Real Stories of Superhero Fetish: Captain Europe

Photo by Taco Smith

I am very excited to bring you a special installment of Real Stories of Superhero Fetish. This past February, the first ever superero-fetish cagetogy in the Fetish Europe contest at Antwerp Leather Pride kicked off. Three nominees competed, and Captain Europe, won. I recently had a chance to ask him about the origins of his superhero fetish, and how the superhero fetish community functions in Europe. He lives in Belgium. -Pablo Greene

Q&A: Captain Europe, Mr. Superhero Fetish 2017

Captain Europe, welcome. Tell us a bit about yourself.

My official name is Captain Europe - I came up with the idea, name and suit in 2006. There is now another Captain Europe who does the political/social public appearances - he's inherited my old Twitter handle @captain_europe, whilst I have kept the old account and renamed it @JusticeLeagueEU.

How long have you been part of the leather and fetish communities?

Hard to say. I’ve liked lycra and spandex for as long as I can remember, but in the early days of exploring my sexuality, I was living in a rural area and didn’t have much money, so I wasn’t meaningfully part of a “community”. The few leather bars we have here in Belgium are a bit hardcore – I am not sure whether superheroes are welcome. I’ve been to a few events over in the UK. I ride a motorcycle, but I got into that more out of necessity than a love for leather.

Can you tell us when and how your superhero fetish started?

Like many people in this community, I grew up watching the old 1960s Batman series with all of its homoerotic ambiguity. Then, as a young adult, I got into wrestling; there’s a bit of overlap there with the superhero thing, with the spandex, the fighting, the struggling and so on. I modelled briefly for Eye of the Cyclone in the mid-2000s. Captain Europe was initially an idea for a carnival costume – I wanted to do something original – rather than a fetish thing, but then took on a life of its own – I started being asked to do public appearances at political, social and charity events. The fetish side of things was thus pretty much put on hold, as I am not one for mixing business and pleasure (though I have to say being Captain Europe was great fun). Last year I retired from public appearances; there is now a new, younger Captain Europe who looks after that side of things – I have to say he is doing a very good job so far.

What made you decide to enter the contest for Mr. Superhero Fetish EU?

It came to my attention via social media and I thought, yeah, why not? As one of the few Belgium-based real life superheroes, it would be rude not to.’ Now I am retired from the serious side of it, I can have some fun!

Do you think superhero fetish has the recognition it deserves? Why?

I’m not sure I’d say it ‘deserves' recognition – that sounds a bit entitled. When I introduce people to the idea, they are sometimes puzzled, and then it clicks when I mention the Batman and Robin thing. So I would say that there are probably many hundreds of people out there who are missing out on a lot of fun by not exploring superhero fetish

Tell us about your fetish for superhero gear and costumes.

Spandex (unlike, say, leather) is a very sensual material, and the superhero dynamic feeds the imagination. Taken together, those two things make a winning combination for role play.

Photo by Taco Smith

Are you single? Or do you have a romantic sidekick?

Romantic yes, sidekick no. My husband tolerates the superhero thing rather than approving of it, so the less said about that the better. Someone did ask whether the new Captain Europe was my boyfriend – the answer is no. I am sure he will find someone much better; he’s just a good friend and partner in crimefighting.

Please describe the experience of the weekend of the superhero fetish competition in Antwerp.

It was good fun. The Antwerp Leather Pride organizers, the site staff, the contest organisers, the judges and the other contestants were all fantastic. The contest itself was also an experience: escaping from bondage, being spanked (ouch!) to test our resilience (I passed that test, as the spanker’s hand gave out before I did), and saying a few words about ourselves. It was nice that the judges appreciated the serious side of what I said – championing diversity in all its meanings, and defending truth and justice in a post-truth era. Being a superhero is not just about having muscles and looking pretty – it’s about values, too. The rest of the weekend – I was at the Pride on the Friday and the Sunday, as I had long-standing social and family engagements on the Saturday – was more relaxed. I had the opportunity to meet and talk – in various languages – to some great people.

Now that you won the title, what do you plan to do for the next year?

Just as I thought I was retired from being Captain Europe, here I am thrust into a new public role. I’ll visit as many Pride events around Europe as time and finances permit. As well as being a mascot for superhero fetish, I will continue to champion the values I mentioned above. At a time when reactionary forces are awakening around the world, perhaps our hard-won rights need a superhero to defend them…

Do you wear superhero gear to leather bars? How else do you display your superhero fetish?

