Clonus Posted March 10, 2015 Report Share Posted March 10, 2015 (and villains) OK so here's a question. If all of the real people of the world, past and present lived in a comic book universe...which of them would have an Origin? For example take Charles Lindbergh. He was rich. He was an inventor He had an interest in trying to improve human beings both by eugenics and by implanting electro-mechanical replacement parts in them A family member was the victim of a heinous crime He'd totally turn himself into a cyborg masked aviator in a super plane that could hover and fly silently. He'd be the Phantom Eagle, right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted March 10, 2015 Report Share Posted March 10, 2015 Naw, that would be Howard Hughes. The world's first gadgeteer superhero would have to have been Nikola Tesla. Harry Houdini as a master sorcerer. And you wouldn't have to go much more superhuman than Joseph Greenstein, the Mighty Atom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmjalund Posted March 10, 2015 Report Share Posted March 10, 2015 do Namedroppng heroes use falling rules? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anaximander Posted March 10, 2015 Report Share Posted March 10, 2015 Whether or not Tesla would have been the first gadgeteer would depend on how far back you went in time. Da Vinci would have definitely been a gadgeteer and so would Archimedes, but I would agree that Tesla would have been a gadgeteer. He could also have been transformed by one of his experiments into an electricity based blaster. The real Sir Arthur Conan Doyle really did have gift with deduction and would make a good detective hero. Both Wyatt Earp and Geronimo have the distinction of having never been struck by a bullet. Either might make an interesting Hero System hero. It is reported that Elvis Presley wanted to be a policeman and learned martial art from Bill "Superfoot" Wallace and could become a martial arts super hero. I even have built a rejuvenated Elvis Presley as an NPC martial artist in the campaign I am building. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
assault Posted March 10, 2015 Report Share Posted March 10, 2015 The Picture of Dorian Gray was thinly disguised autobiography. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clonus Posted March 11, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2015 Whether or not Tesla would have been the first gadgeteer would depend on how far back you went in time. Da Vinci would have definitely been a gadgeteer and so would Archimedes, but I would agree that Tesla would have been a gadgeteer. He could also have been transformed by one of his experiments into an electricity based blaster. Yes, the kind of experimentation that Tesla did trying to develop broadcast power would create an excellent potential for a classic laboratory accident. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted March 11, 2015 Report Share Posted March 11, 2015 Wasn't there a book where Mary Shelly, Lord Byron, and others were ghostbusters during the time Frankenstein was being written? CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister E Posted March 11, 2015 Report Share Posted March 11, 2015 Audie Murphy = Super-Soldier Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassandra Posted March 11, 2015 Report Share Posted March 11, 2015 (and villains) OK so here's a question. If all of the real people of the world, past and present lived in a comic book universe...which of them would have an Origin? For example take Charles Lindbergh. He was rich. He was an inventor He had an interest in trying to improve human beings both by eugenics and by implanting electro-mechanical replacement parts in them A family member was the victim of a heinous crime He'd totally turn himself into a cyborg masked aviator in a super plane that could hover and fly silently. He'd be the Phantom Eagle, right? Lindbergh's actual nickname was the Lone Eagle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassandra Posted March 11, 2015 Report Share Posted March 11, 2015 Hedy Lamarr was not only an actress, but an inventor. She built a torpedo targeting system for the Navy, which was turned down. "The Beautiful Mind" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubba smith Posted March 11, 2015 Report Share Posted March 11, 2015 Elvis was also used as a character jn king of the mountain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wcw43921 Posted March 11, 2015 Report Share Posted March 11, 2015 Edward Rickenbacker--race-car driver turned fighter pilot. America's first super-patriot hero--Sky Racer, Sentinel Of The Air. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nothere Posted March 12, 2015 Report Share Posted March 12, 2015 Master of medicine Master detective Knowledgable of the occult Explored hidden worlds Learned escapes from Harry Houdini Taught how to fight by the best boxers of his day Rich world traveler All of these things describe the mysterious bane of crime from the turn of the century. Criminals know him as The Crime Doctor. You know him as Arthur Conan Doyle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
