Character Challange: Superman Clones

[JmOz]

Okay, thought it would be fun for us all to take a basic character type, and make characters based on it

 

To start with let us do Superman Clones: All characters should be inspired by the big S. I amcurious what people see as the defining features...

[Enforcer84]

Re: Character Challange: Superman Clones

 

I have a few on my HAD...S thread.

I could re-post.

[Chuckg]

Re: Character Challange: Superman Clones

 

Horus-Re was in the "JLA 1000 points" thread.

[Marketeer]

Re: Character Challange: Superman Clones

 

Okay, thought it would be fun for us all to take a basic character type, and make characters based on it

 

To start with let us do Superman Clones: All characters should be inspired by the big S. I amcurious what people see as the defining features...

 

Hi, long time lurker first time poster (etc)...

 

Do you want the full writeup, or just a synopsis or listing of ideas? I can do many of the latter in the time it takes to do one of the former...

[Dr. MID-Nite]

Re: Character Challange: Superman Clones

 

Viperia from the Viper sourcebook is more or less a Supergirl clone....though her origin is magical as opposed to alien inspired.

 

Rob

[Hermit]

Re: Character Challange: Superman Clones

 

Okay, thought it would be fun for us all to take a basic character type, and make characters based on it

 

To start with let us do Superman Clones: All characters should be inspired by the big S. I amcurious what people see as the defining features...

 

My first thoughts?

1. THE Classic Flying Brick

2. Very much a "Tries to do the right thing in the right way for the right reasons" idealist sort of hero.

[Dr. Anomaly]

Re: Character Challange: Superman Clones

 

In my world, the closest thing to 'Superman' is Southern Cross, a heroine from Australia. Super strong, high speed, almost impossible to harm, flight, and so on. Her weakness is being hit with graphite (or any other material with a good neutron absorption cross-section) because she's nuclear powered. This does cause her some problem with the locals, especially from New Zealand. (They passed legislation that limits the number of hours per month she can spend inside their borders or waters.) She also has to be a bit careful with her flight, since it functions similarly to a nuclear ramjet. (Before The Ultimate Vehicle came out with Environmental Damage as a disad, I paid points for this "power" when writing her up because the character concept demanded it. I like the TUV way better! )

[zippercomics]

Re: Character Challange: Superman Clones

 

I had one that I submitted, whose name I can't remember. What I do recall of him is that I was concerned about the whole "right place at the right time" thing all heroes seem to have inherent in them. Yeah, it's part of the genre, but at the time I was just so sick of counting how many times Spider Man had swung by a bank, only in time to catch the two hooded goons on their way out with their $ bags.

 

Ergo, I developed an idea about a bred and formed superhero. I borrowed heavily off of comic book science, but basically, he was a hero whose very nature was good and positive. He was given such small, insignificant telepathic cues that he could tell when people were lying, or more importantly, when they matched his morals and beliefs, or not. Obviously, those morals were all prim and proper and good. Beyond that, I also gave him something of a "justice sense"; a supernatural ability to just know when and where something will go wrong. No details, just an excuse for swinging by the bank.

 

Weak, sure, but it would make my GM's life a lot easier. Let's us put that infamous "You're in a smokey bar," line away.

[assault]

Re: Character Challange: Superman Clones

 

1. The First and Greatest. The Hero of Heroes. The Inspiration. This is the essential characteristic. Everything else is optional.

 

2. Powerful. Brick-like defences.

 

3. Does not need to be able to fly - Superman himself couldn't when he started! Nor could Captain Marvel (the real one). However, he should be able to run, jump and swim really fast.

 

4. Doesn't necessarily have to be a true brick - a really powerful energy projector could fulfill the role. See point 1. Of course, this option and option 3 are mutually incompatible!

 

So, a Superman Clone needs to meet case 1, but can otherwise be:

(a) a flying brick (the default)

( a non-flying brick

© a flying energy projector.

 

The key is attitude and social role more than powers.

[Marketeer]

Re: Character Challange: Superman Clones

 

Okay, thought it would be fun for us all to take a basic character type, and make characters based on it

 

To start with let us do Superman Clones: All characters should be inspired by the big S. I amcurious what people see as the defining features...

