Revamp a Hero....

[Huntsman Spider]

there are definitely phases in marvel history. there used to be a lot more monster activity. Moleman got his start as one of the monster hunters. and then there was the mostly non-powered adventuring of characters like the original Angel. it was the at the tail end of that phase that some of the shadier big business types (and politicians) started funding costumed villainy; in an effort to regain control from the hero community. Norman Osborn was supposed to be one of their original contractors. but, to me, guys like Pym, Stark, and Richards knowing one another (at least in a professional sense) is logical. their science is so far above normal that they'd have to be front page news. they'd certainly be part of the same recruitment drives. I love it when they show flashbacks to seemingly unrelated characters meeting (like Monica Rappaccini and Bruce Banner having a fling).

Hmm, wasn't that fling how we got Carmilla Black? (Maybe.)

That said, I promised I'd be doing more 2099 revamp ideas. Starting with . . .

Daredevil 2099

I take my inspiration from Mark Waid's original DD2099 concept, but I'm gonna be throwing in my own twists. It starts with a young hotshot lawyer named Eric Nelson, sarcastically nicknamed "Daredevil" because he only takes low-to-no-risk cases that are easy money for him. One day, a strange man comes into his office claiming he created a sense-enhancing technology for which Alchemax stole the patent and denied him any credit or royalties, and he wants Eric to sue Alchemax on his behalf. Eric laughs him off and has security remove him when he gets a little too insistent for "his own good," but then he gets a message through his virtual assistant that the strange man has died. Furthermore, when he's about to start yet another day of sure bets and easy money, he's surprised by a computer virus in his optical interface that leaves him temporarily blind while throwing his other senses into total overload. The virus eventually clears itself out of Eric's system, leaving behind a message on his optical interface that says, "Open your eyes and see."

Indeed, Eric begins to see, all right, his senses becoming significantly sharper than usual, sharp enough to detect certain electromagnetic frequencies from spy tech set up in his home and his workplace, sharp enough to notice he's being followed and watched on his way to and from work and at his favorite hangouts. He becomes something of a recluse at first, having to adjust to his newly sharpened senses, but also dealing with uncovering the extent to which he's being spied on and who around him might or might not be reporting to someone about his daily comings and goings. In the process, he flushes his virtual assistant and rebuilds it from scratch to shield it against spy hacks, only to get more mysterious messages telling him stuff like, "Open your eyes and see the truth" and, "Only the wise can see without eyes." Eric starts trying to track down the source of the messages, and finds himself doing a deep dive into cyberspace as the messenger begins taunting him about how empty and shallow his life is and asking whether he's finally gotten tired of it. Eric snaps at the mysterious messenger, demanding to know who the messenger is and what s/he wants from him, and the messenger replies, "For you to finally open your eyes . . . but if you'd rather shoot me instead, come down here and look me in the eye first."

Eric takes the bait, as it were, and finds himself meeting the Fearless Defenders, an underground resistance of innovators, inventors, and thinkers who've been screwed out of credit for and control over their innovations and inventions by megacorporations like Alchemax and then silenced and disgraced by those same megacorps who then use those inventions and innovations to tighten their grip on the populace. Eric learns that the strange man who came to him weeks ago, the man who had his sense-amplification technology stolen by Alchemax sent him a virus made of the raw code behind that technology as a final act of spite towards Alchemax. Of course, if or when Alchemax finds out that the sense-enhancing tech has been wirelessly implanted inside Eric, that'll be the end of his life as he knows it unless he can turn the tables somehow, and with the Fearless Defenders willing to supply and equip him as an agent in their battle against the megacorps, he might have the chance to do exactly that.

[Michael Watkins]

Hmm, wasn't that fling how we got Carmilla Black? (Maybe.)

That said, I promised I'd be doing more 2099 revamp ideas. Starting with . . .

