Clonus

Speed is a gadgeteer with a tricked-out car. Limit is his super-hacker girlfriend who can hack traffic signals and vehicle computers hollywood-style to throw obstacles in the way of pursuers and defeat security systems. Together they specialise in high-speed heists and getaways.

Actually now that I think about it, there's another variation and that IS the super-soldier alternative. Assuming that it's not a setting where super-powers just spontaneously happen, that super heroes are built, injected, or whatever, registration might be a legal prerequisite to even getting the powers.

1. I did not describe a world in which there were no superbeings before the start of the war. Quite the contrary. If there were no superbeings, there would be nothing to register. Assume the default supers world up until 1941, complete with guys who dress in circus costumes or run around in masks and trenchcoats to fight mobsters and mad scientists. Now war breaks out and the American government imposes draft registration, including a line on the registration form in which they ask men to reveal special abilities that would make them particularly useful in combat or for intelligence gathering. What kind of man decides to lie on his form and conceal that he happens to be bullet-proof? 2. Actually it's an old standard in comic books that if two heroes meet for the first time and one of them has never heard of the other or one of them has a dodgy rep, they'll start to fight under the assumption that the other guy is a criminal. (Often of course, they're meeting at a fresh crime scene which helps create the mistake). In the real world if a cop encounters a civilian with a gun out the absolute first thing it'll do is tell the civilian to put down the gun...if the civilian's lucky. And of course doctors and lawyers have no sense of humour when someone attempts to go into their line without credentials.

1. Captain America did. In fact, his propaganda application is one of the more believable premises for how superheroes start using costumes. 2. I never asked you whether you were interested in playing that game or even the one where you start out as recent graduates. The question is, does this setup make sense as something most heroes would go along with? I did bring up Civil War but only to say that these were alternatives to the incoherent unconstitutional dogs breakfast that was Civil War.

You seem to be stuck on the Civil War model. Scenario 1: It's the middle of World War II. The American government asks every red-blooded American male in a certain age range to register for the draft and on the registration form there's a line asking the registrant to mention any special abilities that might make them particularly useful for military or intelligence work. What kind of man decides, "No I won't reveal that I'm bullet-proof"? Scenario 2: For generations people with super powers have been offered an automatic scholarship to an educational facility which is supposed to teach them how to use their powers safely. Anyone who doesn't go is assumed by all around to be a potential menace and probably intent on a life of crime (and that includes all the graduates of Sky University...ie. the superheroes). You just got super powers. What do you do?

The automatic assumption that everyone will disobey the law seems unreasonable.

The idea that fists are ever regarded as "deadly weapons" under the law is a myth despite the fact that one can indeed kill a person with a punch. .

Everyone doesn't have the authority to do it anonymously.

Since I note that Civil War is a subject of recent discussion...again, I thought I'd bring up my set of different approaches to superhuman registration. These can possibly be things for dimension-hoppers to run afoul of. 1. Draft registration. In the United States every young man is legally required to register for the draft. Given that this is accepted, it is of course reasonable that when you register, you are required to reveal any "special" abilities you may have that might have combat or intelligence gathering applications and any methods for detecting such abilities might be a standard part of the draft evaluation physical. This is probably the most effective approach to a Federal registration scheme provided the draft is extended to women. If it wasn't then you might end up with an odd situation where all the men with having been drafted into the military unless they got an exemption for being in law enforcement, leaving only women and draft dodgers (if only in that they hid their powers) to be vigilantes and supervillains. I look forward to seeing the character who crossdresses to keep his costumed identity from being hunted by the authorities. 2. Licensing. Having powers doesn't mean being competent in their use. Therefore it would be unsurprising to see a law forbidding the use of powers considered dangerous to others in uncontrolled situations (ie, when not in training rooms or something) without first having been certified as to one's ability to use them safely. Accidental power discharges would mean being sent to a training facility until certified safe. This approach would mean that powers that aren't capable of causing physical injury or altering minds (things such as sensory powers and passive defenses) would go unregistered if that's all the character has. Also super martial artists would probably usually slide on the grounds that their "powers" are too hard to define. In the United States such a scheme would probably operate on the state level 3. Anti-Vigilante law. In this version you can have and use powers freely as long as you aren't hurting anyone, but in order to fight crime you have to register as a "police auxiliary"...regardless of whether you have anything clearly identifiable as "powers". Acrobatic people with two fists and a thirst for justice can qualify. 4. The Carrot. The government has a registration scheme but there is no punishment for failure to register. They just offer the people who DO register money and resources. 5. Covert. The government registers people with powers. They just don't tell the public at large or even necessarily the people with power that's what they're doing. They have a secret agency in charge of tracking down anyone with powers and watching to see if they pose a problem or could be recruited.