 

 

Well, one of the more enjoyable thought exercises is to de-link the "nature" and "nurture" sides of the character...

 

1) Little Kal-El crashed in Smallville, and was found by the Kents. Same Kryptonion origins, same powers.

 

2) Most of his upbringing was the same; still a good, moral, quintessentially human character.

 

3) However, one of the things he discovered while still young was that very few things truly challenged him, that everything he accomplished, major and minor, was somewhat tainted by the ease with which he accomplished it.

 

4) Kal, like the mainstream version, began to have some superheroic exploits.

 

5) Unlike the canon Superman, this Kal didn't really feel fulfilled in what he did--while he still felt that he was doing "the right thing", it often seemed like not enough, too little, or too late. After all, he could do so much--foiling a bank robbery seemed petty when you consider that during that same span of time, he could produce services of such value to the planet that the bank robbery was minor in comparison.

 

6) This world's Clark takes a much wider view of things. He isn't active as a superhero, although he certainly is happy to assist when things are dire. Instead, he's a self-made mogul and philanthropist. Far more intellectual than the canon Superman, Clark Kent spends his days designing, constructing, and launching orbital power satellites, reviewing the news aired by his TV network, and fighting crime--by addressing issues of poverty and hunger.

 

Oddly, this world's Clark, while far from reclusive, isn't all that active in day-to-day headlines. He learned that people need to take care of themselves from his folks, and Kent Enterprises is just there to help provide the opportunities for people to help themselves.

 

He still makes a difference, and arguably a bigger one, in this world--but on a grander scale, with less in the way of one-to-one relationships. IE, rather than saving someone from a burning building, the lobbying and construction efforts he backs are such that the building wasn't flammable to begin with.

[Col. Orange]

Re: Character Challange: Superman Clones

 

100 to 120 STR

18 DEX (+5 DEX, costs END)

30 CON

25 BOD

18 INT

18 EGO

18 COM

6 SPEED (+3? SPEED, costs END)

...

Heat Vision: 3D6 +1 RKA (variable advantages (up to +1/2), no KB)

Blow 'em away: 8D6 EB (AoE Cone, Double KB, 0-Range)

 

Superspeed Multipower w/lots of options

 

30 to 35? Def fully resistant, hardened (x2) defenses

20 Power Defense

 

+10 Enhanced Senses

X-Ray/Telescopic/Microscopic Vision

Ultrasonic/Telescopic Hearing Hearing

 

+3 Combat Skill Levels (8pt level)

+3 CSLs w/Punch

 

5 (9 w/EGO) Mental Defense

 

Phys Lim: Magical effects used against him gain 3 levels of Penetrating Advantage

Psych Lim: Code vs. Killing (total, all the time, prevents others)

Psych Lim: Sense of Duty (to all of Earth)

Suceptibility: Green Argonite

DNPCs: Parents, Lois

 

Bah, the only DC hero with more shtick is J'on J'onzz.

[JmOz]

Re: Character Challange: Superman Clones

 

1. The First and Greatest. The Hero of Heroes. The Inspiration. This is the essential characteristic. Everything else is optional.

 

2. Powerful. Brick-like defences.

 

3. Does not need to be able to fly - Superman himself couldn't when he started! Nor could Captain Marvel (the real one). However, he should be able to run, jump and swim really fast.

 

4. Doesn't necessarily have to be a true brick - a really powerful energy projector could fulfill the role. See point 1. Of course, this option and option 3 are mutually incompatible!

 

So, a Superman Clone needs to meet case 1, but can otherwise be:

(a) a flying brick (the default)

( a non-flying brick

© a flying energy projector.

 

The key is attitude and social role more than powers.

 

This is at it's essence what i am looking for, not so much his stats (those are welcome however), but what does superman mean to you...

[Col. Orange]

Re: Character Challange: Superman Clones

 

This is at it's essence what i am looking for' date=' not so much his stats (those are welcome however), but what does superman mean to you...[/quote']

 

He's the true Icon of Good. More so than any other character in any Comic Universe (yup, more Good than Wonder Woman or Captain America).

He's wholesome, honest, honourable - the best person you'd ever get the chance to know.

[Col. Orange]

Re: Character Challange: Superman Clones

 

"More human than human", to quote Rob Zombie.

