WEBVTT - 6: Kryptonite 0:00:06.120 --> 0:00:14.880 Novel. In the aftermath of Phoenix's arrest, there was a 0:00:14.880 --> 0:00:17.640 lot of local news coverage of the pepper spray incident. 0:00:18.239 --> 0:00:20.680 The same real life superheroes we introduced you to in 0:00:20.720 --> 0:00:23.960 November are now stirring up trouble for Seattle police. Are 0:00:24.000 --> 0:00:28.600 they superheroes or a super problem? People in Seattle started 0:00:28.600 --> 0:00:33.280 to question Phoenix's methods. Was he really out there fighting 0:00:33.320 --> 0:00:36.560 crime or was he just wandering around at two am 0:00:36.600 --> 0:00:38.960 with a can of pepper spray looking to break up 0:00:38.960 --> 0:00:44.400 bar fights. Among the many Seattleites watching Phoenix's troubles unfold 0:00:44.760 --> 0:00:49.800 was a mysterious figure lurking in the shadows. Eventually he 0:00:49.840 --> 0:00:53.400 would emerge from the darkness, but for now, he was 0:00:53.440 --> 0:00:57.280 watching the coverage from his secret layer. You gotta have 0:00:57.320 --> 0:01:01.400 a villain, can't be a hero without a On the 0:01:01.480 --> 0:01:04.920 rain City superheroes had their detractors, but a single voice 0:01:05.120 --> 0:01:08.600 rose above the rest. A new enemy was about to surface. 0:01:10.080 --> 0:01:17.920 Hello and welcome Rex Velvet. Seattle's greatest real life supervillain 0:01:18.200 --> 0:01:21.600 was born. Though he looked more like a character you 0:01:21.680 --> 0:01:24.160 might find on a bottle of mustache wax than a 0:01:24.160 --> 0:01:29.240 super villain. He wore dapper outfits like velvet waistcoats and 0:01:29.280 --> 0:01:32.520 shiny suits, sometimes with a bow tie. He had an 0:01:32.520 --> 0:01:36.600 eye patch, a cartoonish mustache, and a flair for the dramatic. 0:01:39.720 --> 0:01:43.560 My Dean Citty, I can recall a time when I 0:01:43.600 --> 0:01:46.720 could leave this layer and conduct my duties proudly and 0:01:46.800 --> 0:01:52.480 without distraction. But now he's out there while with this 0:01:52.640 --> 0:01:57.080 silly gang of mismit power ranges, disturbing the peace. He 0:01:57.200 --> 0:02:00.760 called himself the people's villain, and he vowed not to 0:02:00.880 --> 0:02:05.360 rest until he destroyed the famous Phoenix Jones. It's time 0:02:05.360 --> 0:02:07.440 to get real, Jones. The community would be better off 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:10.240 without you. You're doing more harm than good, and I'm 0:02:10.240 --> 0:02:13.000 willing to bet that a sensible, sane majority would agree 0:02:13.000 --> 0:02:20.480 with me. You're a nuisance, a snitch shake. He must 0:02:20.520 --> 0:02:30.120 be stopped once and for all. Bollocks. Rex Velvet burst 0:02:30.160 --> 0:02:33.320 onto the scene in two thousand and twelve. He made 0:02:33.320 --> 0:02:36.880 his entrance into the world in slick, high production videos 0:02:36.960 --> 0:02:40.720 that he shot and released online. If this grand battle 0:02:40.960 --> 0:02:43.200 was to be judged on the quality of the videos 0:02:43.240 --> 0:02:46.960 they posted, Rex would have been the clear winner. His 0:02:47.120 --> 0:02:50.840 videos mocking Phoenix and his team started attracting hundreds of 0:02:50.919 --> 0:02:55.720 thousands of views, these days. Like Phoenix, Rex Velvet doesn't 0:02:55.760 --> 0:02:59.080 have a secret identity. He posted his videos under his 0:02:59.160 --> 0:03:04.440 real name, Ryan Corey. He's the social villain. He's the 0:03:04.480 --> 0:03:08.440 culmination of all those old comic book villains that are 0:03:08.880 --> 0:03:13.440 part campy, part comically cowardly. You know, if Batman and 0:03:13.520 --> 0:03:15.839 Robin were to show up, the Riddler would just laugh 0:03:15.919 --> 0:03:20.720 and run away. In his civilian life, Rex is a 0:03:20.800 --> 0:03:25.000 video producer. He'd been watching the rain City superheroes growing 0:03:25.040 --> 0:03:29.639 popularity and increasingly frequent TV appearances, but he was skeptical 0:03:29.680 --> 0:03:34.720 about them, especially after Phoenix's pepper spraying controversy. He had 0:03:34.760 --> 0:03:37.520 the idea of coming up with a character to call 0:03:37.600 --> 0:03:40.920 out what he saw as hypocrisy and to hold Phoenix 0:03:40.920 --> 0:03:44.560 to account, to make people think about, Okay, well, is 0:03:44.600 --> 0:03:48.320 this really serving the community or is this serving an individual. 