Category Articles 2011

Originally posted: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/phoenix-jones-real-life-seattle-superhero-arrested-for-pepper-spray-assault/2011/10/11/gIQAY1oTcL_blog.html
By Elizabeth Flock

Masked crusader Phoenix Jones, who says he often patrols the streets of Seattle in a superhero suit to stop crime, may have accidentally gotten involved in a crime.
In a situation almost straight out of the movie “Kick-Ass,” Jones is fighting an assault charge for allegedly spraying pepper spray on people, who he says were fighting. Seattle police say the people were dancing.
Jones is out of jail after being held Sunday night.
“Just because he’s dressed up in costume, it doesn’t mean he’s in special consideration or above the law,” Seattle police spokesman Det. Mark Jamieson said of the incident. “You can’t go around pepper spraying people because you think they are fighting.”
Jones, who has been unmasked by police as Benjamin Francis, insists he “witnessed a hit-and-run/attempted murder of a man and he responded to stop it,” according to a Facebook post.
Jones has posted this video as proof that a crime had taken place, though the video is shaky and unclear. In the video, it appears Jones and his sidekick, known as Ghost, run toward a group of people and try to break them up. A woman is then seen running after Jones and hitting him with her shoe. A BMW car appears, almost hits an unidentified man, and a person with Jones says to call 911 to report a hit-and-run.
In an interview with local station 97.3 FM, the woman who hits Jones with her shoe says she didn’t need the help.
Jones was wearing a black and gold superhero costume and a bullet-proof vest, and carrying two cans of pepper spray when police arrived at the scene.
Police took the suit, boots and mask from him, but Jones says he has a backup suit.
Jones is married to a woman he calls PurpleReign, another masked vigilante.
He is also the leader of the Rain City Superhero Movement, a group of self-proclaimed superheroes that has previously been credited with preventing a carjacking. Watch the report from that carjacking below:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AANmw2Oiyg

Originally posted: http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Seattle-police-arrest-superhero-Phoenix-Jones-2210657.php
By CASEY McNERTHNEY, SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF
The man known as Phoenix Jones Guardian of Seattle, the self-proclaimed Seattle “superhero” who has received international media attention, was arrested and booked into King County Jail early Sunday morning for investigation of assault.
Shortly after 2:30 a.m., police were called to First Avenue and Columbia Street after an alleged assault with pepper spray. A group of men and women had left a club, were walking to their car and were “dancing and having a good time,” Seattle Police Det. Jeff Kappel said in a statement.
“An unknown adult male suspect came up from behind and pepper sprayed the group,” Kappel’s statement said. “Two men in the group chased after the suspect. Responding officers arrived on scene and separated the involved parties.”
The 23-year-old man arrested is the man previously identified by police as Phoenix Jones Guardian of Seattle. He was booked into jail shortly after 5 a.m. and released on bond about 12:45 p.m. Sunday, jail records show.
Jones is not the man’s real name. Seattlepi.com does not normally identify suspects in criminal cases until they’ve been formally charged by a prosecuting attorney’s office.
He’s expected to have a Thursday morning arraignment, where a plea would be entered. Police say the case involves four victims.
Other than the Sunday incident, the man known as Phoenix Jones doesn’t have a criminal history in Seattle Municipal Court. However, court records show he previously was arrested outside Seattle after being stopped for driving with a suspended license.
A spokesman for Phoenix Jones, Peter Tangen, told Publicola that a video of the incident tells a different story and that the self-proclaimed superhero was trying to break up a fight. He did not provide Publicola with a copy of the video.
“It’ll be interesting what [police] have to say when the video comes out,” Tangen told the site. “I’m very sure it’s going to show a different story than what police are saying.”
Police spokespersons on Sunday didn’t comment specifically on Jones’ behavior, other than Kappel’s statement which didn’t name him, though previously they’ve said self-proclaimed superheroes interjecting themselves into disputes could create problems.
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Originally posted: http://www.slamdance.com/2060786/Superheroes-to-attend-IFC-Screening-in-New-York
Los Angeles – September 26, 2011 – The IFC Center will launch Slamdance’s 2011 On The Road tour on October 7th 2011 for a weeklong engagement. The traveling theatrical showcase will feature the critically acclaimed documentary Superheroes directed by Michael Barnett as well as the award winning short film Hello Caller by Andrew Putschoegl.
This year’s On the Road launch represents a well-established relationship between Slamdance and The IFC Center. Soon after opening, the Center found success with Mad Hot Ballroom, a documentary that premiered and was acquired from Slamdance in 2005. As an advocate for independent films, The IFC Center serves as the ideal starting point for the Festival whose mantra is ‘By Filmmakers For Filmmakers.’ Slamdance’s president and Co-founder Peter Baxter explains “On The Road brings popular Slamdance films to audiences that otherwise would not have the opportunity to see them on the big screen and provides our filmmakers commercial benefits that they otherwise would not receive.”
Superheroes is a profoundly funny, eccentric and inspiring film that chronicles the extraordinary lives of real-life superheroes as they take to the streets to protect and support their communities. Perhaps the most intimidating of the heroes featured in the film are a group of Brooklyn-based vigilantes. Life, Dark Guardian and other superheroes from the New York initiative will be in attendance and participate in a Q&A which will immediately follow the screening.
Eight months after the world premiere of Superheroes at the 2011 festival, the Slamdance team continues to demonstrate a commitment to their alumni. As director Michael Barnett puts it, “The tremendous exposure our film gained from Slamdance helped us sell Superheroes to HBO. Partnering with Slamdance for a theatrical release shows how forward thinking they really are.”
Each screening will begin with Hello Caller about a suicidal woman who makes a call for help with unexpected and hilarious results. “We’re still in shock that Hello Caller is getting a theatrical release,” admits director Andrew Putschoegl. “Short films are hard enough to make, let alone find distribution.”
After the IFC Center, Slamdance’s On the Road tour will travel to Dublin, Ireland; Omaha, Nebraska; Salt Lake City, Utah; Houston, Texas; Seattle, Washington; Juneau, Alaska; Atlanta, Georgia; Los Angeles, California; Vancouver, BC; and Minneapolis, Minnesota.
About Slamdance – As a year-round organization, Slamdance serves as a showcase for the discovery of new and emerging talent and is dedicated to the nurturing and development of new independent artists and their cinematic vision. For the 2011 Festival, Slamdance received a record number of over 5,000 submissions and is well on the way to surpassing that record with the 2012 festival submissions. No other festival is fully programmed by filmmakers. Slamdance counts among its alumni many notable writers and directors who first gained notice at the festival, including Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight), Marc Forster (Monster’s Ball), Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite) and Oren Peli (Paranormal Activity). New filmmakers and writers today realize Slamdance is a great place to launch their careers. In 2010, Slamdance began a Video on Demand partnership with Microsoft and has continued to expand its exhibition efforts theatrically through Slamdance On The Road. New filmmakers and writers today realize Slamdance is a great place to launch their careers. Slamdance 2012 takes place January 20th-26th in Park City and is currently calling for festival entries.

