superheroes Archives -

How Superheroes train/workout

Wed, 18 Apr 2018 11:31:22 +0000

The post How Superheroes train/workout appeared first on .

“The First Indian Super Hero” Shaktimaan

Wed, 14 Dec 2016 15:14:54 +0000

reboot

original

Shaktimaan (Hindi: शक्तिमान) is a fictional Indian superhero from the television series of the same name produced by Mukesh Khanna and directed by Dinkar Jani. Around 400 episodes of the series originally aired on Doordarshan, India’s national television network, from 27 September 1997 (barring the introductory episode on 27 September 1997) to 27 March 2005, on Sundays at 12 noon IST. The telecast slot, however was shifted to 9:30 a.m. for the last episodes. It has also aired on Pogo[1] in English, Tarang in Oriya and Chutti TV in Tamil, and repeated its Hindi telecast on STAR Utsav. Mukesh Khanna plays the roles of Shaktimaan, the main protagonist and his alter ego Pandit Gangadhar Vidyadhar Mayadhar Omkarnath Shastri, a photographer for the newspaper Aaj Ki Aawaz. Shaktimaan is depicted as a human who has attained superhuman strength and power through deep meditation and attaining control over five elements of life. Kitu Gidwani, and later Vaishnavi Mahant, and later Shruti Shetty plays the role of Geeta Vishwas, a reporter in the series who loves Shaktimaan. Surendra Pal plays the role of Tamraj Kilvish, the main antagonist in the series. The series started a franchise on the character. In May 2016, Mukesh Khanna announced that the show will be renewed and he will reprise his role of Shaktimaan.

The post “The First Indian Super Hero” Shaktimaan appeared first on .

My Hero Academia: Manga to Video Game in Three Years

Sat, 07 May 2016 00:02:41 +0000

Superheroes are pretty cool and manga is pretty cool, so why not combine both?

My Hero Academia tells the story of this middle school kid named Izuku Midoriya who was born without super powers. This poor kid who just wants to have a Quirk (super power) just like everybody else ends up getting bullied for not being born with a power. Despite being constantly bullied by this kid named Katsuki Bakugō, who has the ability to basically sweat explosions, Izuku attempts to save him from a villain. The world’s greatest hero, All Might, recognizes Izuku’s potential and bestows him with his own Quirk. Now transition into high school; the used-to-be-powerless kid makes his way through U.A. High School where he learns more about his powers along side the next generation of superheroes.

Kōhei Horikoshi, the writer and illustrator of this wonderful Japanese manga, started creating these wonderful stories for a magazine called Weekly Shōnen Jump on July 7th, 2014. So far there are 32 issues, which is pretty awesome. They started to get popular so the next step was its own manga. On November 9th, 2015, My Hero Academia Smash!! was published. At the moment there are 8 volumes of science-fantasy fun. Let’s take it up a notch, shall we? April 3rd, 2016, the famous Studio Bones, Madman Entertainment, and Funimation got involved and released the anime, which currently has 13 episodes. I feel like there should be a drum roll inserted here-> On May 19th, 2016, Bandai Namco Studios is bringing this action packed adventure to Nintendo 3DS’s everywhere with the video game My Hero Academia: Battle for All. It’s amazing how Horikoshi’s small story ended up becoming a huge success within a short span of three years. So yeah, be sure to catch up on the manga or binge the anime or just go right for it and pick up a copy of the game.

The post My Hero Academia: Manga to Video Game in Three Years appeared first on .

Great Gotham! Adam West is in The Big Bang Theory’s 200th Episode

Sat, 06 Feb 2016 18:23:00 +0000

Adam West will appear as himself on the 200th episode of The Big Bang Theory, the CBS hit sitcom based on scientists who are fans of the genres science fiction,science fantasy, and superheroes.

West joins a small list of popular personalities of fandom who have appeared on the show. Others include Battlestar Galactica actor Katie Sackhoff, Firefly‘s Summer Glau, comic book legend Stan Lee, Star Wars‘ James Earl Jones & Carrie Fisher, and Star Trek actors Levar Burton, Leonard Nimoy (voice over only), George Takei, and Wil Wheaton. Wheaton will also appear on the 200th episode, unfortunately.

