RL Superheroes?

None of them have been seriously killed or even badly injured. Fact.

Happy?

But are they seriously fighting crime? Emphasis on the word fighting.

I'd like to see one of these RL tights bust up a drug deal in the South Bronx.

No, actually, I wouldn't.

Well no of course they're not, that'd be a pretty stupid thing to do!

They're just keeping an eye out, phoning the police if they see something and on a very rare occasion intervening if its safe to do so. A lot do community work which doesn't really involve any violence whatsoever.

Fiction. People, in general, have been killed intervening in things like domestic abuse, breaking up fights and snitching; in this, costume is irrelevant. Especially in gang and gangster infested areas.

There are risks to 'patrolling' and looking for trouble; no matter what clothes you wear. Police are well aware of those risks and they take greater pains to lessen those risks through training, equipment, communication and strong organization than does the average citizen or wannabe superhero. Does that keep them from dying in the line of duty while 'patrolling'? No.

Does this mean that they can't have fun while feeding the homeless or similar non-aggressive activities? Of course not... but that's not all that these types are doing (or have been doing) since the 70s. (Or the 60s if you want to count the activities Black Panther Party and the Nation of Islam).

There are extremes to this type of behavior; people that see themselves as the police alternative to keeping the streets safe in times of 'breakdown'. Militia groups and the like are common place and hold a completely different approach to community service than well established and qualified NFP groups like The BSA/GSA, Red Cross, local outreach and shelter programs.

I know for a fact, if one of these guys had a habit of being around when people in certain neighborhoods I've been in kept getting busted... it would only be a matter of time [before] their patrol would get cut short in dramatic fashion.

We honestly have no idea what they're doing (only what they admit to doing) and if they weren't expecting physical [confrontation]... they wouldn't be walking around with shields and shock knuckles.

When I was about 10 years old, there was a story of a former Marine (who was also in special forces, I want to say Force Recon, but I don't remember) who went vigilante and actually killed several drug dealers. Haven't heard about the guy since, whether he is alive, incarcerated (for killing dealers) or dead.

I've broken up lots of fights and intervened many times in domestic abuse situations, it was part of the job when I used to work the graveyard shift at a convenience store located between two bars. I guess my 7-11 outfit was sorta a costume. I usually had backup, a bat, and can talk my way out of most situations, so never got hurt, but some co-workers I knew had, they were black belt martial artists so were prone to the violent or threatening solutions first.

I have a friend that's sitting in the pen for manslaughter because he hit a guy, that was trying to break up a fight between him and another guy (over a girl), so hard that the guy went coma, then died a week later.

[My job does not allow us to follow suspected shoplifters beyond the main doors for safety reasons. Domestic violence calls are one of our PDs big cautionaries. People are always advised not to approach fugitives and/or suspected offenders, etc... in short, the authorities would prefer that many, if not most, actions be left to the authorities.]

The main reason I never got hurt was I never had to fight. I usually accesed situations quickly and handled most of them by just talking it out, and other times I had the police on the way before I even approached them. I don't miss the convenience store job (its been over 15 years since I worked in one), but I did gain many of stories from then, and this strange fearlessness around guns. I've had many pointed at me threatingly when I had been working at the store, and a quite a few since, without even a butterfly.

I think one of the reasons Troy has become such a friend to the RL Superhero community might be cause he had worked as a graveyard clerk like I did...so we relate to them.

I just realized from your post it sounds like you're scared for yourself therefore scared for them. Fear is what keeps people from doing the right thing. What if I get hurt? What if I make it worse or there is retaliation? What if I get in trouble? These are questions that run into your mind when put in situations at their most dire.

I've been there, only to end up torturing myself with guilt many times after knowing I could have done more if I didn't let these things get to me. It felt like a part of me was dying each time. Some people come up with excuses after why they don't help to help justify their inactions, but deep down they know that not doing anything was wrong...it's against their core belief system, at least I hope it is.

I'm not among those mentioned that go out in costume looking for trouble, but I can tell you stories of when I didn't help, and I can tell you stories of when I did do something, and some in between. Maybe it's cause of growing up reading comic books and watching superhero cartoons, but helping always felt way better than not. Maybe that's why these people are doing this, they're looking for a way to feel better about themselves, cause they've felt the alternitive. With a costume they can do so as another person, as they don't like what they've seen in themselves or in the others around that persona.

No, not really... I'm usually the guy with the 'White Knight Syndrome' but I know my limitations and I know my environment. I've been a victim both with and without assist; I've even been the aggressor. Most of the people I knew (at one time), however, were the (take no shorts) bad guys and are the reason I would caution people to not be 'thrill seekers' and 'costumed crime fighters'.

I've seen enough people get their faces punched in, property damaged, friends and family harmed and even deaded because they weren't as lucky (and I emphasize that emphatically) as you. Maybe our neighborhoods are different; maybe the people in your area aren't as prone to physically tell people to 'mind their business' as they are in mine. Or maybe I'm just surrounded by too many chemical dependents.

I've even seen people get into legal trouble for 'getting involved' in something that escalated beyond their control.

And I've seen more than my share of would be bad guys get turned into victims in 'vigilant acts'.

I'm glad to see that you've made it this far confronting people at night with a group of friends and a baseball bat but that's not the message that should be going out to people... I've seen both sides and discourage it greatly.


Again, in an age of cell phones and camera surveillance, there is a minimal need for people to wade into the thick of it. Call 9-1-1 from a position of safety if the situation calls for it. Don't let delusional thinking (or arrogance, overconfidence, routine) get you hurt. And don't mislead other people into getting themselves hurt.

And again, every situation is not confrontational or dire; so if 9-1-1 would be overdoing it and wading into the thick of it is not going to cause confrontation; then by all means... close the gap.

But running around with bats, stun knuckles, shields and/or a gang of buddies; trying to look all scary and intimidate people out of doing something is going to get someone hurt; even if it isn't you.

By baseball bat, I meant the one behind the counter at the 7-11 I used to work at, and by backup I mean the police or person I was working with, a 60-year old man (who was usually holding the bat) and/or my friend who worked at the gas station across the street. Most other times that I've helped people outside of the 7-11, I was typically alone and weaponless, unless you count that time I threatened a guy with a crowbar, who at the time was severely beating his girlfriend in a motel parking lot, or that time I stopped a purse snatching by threatening the thief by aiming my car at him and reving the engine.