This year’s Doctor Who Christmas special will feature a legit masked and caped superhero named “Grant” and will be titled “The Return of Doctor Mysterio.”
Speaking at New York Comic-Con on October 7, incumbent Doctor Peter Capaldi called the upcoming special episode “An ironic good-hearted superhero movie.” Who showrunner Steven Moffat also said that the episode was inspired by his own love of Superman’s alter-ego, Clark Kent. “Clark Kent pretends he’s not a god and hides his identity from the woman he loves,” Moffat explained. “It’s a love triangle with two people in it!”
Steven Moffat went on to say that there has never been a better superhero than Clark Kent but added laughingly, “Apart from the Doctor and Sherlock Holmes!”
“The Return of Doctor Mysterio” will include a superhero character that’s totally new to the Who-universe. But, based on the new trailer and the conversation at New York Comic-Con, the story looks to be an adventure in which the Doctor will discover this Grant person is a very Superman/Clark Kent-esque superhero living on Earth. How the Doctor will deal with the idea of superhero is unclear. Is Grant actually human? We’re betting not.
NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 06: Fady Elsayed, Vivan Oparah, Peter Capaldi, Sophie Hopkins, Pearl Mackie and Greg Austin attend EW Hosts An Evening With BBC America on October 6, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for Entertainment Weekly)
Peter Capaldi said that one of his favorite films was the Christopher Reeve Superman film. And it looks like the next Doctor Who adventure will live up to that optimistic style of storytelling. After all, the Doctor and Superman are both exiled alien heroes and the last of their kind.
“The Return of Doctor Mysterio” airs Christmas Day on the BBC and BBC America.
