If you want extra ham and cheesiness to go with your pizza delivery, Galactic Pizza's Captain Awesome is your man.

Sporting a red cape, helmet and plenty of blue Spandex, Captain Awesome, the alter ego of 25-year-old Dustin Saunders, proudly delivers "planet-saving pizza" for the superhero-themed Minneapolis shop.

"I've always kind of made a fool of myself," Saunders says. "If I could get paid to wear Spandex and look stupid in public, that's the ideal job for me. I've had a desk job. That sucked and I'm never going to do that again."

Besides enthusiastically suiting up for his work, Saunders also has bought in to owner Pete Bonahoom's values-based mission: making deliveries in electric vehicles (up to 25 on a busy six-hour shift), buying wind energy credits to power the shop and vehicles, and when possible, using organic, local produce and packaging made from recycled or biodegradable materials.

The Captain Awesome nickname came well before the delivery character's creation. Saunders was living in Cape Cod, playing guitar in a cafe and, of course, wearing samurai headgear. "This European dude started calling me 'Captain Awesome,'" Saunders says. "When I got here, they said I needed to pick a superhero and I went straight for that."

Saunders ate Galactic pizza every day when he started but has cut down to twice a week for the last year. His favorite these days is the Mexicali. ("It's got jalapenos on it, so if you dip it in a side of our buttermilk ranch, it's awesome," he says.)

Three and out with Galactic Pizza's Captain Awesome

• Any weird stuff happen on deliveries?

I deliver to a lot of kids' parties and that's always interesting, especially when they want to fly off. You put your arms in front make a "whoosh" noise and run. I used to deliver to this guy, he hasn't ordered in a while, but he would dress up like a super-villain and then snatch the pizza out of your hands and leave the money. (He wore) a mustache and a long cape, like an old 1940s villain tying people to train tracks.

• Do you wear the costume off the clock?

I have my own stupid things to wear when I'm not working. I have this pair of khaki pink short-shorts that I like to wear. They look really stupid. If I can talk somebody into wearing a pair of short-shorts too, we'll have a little short-shorts bar crawl.

• What misconceptions do you have to deal with?

I think everyone assumes that everyone who works here smokes pot. I don't. I can't stand it. Some people think that we will strip for money. I might, actually. I don't know. It depends on how much money they have.

Three more with Captain Awesome.

• Does the costume surprise people?

Sometimes it's a surprise, some people don't know. They usually look really baffled and then they, embarrassed, ask what's going on. And then I have to explain that it's OK, I'm not a crazy person. I might have some mental problems but this is what I do for a living.

• Any mythology behind your character?

I have super powers. I always tell people that I know super karate and that I have an indestructible air guitar.

• Describe your costume.

It's a mash-up of the comic book Superman style but also a little bit of '80s "ThunderCats" and "Power Rangers" too. (The blue) is the color what Lion-O — the main character in "ThunderCats" — wears, so that's where I got the idea for the color.