10 Real-life Costumed Crime Fighters

Mr. Xtreme and his fellow superheroes in the Xtreme Justice League (a group founded by Mr. Xtreme) are committed to fighting crime in the city of San Diego and surrounding area.

Mr. Xtreme, identity unknown, works as a security guard during the day. Motivated by his own personal history as a survivor of violent crime, Mr. Xtreme takes to the streets every night, protecting and empowering citizens and intervening as needed.

Each superhero in the Justice League has their own individual style, and Mr. Xtreme's costume is an eclectic mix, including body armor and pinhole goggles -- in total he carries 30 to 40 pounds of gear with him.

Who wears a light-blue leotard, a gold mask and gold boots, carries a very big saw, and only comes out at night to help citizens of Great Britain? That's Angle Grinder Man, the superhero of Kent (and on the weekends, London).

Angle Grinder Man, identity currently unknown, patrols the streets each night looking for motorists stranded by wheel clamps -- those clamps put on cars after too many parking tickets. Motorists with cars that have been clamped can either pay the associated fees to have their car freed, or they can wait for this local superhero to liberate their vehicles with his gold-painted circular saw – and it takes him less than a minute.

Marco Rascón Córdova, known also as real-life superhero Superbarrio, is an advocate for tenant rights and for the rights of families in low-income neighborhoods, as well as labor rights for Mexican workers. Superbarrio's costume, like his rhetoric, is attention grabbing: It's based on the masked hero character El Santo (the Saint) seen in old Spanish-language wrestling movies, and includes not only a red mask and leotard and yellow cape, but also a pair of gold shorts.

Once a high school dropout, this caped vigilante has become part of the fabric of Mexico and a symbol of protest in Mexican politics in the last two decades.

Captain Australia is a 30-something father of two who is good with animals, has a green thumb, and has been on a mission since 2009 to prevent crime in his city of Brisbane, Australia.

You'll recognize him, but probably not because he's been patrolling the streets of your neighborhood --his costume is based on "Kick-Ass" (both a comic book and a movie), with the addition of an @ symbol logo on his chest. He carries only a flashlight, a cell phone and a video camera.

Captain Australia is a self-professed master of judo, ju-jitsu, kung-fu and karate. He's also an amateur boxing champ, skilled in parkour and a master escapologist. He's also knowledgeable in criminal psychology, hostage negotiation and counter-insurgency. He is also afraid of heights.

The Crimson Fist fights his nemesis on the streets of Atlanta, Ga. That nemesis? Homelessness. And he also has the occasional crime intervention.

Between 700,000 and 800,000 people are homeless every night in the U.S., estimates the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH), and more than 10,000 people go homeless each night in Atlanta alone [source: HomeAid Atlanta]. When he's not working as an IT programmer, the 5' 6" superhero dons a white and red costume -- with a red mask to protect his identity -- and distributes items to the homeless in the Atlanta area. These items include clothing, such as shoes and cold-weather clothes, as well as food, bottled water and other objects and services that are needed in the homeless community. The Crimson Fist's outreach and supplies are self-funded.

Menganno means Joe Blow in Spanish, and is the name that Argentine Oscar Lefosse uses when he patrols Buenos Aires as a costumed vigilante, wearing a full-face blue helmet and armor.

Lefosse, a 43-year-old retired police officer, was outed as Menganno in 2013 when he had a run-in with the local authorities after firing his pistol at criminals. He was charged with carrying an unlicensed gun (his license, as it turns out, had expired), but the superhero says he was only returning fire to protect himself and wife as they were fired upon first. And as for the gun, Menganno says he leaves it at home while out fighting crime on the streets.

Lion Heart is a mask-wearing superhero in the West African country of Liberia.

Moved by the disease and death he saw ravaging his country, Lion Heart is an advocate for clean drinking water in his nation. He is an outreach worker and educator, spreading knowledge about the dangers of drinking unclean water -- including diarrhea and water-borne diseases like dysentery and cholera. And because six out of seven Liberians use the bush as their bathroom (access to toilets and sanitation are major issues in Liberia), Lion Heart also focuses on educating villagers about sanitation, hygiene, and how to boil water to make it safe for drinking.

Mark Wayne Williams is known for patrolling the streets of Petosky, Mich. every night dressed as Batman, including the mask, cape and utility belt.

Despite his best efforts to keep the streets safe, the Petoskey Batman may be better known for his own run-ins with the law than with those who are breaking it. Williams has been arrested several times, including once after police were dispatched to rescue a man dressed as Batman dangling from the roof of a building. He was arrested when officers found his utility belt stocked with self-defense spray, a baton-style weapon, and other illegal items. He's also been arrested for trespassing. He's been charged with resisting and obstructing an officer and sentenced to probation for six months -- and was forced to hang up his superhero costume during that time.

Master Legend is a superhero who wears a silver cape and a mask to protect his identity, and patrols the streets of Orlando, Fla., with his superhero friends, the Justice Crusaders. But he hasn't always been Master Legend, although he knew from when he was a kid that he was special. It was in the second grade when he fashioned his first superhero mask for his alter-ego Captain Midnight, protector from the school bully.

Today, Master Legend helps to keep the streets of Orlando safe and advocates for the city's homeless, elderly and low-income families. Master Legend is also a superhero to superheroes; in 2009 he founded Team Justice, Inc., the first non-profit organization for real-life superheroes. Donations the organization receives are given back to the community in the form of toy drives and other neighborhood and humanitarian events.

Phoenix Jones, along with other superheroes in the Rain City Superhero Movement, fights crime -- and calls 911 a lot -- on the streets of Seattle. This Seattle super squad, a group of crime fighters whose members include characters such as Green Reaper, No Name, and Catastrophe, patrol every night, and among them carry batons, pepper spray and tasers -- plus cell phones.

Jones looks like a comic-book superhero, costumed in molded, Batman-style body armor, including a ballistic vest, a ballistic cup, and arm and leg trauma plates. Like his fellow superhero crime fighters, he hides his identity behind a mask; Jones' is black and gold.

His true identity, revealed after the superhero was arrested in 2011, is Benjamin John Francis Fodor, a special education teacher and father of two.