Supers Image game

[Clonus]

He calls himself "Captain Star".  But most other people call him "Sucker Punch" because of how he made his debut, walking up to a supervillain and laying out the criminal with one unexpected punch while the bad guy was still laughing at the kid.  Captain Star/Sucker Punch has the most vanilla power set imaginable, with boosted strength and durability (and a phenomenal leaping ability from his strength versus his weight), gained from a brief close encounter with aliens dumping their garbage before leaving.  But he makes up for it with attitude and his incongruous appearance.  

[phoenix240]

Merci Beaucoup, mon ami.  I'm glad everyone liked it so much.

 

Here's hoping everyone has just as much fun with this image--

 

Name: Peter Darwin (Formerly: Horst Mueller)

Hero name: Redstar

 

Background: The advent of the superhuman (usually placed shortly before the beginning of World War 2) lead to an arms as the various national powers attempted to harness the powers of these exceptional beings. Over the course of the war the notion of creating superhumans grew popular. Germany quickly moved into the forefront of the nascent field due in no small part to sheer ruthlessness. Subjects lives were spent like water and a litany of horrors performed in hidden laboratories the name the Reich. But surprisingly few successes were produced but other projects produce at best one or two "Super Soldier" (American G.I., Union Jack and Monsieur Valiliant) or teams of highly trained, well equipped but "natural" super beings (see Force America or the Kingsmen). On the other hands, those projects, while enthusiastic and aggressive were pursued with at least some degree of ethics and humanity so the human toll in lives and number of twisted failures was far far less.

 

Still, the German efforts did achieve its aims for the most part. The boy that would be known as Redstar" was one of first. The product of an already extant eugenics program his exceptional physical aptitude was clear even from early childhood and back by a sharp mind. Further testing indicated that boy possessed even more potential, laying dormant in his genes. So began an endless battery of tests, treatments and experiments designed to lock that potential accompanied by relentless indoctrination design to engender loyalty and a fanatical patriotism in the subject dubbed "Esienmenche". The project continued over most of the war but the being that resulted exceeded even his power hungry creators expectations, a superhuman that might even rival Free Spirit in raw power.

 

But it was all in vain. The Reich lost, the war ended with the victorious Allies forces marching across Germany. It was a Russian force that found the secluded facility where Esienmenche lay, deep in suspended animation. They seized him along with everything else on the project and the entire incident was covered. The would be Esienmenche was lay, almost forgotten, in a secret bunker for decades. Until during the Cold War, a cadre of official stumbled across the record of his discovery and decided to try and utilize him as an asset. His mind was very carefully probed by psionic agents who constructed a new persona and insert new memories based on his original conditioning but with loyalty turned towards Soviet Union.

 

At first, Red Star as he came to be known, was a great success. Powerful, charismatic and loyal, he made a perfect status symbol and figurehead for the Soviet Union and soon he was made head of the national metahuman team: October Guard. But shortly before the Proprietor Wars the Guard came up against the villain collective known as Anarchy Alliance and the telepath "Mind****" used her power to shatter the intricate and delicate that had been constructed, revealing Red Star's life as a life and flooding his mind with a mixture of horrific flash back to the Nazi labs and fragments of what little childhood he'd actually had. After brutal battle that left most of his team incapacitated, the insane metahuman headed to London, bent on carrying out a delusional mission to conquer England. He was met a collection of local metahumans including Big Ben, Paladin Hard Knight and Lady White. Working together, the heroes managed to contain Red Star long enough for Witch to make contact with his broken mind. She attempted to heal him but the damage was too much and there was too little to work with and less time. She was able to contact that small core of original nature, the boy inside that just wanted to be a hero and a champion of the people and awaken it.

 

Horrified by what he'd done, become and what he'd become and aware this rationality wouldn't last, Redstar turned his power inward and was seemingly consumed in a blaze of crimson light. It wasn't until several days later that childless couple Edgar and Sally Darwin found a young boy wandering the streets, dressed in rags with no memory of how and who is was. Puzzled but quickly endeared by the charming child they took him with them to their country home. They knew they should report the child to the authorities but they had become very attached him and couldn't find any reports of a missing or abducted child so they eventually explained him as the child of a cousin who'd passed away. They named him Peter `It was long after that the boy began to display unusual abilities: greater strength and speed than a child his age should have. He was really enthralled by superheroes, watching any and all stores about with the rapt awe. Sally eventually made him a costume of his own, fashioning it to the boy's instructions all in red (Peter's favorite color). As suited the symbol on the chest, he's begun called himself "Red Star" though no one has made the connection yet.

