If you’re anything like anybody, you’re in love with the idea of superheroes. The rest of you are boring. In either case, all of us have an innate urge deep inside that makes us want to do good for the people around us, and while some of us are content to read about the super powered good deeds of others, the people on this list decided to stand up and show the world that crime does not pay. Unfortunately, they chose a route that looks absolutely, thoroughly ridiculous. Here are 5 real life superheroes who could be behind you right now.
Secret Identity: Roger Hayhurst
Personal Gotham: Salford, Greater Manchester, UK
Gardener by day, masked crime fighter by night—that’s the tagline for Knight Warrior, a 19 year old in the UK whose self-proclaimed superpower is a “supernatural desire to make the world a better place.” His main target is drunk people who get a little too rowdy as they leave pubs. When there aren’t enough people fighting each other, he hands out food to homeless people in the Greater Manchester area.
Although he doesn’t have any combat training, gadgets, weapons, or identifiable means of protection, he does have a flashy costume, and sometimes that’s exactly what you need to get people’s attention. According to him, “When people see me coming up it does tend to stun them intosilence.” Knight Warrior lives with his mother.
Secret Identity: Ken Andre
Personal Gotham: Yeovil, Somerset, UK
Eschewing the pomp and flash of a typical superhero costume, 33 year old Ken Andre took a different approach to vigilante justice: the way of the ninja. He calls himself Shadow and spends up to four nights a week out around his home in Somerset stopping drug dealers and muggers—in the few years he’s been doing this, he says he’s stopped several dozen crimes. And out of all the people on this list, Shadow is the only real life superhero with anything even resembling a super power—a Batman-esque hearing aid that amplifies sound.
Ken has been studying the martial art Ninjutsu since he was a child, and stopped a carjacker one time by literally throwing nunchucks at him. In his own words, “I tied him to the lamppost using his own legs and called the police.”
Real Name: Benjamin Fodor
City: Seattle, Washington
Of all these real life superheroes, Phoenix Jones has probably received the most media attention, especially after being arrested in 2011 for pepper spraying two women. He patrols the area around Seattle and claims that he was motivated to don a mask and cape after his car was broken into and none of the bystanders tried to stop it from happening. Knife wounds,gunshots, street fights—it’s all in a day’s work for Phoenix Jones. The 22-year old is also a professional MMA fighter, which probably comes in handy as he tracks down criminals.
Also unlike a lot of other people who pretend to be superheroes, Phoenix’s costume actually has a bullet proof vest and armour plating.
Personal Gotham: Brisbane, Australia
With gardening gloves flexed and ampersat blazing, Captain Australia is waging a one-man war against crime in Fortitude Valley. In his day life he’s a stay-at-home father of two, but a desire to clean up Queensland’s streets has motivated him to put together a makeshift costume and patrol some of the “seedier areas” of Brisbane at night.
Captain Australia takes a preventative approach to crime, figuring that the sight of him will be enough to deter most would-be criminals from acting on their insatiable dark urges. And sometimes it works—he claims to have stopped a rape by showing up on the scene and scaring away two men who had been harassing a drunk woman.
Personal Gotham: San Diego, California
Honestly, if there’s any city that needs a superhero it’s probably San Diego, especially after the police department was downsized in 2012, leading to anincrease in crime. And Mr. Extreme might not be the hero San Diego deserves, but he’s the hero San Diego puts up with. A security guard in the daylight hours, once the sun goes down he suits up with shin guards, cape, army helmet and identity-protection goggles, then vigorously strolls into the crime-ridden sidewalks of the East Village.
Mr. Extreme has been working for about seven years now, armed with a taser, handcuffs, three cans of pepper spray, and the conviction that right is always the right thing to do. While he doesn’t get into a whole lot of action, he has instigated several citizens arrests throughout his career.
