Batman shows up in Home Depot, gets arrested, drops profanity when misquoted
Matthew Argintar calls himself ths Beast, his alter ego in the real-life superhero movement. Unfortunately for the Beast, the 23-year-old Warren County man was arrested Tuesday outside Home Depot on Route 57 in Mansfield Township wearing what police described as a Batman-like costume, complete with mask, cape and body armor.
Matthew Argintar photo/Facebook
The man was reportedly approaching people, and one eye witness says he was “smiling creepily” and “spoke inaudibly” leaving the wrong impression.
“The only thing I could think of was what happened in the movie theater,” she said.”
“… What I was doing was not seen the way I wanted it to be seen,” Argintar told The Express-Times this afternoon. “I understand it was (expletive) timing and everything. I get that.”
“Obviously, our concerns are for public safety,” Mansfield Township police Lt. Michaeel Reilly said. “We just want to make sure he gets any help that he may need so that nothing happens in the future and he doesn’t take it any further.”
Argintar said he was recently honorably discharged from the U.S. Army, where he served as a military policeman. He declined to discuss his service further.
He said he is among an estimated 100 people who dress as what they call real-life superheroes. There is a website,reallifesuperheroes.org, with member-restricted content and public links to crime fighting, equipment, police scanner feeds, U.S. law sites and “take action.” Argintar cited as a fellow movement participant Phoenix Jones, who was arrested and charged in connection with trying to break up a fight last October in his hometown of Seattle by pepper-spraying the participants.
“I’ve been doing this for months. I’ve been going out at night and doing this, and meanwhile the one time I decide to go out in the day …,” Argintar said. “We are out there to try and inspire hope because that’s what the people need right now: hope. … I’m not going out there looking for a fight.”
He said he didn’t resist arrest “because we’re on the same side.”
“I do not like hurting people, but that doesn’t mean that I’m not trained to, you know what I’m saying?” Argintar said. “The whole point of the movement is I don’t care if I look crazy, I just want to inspire hope.”
