What might the civalization where everyone is hundreds of times faster stronger, smarter, more durable, with better senses, flight and X-ray and heat vision be like?
It would be boring, in my opinion. What makes superheroes cool is the way they contrast against a backdrop of normal human beings. You need normal folks to make them appear 'super' otherwise there's nothing special about them at all. Also, they might be super by our standards, but none would be heroes. Imagine the metro train scene from Spider-Man 2. What makes this a great scene is the peril, the helplessness of the passengers, the self sacrifice Peter makes to save them (revealing his identity) and the covenant of gratitude they make never to tell. In a world where everyone was super, there would be no peril and no self-sacrifice. Good luck making that exciting. Pull that off and you are a better man than I.
Actually I've heard rumours that Krypton was like that. I've also heard rumours to the contrary though so I don't know what to believe. You're asking what it would be like, what sense do you mean? What would the planet look like to an outsider? What would it's political structure be? What would it resemble? Be more specific and we might be able to help more.
I'm sorry to say that I don't have much to add to the thread, but *Cough* WHY would Krypton be like that? Superman gets his powers from our yellow sun. That's standard across the range for every Superman story.
What their society would be like depends on how high their average smartness is. If they're as smart as humans then it would be something similar to human society. Humans on average are quite stupid. Since all of them have those powers, not just some, they are almost equal, just as humans are to each other.
I don't know..it sounds restless tome..too much of everything all at once can have a repercussion on the human life. If something is too perfect then it is in my opinion it has reached a stagnating point where by this stands as: what is the point of having everything and all at once? The human race is always on the look out for things to do, think about, be busy with. The human mind is a mine field of curiosity, uncessantly trying to prove something. Think of Darwin for example,what would he have done say , if for example the generation before were responsible for the chimps becoming extinct. where would he be with his obsession of proving his evolution theory? nowhere I am guessing. the point here is that giving too much away will affect the human mind so it is not a good idea nor a very attractive place to be what you are suggesting.
In normal society: Physically, they'd be capable of much more than humans, so it's unlikely that they'd have had an industrial revolution on the same scale we have. Man(or alien) power would allow them to build structures without machines to help. If they can propel themselves at high speed, they wouldn't need mechanical transportation devices. If they're resilient to disease and - perhaps - can't die, there'd be no imperative to develop medical science. Some questions: What about the animals and plants on this planet? Are they supercharged too? Would there be mass boredom on the planet, since challenge is so easy to overcome? If so, would they become explorers? If superpowers on their world are commonplace, would they seek out weaker civilisations in order to be adored/feared for their abilities? Would there be power-hungry members of the society who seek to develop, or discover weapons that CAN harm their species? As for the Krypton connection, the Superman backstory used to mention that his home planet was huge and so had higher gravity than Earth, leading to the Kryptonian physiology adapting to life there. This is what allowed him to leap tall buildings in a single bound - Superman's muscles were naturally stronger - and to be more resilient, since his bone structure was denser. Since then, the solar power element has taken over, allowing him to fly and do all the other crap he does.
Have you ever hear of the Anime Dragon Ball Z (or the other two conneted to it)? In Dragon Ball Z it was reveled that the main character was from an alien planet, were everyone there had the same abilites has he (some where stronger). However, his people were corropt. They weren't as smart as another race on the planet, who they destroyed, who were very smart. After destroying that race they made a deal with a very evil alian and became space priets basical. They destroyed civilisations of nice planets and sold them to buys. You said that they'd be smarter, but would their smartness make them think they are better then other races and go off to destroy them? Will they be split in two, those that believe they are better because of their brains, enhanced senses and strength and those that work to help other races to improve? You could take refernece from Stargate; their not stornger, with better sense or anything, but they travel to civiliations that are more primitive and try to help and learn from them, despite them having the technology that those people don't.
I think this is a super great idea, however I agree with other comments that there needs to be some sort of contrast to make these superpowers extraordinary. Maybe the main character does not have superpowers of any kind. Maybe the one of the characters on the super-powered planet is an anomaly and is tragically under-gifted but his/her lack of powers somehow contribute to the eventual saving of that civilization. Setting the scene, establishing "normal" or everyday average superpowers on this planet or in this civilization would be the most challenging part. Writing about that in terms of a mere mortal (underpowered beings of the present planet Earth circa 2011). So many directions to go with this.
