From his formidable body armor (“It’s kind of a hodgepodge”), to his daunting pinhole goggles (“It definitely takes some adjusting to,” he admits), everything about him is extreme. Like his belief in the power of the individual. His engaging at every level in the affairs and well-being of his community. Or his passion for preventing violent crime—and easing the suffering of its victims. Because while he may have derived his basic inspiration from the comic books, TV shows and movies every Superhero cites, the deeper reasons for his taking to the streets are intensely personal.

“I’ve been a volunteer crime-fighter for more than 10 years now,” he says, “but the thing that really made me get involved in this is that I myself have been a victim of violent crime and have also come from a struggling background. I’ve been jumped by gang members, bullied at school…,” he pauses for just a moment, “and I was molested as a child,” he reveals. But from the gauntlet of those experiences, Mr. Xtreme was born. “I wanted to do something positive, heroic and also as a way of protest against indifference in society. People are being victimized, and I feel that someone has to take a stand. Someone has to stand up and put a stop to it.”

To that end, he formed The Xtreme Justice League, and together with other like-minded Real Life Superheroes in the southernmost part of his state, goes on patrols, participates in outreach efforts to boost volunteerism in his neighborhood, and looks to make his city a safer place all around. “We’re a tight-knit group of guys who get together several times a week, sometimes two of us, sometimes by myself, and sometimes there’s more of us for special events like when we did a big homeless outreach at ComiCon here in San Diego, or went up to L.A. for the AIDS Walk with Team Being Alive.” And while the efforts of his Xtreme Justice League may not always meet with stunning success (“some are outright failures,” he says candidly), there are some initiatives that Mr. Xtreme can point to with a justifiable sense of pride.

“I’ve actually saved a life volunteering, so I know from true experience that what we do is very valuable and meaningful. If I was not there, this person might not have lived. So even if some people might think it’s ridiculous, I know it’s not.”

Still, Mr. Xtreme sometimes does have to face his doubters. “There are gonna be people who are receptive, and others who are gonna be against it, and others who just don’t care. I just want to get out there and do it. I’m not going to change who I am, so they can accept that this is who we are and what we do, or they can take it or leave it. Hey, I could wear a three piece suit there’s still gonna be people who are skeptical,” he states.

“I think the most misunderstood part of what I do with The Xtreme Justice League is saying that we’re vigilantes. We’re not that, we don’t violate people’s rights and we’re not here to look for fights. We’re here to prevent crime and empower people to prevent it themselves by being seen. We’re showing the community that they can take a stand, not be prisoners in their own communities,” he continues. “This is what you can legally do to prevent crime. Yeah, we draw on the influence from those fictional comic book vigilantes, but we know what’s real. What we can and can’t do.”

And the one thing Mr. Xtreme knows for sure is that at the end of every day, there is a new one. And a chance to get out and try again.

Join Mr.Xtreme in supporting Chelsea’s Light Foundation:
www.chelseaslight.org

Mr. Xtreme’s Pictures:

Learn more about Mr. Xtreme on his profile.

“I was never really a comic book aficionado,” the Los Angeles-based hero explains, by way of an origin story, “I know the basics, but that world isn’t really my thing. Maybe because I’m rather skeptical about the whole notion of ‘super powers,’” he says. Yet still, the theatricality of the Superhero community drew him in. “Earlier on in my career, I gave patrolling a try, trying to be more aware of the need for outreach, trying to fight crime, but after awhile, I felt I was kind of aimlessly looking for good deeds to do. But it did lead me more toward what I am now doing.”

And what he is doing now, is exploring paranormal phenomena, that which is often “hidden in plain view,” and causing an individual great, unseen pain. Fascinated from a young age with the supernatural, Ragensi recalls a moment in the 2nd grade when he became lost in a library, and was entertained for hours by books about monsters, aliens and spirits—and developed “a love for anything where there’s more going on than what’s at face value.” Possessed of no psychic skills or “sixth sense,” Ragensi works by exploring and researching such phenomena as poltergeists, “cursed objects,” ghostly sightings, and the like, in a traditional “gumshoe” manner—all in an attempt to comfort someone’s suffering. “I came to realize that I function best in a more controlled environment than the streets. A client comes to me with a task, and I can help. It’s not so much a quest for me, as it is something I just feel compelled to do,” he explains.

