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How would you run a superhero type game/setting with the premise that for whatever convoluted reason (including the genre favorite of "pure coincidence) all the superheroes in the world happened to pop up over the Middle East? I'm not just talking heroes inspired by Arabian folklore, I'm talking all kinds. The aliens landed there, the power suits were built there, the dimensional anomaly happened to open there.

Basically, what Manhattan is to most superhero settings, the Middle East. It's the most interesting region on Earth at the moment, it seems natural to me
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>>52362299

Well, you're not going to have some Captain Arabia type dude or anything like that. I would say make the main guy everyone rallies around someone who was born outside of the region is it slightly removed from the tribal/political issues but still wants to help as they are ethnically attached to the area so Kebab Iron Man would be a good start.
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>>52362354
Isn't one of the most interesting facets of the region though that it's so divided? You're right, there WOULDN'T be a Captain Arabia in the Middle East. That's a part of the setting! To each country its own heroes (plus perhaps neutral ones), its own villains, etc., whose alliances must accommodate the shifting national and political climates. Some heroes might react to this better (the patriotic types), some not. Perhaps every once in a while a villain shows up who forces them to unite - but what political complications would this cause?
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>>52362299
You'd have a ton of different factions, each one extremely convinced they're right. They'd use religious and nationalistic reasons to fight over resources and strategic points.

Also, they'd probably quickly find a way to cleverly use even the most tame superpowers for combat.
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>>52362515

Okay so Kebab Iron man would probably be a neutral or outside faction while, like you said, the other countries have their own homegrown heros and villans.

The House of Saud would no doubt captilize on any superheros in their country, better if one of their sons happened to be one as well as that just gives them even more clout (i.e. Allah has shown his blessing on the House of Saud being the stewards of Islam).

What about women who become supers? How does Wonder Hijab deal with the traditional gender roles in her country? I would say the outside neutral faction would attempt to capitalize on any females from uber conservative countries and bring them to their fold.
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Israeli SHIELD would be nasty.
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>>52362299
I like the idea that the Emirates turn their supers essentially into idols. Arabic quickly replaces English as the international standard. Arab movies replace Hollywood. Persia becomes the USA as their moderate population puts down the zealots and they return to something more like cool-ass 70s Iran. Saudi Arabia goes crazy and uses the USA's military to become the remaining world power. Israel is under constant siege but able to hold itself together. Yemen basically stays Yemen. Central Asia more-or-less turns into Mexico, seeing a massive population boom and demand for manufacturing and agriculture that skyrockets.I don't think Europe changes all that much. It sorta becomes more of the Disneyland version of Europe that most Americans already think it is, with the Muslim world now content to let it be because it lost. Christianity turns quaint. Turkey becomes The West and steals most of Eastern Greece. Africa becomes the new proxy-war battleground, as different factions of Islam fight over what kind is going to rule those countries. China goes insular and weirder, and basically turns into what India currently is, while India picks the wrong side, loses a war badly, and ends up a wasteland. Pakistan becomes the ultra-militant guard against the East, which collapses in on itself until it's basically all just Hong Kong, but Islam never really gets far. Taiwan finally gets its independence and takes over for what New York used to be, now that Dubai is basically Hollywood.
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>>52362299
Just downloaded the Atlas of Earth-Prime from the 7chan share thread, eh?
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>>52362299

They'd all be one shot characters, but they'd go out with a bang.
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>>52362299
>all the superheroes in the world happened to pop up over the Middle East

They are empowered by the pre-islamic deities that once held sway over these lands. Superpowered individuals are considered to be witches, apostastes or even literal demons.
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>>52362299
Honestly I would love to see a superhero setting set in and focusing on the middle east.
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>>52362299
It would be a fucking shitshow. Would it be an Assad, Saudi, Israeli or Iranian Superthug that toed the party line and beat up their enemies? Would it be a Turkish Invader warlord that beat up ethnic minorities? Would it be some kind of Kurdish Freedom Fighting Superwoman (This one is easily my favorite)? Would it be some kind of Alqy, Nusra, or ISIL Murderman, hellbent on perpetrating mass-murder with his Superman-tier murder powers?

The possibilities are endless.
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>>52362719
Holy shit.
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>>52363545
>>52362719
The fucking SuperMossad would just murderize niggas with their super murder powers. Shit would be grotesque.
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>>52363563
And then the superpowered crusade show up to retake the Holy Land.
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>>52363613
That could be a cool Big Villain Arc, a Super Crusader Coalition attempting to seize control of the Levant. Force all these disparate forces we've discussed to band together to save their homeland. Could be one of those awful crossover arc that requires you to have kept up with Mighty Mehmet even though that shit's fucking awful and phoned in every month.
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>>52362515
...We both know it'd be Captain Islam.
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I'm getting a very German vibe from this thread.
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Just as long as there is at least one villain that's a crazy fucking Djinn motherfucker that's old as shit, I'm set.
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>>52363231
>>52363649
>the foreign worshipers of a resurrected egyptian god attack
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>>52362299
So the aliens really built the pyramids? And Osiris itself is part of the Eastern League of Paragons?

Also, one could have the likes of the more epic Alexander of the alexadrinian romances as a sort of Doctor Doom: an evil (more like ancient morals and drunk decisions), megalomaniac, honorable king which acumulated the knowledge, both scientific and esoteric, stored at the extinct Library of Alexandria. He has his own small country in the Athos Peninsula, intent on conquering all the Middle East once again. He has plenty of automaton clockworks which perfom with perfect sync but has dificulties adapting to the modern world, specially when it comes to tactics. Oh, and he finally had a mountain sculpted on his likeness, just like Dinocrates proposed.

