Paul Farquhar
Legend
Jason Bourne is a superhero - his powerset is pretty much indistinguishable from Black Widow in fact. So is James Bond, Indiana Jones and John McClane. Put them in a comic in spandex and you can't tell the difference.
D&D 5E Is 5e Heroic, or SUPER-heroic?
Paul Farquhar
Legend
Batman is simply much better trained and skilled than the normal commoner.
TheSword
Legend
Super human is a simple adjective. Super hero carries a lot of extra baggage from a whole other genre. While its understandable that influences bleed through, I don’t want that style taking over my fantasy.
incidentally, anyone could attempt the trial of the grasses. My understanding is that super heroes generation isn’t replicable. Otherwise they wouldn’t be very super.
Paul Farquhar
Legend
The supersoldier serum can be used on anyone. The outcome isn't guaranteed, and it may well be fatal.
Just like the trial of the grasses.
DND_Reborn
The High Aldwin
And I don't consider Batman superhuman. Heroic, sure, but that's it.
Otherwise, who knows? I don't pretend to be a hero/superhero expert. I wouldn't be surprised if their are elements of Batman in some "universes" or whatever that have things in his story that would make him more than human.
I stand by what I said before: D&D is most often heroic for levels 1-10, superheroic for levels 11-20 (via magic mostly), and demi-godlike for levels 20+
And this. ^
Asisreo
Patron Badass
Being a superhero and an action hero is a close line, but I think the difference is when one has superhuman powers like a healing factor or something. I don't think it's a metric of how many things you can kill.
TheSword
Legend
Okay, this is what I feared. Because these comics are written by hundreds of different people over decades, someone comes up with a variation and then acts like it is applicable to everything. So despite the overwhelming number of superheroes being unique, the existence in one replicable super hero in a particular version of a comic/film means it applies to all superheroes. I’m not interested in that kind of logic. I’ll stop before what I say offends a fan of comic books.
Oofta
Legend
By that logic, a wizard's apprentice who manages to create a flickering illusion out of nothing is a superhero.
I doubt they'd qualify as superhero to most people. By your judgement, many people would have said not that long ago that someone as fast as Usain Bolt was a superhero because of how fast he is. There's a guy who can deadlift over a thousand pounds. If it weren't for google I would have said that met the criteria of superhuman by your definition as well.
That's the problem every time this comes up. There is no one definition of what a superhero is. You'd have to get into power levels, categories and blah, blah, blah. I think of top tier superheroes, you think James Bond is a superhero so it's pointless to argue.
Paul Farquhar
Legend
Copies of superhero powers are a VERY common comic trope, especially when it comes to Nemises. And minions with lower level versions of the same powers are also common. I don't think there are any superheroes who have never had their powers duplicated at some point.
As for the Supersoldier serum, that goes all the way back to one of the earliest superheroes in 1940. It's not just "one particular version".
Similar Threads
