WEBVTT - 1: Out of the Shadows 0:00:06.120 --> 0:00:18.600 Novel. One Night in two thousand and eleven, a guy 0:00:18.680 --> 0:00:21.840 named Dan was walking through a parking lot downtown Seattle 0:00:22.040 --> 0:00:24.480 when he came upon a menacing looking dude trying to 0:00:24.520 --> 0:00:27.440 break into a car. Dan pulled out his phone to call, 0:00:29.480 --> 0:00:33.519 but before he could reach the police, something totally insane happened. 0:00:38.200 --> 0:00:41.760 From the right. This guy comes dashing in wearing this 0:00:41.960 --> 0:00:47.080 skin tight rubber, black and golden suit and starts chasing 0:00:47.159 --> 0:00:58.560 him away. Dan isn't the only one to have a 0:00:58.640 --> 0:01:02.240 chance encounter like this. Around two thousand and nine, the 0:01:02.320 --> 0:01:06.279 rumors started to spread stories of a masked vigilante jumping 0:01:06.319 --> 0:01:08.880 out of the shadows to help the citizens of Seattle. 0:01:09.920 --> 0:01:13.160 People kept seeing this masked man patrolling the streets at night. 0:01:13.680 --> 0:01:16.520 One person said he stopped a mugging. Someone else caught 0:01:16.520 --> 0:01:19.880 a glimpse of him sprinting through the backstreets downtown. Rumor 0:01:19.920 --> 0:01:24.399 had it he even stopped a terrorist attack. The accounts 0:01:24.440 --> 0:01:27.559 all said he was tall and pretty ripped. He wore 0:01:27.560 --> 0:01:30.440 a hooded rubber mask that covered his eyes like the 0:01:30.480 --> 0:01:34.280 batman cowl. He had black gloves and a black chest 0:01:34.319 --> 0:01:37.680 plate molded into a six pack with a gold chevron 0:01:37.720 --> 0:01:40.880 across the chest and an American flag on his bicond. 0:01:42.200 --> 0:01:44.920 When Dan tried to tell his friends about what happened 0:01:45.000 --> 0:01:48.360 the night he witnessed the attempted car breaking, they were skeptical. 0:01:49.360 --> 0:01:52.840 People are saying, no way, dude, no way. They're like, oh, 0:01:52.880 --> 0:01:56.440 you were probably drunk. But Dan wasn't drunk. Well, maybe 0:01:56.440 --> 0:02:00.240 he was, but what he saw was real. The rooms 0:02:00.440 --> 0:02:05.320 were true. There was a dark knight out there patrolling 0:02:05.320 --> 0:02:08.600 the streets of Seattle, and he called himself Phoenix Jones. 0:02:10.520 --> 0:02:14.200 An ordinary citizen becomes a dark knight known as Phoenix Jones, 0:02:14.440 --> 0:02:18.919 self appointed crusader, Phoenix Jones, Phoenix Jones, Phoenix Jones, Phoenix Jones, 0:02:19.240 --> 0:02:24.079 Phoenix Jones. A real life superhero. Superman can fly, Batman 0:02:24.200 --> 0:02:27.400 has his gadgets, Spider Man has his webs and super 0:02:27.480 --> 0:02:32.520 sharp senses, and then there's Phoenix Jones. Maybe not quite Superman, 0:02:32.960 --> 0:02:41.640 but an extraordinary one. Real life superheroes are people who, 0:02:41.919 --> 0:02:46.119 inspired by comic book characters, create their own superhero persona, 0:02:46.400 --> 0:02:49.760 make their own costume, sometimes weapons, and then head out 0:02:49.800 --> 0:02:52.640 into the streets to fight crime in the real world. 0:02:53.400 --> 0:02:56.640 And Phoenix Jones at his peak, was the most famous 0:02:56.680 --> 0:03:00.079 of all the real life superheroes. His goal was to 0:03:00.120 --> 0:03:04.880 strike fear into the hearts of Seattle's criminals, but in 0:03:06.160 --> 0:03:09.400 it was Phoenix who was led away in handcuffs, caught 0:03:09.480 --> 0:03:18.120 with four grams of suspected cocaine. So how did Seattle's 0:03:18.160 --> 0:03:23.520 greatest independent crime fighter end up getting busted on drug charges? Well, 0:03:23.560 --> 0:03:27.600 it depends on who you believe. Phoenix says he's the 0:03:27.680 --> 0:03:31.200 victim of a corrupt and ineffective police department that snagged 0:03:31.280 --> 0:03:35.360 him in a classic case of entrapman and the police, 0:03:35.640 --> 0:03:38.720 while they have their own version of the story. So 0:03:38.760 --> 0:03:42.160 what exactly is real and the world of real life superheroes. 0:03:43.960 --> 0:03:47.680 Is Phoenix Jones a shining example of a brave citizen 0:03:47.840 --> 0:03:52.360 fighting for justice? Or is he a misguided vigilante who 0:03:52.440 --> 0:03:57.680 used a superhero persona to disguise his own criminal activity. 