Snake_King

Yeah, well, in “The Sandman,” the main character, who has many names but is often called Morpheus, isn’t really a dream, but the embodiment of an aspect of the universe, so to speak, and he possesses god-like powers. There’s a bit of backstory as well, but to try and summarize, Morpheus is a member of a group of “siblings” called the Endless, who embody different universal aspects, and all of them have names that start with a D: Destiny (male, oldest of the bunch, appears as a blind man dressed in grey or brown robes carrying a large book, the Cosmic Log, which contains the entire sum of existence, past, present and future) Death (female, looks and acts like a perky goth girl, and more or less embodies the aspect of death that greets you as a comforting friend, helping you to transition better to the next phase of things) Dream (Morpheus, appears as a tall pale man with black hair and shadowy eyes wearing a dark cloak, has a long history of insensitivity towards others which comes back to bite him, and he takes his job seriously as the ruler and creator of dreams and nightmares) Destruction (A very large, robust man with red hair, who abandoned his responsibilities as one of the Endless three hundred years ago, causing much conflict between him and his siblings, and he has a passion for creative and constructive endeavors, but little talent) Desire (an androgynous figure who is both male and female, and has a cruel streak that rival’s Dream’s) Despair (appears as a short, obese woman with greyish skin and irregularly-shaped teeth, is always naked, and has a has a cold, quietly intelligent manner) Delirium (formerly known as Delight, she is the youngest of her siblings and her appearance changes all the time depending on her mood)

Sorry, but I don't know who you're referring to.

Well, sadly, I haven’t seen Generator Rex in its entirety, but I will eventually somewhere down the line. As for tragic heroes, I’m presuming you’re referring to have characters other than the main one be that? Although, if you want an example of a tragic hero who is the main character, I’d suggest reading Neil Gaiman’s “The Sandman” comic, which centers around a guy who is the anthropomorphic personification of dreams and imagination.

Praetor’s right. There’s more than one way to have a story be realistic. Like have characters react to situations in a believable way, characters dealing with flaws within themselves, dealing with biases and prejudices, as well as someone having an idea that doesn’t make sense and people calling that person out on it.

I mean, sure, superheroes can be used in serious stories, and they can be used to address serious issues, but at the end of the day, it’s still a bunch of people in bizarre outfits, with amazing abilities, skills, and/or equipment fighting above-normal threats and supervillains.

I think I do. Having characters die can add realism to the story, but it helps if we’re given time to know and understand the character first, which can give their deaths all the more meaning. Characters shouldn’t be killed off before we get to know them. Although, it also helps if the main character has a believable reason for surviving crazy situations while others do not. As far as realism goes, I’d still keep it fun. After all, some people think that “realism = it’s all dark and everyone’s a jerk.” Dark stories can work, but it helps if it’s tempered with levity and if the darkness has a point. Besides, let’s not forget that Ben 10 is all about a human boy who gets an alien watch that changes him into a variety of different aliens, his cousin with magical powers, and his grandfather who is a member of a secret government agency that deals with aliens. It’s much like superheroes, it’s kind of supposed to be silly.

So, maybe something like this? For a long time, Ben Tennyson seemed like an average teenaged boy with average problems; he deals with bullies and he can’t seem to get any girl he likes. At home, he lives with his parents and grandfather, whom he has a loving relationship, but he tends to not talk about his problems with them, preferring to handle them himself. His rather attractive cousin, Gwen Tennyson, lives next door to him, and they have a love-hate relationship where they secretly have feelings for each other. One day, Ben notices a strange man pass by him on the street, and at first Ben pays him no mind, but then he notices that the man dropped his wallet. Deciding to be good, Ben picks up the wallet and gives it back to the man, but Ben feels an odd scratch on his hand when this occurs. When Ben looks, the man disappears, and Ben tries to pay it no mind whilst he deals with the itching scratch on his hand, but when half of the day passes, he feels rather unwell, and goes home to sleep the rest of the day off. The next morning, he finds himself not only feeling better, but also that his body has undergone some changes, like an improved physique and a bigger dick. Later, he finds that he’s also developed spider-like abilities, including being able to stick to walls, shooting webs from his wrists, a sixth sense that alerts him to incoming danger, amongst a few others. At first he’s thrilled, but then realizes that he’d be considered a bit of a freak if it became known, so he opts to keep it secret until he can figure out for himself just what’s going on. Then we have that bit where Ben basically reenacts the wrestling scene followed by the escaped robber from the first Spider-Man movie, which leads to his grandfather’s death. But then, at the funeral of Max Tennyson, Ben and family are taken by a group of men in black, who put them all together in a room where they show them a video of Max’s last will and testament. In this video, Max tells them his life’s story about his work with the Plumbers, aliens, the whole shebang. Once that is over, the men in black reveal themselves as Plumbers, who then reveal Ben’s secret and why he hasn’t changed into a literal spider man; his latent Anodite genes prevent him from mutating beyond the new abilities he received, and the man who scratched Ben was actually a member of a spider-like race of aliens. The family is released, but with the knowledge that the Plumbers have their eyes on them, and will be helping out with their living circumstance. Ben and Gwen comfort each other over the sudden change in their lives, and Ben expresses his desire to help people with his new abilities, saying he doesn’t want a repeat of what happened with Grandpa Max. So, they put together a costume for him to wear while fighting crime, and as a result, more adventures come their way, along with new allies and enemies. Sound good with you?

