For a public library in a Wyoming "city" of 15,000, my local library acquires some interesting new material. I've just watched a documentary film I checked out from the library on DVD, titled "Superheroes" which has the promotional line, "What if superheroes were real?" The film deals with individuals who dress up in costumes and fight crime (sort of).
I've been aware of the concept of "real life superheroes" since I first saw a photograph of Captain Sticky in an issue of Cavalier magazine back in 1966 or 1967, but other than a brief interview with the Road Ranger (a man who dressed very much like the Lone Ranger and drove around on the freeways of a Texas city and helped motorists who had had flat tires, broken fanbelts, and other mechanical problems) on television news back in the seventies, I had never heard any of the self-styled real-life superheroes say anything about why they were doing what they were doing. "Superheroes" has extended interviews with individuals like Mr. Xtreme, Master Legend, Zimmer, Chiam, Vigilante Spider, Thanatos, the Urban Avenger, and Dark Guardian, as well as short clips of at least a dozen other masked men and women, police officers who have strong opinions about these urban vigilantes, and a psychiatrist who thinks the real-life superhero experience is good therapy. I wasn't terribly surprised when Stan Lee also turned up with a few comments (his chief concern was that people who have no real super powers who wish to confront real life criminals could be seriously injured). In fact, Stan Lee was the only one to mention Captain Sticky, the grandfather of real-life superheroes. I was disappointed that there was no mention of the Road Ranger or the Mexican social activist and mascadoro, Super-Barrio, or any attempt to create any sort of comprehensive history for the movement (or whatever).
Certain patterns emerge among the masked men, which include obsession, childhood abuse, low self-esteem, wish fulfillment, and alienation. For the most part, the individuals take themselves quite seriously, have few friends, and no other outside interests beyond their unusual hobbies. There are exceptions, like Master Legend (who claims to have been a real-life superheroes since he was eight years old and beat up the school bully while he was wearing a disguise) who has a natural gift for being intentionally hilarious, the man and wife team of Z and Apocalypse Meow who are more interested in promoting certain charities, and a super-hero "team" (The Black Monday Society) in Salt Lake City composed of partners in a Tattoo Shop and their friends who seem more like an unusually dressed fraternal group.
The norm for a real-life superhero appears to be a young adult male who lives alone in a city, works a low paying unskilled job, feels a strong need to "do good" and goes on foot patrols, sometimes nightly, in some sort of a home made costume. He is generally known by the police and his activities are tolerated but not encouraged. He has no super-powers, but likely does carry some legal self-defense weapon like mace or a taser or a baton or a squirt gun filled with ammonia water. He likely has had a bit of martial arts training but may not have progressed beyond brown belt status. He may have first aid training and he probably carries a cell phone so he can call 911. he probably thinks society is going to hell in a handbasket and he wants to do something about it. He is not afraid of ridicule and he probably likes attention. He is unlikely to make a dent in crime or even place a petty criminal under citizen's arrest, but he has a good chance of doing something that will help a stranger in a time of crisis.
First time film maker, Michael Barnett, treats the real-life superheroes with respect and sympathy and he has made an attempt to include the views of peace officers who are critical of the volunteers (and a few who admire their idealism and see them as public relations resources), and the parts of the documentary I found the most interesting dealt with the relatives of Mr. Xtreme, who did not approve of what he was doing; a patrol by by a three man and one woman "super-team" during which they render aid to a homeless man who has had his foot run over by a drunken driver (one of the team is studying to be an EMT), then track down the drunken driver, call the cops, who show up and leave without doing anything, then take the keys away from the drunk, and promise to mail them to him the next morning (they keep their promise), the juxtapositioning of interview clips of a female safety office who calls the R-L SHs, "a potential menace at the worst and pests at the best," with interview clips of a female psychiatrist who explains how the R-L SHs are acting on altruistic instincts and are liberating their alter-egos by wearing costumes; an interview with an obviously very wealthy R-L SH who owns and drives a very expensive custom made super-mobile who confesses that he likes the reaction of women to his super-mobile and his costime; a rather frightening interview with an individual who wears a costume that makes him look like a figure from a horror comic who says that he is driven by rage and wants to hurt people who deserve to be hurt; an interesting little clip of one of the rare Real-Life superheroines, who explains that she had been the victim of a violent crime; and footage of Master Legend "patrolling" the mean streets of Clearwater, Florida in his Ford Econoline van with a cooler filled with helados (fruit ice on a stick) and a six pack of Pabst in 30 ounce cans because they are "refreshing beverages" when a man works up a "heroic thirst."
I give "Superheroes" a recommendation, but I wish it had been a little longer and a a bit more focused.
