Parthenon
& Limelight (BLUE) vs. Hygena, Mitzvah, Mindset, Hyper-Strike &
Whip-Snap (RED). Each team is assigned to one of two Nissan SUVs
(we'll dub these the Hero-Cars), equipped with power windows,
power steering, thrusters, shields, and turbo drive.
The blue team gets a message from
our dark overlord, telling us that Stan is behind a wall of wind
and water. The teams must work together to shut EVERYTHING down
(all three switches must be off, and the valve must be
deactivated). They will have four minutes to achieve this. The
"key" to Stan's safety is right in front of them.
Oh, and there's one more thing.
"If either team fails, your precious Stan Lee will have written
his LAST comic book."
Wind is on.. water is pumping...
BEGIN THE ACTION!
The Defuser takes charge, while
Red Team just starts head long into it. Blue's water wasn't
shutting off, though. Why was that... Wait. The KEY! It unlocks
a lock to the water main. The Red team figures this out and has
Whip-Snap head back to grab it from the cart.... but then
Whip-Snap's knee snaps. Meanwhile, the entire Blue team heads
back to the cart. Which team will prevail? Which strategy will
prevail? Blue team stops the clock with :31 to go. The Red team,
though, still has to shut off that mean... in five seconds...
four...... three... two... one... zero. Red team fails.
But wait... the hooded hoodlum
reveals himself to be... Stan the man. He staged his own
kidnapping as a reminder that they will constantly be tested.
Back at the lair, Whip-Snap has a
cry over failing herself and her family, old and new. Defuser
tries to calm her down. Success. Then they join the other eight
in a rallying cry...
That night, Limelight and Defuser
share a kinship. The next morning... the rest of the team head
out to their next alarm. There's been a robbery at the
warehouse. Each hero has two minutes to question the warehouse's
foreman. The most superheroic of the team may stave off
elimination.
The task may be hindered at the
start, as Mr. Long is very easily distracted. Defuser, armed
with the power of the pen, doesn't let that get in his way. It
also didn't help matters that he was more interested in
Hyper-Strike's martial arts, Basura's revealing costume, and
Braid's hair.
Stan reveals that this was yet
another secret test. This isn't just about how much information
you could extract from Mr. Long, but also how much you would
reveal to him about yourselves.
Back outside, the team discovers
that someone helped themselves to their super powered tires.
Five-finger discount, baby. They... and by that, I mean WE also
find a lost dog... and a poster for said lost dog. And an old
mother with a walker. And a guy who needs help with some boxes.
Parthenon helps out with the
boxes... Basura and Hygena help out the old lady... but the
dog... will have to wait for another day.
And don't think that Stan hasn't
noticed. Elimination time. To the roof!
Superheroing isn't about
accomplishing tasks. It's about being heroic. Whip-Snap fell
down... but picked herself back up. Defuser led his team to
victory, but he was too busy changing tires to notice the three
people in need. Hygena, Basura, and Parthenon did notice the old
woman and the delivery man. Mitzvah noticed some key clues, but
isn't really into the group think. Braid didn't really talk more
about the crime than she did about herself. Limelight saw the
older woman... and decided not to help.
Mr. Mitzvah, Braid, and Ms.
Limelight are all marked for elimination. Mr. Mitzvah says that
he was not intentionally rude. Braid says that she was here for
a greater cause than herself. Limelight says that she'll keep
giving 100%.
The time has come. The person
leaving tonight is... Braid. With Mr. Long, she spent more time
talking about herself than she did solving crimes. "Turn in your
costume." She wishes she had more time to challenge herself.
Laying back will not win this
competition. This is a journey, and the other superheroes will
have to push themselves harder than they ever could.
Meanwhile, somewhere else in
town, a woman with a bad Russian accent and an even badder set
of killer bees are about to put their plans into motion...
To bee continued...
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