3 Utah children in top 10 for Stan Lee's Super Kid competition

SALT LAKE CITY — It's a bird! It's a plane! It's ... a bunch of kids?

The Stan Lee Foundation, in partnership with the for-profit fundraising company Colossal, is hosting Stan Lee's Super Kids, an online competition for children ages 5-17, to see if they have what it takes to be transformed into a superhero.

Children, with their parents' permission, submitted a photo and a profile to the competition, and the public was able to vote for their favorite. Each vote would come with a donation via Colossal, which will work with the competition's charitable grantmaker, DTCare. All donations will go toward the Stan Lee Foundation.

The first-place winner will receive $25,000, receive four VIP tickets to the 2027 L.A. Comic Con and be featured as a champion in a limited-edition Stan Lee Universe comic book. The runner-up would get to star alongside the champion in the comic book.

Hundreds of children from across the United States have entered the competition; now, the voting is down to the top 10, with three of them hailing from Utah.

Andrea, age 12, was entered into the competition by her mom after she saw it on Facebook. Andrea's favorite superhero is Spider-Man, but she doesn't want web powers. She'd rather have time control powers to fix mistakes and help people. Plus, she wants a "really cool staff."

Her mom said she is a "violin-wielding, manga-reading, gaming powerhouse who runs on ramen, smiles and home-baked treats." She and her family have gone to Fan-X almost every year, and her mom said she loves to dress up to go and meet the celebrities featured there.

"I'm excited and nervous because there's still a lot of other people, but I'm also excited because if we do win, we can go to the convention and get a lot of cool stuff there and spend time together as a family," Andrea said.

Nolan, age 12, has superhero gear all over his room, with Spider-Man and Batman keeping an eye on him from posters on his walls. His love of superheroes came from Captain America, but he'd rather be able to fly like his favorite superhero, Thor.

Nolan has already fought battles against implacable foes. In 2024, he was diagnosed with Legg-Calve-Perthes disease, where the top of his femur died after losing blood supply. After spending time in a wheelchair through 2025, he recovered and will be getting medical hardware removed from his leg in November.

"If I win, I want to tell the story of everything and how I went through my Perthes, and I want to help other kids who have gone through disabilities so they feel that they're not alone," he said.

He and his family have never been to a comic convention before, but he said he is excited all the same to go to the 2027 L.A. Comic Con if they win.

Daisy, age 7, grew up in a Marvel household, knowing all about the superheroes from her mother and uncle. She said she loves She-Hulk because of her strength, but she also wants the superpower to turn invisible and teleport to sneak past the bad guys.

Daisy's mom said she entered with the goal of showing the world that girls can enter traditionally boy-dominated arenas and play for the win with pure girl power.

When asked about real superheroes in her life, Daisy only had to think for a moment.

"Probably my mom, because she saves the day when I'm hurt and stuff," she said with a smile.

"I want to say thank you, I love you," Daisy said to those who had been supporting her.

Voting for the semifinalist position runs until Thursday at 8 p.m. The top five finalists will then advance to the next round of voting, until the final winner is announced on or before Dec. 17.

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