• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

please help me develop a truly English Superhero

Nerys Myk said:
Might make for a tense relationship with the Knight and Robin. The Knight is the government "stooge" and Robin is an outlaw according to the local powers that be. The Knight should arrest Robin on the spot and turn him over to the local constables.
Click to expand...
that certainly plays to the question of who do the people see the hero, which I was toying with earlier.

O'Dib said:
And different skills. Like Lil' John'd be the superpowered tank type of the group. In fact I'd combine the Hood with the Bond. Have him still be part of the aristocracy, but one who's secretly sick of it. And having to plow through all those women to get info would make for an interesting dynamic with Marion. :)
Click to expand...
I didnt think that group should have any powers.

seems we have two ideas, my idea of people from an alt reality who are related to the Merlin myth

and Nerys Myk slightly more developed world of a government backed superhero, and a Robin Hood type, who is a champion of the good & the poor.

Is it wrong I like Nerys Myk idea better, only with less direct reference to Robin Hood
 
O'Dib said:
Well, for both name and costume, I'd go with Redcoat. And then take it from there.
Click to expand...

And get Mel Gibson to write him. :rommie:

I am thinking of trying to do something with the Beefeaters, and those who protect the Queen,
Click to expand...
Screw that, your superhero IS the Queen! A dumpy fat old lady with terrible fashion sense who has secret Ninja powers. Abetted by her loyal Corgi sidekicks, she fights crime by night.
 
I reckon the arthurian mythos would be a great starting point.

Take for example the myth that King Arthur will return when englands need is greatest. You could have england/the world facing an apocalypse. As a result a crazy scientist who is obsessed with arthurian legends believes that arthurs blood line has carried on into the modern day.

Cut to a young down and out loser who signs up for the scientists genetic tests in order to get himself some cash to pay the rent or something. Turns out loser boy has the arthurian gene which the scientist activates some how and awesomeness ensues.

From that point on the world is your pinctada. :bolian:

I have but one request: that you some how include robotic dragons
 
This is an interesting thread. Part of the trouble is that much of the English archetype since about the start of the 19th century is built upon rather down-to-earth characteristics: slow to anger, professional, thoughtful without being too clever by half, well-fed, decently prosperous, reasonable, full of common sense, dignified, sober, quietly proud, stiff upper lip, dry sense of humour, etc, etc, etc. This "John Bull" picture doesn't necessarily translate well into a dynamic superhero.

The closest we have to a superhero using those traits would actually probably be James Bond - a professional assassin with a decent repertoire of one-liners.

I think you'd have to move to an earlier English archetype to find one that would suit the superhero format. Something from around the War of the Roses up through to the Elizebethan age - swashbuckling, privateering, adventuring, flamboyant, selfish, disregarding for legal precedent and rather fond of fighting against the odds. The Bolingbroke, Henry VIII, Drake, Raleigh, etc model of English heroism.

There's the makings of an interesting superhero in that tradition, albeit a slightly less shiny one than, say, Supes. Someone fond of "living large", with an eye for the main chance, but also brave, dashing and charismatic. Hmm, that also sounds a little too much like Bond... :lol:
 
Speaking of X-Men, Psylocke also British...She is one of my favorites.
 
I think that holdfast is on to something, because again as an American looking at the English I tend to think of them as being understated and domestic ["a nation of shopkeepers"] whose best characteristics tend to be brought out when circumstances force them out in a "Bilbo Baggins" kind of way. As he says, you might have to go back to Elizabethan figures if you want to do something flamboyant.

Unless you have a character who is sort of a TE Lawrence figure - a professorial character with huge unutilized skills and abilities who during some kind of world crisis deliberately goes back to old models of "Englishness" like Drake or the Arthurian mythos because he's secretly a Romantic. Like Don Quixote as an Englishman, except it turns out that he's able to use advanced sciences developed by his fellow dons to actually BE a heroic knight in a modern context.
 
Wow this is an interesting thread. I like the thought process. It is along the same process I use. Definitely like Holdfast 's ideas.
 
How about Eric the Half a Bee?


(perhaps consider a figure like Edward Teach (AKA Blackbeard the Pirate) who has been forced to return to Earth by supernatural forces (and granted certain supernatural powers) to battle evil until he has balanced the karmic scales for all the crimes he committed in life. It goes against his heart and nature because, in truth, he is a villain, but in order to find "rest" he must do this penance--as such, his retributions against evil-doers might be at times . . . excessive.)
 
The desire to create a uniquely british "super hero" is what led Paul Grist to modify his Union Jack story into the character of Jack Staff. But the book is more than about Jack. Grist has created a full fledged universe in these pages with more characters than you can shake a stick at.

I've finally gotten into this world and man.....this is the kind of cool you used to find at Marvel and DC. Awesome adventures that are fun to read with all sorts of characters in a world that seems bigger than any one character.

http://comicsworthreading.com/2006/05/20/jack-staff-everything-used-to-be-black-and-white/
 
I would consider two English literary figures to be proto-superheroic (at least as often portrayed) and those would be Finneas Fogg and Sherlock Holmes. How about an update on either as a character basis?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

ColdFusion180
Star Trek: Lower Decks - CF075 - "Kicking a Gift Horse in the Mouth" (Challenge Entry - Sep/Oct 2024)
Replies
3
Views
528
Bynar0110
Bynar0110
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top