He’s a ‘potential’ threat in that he murders dozens of people every time he gets mad (including stuff like being threatened by his therapist probing too deep and stuff). The potential is waaaay too high and once the potential is triggered he can’t be stopped. It’s like a psychopath with a rifle except you can’t take the rifle away ever.

I don’t think a trial should have been necessary at all. Something that dangerous and uncontrollable should be destroyed immediately. Whether that one storyline “justifies” a further storyline is kind of an odd question, but in general, if I lived in the Marvel universe I would be in favor of extremely strict controls on anyone exhibiting superpowers or seeking to acquire superpowers / superpowered tech.

Well, yeah. Great power, great responsibility. We have licenses for cars, so if you can fly through buildings we should have at least comparable safeguards, and if those safeguards are impossible, you should have your ability to fly through buildings removed one way or another.

Not in the Marvel universe, no. There are only a few mutants which I think would need to be killed right away – and demonstrations of good character could certainly be taken into account!

Long conversation I missed, but to sum up;

Yes, they should all be forced to register, be segregated for training/initial emergence of power, and be tracked. The degree should be varied based upon what their abilities are.

You have green fur over 100% of your body? Check in every 6 months just to ensure your powers haven’t changed.

Can warp the earths magnetic field killing all life on the planet? You wear a tracking device so your location is known at all times and alerts when you use your powers. Do something illegal (felony+, not shoplifting etc) you are executed. Sorry, but we can’t take the chance.

As to your Bruce Banner/Hulk question. Yes, he should be executed as quickly as possible. He has already gone on multiple sprees killing countless people and causing untold property damage. Not executing him immediately is putting the population at further risk.

You can’t use our current judicial system with a meta human population. The existing system assumes that once a person is in custody they are no longer a threat to anyone which is not the case with someone who can turn into an unstoppable killing machine whenever they get angry.

Yes, they are an undeniable threat, all it takes is the wrong person getting the wrong power and they can end all life on the planet.

Without registration, no one would even know it could be happening let alone try to stop it.

Even if you scale it back, to a city. That is still far more power than any single person on the planet is capable of having without any sort of checks and balances in place (someone can build a nuke but you can track the materials required to build it, transport it to the location, etc).

“Sorry you have to wear a tracking device bro, I don’t want the planet to explode. At least you can fly?”

Honestly, not my problem to figure out how to make them agree with it. It’s not up to them.

I don’t know what the block is.

How was being registered preventing Max from being able to live his life quietly?

I never said anything about killing people for having powers. I said register and track, the same way we do currently for weapons owners.

I said kill the Hulk/Banner because he HAS KILLED countless people already.

Again, where is this supposed discarding coming from?

Are we murdering people who have registered fire arms? Are we a police state because we track nuclear materials?

I think you misunderstood what Rando was trying to say. I believe Rando’s stance is:

1: register all superpowers. Not just to keep an eye on them, but also to provide assistance in controlling and developing said powers.
2: deal with lethally dangerous threats as such. I.e. don’t kill Sabretooth because he’s a mutant, kill Sabretooth because he’s a cannibalistic serial killer who thinks children are a tasty late night snack after having their parents for lunch and dinner.

You should REALLY check out “Grrlpower,” then:

http://grrlpowercomic.com/archives/48

I’m also minded of City of Heroes (and oh, I miss that game!). The backstory was truly incredible: the timeline was a realistic depiction of how superheroes would have functioned in the real world, and it all led to the game mechanics that were also very well thought out. Superheroes were all registered (including “natural origin” heroes, which meant everything from unpowered martial artists and archers to aliens born with invulnerable skin). Then they were given security license ratings in recognition of their achievements. Most PCs were presumed to be members of Hero Corps, a private company that contracted to cities (like a sanitation business or utility company), and a lot of NPC superheroes were… police officers or soldiers (cops in Paragon City had a lot more to throw at rampaging supervillains than pistols and tasers).

Champions Online is similar – and I believe it’s based on the Champions RPG that you just mentioned. With a catgirl supervillain who became a bad guy specifically because they agreed to turn her into a furry in the first place (“like, are you Hunter-patriot guys serious about trying to overthrow Canada?”) and Grond… if it’s the same setting, then saying “Grond” should confirm it, given the nature of… well, of Grond.

He was choosing not to use his power, because he didn’t want to have to spend the rest of his life hiding from people who want to take advantage of it, and are willing to hurt him to make it happen.