0:03:59.280 --> 0:04:01.320 I'm going to take inside the world of real life 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:05.400 superheroes as I try to answer these questions. Along the way, 0:04:05.720 --> 0:04:10.280 there will be danger and heartbreak, friendship and betrayal, and 0:04:10.320 --> 0:04:12.760 of course all the elements you would find in any 0:04:12.800 --> 0:04:17.159 story about criminals, drugs and violence, and a good chase 0:04:17.200 --> 0:04:21.040 scene here and there. And maybe, if you're like me, 0:04:21.400 --> 0:04:23.400 you'll come out on the other side of this adventure, 0:04:23.640 --> 0:04:26.680 with a deeper understanding of these people who are often 0:04:26.720 --> 0:04:30.200 treated as a joke. Going into this story, I never 0:04:30.200 --> 0:04:33.080 thought I would identify with the type of person who 0:04:33.080 --> 0:04:36.039 puts on a homemade suit and claims to be a superhero. 0:04:36.920 --> 0:04:40.200 It's hard to take someone like that seriously. It's much 0:04:40.200 --> 0:04:44.719 easier to dismiss them as crazy or naive. But now 0:04:44.760 --> 0:04:46.600 that I've gotten to know some of the men and 0:04:46.640 --> 0:04:50.880 women who call themselves real life superheroes, I'm starting to 0:04:50.920 --> 0:04:54.239 think maybe it's the other way around. Maybe we should 0:04:54.320 --> 0:05:00.440 question our beliefs about who the real heroes are. I'm 0:05:00.560 --> 0:05:03.080 David Weinberg and from the team's at Novel and I 0:05:03.160 --> 0:05:08.039 heart Radio. This is the Superhero Complex, Episode one out 0:05:08.080 --> 0:05:27.120 of the Shadows. I can only imagine what it must 0:05:27.160 --> 0:05:29.719 have been like for those lucky few people in the 0:05:29.760 --> 0:05:33.080 midst of distress who were suddenly saved by a real 0:05:33.120 --> 0:05:38.760 life superhero. And just like in the movies, the police 0:05:39.040 --> 0:05:42.640 and the citizens of Seattle wanted to know who is 0:05:42.720 --> 0:05:46.360 this masked crusader chasing down bad guys in the streets. 0:05:47.040 --> 0:05:49.159 Phoenix broke up a brawl and one of the guys 0:05:49.240 --> 0:05:52.840 churned on him. Phoenix called, put the guy in a hold, 0:05:52.960 --> 0:05:56.000 and waited for police to arrive. What the police saw 0:05:56.120 --> 0:05:58.560 when they arrived was a guy who looked a lot 0:05:58.600 --> 0:06:02.000 like Batman. Phoenix clearly put a lot of work into 0:06:02.000 --> 0:06:04.680 his costume. By the way, he hates it when you 0:06:04.720 --> 0:06:08.120 call his superhero get up a costume. I find it offensive, 0:06:08.600 --> 0:06:13.200 like ridiculous. Phoenix prefers the term super suit. It's bulletproof, 0:06:13.279 --> 0:06:14.760 it can't be lit on fire. It has a heart 0:06:14.760 --> 0:06:17.600 sensor monitor in it. It's connected to fucking WiFi. If 0:06:17.600 --> 0:06:20.520 someone calls Phoenix, it connects to a headset in his helmet. 0:06:20.720 --> 0:06:22.680 My suit does its job. It's made of de three 0:06:22.680 --> 0:06:25.760 oh non Anttonian fluid. That means it's soft to touch, 0:06:25.960 --> 0:06:28.120 but it gets harder when you hit it with force. 0:06:28.640 --> 0:06:31.120 My suit is so awesome that the government of Seattle 0:06:31.200 --> 0:06:33.000 said I couldn't wear it anymore because it gave me 0:06:33.040 --> 0:06:35.600 too much protection if they decided they wanted to get me. 0:06:36.240 --> 0:06:41.039 Before long, Phoenix became a local celebrity. Several nights a 0:06:41.040 --> 0:06:44.160 week he carried out patrols of downtown Seattle, where he'd 0:06:44.160 --> 0:06:47.600 searched for criminals to apprehend or those in need, and 0:06:47.640 --> 0:06:51.480 people came up to him and asked for photos. Reporters 0:06:51.560 --> 0:06:53.880 flew in from all over the world to interview him. 0:06:54.040 --> 0:06:57.200 Writer and broadcaster John Ronson even did a profile of 0:06:57.240 --> 0:07:01.159 him for g Q. Phoenix cent go to Bowtown to 0:07:01.240 --> 0:07:04.760 break up a kind of crack deals. There was about 0:07:04.839 --> 0:07:08.040 five or six different groups of crack dealis on different 0:07:08.160 --> 0:07:12.560 street corners, and they came back and walked towards us, 0:07:13.240 --> 0:07:17.920 and Phoenix said, are we standing? Are we leaving? They 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:22.360 all said was standing. It helped that Phoenix had something 0:07:22.440 --> 0:07:25.440 the other superheroes and the comic books didn't. His own 0:07:25.480 --> 0:07:30.000 media strategy. He filmed his exploits and posted the videos online. 