"What if people with great reflexes have slight telekinetic powers?" he asks. "What if that's the lamest super power in the world? If this guy with the reflexes can expand his power and learn how to use it on the spot, he can become a superhero."

Fellow Niagara Falls native Joel Roff edited the Indie film and Chippawa's Matt Judge composed the musical score. The trio graduated from A.N. Myer Secondary School together in 1991 before pursuing film education at York University, where Roff earned a Masters degree.

"growing up surrounded by 'Superman' and 'Star Wars' inspired us." he says

After arming himself with a pocketful of credit cards to finance the movie, Sparaga's company - Victory Man Productions - Will host a special fundraiser screening of the combination superhero, dark comedy, thriller and detective flick in Toronto on June 13th.

"My two favorite words are 'Minimum Payment'" jokes the working waiter, who managed to secure multiple lines of credit, juggling three credit cards, using one to pay off another to fund the film. He even considered including them in the credits - "American Express, Visa and Mastercard present..."

His mission? To provide fellow comic book fans with an in-depth glimpse into the life of an original superhero.

"I can't give them superman but I can give them really unique, detailed discussions about what makes someone decide to be a hero. How do the feel when their powers develop? It makes everyone ask themselves 'If I had a real power, what would I do?'"

Sparaga admits his own motives may not consistently remain pure if given real power. He thinks most people would occasionally exploit super powers to their own advantage, weather to achieve financial success or pick up women, for instance.

"Why does Lex Luthor always go to prison? Why doesn't Superman kill him? If he'd just flick Lex Luther in the head every time he acts evil, it would solve lots of misery"

"Has this sidekick created a hero or a villain?" he asks of the film's protagonist. The filmmakers are hoping Sidekick will make it into the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival in September.

Among its cast of Canadian newcomers, the stars were aligned in Sparaga's favour when famous actor Daniel Baldwin of "Vampires" and the Emmy-winning series 'Homicide: Life on the Street' was also in Toronto shooting a sci-fi film while sidekick was shooting downtown.

"We're huge fans," says Sparaga "A friend of a friend sneaked him our script. We met him at Starbucks."

"Wow, I always play killers and cops," Baldwin told the ecstatic filmmakers.

"He was so happy to play the comic book store nerd in our film," says Sparaga. "He'd shoot at 10 or 11 o'clock at night, after filming his other movie. It was the kick of inspiration we needed. People were surprised at the test screening to see him in this type of role."

Besides securing a renowned actor for Sidekick, Sparaga convinced a crew of "amazing artists, sound and makeup people and stunt guys" to do superb visual effects, for free. "They were thrilled to do a super hero movie." he says "It's got people and objects being thrown through the air. The effects are as good as in any major film. The post-production people helped out too. Which is really expensive." he says. "Footsteps, which did the sound for 'The fockers' and other big films, did hours of free sound work on Sidekick, including authentic toronto street car sounds, because "they said they loved it."

His company's mandate is producing commercially viable Canadian feature films. Sidekick was shot exclusively in "a very real Toronto" says Sparaga. "I'm 100% Canadian. I"m not trying to mimic an American film. Everyone who worked on it is Canadian. Daniel Baldwin has a huge Canadian maple leaf tattoo on his leg and lives here half the time because he loves Canada."

Unsure an indie superhero film would fly, Sparaga says his risk-taking paid off, as the indie specialty arm of a major Hollywood company "said he loves it, 'send us everything you have' and they've just made an offer to do it with all major A-list stars."