#megacorps

For better or worse, it’s also got a more even mix of whimsical elements throughout, as compared to more the mundane world invaded by supernatural horrors in the first movie.

LoTek: An adoption of "lower-technology" which not subject to the higher-extremes of mass surveillance or social influence. Named after the fictional group in the short story and loose film adaptation Johnny Mnemonic; in which the LoTek (short for low-technology) a group of anarchists and rebels who oppose the pervasive, high-tech corporate control in the movie's 2021 setting.

LoTek Focus: - Minimalism - Older Tech - User Control - Cassette Aesthetic - Sometimes A Preference For Analog Over Digital| - Anti-Layering Protocols - Anti-Ads/"Influence"/data collection/analytics/telemetry

You make a bunch of references to metropolis being a battlefield to a bunch of megacorporations and the corporate wars between them

Mind sharing ideas on the corporations of metropolis like you fleshed out the Intergang, 100, and invisible mafia?

There are a lot of evil megacorps already present within both the Superman franchise and the larger DCU. Some of the old existing ones could be used as they are, while others should get full revamps. All I really want is to see them established in Metropolis and explore what each one specializes in, with the reason they're all in Metropolis varying. Some are there for money, others are interested in exploiting the city's secrets, and others are there because Superman is there. I envision the megacorps secretly having ties to the crime organizations of Metropolis, so to just run through some quick ideas:

AmerTek Industries - These guys work with Intergang, helping to supply the Ultra-Humanite and Intergang with the materials he needs to make weapons in exchange for him trading some of his own designs, or offering improvements to their existing arsenal. Their focus is on tech, and they're the biggest competitor to Lexcorp and Steelworks for that reason. Robotics specifically is a key area of interest, in contrast to Steel seeking to use tech to empower humans, AmerTek wants to make humans redundant in matters of law enforcement or security.

Stagg Enterprises - Stagg's interest in Metropolis revolves around recovering the lost inventions of the city's legendary founder, Waldo Glenmorgan, and they hire numerous treasure hunters to poke around the city's darker corners for this purpose.

Genetech - These guys work with the Invisible Mafia and their specialty is in metahumans. They're out to weaponize the metagene and they're in Metropolis because what better way to test the result of their illegal genetic engineering experiments than to pit said test subjects against Superman himself? More than money, some of the higher-ups are also keen to leverage their research into gene therapy treatments for themselves, aiming to become stronger, smarter, and longer lived, or even immortal.

Sunderland Corporation - Given their interest in the more mystical sides of the DCU, especially their feud with Swamp Thing, I think Sunderland in Metropolis would be an ally of the 100. They want to commercialize and exploit magic in the DCU, and their efforts to study magical phenomenon attracted the 100's attention and led to some of the 100 leaders buying stakes in the company. A few even ended up sitting on the Board of Directors. The 100 exchanges mystical information and occult artifacts with Sunderland for access to Sunderland's more mundane resources.

But like, the thing is the our economy and culture has been more or less designed to create both billionaires and megacorps as well as poverty and homelessness. Like, shockingly when a society's laws and economic policy are basically written by the highest bidder, they systematically build it to let them have as much as possible, while giving us the least amount they can get away with.

And yeah, they make some small concessions and throw us some bones here and there, but they give us inches to keep us passive, at most. Thats all democracy is at this point.

They want you to think the system is broke, and we need to fix it.

But the system is working fine, just the way they designed it.

When, in 1988, a sizeable chunk of Tokyo is accidentally imploded inciting WWIII, some people see an opportunity in the rubble.

Turning a half destroyed café near the site of the collapsed Tokyo Tower into a sushi restaurant, Sato Hajime created the destination eatery in Zone 19.  An original sign from the café was recycled for the façade, and holds out for around 15 years, finally being replaced in the early 2000s with some custom work, when the 3rd PHISH location is opened in the memorial gardens at the site of the San Francisco torpedo explosions.