Mossad could have the Gholem taskforce, a squadron of agents on mecha suits.

At the same time, they could have a good, powerful do-gooder who lives by the Tikkun olam. Called Samson, he once was a turist in which the Jerusalem syndrome awakened superpowers.

A dryad-like green spirit on hijab wants to rebuild the Garden of Babylon, or even the Garden of Eden.

However, all this bunch of superpowered characters makes me think like >>52362525. It could become as nasty as Uber. At least when a character dedicates himself to terrorism, it's going to happen. It could be an evil genius which creates alchemic conconctions which turn people into living bombs, for example.
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>>52363687
> A three way battle between the united Arabic heroes and villains, the Chaotic Crusader Coalition, and Kek's servants.
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>>52362299

Most superhero comics were originally written by Jews. Between that and Israel's own stories about special ops guys and the missed, you have fodder for a whole new mcu full of supers.

I'd add one based on real-life Giora Epstein, the Ace of Aces of the jet age (most confirmed a2a kills). Give him a transforming Mecha Varitech fighter. IRL he once annihilated a regiment of Egyptian fighters singlehandedly.
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I always think of Black Adam killing millions of people when I think about Mideastern supers.
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>>52363773
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>>52363846
Yeah, I'm thinking the potential for atrocity is pretty huge. Shit, even if it's not ISISman, it could still be Saudi Hospital Bombing Man.
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What if only Yazidis, Kurds, and Eastern Christians gained superpowers?
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>>52363887
Remove arab
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>>52363682
?
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All I want is for this motherfucker to show up.
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>>52364754
>Assassin
>Stealthy Heroic Spirit
>Huge spiky black armor
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>>52363231
Read the OP more carefully, he specifically said that wasn't the case. It's not about specifically Middle Eastern superheroes, it's about all the superheroes happening to be in the Middle East, same as they all happen to be in New York in most comics. Scientist uses powered armor to fight crime? He's Iranian. Alien raised by humans decides to become protector of the species? His parents were Jordanian Bedouins. Some kids just randomly born with superpowers? They all live in Dubai.
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>>52363613
>>52363649
Crusaders are European though, isn't the premise here all the superbeings are Middle Eastern? If anything, the enemy would be some crazy supervillain named "Dr. Jihad" trying to launch his laser nukes at Paris trying to be stopped by Captain Suleiman or whatever.
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>>52363760
A prototype fighter jet (the plane's probably intelligent, probably with a shitty personality, because that's what sells superhero movies nowadays) pilot would definitely make a good Israeli superhero.
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>>52365707
No, just that the Mideast is the America of this comic universe. There are still Asian and African supers in American capes, so there would be rare, super racist, poorly conceived American and European capes in this universe.

At BEST there might be some figure analogous to Black Panther from like...England or Connecticut or some shit.
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>>52365616
You're pretty fucking stealthy if no one alive knows you're there.
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>>52365981

His name is the Bonglander, and he uses the power of dank weed in order to do James Bond-esque stunts.
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>>52365981
>there would be rare, super racist, poorly conceived American and European capes in this universe.

FREEDOMMAN! HALF MAN, HALF EAGLE!
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>>52362299
I'm just imagining all those badasses famous for fighting ISIS with superpowers.
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>>52366479
Yeah, but don't forget the ISIS supervillain characters either. That could be some wild shit.
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>>52363887

Nearly all Yezhidis ARE Kurds.

They'd ally with Israel, as in fact they very quietly already are. Other Kurdish superheroes in Iran would support that country. The ones in turkey would be full blown hot communist chicks commiting terrorism against the Turks. There's a huge Kurdish Jewish community in Israel; they would all ally with Israel of course but go help the Kurds in Kurdistan too.

Arab Christians are a wildcard. At times they're rabidly anti-jewish and anti Israel (not just one or the other), and cook up all kinds of excuses for why radical Islamic Arabs aren't so bad. At other times, they're more anti-Islam than anybody on pol. I've known quite a few and some are chill and nonpolitical, but the political ones swing wildly around but they'll always say that whatever they're saying now has always been what they say.

So I think the Arabs get mostly removed from the map as significant player's. Israel stays Israel. Iran and the Kurds have a huge state of their own plus a friendly rivalry to control the Arabian peninsula, and turkey is overthrown and becomes a rump state.
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>>52366361
I AM CAPTAIN DEMOCRAFREE
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>>52366773
>The ones in turkey would be full blown hot communist chicks commiting terrorism against the Turks

Fuck, I'm getting really turned on just thinking about all the glorious revolution they'd spread.
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>>52366790
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>>52365671

A Bedouin superhero would be fun. They mainly stay out of the politics and are pretty cool.
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>>52365981

Like Patriot from the Agents of SHIELD TV series as opposed to Captain America. Though the US military characters in the MCU are already pretty shallow caricatures.
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>>52366773
>Nearly all Yezhidis ARE Kurds.
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>>52366794

I'm getting pretty horny myself, and I hate communism.

Remember the Baroness in GI Joe?
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>>52362354
I think a Captain Israel character makes more sense than a Captain Arabia character. Could even keep to the ethnic outsider idea if he was a test subject in a secret Nazi super-soldier experiment that worked too well. Then he could have a sort of Moses arc of freeing the camps and leading the Jews to the Holy land again.

