Kthaahthikha

This, however serious it may be, has left me considering the feasability of a hero in real-world context. On the topic of superheroes, I think one of the best realist treatment's is the film Unbreakable, but in terms of a actual practicality, the most realistic hero-templates are characters such as Dick Tracy, The Phantom, the original Sandman and perhaps also Batman.

Now, Batman can be ruled-out because no-one is that rich, and his costume is a bad idea anyway. The costumes were gimicks invented to lure-in children and add a bit of colour and distinction to the proceedings, because otherwise the original Batman would have shown-up all the more plainly as just another masked sleuth king-hitting purse-snatchers.

So that leaves us with Tracy, the Sandman and the Phantom. We can omit the Phantom because he rode a horse and his costume is, one again, impractical. Unless a hero has the ability to leap buildings and dismantle tractors bare-handed, stealth and incospicuousness is the key to success. This is what makes a vigilante - what we are ultimately left with - slightly more veratile than a cop - because cops have to wear uniforms and follow procedure, calling attention to themselves, whereas vigilantes can walk straight into those drug dens and start snooping, and even break-and-enter and then pretend their just lost.

So the ideal super-hero for the modern era is a plain-clothed one.

Now, in terms of wqeapons and equipment, the modern hero would require a case containing lock-picks, grapnels, a low-light scope (even video cameras have those these days), a police scanner, basic field forensics equipment, canisters of knock-out gas, a small quantity of c-4, a pistol, knives and the like. This should be concealed in secret compartments in the case, and only ever taken with the hero when they know they'll need them.

Now, on to methods. Patrolling is pointless. Wandering about, the chances of encountering crimes as they happen are slim-to-none, and the area to be covered enormous. The Guardian Angels could patrol the subway because there were tonnes of them, on a subway, but one person in a clapped-out sedan would have a little more trouble making an impact.

So what can a real-world hero do? Basically, they can listen-in on the scanner and investigate crimes that have already happened, in a manner more invasive and less well-regulated than the police could. That is to say, they can follow obscure hunches and the like and not worry about being court-martialed, or whatever the police equivalent is. They can also investigate criminal activities of which the police are unaware, or tip the cops off to them, and investigate activities that police corruption has buried.

So, really, the real-world hero is an extension of the police-force, limited by the lack of a large organisation to support it. A Justice League or Charlie's Angels style cohort might be slightly more effective, although a network of informants amongst the criminal classes could be just as useful.

So, really, there's not that much point to a real-world hero bent upon upholding the law. If they have their own moral code, this is different, but since I'm trying to come-up with a non-fascist hero that's neither here nor their.

Well, that was rambling and inconclusive.

Totally agree. I'm reading Alan Moore's Watchmen!