0:07:30.360 --> 0:07:33.720 He even added his own commentary, All douchebags depicted in 0:07:33.720 --> 0:07:36.160 these videos are innocent until proven guilty in a court 0:07:36.200 --> 0:07:40.280 of law. One thing's for sure, it's fun as hell 0:07:40.520 --> 0:07:44.200 to watch videos of Phoenix taking down bad guys. One 0:07:44.240 --> 0:07:47.760 of my favorites is a video titled Phoenix Jones versus 0:07:47.800 --> 0:07:52.040 Helicopter Dick, which is a surprisingly accurate description of what 0:07:52.160 --> 0:07:56.280 went down that night. Phoenix rolls up to a bar 0:07:56.440 --> 0:07:59.480 where something bad is clearly going down. According to a 0:07:59.560 --> 0:08:02.080 caption in the video, a guy has exposed himself to 0:08:02.120 --> 0:08:04.680 some women at the bar, and then attacked a bouncer, 0:08:05.000 --> 0:08:08.240 and Phoenix is talking to the bouncer While they're chatting, 0:08:08.480 --> 0:08:11.880 the suspect appears, pulls his dick out again and starts 0:08:11.920 --> 0:08:18.040 twirling it while yelling Helicopter Dick. Phoenix rushes over and 0:08:18.080 --> 0:08:20.600 grabs the guy by the ear like an angry father 0:08:20.760 --> 0:08:24.520 disciplining his kid, and drags him down the sidewalk until 0:08:24.560 --> 0:08:28.120 someone steps in and pulls them apart, but Helicopter Dick, 0:08:28.200 --> 0:08:32.600 who's clearly drunk, lunges at Phoenix. Phoenix takes a step 0:08:32.600 --> 0:08:35.520 back and says to the guy, if you do that again, 0:08:35.760 --> 0:08:40.280 I will pepper spray. Eventually, the police come and cuff 0:08:40.360 --> 0:08:42.600 Propeller Phenis and load him into the back of a 0:08:42.600 --> 0:08:45.360 squad car, while Phoenix has a quick chat with one 0:08:45.360 --> 0:08:47.600 of the officers, telling him that he has the whole 0:08:47.600 --> 0:08:49.520 thing on video and can hand it over to them 0:08:49.559 --> 0:08:53.800 for evidence. Phoenix says, when you start showing your drunk 0:08:53.840 --> 0:08:56.240 two girls, that's a different kind of sick and you 0:08:56.360 --> 0:08:59.160 end up in a police car. He signs off with 0:08:59.240 --> 0:09:02.040 his signature raised have a good night and I'll see 0:09:02.040 --> 0:09:08.160 you in the streets. Not all the videos that Phoenix 0:09:08.200 --> 0:09:11.960 posts are about crime fighting. Sometimes he makes videos hyping 0:09:12.040 --> 0:09:14.520 himself up. You want to blaze now, man, I'm already 0:09:14.520 --> 0:09:19.320 blazing blaze an attractive son. Wow, got my gold spiny 0:09:19.320 --> 0:09:23.559 glue boots on? How could you beat that? Wasna? Yeah? Man, seriously, 0:09:23.559 --> 0:09:26.280 I make Elton John looks straight right now. That's the 0:09:26.400 --> 0:09:29.360 sub he gets vulnerable. I wanted to be a superhero 0:09:29.400 --> 0:09:32.960 my whole life. The first year fighting crime, I was arrested. 0:09:33.600 --> 0:09:37.200 I've been shot, I've been stabbed. So many bad things 0:09:37.200 --> 0:09:41.480 happened to me for something that I believed in. And 0:09:41.520 --> 0:09:44.240 this is real as it gets. He buys ice cream 0:09:44.320 --> 0:09:46.760 for kids. The ice cream Shucks showed up in my neighborhood, 0:09:46.800 --> 0:09:48.920 so I bought all the kids ice cream because I'm 0:09:49.040 --> 0:09:51.920 rich now so I can do crazy things. And even 0:09:51.960 --> 0:09:55.640 if he is the self proclaimed greatest living superhero and 0:09:55.640 --> 0:09:58.360 a model of perfection, he still likes to sing in 0:09:58.400 --> 0:10:10.840 the car like us Mortal Superman, god Man. I'm only one, 0:10:11.679 --> 0:10:14.480 and it seems that being a superhero comes with perks. 