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 city of Besòs who stop him in the street to take pictures and listen to his advice. And it is that the superhero from Colombia, who confesses to being terrified of spiders, carries a heavy burden on his life path that he tries to alleviate by “helping others.” He decided on Spider-Man and not on other Marvel superheroes “because we are both equally miserable,” he sums up.
Putting on one of the seven superhero costumes he has in a wardrobe, some flashy with reds and blues, others more discreet and elegant with black and white tights, is “therapy” for him to overcome the more than five years he suffered bullying during his school stage. He is now 20 years old and trying to come to terms with the recent death of his father. “My life is not a path of roses and brightening the lives of others is my contribution.” He stresses that “with everything that has happened to me”, the easiest thing to do would have been to take a “selfish path, but I have preferred that of solidarity”. Acting as Spiderman, he claims that he has the “superpower of bringing happiness to the faces of children.”
Success on the streets of his city has been with him since he decided to go out dressed as his favorite superhero at the 2022 festival. Since then he has walked around Santa Coloma surrounded by children and greeting adults, who do not hesitate to take photos with what he is already a local symbol.
If one walks through the streets of Santa Coloma de Gramenet with the Santaco Spiderman, as he has already been baptized, one can realize the devotion that he arouses among the neighbours. Taxi drivers, buses and police cars sound their horns as they pass, in recognition of their altruistic work. A vocation that, on the other hand, he has also established in his real life with his studies as a veterinary technician specializing in animal-assisted therapies.
The anonymous young man has an enviable adolescent elasticity that allows him to jump, climb walls and emulate the positions of the spider superhero. A privileged physique and verbal loquacity that are actually a protection screen for a shy young man who goes down the street with headphones, who seeks to go unnoticed, who was born in the Les Oliveres neighborhood and who declares himself a good student and passionate about cosplay. Only a very small circle of friends and family know what he really looks like. Very aware of his mother, who accompanies him on his adventures and manages his social networks, behind the fictional character emerges the real teenager, very marked by misfortune, who does not 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, do not like disco or reggaeton.
Go where they ask you to. Visit hospitals, participate in charity events and birthday parties. His adventures are acclaimed on social networks by hundreds of followers who extol him to the point of starting a collection of signatures to pressure the City Council to grant him the honor of being the next town crier at the local festival, thus matching his fame with the of the appreciated night watchmen, which is one of the services most valued by the Colombian citizens. “About my future? I don’t think about it, now I am very comfortable like this ”, concludes the Besòs superhero.
