All of this stuff makes me wonder how hard it would be to make a fully pedantic story.
I’ve seen books where the hero was on the verge of winning but gets randomly concussed by a piece of shrapnel. Disoriented, hospital.
Another where the hero had hearing loss issues from solo pistol badassing too much, sans ear protection. (Forgot the titles of these stories).
But what would it take to meet everything? Imagine Superman. Now he has to mind his acceleration to save people. He also has to mind distribution of force, since he can’t lift a plane without puncturing it. (Maybe he can make a little energy net under the plane somehow to distribute pressure?) And then he has to mind the Law of Conservation of Energy unless he splits apart matter somehow. And then this and that…
Will adherently realistic changes downrank most stories? I for one laugh my ass off when The Rock flexes his broken arm cast off in F&F.
Dialogue existing in the John Wick films is totally unrealistic. The next film should just be him saying “What?” For 90 minutes with a high pitched squeal in the background
Thinking of your Superman example and an ubermensch having to think about everything, I think several comics and media that have explored aspects of this idea.
I remember reading that there’s a Spiderman story arc where it’s revealed that Peter Parker is holding back his “true” strength for nearly the entire time he’s been Spiderman. It’s only been his true strength of character that has made sure that he “pulls his punches” far enough back so as to not kill or harm the people he’s fighting or saving.
I also think about Robert Kirkman’s Invincible comic/animated series that explores how powerful people decide, either intentionally or accidentally, the fates of those around them, often with dramatic and violent conclusions. Invincible is the story of Superman if Clark Kent wasn’t raised by an American family in the mid-West and was instead raised for another more sinister reason.
Well, I don’t mean downgrade him totally! Give him super strength or something but take it to its conclusion.
Authors realized this problem with Flash, so they added a mildly magic mystery Speed Force thing that solves the too-many-Gs problem with “nah he just slows time down or something and the Speed Force is mysterious and different” iirc.
But without the handwaviness he’d need to watch acceleration and calorie counts and speed up his thoughts and not slip and fall into an inertial death. If that makes sense (-‿-")
You have super strength. You attempt to lift an incredibly heavy object and… You push your legs into the ground instead. That’s not just some guy, but it is a lot less useful of a power lol
But where do you stop? the structural integrity of the ground? What about that of muscle fiber? You are super strong but when you try to lift something, your biceps just explodes.
All of this stuff makes me wonder how hard it would be to make a fully pedantic story.
I’ve seen books where the hero was on the verge of winning but gets randomly concussed by a piece of shrapnel. Disoriented, hospital.
Another where the hero had hearing loss issues from solo pistol badassing too much, sans ear protection. (Forgot the titles of these stories).
But what would it take to meet everything? Imagine Superman. Now he has to mind his acceleration to save people. He also has to mind distribution of force, since he can’t lift a plane without puncturing it. (Maybe he can make a little energy net under the plane somehow to distribute pressure?) And then he has to mind the Law of Conservation of Energy unless he splits apart matter somehow. And then this and that…
Will adherently realistic changes downrank most stories? I for one laugh my ass off when The Rock flexes his broken arm cast off in F&F.
Dialogue existing in the John Wick films is totally unrealistic. The next film should just be him saying “What?” For 90 minutes with a high pitched squeal in the background
Thinking of your Superman example and an ubermensch having to think about everything, I think several comics and media that have explored aspects of this idea.
I remember reading that there’s a Spiderman story arc where it’s revealed that Peter Parker is holding back his “true” strength for nearly the entire time he’s been Spiderman. It’s only been his true strength of character that has made sure that he “pulls his punches” far enough back so as to not kill or harm the people he’s fighting or saving.
I also think about Robert Kirkman’s Invincible comic/animated series that explores how powerful people decide, either intentionally or accidentally, the fates of those around them, often with dramatic and violent conclusions. Invincible is the story of Superman if Clark Kent wasn’t raised by an American family in the mid-West and was instead raised for another more sinister reason.
Gwen Stacey died of whiplash when Spidey tried to catch her with a web shot and she stopped too fast, snapping her neck.
If you make a superhero realistic, they’ll be just some guy.
Well, I don’t mean downgrade him totally! Give him super strength or something but take it to its conclusion.
Authors realized this problem with Flash, so they added a mildly magic mystery Speed Force thing that solves the too-many-Gs problem with “nah he just slows time down or something and the Speed Force is mysterious and different” iirc.
But without the handwaviness he’d need to watch acceleration and calorie counts and speed up his thoughts and not slip and fall into an inertial death. If that makes sense (-‿-")
You have super strength. You attempt to lift an incredibly heavy object and… You push your legs into the ground instead. That’s not just some guy, but it is a lot less useful of a power lol
But where do you stop? the structural integrity of the ground? What about that of muscle fiber? You are super strong but when you try to lift something, your biceps just explodes.