Introducing: The Superhero Complex

When darkness falls over Seattle, a masked crusader emerges from the shadows. His name? Phoenix Jones – a charismatic cage fighter, hell-bent on ridding the streets of criminals. Welcome to the world of real life superheroes: ordinary people who put on outrageous costumes and head out to fight crime. Phoenix’s team of superhero sidekicks have all turned against him. They say he’s no hero and in 2020, it’s Phoenix who finds himself on the wrong side of the law. So is Phoenix a model citizen fighting for a better world? Or is he a fraudster who used a superhero identity to disguise his own crimes? Journalist David Weinberg sets out on a wild journey to find out.

The Superhero Complex is produced by Novel for iHeartRadio.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
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

(00:22):
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.

(00:48):
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

(01:08):
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

(01:30):
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.

(01:54):
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

(02:20):
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

(02:42):
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

(03:03):
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

(03:25):
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

(03:47):
your podcasts.