Solomon

Gadgets acquired by any government agency have a tendency to either disappear altoghether or being stolen again and again. Never forget Ankylosaur got his power armor by writing his address on an UNTIL crate. Gadgets stashed away in your typical trophy room, on the other hand, are an endless source of trouble and often make good starting points for a subplot. So your heroes give Armadillo's armor to their Joe J. Janitor DNPC to turn him into a superhero? Well, first thing you should penalize them for not showing proper respect to Hallowed Genre Rule #23, Superheroes Conveniently Forget Anything In Their Trophy Room. This game's all about genre conventions. Then, I'm confident enough you'll be able to make them regret their choice. How about a cybervirus that drives to madness (read: villainy) anyone wearing the armor? An undetectable tracer leading VIPER to the armor as soon as it's powered again? The Harbinger mistaking poor JJ Janitor for the original Armadillo and killing him?

I use hit locations and called shots in street-level campaigns only. In supers campaigns in which realism is not a priority, I can do without the added roll-on-a-table and the added calculation.

BTW, the campaign I'm currently DMing IS set in 1992 Detroit... Tempest II: Not the brightest or most cautious hero, Tempest would probably try to persuade the Sentinels he's from the future. Fact is, the Tempest from 2003 is just the heir of the original hero by the same name (and same costume). By 1992, the original Tempest is still active and living, so Tempest II will be considered an imposter. Unable to prevent the disaster, he'll just fight Doc D and die if he has to. Ombra: Acting quickly, he'd leave a message to his future self, including a detailed list of "future" (ie 1992-2003) disasters to avert: floods, earthquakes, eco-disasters, 9/11, you name it. Then he'd join the fray. He'd be most concerned with evacuation, as he's really out of his league with the likes of Destroyer. However, he might actually join the fight to buy time for evac. In this instance, however, he'd probably fight alongside Destroyer, not against him! Why? Well, Ombra knows Doc D activated his orbital cannon when he realised he was going to be defeated - so the best way to buy time is deleaying his defeat...

This sounds a lot like the campaign I'm currently running. All PCs but two are reformed villains acting as government agents in return for a pardon - and protection from their own ex-teammates. Plus, there's a great deal of treachery and double-crossing involved, as a rogue PRIMUS officier is secretly dealing with shady organizations. Can you give us some more info on your "Project U-Turn", Ghost?

Ombra: He'd offer his assistance to the "reformed enemy", partly out of hope in his goodwill and partly as a way of keeping a close eye on him. He'd also be on the lookout for any known ex-associate of the "reformed enemy". Tempest: A young and naive hero, Tempest would probably just pat his ex-enemy on the back, buy him a drink and congratulate him on his choice. If this is a trap, Tempest's going to fall for it.