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Question
By super hero I mean similar to comic book or anime heroes who are over the top enough to be exciting but not so much that they are "unrealistic" within their own world/universe.
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First estabilish consistent power system and then try to stick with it.
well I've come up with a unique magic system so most of my heroes and villains will be magic users. On the other hand I also have allot of tech in my universe too so I would enjoy mixing the both not so much magic vs tech but group A vs group B and having a bit of tech and or magic mixed through out both groups.
So a few years ago, I developed a group of young heros that would fit into the DC universe, for my own writting. Mainly a group of college kids that each developed an interesting set of powers, who stick to a US region outside of the main DC hero centers and keep a low profile.
My main hero 'Solis' initially comes off as a Superman ripoff before the nature of his solar radiation based powers becomes apparent. While the power-set of abilities he has is similar to kryptonians, its only due to the similar source of their powers. The exact magnitude of his abilities operate on a slightly different range than his kryptonian counterparts, as well as his strengths and weaknesses are different. Solis's powers possess both a genetic and magical base, setting it apart from a kryptonian's solely genetic base. Solis has a natural resistance to magic that kryptonians lack and he does not suffer from under the rays of red solar radiation, nor Kryptonite as Kryptonians do. The offset though, is that Solis is actually much more vulnerable to electricity and typical neutron radiation than kryptonians are, both of which actually cause a reaction that force-ably expels the stored solar radiation from his body, draining him. His abilities also manifest differently than Kryponian abilities do, while similar, this would prove to cause problems for people who assumed he could do the same things (and in the same way)as Superman.
My second character on the team, is by far my more creative creation. 'Tech Support' is a girl who's powers manifest in that her brain and nervous tissue are replaced or change into some sort of cyber-organic tissue. This ability allows her possess all the typical special brain abilities like eidetic memory, enhanced intelligence, enhanced reflexes and senses, enhanced balance, etc. This does not included psionic abilities like telepathy, telekinesis. These abilities allow her to become a leading expert in a wide range of scientific fields and even allows her to both 'plug-in' and 'up-load' with computer systems, and she eventually gets around to starting up her own company that begins to rival wayne-tech and luthor corp in size and wealth.
The other members are alot more simple and ended up being more of a backdrop to my first two and didn't really play a significant role in anything.
A third and separate hero I made for Marvel was 'Agent Sword' was a much more restrictive hero. Possessing a unique biology that gifted him with a physiology similar to a super-soldier serum enhanced human, 'Sword' was a man who came from the 'real world' and found himself in the marvel world, shortly before the events of Secret Invasion and Civil War. The idea revolved around this guy eventually getting into S.H.I.E.L.D. before secretly comming into contact with Fury who enlists him as an agent directly for Fury who remains removed from the superhero community as best as possible. To accomplish this, Agent Sword and Fury develop a suit comprised of both Adamantium and Vibranium components. The under-shell is composed of a super dense Vibranium weave mesh that serves to protect the wearer from impact damage by absorbing the forces directed at the individual. Layered on top of the Mesh core is an Adamantium exoskeleton that acts to protect the wearer from being able to be: crushed, bent in impossible angles, and redirecting energies from the body. The helmet shields the wearer from psionic influence like Magneto's helmet as well as (along with the vibranium mesh core) being littered with anti-magic runes and wards to prevent things like mind-control and (hopefully) things like getting turned into a frog (or any other typical magic spell). The suit sadly is very vulnerable to Magneto (for obvious reasons) and provides no defense against reality warping effects beyond whatever it's durability can provide. The major part of his design is that I tried to add a level of consistancy and realism to the comic world. Because of this, he had to have, at least super-soldier abilities just to be able to function in the suit, since the suit is clearly going to be too heavy for a regular human to realisticlly have any chance of even moving in. The suit had to be made the way it was to explain how a guy who is relatively normal in terms of strength and durability is expected to survive encounters with individuals (like the hulk) who have enough strength to turn him into human paste with a simple punch. Afterall, there are relatively few individuals in the marvel hero community who shouldn't be obliterated on a daily basis by individuals like the hulk, thor, thing, A-Bomb, etc.
Basically this guy runs around doing things for Fury while keeping his identity a secret from the various heroes. On top of that, he is trying to figure out who is responsible for his being present in the comic world and how that might change things, and what he thinks might be acceptable changes he himself can make.
Sorry this kinda turned into 'introducing my characters' but I tried to explain my characters as short as i could and still get the point across.
Why wont Tech Support go into something actually useful like curing cancer or solving problem of hunger in the world instead of righteous face punches?
Also I doubt, that OP meant making OCs for Marvel/DC, since in these worlds there is basically nothing, that can be called unrealistic.
Tech Support actually does go into working on such issues. Her company, while mainly and originally an Advanced Technologies Development company, it quickly branched out into pharmaceuticals, and several others. She actually uses a portion of her revenue to financially support her team and in developing some of the most advanced electronics in the world to aid her teammates, a major focus goes into communications and technologies that help conceal their identities since a major plot point was going to develop where Batman being his typical paranoid self (and to a lesser degree Superman) wanted to know the identities of the young group while the Justice League wanted to gain a measure of control over the team. With the historical track record of major heroes becoming targeted from leaks in their secret identities, and how insecure Batman's systems, and by extension, the Justice League systems, the young team denies and resists any and all attempts by the major superheroes to become affiliated and regulated by either the government or the Justice League.
