Introducing: The Superhero Complex

Around 2009, 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 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 911, but before he could reach the police, something totally insane happened.

The masked man emerged from the shadows and chased the would-be car thief away.

Someone else said the guy in the costume stopped him mugging.

Another person saw him break up a fight outside a bar.

There were more and more encounters like this.

It begins 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, from the teams at Novel and iHeartRadio, 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.
I just happen to have a freaking dope outfit. Phoenix and his crew of 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 17 nightbites and I've taken down six gunmen.

I stopped a sex trafficking ring.

I technically stopped a homeland act of terror.

But in 2020, 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 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 master

gaslighter. Phoenix Jones is a

liar.

As I try to find out, there'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 crime fighters do. We run on buildings, we swing from ropes like, I'm ready, you know? So how about we fire up the Batmobile

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 a game.

Listen to the Superhero Complex

starting on April 5th on the iHeartRadio

app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.