when brandon sanderson talks about villains in his famous free youtube writing class video lectures he'll say 'what's the difference between gollum and sauron' and of course he means the villain that's present in the narrative and characterized in a way the audience can potentially relate to or sympathize with vs. the looming threatening anonymous far-off force (among other things). but every time he asks that i think 'well one of those guys tracked down frodo and got his ring back'

Do you think Clark Kent's first few major articles were about the continued presence of lead pipes in parts of Metropolis' water system

(Average Metropolis reader after investigative reporter C. Kent's 452nd article on yet another case of landlords/business owners/factories' continued use of lead pipes/paint/gas/glass knowingly exposing the public to dangerously toxic lead levels) what the fuck happened to this guy

One day Bruce Wayne mentions in an interview that heroes like Superman are overrated, as the most effective way to reduce crime is to provide public resources and improve local infrastructure, then cites how neighboring city Metropolis has effectively lowered their violent crime by 13% after addressing their outdated water system and investing low income housing. the reporter conducting the interview suddenly starts looking a little uncomfortable

To be clear, Clark is still a fantastic investigative reporter. He still has to track down the sources to prove all this shit

"Who, Clark Kent? Yeah, we're pretty sure he's a Meta. Is he a superhero? Like what, "Lead-detector guy"? "Captain pipes?" Don't get me wrong, he's a great guy and it's a handy trick, but it's lead detection, not laser vision. He's not about to go running around in tights any time soon."

I just love the idea of a cape maintaining their secret identity by pretending to be a completely different and less impressive kind of parahuman.

everyone assumes that kent is so squirrely around superheros because he’s just desperately hoping not to be conscripted to the JLA to fix their plumbing

They tried to get superman to present the medal but he was offended at being called "overrated" in comparison to Clark so he declined

Counter offer: Bruce Wayne disguised as Superman

It’s been two months and some change and I’m still not over how funny Moros is as a character like. He’s Doom. Every NPC is wary of him. Melinoë is constantly chastised for inviting him to the crossroads. He looks intimidating with his stance and his creepy eyes and his spiked antlers…and then the second you actually get any of his dialogue and hear his vaguely californian, soft spoken ass voice the whole illusion falls apart. Then from there it’s like oh he’s polite! and bashful. and awkward. Clearly he has no idea how to be friendly. He gives you a keepsake that’s ridiculously overpowered in the early game and then says “Princess!” in a flustered voice whenever you equip it. He’s an intense Odysseus fanboy. He has separation anxiety like a dog. He takes up witchcraft because Hecate gets tired of seeing him just stand in the same spot all night. And on top of it all his antlers aren’t even real. Character of all time to me