 

Personality: Red Star is a typical little boy in most ways. He's very bright, energetic and creative with a love of superheroes and adventure. Peter is very aware of his physical superiority and treats his playmates carefully. He truly wants to live up to his idols (and the mollify his subconscious guilt over his past). Unfortunately, his past life is not totally forgotten. Memories surface as nightmares and inapplicable emotional reactions triggered by sights, sounds, people, etc that remind him of his pasty. His adopted parents are considered counseling but so far these moments haven't been dangerous just a little odd.

 

Powers: As an adult, Red Star had the classic array of super powers: Incredible strength, stamina, speed and endurance. He could lift nearly a hundred tons and easily withstand military grade weapons. He could fly at mach speeds via an unknown mechanism and project concussive bolts from his hands and eyes powerful enough to wreck armored fighting vehicles. By drawing on some inner reserve he could momentarily enhance his powers, heal himself and even demonstrate some minor psychokinetic and psionic abilities such as psychometry and moving objects at a distance. One his more unusual powers came from the control he has over his physical make up: he can control his appearance down to the color of his eyes and tone of voice. This control is mostly subconscious and seems to respond his emotional states, needs and the expectations of those around him meaning his appearance is exceptionally striking to a virtually superhuman degree. He mav have even greater potential. Some of his handlers theorize that all his abilities are psionic in nature.

 

Peter has only manifested a tiny amount of these abilities. He is faster, stronger and more hardy than any child of his age should be, a match for many adults but not quite superhuman outside of relative comparison. Sometimes he gets "feelings" about people, objects and places, small flashes of intuition and other vestiges of psionic abilities. He hasn't manifested any sign of his energy generation or shapeshifting abilities so far and his resistant to injury hasn't really been tested by anything outside of normal childhood risk (to which he's proved to be immune).

[wcw43921]

He calls himself "Captain Star".  But most other people call him "Sucker Punch" because of how he made his debut, walking up to a supervillain and laying out the criminal with one unexpected punch while the bad guy was still laughing at the kid.  Captain Star/Sucker Punch has the most vanilla power set imaginable, with boosted strength and durability (and a phenomenal leaping ability from his strength versus his weight), gained from a brief close encounter with aliens dumping their garbage before leaving.  But he makes up for it with attitude and his incongruous appearance.  

 

 

Of the three submissions, all of them excellent, I like this one the best.  Clonus, you have the honor to post the next image.

[phoenix240]

Of the three submissions, all of them excellent, I like this one the best.  Clonus, you have the honor to post the next image.

Congratulations, Clonus!

[Clonus]

[phoenix240]

Interesting picture. I'll have to think about this one.

[Clonus]

OK, unless someone steps up, on Sunday, I post my ideas for the pic and throw it open.  

[Burrito Boy]

Am I crazy or did the dress used to be black? And wasn't she in front of a brick wall?

 

 

Loving the thread by the way.

[Greywind]

You're crazy. But then we all knew that already.

[Clonus]

Yes, the earlier version was this:

 

[Mr. R]

Monsieur Vaillant, aka Mr. Valiant--Jacques Moreau, an All-American super-patriot from an alternate reality where North America was largely settled by the French.  The Americans declared their independence from King Louis in 1776, and with British aid the revolutionary armies led by Georges Beauchamp won their freedom.  When Napoleon's armies tried to reconquer the continent in the War of 1812, the Americans fought with all their might and defeated Napoleon, leading to his downfall.  Ever since then Les Etats-Unis have stood as a beacon of freedom, giving hope to all who would resist tyranny and oppression.

 

Possessing the strength of twenty men, immunity to all but the greatest of harm, and "the courage of America's teeming millions,"  Monsieur Vaillant is the embodiment of America's esprit de combatif, and wherever innocents are threatened, whenever liberty is endangered, he is there to protect the innocent, destroy those who would bring them harm, and set wrong to right.

