All right, with all the superhero exposure in the media these days, and since we haven’t done one of these in awhile, I’m charging you—yes, you! Stand still, laddie!—with assembling a new team of superpowered and/or supertalented individuals for a very special, important selection of missions…civil megaengineering projects! Think the Peace Corps crossed with the Corps of Engineers, crossed with Popular Science concept art.
Projects along the line of the Qattara Depression Project, mass-scale reforestration, canals, excavation projects that would normally require nukes, etc.
The rules?
Members can only come from one comic universe.
No one who’s completely evil or couldn’t possibly be plausibly interested (i.e. most cosmic-scale entities, many supernatural beings) can be chosen.
2b. For the sake of keeping things interesting, please exercise restraint in choosing omnipotent and/or outright godlike beings, even if they really might want to join up.
No choosing members just for their wealth—this isn’t a funding drive, it’s a talent search.
So, we have a long weekend ahead of us…have at it!
An architect, but, yeah, John is my first choice.
For heavy lifting, we add Superman.
Wonder Woman, for her diplomatic ties, making sure potentially obstructive governments are either on board, or know the result will be something like sanctions, rather than a metahuman beat down.
Mr Terrific adds scientific expertise to help make sure they’re not screwing up the local environment and the project will result in a sustainable system.
Dr Mid-Nite or Soranik Natu would head up the medical team, both to keep the workers healthy through the project, and help improve any local medical facilities as need such.
Pretty anyone else is gilding the lily, or just adding more muscle (which I’m sure Supes will appreciate, but doesn’t need special mention).
Brainpower: Tony Stark, Reed Richards, Hank “The Beast”
Demo team: Tony again, Human Torch, Havok or Cyclops
Creation Team: Tony yet again, Magneto if he is on one of his good swings
Forge - brainpower and creation
Spider-Man - creation because he is a one person crane/elevator/high-wire act, plus he can detect when accidents will occur
Multiple Man (Madrox) - work of thousands for only 1 salary
I do like Cyclops for demo because he has both raw power and finesse.
Doc Savage, along with Monk, Ham, Renny, Long Tom, and Johnny. Between them, they have the brainpower to direct the project, with regular workers doing the actual labor.
For any Marvel team, I think that it’s worth considering, at least, Victor Von Doom. Sure, he’s a villain, but his villainy is bound by his sense of honor, and his genuine paternalism. (Not saying it’s a trait I’d enjoy experiencing directly - his automatic assumption of superiority would get my back up very quickly.) However, he’s the sort of figure who would look at something like the Three Gorges Dam Project, and get behind it 150%. And would work hard to fix all the technical problems that may interfere with its long-term viability.
You’d just need to have someone on the team to make sure his methods of urban renewal / population relocation weren’t an echo of Philadelphia’s 80s urban renewal program. For that matter, when he’s not trying to work with Reed Richards, he can even recognize that his narrow focus is often going to be the biggest obstacle towards actually bringing his project to a successful conclusion. I think that pairing him with Magneto (When Magneto is on one of his good swings.) would work very, very well.
The Fantastic Four would be a great team for this. Reed can design literally anything, plus his stretching ability lets him do construction work as if he were several guys with one superbrain. The Thing for heavy lifting and demolition. The Human Torch for demolition and welding (or even for reshaping stone). And The Invisible Woman’s force field constructs can stand in for any heavy equipment or forms that are needed. When properly designed, those fields are far stronger than the ever-lovin’ blue-eyed Thing.
Hal Jordan, John Stewart, Kyle Rayner - Green Lanterning is such a useful skill I want it in multiple.
Superman, Captain Marvel, Power Girl - General utility super-strength characters.
Flash - High speed work. Maybe take two: Barry Allen and Wally West.
Atom - For miniature work
Plastic Man - Useful for all kinds of weird things.
Zatanna - Can do general magic.
Blue Beetle (Ted Kord) - Skilled inventor
Planning: Zodan and Victor von Fogg, supervised by Ms. Kyle and Alloy
Equipment: Hershel Clay, Angie and Prospero
Muscle: Julie, Ron, the rest of the FISSers, Emerald Gauntlet, Bernard
Environmental Impacts: Lyle, Orchid, Vashti
Medical: Dr. Newby and Vern
General mayhem and trouble-shooting : Tyler, Cecil and the Revenant
For what it’s worth, Tom Strong already does this.
His first-issue origin story involved building a geothermal power plant to supply a Caribbean island with cheap and plentiful electricity; his second issue was built around rocketing unwanted stuff from Earth to Venus; his third, negotiating a truce with a heretofore uncooperative foreign government. Insect infestation? He’s rigged up synthetic pheromones to lead 'em away from inhabited areas while he arranges for swift clean incineration. His hobby? Manufacturing cigarettes that make people healthier.
And from there, Alan Moore writes the guy’s Reed-Richards-esque knack for engineering to make things get pretty weird pretty fast. A large expanse is overridden with swampy muck and slime mold? He fires up a time machine and sends the gunk to soon before a famous extinction event in the past – sure as he guards against a possible wrong guess by simply peeking into the future, making sure everything played out as he’d figured in decades to come. Is there something useful in another solar system, or another dimension? He avidly explores both easy as acquiring futuristic tech from another timeline. He’s got teammates, and he’s sure to bring 'em along – but, honestly, who needs 'em?