Anubis' "How would you do it?" Thread.

[Kitsune]

I do believe I like that idea. In fact, I believe it rocks so hard it's upside-down.

Pantheon of 5 gods, Agis (Speed, justice, duty), Miolin (Wisdom, judgement, knowledge), Rahs (Strength, loyalty, mercy), Zoken (Dreams, imagination, humanity, trickery), Raivox (Destruction, cruelty, evil).

.

I almost expted this to spell out Shazam somehow.

 

[deemar325]

Power Man​

The Premis: After the events of World War Hulk and the whole Skrull thing, Luke leaves The Avengers, and he and Jessica move to Los Angelis, to live with Luke's grandmother, Harriet Lucas, who moved there a few years ago (which is why he started swearing again). There, Luke sets up shop as a private investigator and bounty hunter, with Jess helping run the agency. While initially boged down by standard cases, like infidelity and tax fraud, his own nature eventually gets him caught up in more serious matters. He makes a point of trying to personally deal with local criminals, and investigate local mobsters, including the few remnants of The Pride.

Villains:

Mr. Syn: At first glance, he is merely an elderly Asian man who owns a chain of laundromats. However, he is in actuality a demon, former minion of the Minoru's and now a ruthless crime boss who's organization os made up of both humans (mostly former members of local Asian gangs) and demons.

Fookin' great! Sh-t man this is straight up cool.

Rupert Klaus: A cyborg and former minion of the Yorkes family.

Anthony Busco: A low level member of one of the East Coat Maggia families who's come to L.A. to fill the gap left by the Pride.

The Tinkerer: Moved to L.A. and started selling weapons to anyone who asked. Has become incredibly suicidal after the deaths of his son and grandson, but hasn't got the nerv to do the job himself. So, he's intentionally put himself in a possition where he'll probably get whacked.

Bullseye: Came to L.A. while on the run, and got plastic surgury to remove the scar left by Daredevil. Works for Busco, and has been killing mobsters left and right to aid in his rise to power. Has become somewhat obsessed with breaking Luke, mostly because he's bored and Daredevil isn't around.

Bloodscream and Roughhouse: Working as enforcers for Syn.

Q this is great, its like Dog the Bounty Hunter only its Luke Cage!

 

[deemar325]

Justice for All:

Josiah Bradley a.k.a Josiah X (Formerly of The Crew)

Premise:

Josiah has begun a new Mosque in Chicago and has left the idea of being involved in superheroics behind. Since the events of the Crew and the Iniative he's content with living a normal life as a good muslim and activist for the community.

Until a surge of superpowered criminals start takening refuge in Chi-town, since New York is a hot bed. Josiah is forced to protect his community from the super criminals and the onslaught of MGH in the neighborhood, which leads to superpowered teen gangs who he is both trying to reach out to and when he has to take down.

All this activity leads to S.H.I.E.L.D. trying to force Josiah into the SHRA, and my intention is to paralle his defiance of registering to Muhammad Ali's defiance in being drafted to go to Vietnam during the 60s.

The book would be a combination of social intrigue/satire and superheroics using the 50 state iniative and post CivilWar Marvel as a new view point.

Essentially Josiah would be the public face of defiance against registration, whereas the New Warriors are masked rebels, Josiah is on the front page of the newspapers and CNN saying no to the SHRA.

 

[Zoken]

Dude, I love it D. A good balance of serious and Super. I'd read that.

 

[deemar325]

Danke, I was watching 'Ali' with Will Smith and I got to thinking.

 

[deemar325]

Any more new stuff I might have missed?

 

[Zoken]

New Marvel... I don't know, I guess somewhere between "heroes Reborn" and "Just Imagine"....

Avengers

Captain America: The One Man Army. The core attitude remains the same. he's a U.S. Army soldier who was experimented on, but not during WWII, recently. One of the first Meta-humans. he has the power to make up to fifty copies of himself. His battle cry is "E Unis Plurum!" In one, many.

Hawkeye: Winged Archer. with the wings, eyes, and ears of a hawk, He is a mysterious force to be reckoned with. Wears a purple cloak to hide his wings.

Thor: The Odin Son. A bit more traditional Norse God. Big, red beard and hair. Thick burly muscles with traditional armor and gloves. Cantankerous, hot headed, and always ready to die for his cause. (Think Gimbly from LotR)

Wasp: Robotics expert. Often understimated in combat her robotic wings and armor make her a powerful fighter.

Ant-Man: the living Colony. Imagine Swarm, but with ants. He was created by Dr. Pym as a new sort of defense program. controlled by a small super-computer within the living colony, it is self aware and refers to Dr. Pym as "Father".

