CHICAGO — When Mike Esposito transforms into the "Captain Chicago" character he trademarked, he's on a simple mission.
"My big thing is to install more pride in this city," said Esposito, a major in the Army Reserves at Fort Sheridan. "I see this as a community service type of thing. Watching the news, the city's been getting a bad rep."
Esposito, 34, hatched the Captain Chicago idea about three years ago after he tore an ankle tendon and doctors injected him with stem cells. Esposito found a common bond with the Captain America plot, where soldier Steve Rogers received "Super Soldier Serum."
"At the time, the Hawks were winning, and I thought I'd come up with Captain Chicago instead," said Esposito, who was an Army captain at the time.
Esposito trademarked the Captain Chicago name and the logo on the blue shield with a Chicago-style, six-pointed star he carries around. The Purdue graduate recently upgraded the shield from plastic to aluminum. A trademark on a star patch is pending, he said.
Esposito wears the costume to events like C2E2 at McCormick Place, Chicago Wizard World in Rosemont and "Superhero Night" at the Kane County Cougars baseball game. Last week, he debuted a Captain Chicago song with lyrics that include "raise your shield, deep dish defender" and "for Chicago always be true."
He sells shirts on his Captain Chicago website and hopes to make enough money to start donating money to the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation.
"I want to take care of my brothers in blue," he said. "I work with a lot of Chicago cops in the Army Reserve. A lot of them are weekend warriors at Fort Sheridan."
Esposito, who served in Iraq and Kuwait in the mid-2000s, said he's been called "Captain Chiraq" occasionally. But he said Chicago's violence is nothing compared to violence in the Middle East.
"I think Chicago is a great place, and I want everyone to love their city," Esposito said. "I want to be a fun symbol for the city, something that people can see. I'm definitely not a clown for hire."