I’ve been a couple of times to the Eagle in Manchester, where Captain Europe was surprisingly well received, and to Central Station in London. Last night I was at a Carnival party (the original purpose of the suit) at a gay bar in central Brussels. Other than that, as I say, the fetish aspect has been on hold for a while – I’ll see what next year brings.

Superhero fetish is becoming very popular in America. Do you think the same will happen in the EU? Why or why not?

I really don’t know. Some in France have dismissed superheroes as an American thing, which is not true at all – Japan has Ultraman, France itself has (or had) Superdupont, Mexico has its own superheroes, and there is even a Captain Britain, though he seems to be resting at the moment. There seems to be a small superhero/spandex fetish scene emerging in the UK, and I know of a few people in France and Germany who are into it. Perhaps the title will get the scene some publicity, get us to critical mass and cause the scene to grow. Perhaps it won’t. I’m a superhero, not a fortune teller. That said, any Europeans reading this are welcome to get in touch.

Are you more of a superhero or a villain?

Definitely a superhero, though some Euroskeptics have disagreed quite vociferously.

Who are the superheroes or villains who inspire you most as a person, and why?

Batman. He doesn’t actually have any super powers, so he uses ingenuity rather than brute force to overcome evil. In real life, however, I am more like Peter Parker than Bruce Wayne. Like Peter in Spider-Man 2, I used to deliver pizzas for a living; I have a motorbike (just the one), not a fleet of classic/exotic cars; and I live in a modest (albeit more comfortable than Peter’s) upstairs flat, not a mansion with a well-equipped cellar.

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Real Stories of Superhero Fetish: The Sidekink

My superhero fetish began, like many in our community, from an early love of comic books. I was born in 1986 at the height of the George Perez run at DC and Marvel. As it turned out, my father and uncle were avid collectors of Captain America, The Avengers, Tales of the Teen Titans, and of course the Crisis on Infinite Earths storylines. Even before I learned to read, I devoured the artwork of these comics: the dramatic poses, and the expressive faces of anguish, despair, joy and heroism. These were the comics I would learn to read from and I never went anywhere without a copy from my dad’s collection.

Reading those early comics, I was continuously drawn to the sidekicks: Robin, Superboy, Bucky, Kid Flash and even Wonder Girl. While other boys latched on to the mega-popular heroes like Superman, Batman and Wolverine, I developed an appreciation for the not-so-famous heroes – the ones they never really made action figures or Halloween costumes for. As a scrawny, short, uncoordinated kid, the sidekick role fit me and gave me someone to emulate when my bigger cousins played the big superheroes.

While Batman was lugged down by his utility belt and massive cowl and cape, Robin was flexible, athletic, and somewhat vulnerable in his pixie shorts. Though he was continuously captured, he wasn’t a dream-boy in distress. There was strength in his captivity; even his torture at the hands of villains like Brother Blood and Deathstroke was an act of endurance. He never gave in, and George Perez displayed that and the boy wonder’s physique so well in the comics.

These were the comics I re-read feverishly for backstories and roleplay fantasies as I developed my superhero fetish. Acting out battles and struggles of the hero excited me. As I grew into my sexuality, I sought any type of gear that would recreate the leotards and costumes of my favorite heroes. Joining the high school swim team gave me access to speedos and spandex for the first time. On one particularly bumpy bus ride from a swim meet I felt myself go hard and actually cum while nestled in the tight wet spandex…It was amazing. I also struggled with guilt for my sexuality; despite being liberal Catholics, my family was still prudish, and there was no mention of homosexuality or even masturbation in my house. So I was left to hear about these from others and that instilled in me a lot of doubt and fear for my burgeoning sexual desires. I always punished myself after I mastubated, and when I finally quit the swim team, I threw away my speedos for fear that I would “sin” again. Luckily that period was short-lived; my later years of high school led me to theatre and dance, where gay sex wasn’t just tolerated but actually talked about. That saved me a good deal of hand wringing when I finally came out.