0:10:14.920 --> 0:10:18.640 He's landed several sponsorship deals with local health and fitness brands. 0:10:18.920 --> 0:10:23.120 After a hard workout, it's pretty much only long thing 0:10:23.400 --> 0:10:26.840 that your boy needs and thank god they gave me 0:10:26.880 --> 0:10:30.760 the Secret Souls epic smoothie Baby. He even got invited 0:10:30.760 --> 0:10:33.040 on a press tour to England to promote a new 0:10:33.080 --> 0:10:37.760 model of cell phone. Phoenix became a sensation. He seemed 0:10:37.800 --> 0:10:40.840 to tap into people's mistrust of the institutions that are 0:10:40.840 --> 0:10:44.360 supposed to keep us safe. But long before his drug charges, 0:10:44.640 --> 0:10:49.560 Phoenix Jones was not popular with Seattle's law enforcement. In 0:10:49.640 --> 0:10:52.680 one video, Phoenix comes across a bartender on the street 0:10:52.840 --> 0:10:55.880 who says a guy assaulted him. Phoenix sees the suspect 0:10:55.960 --> 0:11:01.719 in a bloody shirt outside the bark. Don't give me 0:11:01.760 --> 0:11:04.240 a nine one one call police, thank you, and Chase ensues. 0:11:07.920 --> 0:11:10.720 The suspect hides in the back of a truck and 0:11:10.760 --> 0:11:13.760 Phoenix and his sidekick pretend that they don't know where 0:11:13.760 --> 0:11:17.120 he is while they call the police. But when the 0:11:17.120 --> 0:11:19.640 police arrive on the scene, they see more piste off 0:11:19.640 --> 0:11:25.000 at Phoenix than the alleged criminal. Um gonna talk to me, 0:11:26.400 --> 0:11:29.480 Phoenix tells the police, Yes, video, that would be useful evidence, 0:11:29.559 --> 0:11:31.040 but we have to give you a statement in our video, 0:11:31.120 --> 0:11:34.559 and they don't seem interested. Well, could I could? I 0:11:34.640 --> 0:11:36.720 could have an Internet number, though, please, because I'd like 0:11:36.800 --> 0:11:44.720 to file all my stuff. No, it's gonna work. The 0:11:44.840 --> 0:11:49.880 video stops. Text appears on the screen, which criticizes the 0:11:49.920 --> 0:11:53.760 Seattle Police for their incompetence and says that Phoenix is 0:11:53.760 --> 0:11:57.720 going to file a formal complaint. It ends, quote, it 0:11:57.840 --> 0:12:00.760 is the job of the police to arrest and investigates 0:12:00.760 --> 0:12:05.680 suspected criminals. Your feelings about my protective outfit and your 0:12:05.760 --> 0:12:11.240 politics should not impair your legal obligation to the people. Sincerely, 0:12:11.520 --> 0:12:18.840 Phoenix Jones. This scenario plays out time and time again 0:12:18.920 --> 0:12:22.880 on Phoenix's YouTube channel. Whenever he encounters a criminal, he 0:12:23.000 --> 0:12:26.760 detains them, calls one, and waits for the police to 0:12:26.840 --> 0:12:30.079 arrive on the scene, the same police that he says 0:12:30.400 --> 0:12:32.560 are about to get him. I've been arrested a hundred 0:12:32.640 --> 0:12:35.720 eighteen times. I've only had four charges ever stick, and 0:12:35.840 --> 0:12:37.600 none of the charges of the Phoenix Jones have ever 0:12:37.600 --> 0:12:40.320 stuck because I'm flawless at that job. The police have 0:12:40.440 --> 0:12:43.840 repeatedly told Phoenix to leave the crime fighting to them. 0:12:44.000 --> 0:12:46.520 Unless you are the victim of a crime, you are 0:12:46.600 --> 0:12:51.760 not allowed to corner somebody holds somebody. You cannot do 0:12:51.800 --> 0:12:55.280 that because then it becomes a crime where you are 0:12:55.320 --> 0:12:59.760 the suspect. And they have also taken to the media 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:03.560 to discourage copycat superheroes. Well, they say it's not illegal 0:13:03.600 --> 0:13:05.880 to dress up and calls him and patrol, but they're 0:13:05.920 --> 0:13:11.000 asking the superheroes to just call nine. