With superior power comes superior entitlement. No, that’s not right. Superior power corrupts superior-illy. Whatever it is, everyone hates him and now he’s giving them all a good reason. Although in today’s political climate, 50% of the country would probably vote to keep the supremely powerful alien tyrant in power.
Superior Man makes his heel turn. Who on Earth can stand up to him? Will it be up to & and Matt (who still hasn’t decided on a new name)? Speaking of new names…
This week, 3 Kick Points to whoever comes up with the best name for the cone-headed, rocket-packed hero. Rocketeer is taken.
Special thanks to The Thing taking a respite from his regular gig at Marvel Comics to appear in the pages of Kickman.
Yeeeeeeessssss!!!!
I’m sure Bullet Head will join the ranks to take him down.
Someone else on Hive also came up with Bullet Head, but I don’t award Kick Points unless they post here on Kickman’s Home Page. I can’t be giving out awards willy-nilly on multiple platforms. Chaos would ensue. Bullet Head is a strong option, maybe culturally insensitive to bald dudes but that’s okay.
I’m thinking the Gold Aviator. It’s that or Ballistic Bronze, depending what material his helmet is made of
Gold Aviator sounds pretty good. Probably wouldn’t go with Ballistic Bronze just because we’ve already got a Bronze Eagle in the KickVerse. Although… DC has no problem with a Green Lantern and a Green Arrow. Two good options. Looks like we’ve got a competition, folks!
Hm. He’s wearing a helmet that looks like a bullet, so how about Shellshock Jet?
Hmm. Doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue.
Here are some thoughts that I came up with:
– “Rocket Man”
– “Flying Avenger” (or as an alternative, a longer version: “Golden Age Flying Avenger”
– “Jet Stream” (the name of a super villain group I created for an old Dark Champions RPG campaign long ago)
– “Jet Speed”
– “Rocket” (the name of a superhero AND a rival Hero in a Champions RPG game I ran)
– “The Spirit” (a really old-time Golden Age type name that, like many of those, had NOTHING to do with the character’s powers or abilities)
Some solid options. I’m going to have a tough time selecting a winner.
I wonder if Superior Man’s powers stem from constantly overcompensating for a hidden, crushing insecurity. Perhaps Klatchian Coffee would make him *worse*. Whatever his power source is, Our Heroes need to deal with it *first*. At least, unlike with vampires, the worst he can do is kill them…
If it’s something that he’s embarrassed by, then Blush could be the key to defeating him!
In a blatant bid for extra credit, the speedster could be called Blue Streak. Haha no that’s a terrible name. How about Cobalt Blur?
Actually her name has already been established… http://kickmancomic.mattslawblog.com/comic/heropreneurs-3/
Calling it: In a surprise twist the only hero who can beat him is Inferior Man, who, in the presence of Superior Man, balances his power level to baseline, effectively sapping his powers. Inferior Man’s power is a crushing and contagious inferiority complex, which makes him… not fun at parties. If he thinks he can’t do it, he can’t do it – and nor can anyone else.
There will be a big reveal on Superior Man’s power origin. I will have a huge Kick Point bonus to anyone that guesses it up until the day before the reveal. Although, at one week per strip, that may be another year…
Brass Bullet maybe?
Hmmm, it has a nice ring to it.
I’m going to go with… Nose Cone! OK, not really.
My guess regarding Superior Douchebag is: he has a variant of the Nemesis power or Power Absorption; he’s literally gaining power (& powers) every time he interacts with another powered individual (hero or villain).
Nose Cone is a fine choice!
I’ll be issuing no spoilers on Superior Man’s power source…
Rocket Jock!
Gravy-rater Aviator!
Baron Von Jetpack!
Headbanger!
Cuppa’ Head!
Copper copper!
Reel Rocket!
Friendly Skies!
Unfriendly Skies!
Hmm, that’s a lot of options. Rocket Jock is kind of catchy…
What if the guy’s name is “Rocket Pack Goofy” and that’s why he takes it personally? Nah? Gonna go for a world war vibe, due to the cool getup and scarf: Lead Baron.