0:03:48.880 --> 0:03:52.560 Unlike Phoenix, Rex saw his supervillain identity as a make 0:03:52.640 --> 0:03:56.400 belief character. It was kind of like playing WWF bad 0:03:56.400 --> 0:04:00.600 guy wrestler. This is a soap opera where Phoenix has 0:04:00.640 --> 0:04:04.080 told me many times he's not playing a game. And 0:04:04.120 --> 0:04:06.440 that's not the only thing that Rex and Phoenix don't 0:04:06.480 --> 0:04:08.960 see eye to eye on. Rex said he tried to 0:04:08.960 --> 0:04:11.880 reach out to Phoenix several times. When a friend of 0:04:11.960 --> 0:04:14.960 his approached Phoenix in the gym on his behalf, Phoenix 0:04:15.000 --> 0:04:18.040 seemed annoyed and flat out refused to speak to Rex. 0:04:18.320 --> 0:04:20.600 I thought back then, oh, maybe we can do some 0:04:20.680 --> 0:04:23.880 fundraising work. Maybe we can work with some nonprofits. Rex 0:04:23.920 --> 0:04:26.159 told me he'd done some work as a super villain 0:04:26.279 --> 0:04:29.360 for to make a Wish Foundation. When you're being involved 0:04:29.400 --> 0:04:32.760 at levels like that, you think, huh, why wouldn't this 0:04:32.800 --> 0:04:36.520 guy want to also be involved in charity work. Rex 0:04:36.720 --> 0:04:40.360 wasn't convinced by Phoenix's approach. I believe you want to 0:04:40.480 --> 0:04:43.800 lead a good life, and you see this as your 0:04:43.920 --> 0:04:48.720 maybe method for helping. I just wonder about the tact 0:04:48.880 --> 0:04:53.000 in which he's executing the vision and is it effective, 0:04:53.160 --> 0:04:55.279 is it getting the results you want? And is it 0:04:55.400 --> 0:05:00.240 serving the community or is it playing dress up? I 0:05:00.240 --> 0:05:02.440 can see why Rex would have rubbed Phoenix the wrong 0:05:02.480 --> 0:05:06.400 way with his over the top comedy villain persona. As 0:05:06.400 --> 0:05:09.320 you know by now, Phoenix doesn't think there's anything funny 0:05:09.320 --> 0:05:13.080 about crime fighting. I also wonder if maybe it was 0:05:13.120 --> 0:05:16.400 an ego thing as well. The Phoenix didn't want to 0:05:16.400 --> 0:05:19.960 share the spotlight. But when I asked Phoenix about it. 0:05:20.200 --> 0:05:22.760 He said he had other reasons for his hatred of Rex. 0:05:23.480 --> 0:05:24.720 His whole thing was like, oh, I thought it would 0:05:24.720 --> 0:05:26.560 be fun to like play up our rivalry and use 0:05:26.640 --> 0:05:28.400 it as a way to raise money for charity. Basically, 0:05:28.480 --> 0:05:30.120 that's not what he wanted to do. He went to 0:05:30.400 --> 0:05:32.480 vodka he called me trying to get me to get 0:05:32.520 --> 0:05:34.360 on T shirts to sell vodka and make money, and 0:05:34.400 --> 0:05:35.880 he was talking about shopping the profits and going on 0:05:36.040 --> 0:05:38.919 fucking tour. What a fucking liar. You wanted to sell 0:05:39.279 --> 0:05:41.919 T shirts go on a fake crime fighting tour and 0:05:41.960 --> 0:05:44.440 fight each other in the city with fake fights and 0:05:44.480 --> 0:05:47.520 sell tickets and T shirts. That's what that do want 0:05:47.520 --> 0:05:51.400 to do? That he is a liar. After hearing Phoenix 0:05:51.400 --> 0:05:54.320 talk openly about lying to the media to promote his 0:05:54.360 --> 0:05:57.360 own cause, it was curious to hear him get so 0:05:57.440 --> 0:06:01.520 fired up about truth telling. To strike back at Rex, 0:06:01.920 --> 0:06:05.240 Phoenix says he concocted a dastardly plan of his own. 0:06:06.040 --> 0:06:08.159 I copyrighted the name Rex Velvet and took the copyright 0:06:08.200 --> 0:06:10.080 leagal ownership of it and then told him to season desist. 