So, I know I said Monday. But we have two ready to go and past the 20 hour window. So, I feel you deserve the go-ahead.
Iron Fist, as written by @Hound55 Wonder Woman, as written by @Mao Mao
Most of the rest of our applications that are finished will be accepted sometime tomorrow afternoon. If I were you I would get your first posts primed and ready to go.
Perhaps a little jarring, with so many other characters history pinned so tight to the late 60s... and perhaps a song or two which might make more sense as the arc rolls on.
[1] - Butcher's Tale (Western Front 1914) by The Zombies [2] - I Didn't Raise My Boy to be a Soldier by Peerless Quartet [3] - Masters of War by Bob Dylan [4] - We Didn't Want to Fight, But By Jingo Now We Do! by Stanley Kirkby [5] - Eve of Destruction by Barry McGuire [6] - Le Déserteur by Boris Vian [7] - I Ain't Marching Anymore by Phil Ochs [8] - When We've Wound Up The Watch on the Rhine by Stanley Kirkby [9] - Turn! Turn! Turn! by The Byrds [10] - Mrs McGrath by Pete Seeger [11] - 7 O'clock News/Silent Night by Simon and Garfunkel
These are far from CSs as I only have a phone to work with right now but I saw the finished USAgent sheet and I wanted to chime in a bit.
Could do something interesting perhaps with Simpson America in Vietnam and US Agent, him not being what's expected. I don't want him to be a caricature but he definitely won't have the stoic supportive patriotic attitude one would expect from a WW2 Veteran Captain America.
Steve Rogers Captain America Frozen in 1945, thawed in 1967 by Japanese whalers who found him, found out about Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Korea, Cold War, Vietnam, Civil Rights, JFK. Returns to America via San Fran.
His deal basically is that the America he believed in seems to be dead and he wants to bring it back.
Frank Simpson Captain America / Nuke Idolized Captain America, wanted to be in the military, made it. Wanted to be special forces, made it. Wanted to be Captain America, that program was officially dead, couldn't make it. Found a way. Things got bad.
His deal is he is the new Captain America. He fights for truth and justice and the American Way and if he he to do horrible things to bring that about so be it. He got in on bootleg Super Soldier variations administered by an American Government agency that was under the sway of some corrupt dangerous men more interested in results than stability and more interested in conquest than in development. He's a bad guy who thinks he is a good guy doing bad things for a good cause lead by bad men.
Clark Kent, Age 55 (b. 1913) Based in Metropolis, Delaware Active since approximately 1938
Character Concept
Raised by loving parents in an idyllic small rural town in the rolling hills of Kansas, Clark Kent was a kind and gentle soul, who had the strength of a giant before he was in grammar school. Fearing what might happen to the boy if his immense powers were made public before he knew what to do with them, the wise Jonathan Kent and his caring wife Martha instilled in their son a moral compass as strong and unstoppable as his muscles, and an understanding of why he needed to keep his gifts a secret until he was old enough to use them with a purpose.
As a teenager, Clark learned the truth behind these gifts: he wasn't born in Smallville, but came crashing down in a rocket ship from another world. He had been sent to Earth for a reason, but neither he nor his parents could puzzle out what that reason was. When a tornado came tearing through Smallville not long after his eighteenth birthday, Clark saw and heard the good people of his home town calling out for help, and in that moment he realized what his purpose would be. He leapt into action, zipping folks from danger to safety faster than the eye could blink, and battled the twister head-on like a figure out of a tall tale. Clark Kent fought the forces of nature itself, and by all accounts, he won.
In the aftermath, Clark decided it would be best if he lay low for a while, and packed his bags. Taking a pair of suitcases with him-- one containing his regular clothes and necessities, the other containing the mysterious blue costume and red boots and cape that had been found in his rocket ship as a baby, Clark hitchhiked his way across America for seven years, helping out where he could and then vanishing before folks could ask too many questions. Finally, he found himself on the East Coast, in the hustle and bustle of Metropolis, where he was forced to step in on an armed robbery carried out by the notorious gangster Bruno Mannheim. Deciding to don his colorful otherworldly costume as a form of disguise, Clark was able to act out in the open for the first time, dispatching the criminals with ease. The S-like symbol on the front of his outfit drew the attention of the press as much as his fantastic abilities, and the intrepid reporter Lois Lane would christen the mysterious strongman "Superman."