Exactly like what happened THE VERY MOMENT Al found out about his power.

And she is supposed to be one of the good guys.

He voiced his rejection in a personal way because Al was verbally attacking him for refusing to put his safety on the line to save her friend.

It has nothing to do with his world view.

It has to do with the fact he will be hunted and tortured for his power.

Which was already been proven to be true. BY THE GOOD GUYS.

So to be clear.

To you, not wanting to be hunted and tortured for the rest of your life. Assuming the next person who forces you to use your powers on them doesn’t also kill you after you are done so no one else can use you against them.

Is being spoiled and self serving?

Not wanting to be tortured is spoiled and self serving? That is the stance you are going with here?

He was afraid of being tortured and hunted by people if they found out about his power.

The first person who found out about his power literally did exactly that. A good guy. Someone who is not supposed to do things like that.

She then threatened that she would do it again whenever she felt like it.

This entire situation is exactly about his well being and your refusal to admit that is being disingenuous.

But hey, if you want to get judgemental. How dare you sit here on your COMPUTER arguing about ethics and obligation with some random person on the internet rather than HELPING IN A SOUP KITCHEN or GIVING ALL OF YOUR NON-ESSENTIAL MONEY TO THE POOR.

There are people living on the streets, starving to death. And you are spending time and money on frivolous entertainment.

You selfish heartless monster. You should be ashamed.

Just so you know… my father is dying.

That’s not a plea for sympathy, that’s an explanation of my moral standpoint, and of one of the people who helped me formulate my moral beliefs.

My father is dying of… old age. Nothing specific, just parts wearing out. Heart condition, joints, etc. Minor wounds ending up needing a doctor’s care because they’re turning necrotic, that sort of thing.

Larry Niven wrote (in “Death By Ecstasy,” a short story published back in 1978 and republished as part of his anthology “Flatlander”) that a man could live forever as long as you kept shoving spare parts into him faster than they wore out.

If Feral and Max were real, and my father could be saved by Feral’s transplants, that would be an amazing thing.

But if my father knew that the price of his new heart and joints would be a guy young enough to be his grandson getting kidnapped and tortured by people who spat on him for not wanting to be endangered like that, he’d refuse. My father would rather die than live under those circumstances. He’s a retired U.S. Marine, and they have very strong notions about death before dishonor.

Here’s the thing, though. Go back into the archive and read it… PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT MAX IS SAYING.

Notice the misery in his words? When he was a young teenager he JUMPED OFF A BUILDING, hoping to develop flight powers on the way down. That’s how miserable he was. He has parents who filled his head with Objectivist crap, and when he developed a power that could help others but not himself he was made to feel ashamed for it. He lived in fear of having his secret found out, because if he does his life would be in danger. He is a rich white heterosexual cisgendered male – with all the same problems as LGBTs with homophobic parents, as closeted homosexuals in ultraconservative communities, as daughters of overcontrolling parents from sexist patriarchal cultures.

Think about how easy it would have been to persuade him to become one of the good guys, if you had been Alison and had her resources. Like… Lisa. “I know someone who can invent all kinds of stuff. You sign the check, she’ll give you a supersuit and you can fly just like me. One of my best friends always said comics were the “guidebooks” for what we do… well, there are superheroes with the same powers as you do. C’mon, you don’t have to be alone anymore.”

Hell, when he asked her “do you know what it’s like to have a useless power?” she should have told him THE TRUTH. “Actually… yes. I can punch things REALLY hard… but I can’t beat world hunger by punching it. Or crime. Or poverty. I’ve been struggling to find a way to save the world, and “punching things hard” doesn’t do it… but don’t you see? Your power is AWESOME. Your power could save the world. You’re looking at it all wrong, and I’m sorry I didn’t see it sooner – you’ve had people filling your head with self-doubts. I just wish you’d had parents as supportive as mine, who would have taught you to be proud of what you can do.”

Instead… Alison refused to show him any empathy or sympathy. She “killed the goose that laid the golden egg” because she couldn’t take a deep breath and realize that she was refusing to consider Max as being part of the humanity she wanted to save. That’s the problem with ideological extremists. They take about “humanity” as a great big nebulous cloud… but the individual humans that make up humanity tend to be extremely expendable…

> In the end, only one person in this setting has gotten under my skin to the degree where my blood boils every time they come up.

Is it Clevin?

It’s Clevin, isn’t it?