{"id":1012,"date":"2009-01-30T18:34:22","date_gmt":"2009-01-31T01:34:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/reallifesuperheroes.org\/?p=1012"},"modified":"2009-01-30T18:34:22","modified_gmt":"2009-01-31T01:34:22","slug":"capeless-crusaders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/2009\/01\/30\/capeless-crusaders\/","title":{"rendered":"Capeless crusaders"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

HAYLEY MICK<\/p>\n

From Friday’s Globe and Mail<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\nHis transformation into Vancouver’s dark knight begins in the shadows, after a long day’s work and when his 12-year-old daughter is asleep.
\nFirst he puts on the knee pads and protective vest; last is the skeleton mask. Before stepping out the door, he grabs a bag of marbles to trip a foe in hot pursuit. \u201cOld martial-arts trick,\u201d he says.
\nClad in all black, cape billowing as he prowls the streets looking for trouble, he is no longer a 60-year-old father and husband who fought in Vietnam before becoming a delivery man with a college degree.
\nHe is Thanatos: sworn enemy of drug dealers, gangsters and thieves, and one of a growing number of real-life superheroes.
\n\u201cWe are out there for the people to do good,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd we’re real.\u201d
\nA year ago, Thanatos donned his mask for the first time and joined a network of crusaders patrolling their towns and cities across Canada and the United States. He posted his photo on MySpace and introduced himself: \u201cI am fighting a war for good against evil,\u201d he wrote. Soon he was on regular nighttime reconnaissance missions, he says, tailing bad guys, gathering evidence and passing tidbits on to police.
\nLike most real-life superheroes, Thanatos keeps his true identity a secret. What he will say: \u201cI’m not a fat kid in his mom’s basement or some geek living out a fantasy.\u201d
\nHundreds more similarly caped crusaders are listed on the World Superhero Registry, a roster assembled about five years ago that includes the names of more than 200 crime fighters from Hong Kong to Michigan, even Nunavut.
\nThis new breed of superheroes adore graphic novels, can’t wait for Watchmen<\/em> to hit theatres and are mostly men. Among them are friends of the homeless (Shadow Hare), animal activists (Black Arrow), sworn enemies of Osama bin Laden (Tohian) and one who shovels the front walks of Nunavut’s seniors (Polar Man).
\nMost patrol the streets alone, but they have vibrant social lives on the Internet. On website forums such as the Heroes Network, they swap tactics on uniforms (should I wear ballistic protection?), patrolling tips (how should I respond to a casual drug user?) and what to wear. \u201cI don’t wear spandex, for a variety of reasons,\u201d says Chaim Lazaros, 24, a superhero called Life from New York.
\nThey are united in a mission to fight criminals and make the world a better place. The growing community is divided, however, over how that mission should be accomplished.
\nSome want to fight bad guys vigilante-style, remaining in the shadows and adding a caped wing to their city’s law-enforcement ranks. \u201cI’m prepared to make citizen’s arrests if necessary,\u201d writes Geist, a superhero from Minnesota, on his Web page. But others advocate a high-profile existence, helping the less fortunate through established non-profit organizations.
\nThe difference in philosophies often results in heated arguments, says Phantom Zero \u2013 also known as a 32-year-old call-centre worker from Lindenhurst, N.Y.
\n\u201cThere are people who hate me online. Because they pretty much think they’re psychic. Or they have superpowers. They think they’re hard-core vigilantes and they don’t like people who do charitable acts.\u201d
\nThanatos has seen arguments erupt over whether real-life superheroes should carry weapons, which he is against. \u201cThis is not the movies,\u201d Thanatos says. \u201cYou can’t leave the guy tied up on the police’s doorstep like Batman. That will not hold up in court.\u201d
\nWhen Phantom Zero first went out on patrol, he kept an open mind. Inspired by what he had read about the superhero movement online, he donned a black outfit, a hood and white mask, then set out looking for trouble. He wasn’t prepared to \u201cpunch someone in the face,\u201d he says, but had his cellphone ready to take pictures or call police.
\n\u201cI never came across crimes worse than public drunkenness and urination,\u201d he says. It got worse when he took a job in the peaceful suburbs.
\nPhantom Zero concluded that \u201cvigilantism is moot.\u201d After that he connected with a group of superheroes who focus on things such as helping the homeless and raising money for children’s hospitals.
\nOne of the more high-profile proponents of this type of work is Mr. Lazaros, co-founder of a group called Superheroes Anonymous. Their coming-out moment happened in October, 2007, when he summoned a group to New York. Decked out in masks and capes, they picked up trash in Times Square and handed out crime-prevention literature. \u201cIt was awesome,\u201d he said.
\nLast year, his league of heroes took a road trip to New Orleans to participate in a Habitat for Humanity project, hammering away in their costumes. Mr. Lazaros plans to make Superheroes Anonymous a registered charity.
\nThanatos says he falls somewhere in the middle of the two extremes. He raises money for groups such as the Easter Seals, and every month distributes care packages stuffed with flashlights, food and plastic sheeting to homeless people, which makes his daughter proud.
\nBut he also wants to bring \u201cwrongdoers\u201d to justice by acting as an extra set of eyes and ears for police. Using tools in his \u201ccrime kit,\u201d he picks up evidence with tweezers and stores it in sterilized plastic containers. His wife, who goes by the name Lady Catacomb, trails behind with a video camera to document any scuffles (there haven’t been any to date).
\nStaff Sgt. Ruben Sorge, who heads up the division that covers the downtown Eastside where Thanatos often patrols, says he’s never heard of the superhero. But any citizen who’s willing to dole out food and supplies to the homeless is welcome on his beat, he said. And he encourages reports of violence or crime, \u201cno matter what the person’s wearing.\u201d
\nReal-life superheroes are often asked why they don’t just do good deeds without the costume or masks, and each has his own answer.
\nPhantom Zero says anyone can help the homeless, but in a costume you attract attention.
\nMr. Lazaros agrees, adding it makes him feel more responsible. \u201cIt’s like, okay, now I’m a superhero,\u201d he says. \u201cNow I have to embody these ideals.\u201d
\nFor Thanatos, his identity should be irrelevant. \u201cWhat I do is much more important than who I am.\u201d
\nIf you could have a superpower…<\/strong>
\nCome on. You know you’ve thought about it. Would you scale buildings? Soar the skies? Turn invisible? Read minds? Exude super charisma? Which power do you covet most? Weigh in here<\/strong> <\/a>.
\nhttp:\/\/www.theglobeandmail.com\/life\/article968643.ece<\/a>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do-gooders or vigilantes, real-life superheroes are donning costumes and prowling their streets, looking to fight crime – or at least shovel a senior’s walk<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[317,490,1017,1180,1205,1508,1787,1840,1949,2031,2060,2181,2376,2556,2637,2748,2835,2987],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1012"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1012"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1012\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}