Adam West, born William West Anderson in Walla, Walla, Washington, is most famous for his role as Batman; a role in which he has vocally reprised often in various cartoons. He has also voiced Thomas Wayne (the father of Bruce Wayne), The Gray Ghost (Bruce Wayne’s television idol), Mayor Grange, and Protobot in different cartoon series based on Batman. He portrayed Batman in live action in 1979’s two-part Legends of the Superheroes. In the 1986 short-lived police sitcom The Last Precinct, he wore the Batman costume but without the bat symbol on his chest. He also wore the cowl and a track suit years earlier to a wrestling event where he got into a war of words with Jerry “The King ” Lawler, dressed as “SuperKing”.

His other superhero roles have included Cat-Man on The Fairly Odd Parents and The Galloping Gazelle on the live action series Goosebumps.

It won’t be the first time Mr. West is portraying himself on screen. He voiced his appearances as himself on several cartoon series like The Simpsons and Johnny Bravo, and he continues to voice a wacky version of himself on the adult themed Family Guy. West has appeared as himself in films like the Burt Reynold’s film Hooper and decades later in Drop Dead Gorgeous. He has appeared as himself many times on several shows including Murphy Brown, The Drew Carey Show, and King of Queens and has also voiced himself and his version of Batman in a video game called Lego Batman 3:Beyond Gotham.

The post Great Gotham! Adam West is in The Big Bang Theory’s 200th Episode appeared first on .

Comics and Culture

Thu, 31 Jul 2014 17:30:22 +0000

American comic book characters are known worldwide. People in foreign lands watch these fictional heroes on the big screens in their countries and buy American comic books translated into their respective languages and formatted to their specifications. I myself have a collection of X-Men, Spiderman, Superman, and Captain America comic books from other countries written in their foreign language.

The idea of heroes and freedom is universal. When you have tasted freedom, it’s hard to let it go and give it up; and many who have never had it, are willing to fight for it. American ideals and the imagery of the fictional American heroes materialize in organized public demonstrations worldwide where thousands of people protest against oppressive governments. It doesn’t matter if it’s an Asian nation or and Arab nation. You’ll see somebody dressed as Superman or Captain America…the symbols speak volumes in any language. No translation is necessary.

DC and Marvel, and their parent companies Warner Brothers and Disney respectively, are making money in the overseas market. The companies cannot afford to completely overhaul their established characters because some risks may work in some markets while not in others. Not every country is as accepting or open minded as others. There are cultural biases. Singapore is very liberal when it comes to homosexuality; to people in Singapore, the two gay characters who got married in Archie Comics two years ago would be no big deal to them but in other countries where homosexuality is grounds for death, it IS a big deal. Even interracial dating or pre-marital affairs can get you into trouble with some cultures. This is true in countries whose politics and religion are one and the same and any affront to their traditions and/or religion could cost you your life.

Take the case of Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa, a Kuwaiti-born clinical psychologist and graduate of Columbia Business School. He noticed that there were no Muslim superheroes, so he created a comic book series with the help of experienced comic book personnel. Initially, his series met opposition in the Saudi Arabian and American market. It shouldn’t be too surprising since it was created in 2006. The wounds of September 11, 2001 were less than 5 years old.

In 2010, US President Barack Obama publicly supported the series called “The 99” according to a PBS documentary based on Dr. Al-Mutawa on the show “Independent Lens”. The comic book series is about a group of people of various ages across the planet who are followers of Islam and possess individual powers after the 99 attributes of Allah. 99 superheroes, male and female. Most of the prominent heroes in The 99 hail from nations in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Portugal, and the USA while most of the villains come from Russia, Egypt, and Europe. Although The 99 did not find success in the gigantic and profitable market of the United States, it found its niche overseas. Five 99 based theme parks were planned and an animated series was produced. He was even able to do a crossover with the Justice League of America, yet he still found his comic series banned in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

The comic series ran from August 2007-September 2013. According to The Kuwait Times, on July 2, 2014, Jihadis in the Iraqi militant group ISIS by means of twitter offered a reward for the death of Dr. Al-Mutawa. Even though the comic had ended and he had Sharia scholars verify that the comic was Sharia compliant to begin with, the Jihadis want to kill the man because he went out and created his own characters for the youth in his culture to relate to. Dr. Al-Mutawa did create his own characters. He did it for the benefit of the children of his culture, and the politics of his culture has marked him for death because the ultra right of the Islam culture has taken this as blasphemy and as a great insult to their traditions.

In some cultures, superheroes are symbols of strength and freedom, while the big corporations that own these same superheroes just see them as dollar signs. Paychecks that need to go to shareholders. In other cultures, superheroes are a threat. The common factor? Superheroes have value in any way you look at them.

The post Comics and Culture appeared first on .