Of course, his staunch idealism means he's constantly torn between cooperative cohabitation with Arabs, external Arab military threats, and the occupation missions of the Israeli gov. In fact, he'd probably get booted from Israeli SHIELD for harbouring non-nationalistic views, having lived through the horrors of WW2
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>>52367208

The Holocaust survivors were and are the most nationalist, pro-occupation group in Israel. It's the younger ones and especially expats living abroad who are pro-palestinian.
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So, the first thing that happens in this setting is Palestinian genocide, right?
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>>52363231

Awesome. Like their own supers team who're just badass mythical powers like Thor and the Asgardians, but from various Middle Eastern mythologies. Fucking Marduk swings by, prophesying his own return as a messianic king of Babylon
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>>52367261
I had no idea. I guess >>52367334 is right for my proposed cap Israel idea.
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>>52365981
>>52366361
>>52366790
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>>52367605
This is too much freedom for one image
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>>52367334

Why? Do you think the Israelis couldn't if they wanted to?

I could see them assassinating all the Palestinian superheroes, or at least all the ones in terrorist groups. But if genocide was their endgame they could have saved themselves a lot of trouble by doing it long ago. They hold back for historical, cultural, religious, and self-image reasons.

Driving them into Jordan, I could see, if the international pressure could be minimized and the kingdom there not destabilized.
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>>52367455

So I think a Captain Israel would be a lot like Captain America or Superman. Because of course those superheroes were written by Jews operating from much the same cultural/ethical perspective as Israelis.

Keep in mind also that the first generation of Israelis were driven out of their homes in Europe and the Middle East, and then fought a bloody war of Independence against a more numerous, better equipped enemy that was bragging about having another Holocaust once they won. They see the whole situation very differently than the Arabs or even modern Israelis.

Google Mickey Marcus for a comic book tier Israeli war hero.
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>>52364754
I fucking love characters whose power is just "I give things death."

There are characters who do shit like control fire, reverse cause and effect, or grow stronger the more they're hated, and then there are those bastards who can kill things with pure fucking death.
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>>52366790
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nEgjwfX6s8

CAPTAIN CAPITALISM!
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>>52362299

I'd read up on Middle eastern politics and history and draw inspiration from the real world. A super soldier army based on the Mamluks takes over Egypt. A hydra-esque pseudo-fascist faction inspired by Ataturk runs Turkey from behind the scenes. An elite superhuman Royal Guard props up the Saudis. Uber-evil ISIS style madmen would be an obvious factor.

Then I'd highlight factional strife and the role that control over what ever unobtanium/applied-phlebotinum fuels super powers plays. Sunni and Shia supers would be slugging it out on a regular basis, and wrecking lots of cityscape in the process.

Western powers, particularly America, would be constantly meddling. They would have their own supers as a result of purchasing "element X" from middle eastern nations. Those western powers who would be better equipped and more professional than the locals, but have their hands tied by politics.
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>>52362719
Israel has no publicly acknowledged superpowered soldiers, and would neither confirm or deny operations involving supers.
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>>52363773
Black Adam did nothing wrong
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>>52370501
Oh, he was fucking pissed, I don't even blame him. But that's what I think of, just a superdude massacring an entire country in retaliation for shit. I feel like that's how it would go down.
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>>52370553
I like how they explicitly said nothing above the scale of a germ was left alive. From border to border he exterminatus'd that place.
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>>52367841
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>>52366790
Captain Satan anon
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>>52362299
Behold the Superman of the middle East
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>>52371212
You're a funny guy, friend.
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>>52371212
>Not a photograph of Assad
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>>52367208
Years ago a friend of mine and I had an idea for a Jewish superhero who became immortal due to Nazi experimentation and has been traveling the world ever since ("The Wandering Jew"). Happy to know we weren't the only crazies.
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>>52362948
But it's actually got all you wanted. I definitely think the Middle East is one of the better chapters. Everything from a prince of the house of Saud fighting crime with a flock of robotic falcons through mysterious magicians, mutants, Israeli qabbalists, angels and dragons. Also, a villain called the "Star Sheikh" who's fooled the emirates into thinking he's looking for oil, but who in fact is looking for Precursor artifacts buried in the desert and who is paying them with the alien hypertech equivalents of glass beads.
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>no pics of Dust
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>>52375012
The starship of an ancient supervillain, obviously.
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What would be the Mideastern equivalents of:

Superman
Batman
Wonder Woman
The X-Men
Iron Man
Thor
Spiderman
Captain America
?
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>>52375293
>Captain America
Supreme Emir
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>>52375293
>>52375439
He'd likely be Israeli. If there's one country in the region with the technological capability, the military mindset and the national attitude, it's Israel.
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>>52375439
>emir
>not caliph
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>>52375293

The problem is that the core message of all these comics was, "with great power comes great responsibility". Outside Israel and a few Persians and Iraqi Kurds, who in the Middle East thinks that way? Each of these comics are about extraordinary people who use all their superpowers to essentially keep things the way they are, maybe improve them a bit. It's a function of America having no real territorial ambitions or big grievances, and being comparatively prosperous, peaceful, and happy. And many of them do so anonymously so they can live normal lives as normal people.

So Spiderman doesn't stage a coup, declare himself Emir of Beirut, put his own tribe in charge, marry four supermodels, and live in a palace. He fights street crime and lives a normal life anonymously in high school.

Even guys like Bruce Wayne and Tony Stark live within the system. That's true even when they come into conflict with it.

