iHeart To Release New Podcast "The Superhero Complex" On April 5

 Superheroes in comic books, graphic novels, TV, and movies are very often both hero and villain. Batman is a criminal to the Gotham City Police, except for Commissioner Gordon. Spider-Man is also both a hero to average people and a villain to law enforcement.  

Next week, the first week of April, iHeartMedia will release their new podcast The Superhero Complex. The podcast tracks the enigmatic rise and fall of , Seattle’s real-life crime-fighting vigilante, as he goes from beloved local icon and leader of The Rain City Superhero Movement to a dejected and humiliated figure waiting for a verdict on a charge of selling MDMA to undercover cops. 

 The podcast is produced by Novel, which is the biggest independent podcast production company in Europe.

Was Phoenix Jones a super villain all along? Host David Weinberg enters the unbelievable universe of Phoenix Jones - and the bigger world of costumed crusaders. From Buenos Aires to Tokyo, as a new generation of ‘superheroes’ emerges, what secrets lie behind the mask?

 

Host and reporter David Weinberg’s work is a constant presence on ‘best of the year’ podcast lists with his character-driven stories for KCRW, All Things Considered, Press Play, Radiolab, Love+Radio and Unfictional. He is the producer of Below the Ten and Welcome to LA and he has won multiple journalism awards, including a national Edward R. Murrow award for feature reporting.

 

Listen to a trailer for The Superhero Complex here.

When Phoenix Jones first comes into the public eye, he seems a true American original: By day, he’s Ben Fodor: a semi-pro MMA fighter. By night, Ben slips through a secret door in the back of a comic book store and emerges, clad in a black and gold suit and mask, to patrol the streets of Seattle alongside a crew of fellow oddballs: former soldiers, ex-cops, recovered drug addicts and reformed criminals. 

But throughout The Superhero Complex, listeners will learn the complicated truth beyond the tall tales and myth-building: The challenges of running a real-life ring of wannabe superheroes, betrayals among friends, a crumbling marriage, a failed return to MMA, and hitting rock bottom when he’s brought down on a drug charge. It’s a story of outsized ambition, the allure of unconventional charisma, and the unclear motivations of someone trying so desperately to be something bigger than themselves. 

Told with a balance of in-depth reportage and empathetic character study, The Superhero Complex interrogates not only the mysteries of Phoenix Jones, but our society’s fascination with superheroes, and what it means to take the law into your own hands. With outsized personalities that would make Joe Exotic blush and a twisting narrative that confounds at every turn, The Superhero Complex is a daring entry into the growing canon of true crime.

The Superhero Complex launches with its first two episodes on April 5, with new episodes dropping every Tuesday on iHeartRadio and all other platforms. The Superhero Complex is distributed by the iHeartPodcast Network.