Legal Status Of Superhero Groups

[Cassandra]

In the Silver/Bronze Age the Justice League of America was mandated by the United Nations, giving them International Police Powers.

 

The Green Lantern Corps has Intergalactic Police Powers.

 

The Avengers are monitored by SHIELD and operate under a U.S. Government aegis, giving them Federal Police Powers.

 

The X-Men have no legal status, and are at least monitored by the U.S. Government, and often hunted.

 

Superman and Supergirl of the Silver/Bronze age by themselves had International Police Powers.

 

Adam West's Batman was a duly deputized officer of the law, giving him Local Police Powers, as did Robin.  Batgirl might have gotten them as well.

 

What are the advantages and disadvantages of being part of the system?

 

 

[SKJAM!]

Advantages:  Not being Hunted by Law Enforcement at the Kill/Imprison level.  Being able to get through government red tape when that's an issue.  Having your arrests stick.

 

Disadvantages:  Having to follow rules.  Having to follow orders.  You're a lot easier to Watch.

[kahuna's bro]

what about the original doom patrol?

[Cassandra]

The Doom Patrol has no legal status, much like the X-Men.

[Greywind]

Well, for a while there, they were legally dead.

[Cassandra]

During the Second World War, the U.S. had a  huge advantage in superhumans.  When Hitler came to power in Germany he ordered all superhumans who were not Nazis sent to Concentration Camps.  Many escaped to the United States, however, and would work with the Underground in order to defeat the Nazis.  In order to prevent an invasion of Germany by an Allied Superhuman Army Hitler threatened to execute every Prisoner of War and bombard England with poison gas should such an attack take place.  The President, acting on advise from the State Department, ordered U.S. Superhumans to stand down until such time as a means could be found to couter act the threat.   Unknown to the President, his top State Department adviser had been compromised and was being blackmailed into supporting the Nazi position despite his own political leanings.

[bigbywolfe]

During the Second World War, the U.S. had a  huge advantage in superhumans.  When Hitler came to power in Germany he ordered all superhumans who were not Nazis sent to Concentration Camps.  Many escaped to the United States, however, and would work with the Underground in order to defeat the Nazis.  In order to prevent an invasion of Germany by an Allied Superhuman Army Hitler threatened to execute every Prisoner of War and bombard England with poison gas should such an attack take place.  The President, acting on advise from the State Department, ordered U.S. Superhumans to stand down until such time as a means could be found to couter act the threat.   Unknown to the President, his top State Department adviser had been compromised and was being blackmailed into supporting the Nazi position despite his own political leanings.

Are you summarizing some particular setting?  Or are you proposing this as a setting?  To what end?  It seems like a bit of a non sequitur from the question you pose in the OP.

[Enforcer84]

The Official Latvaterian Superteam should be called the Doom Patrol. 

[Greywind]

Doom is the official Latverian superteam.

[Cassandra]

Great minds think alike.

[Hermit]

One fun angle I've seen is the use of celebrity status as a shield. Heroes so popular and with enough support that the government may resent the hell out of them, but if they tried to take control of them, there would be a PR backlash like you wouldn't believe that would likely end the political careers of quite a few folks. It doesn't come up often as too many are fond of the 'hated by a world they've sworn to protect ' vibe, but I've seen it work well in at least one campaign.

 

A hero with a positive rep perk, good PRE and a high Oratory skill could be a nightmare for any government agency trying to yoke him her or her He or she might even end up shielding their whole team.

 

"Yes, yes, Angry Bow guy had a criminal past, but Yankee Doodle Shieldsman is vouching for him ...Do NOT Pursue this!"

[JmOz]

You forgot Genetic Freak Lucky Chick and her brother Super Quick Genetic Freak Jerk, both are terrorists

[Balabanto]

Actually, the Avengers do NOT have Federal Police Powers. They are overseen by shield, but they do not have the power to arrest or detain.

[Nadrakas]

One fun angle I've seen is the use of celebrity status as a shield. Heroes so popular and with enough support that the government may resent the hell out of them, but if they tried to take control of them, there would be a PR backlash like you wouldn't believe that would likely end the political careers of quite a few folks. It doesn't come up often as too many are fond of the 'hated by a world they've sworn to protect ' vibe, but I've seen it work well in at least one campaign.

