Hail BATMAN! Meet the real life caped crusaders

Comic artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger would never have imagined that their baby's passion to eliminate crime would one day be immortalised in real life crusades -- notwithstanding some ill-fitted costumes -- across the world.

From Brazil to Slovakia, the cult of 'Batman' has somehow turned out to become an answer to real life crimes, a harbinger of smiles and means to voice protest in its own curious ways.

We present images of some Batman 'doppelgangers' around the world, including the latest of a mystery man dressed as the superhero who demonstrated the same crime-fighting skills as the caped crusader when he handed over a suspect wanted for burglary in Britain.

Closed-circuit television footage showed a portly figure wearing an ill-fitting costume including gloves, cape and mask, bringing a 27-year-old man to a police station in Bradford in northern England.

Please click NEXT to see another real life 'Batman'...

Retired Brazilian police officer Andre Luiz Pinheiro, 50, dressed as super-hero Batman, runs at Santa Terezinha Square, in Taubate city, Sao Paulo, on March 26, 2012.

Pinheiro has been called to help police patrol the crime-ridden streets of Taubate, in Brazil. He was officially presented on March 17 in the districts with the highest crime rates in Sao Paulo state.

Police captain Warley Takeo, one of the policemen who decided to bring in the character to help them fight drug traffickers, said the measure would bring long-term benefits.

Takeo said making a connection between the police and Batman would help children have a clearer idea of good and bad.

Zoltan Kohari, known as the Slovak Batman, leaves home from second-story window in town of Dunajska Streda, some 55 km south of Bratislava, on March 9, 2012.

Kohari, who is 27-years-old, lives alone in an abandoned building without water, heat or electricity. For local residents he became known as the hero in a Batman's costume.

While he has not fought crime yet, he does believe in justice and wants to help the police. In the mean time, Kohari, who is poor, does what he can to help the residents to make their daily life easier.

In return, some of these residents give him food.

A 'Batman' is pulled over by police in Montgomery County, Maryland, US, on March 21, 2012. Police said 'Batman's' black Lamborghini did not have proper license plates.

According to published reports, Batman's license plates were inside the car and he was not ticketed. Media reports also identified the superhero as Lenny Robinson, a Baltimore businessman who dresses like Batman to entertain sick children at area hospitals.

Security officers standby as father's rights campaigner Jason Hatch, dressed as Batman, protests on a balcony at Buckingham Palace in London, on September 13, 2004.

The father's rights campaigner evaded tight security to protest on the balcony at Buckingham Palace. The group, known for its curious campaigns, perceives Britain's courts as biased against fathers in divorce case child access arrangements.

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