Coming of the Superheros 2020 edition

[Formless]

So I was thinking, 2020 as a year totally sounds like a plot from a comic book, so lets play with that. I was inspired by this thread from almost two years ago, which was set in 2017. Lets change that. Lets imagine that at the same scenario as the previous thread-- reality altering to allow fictional superheroes into our world in order that they appeared in pop culture-- but this time starting on December 1, 2019 instead of April of 2017. The populous is generally aware of what is going on, in that they both remember a history where these characters didn't exist, and one where they did.

Some changes from the last thread:

The characters appear come from the last 100 years even. That is, the first ones to appear come from no earlier than 1919, and the last characters who appear come from no later than 2019 to avoid the weird potential paradox of a character appearing before their first publication in 2020. Also a nice even century helps ensure the Superhero was already an established (if nacent) genre in 1919.

A superhero is any iconic, humanlike character who acts as a vigilante or habitual Good Samaritan. Kaiju don't count, mecha pilots don't count unless they have an additional superhero trait beyond "has piloting skills". So basically, Godzilla and Shinji don't count. Feel free to count any character from the TVTropes list unless they fail the next three tests.

The character cannot come from a world that clearly isn't Earth even if its called that by its inhabitants (EG. the world of Dragonball), the far future, or from a significantly different history from our own (EG. Watchmen).

The power of the superheros that appear are capped at around the level of DCAU Superman (I know that's a bit vague, but basically this is the NO RIDICULOUS WANK CHARACTERS rule. No characters like Superman Prime or Saitama appear. Keep it reasonable, okay?).

No parody or satire characters appear. I.E. no one like Radioactive Man, Darkwing Duck, or the Forth Wall breaking version of Deadpool appear. Besides, what more could he have to say in a situation where he literally comes to our world?

Major fictional cities like Gotham and Metropolis simply merge with the nearest real world analogy of them rather than creating new landmass a-la the DC universe. So Gotham simply becomes Jersey, Metropolis becomes Chicago, etc. I'm interested how COVID-19 plays out with superheroes, and I don't want to change the course of real world events too much by introducing bigass metropolitan areas from nowhere. Small towns like Smallville are fine, though.

Lastly, major villains only appear if they are tied to a hero's backstory or identity as a franchise. In other words, Lex Luthor didn't appear in the original because he wasn't tied to Superman's backstory. I want to know what happens if he does appear. Just don't think that an entire Rouges Gallery is going to pop up out of nowhere to cause mayhem.

What happens? How does the Corona Virus appearing simultaneously to this event change history, and how does the appearance of Superheroes effect American politics in 2020? Or the political situation around the world? Personally, I was generally dismissive of the significance of Trump in the original thread, but this time not so much. But what do you think?

[Majin Gojira]

I've been considering revamping it along the lines to keep things less focused on horrors brought in, but rather how very pro-active people with "Unchecked" power will act in a time of extreme corruption and governmental failure.

Because a few of them are ... Not Very Nice. The Shadow, Green Hornet, and The Avenger for instance have very little love for authoritarians of any stripe.

Doc Savage would be along to help with the Coronavirus in some capacity, but again, they hate authoritarians.

This would get worse as time goes on, with the Patriotic World War II Superheroes seeing the rise of the QAnon cult and, well, punching Nazis left and right.

Around this same time, assuming the 'supporting cast' comes along as well, we have at least two undersea kingdoms and Thymiscira being announced as nations in the world, and I doubt the undersea kingdoms will be very happy with the state of the oceans in the 21st century.

A lot of superheroes of the 40s/wartime were revolutionary in attitudes. Superman began as a "Champion of the Oppressed" while Wonder Woman's message of equality and freedom still wrinkles some people 80 years on.

Some heroes would go with the status quo in the summer, but quickly, again, not cotton to authoritarianism, and have very simple solutions for it. Like big plans to halt climate change, or the rise of Wakanda on the international stage to really throw things in a tizzy.

Made worse by hitting the 'bronze age' in August, and the Dark Age in September.

