What We Can Learn from the Real-Life Superhero Movement

Throughout the United States, individuals and politicians in metropolitan areas are calling for abolishing their police. This raises many questions: will it be on individuals to defend themselves, and, more importantly, will they be allowed to do so under the law? Will social workers be expected to save people from assailants, murderers, and rapists?

Will ordinary people rise up and stand up for those who can’t?

Such deliberations can be depressing; after all, we live in a world where people will stand by, doing nothing (or recording) while someone mere feet away from them is brutally beaten. This happened exactly, back in March, when one man attacked another on a crowded subway. We of course have video footage of this, and proof that no one dared to intervene, even when the victim’s body convulses with every punch, and the assailant walks off, free of consequences as the victim’s body drops to the ground, seemingly lifeless. It’s appalling to see how little we care for others, how there’s no loyalty to our fellow countryman, and how unwilling we are to risk our own well-being to protect the innocent.

It was this exact sentiment that gave rise, albeit temporarily, to a movement of Real-Life Superheroes. This movement consisted of individuals who wanted to embody the spirit of superheroes we see in fiction; that which we’d do well with in our world today.

Though it should go without saying, vigilantism is not condoned. No one person should be judge, jury, and executioner; and it’s not the same as standing up to someone’s defense when you see them being abused or assaulted. If we are to believe that a classically liberal justice system works, or is worthwhile, we must work to amend the system we currently have, so it can resemble that which is ideal.

While Phoenix Jones was not the first real-life superhero, he is arguably one of the more famous ones. His life’s origin is also reminiscent of something you’d read in a comic book.

Jones was born Benjamin Fordo to criminal parents and was the middle child of his family of five. He was the only one to have been sent to a Texas orphanage from the time he was a baby until age five, when he was returned to live with his father and siblings. Two years later, Jones’ father was killed, trying to rob a convenience store, and Jones was sent back to an orphanage, later to be adopted by a Seattle family at age nine. When Jones moved into his permanent home (the orphanage had him spend half his time with the new family and the other half at the orphanage) he began training in martial arts, receiving his black belt by the time he turned 14.

As an adult, he would live through an experience that would spur him to become a real-life superhero. One night in the summer of 2010, someone broke into his car, leaving shattered glass on the floor, where his stepson would gash his knee.

When retelling the incident, Jones said, “I got tired of people doing things that are morally questionable. Everyone’s afraid. It just takes one person to say, ‘I’m not afraid.’ And I guess I’m that guy.” 

Picking up the mask that the robber had left in the car, he would repurpose it into his own mask, which he used to become something else: Phoenix Jones. ‘Jones’ because it’s one of the most common surnames in the US, and ‘Phoenix’ to convey the idea of the common man rising from society’s ashes.

The movement didn’t begin - or end - with Jones, but it’s easy to think of it as something centering around Jones. He was, at the very least, one of the most enthusiastic members, gaining fame among those in the real-life superhero community, and within his own community too.

The beginning of the movement allegedly stretches back to the 1980s - with the publishing of a book called How To Be A Superhero by someone going by the name “Night Rider”. Some years after its publishing, a new hero called “Master Legend” emerged. Hailing from Louisiana, he is regarded for his eccentricity, but also his heroism and the apparent desire to actually do good for others. Phoenix Jones said about him in 2011: “He's always drinking. He believes he was born wearing a purple veil and has died three times. But he does great deeds of heroism. He once saw someone try to rape a girl, and he beat the guy so severely he ended up in a hospital for almost a month. He's an enigma."

Since the emergence of “Master Legend,” many other individuals have been inspired to become real life superheroes, doing good deeds in the form of volunteering or bringing awareness to issues in their communities. These individuals’ personas were photographed in the style of cinematic heroes, and their good deeds were documented. Some even formed groups - kind of like the Justice League or Avengers; Phoenix Jones was a part of the Rain City Superheroes: heroes like him, based out of Seattle.

While the movement began with the best of intentions, it would not last forever, seeing how in the current day and age, people will stand idly by while others are viciously attacked.

Jones would announce the disbandment of the Rain City Superheroes in 2014:

“I really thought that having a large group of civilian crime fighters was a good idea…. I was wrong. It takes a certain type of person to do this job correctly, and unfortunately, I have inspired, work with, and even taught some of the wrong kinds of people. As of today, the Rain City Superhero Movement."

The Rain City Superhero Movement ended in 2014, and the Real Life Superhero project, while still accessible on the web without the help of the Wayback Machine, has not been updated since 2011. It’s unclear if all the individuals are continuing on with their works of heroism. In the case of Super Hero, he tragically ended his own life in the summer of 2020; leaving behind an admirable legacy of helping others, visiting children in the hospital, looking out for others, and wanting to leave a positive impact on their lives.

Furthermore, Phoenix Jones continued to make the news in recent years with his encounters with the law, demonstrating that at the end of the day, people are still fallible. His true identity became known to the public after breaking up a fight (which wasn’t actually a fight) in 2011, and he ended up arrested for selling drugs to an undercover policeman in 2019.

Some questions remain, ten years after any official documentation around the Real Life Superhero Project. Can the movement be picked up again? Should that even be done?

I may be biased. When I was a little girl, my dream profession was “superhero” and I looked up to the Justice League Trinity (Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman). I look at this movement and I can’t help but feel it’s a very good thing that at least at one point, ordinary people wanted to strive for something that we see in fiction: that which is larger than life and, at the end of the day, altruistic and self-sacrificing.

But reality is harsh; even harsher than the world of DC or Marvel comics. Every day, people are living through hell on earth. Millions of Uyghur Muslims are tortured, killed, and raped in internment camps in Xinjiang, China - even though after WWII, we said “never again.” I guess that only applies to governments that we’re not financially tied to, in some way.

Every day, governments around the world continue to sell out their people for the sake of officials’ self interests. Injustice is done, over and over again, and it’s only called out when it’s politically or financially convenient. Even when it is called out, we’re divided by politicians, celebrities, and the media, and given solutions that don’t solve the underlying problems our society faces.

There are villains everywhere, and they get away with every kind of atrocious thing they do. At the end of the day, there is no man of steel, no warrior princess, and no brooding billionaire out to prevent what happened to him happening to anyone else. Even if there was a chance at physically stopping evil, how long would anyone be able to do that for? Phoenix Jones quit in part because of the massive toll his body had taken in just a few years.

Perhaps the answer doesn’t lie in many individuals dressing as their own persona and fighting crime or evil in their own way. In times like these I find myself turning to V for Vendetta and admiring the scene where seemingly every person in London dons the Guy Fawkes mask. And it moves me, because at the moment that seems like something so far-off, even though it’s not physically impossible for people to come together for a purpose that’s bigger than themselves.

The system is rigged because of people that got too drunk off power, and because of that standard persisting for too long. The only way we can fight this is to strike fear into the void that would house the system’s heart - if it had one - in the form of unity; to toss aside the things that make us different and hold each other accountable to uphold what is morally right. If one person stood up and tried to fight the assailant attacking the man on the New York Subway, and if he or she yelled to others, “Why the hell are you just standing there?” then maybe we could start holding each other to a higher standard: one which is centered around self-sacrifice. When it’s us against systems that are so averse to representing us or our well being, we must either join together, or die.

Luna Salinas is a US-based contributor for Lotuseaters.com with a focus on culture and society, and how they directly influence politics. She turned to writing in order to join the fight against misinformation, and in order to provide a voice that perhaps other young women could relate to. Her favorite drink is either pinot noir or whiskey, and her favorite view is one with mountains and forests.