We’ve all heard stories of crimefighters like Superman, Spider-Man, Wonder Woman, and Captain America. But have you ever heard tales of the mysterious Master Legend? How about Mr. Extreme? I’d guess you probably haven’t, because they’re not characters created by artists at DC or Marvel – they are living breathing defenders of truth, justice, and the American way. They – and many more like them – are the subject of SUPERHEROES, an exciting new documentary playing this year’s Hot Docs festival.

Directed by Mark Barnett, SUPERHEROES is about R.L.S.H (Real Life Superheroes). These are people who believe it is their duty to serve the communities they live in, protect those less fortunate and be an inspiration to others…all while wearing cool costumes. They all have alter-ego’s; names like Vigilante Spider, The Conundrum, Professor Midnight, and Apocalypse Meow. They all believe it is their duty to serve the public trust, and what’s interesting is the varying ways in which they go about doing so.

Take Mr. Extreme for example, who patrols the streets of SanDiego at night. In speaking with Barnett about this ragamuffin hero, the director describes him as “an effective role model within his community” But likewise, as Barnett points out “His personal life is a bit sad, so the contrast of those two things makes for a very subjective emotional experience”. We’re not talking about Superman’s issues of loneliness here, or Batman’s eternal quest to avenge his dead parents. What SUPERHEROES shows us is that heroes like Mr. Extreme can find it within themselves to look out for all of us, while their own lives leave much to be desired.

Barnett understands that such contradiction can divide audience reaction. “We’ve run into people who say that these sorts of heroes don’t do anything – that they’re misfits and outcasts, and to some extent I agree with that. But then we run into people who are completely inspired by them on a personal level, finding that they too want to go out and make a change.” And as SUPERHEROES points out, helping make the world a better place doesn’t require being super or kicking ass: It can just as easily be achieved by reaching out to those on the street who truly have nothing.

In talking up this film since I first watched it three weeks ago, I’m usually met with the same question: Don’t these people get hurt? For Barnett, it’s only a matter of time. “I think inevitably somebody will get hurt. They’ve all managed to stay safe so far, but I believe it’s a ticking clock.” Some have indeed had accidents while on patrol already, but they are accidents of dumb luck more than they are a professional hazard. Still, when even Stan Lee worries about the safety of what these folks are doing, you have to believe it’s a matter of “when” not “if”.

However, if these heroes were to get hurt, the blame could easily fall on to the rest of us. In many ways they are stepping up because we choose not to. “Apathy is a strange thing” Barnett says. “We have a society that is successful and where people are comfortable. With that comfort, people go on autopilot.”

Perhaps part of this apathy comes down to our faith in police to be there to protect us when the time comes, but Mark points out, these real life superheroes have a tenuous relationship with the cops in the towns they try to protect.

“You’ll see Dark Guardian confront a drug dealer within the movie, and while we were filming, the police showed up. The cops pulled Dark Guardian aside and said they knew who he was, and knew what he was doing. They reminded him that the dealer was a very bad man who’d been shot and had been in jail – overall that he wasn’t a guy to mess with. The cops said that Dark Guardian should let them deal with him. But when the hero says ‘There he is: go deal with him’, they don’t. So this hero is left to keep at it, knowing that he can’t stop until the police do what he’s doing”.

That’s not to say that the police in the towns SUPERHEROES films in are disinterested in protecting their citizens. It often just comes down to a matter of manpower and needing to respect the code of the law, leaving the entire situation very complicated.

Barnett has created an entertaining, often amusing and in some ways sad film about these superheroes. Some of these people seem to have very little going for them in their personal lives, but it doesn’t dissuade them one bit from trying to make things better for the rest of us. With their oddball demeanour and their homemade getups, it would be easy to mock and dismiss these wannabe vigilantes. But as SUPERHEROES points out, they are channeling that absurdity into real social action. They are reaching out their hand when many of us would just walk on by. And in that simplest of gesture, they are indeed stepping up on to a higher platform…and becoming true heroes.

SUPERHEROES plays tomorrow – 9:00pm at The Bloor, again on Wednesday May 4th – 4:00pm at The Lightbox, and once more on Sunday May 8th – 7:00pm at The Royal.