Not All Wear capes

In a heartwarming break from the drudgery of the endlessly negative news cycle, a formerly homeless man in Southern California was caught on camera last month dashing to save a baby in a runaway pushchair from fast moving traffic. Ron Nessman quickly intervened when the infant's great aunt fell to the floor and was unable to gain her feet, helplessly watching as her windswept young charge careered towards a busy road. Rescued with mere seconds to spare, the daredevil baby wasn't the only one careering, as Nessman had just exited a job interview at Applebee's, stopping to take stock on a nearby bench before things went all Battleship Potemkin and turned him into an unlikely hero. Garnering significant media attention both sides of the pond, the former truck driver who'd previously ended up homeless following the devastating 2018 death of his girlfriend, was subsequently awarded the Applebee's role alongside receiving a host of other offers of jobs... which hopefully makes up for the baby's great aunt losing hers as an au pair.

To celebrate Nessman's good deed as well as the mere existence of some good news, we're going to take a look at more stories of ordinary people (and Tom Cruise) involved in extraordinary acts of bravery / ogling / typing.... it'll all make sense....

When teenagers Aaron Arias and Jamal Harris pulled alongside another car at the lights, their gaze lingered on the “attractive” female passenger long enough to register her obvious distress and her mouthed pleas for help. Clocking the male driver's behaviour, they realised they were witnessing a kidnapping, called the authorities, mentioned the hotness of the apparent victim – they may be heroes, but they're still teenagers – and proceeded to follow the assailant until law enforcement arrived to take over. Once freed, the “attractive” woman ran to give the teenage boys a huge hug, something she may instantly (or within a few seconds at least...) have regretted.

Awesomely-named Donnie Navidad accompanied his buddy, the equally awesomely named Glenn Israel to a Raiders game at the Coliseum in Oakland when a woman fell some four stories from a railing. With a split second to react (any longer and the decision may understandably have gone differently...) Navidad, 61, stretched out his arms to intercept the plummeting lady. Breaking her fall whilst knocking himself momentarily unconscious, Navidad arguably saved her life, though not without serious injury. Humble in heroism, the football-mad former marine castigated himself for not performing a better catch, though intercepting an adult human falling 45 feet is hardly the same as a pigskin. 

Whilst on the ever-popular subject of four storey falls, a 22 year old Malian man, Mamoudou Gassama, became something of an international icon when he swiftly scaled the outside of a Parisian building to rescue a four year old boy dangling precariously from a balcony. Instantly dubbed “Spiderman” for his agility, bravery and community spirit, the heart stopping viral video of the heroic incident brings tears to the eyes. An undocumented migrant, Gassama was awarded a medal of honour and French citizenship by Emmanuel Macron alongside a role in the French fire department. We'd have just packed him off to Rwanda.

Redditors once took a break from trolling one another to save a life. A clearly bored guy had used one of his ex-girlfriend's leftover pregnancy tests, registering an unexpected positive result. His buddy, also suffering an excess of time on his hands subsequently created a “rage comic” (a niche type of meme featuring.... oh, just ask Reddit...) detailing the situation and posted it on the messaging site, only to receive several responses warning them a positive pregnancy test in a male could be indicative of testicular cancer and suggesting the man get himself checked out... by a professional this time! Sure enough, doctors discovered not a miraculous ball-fetus, but a testicular tumour, inadvertently validating the man's immature act and his mate's weird little “rage comic.”... At least this pair's chances of procreating just dropped by a quarter.

Upending many a predisposed narrative, a black grandmother came to the rescue of a burly police officer locked in a desperate struggle with a perp. Abandoning the gospel music already playing in her car as she travelled to church in Baton rouge, Louisiana, 57 year old Vickie Williams-Tillman ran to the aid of law enforcement, jumping onto the back of the suspect and twisting his outstretched arm away from the officer's gun. Backup arrived shortly after and Williams-Tillman became an unlikely hero. Praise be.

Taking a break from saving the world on screen, Tom Cruise was recently revealed to have saved one of his co-stars in real life. In 2021, camera operator Bill Bennet revealed that during the filming of Cocktail in 1988, the action icon narrowly stopped Elisabeth Shue from walking into the tail rotor of a grounded helicopter, spinning so fast as to appear invisible. Noticing his clueless costar's deadly trajectory, Cruise ran (his very most favourite thing to do!!), managing to tackle her to the floor a couple of feet shy of disaster. Initially incensed and confused, Shue allegedly turned white when she realised how close she'd just come to becoming a human Nutribullet.

Taking a break from saving the world on screen or a costar from a helicopter, Cruise recently saved a crew member from a train... whilst saving the world on screen. During filming on Mission: Impossible 7 (In hindsight, the first 6 were clearly just very difficult), Cruise leapt to the aid of a cameraman who nearly fell from the carriage of a steam train whilst filming the diminutive scientologist running along the top (guy loves running). Hauling the haplessly harnessed techie to safety, photographs of Cruise's heroism made it into the Daily Mail.... right after another piece about how we should send all immigrants to Rwanda, even the baby-saving ones.

Taking a break from saving the world on screen or a costar from a helicopter or a crew member from a train whilst saving the world on screen, Cruise once helped the victim of a hit and run incident, calling 911, waiting with the victim till paramedics arrived (before running somewhere no doubt) and then paying her medical bills when she turned out to be uninsured. Dude's a real life hero. He does all his own stunts you know....

Not to be outdone, in 2014 Clint Eastwood saved a man who was choking on a piece of cheese.