Hulk: the Man-Monster. Among the earlies recorded meta-humans, serial killer Robert Banner was sentenced to life, that is until he was confronted by Psychologist Betsy Ross, who specialized in behavior modification. Now, going by his middle name, Bruce, his psychosis is held at bay with mind-control. Bruce knows all of this, however he finds that transforming into his enormous muscular alter-ego eats away at the barriers his therapist, and crush, put in place.

Scarlett Witch: The Vishanti's Vixen. No mutant powers in her, just a sorceress with an affinity for the color red, and a dedication to her twin brother.

Quicksilver: Lightspeed Mutant. His silver-colored skin and ability to move at near the speed of light make him a powerful mutant. He was a follower of Magneto, the mutant terrorist, until he discovered his long-lost twin sister alive, and not a mutant.

Spider-man: Peter Parker thought he was fairly normal, until he reached puberty and strange powers started emerging. He thought at first he was a mutant, but a quick test in his laboratory basement showed he lacked the X-Gene. Now he possess super-human strength, agility, and hightened senses. he found out that he was, in fact, the product of a rape. His mother was raped by Norman Osborn, who bought his way out of any trouble. Even more disturbing is that Peter's only friend is Harry Osborn, his half brother. Encouraged to keep a cool head by his Uncle Ben (who didn't know of Peter's powers) Peter confronts his biological father only to find out that Norman expected him to have powers. You see, Norman performed an experiment on himself in his younger years which enhanced his mind and his body. He was already a sociopath.

Taking his name from his pet tarantula, Ben, Spider-Man is Peter's desperate attempt not to turn into a his biological father, not to be the psychotic monster Norman osborne is.

More as I think of them.

More of this re-written universe.

Dr. Strange: Sorcerer... Mediocre? When Stephan Strange's hands were damaged in a drunk driving accident he becomes a researcher and teacher. He starts to lead the medical community. However, one day he says the wrong thing to the wrong person and angers his Cheif of Medicine. As retribution, the man puts Strange on what he assumes will be a waste of time and money, but forces Strange to do it anyway. he is gracious enough, however, to give Strange one Intern; Wong Kamar-Taj, a sour young man as insulted to be working with Strange as Strange is to be on this assignment.

The assignment is to find out if there are any SCIENTIFIC basis for alternate healing. Strange, insulted by the thought of researching accupuncture and "New Age Crap" decides to really embarass the hospital by researching sorcery. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, his ex-wife Clea sends him an amulet to get him started. A beautiful gold and platinum circle with an eye... and so the odd journey of Dr. Strange begins.

Fantastic Four: Or Three Plus One. Susan, Ben, and Johnny are transformed by a mismade batch of Super-Soldier Serum (originally created by Prof. Reed Richards in 1938 for James "Bucky" Buchannon, the now Late first Captain America). This batch was made by Dr. Victor Von Doom, who claims the title of Smartest Man Alive. When the formula marrs all three of them (Johnny and Sue are stuck as burning and invisible respectively, Ben is a wirey beast made of blood red rock, and Victor blames the Test subjects (mocking them in fact), he is dismissed and the title is taken. They then reveal that the original creator of the formula did not die from a brain tumor in 1968, as was believed. he was cryogenically frozen in a machine of his own design. Until a doctor existed that could perform the operation he also designed to cure his brain tumor (not his design). He was thawed (According to directions on his tube) and cured by a robot (named Herbie, because the inventor had a thing for those car movies). And he got to work on the three.

He was unable to cure them, so far. He did, however, managed to create a suit for sue that made her visible (But completely canceled out her powers in doing so), and a suit for Johnny that could release and control his flames according to a voice activated modulator. Ben he was most unable to help, which may be why they bonded so well. Both feel they let the other down.

Victor, insulted, blames Richards for the firing. He is not a happy man, and he is a brilliant man... this is a bad combination.

The Chronoline Temporal Cruiser: A man prepared to take his own life his blinded by a flash of light. he sees the outlines of two people facing away from him, ringed by a strange luminescence. From this hole in space a small device comes flying at him. It is a personal time machine, manufactured in the 37th century by the Chronoline Co., a subsidiary of Realityworks. Seeing nothing here for himself, he travels to the future, mainly to see how the rather poorly worn time machine came to be in his possession. This leads him on a strange journey that will put him as the leader of an unlikely army, the lover of a rather beautiful woman, and the hero of all existance.

Reposted for Deemar

 

[deemar325]

Originally Posted by Zoken
New Marvel... I don't know, I guess somewhere between "heroes Reborn" and "Just Imagine"....