A Fetish Begins

My fetish for superheroes though didn’t start until we finally got internet access in my home at the tender age of 17. Once I had steady access to the computer I was on it like crazy, looking up gay and bi erotica (at the time I identified as bi). I found the staples of gay online porn: twink videos from companies like Sean Cody, hairless, usually white, guys in jeans that get naked two minutes into the scene – and then bone for hours. Oh sure the guys were hot and got me hard, but none of these fully interested me, and eventually I found them quite boring. The clothes went off too soon, and handsome though the guys were, they couldn’t hold my attention.

Then, randomly on a yahoo group devoted to gay superhero fans I found a picture where a young hero was chained up with a look of ecstasy and pain writhing on his face. He wore a yellow suit that highlighted his bulge and the villain wrapped him up in rope.

The watermark on that image led me to the Hard Heroes web site, and I found that even if it was just a teaser image, I was more aroused than I ever was watching hours of gay porn. Over time I found other producers of hero-inspired fetish like Eye of the Cyclone, BGEast and more. Here I was thinking my love for tights and superheroes and bondage was unique, but a whole niche market of gay porn was made for it, so I knew I wasn’t entirely alone. Unlike the other porn I viewed, these seemed to have more story to them; the spandex stayed on longer which was a bonus. There was a power exchange and a storyline, regardless of how cheesy. It wasn’t just about fucking and moaning.

The Sidekink is Born

After I turned 18 I finally began exploring my fetish in person rather than worshipping from afar. I joined fetish websites like GearFetish, Recon and Gearplay, Spandex Party etc. I joined club after club, yahoo group after yahoo group, in an attempt to meet others like me, to even just chat about spandex, superheroes and anything related to it. Sadly every person I met online was always so far away and in big cities like New York, San Francisco, Chicago. Those were the places where guys into superheroes lived, those were placed I needed to be but could not get to. I was a sidekick in search of a guiding hero. So for years I settled for chat roleplay and taking pics in my first gear, like speedos and swim jammers.

After a few years online I finally found someone who liked tights and bondage and, most importantly, lived locally. I didn’t have a superhero suit at the time but I did have a good collection of speedos. We met up to talk about playing together and it was just so amazing to finally chat in person with someone who was into it. He showed me his drawings of Spiderman, with him all tied up and gagged, and I remember getting an instant hard on. The scene we played was simple. I would go out and get ice, wearing a speedo under my clothes. I would get back to the room and he’d “jump” me, knock me out and tie me up. It was a rocky start but once he had me stripped to my speedo and bound I was having the time of my life. I wanted to experience it more and more.

Unfortunately the kink scene in my home town was non-existent and so it usually fell to the errant traveler to tie me up. I eventually added more kinks to my profile like wrestling, kidnap roleplay…but superheroes always remained at the back of my mind. I would cyber with folks or chat about fantasies. Sometimes they would share with me pics of their own adventures, each one feeding my desire. I am always indebted to those guys for helping me to figure out my fetish and teaching me from afar.  

My first superhero suit was a gift given to me by a gentleman who was flying through my hometown. We were getting together to wrestle at first but I told him about my superhero fetish and that I always wanted to try it out. When I met him, he surprised me by giving me my first superhero suit. It was a green and yellow leotard from spandexman.com but it was amazing, it was real! It had the bright colors the gloves, the boots. I finally had something that I could pretend to be a hero in. This wasn’t a wrestling outfit or athletic gear, this was an-honest-to-goodness heroic uniform.

That first OC hero was named Diode and I loved that suit so much. I took photos in it detailing the young hero’s fight against intruders and they were among my first photo sets to grace my profiles on gearfetish.

I loved setting up the tripod and digital camera and taking action shots of me as a superhero, attacking, reeling and lying spread eagle on the floor. I have since added more suits to my arsenal and hope to add plenty more. I have also added more experiences to my superhero fetish. To date I have played as Spiderman getting bound, Robin kidnapped, Nightwing interrogated and Superboy wrestled into submission. My biggest achievement came this year in the form of a movie that wedded all my fetishes. In 2015 I was approached by Kevin who ran Bondage Jeopardy,  and we began collaborating on a superhero bondage story for his website. Once we had a script I saved up and flew up to Portland where we spent two whirlwind days filming “Shadowknight”. It was a rush to see myself getting tied up and as a superhero and not be the camera operator as well.

