Around two thousand and nine, the rumors started to spread stories of a masked vigilante jumping out of the shadows to help the citizens of Seattle. A guy in a skin tight rubber suit, tall and pretty ripped. He wore a hooded rubber mask that covered his eyes like the Batman cowl. He had black gloves and a black chest plate molded into a six pack with a gold chevron
across the chest. One night, a guy named Dan was walking through a parking lot in downtown Seattle when he came upon a menacing looking dude trying to break into a car. Dan pulled out his phone to call nine one, but before he could reach the police, something totally insane happened. The masked man emerged from the shadows and chased the would be car thief away. Someone else said the guy in the costume stopped mugging. Another person saw him break up a fight outside a bar. There were more and
more encounters like this. It became clear the rumors were true. There was a dark knight out there patrolling the streets of Seattle, and he called himself Phoenix Jones. I am a superhero. I'm the world's first legally defined superhero. I'm David Weinberg in my new podcast series The Superhero Complex from the teams at Novel and I Heart Radio. I want to take you on a wild journey into the
world of real life superheroes. All over the world, there are people who put on costumes and head out into the streets to fight crime, and the most legendary of them all is Phoenix Jones. I am just a crime fighter. I just happen to have a freaking Dobeufin. Phoenix and his crew sidekicks, the Rain City Superheroes, patrolled the streets of Seattle. Their goal was to strike fear into the hearts of Seattle's criminals. I've been in seventeen knifelights, and
I've taken down six gunmen. I stopped a sex trafficking ring. I technically stopped a Homelight act of terror, but in it was Phoenix who found himself on the wrong side of the law, caught with four grams of suspected cocaine. I've spent months getting to know these self proclaimed superheroes, and in this bizarre world, what's real is never that certain? Like are they actually heroes in the first place? When you're in a cult. You don't necessarily understand you're in
a cult. This is the mafia. This is what a mafia does. Is Phoenix a model citizen standing up for justice or is he a misguided vigilante who used his superhero persona to get away with his own crimes. He pawned a bunch of team equipment for drugs. He's a master gas lighter. Phoenix Stones is a liar. As I try to find out, they'll be danger and heartbreak, friendship and betrayal, and like any self respecting superhero story, a good chase scene here and there. This is what cromefighters do.
We run on buildings, we swinging from ropes like I'm ready, you know? So, how about we fire up the Batmobile and take it for a spin. And if you're like me, maybe you'll come out on the other side of this questioning your own beliefs about who the real heroes are. I'm a trained warrior, I'm not playing the game. Listen to The Superhero Complex starting on April five on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.