This is all a counterpoint to Nietzsche. In that world, with great power comes the special privilege of transgressing the normal legal and moral rules so as to fully actualize their potential. Communism doesn't credit Nietzsche, but it's concepts of Revolutionary Values and the New Soviet Man are essentially the same. In practice, radical Sunni Islam adopts the same view. To them, a Captain America is a fool and a "cuck", wasting his potential to make other men rich and powerful. He should be doing great things, settling old historical scores, building a great empire, or enforcing the supremacy of his ideology, race, or religion.

These views are formulas for super-VILLAINS, even if they're protagonists in the story. To people raised on Spiderman, Tolkien, and Star Wars, such supers just don't compute as heroes. It's a totally different kind of story.
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How would the rest of the world react at the middle east getting all the cool stuff?

There'd likely be a rise of animosity against middle eastern people as people of the west are afraid of their countries new found power, politicians make hard pushes for stronger immigration laws all around Europe and America.

The middle east becomes a major talking point as everyone is bracing for the domino effect of all the changes that happen that fast in that region.

Probably a rise in white supremacy/anti-semitism in general as all the people that are "just kind of" against the jews right now get new reasons to be afraid of them now that they've got supers, people becoming more extreme in their believes.

Tourism into the middle east will reach an all time high as everyone wants to see some superhumans in action, regular people just kind of get a ticket to Dubai or Israel or whatever and hope they just randomly cross paths with superhuman on superhuman action while rich people pay for tours through hot warzones in the hopes of seeing some capes duke it out (or just book meetings with them directly though that's not as exciting).
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>>52375708
Those are two entirely different things.
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I always wonder why the Arabian/Assyrian mafia never gets attention in stories, or bedouin dope smugglers

I mean there's more middle-eastern villains than just terrorists
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>>52375012
>hypothalamus

My man.
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>>52376804
>>52376997
Which is precisely why this would make a terrific setting for Wild Talents. Like, "call Greg Stolze right now, he needs this idea" terrific.
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>>52376804
Valid point

Western culture is (at it's origin) based on guilt and innocence in the eyes of Christ. Doesn't matter if "nobody" will know you did a bad thing, YOU will know. It's about doing the right thing no matter the cost, like Christ. Law and Order are the foundation of society, derived from Roman culture.

Middle-Eastern culture is based on honor & shame. Do whatever you want as long as society doesn't know. Having your honor ruined is a fate worse than death.
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Persian superheroes would have the tackiest, gaudiest, most embarrassing costumes of all
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>>52363070
Lol. I see what you did there.
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>>52376804
>>52376997
>>52379384
It's a sad thing that so many westerners so vehemently refuse to truly understand current Middle Eastern culture out of some misguided idea that accepting the facts about it would make them racist. To acknowledge that Middle Easterners have completely different, sometimes alien cultural values isn't freaking colonialist, it's not the same as calling them primitives or savages. And it's absolutely VITAL to understanding the situation in the Middle East. This is a culture where you would be seen as IMmoral for not murdering your own daughter for walking outside uncovered, and the current king of Saud is considered weak because he didn't bother to KILL his father when he stole the throne. Invading another country for its oil fields is a perfectly reasonable action and the fact that every ethnic group in the region is perfectly aware that every other ethnic group wants it cleansed off the face of the earth doesn't preclude polite interaction (right until one stabs the other in the back, which both sides understand perfectly well will happen).

It's not just America with camels and burkas.
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>>52379437

I've known many persians (all emigres or 1st generation immigrants, mostly escaping the Revolution) and I can't think of even one who hasn't been incredibly stylish. All different looks and styles, mind you. Even now in Iran itself the girls often wear very hot and stylish clothes and jewelry under their legally-required clothes.

I'm sure there are tacky ones, but I haven't personally met one.

So I think their superheroes would look BETTER than the four color americans of comic book history.

Actually, now that I think of it, have you met anyone from beirut? Or Israel? Middle Eastern supers would have many many problems but fashion sense isn't one of them.

>>52379384

I think you're way overestimating the cultural implications of Christianity here. You're right but going overboard. Judaism pushes the "people with more power are held to a higher moral standard" line even harder, and that's where Christianity gets it. Most strains of Buddhism have a version of this as well.

As for Europe, respect for rule of law derives from many sources. The Frankish warrior honor codes are important as well. Sure the Romans respected rule of law at one point, but Christianity's embrace of this stems from their jewish roots and also from the fact that by the time Christianity was forming, Rome was deeply corrupt and had utterly rejected rule of law in favor of partisan power-grabs and might-makes-right. Christianity is an active rejection of Rome-- some of it demanding that Rome uphold standards which it had betrayed, and some of it a rejection of what Rome had always been.

The argument is that Western Civilization is based on three pillars: hellenism as filtered by Rome, Judaism as filtered by Christianity, and the Frankish "barbarian" tribal codes that conquered Rome but then reimagined their own traditional practices through the classical/monotheist lens.
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>>52379627
Though I would totally live in America with camels and burkas. That sounds really comfy.
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>>52367841
So captain Israel would be taken out of the picture at some point and later return?
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>>52366821
>last survivor of an alien civilization lands in the deserts of Earth
>completely desperate that he was powerless to stop the death of his people, thinking himself worthless
>about to give up and die of thirst
>suddenly found by kindly Bedouin
>cue this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oG0a9WFkgzU

>yfw instant origin story
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>>52379760

And, btw, that's why the Middle East is a mess. Just as Rome's fall left a corrupt basket case of a region mired in poverty, tinpot dictators, competing brands of fanaticism, nostalgia for the Good Old Days, and above all a grab-what-you-can-while-you-can-by-any-means-necessary mentality, so the exact same thing happened in the ME when the ottoman empire fell.

