Superhuman arms race and superhuman trafficking.

[Chris0013]

The current story line in Spider-Woman about Gerry being kidnapped, aged up and brainwashed into an assassin sparks a dark thought about a world with super humans.

They are a commodity. Governments, terrorist groups, corporate interest, etc...are going to want them as a resource.

Russia had the Red Room and the Red Guardian programs and the Soviet Super Soldiers that evolved into the People's Protectorate and then the Winter Guard
,
China had China Force, the People's Defense Force, The Dynasty and even their own S.H.I.E.L.D. type organization S.P.E.A.R.

North Korea using Bartol Utler's process for grafting the x-gene onto people to create their own super humans.

The USA and their Freedom Force and Thunderbolts programs using criminals and the Squadron Supreme of America before that imploded.

Serval Industries funded X-Factor for a time.

Even Iron Man was a corporately sponsored hero...as far as the public knew.

Then there are the terrorist, criminals, etc...who recruit or create their own super human assets.

I think there would be many interesting stories to be told dealing with these concepts. Breaking a super human trafficking ring (yes I know Young Justice did it), or super human assets of opposing governments carrying out a shadow war in modern time and even in the past.

[Ultimate Captain America]

Actually, there was plenty of that in the original Ultimate Marvel universe. Ultimates 2 is in fact the ultimate example of how would the existence of superhumans (most of them in the US) disrupt international diplomacy.

[JudicatorPrime]

The Enclave successfully created two of the most powerful artificial beings in the multiverse decades ago in fictional universe time. Phineus Horton did it a generation before that with the Human Torch. Hank Pym did the same with Ultron more recently. Technically, the being known as Ultimo is also an artificial being that predates the modern era. The list goes on and on.

My point here is that if Marvel wanted to establish that the world's superpowers have been stockpiling superhuman assets, it wouldn't need to necessarily resort to actual human beings. The entire military apparatus of every country in Eurasia could be comprised of cosmically powered Adam Warlocks or Hulks. I'm convinced there would be assembly lines rolling out those beings by the thousands every year and deployed very much the same way that nuclear arms are deployed today -- primarily as deterrents.

And don't even get me started on the mystical and technological devices that would have been mass produced, like Cosmic Cubes or Quantum Bands (which I understand have the ability to self-replicate), if Marvel writers applied a more realistic approach to stories.

And then there's the Darkhold, which has been around since the dawn of humanity. Why there aren't entire nations -- nay, dimensions -- comprised of the unholy undead is obviously a reflection of writers not wanting to follow these advents to a logical conclusion.

[Aarkus]

The Enclave successfully created two of the most powerful artificial beings in the multiverse decades ago in fictional universe time. Phineus Horton did it a generation before that with the Human Torch. Hank Pym did the same with Ultron more recently. Technically, the being known as Ultimo is also an artificial being that predates the modern era. The list goes on and on.

My point here is that if Marvel wanted to establish that the world's superpowers have been stockpiling superhuman assets, it wouldn't need to necessarily resort to actual human beings. The entire military apparatus of every country in Eurasia could be comprised of cosmically powered Adam Warlocks or Hulks. I'm convinced there would be assembly lines rolling out those beings by the thousands every year and deployed very much the same way that nuclear arms are deployed today -- primarily as deterrents.

And don't even get me started on the mystical and technological devices that would have been mass produced, like Cosmic Cubes or Quantum Bands (which I understand have the ability to self-replicate), if Marvel writers applied a more realistic approach to stories.

And then there's the Darkhold, which has been around since the dawn of humanity. Why there aren't entire nations -- nay, dimensions -- comprised of the unholy undead is obviously a reflection of writers not wanting to follow these advents to a logical conclusion.

^^ all of this ^^


which also brings the (Super-) Adaptoid to mind... even in-universe, if A.I.M. managed to mass-produce these and control their programming, pretty much everyone with powers would be screwed

[Huntsman Spider]

Pretty much what you've all been saying. Hell, Marvel 2099's main impetus was that the dominant megacorps in the future started trying to recreate the superheroes of the present day as corporate super-soldiers to enforce and ensure their continued domination over the world, only for that to backfire thanks to sabotage by the jealous rival of the head geneticist in charge of that project, leading to Spider-Man 2099 as a renegade hero in opposition to the megacorps. Aside from the future shock, Mark Millar actually posited in Marvel Knights Spider-Man #1-12 that supervillains, at least the earlier ones, were created through a consortium of corrupt corporate and governmental actors backing clandestine projects to enhance and equip mercenaries that would keep the nascent superhero population distracted from using their powers and resources to effect societal change or otherwise threaten the bottom lines of those corporate and governmental actors.