WEBVTT - 3: We Can Be Heroes 0:00:06.240 --> 0:00:15.360 Novel It's late two thousand and nine, Ben Fodor strolls 0:00:15.400 --> 0:00:19.840 into a Seattle comic book store, The Dreaming Comics and Games. 0:00:23.120 --> 0:00:27.360 He enters a hidden back room behind a bookcase. When 0:00:27.360 --> 0:00:30.120 he emerges from his secret lair, he has no longer 0:00:30.160 --> 0:00:35.479 been Photor. As the comic book lovers of Seattle browsed 0:00:35.479 --> 0:00:40.159 the shelves stuffed with Nightwing and Batman comics, an actual 0:00:40.360 --> 0:00:45.479 costumed crime fighter glides past them and steps out of 0:00:45.520 --> 0:00:54.800 the shop. Phoenix Jones has a city to save. A 0:00:54.840 --> 0:00:58.240 Few months earlier, before he established his secret changing room, 0:00:58.240 --> 0:01:00.760 Phoenix was sitting in the same store or chatting to 0:01:00.760 --> 0:01:04.520 the owner, Errand about crime fighting. At that point, he 0:01:04.640 --> 0:01:07.760 decided that he wanted to continue fighting crime, but he 0:01:07.880 --> 0:01:11.600 realized that he needed a compelling outfit, one that would 0:01:11.600 --> 0:01:14.280 make him stand out, and it would take a lot 0:01:14.280 --> 0:01:19.080 of trial and error to get there. I had a 0:01:19.080 --> 0:01:21.520 pair of jeans, no shirt, and like a ski mask. 0:01:21.880 --> 0:01:24.800 Then there was a more ostentatious look. We went all 0:01:24.840 --> 0:01:30.039 spandex with the count chocolate hate. Clearly, this was not 0:01:30.080 --> 0:01:35.360 a permanent solution. When I first heard about real life superheroes, 0:01:35.720 --> 0:01:39.240 I assumed that they modeled their outfits of fictional superheroes 0:01:39.319 --> 0:01:42.000 because I thought it was cool, But there's actually a 0:01:42.040 --> 0:01:46.560 practical reason for wearing a flamboyant superhero outfit. It distinguishes 0:01:46.600 --> 0:01:49.440 you from criminals who might also be wearing a mask. 0:01:50.400 --> 0:01:52.400 If a cop gets called out to a crime and 0:01:52.400 --> 0:01:54.600 they see a guy in a ski mask, there's a 0:01:54.600 --> 0:01:57.520 pretty good chance they'll think this is the suspect. And 0:01:57.560 --> 0:01:59.880 as a superhero, that is something you want to have 0:02:00.000 --> 0:02:03.520 wit at all costs. So Ben needed a costume that 0:02:03.560 --> 0:02:06.440 would distinguish him from the criminals he wanted to take down. 0:02:07.080 --> 0:02:09.480 In some ways, I feel like what happened next was 0:02:09.520 --> 0:02:14.440 the moment when Ben Fodor really became a superhero. Up 0:02:14.520 --> 0:02:16.720 until this point, he was just a guy in spandex 0:02:16.720 --> 0:02:20.000 and a goofy hat trying to stop crime. But his 0:02:20.120 --> 0:02:23.480 next suit is when he fully embraced superhero image. We 0:02:23.600 --> 0:02:26.000 got this replica Batman suit off the internet and like 0:02:26.040 --> 0:02:28.079 grinded the nipples off because one of the Batman forever 0:02:28.720 --> 0:02:31.560 like grinded the nipples off and being a conversation. And 0:02:31.600 --> 0:02:32.760 then we went out there and I had that one 0:02:32.760 --> 0:02:34.560 for a while. I spray painted the gold V on it, 0:02:35.440 --> 0:02:38.400 and so the newly minted Phoenix Jones, with his freshly 0:02:38.400 --> 0:02:42.160 spray painted Nippolis batman Halloween costume, took to the streets 0:02:42.200 --> 0:02:45.799 of Seattle, and the comic book version of this story, 0:02:46.000 --> 0:02:51.880 Phoenix would instantly start kicking ass. But this was not 0:02:51.919 --> 0:02:56.119 a comic book, this was real life. The first six 0:02:56.160 --> 0:03:00.120 months was just then expose and stupid for starters. Not 0:03:00.200 --> 0:03:02.960 all of Phoenix's gadgets worked the way he hoped. I 0:03:03.000 --> 0:03:05.000 was chasing a guy and get broke into a car. 0:03:05.160 --> 0:03:06.800 I was like, oh, I'm coming after you. I pulled 0:03:06.800 --> 0:03:09.200 out this neck and I just bought and I pop 0:03:09.240 --> 0:03:11.200 it off. But