Inspiring post. The discussion was about hitmen, and Astoria points out that the popular imaginging of what a hitman is doesn’t really exist. Examples limited to human beings with normal mortal powers (obviously vampires and wolfmen don’t exist).
Another example would include the Evil Overlord, with his secret base, army of mooks, spies infiltrated into every major country, in control of some superhigh-tech device with which he threatens the world (tho I’d love to see someone try).
The superstar serial killer. Not an ordinary serial killer, this one send elaborate clues for his next crimes, choosing his victims months in advance, and uses very creative means for killing.
(yes I know about Zodiac and his messages, the ones I’m talking about are much more devious, going after the female member of the squad.
The woman half of a couple will be in a fancy restaurant; they start arguing; the woman gets up and stalks out in a huff. ( I always think, couldn’t she have waited until AFTER her $100 meal?) if very irate, the woman dumps some vessel of food or drink in the man’s lap before bugging out.
Murder victims who, while dying, leave extremely elaborate and obscure clues to the identity of their killer, which can only be deciphered by the only scholar in the world with a similar knowledge of the field.
Twelve-year-olds who can hack into the most advanced military or industrial (or alien) computers and disable their security codes in a matter of minutes while under attack by terrorists, robots, or dinosaurs.
Amateur detectives who regularly solve crimes (including people with some other profession–mystery writer, art historian, cat burglar–who are always stumbling across, and solving, murders). Also, professional private detectives who regularly solve murders.
Isn’t that standard operating procedure in that line of work? Kudos can never be given for a job well done lest you want all your future work to go down the drain right then and there.