What Would The World's Reaction Be To A "Superhero" (i.e. Iron Man)?

Let's say, for the sake of this, that I happened to stumble upon what can only be compared to an Iron Man suit (except it's much more advanced than the fictional one) in the rubble of meteor rocks that crashed in my backyard and then I proceeded to put it on and claim it as my property and fly around happily or whatever.

What would the world's reaction be? Surely, it'd be my own property? Surely it's mine, not only because of "finder's keepers", but also because the meteor that held the advanced tech crashed into my own backyard?

What do you think?

Or would I be hounded by every government on the planet and declared a threat to national security just so that some government (especially the United States) could get a hold of it?

reply to post by HomoSapiensSapiens

What Would The World's Reaction Be To A "Superhero"?

TERRORIST!!!

KILL IT!!

reply to post by Akragon


Great - now what the hell do I do with a piece of advanced alien tech and weaponry that's landed in my backyard? There goes the idea of starting up Stark Industries, no?

Originally posted by HomoSapiensSapiens
reply to post by Akragon

 

Great - now what the hell do I do with a piece of advanced alien weaponry that's landed in my backyard? There goes the idea of starting up Stark Industries, no?

edit on 5/10/2013 by HomoSapiensSapiens because: (no reason given)

Bury it as far away as possible, and forget you ever possessed such a thing...

You would likely be deemed "infected", hacked open and studied...

aka...

Silenced...

Me thinks you should totally spiderman that suit. The gov would find some way to take it from you, and I doubt they would use it in any way helpful to anyone who isn't involved with "TPTB".

If you have good intentions with it and use it to protect those that deserve it, by all means, keep it your secret.

reply to post by HomoSapiensSapiens


It would be.

That's freaking amazing!
Does he have his own reality show?
NO? Well that sucks.
I'm gonna go watch TV.

Nothing. I fly around all the time and they just ignore me.

*neeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrr wooosh*

Oo

reply to post by HomoSapiensSapiens


I dont know about the rest of world but the US would react with fear, suspicion, mistrust and paranoia.
They would do everything in their power to try and recruit him for their own purposes, whether he was
an American or not.

reply to post by HomoSapiensSapiens


I would say their success or lack thereof would depend on what political party they belong too! Currently, it seems that (in the US) they would be golden and could do no wrong if they were labeled a Democrat!

Not saying they would be any better if they were Republican, but to be honest???? I would have much more faith in them if they just claimed to be human and believed that every man, woman, and child had a right to live free without interference from a power hungry elite world government!

reply to post by HomoSapiensSapiens


Even if such a thing were possible, it could not be allowed. No individual would be able to handle such an enormous amount of power.

There is a fine line between a super hero, and a super villain.
That line can easily get blurred and I would assume great controversy would develop, exactly as depicted in the comics.

reply to post by BrokenCircles


How do you mean?

You underestimate my capacities...

Super Hero would equal Super Threat with a minor change of attitude and outlook on things.

So... I'd bet the Super Hero would meet Super-Lethal Force if he didn't submit to Super-Isolation, at first request and as meekly as a mouse. In fact, even that may not save the poor guy.

Simple... If you align with the intentions of those in power;
You'd be welcomed with opened arms and paid a nice salary to do their bidding.

If you disagreed with the Status Quo, you'd be made to be mentally disabled or a terrorist... or both.
They would first try and find some legal way to take it from you if it were already made public.
If it wasn't public knowledge, they would try and take it from you one way or another.

If they couldn't take it from you, they would do everything in their power to destroy it so that no one could have it.


So my suggestion to you would be this;
Pre-Emptive First Strike.

Do unto them what they would do unto you.

reply to post by Akragon




I was actually thinking the exact same thing. I think that if anyone showed up that had more power then the military it would be looked upon as a hostile threat. In fact that movie that I can't think of the name of with Dr. Manhattan is a great example of how we would treat a superhero I think.

Anonymity would become such a person's best friend.

The history of mankind shows - that humanity isn't very kind to those who are different. I'd recommend to the superhero to stay - super hidden.

Cirque

Nothing, till the first time you used the superpowers the suit gave you and caused multi millions of dollars worth of damage to a city. In that event. You would be investigated thoroughly and once discovered who you were, you would be arrested by a swat team if they were able to capture you.

You would then have to stand trial, the bad guy who you captured, would be released (if he didn't die) because proper arrest protocol wouldn't have been followed. Additionally, he would then have the right to sue you for any injury he sustained during your capture of him.

Your suit would be confiscated, and be torn apart by the boys at DARPA and studied in order to Reverse-engineer it into something the military industrial complex could use and market to the military and police forces.

Millions of people would then die or be horribly maimed due to your "discovery" in endless wars, and para military police raids.

You would be incarcerated forever, probably in solitary confinement. Any assets you owned would be seized in order to pay off your "victims" and the rights to your story would also be taken from you and produced into a movie or book, also to pay off your "victims".

reply to post by HomoSapiensSapiens

Let's say, for the sake of this, that I happened to stumble upon what can only be compared to an Iron Man suit (except it's much more advanced than the fictional one) in the rubble of meteor rocks that crashed in my backyard and then I proceeded to put it on and claim it as my property and fly around happily or whatever.

Then you are a guy in a mechanical suit; I don't think that automatically makes you a superhero, so if your question is how would people react to a guy in a flying robot-suit, I don't know. I suppose that I would want to try it, but only really low to the ground because I'm afraid of heights. Just a little hovering. Maybe lift a car.

Superhero, though?

We kill those. Usually in some public way that involves poison or maiming.

If I found a suit like that I'd head off into space and leave you all to it.

Then I'd join an intelligent species and watch you all on TV for a laugh.

reply to post by nerbot


It would be very tempting to simply jet off to space, yes. But I think I'd set up a company first - although, having read all of these replies, it seems that I'd be much, much safer keeping the suits quiet or...simply jetting off to space!