I'm running like super warp speed right, 0:03:11.240 --> 0:03:14.200 and the neckgun catches wind and blows back and nets 0:03:14.240 --> 0:03:16.480 me and rolls up and I land in the side 0:03:16.480 --> 0:03:18.440 of like a little gutter ditch right on the side 0:03:18.480 --> 0:03:20.560 of the road has been raining, just like two inches 0:03:20.600 --> 0:03:22.560 of water in it, right, And I landed belly down, 0:03:23.000 --> 0:03:25.040 and I'm like, oh my god, I'm gonna drown. So 0:03:25.080 --> 0:03:27.640 I'm like rolling up, taking breasts and rolling up and 0:03:27.680 --> 0:03:31.080 taking breasts. At this point, Phoenix feels a pair of 0:03:31.160 --> 0:03:34.760 hands grabbing his back. He gets forcibly turned over and 0:03:34.800 --> 0:03:39.440 they're glaring down at him is the criminal he'd been chasing. Then, 0:03:39.560 --> 0:03:42.640 in a decidedly unheroic moment, lying in a ditch and 0:03:42.760 --> 0:03:47.320 ensnared in his own net, Phoenix gets mugged. He grabs 0:03:47.360 --> 0:03:51.480 my wallet, he punches me in the face. I just 0:03:51.560 --> 0:03:54.200 laid belly up in this freaking rain ditch and then 0:03:54.200 --> 0:03:56.320 filing the cop show and they're like, what's going on? 0:03:57.240 --> 0:03:58.800 So I explained the story doing They're like, oh, we 0:03:58.800 --> 0:04:02.760 have to take photos for such as lies. It turns 0:04:02.800 --> 0:04:05.960 out crime fighting is tougher than it looks. Everything you 0:04:06.000 --> 0:04:08.840 see in a crime fighting magazine. It's the pages between 0:04:08.880 --> 0:04:11.080 the panels. You have to learn to live in. You 0:04:11.160 --> 0:04:13.520 those little white bars to separate all the comic book panels. 0:04:13.560 --> 0:04:16.000 That's where the real crime fighting takes place. That's where 0:04:16.000 --> 0:04:20.159 all the superhero work really is. Phoenix explained that in 0:04:20.200 --> 0:04:22.880 the comic books, you'll often see a hero on top 0:04:22.920 --> 0:04:26.039 of a tall building chasing a bad guy. The hero 0:04:26.200 --> 0:04:29.000 might be shown swing on a rope, but what's not 0:04:29.080 --> 0:04:31.520 shown is when he's set up where the rope would go. 0:04:32.160 --> 0:04:35.360 That's the part the superhero stories leave out. But as 0:04:35.360 --> 0:04:38.800 Phoenix was figuring out the hard way, these little details 0:04:38.839 --> 0:04:44.960 are crucial. Only weeks into his crime fighting career, Phoenix 0:04:45.040 --> 0:04:48.680 Jones was a laughing stock, reliant on friendly members of 0:04:48.720 --> 0:04:52.080 the Seattle Police Department to fish him soaking wet out 0:04:52.120 --> 0:04:57.320 of the gutter. This would not stand. It was time 0:04:57.640 --> 0:05:03.320 to get serious. From the team's at novel and I 0:05:03.440 --> 0:05:08.640 heart Radio, This is the Superhero Complex, Episode three, We 0:05:08.720 --> 0:05:28.200 Can Be Heroes. Hearing Phoenix tell the story of his 0:05:28.240 --> 0:05:31.359 early crime fighting failures made him more endearing to me. 0:05:32.120 --> 0:05:34.240 It was nice to hear him deviate from his over 0:05:34.240 --> 0:05:38.080 the top proclamations about being the only real superhero and 0:05:38.120 --> 0:05:41.720 his claims that he has quote perfect at crime fighting. 0:05:42.160 --> 0:05:45.000 I get the sense that his arrogance and his insistence 0:05:45.200 --> 0:05:47.680 on being better than everyone around him has been the 0:05:47.720 --> 0:05:50.599 source of a lot of the interpersonal conflict in his 0:05:50.640 --> 0:05:55.160 superhero life. The night of the disastrous net incident was humiliating, 0:05:55.760 --> 0:05:57.839 but one thing that you'll never see a self respecting 0:05:57.880 --> 0:06:01.640 superhero do is quit. As soon as he'd waved goodbye 0:06:01.640 --> 0:06:04.080 to the police who had rescued him, he dusted off 0:06:04.120 --> 0:06:07.599 his dirty Nipolis batman outfit and got back to work. 0:06:08.160 --> 0:06:10.480 I stopped my first crime that same night. I hear 0:06:10.520 --> 0:06:12.480 this girl screaming, and back in the day there used 0:06:12.480 --> 0:06:14.400 to be a really big pickpocket and like grab iPhone 0:06:14.400 --> 0:06:16.680 and run scenario kind of deal. This guy's pulling on 0:06:16.720 --> 0:06:19.400 this girl's purse and he cuts the purse strap right. 