 

A hero with a positive rep perk, good PRE and a high Oratory skill could be a nightmare for any government agency trying to yoke him her or her He or she might even end up shielding their whole team.

 

"Yes, yes, Angry Bow guy had a criminal past, but Yankee Doodle Shieldsman is vouching for him ...Do NOT Pursue this!"

Ahh...but that doesn't mean that the Government can't focus their resources on these costumed Vigilantes who flaunt their powers in the face of the True Powers who Rule the Country!!! Umm...sorry...had to take my Pills there.

 

(Note: Celebrity Status certainlyhasn't saved any of the Hollywood Types who were convicted of Tax Evasion...just ask Wesley Snipes, along with Martha Stewart, Willie Nelson, Nicolas Cage, Darryl Strawberry, Boris Becker, Richard Hatch & Heidi Fleiss to name just a few. I'd also say ask Al Capone, but he's dead.)

 

Anyway, the Government may not arrest the Hero, but they can make his/her life difficult.  Using SIGINT, the Government (ie: NSA, under a "secret" provision of the Patriot Act) could monitor communications by superhero teams (or an individual supers comms).  From this, they could eventually discover a lot of information about the team.  The same goes for "hacking" into a teams computers (or an individuals computers) -- the NSA could discover even more info.  From there it is only a small step toward disrupting the Heroes Private Life (Job, IRS Audit, "blackmailing" the Hero with his Secret ID, etc...) if he/she gets out of line.  Not everything needs to be a confrontation with a Heroes costumed identity.

 

Of course, a "Sanctioned" Hero has nothing to worry about.  Right?  They are, for all intents and purposes, considered "Contractors"...of course, they would still have to pass any Background Checks to get a Security Clearance -- which might prove difficult for some Heroes.  Any Background Check requires enough information to be given, that there's a nickname for it -- a "RotoRooter" check.  It's even more in-depth if it's for a Top Secret Clearance.

 

Anyway, being a Sanction Hero or Group of Heroes is a Big Plus.  However, depending upon the laws, they probably would have to give up their identity (To the Government at least).  Otherwise, I think the Government would do it's best to find out who they were anyway -- Sanctioned or not.

 

~ M

[Lawnmower Boy]

There's sanction, and then there's sanction.

 

Agent1: "You. . .. you just let them go!"

Agent2: "Yup."

Agent1: "They broke into the Trublevanian Consulate and gave the Head of State a noogie!"

Agent2: "Yup."

Agent1: "You just stood there and watched while a guy wanted on twelve B&Es and two people on the DHS watchlist got into that FlyingMammalSuperminivan and drove away!"

Agent1: "Yup."

Agent2: "Is that all you're going to say? 'Yup?'"

Agent1: "Well, it's like this." [Pulls out his phone, fires up Google Maps.] "Here's the street they drove off on. Merges with the Interstate here, but we never see them on the Interstate, right?"

Agent2: "What's that got to do with it?"

Agent1: "Simple. They leave the road before they hit the Interstate. So. Either right now they're turning left through traffic so they can thread their way through all the one-way streets and "Must Turn Rights" that prevent the riffraff from driving through the West Main Heights neighborhood. Or...."

Agent1: "Or....?"

Agent2: "They turn right."

Agent1: "Into a mountain?"

Agent2: "A limestone mountain, to be precise. A limestone mountain with the biggest mansion in the whole West Main Heights on the top of it."

Agent1: "Like. . .. like the Batcave? What is this? A crappy TV show? That's total cliche!"

Agent2: "Cliches have to come from somewhere. Now. You know who lives in that mansion. You know the name. From Senators to Congressmen to ambassadors to business executives. Heck, the wife of a President."

Agent1: "I liked that President. But my uncle still sends me chain emails about him."

Agent2: "Exactly. Dealing with that? Not worth our jobs. Let's just agree to be glad that someone dealt with Trublevania's habit of hiding nuclear bombs in their consulate basements, and let the Director take it further."

