On December 30, 2005 (otherwise known as New Year’s Eve Eve) the 13th Annual Super Heroes Ball took place. Citizens by day, heroes and villains by night, the crime-fighting and havoc-wreaking set came out to ring in 2006 — before all the madness and debauchery of the non-Super world would have them dashing about New York. And so, those who save the world and those who attempt to destroy it came together in legendary celebration.

Each guest was temporarily disabled of their superpowers for the evening as a protective measure for the party at large. Neutralization specialist Leo Zacharias lent his services to the Ball, disguising his photogenic deactivation equipment in the form of everyday photography gear. Additionally, the International Coalition of Justice distributed light badges to designate forces of good and evil among attendees. But despite these safety precautions, a terrible crime took place and one guest, Bruce Buckingham, was murdered. The mysterious death of this man, who had been leading the fight against the Android Alliance, threatened to prematurely end the evening. Luckily, thanks to the presence of Chief Justice Zog, his supervisory staff of deputies, and the help of many clever attendees, the murderer was captured and brought to justice.

Aquamagnus (Alessandra Calvo-Friedman) put the pieces together to discover that Bunny Death was behind the dastardly deed. To express their gratitude, the ICJ presented this sleuth of a superheroine with a custom, handmade, silk-screened poster signed by illustrator Paul Pope. On another note, some level of congratulations are in order for Dr. No (Noah Raizman), Professor of Veterinary Medicine, who managed to weasel more money out of the guests than anyone else by selling key pieces of information, winning a $50 gift card from sponsor Midtown Comics.

In helping the LVHRD Foundation host this event, we had the great fortune of capturing all the costumed revelry on camera. Admittedly, we weren’t the only ones, as there were crews from HDNet and MTV Europe attending to document the event. (LVHRD opened its doors to the non-member population for a night.) Here’s a handful of our favorite moments and personalities.