RDU Neil

I just got home after a really good dinner out with a lot of friends, and my slightly sleepy thought on this post was, "Maybe we should let 'em have their guns, but they have to dress like Sean Connery from 'Zardoz'".
 

In my Champions campaign, Dr. Destroyer has taken over the country of Cuba, crushing any military forces or superhumans that attempt to oppose his rule. He took advantage of a power vacuum caused by a massive invasion of Earth by Empress V’Han that ended up in failure, and one of her warships detonated over Havana, destroying a large swath of the city, giving him a window of opportunity to seize power while the country was leaderless.
 
However, instead of instituting the brutal tyranny that most would have expected from him, over the course of the following days and weeks, he begins his rule by utilizing his technology to provide seemingly endless amounts of food and medicines to the Cuban people as he institutes a more benevolent form of dictatorship. His soldiers, robots and superhuman assets quickly become familiar sights in towns across Cuba, providing security and dealing forcefully with criminal activity.
 
His actions have left many in the world confused as to what he has in mind. Some are wondering if this is actually an alternate reality refugee from the invasion instead of the Dr. Destroyer that has terrorized the world for decades.
 
What other actions might he take as part of his rule? How might other countries react to Dr. Destroyer in charge of a nation?

Fascism is obsessed with notions of rebirth, notions of victimhood and notions of superiority... all of which are found as underlying themes of supers. Comics are full of the righteous individual who is "reborn" after suffering some kind of tragedy, and becomes better than everyone else, using the power to operate outside the law as a self-appointed doer of good (and they get to define what good is.)  All of that simmers in the background of most supers, and what is referred to as the Iron Age is when that bubbled to the top, and the power fantasy of bad-ass, male aggression, but it has always been there. Just because an adolescent "dream of someone who is so good they can deal with the injustice and evil" isrelatively innocent and naïve in many cases, doesn't make it less similar to the populist concepts that give rise to fascism. 

Mark Millar is not someone I'm particularly enamored of, but his comments here have an element of truth to them, IMO.
 
https://io9.gizmodo.com/mark-millar-has-an-interesting-about-theory-why-marvel-1823282223
 
The first part, about how DCs characters are about "their powers" and Marvel's are about "the character" really makes sense. One of the reasons Wonder Woman worked as a movie, is that it was about Diana, not "super strong, lasso of truthiness, god killer". She was extremely relatable to many movie-goers... the way the new Peter Parker or Steve Rogers or Natasha Romanov (as portrayed in the movies) really connect with the audience.
 
The more I think about it, the character they've chosen to portray in DC... the big 3, Aquadude, Flash, Cyborg... none of them ever really connected with me as a reader... Cyborg being the closest, and Flash only once it was Wally West (post-Crisis). Now, if they'd been forced (as Marvel was) to use B-list characters... maybe a Nightwing, Raven, Black Lightning (LOVE that show, currently), etc., then maybe they might have had better luck? I mean, even on their shows, Supergirl doesn't work at all if you pay the remotest critical attention to superpowers and how they are used on that show... but it is great to watch because Kara Danvers and her sister and Jimmy and Cat Grant and J'onn J'onzz are amazingly fun CHARACTERS to get to know and watch.

Fictions.  Science fictions, like Lysenkoist evolution, fantasy, like faster than light travel, and dark fantasy, like trickle-down economics.

Yes...but I would still point at them and laugh.

Very thought-provoking article/essay: With great power comes great uncertainty: Marvel’s slowly evolving politics.

It is an interesting creative exercise, but I struggle with it because trying to rationalize some very illogical things just points out MORE why they are illogical. Ultimately, EVERYTHING that motivates people who are "human" (meaning, human drives, hierarchy of needs, etc.) is economics. Even irrational decisions (from an objective POV) are driven by a sense of "Is it worth it to me or not" evaluation, just often a flawed evaluation.
 
Unless you change this baseline human drive, then none of these things make sense. Why would Daredevil continue to keep rescuing people that continue to put themselves in harms way because they are "super dependent?" Why is it worth it to him to do so? Also, while no one dies, you ignore the costs of damage to the surrounding areas, environmental damages, replacement costs, rehousing and relocation costs, mental stress from everyone living in the precarious position of "will the super save me next time?" etc.

