Seattle superhero Phoenix Jones takes crimefighting campaign to London

The royal guards at London’s Buckingham Palace have dealt with plenty of strange visitors over the centuries. But it’s likely they’d never before encountered a guy in a rubber suit and mask claiming to be a superhero. That is, until they met Phoenix Jones.

“They came out and had a pretty good talk in front of me. They said ‘you can’t be standing in front of the palace like that,'” Phoenix said via phone from London.

The self-proclaimed Seattle superhero has taken his crime fighting campaign to the U.K., and getting plenty of strange looks and comments from the normally staid Brits. So why London? Is he looking to franchise?

“Actually, one of my guys moved from Seattle to London and got robbed. I said ‘Dude, put a suit on and let’s go.'”

So he did. And the superhero who goes by Red Falcon even got a British company to sponsor him and pay for Phoenix and his wife Purple Reign to fly to England for a crime fighting junket of sorts.

They’ll also be live streaming their crime fighting from the streets of London starting Wednesday. But first, he had to get approval from the local authorities, who apparently aren’t taking kindly to a guy in a super suit doing their job for them.

“I just learned the law prohibits any behavior that might seem threatening to other people,” Phoenix said. “I had to go to a police station within my first 20 minutes and explain to them why I would walk around in a suit some would consider threatening. They laughed at me and they basically told me that wouldn’t work. And I said ‘Well, we’ll find out.'”

Phoenix claims he has already thwarted one crime, chasing down a guy who stole a bag from a tourist. But he failed to get the cops to come, in large part because he didn’t realize 911 doesn’t work in the U.K.

“I didn’t know it was 999. And I didn’t know what street I was on anyway. So I just finally tackled the guy and got the bag back.”

He’s only been in London for a couple of days, but already he’s getting plenty of attention. British newspapers The Guardian and The Sun have both interviewed Phoenix and his crew and plan features to run later this week.

London won’t be the only international outpost for Phoenix Jones and has crime fighting followers. He’ll be traveling to Dubai next month to help a group form their own crime fighting group in the Arab city. We’ll have to see how Phoenix and his suit fare in 120 degree temperatures.