0:06:19.800 --> 0:06:21.520 I see him and I come up behind him. And 0:06:21.560 --> 0:06:22.880 at that point in time, I was still a catch 0:06:22.880 --> 0:06:26.040 phrases too. I'm like, really deep in the stupid and 0:06:26.080 --> 0:06:31.000 I roll up and I was like, stop, what are 0:06:31.040 --> 0:06:32.800 you doing? You know, kind of like that. It's a 0:06:32.960 --> 0:06:35.440 terrible catchphrase, by the way, Hey I do what I can. 0:06:36.080 --> 0:06:37.680 You know, you think you have catch phrases until the 0:06:37.680 --> 0:06:39.640 moment happens, you know, I say stop. The guy just 0:06:39.680 --> 0:06:41.720 turns around. It just straight up stabs me right in 0:06:41.760 --> 0:06:43.800 the stomach. And I had no armor. I was in 0:06:43.880 --> 0:06:46.680 just bandex, and all of a sudden, I realized, wait 0:06:46.680 --> 0:06:50.920 a minute, this isn't a game. You're a professional martial artist, bro, 0:06:51.320 --> 0:06:53.760 you have skills. You are three or four time champion 0:06:53.800 --> 0:06:55.680 at this point, There's no reason that you should be 0:06:55.680 --> 0:06:58.640 out here yelling at ridiculous corny catchphrase. In Spandex and 0:06:58.720 --> 0:07:01.479 Phoenix is telling of the event. It's almost as if 0:07:01.640 --> 0:07:04.400 he'd forgotten until this very moment that he was a 0:07:04.440 --> 0:07:07.800 trained fighter. Immediately I switched to fight stands too, left 0:07:07.839 --> 0:07:10.680 jabs in a right hand set the dude down flamingo dim, 0:07:10.680 --> 0:07:12.160 which is duct taping your right hand to your left 0:07:12.200 --> 0:07:13.640 leg so you can hop around like a flamingo if 0:07:13.640 --> 0:07:15.640 you try to run. And I'm sitting next to him 0:07:15.720 --> 0:07:17.480 and the girls taken off. At this point, I have 0:07:17.480 --> 0:07:18.880 a purse, but I don't know where the girl is. 0:07:19.120 --> 0:07:21.480 And all a sudden, like the brightest light shine on me, 0:07:21.880 --> 0:07:23.320 and I'm like, what's going on? I look and the 0:07:23.320 --> 0:07:25.000 cop who had just got me out of the ditch 0:07:25.160 --> 0:07:28.160 like four hours earlier, He's like, no way. He's like, 0:07:28.320 --> 0:07:30.600 Phoenix Jones just stopped the crime. And I was like, 0:07:30.600 --> 0:07:32.720 I did. I stopped the crime and the girls in 0:07:32.760 --> 0:07:34.560 the back of the car and everything, you know, And 0:07:34.600 --> 0:07:37.200 the cop comes up goes, hey, if you got caught 0:07:37.200 --> 0:07:41.120 by this corneum, motherfucker, maybe crimes not for you. With 0:07:41.240 --> 0:07:43.480 his first bad guy in handcuffs, it was time for 0:07:43.480 --> 0:07:46.600 Phoenix to level up again. And how does an ambitious 0:07:46.600 --> 0:07:52.040 crime fighter stay one step ahead, you might be wondering, Well, trampolines. Obviously. 0:07:52.360 --> 0:07:55.200 I went around the city setting areas that I would 0:07:55.240 --> 0:07:59.120 have things to make me superhero up and it was 0:07:59.160 --> 0:08:03.440 a calculated, it planned out, orchestrated idea, and it really 0:08:03.480 --> 0:08:06.240 really blew some of the criminals minds, you know, like 0:08:06.320 --> 0:08:08.480 little things like hiding those little trampolines you can buy, 0:08:08.520 --> 0:08:11.560 you know, like hiding them behind dumpsters and where there's fences. 0:08:11.720 --> 0:08:14.000 Phoenix told me that he set up these sort of 0:08:14.000 --> 0:08:17.200 booby traps around town. Not traps in the sense that 0:08:17.240 --> 0:08:20.720 they ensnared criminals, but more like magic tricks that made 0:08:20.720 --> 0:08:24.560 it seem like he had superpowers. He would chase unsuspecting 0:08:24.600 --> 0:08:28.440 bad guys down Seattle's backstreets. They'd flee in horror, attempting 0:08:28.480 --> 0:08:32.559 to scramble over walls, only for Phoenix to sail majestically 0:08:32.559 --> 0:08:36.960 into their path, propelled by one of his strategically placed trampolines. 