0:06:11.600 --> 0:06:16.160 Really yeah him. Rex never mentioned this or the alleged 0:06:16.200 --> 0:06:18.839 vodka deals when we spoke, but when we put it 0:06:18.880 --> 0:06:22.960 to him afterwards, he replied, I'll say this, none of 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:25.800 that information is true. This is the first time I've 0:06:25.839 --> 0:06:28.800 ever heard of it. Rex also said he never met 0:06:28.800 --> 0:06:31.240 Phoenix and that all his attempts to reach out to 0:06:31.320 --> 0:06:34.279 him so they could quote meet as men and discuss 0:06:34.320 --> 0:06:40.120 potential superhero collaborations had been unsuccessful. Just f y I. 0:06:40.120 --> 0:06:43.279 If you search the U S Copyright Office database, the 0:06:43.320 --> 0:06:46.880 only copyright filings for Rex Velvet are three videos and 0:06:46.880 --> 0:06:51.680 a logo, all registered to Ryan Corey, not Phoenix Jones 0:06:52.160 --> 0:06:58.000 or his alter ego Ben Photo. If you believe Phoenix's 0:06:58.040 --> 0:07:01.120 side of the story, Rex Velvet as an opportunist who 0:07:01.160 --> 0:07:03.560 tried to make a buck or maybe just promote his 0:07:03.600 --> 0:07:07.080 work as a video producer. According to Rex, Phoenix is 0:07:07.120 --> 0:07:11.280 stuck up and delusional, taking himself way too seriously. But 0:07:11.360 --> 0:07:15.280 as Phoenix himself told me, history is written by the winners, 0:07:15.800 --> 0:07:19.200 and either way, it wasn't long before Rex Velvet was 0:07:19.240 --> 0:07:22.440 sucked into the world of Phoenix Jones and his team. 0:07:22.600 --> 0:07:25.800 People started coming to Rex with allegations about Phoenix as 0:07:25.800 --> 0:07:28.120 if he were a real villain in search of dirt 0:07:28.200 --> 0:07:32.440 on Seattle's own hero. The magnet of Rex Velvet was 0:07:32.840 --> 0:07:36.800 drawing people in that really wanted to destroy, and you 0:07:36.880 --> 0:07:39.280 get threats aims not at you, but at the hero 0:07:39.960 --> 0:07:43.840 people would play informant on the Internet. I don't think 0:07:43.840 --> 0:07:46.160 he understands how far I've gone to make sure that 0:07:46.720 --> 0:07:50.280 people aren't attacking the guy. I don't want to see 0:07:50.280 --> 0:07:53.720 this guy hurt. I don't want to see the city attacked. 0:07:53.720 --> 0:07:56.800 And I go, whoa, whoa, whoa, not signing up for that. No, 0:07:56.920 --> 0:08:00.080 thank you. I'm gonna put a pause on this. They 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:03.040 weren't all just random internet trolls either. Some of the 0:08:03.080 --> 0:08:06.200 people coming with stories about Phoenix and about Ben Fodor 0:08:06.640 --> 0:08:09.280 seemed like they were close to him. I'm like, wow, 0:08:09.320 --> 0:08:13.120 like you call yourself Ben's friends, Like you're kind of 0:08:13.680 --> 0:08:16.440 talking smack about your your boy here behind us back. 0:08:17.320 --> 0:08:21.440 It's funny. It's as if everyone that joined his cause 0:08:21.920 --> 0:08:26.040 doesn't like him, and the only person left who really 0:08:26.480 --> 0:08:31.680 is more than ever interested in liking him is me. 0:08:33.120 --> 0:08:37.720 And the most sinister thing that Rex could say is well, well, 0:08:37.720 --> 0:08:50.320 well no more, friends, guess you're stuck with me. In 0:08:50.400 --> 0:08:53.760 Seattle in two thousand and twelve, the line between heroes 0:08:53.800 --> 0:08:57.400 and villains looked thinner than ever. Fresh from the trauma 0:08:57.440 --> 0:09:00.720 of the Nicole Westbrook shooting, Phoenix was going rogue out 0:09:00.720 --> 0:09:05.520 on patrols. Meanwhile, his fellow superheroes were dishing dirt to 0:09:05.600 --> 0:09:09.079 his arch enemy, and soon the world of the Rain 0:09:09.160 --> 0:09:15.520 City Superheroes would descend into costumed chaos. I'm David Weinberg 0:09:15.720 --> 0:09:18.160 and from the Team's at novel and I heart Radio. 0:09:18.640 --> 0:09:41.840 This is the Superhero Complex, Episode six, Kryptonite. By early 0:09:41.920 --> 0:09:45.880 two thousand and twelve, Phoenix was struggling. He had clashed 0:09:45.920 --> 0:09:48.959 with the authorities over the Pepper Sprayer arrest, He'd lost 0:09:49.000 --> 0:09:51.800 the job he loved working with artistic kids, and he 0:09:51.840 --> 0:09:53.800 was also having to spend a lot of his time 0:09:54.120 --> 0:09:57.000 trying to prove to the state that he wasn't insane. 