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Marvel creates superhero from mom's request

Marvel Comics

Anthony Smith, a 4-year-old boy who lost his hearing to a condition called mosaic trisomy 22, told his mother Christina D'Allesandro that he didn't want to wear his hearing aid because superheroes don't.

Desperate, she reached out to Marvel who came to the rescue and created Blue Ear, a superhero who lost his hearing but became equipped with a special listening device that gave him supersonic hearing.

"We were raised with the words of Stan Lee ringing in our ears: 'With great power, there must also come a great responsibility,'" Marvel editor and writer Bill Rosemann told CBSNews.com in May. "If we don't use whatever skills we have to help others, why are we here at Marvel?"