Once A Hero

[LonnieFisher]

Just found out this show existed. I think it's pretty cool. Way better than any of the Disney Marvel stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJ-UzpM-gWo

[LonnieFisher]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRtmKsOQ2Ig

[LonnieFisher]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHKIs63lNYM

[monitor_ep]

This version pf the pilot recorded so it makes it hard to make out the Marvel characters so this is from my screen capture from the original VHS:
Once_a_hero_29.webp Once_a_hero_29.jpg
You can see Spider-Woman, Firestar and Dr. Doom in the group shot.

Once a Hero - Wikipedia
Once a Hero is an American action-adventure television series that aired on ABC from September 19 until October 3, 1987. The series stars Milo O'Shea as Abner Bevis, a down-on-his-luck comic book artist whose life is turned upside down when his creation, Captain Justice (Jeff Lester), comes to life. Also appearing in the series were Caitlin Clarke and Robert Forster.

ONCE A HERO VHS (1).jpg
Abner Bevis (Milo O'Shea) is the creator of a comic-book superhero called Captain Justice. Lately Bevis is in a rut and repeating old storylines, and children have lost interest in the comic, so the comic's owners want to kill off the title. Even the characters in the book's fictional world of Pleasantville have started to notice that their lives are repeating themselves, and the lack of reader interest is causing characters to start fading.

Captain Justice (Jeff Lester) decides to cross the Forbidden Zone into the real world, where he becomes a real human being with no superpowers. Also crossing over is Gumshoe (Robert Forster), the embodiment of generic private detectives, who's looking out for Justice. The Captain's attempts to fight real-world criminals renew interest in the comic, and the owners agree not to cancel it; also, Bevis is inspired to make it more contemporary.

Adding to the stories is suspicious newspaper reporter Emma Greely (Caitlin Clarke), who keeps snooping around. Her troubled and precocious son Woody (Josh Blake) knows the truth about Captain Justice, but she doesn't.

There were two comic books under Captain Justice based on the tv series.

[monitor_ep]

There were only 3 episodes that were shown on American TV. The fourth episode Things Get Ugly would have shown Adam West:
A new Captain Justice movie is being made, and the actor who played C.J. on television (Adam West) now earns a living by making public appearances as that character is being sued by the studio to prevent him making any further appearances. When he crosses the Forbidden Zone into Pleasantville, he gains C.J.'s powers

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Disney+ really needs to release this series.

[LonnieFisher]

That fourth episode would have been super awesome!

[Earth 2 Chris]

Riffing on what Lord Lew Grade and the Wrather Corporation did to Clayton Moore, preventing him from appearing as the Lone Ranger in the lead-up to The Legend of the Lone Ranger film.

I would have liked to have seen this episode. Interesting that it also proceeds similar roles Adam voiced on BTAS and Fairly Odd Parents, playing a former super hero actor. I vaguely recall this series. It defintiely had potential, but probably too meta for the 80s...before we even knew what that meant!

[palitoy]

I remember seeing the teaser for that Adam West episode, I used to watch this show. It wasn't bad, not what I ordered but I remember Robert Forster was the best character on the show. I think his name was "Gumshoe" but he was basically Dick Tracy.

[monitor_ep]

Adam West went through the same problem that Lone Ranger went through. DC told Adam West he had to stop doing appearances in the Batman '66 outfit show because of the new Batman '89 so he redid the outfit in black
Jerry Lawler & Adam West.webp

[PNGwynne]

I didn't know of this, I was in college and my TV was limited. Thanks for sharing.

[LonnieFisher]

I didn't know about it when it originally aired. I went for a few years not watching any tv. I read a lot of books, which I thought were far superior. I got back into watching tv when I had a girlfriend that watched the boob-tube all the time. She hated that I made her watch Doctor Who. That's the show I liked watching the most.

[monitor_ep]

Marvel only release 2 comic books that were to tie into the Once A Hero but titled them Captain Justice. They were just the pilot split into two comic books.
Captain Justice issue 1.jpg Captain Justice issue 2.jpg

Even the guest appearance included Spider-Woman but added Green Goblin:
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