0:08:37.480 --> 0:08:40.760 I'm bouncing over the fence, flying and just land. The 0:08:40.840 --> 0:08:44.160 dude just stopped and just laid down. He's just like, 0:08:45.360 --> 0:08:48.600 it's almost like you are breaking the Magician's rule and 0:08:48.640 --> 0:08:52.120 like revealing the trick, you know. Yeah, but I think 0:08:52.160 --> 0:08:55.520 that's not the trick, right. The trick is timing, being 0:08:55.559 --> 0:08:58.200 effective and actually having the skill to do it. Because 0:08:58.240 --> 0:09:00.720 there's no trick to what I've done, Right, I jumped 0:09:00.760 --> 0:09:02.560 over that fence, landed in front of a guy with 0:09:02.600 --> 0:09:08.640 a knife, and you surrender. No trick. Well, the trick 0:09:08.679 --> 0:09:10.400 I think is that you had gone ahead of time 0:09:10.400 --> 0:09:13.360 and put a trampoline there, right, But it's not a trick. See. 0:09:13.360 --> 0:09:16.960 That's the difference between being a superhero and being something 0:09:17.000 --> 0:09:19.520 that's a joke. Right, is because I'm using it as 0:09:19.559 --> 0:09:21.679 a tool to get over that fence to cut off 0:09:21.920 --> 0:09:24.400 valuable time. I'm just doing it in the mode of 0:09:24.400 --> 0:09:28.120 a superhero. Other superheroes are doing things simply as a trick. 0:09:28.920 --> 0:09:31.920 I love the image of Phoenix leaping from a trampoline 0:09:32.040 --> 0:09:34.840 and soaring through the air to thwart criminals, but I 0:09:34.880 --> 0:09:38.120 have serious doubts about the validity of this story. It 0:09:38.240 --> 0:09:40.800 just seems crazy to me that you would know where 0:09:40.800 --> 0:09:42.960 to place the trampolines and that they would be in 0:09:43.000 --> 0:09:45.960 precisely the right spot during what I imagine is a 0:09:45.960 --> 0:09:50.000 pretty chaotic chase through darkened streets. But some of Phoenix's 0:09:50.040 --> 0:09:53.319 other tactics seem a lot more plausible. I used to 0:09:53.360 --> 0:09:55.880 lazer point people all the time. Hilarious at a laser 0:09:55.920 --> 0:09:57.280 pointer on the top of my thing, and I just 0:09:57.320 --> 0:10:01.480 go stop. People would just stop out. I was thinking, 0:10:01.480 --> 0:10:03.199 like buzz Lightyear, kind of like I'm setting my thing 0:10:03.200 --> 0:10:05.320 from stunned to kill. Yeah, And I would just laser 0:10:05.320 --> 0:10:07.320 point of him and I'd be like, don't make me 0:10:07.320 --> 0:10:10.400 a mobilize you and they would just stop, you know 0:10:10.400 --> 0:10:13.040 what I mean. So it's like a bluff, but really, 0:10:13.160 --> 0:10:14.880 if you came after me, you would get beat up, 0:10:15.400 --> 0:10:18.480 So it's not exactly bluff, right. The lasers for your protection. 0:10:18.679 --> 0:10:20.280 You get closer to me, you're gonna have a problem. 0:10:20.280 --> 0:10:22.120 The laser keeps you at a safe distance from your 0:10:22.120 --> 0:10:25.280 own bad choices. Wouldn't it be nice if we all 0:10:25.320 --> 0:10:27.880 had lasers that kept us at a safe distance from 0:10:27.880 --> 0:10:32.920 our bad choices. Anyways, in between zapping bad guys with 0:10:33.000 --> 0:10:35.280 his buzz light here laser and getting caught in his 0:10:35.360 --> 0:10:38.720 own net gun and bouncing over fences on miniature trampolines, 0:10:39.320 --> 0:10:41.880 Phoenix did manage to stop a few crimes here and there, 0:10:42.320 --> 0:10:46.000 and in the process he attracted some followers, folks who 0:10:46.000 --> 0:10:49.640 wanted to fight alongside him and, if needed, help him 0:10:49.679 --> 0:10:52.120 get out of whatever dumb mess he had made for himself. 