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the 0:13:11.080 --> 0:13:15.199 dislike between the police and Phoenix is mutual. The police 0:13:15.200 --> 0:13:17.200 are just a gang man. I mean, I hate to 0:13:17.200 --> 0:13:18.920 be like that, but they're a gang. And then people 0:13:18.920 --> 0:13:20.120 are gonna get mad at me for this, but that's 0:13:20.120 --> 0:13:24.280 because you're stupid. As Phoenix got more famous, the tension 0:13:24.360 --> 0:13:28.200 between him and the police escalated. When it finally boiled over, 0:13:28.679 --> 0:13:31.320 it's spilled out of the superhero world and into his 0:13:31.360 --> 0:13:37.040 civilian life with disastrous consequences. But we'll get to all 0:13:37.080 --> 0:13:42.160 that later. First we've got to meet Phoenix's superhero ancestors. 0:13:43.600 --> 0:13:57.160 That's coming up. Phoenix Jones was not the first person 0:13:57.360 --> 0:14:00.760 to dawn a mask an attempt to become a real superhero, 0:14:01.440 --> 0:14:03.680 but it's hard to know for sure who the first 0:14:03.960 --> 0:14:07.319 the original real life superhero was. Some say it was 0:14:07.400 --> 0:14:13.800 Master Legend, and that's a lesson for all those people 0:14:13.840 --> 0:14:16.760 who like to abuse little kids. In the nineties, he 0:14:16.840 --> 0:14:19.400 was a fixture on the streets of New Orleans, handing 0:14:19.400 --> 0:14:22.200 out water to the homeless in a cape and stormtrooper 0:14:22.320 --> 0:14:24.840 vest with long hair sticking out from under an old 0:14:24.960 --> 0:14:28.000 army helmet. And he's still at it today in Florida, 0:14:28.600 --> 0:14:32.400 though his methods are questionable. Here he is shooting eggs 0:14:32.440 --> 0:14:34.760 out of a cannon he made out of PBC pipe 0:14:34.880 --> 0:14:38.080 and spray painted silver. Master Legend hard boil the eggs. 0:14:38.080 --> 0:14:45.200 There there it is the yep splattered. He's one of 0:14:45.240 --> 0:14:49.200 the only real life superheroes who claims to have supernatural powers, 0:14:49.920 --> 0:14:53.880 super strength, speed, and the ability to see the future. 0:14:54.800 --> 0:14:57.360 There's even a TV show about his life, The Legend 0:14:57.440 --> 0:15:03.760 of Master Legend. Who are you? I'm Master Legend. I'm 0:15:03.760 --> 0:15:14.080 a real life superhero registered in two counties. I love 0:15:14.160 --> 0:15:17.480 Master Legend, but the idea that he fights crime was 0:15:17.640 --> 0:15:21.080 beer gut and goofy outfit does seem a bit preposterous, 0:15:21.520 --> 0:15:24.040 more like a piece of performance art than an effective 0:15:24.080 --> 0:15:28.160 crime fighter. And before Master Legend was Master Legend, there 0:15:28.200 --> 0:15:37.320 was Willie Perry, a k a. The Birmingham Batman. Willie 0:15:37.400 --> 0:15:41.960 drove around Birmingham, Alabama, and a souped up nine thunderbird 0:15:42.200 --> 0:15:45.600 with a Batman license plate and rescue ship painted on 0:15:45.640 --> 0:15:50.080 the hood. Mostly he focused on helping stranded motorists car 0:15:50.200 --> 0:15:53.240 he'll flitch out, I didn't. He was fair and I 0:15:53.360 --> 0:15:55.960 was stranded. I was only how me and my kids 0:15:56.400 --> 0:16:00.160 who won't stopped to him, And along came It's strange 0:16:00.800 --> 0:16:07.040 m And in nineteen sixty Chicago, a school teacher called 0:16:07.120 --> 0:16:12.360 Jim Phillips called himself the Fox. It said that he 0:16:12.400 --> 0:16:15.080 took his name from the Fox River, which runs through 0:16:15.120 --> 0:16:20.760 northern Illinois west of Chicago. He defended his community against 0:16:20.840 --> 0:16:24.360 the heartless corporations that were dumping toxic waste into rivers. 0:16:25.000 --> 0:16:27.880 His calling card was a note signed with a fox 0:16:27.960 --> 0:16:31.320 face and the place of the letter Oh. Legend has 0:16:31.400 --> 0:16:33.680 it he'd canoe down the river to put caps on 0:16:33.800 --> 0:16:38.000 drainage pipes that were releasing pollutants into the water. Once 0:16:38.160 --> 0:16:41.479 he even dumped fifty pounds of sewage from Lake Michigan 0:16:41.560 --> 0:16:45.040 into the office of the company responsible for its sort 0:16:45.040 --> 0:16:49.720 of one man guerrilla force against pollution. He has become 0:16:49.800 --> 0:16:54.480 a local hero sorts. And then there are groups like 0:16:54.520 --> 0:16:58.480 the Guardian Angels, a nonprofit started in New York City 0:16:58.560 --> 0:17:02.440 in nineteen seventy nine by Curtis Sliwa, who recently ran 0:17:02.560 --> 0:17:05.200 