Phoenix Jones patrols the streets of Seattle, Washington. He wears a cape, a mask, and carries a stun gun. He has been trained in mixed martial arts. He has stopped an in-progress grand theft auto. He has been stabbed. He was kicked in the face and received a broken nose while intervening in a fight. Phoenix Jones is not out of the pages of a comic book. He is real, an average Joe by day and a superhero crime fighter at night. During a recent street patrol, Jones witnessed a man trying to steal a car. The would-be victim couldn’t believe his eyes. "From the right, this guy comes dashing in, wearing this skin-tight rubber, black and gold suit, and starts chasing him away." Phoenix Jones has been crime fighting for the past nine months and he takes his role very seriously. In November, Jones spoke with the Seattle Post-Intelligencer about his qualifications. He said he understands that with great power comes great responsibility.
"I don’t condone people walking around on the street with masks. Everyone on my team either has a military background or a mixed martial arts background, and we’re well aware of what it costs to do what we do." Yes, there is a team. The team makes up the Rain City Superhero Movement, a group of nine disguised defenders dedicated to ridding the city of crime. Despite the stabbing and the nose breaking, he stated that most perpetrators flee when they see him. "When I walk into a neighborhood, criminals leave because they see the suit. I symbolize that the average person doesn’t have to walk around and see bad things and do nothing."
Last weekend, he was also held at gunpoint during the same altercation that left him with a broken nose. But it hasn’t seemed to slow him down. "I endanger my life with a reason and a purpose," he says. The police in Seattle are less than thrilled with Phoenix Jones and his cohorts. Phoenix believes the attack wasn’t a big deal, but police feel otherwise. "They insert themselves into a potentially volatile situation and then they end up being victimized as well," Seattle Police Detective Mark Jamieson said.
Police worry Phoenix’s recent taste of fame has pushed him to put himself in harm’s way. He has been featured on international news shows, and said he declined offers from the Discovery Channel, MTV and A&E to be in a reality TV series. People on the street stop him and ask him for autographs, but Phoenix said that’s not what motivates him. "I train for these situations," he said. "I don’t just come out willy nilly and run out on the streets."
No, they are not ‘super heroes’ and they should be ashamed for daring to call themselves this way. First they’re not ‘super’, they are human. Yet they may be super brave or super naive… Then they are not ‘heroes’. Who could be so pretentious to call himself a hero ??The right term for that is vigilante.
I don’t have a problem with that, as long as they don’t publicize their masked persona and exert some kind of stealth and discretion in their actions.