0:10:53.200 --> 0:10:57.560 Even the world's greatest superhero needs a hand sometimes coming up, 0:10:58.000 --> 0:11:14.600 I meet Phoenix's original sidekicks. That's after the break on 0:11:14.679 --> 0:11:17.160 my first trip to Seattle. When Phoenix stood me up. 0:11:17.400 --> 0:11:19.640 I'd been messaging some of his crew from way back 0:11:19.640 --> 0:11:23.400 in the day. I'd found Midnight Jack on Facebook. He 0:11:23.600 --> 0:11:27.120 and another real life superhero, Ghost agreed to meet me 0:11:27.200 --> 0:11:29.800 at the north Gate Movie Theater and the outskirts of 0:11:29.800 --> 0:11:33.559 Seattle's city limits. The theater was in an outdoor shopping 0:11:33.559 --> 0:11:36.439 center with a few cafes and the Subway sandwich shop. 0:11:36.880 --> 0:11:39.680 It was a sunny, clear day in August. As I 0:11:39.679 --> 0:11:42.440 stood next to an outdoor fire pit, I noticed that 0:11:42.559 --> 0:11:46.320 ash was falling from the sky. I looked around and 0:11:46.360 --> 0:11:49.080 saw the alarm on the faces of other people around me. 0:11:49.400 --> 0:11:52.680 It felt apocalyptic, not unlike a scene out of a 0:11:52.679 --> 0:11:55.800 superhero movie where everyone is confused at the falling ash. 0:11:56.200 --> 0:11:58.920 Then we all look up to see a giant explosion 0:11:58.960 --> 0:12:04.000 in the sky m as two masked superheroes battle Royale 0:12:04.120 --> 0:12:12.600 and the heavens above our mortal world. But it turned 0:12:12.600 --> 0:12:14.800 out it was just a large structure fire about a 0:12:14.840 --> 0:12:18.040 mile away. Eventually I smelled the smoke and saw the 0:12:18.080 --> 0:12:22.200 plume rising in the distance, and then midnight Jack and 0:12:22.240 --> 0:12:26.600 Ghost walked up to me and introduced themselves. They were 0:12:26.600 --> 0:12:29.040 not what I expected. I guess I thought they would 0:12:29.080 --> 0:12:32.600 be more intimidating. This was during the pandemic, so they 0:12:32.640 --> 0:12:35.520 both had masks on. Ghosts looked like he'd just rolled 0:12:35.520 --> 0:12:39.240 out of bed, flip flops, jim shorts, and a T shirt. 0:12:39.240 --> 0:12:41.559 Midnight Jack at least looked like he'd come from the 0:12:41.640 --> 0:12:45.120 gym workout pants coffee in hand, though I remember being 0:12:45.160 --> 0:12:50.640 surprised how much skinnier he was than I expected. Hi, good, huh, 0:12:51.360 --> 0:12:55.280 I guess you're here to look for a ghost. Yes, Yet, 0:12:56.280 --> 0:12:58.560 we decided to walk down some steps away from the 0:12:58.559 --> 0:13:01.480 shopping center to a more looted area with a few 0:13:01.520 --> 0:13:04.960 tall apartment complexes built around a scenic bike path that 0:13:05.080 --> 0:13:08.520 ran alongside a little creek. On that bench over there, 0:13:09.000 --> 0:13:12.680 as grandparents pushed strollers and couples walked hand in hand 0:13:12.720 --> 0:13:16.320 along the path, midnight, Jack and Ghost regaled me with 0:13:16.400 --> 0:13:19.640 wild stories of their past lives. Home was dude almost 0:13:19.679 --> 0:13:22.160 ripped Cabby's dick off one time, which is funny. It's 0:13:22.200 --> 0:13:25.319 why you don't wear fucking men's leggings to street patrol 0:13:25.679 --> 0:13:29.520 duly noted Cavey I'd later learn was a fellow recruit 0:13:30.320 --> 0:13:34.000 before becoming one of Phoenix's comrades. Midnight Jack says he 0:13:34.080 --> 0:13:37.079 started out in life as a criminal with a superhero 0:13:37.160 --> 0:13:40.439 like ability getting away with it. I have no record. 0:13:41.000 --> 0:13:44.160 I had a very serious cocaine addiction, specifically a crack 0:13:44.200 --> 0:13:48.480 cocaine addiction. If you look back at my personal information, 0:13:48.480 --> 0:13:50.800 which I won't give you, I have something crazy like 0:13:50.840 --> 0:13:54.600 a hundred and seventy two police contacts in three years, 0:13:54.840 --> 0:13:58.679 no arrest, no convictions, which is not necessarily something you 0:13:58.679 --> 0:14:02.240 should bring bragging about it. I mean, that's just what 0:14:02.320 --> 0:14:06.040 it was. Now. Because Jack won't give me his real name, 0:14:06.240 --> 0:14:08.360 I'm not able to verify his claim that he has 0:14:08.440 --> 0:14:11.560 something like a hundred and seventy