It feels like my superhero fetish took a long time to blossom, and I still feel like a novice despite being active in the community for 12 years since I started really exploring it. I enjoy being the superhero/sidekick who gets kidnapped, tied up, molested and beaten. Examining it as the sex nerd I am, I believe I most enjoy it for the juxtaposition and role reversal. The hero is strong, valiant, virtuous in the mythical comics. In these kinky scenes that dynamic is flipped on its head and he is now vulnerable, worshipped, erotic and a person to be desired.

When I see myself in spandex, tied up and gagged, I imagine taking part in those one-on-one talks with villains, as they try to corrupt, destroy, tease, tantalize and arouse the hero. When I wear those suits I feel more confident in my sexuality and my sexual desirability than I ever do wearing regular clothes. I feel heroic and strong, even when I’m being subdued by nefarious traps and plots. I feel more sexually attractive than I do at clubs and bars or even the gym…They give me a power I don’t normally have in real life. Being touched in those suits feels more electric, more sensuous. My inner negative thoughts – about my body, about if I’m good enough for a man, about my desirability – they melt away.

In a way my superhero fetish ties in to my view that kink is a playful activity. Dressing up as heroes is an element of play that we did as kids, and it’s the same way for kink. Leather and BDSM rules about masters and slaves begin to lose me as they leech into everyday life. It becomes about order and not about fun. While I have and do enjoy bondage and master/sub play as well, I still just see all kink as putting on a costume and playing make-believe with your friends. Superhero fetish to me is about playing with characters, situations and scenes and then, when it’s over putting the suit away and waiting for another adventure to begin. Each play is like a self-contained comic book with a hot steamy ejaculatory ending.

In a way this understanding of my superhero fetish inspired the pun in my blog name…The Sidekink. The sidekick has always drawn me to him and I identified most clearly with them. I have something of a baby face, so people always assume I’m younger than I am so the sidekick role fits, plus I always feel awkward playing the macho hero, especially since I am not very macho. Sidekicks are willing to learn, willing to work together; their egos aren’t as fragile should something go wrong or should they be captured (which they almost always are).

When I was first starting out, Robin and Superboy were my heroes of choice. They were young and fresh, full of pep and even a bit cocky as they went against a villain. Now that I am 30, I tend to associate more with Nightwing, Arsenal and Spiderman. They are heroes who have struck out from under their teacher’s shadow, left childhood behind, but who still acknowledge that they need help. At this point in my kink life I have been around for a while but there is still a lot that I need to experience and learn. Who knows if, as I go into mid-age, whether the older heroes will speak to me but it’s something I’m willing to entertain.

I have also begun blending my superhero fetish (something previously kept hidden and to myself) and a more outward kinky persona. My Tumblr blog has definitely helped with that as I have exposed myself in multiple ways to the wider world. Kink and geekiness have blended on that blog and I have met people who blur that line between fan admiration and kinkster and they to date are very good friends I can’t wait to meet in person. I have also started to bring the costumes out of the closet and into the wider world, as an amateur cosplayer. I look at superhero fetish as the sexy, erotic side of fandom; for those wanting to bring the geek into the sheets as well as into the streets. In that respect, Paul Charles, The Gay Comic Geek and Pablo Greene, author of  How to Kill a Superhero, have been incredible sources of inspiration for me.  

Superhero play brings me back to those old George Pereze drawings of Robin/Nightwing defiantly enduring torture and bondage at the hands of Brother Blood and Deathstroke. A part of me always wondered what would happen if he gave in. What if the reason Deathstroke kept targeting Nightwing was because he desired the young Grayson as an equal to challenge him? What if the reason Kraven hunted Spiderman so much, was because the lithe form in a tight spandex suit aroused in him a lust that he needed to fill? What if heroes embraced the tight spandex and had lingering glances in the locker rooms of the Halls of Justice? I like to play with these ideas and for this reason superheroes will always be that grand fetish I don’t think I will ever give up. I’d like to think that 30, 40 years down the line, I will still nbe that person that puts on his costume and has adventure after adventure, hopefully with some great friends I meet along the way.

Q&A: Eye of the Cyclone, godfather of superhero and spandex fetish

Welcome to our Q&A with Eye of the Cyclone, one of the Internet’s longest-running superhero fetish sites.  The Eye of the Cyclone was generating stories and images of superhero, wrestling and spandex fetish from basically the very beginning of the explosion of the world-wide web. Nowadays, the ubiquity of superhero fetish images on sites like Tumblr, Instagram and YouTube mean that it’s a lot easier for superhero fetishists to find community, but EOTC was there first, and for many kinksters, it was one of the first sites that took the fetish seriously. Today we sit down with its creator Neil Page and ask him a few questions. We’ll find out why the site has endured so long, how he selects such hot models, and his predictions about the future of this fetish and community.

