Let's make up a new team of superheroes

Okay, so it’s another boring day at the office, and I need something to occupy my time. Anyway, I thought we could try an exercise in “group creativity” and construct the premise for a new comic book series - a superhero team book.

IMHO, a decent superhero team has seven essential character personality types as listed below:

Brains - not necessarily but quite often the team leader; a smart, resourceful problem solver who holds the team together & keep them focussed on their missions. They are typically aloof & emotionally distant from their team-mates, unwilling or unable to socialize w/ his compatriots normally. (ex: Captain America, Cyclops, Batman, Robin / Nightwing, Guardian, Mr. Fantastic.)

Troopers - the ‘heart & soul’ of the team; they don’t think too deeply, but are steadfast, loyal, the rock of the team whom everybody gets along with; eventually, a crisis will test the Trooper’s faith in the team. If the Trooper departs from the team, it is a major blow to their morale. (ex: Hawkeye, Colossus, Superman.

Babe - In Olden Times (the silver age), superteams typically had one - and ONLY one - girl (not ‘woman’) member. They typically took a backseat to the male members, and once every couple of years a story would feature the Babe rescuing her male team-mates from danger - thus proving her right to be on the team. (not that the guys ever had to ‘prove’ their own right to be on the team.) This has changed in modern times, and the ‘girl’ team-members are allowed to be proactive, and get into the thick of the action alonside their male partners. Nevertheless, the “Babe” still has to fulfill two important functions - A. She must look great in a skimpy version of the team uniform, and B. she must be at the crux of a love triangle between the “Brains” character and the “rebel” (see below) character. (ex: Invisible Girl, Marvel Girl, Elasti-Girl, Saturn Girl, Wasp, Scarlet Witch, Wonder Woman, Aurora).

Trickster - Supplies comic relief, and makes snarky, smartass comments that deflate the bombastic pretensions of the other team-members. “trickster” characters from classic mythology tended to be shapechangers, and so do many of the superteam tricksters. Additionally, the Trickster of superteams tend to have some indisguisable physical attribute (not always a disfigurement, but traits that definitely stick out) that adds a bit of pathos to their smartass asides - they are “masking their pain with humor.” (ex: Plastic Man, Changeling, Nightcrawler, Beast, Thing, Puck.)

Rebel - The angry young man who snarls, pouts and is generally disagreeable and uncooperative. He frequently wants to make like the lone wolf, and his major reason for staying with the team is his ardor for the “Babe”. (ex: Wolverine, Angel, Aquaman, Guy Gardner.)

Veteran - He’s been around, he’s seen it all & done most of it. He is taciturn, dour and quiet. Opponents tend to dismiss him as an old geezer, but he decisively demonstrates that experience & the wisdom of age trumps hot-headed whippersnappers any day of the week. (ex: J’onn J’onzz, Captain America, post-“Crisis” Hawkman)

Rookie - The new kid who’s inexperienced, but eager to get into the action. They rarely listen to the sage advice of the Veterans, but later wish that they had. Or conversely, they have serious doubts about measuring up to their more experienced team-mates. (ex: Kitty Pryde, Jubilee, Justice, Kyle Rayner GL.)

There are an innumerable variations on these stock characters, but they are alwasy there. Team with limited memberships (such as the Fantastic Four) can sometimes double up these stock traits. The Thing for example has been both the angry Rebel, as well as a light-hearted Trickster. Sue is a Babe, but also the Trooper who holds the team together.

Additionally, superteams have either a non-powered sidekick (Jarvis, Rick Jones, Snapper Carr, Dr. Moira MacTaggert, or mentor (Prof. X, the Doom Patrol Chief, Doc Magnus of the Metal Men), and there is the all-important -

Chief Nemesis - the pre-eminent bad guy whom the team always just barely defeats, but never seems to keep down for long. He is the antithesis of everything the superteam stands for (Dr. Doom, Magneto, Kang, the Terminator.)

Superteams also have to have a certain variety of super-powers as well. Each team must have a -

-super-strong / invulnerable guy. (invariably a guy.)
-psionic or magic-using character.
-speedster or super-athletic character.
-weapon or gadgetry weilding character.
-non-powered ‘man-among-men’ who is an expert hand-to-hand combatant.
-energy-projecting character.
-character with animal characteristics.
-elastic / stretchy character.

