Back. Now, those who know me know that when it comes time to make a new character for a campaign, I usually have five or six that I want to play, but eventually narrow it down to one, often based on what the rest of the group plays. (So, if in a supers game, someone wants to play the speedster, I let them play the speedster and I play my trick arrow guy, or whatever.)
I had a long car ride today, and had some time to think about this.
Pitch #0: The Flash - I think any pitch I'd make today would be so colored by the leaked pilot that I shouldn't even bother trying, but I do love me some speedsters.
Pitch #1: The Hawk.
Carter Hall dreams of the past.In the past, he's been a soldier, a cowboy, a detective, a blacksmith, a pirate, a knight, and a hundred other things, but always a hero. But he mostly dreams of being the Pharaoh Khufu. He and his queen were betrayed by the vizir, who cursed them both. It's all just dreams, he thinks, but so real. It's what's led him to be an archeologist, often compared to a modern day Indiana Jones. Now, he's a visiting professor at Opal University, attached to the Museum of Natural History.
A few days ago, he was working late when what he could only describe as a living shadow tried to steal some ancient artifacts made of a metallic alloy that hadn't been seen before. With instincts he didn't know he had, he picked up a mace made of this metal and proceeded to beat the crap out of the shadow thief. The thief seemed to recognize him, and called him Khufu. The fight woke up something in Carter's mind. A colleague (Dr. Xanadu, professor of parapsychology, and alleged psychic) told him he was remembering past lives.
So now Carter's looking for the Shadow Thief, and is wondering if he'll find his queen. He's investigating strange crimes, lending his centuries of expertise to the police, especially Detective Shiera Sanders, who thinks he's kind of a nut.
In terms of powers, he's a big strong guy, but not superhumanly so. But he knows a zillion fighting techniques and has thousands of skills. I figure Jason Momoa is a good visual match for him, but any really big beefy guy who'd look at home smashing a bad guy in the face with a mace who could also pull off the smart guy aspects would do. No real costume other than he probably dresses like Indiana Jones (without the hat).
Mid-Season swerve/reveal, he discovers the Shadow Thief (and Hath-Set, who's the local equivalent of the Evil Businessman Lex Luthor) have the set of wings that he's been dreaming about.
Pitch #2: The Manhunter
Private detective John Jones always takes the strange cases. He's been to Gotham City to look for the bat-monster urban legend. He's got an interview with an air force pilot who claims he was saved by an dark haired angel and a folder of newspaper reports about all that strange stuff that went on in Kansas a few years ago. He's a great detective, and folks who know him say he's the next Sherlock Holmes. He does the thing where he looks at the dirt on your shoes and tells you seventeen things about your life.
Of course, he's cheating. While he's a good detective, he's also a telepathic alien from the distant world Ma'aleca'andra. Professor Erdel, a brilliant scientist at Opal University opened up a wormhole that sucked J'onn J'onzz away from his wife and daughter. The shock gave Erdel a heart attack and stuck J'onn on a world he didn't know. (If you've seen or read DC The New Frontier, a lot of J'onn comes from that.) He's not from Mars in this version. He's also not a physical powerhouse. In terms of powers, he can change shape like Mystique and read minds like Professor X. He can't control minds (at least not yet). Fire has a hypnotic effect on Ma'aleca'andrans and weakens his powers. It's more like Smallville's Blue Kryptonite, he's depowered, locked in whatever shape he was in before the fire, but he's not dying.
John's secretary/girl Friday is Megan Morse, a perky teenage redhead. As for villains, I'd want to work with Theron to see how many aliens we could cram in. I'd definitely want to use Starro at some point. And if we were going to see the New Gods at some point, I figure he'd have run ins with folks like Kanto or Granny Goodness.
I'm going to cheat and use Carl Lumbly as the actor, since he did the voice on the Justice League cartoons. No costume, but a big long trench coat that billows nicely.
Mis-Season swerve/reveal: Some of the Pale Ma'aleca'andrans is also on Earth and reveal themselves as the Hyperclan. M'gann is one of the Hyperclan (part of the reason the Pales are feared by the Green is that they're perfect psychic chameleons, and can fool telepaths), but she'd do a heel/face turn mid fight because she likes J'onn and the Hyperclan are going to cross Moral Event Horizons that she's not in favor of.
Pitch #3: Girl Power
Karen Starr is an independent web designer working in Opal City. She's got dark hair and wears glasses. She's gorgeous, but of course she has a ponytail and glasses so she's a Hollywood Nerd (who we are supposed to believe isn't gorgeous, like Felicity on Arrow). But when trouble calls, she pulls off her wig (to reveal short blonde hair) and glasses and beats the crap out of bad guys. So far it's all be in secret, much like the Blur back in Smallville, though she doesn't have that level of super-speed.
On a regular basis, she fiddles with a strange crystal device that looks like a lot of overlapping triangles and talks to someone she refers to as "Sir" (and who calls her "Kara") about how her observations and what she's learning about America. It's obvious from the conversations she's not from around here, and they're talking in a fake language. She's also decidedly NOT telling him about any crimefighting she's doing.
In terms of powers, she's super-strong, invulnerable, has sharp senses and is fast, but more like the Bionic Woman fast, not the Flash fast. Oh, and she can leap tall buildings in a single bound. Personality-wise, she doesn't take crap from anyone. She probably dresses like Smallville Clark Kent when doing super-stuff (red coat, blue pants, white tee-shirt).
Mid-Season Swerve: The TV producers have kept saying that they have plans for "The Trinity" and not to assume things, especially about Karen, and they get all smug about it. Because in the mid-season swerve, we also learn that Karen can breathe underwater and talk to fish. And that she's hasn't been talking to Argo City, but Atlantis. She's an agent of King Orin, spying on the surface world to see if humanity could possibly accept the existence of Atlantis. All this time, folks were supposed to assume that she's Kryptonian, but she's Atlantean. If Superman wasn't around, Aquaman would be the team's brick because he is super-strong, fast and invulnerable - just not as much as Superman is.
Actress: This is tricky, and doing google searches for tall blonde actresses is probably a cesspit. I wouldn't want the Playmate Of The Year look she's often drawn as, nor would I want the very muscular version Alex Ross draws. Caity Lotz from Arrow is pretty close. I'd probably have the casting directors look for Mixed Martial Artists who can act, or send the actress to MMA training.
Girl Power is absolutely inspired.
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