0:09:58.640 --> 0:10:02.120 A lot of his personal life it often be in shambles. 0:10:02.200 --> 0:10:06.440 His words, actually, that's Evocatus Phoenix is former right hand 0:10:06.440 --> 0:10:10.280 man an unofficial chauffeur. He says that it was obvious 0:10:10.400 --> 0:10:13.760 that Phoenix was having money problems. I knew things weren't 0:10:13.800 --> 0:10:16.559 going well because he would always be sniffing around for money, 0:10:16.920 --> 0:10:20.120 or one time he came up this idea. And this 0:10:20.200 --> 0:10:22.439 was one of the many nights I was giving him 0:10:22.440 --> 0:10:25.720 a ride. There's a long avenue full of bars and 0:10:25.760 --> 0:10:28.199 clubs way north of Seattle, up in the U District. 0:10:28.679 --> 0:10:31.680 He pitched this idea to me. Alright, but what do 0:10:31.679 --> 0:10:34.400 you think of this? So all these bars, all these clubs. 0:10:34.600 --> 0:10:37.840 What if I talked to the owners and say, we 0:10:37.960 --> 0:10:41.959 can watch and pay special attention to your club, stand 0:10:42.000 --> 0:10:44.320 out front of your club. You know, we'll end up 0:10:44.320 --> 0:10:46.080 a contract. It'll be all over formal, you know, if 0:10:46.080 --> 0:10:49.120 you give us, you know, say a hundred dollars a 0:10:49.160 --> 0:10:52.640 week or something, or you know, we'll write it to 0:10:52.720 --> 0:10:54.840 the team. You know, I'll manage the funds of course. 0:10:55.600 --> 0:10:58.240 And uh, I'm like, dude, this is the mafia. This 0:10:58.280 --> 0:11:02.000 is what a mafia does. Your offering air quotes protection 0:11:02.679 --> 0:11:06.640 from businesses who paid. What are you hearing yourself? This 0:11:06.720 --> 0:11:10.080 is the worst idea and the long sad history of 0:11:10.160 --> 0:11:13.120 bad ideas. You can't be seriously, Oh oh yeah, that's 0:11:13.160 --> 0:11:15.320 that strike. I guess I didn't think about that, but 0:11:15.400 --> 0:11:18.280 he would end up actually doing exactly this. I think 0:11:18.320 --> 0:11:21.000 maybe two out of over a dozen businesses you know 0:11:21.040 --> 0:11:23.440 give I think one gave him like forty bucks, and 0:11:24.120 --> 0:11:26.719 he did with one of them, and you know, he 0:11:26.760 --> 0:11:29.280 would like get a bunch of selfies and like he 0:11:29.320 --> 0:11:32.480 would kind of be like almost like an Instagram influencer 0:11:32.520 --> 0:11:35.600 of that, like, hey, come on down to whatever the 0:11:35.640 --> 0:11:38.040 name of the bar was. And money was a big 0:11:38.080 --> 0:11:40.800 thing for him, and that would also affect his mood 0:11:40.880 --> 0:11:45.120 pretty significantly. Evo had a theory about what was driving 0:11:45.120 --> 0:11:48.920 Phoenix's fixation on money. He sent me text messages or 0:11:48.960 --> 0:11:51.440 he would show me pictures of Hey, is what I 0:11:51.480 --> 0:11:53.800 was at last night. It would be a picture of 0:11:53.880 --> 0:11:57.040 him both arms holding kind of like a hug pose 0:11:57.480 --> 0:12:00.840 of a giant stack of poker chips, and like you 0:12:00.840 --> 0:12:03.960 could tell now this was legit at a casino, and 0:12:04.000 --> 0:12:06.160 it's like, oh man, I should quit my job and 0:12:06.240 --> 0:12:09.680 just do this full time and and be living a 0:12:09.800 --> 0:12:14.000 high life. And the very next patrol everybody. I know, 0:12:14.080 --> 0:12:16.560 it's only the tenth of the month, but if everyone 0:12:16.559 --> 0:12:18.680 can have their dues for next month paid, that would 0:12:18.720 --> 0:12:21.520 be great, thank you. I mean, like that would happen 0:12:21.880 --> 0:12:25.000 all the time. So in my particular case, you just 0:12:25.000 --> 0:12:27.440 flat out admit that, you know, I love gambling, and 0:12:28.000 --> 0:12:31.320 he's incredibly smart, and you know, probably borders on like 0:12:31.480 --> 0:12:36.000 card reading levels of