[Guest Witch Doctor]

Re: Character Challange: Superman Clones

 

I see Superman as the Stranger in a Strange Land.

An exile from a lost paradise - an angel on earth. He, contradictorialy, represents the best in human kind, though he isn't human.

 

I have a character concept of a guy from a far future, after the Great Utopia has come to an end. He came back in time to help guide mankind to that Great Utopia and, hopefully, stop a wave of evil which has exploded backwards in time from the fall of the Great Utopia.

He comes from a time where scientific knowledge has grown beyond the constraints of technology. His superpowers are akin to grokking.

[dbsousa]

Re: Character Challange: Superman Clones

 

Here's a tweak.

 

Jor-El sends his only son to earth. Before he does so, he contacts the Kents with a telepathic drone, who asks them to raise his son as their own. The side effect of this message creates a vision in the heads of anyone on earth with psychic powers. Corporate Leader Lex Luthor gets wind of this, and fears this alien child will take over the world. He announces the discovery of a cancer vaccine and funds a world-wide project to document and vaccinate every child in the world. before Cal-El arrives, more drones insure safe passage, landing in a cattle field 10 miles from the Kent Farmhouse, and announcing to the startled cowboys "Fear not, for on this night a child comes to earth, he will grow strong, and perform many miracles, but he will be one of you in every way that matters, and love mankind as he loves himself and his father." Again the message is received by every latent psychic, and some of the strongest travel to Smallville, Kansas to await the spaceship...

[lemming]

Re: Character Challange: Superman Clones

 

Hi' date=' long time lurker first time poster (etc)...[/quote']

Welcome! (though your name gives me the heebie jeebies. )

[Marketeer]

Re: Character Challange: Superman Clones

 

He's the true Icon of Good. More so than any other character in any Comic Universe (yup, more Good than Wonder Woman or Captain America).

He's wholesome, honest, honourable - the best person you'd ever get the chance to know.

 

That's an interesting take on Superman, and I think a lot of people would agree with that assessment.

 

On the other hand, Samaritan, from Kurt Busiek's Astro City, strikes me as "gooder than Superman". The two have very similar sets of powers and magnitudes of impact on their respective worlds, but Samaritan gives me the impression of trying harder than Superman does.

[Marketeer]

Re: Character Challange: Superman Clones

 

Welcome! (though your name gives me the heebie jeebies. )

 

 

 

Someday I'll hijack an NGD thread and explain the origins of the handle.

 

 

 

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Character Challange: Superman Clones

 

One thing that strikes me about the current comic incarnation of Superman is the apparent disconnect between his background in continuity, and his stature within the DC Universe. Superman is depicted as the icon of heroism, the one that everyone looks up to, and all of us comics readers know why that is: Supes is the progenitor, the model and inspiration for all the costumed more-than-humans that followed him. He's been redefined numerous times over the years to conform to almost every major change to superhero comics, so that his history as a character is in no small measure a history of the medium.

 

Within current DC continuity, though, Superman has been active for less than twenty years. Other heroes began the Golden Age of superheroics, and a few are still active today. Superman has accomplished extraordinary things, but so have many other heroes. He has perhaps the most raw power of any hero this side of the Specter, but several others come very close. He has been a leader, but doesn't seek out this position and isn't noted for it, unlike Captain America for example.

 

The version of Superman that perhaps measures up to the stature of the character is the one from Kingdom Come, who really had been heroing since the Golden Age, and had built up the kind of respect that comes from being in the forefront of the battle for Truth and Justice for generations. Using that criterion, IMHO Sentinel from GOO's Silver Age Sentinels game is the Superman clone that comes closest to him.

 

Nonetheless, there's more at work behind the image of Superman than age, or power, or even his high code of heroism. Superman is a mythic hero for the twentieth century, in the way that other heroes of older legend are for theirs. He's rife with mythic archetypal elements: last scion of a noble family; sent away as a child to escape destruction; grows up not knowing the truth of his identity; becomes the greatest champion of his adopted people. These are elements that we see in Hercules, Moses, Arthur, Siegfried, Aragorn. All these heroes embodied the defining ideals of the culture that spawned them, and in Superman's case those are the ideals of twentieth-century North America: justice tempered with compassion, and the rule of law; might for right and the responsibility of the strong to protect the weak; all people being equal whatever their ability or power, and equally deserving of protection, justice and freedom.

