Build a superhero team

[pendell]

Seen on A friend's facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/#!/firstcircle/posts/154782021239480).



Create a superhero term based on the four columns of the universe: electromagnetism, gravity, the strong nuclear force, and the weak nuclear force. Explain how their powers work, and write a short adventure story about them. For the ice-skating bonus, explain how they use string theory in their work.


Well, let's see .. um .. Magneto's easy. Heel face turn to make him the leader of our team.

Gravity would be Alex Power (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Power) from Power pack. He has power over gravity, able to manipulate it's effects both on him and on things near him in a localized field, allowing him to both float in the sky, pick up heavy objects, etc.

Strong Nuclear Force -- we need a female for this team, and I don't know of any so I propose: Atomia! Able to manipulate the strong nuclear force, which results in her being able to dissolve the binding energy in objects, resulting in anything from disintegration to explosions that make a supernova look like a firecracker.

I'm not sure how control of the weak interaction would be different from the viewpoint of a standard human observer.

So! Can you do better? And what kind of adventure or villain-of-the-month will we send them against so they can actually strut their stuff? Who would be a good vs. match for such a team?

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Brewdude]

I know how they use string theory! They con a BBEG into buying a super device based on string theory technology which completely fails to work as advertised!

/duck.

[Ravens_cry]

Fall Guy: Can change the direction and strength of gravity at will. This means he can 'fly', make his punches hit like a ton of bricks, make others fly back by even his regular punches.
RadioRadical: Can negate and strengthen the weal force locally, making radium as stable as lead, or lead as unstable as radium, or worse.
Nuclear Lass: She can make things explode in a nuclear fireball. So far, only really, really small things. Still, wear your lead lined underoos, kiddies.
Light Bringer : Can change the absorbency of an object, making things jet black or so transparent as to be basically, as well as any colour in between, as well shifting electromagnetic rays up and down the spectrum. You do not want to see what this guy can do with a laser pointer.
I'll think up an adventure soon.

[darkblade]

Trick question. Modern Magneto is actually pretty much the personification of the Unified Field Theory (as a handwave to explain how he has used his powers to do things that are quite obviously not related to magnetism) and as such single handedly covers all the bases by himself.

[Prime32]

There's also a superhero with power over gravity called, um, Gravity (http://marvel.wikia.com/Gravity).

[Selrahc]

Firestar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firestar) uses microwave radiation for her powers... that's kind of nuclear control and the closest I can think of if you want a female on the team. Otherwise, you've got a veritable gamut of nuclear themed heroes to choose from who might fit the bill. Molecule Man (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molecule_Man), Captain Atom (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Atom), Radioactive Man (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioactive_Man_%28comics%29), the other Radioactive Man (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fictional_characters_within_The_Simpsons#R adioactive_Man) and obviously, Doctor Manhattan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Manhattan#Doctor_Manhattan)

[Ravens_cry]

Dr. Manhattan is all of them, and more we haven't found. Having him on a team makes Superman look like BMX Bandit.
Eh, why look through piles of superheroes when you can make your own. Much more fun.
More details on Nuclear Lass. Her mother got super powers while filming a film reel for a nuclear power company, ironically on the safety of nuclear power. Her superhero work was mostly publicity stunts and high profile super hero team ups. While quite popular for several years, as her mother got older her popularity waned. She married an equally small time supervillain, the worst he did was rob some banks with a giant robot lobster, "NOT a crab!" as he would be sure to point out, and they settled down in suburbia. Her daughter also received powers, and is quite incredulous about this whole superhero business. At her mothers insistence, she got her powers license upgraded to vigilante status and and auditioned for and joined a superteam, the Four Forces Force.
Heromachine costume:
http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/407/nuclearlassii.gif

[Selrahc]

Dr. Manhattan is all of them, and more we haven't found. Having him on a team makes Superman look like BMX Bandit.

Molecule Man and Captain Atom have rather similar levels of ability though... with the notable exclusion of Omniscience.

[Ravens_cry]

Molecule Man and Captain Atom have rather similar levels of ability though... with the notable exclusion of Omniscience.
Yes,because that is such a small detail. Merely the driving force of the distortion of his psyche, such a little thing.:smalltongue:
On a related note, I wish the movie had shown more of Mars, it was one of the most beautiful parts of the book in my opinion.

[Selrahc]

I did say *notable* exclusion.

