PHOENIX JONES: THE RISE AND FALL OF A REAL LIFE SUPERHERO
(The 2026 SXSW Film Festival ran March 12-18 in beautiful Austin, TX. Check out Chris Reed’s Phoenix Jones: The Rise and Fall of a Real-Life Superhero movie review, fresh from the fest. Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.)
With a runtime of almost two hours, the new documentary Phoenix Jones: The Rise and Fall of a Real-Life Superhero feels a little long. It’s subject, however, is just bizarre enough to hold our attention for much of its length. Director Bayan Joonam’s feature debut follows the distinct adventures and misadventures of his titular protagonist who, as the title indicates, is a costumed crimefighter. Truth here is far stranger than any fiction one could imagine.
Comics books as we know them today have been with us since the 1930s, when caped crusaders Superman and Batman were both introduced (from Detective Comics Inc, soon to become DC Comics). Later came the Marvel universe. With the success of television and movie adaptations of many of these narratives, we have all become accustomed to seeing vigilantes (masked or otherwise) step in to tackle tough problems. On the screen, that is.
In Phoenix Jones: The Rise and Fall of a Real-Life Superhero, they do so on the actual streets of Seattle, Washington. Like their fictional counterparts, they encounter opportunities and obstacles in their fight for justice. The biggest difficulties they face are mostly of their own making.
Phoenix Jones—not his real name—became the leader of a group calling itself the Rain City Superhero Movement (RCSM) in 2011. A trained MMA fighter, he assembled a ragtag team of likeminded individuals, including a woman, “Purple Reign,” whom he married. The group disbanded in 2014, though Seattle still apparently has other such folk roaming around to this day. Many of these, past and present, sit down with the director here. The result is a fascinating mix of opinions and an elusive search for the truth.
Joonam has access to copious archival footage, thanks to the fact that Phoenix worked with a videographer. Using this material, along with artful reenactments and some terrific talking-head interviews—including with actor Rainn Wilson, who once worked on a potential TV show about Phoenix Jones’ life—Joonam crafts a wild journalistic spectacle that could use some edits but still engages. At the heart of it is a man who clearly wrestles with a lot of demons.
The best part of this documentary is how Joonam slowly peels back the many layers of personality that might lead someone to throw on a suit and patrol a city at night. And as Wilson asks, who really has the right to do that, even if they were Bruce Wayne come to life? Then again, Lance Coulter of XtremeDesignFX (who designed Phoenix’s original costume) points out that with the rise of actual super villains in our world, is it surprising that ordinary people might want to somehow strike back? With such deep philosophical questions, coupled with an in-depth and often moving character study, the film becomes a timely exploration of 21st-century trauma. Most of us don’t have great power, but we still share responsibility for the fate of humanity.
– Christopher Llewellyn Reed (@ChrisReedFilm)
