Would Marvel Comics characters be seen as Augments...

[dswynne1]

...in the world of STAR TREK?

Would mutants, like the X-Men, and mutates like the Avengers and Fantastic Four, be seen and treated like Augments (including being barred from serving in Starfleet), or artificial enhancements, like that of Captain America, fall under that definition? And how would the rest of the Alpha Quadrant view Terrans, if six percent of humans are gifted? Personally, it could go either way, with the Klingons, Romulans and Cardassians trying to develop their own gifted population. But, what a battle it would be for Cap and his fellow Super Soldiers coming back to take on "The Red Khan" and his HYDRA-31.

 

[FormerLurker]

Captain America is the most likely to be seen as an Augment, simply because that's exactly what he is. The rest are more likely to be seen as extra-human, similar to Gary Mitchell. There would probably be some discussion regarding whether, or for how long, they can control their abilities and continue to act for the benefit of mankind.

 

[Kor]

Not the mutants in the X-Men sense, since it's a dormant gene that spontaneously becomes active in them, or whatever. Not the result of genetic tampering.

Kor

 

[FederationHistorian]

Captain America, Natasha Romanoff, Luke Cage, Elektra, Daredevil, Deadpool & Black Panther would. Although Captain America and Deadpool are the only ones that received genetic enhancement.

With Spiderman, it depends on if the webs come out naturally from his body (not an Augment), or if he has to build webshooters (yes an Augment)

With Jessica Jones, it depends if she has the power of flight (no) or not (yes).

Bucky Barnes would be if he takes the Infinity formula.

With the X-Men, no. Although Sabretooth, Juggernaut & Bishop would be the strongest candidates to be considered Augments.

Thor and the Asgardians would be seen like the Vulcans and Klingons in terms of strength.

Outside of a high tolerance of pain, the Punisher would be seen as another ordinary human.

Kraven the Hunter might be treated as an Augment, while Rhino definitely would be treated as an Augment.

Tony Stark would not be, but Starfleet would try to recruit him in the Starfleet Corps of Engineers.

 

[FormerLurker]

With Spiderman, it depends on if the webs come out naturally from his body (not an Augment), or if he has to build webshooters (yes an Augment)

Peter Parker was established as a genius before he was bitten by the radioactive spider. Figuring out how to construct and use his mechanical webshooters is something Spider-Man was already able to do, just without the motivation to do so until he gains his spider-powers.

 

[FederationHistorian]

Peter Parker was established as a genius before he was bitten by the radioactive spider. Figuring out how to construct and use his mechanical webshooters is something Spider-Man was already able to do, just without the motivation to do so until he gains his spider-powers.

The spider bite gave him super strength, agility, and reflexes though.

 

[Christopher]

Captain America, Natasha Romanoff, Luke Cage, Elektra, Daredevil, Deadpool & Black Panther would. Although Captain America and Deadpool are the only ones that received genetic enhancement.

None of those would qualify. An Augment is someone genetically engineered before birth, not altered afterward. And not a naturally occurring mutant like, say, Miranda Jones, Flint, or Wesley Crusher, but someone whose genes were deliberately designed to give them superior abilities.

I think the main Marvel characters that fit that description are the Inhumans, whose ancestors were genetically engineered by the Kree. Maybe some of the High Evolutionary's creations, though I think changing animals into humanoids is a few steps beyond Augmentation.

 

[FederationHistorian]

None of those would qualify. An Augment is someone genetically engineered before birth, not altered afterward. And not a naturally occurring mutant like, say, Miranda Jones, Flint, or Wesley Crusher, but someone whose genes were deliberately designed to give them superior abilities.

Yes. But until Starfleet specialists are able to examine them and learn more about their lives, they wouldn’t know that.

 

[Tim Thomason]

None of those would qualify. An Augment is someone genetically engineered before birth, not altered afterward. And not a naturally occurring mutant like, say, Miranda Jones, Flint, or Wesley Crusher, but someone whose genes were deliberately designed to give them superior abilities.

I think the main Marvel characters that fit that description are the Inhumans, whose ancestors were genetically engineered by the Kree. Maybe some of the High Evolutionary's creations, though I think changing animals into humanoids is a few steps beyond Augmentation.

In the Star Trek: Khan comics, Khan (or, rather, Noonien Singh) is a regular old orphan taken from the streets and given genetic enhancement, similar in many ways to Captain America and the other super-soldiers.

