My Supervillain is an Anchorman

[Jkeown]

Edited to remove clues from players! 

[death tribble]

Make them a diplomat like Dr Doom is good.

Statues are another from stone sculptures to mannequins. In plain sight. The latter was how the Autons in Dr Who operated as clothes shop dummies.

 

As to your problem use Colombo and other detective shows as a guide. They do something or say something that only the bad guy would know. Such as the villains battle the heroes and escape in a brown van but this is obscured by darkness fields or flash grenades whatever. The news reports that the villains escape in a brown van when even the heroes, the police and bystanders do not know that. That is just an example I am making up from the top of my head.

 

 

[Lord Liaden]

One way to hide in plain sight is to give the villain a public persona completely at odds with their true motivations. Charity work, or espousing progressive causes. For example, the Champions villain Invictus acted as a high-profile superhero before turning to politics, but it was all to create an image. For a telejournalist there can be much recorded evidence in support of that persona.

 

As far as clues go, it might be noticed that Ryder Solomon avoids reporting on crimes committed by the enhanced gangsters, or spins them in such a way as to downplay their superness. The gangsters may have targeted a few people who are known critics or rivals of Solomon. That might be a condition for some of his serum sales. There's always the money trail -- Solomon's bank accounts or stock portfolio show large increases about the time the enhanced gangsters started appearing. There's also the question of how a news anchor would have the wherewithal to manufacture a super-soldier serum. Let it be discoverable that before Solomon's reporting career he was in medical or pharmaceutical research, or that he has financial or personal connections to a medical lab or company. Perhaps he left that career due to some controversial incident. His past before entering journalism might even be shrouded in mystery.

[Duke Bushido]

10 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

a public persona completely at odds with their true motivations. Charity work, or espousing progressive causes.

 

 

That hurts a bit.   

 

 

for the record, one of my most favorite villains _is_ ultra-progressive, to the point that she create a new and useful thing (or steal a nearly-finished thing intended to make a bajillion dollars), gets copyrights and patents, then release them to the world.

 

Her entire "vile plan" is to die comfortably, knowing she has helped to ease strife in her fellow man.  It is her _methods_ that make her a criminal, and not her motivations.

 

she is a fun one to throw at more sophisticated players; they have a real dillemma when trying to decide if they should simply stop her or capture her- you know: do we prevent her from stealing the research on tabletop fusion, knowing she will perfect it and give it away, or do we arrest her for putting a hole in the wall of the research facility and ensure that a trillion-dolllar conglomerate can continue its research into printing money unimpeded?

 

 

[Lord Liaden]

Duke, I'm completely with you on the coolness of a villain with noble intentions but reprehensible methods. I just strongly doubt that someone who sells super-soldier serums to gangsters falls in that category.