Superior Man’s power source:
– get’s stronger the more he gets famous
– powered by people getting triggered by his audacity
– eats superior seafood at Sushi Shifu TM
Lead Baron? Man, now I wish I had made his helmet a dull gray.
Maybe Superior Man’s power is linked to his belief in his own superiority? Gladiator in X-Men had something similar going on, if a tad less obnoxious. And the longer he’s been able to hold that belief, the more powerful he becomes.
Hopefully, whatever his power source is, black bat and others will have done the prep work into finding what it is and how to shut it down…
Yeah, once Reed Richards figured that out, now anyone can beat up Gladiator… Cannonball KOed him for crying out loud.
My favorite scene involving Gladiator is actually from the X-Men/Star Trek crossover comic. The Enterprise enters Shiar space and Gladiator flies out to meet it… *everyone on bridge shakes* Kirk: “Did that man just punch my ship?”
hm.
“S.A.M.” for surface to air man. Or maybe that’s just his suit.
I think depending on your politics, the comment is correct- here’s this incredibly powerful super who’s worked his whole life to build his career in a form of civil service, deciding he knows what’s best for us proles, and I think you’re right. He’d pull about 81 million votes and then spend his time removing anyone who can challenge his power from existence.
Like the guy who won the last election.
Ooh, S.A.M. I like that. I could swap out his scarf for red, white, and blue and he could be Uncle S.A.M….
Here’s my guess on Superior Man’s powers for today.
Everyone’s powers came from thematic difficulty that they needed those specific powers to face. Maybe some benevolent force is giving people second chances out of omnipotent, unconditional love, or maybe some more mischevious god wants to see superpowered people squaring off. Maybe humanity has passed some hidden test so we get to be supers now. All unknown, but the powers *always* are what people actually need at the time of bestowal.
So how does that fit Superior Man and his current… turn?
Superior Man suffered pre-power from a crushing inferiority complex. So *his* power is being better than everyone at *everything*. And for the most part, his inferiority complex was ‘fixed’. Except he kept wanting to be better and better than everyone at everything, because it was still ‘there’, just not showing – simply manifesting as being better than everyone at everything, because that’s what we see. But if we knew it, it’s not *all* that we see.
And then Lana Lane interviews him setting him up to compete against *himself*. It starts out softly – competing against himself in the context of outdoing everyone else, as usual.
And then she shows he’s more powerful than *every superhero combined*.
Suddenly he’s competing against *himself*. The only competition left. And he will never. Ever. Ever. Be better than *himself*at *anything*.
Insecurity complex flares, and the better-than-everything-else gift is competing with *itself* now, so it’s quite possible he will become *even more powerful* while being torn apart by an impossible paradox: How can he ever be better than himself? Yes, a rational person would say “I will improve over time*. But *insecurity complexes aren’t rational*.
That’s my theory. Matt isn’t giving spoilers, but I can’t see a better fit, and I’m usually pretty good at these things.
Your move, Storyteller. 🙂
That’s a pretty long, well thought out theory. I can neither confirm nor deny it’s accuracy. 🙂
Correction: Lana Lewis is her name in canon. Thanks for the props. 🙂
Aw crap, so it is. Her name just kind of transitioned into Lana Lane in recent strips, but yeah she was originally Lana Lewis. Now, I’m not sure if I should correct them or just let it be. 3 Kick Points to Merlin of the Tower for catching my mistake.
Hmmm…. the easiest one to change would be the first newscast back at the end of the Apptitude chapter….
Golden Bullet
Golden Bullet is a good solid name.
Ok people, come on, this is the Kickman comic we are talking about here. There is a certain level of careful thought, and decorum that goes into a hero choosing his name. All that is also just as often shot STRAIGHT to hell by some snot nosed Internet geek, or possibly angry ex-girlfriend reporter (insert comic # reference here), who happens to get online first and ruins everything just to do the “first comment dance”. Thus his name is just obvious to me… he is… the one…the only…
MAN-MISSILE !!!!
That has a certain something to it.
I already thought back in Grudge Match that hes gonna turn heel eventually. Also found the name Alpha Male somewhat fitting for a villain.
Well if you take enough nad trauma, you’ll eventually turn evil.