The fact that superhero comics almost NEVER address the real economic effects of metahuman existence is one of those things it is just hard to overlook. If you remove the economic driver concept, suddenly you are in a realm that is less and less "relatable" to the audience, because they don't accept the motivations and repercussions (or lack thereof) of the characters.
 
I'd say you are better off just finding the right play group who is willing to suspend disbelief to the extent you want, and don't worry about explaining it. That only ruins the moment. I myself can enjoy the occasional silver/bronze agey game at a Con, a one shot, a post-modern deconstructionist adventure, whatever. Long term campaign... no way, as logical world building and character growth are important to me and they both quickly collapse in the face of too much nonsense.

Economics isn't about money (money is just a medium of exchange). Economics is about perceived cost value comparison. How much time, effort and funds is it worth expending for what you get? If you do volunteer firefighting, you probably do it because you've determined that it is worth your time and effort to do so, instead of doing something else. There are plenty of benefits to supporting volunteer firefighting, providing a more stable social structure and community support where there would otherwise be none, and the commensurate benefits of living in a place where fires get put out instead of allowed to burn.
 
Every decision we make (however flawed by bad data, or corrupted by our particular irrationalities) is a cost/benefit analysis... is it worth it?... and that is economics.

... And for me, I have an additional issue: I know too much.  I don't feel at liberty to play fast and loose with the science I know.

I agree. The US Avengers (and what preceded it) was an underrated book. It took seriously B (and C) level characters, and did something interesting with them. I missed enough of the 2000's X-Men to really understand how Sunspot went from '80s classic hotheaded cliché to genius, Tony Stark II, but more Machiavellian. However that particular shift happened, his leadership strategies and characterization were really well done.

They did a great job with Reyes in the Young Justice cartoon. I wish the DC movies had half the characterization of that show.

They did a great job with Reyes in the Young Justice cartoon. I wish the DC movies had half the characterization of that show.

Kamala Kahn, hands down one of the best teen superheroes ever created. (Her, Static from Milestone and the original Peter Parker are pretty much the best written, most fully realized teen characters in American supers.)
 
Not to mention, Kamala's transition as a new character taking on an old name, was done perfectly. (As was Danvers taking over the name of Capt. Marvel, the writers just have never figured out what to do with the new Capt. to make her compelling in her own book.)

And for non-American supers... I'd love to see a high budget update of The Heroic Trio. Though nobody lives up to Michelle Yeoh and Anita Mui. I'd love to see a modern, less sexist take on what is essentially a great ass-kicking sisterhood movie.

I'd rather read science fiction (carefully chosen), but I find I can't (intentionally) write sci-fi.  I can write fantasy.

It's really too bad that Trump wasn't there to charge the guy with the assault rifle.  If only.

It's not the same story as Iron Man.
 
It's the same story as Kung Fu Panda. 

Mom! Dad! Don't make me choose! :

Which one is Star Wars?

Kamala Kahn, hands down one of the best teen superheroes ever created. (Her, Static from Milestone and the original Peter Parker are pretty much the best written, most fully realized teen characters in American supers.)
 
Not to mention, Kamala's transition as a new character taking on an old name, was done perfectly. (As was Danvers taking over the name of Capt. Marvel, the writers just have never figured out what to do with the new Capt. to make her compelling in her own book.)

WARNER BROTHERS: Everything you know about the Flash and the DC Universe is WRONG!
COMIC BOOK FANS: So Flash isn't a socially-retarded motormouth anymore? And the DCEU isn't depressing destructo-porn with lame CGI villains set against videogame backgrounds?
WARNER BROTHERS: Er...
GENERAL AUDIENCES: Wakanda forever!

*Hates the Bat-Family and Superman family crap*

Of course it is. I don't believe that the powers that be at DC/WB are aware of any other stories for the Flash. It's right up there with the handful of graphic novels that they always go back to for Batman and Superman.