For an oddly serious take on golden age heroics you could take a look at the podcast audio drama "Tales of the Red Panda". http://decoderring.libsyn.com/

Never trust a clown.

In 1929, Sexsmith Alberta, having attained a population of 250, incorporated as a village in the middle of what was at the time, the farthest north farmland in North America. Although the winters were long and cold, the long summer days gave it a much faster growing season than you'd see in points further south It was primarily important as the place where local farmers would come in to deliver their wheat to the set of grain elevators on the railroad tracks parallel to the town's main street. Later on it was to It was a fast growing community at the time and played host to several grain elevators, the Sexsmith Train Station, Bird's Grocery, MacEwan Hardware, and the Weicker Hotel (which started to serve alcohol in 1923 with the repeal of Alberta's own prohibition law). The most notable citizen in town was Johanna Haakstaad, a midwife who ran a "maternity home", so Sexsmith was always playing host to a few unwed mothers-to-be. It also had a blacksmith's shop that at that point probably had a sideline in auto-repair. In the 20s, local law enforcement was provided by the Alberta Provincial Police, except for one R.C.M.P. sergeant based in Grande Prairie, 12 miles away whose job was to keep an eye on problems that arose in the nearby Indian reservations. In 1932 the APP was shut down because of the province's budgetary problems and general police authority went to the Mounties who then stationed a sergeant and three constables in Grande Prairie. http://sexsmith.ca/st/wp-content/images/history_old-town-drawing.jpg

One superhero universe concept I've toyed with, is the idea that there is simply no United States or only a loosely organized one under the Articles of Confederation. I have after all seen plenty of comic book settings and plotlines where it would make more sense if the city, or at least the state is an autonomous entity.

Energy blasts are a super power. Marksmanship is a skill.

Pick where you want your impact crater before you leap.

Yeah. What's your point? A liberal or a conservative could just as easily do that.

It can take more time for a captured villain to escape than a dead one to come back.

Fandom Menace's power is to build copies of science fiction and fantasy props and toys that actually work, so light sabers, phasers, jet speeders, robots (life sized and action-figure sized), suits of Iron Man armour, Wonder Woman's lasso, that shuriken-thing from Krull...

I'm trying to write something, and as a peripheral element in the story there are three supervillains who have teamed up for a scheme. They are Killjoy the Clown (An evil clown criminal mastermind) Sanity Claws (An evil santa claus knock-off who acts as the muscle) The Fandom Menace (A gadgeteer with a fetish for collectable merchandise. He both acquires genuine memorabilia and makes gadgets in the form of the props and merchandise from geeky movies and shows) Do you have any ideas for crimes that combination might come up with? Whatever it is, it should somehow result in them making money as well as causing mayhem.

To be fair, the last Viper book I saw gave them some very powerful assets as a result of that program.

It can be something less formal than a treaty or a law. It can just be a situation where if one god makes a personal appearance to impose its will another god is likely to counter that move and the resulting brawl will level cities and nothing happens to be going on that is important enough to level cities. Of course really this is just a specific case of the "gods have limits on their power". But the mere existence of divine peers means that limits on their power are inherent.

Most superheroes simply don't pay attention to politics because the company doesn't want to push away audience and because those heros are a bit too busy fighting jet propelled monkeys to express an opinion about health care policy, abortion, marijuana decriminalization, or the separation of church and state. That being said, we can determine that certain superheroes are metaphors for various liberal ideas. Professor Xavier and by extension most of the X-Men are used as metaphors for being racial minority or gay activists so they can usually be classed as liberalish. Captain America has certainly gone through strongly liberal spasms...sometimes to the point that he uncovered Nixon's sideline as a supervillain and then spent a while as the disillusioned Man Without A Country. The original Dove was an unflattering representation of anti-war activists in the Vietnam era. But then Hawk was only slightly better as a representation of the hawk point of view. Brother Power was a hippie superhero. Ms Marvel was a "feminist" superhero. Which doesn't actually mean much since she was actually just doing typical superhero stuff in a costume that was skimpily impractical and never brought up the issue of wage parity or whatever...but just being the only Marvel superheroine to headline her own book and using "Ms" in her supernym sez that she was inspired...loosely by feminism. Wonder Woman on the other hand started out as a mouthpiece for a "women are better and should be in charge" point of view along with the "tying people up is hawt" message that was also very much what she was about.

In a supers universe, supervillains robbing banks is a real world problem.

Or to put it another way, "The laws of nature are really more in the way of guidelines" "Civilians have the attention span of drunk ferrets. Wait 15 minutes and the way you saved the world is ancient history."

Don't just pick a name for yourself. Make sure all the witnesses to your jobs hear it... Otherwise you'll be stuck with whatever that reporter picks.