A seeker on many levels, Ragensi is a fan of Objectivist writer Ayn Rand, and the notion she advances that people have direct contact with reality through sense perception, and can attain objective knowledge from it.
“But subjective experiences count as well,” he adds, “sometimes, the only tangible evidence we have is the individual.” Such as when a client comes to him looking for relief from hearing unusual sounds, “You’ll often find that the week before they saw UFO-shaped lights in the sky, ghosts following them around—all these other strange phenomena that go with it. That’s when you know these are not isolated incidents, these kind of phenomena are linked,” he says. And often that link is a surface manifestation of something much deeper, and much more frightening.

“The ‘occult’ is a broad term, but in its simplest form, it means ‘hidden.’ And it’s our hidden desires, feelings and emotions that if we don’t express them, turn corrosive, and eat us from the inside,” he continues. “And the paranormal episodes people often experience come about because those secrets have eaten away at their souls, and they’re hollow,” he asserts. “I care about justice for the individual, and I like to feel I have compassion for these people. Even if what’s happening to them isn’t ‘real,’ it’s real to them. And they deserve an unbiased ear. That’s what I’m about.”

Ragensi welcomes your support of Breast Cancer Care Services:
www.BustedFoundation.org

Ragensi’s Pictures:

1 billion people worldwide don’t have access to clean water. That’s 3x the population of the U.S.

Look at that number again: 1,000,000,000.

In terms of world health, more than 3.6 million people die each and every year, simply because they don’t have access to clean water. To drink. To cook with. To wash themselves. In fact, 80% of all illness and disease around the globe is caused by lack of sanitation and unsafe water.

In Liberia, where Lion Heart works tirelessly to educate his fellow villagers, thousands of school days are lost every year because kids are spending at least four hours a day hauling clean water back home from distant sources. If that well was in their own village, they could be spending that time building a brighter future for themselves and their countrymen.

Because truth is, clean water is a catalyst for growth in Liberia. Precious household income is often spent on providing clean water and medical treatment for conditions arising from water-related illness, rather than on school fees or food. That makes it hard for a “developing nation” to develop.

And the toll on women and children is particularly rough. Carrying water, a task often left to the women of the villages Lion Heart serves, can result in permanent damage to women’s health, both in terms of daily living through chronic fatigue and muscular complications, as well as their reproductive systems. And of the 9,800 deaths that occur every day, a whopping 84% are in kids under the age of 14.

And now you have the power to turn those numbers around. Because by clicking here: https://mygenerositywater.org/rlsh, and donating as little as $10, you can join Lion Heart and all the Real Life Superheroes in digging a well in Liberia.

Yes, there are many urgent and important issues that we face every day, many right at our own front doors. But it is our belief that making clean, safe drinking water available to everyone, everywhere is the first, crucial step in making our world a better place.

“When spider webs unite,” goes an African proverb, “you can catch a lion.” This is the first initiative of The Real Life Superhero Project, calling on our fans and followers to come together in action. We are partnering in this venture with Generosity Water, a leader in the creation of these wells and cisterns around the world, dedicated to ending the clean water crisis in developing countries, one community at a time. Through innovative awareness campaigns, strategic implementation and in depth accountability, over 199 projects in 17 countries around the world have come to fruition under the aegis of Generosity Water as of March 2011.

This is the time to be real. To be super. And make your donation now at https://mygenerositywater.org/rlsh. Because as another African proverb goes, “If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping in a closed room with a mosquito.”

After reading about the Real Life Superhero movement online in articles that featured such prominent community members as San Diego, California’s Mr. Extreme and Orlando, Florida’s Master Legend, Barnett’s interest was piqued. Having built a career around commercials and music videos, he felt that the Superheroes might have made for a good first feature with a cool pop-cultural edge. “I had no idea this ‘movement’ even existed,” he says, “but after doing some research, I went to my producer, (Theodore James), and said ‘This could be it.’ So we went down to San Diego and met Extreme.” And that’s where Barnett’s journey makes its critical turn.

“When we started I thought ‘Hey there were people running around in costumes fighting crime how great is that?’ But what I found was something much more than a great piece of pop culture, something so much more human—a deeply human story about people who often have very limited resources, but are real and ready to do anything they can to make the world a better place. It’s the direct the opposite of apathy, in fact. I mean, why do these people do this, even if it means becoming victims of ridicule? It’s just so noble.”