 

Liberté!  Egalité! Justice!  Vivé Monsieur Vaillant!

 

 

 

This IS AWESOME!!!!!

[Burrito Boy]

Yes, the earlier version was this:

 

Thank goodness! I thought I'd slipped into an alternate reality.

[death tribble]

Thank goodness! I thought I'd slipped into an alternate reality.

You did. But you escaped. Next time you won't be so lucky.

[Clonus]

 

 

Forza:  Portugal's foremost superhero, her powers are granted to her by an alien symbiont which grants her a protective and strength-enhancing forcefield, and can fire force-blasts and propel her into the air.  When she wishes to fly, her shoulder vanes provide her with forcefield "wings" that she uses to steer.  (Also she can see in all directions thanks to her symbiont's eyes).

 

The White Widow:  After her husband was killed by a villainous corporation, Bianca Ragno, a cybernetic engineer vowed vengeance on them and began to attack their facilities and executives with robotic spiders that ranged from the tiny and poisonous to the gigantic and heavily armed.  Her powers are inventive genius and a horde of robotic minions controlled via the "legs" mounted on her costume that serve as radio antennae.  As a last resort the "eyes" on her outfit are actually grenades.  

 

Since there was no winner, anyone can post the next pic.

[freakboy6117]

[Christopher]

Tricky. The only truly "exceptional" properties I see are the hair and several tatoos. I'll go with the tatoos.

 

In magic, a lot of things have power:

Names. Sounds. Images.

If those are aplied to a living being thier power can sometimes increase in unique ways.

 

Pigment's power come from ancient egiptian tatoo lore, that was once used to cure and empower the pharaos of old. However this specific kind of magic only works on beings of sufficiently pure noble egyptian blood and (in her case) a person of prophecy. The old guardians of egyptian medical magic found her through a prophecy mentioning the "women of many colors". For obvious reasons they asumed it is her, thanks to her hair coloration (wich was created using very mundane methods).

"The one of many colors" is supposed to guard egypts indipendence and the prophecy comes (no wonder) from the varius times egypt was under foreign control. She does not really believes in that prophecy, but there are a suprising number of ancient gods and cursed undead pharaos that want to establish thier rulership again. And then there is the whole backlash of the 2011-2014 crisis to clean up.

 

Each of her tatoos grants her magic powers and all of them are based on plants or animals:

The rose grants her beauty. But it also grant her "thorns", wich manifests in a very high striking power.

The Cactus grants her the ability to sustain great heat and cold.

The Camel gives her the endurance and ability to go without food as her namesake.

 

The snake however is a totally normal tatoo she got before she was found by the priesthood. Like her hair it has no special meaning. But people just keep asking about it.

[BoloOfEarth]

Magnetite detested paperwork; if he'd known how much he'd have to deal with, he might not have taken on being Chicago's VIPER Nest Leader.  So he was quite happy when two VIPER agents interrupted his daily administrative slog with a young woman in tow.  He ignored her tattoos, lip piercing, and multi-hued hair; many supervillains had very distinctive looks, and hers was milder than some.

 

The Nest Leader stood and smiled.  "Amethyst, isn't it?  A pleasure to meet you.  I'm Magnetite, but you probably already know that since you did apply to work with VIPER."  He reached out and shook her hand, and wasn't all that surprised when his heads-up display warned of psionic activity.  He was mildly surprised, however, to see her hair changing colors slightly as she used her powers.  "I should warn you, my helmet will make mental attacks against me quite difficult.  And it really does get us off on the wrong foot if you try to manipulate me."

 

The young woman shrugged and smiled.  "Sorry, old habit.  I was just trying a touch of telepathy.  It's nice to know how a potential boss thinks."

 

"Understood."  Magnetite sat back in his chair.  "Just don't try it again, and we'll get along fine."  He pulled up her file on his HUD and glanced through it quickly.  "Full suite of mental powers.  That's good.  Specialty in... neural location and telepathic links.  Interesting.  Tell me, how many people can you mentally link at once?"

"Fifteen to twenty with minimal effort.  I can go as high as sixty, but can't maintain that for longer than a few minutes."