For the next few years, Superman found a home in Metropolis, toppling criminal syndicates and foiling mad bombers while his alter-ego, the mild-mannered Clark Kent, found work as a reporter for the Daily Planet. In the city streets, he would battle with the Ultra-Humanite, the Bulleteers, the Arctic Giant, and the man who would become his lifelong nemesis, the dastardly mad scientist Lex Luthor. In the newsroom, Clark would find an equally devious and diabolical rival in Lois Lane, who would often find herself mooning over Superman while dismissing Clark as a milquetoast and a yokel. Over time, however, the two would warm up to each other, and begin a budding romance just before the United States entered the Second World War.
Lois jumped on the chance to cover the action as a war correspondent, while the Army came calling for the aid of Superman. While the idea of being a 'super-soldier' didn't sit well with him, he couldn't allow the likes of Hitler to get away with the crimes against humanity he was committing, and for a time, Superman would fight alongside Captain America and other costumed 'mystery men' in the war against the Axis Powers. However, his contributions to cracking Fortress Europe were limited, as the Third Reich had gotten a hold of a deadly new weapon: Kryptonite, the one substance on Earth that could harm the Man of Steel, and something previously only in the possession of his old arch-enemy Lex Luthor. Indeed, the Fuhrer had conscripted Luthor's help in keeping Superman out of the war, and had put the madman in charge of creating all manner of technological horrors for the Germans....until the US Army captured Luthor and put him to work for themselves. Not long afterwards, Superman would hang his head in shame when US bombers unleashed two of Luthor's doomsday weapons on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the federal government would give the arch-villain a full pardon in honor of his hand in winning the war.
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Superman withdrew from the political and military arena, staying hands-off during the rise of the Soviet Union and the escalation of the Cold War. This was easier than one might expect, as no shortage of increasingly dangerous enemies came out of the woodwork to keep the Man of Tomorrow busy. The alien super-computer Brainiac threatened the Earth time and time again, as did the Kryptonian dictator General Zod, the multi-dimensional trickster Mxyzptlk, and Superman's warped duplicate Bizarro. As many of these battles saw Superman travel up into space and gain more and more direct exposure to Earth's yellow sun, his powers would grow exponentially. Whereas the Superman of 1942 had to strain to lift a Nazi tank over his head, the Superman of 1962 could easily move the mass of the moon itself-- something he did more than once, in fact. Unfortunately, even with his astonishing increase of power, he could not be everywhere at once, as the world learned the hard way in November of 1963, while Superman was battling with the spectres of the Phantom Zone, a lone gunman shot down the President of the United States.
The past five years have been difficult for Clark, still trying to put on a brave face and show the virtues of Truth, Justice, and the American Way while America seems ready to tear itself apart. Moreover, well into his fifties, he is starting to feel his age. He can still move mountains and shrug off the effects of an atom bomb, but not without aches and pains afterward. He is still faster than any speeding bullet, but his lap times around the world aren't what they were even just a few years ago. And while his wife Lois is still the radiant beauty she always was, he can't help but get self-conscious about the patches of gray in his own hair when he looks in the mirror.
Still, Clark has never been one to sulk, and there's always work to be done. With a world going crazy and the people needing something to look up to, it's starting to look an awful lot like a job for Superman.
I've played lots of variations on the Big Blue Boy Scout before, from his early days to his later years, and plenty of "year whatever" present-day version where he's in his prime. However, I've never really had the chance to play him in an era where he's most at home: the Silver Age. When I told our illustrious GM I wanted to go Silver Age, he said "within reason." To which I had to respond, "you and I know damn well that the phrases '1960s Superman' and 'within reason' are mutually exclusive."