genius there. But gambling is gambling too, 0:12:36.000 --> 0:12:40.160 and that comes with its own dangers. Other members of 0:12:40.200 --> 0:12:44.440 the rain City Superheroes told me similar stories. Here's Midnight Jack. 0:12:45.120 --> 0:12:46.880 I think that he was really trying to be a 0:12:46.880 --> 0:12:49.880 good dude in the beginning. He was focusing all his 0:12:50.000 --> 0:12:54.679 energy into this superhero stuff, and over time he's kind 0:12:54.679 --> 0:12:57.719 of got beaten down started gambling. I mean, the man 0:12:57.840 --> 0:13:01.760 is just not in a good place. I asked Phoenix 0:13:01.760 --> 0:13:06.720 about all of this, and he flatly denied it. You 0:13:06.720 --> 0:13:08.480 who also said that you had a gambling problem? Is 0:13:08.480 --> 0:13:13.559 that true? No, that's weird, Like what kind of gamling 0:13:13.600 --> 0:13:16.560 from you were really into gambling, and that he worried 0:13:16.559 --> 0:13:18.079 that some of the money that had been going to 0:13:18.160 --> 0:13:20.760 stuff got gambled away, and that you would send him 0:13:20.840 --> 0:13:23.360 photos of you at like a poker table and things 0:13:23.400 --> 0:13:26.000 like that. That's all true, absolutely, Okay, now I know 0:13:26.040 --> 0:13:28.319 he's talking about absolutely yet. So I played a ship 0:13:28.360 --> 0:13:29.640 ton of poker, but it would have been a hard 0:13:29.679 --> 0:13:31.960 to have a gambling problem doing that. Phoenix told me 0:13:32.080 --> 0:13:35.000 he played tournament poker, where you just pay a flat 0:13:35.080 --> 0:13:38.200 fee of fifty dollars to buy into the competition. So 0:13:38.240 --> 0:13:40.320 I play a tournament every Friday, And I said, my 0:13:40.320 --> 0:13:42.720 friends pictures of me with like thirty thousand ships. So 0:13:42.760 --> 0:13:44.719 they're seeing these poker tip things and they're thinking I'm 0:13:44.720 --> 0:13:46.760 making mad cash. But that's not how it works. Do 0:13:46.800 --> 0:13:48.679 you play poker at all? Not really, I've been I 0:13:48.720 --> 0:13:50.240 went through a poker phase when it was popular, so 0:13:50.240 --> 0:13:51.880 you understand when you bind too a tournament, the chips 0:13:51.880 --> 0:13:55.200 in front of you are not representative of money. This 0:13:55.240 --> 0:13:57.880 seems like a reasonable explanation to me, and for what 0:13:57.960 --> 0:14:01.000 it's worth, I believe Phoenix, but I do think it 0:14:01.080 --> 0:14:04.000 seems credible that he might have had some financial difficulties 0:14:04.040 --> 0:14:07.520 after his arrest. And as for charging nightclubs money to 0:14:07.559 --> 0:14:13.560 protect them, Phoenix says that is one accurate sort of Yeah. 0:14:13.600 --> 0:14:16.160 I definitely suggested that, but but not in the mob 0:14:16.240 --> 0:14:18.080 shakedown way. I don't see. I just feel like he 0:14:18.160 --> 0:14:20.080 was saying, like it's a murky line to be like 0:14:20.160 --> 0:14:21.760 some of you get extra productions and some of you 0:14:21.760 --> 0:14:23.760 we're gonna let go. I don't think it's an extra line. Like, 0:14:23.920 --> 0:14:26.880 for example, we had sixteen shootings take place outside of 0:14:26.920 --> 0:14:28.760 one nightclub, and they're like, we love when you're out here. 0:14:28.880 --> 0:14:30.640 Fuck you, bro, if you want me to come and 0:14:30.640 --> 0:14:32.080 stand out front of your club, you're gonna give me 0:14:32.080 --> 0:14:34.960 a some money for that. Like, that's stupid. We're supposed 0:14:34.960 --> 0:14:36.960 to be helping random real crime. This is crime. It 0:14:37.000 --> 0:14:39.120 takes place because of your establishment. So if you want 0:14:39.160 --> 0:14:40.600 me to stand outside your stabution so you can use 0:14:40.600 --> 0:14:42.600 Phoenix Jones to pimp that, everybody's okay, you're gonna at 0:14:42.680 --> 0:14:44.920 least paying me money for that. I don't even consider 0:14:44.920 --> 0:14:48.040 that a bad thing. Yeah, but I definitely said it, 0:14:48.560 --> 0:14:50.320 and I shared it with the team because you're supposed to. 0:14:51.400 --> 