For that matter, this has happened in quite a lot of places where you had the collapse of a formerly great but now very corrupt empire, followed by a power vacuum.

If the EU falls apart and then the region melts down (or at least its mediterranean members), you'll see the exact same drama acted out. Different religions, ideologies, and personalities, but the same stuff will start to happen.
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>>52376804
>>52376997
>>52379760
>>52379855
While I like your speculations, remember OPs premise was "The Middle East is the center of the superhero universe", not of any specific event. If it's anything like the superhero settings we know, that means superheroes aren't exactly some new development in the region. Those worlds are BLOATED with characters, from ancient gods to magicians to super gadgeteers to aliens to people wielding mysterious devices to random rich guys fighting crime. It'd have had the local equivalents of, say, the Sorcerer Supreme, Shining Knight, Aquaman or any number of other historical superbeings since forever.
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>>52379760
>Or Israel?
Military uniforms are not "fashion".
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>>52379855
There were always superheroes (and villains) in the region, just like there were in America in the DC and Marvel verses. The Ottoman period? SOME dashing fellow with a pet genie (or a crazy inventor, or just a talented crimefighter for that early 1900's Golden Age feeling) had to contend with Vizier Venom, Al-Fil, rogue ifrits and dastardly British spies threatening the empire back in that day And the trends being what they are probably have a 2010's successor of some sort, probably young and hip.
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>>52379963

Sometimes they are, but I'm talking civilian garb.
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Nevroz Peroz, motherfuckers.

I've seen some of you mention my father's people, Kurds. I do believe I can provide you with a good superhero character.

There was this evil motherfucking snake-king, called Zuhak. He was a tyrant, killing two young men every day just for his amusement (and their brains). However, one of his servants started saving one of the boys each day. They were then trained into a freedom fighters, an army of free people to defeat the tyrant. They were led by a blacksmith named Kaveh, who himself had lost seven sons to the beast. They marched into the monsters palace, where Kaveh used his hammer to defeat King with Snakes on Shoulders.

He's also considered a god called Kurdalægon in some mythology.

He's basically Kurdish Thor that gets shit done.
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>>52380924
That sounds way cool.
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>>52379627
The trouble with such people is that they can appreciate other cultures, but they don't "get" other cultures. They don't think people genuinely have different values from themselves.

Horrible example, but it's like that episode of Buffy where those retarded teenagers invite a coven of vampires to a lock-in party. Yes they know they're bloodsucking monsters, but they don't "get" that they're unrepentant about killing people for food.
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>>52380924
Are there significant numbers of Zoroastrian Kurds? All of that stuff is familiar to me from Zoroastrianism.
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>>52381480
Sadly, I don't know that. Will ask dad later, but propably not that many: he had never mentioned them, and he's got a fairly big family back home and along the Gulf.
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>>52381480
Not surprising that an Iranian tribe would have an Iranian mythology
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>>52381666
there is literally none in this thread
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>>52381737
It's just bait/shitposting man. Ignore it.
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>>52381760
It's just the sound of your parents not getting a refund man. Ignore it.
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>>52379845
I want to read this comic. Like right now.
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>>52381857
A refund for what?
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>>52373772
My negro.
Has she been doing anything lately? Improbably haven't been readin the right comic books, but I haven't seen her in, well, really anything lately. Or the rest of the young xmen, for that matter.
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>>52373772

Dust really is best girl.

>>52382166
I don't think so, though I know she made it through Secret Wars.
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>>52380924
Isn't that just Azhi Dahak from Persian mythology?
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>>52381340
Same sort of people who shakes their head with exaggerated sadness at the foolishness of those silly, silly children in the Holy Land killing each other "over whose imaginary friend is better" in some posh Seattle cafe, completely missing that this is literally some "White Man's Burden" tier imperialist attitude.
>>
>>52363667
would he blow himself up and miraculously appear again in the next issue?
>>
>>52363682
says the Anglo
>>
>>52383254
I don't get either of those. What's so German about the Middle East?
>>
>>52381639
Basically, yeah.
>>
>>52383577
What's so middle eastern about germany would be a better question tbqhwyf
>>
whole thread and no one brings up The Bulldozer

I'm a little disapointed
>>
>>52362299
>Ironman is a Saudi Oil Shiek who is wealthy from... well, from being an Oil Shiek
>Also he secretly funds militants to destabilize Iran
>Until one day they fuck his shit up and he learns oopsie terrorism is actually bad
>Uses his genius knowhow and heaps of fucking money to try and fight for peace in the middle east out of guilt for all the deaths he's caused
>And also to preserve the social and political status quo in Saudi Arabia
>>
>Gilgamesh returns.
>He shows the ME what godhood is really about.
>>
>>52375587
>>52375293
>Captain America is a WW2 ghetto fighter and guerilla who survived the war and has been enhanced by a combination of super science forumlated by jewish scientists the Nazi's enslaved to work on their secret weapon programs and kabbalic mysticism
>Now an agent of Mossad, he struggles with PTSD and an increasing disconnect with the Israel of today and the way the conflict with Palestine, alternating between being disgusted by the way his own people abuse and push out the Palestinians and his own vicious hatred of them for being enemies of the Jewish people
>Caught between his conscience and the fact he only knows how to live with violence, he is a very grim and unhappy figure
>>
>>52363846
Uber is really fucking insane but the creator actually did his homework at least
>>
>Muslim superhero.
>Invulnerability.
>He can suicide-bomb a marketplace over and over and over again.
>>
>>52387233
>Muslim superhero
>Flight
>He can fly into the world trade center.
>>
>>52387372
>Muslim superhero.
>X-ray vision.
>He can see through burkas.
>>
>>52376804