That said, this is a Superman that's been on the job for thirty years, and unlike the pseudo-immortal version we're used to, he's aging like everyone else. Clark is still powerful beyond belief, but he's starting to sag in places, his hair's going gray, and his tights don't fit quite as well as they used to. As the threats he faces are getting crazier and crazier, he's finding it harder to keep up.
Granted, I have no intention of doing a "sad old man goes on one last mission and passes on the torch to his conveniently diverse replacement" story; if I'm putting on the cape, I'm in it to win it. But it does give an opportunity to play around with the age-old icon of the American Way in one of the most tumultuous times in the country's history, and explore how being a bastion of hope and optimism works out in a world turning cynical and sour. While also still slugging it out with Bizarro and riddling his way out of the Fifth Dimension and whatnot.
Key Notes
1913: A mysterious rocket ship lands in a field outside of Smallville, Kansas. Jonathan and Martha Kent find a baby boy inside and adopt him, naming him Clark.
1931: Clark uses his powers in plain view for the first time, saving Smallville from a deadly tornado. Afterwards, Clark leaves Smallville, and spends most of the Depression years hitchhiking across America.
1938: Clark Kent arrives in Metropolis, and foils an armed robbery by Bruno Mannheim. The press (namely Lois Lane) dubs him "Superman"
1940: Superman has his first battle with Lex Luthor, and is nearly killed by a nefarious trap which exposes him to Kryptonite for the first time.
1942: Superman enlists in the U.S. Army, fighting in both the European and Pacific theaters, as well as participating in a pro-US propaganda campaign that would age very poorly and tarnish his reputation in later years. Later that same year, the Third Reich acquires the help of Lex Luthor to create anti-Superman weapons for the Wehrmacht.
1944: Superman has his first encounter with the truly bizarre, as he is tormented by a seemingly magical imp called Mr. Mxyztplk. More bent on mischief and annoyance than destruction or conquest, Mxyzptlk repeatedly interferes with Superman's efforts-- both against common criminals and on the war front-- by altering the fabric of reality, turning people into animals and warping time and space, until Superman wins his game of wits by tricking the imp into saying his own name backwards.
1945: The US Army captures Lex Luthor, and puts him to work on the Manhattan Project in exchange for a full pardon. A few months later, Luthor's fusion bombs would be dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After the war, Luthor would ostensibly reform and found the engineering conglomerate Lex-Co.
1947: A flying saucer crashes outside of Roswell, New Mexico, and it is recovered by the US Air Force. They discover the remains of an alien artificial intelligence from a long-lost planet called Colu.
1948: After ten years of newsroom bickering, which turned to playful banter, then romantic flirtation, Clark Kent and Lois Lane marry.
1951: Superman battles an enormous super-powered ape called Titano, whose eyes emit beams with radiation similar to deadly Kryptonite. After the beast is subdued and taken safely away from the city, Clark Kent and Lois Lane investigate and find the poor ape's condition was the result of experiments conducted at Lex-Co labs. While Luthor is able to avoid any criminal charges, it is proof enough for Clark that his old nemesis isn't as reformed as he claims.
1955: The mischievous Mr. Mxyzptlk returns with another series of insane challenges and tricks for the Man of Steel. While Superman is able to restore reality to almost its original form, he is also left with a super-powered dog he names Krypto.
1956: Mxyzptlk returns again, unleashing a plague of extra-dimensional 'Bizarro matter' on the Earth. While Superman is able to keep the plague from destroying the world, the Bizarro matter still manages to create a warped, cube-shaped copy of Earth, complete with billions of Bizarro people, and worst of all, its own Bizarro Superman.
1958: The Pentagon finally activates the salvaged alien supercomputer recovered from the Roswell saucer, now reverse-engineered into a powerful computer network they call "Brainiac." However, the Coluan AI is far more advanced than they had bargained, and Brainiac almost immediately turns hostile, taking control of the US and USSR's nuclear arsenals, until Superman intervenes. Soon after, Brainiac creates a powerful physical body for itself and reconstructs its crashed spaceship, and repeatedly attempts to destroy Earth, being thwarted by Superman each time.
