Time-Traveling Battlesuit (PL 7)

[Raveled]

When talking in the chat last night, the idea of Doctor Who as Batman came up, and I started spitballing about a concept I’ve mentioned several times, a villain trying to go right. Gizmo pointed me in the direction of Iron Lad, and that has me thinking about something to fill my PL 7 slot when TNTeen retires. I have basically two directions to go right now.

The first is that the character was a villain in the far past, even into the Freedom Legion time period. He realized that fighting against the Legion never really achieved anything, and he eventually decides that he wants to join the good guys; but he’s fought against them so long that nobody accepts his change of heart. Imagine if Doctor Doom tried to legit go good, or if the Kid Loki arc had a much darker end. So this character comes back to the past in order to start a new life.

The second character is almost word-for-word Iron Lad’s backstory. A tyrant from the future manages to take over the world, but it so devastates the planet in the process that it’s not worth ruling. In desperation he constructs a suit of armor with a special AI, and sends this back into the past to his now-teenage self. Kid finds the armor and binds with it, and the AI gives him the short and sweet about the plan -- start his plan to conquer the world sooner and do it when there’s still something worth ruling. The kid rejects the idea of course, and eventually enrolls in Claremont to figure out how to do the hero thing without falling into doing the villain thing.

The first idea is obviously the darker one, as it relies on starting with a character who is so hated in his native time that no one will believe him when he goes straight. I think it has some comedic potential, though, in a Leonard-of-Quirm way: he sketches out a plan to fix some big problem and realizes near the end that he’s building a deathray. I’m also interested in running a story where an even older and still villainous version of him shows up, because the questions that raises are delicious to me.

The second idea is more optimistic and lets me play off the Jaime Reyes/Blue Beetle dynamic. I’m not certain how his older self would take over the world, though.

Idea? Opinions?

[Ari]

For the second, it really depends on what the world they're from is like. And Freedom Legion is in the future.

 

As for conquering the Earth, really there's no 'best' way. Even the most fool-proof all hinge on contrivances or other people forgetting they aren't stupid.

But there is a steady, dependable theme: the conqueror seizes control of something everybody has come to rely on, like the Reapers and their Mass Relays. Perhaps the fellow came up with some kind of energy source, life-changing chemical or ingenious device that came to be omnipresent, allowing them, when the time came, to cripple their rivals and give themselves a crucial edge.

 

Personally I vote for the second. Not because we already have Kid Set, but because it plays with a really great theme for a kid hero: fighting against expectations. We could use more of that and less of whatever it is that's turning the teen heroes into miniature versions of the adults.

[Avenger Assembled]

Let's not derail Rav's thread by criticizing other players, Ari. 

 

Anyway - 

 

>

 

Here's a similar build, Rav - though of course that guy has a slightly different powerset than your concept. 

[Avenger Assembled]

I do share Ari's sentiment that you should go with the second idea. I think it has the most potential for distinctive stories. He doesn't really have a 'hook' for modern stories without that knowledge of the person he's waiting to be (or may be!) in the distant future. As to how he took over, I suggest an army of big, scary robots. If it's good enough for Dr. Doofenschmirtz, it's good enough for your guy!