You just can't get decent superheroes these days
Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2015 5:17 am
A man who wears a Mr. Incredible costume to entertain tourists on Hollywood Boulevard was convicted Tuesday of punching and body-slamming a Batgirl during a fight last year.
Muhammet Bilik, 35, was convicted of battery and sentenced to a day in jail, three years probation, 20 days of Caltrans work and 36 anger-management classes in connection with the Oct. 22 attack in front of TCL Chinese Theatre that was caught on camera and uploaded to YouTube.
This was just the latest in a series of Hollywood Boulevard cartoon characters behaving badly.
Consider:
2005: Elmo, another Mr. Incredible and the villain from the “Scream” movies were arrested on suspicion of aggressive panhandling.
2007: LAPD officers arrested Chewbacca on suspicion of head-butting a tour guide. (Headline: “The Force Is All Over Chewbacca.”)
2009: Batman and Robin sought the help of police to deal with run-ins with CD vendors.
2011: SpongeBob SquarePants was questioned by officers after an altercation with two women.
2013: Two Captain Americas and a Spider-Man got into a brawl near the Hollywood & Highland shopping complex.
The behavior was so bad a few years ago that officials held a “superhero summit” to lay down the law. The characters have become an integral part of the Hollywood Boulevard experience, posing for pictures with tourists and providing sidewalk entertainment.
