What would it take to make you a real world hero or villain?
What is the minimum powerset you could be granted that would make you choose to become active in real-life as a hero or villain?
Obviously just about anyone would choose the higher levels, so the rules are:
- It has to be the absolute mimimum set that makes you say "yes, give me those powers and I'll do it!".
- You only get the powers if you actively become hero or villain fighting crime or committing crimes at least several times a month in the real world. You can't just take the powers and dick around with them for fun and personal benefit (but you can in your spare time if you want) - this comes with real responsibility.
- You also can't just fight on the level of apprehending shoplifting teens or stealing candy from babies as a token effort - you will have to attempt to stop serious armed or organised criminals or contend with police/armed forces etc trying to stop you at least some of the time, and once you have established a rep they may come gunning for you. You will be in real danger at lower power levels. Depending on how you operate, you may very well end up having to protect your friends and family because of your actions and mistakes. Also, depending on how you operate, even as a hero you may be targetted by police if your methods go too far beyond the law.
- You can disguise yourself if you want, work openly like Superman, or sneakily like Batman, or whatever MO you want as long as you are personally facing off against criminals or committing crimes.
But the reward is that you get the powers. You also get a special computer system that alerts you to criminal activity or crime opportunities.
So which choice do you take? And do you become hero or villain?
(Entries aren't any particular order unless specified, they are just a range of choices.)
SECTION 1 - Peak real-world abilities
1) Peak real-life human abilities - your strength, speed, agility, and reflexes are as high as a human can have (but with no steroid/drug enhancement alllowed). You also have peak human senses. However you have no particular extra skills other than what you already have or can learn from now on.
2) #1 plus you are as skilled at H2H unarmed fighting as it is possible for a human to be - i.e. you don't have chi-amping and all that crap, you can't do any moves that it is not humanly possible to do in real-life, you can't kick through real brick walls or do wire-stunts, you haven't mastered 300+ martial arts or anything like that. You are only as good as the best real-life human could possibly be around the age of your best physical fitness level. Either mastery of a single discipline or strong skills developed across several disciplines.
3) #1, #2 plus peak weapons training - you have the best possible weapons skills a real-life person could have around the age of your best physical fitness level. This could either be the best mastery of a single weapon or small range of weapons, highly skilled in a wider range of weapons, or just good familiarity and confidence with a lot of weapons across the board. Can be any personal weapon - swords, firearms, shurikens, bow and arrows etc. Only real-life weapons. You also get access to the weapon(s) that you choose to master.
4) Genius-level intellect - you become as smart as a human can be across the board of all human mental skills, with none of the mental instability or problems that are sometimes associated with that (unless you already have them). This doesn't come with instant knowledge i.e. you still have to apply yourself to learn skills, sciences etc. but it would be a lot easier mastering them if you wanted to.
5) #4 plus you are the best educated person that you could possibly be in real-life. Again, you could choose to be absolute expert in a smaller range of fields, or excellent across a wider range of fields. Or know a bit about almost everything.
6) You get #1 through #5.
7) You get #1 through #5, plus you are as rich as Bill Gates.
SECTION 2 - Some powers and stuff
8) You get all Captain America's powers and skills - i.e. you can do the stuff that Cap can do in the comics, with his strength level, but in the real world. No shield.
9) #8 plus Cap's shield and Batman's standard utility belt (movie version level stuff only) with regular supplies for it.
10) #8, #9 plus you are bullet-proof enough to not be much affected by small arms, blades etc, and to survive (but with some serious discomfort, broken ribs and major bruising) heavier weapons such as assault rifles.
SECTION 3 - More than human
11) Flight at up to mach 0.3. You can survive the speed and are comfortable up to 20,000 feet altitude.
12) Xavier-level telepathy.
13) Classic Quicksilver level speed.
14) Mystique's shape-changing abilities.
15) Wolverine's power set, but with real-world alloys instead of adamantium i.e you can't just cut through brick walls and solid steel doors like butter like in the comics.
16) Invisible Woman's powers.
17) Spider-Man's powers and web-shooters.
18) Green-Lantern's ring but limited to constructs and flight.
SECTION 4 - Total Superhuman
19) Hulk's powers in the real world (but you look the same).
20) Superman's powers in the real world.
21) Silver Surfer's powers in the real world.
22) Cyborg Superman's powers in the real world.
23) Thor's powers and hammer.
SECTION 4 - Ridiculous levels
24) Dark Phoenix powers.