1962: Superman discovers he is not the last of his people, as Earth is contacted from another dimension by a trio of Kryptonians led by the enigmatic General Zod. They claim that they are trapped in a parallel universe called the Phantom Zone, and provide instructions with a device to free them. When they are set free, however, Zod and company reveal that they had been war criminals on their home world, and plan to conquer Earth. Superman tries to fight them alone, but is defeated. In desperation, he turns to Lex Luthor for help, and together the two arch enemies defeat Zod and his followers, sending them back to the Phantom Zone. However, at the last moment, Luthor betrays Superman and traps him in the Phantom Zone as well.
1963: After a year trapped in the ethereal void, Superman finally escapes the Phantom Zone. Sadly, he is unable to do so until several days after the assassination of President Kennedy.
1965: Another rocket ship from Krypton lands on Earth. This ship contains Clark's long-lost cousin Kara Zor-El, who begins fighting crime and saving lives alongside him as Supergirl.
Lois Lane Kent: Clark's former rival, best friend, and loving wife. Still a firecracker, still unafraid to question the powers that be and call out injustice where she sees it.
Jimmy Olsen: Clark's protégé at the Daily Planet, an excitable young photographer who is obsessed with keeping up with the latest trends. Often gets embroiled in Superman's adventures, and occasionally turns into a giant turtle or has to eat a billion hamburgers or the like.
Perry White: The Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Planet, a cantankerous old lion of the newsroom whose unshakable integrity makes up for his blustering.
Kara Kent/Kara Zor-El: Clark's cousin, sent to Earth from Krypton to look after young Kal-El but delayed several years by cosmic mishap. Upbeat and full of energy, she has taken to heroism like a duck to water.
Jon and Martha Kent: Clark's parents, now in their twilight years. Earnest, salt-of-the-Earth folk who always have a story and a moral to go with it.
Professor Emil Hamilton: One of the lead scientists at STAR Labs, and Superman's go-to for questions of advanced super-science.
Lex Luthor: Superman's arch-rival for nearly three decades, a notorious super-criminal given legitimacy by the military-industrial complex. Calculating and manipulative, he has engineered a massive corporate empire with the secret goal of undermining and destroying Superman once and for all.
Brainiac: An advanced alien supercomputer from the lost planet of Colu, Brainiac sees Earth as merely a specimen in its cruel experiments. Armed with technology thousands of years ahead of mankind, Brainiac's sinister machinations have threatened the world time and time again.
Mr. Mxyzptlk: A cosmically-powerful imp from the Fifth Dimension, Mxyzptlk doesn't care for money or power or taking over the world-- he only cares about annoying Superman for his own amusement. Able to warp reality in whatever way he sees fit, the malevolent trickster continually puts the Man of Steel through increasingly absurd trials and traps, with humanity's survival being the only prize for winning his games.
General Zod: A conquering dictator from Superman's home world of Krypton, Zod was brought low by Kal-El's father, the brilliant scientist Jor-El. Now exposed to the yellow sun and given the same incredible powers as the Man of Steel, Zod and his followers will stop at nothing to get their revenge on the son of Jor-El, and rebuild their own fanatical vision of Krypton on the ashes of the Earth.
Bizarro: A misshapen double made of toxic 'Bizarro matter' from the dimensional Underverse, the Bizarro Superman is an infinitely powerful monster with a mind of pure chaos. Sometimes he is a playful pest, more of an annoyance than a threat, and sometimes he is a rampaging apocalyptic beast. Perhaps the most unsettling thing about Bizarro is that he is never the same type of bizarre twice.
Minor Villains: Metallo: John Corben, a notorious criminal with a Kryptonite-powered battlesuit made by Lex-Co. Parasite: Rudy Jones, a lowlife turned meta-vampire with a touch that can drain even Superman of his powers. Livewire: Leslie Willis, a brash counter-culture activist with immense electrical powers and an intense hatred of superheroes. Toyman: Winslow Schott, a mad inventor with a penchant for deadly toys and lethal playhouses, who frequently targets the children of Metropolis. Prankster: Oswald Loomis, a washed-up kids' show host who has found new fame by working as a "professional distraction" for Metropolis's villains.
