Melbourne: City of Heroes and Villains
In March, hundreds of individuals, families and even several super dogs attended the first annual Superhero vs. Super Villain Walk hosted by Zombie Walks Brevard. It’s as if everyone’s favorite comic book heroes and villains popped out of their pages and chose Melbourne as their battleground. While I’m normally involved with pandemics of the undead kind, my buddies and I at Zombie Walks Brevard decided to try something different this time. The idea came after our last Zombie Walk back in October when we decided to do another walk in March but we knew we needed a new twist. What if heroes and villains were to randomly show up and battle in downtown Melbourne? We only had a few months to plan the logistics and advertise the event. So, we created a few teasers and spread the word through social media. This walk was different then our previous ones for a variety of reasons. Besides the obvious theme change, we tried to keep the general public in the dark so we could try to catch people off guard when the streets of Melbourne were engulfed by a villainous horde and caped crusaders.
Managing the event was the easy part. But, as the event neared, I had a tough moral decision to make. Which path will I take as a participant? The righteous path of a hero or the destructive way of the villain? Ultimately, I chose the dark side. You would think being a villain would be an easy process, but finding a vat of radioactive goop to jump into is a lot harder then it seems. Instead, I worked on creating a back-story for my new found alter-ego. What makes him tick? Why is he doing what he does? What was his life like before his life of crime? Then came the fun part, deciding what my awesome tools of destruction would be. After lots of preliminary ideas, I decided to make a villain that had access to a nuclear chemical weapon canon. The canon and the facemask were the hardest pieces to make on my ensemble but just because I am a villain doesn’t mean I have to be a bad guy in all aspects. Most of my props were made from recycled materials. After months of putting my pieces together my armor and weapon were ready. On that chilly afternoon in March, the world came face to face with Melbourne’s own super villain: “Scourge.”
Before any of you move out of town to escape this blight, let it be known that on that day the heroes and villains were able to raise over $500 dollars to help fund the Brevard Aiding Shelter Animals Project, a local animal shelter. This worthy cause made even my most villainous counterparts, Bane and the Joker, heroes that day. I may be a little biased, but I would devote any day to my favorite four legged hero: My dog Pulgy, the Ninja Turtle!
Unfortunately, there was a force so evil that not even all the heroes might and villains’ iron wills weren’t able to stop it: The dreaded Harlem Shake.
Thanks for reading citizens. If you could be any hero villain which one would you be? Comment below and let us know. Until next time, excelsior!
