David Bianculli: The Bald Knobbers were active in Missouri from 1885 to 1889. They wore suit coats backwards and donned these homemade masks that had devil horns protruding from the top. He says a lot of their intentions were not good and things got out of hand like quickly. BiancullI: How does the existence of this darker element impact how you think about real life superheroes? Biancullis: It's kind of an example of vigilantism that's spun out of control.
Los Angeles' El Peatonito is part of a subset of real life superheroes who are more focused on things like picking up trash and taking on civic issues than catching criminals in alleys.
These super citizens take their inspiration from comic books but in some ways have more ambitious goals than defeating a make believe villain. They are out to solve big societal problems. Wherever a city is plagued by traffic accidents, or people are living on the streets…these heroes heed the call of service.
Super Citizens
Check out David Weinberg's brilliant series The Superhero Complex