Comic book and sci-fi films are meant to exist in a fantasy world separate from the real world, which is why when the two worlds start bleeding together, the results can be equally exciting and terrifying. After the jump, we’ll hear stories of bank-robbing Spider-men, Klingon-speaking parents, and a beam of light that just might kill you.

First up, it looks like Spider-Man hasn’t been taking his “Great Power, Great Responsibility” speech very seriously these days. Via Topless Robot, we’ve learned of a litany of crimes perpetrated by people dressed as Spider-Man. A few weeks ago, two people dressed in Spider-Men costumes walked into a Southlake bank; while one of them threatened customers, the other one loaded up on cash. The pair got away but according to the Star Telegram, “The bandits left in a dark minivan with a broken rear passenger window covered by a red tarp or blanket, police said.” More recently, Spider-Man has also been seen assaulting a man on Hollywood Boulevard and robbing a restaurant in Washington.

Next, via Gizmodo, we’ve learned of a Minnesota linguist named d’Armond Speers who spoke Klingon to his son for the first three years of his life:

I was interested in the question of whether my son, going through his first language acquisition process, would acquire it like any human language…He was definitely starting to learn it.

I was initially horrified at the thought that a parent might put a linguistic experiment above the social health of his son. However, the father actually wrote in to Gizmodo and explained that things aren’t as serious as they seem. Speers only spoke Klingon to his son when he was interacting with him directly; his son was primarily exposed to English and witnessed his father interacting with others in English. Perhaps more importantly, Speers’ son is now 15, and is apparently a well-adjusted teen, despite having a Trekkie for a father (proof that this is possible!).

Finally, we heard from the Telegraph (again via Topless Robot) that scientists have developed an ultraviolet light beam which can stun, similar to the phasers in Star Trek. As of now though, it only works on worms. According to the Telegraph:

Researchers have now found a way to paralyse tiny worms when they expose them to ultraviolet light. Even when the ultraviolet light was turned off the animals stayed stunned. However, if they were subsequently exposed to a different form of light they recovered again and were able to move.

Harmless flirtation with science fiction, or the first step towards a post-apocalyptic future? You decide.