 

[Christopher]

In the Star Trek: Khan comics, Khan (or, rather, Noonien Singh) is a regular old orphan taken from the streets and given genetic enhancement, similar in many ways to Captain America and the other super-soldiers.

That's an odd reinterpretation, and I would call it an error. In "Space Seed," Spock said the supermen were engineered through selective breeding, the kind of multigenerational process used to create new breeds of plant or animal. I think it's likely that when Carey Wilber wrote "Space Seed," he was postulating that the real-life eugenics programs of the late 19th and early 20th centuries had endured longer and been more successful, so that Khan and his people were the end result of several generations of selective breeding for incrementally superior traits. In The Wrath of Khan, they referred instead to genetic engineering, which means germ-line alteration before conception, or at least before gestation. The Augment trilogy on Enterprise was consistent with this; the Augments were bred from frozen embryos that had been engineered before gestation, and Arik Soong was shown attempting to make adjustments to the genes of some of those embryos to make them less aggressive. Nothing canonical ever claimed that the Augments were altered post-natally, which is a far more fanciful concept (although one that Trek has unfortunately used on a number of occasions, e.g. in TNG: "Genesis" and to explain the Klingon forehead issue).

 

[FormerLurker]

Bashir was altered post-natally, and Starfleet considers him an Augment. He's just a special case in that he doesn't have the deleterious personality quirks that most post-natal Augments end up with.

 

[Orphalesion]

Bashir was altered post-natally, and Starfleet considers him an Augment. He's just a special case in that he doesn't have the deleterious personality quirks that most post-natal Augments end up with.

^ This. DS9 treated Bashir as an augment. So people like Captain America would likely be viewed as augments.

The X-Men on the other hand are natural mutants (if a very unrealistic version of them) so they'd fall in the same category as Miranda Jones (really if Miranda Jones was a marvel character, she'd fit in among them)
I also think that Where No Man Has Gone Before seemed to imply that ESP abilities are at least known to be present among humanity (which, in all fairness was still considered a possibility in 1960s pop culture)

With the X-Men, no. Although Sabretooth, Juggernaut & Bishop would be the strongest candidates to be considered Augments.

Beast. He was just a guy with abnormal strength, large hands and large feet before he grew blue fur due to his own experiments.
I am a huge X-Men fan but I gotta admit Sabretooth and Bishop never were characters that I paid much attention to. Why would those two be considered augments?

 

[Christopher]

Bashir was altered post-natally, and Starfleet considers him an Augment.

Strictly speaking, we don't know that, since the word "Augment" wasn't coined until season 4 of Enterprise, and thus was never used onscreen to refer to Bashir. A better example would be the use of the term to refer to the genetically modified Klingon adults in ENT: "Affliction"/"Divergence." Given that example, I'll concede that the term can indeed be used to refer to post-natally altered individuals, what Marvel would call Mutates.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

Strictly speaking, we don't know that, since the word "Augment" wasn't coined until season 4 of Enterprise, and thus was never used onscreen to refer to Bashir. A better example would be the use of the term to refer to the genetically modified Klingon adults in ENT: "Affliction"/"Divergence." Given that example, I'll concede that the term can indeed be used to refer to post-natally altered individuals, what Marvel would call Mutates.

TV Tropes calls this "DPI (Differently Powered Individuals)"

So the term for each franchise is:
Marvel = Mutates/Mutants
D.C. = Meta-Humans
Agents of Shield = "Gifted", "Enhanced", "Powered People" were all used since they couldn't use the term "Mutants"
Star Wars = "Force Sensitive" or "Force User"
Star Trek = "Augments"

Some Anime Franchises:
A Certain Magical Index: "Ability User" or "Esper"
Tiger & Bunny: They're called "NEXT"

 

[Christopher]

So the term for each franchise is:
Marvel = Mutates/Mutants

Not interchangeable. Mutants are born with genetically inherent superpowers, while mutates have their genes altered later in life.

Star Wars = "Force Sensitive" or "Force User"

That's more like a naturally occurring psychic power.

Star Trek = "Augments"

Not the same as a mutant, because mutation is a natural process, while augmentation is artificial.

 

[publiusr]

So a mind flayed vs a force adept…who has the advantage?

 

[FederationHistorian]

I am a huge X-Men fan but I gotta admit Sabretooth and Bishop never were characters that I paid much attention to. Why would those two be considered augments?

Sabretooth – superhuman strength, stamina, speed, durability, reflexes, agility, & senses; abilities enhanced by the Weapon X program

Bishop - superhuman physical attributes and resistant to most poisons; absorbs energy based attacks