None of the "heroic" reality warpers are sane though. Molecule Man, Captain Atom, Sentry.. in general Doctor Manhattan would fit right in to the group. Apparently being a creature that can remake reality at will isn't all that conducive to mental health. Who would have thought?

[Ravens_cry]

I did say *notable* exclusion.

None of the "heroic" reality warpers are sane though. Molecule Man, Captain Atom, Sentry.. in general Doctor Manhattan would fit right in to the group. Apparently being a creature that can remake reality at will isn't all that conducive to mental health. Who would have thought?
Yes, but I would say they have similar abilities, not similar LEVELS of ability. But that's probably me just nit picking.

[darkblade]

Molecule Man and Captain Atom have rather similar levels of ability though... with the notable exclusion of Omniscience.

Molecule man, yes. Captain Atom, no not even close. Captain Atom is a glorified Flying Brick with occasional references to being radioactive. While he inspired Dr. Manhattan he has as much to do with the character as the Blue Beetle does with Nite-Owl.

[Moff Chumley]

Deadpool.

No, I didn't read anything 'cept the thread title. What? :smallyuk:

[kpenguin]

Molecule man, yes. Captain Atom, no not even close. Captain Atom is a glorified Flying Brick with occasional references to being radioactive. While he inspired Dr. Manhattan he has as much to do with the character as the Blue Beetle does with Nite-Owl.

Nite-Owl and the Ted Kord Blue Beetle are pretty damn similar. I mean... just look at the Blue Bug versus Archie... the gadgets... the general light-hearted mild-mannered demeanor.

[Nosferocktu]

Deadpool.

No, I didn't read anything 'cept the thread title. What?

I second that!!! What good is nuclear explosions on someone who CAN'T DIE.

[Hopeless]

Create a superhero term based on the four columns of the universe: electromagnetism, gravity, the strong nuclear force, and the weak nuclear force. Explain how their powers work, and write a short adventure story about them. For the ice-skating bonus, explain how they use string theory in their work.

Virtue: member of an alien race who evolved within a unique gravitational environment. His race based their society on the seven virtues and their enemies based theirs on the seven deadly sins. Being of the clan of truth his clan were wiped out in an insane truce intended to retore order on their world but it only led to its destruction with the surviving descendants weakened because of the loss of their unique homeworld's environment. His gravity based adaptation grants him mega strength, flight, near total invulnerability, superspeed, the ability to survive in space and a devastating quantum burst he can release from his eyes that only a megavillain could withstand.
He arrived on earth in the 1920's and his powers manifested during the 2nd world war but chose a normal life only using his powers to protect his friends who chose to become heroes during the turbulent times of the later part of the twentieth century.
He reemerged to help mentor a powerful former child supervillainess who had chosen to become a heroine known as Sunset Dawn which also led the child's father to turn from his extensive career as a megavillain to help protect his surviving family just in time to fight off a terrifying invasion by the near impossibly powerful megavillain alien known only as Oblivion even with their combined might it took the enigmatic Black Archer to take Oblivion down saving Sunset Dawn's life.

Deathbringer: a former megavillain who possessed a near bottomless hatred for the US Government when they ordered his wife to sleep with his worst enemy inr eturn for secrets they wanted. Personally responsible for the deaths of countless supers, even more US operatives even their special forces when they so much as sneezed in his presence or poked anywhere near his daughter. His daughter ended the feud by forcing the man who gace the order to explain himself revealing her mother had volunteered believing she was protecting her family apparently unaware that her husband in addition to being the world's most deadliest martial artists was an energykinetic believed able to tap into the strong and weak nuclear forces of the universe, well she found out when he singlehandedly stormed his enemy's fortress home annihilating any resistance and almost killing his nemesis until he and his later ex-wife revealed what had really happened causing his subsequent feud.
Deathbringer's older brother who is much like Tony Stark except for absolutely no redeeming features forced him to become an actor to prove he was serious about retiring as a megavillain and he remained in that cover until he was forced to protect his sister's family from some mercenary villains who uncovered her superhuman status. His daughter chose to intervene which brought Virtue into action and subsequently Deathbringer peruaded his former supervillain team mates into joining him in setting up a supers training program that was separate from what looked like a troubling global attempt to control all of the supers on the planet.
Then Oblivion turned up and thanks to the enigmatic Black Archer they survived and ended up in control of the only legitimately free super training facility with the rest held in the hands of Roland Alexander aka Alexander the Great a Lex Luthor-like corporate billionaire with designs on global conquest.
Barring the man's obsession with Deathbringer's daughter he has almost no weakness and the power to pull off his dreams but that one obstacle is all that prevents his success as his obsession is also his downfall.