And then a fair amount of weaknesses - a vulnerability to a certain form of element, a psychosis or phobia, a shady past, a disability, the inability to control some aspect of a superpower, an achilles’ heel - should be spread amply throughout the team members.

Okay, I’ll get the ball rolling by establishing a Mentor character to lead the team. He is reclusive millionaire William Walford, formerly the superhero “Challenger” - the Batman-esque protector of Valiant City. His career was brought to a screeching halt in a final battle with his Nemesis “the Sultan.” During that battle, Walford was dealt a permanent, crippling spinal injury that paralyzed him from the waist down. Unable to combat the unending wave of crime & chaos in Valiant City directly, Walford assembled a team of young heroes (“the Young Professionals”) to fight in his place. He uses his independent wealth to bankroll their efforts, and has converted his former cavern headquarters beneath his estate into a training facility for them. Walford, referred to simply as “Boss” by the Young Professionals is a no-nonsense, humorless, harsh taskmaster. His proteges believe that he is extremely bitter about his wheelchair-ridden state. Quietly though, Walford is more concerned that his charges don’t end up in his position. He blames his injury on his own carelessness in battle, rather than a blow from his enemy. Walford derived above-average strength & endurance from an elixir from a rare orchid flower. When he is not putting his charges through their paces in his training facility, or monitoring the progress of their adventures via satalitte hook-up, he spends his hours in his enormous hothouse, cultivating weird tropical plants.

Okay, add your own ideas and we’ll see what we can come up with.

Jellybean, a young woman of unknown origin. She has no memory of who she is, so she took the name of her favorite literary character. She’s basically normal, only more so: she’s three standard deviations out for just about everything; she’s a hottie with a Jessical Alba body, but she can throw a couch through a plate-glass window; &c.

Through out the series, she keeps discovering new skills—but, and this is important, they never lead to any coherent back story (because any answer we come up with will be lame, really)—and these skills don’t always stay with her. However, she can fight. She’s hard as nails, quicker than Bruce Lee, meaner than a wolverine, and dirtier than…er…something really dirty. She’s also an avid cross-word solver, and so, while she’s not the brains of the operation, she frequently makes weird connections that become key to solving problems.

She hangs out with the Mentor because he pays her to do odd jobs around the mansion. She only became part of the team when the former Chemist turned Serial Killer captured her boss and the team and they needed rescuing. The team resents her dismissive attitude to the whole fighting evil thing—an element which gives frequent red herrings to what her past really is—but she always comes through when she’s needed most.

She hates blues music.

Whoops. There’s also a villian: The Code-Error Gnome. He’s a bastard.

Bileeoobonojoskinalidro Bahbinoreenikolee (AKA Billy Bob) - An alien, the last of his species. Uses remnants of his peoples’ advanced technology, as well as his own unique skills and experience, in order to aid the superheros in their defense of Earth. Very reclusive, tends not to show up unless it’s very important. Spends most of his time traveling from place to place in his ship following various leads while investigating the loss of his homeworld. Seeks not to allow the same thing that happened to his home to happen to Earth.

First appeared in The Awesome Young Professionals #42.

Denise. Just Denise. A twenty-something woman, wearing modest looking street clothes. Her appearance not withstanding, she is the team’s Brick. You can imagine how odd it must be a supervillian, and then have a car thrown at you by a woman wearing a violet sweater and jeans, who speaks in normal English, doesn’t transform into any kind of beast, and can break you in half, if she wasn’t a superhero.

Pixel

A diminuative refugee from a magical dimension. Magic-eating monsters destroyed his homeworld and now he has sworn that the same thing will not happen to Earth. He’s about 75 cm tall with elfish features. Although he’s small he’s surprisingly strong, although by no means super-strong. He’s an expert with a bow and arrow, concocts various homemade poisons and sleeping drugs for his arrows, has uncanny agility and speed, and can teleport short distances. He’s likely to use small versions of real-world medieval-style weapons and tools…silken threads, tiny knives, traps, etc. He’s quick-thinking and adaptable and fills the trickster role in the group. Just don’t call him short. He’s not short, he’s of average height. It’s all you guys who are tall. He’s always ready with a joke and always interested in finding beautiful women near his size.

On preview: Since there’s already somone whose homeworld was destroyed, Pixel instead fell into a portal that transported him to Earth. He hasn’t been able to find a way back to his home dimension, but he’s having a blast on Earth and has no real plans to leave.

