Iron Enforcer: Crappiest Hero Ever
I was watching the second episode of Who Wants To Be A Superhero? the other day, and that's when it hit me. I think the show is supposed to be silly on purpose. It only makes sense. I mean, if the show was serious and didn't have any of its campy humor, then I don't believe it would be as entertaining. Everybody on the show has to know just how silly it is. How could they not?
In the second episode, we started out with an anonymous Q&A, where Stan Lee read unsigned questions written by and intended for the contestants. There were somewhat standard questions (Fat Momma and Major Victory being asked if heroes that are overweight and former male strippers would be good role models for children), to the humorous ("Does Creature ever wash her nasty hair?"), to the downright goofy ("Iron Enforcer stinks, can we get him some deodorant?"). But then there was a question that I liked: "Iron Enforcer looks like he might use steroids. What kind of message does that send to children?" Now if it were me, I'd have answered, "Captain America does steroids. Just because they call it a 'super soldier serum' doesn't mean he's not on the juice."
After the Q&A, it was time for their challenge, this time a test of their bravery. The setup was a little old lady who was locked out of her house, and each hero had to hop over the fence into her backyard and go unlock for the back door for her. But there's always a catch. Once they hop the fence and hit the ground, that's the cue for two trained attack dogs to charge at them. That leaves the heroes with two options: get past the dogs and simply touch the door, or say the safety word ("uncle") to get the dogs off them.
Not a whole lot of heroes made it all the way to the door. Ty'veculus made it in sixteen seconds, Major Victory made it in seventeen seconds with a dog hanging from each arm, and Feedback made it in twenty-five seconds. Though perhaps the most impressive was Monkey Woman, whose final time was nine minutes, twenty-three seconds. While taking almost ten minutes might not sound that impressive, you try running across your backyard with two attack dogs trying to take you out. Monkey Woman's refusal to quit even earned her a personal commendation from Stan.
But let's not forget about the losers. Iron Enforcer actually made it onto the porch, and was no more than a foot away from the door before he quit. Like I said last week, Iron Enforcer just isn't all that great of a superhero. And then there's Cell Phone Girl. Her final time: a paltry four seconds. Here's my interpretation of her run: "Okay, let's hop over this fence. Look, dogs! I quit!" She blamed it on a headache, while mentioning that she didn't care much for dogs after being bitten by one as a kid. But at the elimination ceremony, Stan The Man wasn't having it. For failing to show any bravery and making excuses, she was cut. Or as Stan said, she was out of minutes.
Moving on, the remaining superheroes all received makeovers for their costumes. They were all pretty much professionally-made versions of their original uniforms, but Ty'veculus got an incredibly ugly outfit that looked like it was made out of styrofoam and Play-Doh. And to top it off, he was stuck in a padded Centurion helmet with an enormous feathery mohawk. You could tell by the look on his face that he hated the costume, but he lied right to Stan's face and said he loved it. He ended up going back later and admitted he thought the costume sucked, and despite Stan looking super-angry, he let Ty'veculus revert back to his previous (and in my opinion, cooler) costume.
And closing out the episode was the second elimination ceremony. Up on the chopping block were Ty'veculus, due to lying to Stan about his costume; Feedback, for mocking Ty'veculus's goofy helmet; and Iron Enforcer again, who still wasn't fitting Stan's ideals of what a hero should be. Iron Enforcer finally got the cut, but once he left, Stan stopped him in an alley outside and mentioned that he couldn't tell what about Iron Enforcer bugged him so much, but he finally figured it out: "You make a lousy superhero, but you make a great supervillian." Stan offered him the chance to make things more difficult for the remaining heroes, an offer Iron Enforcer accepted. And now Who Wants To Be A Superhero? now has its own supervillain: The Dark Enforcer.
The show is exhibiting a lot more promise. I mentioned before that I thought it was a really goofy show, but that's what makes it so charming. It's kinda like the old Adam West Batman show, where its campiness is what makes it so good. I'm personally still cheering for Major Victory, but Monkey Woman is starting to grow on me, especially after that big performance in the dog test. But Who Wants To Be A Superhero? is really taking a turn for the better. And as I said last week, I'm definitely watching it more often.
