National Superhero Day: People and Pups Who Saved Lives Without Capes

Today is National Superhero Day, according to the Marvel universe. But the everyday heroes covered by Newsweek don't wear capes or feature in Marvel films.

National Superhero Day is trending after the Twitter page for Vought International, a fictional conglomerate in the comic series The Boys, posted an image of the Soldier Boy character in a World War II uniform. According to the fictional narrative, a 1945 executive order was drafted to make April 28 "Soldier Boy Day," but the character humbly changed it to "National Superhero Day."

In reality, the annual occasion was created by Marvel Comics employees in 1995 to celebrate both real and fictional heroes.

Newsweek has covered all manner of everyday heroes over the years, with many of their lifesaving stunts caught on video, albeit only on the small screen.

In October 2021, dash-cam footage captured a Florida Highway Patrol trooper saving a 1-year-old girl. The toddler was choking and unresponsive on the side of I-95 when her parents flagged down Trooper Reginald Mathieu, who happened to be nearby. He raced to the girl's rescue and performed repeated back blows until she regained consciousness.

One month earlier, five U.S. Marines came to the aid of a woman whose vehicle got stuck in floodwater near the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. The men happened to be driving by after a Marine funeral, where they performed services as Marine Corps Body Bearers. With the physical strength required of their unit, they waded through knee-high water in full uniform and collectively pushed Virginia Torres' car out of the flood.

"This is so cool. This is the most American thing ever," Torres said in her viral TikTok video of the rescue.

Humans are not the only everyday superheroes—dogs have also pulled off remarkable lifesaving feats. Mali, a British special-forces dog, was awarded the animal equivalent of Britain's Victoria Cross in 2017. The Belgian Malinois helped soldiers clear a tower block of Taliban militants in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan.

Mali saved the lives of elite British troops when they assaulted the complex to eliminate a Taliban suicide bomb cell. He was severely injured by shrapnel from grenade blasts during the seven-hour mission, but played a critical role in alerting British soldiers to the positions of jihadis and ran in front of live fire as the British and Afghan teams worked their way through the building's six stories.

Cairo, the Belgian Malinois who participated in the assassination of Osama bin Laden in 2011, is one of the most famous dogs to serve in the U.S. military. During the raid, Cairo's job was to clear buildings, sniff out bombs and traps, hold off crowds and search for false walls or hidden doors where bin Laden could have been hiding.

Then-President Barack Obama requested to meet Cairo at the White House while hosting the Navy's SEAL Team 6, the premier special-missions unit that killed bin Laden.