After the New York Police Department posted leaflets warning Times Square tourists that photos with costumed characters are free, and tipping is optional, the costumed figures have created the Association of Artists United for a Smile to fight the bad press, according to Reuters.

City officials say they had to take action after physical attacks on some visitors, including children, when the unruliness peaked last month when a Spider-Man was accused of punching a police officer for telling a woman the character could not force her to pay up, Reuters reported.

"Photos with costumed characters are free. Tipping is optional," read the warnings in English, Spanish, Chinese, German and French, and visitors are told to find police or call 911 if they're being pressured for cash, according to Reuters.

Hours after the flyers started circulating Saturday, four fake superheroes were arrested for blocking pedestrians and grabbing one for a picture, according to Reuters.

Some of the mostly Spanish-speaking immigrants who wear the giant costumes say they have been left with far less to feed their families, Reuters reported.

Most of the costumed characters are Latin immigrants, according to Yamil Morales, one of the group's organizers, according to Reuters.

"We're people who want to be treated as workers with dignity and not be treated as cartoon characters just because we wear a mask," Morales said in Spanish, speaking through an interpreter, Reuters reported.

The City Council is working on a bill to require licensing, something Tim Tompkins, president of the Times Square Alliance, says would help legitimate operators by putting "bad players" out of business, according to Reuters.

Alex Gomez, the communications director for La Fuente who interpreted for Morales, said the characters had been unfairly vilified in the wake of recent arrests, including a Spider-Man charged with punching a police officer who intervened in a tipping dispute last month, Reuters reported.

"One or two bad apples have made the whole bunch look bad," he said, according to Reuters.