Superhero Origins

[Christougher]

1 hour ago, Tjack said:

  That was actually a thing in the original Legion of Superheroes.  Most members were just very accomplished ordinary members of their planets population.   Saturn Girl was a talented telepath and Cosmic Boy was a top level athlete at the sport of Magno-ball.  Only a small percentage were like Lightning Lad or Sun Boy who got their powers in another more standard comic book origin way.

 

     BTW;  I thought somebody was going to hand me another couple of origins to come up with?   Like the lady said “Bored now.”

 

I haven't really done aliens in my world for that exact reason - whole races of similarly powered individuals.  I do acknowledge it as a possible answer to my issue though:  How does an essentially unpowered superhero exhibit power special effects that usually require other superpowered Origins to explain?  If Jace Jammer absorbs a lethal amount of gamma rays and survives with the ability to fire radioactive blasts, that's a Science Origin nobody would blink at.  But how would Jace be able to fire off those same blasts without having had that accident?  It's not like it's 1985 and he could just pick up plutonium at the corner drugstore.

 

And bonus points to you for my favorite Willow phrase.  

 

Chris.

 

[Christougher]

 

[Clonus]

On 8/7/2021 at 3:14 PM, Christougher said:

At the very end of the day,  I'm looking for a believable way for every origin to have every powerset. 

Then you need to define the origin in a way that has that make sense.  Which is to say you don't use a word like "Natural" which precludes superpowers and instead use a word like "Training".  Fun fact, Moondragon is not a mutant, not a magician, not an alien, not an inhuman, not a radiation accident.  

 

She's just..."trained".  She unlocked the powers of her mind through training/meditation and did it so well that her feats match those of Professor Xavier.  Utterly absurd power manifestations through nothing but training are more typical of Chinese and Japanese comic book heroes.  It means they had to work at for many years using very exotic training methods, but it allows anything.  

[Tjack]

1 hour ago, Christougher said:

 

I haven't really done aliens in my world for that exact reason - whole races of similarly powered individuals.  I do acknowledge it as a possible answer to my issue though:  How does an essentially unpowered superhero exhibit power special effects that usually require other superpowered Origins to explain?  If Jace Jammer absorbs a lethal amount of gamma rays and survives with the ability to fire radioactive blasts, that's a Science Origin nobody would blink at.  But how would Jace be able to fire off those same blasts without having had that accident?  It's not like it's 1985 and he could just pick up plutonium at the corner drugstore.

 

And bonus points to you for my favorite Willow phrase.  

 

Chris.

 

   O.K.  Let’s give this a try.  Giving somebody superpowers without Magic, Science or Mutation is kind of like skiing through a revolving door, but...  Since I don’t want to do some form of Kung-fu training again and the powers have to be inborn how about we go the inheritance route?   
   Our character Is the scion of the Sun God.  Which one is dealer’s choice although Apollo and Ra are popular selections.  This gives us a normal person being pulled into extra-normal events and situations.

[Christougher]

1 hour ago, Tjack said:

 Giving somebody superpowers without Magic, Science or Mutation is kind of like skiing through a revolving door, but...  

 

This is indeed the crux of the problem and why I've turned to Herodom Assembled for additional ideas.

 

2 hours ago, Clonus said:

Then you need to define the origin in a way that has that make sense.  Which is to say you don't use a word like "Natural" which precludes superpowers and instead use a word like "Training".  Fun fact, Moondragon is not a mutant, not a magician, not an alien, not an inhuman, not a radiation accident.  

 

She's just..."trained".  She unlocked the powers of her mind through training/meditation and did it so well that her feats match those of Professor Xavier.  Utterly absurd power manifestations through nothing but training are more typical of Chinese and Japanese comic book heroes.  It means they had to work at for many years using very exotic training methods, but it allows anything.  

 

"Natural" is the term used by City of Heroes, and includes things like training and skill, Ch'i abilities and mundane technology, and leaves the door open to other suggestions.

 

All of these that I have so far tend to violate reasonable plausibility when it comes to things like fists and armor of actual stone and firing off blasts of radiation.  So I'm looking for additional ideas to make "superpowers" available to those who don't fit the other origin types.

  

Chris.

 

[Greywind]

14 hours ago, Tech said:

 

When I read the last line, I thought it said: "best they could do is be the best student in their Yogurt class." 

 

May the schwartz be with you!