E. PAUL ZEHR

BRAIN SCIENTIST, AUTHOR, SUPERHERO ENTHUSIAST

- Stephen Ornes

In the Marvel comics and movies, a sickly army recruit named Steve Rogers becomes Captain America after receiving an injection of “super soldier” serum and being irradiated with Vita-Rays. Such a transformation may not yet be possible in real life, but science and technology are quickly catching up, says E. Paul Zehr.

Zehr is a neuroscientist in Canada. He’s also a martial arts master and a writer who explores the science of superheroes. In his most recent book, Chasing Captain America, Zehr explores the wild technologies that could make superpowers possible. He says that biology, tech, and engineering are converging to surpass the limits of human body. His previous books have focused on superheroes too. Becoming Batman outlines the athletic training a person would require if they wanted the abilities and muscles of the Caped Crusader. In Inventing Iron Man, he wrote about inventions needed to build a brain-controlled armored suit like Iron Man’s. We talked with Zehr about his origin story, the science of transformation, what we can learn from superheroes, and what comes next.

WHO INTRODUCED YOU TO COMIC BOOKS AND SUPERHEROES?

My mom. She was born in the 1930s, so she actually grew up during the golden age of comic books. She used to talk about the comics she would read as a kid. She’d read the comics and go to the movies and see the adventures of Batman or Superman. If you watch those old movies now, they’re terrible. But in any case, she was into these things. She gave that love of comics to me. And that got me interested.