 

He shrugged.  "A lot can get accomplished in a few minutes, especially by a dozen teams of VIPER agents.  Cross-communication, or do you have to relay?"

 

"Once linked, everybody can communciate with everybody else."

 

Magnetite smiled.  "Excellent.  And would you mind giving me a demonstration of your scanning capability?  Where is state senator Michael Clayton right now?"
 

Amethyst closed her eyes and tilted her head back.  Once again, her hair began to change color, ranging from turquoise to deep violet.  Magnetite noted that she really was quite lovely.  "He is... at the Garfield Park Conservatory."  She concentrated a bit more.  "Going over his speech in his head right now."  She opened her eyes.  "Want to know what his new crime bill's about?"

 

"Not necessary.  We've had a copy of it for several weeks."  He drew a few sheets of paper from a folder on his desk and studied them for a moment.  "Tell me, how skilled are you at manipulation?"
 

She looked mildly uncomfortable.  "I can do okay, but it's not my strong suit.  I can nudge people to do things they wouldn't mind doing anyway, and push to do things they're not flat-out against.  But I can't make someone shoot himself or a friend, if that's what you're looking for.  The more they're against it, the more likely they'll know they were mind controlled."

 

Magnetite shook his head.  "Not to worry, I'm not looking for anything overly dramatic."  He pulled out a thick envelope and slid it across the table to her.  She opened it to see banded stacks of money.  "I hope that is an adequate retainer."  He stood and handed her the sheets of paper he'd been reading.  "And I would like this to be the speech that Mr. Clayton gives.  Nearly identical, but we'd mainly like him to go off the rails for this bit here." 

 

He pointed to a paragraph, and Amethyst's eyes widened as she read it.  "What is his stance on S-Squad, and superheroes in general?"

 

"Senator Clayton's not a huge fan.  Has called them 'costumed vigilantes' in private, but since they're media darlings right now he holds his tongue."

 

Amethyst smiled.  "Well, I think I can make him let it go for a bit."

[Clonus]

Mirabile Day, "Daytripper".  

 

Oh no, must be the season of the witch,
Must be the season of the witch, yeah,
Must be the season of the witch.
When I look, when I look

 

Humming to herself, Mirabile walks into police headquarters, her multi-coloured hair blowing in a wind that isn't there.  Once upon a time, being here would have worried her, but that was before she'd been exposed to the custom-made designer drug that could unlock her hidden potential.  One cop tries to intercept her, but gets distracted by those bugs under his skin.  She leaves him scratching furiously.  She's here on the business of The Cause after all and Everywoman wouldn't be happy if she didn't make it to the meeting.  

 

Upstairs, fat old men are getting together after all to decide the fate of those people in the streets.  They're afraid they'll be thrown down, and they're right to be afraid.  So they'll call out the cops and soldiers, the guns and the tanks.  A little slaughter to "restore order".  Well not all of us want your "order".  There are two guards on the door.  One of them decides his clothes are on fire so he takes them off of course.  Another starts talking to an invisible friend.  Daytripper smiles and steps inside.  She has some fat old men to loosen up.  The cops will be back to their normal fascist selves in a few minutes.  The ones who call the shots will take rather longer to come down.  They'll still be chasing the imaginary butterflies tomorrow.  That should give The Cause plenty of time to do it's work in this city and others.  

[freakboy6117]

oh tricky like all of them christopher origin and Boloofearths narrative we're fantastic  but i think im going to go with clonus just because its the most interesting power description

[Clonus]

[Clonus]

No, hunh?  For the record for that one I would have gone with:

 

Atomic Angel, a superheroic android whose greaves and bracers let her fly and produce energy blasts.  But let's try again:  

[The Weapon]

No, hunh?  For the record for that one I would have gone with:

 

Atomic Angel, a superheroic android whose greaves and bracers let her fly and produce energy blasts.  But let's try again:  

<transcript of conversation recorded from a bug in the earphones of a Galactic Arms Inc. spy in Combined Defences Inc. we do not believe he managed to pass on the information to his paymasters, nor that CD is aware we have this tape>

S: "So they're going to do it.  They're going to attack Planet 616 with their new suits.  After they conquer it the Emporer will pretend that the attack was his idea, just to add territory and pretend he's in control."

