/ Xeni Jardin / 3:33 pm Tue Jan 4, 2011

Real-life league of superheroes in Seattle?

PhoenixJones.jpg

Cosplay with a purpose in Seattle, WA, over the holidays: "A local man said he came within seconds of having his car broken into, and perhaps stolen, until a real-life "superhero" came to his aid, wearing tights, a mask and a skin-tight super suit."

Ladies and gentlemen: "Phoenix Jones" (above left with mystified cop) and the "Rain City Superhero Movement." Start here.

(thanks, Jason Weisberger)

23

  1. I am now worried for Phoenix Jones safety, as the super villains will know his armament and defensive capabilities of his super suit.

  6. Wait, explain to me how a group of unaccountable vigilantes allied with the police or government is a good thing again?

  7. The last thing the cops or normal people need are masked vigilantes running around. Militia should be 100% above board and identifiable or they are technically illegal combatants. Also I don’t want to get tasered by anyone, cop or “superhero”.

  8. Washington state, like pretty much every state but North Carolina, has a citizen’s arrest statute on the books, so as long as these folks restrict themselves to intervening with obvious felonies in progress, don’t use unreasonable force in doing so, and are willing to identify themselves by their real names to regular law enforcement or courts when called upon to do so, they’re technically probably in the clear. Probably, but IANAL, and those are some potentially big ifs.

    Of course, that in no way makes this actually a good idea, or means that the police will want to tolerate them as opposed to running them in and seeing if charges like obstruction of justice and assault will stick or not.

  9. Of course, following the links, it looks like these folks don’t want to reveal their true identities, making them useless as witnesses and unable to corroborate whether their actions actually fall under the citizen’s arrest statute, so this does come across as pretty dumb all around.

  10. I’ve looked at this “RLSH” stuff before. It seems to come up in the news periodically, followed by the usual stuff – “Who Watches the Watchmen?” “Why don’t they just become cops or first responders?” Etc, etc.

    And here’s the thing…for every one instance of a masked person actually confronting violent criminals, there are probably ten instances of a costumed do-gooder doing really dangerous things like distributing water during the summer, collecting toys for kids during the holidays, raising funds for charities, helping the homeless, helping inebriated women get home safely, and shoveling snow.

    As for why they don’t “go legit” – aside from the fact that this allows them to do this stuff on the side from their ‘real’ jobs – with the current budget situations, even the most qualified people can’t become cops or paid first responders now.

    Is this self-aggrandizement? Sure. Are these folks probably at least a little nuts? Yes. Is it worth it? I guess that’s up to you. Me – I figure that if even one life is saved, it’s probably worth it.

  12. I just can’t bring myself to have a beef with this. Ideally the best thing they can do is just discourage a crime in progress, that at least prevents a victim from becoming a victim. That, IMHO, is a good thing, even if the perp doesn’t wind up getting caught.

    And yeah they’re taking their lives in their own hands, but that’s THEIR choice to make.

  14. Another vote against the whole para-police/vigilante thing. I had to deal with a lot of self appointed haircut police in my highschool daze.

  15. I got as far as “came within seconds of having his car broken into” and cracked up. Was that meant to be funny or is it just me?

  16. I’ve been biking around Seattle in a Lucha mask. You’ll never know who I am. Occasionally I do useful things like pick some trash up. No one seems to be doing anything I need to thwart.

  18. According to the article, Phoenix Jones’ armor was damaged while “intervening with a drug dealer and a citizen.”

    That’s just what we need. Unidentified people in disguises enforcing unjust laws.

    1. My guess is that the drug dealer that Jones was intervening with wasn’t the kind that many of us who are fortunate to live in nice neighborhoods and communities are picturing. Doesn’t sound like he was busting into the home of the friendly local pot-head who’s selling a little weed to his buddies. He probably wasn’t bursting into the club and accosting the raver girl selling some ecstasy to the club goers. He wasn’t raiding a rock star’s tour bus to find a little cocaine after a concert. It sounds like it was an open deal on a public street. I’m thinking it was more likely a rough neighborhood where hard-core drug pushers are on the street and making the neighborhood unwelcoming and unsafe. It’s more likely crack dealers that are bothering people on the streets or heroin dealers keeping junkies prowling around the neighborhood. He probably wasn’t fighting drugs because they’re illegal, but because drugs addicts and drug related crime and violence are a real problem that’s making life on his streets unpleasant. He wasn’t intruding on regular honest hard-working people’s enjoying substances without infringing on anyone else’s enjoyment of anything. He was enforcing the law in the way that us regular hard-working folks would like to see it enforced, when and where it genuinely needs to be to keep our communities safe.

  19. Here’s one crime I’d enjoy seeing a League Of Superheros battle in that area – sex trafficking of under-aged girls.

    It’s a huge problem that, for various reasons, local law enforcement and other agencies can’t get a handle on. It seems to be driven by young pimps that realized that selling drugs is more dangerous than exploiting little girls.

    Is it time to send a message to these punks? Maybe something that a little “Green Arrow” or “X Skull” can deliver?

    Captcha: Fleyed Justice

  20. I don’t see what some of the folks commenting above are so worried about. These folks aren’t dangerous vigilantes or militias any more than your average neighborhood watch patrol is. They aren’t actually comic book superheros. They’re regular folks that are concerned about safety in their community and are actually doing something about it. They just like to do it in a costume. No big deal. Good for them.

  22. There’s a documentary about these people premiering at the 2011 slamdance film festival. Sounds cool. Hopefully it gets some distribution.

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