Rat-Bastard
Ex-black Ops agent for the CIA and lycanthrope. Seen it. Done it. Eaten the carcass afterward. His personal history is an encyclopedia of dirty tricks and double crosses. He’s learned to pretend he has a heart of gold under it all because it has proven the best means of seducing costumed nymphettes. Certain profesisonal misjudgments in his past make it expeditious for him to maintain a public “good guy” image . . . for now.

Some friends of mine already did this with psychologically-based super powers. There were:

Aggro-Boy
Issues Girl
The Rationalizer and
Captain Apathy

The Paper Boy.

Not a trickster but comic relief. He is nearly indestructible and mainly a gadgeteer. Minor skill at almost everything but would be the groups hacker & repair guy.
He rides a suped up bicycle, can throw newspaper with great accuracy to knock out opponents. He also ages slowly. He appears to be 10, acts 10 but is really around 38. He can track extremely well and never gives up.
Fatal flaw, he gets to determined and will miss the big picture.

Think cross between the Paper Boy and the little brother from “Better off Dead.”

<whistles nonchalantly as he walks past>

Okay, so here’s how the team stands so far:

the Young Professionals
Mentor - “Boss” Walford - formerly known as the Challenger
Brains - Bileeoobonojoskinalidro Bahbinoreenikolee (AKA Billy Bob)
Trooper - Denise
Babe - Jellybean
Trickster - Pixel
Rebel
Veteran - Rat-Bastard
Rookie
Sidekick

We still need a Rebel character, a Rookie & a Sidekick. We need a Rogue’s Gallery as well. And Valiant City needs to be populated.

I’ll get the Rogue’s Gallery started by outlining the Young Professional’s first opponent - the Challenger’s arch-nemesis “the Sultan”.

The Sultan is (or was) a powerful mob boss who had delusions of being the reincarnation of a ruler from a long-lost medeival, Middle Eastern kingdom, and he seeks to recreate his “lost” kingdom by dominating Valiant City and transforming it into his kingdom. The Sultan is accompanied everywhere by his Harem of super-assassins - a legion of deadly mercenaries who are utterly loyal to him (think the DiVAs from ‘Kill Bill’), he commands an efreet (a genie composed of fire) and puffs on a hookah, emitting hallucinogenic smoke rings. The Sultan is always seen reclining arrogantly upon a bed of pillows and attended by servants. The Sultan has only once been lured into a direct fight himself - the fateful duel with the Challenger. On that occasion, the Sultan attacked with a massive scabre. In general, he believes combat is “beneath” him, and sends his underlings to attack. When it looks as if his minions are losing however, he can easily escape via his personal flying rug.

During World War 2, a Golden Age hero called The Wizard used the massive force field/flight/telekinetic/force blast powers granted him via his Power Staff to fight the Axis.

After the war, he retired into modest anonymity.

His great-granddaughter showed the kind of moral character his children & grandchildren utterly lacked.

Now Kimberly Canterville wields her great-grandfather’s Power Staff as Halloween Girl .

Halloween Girl has her mind on boys, school, boys, music, boys, & the great affection she feels toward her great-grandfather, who is coaching her. She & her great-grandfather have warmly bonded, & are united in their disgust with the unprincipled conduct of Kimberly’s parents (both insider traders).

Costume–black & orange, witch’s hat & Brittney Speares-type belly-baring outfit.

Slaphappy, the leader of the team. But not just any leader, for while Slaphappy possesses the tactical genius of Patton and the leadership skills of John Wayne, he’s also as loopy as Bozo the Clown. His team members follow him assured in the confidence that they’ll succeed and thrilled at the opportunity to embarass their enemies while defeating them.

Superpowers: Near-superhuman strength and agility, a keen battle sense, and an arsenal of clown-based weaponry, including the dreaded Super-Seltzer Water Guns and the adamanteum Slammer Hammer mallet (think Slapstick or Jack-In-The-Box for ideas).

In re-reading the thread, I just want to make sure I’m not out to usurp anyone’s roles; I just had an inspiration for a character idea and wanted to toss it out.

Non-powered Sidekick

Dr. Morgan: In early middle age, Dr. Morgan met William Walford when she was part of a team of medical specialists working on his spinal injury and planning his physical therapy.

Dr. Morgan once mentioned, in Walford’s presence, that she has “a black thumb” when it comes to plants, although she loves flowers. Walford gave her a tour of his greenhouse, and in the course of conversation he decided she might fit in the team he was developing.