Q: Neil, How did you start Eye of the Cyclone? What year was that?

A: The format of the site in its present form started around 2005. Before that, it was still called Eye of the Cyclone, but it was more of a scrapbook of images I had photographed and sourced starting in 1998.

Q: What difficulties did you run into in the early years?

A: When I first started it was difficult finding costumes readily available to use in the stories. So I got used to using base dance unitards and customising them myself, slowly creating my own stable of characters.

Q: Did you have a moment in the site’s history when it started to pick up steam and become more popular? What was the cause for that surge?

A: There was never one time I experienced that. The site slowly gained momentum, hopefully due to more superhero live action images and movies being accepted, and not as a novelty or joke factor.

Q: How do you define superhero fetish for yourself?

A:  I have always had a thing for comic book superheroes from a very young age. I knew I saw something different in that other people didn’t. The sight of an anatomically correct fit man in skintight suits got me excited in ways I didn’t understand at the time. Along with my wrestling fetish, I also was inspired and stimulated by the elements of good guy vs. bad guy and a battle in hot tight gear.

Q: What’s the purpose of Eye of the Cyclone?

A: The original purpose was to bring to superheroes into a live action format. Keep in mind that when I first started in around 1998, there were not many images of this kind around, either in the media of web. When Eye of the Cyclone was a free homepage on AOL, the aim was to share my view of my superhero and wrestling fetish. I wanted to see if any other people out there “got it”. Hence the name Eye of the Cyclone (Cyclone was a name I took on as a name in the gay wrestling world). It’s wasn’t until 2005 that I decided to take it to a professional level with the members sections and making it a paid site.

Q: Your site is different than others, because you actually make comic book panels and focus on the fetish aspect of the superheroes and villains. Can you talk a little bit more about that?

A. I always thought the panel and frame-by-frame images were essential for a superhero comic book. I was intrigued on making this live action stills via photography. I have been asked why I don’t do more video, even though I do small video clips. I feel the strength of the site is its photo comic book format. I still try to keep the characters and storylines as interesting, horny and also with humour as much as I can. The essence of a good superhero showdown with the clean cut hero in danger of being defeated and corrupted by and evil and perverted villain.

Q: Are there requests for stories or fetishes that you’ve had to turn down?

A. I love getting requests or suggestions for the site. Many of those I try and include on upcoming photoshoots. I steer clear from extreme fetish requests. That does not have any place in the superhero fetish.

Q: How do you find your models?

A.I used to use a lot of people I met through the gay wrestling world. These days I hire many models from various sources online.

Q: You feature many body types, from lean and athletic to bodybuilder-like, stocky and muscle bear-ish. Can you talk about why?

A: From publishing the site online for many years, I have had many requests for all types of superheroes, from young agile spiderman types to more mature beefy hulks. I try and incorporate as many different types as possible. When I hire a model for a shoot I usually tailor make the hero to suit his build and type.

Q: You used to produce DVDs. Why did you stop? Will you do more video work in the future?

A: I produced on DVD in the past called “Divide and Conquer” the trailer is still around on my youtube channel. The reason why I didn’t follow these up with more, even though we did have a sequel planned, was down to the lack of time and resources to do so. Because the site is updated every week, I didn’t want the main focus, the site, to suffer from this. You never know -- in the future we might get to produce another video, It was great fun to do and an extreme learning curve.

Q: Do you attend events in the UK for superhero fetish? What is the scene like over there?

A: There are no Superhero Fetish events over hero in the UK. I do attend gear fetish events that sometime do have a superhero gear element to them, I always try to gear up as much as possible. The gear fetish scene is building and diversifying from the main ones of leather and rubber, which can only be good news.

Q: What’s been your most popular storyline on EOTC?

A: There have been many stories had their popularity during their published dates. But one that seems to remain a  favourite was the introduction of Supersonic and his battle with the Xtractor.

Q: What predictions can you make about the future of superhero fetish as a recognized kink?

A: I can only hope and wish it grows and is more recognised from new guys on the scene along with experience fetish guys. There is definitely is more of a crossover happening with the guys who are into bondage that now recognise the superhero-in-trouble aspect, long may it grow. Let’s face it -- we all need a superhero in our lives!  