Avengers

Captain America: The One Man Army. The core attitude remains the same. he's a U.S. Army soldier who was experimented on, but not during WWII, recently. One of the first Meta-humans. he has the power to make up to fifty copies of himself. His battle cry is "E Unis Plurum!" In one, many.

Hawkeye: Winged Archer. with the wings, eyes, and ears of a hawk, He is a mysterious force to be reckoned with. Wears a purple cloak to hide his wings.

Thor: The Odin Son. A bit more traditional Norse God. Big, red beard and hair. Thick burly muscles with traditional armor and gloves. Cantankerous, hot headed, and always ready to die for his cause. (Think Gimbly from LotR)

Wasp: Robotics expert. Often understimated in combat her robotic wings and armor make her a powerful fighter.

Ant-Man: the living Colony. Imagine Swarm, but with ants. He was created by Dr. Pym as a new sort of defense program. controlled by a small super-computer within the living colony, it is self aware and refers to Dr. Pym as "Father".

Hulk: the Man-Monster. Among the earlies recorded meta-humans, serial killer Robert Banner was sentenced to life, that is until he was confronted by Psychologist Betsy Ross, who specialized in behavior modification. Now, going by his middle name, Bruce, his psychosis is held at bay with mind-control. Bruce knows all of this, however he finds that transforming into his enormous muscular alter-ego eats away at the barriers his therapist, and crush, put in place.

Scarlett Witch: The Vishanti's Vixen. No mutant powers in her, just a sorceress with an affinity for the color red, and a dedication to her twin brother.

Quicksilver: Lightspeed Mutant. His silver-colored skin and ability to move at near the speed of light make him a powerful mutant. He was a follower of Magneto, the mutant terrorist, until he discovered his long-lost twin sister alive, and not a mutant.

Spider-man: Peter Parker thought he was fairly normal, until he reached puberty and strange powers started emerging. He thought at first he was a mutant, but a quick test in his laboratory basement showed he lacked the X-Gene. Now he possess super-human strength, agility, and hightened senses. he found out that he was, in fact, the product of a rape. His mother was raped by Norman Osborn, who bought his way out of any trouble. Even more disturbing is that Peter's only friend is Harry Osborn, his half brother. Encouraged to keep a cool head by his Uncle Ben (who didn't know of Peter's powers) Peter confronts his biological father only to find out that Norman expected him to have powers. You see, Norman performed an experiment on himself in his younger years which enhanced his mind and his body. He was already a sociopath.

Taking his name from his pet tarantula, Ben, Spider-Man is Peter's desperate attempt not to turn into a his biological father, not to be the psychotic monster Norman osborne is.

More as I think of them.

Wow its a dramatic departure from the originals , but it got my attention it would be a good what if? mini.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Zoken
More of this re-written universe.

Dr. Strange: Sorcerer... Mediocre? When Stephan Strange's hands were damaged in a drunk driving accident he becomes a researcher and teacher. He starts to lead the medical community. However, one day he says the wrong thing to the wrong person and angers his Cheif of Medicine. As retribution, the man puts Strange on what he assumes will be a waste of time and money, but forces Strange to do it anyway. he is gracious enough, however, to give Strange one Intern; Wong Kamar-Taj, a sour young man as insulted to be working with Strange as Strange is to be on this assignment.

The assignment is to find out if there are any SCIENTIFIC basis for alternate healing. Strange, insulted by the thought of researching accupuncture and "New Age Crap" decides to really embarass the hospital by researching sorcery. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, his ex-wife Clea sends him an amulet to get him started. A beautiful gold and platinum circle with an eye... and so the odd journey of Dr. Strange begins.

Ok this is pretty good, Strange as the none believing researcher a goof at that. This is the idea you should focus on.

Dr.Strange as a supernatural reseacher and he's trying to debunk the idea of magic yet come to realize its real! Wong should be the actual magician and he hides his gifts from Strange while saving his butt during their adventures.

Yeah thats the winner^

Quote:
Originally Posted by Zoken
Fantastic Four: Or Three Plus One. Susan, Ben, and Johnny are transformed by a mismade batch of Super-Soldier Serum (originally created by Prof. Reed Richards in 1938 for James "Bucky" Buchannon, the now Late first Captain America). This batch was made by Dr. Victor Von Doom, who claims the title of Smartest Man Alive. When the formula marrs all three of them (Johnny and Sue are stuck as burning and invisible respectively, Ben is a wirey beast made of blood red rock, and Victor blames the Test subjects (mocking them in fact), he is dismissed and the title is taken. They then reveal that the original creator of the formula did not die from a brain tumor in 1968, as was believed. he was cryogenically frozen in a machine of his own design. Until a doctor existed that could perform the operation he also designed to cure his brain tumor (not his design). He was thawed (According to directions on his tube) and cured by a robot (named Herbie, because the inventor had a thing for those car movies). And he got to work on the three.