from mayor of New York City. We are going to 0:17:05.280 --> 0:17:08.480 do what we can in a nonviolent way, without having 0:17:08.520 --> 0:17:12.159 any weapons available to us whatsoever, to curb this violent 0:17:12.160 --> 0:17:15.560 crime that is on a continuous round page. The Guardian 0:17:15.560 --> 0:17:18.520 Angels started by patrolling the subway in New York, a 0:17:18.560 --> 0:17:21.480 bit like Phoenix Jones on the streets of Seattle, and 0:17:21.520 --> 0:17:25.359 their numbers grew. Today there are thousands of members spread 0:17:25.359 --> 0:17:29.000 out in chapters around the country. Also like Phoenix, the 0:17:29.040 --> 0:17:32.879 Guardian Angels prided themselves on their ability to stop crime 0:17:33.080 --> 0:17:37.119 without carrying guns, but there are lots of examples of 0:17:37.160 --> 0:17:41.240 groups who did arm themselves, like the Minutemen, for example. 0:17:41.880 --> 0:17:44.480 A few different groups using that name have been around 0:17:44.560 --> 0:17:48.040 since the early two thousands, and they execute armed border 0:17:48.080 --> 0:17:52.280 patrols looking for undocumented immigrants. They named themselves after the 0:17:52.280 --> 0:17:56.000 civilian militia groups who fought during the American Revolutionary War. 0:17:57.160 --> 0:18:01.080 Robert Crook's sixty seven year old retire reef less Vegas 0:18:01.080 --> 0:18:04.639 patrols the US Mexican border and treks what he calls 0:18:04.720 --> 0:18:08.160 invaders and enemies of the United States of America did 0:18:08.200 --> 0:18:10.320 not come in this way and if they do, I'll 0:18:10.320 --> 0:18:16.679 be your wait for watching. And long before any of 0:18:16.720 --> 0:18:22.320 these groups, there was the Bald Knaubers, this group that 0:18:22.359 --> 0:18:30.440 wore masks and executed vigilante justice in the wild West. T. 0:18:30.640 --> 0:18:32.920 Crulos is the author of the book Heroes in the 0:18:33.080 --> 0:18:36.680 Night Inside the real life superhero Movement. I put a 0:18:37.000 --> 0:18:42.200 research into any sort of vigilante movement that I thought 0:18:43.160 --> 0:18:48.320 might be sort of a president for the real life superheroes. 0:18:48.800 --> 0:18:54.720 The Bald Nabbers dispensed vigilante justice in Missouri from nine. 0:18:55.440 --> 0:18:57.640 They took their name from a mountaintop where they met. 0:18:58.280 --> 0:19:02.320 Their leader was a bar owner named Nathaniel and Kenny. 0:19:02.400 --> 0:19:06.159 They wore soup coats backwards and donned homemade masks with 0:19:06.280 --> 0:19:09.240 devil horns protruding from the top and red and white 0:19:09.280 --> 0:19:13.000 stitching around their eyes and mouth. It must have been 0:19:13.280 --> 0:19:16.439 a terrifying sight to see them tearing across the plains 0:19:16.440 --> 0:19:19.560 on horseback with their whips in hand, looking to kill 0:19:19.800 --> 0:19:24.880 suspected horse thieves. Each member of the group lived by 0:19:24.920 --> 0:19:28.720 this oath. Our purpose is to punish the evil doer 0:19:28.760 --> 0:19:33.520 among us. The courts have failed us, we administer punishment 0:19:33.560 --> 0:19:36.520 to those the arm of the law cannot or will 0:19:36.560 --> 0:19:40.080 not reach in doing this, we do not break the 0:19:40.160 --> 0:19:45.520 law because we have no evil intent. So they started 0:19:45.520 --> 0:19:49.240 out by, you know, hanging people that were cattle thieves 0:19:49.320 --> 0:19:52.880 or stuff like that. But as their rain sort of 0:19:53.000 --> 0:19:55.800 went on, they became a little bit more petty, like 0:19:55.880 --> 0:19:59.200 you could be visited by the Bald Knobbers and whipped 0:19:59.320 --> 0:20:03.440 if you were accused of being ordinary. And it wasn't 0:20:03.480 --> 0:20:06.760 just people with an irritable disposition that the Knobbers went after. 