So, Ben, Gwen and Julie have full body coverage while Kai gets to be naked? I guess it makes sense all things considered. What would the plot be?

Also, what kind of outfits would the Omni-Spider and the Spider-Women wear? I know you said that Kai gets to be naked due to the whole cat babe transformation, but what sort of costumes would Ben, Gwen and Julie wear? Perhaps Ben could wear a version of Spidey’s outfit that has a bright green and black coloring instead of red and blue?

Maybe eventually, but I think him just having super spider powers would work better for this story. Would Ben’s villains still be the way the were in the show? Would there be versions of Spidey’s villains? Or would the two be mixed together like Dr. Animo becoming a version of Doc Ock or something like that?

I can see Charmcaster becoming an anti-hero later on. “Omni-Spider”, huh? By that title, I guess it would be safe to assume that he still has the Omnitrix? I was under the impression that he wouldn’t, and would just have Spidey’s powers.

So, Rexfan12345, any other ideas for this Spider-Ben story of yours? Grandpa Max playing the role of Uncle Ben? Alien versions of Spidey's villains?

Ah, I see now.

Glad we agree on the Skin-Walker idea. Perhaps Ben, Gwen and Julie were all bitten by alien spiders? You know, in the Ultimate comics, the Sam Raimi films and the TASM films, Spidey was bitten by a genetically altered spider, which is actually more scientifically plausible than the radiation one. Back in the day when they went with that radiated spider in the original comics, writers tended to treat radiation like a sort of pixie dust, just spray someone of something with it and viola! Instant superpowers. However, times changed. The reason Anime America chose the Major for the number 1 evil villain in anime is because of the destruction he causes as well as the fact that he just loves war and devastation. Frieza does enjoy killing and destroying, yes, but he'll mostly do it for revenge or if it's required for whatever task he's set about to do. The Major kills and destroys because he WANTS to, just for the sheer pleasure of it. Not sure who you're talking to with the Agent Venom thing. I kind of prefer the Symbiote as an alien to be honest, rather than a man made creation.

Also, about Frieza’s status as an iconic villain, I watched a video a while back on YouTube where the people behind “Anime America” listed their picks for the “Top 10 Most Evil Villains in Anime.” Frieza was listed as being number 2, surpassed only by the Major from Hellsing.

Yeah, it would be nice if there was some more elaboration about Frieza’s species, but there’s not really a whole lot of info to go around.

Also, if you think about it, contrived coincidences happen all the time in Superhero comics. In real life, most people go their entire lives without coming across any time of crime where they would have to intervene. In comics and some of the early 2000s superhero movies, no superhero, particularly ones who’ve resolved to give up their capes and tights, can last a day without seeing someone being mugged in an alley, or stumbling across a burning building with someone screaming out the window for help.

Yeah, I agree that the backstory is a bit of a stretch, and with some tinkering here and there, it’d be solid. Like say...the family being a couple of people he failed to save? Just a thought. As for Frieza’s gender, that was confusing for me too, and I think someone told me a while back that Frieza’s race are more or less a bunch of “its” who reproduce asexually.

