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Which Superhero? Slightly more serious than you might think...

  
  

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We're The Great Old Ones Now
12:11 / 16.05.03
So Tom and I were out last night with Fist Of Fun, and we had a conversation about which super person everyone was. (We'd just been to see X2, incidentally, and I should point out that Fist doesn't know about Phoenix. I think we should burn him, but anyway...)

Tom has some rather cool notions about heros and villains and the status quo, which as far as I can avoid it I won't bastardise here in case he wants to be a bit more detailed about them at some point, but...

Fist, we decided, was a hero. More specifically, Batman. He's a planner, an intensely ordered and analyitical mind. He has a very strong set of convictions about what is and is not right, both morally and in terms of intellectual and social practice. He prides himself on a lack of illusions and he can be savagely destructive towards those who are living under delusions he doesn't particularly have time for. Plus he's a very physical person, with a very palpable presence. He also, at least at the moment, preserves the status quo as part of his professional existence.

And he fights crime in tights.

Wait, no, that last bit's wrong. God, at least, I hope it is. Ew.

Tom is also a planner, although in a markedly different way. He doesn't like the status quo, and he dreams of changing it rather radically. He doesn't have a lot of time for existing institions, but he has huge personal loyalty (despite his attempts to conceal it) and will move Heaven and Earth for his people.

So we decided (well, I did) that he was Magneto.

By this point, I should add, we were rather drunk.

Anyway, the next bit was, from my point of view, fascinating, if slightly jarring. Tom opined that there was an unfulfilled Martian Manhunter-ness about me, which might emerge in time. I was reasonably happy about that, but also intrigued because I can't immediately list the Manhunter's qualities - although maybe that's because I'm on the inside of them.

Fist, however, returned from the bathroom and poopooed this idea. He felt I was RoadRunner.

Yes, dear friends, they got to be heros and villains, and I was the animated bird with the grand piano in one pocket. But at the same time, I'm fascinated and delighted by this perception. The bird has a curious depth - it warps reality and success comes to it by what it is more often than what it does. RoadRunner is a sort of chicken-shaped Ueshiba.

Anyone got anything to add? Who's who and why?
 
 
No star here laces
12:59 / 16.05.03
Haus can be The Watcher because of his paternalistic detachment. And large head. And small robotic gimplike assistant.
 
 
Quantum
13:00 / 16.05.03
I'm a Nightcrawler wannabe, (Bamf!) but I suspect I have more in common with Anarky (a Batman spinoff character, an anti-establishment vigilante who turned out to be a spotty teenager in a costume with a fake head to make him look taller...)
 
 
Leap
17:39 / 16.05.03
I wondered what that smell was Quantum
 
 
penitentvandal
18:17 / 16.05.03
I will discuss this with mates who know a thing or two about superheroes, and tell you at the weekend.

There should be some kind of test, really...
 
 
pointless and uncalled for
18:43 / 16.05.03
I really can't think who I would be, all though my knowledge of the full range of superheroes is limited.

I have my suspicions of my fellow posters but feel a little timid about naming names.

I think I might trawl a few comic shops tomorrow and compile a little list.
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
18:59 / 16.05.03
I am very curious about what character others would pin on me.

Do yr worst.
 
 
Mr Tricks
22:29 / 16.05.03
Do yr worst.

how about....

  
 
The Return Of Rothkoid
03:16 / 17.05.03
Someone describe me. I have the sneaking suspicion I'd say I was The Hulk, and I don't know if that's quite right.
 
 
Our Lady of The Two Towers
08:54 / 17.05.03
I would suspect that I am The Watcher, or perhaps The Critic.
 
 
8===>Q: alyn
18:14 / 17.05.03
I want super powers very badly, but I can't think of a single superhero who's anything like me. Maybe Longshot, for being so half-assed.
 
 
Whisky Priestess
18:45 / 17.05.03
I am either Pinky or The Brain. I will bow to the will of the people if they wish to vote on which I most closely resemble.
 
 
The Strobe
22:11 / 17.05.03
Likewise, I am more than welcome for anyone to try to pin me down.
 
 
The Falcon
04:04 / 18.05.03
I dunno, Flux - Nite Owl?