Daredevil 2099

I take my inspiration from Mark Waid's original DD2099 concept, but I'm gonna be throwing in my own twists. It starts with a young hotshot lawyer named Eric Nelson, sarcastically nicknamed "Daredevil" because he only takes low-to-no-risk cases that are easy money for him. One day, a strange man comes into his office claiming he created a sense-enhancing technology for which Alchemax stole the patent and denied him any credit or royalties, and he wants Eric to sue Alchemax on his behalf. Eric laughs him off and has security remove him when he gets a little too insistent for "his own good," but then he gets a message through his virtual assistant that the strange man has died. Furthermore, when he's about to start yet another day of sure bets and easy money, he's surprised by a computer virus in his optical interface that leaves him temporarily blind while throwing his other senses into total overload. The virus eventually clears itself out of Eric's system, leaving behind a message on his optical interface that says, "Open your eyes and see."

Indeed, Eric begins to see, all right, his senses becoming significantly sharper than usual, sharp enough to detect certain electromagnetic frequencies from spy tech set up in his home and his workplace, sharp enough to notice he's being followed and watched on his way to and from work and at his favorite hangouts. He becomes something of a recluse at first, having to adjust to his newly sharpened senses, but also dealing with uncovering the extent to which he's being spied on and who around him might or might not be reporting to someone about his daily comings and goings. In the process, he flushes his virtual assistant and rebuilds it from scratch to shield it against spy hacks, only to get more mysterious messages telling him stuff like, "Open your eyes and see the truth" and, "Only the wise can see without eyes." Eric starts trying to track down the source of the messages, and finds himself doing a deep dive into cyberspace as the messenger begins taunting him about how empty and shallow his life is and asking whether he's finally gotten tired of it. Eric snaps at the mysterious messenger, demanding to know who the messenger is and what s/he wants from him, and the messenger replies, "For you to finally open your eyes . . . but if you'd rather shoot me instead, come down here and look me in the eye first."

Eric takes the bait, as it were, and finds himself meeting the Fearless Defenders, an underground resistance of innovators, inventors, and thinkers who've been screwed out of credit for and control over their innovations and inventions by megacorporations like Alchemax and then silenced and disgraced by those same megacorps who then use those inventions and innovations to tighten their grip on the populace. Eric learns that the strange man who came to him weeks ago, the man who had his sense-amplification technology stolen by Alchemax sent him a virus made of the raw code behind that technology as a final act of spite towards Alchemax. Of course, if or when Alchemax finds out that the sense-enhancing tech has been wirelessly implanted inside Eric, that'll be the end of his life as he knows it unless he can turn the tables somehow, and with the Fearless Defenders willing to supply and equip him as an agent in their battle against the megacorps, he might have the chance to do exactly that.

kind of a Black Mirror vibe. I really like the idea of there being an underground movement of "mad" scientists revolting in the name of creative freedom. the earlier part of the story would make a decent sci fi movie. I haven't read much of the 2099 stories. do they ever say what became of A.I.M?

[Huntsman Spider]

kind of a Black Mirror vibe. I really like the idea of there being an underground movement of "mad" scientists revolting in the name of creative freedom. the earlier part of the story would make a decent sci fi movie. I haven't read much of the 2099 stories. do they ever say what became of A.I.M?

Hmm, a lot of the old villain organizations just didn't exist anymore by 2099, as far as I've been able to recall. Given 2099's overall ethos of "megacorps run the world," my personal guess would be that a lot of those villain organizations got subsumed into the megacorp-dominated power structure once people started realizing it'd be a more effective way of taking over the world.

Thanks for the Black Mirror comparison, though. Wasn't intending on it, but given that Black Mirror is all about exploring the dark potential future of a technologically driven society like ours, that atmosphere would be a good fit for my re-conception of Marvel 2099. Speaking of, the Fearless Defenders equip Eric with a prototype body armor that's designed to work with his amplified senses and made from carbon nanotube fiber bonded with nth-generation unstable molecules, generating an energy matrix that enables the suit to seamlessly blend into its surroundings while also protecting the wearer from almost all conventional forms of injury. Said body armor is even styled after Daredevil, albeit borrowing from his armored period and some of the suit he was wearing when Charles Soule started his Daredevil run, and Eric even manages to upload his virtual assistant into the armor to make it feel more like home, as it were.

