Superpowered beings and Law

[Jon_Dahl]

In your opinion, what is a reasonable and practical way to handle superpowered creatures in modern world? Is it ok to have secret identities? Is it ok to live a normal life and walk on the streets if you're a Hulk? Can aliens come and apply for Visa? The questions are endless, but there should be some general idea how to do deal with them.

In my Marvel campaign I haven't been 100% satisfied with the ideas that Marvel have had. Instead, I decided to create an alternate reality (Marvel is full of them) where UN members have centralized all the superhero-issues to a special "branch" called United Nations Superhuman Advisory Board.

All superheroes must register themselves to UNSAB, but they are only required to give some alias (not real name), some form of identification (DNA is preferred) and some contact information (direct or third party).

Main functions of UNSAB:
1. Give international legal rights to registered superheroes that normally have no legal rights (such as androids or undead).
2. Co-ordinate superhero activity with the local police force (and army, if necessary).
3. Measure what is "reasonable" force. Big guys make a mess, so it has to be taken into consideration when they fight the bad guys. Cost of civilian lives is never acceptable, but some material damage has to be accepted if superheroes are to perform their duties with best of their abilities.
4. Ensure that superheroes maintain normal lives, and that secret identities are kept secret.
5. Preventing military use of superheroes.
6. Preventing unlawful creation of superheroes.

My players have been happy with this, but my friend who is all-around expert with all things said that this idea is silly. I don't know really, but I don't have any better idea.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I suspect a real-life government would split the supers into two groups: original citizens (eg Spiderman - he was a regular human who got semi-mutated) and non-originals (aliens, robots, uplifted sentients like Ninja Turtles, etc).

I don't know where undead would go; some might have died recently and still hold their original citizenship (were they reported dead, or did they not bother?) while others might be hundreds-years-old vampires. Other "creatures", like an AI designed using alien technology, could simply slip through the cracks.

Members of the first group might be required to give up their real identities, although at least some would go out of their way to keep hiding them.

Some members of the second group wouldn't care, especially if (like certain aliens, Cthulhoids, etc) their understanding of humanity and law is so poor it's just not possible. Or maybe they can't talk. (Krypto the Wonder Dog has super powers and might even be intelligent, but he has no possessions and would have to be registered by his owner, if he has one. And yes, I know Krypto isn't Marvel.)

I think the biggest issue are supervillains or "neutrals" (just because someone has superpowers doesn't mean he has any interest in coordinating with the military or army; maybe they're super-smart and just want to work in a lab, or maybe they're a "real" phony psychic). Can you be a conscientious objector? If you're super-smart, are you still required to work in a government lab rather than for yourself?

You would also need "rules" for "important" people. What if the president's nephew starts learning magic? The military can't force him to work for them. And other exceptions. (What if an alien claims they can't fight because they're pregnant - for two centuries? How can you tell? It's not like you have a doctor who can examine them.)

Some of these issues were brought up in Heroes, actually. (They were all first group people.) Not well, most of them, IMO, but favoritism was brought up (Petrelli's biological daughter was given a free pass), heroes in other countries were brought up (they could be kidnapped in Mexico and Japan), politicians were kidnapped (a senator's aide, for instance), a supervillain was too powerful to be captured, etc.

Also see here.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Wasn't there a whole marvel cross-over story recently which was all about setting up superhero registration, and heroes lining up on either side of those who thought it was a good idea and those who thought it a bad idea?

Essentially whatever choice you make is just a story point upon which plots can turn.

You might think about the history of heroes in your world. If heroes have been around for ages and ages, that makes it easier to have had some kind of registration or overseer group.

On the other hand, if heroes are now just appearing, who says what is right to set up?

Cheers

 

[Diamond Cross]

Actually it was called Civil War, which was an extension of the Mutant Registration act storyline started all the way back in 1983.

Except....

Spoiler

It was started by the Illuminati, Reed Richards, Doctor Strange, Iron Man, Namor, Black Bolt. because of Reed Richards' machination that according to his math there would be an explosion in the population of the super-human community.

And actually this was also predicted in the 1980s as well by storylines such as "Days Of Future Past" but many people just took those predictions as an alternate storyline that was not going to happen in the MArvel Universe.

Please note, this was also long before they published the Ultimates alternate MArvel Universe comics.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Marvel has done many storylines involving the registration of mutants and/or all supers. I remember when the Avengers came under government scrutiny & oversight for a while. (Remember the paranoid and combative federal agent Henry Peter Gyrich?) DC has done similar things, but not nearly to the same extent as Marvel. The Powers comic book deals with the interaction of law & supers.

And if you do a search for "superheroes Seattle", you'll come across a bunch of stories about RW "superheroes" in that city, and some of the issues they're raising.

 

[Relique du Madde]

Spoiler

It was started by the Illuminati, Reed Richards, Doctor Strange, Iron Man, Namor, Black Bolt. because of Reed Richards' machination that according to his math there would be an explosion in the population of the super-human community.

Th funny thing is that the last time someone made a prediction about a population explosion of "super-powered" individuals within the Marvel universe, that population was reduced from millions to less then 300 with little more then three words being uttered..

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

...that population was reduced from millions to less then 300 with little more then three words being uttered

And the first two were "Yo mamma..."

 

[Plane Sailing]

Th funny thing is that the last time someone made a prediction about a population explosion of "super-powered" individuals within the Marvel universe, that population was reduced from millions to less then 300 with little more then three words being uttered..

Please elaborate!

 

[MarkB]

we hit some of these issues when playing a Marvel Superheroes game recently, in which we were an alternate-universe line-up of X-Men. It's a tricky topic, especially when it comes to things like holding and questioning supervillain suspects.

In one memorable event, we managed to capture Norman Osborn, in full Green Goblin costume, but had no reliable witnesses to his actions or capture. Combined with the fact that we were on Oscorp property and it was the night before Halloween, we wound up having to let him go and breathing a sigh of relief that we weren't buried in lawsuits.

On a small scale, a tacit agreement between superhero and local law enforcement (think Batman and Commissioner Gordon) can work. But on the larger scale, no government is going to enjoy having unregulated walking weapons with a variety of idiosyncratic codes of conduct enforcing order on their streets.

On the other hand, they don't want their streets trashed by unstoppable supervillains either, so some compromise would be necessary.

I could see superheroes being employed as 'special constables' - loosely affiliated with the police, allowed and expected to defeat and constrain supervillains, but not allowed to perform arrests or long-term detention without deferring to a legitimate law officer.

Enforcement of any such system would require positive identification of superbeings, though, which leads back to the points already discussed. Governments want to know who their citizens are, and it's hard to see and kind of 'secret identity' being allowed to remain secret from, say, the IRS.

Plus of course insurance and liability. If Superman wrecked your car throwing it at General Zod, the insurers want to be able to send the bill to Clark Kent.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Of course, see also the plot of 'The Incredibles' !