Not feeling this one sorry.

He was unable to cure them, so far. He did, however, managed to create a suit for sue that made her visible (But completely canceled out her powers in doing so), and a suit for Johnny that could release and control his flames according to a voice activated modulator. Ben he was most unable to help, which may be why they bonded so well. Both feel they let the other down.

Victor, insulted, blames Richards for the firing. He is not a happy man, and he is a brilliant man... this is a bad combination.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Zoken
The Chronoline Temporal Cruiser: A man prepared to take his own life his blinded by a flash of light. he sees the outlines of two people facing away from him, ringed by a strange luminescence. From this hole in space a small device comes flying at him. It is a personal time machine, manufactured in the 37th century by the Chronoline Co., a subsidiary of Realityworks. Seeing nothing here for himself, he travels to the future, mainly to see how the rather poorly worn time machine came to be in his possession. This leads him on a strange journey that will put him as the leader of an unlikely army, the lover of a rather beautiful woman, and the hero of all existance.



Straight confused by the last bit.

 

[Zoken]

Actually I'm still Developing it (Title Changed to "The Chronoline Timeskimmer").

Richard was about to kill himself when a whole in space/time opened in front of him and a timemachine flew out of it. Using it he begins to travel through time, at first, just visiting historical figures, and winding up talking to them and helping them find the faith in themselves. However he eventually gets caught up in a violent battle across time which involves the origins of his time machine (why he has it). he winds up leading an army including Nostradamus, Leonardo DaVinci, Amelia Earhart, and more against a mad general that will take all of existance to the edge of oblivion.

 

[deemar325]

There's a thread over in the Misc comics section asking what licensed properties you would get if you had started your own comic company. So, using that as inspiration, I'm gonna take the opportunity to try and redo a few cartoons from my childhood that I've always felt had a great concept, but now that I'm an adult, realize that the actual cartoons were complete crap. So, here's how Anubis would do:

Thundercats

I'll start with a few of the changes I'm gonna make to the history.

The Thundarians were the rulers of a very large system of planets that made up the Thudarian empire. They had taken control of most of the planets in their system centuries ago by force, and subjugated the various races. For the most part it was peaceful throughout the empire. Not so much for the races like the Jakeel, the reptilian, and the primates though. They were basically slaves to the Thundarians. Made to mine their worlds for Thundrylium (a powerful energy source the Thundarians used to run their empire.) while receiving little in terms of profit, or say so in the governing process of the empire. Years of being treated like second class citizens and various uprising that were put down, mercilessly I might add, sowed the seeds of revolution. The various worlds came together and formed a united front, driving the Thundarians back to Thundara. Then, amassing into a massive invasion fleet, they attacked Thundara, slaughtering every Thundarian they could find. After the fall of The Thundarian's King, Leonidas (heh) the Insurgents started their own government, and set about hunting down all Thundarians who managed to escape the fall of Thundera. Also, they seek to locate the mythical Sword of Omens, which Leonidas was able to banish ,before his death. It is said that only the true king can reclaim the Sword of Omens, it just so happens that Leonidas' son and air, Lion-o, escaped along with the Kings' personal guard. So then was the Rebellions elite commander, Slithe, and his men sent to track down the would-be-king. They've hounded the Thundercats from planet to planet for years before eventually finding themselves stranded on an unknown planet outside the galactic rim which the inhabitants call third Earth.

A closer look at each of the warriors sent after the Thundercats

Slithe - No longer short, fat, and stupid. He's tall, slender, cunning, and vicious. resembling an an upright Komodo Dragon. He was on the planet Plun-Darr when the rebellion started, forced to work the mines, he saw his brothers and sisters die miserably in servitude to the "Hairballs". He's a firm believer in the his cause, and he aims to wipe out every Thundarian bastard he can get his hand on.

Monkian - One of the most powerful of the Primate warriors. He's quick, he's strong, and he's totally down for the cause. Coming from a warrior race, Monkian revels in the thrill of battle, once beaten out of his race by the Thundarians.