By that point, we have heroes who are willing to kill corrupt politicians actively, heroic ecoterrorists going hog-wild against illegal logging, and assassinating heads of businesses that profit off of the destruction of the environment. Not to mention "Gaeic Avatars" like Swamp Thing taking direct action against people who abuse the earth.

Will insurance call it an act of god?

Speaking of, by this point, representative heroes from a dozen different pantheons are now running around, throwing all sorts of theological craziness out there. Norse and Grecko-Roman is just the start of it. Kami, the Celestial Bureaucracy, Kachina, Kupua, Dreamtime Spirits, Pharonic Pantheons, and more all have active representatives, and as Thor once said:

"What kind of God doesn't answer prayers?"

While there are some Christian, Muslim, and Judaic supers running around, the whole thing becomes a theological gordian knot and could spark more violence between sects.

Or rejection of the deities in question if they don't 'live up' to the image they have for him.

And aside from other supers, very little will be able to stop either shift.

And if not by then, then by October, when 90s Extreme excess hits. But this also means that there will be utterly amoral 'superhero' teams in full government control (IE: Youngblood).

If a handle is not taken on the characters by then, there could be ... no, if Trump hasn't been killed by then, there likely will be a superhuman war. Just in time for the Authority to show up.

How it goes from there, I can't say.

[Jub]

I wonder what the living version of Warhammer 40k's God Emperor of Mankind would make of the world he's now found himself in. Do the seeds of what will awaken as the four ruinous powers come with him? If they do how quickly will they grow, fueled by the passions of other heroes that have recently emerged?

[Tribble]

Lastly, major villains only appear if they are tied to a hero's backstory or identity as a franchise. In other words, Lex Luthor didn't appear in the original because he wasn't tied to Superman's backstory. I want to know what happens if he does appear. Just don't think that an entire Rouges Gallery is going to pop up out of nowhere to cause mayhem.

That should still cause quite a bit of mayhem.

As one example, IMO Doomsday qualifies as he is probably the most well known Superman villain after Lex Luthor and their battle to the "death" is one of the most iconic and memorable parts in the entire franchise. Lex Luthor may be Superman's arch enemy, but Doomsday is the one that actually killed him put him into a "healing coma".

If he shows up, the body count will depend on when/where and whose around him when the killing starts. If he first appears similarly to the comics (punching his way out of his prison in a rural area) and some big hitters are around nearby, he'll hopefully be taken down before doing much damage. On the other hand, should he pop up in a city that doesn't have a traditionally heavy superhero presence, I pity the inhabitants.

[Formless]

I wonder what the living version of Warhammer 40k's God Emperor of Mankind would make of the world he's now found himself in. Do the seeds of what will awaken as the four ruinous powers come with him? If they do how quickly will they grow, fueled by the passions of other heroes that have recently emerged?

Since he comes from the far future, we will never know. He's disqualified.

Made worse by hitting the 'bronze age' in August, and the Dark Age in September.

Uh, Majin, I changed the timeline from the original. In this version, the event starts in December of 2019 and heroes stop appearing roughly around the same time Covid hits the US in early March. By summer, everyone is already here, from the proto-supers to the Japanese Supers to the Dark Age supers-- every hero will have the opportunity to witness the events that unfolded over the summer.

[Majin Gojira]

Uh, Majin, I changed the timeline from the original. In this version, the event starts in December of 2019 and heroes stop appearing roughly around the same time Covid hits the US in early March. By summer, everyone is already here, from the proto-supers to the Japanese Supers to the Dark Age supers-- every hero will have the opportunity to witness the events that unfolded over the summer.

IIRC, I had it at 1 decade per month. 120 years to 12 months, so that just shits things back a month.

But, regardless, it just pushes the timeline of 'destruction' up even further. I mean, by then we hit the series Black Summer whose plot is "Superhero sees the corruption of the Bush-expy's presidency and kills the entire administration."

[Formless]

Uh, Majin, I changed the timeline from the original. In this version, the event starts in December of 2019 and heroes stop appearing roughly around the same time Covid hits the US in early March. By summer, everyone is already here, from the proto-supers to the Japanese Supers to the Dark Age supers-- every hero will have the opportunity to witness the events that unfolded over the summer.

