Superman - The Real World?

[The Batman]

So tomorrow you're walking down the street or you turn on CNN or you're favourite program is interrupted with some breaking new. You look and you see a helicopter hanging over the side of a building. It's about to fall over and plummet a hundred stories to the ground. One of the occupants of the helicopter is hanging out of it; if she doesn't fall first she's going to go when the helicopter does. It's terrible, there's no way anyone is going to be able to do anything. There's sirens in the distance but there is no way they'll get there in time to do anything more than clean up the mess. Everyone is frozen, watching with a combination of helplessness and morbid curiosity.

Oh my god.

She falls.

The helicopter right after her.

Then there's a blur of red and blue.

Is it a bird? A plane? No. It's a man who can fly. He catches the woman in one hand, the helicopter in the other.


Someone with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men has just revealed himself to the world.

What happens next?

[WoodenDummy]

If we're talking comic book level of powers then I doubt anyone could really do anything to stop him doing whatever he wanted to do.

I still think Red Son is one of the more real life type superman stories.

How his powers work in the real world is interesting, probably a massive amount of genetic engineering that only a technology 1000s of years ahead of ours could give, to fly he would most likely emit gravatons, but my field is robotics so I'm making random guesses. ;)

[Syphre Zero]

What happens next? I start looking for fresh shorts and a camera. Regrettably, it is doubtful I will locate either within a useful time frame.

[Holacik]

I would have to think that the goverment would want to get thier hands on him.

[Joe Acro]

So tomorrow you're walking down the street...

There aren't TVs on my streets.

...or you turn on CNN...

Not going to happen.

...or you're favourite program is interrupted with some breaking new.

Only if it happens during the spring season.

Someone with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men has just revealed himself to the world.

What happens next?

The man becomes a mysterious celebrity that begins attempting to fix the world. Eventually, he has foiled enough of a businessman's exploits that said businessman concocts a plan to take this "hero" out of the equation.

That's the traditional route.

In reality, he'd probably begin trying to fix the world and actually make things worse.

[666MasterOfPuppets]

Mass hysteria.

The media and the governments all over the world would start to speculate.

The United Nations would IMMEDIATELY hold an extraordinary meeting, in which the only topic would be this man.

The guys at SETI would jump in one leg for days.

Some secret organization would try to dominate this man.

Every soul in the world would look up to the sky every two seconds.

He'd probably stop immediately the war in Iraq, to some people's immediate disappointment and anger, leading to extreme measures from said people.

The media would air or publish every deed of this man, no matter how small.

I'm sure there would be effects on global economy, my disability to say which ones notwithstanding.

[rwe1138]

I'd probably pee my pants a little. ;)

[Lord of Denial]

We would deem him a threat to our rule of this planet and we would do everything in our power to destroy him. We fail but we would try.

Humans destroy what we can't understand.

[DemonJack]

What happens next?

1-Jay Leno, Connan, and every single comedian and comedy oriented show accross the globe have en effing field day. Not to mention the online community.

2-Can anybody say insane "amount of merchandising"!? (Since I can't really spell it)

3-New religions bloom all over the world claiming either a new savior or the apocalypse is at hand. TBS of Superman are now holy lecture to these.

4-I start selling my superman comics at ludicrus prices.

5-DC is overrun by SWAT teams and anti-terrorist squads possing as comic book fans.

6-Thousands of conspiracy theorists and UFO supporters accross the world orgasm and have a collective "I told you so..."

8-CBR forums overload and crash!

7-And of course a whole bunch of skeptics will call it a hoax yet internally be crapping themselves scared.

[Crash-Man]

What happens next?

I'd rest the woman and the helicopter gently down on the nearest rooftop, and fly off before drawing too much attention.

[Kaos]

I'd learn that anythin is possible an go jump into some radioactive waste

[PatrickG]

Nothing changes all that much.

I don't think businessmen have "evil exploits".

I figure most petty criminals would go straight or surrender.

Ultimately, we'd see him drawn into international situation with hostages and nukes pointed at his family.

OR

He'd wind up with people he cares about who use him or get used against him.

But in the meantime, I figure he'd do more good than anyone ever and have at least a shot at changing human history and society whether he wants to or not.

[666MasterOfPuppets]

What happens next?

3-New religions bloom all over the world claiming either a new savior or the apocalypse is at hand. TBS of Superman are now holy lecture to these.

6-Thousands of conspiracy theorists and UFO supporters accross the world orgasm and have a collective "I told you so..."

7-And of course a whole bunch of skeptics will call it a hoax yet internally be crapping themselves scared.

Cool ones. I had forgotten about those.

[Sanagi]

One way or another, idealism and reality are going to have a nice, big, violent collision.

[The Batman]

I like the idea that there would be religious implications to a real world Superman. It's an interesting idea. Would other religions attempt to co-opt Superman or would a religion specific to him spring up? I also think that there might be problems between Superman and the governments of the world depending on how he chooses to enact his mission. I could definately see him being considered a threat and having people go after him.

I think that we would probably see some parallels between our real world Superman and another guy that came to Earth and did some miraculous things.