What do Metropolis, Gotham and Bowling Green have in common?
All three host a dedicated group of superheroes and villains.
What started as a fun joke between friends has sparked into a campus craze. On Sept. 10, WKUBatman uploaded his first video to TikTok, where he attempts to track down the WKU Pisser. Jacob Finn, creator of the account and a freshman accounting major, said this video gained much more traction than he ever expected, netting over 2,000 views.
Once others saw this video gain popularity, the rest snowballed from there.
“I started doing it, and so many other accounts just started popping up,” Finn said.
Campus has gained many characters with over six Spider-Men accounts, a Wolverine and some notable villains such as Doctor Doom and the Riddler.
One of the newer faces to join is the WKU Ghostbuster. The creator of the account, freshman film major Bailey Coleman, posted his first video on Sept. 20. Coleman has amassed over 6,000 views on just one video in five days of the account being made.
“I’ve always loved Ghostbusters,” Coleman said. “I ended up making my first proton pack when I was 15 or 16.”
Coleman said he has spent the last three years visiting New York for Ghostbusters Day, where enthusiasts of the film join together. All proceeds of the event are donated to the Elsasser Fund, a charity run by firefighters and fire officers with the purpose of supporting the families of firefighters who have lost their lives.
As more accounts have been created, collaborations between the creators have become increasingly more common. The collaborations have grown so large that it has formed a community of their own.
The group has around 30 members, according to Finn, and is still growing. Plans have been made to have group movie nights.
“One night we will show Spider-Man and everyone can come out and bring their towels and popcorn and sit out here on the lawns,” said Coleman.
Coleman said he found trouble making friends and connecting with others when he first started on the Hill. After he started making videos, however, Coleman said he has started to find a community of friends. Coleman said he has been able to connect with other heroes and villains, such as Finn.
“It was just a lot of fun to meet all these new people, because I feel like I’ve genuinely made friends because of this,” Finn said.