References / Sample Post
"Clark? Is everything all right in there, honey?"
I've been staring at my reflection in the bathroom mirror for well over a minute. At the patches of gray at my temples. At the paunch that's developing where my rippling abdominals used to be. At the creases in my face. Frown lines.
I can watch atoms divide, hear clouds scrape together, smell the trees half a state away. And yet somehow this all seemed to sneak up on me.
"I'm....I'm fine, Lois," I say to her as she steps inside to do her necessaries. Her own hair is taking on a sheen of silver, but she's still the picture of beauty even after twenty years together.
"No, you're not," she says. "You're sulking. Which means either you think something's your fault, or you think you're helpless to do something else. So which is it, Smallville?"
I let out a weak chuckle at how well she knows me, then sigh.
"Yesterday afternoon," I start, "The fight with Toyman. When his giant bouncing ball tried to flatten city hall, I caught it, and....I felt my back pop. It wasn't all that heavy, a couple hundred-thousand tons at the most. I've lifted that weight and more every day since '38, never had any problems with it before. But this time...."
"It's okay, Clark," she says as she puts a hand on my shoulder. "Everyone has an off day. Even Superman, from time to time."
"It wasn't just that," I shake my head. "I'm slowing down, Lois, I'm....I'm not the man I used to be."
"Are you still there when people need you?"
"....well, yes, but--"
"Do you still want to do the right thing when nobody else will?"
"Lois, I--"
"Do you still want to fight for Truth and Justice?"
"Of course, I just--"
"Then you are still the man you 'used to be,'" she says with a beaming smile. "A little gray hair doesn't change who you are, some aches and pains don't make you any less the man I fell in love with all those years ago. Maybe, you know, just....pace yourself a bit. Let Kara and some of the new kids pick up your slack."
She gives me a reassuring kiss, then pats me on the backside. "And maybe start eating some more greens. You always told me Kryptonite was your greatest weakness, but I'm starting to think it's cheesecake."
That gets me out of my malaise, and I let out a hearty laugh. It's cut short, however, when we hear the telltale rumblings of an explosion not far from our apartment.
"Well, it sounds like you're off to work again," Lois says as she walks to the mirror to brush her teeth. "Don't hurt yourself trying to prove something; just--"
But as she turns, I'm already gone. Like she said, off to work again.
Don't strain, don't overdo it. Just...pace yourself, Clark. You've got nothing to prove to anyone.
From the sheet "In the coming weeks John was trained in how to fight using a shield akin to Captain America and how to properly interact with the public. Now Johnathan Walker works as the U.S.Agent, spokesperson for the You-Men and professional crime fighter."
The Frank Simpson Captain America/Nuke doesn't use a shield or fight crime or engage in martial arts if he can avoid it. He's a soldier, whacked out of his gourd more often than not on uppers and downers. He's in Vietnam not the US and while I plan on him having an official unofficial Captain America designation I would also be fine with not doing that if it leads to confusion or toe stepping.
No offense taken MaoMao. I'm planning on doing both. The idea is Rogers' Captain America will be feeling his way out after a brief introduction and Simpsons' Captain America will be, as they say, in the shit.
The Frank Simpson Captain America/Nuke doesn't use a shield or fight crime or engage in martial arts if he can avoid it. He's a soldier, whacked out of his gourd more often than not on uppers and downers. He's in Vietnam not the US and while I plan on him having an official unofficial Captain America designation I would also be fine with not doing that if it leads to confusion or toe stepping.
Ah, still very much not a Frank Simpson thing. Steve Rogers I guess maybe. Simpson nah. Hell his newer incarnation had him doing some pretty unpleasant stuff.
Ah, still very much not a Frank Simpson thing. Steve Rogers I guess maybe. Simpson nah. Hell his newer incarnation had him doing some pretty unpleasant stuff.
Simpson didn't go insane generally until after Vietnam.
Brainwashing thing happened during Vietnam, the No VC thing. I'm not going to have him crazy anyway. Not a huge fan of that story and not sure the Wolverine writer would want that history.
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