I have always liked opening texts from science fiction films such as Star Wars and Blade Runner. They always establish the setting of the overall story. I am thinking of doing the same with my new superhero series and I will write it like I would a newsreel or historical record. Mark my words, in this story, the past century will have turned out different.
It has come to my attention that the original setting for my new superhero series was way too extreme and impractical. I am thinking of redoing the setting so that it is more down to Earth and realistic. This will require some extensive planning, but I am up for the challenge. Instead of it being a space opera that takes place in a space station orbiting the Earth, I am thinking of making the setting an alternate version of the United States. In this alternate reality, the United States will be turned from a democracy to a fascist monarchy. At some point in the future, a President changed the law so that there would be no elections and that the President serves for life before being replaced by one of his relatives. I have plenty of inspiration for such a setting because I have a strong feeling that such a thing could happen if the occupant of the Oval Office is not held accountable. Essentially, this new superhero series will be less like Star Wars and more like V for Vendetta.
As powerful and extraordinary as superheroes are, they are not without their weaknesses. Easily the most iconic superhero weakness is Kryptonite, which is one of Superman’s few weaknesses alongside red sun radiation and magic. To serve as a countermeasure against superhumans in my new superhero series, the government will be employing a weakness that does not just affect one superhero but all superhumans in general. This weakness can kill the weakest superhumans in seconds or minutes while the strongest superhumans take between a half hour to an hour to kill. I won’t say what this weakness is, but the way it kills its victims is going to be gruesome.
I have always been a fan of the Terminator franchise and I am looking forward to the new film Dark Fate. In this film, we are introduced to a new villainous Terminator known as the REV-9. Based on the trailer, the REV-9 is essentially a fusion between the robotic endoskeleton of the T-800 and the liquid metal coating of the T-1000. This makes it similar to the TX from Rise of the Machines, but unlike the TX, the endoskeleton and the liquid metal can operate independently from one another. This way, you get two Terminator units in one, which makes it twice as deadly as previous models and will mean double the trouble the heroes will go through. I look forward to seeing what other nasty surprises this new Terminator unit has up its metallic sleeves. One thing is certain; I don’t want to be terminated by this thing.
I just watched the film known as Crawl, which depicted a father and daughter fighting to survive against a horde of man-eating American Alligators as a hurricane ravages their home. While driving home, I was in deep analytical thought about crocodilians in general. I wondered if it was possible for an American Alligator to interbreed with an American Crocodile, resulting in hybrid offspring. I got the idea from the Liger, which is a hybrid between a lion and a tiger. Hybrid animals such as the Liger are known to be larger and more powerful than either of its parents.
With this in mind, I made some calculations about the size of both crocodiles and alligators. American Crocodiles tend to grow to an average maximum length of 16 feet and weigh 1,100 pounds while the American Alligator can grow to an average maximum length of 15 feet and weigh 500 pounds. With these calculations in mind, I think a croc/gator hybrid could grow between 20 to 25 feet in length and weigh between 2 to 3 tons. Also, alligators and crocodiles tend to lay up to 70 to 80 eggs at a time. Imagine that many of these giants roaming about.
Then I raised the stakes even higher when I remembered the killer shark film known as Deep Blue Sea, which depicted genetically engineered sharks that were smarter than either dolphins or whales or primates. Like crocodilians, sharks did not have to evolve for millions of years because they were perfectly evolved killing machines. They have been around since before the dinosaurs and survived every mass extinction event. When you combine that with human-like intelligence, you create a true super predator.
I therefore thought of taking the super smart predator concept and incorporating it into these croc/gator hybrids. Crocodilians are already one of God’s oldest and flawless killing machines. Imagine how much more formidable they would be if they were as smart and calculating as humans. Worse, imagine a creature that is 25 feet in length, weighs 3 tons, and can outsmart and outmaneuver any human that crosses its path. That is a potent mix and gives me the goosebumps.
I will tinker with this idea further in a potential story idea in the future.
In my new superhero book, I will be featuring a character with a mutated arm. This arm will be a grotesque mixture of bare muscle, sharp bone claws, and dozens of tentacles that are tipped with sharp barbs. This arm is going to be a deadly weapon when used in hand to hand combat and the damage it inflicts will be frightening.
In the Curiosity Stream documentaries, I discovered several segments that talked about the concept of megacities. We often think we can build cities horizontally forever, but the truth is that the Earth’s surface is finite. As our population grows, it would make sense to build cities vertically to accommodate our increasing numbers. Megacities are essentially super sized skyscrapers and can house tens of thousands of residents. Some megacities could be built on land, on artificial islands in the middle of the ocean, be 3D printed, or have plants and jungles growing from their walls. I am thinking of featuring a megacity in my new superhero series that could house a quarter million residents. It will be the last of its kind.
