So I identify with that desire to do something about it. The amount of homeless people on the streets is vastly higher than it should be. Speaking of one superhero in particular, who devotes himself to performing qualified medical work to those in need, he says, “I have a lot of the same criticisms of the US justice system. This is because, unexpectedly for him, he found value in their services. Yet, Weinberg can’t quite bring himself to come down hard against real-life superheroes. This is the guy who’s going around beating up drunk people.’” Is this what superheroes do? Pick on people who are clearly not equipped to fight? When that video came out, a lot of people turned on Phoenix, saying ‘This is just a bully. “Phoenix claims this guy is harassing him, and he says ‘Fine, let’s just fight.’ Phoenix is a semi-professional MMA fighter, and this is just a drunk guy. “There’s a moment in Phoenix’s career, a turning point, where he fights a guy in public”, Weinberg explains. This is partly down to his arrest – it’s hard to see someone as an unassailable bastion of justice when they’re accused of trying to sell drugs to a police officer – but even before that, his reputation took a public knock. Jones isn’t as active as he was a few years ago. Then I’d be like, ‘This guy’s a fucking liar.’” Then I would go do some reporting and talk to other people, and they would correct a lot of the things he said. I would interview Phoenix, and come away being like, ‘Oh my God, this guy’s the real deal’. I was like, ‘Oh, you’re right and everyone else is wrong.’ I made three trips up there. “I was nervous about how I was going to confront him. “I had formed pretty strong opinions about him, and they weren’t good”, Weinberg recalls of the moments before their first meeting. These encounters help build a picture of a man who is at best complicated and at worst outright horrible.įighting the good fight … real-life Seattle superheroes El Caballero, Midnight Sun and Phoenix Jones pictured in 2012. When they do eventually meet in person, Jones refuses to be interviewed until he’s paid. Weinberg talks to other Seattle superheroes, instead, who all voice their hatred for Jones. If the first few episodes are any indication, at least, Weinberg and Jones spend much of their time at arm’s length, unsure of how much they can trust each another.Įarly on, for example, we hear Weinberg travel to Seattle to meet Jones, only for Jones to ghost him upon arrival. Weinberg notes that many of the people who have previously covered the Phoenix Jones beat have dressed up in costumes and fought crimes alongside him – “I think there’s something about certain journalists who are drawn to this, maybe,” he smiles, wryly – whereas there’s something of an uncertain tone about his particular investigation. It is this distance between host and subject that makes The Superhero Complex so compelling. I wanted to explore this world because it was new to me, and I didn’t have any preconceived ideas about it”. I didn’t know anything about real-life superheroes and that excited me. “They were like: ‘You wanna host this podcast about Phoenix Jones?’ And I was like, ‘Who’s Phoenix Jones?’ I never knew anything about him. “I got an email from (podcast producers) Novel,” he says. It all just feels very formulaic.”īut, despite Weinberg’s ambivalence towards superheroes in general, even he could see that Jones’s story had the potential to be fascinating. It’s like, ‘I know who’s gonna win this fight’. Growing up I didn’t really care for the Marvel movies. “I’ve been dreading having to say this in public”, says its creator David Weinberg over Zoom from his loft in Los Angeles. And, the website says, he "plans to start fighting crime in the daytime, in addition to his night patrols around Seattle.‘He’s so charismatic that he won me over’ … Phoenix Jones speaks to reporters in 2011. Jones/Fodor, who's into mixed martial arts, tells Publicola he may take on some bouts for money. If the case is dropped or he is not convicted, he could get his job back, Social and Health Services spokeswoman Sherry Hill, told SeattlePI. Jones/Fodor, 23, has yet to be charged with a crime. The agency "asked that he not be around vulnerable children while the case was pending," the website adds. 9 arrest following an incident in which Jones/Fodor says he was trying to break up a fight, Washington State's Department of Social and Health Services "alerted his employer about the case," says. Phoenix Jones, unmasked.īenjamin Fodor (Jones' real name) "has worked with five developmentally disabled autistic children - who ranged in age from four to 18 years old - for the last five years at their homes and state care facilities, going shopping with them, teaching them to balance checkbooks, and going for walks," Seattle's newssite reports.īut after his Oct.
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