0:14:54.520 And then the money never happened, so we didn't do it. 0:14:55.840 --> 0:14:59.400 We just did regular as patrols. I could go on 0:14:59.480 --> 0:15:02.320 and on letting Phoenix respond to the many wrongs that 0:15:02.400 --> 0:15:05.280 his former teammates accused him of, and in fact, I 0:15:05.280 --> 0:15:07.600 spent a lot of my time with Phoenix doing just that. 0:15:09.120 --> 0:15:11.600 There are moments when Phoenix did admit to some of 0:15:11.600 --> 0:15:16.200 those wrongs. Other times, like with the quote unquote protection money, 0:15:16.600 --> 0:15:18.560 it just seemed to be a difference of opinion on 0:15:18.600 --> 0:15:22.080 the morality of what happened. But at the end of 0:15:22.080 --> 0:15:24.960 the day, Phoenix says that all of these disputes with 0:15:25.000 --> 0:15:28.080 his former crime fighting friends are issues of the past, 0:15:28.760 --> 0:15:32.040 and rehashing them is a waste of time. These guys 0:15:32.040 --> 0:15:34.760 are so petty and stupid. There was just so many 0:15:34.800 --> 0:15:38.400 more important things. I mean, even if everything they assumed 0:15:38.480 --> 0:15:39.920 was right and everything they told you was right, Let's 0:15:39.920 --> 0:15:42.280 say I had a crazy gambling problem. Let's just say 0:15:42.320 --> 0:15:45.480 these things right. None of them change any of the 0:15:45.520 --> 0:15:48.520 patrolling or effects we did zero, So why are you 0:15:48.560 --> 0:15:53.000 still talking about that? I do think that Phoenix is 0:15:53.040 --> 0:15:57.000 wrong on this point. Phoenix's teammates all felt that his 0:15:57.080 --> 0:16:00.720 erratic behavior and failure to communicate did in fact have 0:16:00.800 --> 0:16:05.160 an impact on their ability to fight crime, which makes 0:16:05.200 --> 0:16:09.360 total sense. Phoenix was always the leader of the rain 0:16:09.440 --> 0:16:12.840 City Superheroes, and a group is only as effective as 0:16:12.840 --> 0:16:16.280 its leadership. And if Phoenix is going to take credit 0:16:16.360 --> 0:16:20.400 for all his team's success, shouldn't he also take responsibility 0:16:20.640 --> 0:16:24.320 for some of their failures. But then to do that 0:16:24.600 --> 0:16:27.280 would mean that Phoenix would have to admit that he 0:16:27.360 --> 0:16:33.720 is not perfect at crime fighting, and he won't. Over time, 0:16:33.960 --> 0:16:38.000 the tension between Phoenix and his teammates built up, until finally, 0:16:38.200 --> 0:16:40.440 one day, it all came to a head on a 0:16:40.480 --> 0:16:50.480 disastrous patrol that would tear the team apart. That's coming up. 0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:04.159 In late April of two thousand and twelve, the rain 0:17:04.280 --> 0:17:07.720 City Superheroes were preparing for their biggest patrol of the year, 0:17:08.680 --> 0:17:12.480 but according to Evocatus, Phoenix had become an absent leader. 0:17:13.200 --> 0:17:15.800 We patrol and we we're from three to five nights 0:17:15.800 --> 0:17:18.280 a week, and we would get wildly different results kind 0:17:18.280 --> 0:17:20.720 of based on the day he said, or you know, 0:17:20.760 --> 0:17:23.280 if he was hurting for money, or if he was 0:17:23.320 --> 0:17:26.480 having relationship problems or something. That would always be kind 0:17:26.480 --> 0:17:28.760 of something going on, and we never quite knew what 0:17:28.800 --> 0:17:31.880 we would get. Anytime you didn't want to be answered 0:17:31.880 --> 0:17:33.840 to anyone or didn't want to be accountable for anything, 0:17:33.880 --> 0:17:36.399 he would just shot off. He would get real angry 0:17:36.440 --> 0:17:42.640 and real pouty, call everyone traders, and would disappear. Everything 0:17:42.760 --> 0:17:45.520 came to a head on May Day, two thousand and twelve. 0:17:47.000 --> 0:17:49.000 May Day has always been a big day in Seattle. 