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Villain for a power armored hero


FrankL

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I’m working on a story with a power suit character. The setting is first wave, the suit-wearer (code name: Search and Rescue) is the world’s first hero. He’s trying to keep out of the spotlight. His motivation for being a hero and building the suit is guilt. He has never forgiven himself for his wife’s death four years ago. He witnessed her death but could not get to her. Thus, he built the EXO suit.

 

I’ve sketched out most of the character arc and storyline, but I’m missing a big segment—the villain. Can you help me with ideas for the villain?

 

Working Title: To He Who Overcomes

Hero: Victor Jack Baker (goes by Jack)

Occupation: Mechanical Engineer

Hero Name:

·         EXO-6000 in private test runs,

·         Search and Rescue when he enters public eye

Motivation: Assuage guilt. Prevent others from feeling the same guilt and powerlessness.

Supporting Cast

Neighbor: Jack’s neighbor Paul Peterson is also an engineer and programmer. He helps build and expand the suit. Quirky, fellow-widower who often quotes poetry and ancient philosophers.

DNPC: Son Nicholas is in high school. Feels neglected since Dad spends all his time in the basement working on the EXO-6000.

Love interest: Debbie van Straus. Works with him as the new head of internal audit, discovers that Jack has been making interesting hardware purchases through payroll-deduction (allowed by corporate policy). Those purchases were for components used in EXO-6000. Debbie pieces together that he is S&R. Attracted to him before knowing, but he won’t make a move. As the story progresses, he does ask her out. Debbie is also the Damsel in Distress that S&R rescues from the BBEG. End of story, she's part of his support team and they're married.

 

Suit powers (everything in the original design until the villain appears will be rescue equipment and not weaponry. Some can be used as weaponry but not its original purpose):

·         Speed of thought: An inner helmet that allows Jack to operate the suit’s more advanced technology completely by thought. Plugs into his suit and is worn underneath the Power Armor helmet. Jack did not invent the helm. It was given to him in the story.

·         Searchlight

·         Ceramic plate armor that can withstand the heat from a rocket launching

·         Gauntlet blasters

·         Welder inside the gloves

·         Enhanced strength to remove debris from people

·         Jaws of life. Hydraulic blade on the hand can cut through most metal

·         Sprays flame retardant foam and fire dispersal gases

·         Life support. Can survive in deep cold or deep water. Suit regulates pressure to prevent bends on rapid resurfacing.

·         CANNOT fly (he and Peterson devise a way for the suit to operate as a motor bike for speedy movement. He still has to be wearing the suit.)

·         Medical stabilizers to use on those he rescues. Broad spectrum of antibiotics, burn creams, respirator, heart monitor and defibrillator, splints, etc.

·         Others as the story needs them. (Not wanting to limit myself at this stage.)

 

Personal Disadvantages:

·         Hunted: Personal Enemy (As Pow, Cap/Kill)

·         Hunted: The press 8- (Less pow, NCI, watching)

·         Psy Lim: CVK (common total)

·         Psy Lim: Naïve with women (Ver com, mod)

·         Psy Lim: Needs to prove himself (VC, strong)

·         Psy Lim: Overly protective of those close to him

·         Psy Lim: Novice hero (very common, strong)

·         DNPC-youngest child, Nicholas, is still at home. (Other two, Joan and Alexander, are in college)

·         Soc Lim: Secret Identity

·         Unluck 2d6

 

I don’t want innate powers in the setting. The villain is the first super villain the world has known.

 

I have considered the villain being after S&R’s helmet (it’s one of a kind) to power his own tech. I want the villain to be a reflection of Jack’s guilt in some manner.

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No Man Is An Island (Hunted: ???)

 

The Friend who tried to help and got cut off. (Ie: Ant-Man).

 

QM 

Something to consider... Jack's grief not only hurts himself and his immediate family but those close to him. One friend turns villainous from that. Interesting thought. 

 

How did the wife die? Did the villain play any part in it?

Accidental death. Villain played no part. I haven't decided if she died in a car collision or collapse of a building or fell off a cliff when hiking. Either way, Jack was there and unable to get her to safety. The guilt led to him building the suit.

 

From what you've put up so far you're looking at a Tony Stark/Justin Hammer rivalry. Hammer wanted Stark's armor, or the tech that powered it, to sell to villains. Thus the Armor Wars happened.