two police contacts without 0:14:11.600 --> 0:14:14.320 ever being arrested or charged with a crime. But I 0:14:14.320 --> 0:14:16.319 will say that I find it very hard to believe 0:14:16.600 --> 0:14:19.840 that someone suffering from a severe crack addiction who claims 0:14:19.880 --> 0:14:22.520 to have been a very active criminal and gang member 0:14:22.680 --> 0:14:25.560 could have that many encounters with the police and never 0:14:25.600 --> 0:14:29.320 get caught. Maybe it's a proof that real life superheroes 0:14:29.560 --> 0:14:34.480 have remarkable superhuman abilities, or maybe Midnight Jack is full 0:14:34.520 --> 0:14:37.760 of ship. Yeah, I'm curious about your transition, Like, what 0:14:37.800 --> 0:14:40.880 made you stop doing crime and start fighting crime. Well, 0:14:40.880 --> 0:14:44.440 when you stop doing cocaine, you stop needing to fund cocaine, 0:14:44.520 --> 0:14:47.120 and so the need to commit crimes slowly goes away. 0:14:47.520 --> 0:14:49.280 So at the end of that I left the crew 0:14:49.360 --> 0:14:51.760 I was with. I left the state for a year, 0:14:52.440 --> 0:14:54.400 and when I came back, I was sober and I 0:14:54.440 --> 0:14:57.120 was looking to fill my time in a positive way 0:14:57.400 --> 0:15:00.280 as opposed to being a criminal, bad guy and a buck. 0:15:00.480 --> 0:15:02.960 I was twenty two when I got back, and you know, 0:15:03.000 --> 0:15:05.640 I had done nothing really in my entire life other 0:15:05.760 --> 0:15:09.520 than crime. Jack saw news article about a guy stopping 0:15:09.520 --> 0:15:13.160 car breakings wearing what he calls a rubber gimp suit, 0:15:13.520 --> 0:15:16.560 but what we know now was actually a Nipolis batman costume. 0:15:16.960 --> 0:15:18.360 I was like, well, Ship, I got an little ski 0:15:18.400 --> 0:15:20.240 mask that I used to use in a baseball bat. 0:15:20.280 --> 0:15:22.480 I'll just start walking around here. So then for the 0:15:22.520 --> 0:15:24.640 next six months, I walked around with a bat and 0:15:24.680 --> 0:15:29.080 a ski mask and chased off car prowlers. And we 0:15:29.160 --> 0:15:32.200 call them baders. It's aggressive homeless drug addicts that we 0:15:32.240 --> 0:15:35.040 call invaders. And yeah, that was basically my first six 0:15:35.080 --> 0:15:37.880 months of career. Jack was in a park at night, 0:15:38.360 --> 0:15:41.640 ski mask on, bat in hand when a cop stopped 0:15:41.680 --> 0:15:45.600 him and asked for his name. I was like, uh, 0:15:45.640 --> 0:15:51.640 it's Jack. He glanced at his watch eleven fifty three pm. 0:15:51.640 --> 0:15:55.840 In a flash of inspiration, his superhero persona came to him, 0:15:56.160 --> 0:16:01.000 Midnight Jack, and the names stuck ever since, legends are 0:16:01.000 --> 0:16:04.880 born out of necessity, they're not planned out or carefully created. 0:16:06.560 --> 0:16:09.880 Now that the legend was born Midnight Jack decided it 0:16:09.960 --> 0:16:13.400 was time to join some like minded heroes. He told 0:16:13.400 --> 0:16:15.480 me that he fell in with a crew of decidedly 0:16:15.520 --> 0:16:19.200 average Seattle superheroes, all fat, out of shape, and they 0:16:19.240 --> 0:16:21.320 were so desperate to have somebody with any sort of 0:16:21.360 --> 0:16:24.760 skills or no how whatsoever. Jack says they harassed the 0:16:24.760 --> 0:16:27.160 odd drug dealer, but they weren't about to save the world. 0:16:27.960 --> 0:16:31.880 Then one day he saw Phoenix Jones crew patrolling in 0:16:31.960 --> 0:16:34.080 his part of town. He came up to me and 0:16:34.120 --> 0:16:35.520 I was like, hey man, just so you know, like 0:16:35.760 --> 0:16:37.760 this crowd down here is more mellow that one down 0:16:37.760 --> 0:16:40.080 there is a little routier. We already did two loops 0:16:40.080 --> 0:16:42.080 to the block. Most of the cars are parked down here, 0:16:42.120 --> 0:16:44.120 and this and that and that you got all this 0:16:44.200 --> 0:16:46.280 kind of stuff, and it was he goes, who the 0:16:46.280 --> 0:16:48.800 funk are you? And why are