Not that I'm aware off, sorry. The original Superman (or Earth-1 Superman, if you refer to the pre-Infinite Crisis Superman) didn't have any powers at all back home. Earth's gravity is different than the one on Krypton, which made him stronger, able to jump really far and so on. He wasn't invulnerable, couldn't fly, lacked x-ray vision and basially every other thing that made him super. It wasn't until later he got all his powers, and even then only from the yellow sun. But when you think about it, let's say everyone on Krypton did have powers like that. Why then didn't they just fly off the planet and settled down somewhere else? Superman doesn't have a problem flying into space, after all. On topic, I think a planet like that could be interesting if done well, but you would have to do a lot of research first. If everyone can fly really fast, why would they settle down in cities? Instead of settle down next to someone else for convenience, they can simply settle down wherever they want and fly or run to their neighbor hundreds of miles away in a few seconds. Aircontrol and roads has to be heavily trafficed to avoid collisions, and there would be very little pollution as there wouldn't be any need for cars and planes. At the same time, there has to be a police force, firemen, hospitals etc, and they would need vehicles. But what vehicles would be useful if everyone runs around in 200mph? Cars and planes would be pointless, so what about other things like teleporters? Maybe something that sends people from one static place to another, or maybe go with a Star Trek-ish teleporter that can beam anyone and anything anywhere. Use your imagination.
Not that I'm aware off, sorry. The original Superman (or Earth-1 Superman, if you refer to the pre-Infinite Crisis Superman) didn't have any powers at all back home. Earth's gravity is different than the one on Krypton, which made him stronger, able to jump really far and so on. He wasn't invulnerable, couldn't fly, lacked x-ray vision and basially every other thing that made him super. It wasn't until later he got all his powers, and even then only from the yellow sun. But when you think about it, let's say everyone on Krypton did have powers like that. Why then didn't they just fly off the planet and settled down somewhere else? Superman doesn't have a problem flying into space, after all. On topic, I think a planet like that could be interesting if done well, but you would have to do a lot of research first. If everyone can fly really fast, why would they settle down in cities? Instead of settle down next to someone else for convenience, they can simply settle down wherever they want and fly or run to their neighbor hundreds of miles away in a few seconds. Aircontrol and roads has to be heavily trafficed to avoid collisions, and there would be very little pollution as there wouldn't be any need for cars and planes. At the same time, there has to be a police force, firemen, hospitals etc, and they would need vehicles. But what vehicles would be useful if everyone runs around in 200mph? Cars and planes would be pointless, so what about other things like teleporters? Maybe something that sends people from one static place to another, or maybe go with a Star Trek-ish teleporter that can beam anyone and anything anywhere. Use your imagination.
Well, other people beat me to it with getting all technical about Superman's origins. I would imagine that in a society like that where everyone had amazing powers, it would be similar in some ways to Greek tales about the Titans, at least culturally. Or it would be like Middle Earth. But the point is, there won't be too much initiative to advance, unless they became advanced before they evolved to these proportions. All of a sudden I'm thinking of that Thor movie that just came out... Anyway, the story has a bunch of potential if you think of the unique implications of this setting. I've read stories about dragons and other great beings that live an elevated life, so I'd imagine that you could take inspiration from similar tales that have already treat this little-traveled path. These people would probably not be too different from humans because to them all this is normal, in which case you could make an interesting point of how normal it all is to them. Life will still have its challenges regardless, but with the lack of physical challenges, I can imagine that the people would have a slightly different mindset in that they enjoyed games of various sorts. By the way, I think it WOULD be useful to see this pitch in context, especially since you say that it's only part of 1% of the story, in which case I'm assuming that you only glimpse at what they society's like and it's more about the impression it makes and the attitudes of the people there. Monosmith
Most of the things we see around us come from us needing to make life more comfortable, more secure, and more enjoyable- though sometimes in contrast with what others think. (thus human violence and human progression face-off) If the world were full of superhumans like you say, maybe a lot of the things we have now would never exist. These super people would never need to eat, never need fire because they are not inconvenienced by any type of weather. They would fight each other, perhaps, but what weapons they decide to create depends on how far of an imaginative world were talking about. I think the world would look a lot more natural with less structures. Or a hell zone because a confrontation between a few of these sorts could totally tear up environments. Hell, they probably wouldn't even have clothes on. What would have been the point in having them if they never got cold or anything? Good question, though Still thinking about it.
Did the population receive their powers through evolution or technology? If it is through evolution then it would be doubtful there would be much technology. Think of them like dolphins. They may have sophisticated minds and language, but no need for any technology since all needs are met with what they were born with. Their world would also need to be in such a way that the evolution of super-powers and a human shape and mind were necessary as a means to survive. This would make their world extremely alien and inhospitable to us, and in fact their human traits and shape would probably be merely a co-incidence. They would probably think of our world and technology as alien and unappealing as well. If it is through technology then their prior civilization probably suffered a collapse. Most technology would essentially be obsolete and over time they would probably forget about it. As an example, only a few generations after the Western Roman Empire collapsed people thought some of the ruins were built by giants. Following this logic and given enough time this society could eventually be reduced to super-powered savages stumbling though ruins whose origins they no longer know. Of course if their powers relied on the technology still existing, then it and any technologies needed to produce it would continue and even advance while all other technologies atrophy. Technology-dependent powers also opens up a vulnerability that a writer could possibly exploit.
