Hero At Large

Hero at Large is a 1980 comedy film starring John Ritter and Anne Archer.  Ritter plays the part of Steve Nichols a struggling actor.  He takes a job posing as comic-book hero Captain Avenger at comics stores and conventions.  On his way home from one of these appearances and finds his life unexpectedly complicated when he stops a robbery while wearing the costume of Captain Avenger.  He’s feeling pretty good about helping people and continue trying to be a superhero only to discover that the superhero life is more complex than he initially thought.

I’ve always thought that the idea behind this movie was pretty interesting.  Anybody can see the news and see the crime going on all around us.  It would appear that there are real life super-villains, so why not have some real life super heroes?  This leads me to the World Super Hero Registry.

I saw an article on Gizmodo about people dressing up to help out with patrolling and protecting their neighborhoods.  Both Rolling Stone and the Times Online have written about the US’s superhero phenomenon. Labeled by some as a post-9/11 response and apparently spurred by Obama’s call for “active citizenry,” everyday people are dressing up in spandex to patrol the streets in a manner reminiscent of The Watchmen.

by