Like... Doctor Doom?
>>
>>52387644
>A Muslim Doctor Doom.
>His Doctorate is the equivalent of a junior-high education.
>>
>>52387778
>Believes in crackpot theories about summoning djinn and using them as nuclear reactors
>Because this is a superhero world, he's completely right
>>
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>>52387798
Doctor Djinn, lord of the Smokeless Fire, actually sounds like a pretty cool idea.
>>
>>52387778
>Muslim superhero
>Healing Factor
>Doesn't die from inbreeding-related chronic illnesses
>>
>>52388411
>Muslim superhero.
>Has a skill more marketable than activating a detonator and exploding.
>Moves out of the Middle East and accomplishes something with his life.
>>
>>52388466
>Muslim superhero
>Increased Intelligence
>Isn't a pedophile
>>
>>52388052
This movies were fucked up, man.
>>
A friendly reminder that, if not for the closing of the gate of ijtihad, Islamic culture may not have stagnated circa 900CE.
>>
>>52386515
Didn't Gilgamesh think godhood was about being immortal and enslaving your subjects in building huge vanity walls?
>>
>>52389838
That was just the spirit of the era when it came to godhood. Or rulership, for that matter.
>>
Wasn't superman jewish at some point?
>>
>>52386530
>jewish scientists the Nazi's enslaved to work on their secret weapon programs

>implying the nazis would let the untermenschen invent shit instead of doing the experiments on them
>>
>>52391107
His creator was Jewish and apparently part of the inspiration for the general concept (superhuman being protects human community) came from the golem. It might've led to the kind of speculation that makes every superhero "Jewish at one point", but I don't think it was ever official. I can't imagine he underwent Giyur and his mom couldn't have been Jewish unless they happened to have a diaspora on Krypton, so there's that for counter evidence.

His name "Kal El" apparently means "Born aloft by God" in Hebrew, though.
>>
>>52387644
>muslim Doctor Doom
>Doctor Boom
>>
>>52389052
Can you explain what the gate of ijtihad is?
A quick google search only resulted in articles which seem to require some prior understanding of the concept
>>
>>52391303
״Ijtihad" is a concept in Islamic thought basically translating as "reason" or "enlightened thought". Closing the gates of ijtihad was a poetic way of describing the Muslim world's drifting away from its scientific golden age around 900 CE and into zealotry and religious dogmatism.
>>
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>>52391193
That seems like it would backfire spectacularly.
>The hero's origin story is "victim of nazi mad science medical experiments to create a superhuman." Which worked.
>>
>>52367208
>Could even keep to the ethnic outsider idea if he was a test subject in a secret Nazi super-soldier experiment that worked too well. Then he could have a sort of Moses arc of freeing the camps and leading the Jews to the Holy land again.
>>52392108
>That seems like it would backfire spectacularly.
>>The hero's origin story is "victim of nazi mad science medical experiments to create a superhuman." Which worked.
Same guy?
>>
>>52386530

Read above. This whole "if only the pioneer generation knew how evil Israel was, then they'd be sjw campus fascists like me!" meme is out of control.

The older ones have been watching the conflict from the beginning and know the context. The ones who believe the Palestinian mythology that they're hapless victims of the mean bad Israelis are mostly the young activist types.

An Israeli Captain America would feel for their plight, hope against hope that they'd accept and uphold a peace deal, and fight against their terrorists while they refuse to accept less than Israel's total annihilation. One from the Left would focus on charitable work and bridge building, because he thinks that their real grievance is poverty. Oh, and oppose the settlements. A Likudnik would focus on unravelling Iranian and Saudi plots to use the Palestinians to attack Israel, and move against the terror cells. And support the settlements and help defend them. So there would be differences of opinion, but nobody (especially from that generation) is going to decide of the blue that they're a 19 year old western poly sci major.
>>
>>52391236

Most comics and superheroes were invented by Jews. The whole genre is filled with Jewish assumptions and ethics, as well as a few explicit shout-outs.

Superman's story draws from the stories of Gideon, Moses, the golem legend, and others. Plus since most creative Jews of that era were given classical educations, you'll see many Christian, Greek and Roman references. And many others too. Including btw Arab/Islamic references for some heroes.
>>
>>52392801
Not beyond the occasional reference, unless you're seriously cherrypicking.
>>
>>52392801
I thought Superman was a proxy for Samson
>>
>>52393901
No relation beyond the super strength. Samson is more like movie Thor.
>>
>>52362299
ISIS would be fucked.
>>
>>52366531
>>52366479
What makes you think ISIS are the antagonists in ISIS scenario?

