Superheroes

Well, we were actually out on a patrol.

And I hear a scream in an alley.

We start going into this dark alley. Really dark.

You know, the scream started getting louder...

as we got closer and closer.

The next thing I saw was this woman...

and this guy was stomping on her head.

And I got in front of my partner and just shouted at the guy.

I just said, "Hey!"

And then he bolted so fast.

"Stop, asshole!"

He ducks into another alley.

And we back him up against the wall.

He tries to get past us. My partner says...

"Hey, don't make me take you down."

And I... You know, I had my hands up, open palms...

you know, kind of like a Muay Thai stance.

I just told him, "Hey, man, back up. Don't go no place."

"Just calm down. Stay where you're at."

"And he tried to get past us, but we just tried to..."

"We just blocked him in."

All of a sudden, a squad car comes up.

She puts him in handcuffs, throws him in the back.

And he ended up getting 34 years.

I do not have any superpowers.

Having superpowers...

does not necessarily make you a superhero.

I think it's having super motivation and doing super deeds.

I think that's what makes you a superhero.

"Power Rangers Mystic Force!"

Welcome to the Xtreme Cave.

This is my residence. My apartment.

I do call it the Xtreme Cave because it is where I live.

But it's also where I operate...

the Xtreme Justice League where I do my research...

and where I store my equipment.

Very much into comic books.

I collect comic books. Read them, stare at them.

They are my inspiration.

Obviously, I'm very much into Power Rangers.

Yep. Yeah, they're going to morph.

You can go over some of my book collection...

"Cheap Shots, Ambushes and Other Lessons"...

"One-strike Stopping Power"...

"California Penal Code," "The Criminal Law Handbook"...

"World's Deadliest Fighting Secrets"...

"The Brutal Art of Ripping"...

"Poking and Pressing Vital Targets."

This is a "BOB", or Body Opponent Bag.

It's used by a lot of different martial artists...

martial arts schools.

Start off with a palm strike to the nose...

follow it up by eye gouge...

and then put in an elbow technique to his temple...

another elbow technique...

and then come in here and then boom.

I can even demonstrate some of my techniques...

from my super extreme death metal fighting system.

Man. He's got my arms.

Maybe he's punching me. He's fucking head-butting me.

I got to try to protect my face.

And then boom. I can try to reach for his eyes...

and just scoop them out with my thumb...

and then maybe the other one.

And then maybe I can just...

just grab like...

just pretty much dig my thumbs into his eyes.

And I can just come in with, you know, a bite.

Bitch slap his ass.

Fucking bitch.

I've grown up in a household of abuse, violence.

I was bullied in school.

I myself have been a victim of violent crime...

and I've witnessed all the apathy and all the indifference.

People are just all into themselves.

And I see all this shallowness going around.

I do this to protest...

the things that are just wrong with society.

It just occurs to me...

it's hard to conceive of her running fast in high heels...

and yet I like the idea that...

Because they make the girls' legs look better if they...

If you're on high heels.

What if she...

Would it look too ungainly...

if she wore wedgies? You know what wedgies are?

When I first moved out here, there was a fellow...

who called himself Captain Sticky.

If he felt there was a slum dwelling...

somewhere in the inner city...

and the landlord wasn't giving the tenants hot water...

he'd park his Lincoln Continental in front of the building...

and with a loudspeaker he would denounce the landlord...

and make such a fuss...

that eventually out of embarrassment...

the landlord would turn on the hot water...

or do whatever he did.

And he ran around in this costume with the cloak.

He was a very funny guy.

And he took himself very seriously.

You could have a superhero who's very shy.

You could have a superhero...

who's very forward-going and conceited.

And you could have a superhero...

who's not too bright or one who's brilliant.

Superheroes come in all sizes, shapes and types.

But I'd be a little bit worried...

about somebody with no actual superpower...

who puts on a costume and then runs around...

challenging criminals or people who might be armed.

I figure that person could get hurt.

My name is Zimmer.

I am from Austin, Texas.

And I'm now in Brooklyn, New York.

What's amazing about the real-life superhero experience...

is that you can take everything that's important to you...

and everything that you enjoy doing and incorporate it...

into your persona and your missions.

I care about humanity.

I care about the fact that we're trashing the planet.

I care about the fact...

that most governments...

are very corrupt.

I care that the police are corrupt.

The only way the fabric of humanity is going to change...

and the only way these problems are going to be addressed...

is if someone addresses them.

Thank you.

I came to Brooklyn for a lot of reasons.

There were a lot of people online.

There was a lot of buzz about New York and Brooklyn...

and what could be done in a city...

if there were multiple superheroes in it.

My roommates are superheroes.

I'm currently living with Z. He's from Detroit.

There's TSAF. She's from Detroit as well.

And Lucid, who's really from all over.

This is me acting out a need I feel.

I feel something needs to be done...

whatever it may be.

I'm just sick of the corruption that I see everywhere I look...

you know, whether it is the boss at your work...

or the dude, you know, next door...

that's beating his wife and been doing so for 20 years.

You know, it's all the little things.

And we moved to Brooklyn because we figured...

it's a large enough area...

where we can have much more to actually focus on.

NYPD, even the government itself, is completely unreliable.

You know, I'm here to do something, do anything.

I've always gotten along with Z the most...

because, you know, much like me, he is someone...

who has had a fucked-up life.

There was a lot of things going on in my life.

And I saw myself going down a really bad path.

And I kind of lost hope.

So, I tried to...

I tried to off myself, you know?

And when I woke up, it didn't work.

And I really woke up, you know?

Like I didn't just wake up. I woke up...

and realized that that would be kind of a waste, you know?

Because I got a lot of things that I can do and that I offer.

We're individuals, meaning people that have varied backgrounds.

And we're all coming together for one purpose...

and that's to help.

T-S-A-F. TSAF.

It stands for "The Silenced And Forgotten."

Really the only thing that I could think of...

was to have it be a reminder...

of why I'm doing this in the first place...

so that I just know that it's never about me.

"The New York Initiative".

It's a call...

to personal accountability...

for ourselves and for everybody else.

My first night on patrol, for real...

was the anniversary of Kitty Genovese's death.

March 13th, 1964, in New York City in Queens...

a woman named Katherine Genovese, aka Kitty Genovese...

she was assaulted, brutally attacked...

raped and ultimately murdered.

And 38 people from a nearby apartment complex...

they heard it. They heard her scream.

Some saw it, but they didn't do anything.

It was a worldwide story

that people were this apathetic.

And so on the anniversary of her death...

And I was in a relationship at the time...

and living with the person.

So I snuck out of bed. I got on my gear and went out.

It was a very personal experience to me...

because I really thought about...

what I wanted to do with my life and what was important to me.

And I think that's what cemented my commitment...

to the real-life superhero movement...

and the causes that they uphold.

"'The Village Voice is releasing..."

"some shocking recordings made..."

"inside a Brooklyn Police Precinct."