Originally posted: http://geekoverture.com/2011/10/06/superheroes-bfi-london-film-festival-preview/

Some things are just too surprising to be believed and too cool not to share. Visiting the BFI London Film Festival on October 18th, 19th and 21st is Michael Barnett’s documentary Superheroes, an insightful and, by all appearances, even-handed exploration of the expanding world of real-life superheroes in the United States.
In a style that raises fond memories of the pro-wrestling documentary Beyond the Mat, Barnett devotes to screen some pretty intriguing characters, all of whom are driven by some desire to do what they see as being right, some of whom are more convincing than others. The New York Initiative is a group based in Brooklyn who set out with some pretty admirable, if vague, goals: Lucid, a heavily-built, distinctively-tattooed hero described as being “from all over”, wants “to do something, to do anything […] I’m sick of the corruption I see everywhere I look, whether it is the boss at your work or the dude you know from next door who’s been beating his wife for twenty years.”
On the other hand, there’s Master Justice and Super Hero. You decide.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7I1p3mKnD08
What connects them is a kind of thinking that comes straight out of comic book rhetoric, using words like ‘deeds’ and ‘vigilante’, and there’s an impression that a major motivation is self-centred. They’re trying to become the hero of their own stories by emulating a stock character: the lone good man in a corrupt world, all couched in the terms used by Batman, Wolverine and the rest. But does that make them crazy, misguided or even wrong to do so? The documentary enlists psychologists, members of the police force and even the man himself Stan Lee to dig into the question.
Superheroes have saturated popular culture in the past decade, and with this and comic/movies like Kick-Ass and Super emerging in recent years, it seems the phenomenon has only tightened its grip on our imagination.Update: The first showing of Superheroes has already sold out. Get your tickets while you can!

