Logistics of a real Superhero world

[fireinthedust]

Realistically, in order to tell the stories that are told in the comics, a world with Superheroes should need a bunch of factors we don't have in ours. Off the top of my head, here are some I've been thinking about.


1) Really high birth rate: Armies of henchmen, crowds of helpless by-standers, and cities filled with people crammed into sky scrapers that get destroyed by giant robots. That plus the economy never really slows down. In fact, business is so good that ultra-technology can be invented and mass produced. There have got to be a huge number of babies born every second in comics, especially around New York.

2) Spandex: Somehow the textiles industry is producing reams of the stuff for our heroes, and they get these great outfits made and repaired frequently. Question: who makes them? Edna Mole from The Incredibles is a brilliant character, and one who I think should exist somewhere. Otherwise, really, where do the X-Men get their uniforms from?


3) Construction Industry: Goes almost without saying, but there's got to be a lot of work there. The Supers would have to do what they do if only to support the industry as it supports the massive populations of bystanders and arch-henchmen being produced every day.


I think a Super world would be fundamentally different from ours in terms of how its organized.

What do you think?

 

[Tayne]

It depends on how good the superheroes are at their job.

I for one imagine that in a universe in which people have superpowers they would immediately enslave mankind. Even the good ones would corrupt quickly.

 

[MGibster]

The more powerful the superheroes the further from our world it would be. The supers in Mutant City Blues (RPG from Pelgrane Press), generally don't have earth shattering abilities. i.e. The strongest super in the world might be able to easily flip over automobiles but he isn't going to knock over the Sears Tower. Supers, who have only recently appeared within the last decade, haven't really changed the world a whole lot.

It might be different if you had someone on par with Dr. Manhattan or Superman.

 

[pippenainteasy]

Something like Marvel or DC would be nutty with dozens of characters that could solo the entire Faerun pantheon. You would need a one billion level system to make it work

 

[rkwoodard]

Insurance

The Insurance industry would not exist as it does today. They would either all go broke, or be so insanely wealthy as to be the corporate overlords of the world.

Or maybe in conjunction with your Construction point. The ramifications of supers, would create new building technology. IE, buildings and cars are made of a strong but light material that is very easy to recycle.

RK

 

[Umbran]

Since the late 1980s, the Marvel Universe has had some of the construction concept down: Damage Control was originally created by a hero and a villain (Tony Stark and Wilson Fisk) to help clean up and rebuild after conflicts between super-powered beings.

I think, though, that you cannot address the logistical issues without addressing the cultural ones. The view that supers are effectively a separate species that will dominate the normal population is a standard (to the point of cliche), and maybe not an unlikely short-term reaction to the presence of super-beings. But I don't think may authors have gone far enough to consider the long-term cultural impacts. And the culture the supers exist within probably matters a great deal.

 

[fireinthedust]

I think, though, that you cannot address the logistical issues without addressing the cultural ones. The view that supers are effectively a separate species that will dominate the normal population is a standard (to the point of cliche), and maybe not an unlikely short-term reaction to the presence of super-beings. But I don't think may authors have gone far enough to consider the long-term cultural impacts. And the culture the supers exist within probably matters a great deal.

Okay, let's hear it: what are some cultural impacts you're thinking of? And what do you mean by the culture the supers exist within? (ie: X-men vs. JLA? Or America vs Canada, Europe, or the Middle East, etc.)

I don't know if I believe Supers would be as radically unpopular as the Mutants in X-Men tend to be. In fact, the whole lynch mob mentality would fade really quickly: one out of control teen or dangerous villain who could nuke a city and we'd see a city utterly afraid. Look at the Mob in the 20s: people with guns who ruled the city through fear as much as through firepower with weapons.

IMHO Supers would fall into two (edit: three) camps: Rockstars and Dictators, or at least military enforcers (maybe Enforcers would be the better term, with Dictators really just a Rockstar who imposes their will rather than inspires it). The reason is that normal people would pretty much fall in line since they just plain don't have the resources to fight back. The fight should be between two or more camps of Supers, simply because no one else could compete.