you telling me about 0:16:48.800 --> 0:16:51.960 my own patrol? How did you even get here? That 0:16:52.040 --> 0:16:55.000 was how I met Phoenix Jones. It wasn't exactly love 0:16:55.040 --> 0:16:57.560 at first sight, but it was clear to Midnight Jack 0:16:57.880 --> 0:17:00.680 that Phoenix Jones was very different from crew he was 0:17:00.760 --> 0:17:03.560 running with at the time. Jones was the real deal. 0:17:04.160 --> 0:17:08.160 Jack says his work ethic impressed Phoenix, but Phoenix describes 0:17:08.200 --> 0:17:11.959 their first encounter a little differently. We found him night 0:17:12.080 --> 0:17:14.520 Jack on the streets. He was out patrolling in a 0:17:14.600 --> 0:17:17.280 very stupid way. He was out there just beating up people, 0:17:17.480 --> 0:17:20.600 like with no abandoned just you know, I mean, just 0:17:20.600 --> 0:17:22.280 like hiding in a bush with two sticks and then 0:17:22.280 --> 0:17:25.520 when a crime takes out, just beating someone senselessly. So 0:17:25.920 --> 0:17:27.359 we found him and we were like, you should join 0:17:27.400 --> 0:17:29.520 our squad and like not go to prison, and then 0:17:29.560 --> 0:17:32.320 from there it just kind of built. It might sound 0:17:32.320 --> 0:17:34.840 like an odd recruitment strategy to make a guy you 0:17:34.880 --> 0:17:37.320 found hiding in the bushes and beating people to within 0:17:37.359 --> 0:17:39.639 an inch of their life a member of your crime 0:17:39.640 --> 0:17:43.560 fighting crew, but Phoenix spotted a fellow costumed crime fighter 0:17:44.000 --> 0:17:47.240 and clearly saw something in Jack. By the time Jack 0:17:47.280 --> 0:17:50.600 started hanging out with Phoenix, Ghosts had already been patrolling 0:17:50.600 --> 0:17:53.680 with him for a while. In fact, Ghost actually knew 0:17:53.680 --> 0:17:57.080 Phoenix back when he was just Ben Fodor. I came 0:17:57.119 --> 0:18:00.879 back from Iraq in two thousand and nine and I 0:18:00.960 --> 0:18:03.480 found out that someone I knew from high school, Ben 0:18:03.960 --> 0:18:05.760 was doing this crazy shift out in the streets. And 0:18:05.840 --> 0:18:07.680 you knew been in high school I did. We ran 0:18:07.680 --> 0:18:10.040 in similar circles. I called him, I'm like, Ben, what 0:18:10.080 --> 0:18:12.240 the hell are you doing? What are you doing? Man? 0:18:12.720 --> 0:18:15.080 And he invited me up to have a chat with him. 0:18:15.240 --> 0:18:17.120 We talked about it, and I was like, well, I'm 0:18:17.240 --> 0:18:19.480 I'm going now if you don't really have a say 0:18:19.520 --> 0:18:22.520 in that. I really wanted to know what Ben had 0:18:22.520 --> 0:18:25.119 been like when they were growing up, But Ghost was 0:18:25.160 --> 0:18:28.600 not particularly interested in talking. He seemed wary of me 0:18:28.640 --> 0:18:32.000 and my microphone. At one point midnight, Jack said that 0:18:32.119 --> 0:18:34.440 Ghosts had been freaking out. On the way to the interview. 0:18:35.160 --> 0:18:38.399 Jack did almost all the talking. Ghost would stand to 0:18:38.440 --> 0:18:41.240 the side, and sometimes he would wander off, like twenty 0:18:41.359 --> 0:18:43.840 or thirty yards away from us and just stand there 0:18:44.040 --> 0:18:48.159 watching From a distance. I don't trust anyone, like sometimes 0:18:48.240 --> 0:18:50.760 I struggle with some post traumatic stress situation and that 0:18:50.800 --> 0:18:53.520 doesn't really help things with when it comes to my trust. 0:18:54.080 --> 0:18:57.080 But I'm just doing my best. Ghost didn't want to 0:18:57.080 --> 0:18:59.399 talk much about the old days, though. Every once in 0:18:59.440 --> 0:19:01.840 a while, night Jack would launch into a story about 0:19:01.840 --> 0:19:04.680 a patrol from long ago, and Ghosts would jump back 0:19:04.680 --> 0:19:08.480 into the conversation. Apparently, midnight Jack used to carry a 0:19:08.520 --> 0:19:12.359 container of baking flower to throw it people. One time, 0:19:12.400 --> 0:19:14.880 he was about to douse a local pervert and flower 0:19:15.359 --> 0:19:18.840 when Ghosts stepped in. Almost flowered this homeless dude and 0:19:18.880 --> 0:19:21.560 a wheelchair. They had one leg, but he had his 0:19:21.680 --> 0:19:24.119 dick out and he was following women back from the club, 0:19:24.240 --> 0:19:28.520 jacking off, yelling aggressive sexual things. You're talking me out 0:19:28.520 --> 0:19:30.760 of flowering that guy because he was in a wheelchair. 