When Superhero Cosplay Goes Wrong…Very Wrong

Cosplay - short for costume play - is an integral part of fan culture.  At various conventions, like Comic-Con, passionate fans dress up as their favorite fictional character in increasingly elaborate and ornate costumes. It's sometimes impressive, often times silly but mostly harmless fun. Except for when it's not so harmless...

Pictured above is Paulo Henrique dos Santos, a 35-year-old DJ from Brazil. Paulo saw 'The Avengers' and, naturally, was a big fan of The Hulk. Eager to dress up like his favorite character for a local event, went to the hardware store to pick up some green body paint. Except they had no body paint so he bought the next best thing: ballistic missile paint. And now poor Paulo is having a hard time washing off the permanent paint and returning to Bruce Banner form.

And that's how you go from wanting to dress up like The Hulk to sitting in a shower stall while your disappointed mother washes you with a toilet bowl brush.

But as unfortunate as that story goes, it actually gets worse.  A professional Wolverine impersonator (yes, such a thing apparently exists) was found dead in his apartment after friends and family noticed the 50-year-old (...) had gone missing. The man, James Lockless, was found in the corner of the room wrapped tightly in three rolls of plastic wrap. THREE. ROLLS. Oh James, if only you actually had Wolverine claws.

Police initially suspected foul play but after an investigation realized that Lockless had done this to himself and that the would-be Wolverine died from autoerotic asphyxia.

So remember cosplayers: Comic-Con is right around the corner; only you can prevent bizarro accidents.