Jakel-mon - A cunning and brilliant strategist. One of the best of his people, who were instrumental in planning the siege of Thundara. He stands as Slithe's second. But he secretly has plans for leadership of his own. Ten years they've hunted the Hairball prince, and ten years they've come up short every time. Now, stranded on this primitive mudball, he concocts plans of seizing control for himself.

Vultaro - Scientist from the Avian race of the planet Radus. He's brilliant, and incredibly resourceful. They're survival depends on his ability to make something out of virtually nothing. He studied under the great Thundarian warrior/engineer, Panthro. Much of what he knows was taught to him by the Thundercat. He has a deep respect for him, and he's a bit of jealous as well.

They also lead nearly 200 battle hardened shock troops.

Well, that's the characters formally known as Mutants. I'll get back later with the Thundercats and their side of the story. As well as my redesign of Mum-Ra.

I don't remember reviewing this one, but I just reread it and damn its pretty good. Especially like the Thundercats race being the overlording race with the others simply getting their revenge. It puts a whole new spin on the concept with Lion-O having to decide if the remaining Thundarians will return to their less than moral ways of enslaving other species.Sweet!

 

[deemar325]

Actually I'm still Developing it (Title Changed to "The Chronoline Timeskimmer").

Richard was about to kill himself when a whole in space/time opened in front of him and a timemachine flew out of it. Using it he begins to travel through time, at first, just visiting historical figures, and winding up talking to them and helping them find the faith in themselves. However he eventually gets caught up in a violent battle across time which involves the origins of his time machine (why he has it). he winds up leading an army including Nostradamus, Leonardo DaVinci, Amelia Earhart, and more against a mad general that will take all of existance to the edge of oblivion.

Yeah ok I get it sorta a SteamPunk type genre story ala 'the Time Machine' and 'League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.'

 

[Zoken]

um... sure? I have no idea what "SteamPunk" is. But other than that... I guess?

 

[deemar325]

SteamPunk is a genre of fiction that combines victorian era themes (Usually utilizing real events or people or literary characters from said era.) and advanced science or technology that other wise didn't exist in that time period. examples would be LOEG, War of the Worlds, Time Machine, even Neil Gaiman Stardust could be considered steampunk.


That help?

 

[Zoken]

actually it does. The guy is from our "Present". His love interest is from over 1000 years in the future, and members of his "Army" he recruits from all through out history (trying to pick those who would not be missed, or if returned their future knowledge wouldn't hurt the time stream too much).

 

[deemar325]

I dig it Z.

 

[Zoken]

As far as I can tell his army will include:

D.B. Cooper
Amelia Earhart
Nostradamus
Leonardo DaVinci
Gregory Vale (soldier from 50 in our future who becomes the most famours MIA in history)
Arialla McCorr (assistant to Elias Presly, the man recognized as father of modern time travel... she's from 600 years in our future)
Tynia Droonly (1000+ in the future, she's the daughter of a time-patroler and a Chrono-Savant. She's a martial artist)

 

[Cyrusbales]

interesting stuff, *subscribes*

 

[fifthfiend]

So my buddy was telling me last night about his ideas for a Morph reboot. Basically the idea is looking at the MU from the view of an average shnook, except the shnook happens to be a mutant shapeshifter. It's aall him working a ****ty retail job, and using his powers to like dodge his boss and **** with the customers, and he's generally pissed off about superheroes because he's perpetually inconvenienced by Doctor Doom's latest fight with the Fantastic Four or whatever. I think in issue two he runs across a convenience store holdup, so he stops the whole thing disguised as Spider-Man, except one of his coworkers catches him so for the rest of the comic she's convinced that he's secretly Spider-Man, so he starts using that to get her to cover for him any time he wants to skip off of work.

It actually sounded pretty good, which I kind of hate to say cause that guy tends to get on my nerves.

 

[Zoken]

Not a bad idea

 

[deemar325]

bump

 

[Zoken]

Timeskimmer 2: Rescueing the forgotton

After defeating the evil General Vellgos, and dropping off all members of their group who would be missed (DaVinci, Tesla, Nostrodamus, and the Soldier from the future), the cross-time army prepares to take a well deserved break when they pick up a distress signal on their highly senstitive scanners. The engineer informs them of "The Draco", a space version of the "Ghost Ship" story. It left with 18 crew members, and was found adrift with none. They are receiving a distress signal from the Draco and decide to see if they can help. They approache the time/space coordinates where they are picking up the signal, but are suddenly anchored in a time-frame. They have to do some fast flying to avoid what appear to be blasts of chrono-rending energies. They land and are confronted by the citizens of Roanoke, the crew of the Mary-Celeste, and other victims of mass vanishings from all across history, all lead by a cutlass weilding Virginia Dare. Now they must fight the Drapini, the alien race who have so corrupted time/space around their planet that no time-travel technology will work, including the Timeskimmer.

