{"id":5194,"date":"2010-08-10T23:58:28","date_gmt":"2010-08-11T06:58:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/reallifesuperheroes.org\/?p=5194"},"modified":"2010-08-10T23:58:28","modified_gmt":"2010-08-11T06:58:28","slug":"costumed-superhero-offers-a-helping-hand-in-the-downtown-eastside","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/2010\/08\/10\/costumed-superhero-offers-a-helping-hand-in-the-downtown-eastside\/","title":{"rendered":"Costumed superhero offers a helping hand in the Downtown Eastside"},"content":{"rendered":"

Originally posted: http:\/\/www.theprovince.com\/life\/Costumed+superhero+offers+helping+hand+Downtown+Eastside\/3353929\/story.html?id=3353929#ixzz0wLjX3OB1<\/a>
\nBy Laura
\n\"Prv0729N<\/a>
\nBaziuk, The Province
\nHe wears a green-faced mask, a black hat and black eye makeup.
\nA black tie with skulls and crossbones, and patches on his black shirt sleeves.
\nA heavy artillery sits around his waist, with a flashlight, multi-tool and evidence-gathering kit.
\nHe is Thanatos, a real-life superhero who helps out the less fortunate of the Downtown Eastside.
\n\u201cI represent death,\u201d the 62-year-old says, sitting in a shaded area of the Mountain View Cemetery. \u201cI give life to the dying.\u201d
\nThe man who calls himself Thanatos, who was born in California and trained for seven years in the army, has spent the last 14 years helping the homeless around downtown Vancouver, giving them food and water, and talking with them.
\nAbout three and a half years ago, he was speaking with a police officer overseeing a meth addict was being taken to hospital.
\nThanatos said the officer quipped, \u201cThese people have nothing to look forward to but death.\u201d
\n\u201cThat stung. That hurt me,\u201d Thanatos recalls. \u201cI said, \u2018Then death better start looking out for them.\u2019\u201d
\n\"than03\"<\/a>So he created a costume and character, Thanatos, representing the Greek god of death, and has been handing out packets with a plastic sheet, a blanket, clean socks, bread and water to the homeless ever since.
\nHe pays for the kits himself, costing about $40-$50 for 10 kits, and gives them out about once a month.
\n\u201cIt just seems to be the thing to do,\u201d he says.
\nThe homeless aren\u2019t afraid of him, he says. \u201cThey\u2019re great. They accept me.\u201d
\nHe modelled his alter ego after comic book heroes like the Green Hornet, and is part of a 150-strong group of fellow costumed do-gooders around North America, called the Real-Life Superhero Project.
\nJust like him, they dress up in goofy outfits and spread positive messages around their neighbourhood.
\n\u201cI\u2019ve done what I did all my life,\u201d Thanatos says about his work with the city\u2019s homeless. \u201cNobody ever cared about what was going on around me.\u201d
\nBut now that he walks the streets dressed as a made-up comic-book hero, the public, and the media, have taken notice of the people he helps.
\n\u201cWhat I\u2019m doing is much more important than who I am,\u201d says Thanatos. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t take a lot to make a difference in the world.\u201d
\nAnd he says the police largely leave him alone.
\nBut the main reason Thanatos sports his eye-catching getup is to inspire others to do the same good deeds in the community.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s about self-empowerment,\u201d he says.
\nOther superheros in Canada have followed suit after hearing about his efforts, he says, such as Polar Man in Nunavut, the Maple Defender in Toronto, and Anonyman of Saskatoon.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s like a ripple effect,\u201d he says, likely with a smile underneath his mask.
\nlbaziuk@theprovince.com<\/a>
\ntwitter.com\/laurabaziuk<\/a>
\n\"than02\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thanatos is a local superhero who does his good deeds by handing out bottled water and other necessities to people on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12296,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[2637],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5194"}],"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=5194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}