[Enforcer84]

Re: Character Challange: Superman Clones

 

I thought he was supposed to be the first of the New Generation heroes now adays; the clever work around for not being in the Golden Age. Then when the JSAers were brought from Ragnarok....oh crap. I don't know!

[Doug McCrae]

Re: Character Challange: Superman Clones

 

He's the big guy, the superhero's superhero, the one all the rest look up to, the guy you can trust, the guy you can rely on. To fulfill that role I think he really needs to have strength and toughness, though Captain America gets by without either in a similar position.

 

Superman was the first superhero, the archetype. All the rest are just imitations. He's the quintessence of superhero, the definition of the word. Superman is more 'superheroey' than Batman, say, or the Incredible Hulk.

[assault]

Re: Character Challange: Superman Clones

 

I've been thinking about this a bit more.

 

Other comics publishers have had plenty of Superman clones - Captain Marvel (Fawcett), Captain Atom (Charlton), Captain Atom (the Australian 50s one), Marvelman (British "continuation" of Captain Marvel), etc. Most of these are flying bricks. They were all pretty much top dogs in their own universes.

 

Marvel doesn't really have one. Captain America comes closest, but that seems to be more a Silver Age and subsequent development. In the Golden Age he coexisted with people like the Human Torch and Namor, whose powers were more Superman-like than his.

 

Still, he's near enough to suggest that the key element is attitude, reputation and role than rather than powers as such.

 

There are other DC characters that could potentially fill the Superman role. Wonder Woman is obvious enough. Also, though, some of the Green Lanterns are possibilities, too. First of all, on many worlds, the alien Green Lanterns actually are the top dog heroes, and so presumably hold that degree of respect in at least some cases. Even on Earth, Hal Jordan was a pretty well-regarded guy, only overshadowed by Supes. In his absence, he could have stepped up to the role readily enough.

 

Better yet, of course, there was Alan Scott. This was actually done with him to some extent, once the Golden Age Superman was written out of continuity. Scott became probably the highest profile, high power Golden Age hero. The only other real contender was the Flash. That's because Dr Fate and the Spectre - the other heavy hitters - tended to operate in the shadows of the mystic world a bit more.

 

So there is an example of an Energy Projector at the top of the heroic heap. Of course, he's effectively invulnerable, and his telekinesis gives him "superstrength", so he has most of Superman's abilities anyway. Perhaps more to the point, he has a certain fondness for closing in and finishing the bad guys with a good old right to the jaw. In other words, he's still a physically oriented action guy.

 

That's probably another aspect to the matter. An egghead probably can't fill the role. Reed Richards and Charles Xavier need not apply.

 

There is also a question of cockroach persistence and unstoppable determination. The Marvel character that epitomises those characteristics is Ben Grimm. He, unfortunately, can't fill the Superman role because, to be blunt, he's too ugly!

 

So there are three more criteria: action-oriented physicality, persistance (determination, willpower..) and a certain degree of physical attractiveness. This probably also shades over into general charisma.

[Sketchpad]

Re: Character Challange: Superman Clones

 

Marvel doesn't really have one. Captain America comes closest, but that seems to be more a Silver Age and subsequent development. In the Golden Age he coexisted with people like the Human Torch and Namor, whose powers were more Superman-like than his.

 

Actually, Marvel has two of the most blatent rip-offs if you ask me: Hyperion (of the Squadron Supreme/Squadron Sinister team of JLA rip-offs) and Gladiator (of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard).

[assault]

Re: Character Challange: Superman Clones

 

Actually' date=' Marvel has two of the most blatent rip-offs if you ask me: Hyperion (of the Squadron Supreme/Squadron Sinister team of JLA rip-offs) and Gladiator (of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard).[/quote']

 

Well, Gladiator doesn't really count, since he's a relatively rarely seen supporting character.

 

Hyperion does fill the role, but only in the Squadron Supreme Earth, not in the main Marvel universe.

 

Being a rip-off and actually filling the role are two different things, IMHO.