[Michael Watkins]

Hmm, a lot of the old villain organizations just didn't exist anymore by 2099, as far as I've been able to recall. Given 2099's overall ethos of "megacorps run the world," my personal guess would be that a lot of those villain organizations got subsumed into the megacorp-dominated power structure once people started realizing it'd be a more effective way of taking over the world.

Thanks for the Black Mirror comparison, though. Wasn't intending on it, but given that Black Mirror is all about exploring the dark potential future of a technologically driven society like ours, that atmosphere would be a good fit for my re-conception of Marvel 2099. Speaking of, the Fearless Defenders equip Eric with a prototype body armor that's designed to work with his amplified senses and made from carbon nanotube fiber bonded with nth-generation unstable molecules, generating an energy matrix that enables the suit to seamlessly blend into its surroundings while also protecting the wearer from almost all conventional forms of injury. Said body armor is even styled after Daredevil, albeit borrowing from his armored period and some of the suit he was wearing when Charles Soule started his Daredevil run, and Eric even manages to upload his virtual assistant into the armor to make it feel more like home, as it were.

good work. it was hard not to think of Daredevil's armored period while reading your original treatment.

[Huntsman Spider]

good work. it was hard not to think of Daredevil's armored period while reading your original treatment.

Thanks. There will be a lot of chrome in my version of Daredevil 2099's design, and he'll be wearing mirrored lenses in both identities because his eyes have become hypersensitive to light as a result of his vision and other senses being enhanced, similar to Miguel O'Hara. In fact, the lenses actually keep him from going blind, as a twist on Matt Murdock wearing his sunglasses because he's blind. I'd also mention that there will be somewhat of a focus on his secondary senses being enhanced as well as his primary senses --- like proprioception and balance for increased agility and bodily coordination, sense of heat/cold (which makes him thankful for the megacorps' "weather-regulating" satellites, otherwise summer and winter would be absolute hell for him), sense of pain (physical combat will be an arduous and brutal task), and even his sense of time, which will factor into heightened reflexes due to the world around him seeming to move "slower" than he is. Aside from his suit, Daredevil 2099 will also wield a pair of batons that are technically hard-light generators that can extend and stretch into whips, cables, and wires or stiffen to be used as basically weaponized glow sticks; there's be a "blade mode" in there, too, but since the techs haven't yet made it nonlethal, Eric is leery of using it.

[Michael Watkins]

THE SQUADRON SUPREME

picking up right after the last Secret Wars event...

Thanos, Namor, and company murdered off almost every version of the Squadron. the incursions took care of the rest. this is so that I can work with a clean slate. Reed Richards has used the god power to do his best repair job on the marvel universe proper. but he's still just a human. there are glitches in the matrix. for me, there's always been the nagging question of "are there 616-analogues of the Squadron characters and vice versa?" for the purposes of my rework, there are people in the main marvel universe who would have been at least similar to these Squadron characters; if not for some cosmic rule preventing it. that rule would be lifted by Doom's machinations and Reed's "fix." so, one by one, versions of the Squadron would "wake up" in the marvel universe with memories of their more exciting lives elsewhere. don't expect them all to be familiar to you. the majority of them would at least appear to be brand new characters. but all of them would have had Squadron dopplegangers in other (now destroyed) worlds. I did it this way to not put restrictions on who the characters would be. they don't awaken all at once. some characters would react badly to the new memories, flame out quickly, and their powerset/costumed identity go to someone else. Hyperion will remain the same one that aided the Avengers during the Incursions. he's the one exception and would be in the best position to aid these newly awakened Squadron members. don't expect them to become a formalized team; they are more like the early Defenders. oh and this is just the tip of the iceberg. it wasn't just the heroes who woke up. and it wasn't just the Squadron counterparts. I'd want the reemergence of the New Universe characters to be part of this mystery.

