His real identity is one of the best-kept secrets in Santa Coloma de Gramenet. Peter Parker, as he dares to introduce himself, is “Santaco’s Spiderman”, a hero for the little ones in the town of Bess, who stop him in the street to take photos and listen to his advice. And it’s that the superhero from Colombia, who admits he’s scared of spiders, has a heavy burden in his life that he’s trying to ease by “helping others.” He chose Spider-Man and not other Marvel superheroes “because we’re both doing equally badly,” he says.
For him, donning one of the seven superhero costumes he has in his closet—some flashy reds and blues, others more understated and elegant with black and white tights—is “therapy” for the more than five years in which he has suffered bullying to overcome his school stage. He is now 20 years old and is trying to recover from the recent death of his father. “My life is not a path of roses, and brightening the lives of others is my contribution.” He emphasizes that “with everything that has happened to me, the easiest path would have been to take a “selfish path, but I chose the path of solidarity.”. As Spiderman, he affirms that he has the “superpower to put happiness on children’s faces.”
Walking through the streets of Santa Coloma de Gramenet with the already-christened Santaco Spiderman, one can feel the adoration that he inspires from the neighbors. Taxi drivers, buses, and police cars honk their horns as they pass by in recognition of their altruistic work. A vocation that he has also anchored in his real life with his studies to become a veterinary technician specializing in animal-assisted therapies.
The character’s philosophy is is: “It’s not so much who’s behind the mask that matters as how they use it..”
The anonymous young man has an enviable youthful elasticity that allows him to jump, scale walls and mimic the stances of the spider superhero. A privileged physique and verbal garrulity that are actually a shield for a shy young man who walks the street with headphones, who wants to go unnoticed, who was born in the Les Oliveres neighborhood and describes himself as a good student and passionate cosplayer. Only a very small circle of friends and family know what he really looks like. Very attentive to his mother, who accompanies him in his adventures and manages his social networks, behind the fictional character emerges the real teenager who is very unlucky and doesn’t drink or smoke because his father and grandfather died of lung cancer . , and that he surrounds himself with a small group of friends who, like him, don’t like disco or reggaeton.
Go where they ask you. Visit hospitals, attend charity events, and attend birthday parties. His adventures are being hailed on social media by hundreds of followers who praise him so much they start a signature drive to pressure the city council to give him the honor of being the next crier at the local festival and such to reconcile his fame with that of the esteemed night watchman, one of the services most valued by Colombian citizens. “About my future? I don’t think about it; now I feel very comfortable,” concludes the Bes superhero.