Originally posted: http://flickeringmyth.blogspot.com/2011/10/55th-bfi-london-film-festival-brings.html
The BFI London Film Festival brings you the real Kick-Ass with Superheroes
If, like Aaron Johnson’s character in the award-winning film Kick-Ass, you’ve ever had the urge to don a mask and fight crime, it seems you’re not alone as insightful documentary Superheroes hits the big screen at the 55th BFI London Film Festival this month.
Journeying into the world of real-life caped crusaders, Superheroes follows a group of superhero fans from across North America, who are taking the law into their own hands. From the steel-plated ‘Master Legend’ in Orlando to evil-defeating ‘Thanatos’ in Vancouver, director Michael Barnett uncovers and documents this growing cultural phenomenon of vigilantes inspired by their comic book idols.
Introducing several of the US’ most famous masked heroes, the feature documentary follows individuals such as real-life Kick Ass, Mr Extreme, a 33 year old security guard by day who by night patrols the streets protecting the innocent, and organised crime-fighting group, The New York Initiative who bait traps to lure evildoers. Though their motives may differ and there powers are less than super, their intentions to protect the community and fight for the greater good unites them along with a shared love of comics.
With interviews from Marvel Comics supremo, Stan Lee, psychologists and police representatives, Superheroes smartly addresses a number of serious issues about an individual’s responsibility, and provides a compelling portrait of these real-life superheroes as they try to make the world a better place.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zxCLbPncGk

Originally posted: http://www.prweb.com/releases/Real-Life_Superhero/David_Filmore/prweb8838642.htm
Launch of new website, SaveMeHeroMan.com, to ease burden on law enforcement by fighting crime.
Self-described real-life superhero, HERO MAN, today announced the launch of a new website (http://www.SaveMeHeroMan.com) that allows Angelenos in distress to request his help. David Filmore, the man behind the cape, turned to fighting crime after his home was robbed and was dissatisfied with the justice he received.  Filmore vowed then and there that he would strike a blow against crime by helping those who had been similarly victimized.
“This city needs the help of a superhero, there just aren’t enough police to go around. If someone is being bullied or is the victim of a crime, I’m ready to step in.  I just want to make sure these ruffians get what’s coming to them.”  Filmore said when asked why he was embarking on his quest.
“But I want to make it clear that I am not a vigilante!  My goal above all is to see that justice is served, and to stand in protection of those who have nowhere else to turn.” As an orthodox Jew, Filmore says he gets his true motivation from the Torah “It is never about revenge, only justice.  It’s about repairing the world and being a mensch.  That’s the code every superhero lives by.”
Filmore’s work as a yarmulke-wearing superhero hasn’t gone unrecognized by the Jewish community.  He was recently nominated for the ‘Jewish Community Heroes Award,’ a national annual campaign designed to spotlight and celebrate people working to make the world a better place.  The winner receives a $25,000 grant to be used in a non-profit community project.
“It’s an honor to be nominated, but it’s the work I do helping people that really matters to me.  I’m just happy to be alive and to know that I’m making a difference in people’s lives.”  Filmore being alive isn’t something that was certain not so long ago. “I was severely anemic and hospitalized for 30 days.  Lying in hospital I knew what it was like to be truly helpless.  That experience prepared me for being a superhero.  I can identify with the victims of crime, I know how they feel.”
But there is also a very practical reason HERO MAN’s services have been in demand.  “To be blunt, L.A. is in a budget crisis right now and people are hurting as a result.  The police can’t be everywhere at once, so it’s only logical that well-meaning people try to help fill that need in our community.” Filmore added a precaution “I’m not recommending other people take this action, it is extremely dangerous.  But on the other hand it is the right thing to do.  The police should deputize me.”
When Officer Wong of the LADP was asked about HERO MAN, he responded, “This activity isn’t illegal, but I would strongly discourage anyone from trying be a superhero.  Life isn’t a movie, and chances are the police will end up having to rescue HERO MAN from a situation he wasn’t prepared for.”
But in this case, life does seem to be in part a movie.  A documentary crew followed Filmore as he made his transformation from hospital patient to a lightsaber-carrying superhero in a black cape. “A lot of my close friends work in film and TV.  When they saw what was happening in my life they pointed their cameras at me and started recording.  Somehow we ended up with a movie.  It’s all kind of amazing actually.”  Filmore said looking back.
The movie, also called ‘HERO MAN,’ is a documentary but Filmore insists that doesn’t fully describe it. “It’s an uplifting story, but it’s also got plenty of action and fights, the kind of fireworks you’d want from a movie about a superhero. And having the cameras there definitely pushed me to do things I might not otherwise have done. Luckily, I only broke one bone.” Filmore added, when recalling an accident that happened on one of the last days of shooting.
“I’m excited about seeing the movie screen at festivals and finding a distributor.  But it’s the real work of being a superhero that keeps me going.”  Filmore explained about his relentless drive for justice.  “If someone is in trouble I want to be there to protect them from harm. Besides, I totally love the action. I’ve always enjoyed wearing combat gear and jumping off roofs anyway. This just makes it official.”
After having handled almost fifty “cases,” Filmore insists he’s just getting started. “Tonight’s another night, I’ll be out there again like always, hunting for scofflaws and troublemakers.”
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-MRD1In-BI