M: "But that's treason!  Surely Galactic Arms can't just start wars to sell it's buggy, overpriced powersuits?"

S:  "They've staked so much on this contract, and the Nine Gods know that the more tests are done the more the new Demigod suits will be shown to be slower, harder to maintain and have less endurance than our Streetfighters.  Combat against a low-tech world like, what was it called 'terra'? is the only test it might pass with flying colours."

X:  "What if they faced stiffer opposition?  If they got a bloody nose they'd have to admit their suits are rubbish, and the Empire would finally select the better option."

M:  "If you mean these 'superheroes' I doubt there are enough of them to make a difference.  Besides if they did lose to them, they'd just claim the superheroes weren't a fair test, that they were too powerful."

X:  "But what if they lost to our Streetfighters, particularly in the hands of untrained natives?  Our suits are intuitive enough that even without training they are effective.  These creatures have a natural talent for extreme violence.  They will be facing, Guard units, famous for selecting only the most politically connected incompetents.  Even outnumbered, our suits would still have a chance."

M:  "While the Streetfighters aren't judged good enough for the army, we'll never be allowed to sell them to others, particularly not a world that hasn't even achieved starflight.  Besides they couldn't even use  the automanual."

X:  "There are several 616ers in mercenary or bandity units amoung the starlanes.  The automanual can use over 6 million forms of communication 'English' the most common language on 616 is one of them.  Presumably that's why the raiders who broke in here took them, because they could sell them to people on their homeworld."

M:  "Are you insane?  Nobody will believe that raiders broke into a facility like this, took 3 prototypes and didn't even kill a single guard."

S:  "That reminds me, I have to go now.  Those birds I was telling you about, the ones that cost me sleep ever night?  I've found their nests and I'm going to shooting."

M: and X: together "Good hunting then.".  

<footsteps, then sounds of high energy weapons fire and several screams.  One of the screams is from the wearer of the earphones, transmission is then cut off>

 

In September 20__ a group of soldiers from the ____ Empire landed on Earth with the intention of causing an incident to justify war and demonstrate the usefuless of the new Demigod powersuits.  Their officers were bribed by the Galactic Arms corportation.  They attacked a small township and military base and were achieving easy victory.  Several of the townsfolk resisted with hunting weapons, naturally these were ineffective.  However three prototype powersuits emerged from a nearby cave, walking under automatic mode.  Each approached one of the resisting townsfolk and offered a "Free Trial" of the new technology.  With these suits the Demigod suits were defeated, although it was a close run thing.  

 

Military officials then demanded that the suits be turned over.  The suits however only recognised their users as legitimate owners.  The townsfolk argued that the powersuits counted as "weapons for efficiency or preservation of a well-regulated militia".  Since one of the things that militias are supposed to do is repel invasions and since the suits in the hands of a local militiamen* did this, clearly the qualify.  The local military commander decided he didn't want a firefight, which the townsfolk were clearly edging towards.  He pretended he had no idea who had the suits or where they went.  This despite one of them clearly being his cousin.  Thus was born "The Iron Militia", consisting of "Hardhead", "Fastshot" and "Sniper" or Ed, Harry and Cletus as they're know around town.  

 

The suits have limited self-direction abilities.  They can follow simple commands like "Hide", "Come here", "Suit up", "Shoot the guy in red" etc.  They can run about 200 kph, are relatively stealthy, firepower and armor are about twice as good as a modern Earth tank  and they have good jumping capability (500m+).  They do require some maintaince but are capable of synthesising their own spares from base metals and plastics.  Full instructions on how to maintain them are in the automanual. 

 

The IM has so far not done too much crimefighting, but have fought with several villains that came to the area to steal from the army base or lie low.  

 

*  Technically all ablebodied males between 18 and 45 are part of the militia in the USA.

[phoenix240]

Hello again. Got a bit distracted but I'm back. Really happy to see this thread is still going on.

[phoenix240]

What have the winners been so far?

