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Before he heads to the poverty-stricken Downtown Eastside to hand water, food and blankets to the city’s most vulnerable citizens, costume-wearing superhero Thanatos prepares one final item for those living on the streets –
white slips of paper with the word “friend” scrawled on them.

“I hope that they keep it because they remember that they have a friend out there, they have someone out there who cares,” he said. “Even if it’s a crazy guy in a costume, they know that they have somebody out there who’s trying to look out for them.”
For four years, Thanatos has patrolled the neighbourhood performing good deeds, handing out items he buys himself. He was once told by a policeman that the end of life is all some homeless people have to look forward to, so the former U.S. military man – who says he moved to Canada in 1973 – named his alter ego after the Greek god of death. “I thought if that’s the case, death better get out there and take care of these people,” he said.
During an interview at – where else? – a cemetery, he says the slips of paper were found on 16 people who died last year, a testament to the rough shape some of those he tries to help are in.
His dark costume is a mix of The Green Hornet, The Shadow, Doc Savage and even a little Batman. Along with the black and green mask, he sports a long trench-coat, skull-and-crossbones tie, and wide-brimmed hat. Around his waist is a utility belt equipped with, among other things, a Swiss Army knife and bag of marbles.
Thanatos twice taps himself on the chest while describing the costume. A dull knock confirms he’s wearing a bulletproof vest, because even though he doesn’t view himself as a vigilante, trouble sometimes finds him in the form of a knife or gun.
“I was doing a water handout and a fellow came running around the corner,” he said. “I thought he had a black automatic pistol and he put it right up against me here. I grabbed at the automatic because I’ve been trained to disarm someone and my intention was to jack the slide back so the gun couldn’t fire. As I tried to do that, it broke apart in my hand. It was a squirt gun that had been painted black.”
Thanatos is a member of The Real Life Super Hero Project, a league of caped crusaders that aims to feed the hungry, comfort the sick and better neighbourhoods. As a sexagenarian, Thanatos is the oldest member of the group. He’s quick to note the heroes don’t fight bad guys and leave them tied up for police – that only happens in the movies.
As he walks past rows of tombstones inside the cemetery, the interview is continually interrupted by curious onlookers. Thanatos disarms their concerns with a confident hello and tip of the cap.
He talks at length about the missions he makes to the Downtown Eastside several times a month, but is much less willing to discuss the man under the mask.
All he says about his day job is that it’s “in a corner of the death industry.” He won’t release his name because he fears that if his identity is revealed he’ll be drummed from his profession.
Thanatos mentions a wife and teenage daughter, both of whom support his cause, he says. His wife sometimes joins him on the streets to serve as a spotter, and his daughter has said she’d like to help some day as well. She knows she’s not yet ready for the intensity and heartbreak, he says.
Thanatos appears to choke up when talking about a man named Wayne. He says Wayne was “just a nice guy” who suffered from alcohol problems and couldn’t land a job. “They found him behind some dumpsters where he had tried to go and get warm,” he said.
The deaths take their toll but he has no plans to give up. “It weighs on me,” he said. “It hurts. But it just strengthens my resolve. It always reminds me of what I’m out there for.”
Thanatos was not on the streets during last month’s Stanley Cup riot but expresses disappointment that it occurred. For those unsure how to better their city, he has a rallying cry: “If you’re really upset about the riots and you want to make things better, everybody go out and help 10 people. If you can’t give them anything, give them something that’s really even more important – five minutes of your time.”
Vancouver police spokesman Constable Lindsey Houghton confirmed the department has heard of Thanatos, who says he’s been in touch with officers on several occasions. Thanatos says he even collects shell casings on the chance they might be of some assistance to police.
“We’re aware of his existence and that he’s anonymously doing good deeds and helping people out in his own way and phoning 9-1-1 at appropriate times, which is all we ask of people,” Constable Houghton said.
During a tour of the Downtown Eastside, Thanatos heads under a bridge to highlight a narrow crevice where people sleep. Inside lies a blanket. A message has been left for him in chalk, indicating when the owner of the blanket will return.
Thanatos leaves a bottle of water and dashes off, eager to find the next person who needs his assistance.

