A chance to prove you’re a real hero

Somewhere deep inside many ordinary human beings lies an inner superhero who longs to do good deeds, right wrongs, defeat evil and save the world. But unless one happens to become a soldier or cop or firefighter or nurse or ER doctor -- or is bitten by a radioactive spider or bombarded by gamma rays -- that cape and tights often remain safely tucked away.

Comic-book legend Stan Lee wants to get the spandex out of the closet.

On Thursday at 9 p.m., Sci-Fi Channel premieres “Who Wants to Be a Superhero?” a six-week reality competition series in which a few fortunate folks create a superhero alter ego -- including a name, costume and superpower -- then vie for a chance to have it immortalized in a new comic book created by Lee and in a Saturday night action movie on Sci-Fi.

After a long stint at Marvel Comics as the man behind Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, the Fantastic Four and the X-Men, Lee recently founded POW! (Purveyors of Wonder) Entertainment Inc., with Gill Champion and Arthur Lieberman. For “Superhero,” POW! has joined forces with Bruce Nash’s Nash Entertainment (“Meet My Folks,” “For Love or Money,” “Who Wants to Marry My Dad?”).

In true reality-show style, the 11 finalists -- chosen out of nearly 1,000 applicants -- will be forced to cohabit in L.A. while undergoing a series of real-world challenges, with Lee as the ultimate judge.

“Obviously,” Lee says, “we’re not going to expect them to fly over buildings, crash through stone walls. So we’re going to have to look for the traits that a superhero or even a hero should have: courage, honor, honesty, self-sacrifice, dependability, all of the wonderful virtues that any hero should have.”

As to how they winnowed the contestants, Lee says, “It has to be just instinct more than anything. We’d say, ‘Well, I think that guy would be great on camera. I think the audience would like him. This fellow is a little bit dull. I think this name and costume are great, and this girl’s personality is terrific, or she’s very pretty’ or whatever. Maybe the pretty came first.”

Champion says the show challenges the notion that only boys -- of all ages -- care about superheroes.

“It’s pretty even,” he says. “One of the things we were pretty much amazed at is the amount of women that turned up for the auditions. The superhero world seems to be expanding certainly into the female gender. But we were really surprised.”