Real People Who Would have Been Supers In A Supers Universe

[dmjalund]

Frank Abignale would be the ultimate sympathetic supervillain

 

[tkdguy]

There was a serial killer who was dubbed the Night Stalker by the media during the 1980s. My family was living in San Francisco at the time. 

[Duke Bushido]

I have no one to add.

 

I just want to thank everyone who contributed to this for starting me down a wikipedia rabbit hole that took _days_ to get out of.

 

Thanks.

 

Heaps.

 

 

 

[archer]

22 hours ago, Opal said:

Hmm. Rasputin has quite the association with RPGs, now that I think of it, he was even given as an example of 18 CON in the 1e AD&D DMG, 1979.

 

I never used him in a game, but he was the origin story of an NPC hero in my old campaign world - White Tsar, supposedly Alexei Romanov & a disciple of Rasputin, a low-power super-soldier, but virtually immortal... I can't remember the exact build, but the f/x was you could shoot him full of holes and he'd bleed more than a human body could hold, but still stagger around, as if he were taking one last dying action...after another...

 

That sounds hella fun.

 

"With my dying breath, I curse you!" and throws a grenade with his dying breath.

 

Next phase

 

On second thought, mayhap I shall as the Americans say 'fill you full of lead', and he drags his gun from his holster and autofires as the last drops of blood fall from his chest.

 

Next phase

 

Come to think of it, this may be the time for bloody knife work.

 

Next phase

 

His spleen plops to the ground. He glances down, "That, my good man, is a sign that the gloves must come off. And my brass knuckles go on!"

[tkdguy]

How about this guy? I only learned about him today, when the news did a segment on his house. Scroll down to see his biography.

[Opal]

Wow, he even dresses the part.

 

That reminds me:

 

Edward Leedskalnin, creator of the megalithic Coral Castle, could have be a TK or brick on that basis.

[bluesguy]

Simone Biles is absolutely amazing.  I think her skills and talents acrobatic skills are probably at least at the Captain America level (i.e. Maximum Human Capable).

[DoctorImpossible]

Bruce Lee, of course, the master of the martial arts, as our heavy hitter. 

 

White Death (Simo Häyhä) brings his own super identity, is our weapons master.

 

Harry Houdini, the master debunker, is our expert investigator and escapologist.

[Clonus]

Louis Slotin

 

 

1.  Canadian physicist and chemist with the Manhattan Project

2.  Competitive boxer in college

3.  Rather than wait an extra day to reactivate an experimental reactor, went underwater in reactor coolant to fix it.

4.  Received a lethal dose of radiation in second Demon Core accident.  

[starblaze]

On 7/14/2021 at 4:50 PM, Hermit said:

Hedy Lamarr

1) Incredibly talented actress

2) Inventor, self taught mostly, who worked for Howard Hughes at one point, also helped invent the Frequency Hopping Spectrum to jam Nazi torpedos (Tech would later be incorporated into Wifi)

3) During World War II, the Office of Strategic Services invented a pyrotechnic device meant to help agents operating behind enemy lines to escape if capture seemed imminent. When the pin was pulled, it made the whistle of a falling bomb followed by a loud explosion and a large cloud of smoke, enabling the agent to make his escape. It saved the life of at least one agent. The device was codenamed the Hedy Lamarr.

4) Incredible Recluse particularly later in her life

 

The villain from Agent Carter season 2 is based on her.  Hedy was a genius but people only cared about her beauty.

[starblaze]

On 7/23/2021 at 4:11 PM, Opal said:

Wow, he even dresses the part.

 

That reminds me:

 

Edward Leedskalnin, creator of the megalithic Coral Castle, could have be a TK or brick on that basis.

I used to live in Homestead, I have been to Coral Castle.  The common belief is that he had an uncanny understanding of balance, but TK works too.

[Echo3Niner]

The Warrior Monk, Gen. Mattis.

[DoctorImpossible]

Honestly, I'm starting to wonder about some people becoming super, not because of their own efforts, strictly speaking, but because they're the sort of people that an enterprising super-scientist/magic-user is likely to decide might make for a good hero and therefore they end up gifted with some advancedbtechnology or mystical artefacts or super-soldier serum or some arcane empowerment. 

 

Like, we'd end up with Dwayne Johnson and Keanu Reeves showing up to join the world-saving superhero team, festooned with magical artefacts and wearing power armour, but even if you took all the gadgets and magic items away, they still turn out to be full of healing factors and superstrength and casting spells. All on the basis that the two of them have a reputation as really nice people, who are very physically capable.