 

[Zoken]

Spider-Man: My Villains

New York is the in the grips of a new villainess calling herself "The Siren". She's managed to fend off any attackers without harming a single person. Using her voice she can create sonic-blasts that shatter rock and steel, induce nausea in any person, and use her "Tesla-Wave" which rattles and vibrates any metal to peices. She's managing to escape every single time on a mere motor cycle.

And what is our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man doing during all of this? Searching for an enemy who's gone missing. When Adrian Toombes shows up at a mugging to ask Peter to help him locate a missing colleague, Herman "The Shocker" Schultz, Peter feels obliged to help. Soon Peter is collaborating with all manner of low lifes, including the Sand-Man, Boomerang, Rhino, Trapster, and more super-villains. Peter is leading the search for a kidnapped super-villain, which of course draws questions from his teammates.

Wolverine calls him on his search and Peter has to explain that while many of his villains are just plain fruit-loops, the majority of them are just guys who paint themselves into a corner and need a hand. Peter is willing to help them, just as he has in the past. I knows what it's like to wear a lable no one is willing to remove. However, Peter's search, and the spree of the Siren may soon intertwine as Peter finds disturbing information about Schultz.

 

[Zoken]

A World Without Spider-Man V

Unsurprisingly, it didn't take long for the slime to come out of the woodworks. Meta-crims of every breed were rearing their heads in Pete's old territory. Oddly, most of them were not Pete's old crowd. What was surprising was what happened when these creeps showed up...

"LETS MOVE!" Lonnie Lincon, the mercenary known as Tombstone, yelled to his cohorts.

"You got it," replied Fred Myers, Boomerang, promptly. He had a razor sharp boomerang at the read, just in case.

Following close behind him were Swarm and Carolyn Trainer, "Lady Octopus".

I was surprised to learn that Swarm had lowered himself to petty bank robbery, but then again genocide and ethnic cleansing can't be cheap hobbies. Carolyn was another surprise to see in the group. She was smart to say the least, and talented. She'd trained under Doc Ock. Tombstone and Boomerang... no, no surprise there. They were full time losers, and looked like they were going to be defending that title.

Their sprint to their vehicle was cut short when a column of sand shot up from under it, flipping the van over. Flint Marko materialized out of it. "Sorry guys," he apologized, almost sincerely. "No go."

"And these don't belong to you," rang another, fare less intimidating, voice.

To the surprise of the bank robbers, they found their bags being suddenly yanked from their hands, and then appearing beside Marko along with the garish, but still quite alive, Spot.

"What are you idiots doing?" Growled Tombstone. "If you wanted in, we could have gotten more and split a bigger take."

"We're not stealing from you," Flint said, standing firmly. He nodded to Spot, who slid one of his spots from his body and down over both him and the money. Both reappeared moments later inside the bank the villains had just fled from.

"The city is ours for the pickin' and you're flippin' on us?!" Boomerang shouted.

"We should never have demened ourself as such," muttered Swarm.

"And I'm especially dissapointed in you, Carolyn," came another voice. the quartet looked to see Dr. Octavius climbing down a building.

"Otto," she gasped, but from what I hear her sentimentality didn't last long. She must have realized they were surrounded. I say "She must have realized" because I don't think there were enough braincells among the rest of them.

The fight went amazingly well. Otto managed to make short work of Carolyn, who was begging him to let her go by the end of it. Spot actually managed to take out the Boomerang... not that that is all that astounding, however for the Spot this was a big deal. Flint, he made the biggest headlines simultaineously fighting both Tombstone and Swarm. Swarm, apparantly, wasn't that bit of a problem.

In other parts of town equally odd groups were appearing.

As the Red Ghost tried to rally a new team comprised of himself, Hydro-Man, Electro, and the Rhino, he was put in his place by Puma, Rocket Racer (sporting some Prowler made weapons), Trapster, and the Vulture.

Elsewhere the Wizard, Titania, and Salamandra, and a Mysterio were attempting to break into the Baxter Building. They were handled expediently and niceley by Shocker and the Other Mysterio.

At each scene was left a single card. "Just Keeping the Neighborhood Friendly" and it was signed "The Outlaws". The cards were solid black with a white web in the upper right corner. the web was empty.

 

[Zoken]

More of my "Just Imagine" marvel world... Black Panther

T'Challa T'Chaka was an orphan from New York City. He grew up with his grandmother reading about his father, who had been a political activist, in the family album. T'Challa was a smart kid, especially in geology. He quickly graduated from Empire State's pre-grad program and was on his way to a doctorate in Geology. his minor in political sciences was because of his father.

