Timothy
Men of Steel
He's a Crafty-Sort of Fellow
Posts: 8,716
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Post by Timothy on Mar 19, 2007 15:43:16 GMT -5
I realize that Superman is a great character, but if you had the chance to make the character somewhat more realistic, how would you do it? I would make it so that Superman could no longer fly, but leap as he did in 1938. Imagine the storytelling possibilities; racing against the clock to traverse hundreds of miles instead of effortlessly flying... IMO, it can make for more "thread-the-needle" type of action stories... But that's just one idea... What's yours and why?
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Batdad
Kansas Farmboy
"Who am I? I'm BATDAD!"
Posts: 70
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Post by Batdad on Mar 27, 2007 22:18:47 GMT -5
Allow him to age somehow, with diminished powers to go along with the gray. Waitaminute, that's too Pre-Crisis Earth-2. If he is in effect a solar battery have him run down like one. If the yellow sun is the source of his power, maybe he is "super" only in daylight (would make the Bat-Super team an interesting combination...)
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Timothy
Men of Steel
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Posts: 8,716
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Post by Timothy on Mar 28, 2007 6:34:49 GMT -5
Allow him to age somehow, with diminished powers to go along with the gray. Waitaminute, that's too Pre-Crisis Earth-2. If he is in effect a solar battery have him run down like one. If the yellow sun is the source of his power, maybe he is "super" only in daylight (would make the Bat-Super team an interesting combination...) I like that idea for the yellow sun daylight operations... I agree; it would make for an interesting contrast, where Superman operates effectively in the day, and Batman operates during the night...
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Biohazard
Stealth Ninja
Just Follow The Purple Hippos and everthing will be all right
Posts: 456
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Post by Biohazard on Apr 3, 2007 0:03:31 GMT -5
If its one thing i've noticed more than anything about superheroe's, its that they hardly ever have bad qualities! throw some actual personality in! give him some bad qualities! mind you im not talking turn him into a raging pedophile who prays on gerbils, just, add some jealousy, greed, and anger. I comics a super hero is basically worshipped, because of his super powers. Give superman a bad side, and if he has one already, have him act on it more. Nothing makes a person more humanly realistic, than them making a mistake that cots them something dear.
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Timothy
Men of Steel
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Posts: 8,716
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Post by Timothy on Apr 12, 2007 19:46:23 GMT -5
If its one thing i've noticed more than anything about superheroe's, its that they hardly ever have bad qualities! throw some actual personality in! give him some bad qualities! mind you im not talking turn him into a raging pedophile who prays on gerbils, just, add some jealousy, greed, and anger. I comics a super hero is basically worshipped, because of his super powers. Give superman a bad side, and if he has one already, have him act on it more. Nothing makes a person more humanly realistic, than them making a mistake that cots them something dear. I liked having him believe that either everything he does is the right choice, or, have him believe that he lives (as he says in JLU) "in a world of cardboard"... In other words, having him hold back all of his abilities in order to prevent destruction or the deaths of others...
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Jack Napier
Gotham Knights
The Scarecrow
Poster formally known as Dr. Crane
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Post by Jack Napier on Jul 10, 2007 17:48:43 GMT -5
If I absolutely had to tone down Superman's powers, I'd make it so that Superman's powers are enhancements of normal humans (as well as normal Kryptonians when they're on their planet). He'd still have super strength and impenetrable skin. As Timothy said, instead of flying, he would be leaping- his super strength giving him the ability to cover great distances. He wouldn't have X-Ray or Heat vision, but he would have telescopic and microscopic vision. Again, an enhancement of human sight in being able to see things closer than the normal human. But without X-ray vision, he wouldn't be able to see what other humans could never possibly see with their naked eyes.
I've never read the book The Science of Superman, but I always wondered how the power of the sun gave him the additional ability to break the laws of gravity, see through everything except lead (and why lead anyways?), and shoot heat beams through his eyes. Having the Earth's sun give a Kryptonian "super" or enhanced abilities beyond those of normal humans or Kryptonians on Krypton was one thing, but I never understood how it gave him those other powers as well.
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Timothy
Men of Steel
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Post by Timothy on Jul 10, 2007 19:01:31 GMT -5
"The Science of Superman", you say? I'll have to scout around on Amazon for a copy and I'll post my findings
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Post by Papa Smurf on Jul 21, 2007 15:46:47 GMT -5
see through everything except lead (and why lead anyways?), That one's simple. Lead blocks X-rays. Therefore lead blocks Superman's X ray vision. A few things though... If it's X-Ray Vision, wouldn't that mean that what he see's would be like a Real x-ray slide? All he would be able to see is limestone, Bones, And lead piping. (maybe others but i cant think of what else absorbs X-rays) Or does that mean that he gives off X-Rays like a bat gives off sound that he can just detect the reflections off of? Because X-Rays dont reflect. And i would feel sorry for anybody he hangs around with because they're goin to get cancer. To be more realistic he would need some sort of character flaw. Just as Spidey man should have a morbid fear of being squashed by a rolled up newspaper and be unable to get out of the tub, (Thank you DoVG) superman should have something. How about a fear of Sunscreen? Clark: "I'll just put this on to prevent sunburn.... Soo... weak...." *thud* Lois: "What's wrong?" Clark: "Something's... blocking... the sunlight" Finally, If he does absorb sunlight wouldn't he be a different colour? a lack of melonin to get more UV makes sense, but i think to get the most out of sunlight he would have to be green like a Namekian. That would also create a racist attitude from humans which would be interesting.
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Timothy
Men of Steel
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Posts: 8,716
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Post by Timothy on Jul 21, 2007 19:39:11 GMT -5
I like the concept of him possibly giving cancer to those in the path of his x-rays... Gives an element of tragedy to Superman, as he would inadvertently harm the people he cares for. Interesting point; I think his greatest fear should be failing or harming the people of his adopted planet. He's already lost all of his own people, and for him to fail (whether in his mind or otherwise) the people of Earth would hurt him in ways that Kryptonite and magic never could. Rejection... hatred... Shunned and feared instead of being accepted and loved could cause him to become the very monster that people like Lex Luthor claim him to be. What about making him paler when he looses sunlight? It kind of taps into the almost vampiric nature of Superman when it comes to his need of Earth's yellow sun.
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Jack Napier
Gotham Knights
The Scarecrow
Poster formally known as Dr. Crane
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Post by Jack Napier on Jul 22, 2007 11:55:15 GMT -5
*slaps forehead* No wonder I'm not a science major...
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