Originally posted: http://lawandthemultiverse.com/2011/10/03/castle-heroes-and-villains/
Last week’s episode of Castlefeatured a new twist for Rick and Kate: a real, live, caped crusader!
Or, well, someone dressed up as one, who goes around fighting crime. This is another instance of pop culture taking a more-or-less serious look at the real phenomenon (apparently with its own website) of people putting on costumes and patrolling the streets, basically looking for trouble in which they can get involved. We talked about the implications of real life superheroes when we reviewed Kick-Ass a while back.
It sounds like about as good an idea as it turns out to be. There really isn’t any way to talk about this one without some pretty major spoilers, so here goes.
More at http://lawandthemultiverse.com/2011/10/03/castle-heroes-and-villains/

Originally posted: http://mynorthwest.com/284/552771/Local-superhero-Phoenix-Jones-breaks-up-bus-jacking?page=0
By
Listen to Seattle Super Heroes Thwart Car-Jacking
When a guy tried to steal a party bus last weekend in Belltown, it wasn’t the cops that thwarted the attempt. It was self-appointed Seattle crime fighter Phoenix Jones, his wife and sidekick Purple Reign, and their fellow costumed-colleague Myst.
Phoenix tells 97.3 KIRO FM’s John Curley Show the trio was on patrol in Belltown when they saw a guy jump on the bus and try to drive away. The driver tried to stop him and a struggle ensued. Jones jumped in.
He says he sprayed him in the face with a high powered pepper spray.
“He went down, I went to grab him and the bus starts to roll backwards. It rolls right into the middle of First and then gets nailed by an oncoming car,” Jones says.
The guy took off. Jones and team stayed behind to help.
While felony carjacking isn’t a common occurrence, fighting crime on the streets of Seattle certainly is for the trio along with the other members of the Rain City Superheroes.
“Usually there’s at least one crime per night that we intervene on, on a good night there’s three or four. Well, not a good night, but a bad night,” says Purple, clad in her black leather jacket and purple baseball cap protruding from her black ski mask covering her face.
They all remain anonymous. Phoenix wears his black and yellow helmet mask and Batman like body suit complete with sculpted abs. But underneath it’s all business: And they aren’t messing around.
“All of us are wearing bulletproofs, we’ve all taken some self defense class, we all call 911 the minute the crime happens,” says Phoenix.
The group defends its crime fighting, despite criticism from some quarters included the Seattle Police Department, who officially would rather they left it up to the pros. But they insist they are actually a help, not a hindrance.
“Recently, the cops ended up apprehending a guy that we were watching closely,” recounts Phoenix. He says they were keeping an eye on a guy who looked like he causing problems. The suspect was making advance on another man’s pregnant wife, and punched the husband in the face when he objected. The man ran off.
“I called Purple, and she had actually alerted the police for me […]the police roll in and I tell them ‘hey this is what the guy looks like, and we see the guy across the street.’ We take off, tackled him in the parking lot of a bank and the police took him out,” Phoenix says.
As for his age, Phoenix will only say he is in his early 20’s. And his speed? “Faster than most criminals,” he says.
But they use their brains as much as their brawn. The group tracks crime trends from the Seattle Police Department and patrols areas based on the data and their own intuition.
They also videotape all of their encounters. “Knowing that we have a camera guy that catches you being a criminal on tape, a lot of guys don’t like that,” Phoenix says.
Some suspect it’s all a massive stunt aimed at gaining wealth and fame. They insist they aren’t looking to get rich. But Jones admits they do need to raise some money to keep up the crime fighting. His shopping list includes a new crime fighting car and a certain kind of cell phone to help protect his identity.
“It’s very hard to roll anonymous these days,” he says.
The (Alleged) Adventures of Phoenix Jones from Village Voice Media on Vimeo.

