Novocaine: the movie action hero with a real-life syndrome that makes him immune to pain

Novocaine, a new action movie starring Jack Quaid, introduces a fresh take on the superhero genre. It features a hero whose superpower actually exists. Mild-natured Nathan “Novocaine” Caine (Nate) is catapulted into the criminal underworld when his love interest is kidnapped by bank robbers. On his quest to save her from almost certain peril, he absorbs blades and bullets. He even manages to retrieve a gun from a scorching-hot deep-fat fryer that he then uses to shoot a baddy.The movie’s tagline is: “Meet Nathan Caine, he can’t feel pain.”Nate’s “superpower” is a syndrome called congenital analgesia, or congenital insensitivity to pain (CIP). As the name suggests, it’s an inability to feel pain. But those who have it really do suffer. Being able to feel pain has many advantages. Congenital insensitivity to pain is something of a misnomer. Technically speaking, you aren’t sensitive to pain – pain is the sensation that the brain constructs from sensory information obtained from the body....