Okay, more questions:

1) would we still have TV? If so, what would the shows be like? If not, why?

2) Is a Super-pocalypse inevitable?

 

[The Red King]

It depends on how good the superheroes are at their job.

I for one imagine that in a universe in which people have superpowers they would immediately enslave mankind. Even the good ones would corrupt quickly.

You should read MiracleMan by Neail Gaiman.

Okay, let's hear it: what are some cultural impacts you're thinking of? And what do you mean by the culture the supers exist within? (ie: X-men vs. JLA? Or America vs Canada, Europe, or the Middle East, etc.)

I don't know if I believe Supers would be as radically unpopular as the Mutants in X-Men tend to be. In fact, the whole lynch mob mentality would fade really quickly: one out of control teen or dangerous villain who could nuke a city and we'd see a city utterly afraid. Look at the Mob in the 20s: people with guns who ruled the city through fear as much as through firepower with weapons.

IMHO Supers would fall into two (edit: three) camps: Rockstars and Dictators, or at least military enforcers (maybe Enforcers would be the better term, with Dictators really just a Rockstar who imposes their will rather than inspires it). The reason is that normal people would pretty much fall in line since they just plain don't have the resources to fight back. The fight should be between two or more camps of Supers, simply because no one else could compete.


Okay, more questions:

1) would we still have TV? If so, what would the shows be like? If not, why?

2) Is a Super-pocalypse inevitable?

You would have T.V.! someone has to report where the rampaging Villian is, and then you have to think about all the reality T.V. centered on either the good or bad guy.

 

[Nytmare]

I think that a lot of the public's response would depend on the individuals presented to them.

Power attracts, possibly more than it corrupts, and I could easily see any public figures with super powers becoming (possibly unintended) cults of personality.

I would also imagine (barring world shattering mega powers) that with most cultures of the earth being what they are, that after the military took their fair share, the sports and entertainment industries would mop up the stragglers.

 

[Umbran]

Okay, let's hear it: what are some cultural impacts you're thinking of?

Well, I don't know. I just said it hasn't been well-explored. I would expect the presence of a significant number of such people to have notable impact on values - what is a person worth? what is "justice", really?, what use of force do we allow, and what don't we?

And what do you mean by the culture the supers exist within? (ie: X-men vs. JLA? Or America vs Canada, Europe, or the Middle East, etc.)

Note here: it is possible to slip into politics. Let us not do that. I'm just using historical examples without trying to attach values to them.

Consider the Old West. Then consider the period of WWII. Now consider today. We've had major cultural shifts between those times. Your typical person believed different things about right and wrong, what was proper and what wasn't, and so on. Heroes from each time would be different types of people.

What if your supers are all Buddhists with meditation techniques that release the power inherent in the human form? They'd be different from supers born of inner-city chemical pollution, right? The people under the powers will have completely different outlooks on the world, and will behave differently.

The reason is that normal people would pretty much fall in line since they just plain don't have the resources to fight back. The fight should be between two or more camps of Supers, simply because no one else could compete.

Well, that depends on what kind of powers we are talking about. If your heroes are Batman, that means one thing. If they are Superman, they are another. Godlike, for example, is a RPG set in WWII, with superhero characters - but a good sniper bullet is still a major danger to the characters. That's radically different from a Superman who can around the world and travel back in time....

In an era with nuclear weapons available, you need to be Superman before fighting back is not an option.

1) would we still have TV? If so, what would the shows be like? If not, why?

Do we still have the infrastructure to produce, broadcast, and receive TV shows? Do people still need news and entertainment? Then there will still be TV.

What will the shows be like? Read the recent books in the "Wild Cards" series - there's a reality TV show for supers. It may be that some types of show may come to be seen less as science fiction, and more like soap operas or crime procedurals - that which is reality is less fantastic, but you can still make a show around it.

2) Is a Super-pocalypse inevitable?

Insufficient information. Whether there's risk of apocalypse depends upon the power and number of supers.