It’s true, the Venom symbiote is technically genderless, though almost everyone refers to Venom as a “he.” I’ve never read Punisher vs Marvel, so I can’t make any final conclusions on that. And it is true that there’s a gender-flipped version of just about every character somewhere in some universe. However, I do have a couple things to ask you: What do you see as the main problems with the female Venom backstory mentioned here? What would you have done differently, if given the chance? Glad you like the idea for Kai, although I’m certain how one could go about it, as I see 2 possibilities for how to do it: She came into contact with alien technology affected her DNA and made it so that she could change at will. Since Kai is of Navajo descent, she could be a Skin-Walker (a type of witch from Navajo folklore that can turn into an animal or disguise themselves as an animal, although most tend to be evil). To be honest, I kind of favor the second one, as the first just seems like low-hanging fruit. In case you don’t know what that term means, “low-hanging fruit” refers to a type of target or goal that doesn’t require much effort to accomplish. Plus, her being a Skin-Walker would tie-in better with her background, but what do you think? How would you have Gwen and Julie become Spider-Women? Yeah, that is a bit frustrating. Most other female DBZ characters aside from Android 18, Videl and (to an extent) Chichi tend to be either non-fighters or dead.

Cool, and I thought it might be better if some of the girls played the roles of Spidey’s ladies. Here’s a thought; maybe Kai as Black Cat could have the power to turn into a literal anthropomorphic black cat woman? Plus, I think there’re versions out there where MJ and Gwen Stacy became Spider-Woman. The idea was mainly just those three (MJ, Gwen Stacy and Black Cat), but it would be okay for the writer to include other babes from Marvel, as long as they had a relationship with Spidey at some point in past comics. As for the She-Venom thing, yeah I’m aware of it, but you don’t know the original plan they had. Allow me to explain: As I said, the original intent was that, instead of Eddie Brock, the Venom symbiote was originally supposed to go from Peter Parker to a woman who had a grudge of her own against our friendly neighborhood web-slinger. The woman’s story was to be that she was pregnant and one day was ready to give birth, so her husband tried to flag down a taxi so they could get to the hospital in time. Unfortunately, the taxi driver was paying more attention to Spidey in action instead of the road, and so accidentally hit and killed the woman’s husband. The woman ended up giving birth on the spot...but the child was a stillborn. The sudden loss of both her husband and her child caused the woman to go insane, and then be institutionalized in the Ravencroft Institute (Spidey’s version of Arkham Asylum). She’d eventually regain her sanity and be released, but would still blame Spidey for the loss of her family. The symbiote would be nearby, fresh off of Spidey’s rejection of it, and sensing the mutual hatred of the wall-crawler, would then bond with the woman to become Venom. So, if we hadn’t gotten Eddie Brock, we would’ve gotten a female villain who had her own vendetta against Spidey because she wrongfully blamed him for the death of her family. In case you think there’re problems with that, remember that falsely believing someone wronged you happens in real life, the fact that this is comic book land where character make crazy decisions that make sense to them all the time, and a question that was brought up in Captain America 3, “How responsible are we for things we cause indirectly?” So why didn’t Marvel go with this idea? They didn’t think their readers at the time would consider a woman to be a physical enough threat to Spidey (never mind the fact that a woman with the Venom Symbiote would be, by definition, physically STRONGER than Spidey, just like scrawny Cletus Kassidy is with the Carnage Symbiote), so we got Eddie Brock instead, who was pretty much blaming Spidey for things that happened because of his own stupidity. As a result, it kind of became a self-fulfilling prophecy in that, when you think about it, Spidey doesn’t have a lot of memorable female villains. In fact, the only one I can think of is Black Cat, who is very on/off when it comes to villainy, as well as the fact that she’s TECHNICALLY a knock-off of Catwoman.

Huh, don’t think I’ve seen one like that before. Would this harem just include girls from Ben 10 or would it also include versions of Spidey’s lovely ladies? Also, I posted a challenged a while back where Spidey is a cop in a world where everybody has superpowers, and is in a 4-way polygamous marriage with Mary Jane Watson, Gwen Stacy, and Felicia Hardy aka Black Cat. And another thing about Spidey; did I mention before that Venom was originally supposed to be a woman?

So how’s it going for you?

Oh, nothing much, just trying to finish up some homework for college, and I’m on Spring Break next week. Also, on a more fun and less-work-related note, I can’t seem to get the image of Kai Green in nothing but a white thong rubbing herself up on Ben in front of the other girls. It’s a random thought that I’m trying to figure how to work into any of the Ben 10 stories we’ve discussed thus far.

I guess that’s possible.

Quite comical, thought they’re probably going to die, aren’t they?