Real heroes don’t wear capes in Gotham — they ride electric skateboards.
The Brooklyn Devil is the last of a dying breed: Once part of a 15-person collective of anonymous, self-appointed crime disruptors, he’s now New York City’s last remaining real-life superhero.
While he founded the New York Initiative in 2009 as a team, he’s largely patrolled the city’s neighborhoods and subways alone since 2015 — four years after the group experienced an influx of new members following its appearance in the 2011 documentary film “Superheroes.”
“I realized most [of the people who joined in 2011] just liked wearing spandex, and dressing up when it wasn’t Halloween,” the Devil tells The Post, when asked why he’s gone solo. “Some were trying to get famous, or use my team to create merchandising and cash flow opportunities for themselves.”
“I just wanted to go out and do something good in the world,” the intense, sinewy, heavily-tattooed man continues on a recent, relatively balmy evening spent walking the streets around Bushwick’s Irving Square Park. “I’m not a crime fighter or a superhero — I’m a violence interrupter and I’m a people protector.”
Dressed entirely in black, the Muay Thai-trained Devil conceals his face behind a red-and-black tactical half-mask, popular with paintball players.
The backwards ball cap on his head is affixed with a pair of 2-inch polycarbonate devil’s horns.
He left his body armor home on the night of The Post patrol.
On his utility belt is a knife, a flashlight, a first aid kit, a seat belt cutter that doubles as a glass breaker, and other items.
“I call a cop if I need a gun,” the homegrown vigilante explained from outside the H&M Deli Grocery on Wilson Avenue — all while surveying the bustling park with crystal blue eyes.
On this particular night, the Devil’s on the prowl for an accused rapist.
Intel gleaned by his aide-de-camp — cyber investigator E0N, ethical data aggregator Sig, medical expert Bones, mission analyst Berylvale, tech specialist Discordia Matrix, and legal eagle Spectral Hawk — confirms the violent predator is back in the neighborhood after spending an extended period out west.
The Devil also steps into different stores in the area, asking owners and employees if they’d seen the man in question.
If he spots him, he says he’ll share the location with police.
“I also would have let him know a guy who looks like me’s got eyes on him,” the Devil said. “I’ll see if some other contacts can look into gathering further information or even just watching the area. I know a few people in this neighborhood that would do it.”
As he walks along Weirfield Street, two pre-teen girls stop dead in their tracks.
A group of young women on their way to Halsey Ale House can’t help but stare.
A conversation between five friends comes to a halt on a bench on Knickerbocker Avenue as the Devil approaches.
“Yo, check this s–t out,” says Marlon, gesturing towards the Devil. “What’s going on, man?” When told later the Devil’s a real-life superhero, Marlon smiles widely, “Well, if he’s trying to do good out here, I’m all for it. I’m sure the cops could use the help.”
“People never see me like this, just walking around,” the Devil offers. “When people see me out here, I’m either flying by on my” black electric longboard capable of reaching 40 mph “or handling some situation in the streets.”
From afar, his board, nicknamed Hella 1, makes it appear as though the Devil’s floating across the blacktop. “I’m usually barreling down these roads.”
Over the years, the New York Initiative have walked up on stalkers lurking outside residential buildings, and helped identify a racist subway tagger, he says.
The Devil even claims he pulled a man off a woman once, stopping a suspected rape.
“The thing is, I’m able to de-escalate issues most of the time and then, I just keep tabs on aggressors,” the Devil says. “Most people’s idea of ‘crime fighting’ is beating people’s asses and that’s a very oversimplified estimation. There’s a long game to it.”
The son of ex-felons who spent his childhood in Bushwick around bikers, meth addicts and sex workers, the Devil says he also helps the homeless in Brooklyn, and often brings them home-cooked grub.
In addition to street patrols, the Devil says he rides the subways incognito, in plain clothes, ready to intervene if danger arises.
“I stop violent crime and sexual assaults only,” the Devil clarifies, citing New York Penal Law 35, which exempts individuals from liability when justifiably intervening to stop a crime.
He and his team have also exposed four internet predators within the larger real-life superhero community, he said, noting one is currently incarcerated in Minnesota.
“This needs to stop,” he explains. “We can build something real, but we need to make the real-life superhero community an unsafe place for pedophiles and predators first.”
The Devil said he feels he has to do whatever he can “to right wrongs” throughout the city.
He admits it’s become something of an obsession for him. “I can’t stand abusers, and I can’t stand it when people are taken advantage of.”
The NYPD did not provide any comment on the Devil and his years of superhero service.
They also didn’t substantiate any of the claims he’s made about stopping or interrupting crimes.