Government
The Superheroes Will Need to Save Themselves
Officials hope to tiptoe around First Amendment rights to regulate costumed characters in places like Times Square or Hollywood Boulevard. Elmo and Spidey's best bet? Get organized.
All the world's a stage, Shakespeare famously wrote, and one man in his time plays many parts: Bane and the Penguin, for example.
Yamil Morales Montoya does, anyways. Montoya has performed the dual roles in Times Square for the last year and a half, a calling he discovered after nearly a decade cleaning office buildings at night. Originally from Colombia, Montoya is undocumented, and found himself limited in his job options when he first arrived in New York City. Cleaning was OK, but the work was low-paying, and lonely besides. "I felt really sad," he tells me through a translator by phone. "I really wanted something that would give me more emotional fulfillment."