I hadn't thought of selling the tech to others, but that's why I posted the question. I'll be reading up on Armor Wars, but if anyone else has ideas, don't stop posting them.

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If you go with "person after the helmet" have them be a psychotic gadgeteer of some sort.

 

Alternatively, if you want "reflection of guilt" have the villain be a cyborg -- whom he eventually discovers was constructed out of his former wife and remembers enough about her previous life to blame him for abandoning her.  This leaves open the further plot complications, "Who rebuilt her" and "Why"...

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How about a super-hacker as the villain?  He could cause traffic accidents by messing with the traffic signals or hacking car systems (something that's possible), blackouts across the city, ATMs start spitting out money (possibly causing mini-riots), maybe even go so far as to cause a plane crash?  Motivation could be greed (extorting money from the government), or terrorism, or just psychosis.  He might even hack into S&R's suit, until Jack and Paul figure out a way to block it.

 

Edit to add:  if the wife died in a car accident, there might even be a question whether the foe was responsible.  Though I wouldn't make that be the case. 

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A friend or family member of the wife might (unfairly) blame him for failing to recue her.

 

Also, since he used payroll deductions to build the suit, someone else in the company may have found out. If he did any design or concept work while on the clock, the company may consider the suit their property. This could be a simple complication (ongoing legal battle in the backstory), or the company may go the more expedient route of hiring a merc to steal the suit in order to avoid negative publicity.

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Great ideas, everyone. I got ideas from everyone of the posts. While I haven't completely settled on which villain I'll use in "To He Who Overcomes," this single story is stretching into a miniseries! I'm leaning towards Glitch (Bolo's hacker) for the first story and Rachel the Cyborg for the second or third. There's more drama if she comes back after Jack and Debbie marry. 

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Technically, the opposite of guilt is blame. However, since your hero wishes to prove himself because he feels responsible, a completely callous, psychotically misanthropic mind is needed here. Where the hero breaks himself to do "good", the villains demonstrates a complete disregard for the wellness of others (putting people at risk, breaking train tracks, flooding dams, setting fires, pure psychotic stuff).

 

Each one of these "endangerment" cases should trigger the "guilt" and bring the "hero" out in the character. 

 

Point of contrast: if you make your villain's background a tragic love abandonment story, where the villain decided to hate everyone and everything as a way to handle his inner pain, it is possible for a "redemption" arc to play out. But this would be a challenging story to weave. Your hero would have to learn about your villain's backstory, and realize that the villain is acting out his/her emotional trauma (just like the hero is acting out his emotional trauma). A point of compassion would be to have the hero confront the villain's past, and battle over those differences. (Pure drama here.) The villain and the hero may arrive at a reconciliation and a forgiveness point, which would eventually allow the villain to redeem himself, and the hero to find forgiveness for himself, by learning to let go. In the end, both hero and villain would learn they are fighting for the same reasons, but on different sides of the "coin". How each reacts to the other's "sameness" is up them. These are merely setting up possibilities for a very dramatic set of encounters with a great deal of "human failings" touch. 

 

This sort of story arc may not be for everyone ("I just want to punch things!"), but I think it would make a good story for a roleplaying group.

 

My $0.02. =)

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When you are looking for an archenemy rather than just an encounter the classic approaches are "The opposite of the hero" and "the hero if he was evil".  So who would the hero be if he was evil?  What's the opposite of the hero?  

 

"Calamity"  When a family member was killed, Calamity looked for people to blame.  Corporations, research institutions and government worked.  He's the Unabomber in a suit of powered armour.

 

"Collateral"  Collateral is a mercenary cyborg looking to earn enough money to repay the huge price tag on his replacement parts.  He approaches jobs with the application of overwhelming firepower and explosive devices.  

 

"Cyberlynx"  Lynx is a rich quadriplegic who has a cyberpunk style jack that she uses to give herself incredible hacking abilities that she uses to wreak havoc for profit and entertainment, as well as remotely controlled robots that she uses to access systems that can't be otherwise access.  Like the hero's suit.  

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How about any of the following:

• Electrical character with an EMP ability. He can shut down the suit unless the hero quickly thinks of a way to insulate himself.

• Mentalist that affects the mind of the wearer and bypasses the suit. Maybe uses illusions to trick the hero.

• Telekinetic that creates barriers to protect himself from the armored users weapons, while using their power to help the hero "fly".

• Copycat armor. Once the hero's biggest fan, he's tired of the rejection and has built his own powered suit for vengeance! 

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