I remain, as ever, Cyclops - fixated on a baldie guru, and redheaded girls who leave me. Etc. Only shallower.
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
04:08 / 18.05.03
Nite Owl, from the Watchmen? Jesus, I haven't read that comic in years. What makes you say that?

Is it a physique thing? Should I be glad that you didn't pick Blue Beetle (though I do love Giffen's Justice League way more than Watchmen..)?
 
 
moriarty
06:15 / 18.05.03
For a comic project I started ages ago, the picture I chose for Flux was the Blue Beetle. It just seemed right somehow.
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
14:08 / 18.05.03
When I was a kid reading Justice League, I really identified with Blue Beetle. It's interesting that other people would peg me as him too.

Blue Beetle is a friendly, funny, smart guy. He's overweight, and a pretty ineffectual superhero. He's kinda like your goofy, intelligent uncle trying to be Batman. Small children mock him, and women like Ice would much rather date an asshole like Guy Gardner.

Thanks.
 
 
The Falcon
14:25 / 18.05.03
I think it's the glasses/goggles.
 
 
Persephone
13:25 / 19.05.03
Rothkoid, I don't think you're the Hulk. If you want to stick generally in that vein, I think the Beast is better... more broody and romantic & better dressed.
 
 
Persephone
13:27 / 19.05.03
Somebody pick one for me!
 
 
grant
17:34 / 19.05.03
Nick: Martian Manhunter is a humanized (or not-quite-so-superior) Superman. His deal is that he's an alien who gets whisked off to Earth accidentally... Earth in the far future (for him), when the rest of his race has long since perished. He's as strong as Superman, telepathic, can fly and make himself invisible. He can also change shape to look like an ordinary human, but only with some effort. He's also vulnerable to fire. So you've got that whole alien-among-us thing and the whole noble stranger/overgrown Boy Scout thing, only maxed out -- more tragic. He wasn't an orphan... he left a family behind.

He's also more of a coordinator & people-person than Superman, but always behind the scenes (telepathy, plus his disguise is more elaborate than just putting in glasses and a tie). More of a stage manager than a leading man.

I have no idea how much this fits you.

----------------

Haus is so totally *not* the Watcher. He's far too involved & energetic. And while he uses big words about small things, he's not terribly gnomic. Maybe Namor, in his original conception. Proud, often misunderstood, and really hard on people who don't understand him. Had a teammate/rivalry relationship with the original (pre-Fantastic Four) Human Torch. The dynamic (they'd beat each other up until someone else rolled into town) seems vaguely Hausian.

If anyone's the Watcher, it's PATricky, who's often difficult to decipher, and really far out. Doesn't get involved in conflicts, but offers advice occasionally. Once you decode what he's saying (or once you stumble into his fields of interest), you realize he actually knows a hell of a lot about some pretty interesting things.

-----------------

I'm tempted to peg moriarty and Persephone with the Power Man & Iron Fist team-up, but I'm not sure. Mainly because, while they both operated from deeply held beliefs, they weren't above just having fun, and weren't above just trying to get along with business. They started "Heroes For Hire," which is something I can't see someone like Daredevil doing (although it does seem right up Spider-Man's alley). They're entrenched in the real world, where things get done... if someone does them. I'm thinking this matches up with the Shifter projects & QueerGranny, in a way. Not vigilantes or subversives, per se, but definitely not in the mainstream.

Not that the two of them are a team, necessarily, except in the Comics Forum recommended reading threads.

-----------

Saveloy is Spider-Man. It's the humor. And the improbability. And the pragmatism.
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
17:42 / 19.05.03
I've been feeling for a long time now that Persephone is Barbelith's Jean Grey. She's even tempered but passionate, intuitive and thoughtful. She has an enormous potential that she's yet to fully tap into, but when she does tap into it, it is an awesome thing to behold. She always seems as though she's holding back a bit, and a little afraid of being overwhelmed by the creative power that's in her mind.
 
 
Salamander
17:44 / 19.05.03
I was always a fan of Dr. Strange, but I doubt I'm very much like him. Then I thought of Anarchy, but quantum already mentioned him, and besides he's too moralistic to be much of an anarchist, IMO. So would anyone care to take a shot at it?
 
 
ONLY NICE THINGS
17:57 / 19.05.03
Captain Overshare?