[Cassandra]

In The Marvel Universe there is a government organization that deals with superheroes, and takes on super villain threats, and that is SHIELD.   The organization operates freely in nations allied with the United States primarily because most of those nations don't have the resources to deal with super villains.

 

The Avengers have a relationship with the U.S. Government and SHIELD.  The U.S. Government has other options such as Sentinel Robots, government sponsored heroes like USAgent, and groups of super villains offered a pardon like the Freedom Force.

 

Anti-Mutant prejudice means that some people hate those born with power, but those who receive them accidentally or create them are popular.

 

In the DC Universe the heroes are cut a lot of slack because most follow the example of Superman and don't kill.  Batman is useful in Gotham City, and protects the innocents and it cut a lot of slack.  Life on other planets has been confirmed, so there is less prejudice against super powered people.  One reason why that the Government cooperates with superheroes is because there is no powerful agency to deal with super villains.

[Greywind]

SHIELD isn't government. SHIELD is UN.

[Cassandra]

SHIELD isn't government. SHIELD is UN.

 

No wonder out of thousands of agents they only have about six people who actually do anything.

[JmOz]

SHIELD is both, depending on the era.  It is also why the name changed...

[Greywind]

Eh, I looked. Apparently even Marvel doesn't know who, how, or why SHIELD works.

[Hermit]

 

Anyway, the Government may not arrest the Hero, but they can make his/her life difficult.  Using SIGINT, the Government (ie: NSA, under a "secret" provision of the Patriot Act) could monitor communications by superhero teams (or an individual supers comms).

 

They could try. Funny thing, in the comic books and sometimes in the RPGs, the Super team have experts that make the techies in the government look like cavemen by comparision. I've played on teams where if some govt stooge tried to 'hack' our comlines, they'd end up getting fed all sorts of fun misinformation while we snickered

[Ken Winland]

Howdy,

 

In the 1970s, the Avengers were co-opted by the US Government by something like the 'National Security Council'.  A lot of there files were taken (as well as some trophies), they had to follow rules, and had to have a US Intel liason who kept abreast of the activities of the team, etc.  The Avengers were also limited to something like 7 members, although they added "active" and "reserve" status to circumvent this later on.  The Avengers had no legal or enforcement powers, but the US government did offer some support and international protection.  It came with a LOT of strings.

 

Cheers,

 

Ken

[Nadrakas]

 

 

Anyway, the Government may not arrest the Hero, but they can make his/her life difficult.  Using SIGINT, the Government (ie: NSA, under a "secret" provision of the Patriot Act) could monitor communications by superhero teams (or an individual supers comms).

 

They could try. Funny thing, in the comic books and sometimes in the RPGs, the Super team have experts that make the techies in the government look like cavemen by comparision. I've played on teams where if some govt stooge tried to 'hack' our comlines, they'd end up getting fed all sorts of fun misinformation while we snickered

 

Hmmm...In the Comics, yes.  In the games I run I don't always "mirror" the Comics exactly (That would be...boring).

 

For example, in one of my campaigns, there was a subset of the Intelligence Community that had recruited highly intelligent Supers -- on the "Super Scale" of INT 30+ with appropriate "powers" (Cyberkinesis, Clairvoyance, etc).  Their primary job, outside was to keep an eye on "hot spots" around the world, as well as to keep tabs on the Superworld -- both Villains & Heroes.  They weren't a "Force" that they players saw "On-Camera," at least not at first, but the Intelligence that they gathered was used to assist the PCs in some of their own investigations (They were a Sanctioned Team) and when the PCs "went rogue" (ie: were framed... ) they became targets of this same Intelligence Asset.

 

Eventually, after a long campaign and many adventures, the PCs were able to piece together enough info to figure out that the "Gnomes" were behind a conspiracy to covertly manipulate the governments of the world.  They were able to stop them, and bring them to justice.  Or so they thought...afterall, sacrifices have to be made for the Greater Good & Humanity need to be controlled!

 

Sadly, I was not able to continue With Phase II of this long running campaign, as we were all deployed to the Sandbox right after this.  However, Phase I "felt" like a good ending, so I let it stand.  Good times by all, and that's what counted.

 

Peace.

 

~ Nadrakas