A short podcast episode (Ep. 183) in which host John Jonas reads a piece by his OFS, Julia, about popular Filipino superheroes and what they reveal about Filipino pop culture. Julia traces the Philippines' love of superheroes back to post‑WWII comic exchanges with American GIs and sketches several notable local heroes — Darna, Captain Barbell, Punday (Pundi/Flavio), Pedro Penduko, Batang X, and Trese — noting origins, powers, and cultural relevance (e.g., film/TV reboots, Netflix adaptation). The episode mixes affectionate cultural commentary with brief character summaries and host personal asides.
Chapters
Welcome to the Secret Sauce of Outsourcing podcast that's dedicated to making you better at outsourcing to the Philippines. This is episode 183, some wacky and wonderful superheroes from the Philippines. So I'm not a big movie guy. I saw a movie last weekend with my wife. We just rented it at home. And before that, it's been months since we saw a different movie. I see a movie in the theaters, like twice a year maybe, and there have been some years where I didn't see anything. And so I'm also not a big superhero guy. If you ask me if I have seen the latest. No, I haven't. Insert, you know, superhero movie name here. I haven't seen it. I don't. I don't know what it's about. I saw the Dark Knight. That's about the one that I can remember seeing. It's amazing, obviously, but that's about it. So I'm not a big superhero guy, but I know a lot of people are. And Julia, my OFS is one of those. And. And so she wrote this big long thing about Filipino superheroes, and it's kind of interesting and telling about the culture. And so I'm going to read this for this podcast so that you can see, so you can learn a little bit about Filipino superheroes. So Julia says, I'm excited whenever a new superhero movie comes out. We're big fans of superheroes here in the Philippines. Our love for superheroes started during the golden age of Philippine comics, which began in 1946. American GIs stationed here in the Philippines would share or leave behind comic books. We fell in love with superheroes so much that we started creating our own. Some were adapted from American superheroes. Some are uniquely Filipino. Below are just some of them. Darna. Darna is our biggest and most famous superhero. She's so popular that she has several movies and TV shows that have been rebooted and played by several actresses. She looks like Wonder Woman and has similar powers like super strength and flight. But unlike Wonder Woman, she wasn't born with superpowers. Darna is in fact, Narda, an orphaned, disabled young woman. Because of her kindness and a strong sense of justice, the deities gifted her with a magic pebble. When she swallows this magic pebble and shouts out Darna, she transforms into a superhero. She shouts her name and spits out the rock to change into Narda. Next, Captain Barbell. Captain Barbell is inspired by Superman and Thor, but has a similar backstory to Darna. A deity gave Tenteng, which is the nickname for Vincent, a barbell or a medallion. And he turns into a superhero when he shouts, captain Barbell. Next is Punday. And this is. To me, this is like Philippines. So Punday is a blacksmith and is one of the first superheroes. She says, one of the first superheroes we have that wasn't inspired by an American superhero. Pundi, his alter ego is Flavio, is a blacksmith who gained power when he forged a sword from a magical meteorite. He doesn't have superhuman abilities, but his sword can emit energy bolts and cut through anything, which is helpful because he usually fights demons and flesh eating beasts. Hopefully you can see a picture of Punday here. It's like super, super Filipino. Next, Pedro Penduco. Pedro Penduco's a lot like Spider man because he's young, easygoing, and quippy. Pedro started as a cowardly teen, but when he gains an amulet that turns into a magical sword, he's forced to fight monsters that terrorize his hometown. Julia says, my daughter is a super big fan of this one. The next two are also like super duper Filipino, which is. It's. It's really cool. So first is Batang X. Batang X is like X Men if they were all kids. Instead of a kind mentor like Professor X, they were kidnapped by an evil alien Dr. Axis. And she says, I love this show. Growing up, it was so popular, McDonald's helped produce it and gave out Bateng X comics as part of the Happy Meal. And hopefully if you're watching this on YouTube, you can see this. You can see this comic that is. Yeah, yeah, that's all I can say. And then the last one is Treece, and I don't actually know how to say this one. Treece Tresse, I don't know. This is our most famous superhero, thanks to Netflix turning the graphic novel into a show, which Julia says, check it out. It's terrific. Alexander Tress is a healer warrior responsible for maintaining the peace between humans and elemental creatures. In the world of Tress, elemental creatures live among humans. We're just unaware of it. These creatures have an uneasy truce for their survival. Alexandra's family is responsible for investigating and delivering justice for creatures breaking this truce or harming humans. So these are the, like five or six that Julia mentioned in her thing. She also gave me a list of, like, others like Captain Pinoy and Pandekegox, which is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but they're frogs or Zsa Zaatarna, so. And there's a bunch more that are, like, uniquely Filipino superheroes still not my thing, but good to know culturally, like, part of, you know, this is part of their culture, and this is. So they're probably still gonna watch. Gosh, what would be a superhero movie? X Men, the Latest generation. I don't even know. I couldn't even tell you what a superhero movie is. They're probably gonna watch the American superhero movie, but they also have their own, which is cool for me. Superheroes. My wife is enough of a superhero for me. That's all I need.
