‘Vigilante justice’: Austria’s Batman & other ‘real superheroes’ patrolling cities (VIDEO, PHOTOS)
A real-life Batman who wrote to an Austrian town mayor complaining of “corrupt bureaucrats” has become something of a local superhero joke.
‘Bruce Wayne’ wrote a follow-up letter to Bad Ischl Mayor, Hannes Heide, for the mayor’s alleged inaction in dealing with drug abuse and addiction in the small town, reports TheLocal.at.
The letter-writer also claimed to be “carrying out vigilante justice” in the town of 13,000 residents.
However, Heide told Vice magazine that, despite Wayne’s best efforts, he has likely worked out which local is sending the letters as one resident is particularly-well known for being a “giant Batman fan.”
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Clearly unafraid of any retaliation from the ‘superhero’, Heide and others began sharing memes on Facebook, guessing who the mystery superhero could be.
However, Austria’s ‘Bruce Wayne’ isn’t the first real-life superhero to take the law into his own hands. There are several superheros the world over who possibly put their lives - and almost certainly their dignity - at risk in the hope of helping their fellow man.
ITS TIME FOR PATROL pic.twitter.com/OASqHdXtT3
— Phoenix Jones (@ThePhoenixJones) March 16, 2015
The self-titled ‘world’s first superhero’, Seattle's ‘Phoenix Jones’ aka Ben Fodor, has been protecting the Washington city’s mean streets since 2011 as the leader of the Rain City Superhero Movement, who act as a crime prevention brigade.
The team aim to intervene in street fights and prevent petty crimes, and have even, on one occasion, attempted to help a man who refused to climb down from an 80ft tree in Seattle’s city center.
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New York’s Chris Pollack, alias the ‘Dark Guardian’, has been foiling muggings and preventing drug deals for several years. He’s so busy, in fact, that he recently held open auditions for other wannabe-superheros to join his quest.
London’s caped crimefighter was first dubbed the ‘Bromley Batman’ by the Evening Standard for reportedly preventing the sexual assault of a woman in Greenwich. Soon after they reported the incident, several other people came forward to say they too had been saved by the masked man. ‘Batman’ eventually told the paper he prefers to be called ‘The Shadow’, but would otherwise prefer to keep his identity secret to protect his family.
Australia also has their version in the appropriately named ‘Captain Australia’, a stay-at-home dad-of-two who patrols Brisbane's streets at night in his signature yellow and green ensemble.
Taking his name from the Greek personification of death, ‘Thanatos’ is Canada’s real-life superhero who - despite his grim appearance - fights poverty by handing out supplies to the homeless in Vancouver. All the while keeping an eye out for crime, of course.
