Jan 05 2008
Common Problems with Powersuited Superheroes
I'm a former assistant editor with advice about how to write novels, comic books and graphic novels. Most of my content applies to fiction-writing in general, but I also provide articles specifically about superhero stories.
Are you writing a novel or comic book about a powersuited hero, like Iron Man or Steel? Powersuit stories often suffer from the following problems, many of which are easy-to-fix.
1) It’s harder to write in a plausible secret identify for a power-suited hero… but that might make the story more interesting. If he wears most of his powersuit under regular clothes, like Tony Stark, it’s hard to believe no one would notice whenever she hugged him. From the author’s perspective, that’s an opportunity. A difficult situation allows you to show how your character protects his secret identity with his finesse and quick wits. How does your hero deal with some of the tricky situations that come up?
Here are a few that I thought of…
- Anyone that touches him might feel something metal.
- The hero sets off a metal detector.
- A bystander notices that the character is very heavy. The character’s footsteps may be noticeably louder and he will probably sink in snow or mud. If his suit is very heavy, he may break a chair or cause elevators to malfunction.
2) Powersuits usually make the character look lifeless and unrelatable. That’s obviously a problem for comic books, but even a novelist might want to put his character on his cover. The good news is that making the character look less artificial is pretty easy.
- Round the edges on his suit.
- Make the suit nonmetallic (or look nonmetallic).
- Give him normal-looking gloves (like cotton). That will make his gestures look more natural.
- Real-looking boots are also helpful.
- Hulking armor usually doesn’t look aesthetic. I recommend going slim, but not form-fitting. For example, I really liked Samus’ suit.
3) Readers may feel that the character is too dependent on his suit. One way you can encourage your readers to think of him as heroic is by giving him skills independent of his suit. For example, he might be savvy, persuasive, or tricky with his hands. However, scientific and mechanical expertise are kind of cliche and expected. Personal or physical skills will probably feel fresher.
4) The character is often overpowered. If supervillains are the only rivals powerful enough to have a real fight with your hero, writing fight scenes will be difficult. If your hero is too powerful, fights with mere mortals won’t interest an audience. One way to keep a powersuited hero weak enough is by making his suit not completely bulletproof. That worked very well in Weapon, a sci-fi novel about an android.
5) You will probably have to explain the logistics of how he got his armor and keeps it running. But explaining the hero’s logistical support (like Steel’s helpers) is often boring and distracts from the story (Steel). One way you can make the logistics interesting is by introducing conflict. For example…
- His mechanic sidekick wants to work on something safer for his family.
- The hero works for an organization he disagrees with (perhaps the US Army, the Justice League, a mob cartel, or a SWAT team). He may have different goals and ideas about how and when the suit should be used. He may be trying to get away from the organization. He may have been drafted against his will. Does the organization need him specifically to operate the suit, or can they train a replacement?
- The hero and his sidekick are ideologically conflicted. For example, Lucius Fox’s libertarian impulses led him to part ways with Batman in The Dark Knight.
Good article. However, the character’s name was Lucius Fox, not Lucius Clay.
Ah, good call. Thanks.
In case anyone is interested, Lucius Clay was a US general best known for his role in the Berlin Airlift. He was on Time’s cover three times.
Lucius Fox was going to part ways with Batman, but Fox said that he wouldn’t work for Wayne Industries as long as the machine existed, then Batman said to type in his name when they were finished. When he typed “Lucius Fox,” the computer shorted and essentially blew up. Therefore, Fox still works for Wayne.
Good call, anonymous.
Yeah a lot of people seemed to misinterpret Lucius as parting ways with Batman at the end of THE DARK KNIGHT even though it was quite clear he didn’t. I’m kind of surprised. Not that I’m criticising you, B Mac – if you’ve only watched a film once or two – sometimes you can misinterpret and misunderstand things. It took me at least six viewings to understand and keep up with the confusing story of Mission Impossible 1 – though when I look back it’s not that confusing or complicated of a plot but at the time it was.
Anyways, great article by the way as always, B Mac. Powersuited heroes can have their disadvantages as characters and heroes.
Huh. My main character in the online serial I’m writing uses a power suit and I think that I violated a few of these. Personally I’m of the opinion that it works anyway (but feel free to disagree).
1. My main character can’t wear the armor in day to day life so he doesn’t. If he wants to get into action immediately, he either has to skip it or wear what’s referred to as the “stealth suit” which is little more than bulletproof and can be worn under clothes.
2. Looks don’t apply because my serial’s all done in text — though it’s something to keep in mind if I add art to the website.
3. I don’t know if readers feel he’s too dependent on the suit. He does have technical skills but also has trained in the martial arts fairly heavily. Hopefully, that’s enough to make him feel fresh and not cliched. More importantly, the personality and origin of the character work. I’d say that that’s what really makes the difference.
4. I have to ask myself if he’s too powerful. I don’t feel that way, largely because as things are set up, he has to run back to the lab to get his suit (and it takes a few minutes or so to put on). If he doesn’t, he’s got the stealth suit, which is vulnerable to armor piercing bullets at the least.
5. I haven’t bothered to make suit maintenance interesting because I think readers only care about that sort of thing if it impacts the plot or if it’s totally implausible i.e. a person without money can’t afford to keep one of those things running.
Anyway it’s all stuff that’s worth thinking about. One of these days I’ll have to comment on the telepathy article… I’ve unknowingly violated some of those suggestions as well.
I got confused with Lucius’s decision at the end of TDK, too. One other problem with powersuited heroes is that if they face the same villain who falls into the “ain’t broke, don’t fix it” method the hero will pretty much find a way to adapt to the villain’s moves (for example, taking any technology used and studying it), therefore making the villain an idiot. It might be possible to avoid that if the villain has his equipment explode after it leaves his person or does what it’s supposed to do.