[Clonus]

 

<transcript of conversation recorded from a bug in the earphones of a Galactic Arms Inc. spy in Combined Defences Inc. we do not believe he managed to pass on the information to his paymasters, nor that CD is aware we have this tape>

S: "So they're going to do it.  They're going to attack Planet 616 with their new suits.  After they conquer it the Emporer will pretend that the attack was his idea, just to add territory and pretend he's in control."

M: "But that's treason!  Surely Galactic Arms can't just start wars to sell it's buggy, overpriced powersuits?"

S:  "They've staked so much on this contract, and the Nine Gods know that the more tests are done the more the new Demigod suits will be shown to be slower, harder to maintain and have less endurance than our Streetfighters.  Combat against a low-tech world like, what was it called 'terra'? is the only test it might pass with flying colours."

X:  "What if they faced stiffer opposition?  If they got a bloody nose they'd have to admit their suits are rubbish, and the Empire would finally select the better option."

M:  "If you mean these 'superheroes' I doubt there are enough of them to make a difference.  Besides if they did lose to them, they'd just claim the superheroes weren't a fair test, that they were too powerful."

X:  "But what if they lost to our Streetfighters, particularly in the hands of untrained natives?  Our suits are intuitive enough that even without training they are effective.  These creatures have a natural talent for extreme violence.  They will be facing, Guard units, famous for selecting only the most politically connected incompetents.  Even outnumbered, our suits would still have a chance."

M:  "While the Streetfighters aren't judged good enough for the army, we'll never be allowed to sell them to others, particularly not a world that hasn't even achieved starflight.  Besides they couldn't even use  the automanual."

X:  "There are several 616ers in mercenary or bandity units amoung the starlanes.  The automanual can use over 6 million forms of communication 'English' the most common language on 616 is one of them.  Presumably that's why the raiders who broke in here took them, because they could sell them to people on their homeworld."

M:  "Are you insane?  Nobody will believe that raiders broke into a facility like this, took 3 prototypes and didn't even kill a single guard."

S:  "That reminds me, I have to go now.  Those birds I was telling you about, the ones that cost me sleep ever night?  I've found their nests and I'm going to shooting."

M: and X: together "Good hunting then.".  

<footsteps, then sounds of high energy weapons fire and several screams.  One of the screams is from the wearer of the earphones, transmission is then cut off>

 

In September 20__ a group of soldiers from the ____ Empire landed on Earth with the intention of causing an incident to justify war and demonstrate the usefuless of the new Demigod powersuits.  Their officers were bribed by the Galactic Arms corportation.  They attacked a small township and military base and were achieving easy victory.  Several of the townsfolk resisted with hunting weapons, naturally these were ineffective.  However three prototype powersuits emerged from a nearby cave, walking under automatic mode.  Each approached one of the resisting townsfolk and offered a "Free Trial" of the new technology.  With these suits the Demigod suits were defeated, although it was a close run thing.  

 

Military officials then demanded that the suits be turned over.  The suits however only recognised their users as legitimate owners.  The townsfolk argued that the powersuits counted as "weapons for efficiency or preservation of a well-regulated militia".  Since one of the things that militias are supposed to do is repel invasions and since the suits in the hands of a local militiamen* did this, clearly the qualify.  The local military commander decided he didn't want a firefight, which the townsfolk were clearly edging towards.  He pretended he had no idea who had the suits or where they went.  This despite one of them clearly being his cousin.  Thus was born "The Iron Militia", consisting of "Hardhead", "Fastshot" and "Sniper" or Ed, Harry and Cletus as they're know around town.  

 

The suits have limited self-direction abilities.  They can follow simple commands like "Hide", "Come here", "Suit up", "Shoot the guy in red" etc.  They can run about 200 kph, are relatively stealthy, firepower and armor are about twice as good as a modern Earth tank  and they have good jumping capability (500m+).  They do require some maintaince but are capable of synthesising their own spares from base metals and plastics.  Full instructions on how to maintain them are in the automanual. 

 

The IM has so far not done too much crimefighting, but have fought with several villains that came to the area to steal from the army base or lie low.  

 

*  Technically all ablebodied males between 18 and 45 are part of the militia in the USA.

 

 

And at least the winner by default is a good one although the picture wasn't really intended to depict three different suits.  Your turn.