Dr. Morgan works as a physician to the team in general, as far as she can. Some members, like** Pixel** or Billy Bob are completely outside her experience, but backed by the research lab Walford funds, she is making strides in analyzing non-human sentients. Dr. Morgan is also attempting to determine the how and why of “human mutants” like Denise, Paper Boy, and Jellybean.

She likes to eat, from gourmet to greasy spoon burgers. This* could* be a weakness, but oddly enough her cholesterol is very low, although she doesn’t watch her diet. Odd in a doctor. She has started to develop gray hairs, which distresses her, and so she colors her hair(the same natural reddish brown she’s always had).

Possible minor villian…

The Fandom of the Opera

Using his extensive knowledge of theatre special effects and techniques, as well as fencing, he uses these abilities to foil the attempts of the local law enforcement to stop him from executing his dastardly deeds. Tends to sing anything he has to say, wears a paper mache mask to conceal his identity.

Weaknesses: While very clever and well-equiped with stage gadgetry and cheap magic tricks, he’s not actually very powerful in any significant way. Provided they can see past his tricks, the Young Professionals are able to capture him with ease.

And a minor good guy:

Officer O’Ryan Your generic, cheerful, crime-fighting Irish-American cop. Most of the time he speaks with a generic Brooklyn cop accent, but when he gets the alcohol in him, you betcha the ol’ unintelligible Irish accent comes through in all it’s drunken glory. Lacking altogether in superpowers, O’Ryan is nonetheless typical of the men and women of the VCPD who form the backbone of Valiant City’s crime-fighting forces, dealing with the countless smaller problems and bad guys so that the Young Professionals and others like them can concentrate on the big bads.

For background color and the occasional support role:

Van Crossick, a seemingly middle-aged man of indeterminate ethnic origin who occupies an unassuming 3-story brownstone in the oldest part of Valiant City. Without being smug or obvious, in any encounter he leaves one with the impression that he knows far more than he lets on. His house seems ordinary from the outside, and most of the time even on the inside, at least most of it. But when it seems to suit Van’s purposes, certain areas of the house change in subtle and mysterious ways, and doors may lead to completely unexpected places, such as the Amazon jungle or Buckingham Palace. Perhaps they might take one even to another time. The house and its enigmatic owner might be featured in a cameo here or there, or maybe even as a guest-star means-of-rescue/source-of-information/method-of-travel…on a rare basis, of course. Van might be willing to help, but his assistance should never be an assumed thing, taken for granted.

Yeah, I know. Shades of Baron Winter-meets-The Phantom Stranger. Such a common environment as a home being used as a source of true mystery has always fascinated me.

Forgot to add, Dr. Morgan has a first name. It’s Judith.

Every super team needs at least one character with a useless superpower so:
furryman & Kitten The Cute Wonder After being bitten by a radioactive lemur Peter Piper becomes the inevitable furryman. with the power to control any cute and furry creature he fights crime along with his sidekick Kitten. Kitten is an ultra sexy catgirl from a secret race of catgirls that live underneath the Antartic.

And just to spice things up you need to have Princess Amazon Raised in a society of all women she’s a confirmed lesbian. She flirts outragously with the Babe. The Babe pretends to be not interested but is she… really? Super strong, invulnerable.

You never know, since Jellybean’s history is a black box. But it’s certainly a twist, no? Amazon’s Greek accent and proclivity for geometry is understandable; however, Jellybean’s strange habit of dropping factoids of ancient Scythian history does make one wonder.

Here’s a villian:

Sleeper. A shadowy figure, Sleeper is the apotheosis of unconventional warfare. A highly-trained operative of some defunct nationality, Sleeper lurks in the city, constantly preparing havoc to wreak on the enemy he lives among. Like the fabled Japanese soldier stranded on an island, Sleeper just doesn’t get it that the war is over. He’s untrackable, unfindable, and unpredictable. Rat-Bastard hates Sleeper with the intensity of 1,003 Suns, especially because he senses something is wrong with Sleeper. Rat-Bastard, the werewolf, has unknowningly hit on something he cannot yet understand: Sleeper is were-tiger from the East Indies! The species-based hatred between these two black-ops experts provides a leitmotif to the series. A covert chess game that can muck up any super-villian’s or super-hero’s plans like a tornado in a trailer park.

Even the best-laid story plot can be catastrophically derailed when these two pass closely enough to catch the other’s scent.