Just looking for some ideas for a superhero that doesn't actually have any powers. Basically, I have a supervillain that is essentially like Iron Man, with a metal alloy suit, jet propulsion, electrolasers, and pulsed energy projectiles, and the superhero's sidekick, who is just a guy who is an expert marksmen with most guns, and a former Golden Gloves champ. But now I'm having trouble thinking of the superhero's skills/abilities. This is in a world where there aren't actually superpowers, just guys with extraordinary abilities who dress up and fight crime (or commit it). Potentially thinking something with flair, like him being an expert with sharp weapons and being athletic, but not quite sure. Looking for something that wouldn't be entirely useless against the Iron Man-like supervillain. Any ideas? I'm potentially thinking of a character who is a bit of a comic book nerd, and even though he's athletic and good with bladed weapons, his real power is that he's very well-versed with comic books, so he knows all the mistakes bad guys make, like distracting themselves with a monologue.
You miss the obvious. A real super hero is the guy that steps forward to help and does not have super powers. The average guy that says, "I am not putting up with this shit, I will not just sit by and watch." It is real easy to jump in when you can't get hurt, you have nothing to lose, no skin in the game. I am personally tired of make believe cartoons doing ridiculous things. The world and real life, are full of examples of real hero's doing real stuff. Great concept, one we all like to read about because none of us have super powers.....cepten maybe me, the ability to think clearly in a make believe world.
I like this idea very much. Everything he's learned, he's learned from comic books. Make him cerebral, a real thinker who understands people very well. He's got high emotional intelligence, and is is very good at connecting with people, and has strong persuasive powers. He's a good listener, but his brain is working all the time. He knows when to talk and when to shut up. Everything he does is purpose-driven.
Indeed! It also has potential for character conflict and development. Yeah he's learned a lot from comic books, but comic books aren't realistic, and are often sugar coated in aspects. Maybe the character follows those books and finds that reality is different, but at the end of the day, he still finds them inspirational for what they mean and stand for, and so he finds a way to be a superhero in his own unique way that conforms with reality. In the end, they are still part of his heart.
There was a character in "The New Warriors" called "Hindsight Lad" who had no powers and he was trying to get the heroes to let him analyze their battles and provide feedback after the fact. There's also Batman and his various allies and support staff. Barbara Gordon/Oracle (research + computer support), Alfred Pennyworth (medic, general support - repairs to equipment, food, 'mother hen' to Batman when he's all GOOOO!!!! GOOO!!!) There's people like Sherlock Holmes who can analyze a situation and come up with a plan to defeat the bad guy, solve the problem on the fly. I'm sure the various agencies like the CIA, KGB, Secret Service, NSA, FBI, etc all have people who analyze situations and try to assess threats, potential threats, and provide strategies to defeat those threats.
How about someone just extraordinarily glib and persuasive? Not like in a magical way, just a real fast talker. Most of the ones I can think of have been supervillains (Madoff, Jordan Belfort), but there's got to be someone out there using that sort of ability for the greater good.
I have, but don't remember a lot of it. Does he use extensive comic book knowledge to help him beat bad guys?
To beat the bad guys, you have to know how the bad guys think. You have to have a bit of a dark side yourself. The only way to defeat darkness is by understanding it. Is this something he can get from comic books?
Yeah, in real life people are way more complex than they are in comic books. But maybe in this story world they're not?
Good point. It depends on what the author wants to do with the comic books concept. If OP just wants to create a quirky character who goes around beating the bad guys with references to popular comic books, that could work nicely too. It'd certainly would make him quite the character. It all depends on what you want to do. Is OP interesting in speaking about realism? If not, then what I said can be discarded.
He uses enough. Even his weapons are reminiscent of Comic book heroes'. The movie is not a very good basis for comparison, though, because the K-A guy does acquire a special power, and that is a disability to feel pain. He can be badly beaten and he won't feel any of it.
Could also be an unscrupulous superhero-weapon maker, who makes useless weapons, that bend with the first strong wind, and he or she sells them only to the bad guys, and takes the income and spends it on booze and loose lovers.
Okay, one more, then I stop. The hero suffers from emotional-mental problems, and one of his delusions is that s/he is a psychiatrist. All the nemesises of the superheroes are in psychotherapy, because being so bad as they are, can't be done without permanent psychological damage. So this insane therapist gives the nemesises reeeeally bad effing advice how to manage their spiritual / mental / emotional lives, and the egoes of the nemesises therefore shrivel up, their insecurities swell up, their joy and lust for life diminish, and their depression and despondence increase, thus rendering themselves incapable, listless and bereft of motivation-- an easy target for the heroes.
Or conversely, he gives them good advice, they become decent productive human beings, and maybe he has a place for them on the hero team he's putting together. Maybe he does that if he thinks they're salvagable, but wrecks the rest and gives them psychoactive drugs that destroy their mental state. Your idea is actually much cooler though. A psychiatrist—sort of a twisted take on the alter-ego as lawyer, only rather than an excellent lawyer, a deliberately terrible one who gets his clients thrown in the slammer.
I am afraid that although your solution is morally superior to mine, still, economically it's not viable. Assuming that the superheroes make their money by pursuing supernemesises, they need their nemesis to keep the economy going. If and only if the villains become good, moral, law-abiding citizens, the entire economy of the comic world collapses. No more money coming in, if everyone obeys the law and does only nice things. As a last resort, the unimaginable could happen, and the superheroes will need to get jobs and forget about the glory and fame, fortune and people's admiration. Worse still, the comic book industry will suffer, and that would be absolutely the pits. All the comic book heroes would concentrate their powers on the idiot who came up with the crazy idea of reforming the villains. They will go after that innovator with a vehemence. And that innovator, my friend, is you, Xoic. One day you will thank me for stopping you from carrying out your diabolical plot to reform supervillains. Which makes what out of me? Saving the world, without any superpowers? Sht, I dunnit. Now the book is shot, it's been written. "...And it's been written that it's been written." --
Though I've never heard of any superhero making money. They generally need to work a side job for that, or be multi millionaires. Who pays them for busting criminals? If they wanted to get paid for that they'd apply to the police department. But assuming maybe it's a world in which taxpayer's money goes to support them, or there's some super-rich contributor who does, then maybe you're right, and the thing to do would be to warp the minds of superheros and make them villains. Heck, it's what mass and social media do all the time! Let's warp everybody's minds and destroy their values! But we're having too much fun, and I don't think this is helpful to the OP.
Power Man - Luke Cage & Iron Fist - Danny Rand were partners in an agency called "Heroes for Hire" I believe there's something in the Avengers (the comic book) where Tony Stark paid the heroes a stipend for their work as they didn't have a job.
When I was a kid, one of my brothers told me my superpower was making a room untidy just by being in it. Much more recently, one of my sisters told me I had an unnatural ability to look like I was doing nothing while actually being more productive than those who were overtly frantic. I guess I'm saying we all, deep inside, have our own superpowers. I just wish mine weren't so shitty. (As an aside, and more relevant to OP, maybe your character latches onto some kind of throwaway remark from older siblings that cause him to believe he has a superpower?)