[SuperiorIronman]

Rebel O'reilly.
I would take his origin in a somewhat different direction. It's established in the Marvel universe that plenty of Exo-skeleton designs are in usage but many of them seem to be derived from Iron man. In keeping with Rebel's Heroes Reborn origin he would be the user of an Iron man like design.

"Rebel" would be the pilot of an Iron man suit possibly brought on to test something derived from Iron man technology. Rebel would push the suit too far and like in Heroes Reborn he would destroy the suit with him in it mid-flight. This would be horrifying for Stark considering how protective he is of his assets in light of a causality, and if he perhaps found out during his Armor Wars period, it would help justify Tony's actions even farther. Rebel could then be brought back this time maybe without resurrection. Here Rebel would have what little life-support left over to use the suit as a makeshift bandage and even use parts of it to act as makeshift limbs should he be damaged enough. I really like the image of him using the suit as an extension of himself because without it he would die without proper care, or at this point there is nothing else. Kind of like early Tony Stark where Tony couldn't take off the chest plate, Rebel can't take off the armor because it could kill him and at any point he could run out of power and die. So Rebel's first goal is finding a way to escape the suit, and for his second would be to potentially escape legal and moral troubles (getting power to keep alive, medicine for a failing body) and those sent to re acquire the suit (legal issues, asset recovery).

If I had to pitch it, I would say;
A makeshift cyborg out of an Iron man suit fights to stay alive while trying to stay a good man and escape the prison that has become his own body.

[Huntsman Spider]

Rebel O'reilly.
I would take his origin in a somewhat different direction. It's established in the Marvel universe that plenty of Exo-skeleton designs are in usage but many of them seem to be derived from Iron man. In keeping with Rebel's Heroes Reborn origin he would be the user of an Iron man like design.

"Rebel" would be the pilot of an Iron man suit possibly brought on to test something derived from Iron man technology. Rebel would push the suit too far and like in Heroes Reborn he would destroy the suit with him in it mid-flight. This would be horrifying for Stark considering how protective he is of his assets in light of a causality, and if he perhaps found out during his Armor Wars period, it would help justify Tony's actions even farther. Rebel could then be brought back this time maybe without resurrection. Here Rebel would have what little life-support left over to use the suit as a makeshift bandage and even use parts of it to act as makeshift limbs should he be damaged enough. I really like the image of him using the suit as an extension of himself because without it he would die without proper care, or at this point there is nothing else. Kind of like early Tony Stark where Tony couldn't take off the chest plate, Rebel can't take off the armor because it could kill him and at any point he could run out of power and die. So Rebel's first goal is finding a way to escape the suit, and for his second would be to potentially escape legal and moral troubles (getting power to keep alive, medicine for a failing body) and those sent to re acquire the suit (legal issues, asset recovery).

If I had to pitch it, I would say;
A makeshift cyborg out of an Iron man suit fights to stay alive while trying to stay a good man and escape the prison that has become his own body.

Sounds like a pretty good twist on the Iron Man concept. Would "Steel Corpse" be a good name to reuse for him?

[Cosmicbeing]

I am taking this a step further but instead of revamping a singular hero or changing a personality core it would go a long way to add a certain battle hardened demeanour to a lot of the mainstream heroes not as a static theme throughout the character but atleast a more predominate facet for example when comparing spider-man as a teenager and as a CEO of Parker industries, while hes more mature {according to a soldier stage thing i will post}
hes still a new guy instead of being deprived of most of their human emotions on occasion or in more situations.


The “New Guy”.

Fresh recruits arriving in a battle zone are often pumped up and seem full of self confidence. I’ve seen 19 years old kids trying to tell me what to do on their first day in the field. The new ones think they know it all and only a few of them are willing to listen to the old “farts”. In reality, these fresh soldiers feel very insecure and their boasting is a way for them to hide their fears and anxieties from their comrades. This phase is the shortest of all phases, sometimes it lasts less than a full day in battle. In the case of my 19 years old new comrade it lasted less than two hours. After I got wounded in battle I went to see a medic far behind the frontline and there was my new guy, huddling on the side of the road, completely paralyzed by fear.