He took a trip one summer to Africa to study geological findings in the nation of Niganda, where there is a mine of Vibranium, one of the most mysterious metals in the world. There are only two known sources of Vibrainium, asteroids and the mines of Niganda. However, due to unstable leadership and constant tribal warring, the mines of Niganda remain closed, because whoever controls the mines, controls the region.

Traveling there T'Challa attempts to study the mines, however he finds himself distracted by the plight of the people surrounding the mines. For miles and miles around the mines tribes and villages have been subjugated and put under. The war is tearing them all apart. T'Challa, an expert martial artist (his grandmother's way of ensure he never joined a gang), puts down a small convoy of Nigandan soldiers. The villagers begin to regard him as a hero. soon more tales of his bravery and speed spread. They begin to call him "The Black Panther" for his stealth and ferocity. They appoint him the leader of their people. They beg for the right to mine the precious Vibranium ore, and he of course gives no objection. While almost all the men are in the mines, T'Challa teaches the women to fight, so that there is no such thing as "Defenseless".

The years slip by quickly, despite the constant battle to keep the mines running. T'Challa has been named King of a very small nation, which he has named "Wakanda" after the near by mountains. The military is made almost entirely of women, and the Men have become experts at mining, forging, and working Vibranium. The nation is now becoming a major supplier for armor. But the fight is constant, no one wishes this fledgling nation to survive... lead by a man who wanted only to study, and found himself King.

 

[Harlekin]

THE INITIAVE: SUPERNATURAL TERRORISM PREVENTION UNIT

Way back at the third season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, we saw Angel leave Sunnydale and move onto his own spin-off series, obviously titled Angel. Angel was quickly replaced as Buffy's love interest but the far less troubled Riley Finn, who would leave the show a mere one and a half season later. As of that episode, I've always felt Riley's adventures could've been spun off, whether it be into a television series or an ongoing comic. The sixth season episode "As You Were", pretty much confirmed this to me, showing Riley as a more hardened, now married, leader of a demon hunting squad.

Since the events of that episode...

Times have changed. Ever since 9/11, terrorist attacks have come to be expected, all in a day's work for the government. Meanwhile, in the world of the supernatural, thousands of young girls have become full-fledged slayers. The demon world has been twisted around, and it's led to the creation of some new factions. Terrorist factions, intent on bringing down the humans.

Now, the government has given Riley Finn, sole survivor of the Sunnydale Initiative programme (in the military sense), the authorization to gather a team of supernatural and not so supernatural beings, to prevent new attacks. By all means neccesary.

FINN, RILEY
Riley Finn never got a fair shake. He was brought in to succeed Angel as Buffy's love interest, but the entire point of his character, his "normalness", prevented him from being accepted. In contrast to the dark, tortured and mysterious Angel, Riley was bland. The natural antagonism between Angel and Xander also wasn't there. Essentially, Riley as a character just didn't bring enough conflict and drama to the story.

Time to end that. Not by changing Riley, but by changing his environment. Him and Will are natural rivals. The other characters play to various parts of Riley's character in different ways. Although he is easily the most capable of the team, he's a normal guy, and that's always bugged Riley before, especially since he used to be somewhat of a supersoldier. Besides that, none of these characters, except for his wife Sam, have undergone the military training and programming he has. It makes for interesting conflicts, because Riley can't be play with these guys on equal field, be it mentally or physically.

Ultimately, this series could show the fine points of Riley's character. The almost Hank Pym esque insecurities, mixed in with a natural authority and unwillingness to quit. Now, he must be the fearless leader. Can he pull it off?

FINN, SAM
We don't know a lot about Sam. As she was shown in "As You Were", she was basically a part-time soldier, part-time hausfrau. That's basically the theme I would build on. She's the most well-adjusted member of this gang. No insecurities about her skills, nothing.

Which really kind of makes her bland, if it didn't provide a good foil not only to her husband, but to the others as well. Greg wants her discipline, Gwen wants her sense of control, Will wants her strength, Jason wants her humanity (oddly enough), and Beth would rather see her dead.

RAIDEN, GWEN
Most of the characters featured in STPU are either new or one-episode characters. Gwen is an exception, featuring quite a bit in Angel's fourth season as the Rogue-like mutant with electricity powers. Her control issues were fixed last time we saw her, but as we learn, she regularly needs to have the machine regulating her powers adjusted, and that's a service the government can provide. For a price, as always.