You can find Eye of the Cyclone at eyeofthecyclone.com. They offer free previews and offer paid memberships. You can also find EOTC on Facebook and Twitter.

Spandex, Tights and Cosplay: Superhero-Fetish Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Ever since I began to write and publish my book series How to Kill a Superhero, many people of all walks of life have come to me with their stories. In many cases, those superhero fetish lovers thank me for taking the fetish seriously enough to create a book series, and they are grateful that community is building up, thanks to the Superhero Fetish Meetups I organize. At the same time, I get so many questions from people are curious but don’t know what it’s all about. I love answering these questions. After answering literally hundreds of emails, Tumblr messages and other social media DMs about the fetish that I thought I would put together an FAQ that can evolve organically over time to initiate people into this world of spandex, tights, boots and archetypes of strength and power exchange. I do take it seriously, even when I am being tongue in cheek. Let’s open up the doors of superhero fetish. All are welcome. -- Author Pablo Greene

The Essentials of Superhero Fetish

So what is superhero fetish?

Superhero fetish is the sexual and erotic attraction to characters and archetypes derived from superheroes in comic books. The fetish also extends to superheroes seen in TV, film, animated cartoons and even video games. People with this fetish may be aroused by the characters, their costumes, their physiques (which have classically been drawn as incredibly athletic and erotic since the early days of comics). Some superhero fetishists also enjoy the power-exchange dynamics of superheroes. In many storylines, superheroes are captured and bound by villains in their battle against crime and wrongdoers, and many people into the fetish have extended their attraction to superheroes and villains into the realm of BDSM and kink. The generalizations above are only generalizations; superhero fetish is very individual to each person, but some patterns do emerge, and those are highlighted in this FAQ.

I didn’t know that people want to dress up as superheroes in an erotic way. Why do they do it?

The reasons people want to dress up in the superhero costumes or “cosplay” are also very individual. For the average person, cosplaying is a very fun activity that they can do at Halloween, cons (like NY Comic Con), or even 5ks and marathons. But for those who have a superhero fetish, the costumes themselves provide a level of erotic stimulation that is very similar to people who fetishize high heels, cop uniforms, women’s lingerie, leathermen uniforms, or business suits. In the case of superhero fetish, the costumes that original artists in the early 20th century drew were inspired often by the tight wool costumes worn by circus strongmen and other athletes. These body hugging articles of clothing showed off all the musculature and erotic appeal of genital areas using bright colors and iconic accessories such as boots, bracelets, capes and belts. As the 20th and 21st century media (especially film and TV) gave us real actors playing the roles of superheroes and villains, costume designers experimented with many new materials that mimicked the costumes from the comics. In those decades, we have seen superhero costume designs explore nylon, spandex and lycra, satin, leather, latex, PVC and even armor and CGI skin (especially in the past twenty years with the rise of more realistic superhero film adaptations). For those who have this fetish, there can be pleasure in dressing up in this gear, but also immense pleasure in seeing other people wear the gear in the flesh. In a sense, wearing superhero gear in a sexual situation is no different than wearing a sexy pair of underwear or lingerie. It enhances the senses, and it also gives a strong suggestion of the nudity underneath. Of course, many superhero costumes are full bodied, and many fetishists enjoy the feeling of full coverage in materials like lycra, rubber, leather. Good examples of these looks can be seen in iconic heroes like Batman, Superman and Spiderman’s classic costumes.

Isn’t it sort of childish to want to play dress up and do roleplay as heroes and villains?

As many sex researchers and writers have noted, foreplay and a lot of aspects of sex depend on mental stimulation in order to arouse the sexual experience. Each person’s fetishes and kinks are individual, and being accepting of other people’s wants and needs can foster a world where people flourish sexually. Therefore, anyone can say that dressing up as Batman and the Riddler is childish, but I would strongly disagree here. The stories that writers and artists crafted in the comic book form in the course of more than a century tap into some of the most vital passions of the human race: power, strength, moral dilemmas, betrayals and also transformation and rebirth. Therefore, to roleplay as a superhero can only help human beings go deeper into these passions, and I believe that it can also help us learn more about ourselves.

A lot of the images of superhero fetish I see on sites like Tumblr involve superheroes in bondage being tortured. Do all superhero fetish people like getting tied up?