0:19:30.960 --> 0:19:32.480 I was gonna flower him and then I was gonna 0:19:32.480 --> 0:19:35.120 push him over. I got the sense based on this 0:19:35.160 --> 0:19:38.719 story and videos I've seen of Phoenix's patrols, the Ghost 0:19:38.760 --> 0:19:42.080 often played this role. Phoenix described him as a level 0:19:42.080 --> 0:19:45.480 headed analyst rather than a brawler. Ghost as a specific 0:19:45.560 --> 0:19:50.280 intel slash observational job, and he's amazing at that. But 0:19:50.359 --> 0:19:52.560 Ghost can't run into an altercation and take people out. 0:19:53.040 --> 0:19:55.399 These days, Ghost doesn't go out on patrol, but he 0:19:55.440 --> 0:19:58.520 continues to fight crime. He says his efforts are now 0:19:58.600 --> 0:20:01.919 focused on catching pedophile else online By posing as a 0:20:01.920 --> 0:20:05.199 fourteen year old boy, I set up these fake profiles, 0:20:05.240 --> 0:20:07.720 and I have at least ten detectives that work with me, 0:20:08.240 --> 0:20:11.080 and to any pedophiles out there, it's always me, so 0:20:11.200 --> 0:20:15.080 keep that in mind. I came away from my first 0:20:15.200 --> 0:20:18.240 encounter with real life superheroes. I'm not really sure what 0:20:18.320 --> 0:20:21.240 to make of them. On that first trip to Seattle, 0:20:21.440 --> 0:20:24.560 before I met Phoenix, I was skeptical of a lot 0:20:24.600 --> 0:20:27.600 of their claims, but I admire their ambition and their 0:20:27.640 --> 0:20:30.040 desire to do good in the world, even if a 0:20:30.040 --> 0:20:33.320 lot of their escapades seemed a little absurd. I also 0:20:33.359 --> 0:20:35.399 got a kick out of all the petty infighting that 0:20:35.480 --> 0:20:38.600 seemed to consume a lot of the superheroes time. I 0:20:38.640 --> 0:20:40.879 was only just learning what kind of person puts on 0:20:40.920 --> 0:20:43.679 a costume and takes the law into their own hands. 0:20:44.800 --> 0:20:46.959 But maybe it shouldn't have surprised me that a lot 0:20:47.040 --> 0:20:50.520 of them have big egos that can lead to personality clashes. 0:20:51.520 --> 0:20:54.000 Despite the bickering, they did seem to have a solid 0:20:54.040 --> 0:20:59.240 system in place for organizing patrols and vetting new recruits. Sometimes, 0:20:59.359 --> 0:21:01.680 when Phoenix at interviews with the media, he would give 0:21:01.680 --> 0:21:03.840 out a phone number that people could call if they 0:21:03.880 --> 0:21:06.439 wanted to get in touch with him. That phone number 0:21:06.560 --> 0:21:10.119 went directly to Ghost and one day he got a 0:21:10.160 --> 0:21:12.960 call from a new guy who said he was interested 0:21:13.119 --> 0:21:17.440 in joining the team. We hit it off instantaneously because 0:21:17.560 --> 0:21:21.239 we understood that it's not a game, that's not some 0:21:21.359 --> 0:21:24.720 kind of trivial thing you could just jump into. The 0:21:24.720 --> 0:21:26.600 guy on the other end of the phone was about 0:21:26.640 --> 0:21:29.639 to become the latest member of Phoenix's crew and one 0:21:29.680 --> 0:21:36.040 of Phoenix's best friends. He called himself El Caballero. Of 0:21:36.080 --> 0:21:38.880 all the real life superheroes I've hung out with, El 0:21:38.960 --> 0:21:42.240 Caballero was the one who surprised me the most. Before 0:21:42.240 --> 0:21:44.600 I met him, I had formed my opinion based on 0:21:44.720 --> 0:21:47.879 videos of him patrolling with Phoenix's team, and to be honest, 0:21:48.240 --> 0:21:50.399 I thought he was the most ridiculous of the bunch. 0:21:51.320 --> 0:21:55.000 His superhero costume was really absurd. He wore a luchador 0:21:55.119 --> 0:21:58.399