The”Baptized”or the “Apprentice”

After a short while the new guy shuts up and either get’s to the job or goes home. Having received his baptism of fire, he or she starts to develop all the necessary skills to survive on the battlefield and which can’t be taught in training. This phase lasts a couple of weeks, all depends on the intensity of combat. The “apprentice” is not yet a fully trusted member of the unit and therefore mostly charged with secondary tasks, for example as the second man on the machine gun. Nevertheless they get the job done and are well respected.

The “Fighter”or the “Battle-Hardened”

After weeks in combat, many soldiers have honed their skills and have acquired survival instincts. They “smell” where a shell will hit, where and when the enemy will attack or which position to choose. They don’t panic. This “fighter” feels comfortable around his fellow fighters with whom he forms a brotherhood. These guys don’t like to talk much and you’ll seldom see them laughing. Somehow the horrors of combat have deprived them of most of their human emotions. They are the “battle-hardened” who form the backbone of every combat unit.

The “Battle Weary”

If a fighter stays in combat for too long, his skills will deteriorate. While the “fighter” is fearless, but careful, the “battle weary” often avoids combat. He has seen many of his fellow fighters die or getting wounded. Most probably he has also been injured more than once. Although desensitized to the maximum, you can’t suppress human emotions forever and eventually PTSD will take a toll on you. These soldiers usually have severe drug or alcohol abuse issues. While the “fighters” are already not the greatest talkers, the “battle weary” barely talk at all. I’ve seen some of these guys in Bosnia and it always struck me how passive they are.
https://www.quora.com/What-makes-a-s...attle-hardened

[Huntsman Spider]

That's actually a pretty good point you bring up. Hell, DC is actually doing a comic where the heroes get therapy for their PTSD, and given that Marvel has prided itself on having its heroes be more realistically human, or as close to that as fictional superhuman beings can get, that would be something worth trying out in a Marvel series as well.

[Michael Watkins]

That's actually a pretty good point you bring up. Hell, DC is actually doing a comic where the heroes get therapy for their PTSD, and given that Marvel has prided itself on having its heroes be more realistically human, or as close to that as fictional superhuman beings can get, that would be something worth trying out in a Marvel series as well.

we've seen something like that in X-Factor, Thunderbolts, and Moon Knight (although very unrealistically treated). I couldn't say for certain that we haven't seen the effects of trauma on the majority of marvel's heroes. they've all made odd choices now and again. Matt Murdock has certainly had a mental break. but he was always kind of bottled up. so maybe it's because of engaging in violence as a lifestyle. or maybe it was the loss of his father and eyesight. Carol Danvers and Stark self-medicated. sometimes the character just becomes temporarily edgy and starts using their arrows to kill people.

[Huntsman Spider]

we've seen something like that in X-Factor, Thunderbolts, and Moon Knight (although very unrealistically treated). I couldn't say for certain that we haven't seen the effects of trauma on the majority of marvel's heroes. they've all made odd choices now and again. Matt Murdock has certainly had a mental break. but he was always kind of bottled up. so maybe it's because of engaging in violence as a lifestyle. or maybe it was the loss of his father and eyesight. Carol Danvers and Stark self-medicated. sometimes the character just becomes temporarily edgy and starts using their arrows to kill people.

Fair enough. Even Spider-Man snapped for a while during the 90s, right before the Clone Saga started.

[Michael Watkins]

THE INVADERS AND UK HEROES

Captain America - he's fine. i wouldn't want to risk ruining the formula. i do prefer that the Bucky portion of his history be more like the movies. i appreciated their friendship. they are better as equals/brothers than as adult & child sidekick. the latter trope is outdated and creepy in a way.