So Gwen gets to work with all these lovely people, who aren't all that lovely at all. A thing can be said of course, for Gwen not being that nice herself. After all, she's a career criminal, which is probably an even greater asset to the team than her powers. Her reputation as a thief, together with her skills as a thief/treasure hunter, are vital to the team's mission, which basically consist of neutralizing occult forces, including artefacts.

Gwen has immense potential as a character. Interesting history, and her reluctance to be on this team adds that little extra. Besides that, she interacts nicely with both the black and white as the grey aspects of this job. The foil she provides to both the male and female characters as the supersexy but insecure hottie is of course, also interesting.

WILLIS, GREG
Every team needs a driver. Luckily, this team has Greg Willis, who can operate any vehicle known to man. With the ability to pretty much absorb the written word, Greg also counts as the resident technology and occult specialist. His innate knowledge of the entirety of the vehicles he operates supercedes the possibly low experience he has in actually using the vehicle.

Greg's limits are obvious though. He still needs to read everything to absorb the information, so while he's read up on a lot of a stuff, he's at best a jack of all trades, never the expert. Except cars of course. There's not a thing that Greg doesn't know about cars, and there's no car that Greg cannot drive.

To make things worse: Greg hates reading. Fortunately, he has a strong moral conviction, so he's found the discipline to read a lot, in order to utilize his powers to their potential. Greg's distaste for reading would be a running joke through the series, where we often see Greg sitting in a chair, sleeping while a book is in his lap.

CHAULK, BETHANY
Remember this little lady? The dangerous telekinetic country girl with a little bit of hoochiness in her from the second season of Angel. Angel saved her from the clutches of both her past and Wolfram & Hart, giving her control of her powers at the same time. Where better for a girl like Beth to go than the government?

Bethany's role on the team is a fun, if *****y, one. She is a nice contrast to Gwen, the one that dresses that little bit more sexily, and from one would expect "****ty" behaviour. Instead, Beth is the skanky one here, seducing about half of the male cast by the end of the first season, and trying very hard to do so with the others.

Naturally, things always go awry, because it wouldn't be very good drama if it didn't. However, I'd try to at least avoid the "Woman in Refrigerators" syndrome. Since this title is already on the moral edge, there is no real necessity to "punish" Beth for her actions, as one would expect to be done on some other shows. Beth gets to be the ***** you love to hate.

BLACK, JASON
Meet our mystery figure. None of the team knows if they can trust him, but they do know he's useful in a fight. Basically a suped up human, Jason is incredibly lethal in combat, having some Jason-Bourne-like fighting skills to go along with his powers.

What's his deal you ask? Is it magic? Science? Naturally, it's both. Remember those cyborg assassins from Angel's fifth season? Don't worry if you don't remember. They only showed up in "Lineage", and that particular plot line was never resolved. The Initiative gets to end that dangler, although we wouldn't know exactly why Jason is on the team till the end of the first season/volume.

As for Jason's personality: Wouldn't you expect any less than a cold, slightly sadistic bastard? He doesn't care who lives or dies, as long as the mission is completed, often bringing him in conflict with the goody two shoes on the team. The only one he seems to form a report with is Sam, and Marcie, who I've saved for last on this list.

ROBINSON, WILL
Danger, Will Robinson!? Not exactly, but this Will Robinson is certainly dangerous in his own right. Remember how, in Fight Club, Tyler Durden travelled around America, setting up Fight Clubs? That's basically what Will Robinson did to the vampire-hunting operation from Los Angeles.

Robinson hails from the streets that Charles Gunn does, but he moved out at a young age when his parents came into some considerable money. Returning years later, he finds his community under siege by vampires, and joins Gunn's former gang in order to fight them. Combining the small scale of this operation with the business sensibilities he learned in school, Will quickly takes up the organization of the first, led by civilians, cross-city demon hunting syndicate.

Before long, Will Robinson is a legend, and is quickly approached by Riley Finn to aid the Initiative. Unlike most fictional black characters around, Will Robinson does not "fear" the system. In fact, he works it with a skill unparalleled by most. The man ain't keeping Will Robinson down, because Will Robinson is the man.

ROSS, MARCIE
You're probably wondering: Why no banner? Duh, because she's invisible. Appearing way back in the eleventh episode of Buffy's first season, where this invisible girl was recruited by the FBI. Last we "saw" of her, she was reading a book on assassination and infiltration. This pretty much describes Marcie's role on the team. Infiltration, a basic secret weapon ready for use any time. She would not be featured in every episode, but would be an oft-recurring character on the show.