IIRC, I had it at 1 decade per month. 120 years to 12 months, so that just shits things back a month.

Nope, it is (and was) 100 days-- 1 day equals 1 year. Because the Superhero was not 120 years old as a concept. It was 100. You had it start on April 1's, even, just for the LOLs. But I'm timing it to deliberately coincide with the outbreak. Just as people are getting used to supers, the plague hits.

[Majin Gojira]

Uh, Majin, I changed the timeline from the original. In this version, the event starts in December of 2019 and heroes stop appearing roughly around the same time Covid hits the US in early March. By summer, everyone is already here, from the proto-supers to the Japanese Supers to the Dark Age supers-- every hero will have the opportunity to witness the events that unfolded over the summer.

IIRC, I had it at 1 decade per month. 120 years to 12 months, so that just shits things back a month.

Nope, it is (and was) 100 days-- 1 day equals 1 year. Because the Superhero was not 120 years old as a concept. It was 100. You had it start on April 1's, even, just for the LOLs. But I'm timing it to deliberately coincide with the outbreak. Just as people are getting used to supers, the plague hits.

Ah, it was 102 days, and my brain mixed it up!

[Jub]

I wonder what the living version of Warhammer 40k's God Emperor of Mankind would make of the world he's now found himself in. Do the seeds of what will awaken as the four ruinous powers come with him? If they do how quickly will they grow, fueled by the passions of other heroes that have recently emerged?

Since he comes from the far future, we will never know. He's disqualified.

That's not what his canon backstory says. It says he was alive in ancient times drawn to the first Summarian cities, living among us in disguise a wise and ancient guide who slowly learned which wisdom worked and which didn't. In older fluff, he was created by the last of the ancient shamans as a defense against the ruinous powers which they could feel stirring.

[LadyTevar]

I wonder what the living version of Warhammer 40k's God Emperor of Mankind would make of the world he's now found himself in. Do the seeds of what will awaken as the four ruinous powers come with him? If they do how quickly will they grow, fueled by the passions of other heroes that have recently emerged?

Since he comes from the far future, we will never know. He's disqualified.

That's not what his canon backstory says. It says he was alive in ancient times drawn to the first Summarian cities, living among us in disguise a wise and ancient guide who slowly learned which wisdom worked and which didn't. In older fluff, he was created by the last of the ancient shamans as a defense against the ruinous powers which they could feel stirring.

NOT A SUPERHERO. DOES NOT COUNT.

[Jub]

NOT A SUPERHERO. DOES NOT COUNT.

From the OP, "A superhero is any iconic, humanlike character who acts as a vigilante or habitual Good Samaritan."

The GEoMK before he took command of Terra meets these requirements and has a terrifying set of psychic powers to boot.

[Formless]

NOT A SUPERHERO. DOES NOT COUNT.

From the OP, "A superhero is any iconic, humanlike character who acts as a vigilante or habitual Good Samaritan."

The GEoMK before he took command of Terra meets these requirements and has a terrifying set of psychic powers to boot.

Jub, thank you for highlighting two important caveats needed to make this thread work.

New Rules (because Jub is an ass):

If you don't even know what the characters abilities look like, they are excluded because we obviously can't talk about them in any meaningful way. If someone asks what their powers and personality looks like so we can gauge how they effect the scenario, please be prepared to do so ESPECIALLY if there is some ambiguity as to whether they qualify as a superhero. Remember that what is interesting here isn't who qualifies, but what happens next.

Please try to include characters in good faith. The superhero genre is vast, somewhat nebulous in its definition, and has many subgenres, but there are some characters like Dr Who that clearly come from outside the genre despite having powers. Try to remember that this isn't a VS thread, its a scenario.

I really don't want to add more rules because someone is being a jerk. RARs are meant to be fun!

Ah, it was 102 days, and my brain mixed it up!