“You know, it’s kind of hard to look back now at what my original intentions were,” he continues. “What I learned was that the world of Real Life Superheroes isn’t a ‘community’ in any kind of unified sense. They are very much individuals. What I discovered was that every one is motivated by something else—for some it’s therapy, for some a deep need to connect to the world around them, for people to care for one another… but the thing I like is that whatever their reasons may be, here is this mass of people with different approaches, all doing one thing: Working to change the world around them, and hoping to inspire others to do the same.”

But perhaps the biggest revelation for Barnett was more personal than professional. “Making this film has had a deeply profound effect on my life,” he says. “I spent the last year wandering skid rows in the darkest places in America, in every major city, walking through tunnels of homeless people… I get emotional thinking about how it’s affected me. Look, we all know the homeless exist, but you have no idea until you really see it—it’s sickening—and it’s the most important thing these guys do. Crime fighting is good, but I was most affected being in New York City, seeing Superheroes like Life, talking, touching, listening to these men and women—taking the time with someone who’s been stripped of everything, just to bring them some genuine human contact. I realize I still need some time, to get some perspective on how this will manifest in my life, but I am very aware of just how profound this experience, this year in my life has been.”

And how does he expect his own personal revelation to affect those seeing this film, these Real Life Superheroes, in action, up close and personal? “I hope that people take from this film that it doesn’t matter who you are or where you’re at—do something, anything, help anybody in any way you can, and it will make you feel better. It’s like Thanatos says, if everybody in their community did one thing to help another person, it’s like ripples on a pond. It will change the world. These heroes can capture the imagination of the American people and make us more inspired, less apathetic about our lives. Their adopted personae make people listen and suddenly care. I hope that message gets put to good use.

“Just stop, just care about each other.”

Learn more about Michael Barnett’s film “Superheroes” at:
www.superheroesthemovie.com

“Superheroes” 1-sheet:

There are no tourists or sightseers there, no casual passersby. No, this is where the city has rounded up and corralled the disenfranchised, the disillusioned, the despairing men and women for whom life holds little hope beyond the next fix. And there, in that devastating mix of the half-waking, half-dead, Thanatos makes his rounds. Delivering his “bundles” of plastic sheets to protect against the cold and rain, dry socks, jars of peanut butter and jam, perhaps a can of meat that can be opened by hand—the most basic of basic human necessities.

“I’ve always been a person who steps in and does something when it needs to be done,” he says, “I saw that these people had nothing better to live for, something needed to happen, something had to change.”

In return, his “Friends,” the addicts and dealers, prostitutes and pimps, runaways and the homeless he meets, talk to him candidly about their lives. He asks them about their circumstances, their needs, and they answer him back. “They’re not stupid,” he says, “they have well-thought out solutions for the problems of people on the street. I don’t judge, I just try to help.”

The name Thanatos comes from ancient Greek mythology, the personification of Death itself, a rather dark choice for someone who leaves such light in his wake. “I have taken on the persona of death,” Thanatos explains, “because I was told by a police officer that all the people living on the street had nothing better to look forward to than death. So if that’s the case, maybe death ought to start taking care of these people—and it might send a message. They’re getting it, they’re getting the message.” And through it all, an unusual metamorphosis has taken place, leading to the blurring of the line between the man he was born, and the Real Life Superhero he’s become. In his words, “I find that the ‘me’ is starting to become more of a mask I wear, and Thanatos is more and more of what I truly am.”

And as he remains locked in war—a war against apathy, against drug abuse, against chronic homelessness—he recognizes that he alone cannot win the war, just the battles. And he doesn’t expect to remain in this fight all by himself. “If one person can do this, we can get ten more, then we get ten more, and so forth. We can make a real and lasting difference in a bad part of town. I do what I can, and hope it inspires other people to say ‘I can do something, too.’”

Thanatos is an advocate for Easter Seals Vancouver. Learn more by visiting:
www.easterseals.ca/english/

Thanatos’s Pictures:

Nyx made her initial, tentative steps into the movement at 16, after considering it for many years (during which time she frequently changed her name—from “Hellcat” to “Felinity” to “Sphynx,” before setting on her present moniker—“I had a penchant for name changes,” she says, simply). A series of life-changing events came to provide her with a new perspective, and helped crystallize her goals. After discovering the active online Real Life Superhero community in 2006, and visiting New York to meet up with her online confidantes on her first patrol in March of 2007, the die was cast.

