Meet Hero Man

Script doctor by day. Real life super hero by night.

At least, that's the idea.

David Filmore came to Los Angeles seven years ago from his native Australia to pursue his Hollywood dreams. Then his apartment was burglarized and he later ended up in the hospital with a very serious case of ulcerative colitis. "Both those things, being robbed and realizing life is short, coalesced into the idea to become a super hero," Filmore says. "I want to do nice things in the world. I want to help people."

Sure, he could volunteer for charity, help in a soup kitchen, raise money for the homeless.

Or he could become a super hero.

Source: Maria Leonard

David Painting

For over a year now, Filmore says he has been prowling the back alleys of Hollywood a few nights a week, waiting quietly for the bad guys to emerge, or swooping in when he sees trouble.

He wears all black, including a black cape and a black yarmulke.

He arms himself with a light saber, a machete ("I got it on Amazon"), and a nasty looking stun gun ("you can get anything online, it's quite frightening").

He insists they’re legal. Ok…

Filmore says he gets a handful of requests for help a week on his website.

Some are legitimate, like the woman who needed help fending off a stalker ex-boyfriend. Some are crazy, like the woman who wanted him to exact revenge on her ex-husband. "I said, 'Lady, you're insane.'"

If Hero Man thinks you’re insane, you really are nuts.

There have been mishaps—including a stabbing and broken wrist—but Filmore feels crime fighting is his calling.

He says his mother, Maria Leonard, an artist back home in Australia, "loves this like you can't believe." She has created several paintings of him, including the one shown here.

Hero Man also hopes to turn a profit. Filmore says he’s spent $30,000 producing a documentary about his exploits. “Building my ray gun wasn’t cheap. It took seven months.” The film is now on the festival circuit, and he’s also been approached about doing a reality series for the web.

That's assuming Hero Man stays alive, and evades police scrutiny long enough, to keep this up.

We spent some time with Hero Man on patrol this month.

Watch the video to learn more about what makes him tick.

More Don Quixote than Batman, Filmore dares to dream the impossible dream.

"I had four IV bags going," Hero Man says of his time in the hospital, "and I thought, 'My God, if I ever get out of here, I'm going to do something really great with my life."

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