So yes, she still takes part in the heroic actions of her teamates, but she can do so, while simultaneously running her business and working on more practical matters. As for the marvel/DC thing, I was merely giving an example based on what I've done. There are plenty of things in the comic universes that are unrealistic, even within the viewpoint of the respective universes since they are not even remotely consistent with their own rules and standards and are subject to the will of whatever artist is currently working on a character. I mean, you have a guy who can basically move faster than the speed of light (flash) and he can be challenged by a gallery of rogues who are all regular humans with fancy gadgets, who could all be rendered unconscious before any of them have a chance to even be aware that the Flash is on his way. To a lesser extent this can apply to Superman too, since a significant portion of his enemies still operate within regular human awareness of time and he is capable of faster than light speed as well.
A while ago someone shared a story where humans have designed this crank that can be turned very fast to generate energy so someone from a government met with Superman and told him about this crank they designed and build. He wanted superman to push that crank for as long and as fast as he could.
So Superman being the type of hero he is went to this crank and turned it around and around for decades perhaps even a few hundred years. A man in a tux walks in the room to find a very old Superman long after humans have forgotten about their hero and thanks Superman for his hard work and that humanity have reached an Utopian civilization and no longer require his help. So superman retires as a forgotten her and returns to his life as Clark Kent.
PS: I tried to stay true to the story but it was a few months ago I read it.
Kinda related (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHOfZF7YExk) In this they talk about how Super Heroes are mainly there to help us from becoming too bored than they are to help create an Utopian civilization which in turn could be quite a boring place to live depending on who you are.
About the realism thing. To me realism in a fictional universe mainly refers to how well does this new character fit in. Using things like preexisting materials and powers can help the audience accept this new character as apart of a familiar universe
You wouldn't plop down an Ork from the Warhammer Universe in the DC universe. There would be no way to tell where they fit in, in terms of strength nor why they are there. Also the average fan of comic book heroes would have no idea why there's only male Orks nor anything about their 2 gods.
When trying to make a new character seem realistic within a universe it does help to have them fight along side and or against familiar characters. Having a quick back story also helps the audience understand why they are there and who this new person is. Than again you can save a good back story for a prequel.
u/Mazhiwe
There is a slight difference between using superstrength as a powerplant and using superintelligence to solve actual problems. Unless there is actual, good explanation for it, Reed Richards Is Useless trope is a sign of incompetency at worldbuilding and certainly has nothing to do with realism.
As for Orcs from WH40k, your argument is invalid. They wouldn't make any difference in Marvel/DC universes, since both of them contain even more bizarre kinds of aliens. And an average comic book fan usually has no idea or simply doesn't care about most of underlying details anyways.
This reply was kinda irrelevant to the question you asked, since no matter how ridiculous shit you put in universe of Marvel or DC, it wont be unrealistic, since both of them are Fantasy Kitchen Sinks.
As for telling how strong one character is in comparison to another, one can just look at the feats achieved by them in their respective stories and there is even sub dedicated to it - r/whowouldwin. And this sub is rather about creating your own setting, rather than making OCs for already existing franchise.
The story about the power generator is mainly to show why heroes don't go around trying to create an utopia. even if Lex Luthor could solve all of the world's problems using his company and intellect it would be a very boring comic book universe. Even Star Trek has it's political problems when dealing with other races.
I do admit the Ork example was flawed as I overlooked the whole alien species thing. Also I do like the term Fantasy Kitchen Sink. Though my world may fall under this category Most things will be tied into the structure of what makes my universe unique.
Science Fantasy is a genera?? I think my universe defiantly falls under this category. Though I do h ave an explanation on why there's so much magic in this universe. The only "problem" is I'm using a few DnD races like elves. Though I have other tropes like an insect hive mind bent on invading their galaxy. I have a maximum of 12 galaxies in my "small" universe.
I will defiantly check out that reddit page. Who would win seems like a fun place to hang out. I do understand this sub is about world creation but the guy who posted was on topic to my main question about creating a super hero.
Do you have any experience creating a character that might fall under the catagory of super hero/villain?
Your comment is perfectly fine. I was actually wondering if I should just strait up ask people to post their super heroes but I was afraid that I might want to nick some of their ideas. Like yours about magic resistant ruins, Though I can just use my universes version of cotton which was designed for enchantments and low level magic resistance.
You have given me some insight to what a "finished" character should be like.
I love starting with an origin story. What drives and motivates the character? Powers are secondary.
Another poster said the down sides of a super hero are just as important as any power they may have. To which I added their personality flaws could also be considered a down side.
It does seem that powers though are fun to watch are not very important when compared to what makes a character interesting.
I'm currently working on a small group of scientists who are working on looking for the "big bang" in their universe when something goes wrong in the lab giving most everyone in the building magical powers. This happens late at night so it's the graveyard shift who get the powers. During the day there would be too many people around for my liking.
So I have a general back story for why they have powers. I just need to come up with the politics and events that lead up to that point.
Step 1: Dead Parents. Something killed or sent away their parents at a young age.
Step 2: Investigative or Justice themed career, or scientist.
Step 3: Something weird happened to them as a result of mostly not-understood forces (magic, radiation, fantastical bloodline, cutting-edge science).
Step 4: Villain. They need a villain.
(Optional: Replace steps 2&3 with "being rich and having gadgets")
Interesting steps. Personally I think "dead parents" have been done, I do understand why and how it works but something like "rough childhood" could be enough for me.
My current hero is a scientist of sorts. So I agree with step 2.
Step 3 is the climax for how my character became a super hero as it involves magic radiation or something to that effect.
I haven't come up with a villain leading up to the climax yet. Though I think it might be a government or corporation sort of deal that's pushing the scientist aspect too far which in turn causes step 3.
I'm currently working through the creation of my hero backwards and you've helped me figure out ideas for step 1 and how it could lead into step 2 and 3.
Now I get to work on the villain and any equals rather they become allies or enemies later.
TV Tropes: So You Want To Write A Superhero Comic
I would go the deconstructionist route, myself. Take some wild and out there comic book level absurdities, and explore the natural consequence.