Meet the real-life Spider-Man who hands out sandwiches to homeless people

HE does whatever a Spider-Man can - including rolling up his sleeves and getting stuck in to help the homeless.

A man dressed as Spider-ManBPM MEDIA

A real-life Spider-Man is helping homeless people on the streets of Birmingham

A unknown man who by day pulls pints in a pub at night dresses up as Marvel's iconic web-slinger and hands out sandwiches to those living on the streets.

The anonymous good-doer has captured the public's imagination by helping those in need living without a home in Birmingham, West Midlands.

But the real-life Peter Parker, who is single and aged 20, said all he wants to do is draw attention to the plight of the vulnerable.

The man, who a few nights each week dresses up as Spider-Man and tends to the homeless between 9pm and midnight, has also refused to be unmasked.

He said: "People always say I look like Peter Parker (the high school student behind the mask) when I wear my reading glasses. The first time I went out, the people I handed the sandwiches to had a massive smile in their face.

"Passers-by would ask for a photo, when I told them what I was doing, they would say that's really cool.

"The video went up online, people said they were going to go out with their friends and do the same. People have posted on Twitter, could I go to Coventry and do it?

"People have asked to contribute to the sandwiches but I've got enough money to do this. I want to see them go out themselves and do it." 

A man dressed as Spider-Man in the streets of BirminghamBPM MEDIA

The unknown man hands out sandwiches to the homeless dressed as Marvel's superhero

When I go home, I have to look in the mirror and say 'I'm not Spider-Man

The real-life British Spider-Man

While the real-life Spider-Man admits his double life is "surreal" he said he is faced with a reality check every time he gets home after a night dressed as the superhero.

He said: "I've had to the classic thing of buying a sandwich usually from Tesco in normal clothes and then go up an alley and change into my Spider-Man outfit.

"It sounds surreal. When I go home, I have to look in the mirror and say 'I'm not Spider-Man.'" 

The British Spider-Man has been helping the homeless and vulnerable since he was 17 when he joined a city centre church group distributing food in the area.

He said: "I noticed we would get a lot of people coming up after we had run out of food. I thought why don't we go out a lot later at night because people are still out and asking for spare change - they obviously don't have anywhere to go.

"At the start of 2014, I used to see people who had almost passed out from the cold and people walking straight past them. 

"There was a disconnect like there weren't real people. I thought it would be quite demoralising to sit there with people not looking at you.

"Even when I had nothing to to give them, I used to talk to them. At least it was something for them."

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