![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/reallifesuperheroesarchive.files.wordpress.com\/2011\/03\/pacific-protectorate.jpg\")
<\/a>Photo by Pierre Elle de Pibrac<\/p><\/div>
\nSlower than an speeding Bullet, they patrol city streets, hoping to lend a hand, inspire compassion and even thwart crime<\/em>
\nShe finds her work as an accountant \u201ca boring 9-to-5 job.\u201d But many an evening after Irene Thomas, 21, returns to her cramped 400-sq.-ft attic apartment in a town in Bergen County, N.J., she slips into a black catsuit, accessories with a red belt, red gloves and boots, and sometimes also dons a mask. When she emerges in her Honda Accord on the Manhattan side of the Lincoln Tunnel, she is Nyx, her namesake a Greek goddess of the night. While she might patrol the streets looking for anything out of the ordinary, her immediate mission is distributing food and clothes to the homeless. And she has another goal: to call attention to her actions so that \u201cother people notice and are maybe motivated to help too.\u201d
\nShe is not alone. From New York City to Seattle, scores of costumed crusaders have joined the superhero movement. While their aims aren\u2019t always unified- some cater to the needy while others are bent on thwarting crime- most of them share a desire to stomp out citizen apathy by modeling \u201csuperhero\u201d virtues. \u201cI just feel like I\u2019m walking no air after I\u2019ve helped 30 people,\u201d says Chaim \u201cLife\u201d Lazaros, 26, a production manager by day, who wears a mask and fedora (a la Green Hornet) when he takes to New York\u2019s streets at night. The superheroes, who range from dishwashers to Fortune 500 execs, cut across political, religious and age lines and are often comic book geeks, says Tea Krulos, who blogs about the phenomenon. \u201cThey don\u2019t want to admit it, [but] it\u2019s fun to dress up.\u201d
\nNot everyone is impressed by their derring-do. On a recent night in San Francisco\u2019s Haight-Ashbury district, a teenage homeless girl only smirked when Motor Mouth, a ninja like fixture of the San Francisco Bay Area\u2019s streets, handed her a bag of food. Unfazed, Motor Mouth (who refuses to give his real name) says he doesn\u2019t mind \u201ca million people snickering behind my back as long as there is the possibility to help.\u201d
\nThe costumed do-gooders, who pack nothing more lethal than first-aid kits and benign intentions, get high marks from the police. \u201cAny time a citizen gets involved- great,\u201d says Det. Renee Witt of the Seattle police department. Others, like Seattle superhero Phoenix Jones, 22, have crated a stir by being brazen crime fighters. In recent months Phoenix Jones claims he has interrupted knife fights, helps catch drug dealers and has been stabbed. Certainly he\u2019s sparked discussion among his peers about boundaries. \u201cIf we see the police are already there, our philosophy is the matter has been addressed,\u201d says Seattle\u2019s White Baron. Most self-styled superheroes are well aware they can\u2019t fly or outrun speeding bullets. \u201cIf you life this kind of life,\u201d says Motor Mouth, 30, \u201cyou can\u2019t take yourself entirely seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n