This is a misconception about superhero fetish that is worth taking apart. For many people the fetish is just about the characters and their incredibly tight costumes (and often their superpowers too). In fact, many superhero fetishists I have met over the years on the Internet and in person only fetishize those aspects. Their ideal scene is one in which people dress up in the costumes and enjoy touching each other, and maybe end up in a sexual situation. However, there is an additional subset of superhero fetishists who are strongly engaged in the power exchange of the superhero stories. In other words, they get a hardon or they get wet when they see a superhero captured, bound and gagged, and humiliated by a villain. Many fetishists also get turned on by superheroes being hypnotized or being forced to transform. These scenarios tap into aspects of BDSM and power exchange. We get aroused by these fantasies. In the real world, many superhero fetishists set up scenes where mutual consent is set and limits are negotiated, and as a result, they can tie up, gag, gut punch and crush a superhero (or villain), fully engaging with the fetish in a sadomasochistic way. But this is very individual, and it’s better not to make assumptions about people who identify as superhero fetishists. When in doubt, simply ask how their fetish manifests for them individually.

When did this fetish start?

The fetish as a cultural phenomenon could be said to start in the 20th century with the rise of comic books. It’s in this century when the superhero and supervillain figures rise and become a dominant aspect of global culture. Though LGBT and sexual community visibility was so low it was virtually invisible, it’s fair to assume many people in the 20th century developed the fetish for themselves and may have had encounters and fantasies triggered by the pages of the comic books. It’s also likely that many of the writers and artists themselves had a fetish for the very archetypes they were writing about, making the bulges and muscles, as well as the scenes of power exchange in the stories, a  potent brew for themselves, but also for their readers. But as the 60s brought on a sexual revolution, all sorts of marginalized communities began to find a political voice and clear public identity. In my estimation, the internet triggered many superhero fetishists to come out of that fetish closet. For the first time, people with the same erotic urges for superheroes could find each other, share images that aroused them, and even meet in person to live out those fantasies.

However, as a novelist and fiction writer, I believe that it’s mythology that gave us our first superhero fetish. In particular, Greek mythology is probably responsible for our erotic attraction to gods and demigods whose perfectly sculpted bodies played out stories of betrayal, war, rage, and very importantly, many kinds of sex. Other mythologies, including Norse, Celtic, Maya, Aztec, and other mythologies around the world also are responsible for positing the idea of superbeings (aka Gods) who have sexually interesting and arousing phsyiques and powers, and who fall prey to their own lusts, jealousies, joys and fears. Just like heroes in the pantheons of Marvel and DC fall prey to their lusts, jealousies, joys and fears today.

Getting Started with Superhero Fetish

To get started, I recommend using the Internet to find others with this fetish. Some sites that tend to be open to superhero fetish are Recon, Spandex Party, Scruff, Fetlife. If you’re interested in trying on some superhero gear, I also curate a list of Superhero-Friendly Cosplay Vendors. You can also ask me on Twitter at @pablogreene or snapchat at killsuperhero.

Superhero Fetish Community and Resources

What is the Superhero Fetish Meetup?

I organize the Superhero Fetish Meetup at various events, including NY Comic Con, Mid-Atlantic Leather and International Mr. Leather. It’s a way for me to bring superhero fetishists together in a safe space and for people to meet each other. When people come to the meetups, they show up in full cosplay, and they are fun as all hell. There are two ways to get details on upcoming meetups: you can join my newsletter or you can also join the Superhero Fetish Meetup Facebook group I created for this. My meetups skew more toward the BDSM and kink side of superhero fetish, but we welcome everyone. All body types and genders are welcome, and you don’t have to wear fancy cosplay either. I like for these to be as open as possible.

Got more questions for the superhero fetish FAQ? Send us your questions at au@howtokillasuperhero.net and we’ll post the answer here.

Classic Superhero Fetish: Eye of the Cyclone’s Dynolad in 'Power Drain'

First let me say how I found Eye of the Cyclone and how it changed my life. It was the spring of 2010, and I was hanging out on the fetish site spandexguys.com. I had been looking for something new, something fresh, something more suited to me. I was twenty-four years old at the time and suffering from depression. As a result, I was having trouble finding outlets for my fetish. Nothing gave me pleasure, nothing made me happy, and everything was boring.