assault Posted March 12, 2015 Report Share Posted March 12, 2015 Leon Mandrake used his career as a stage magician and as the basis for a comic strip to conceal his actual magic powers. (Actually, in our world, the 'Mandrake the Magician' character was developed independently of him, but they came to an informal cross-promotional arrangement.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freakboy6117 Posted March 12, 2015 Report Share Posted March 12, 2015 H.G. Wells worked for the British government his stories are all based on true events and used to make the public less credulous. Charles Babbage tried to summon the devil in his younger days, early techno-mancer? published versions of this idea include Nikola Tesla, Edison, charles fort, H.P. Lovecraft rasputin carl sagan alan turing and bruce lee all appear in atomic robo fort lovecraft houdini and and arthur conan doyle fight supernatural terrors in Necronauts Charles fort on his own in Fort:prophet of the unexplained five fists of science has Tesla and Twain v Edison and jp Morgan in and an attempt to end war. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted March 12, 2015 Report Share Posted March 12, 2015 Cold Fusion is nowadays called L.E.N.R. (Low Energy Nuclear reaction). How about a robot superhero called "L.E.N.A.R.D"? The "Low Energy Nuclear Advanced Reaction Droid" I have to admit I had not fully thought this Backcronym through. But I think some spelling of "Lenard" would be cool. Donald E. Knuth. A high level Computerscientists and mathematcian, Author of the (not yet finished) book series "The Art of Computer Programming". Definitely superintelligence. Psychic powers for the Machine class of mind? Maybe the abiltiy to "alter" the algorythms of the universe (limited reality warping)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrankL Posted March 12, 2015 Report Share Posted March 12, 2015 Knuth also wrote a book Surreal Numbers: How Two Ex-Students Turned on to Pure Mathematics and Found Total Happiness about a class of numbers where every real number is surrounded by a host of new numbers that lie closer to it than any other "real" value does. Definite reality warping right there. It wasn't his idea alone, but Knuth did come up with the name that has been used since. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted March 12, 2015 Report Share Posted March 12, 2015 If we're looking at villains, you'd need few changes to turn Aleister Crowley into a malevolent world-threatening sorcerer. He and Harry Houdini were contemporaries, and if Houdini was himself a real magician I could see them as long-time nemeses. As for the modern day, I once suggested the following on another thread. If there was ever a guy whose real-world history was tailor-made as the origin for a mad megalomaniacal powered-armor-wearing scientific supervillain, it would be Stephen Hawking. Beware Doctor SteelHawk! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted March 12, 2015 Report Share Posted March 12, 2015 I can't believe I didn't think of this in the first place: Chuck Norris. What more need be said? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucius Posted March 12, 2015 Report Share Posted March 12, 2015 I can't believe I didn't think of this in the first place: Chuck Norris. What more need be said? The less said the bett- Lucius Alexander The palindromedary says even l- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubba smith Posted March 12, 2015 Report Share Posted March 12, 2015 Mr Norris, like his cartoon alter ego would most likely be a government agent Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister E Posted March 14, 2015 Report Share Posted March 14, 2015 Audience Murphy was a baby-faced movie cowboy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freakboy6117 Posted March 15, 2015 Report Share Posted March 15, 2015 speaking of Chuck Norris some one more dangerous than him Bruce Lee. what if Bruce faked his death and went underground as an Agent of MI6 eventually his son Brandon would do the same. other would be super heroes how about "Mad Jack" Churchill WII a motorcycle riding commando who stormed Dunkirk and Normandy with a clay-more longbow and bagpipes a world champion in archery who walked out of concentration camps twice. or how about master fencer linguist(he speaks six languages) descendant of Charlemagne and who fought in the soviet invasion of finland before returning to Britain and becoming a RAF intelligence officer attached to the for runner of the SAS the long range desert patrol and then the SOE "Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare". Christopher Lee the most prolific movie actor in the world and trained stuntman. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Comic Posted March 15, 2015 Report Share Posted March 15, 2015 Well, if we're going for historical figures, the super-spy William 'Intrepid' Stevenson, founder of Camp X (plausible inspiration for the X-Men Academy, and a host of other super secret training facilities in fiction) would be a natural choice. Howard Hill, the highly acclaimed Hollywood trick archer, would also be a good nominee. And let's face it, Angelina Jolie is clearly a mutant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrankL Posted March 16, 2015 Report Share Posted March 16, 2015 And let's face it, Angelina Jolie is clearly a mutant. I'll agree. That woman frightens me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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