Yup. But I'm simplifying it to an even 100. I don't even really know how it would work if it was a decade per month-- like, what days would each hero show up on if that were the case? Every three days a new batch of supers arrive? But then each month has a different number of days to it...

1 day to 1 year is easier to get a grip on.

[Formless]

Lastly, major villains only appear if they are tied to a hero's backstory or identity as a franchise. In other words, Lex Luthor didn't appear in the original because he wasn't tied to Superman's backstory. I want to know what happens if he does appear. Just don't think that an entire Rouges Gallery is going to pop up out of nowhere to cause mayhem.

That should still cause quite a bit of mayhem.

As one example, IMO Doomsday qualifies as he is probably the most well known Superman villain after Lex Luthor and their battle to the "death" is one of the most iconic and memorable parts in the entire franchise. Lex Luthor may be Superman's arch enemy, but Doomsday is the one that actually killed him put him into a "healing coma".

If he shows up, the body count will depend on when/where and whose around him when the killing starts. If he first appears similarly to the comics (punching his way out of his prison in a rural area) and some big hitters are around nearby, he'll hopefully be taken down before doing much damage. On the other hand, should he pop up in a city that doesn't have a traditionally heavy superhero presence, I pity the inhabitants.

Well the idea here is that I want to include a character's Arch Nemesis if possible. So we would have characters like Joker, Lex, Rita Repulsa, and so on to talk about as well as the heroes. Its interesting to ask whether the Heroes like Superman will attempt to use their reputation to try and encourage people to take the quarantine seriously, participate in the BLM protests, help with the vaccine, and on and on and on (it was quite a year!); but my inspiration for including (a limited number of) villains was wondering what would happen if Lex Luthor was around during the presidential race. Lex is probably a Republican and definitely Not Nice, but he's also not a populist or an imbecile, and has run for office before himself. So it made me wonder whether he (or any other villain for that matter) might try to steal the Republican nomination out from under Trump, or otherwise attempt to sabotage the orangutan in Chief's position out of spite and attempt to steer the party away from the man's personal cult (and towards his own, more subtle version of authoritarianism). The way the previous thread was written, though, Lex wouldn't appear at all. Joker would, thanks to Harley Quinn's antihero status, but he's a small fry politically. He'd probably just get arrested and given the chair, unlike in the DC universe. I'm not too familiar with some other character's arch nemeses, though. Of course, there were some fairly high-profile villains that appeared in the previous one who would almost certainly jump on opportunities the pandemic creates (the Space Weasel from Madoka jumps to mind). But most were from Japanese media.

Darkside is arguably less iconic of Superman than Brainiac, IMO, since the latter was involved in Superman's homeworld being destroyed (and thus could have been included in the previous thread if we had been thinking about it).

[LadyTevar]

NOT A SUPERHERO. DOES NOT COUNT.

From the OP, "A superhero is any iconic, humanlike character who acts as a vigilante or habitual Good Samaritan."

The GEoMK before he took command of Terra meets these requirements and has a terrifying set of psychic powers to boot.

However, the universe he is from is a WAR GAME, and not a SuperHero genre. There is nothing superheroic about any of his actions as Emperor, either, more like Dr. Doom as a Dictator.

[Jub]

I'm not intending to be a jerk now any more than I was when I brought Gohan into the last thread. Comic book characters aren't especially interesting to me but out-of-context problems for those characters are, hence my desire to bring in characters that only technically fit the definition you've laid out for us. I find the idea of Sailor Moon trying to stop the birth of 40k's ruinous powers way more interesting than asking how quickly a tech hero like Tony Stark could knock out and distribute a COVID vaccine.

[Solauren]

Okay, I'll admit, Sailor Moon trying to knock off the God Emperor is a hilarious idea....

However, Tony Stark, full tech out, for this world, and not restrained by the concept of 'has to stay relatable' is interesting for long term impact discussions. Imagine him replaying 1 coal reactor with a series of his chest reactors, and powering the midwest.....

