{"id":15529,"date":"2011-07-06T16:59:07","date_gmt":"2011-07-06T23:59:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reallifesuperheroes.org\/?p=15529"},"modified":"2011-07-06T16:59:07","modified_gmt":"2011-07-06T23:59:07","slug":"everyday-superheroes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/2011\/07\/06\/everyday-superheroes\/","title":{"rendered":"Everyday Superheroes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Originally Posted: http:\/\/sixtyminutes.ninemsn.com.au\/stories\/8267897\/everyday-superheroes
\nReporter: Allison Langdon<\/a>
\n<\/strong> Producers:<\/strong>Stephen Rice<\/a>, Julia Timms<\/strong>
\nIt’s a comic book staple; a geeky, mild-mannered guy suddenly discovers he possesses super powers.<\/strong>
\n <\/strong> Before you can say “to the bat cave”, he’s wearing his undies on the outside and saving the world from evil.
\nNo one really believes that happens but, as Allison Langdon discovered, super heroes really do exist.
\nAnd while they get around in some pretty outlandish costumes, these caped crusaders take their work very seriously indeed.
\nStory contacts: <\/span><\/strong>
\nFor more information about real-life superheroes, visit:
\nwww.reallifesuperheroes.com<\/a>
\nwww.citizenheroesthemovie.com<\/a>
\nFull transcript:<\/span><\/strong>
\nALLISON LANGDON: Early morning a rooftop in downtown Seattle. At my side, a masked figure keeps watch over his city. Suddenly an alarm rings out and our caped crusader springs into action. This is a job for Phoenix Jones. It\u2019s no comic book fantasy. My costumed, crime-fighting companion is real. So too is the car thief, who\u2019s about to get some roadside assistance, Phoenix Jones-style.
\nPHOENIX: What I\u2019m doing is definitely shocking but I think it\u2019s crazier to let people run around and just assault people and you can make a difference or make a change.
\nALLISON LANGDON: The world\u2019s most popular superheroes sprang from the pages of DC and Marvel comic books and leapt onto our cinema screens when modern special effects made it possible to create their astounding superpowers. But recently, in movies like \u2018Kick Ass\u2019, we\u2019ve seen a new breed of crime-fighter. Ordinary people taking the law into their own hands and it\u2019s inspired a growing number of self-proclaimed \u201csuper-heroes\u201d like Phoenix Jones to do the same. Do you think you make a difference?
\nPHONEIX: Absolutely, in the city of Seattle for sure. And you know people ask me if I\u2019m making a worldwide impact and I say not yet, but I\u2019m on my way.
\nALLISON LANGDON: Phoenix doesn\u2019t have special powers or even permission to fight crime. But despite the very real danger, there\u2019s a growing league of these characters striding the streets of America in capes and masks, believing they can make the world a better place.
\nNYX: My name is Nyx. I\u2019m a real life superhero and I patrol New York City.
\nDC\u2019S GUARDIAN: Communities aren\u2019t safe any more. It\u2019s people not being able to walk down the street without being mugged. That\u2019s wrong.
\nCRIMSON FIST: I\u2019m one guy, I can\u2019t save the world but I\u2019d like to inspire the world to save itself. A lot of people doing it will make a difference.
\nALLISON LANGDON: Do you feel like you\u2019re a better person when you wear this outfit?
\nLIFE: Definitely, you know, when I put on the mask and when I put on the tie and everything like that I do feel empowered. I think maybe a lot like when a policeman affixes a badge or a priest puts on his collar.
\nALLISON LANGDON: Meet Life. Recently, he formed a dynamic duo with Dark Guardian, patrolling the mean streets of New York. Armed with nothing more than truth, justice and cool costumes, they sought out and confronted drug dealers.
\nLIFE: It\u2019s definitely very scary because these people are armed; these people have been to jail for violent offences. You\u2019re messing with their business. So yeah, it gets hairy, it gets hairy.
\nALLISON LANGDON: On this night at least, good conquered evil. The dealer eventually moved his business off the street. Shade and his crime-fighting team face that same New York vermin every night. But they come prepared. When you go out on patrol, do you carry weapons?
\nSHADE: I would actually carry this with me.
\nALLISON LANGDON: Really, what you are doing, shouldn\u2019t that be left to the police?
\nSHADE: If the police did their job, we wouldn\u2019t have to. Someone\u2019s gotta do something, right?
\nALLISON LANGDON: Handling a weapon is one thing, but when you design your own super-costumes, you also quickly learn new skills. So this is very impressive. We\u2019ve got a superhero who fights crime and can sew.
\nSHADE: When people to get to know me, I\u2019m a teddy bear.
\nALLISON LANGDON: Meantime, at a secret location at the rear of a dingy comic book store Phoenix Jones suits up. Like any good superhero, he closely guards his true identity as a father of two. Each night, amid the comic book covers, he transforms from a mild-mannered child-care worker to crime-fighting crusader. So we\u2019ve done the leaping tall buildings. And before you can say \u201cto the bat-poles\u201d, he\u2019s in hot pursuit of another evil-doer. Of course, Phoenix Jones is not really a man of steel. His utility belt might be equipped with tasers, zip-tie handcuffs and mace spray, but under the mask, there\u2019s a mere mortal. And those on the streets aren\u2019t always as easily intimidated as their comic book cousins.
