RLSH Around The World
- Raven
- Feb 11
- 4 min read
Through the topic submission form, I received the question “Why is there a lack of Heroes in Australia or other countries?”
Let’s start by looking at 2 factors: the Global Peace Index Map and Countries The Have Had RLSH.
There are 163 countries (out of the 195 total) looked at for the Global Peace Index Map. When someone asks about Australia, we can see that it’s #18 on the list, and it’s neighbor New Zealand is #3. The United States of America, just for comparison, is at #128. This isn’t saying that crime doesn’t happen in Australia or New Zealand, it just doesn’t happen as regularly. The safer the country, the less RLSH you're going to find in general. The big exception is Japan.
Australia - There have been a handful of RLSH around Australia. Currently, Captain Australia is active after having gone a battle with cancer. Here is his Youtube channel. Other RLSH were active at one time or another, including: Black Rat, Flatman (NZ), Flying Fox, Storm Dragon, Thylacine, and Wheel Clamp Man.
Central America - In the central America region (Mexico down to Panama), there have been a number of RLSH from this region - mostly from Mexico and often with Luchador themes. Peatónito and Tacubo are both currently active. Famously, Superbarrio and Super Luz were both from Mexico and I know there are a handful of others. In the central America region, there is one green spot (Costa Rica ranked 54), but most of it is moderate or not so great (yellow and orange) with the worst being Mexico at 135.
South America - Sometimes there are RLSH that come out of Brazil (ranked 130), otherwise South America is fairly quiet on the RLSH front. Paraman operates out of Para, Brazil.
Europe - A lot of Europe is deemed to be pretty peaceful. The UK almost always has some active RLSH, which means there are quite a few retired or inactive RLSH there as well. Europe has the largest grouping of "most peaceful" countries of any continent. If you're wondering, England ranks at 30. I've seen RLSH stem from the UK, Spain, Italy, Germany, France (lowest ranking at 74), Sweden, and Austria.
America & Canada - America and Canada has the largest amount of RLSH per region. I won't list everyone because you can check the RLSH Wiki for that. Canada is ranked at 14, which is one reason why the people have the reputation of being super nice people. The USA sits low at 128. America is loud and tends to think that the world cannot operate without it because we're jerks like that. We also have a HUGE comic book culture as the major western comics publishers are located here (Marvel and DC).
Japan - Japan is a bit of a unicorn. Japan is ranked 12 and has a solid handful of RLSH. Most have some sort of social media presence. I'm not totally familiar with the scene in Japan. I don't know if it's more cosplay or if they actually do RLSH work.
No RLSH - I have never heard of any RLSH coming from Africa, the middle east (west Asia), Russia, south Asia (India, Pakistan, etc), or central Asia (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, etc).
Going back to the original question: Why is there a lack of Heroes in Australia or other countries?
I would say its due to the following factors: crime rates, comic book influence, government restrictions (obviously Russia is super restrictive in an unpleasant way), and social-psychological nature of RLSH work. Too much of one thing can really swing things into a "No RLSH" situation.
Crime Rates - If crime is low in your area, you might be less likely to feel the need to be an RLSH. If it's higher, you may heed the call of the hero. You can also switch that Global Peace Index map to the Global Terrorism Map and Ecological Threat Report Map. You'll see trends.
Comic Book Influence - Some areas don't get a lot of comic book influence. Sure, they may know someone like Superman, but its not the same as other country's perspectives. I think this is one factor that really plays into Japan since they are hearty consumers of comics and graphic novels.
Government Restrictions - I think this is fairly self-explanatory, but if the government doesn't allow its citizens to be unique individuals or have certain rights, then there is a lack of RLSH in those areas.
Social & Psychological Nature of RLSH - We can already look at current and past RLSH to see various trends within the RLSH community such as the comic book influence versus luchador influence OR classic superhero vs tactical warrior. In places where there aren't RLSH, there might not be the same social and psychological cultural context for superheroes. In some countries, the goal might just be to survive and keep your head down to avoid attention. In other countries, you can walk around dressed as a colorful whackadoo and be treated with the same respect as anyone else.
SHAMELESS PLUG!
This is one reason why I've started some general demographics. Please fill out the 2026 RLSH Demographics Survey.
On an entire other note, if you are an RLSH, please take a moment to fill out this RLSH 2026 Demographics Survey. It's anonymous. Just looking to gather some general information to study. It will end up becoming an article after the end of the year.
If there is something you would like to see me discuss here on Herocore, please feel free to contact me. raven@herocore.online
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