Contemplative and highly-intuitive, Nyx possesses a deep respect for any and all who are willing to step up, stand out and come to the aid and defense of those in need. Lessons she learned from her greatest hero, her mother. “Whenever I go looking for the best parts of myself, I always find her there. I want to live the life she never had. I live for her name.”

To that end, Nyx concentrates her efforts on behalf of those society has forgotten or worse yet, are made too uncomfortable to acknowledge, the homeless. “There’s a huge homeless population in New Jersey,” she says, “and I found I couldn’t just sit idly by.” Recognizing that poor people must often make hard choices between housing, food, child care, health care and education, she knew she had to act “Being poor means being an illness, an accident or a paycheck away from living on the streets,” she says, “and that makes the homeless easy targets on many levels.” Which is why she feels the strong need to protect these vulnerable individuals any way she can, from car patrols to foot patrols, to anonymous reporting to the city police department.

Nyx also recognizes that as a Real Life Superhero, she is part of a collective largely dominated by men, who, while acting on their best altruistic impulses, may also have a tendency to overlook and undervalue the efforts of their female counterparts. “We can do just as good a job,” she points out, “so it’s important to be viewed as a person, not just some chick.”

And she’d like to see more outreach to women, who she believes have much to offer the movement. “You have the power to shape your life, your life is your own. I take that to heart, knowing that I can own my life and make it good—and make it good for others as well.”

Nyx welcomes your support of the National Association of the Deaf:
www.nad.org

Nyx’s Pictures:

“I stumbled across the Superhero community by accident several years ago,” he explains. “I started to write a comic book with a friend, working by sending our stuff back and forth.” Once he reviewed all the material they had created, he did some reevaluation, thinking there had to be a more realistic way to portray their protagonist. “I thought, ‘Let’s throw out the whole Bruce Wayne-type of thing, and instead consider what would a college student with limited resources do?’ That’s when I found some early Superhero websites, and I made contact with some people.”

Putting his writing project on hold to take a job as a firefighter—a first responder—on a military-support contract in Iraq, he gradually resumed his interest in the movement. “When I started researching this stuff again, I looked at tactical websites and gear, and I grew worried that some of these guys were gonna get hurt. With what I knew about public safety, I thought I could be a resource, so in early 2008 I joined the Heroes Network.”

He next sought to create the first manual for Superheroes. “That’s like why I got into it in the first place,” he says, “there’s no definitive guide or rule book, so I figured I’d throw some comments out here, and see what happened.” What happened was a significant step forward for the community—and Knight Owl’s role within it. His site covered basic rescue and recovery techniques and considerations, conscious of the safety of the “first responder.” Travels overseas caused him to set the work aside for a time, but having recently returned to the Pacific Northwest, he’s ready to begin again. “I need to get back in there and get it back up to par. I want to restructure the website to incorporate more modern rescue techniques, with the added benefit of medical training I’ve had, and get these facts to all the Real Life Superheroes out there,” he continues.

Trained as an emergency medical technician (EMT), Knight Owl is currently working toward his certification as a paramedic. As his studies progress, he’s focusing his activities on “more humanitarian stuff, like patrols and handouts,” than the kind of action he saw in the Middle East (“This isn’t a job for an adrenaline junkie,” he notes). And while he’s “not big on organizational stuff,” he’s also taken on further responsibilities as an administrator on RealLifeSuperheroes.org. “I try and be as humble as I can and not overplay my role in the community,” he reminds, probably more for himself than anyone else.

“I’m back home trying to pick up where I left off, to get more training at my krav maga studio, hitting the ground running full speed ahead,” he states. “We are not role-players and this is not pretend. My mission is basically what falls in line with firefighting and EMT—you do the best you can to alleviate pain and suffering, and maybe even, save someone’s life.” That’s the kind of “first” that truly means everything.

Join Knight Owl in his support of Heifer International at:
http://heifer.org

Knight Owl’s Picture:

A Real Life Superhero living and working in Massachusetts, Civitron is an “artistic representation of self, a father, family man, and creative director of socially-conscious events and projects.” Much like a hip-hop artist will adopt a stage name and persona, Civitron exists as “my ambassador to the world and a symbol of creative altruism,” he says, while still allowing him a comfortable level of anonymity. “Instead of fighting ‘crime,’ I seek justice,” he continues, “I prefer direct social and emotional contact with the public as opposed to sticking to the shadows.”