0:20:07.560 --> 0:20:10.320 Back then, many of the poorer couples in the community 0:20:10.359 --> 0:20:13.240 couldn't afford to pay marriage license fees, so they were 0:20:13.280 --> 0:20:16.159 technically not married, but lived together as though they were. 0:20:17.160 --> 0:20:21.120 The bald Knobbers believed these unwed couples were living in sin, 0:20:21.760 --> 0:20:24.760 and so they went around beating them. One day, some 0:20:24.840 --> 0:20:26.880 of the Knobbers set out to kill a man who 0:20:26.920 --> 0:20:29.879 criticized them. They ended up killing two of his family 0:20:29.880 --> 0:20:33.720 members in a shootout, and they were jailed. Their leader 0:20:33.880 --> 0:20:36.800 was also killed, and, as Crulos writes in his book, 0:20:37.760 --> 0:20:41.920 the condemned Knobbers were hung on a poorly constructed gallows 0:20:41.960 --> 0:20:48.560 in a scene described as gruesome. The knobbers feet dragged 0:20:48.560 --> 0:20:52.520 on the ground as they writhed in pain. The gallows 0:20:52.600 --> 0:20:56.480 were quickly fixed and the knobbers were hung again. It's 0:20:56.560 --> 0:21:00.359 kind of an example of vigilanteism that spun out control. 0:21:04.680 --> 0:21:07.480 One of the main arguments I've heard people make against 0:21:07.520 --> 0:21:10.399 the real life superhero movement is that they are nothing 0:21:10.440 --> 0:21:15.320 more than modern day bald knobbers, vigilantes, people who take 0:21:15.359 --> 0:21:18.960 the law into their own hands. But Phoenix and the 0:21:18.960 --> 0:21:23.080 other real life superheroes I've met don't consider themselves vigilantes 0:21:23.640 --> 0:21:27.879 because when they apprehend a criminal, they immediately call and 0:21:28.000 --> 0:21:29.840 hand them over to the police so they can be 0:21:29.880 --> 0:21:35.280 prosecuted within the legal system. In fact, Phoenix argues that 0:21:35.400 --> 0:21:38.919 it's the police, not superheroes like him, that act like 0:21:38.960 --> 0:21:42.160 they're above the law. It's one of the reasons he's 0:21:42.200 --> 0:21:44.440 not a fan of the cops. The job for the 0:21:44.440 --> 0:21:46.639 police union is to make sure the police officers do 0:21:46.720 --> 0:21:50.520 not get in trouble, right, they have the inner policing system. 0:21:50.560 --> 0:21:53.520 All the inner policing system is run by police. There's 0:21:53.600 --> 0:21:57.159 no outside accountability in the police department at all. There 0:21:57.200 --> 0:22:00.760 are lots of examples throughout American history where the police 0:22:01.000 --> 0:22:04.320 have often been protected from punishment by the very system 0:22:04.359 --> 0:22:08.320 that is supposed to keep them in check. So where 0:22:08.359 --> 0:22:13.040 does that leave Phoenix Jones. Well, it's complicated. He relies 0:22:13.040 --> 0:22:15.879 on the police to complete the work he started, but 0:22:15.960 --> 0:22:19.960 he despises the way they do their job. Phoenix isn't 0:22:19.960 --> 0:22:23.000 alone in his standoff with the cops though, After all, 0:22:23.359 --> 0:22:40.919 what's a superhero without sidekicks? That's coming up, you know how. 0:22:41.000 --> 0:22:44.400 In the Batman series, Commissioner Gordon shined a giant bat 0:22:44.480 --> 0:22:47.520 chick spotlight into the sky whenever a hero was needed 0:22:47.520 --> 0:22:55.280 to save Gotham City the bat signal. Well, Phoenix Jones 0:22:55.440 --> 0:22:58.040 never had one of those, but his rise to fame 0:22:58.400 --> 0:23:01.680 turned him into the human uivalent of that call to action. 0:23:02.480 --> 0:23:05.639 Because as news stories about Phoenix spread around the world 0:23:06.080 --> 0:23:08.760 of him stopping car thieves and breaking up street fights, 0:23:09.160 --> 0:23:12.480 regular citizens were inspired to join him in his fight 0:23:12.600 --> 0:23:16.520 against evildoers, and before long, Phoenix had a crew of 0:23:16.560 --> 0:23:22.200 masked Avengers who fought crime by his side. Together, this 0:23:22.280 --> 0:23:27.800 band of ragtag heroes, former soldiers, reformed criminals, aspiring activists, 0:23:27.880 --> 0:23:31.159 and medics all patrolled the streets of Seattle under the 0:23:31.240 --> 0:23:35.359 leadership of Phoenix, striking fear into the heart of Seattle's 0:23:35.400 --> 0:23:40.840 criminal underworld. They called themselves the rain City Superheroes, and 0:23:40.880 --> 0:23:45.560 the media ate it up. Brain City superhero crime fighting movement, 0:23:45.880 --> 0:23:51.320 life superhero live superheroes, real life superheroes, Digilanni