WENATCHEE — You’re walking down the streets of Wenatchee and you trip and fall. Out of the blue, comes a masked man to pull you up.

Should you be alarmed? Not at all, says the masked man: “I just want to help people.”

Pay attention, Wenatchee. You have a superhero. Deadpool is walking the streets, dressed in a mask and body suit to look like the fictional Marvel comic book character by the same name.

Marvel’s Deadpool is an anti-hero and a mercenary. Wenatchee’s Deadpool said he chose his character “because I allied with his humor and his ideal that what once was bad can become something better and good. .... And not his outlook on heroism or his methods.” Deadpool has been putting up flyers around town so people know what he’s up to and won’t be alarmed when he rushes to help them. He asks anyone who needs help with just about anything to contact him via email at ncwdeadpool@hotmail.com.

The World saw one of these flyers and contacted him. He responded by pay phone.

“The whole secret identity thing,” he said. “You can’t be too careful.”

Deadpool admits to being a Wenatchee resident between the ages of 20 and 30. He’s got a whole other life that’s regular, he said, but he won’t go into that. Deadpool said the idea to dress up and help people “just came to me one day.”

He acknowledged, however, that the costume thing has its drawbacks. It makes him hot when the sun’s out, and it seems to put some people off.

“I tried to help a woman out of the rain the other day and she didn’t really want to take my umbrella,” he said. “I think she was kind of intimidated.”

Wenatchee police have had no complaints about Deadpool, said the department’s Capt. Doug Jones. “Anyone doing good deeds is encouraged unless they get too pushy,” he said. “If he grabs someone’s arm that doesn’t want it grabbed, that could be a problem.”

Wenatchee is not the first city to have a superhero. Seattle has its Phoenix Jones, but he actively fights crime and had his nose broken in an altercation in January.

Wenatchee’s Deadpool, on the other hand, said he is “not actively seeking out crime. Should I witness a crime in progress or one that just occurred, I will do my civil duty by calling the police and placing the criminal under citizen’s arrest until the police have arrived. I only mean to help the community, not to stir up more trouble than I seek to relieve. The police have enough trouble without a superhero taking the law into his own hands.”

Deadpool said he plans to hit the streets of Wenatchee about once a week, just looking for people who need help.

So what kind of help will he give? The World wondered if he would mow someone’s lawn. The answer was a resounding, “Maybe.”

Deadpool said he’s been doing this gig for about a month now, and plans to take it month by month. He said he likes the anonymity of being Deadpool.

“It takes a certain kind of crazy to do this,” he said, “But it takes a certain kind of sanity to help others. I want to inspire people to what a model citizen could be and what a helping hand can be like.”

The World wishes him well many months of masked goodness. Now, as a superhero, if he could just help finance the Town Toyota Center.

Dee Riggs: 664-7147

deeriggs@wenatcheeworld.com