0:17:49.359 --> 0:17:52.040 Thousands of people take to the streets to march for 0:17:52.160 --> 0:17:57.080 labor rights. There are protests all over the city. I 0:17:57.119 --> 0:17:59.960 asked Phoenix if he thought that day was a turning 0:18:00.080 --> 0:18:03.360 point for the team. You mean, clowns got caught as clowns, 0:18:03.520 --> 0:18:05.919 and then eventually you have to ask yourself why you 0:18:05.960 --> 0:18:08.600 didn't show up. I don't think that's a turning point. 0:18:08.600 --> 0:18:10.800 I think you were bitches before and that showed it. 0:18:11.720 --> 0:18:14.760 Phoenix and the rain City superheroes often showed up on 0:18:14.880 --> 0:18:17.600 May Day to keep watch over the crowds and to 0:18:17.680 --> 0:18:21.720 help keep the peace if things went awry, which is 0:18:21.760 --> 0:18:27.840 exactly what happened in two thousand and twelve. El Caballero 0:18:28.160 --> 0:18:30.879 was right there in the thick of it. There's always 0:18:30.880 --> 0:18:33.879 two big protests in Seattle. The first one was the 0:18:33.960 --> 0:18:36.520 labor unions and the Native rights and stuff, and that 0:18:36.600 --> 0:18:39.920 was always peaceful, and there was another element that would 0:18:40.040 --> 0:18:42.240 show up, well, I guess they call them black block 0:18:43.000 --> 0:18:46.439 They would go out and look like hooding ninjas and 0:18:46.520 --> 0:18:49.879 go and break windows and spray paint. And I think 0:18:49.960 --> 0:18:52.679 we all agree that there's a lot of corporations and 0:18:52.880 --> 0:18:55.679 entities that are ripping people off and taking money and 0:18:55.720 --> 0:19:00.680 don't really care. But there's ways to go about things, 0:19:00.760 --> 0:19:05.280 and these people are just terrorists, terrorizing people, terrorizing things 0:19:05.320 --> 0:19:08.600 and scaring the Bejesus said, folks. The Rain City Heroes 0:19:08.760 --> 0:19:13.040 didn't go blindly into these situations, They came prepared and 0:19:13.119 --> 0:19:16.119 that year it was Eva who made detailed plans for 0:19:16.160 --> 0:19:19.560 the May Day patrols. There's an awful lot of like 0:19:19.720 --> 0:19:22.359 logistical planning that would go into something like this because 0:19:22.400 --> 0:19:24.520 we have people. That was literally a contribution to the 0:19:24.520 --> 0:19:27.320 team was to do a lot of research ahead of time. 0:19:27.359 --> 0:19:31.080 How do we safely patrol? How do we access vehicles 0:19:31.080 --> 0:19:32.399 if we need to get out of there? How do 0:19:32.480 --> 0:19:35.200 we get first ato somebody if we need when roads 0:19:35.240 --> 0:19:38.800 are closed. According to Evo, Phoenix had decided on his 0:19:38.880 --> 0:19:44.199 own unusual strategy for monitoring the crowds the night before 0:19:44.520 --> 0:19:47.639 May Day had happened. Phoenix said, tell you forget all that. 0:19:47.720 --> 0:19:50.120 Here's what we're gonna do. I gotta buddy of mine. 0:19:50.359 --> 0:19:52.800 He works at the front desk at this hotel, and 0:19:52.920 --> 0:19:54.439 he's gonna let us go in and using one of 0:19:54.440 --> 0:19:56.679 his hotel rooms. We're gonna turn on the TV. We're 0:19:56.680 --> 0:19:59.920 gonna party in a music and we're just gonna be 0:20:00.040 --> 0:20:02.480 watching all the local news stations. And when some fight 0:20:02.520 --> 0:20:04.920 breaks out on TV, we'll put on a gear and 0:20:04.960 --> 0:20:07.200 we'll run out the door and don't save the day. 0:20:07.440 --> 0:20:09.399 The entire rest of us are just kind of sitting 0:20:09.400 --> 0:20:14.880 around blinking, just what what on earth? No, I mean 0:20:14.920 --> 0:20:16.520 by the time we'd see it on TV, I mean, 0:20:16.520 --> 0:20:19.439 it's obviously will long have passed. Well, what about all 0:20:19.480 --> 0:20:22.000 the research we did and all the intel work ahead 0:20:22.000 --> 0:20:23.879 of time and the Index didn't want anything to do 0:20:23.920 --> 0:20:29.800 with it. The next morning, when a disgruntled set of 0:20:29.880 --> 0:20:32.639 rain seedy heroes gathered in a parking garage to start 0:20:32.680 --> 0:20:36.840 the patrol, Phoenix turned up empty handed. He was really 0:20:36.840 --> 0:20:39.320 really upset because his buddy or something was sick that 0:20:39.400 --> 0:20:42.119 day or he couldn't make it, and basically we didn't 0:20:42.119 --> 0:20:43.760 have a hotel room with our name on it, so 0:20:43.800 --> 0:20:45.600 it's kind of like, well, okay, we're just gonna walk. 0:20:45.640 --> 0:20:49.880 Then they followed the crowds through Seattle and began the patrol. 