Maybe the story is shown from their perspective and they're the scrappy underdog faction that can finally liberate the middle east from oppression with its new found superpowers.
>>
The 99?
>>
>>52395009
What is that?
>>
>>52393901
Actually, superman was inspired by the Golem myth.
>>
>>52391236
>>52392801
>>52393901
>>52395485
I see the old saying about two Jews arguing having three opinions is still true
>>
>>52395428
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_99

Comic book written by Kuwaiti Naif al-Mutawa, featuring an all Islamic team of superheroes who each gain their powers from one of the "99 names of Allah". Made some noise around 2007 for the sheer uniqueness of being an Islamic superhero comic, basically.
>>
>>52396706
Any good Israeli superhero comics?
>>
>>52397745
99.9% of Israeli comics are depressing as hell shit about people doing exciting things like traveling to the place in Poland where the Nazis burned down their grandma's village to pay respect or suffering from PTSD after serving in the Lebanon War. There were, like, maybe 3 attempts at creating original Israeli superhero comics and they failed, bad.
>>
>>52392652
Or to sum it up in simpler terms, anyone who has actual contact with the palestinians realizes they deserve everything bad which happens to them.
>>
>This thread is now on suptg. Please upvote if you've been enjoying it.
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?searchall=Middle+Eastern+Superhero+Setting
>>
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>>52362299
Surprising quality thread.
>>
>>52396706
>Darr the Afflicter (John Weller from the United States) with the ability to cause physical pain by focusing his anger on people
A little on the nose, isn't it?
>>
>>52386409
>>
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>>52386409
>>
>>52362299
The Middle East already has a hero
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>>52379963
Tell that to the Nazis
>>
>>52379760
>Even now in Iran itself the girls often wear very hot and stylish clothes and jewelry under their legally-required clothes.
When exactly do they get to show them off?
>>
>>52405643
When visiting a friend's place.
>>
>>52375280
>>
>>52362299
Don't come at it from an outsider perspective. Put your characters in the tribalistic and faction mindset as much as possible. Division is almost a central theme of the Middle East.

That being said, make every faction have nuanced qualities. No ones completely in the right there.

Don't be afraid to get dark (by which I mean silver age is a bad idea) but even the Middle East isn't full grim dark (lived there for a few years. The bits I were in were shitty, but even then I've been worse in America)
>>
>>52407095
Just want to clarify the grim dark point: it's not 40k, but it's not silver age comics. It's also not a middle ground. It bounces between slightly shitty but still a good time to oh fuck I used to know that smear on the ground
>>
>>52405643
It's also the nose job capital of the world. Not even because they have particularly big noses or anything, it's just considered attractive. Like, Iranian teen girls actually buy surgical bandages just to put on their noses so it'll LOOK like they got nose jobs.
>>
>>52407095
The closest you should get to a traditional "good guy" is >>52379845 but only because he strictly doesn't get involved unless the shit really hits the fan.
>>
>>52407095
Depends on whether you're visiting Israel or someplace else. It's no wonder everyone there hates them, it simply doesn't fit. It's like someone just cut a piece of America and dumped it in the middle of the region. It doesn't even have the same geography and climate as most of it (it's significantly cooler than the surrounding countries, so instead of mostly desert and some lightly forested hills it's mostly fertile coastal plains with some mountains - it looks almost exactly like Italy, complete with the omnipresent vineyards and olive groves).

Tel Aviv is pretty much San Fransico with less black people.
>>
>>52409946
>Tel Aviv is pretty much San Fransico with less black people.
It's filled with Jews, making it far worse.
>>
>>52411494
>implying Jews are worse than blacks

Are you by any chance French?
>>
>>52411698
A black is only dangerous to approach, Jews are a menace to all of society.
>>
>>52393901

No way. The Samson story was about someone having enormous power but a weak moral center that cost him everything. He fell in love with a foreign girl, who betrayed him to her people. It's more a parable about assimilation or trusting infidels.

To pick an example on the other side, take Jonah and the fish. The whole story is predicated on Jonah not wanting to be a prophet. The reason is that Jonah believes the Assyrians are wicked (true) and that if he goes as a prophet to them, what if they listen to him and repent? He doesn't think they deserve forgiveness even then. In the end, he accepts his destiny, warns the Assyrians, and they do repent and are forgiven. He's more than a little bitter about the whole thing.

So the two messages about how Israel interacts with foreigners are not COMPLETELY in contradiction, but there's definitely a tension between them.

(BTW you could make a kick-ass superhero story about the Jonah tale. Hero stories usually dwell on power, but the ones with the most punch are talking about morality.)

If I had to pick a biblical figure that mirrors Superman, it would be the jewish version of the messiah. Even then it's not a great fit. OTOH, the nazis worshipped their ubermensch, which literally translates as Superman. "Stalin" wasn't Josef's real name, but a nickname which meant Man of Steel. Both the communists and the fascists had their ideal man, a being of supreme power who was beyond conventional human morality.

So the counterpoint is a quintessential American; an immigrant who adopts American culture and ideals, then devotes his life to upholding the American Way. Who, btw, considers himself MORE bound to conventional morality than ordinary people. Superman is a riposte to the Ubermensch and the New Soviet Man, not a bible reference.
>>
>>52411494
>It's filled with Jews, making it far worse.
eh, Israeli ≠ Jewish
>>
Captain Caliphate
He's our hero
Gonna take infidels down to zero
He's our faithful, magnified
And he's fighting on Muhammad's (PBUH) side
Captain Caliphate
He's our hero
Kill the infidel, bring 'em down to zero
Gonna help him pull assunder
Women who drive and men who fuck others
[Burger]: YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS, CAPTAIN CALIPHATE
We're the Calipheers
You can be one too
Because being halal is the thing to do
Sinning and false religion is not the way
Hear what Captain Caliphate has to say
allahu ackbar


All /pol/ memes aside, I could imagine people representing different Muslim peoples, like Berbers, Turks, Malaysians, Arabs, Central Africans, Swedes, Persians, and Indians joining up. Could get some cool diversity as they do something related to their different cultural mythologies and customs, such as Berber camelry or the Shia Assassins
>>
>>52412074
Aren't Israelis like 80 or 90% Jewish?
>>
>>52412290
He meant they don't behave the same as stereotypical Jews, anon. Israelis are pretty hardcore.
>>
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>>52412104
>joining up
As others in the thread have said, they needn't actually join up, at least not permanently - the division between them, especially when it's morally grey, is a big part of the Middle East.
Alliances shift like the desert sands.