Originally posted: http://www.phillyburbs.com/blogs/reality/the-world-could-use-a-few-more-real-life-superheroes/article_5f96cf0a-ed8c-5cdc-89a6-34d33f5d2296.html
By Olivia Wright
Ben Franklin Freshman Academy

The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.”
There’s an Einstein quote for you. Maybe something you’d find on a daily calendar, or during any basic late-night boredom Google exploration. It’s also how the HBO documentary “Superheroes” starts out.
For those of you out there who know me on any level, you’re probably thinking something along the lines of “dear mother of God, here she goes with that comic book stuff again.” I promise you, this time, there’s more to it than that.
I’m not a huge documentary fan, only when the subject interests me, or if it presses that little “I read psychology journals for fun” button in my head. “Superheroes” manages to tickle both of those fancies, but I’m not writing this article, suddenly inspired at precisely 1:44 in the morning (Wait! It’s a weekend!), to talk about me. Shocking, I know.
Getting to the point, the film’s about real-life superheroes.
And just like any comic-verse, these guys vary in just about every sense imaginable. Some look like they’d be taken pretty seriously. They’ve got their gear, they’ve got the masks that could make you flinch if you ran into them in a dark alley, not to mention seriously legit training and strategy. Their reasons for fighting the good fight tend toward a chance to redeem their past criminal lifestyles, or as an outlet for rage and violence. Coincidentally, most of those types happen to operate in New York City.
Mixed in are those whose appearance happens to be, to put it kindly, less than intimidating. Not much threat goin’ on. Motivation ranges from comic-hero inspiration to being wronged themselves. Most of the time, these “novelty heroes” seem to be more of a photo op for passersby than a scourge to crime.
Please, do not get me wrong here.
All of the superheroes featured in this documentary, every single one of them, could teach us a little something about society.
They aren’t sitting by and letting, for lack of a better term, evil get the best of us all. Refusing to ignore the injustice in the world is a common theme across the board, be it kicking some drug dealer/mugger/rapist butt and getting them locked up, or simply helping out those who need it with a donation of food, maybe just being someone to talk to.
Further research shows that Harrisburg even has its own super-team, the Keystone Crusaders, who at one point had lived with next to nothing and still found the will to help out the city.
That’s selflessness at its best.
It kind of makes you wonder how much of a pit humanity has dug itself into that we need to actually have people wearing masks and worrying about getting attacked themselves in order to do what any decent person should.
This is what the Justice League does, guys. In comics. Fiction. But nowadays, people seem to find it necessary to translate it to reality.
That’s sad.
That’s sad that, to some members of planet Earth, that’s what things have come to.
I commend these guys. They’re doing what quite a few of us ignore, and that’s something I like a lot.
No, I’m not saying you need to toss on your Six Flags Batman cape and go out to destroy neighborhood crime. There’s serious personal risk to that, and I’m pretty sure it’s illegal to an extent, unless you’re in law enforcement (again, I commend you).
Real-life superheroes are trained in self-defense, but just as that. Defense. It’s a matter of being aware of the law, abiding by it, and helping to deter crime, not being the criminal in the first place.
But don’t turn the other way when you see something that could end badly if let go. I’m a girl who would say that’s something Superman would frown upon.
Speaking of the guy . . . is this a job for Superman? I don’t think so. Sadly, he’s not real. But the rest of us . . . we could stand to let ourselves have a superhero moment every now and then. Really, we could. No need for patrols. Or alter egos.
Just what society seems to dangerously lack anymore.
Simple human decency.
Currently, an organized group of these heroes is helping deliver clean water to Liberia. If you’d like to find out how to donate, or just get more information on these men and women themselves, go to
www.reallifesuperheroes.com.

Originally posted: http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlla/real-life-super-hero-project-peter-tangen-hbo_b39626
By Richard Horgan on September 21, 2011 2:00 PM
If you have not yet acquainted yourself with the website “The Real Life Super Hero Project,” be sure to do so now or bookmark it for perusal later.
Thanks to the fact that site founder Peter Tangen, a local photographer, is also a consulting producer on the current in-kind HBO documentary Superheroes, his efforts are generating a lot of extra publicity these days. The latest outlet to catch up with Tangen, who has snapped and documented more than 200 citizen do-gooders, is Tampa Tribune reporter Ray Reyes. Per the article:

“There are millions of people who do good in this world but the media doesn’t pay attention to them. This is the marketing of good deeds,” said Tangen…
According to Tangen’s website, [San Diego’s] Mr. Xtreme was attacked by gang members and bullied as a boy. He donned a costume to “protest against indifference in society. People are being victimized and I feel that someone has to take a stand.”
Mr. Xtreme, who has not revealed his real name to anyone, has since formed his own group, the Xtreme Justice League, which gives food and supplies to the homeless.

At press time, Tangen’s latest blog post was about another equally fascinating character, LA “paranormal investigator and masked adventurer extraordinaire” Ragensi (pictured).