I recently saw the
latest Captain America movie and it started me thinking about how
strange that (and other superhero) worlds are. I thought an
interesting thought exercise might be to consider exactly what rules
I would require to come up with a “plausible” set of physics/laws
in which such a place could exist.
The first thing I
realised is that a lot of superheros have powers, but most of them
are based in science. Some serum that makes you strong, or a type of
robot suit, or a kind of radioactive spider. However almost
universally these scientific innovations have gone nowhere aside from
providing the hero with their powers and perhaps giving similar
powers to one of the hero's arch enemies. That doesn't make sense, I
think everybody would like the strength and resilience of Captain
America or Spiderman, and I bet half of the items on Batman's utility
belt have some very serious applications in general society. Making
sense of that is problematic.
There is an example
of this kind of technology though which I remember and love. The
Warhammer 40k universe is set in the far distant future with amazing
levels of technology and futuristic versions of Elves and Demons and
Orcs. The problem faced by the creators had is that Orcs are
historically stupid, and they wanted to preserve that, but they also
needed to give them advanced enough technology that they wouldn't
just get destroyed. What they came up with was Mekboyz
(I'm sure they weren't called that back when I used to play) who are
rare Orc mutation who have an unnatural aptitude for technology.
Importantly though they don't know how it works, they can't explain
it, they just hit it until it works and their hitting is guided by
some greater instinct or psychic power that allows them to do it just
right.
This idea works
perfectly. I love the idea of a world where there is a strange kind
of genius present in some humans, similar to autism, and individuals
on this spectrum are like idiot savants. They are able to intuit
very deeply into some form of technology (human augmentation, power
shields, new elements) but they can't explain it or relate it to
other technologies. As a result you could end up with situations
like Spiderman being able to make enough web to provide for himself,
but having no sense of exactly what goes into making it or how it
might be mass produced. Also it could allow these people to advance
far enough that even if a Government agency gets its hand on their
technology, it would take them hundreds of years to understand and
use it. Having this be a mental condition would also allow it to
have a secondary effect of making these people prone to ethical
extremes and to following them far further and more stubbornly than
most other humans. That would allow for the stark division which
exists between superheros and super villains.
One factor which
this idea doesn't explain is the resilience of heroes in these
worlds. For most of them all it would take is one stray bullet or
explosion and they'd be dead or paralysed. In some sense this is
fine, it's a conceit which has existed in almost every action story
since guns became commonplace. I think it is a bit more problematic
when it comes to superheros however, because they exist in a world.
We don't just follow one hero, we follow many, and sometimes their
paths intersect, but very rarely does one actually die. I don't know
that my model can explain this, and actually I don't think I want to
(I could assume that this type of person is tougher somehow, but that
seems very cheap to me somehow). Honestly though, if I were to
follow this idea further, I think this would lead me to an
interesting conclusion, which is that within my version of this type
of world, heroes would be extremely short lived and they'd constantly
be appearing and dying. That doesn't make sense for a story about a
hero and their exploits exactly, but perhaps it puts some interesting
weight on a person who's related to a hero, or who realises that they
might be becoming a hero.
If I were to push
ahead with this and build the entire world around and about
superheros then I think there are a number of further elements which
I would want to explain. In most comic worlds there are some magical
aspects and aliens or beings from other dimensions. Perhaps I leave
all of that out, or there maybe a secondary explanation which
provides for them. Honestly though, I like the simplicity of the
idiot savantism and the fun world which it might give rise to.
Thought experiments like this are what give rise to most of my
writing ideas and, even if I don't take them any further, I think it
is interesting to see what lines I draw. To me the idea of making
being a hero linked to a form of basic difference in mental function
is fun, but if it also includes a kind of physical difference which
gives them more resilience then that suddenly bores me. I think that
speaks to the type of stories which I, at the moment, am interested
in telling *.
* - [you can see
this in the X-men, who I didn't mention here because their abilities
are all caused by a similar type of mutation. As a result however a
lot of the early comics which they appeared in deal with issues like
civil rights and discrimination. Things which are linked to their
very explanation.]
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