Real-life superheroes combine social justice and spandex
On Nov. 16, B.C. police reported that a trio of B.C. teenagers had been engaging in something resembling comic book-style vigilantism.
In a campaign to expose men seeking to meet underage girls for sex, the teens posed as a 15-year-old girl online.
They lured a man to a Chilliwack restaurant, where two of them confronted him dressed in Batman and Flash costumes, shouting, "This man right here is a sex offender." The teens uploaded a video of the exchange to YouTube.
The group has also lured other men to parks, where they publicly shame them.
Police are concerned about the safety of these self-styled heroes, warning that some sex offenders carry weapons, and if cornered, could unleash their anger in unpredictable and potentially violent ways.
The story highlights a growing trend in costumed vigilantism. It has become so popular that there’s actually an organization dedicated to it. Based in Seattle, Real Life Superheroes (RLSH) is a group of disparate do-gooders that use "the iconicism of comic book superheroes to make a difference, inspire others, spread a positive message, and call attention to issues in our communities."
RLSH members were the subject of Superheroes, an HBO documentary that aired in August. The most notorious member is Phoenix Jones (real name: Benjamin Fodor), who was arrested in October for pepper-spraying a group of people he claims were fighting outside a Seattle nightclub.
Other members include the like-minded Pitch Black (name unknown), and SkyMan the Tri-Colored Crusader (Skyler Nichols), who helps the homeless and breaks up the occasional mugging.
A number of independent "heroes" have also gained renown. Polarman, whose real identity has been a well-kept secret, has been a fixture in Iqaluit, Nunavut, for about a decade. Dressed in black boots, white sweatpants and a black mask, he models himself after a figure in an Inuit legend. Polarman patrols the streets on the lookout for vandals, while also stopping to shovel the walkways of town elders.
Meanwhile, in the town of Yeovil in England, security-guard-by-day Ken Andre has spent the past six years patrolling the streets at night as a self-appointed law enforcer named Shadow.