Note that I wrote fantasy, not fictional. Clearly someone from a Anne Tyler novel – Bedloe from Saint Maybe, say – would not have too much trouble adjusting; just as clearly, Kurt Wagner is just to end up either locked in a lab or on the run.
For purposes of this discussion, assume super-powered characters retain their super-powers, but, otherwise, no other fantastic elements from their worlds cross over. The characters find retain their memories and personalities, and whatever magic brought them here also provides them with a legal identity, social security number, and so forth, but they have no access to any support, financial or otherwise, from their natural environment.
Conan the Barbarian negotiating for a taxi comes to mind. Staining his mighty sinews, the Giant Cimmerian lifted the cab by the rear bumper. As the tires rotated uselessly in the air, Conan grunted to the cabbie “Wait for the lady, you swine!”
Any fantasy genre is eligible. In other words, you may consider how John Carter of Mars would adapt, but not how John Carter of County general would.
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Actually I think Batman would deal with the real world very poorly. One, there’s not nearly enough crime, so he’d have nowhere to vent his dyspepsis; two, he’d have no access to the Wayne Fortune, and for al his many skills he lacks the temperament for a 9-to-5 job, or anything where he’s not the boss. I suppose he could go into boxing, though.
His buddy in Metropolis would do better. He’d adjust much better to acting under the radar for as long as it took him to figure a way home.
My money’s on Kerowyn from Mercedes Lackey’s By the Sword. Even without telepathy, she’s got common sense, leadership, and a very practical approach to life. Not only would she find a way to survive, she’d find a way to succeed!
Kris Kringle seemed to be doing pretty well in the real world in Miracle on 34th Street–got a good job, made some friends, redeemed a lost soul, promoted a romance…
Actually it’s quite well known between movie aficionados term describing, for example, all that shower scenes that are totally unnecessary plot-wise, but are put there as an extra appeal to teen aged audience.
I’d also add pretty much any of the female characters in Robin McKinley’s Rose Daughter or* Spindle’s End* - she has a great talent for transforming silly fairy tale nitwits into solid, sensible, three dimensional human beings with great wryness and warmth.
Well, maybe it’s not. I was going to say that Harry Potter is a fantasy character who was basically raised in the real world, but I suppose that’s true of Superman too and Superman doesn’t seem like cheating.
The world is low-tech fantasy, yes, but I doubt Kerowyn would be visibly freaked out by any or of our world. Internally, perhaps, until she managed to adjust her thinking, but there’s no way Kero would be permanently or even long-term freaked out by anything. She’s possibly the second-most practical, level-headed human character in the kingdom of Valdemar. I would guess that the only one to surpass her in that would be Alberich.
Any of a number of main characters from the various Star Trek incarnations, including Spock, Kirk, McCoy, Uhura, Scotty, Chekov, Picard, Riker, Dr. Crusher, Data, Sisko, Dax, Janeway, Tuvok, and Tom Paris, off the top of my head. Hell, they’ve all been to the 20th century in one episode/movie or another. While their activities in those situations involved them using their advanced tech to set things right and get back, it’s made abundantly clear that they have very little difficulty adapting and using “real world” stuff to in order get done what they need to get done.
If necessary, they could easily blend in (with a few comical misunderstandings along the way, but nothing that would get them killed or arrested or anything like that). In fact, Starfleet officers probably have standing orders to find a quiet corner of Earth and stay out of history’s way in the event they end up stranded in the past (That’s what Picard had planned for the crew of the Enterprise E in First Contact since they were going to blow up the ship in 2063 to destroy the remaining Borg).