And stepping out of those shadows allows him to engage in a wide range of activities including street patrols, homeless outreach, community clean-ups, and Boston-based Project Bread’s annual Walk for Hunger, as well as hosting a series of ongoing events bringing together all facets of the arts and altruism, featuring live music, community art projects, and offering information about volunteer opportunities within his city. “I endeavor to create a positive male role model for young people to explore their community and use their own unique abilities to ‘be the change they wish to see in the world’.” He calls it “living your truth.”

And Civitron is living his truth by challenging all of us to be the heroes he knows we can be. To that end, he launched “The Heroic 100,” in the summer of 2010, an online project designed to “promote personal truth and exploration through self-expression and creative activism.” The website asks visitors to develop and share their own ideas for making the world a better place, in order to strengthen their communities—and inspire the real-life superhero inside each of us. New challenges are issued every day for 100 days, and range from multi-day efforts like seeking out and volunteering at a local soup kitchen, to simpler one-offs, such as reading to a child in your life. Project participants are then asked to document their works, in all forms of media, from drawings or paintings, to essays and articles, or even in poetry or song. Oftentimes, suggestions are made as to which medium might work best for a particular challenge on the list. The goal behind it all is to then post those submissions for the world to see—and become inspired to try it for themselves. “I created the ‘Heroic 100’ to help me understand who Civitron really is, and at the end of the day, what my place is in the world.”

Ultimately, it all comes down to family, which he cites as a “constant source” of inspiration. “As I move forward, I see myself sort of working from that perspective more and more,” says Civitron, “What appeals to my son, what’s important to him in his life, and what he needs to grow up to become a superhero in his own right.”

Learn more about The Heroic 100 at:
www.heroic100.org
And join Civitron in supporting Project Bread:
www.projectbread.org
… and the AS220 Community Print Shop:
www.as220.org

Civitron’s Pictures:

Phantom Zero’s journey began in a densely populated, highly urbanized town across the river from New York City. There he went on regular patrols, and came to realize that the local police were doing a fine job of keeping the neighborhood safe. His focus then shifted upon moving to a smaller town in Central New Jersey, and he now devotes most of his energies to working one-on-one, helping often random people through their personal crises, steering them toward resources or organizations to further them along their journeys. “Being a Real Life Superhero is a way that I can be someone better than I ever thought I could be,” he explains. “We forget the bad parts of who we are, dropping the reminders of our identities which are painful, compensating for our flaws and the ‘shadow aspect’ of ourselves,” a Jungian concept that suggests the “darkness” in man’s soul is also the fount of genuine creativity.

“For me, “ he says, “it was the recognition that it’s all been a learning process, every aspect of being a Superhero is learning. One thing I think I should stress is, that as a Real Life Superhero, I don’t have any sort of formal training in anything. Anything. I’ve had to pick up what I can do, what is a reputable charity, and the like, on my own. It’s been very enlightening in more than an academic sense, picking up certain skills, picking up bits of wisdom, learning about problems people have, problems that we all face. It’s like opening up your eyes to what’s going on in the world.”

Though he wears a striking black and white costume (with a shock of red), to conceal and protect his real identity, he also does so out of a life-long love of all things theatrical, including make-up, props and illusion–and in the process, has created a new, anonymous-yet-recognizable representation of his individualistic expression. And often that expression comes in the form of the written word. “I have a lot on my mind, and I usually do a lot of writing. It’s a way for me to put order into things. It’s also a bridge to help make others understand what I’m thinking, to make those thoughts accessible from other perspectives.” Again, sharing the journey. And the knowledge he collects along the way.

“When we lose the sense of what makes us human, he lose rational thoughts along with it—at which point evil takes over, and we do monstrous things,” he says. To combat that, when newcomers to the Superhero movement seek him out for advice, he offers his own perspective, gained from his constant quest for intellectual stimulation. “Go out there and have the courage to try something, to go out and do it. You can look to the luminaries and learn from them, but understand that every individual has something to offer. Find what’s yours and share it with the world. Life is not worth living unless you can laugh, love and feel.”

Share Phantom Zero’s quest for knowledge here:
www.americares.org
www.charitynavigator.org

Phantom Zero’s Pictures: