Newest Superhero: A Soccer-playing Car Mechanic from Lima

I was so absorbed by the APEC brouhaha last month I missed the news that the world’s newest superhero hails from Lima.

Santiago is a viewer-created superhero character who stars in four micro-episodes in Sprint’s online series Heroes: Destiny. 

More than one million people participated in the online series by selecting attributes for a male and a female character and voting for the winning hero. Scriptwriters fashioned a four-part story around the character and shot the series with live actors.

Evidently, viewers were most intributed by the idea of a young working class guy from Lima possessing superpowers:

Santiago is an ordinary young man living in Lima, Peru. Soccer is his passion, and he leads a simple life. Recently, he feels surrounded by a suffocating pressure to find purpose in his life. Influenced by his Catholic faith, his mother, and his friends, Santiago has been searching for his destiny.

When he discovers his extraordinary gifts of Accelerated Probability and Super Speed, things begin to become clear. He realizes he is no longer helpless, and that he can control his own destiny. But with power comes great responsibility and now, Santiago must make a choice. Will he use his newfound ability for good or for evil?

When a mysterious organization with an intimate knowledge of the secret life of Santiago’s father pressures him to use his powers for evil, it’s up to Santiago and his newfound allies to fight for what is right. Santiago’s choices will affect the destiny of everyone around him and change the world.

 Colombian actor Roberto Urbina plays Santiago in the online live-action series. Click here to read more.