Sunset Dawn: formerly known as the Storm Dragon she is able to link herslef to the planet's electromagnetic field and as a result is the worlds most powerfulest elementalist and a mage of serious power.
She chose a career as a minor wannabe superheroine to escape her past lacking her father's bitter wrath and eventually confronted the man who ordered her mother to betray her vows revealing she had volunteered to do son in the seriously mistaken belief she was protectin her family something she only discovered was seriously wrong when Deathbringer revealed the true extent of his powers something he had kept hidden up to that point due to his fear it would scare his wife away.
She rejoined her father in time to help him protect her four cousins and met Virtue who volunteered to mentor her, which is why her father chose to follow her since he certainly didn't trust anyone with his daughter and he started a super training facility to thwart the efforts of the son of his late nemesis simply because he couldn't shake his loathing of the man's family something that proved remarkably apt when Roland Alexander assumed control of all of the other facilities as a prelude to taking over the world. The appearance of Oblivion demolished his scheme as the alien proved too powerful and his gathered army lacked the means to combat him.
Only Virtue seemed able to stand against him even her father who made several attempts couldn't defeat the villain but using her powers Sunset held the villain long enough for Virtue to destroy his moon sized space ship freeing the captives he held aboard for nefarious schemes and eventually the trio managed to weaken him long enough for the enigmatic Black Archer to coerce the police to finish him off as Sunset nullified his invulnerability with her magic.
Never before interested in relationships due to witnessing their destructive outcomes Sunset fell for the mysterious Archer much to the rage and impotent loathing of Roland Alexander whose obsession with her resulted in his eventual defeat.

The Black Archer: Time traveller from 3 centuries ahead where life was intolerable due to the obsession in the perfect superhuman. Finding and using a time machine built in the twenty first century he intervened in the climatic battle with the alien Oblivion causing its death and saving the life of Sunset Dawn who originally died taking the alien with her. Although this improved things in the future he returned to try and persuade her out of retirement and in the process found himself pursued by the besotted superheroine ending up marrying her and unable to return to his own time that would eventually turn out fine since the manufacturer of that future Roland Alexander was defeated when his obsession with Sunset Dawn ruined his plans.

The rest of the Stuary family: Sister Evelyn formerly known as Mighty Maiden was a typical brick who retired from her superhero identity after her husband left her for a fellow member on her former team since he didn't know she was a super. Her kids all developed powers along with Jared's son Liam who inherited his father's talent for technology, their uncle Joshua (Deathbringer) brought in help to train them as well as protect them as well as the families of his comrades from the schemes of Roland Alexander unfortunately one of the descendants calling her Azure Dawn became Roland's right hand woman and eventual wife who would continue her husband's schemes once he was caught and sectioned when he lost his sanity over being unable to claim Sunset Dawn for his own.

I think I covered the bases hopefullt this will work this time!

[JonestheSpy]

Only four? Well let's see, in a superhero team you've got to have

Leader Guy
Young Hothead Guy
Dark and Scary Guy, and of course
Girl Guy

Hmm, as for powers, you always need

Strong Guy
Flying, Beam Shooting Guy
Sneaky Guy, and
Smart Guy

So, seems like maybe the most likely combo would be:

Strong Nuclear Force Strong Leader Guy
Weak Nuclear Force Smart Dark and Scary Guy
Gravity Flying, Beam Shooting Young Hothead Guy, and
Electromagnetic Sneaky Girl Guy (women tend to take the Sneaky Guy role a lot - Invisible Woman, Kitty Pride, Nightshade, Violet from The Incredibles)

[AtlanteanTroll]

Forget Magneto. Static Shock never got the love he deserved.

[Xondoure]

Phoenix. Who needs physics when reality is your female dog?

[Ravens_cry]

Phoenix. Who needs physics when reality is your female dog?

Oh, I don't know, dying all the time, going crazy, and dying again, could get a little old after a while. Death isn't just a revolving door for her, she gets frequent flier miles with Charon.

[darkblade]

Oh, I don't know, dying all the time, going crazy, and dying again, could get a little old after a while. Death isn't just a revolving door for her, she gets frequent flier miles with Charon.

Jean Grey herself has died twice and only came back once. Now if you want to include clones, doplegangers, alternate universes, time paradoxes, etc then you have a lot but even in universe no one condsiders them to be real deaths or resuerctions of Jean Grey.

