Story Archive

Where’s Mighty Mouse When You Need Him?

Benjamin Fodor, 23, has been unmasked. Previously known in public only as “Phoenix Jones Guardian”, Fodor, who is typically followed by “at least one cameraman,” styles himself as a “superhero” who, wearing a costume and mask, “fights crime” in Seattle, Wash. Two couples walking to their car from a dance club think of him as something else. At 2:30 a.m., “a male in a ‘Spider-Man costume’,” who police later identified as Fodor, “came up from behind and pepper sprayed the group,” the resulting police report says “He says, ‘I’m a superhero’ and sprays everyone,” complained one of the victims. “Nothing gives him a right to do that. That’s harassment and assault.” Fodor, who claims he was trying to break up a fight, was arrested. The City Attorney declined to press an assault charge, but Fodor has lost his day job: he worked with disabled children. His employer has asked the local Department of Social and Health Services office “to remove him from any cases that we had,” a DSHS spokesman said. A spokesman for “Guardian” insists “There’s nothing delusional” about Fodor. “He’s just a civic activist trying to make the streets a safer place.” (RC/Seattle Post-Intelligencer) ...Even if Fodor isn’t delusional, his spokesman just might be.