For some reason, Persephone reminds me of Medusa (was it Medusa? Prehensile hair, may have been in Damage Control), but blamed if I know why.
 
 
Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!
18:00 / 19.05.03
My first thought is that I'm Spider-Man. I'm not sure how much that fits, on reflection. So I am Ben Reilly; Spider-Man's clone who ran away and wandered about for a few years and then came back on a motor bike! Yeah!

Um.
 
 
grant
18:06 / 19.05.03
Medusa! The most approachable of the Inhumans! The woman with the animated hair!

She was fun.
 
 
ONLY NICE THINGS
18:28 / 19.05.03
Oh, and I think Rothky gets Orion - a little more dapper and less bulky than the Hulk, but also thickset and irritable, and the sideburns are remarkably similar.

Ganesh, by a strange parallelism, gets Lightray - a lightness of touch and a tendency to offset the more portentous moments with a deflating comment. Xoc is the blue-furred bouncing Beast, for reasons that shouldn't need covering in depth.

Flux as Blue Beetle isn't a bad fit, but he's less goofy than Blue Beetle - Niles Caulder, possibly, but the Silver age version, rather than the Morrison.

Bendt Chromeo is, of course, Bloodwynd - possessed of never satisfactorily defined superpowers provided by the plasma energies of the dead, whose character never quite got the pops that were sort of expected....
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
18:52 / 19.05.03
The theme of myself being physically incompetant/weak/impotent in the characters being tacked on me is really creeping me out. It's kinda revealing, and perhaps sorta accurate in ways that I'd really not like to think about.

Xoc is most definitely Henry McCoy. Right on.
 
 
Persephone
18:53 / 19.05.03
Geez Flux, wow.

*flustered*
 
 
ONLY NICE THINGS
19:09 / 19.05.03
Well, that's one way of looking at it, Flux, certainly - and I think that between your indie and comics trainspottery and your aversion to drinking and smoking, you may be giving off "brain in a jar" vibes. However, I was thinking more that.....well, a friend of mine who is a great fan of Blue Beetle always says that what he really likes about Beetle is that whereas with most heroes you have characters with great power who have decided that this gives them great responsibility. Beetle has the responsibility without the power - the scarab that was supposed to make him a hero was dropped and lost, so he was stuck with trying to invent himself as a hero from whole cloth. Likewise, Silver Age Niles Caulder has decided to use his own organisational and intellectual powers for an altruistic purpose that hey really did not require.

That's the nicer way of looking at it, anyway.
 
 
000
19:42 / 19.05.03
Hihihihi.

Haus: Bendt Chromeo is, of course, Bloodwynd - possessed of never satisfactorily defined superpowers provided by the plasma energies of the dead, whose character never quite got the pops that were sort of expected....

You probably are not going to believe this, but when I was a kid, this was the character I always identified myself with.

Would you like to see my Bloodwynd collection?
 
 
Mr Tricks
20:21 / 19.05.03
If anyone's the Watcher, it's PATricky, who's often difficult to decipher, and really far out. Doesn't get involved in conflicts, but offers advice occasionally. Once you decode what he's saying (or once you stumble into his fields of interest), you realize he actually knows a hell of a lot about some pretty interesting things.

Gee Thanks grant, or should I call you Mr. Fantastic;
Loyal Husband and leader of a band of misfit explorers (ala Burningman 2001) pulling vast amounts of info from the neither zones few would be able explore (tabloid Journalism). Flexable & good natured...
  
 
Matthew Fluxington
21:33 / 19.05.03
Wow. Grant = Reed Richards is very, very well observed. Nice one.
 
 
moriarty
06:14 / 20.05.03
So, which am I? Power Man or Iron Fist? Sweet Christmas!

And I was just about to suggest that I'm Johnny Canuck, but that's just wishful thinking.

Flux, I know absolutely nothing about your physical appearance. I think I associated Blue Beetle with you because that was one of the first characters I remember you mentioning. To be honest, I can't see any real reason to link Blue Beetle to you, though it cracks me up to imagine you with that goofy grin.

I'm having real problems playing this game. My knowledge of ridiculous superheroes is so idiotically vast that I just can't settle on one character for anyone.
 
 
A
13:48 / 20.05.03
Cop Killer is Ghost Rider
 
  

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