Character ideas needed: Villainous "Flag suits"

[phoenix240]

First off, I want to make it clear this isn't intended as any sort of political screed or message anvil. It is based on the political climate in our setting but no commentary on real life is intended. With that out of the way, I'm working on team of US “Flag suits” but as antagonists. They see themselves are heroes, rooting out “Un American” activities and people but are more like vigilantes at best, overly aggressive zealots with patriotic blinders on at worse.

 

I want them to illustrate the negatives of excessive blind patriotism, some of the cultural issues that divide us and how even good intentions can go horribly wrong particularly when enacted by less than good, less the stable individuals. I think this group would make a good counter point to the several heroic national heroes and flag suits in the campaign (Maiden America, American Citizen, Free Spirit and others).

 

Whats of members might such a team have?

 

[death tribble]

One might be against immigration. Particularly from Mexico. That is a bit of a hot topic but how you would represent that apart from some reference to The Alamo

[bubba smith]

I agree with death tribble

also a disgruntled service person would make an interesting choice

[Christougher]

In my campaign world, the official US superhero team is called Americana, and they are based on the east coast, allowing room for the PC team to cover the west coast.  I have a team in similar concept to yours, as a counterpoint / rival to the PC team.  Here's what I remember offhand:

 

The All Americans:  

American Way (Brick Mutant, Force Field SFX,racist and ***k on top of it.)

American Maid (Martial, includes Stiletto Heels)

American Dream (Egoist, Dreams SFX)

American Express (Speedster, small oblong shield)

American Ingenuity (Gadget VPP)

 

No, there are no puns allowed in my games, why do you ask?  

 

Chris.

[Steve]

My two cents.

 

I would suggest getting the PRIMUS sourcebook and mining it for ideas.

[freakboy6117]

hmm

 

BORDER GUARD

 

power armour wearing technological savant & gun nut. A one man army against illegal immigration.

 

JOHN Q and MRS America  

 

JOHN Q the everyman (respect authority, follow the majority don't upset the applecart.) and his STEPFORD wife.

 

 

 

This one is very controversial

 

Guardian of life. Think the punisher but for abortion providers.

[csyphrett]

DC had the Force of July as government supers who worked for the establishment. They were not shown as being effective compared to the Suicide Squad

CES

[Steve]

You might also check out the RPG "Brave New World" for ideas on villainous government supers. It's a fairly dystopian setting, but I thought it had some interesting potential as a campaign world.

[Enforcer84]

DC had the Force of July as government supers who worked for the establishment. They were not shown as being effective compared to the Suicide Squad

CES

I loved the Force of July as a name. 

[Enforcer84]

Since these guys see themselves as heroes they're not going to take villainous names. My flag wavers included some guys who went rogue. But you could borrow any of them and make them darker.

 

Allegiance - Mindcontrol Mentalist/Fisticuffs. This guy would be rife for my way or the mind control way.

Minuteman - a high ordnance supersoldier.

Constitution - a sea faring brick or just a real damage soak. 

Old Glory - Flag Waver! Might need some other abilities as "Master of Semaphore" won't strike fear into the hearts of America's enemies.

[Steve]

The Gestalt campaign setting (available in the Hero Store and one I greatly enjoyed) also had an antagonistic superteam that worked for the government.

[JmOz]

I find it hard to believe that any male would take the name Minuteman...

[Greywind]

I'm seeing a character like Captain Britain, only using the Confederate Stars-and-Bars instead of the Union Jack.

[freakboy6117]

liked the idea of the confederate flag suit i also did Border Guard

 

 

[freakboy6117]

one other idea I have used for evil flag suits

 

LIONHEART the WW2 british super hero was killed/ vanished during the final days of the war.

20 years later LIONHEART II a new hero who belives he is the Illegitimate son of the original hero, until he meets his real father NAZI super villain EISENFAUST. The revelation breaks him he becomes the villainous BLACKHEART. doing something similar with an american hero might be intresting.

 

marvel does a number of evil/different flag suits 

 

NUKE a psycotic super soldier for vietnam

 

U.S. Agent another supersoldier type who once replaced Captain America

[csyphrett]

I find it hard to believe that any male would take the name Minuteman...

 

I named a guy Minuteman because he had an hour of power which he split into sixty tiny duplicates. As his time ran out, the duplicates merged together for lesser strength and speed.

 

Champions had a guy who was a speedster in Golden Age Champions.

 

Palladium had a guy who was a weapons guy/wolverine on their superagent team.

 

I am sure there were others, but that was the first three I thought of.

CES 

[JmOz]

Sorry, it was a bad joke, I was in an impish mood

[Enforcer84]

I find it hard to believe that any male would take the name Minuteman...

True. Performance-wise it's a risky venture, but if he's clever he can always use it to his advantage.

 

"I'm sorry you seemed misled you but calling myself 120Minuteman didn't have the same patriotic ring to it."

[phoenix240]

liked the idea of the confederate flag suit i also did Border Guard

 

 

 

This  is what Capt. American's costume would have looked like if the south won.

[bubba smith]

minuite man was the name of a Fawcett publications super-hero DC comics revived hin in the original SHAZAM series

[The Arc]

 

Beloved Leader

 

Here's a link to his character sheet. http://www.uber-world.com/characterpage.php?cid=961

[massey]

In one of our campaigns, we had Old Glory. He started as an anime-styled patriotic two fisted hero that had martial art techniques with his cape, and could throw Ken and Ryu style chi blasts from his hands (which were streams of red, white, and blue energy, of course). His player had... interesting character ideas.

 

So then that player dropped out of the game, and was replaced by a player who had a whole lot of crippling psych lims. That guy was nuts. He took over the character, and Old Glory gradually began to change. He lost his patriotic chi powers, and started carrying around sharpened railroad spikes that he would throw at villains, and carried a pair of hatchets that were painted to look like little American flags. And he started talking to himself. Well, he really only did that because the player talked to himself.

 

So that guy eventually left, and we decided that Old Glory must have had a nervous breakdown in 'Nam. He's psychologically tied to the mood of the country. When Americans are happy and cheerful, with faith in their nation, Old Glory is sane. When Americans are disillusioned with their nation, he goes off his rocker and brings out the axes again.

[SKJAM!]

If you just want to do "antagonist" flag suits, check out Executive Sanction from the old Allies supplement.

[phoenix240]

Thanks, I love the suggestions in the thread so far!

[fbdaury]

You could have a Daredevil-style character with enhanced senses but blind and call him Blind Patriotism.

 

Rocket's Red Glare- a walking embodiment of the more militaristic portions/beliefs of America's zeitgeist, he believes that violence is the first, last, and only resort to problem solving- and when force does not work, you simply use more force!