0:20:50.520 --> 0:20:53.320 People of all ages had come to protest with painted 0:20:53.359 --> 0:20:57.560 faces and colorful signs, bearing irreverent slogans, But even in 0:20:57.600 --> 0:21:01.360 this eclectic crowd, the superhero stood out with their costumes 0:21:01.359 --> 0:21:05.320 and shiny masks. They jostled through the pack streets. Ebo 0:21:05.440 --> 0:21:08.840 says Phoenix wasn't sticking to the plan or communicating to 0:21:08.880 --> 0:21:11.639 the team. He wouldn't listen to anyone on the team 0:21:11.760 --> 0:21:16.680 you had people that were professionally trained medics and e 0:21:16.800 --> 0:21:19.800 M t s. He had former military that was me 0:21:19.960 --> 0:21:21.600 and uh, you know, we'd have a couple of the 0:21:21.640 --> 0:21:24.560 former veterans from time to time on the team with 0:21:24.680 --> 0:21:28.200 actual boots on the ground combat experience. He wouldn't listen 0:21:28.320 --> 0:21:32.840 to the inputs anytime. He didn't want to be answered 0:21:32.840 --> 0:21:34.800 to anyone, or he didn't want to be accountable for anything. 0:21:34.840 --> 0:21:39.040 He would just shot off. Around twelve thirty, the protests 0:21:39.080 --> 0:21:43.879 started to escalate. Explosions and pepper spray in downtown Seat 0:21:44.359 --> 0:21:48.359 may Day breaks down to Mayhem in Seattle. Demonstrations turned violent. 0:21:48.359 --> 0:21:53.600 There's thousands of people clogged downtown streets. A group of 0:21:53.600 --> 0:21:57.440 about seventy five anarchists entered the fray. They streamed into 0:21:57.480 --> 0:22:00.479 the downtown area and mixed in with the crowds marching 0:22:00.520 --> 0:22:04.159 towards Westlake Park. They were dressed all in black, and 0:22:04.200 --> 0:22:07.360 many of them were wielding bats and hammers as they 0:22:07.359 --> 0:22:11.000 snaked through the protest, hurling rocks and shattering the windows 0:22:11.000 --> 0:22:16.920 of shops and banks. Police officers in riot gear clashed 0:22:16.920 --> 0:22:19.520 with the crowds. If we are disappointed in the police, 0:22:20.200 --> 0:22:23.720 people launched flares and smoke bombs into the air. Paint 0:22:23.720 --> 0:22:27.000 bombs and blood red and fluorescent green streaked the pavements 0:22:27.040 --> 0:22:33.640 and buildings. The downtown streets, normally packed with tourists, were 0:22:33.680 --> 0:22:38.679 filled with the smell of smoke and pepper spray. At 0:22:38.720 --> 0:22:41.960 the epicenter of the chaos was the old Federal Courthouse. 0:22:42.880 --> 0:22:48.040 Here's midnight Jack. This big, huge standoff ensues at the 0:22:48.040 --> 0:22:51.600 Federal courthouse where they're throwing improvised explosives into The building 0:22:51.680 --> 0:22:55.159 is occupied with people that worked there. A roving group 0:22:55.200 --> 0:22:58.920 of the protesters had gathered outside the courthouse. They smashed 0:22:58.920 --> 0:23:02.040 in the glass doors and windows with flagpoles and bats. 0:23:02.520 --> 0:23:04.880 Someone tried to fire a smoke bomb into the building, 0:23:05.200 --> 0:23:09.480 but it bounced off and burst into flames. Phoenix told 0:23:09.480 --> 0:23:11.720 me that's where he wanted to be, in the heart 0:23:11.720 --> 0:23:15.159 of the action. There was twelve of us. Right we 0:23:15.240 --> 0:23:17.040 get word that they're gonna put a bomb in the 0:23:17.040 --> 0:23:20.000 Federal building and blow it up. I don't I put 0:23:20.000 --> 0:23:21.560 out the radio call that I need my team to 0:23:21.560 --> 0:23:23.439 show up. I need to got the family right now. 0:23:23.720 --> 0:23:26.280 We gotta get it together. Club about people, Oh yeah, 0:23:27.320 --> 0:23:33.320 I got with Guess who shows up? El Caballero with Jack. 0:23:34.040 --> 0:23:40.879 That's it, so Cavy, Jack and Phoenix assembled at the courthouse. 0:23:41.560 --> 0:23:43.560