One day, I saw an ad for a gay superhero comic website called Eye of the Cyclone. I clicked through and landed on it. And it was exactly what I wanted. The previews were perfect and everything I had imagined: hot men in skintight superhero suits ready for action. Villains captured them and put the studs on display,  and then ripped their super suits right off their bodies. On occasion, they would wrestle, pro-style. The wrestling maybe wasn’t interesting to me, but the superheroes were the figures of my dreams.

I had never paid for a site membership before and nervously put in my payment info. That week I had started my summer job, and when I had free time, I spent every hour I could on the site. Back then, my internet connection was dial-up, so it was really slow. It came to me at a rough time in life, and it came to me at the perfect time. All summer long, Eye of the Cyclone was my refuge.

I got to know the characters well. My top five are the original Flex, Supersonic, The Falcon and The Interceptor and the new Power Pecs. Out of my love for superhero fetish and the desire to walk down memory lane, I plan to relive and review some of my favorite past stories from EOTC  by writing about some of my most beloved stories on the site.

Today I want to go back in time to one of the most classic stories on EOTC: The first story I read after getting my membership, featuring Dynolad in Power Drain. Dynolad a superhero born from a freak cycling accident can now harness and contain electric power.

The episode begins with a nude Dynolad, who also goes by the alter ego Rick Adams, regenerating his electrical power within a special chamber. Before he is at full capacity, he is called to duty as the evil Cobra (a favorite villain of mine) begins draining Central City’s power. Most of the action of EOTC takes place in Central City, a hub for supermales. I kinda wanna move there.

The nude hero generates his suit out of thin air and the rest of part one consists of Dynolad dressing himself. This kind of disrobing happens often in EOTC stories. I will never complain about this.

The next six parts involve Dynolad attempting to stop Cobra’s plan both by defeating the machine Cobra has set up to drain the city and by facing Cobra himself. I won’t give spoilers, but will say that we see Dynolad a few more times in other EOTC adventures. For my first outing with EOTC I was quick to learn not to hold onto favorite models or characters too close (especially favorite models), as our good guys tend to see their ends at the conclusion of the story; not always but usually. It brings up an idea that is valued and eroticized in superhero fetish: the defeat of the hero. Much in the same way we love to see a Hollywood star fall or flawed sports hero fail, we like to see good guys stumble. From a narrative standpoint it makes them human, but from a sexual standpoint, I think it makes them more passive and submissive. Someone so strong and powerful is suddenly at the will of others. I could never take on a hero physically or sexually, but at his weakest… Be it bondage or just general loss, even loss of life, to see the hero in failure, is kind of a turn on. Moreover, seeing their once pristine super suits torn to rags and their muscular bodies weakened is the stuff of pure fetish.

One of the reasons I love Dynolad is that he looks like a english professor I had back in university who I had a major crush on at the time. I ran into him outside of class twice and got all flustered talking to him. I was such a shy dork. But he still remembers me, clearly as well, years later. Another thing I like about Dynolad is that he doesn’t wear a mask. I like it when I can see a superhero’s face, at least some of it. That said, many fans have argued that the good guy needs to win, especially since this is a common trope in the superhero genre. We also like underdogs and heroes fighting for the little guys. These men have powers and use them for good– so why should, or how could they fail? In the case of Dynolad (spoiler alert) it is sacrifice that is his downfall; Dynolad uses his power to conduct electricty to overpower the Cobra’s machine, dying in the process… or so we think. This allows for an interesting second chapter.

Seeing Dynolad’s fit body defeated, his suit torn, is a giant turn on. He’s even strapped to the Cobra’s electricity draining machine, which creates a bondage situation as well. Being bound in spandex and then further bound to a machine is one of my biggest fantasies. Having a spandex clad villain doing this to me is erotic as well; spandex men doing bad things to other spandex clad men until one of them is defeated allows for erotica. Finally the fantasy has come true: the spandex heroes and villains of the comics have come to life. Dynolad makes a great introduction to the world of EOTC and will always be a favorite of mine.

Who is this comic for?

• Fans of spandex and lycra
• Comic fans
• Wrestling aficionados
• Submission fetishists

Duration: Seven chapters make up this story, however length varies. Most are are longer.

• There are hardly any clips on the site. Most stories are photo comics using models in costume.

Cost: 8.90 UKP/ month or 19.60 UKP/3 months

Final word: Recommended