\nPHONEIX: I\u2019ve had a few injuries. I\u2019ve been stabbed a couple of times. I got shot once. Hit with a baseball bat, ah.
\nALLISON LANGDON: But Phoenix gets little sympathy from the local police. In Seattle, you won\u2019t find Commissioner Gordon reaching for the bat phone.
\nMARK JAMIESON: I would not call him a crime fighter. Not at all, no. The police are the crime fighters.
\nALLISON LANGDON: In fact Detective Mark Jamieson would prefer it, if Phoenix – and his mates – just kept their costumes for Halloween.
\nPHONEIX: The police have actually asked me to stop doing what I\u2019m doing and when they said that I thought you guys are really missing it. If a guy can walk around in a gold suit dressed like a superhero and actually find crime, like I\u2019m literally finding criminals doing felonies, where are the police, like why are you guys letting that happen?
\nMARK JAMIESON: It may have just been an argument, a couple of guys yelling at each other because they\u2019re drunk, but now Phoenix and his friends turn up saying, stop, stop and they get assaulted, and now we have a crime.
\nALLISON LANGDON: Sounds like they make your job a lot harder?
\nMARK JAMIESON: Definitely, there is the potential of escalating a situation.
\nALLISON LANGDON: Are they vigilantes?
\nMARK JAMIESON: It could be perceived that way, yeah.
\nALLISON LANGDON: The cops say that you\u2019re a vigilante.
\nPHONEIX: Yeah which is weird you know. A vigilante goes out, sees crime and exacts his own revenge whereas I come up and I hold you to the standards that the police and the citizens voted for.
\nALLISON LANGDON: But away from the mean streets of the big city in a faraway castle we found a different kind of superhero. The one who calls himself Sir Ivan.
\nSIR IVAN: Welcome, welcome to the castle!
\nALLISON LANGDON: Nice to meet you, Sir Ivan. I\u2019m really getting the royal treatment!
\nSIR IVAN: Well I want you to feel like a princess today!
\nALLISON LANGDON: Ivan\u2019s the son of a billionaire banker, living the good life in the Hamptons who, when the mood takes him becomes Peace Man. So where does Sir Ivan become Peace Man?
\nSIR IVAN: Good question \u2013 I\u2019m about to answer that.
\nALLISON LANGDON: I should have known he\u2019d have a batcave. Of course! The secret entrance and his own version of Robin. Peace Man and your trusty side-kick, come here, come here. Oh, good gracious. Peace Man believes he\u2019s saving the world through music. He\u2019s pumped his vast fortune into his own record label. His grand plan is to end all wars in Africa through his music. Other real life superheros, they go out and they fight crime, they feed the homeless. You don\u2019t do that, do you?
\nSIR IVAN: I am saving people\u2019s lives. I can mean the difference between life and death. My cheque.
\nALLISON LANGDON: But Phoenix Jones and many like him, are taking this whole superhero business very seriously. He claims to have 28 arrests under his belt.
\nMARK JAMIESON: I\u2019d be surprised if it were that high.
\nALLISON LANGDON: Nevertheless the good citizens of Seattle seem to have embraced the idea.
\nPHOENIX: They called me a folk hero and it\u2019s come down to kind of a I don\u2019t know without sounding egotistical, like a batman-esque quality. People are really excited to come see it.
\nALLISON LANGDON: The ladies especially seem to like a crime-fighter in uniform.
\nGIRL FLIRTING: Very nice to meet you. Where are you from, Phoenix Jones?
\nPHONEIX: Seattle area. We\u2019re gonna go look for criminals, but it was good meeting you, Jessica?
\nALLISON LANGDON: So there are perks to being a superhero?
\nPHOENIX: Well kind of. I mean I\u2019m married with two kids so there\u2019d be perks for a younger person I think.
\nALLISON LANGDON: But if you really want to snare a superhero, why not use one of their own super-weapons designed to entangle a villain\u2019s fleeing feet. My turn.
\nPHONEIX: Alright, let\u2019s do it.
\nALLISON LANGDON: Let\u2019s make it interesting \u2013 run away, be afraid, be very afraid. Brings down Phoenix Jones! Rest easy citizens. Phoenix Jones was unhurt and lives to fight crime another day.
\nPHOENIX: I\u2019m just lucky this covers the blushing part of my face. It\u2019s terrible!
\nALLISON LANGDON: What does your family say about what you do?
\nPHOENIX: My kids love it. They\u2019re always blowing my secret identity, it\u2019s kinda terrible.
\nALLISON LANGDON: What do you say to them when you go out at night?
\nPHOENIX: I tell them this is the only thing that daddy can think of to make the world better, and I give them a kiss and I tell them I\u2019ll see them when I get back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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