OTHER
25) I'm a coward and/or I have no interest in helping people or breaking the law. Nothing could convince me to become a super-hero or villain.
Its a bit too much, but here are my own minimum requirements.
- I'd have to be funded, I don't need to be super rich or anything.
- I'd have to work with a government agency so they can assign me jobs rather than me going rooftops at night to look for trouble or what not. (Alternatively I'd need to be super rich to set up my own intelligence organization).
- Abilities:
- Peak Human Physical Stats in every aspect
- Peak Human Intelligence
- Peak Human Knowledge
- Enhanced Human Weapons Profiency
- Mid-level Healing Factor - regenerate from bullets wounds in minutes, even head shots. HF should also extend life expectancy.
- Some other specific power, doesn't have to be high end, even something like invisibility would be great.
i'd need some superhuman aspect to even bother. if i had classic quicksilver's set, i'm sure the "slow motion" way in which i perceive reality would drive me to be a villain. maybe i'd be a hero if i could fly, but i'd rather get the green lantern set before going up against organized crime.
granted, if i had kitty pryde's powers, i'd be doing heroic and villainous shit all day because that's, at least in my opinion, the most awesome power to have in the real world.
i already possess a peak body, fighting skills, wpns training although i lack the intelligence.. so no with those stats i wont do either.. not enough funds and a bullet will still take me out.
oops didnt see the bill gates funds.. i guess i be a vigilante killer hero.. i be taking down the man and criminal organization.
i probably get me a driver side kick.. since i have horrible night vision and i'm not a good get away driver.. but i guess i could practice but, i am lazy..
i guess with any power or the right amount of funds i be causing mayhem in my mind i be a hero to the government and select few i be a criminal psycho..
Gender: Male Location: I'm not giving my name to a machine
I have no interest in being a villain, so my minimum hero requirements would probably be classic Quicksilver powers.
Alternately, if I was a genius I could technically fight crime by developing ways to identify and prevent the psychological reasons people commit crimes.
__________________ Originally posted by -Pr- a great big penis.
Peak human would just make you a rich athlete. I'd probably just do that, then be generous with charitable donations as my "being good" instead of superhero-ing.
Realistically, even with powers it would require a lot of research, prep, time, and money. Primarily into the legal aspects of it, since law enforcement is tricky if you're just going about it like a vigilante. Because honestly, anything below legit metahumans (like Swanky's QS requirement) and you'd be doing more "good" by making yourself rich and just furthering noble causes with money. Actually doing physical hero stuff would be a waste of time.
So on the list I wouldn't even start thinking about it until about #10.
Xavier-level telepathy, Mystique's abilities in concert with her combat and weapon's expertise, Green Lantern or Invisible Woman's powers would be the "yes, give me those powers and I'll do it!" point at which I would become a hero. Or presumably under the premise that power corrupts, the point at which I become a villain.
Gender: Male Location: I'm not giving my name to a machine
The way I figure it, if you're physically able to stop crime a lot of people are going to want to hurt you. The speed seems nice because it's easy and it's tantamount to an extended lifespan. A long, torturous lifespan that alienates you from humanity, but long none the less. In which time you can learn whatever you want and become an expert stuff and help that way as well.
__________________ Originally posted by -Pr- a great big penis.
I find it funny that taking some mysterious serum that gives you strength = good but taking steroids that give you strength = bad
Ult Capt had the potrayal right, you just can't take a serum and turn into a muscle bound adonis the next day, you would need to supplement it with steroids and months of hard training.
lol @ the irony.
Cheating your way to strength with one serum = good but cheating your way to it with another = bad.
Cap saves lives though. Athletes are robbing others of money, sending the message to kids that it's ok to destroy your body, and cheapening actual effort. There's a gigantic difference, and can't be boiled down to such simple comparisons.
If someone were taking steroids to be a superhero, they might be stupid, but I wouldn't have any problem with them personally or morally.
I don't know if I would be interesting in doing heroics or crime in real life no matter which powers I could get. Sure, it could be cool for a while to have powers and just mess with the world, but it would sometimes feel like cheating the universe. Certainly I would be even less interested in crime or heroics if I was to get only money and stuff.
In the other hand, if I ever did something criminal/heroic it would be most likely in the ideological/leadership sense, it would be a crime for some for others justice, but one way or another super powers would be out of question since I would end up not doing that by myself. If it isn't in me I don't think I would do it anyways.
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Feb 21st, 2010 09:11 AM