Has a challenge for the City of Vancouver
Originally posted: http://www.news1130.com/news/local/article/246361–meet-vancouver-s-very-own-superhero
By News1130 Staff
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – He takes care of those who live in the city’s dark places, defending and helping people on the mean streets of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.  News1130‘s Mike Lloyd is revealing the details of a clandestine meeting with the man who calls himself Thanatos, The Dark Avenger.
“I’m a real life superhero here in Vancouver.  I take care of those who really need help the most.  I take care of those in the street, I watch out for them, I defend them, and I help them out.  I do monthly hand-outs of food, blankets and necessities.  I patrol the [Downtown] Eastside and keep my eye on things.  When I see things I report them to the police.”
On a stormy afternoon, Thanatos strides between the gravestones of Mountain View Cemetery, cloaked in black with a wide-brimmed hat and masked behind a twisted, iridescent skull.
Why the dramatic backdrop?  “This is an appropriate place to meet Death.  Where else would you meet him?  At McDonalds?”
Thanatos is the Greek God of Death, and the man behind the mask says he took on the persona after a conversation with a police officer.
“I was told people on the street had nothing better to look forward to than death.  That really stung me.  I thought if that’s the case, Death had better get out there and start taking care of these people.  I originally came up with the idea of going out with the robe and scythe but I realized that would be impractical.”
Instead, he ended up in black overcoat and hat, body armour underneath, and masked behind a green skull-face.
“I started researching and found out other people were using the same idea to draw attention to what they were doing.  So, being a comic book geek at heart, I fell back on that and redesigned the figure of death.  I’m based on The Green Hornet, The Shadow, The Spirit, a bit of Doc Savage and a bit of Batman.  The persona works.”
Thanatos stresses he is not a vigilante. “Swinging in on a rope, beating up the drug dealer, leaving him tied up for police looks good in the movies, but this is the real world and you can’t do that.  It doesn’t work.  It’s a bigger problem than just trying to take criminals off the street one at a time.  It’s a social issue and society has to change to stop people from landing on the street and getting swept up into the drugs and crime down there.”
This is certainly no game for the costumed man as he asks to be tapped on his chest.
“Feel that?  I wear a level 3A bullet proof vest.  It is dangerous.  Some of the people I encounter are coming down off methamphetamine or coming off other drugs.  The drug dealers and gangs are also quite dangerous.  I’ve had guns flashed at me.  I’ve seen guns down there ranging from small handguns to AK-47s.  I’ve had knives flashed at me.  I had someone try to stick me with a [sharpened] bicycle spoke and when you stick that into someone it usually catches something vital.  I’ve had someone throw a bullet at me from across the street.”
As the wind whips and the clouds darken, Thanatos says he feels the need to continue his work.  “I’ve helped out over the years as myself.  No one remembers.  No one cares.  The idea of real life superheroes using costumes is to draw attention to what we’re doing.  That draws attention to the problem.”
And there are others, many of them chronicled in the Real Life Superhero Project.
“We are all over the world.  Right now there are probably 300 of us who are active and out trying to actually help the world be a batter place.  Most are in North America, but we have people in Asia, people in the Mid-East and we have quite a few in Europe and Great Britain.  There are a few of us in Canada.”
As the meeting draws to a close, Thanatos has one last thing to add, a challenge to the city.
“We have had terrible riots here in Vancouver.  We had a great outpouring of emotion shown on the plywood, people saying ‘I love you,’ we need to do something, we need to better our city.  So, I’m issuing a challenge to the city of Vancouver.  Everyone go out and help 10 people before the end of July, anything they can do.  If they can keep someone alive on the Downtown Eastside for a day, give them water, give them cereal bars, give them whatever.  If all they can do is stop for five minutes and talk to these people and give them time, that’s fine, too.”
With that, the meeting ends.  Thanatos turns, disappearing deeper into Mountain View, preparing for another night of trying to help Vancouver’s vulnerable and, hopefully, inspiring others to do the same.

Message from Thanatos:
-I am inviting all RLSH here to my city, Vancouver British Columbia in February of 2010 to co-incide with the winter olympics here. the cityis planning on making the downtown areas ‘safe’ by simply removing all the people on the street for the duration of the games. this means that close to 600 people will be forced into the downtown eastside of the city. this area is known as “Canada’s poorest postal code area”. this is the area where I do most of my work.
I am contacting the downtown residents association about us doing patrols and neighborhood watch kind of things for them. there will also be handouts done for the homeless.
a lot of this is in the planning stages yet and we shall see where it goes. I will have a hall or place for us to meet and plan and work from.
the meetup will last about four days as that is about all the time I will be able to take off work at that time.
I will post info as it becomes available, I have started with a listing of the downtown hotels in the area.
these are scans of the hotel listing provided by the downtown eastside resisdents association.
please keep in mind these are the hotels located in the downtown eastside and are NOT by any means 5 star hotels. this is right in the thick of things with stuff happening all around.
Vancouver is a strange beast and while many would like to jump in and ‘engage’ some of those you will see around you here, the best method is watching and calling in the actions to the police.
there is just too much going on to try to stop it my ‘traditional’ means of operation.
More details can be found at
http://www.therlsh.net/upcoming-events-f10/vancouver-olympic-meetup-in-2010-t1116.htm