In the second episode, we started out with an anonymous Q&A, where Stan Lee read unsigned questions written by and intended for the contestants. There were somewhat standard questions (Fat Momma and Major Victory being asked if heroes that are overweight and former male strippers would be good role models for children), to the humorous ("Does Creature ever wash her nasty hair?"), to the downright goofy ("Iron Enforcer stinks, can we get him some deodorant?"). But then there was a question that I liked: "Iron Enforcer looks like he might use steroids. What kind of message does that send to children?" Now if it were me, I'd have answered, "Captain America does steroids. Just because they call it a 'super soldier serum' doesn't mean he's not on the juice."
After the Q&A, it was time for their challenge, this time a test of their bravery. The setup was a little old lady who was locked out of her house, and each hero had to hop over the fence into her backyard and go unlock for the back door for her. But there's always a catch. Once they hop the fence and hit the ground, that's the cue for two trained attack dogs to charge at them. That leaves the heroes with two options: get past the dogs and simply touch the door, or say the safety word ("uncle") to get the dogs off them.
Not a whole lot of heroes made it all the way to the door. Ty'veculus made it in sixteen seconds, Major Victory made it in seventeen seconds with a dog hanging from each arm, and Feedback made it in twenty-five seconds. Though perhaps the most impressive was Monkey Woman, whose final time was nine minutes, twenty-three seconds. While taking almost ten minutes might not sound that impressive, you try running across your backyard with two attack dogs trying to take you out. Monkey Woman's refusal to quit even earned her a personal commendation from Stan.
But let's not forget about the losers. Iron Enforcer actually made it onto the porch, and was no more than a foot away from the door before he quit. Like I said last week, Iron Enforcer just isn't all that great of a superhero. And then there's Cell Phone Girl. Her final time: a paltry four seconds. Here's my interpretation of her run: "Okay, let's hop over this fence. Look, dogs! I quit!" She blamed it on a headache, while mentioning that she didn't care much for dogs after being bitten by one as a kid. But at the elimination ceremony, Stan The Man wasn't having it. For failing to show any bravery and making excuses, she was cut. Or as Stan said, she was out of minutes.
Moving on, the remaining superheroes all received makeovers for their costumes. They were all pretty much professionally-made versions of their original uniforms, but Ty'veculus got an incredibly ugly outfit that looked like it was made out of styrofoam and Play-Doh. And to top it off, he was stuck in a padded Centurion helmet with an enormous feathery mohawk. You could tell by the look on his face that he hated the costume, but he lied right to Stan's face and said he loved it. He ended up going back later and admitted he thought the costume sucked, and despite Stan looking super-angry, he let Ty'veculus revert back to his previous (and in my opinion, cooler) costume.
And closing out the episode was the second elimination ceremony. Up on the chopping block were Ty'veculus, due to lying to Stan about his costume; Feedback, for mocking Ty'veculus's goofy helmet; and Iron Enforcer again, who still wasn't fitting Stan's ideals of what a hero should be. Iron Enforcer finally got the cut, but once he left, Stan stopped him in an alley outside and mentioned that he couldn't tell what about Iron Enforcer bugged him so much, but he finally figured it out: "You make a lousy superhero, but you make a great supervillian." Stan offered him the chance to make things more difficult for the remaining heroes, an offer Iron Enforcer accepted. And now Who Wants To Be A Superhero? now has its own supervillain: The Dark Enforcer.
The show is exhibiting a lot more promise. I mentioned before that I thought it was a really goofy show, but that's what makes it so charming. It's kinda like the old Adam West Batman show, where its campiness is what makes it so good. I'm personally still cheering for Major Victory, but Monkey Woman is starting to grow on me, especially after that big performance in the dog test. But Who Wants To Be A Superhero? is really taking a turn for the better. And as I said last week, I'm definitely watching it more often.
posted by Matt Sutton at
7:50 PM
1 Comments:
Awesome post! I enjoy the show, but I think I enjoy hearing about it from you first before I see the repeats.
Go Monkey Woman!
Go Major Victory!
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