If there ever was a real life, flesh-and-blood superhero, this has to have been Theodore Roosevelt. Here's why think so:
- Turned himself from a weakling to a muscular powerhouse
- Beat asthma
- Saved a tramp from the streets in Ireland
- Served as acting Sherriff
- Captured "Redhead" Finnegan
- Sired a sizable brood
- While serving under the Harrison administration he opposed the postmaster general and his creatures on public service reform
- Cleaned the New York city's police, made night rounds in person, and enforced dry Sundays
- Sundered the police connections with the underground
- Was fearless when opposing machine politicians
- Made ready the navy as acting navy chief for war
- Was the first to officially propose the use of "flying machines" in naval operations
- Commanded, in effect, one of the toughest, if not the toughest, regiments: the Roughriders
- Survived the jungles of Cuba
- Dodged bullets while leading the charge in San Juan Hill
- Thought about swimming with sharks
- Could, and actually did, knife a live puma
- By the time he had reached the presidency, he had already read 20,000 books
- His collected works meanwhile covered tens of volumes
- Faced JP Morgan and his radioactive nose and lived to tell the tale
- Could address a quarter of a million in one day without the aid of electronic equipment
- Could shake 52 hands a minute for three hours straight
- Survived a trolley smashing into his carriage with him inside with just minor injuries
- Asked not to be anesthetized for a tumor surgery on his shin
- Gave birth to the Teddy bear… well, of sorts
- Brokered peace between Russia and Japan
- He had his own call signal: glasses and teeth
- Could wolf down, in quantity, almost anything
- Went for a year-long African Safari
- Most amazing of all, survived being shot point blank, by stopping the bullet with his ribs. He went on to deliver a speech for over 45 minutes, bleeding, before allowing to be taken to a hospital
- Barely survived the exploration of the River of Doubt in the Amazon jungle.
- While there, swam in piranha waters. The rest of the neighborhood fauna didn't stop him from reading at night
- Was also a renowned naturalist