[Formless]

I'm not intending to be a jerk now any more than I was when I brought Gohan into the last thread. Comic book characters aren't especially interesting to me but out-of-context problems for those characters are, hence my desire to bring in characters that only technically fit the definition you've laid out for us. I find the idea of Sailor Moon trying to stop the birth of 40k's ruinous powers way more interesting than asking how quickly a tech hero like Tony Stark could knock out and distribute a COVID vaccine.

Like I said, this isn't a VS thread. Neither was the last one. Asking "how do they deal with OOC problem X" is VS thinking. Whereas we're interested in Superheroes AS an OOC problem for the real world. Everyone knows that superhero VS quickly devolve into nonsense because the genre is terrible about consistency, continuity, and one time feats that are never demonstrated again, and no one wants this to devolve into an episode of Death Battle. That isn't fun.

[Tribble]

I'm not intending to be a jerk now any more than I was when I brought Gohan into the last thread. Comic book characters aren't especially interesting to me but out-of-context problems for those characters are, hence my desire to bring in characters that only technically fit the definition you've laid out for us. I find the idea of Sailor Moon trying to stop the birth of 40k's ruinous powers way more interesting than asking how quickly a tech hero like Tony Stark could knock out and distribute a COVID vaccine.

Like I said, this isn't a VS thread. Neither was the last one. Asking "how do they deal with OOC problem X" is VS thinking. Whereas we're interested in Superheroes AS an OOC problem for the real world. Everyone knows that superhero VS quickly devolve into nonsense because the genre is terrible about consistency, continuity, and one time feats that are never demonstrated again, and no one wants this to devolve into an episode of Death Battle. That isn't fun.

At least in a North American context, most superheroes end up joining one sort of group or another and are willing to work together when necessary. So in this scenario its likely we'll end up with the equivalent of a combined DC/MARVEL Justice League. The villains that do show up aren't going to stand much of a chance as they tend not to coordinate well, are prone to backstabbing and most importantly there will be far fewer of them to begin with.

So this basically boils down to what degree the superheroes will work together and what sides they take on issues. Which superhero group gets to out wank the others in their super goodness?

As for the rest of the world facing an OOC? Well, the world would know how our history plays out without superheroes, and we'd get to have superheroes without 99% of the rouge gallery baggage that comes with them so I imagine the overall response will be pretty positive? Probably better than the responses they receive in their own respective universes at least.

I mean, c'mon. Coronavirus vs the likes of geniuses like Reed Richards, Ray Palmer, Bruce Banner, Beast, Tony Stark, Doctor Strange, Batman etc? Please. They'll solve it in a week tops, probably by building some device that vaccinates people while simultaneously sucking it out of their bodies and shooting into the sun.

[Formless]

And how are they going to solve it any faster than the real world laboratories that made the vaccines that are going around right now? Or bypass the bureaucratic hurdles that the vaccine makers had to abide by? Or the governmental ineptitude in its distribution? Don't get me wrong, I know these characters wouldn't sit on their asses doing nothing about it, but I'd like to hear your reasoning for how we would manage better than we did without them. Just being a genius doesn't mean you can make problems automatically vanish. There are plenty of geniuses in the real world who can attest to that.

[Batman]

Well for starters we have access to time travel so we might retroactively start vaccine development and manufacture several years ago

As for distribution provided we can get sufficient manufacturing set up while that's not exactly us geniuses doing it especially DC level speedsters are ludicrously fast

[Jub]

And how are they going to solve it any faster than the real world laboratories that made the vaccines that are going around right now? Or bypass the bureaucratic hurdles that the vaccine makers had to abide by? Or the governmental ineptitude in its distribution? Don't get me wrong, I know these characters wouldn't sit on their asses doing nothing about it, but I'd like to hear your reasoning for how we would manage better than we did without them. Just being a genius doesn't mean you can make problems automatically vanish. There are plenty of geniuses in the real world who can attest to that.

Put a real human genius in a cave with some tools and a bomb and he won't be building an arc reactor and a suit of power armor. Nor will any real scientist discover Pym particles, create chemicals that can give people superpowers, or build the Watchtower. Comic book geniuses are beyond human and can go from a theory to a working prototype on timescales that simply aren't possible to real people.