[Ravens_cry]

Jean Grey herself has died twice and only came back once. Now if you want to include clones, doplegangers, alternate universes, time paradoxes, etc then you have a lot but even in universe no one condsiders them to be real deaths or resuerctions of Jean Grey.
Even twice is once too many for most people.:smallamused:
And if any of those clones, doplegangers, alternate universes, time paradoxes, blah blah blah, wielded the Phoenix force, then yeah, I'll count them.

[darkblade]

Even twice is once too many for most people.:smallamused:
And if any of those clones, doplegangers, alternate universes, time paradoxes, blah blah blah, wielded the Phoenix force, then yeah, I'll count them.

For most people. Two deaths aren't that bad by superhero standards especially when you haven't recovered from the second one.

The clone and the doplegangers did not have the Phoneix force. The alternate universe versions for the most part remained in their alternate universes and have nothing to do with the main line comics version. All we know about the time paradox is that she had a kid at some point after she died most recently so yeah.

[JonestheSpy]

Two deaths aren't that bad by superhero standards especially when you haven't recovered from the second one.

The clone and the doplegangers did not have the Phoneix force. The alternate universe versions for the most part remained in their alternate universes and have nothing to do with the main line comics version. All we know about the time paradox is that she had a kid at some point after she died most recently so yeah.

This post pretty much sums up why I stopped reading Marvel comics.

[Fjolnir]

Cable still exists right?

[Geno9999]

Haruhi. Who needs physics when reality is a hyper-active girl who has no interest for ordinary humans?

I fixed it for you.

[Mando Knight]

Batman. That's all you need for any team. Need not-Batman characters? Batman will find them, if he doesn't pull them out of his utility belt.

[Nosferocktu]

Batman. That's all you need for any team. Need not-Batman characters? Batman will find them, if he doesn't pull them out of his utility belt.

Ha. True. Batman is the only person I have ever seen that literally could take out any superhero or villian in any universe. However, in one of the crossovers, he was asked if he could beat Captain America one on one. His literal response was "It would be close. I really wouldn't want to fight him though."

[Ravens_cry]

Ha. True. Batman is the only person I have ever seen that literally could take out any superhero or villian in any universe. However, in one of the crossovers, he was asked if he could beat Captain America one on one. His literal response was "It would be close. I really wouldn't want to fight him though."
It gets a little silly when you think about it. There are people who can, with their bare hands, turn coal into diamonds, and there there those almost as strong without a weakness to glowing green rocks.
Yes, he is Batman, master of preparation. But still! I guess that's why most stories stay in Gothem with a crazed clown.

[Hopeless]

It gets a little silly when you think about it. There are people who can, with their bare hands, turn coal into diamonds, and there there those almost as strong without a weakness to glowing green rocks.
Yes, he is Batman, master of preparation. But still! I guess that's why most stories stay in Gothem with a crazed clown.

Given pretty much all of those villains would rather not have to cross that clown I suspect they're very happy Batman's around to handle the Joker!

[Ravens_cry]

Given pretty much all of those villains would rather not have to cross that clown I suspect they're very happy Batman's around to handle the Joker!
All it would take for one vigilante with actual powers, and Joker would be gone. Heck, Gordon even told Batman in one comic where Joker has been mortally wounded by someone, 'Let him die.'
A good superpowerd punch through the skull, and even the Clown Prince of Crime would be done. But we can't have that, can we? Then it would end.

[Flickerdart]

Batman. That's all you need for any team. Need not-Batman characters? Batman will find them, if he doesn't pull them out of his utility belt.
Batman is capable of finding a way to travel to alternate dimensions and bring along other Batmen. So the team is Batman, Batman, Batman and Batman.

[Ravens_cry]

Batman is capable of finding a way to travel to alternate dimensions and bring along other Batmen. So the team is Batman, Batman, Batman and Batman.
Sounds like a good name for a law firm.:smallbiggrin:

[Hopeless]

Sounds like a good name for a law firm.:smallbiggrin:

Not if you're a villain can you imagine them trying to plea bargain?

Or worse yet when they're acting for the accused and you know they'd only do that because they're innocent because god help them if their lawyers find out they're guilty!

"Excuse me your honour we need to have a word with our client..."

"I'm guilty for gods sake throw the book at me whatever it is it'll be better than letting my lawyers being set on me!!!"

[Ravens_cry]

Not if you're a villain can you imagine them trying to plea bargain?


Not everyone who needs a lawyer is guilty.:smallsigh: