You know it would seem that a thread that is juvenile wouldn’t attract comments or viewers. Cut the guy some slack. It’s in the GQ area and I like the question, hell I’m 30 and I think about becoming a superhero all the time. Maybe it’s a guy thing. Aside from that I think what he’s asking is why don’t we have cops wearing advanced armor, using super-weapons and using physical enhancing drugs.
I’ll try to give you some answer Smart.
The main reason that John Q Public does not go out and fight crime in armoured battle suits is pretty complex but I can break it down for you.
First there are some private citizens who do “fight crime” in vaious ways so lets break those down: Neighborhood watch groups are citizen crime fighters and legal. But the higest tech item the usually carry is a cell phone and a flashlight. Then you have on the opposite end of the line people the police call “vigilantes” (IE: The Punisher). These are people who find those doing ill deeds and “punish” them. These people can have guns and sometimes wear bullet proof vests. Sometimes they work alone and sometimes they work in groups. They are also criminals because what they do is act as judge, jury, and often executioner. See we live in a society that has a lot of laws and legal process. Hence the term “innocent until proven guilty”.
Now, lets say you are super rich and can afford to have an armoured vehicle made and special weapons and a battle suit and trained in all kinds of hand to hand combat. What then or rather, why not? Well most truly wealthy people are too busy working at managing money to do all this stuff or to even want to. Also the fact that if they get caught they will likely end up in jail and lose a lot of that wealth. Also, what would happen the first time you took the Batmobile out on the freeway? You would get busted for driving w/o tags. You can’t register a combat car, it isn’t legat to have vehicle mounted weapons (case in point is people who get mace nozzles mounted on their outer doorframes getting busted for it.). So you can’t have hero item #1 your car. Now what about weapons? Well if you search the threads you will find out that most special weapons are illegal to posess, let alone carry. You could build your own I guess but you need the money and the desire along with the ability. Try to find someone with the mentality and wealth of Batman and the desire to do like him. Not too likely in the real world. How about armor? Did you know that in some states it is illegal to even own a regular bullet proof vest? Same problems as above.
Ok, so why don’t cops do all that stuff? It’s legal for them to have the armor, guns and the car so why don’t they.
Well they do and they don’t. SWAT teams are about as close as you will come to a superhero type in the real world. They have armoured cars, special weapons and special training as well as better armor than regular cops. But they have more rules than even regular cops. So it’s not like they can just go out and see a drug dealer and take him out. In fact if you see a drug dealer and shoot him as a civillian you will be better off than an off duty cop doing it.
The reason we don’t make all cops SWAT cops is a matter of money. SWAT cops cost about 30 times as much to equip and train as regualr police. They also don’t make all that much money. So it takes a rare person to want to even be a regular cop and be able to do that. Imagine how unique a SWAT cop is. There just aren’t enough people willing to do it for the money and risk. If you have the brains to survive as a SWAT cop I’ll bet you can make a hell of a lot better living in the private sector.
As for real cartoony shit like Iron Man’s armor, well that would only work if we could make flexibly metals that were super light and super strong. Sorry, but no such material. See, if you take solid metal that is strong enough to repel bullets then you got a lot of weight to lug around. Ok, so you make it out of carbon fiber or kevlar(which really does not weigh that much less in the thickness needed to stop bullets)and make it out of that. Ok, now articulate it becaues it does not flex. Well you can make it fit tight which means each one will have to be custom made but at least you get about oh 60% of your original mobility (think about it, your “outer skin” is regid and depends on flex joints for articulation) or you can make it a bit loose so it’s a one size fits all deal and then you get to keep about 20% of your original mobility (kind of ruins all those years spent in Kung Fu class). You can’t make the suit powered. Artificial muscle fibers do exist but are weak compared to the real thing and gears or hydaulics are too bulky, remmeber the loader from Aliens? Try to fight crime in that. All the bad guy would have to do is run away. Which remonds me. The only thing that made super heroes “super” was “super villains”. criminals today run away from cops. Whats the point of a “super hero” who does nothing because no one wants to sit around and battle him.
High tech weapons do exist and are being implemented but they cost a fortune and don’t have much to offer. An accurate gun is about the best weapon available today. Laser sights are pretty super but 80% of police units don’t have the funding for them. There are some really neat new non-lethal weapons out there now but they need work.
A lot of cops are now working out and thus have better than average strength, but the health problems from anabolic steroids will prevent them from being used. Also they are expensive.
so in answer to your OP. There never will be a comic book Super Hero like Iron Man. There are comic book heroes like The Punisher only they are bad guys too and the cops are after them and they are usually crazy rednecks who think being Mexican after sundown is a capitol offence and owning a gun is a liscene to be a judge and jury. There are also legitimate “super cops” out there. Most of them are SWAT cops, also FBI field agents and some treasury agents qualify. Genuine bad-asses but they are hampered by the laws they enforce. The only legal civillian crimefighters are the people with the Neighborhood Watch stickers on the front door or groups like them.