crime stoppers 0:23:51.320 --> 0:23:54.600 in Seattle, the Patrol Seattle, looking for crime, prepared to 0:23:54.640 --> 0:24:00.280 fight it? Are they for real? To find find out 0:24:00.320 --> 0:24:02.840 more about Phoenix, I needed to speak to the one 0:24:02.880 --> 0:24:06.040 group of people who knew his crime fighting days better 0:24:06.040 --> 0:24:13.320 than anyone else. Shirt left. When you watch any video 0:24:13.520 --> 0:24:16.520 of the rain City Superheroes on Patrol, it's easy to 0:24:16.520 --> 0:24:19.400 see where they got so much media coverage. They are 0:24:19.440 --> 0:24:23.680 a spectacle. Phoenix wears his black and gold super suit 0:24:24.119 --> 0:24:26.119 and he does look like a superhero from a movie, 0:24:26.359 --> 0:24:28.680 but the rest of the crew looks a lot more. 0:24:29.240 --> 0:24:35.400 How can I put this without sounding mean ridiculous. There's 0:24:35.440 --> 0:24:38.520 Midnight Jack, who claims to be a former gang member 0:24:38.680 --> 0:24:42.320 with a new set of skills charity outreach, homeless hand out, 0:24:42.400 --> 0:24:46.919 animal rescue, and pedophile investigations. He's wearing regular street clothes, 0:24:47.119 --> 0:24:49.960 black cargo pants and a black and gray fleece and 0:24:50.000 --> 0:24:53.200 a black spiderman mask, basically the kind of kid would 0:24:53.200 --> 0:24:58.280 wear on Halloween. There's Ghost, a veteran who joined Phoenix's 0:24:58.320 --> 0:25:01.119 band of crime fighters after returning from a tour of 0:25:01.200 --> 0:25:03.960 duty in Iraq. I put on my white bandana for 0:25:03.960 --> 0:25:07.040 the first time and someone tried to stab someone else 0:25:07.040 --> 0:25:09.440 and I did a palm strike right in their diaphragm. 0:25:09.600 --> 0:25:11.960 They collapsed, and then I was ghost. He looks like 0:25:11.960 --> 0:25:14.480 a waiter who just got off work. He's wearing black 0:25:14.520 --> 0:25:17.600 slacks and a white button down collared shirt and a 0:25:17.640 --> 0:25:25.200 black ski mask. There's Phoenix's girlfriend, Purple Rain. She's wearing 0:25:25.200 --> 0:25:28.840 a cross between a leather jacket and purple spandex, with 0:25:28.920 --> 0:25:31.840 a black leather beret and a purple mask that looks 0:25:31.880 --> 0:25:35.159 like the one that's Scorpion from Mortal Kombat wears. I 0:25:35.200 --> 0:25:37.560 helped up from the sidelines, kind of behind the scenes, 0:25:37.600 --> 0:25:38.920 and then it was only a matter of time before 0:25:38.920 --> 0:25:41.760 I took on a mouth with my own. There's Evocatus, 0:25:42.240 --> 0:25:45.600 another war van. He's in black motorcycle leathers and a 0:25:45.640 --> 0:25:49.119 silver mask that covers his entire head. He looks like 0:25:49.160 --> 0:25:51.639 a cross between a medieval night and a member of 0:25:51.720 --> 0:25:54.760 daft punk. At least once a week, ups, are you 0:25:54.840 --> 0:25:59.239 a cop? And just like, why what cop do you 0:25:59.320 --> 0:26:02.800 know that? Looks like this but okay. And then there's 0:26:02.800 --> 0:26:08.600 Phoenix's best friend and right hand man. Uh, my name 0:26:08.680 --> 0:26:15.080 is El Caballero. About protection and safety from human beings. 0:26:15.600 --> 0:26:19.040 L Caballero looks like a cross between seventies era Hugh 0:26:19.080 --> 0:26:22.920 Hefner and a Mexican luchador. He wears a purple top 0:26:23.040 --> 0:26:26.800 that straddles the line between cape and vest. It has 0:26:26.800 --> 0:26:30.679 a purple fur collar and giant fur covered cuffs and 0:26:30.720 --> 0:26:33.760 a gold embroidered dragon on the back. And he's wearing 0:26:33.800 --> 0:26:37.359 black bell bottoms with a tactical belt similar to Batman's. 0:26:37.960 --> 0:26:40.119 And to top it all off, a red and purple 0:26:40.200 --> 0:26:43.720 sequined lucid or a mask with some sort of pyramid 0:26:43.720 --> 0:26:48.159 looking emblem that he's sewed onto the forehead. This is 0:26:48.200 --> 0:26:51.080 the camera guy. You make sure he does not get punched. 0:26:51.960 --> 0:26:54.680 It is very hard not to laugh out loud when 0:26:54.720 --> 0:26:58.520 you see them together. You should be lookout. The video 0:26:58.560 --> 0:27:01.679