[Lord Liaden]

In comic books being "gifted" with powers isn't common, and just being "really nice" and "physically capable" doesn't normally cut it. Origins tend to be much more dramatic, coming at a turning point in a person's life, or because said person has extraordinary qualities. Abin Sur searched for a fearless person to inherit his Power Ring, and found Hal Jordan. Norrin Radd pledged service to Galactus to save his planet. The Unipower creates a Captain Universe in response to a crisis, general or personal. The wizard Shazam sensed the inherent nobility in young Billy Batson. Jim Rhodes was Tony Stark's closest friend and inherited the Iron Man armor while Tony was incapacitated. Kent Nelson was orphaned as a child when his family stumbled into the temple of Nabu, who trained Kent to wield his power. Mjolnir grants the power of Thor to a worthy wielder, and the definition of "worthy" seems pretty strict. And so on.

 

Also in the comics, almost no one is "festooned" with power gifts from multiple patrons. Almost always there's one origin and one power set. There are a very few exceptions, like Captain Mar-Vell who gained new powers periodically over the decades of the character's comic history. But in each case the new powers came as a result of major dramatic events in the character's life... in Champions terms, a series of "radiation accidents."

[Clonus]

 

Rorie Susan Woods.  Unleashed several hives of bees on deputies serving an eviction.  Seen in costume.  

 

https://www.wcvb.com/article/bees-unleashed-in-attack-on-deputies-hampden-county-massachusetts-sheriff-says/41712098

[wcw43921]

Wikipedia--Real Life Superheroes

 

 

[death tribble]

No-one else has mentioned this so I will.

Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, Churchill and F D Roosevelt.

Consider all the probabilities that had to come to pass that they all came to power and stayed in power at around the same time. The adversities that Churchill and Roosevelt had to overcome to remain in politics. That no-one was able to challenge any of them and depose them (although some came close). Mesmerism or a high PRE score for their own people.

 

You might also say the same of Chairman Mao.

 

And what about Joan of Arc who was inspired by God to lead the French against the English ?

[DoctorImpossible]

On 8/11/2021 at 11:03 AM, DoctorImpossible said:

Honestly, I'm starting to wonder about some people becoming super, not because of their own efforts, strictly speaking, but because they're the sort of people that an enterprising super-scientist/magic-user is likely to decide might make for a good hero and...

 

Chris Evans, too.

[DentArthurDent]

Seconds for:

Simone Biles, Jackie Chan, Harry Houdini,

Nominating:

Ted Williams was a Naval Aviator and flight instructor. Stories are that he set all sorts of records for aerial gunnery.

Burt Lancaster did all his own stunts in “The Flame and The Arrow.” Go find the last scene on YouTube. After being a circus performer.

 

David Adamovich with a jacket full of knives.

 

Stephen Hawking as a hero. Let’s break the stereotype of physical challenges as a defining characteristic of supervillains.

 

Chris Hood. College athlete, brilliant engineer, dog trainer, instructor, coach, role-player (no one ever did Twilight2000 better), with an indomitable willpower that he uses to ignore the laws of physics and injustice.

 

 

[Lord Liaden]

The Nicholas Brothers, Fayard and Harold. Two of the greatest dancers who ever lived, as well as trained acrobats. Daredevil has nothing on these two when it comes to agility. In their later years they taught dance to Michael and Janet Jackson.

 

This incredible dance number is from the 1943 movie, Stormy Weather. The actual dance sequence starts at 1:43, but if you jump ahead you'll miss the performance by the legendary Cab Calloway and his band.

 

 

[Michael Hopcroft]

I rarely miss an opportunity to watch that. The grace and athleticism, combined with a brilliant artistic concept, make this a really special clip. It's like listening to Louis Armstrong in his early prime, with his unbelievable purity and clarity of tone, combined with a singing style that defied and overcame previous expectations of what recording artists can/should do.

[steriaca]

On 10/22/2022 at 11:06 PM, wcw43921 said:

Wikipedia--Real Life Superheroes

 

 

They don't mention the Milvereen, but his only power is being a Milwaukee man with an uncanny resemblance to a certain Australian portraying a certain Marvel Comics Canadian of a mutant persuasion.  And no, it's not Northstar.

[BoloOfEarth]

On 10/23/2022 at 12:06 AM, wcw43921 said:

Wikipedia--Real Life Superheroes

 

 

 

I included Phoenix Jones in my Champions campaign - the San Francisco-based heroes contacted him about his interaction with a supervillain they were investigating.  In my campaign world, Phoneix Jones gained metahuman powers and became a low-level brick.