Last December, Rolling Stone published a profile of a Florida man who calls himself “Master Legend.” Who is Master Legend? A man “hellbent on battling evil.” RS’s Joshua Bearman (whose name sounds like he’s a superhero himself) explains:
When Master Legend bursts into a sprint, as he often does, his long, unruly hair flows behind him. His mane is also in motion when he’s behind the wheel of the Battle Truck, a 1986 Nissan pickup with a missing rear window and “ML” spray-painted on the hood. He and the Ace head off to patrol their neighborhood on the outskirts of Orlando, scanning the street for evildoers. “I don’t go looking for trouble,” Master Legend shouts above the engine. “But if you want some, you’ll get it!”
Then he hands me his business card, which says:
Master Legend
Real Life Super Hero
“At Your Service”
If there was a flaw in Bearman’s awesome piece, it was that he didn’t really grapple with the possibility that, as The Dark Knight and Watchmen taught us, the existence of real-life superheroes might lead to the emergence of real-life supervillains. Unfortunately for us mere mortals, I have some bad news: our worst fears have become reality. Mother Jones has learned (via io9) that a supervillain going only by the initial “E” has put a bounty on the real identity of Shadowhare, a Cincinatti, Ohio ally of Master Legend (that’s him in the photo). There’s not just one villain, either—”E” claims to be part of a Consortium of Evil. (Not to be confused with the Media Consortium, of which Mother Jones is a member.) The bounty is $10 so far (offered on Craigslist), but if we know anything about supervillains, it’s that they have access to unlimited resources. This is probably just the beginning.
(Our extensive past coverage of superheroes includes this awesome photo essay. Check it out.)