Human Torch - this will be the greatest departure. i will always have a fondness for Hammond because of his role in Ostrander's Heroes for Hire. but i'm just not feeling his origin. i would probably have him be an actual human astronaut who undergoes an experiment to make him space durable ex. able to survive on Mars. so he'd still be the result of a groundbreaking experiment but a full blooded american male. at some point he'd come crashing back to Earth; maybe due to his ship being sabotaged by Hydra or another enemy of the U.S. the ship breaks apart but Hammond survived re-entry. he's eventually able to convince the military that he's not some kind of monster; maybe by fighting Namor. he eventually gets a handle of his new ability and aids in the war effort. the experiment would retard his aging. but i think it'd be better if he were dead for a time and resurrected by the Olympus Group, specifically to head up Oracle. it would be a sign of respect from the Gods of his warrior/hero status.

The Vision (Golden Age) - the reason why i changed Hammond. A.R.K.U.S would be the most advanced android of its time. and it'd be given an almost alien appearance for psy ops purposess. it would later be found and altered by Ultron; part of it's husk used to create the synthezoid Vision.

Spitfire - hold on to your butts. Lady Falsworth-Crichton's history would be one of britain's first super soldiers; the serum unexpectedly granting her super speed. fast forward to post war and after she starts a family. the followers of Baron Blood vampirize her as part of a revenge campaign against Union Jack. it leads to her being staked through the heart. fast forward a bit and the grand daughter (or great granddaughter) demonstrates heriditary super speed (it skipped the males). and that would be the Spitfire that has the romance with Joey Chapman. i'm not trying to shaft the original. i just think that it works better as a legacy mantle instead of there being all of these long lived WWII era heroes to keep Steve Rogers company. Lady Falsworth would have had a long successful career in and out of costume. so the modern day Jacquie (named for her great grandmother) would have big boots to fill.

Union Jack - no change needed. Joey is carrying the mantle in the modern day. i don't care much for the Knights of the Pendragon stuff. but i won't alter that either. i prefer him as sort of a vampire hunting kingsman-type character.
i'm running out of time. i'll get to Whizzer, Ms. America, and some of the others later.

[Thor-Ul]

THE SQUADRON SUPREME

picking up right after the last Secret Wars event...

Thanos, Namor, and company murdered off almost every version of the Squadron. the incursions took care of the rest. this is so that I can work with a clean slate. Reed Richards has used the god power to do his best repair job on the marvel universe proper. but he's still just a human. there are glitches in the matrix. for me, there's always been the nagging question of "are there 616-analogues of the Squadron characters and vice versa?" for the purposes of my rework, there are people in the main marvel universe who would have been at least similar to these Squadron characters; if not for some cosmic rule preventing it. that rule would be lifted by Doom's machinations and Reed's "fix." so, one by one, versions of the Squadron would "wake up" in the marvel universe with memories of their more exciting lives elsewhere. don't expect them all to be familiar to you. the majority of them would at least appear to be brand new characters. but all of them would have had Squadron dopplegangers in other (now destroyed) worlds. I did it this way to not put restrictions on who the characters would be. they don't awaken all at once. some characters would react badly to the new memories, flame out quickly, and their powerset/costumed identity go to someone else. Hyperion will remain the same one that aided the Avengers during the Incursions. he's the one exception and would be in the best position to aid these newly awakened Squadron members. don't expect them to become a formalized team; they are more like the early Defenders. oh and this is just the tip of the iceberg. it wasn't just the heroes who woke up. and it wasn't just the Squadron counterparts. I'd want the reemergence of the New Universe characters to be part of this mystery.

Better make a new team with Sentry, Moon Knight, Thundra, Quicksilver, Quasar (or Nova), Namor and Super-Skrull, seeking redemption.

[Huntsman Spider]

Better make a new team with Sentry, Moon Knight, Thundra, Quicksilver, Quasar (or Nova), Namor and Super-Skrull, seeking redemption.

Considering Sentry's back and getting his own series (again), that could be an excellent springboard to a team like the one you describe.