>swedes
was that really necessary?
actually this thread is going pretty well so far
>>
>>52375293
Marduk instead of Thor

Middle-eastern Superman was raised by Afghan goat herders instead of American farmers

Batman is an oil sheik by day
>>
>>52417222
Spiderman bitten by a radioactive camel spider from Iranian nuclear weapon experiments?
>>
>>52383239
Would honestly be genuinely funny as a background character.
>>
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>>52383239
>would he blow himself up and miraculously appear again in the next issue?
According to Islamic canon, he probably would.

https://sunnah.com/bukhari/56
> By Him in Whose Hands my life is! I would love to be martyred in Allah's Cause and then get resurrected and then get martyred, and then get resurrected again and then get martyred and then get resurrected again and then get martyred.
Keep in mind that Bukhari is a sahih hadith, meaning that it's acknowledged as authentic by close to all major Islamic sects.

Captain Islam constantly coming back to get martyred again would be more than just a gag, it would be the ultimate dream of a faithful Muslim.
>>
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>>52414004
>>
>>52397840
We're, uh, not a happy people.

>>52379963
The girls in the army do their best to change that, generally by making their pants skin-tight.

>>52363716
>At the same time, they could have a good, powerful do-gooder who lives by the Tikkun olam. Called Samson, he once was a tourist in which the Jerusalem syndrome awakened superpowers.
Not a good name for this dude. Samson was an arrogant ass, a fighter, a showman, stubborn and blind.

Maybe Chizkiyah? Wise king, buried a sword in the dirt and said that whoever would not study Torah would be behead-

Ooor, maybe Eliyahu! Whose claim to fame was generally bloodsoaked with idol worshipp-

Samuel! Prophet, cantankerous old judge who went off on Saul for not genociding all of the Amalekites...

Uhhh. I'm fresh out of nice Jewish legends.
>>
>>52415252
>by Robert Fisk

Ahhh, ok.
>>
>>52419219
>The girls in the army do their best to change that, generally by making their pants skin-tight.

This is so totally false. Go ahead, prove it with at least six pictures. Hi-res, please....
>>
>>52419219
Oh, right. Got one. Aaron. High Priest, his chief attribute was Chasing Peace.

>It is also told of two people who had a quarrel that Aaron went and sat with one of them and said, “My son, see what your fellow is doing, for he is in a state of emotional turmoil, rending his garments and, all choked up, saying: How can I look my friend in the eye? I am ashamed before him, for it was I who did wrong.”

>He would sit with him until he removed all jealousy from his heart. Afterwards he would go to his fellow and say to him, “My son, see what your fellow is doing. For he is in a state of emotional turmoil, rending his garments and, all choked up, saying: How can I look my friend in the eye? I am ashamed before him, for it was I who did wrong to him.”

>He would sit there until he removed all jealousy from his heart. When the two met, they embraced and kissed each other. Therefore it is written, “all the house of Israel bewailed Aaron thirty days” (Num. 20:29).
>>
What would happen in Saudi Arabia when girls suddenly have power? Would they stay in touch with their culture and let their brothers decide what they'd do?

I don't think most of them think they're oppressed, but the ones who go through origin stories probably do.
>>
>>52419570
I imagine they would be marketed by their respective authoritative figures as celebrities. That would include both an obligation to try and look like a marketable, inoffensive, at least somewhat traditional lady as well as a superhero. They're still controlled, but only on the surface.

Some nice Saudi girl develops the power to shoot lasers from her eyes, and whatever local government/noble family/oil baron in the area sponsors her to act as their PR rep. Perhaps they'd get offers to marry into one of those influential families that wouldn't happen otherwise. In effect they'd be living more or less the same as a rich lady, with the added fiat that they continue doing hero work for the family's monetary gain.

It could be an interesting plot point when when Arwa the laser cannon girl has to balance the appearance of a good old-fashioned saudi wife with her obligation to her sponsors to keep fighting crime and making them look good. Kind of like Daredevil having to beat up the chumps he puts in jail after they get out on bail. There's a balancing act at play that adds a layer of humaity.
>>
>>52419832
On that note though it would be interesting to see a martial artist vigilante in the style of Elektra try to make their debut in that society.
>>
>>52417654
>ITT depression cus I can't reach Allah's embrace and redeem my 72 virgins no matter how many times I blow myself up.
>>
>>52419030
For anyone wondering,
in Israel every soldier on duty has to keep their rifles on them at all times, even if they are out in their free time, this leads to that picture.
>>
>>52420489
From what I recall form pictures and something an aunt who lived in Israel said, this also applies to other weapons - why a man might get on the bus with a rocket launcher

Israel's conscript army is also a reason for quite a lot of those crashed tank pics - bunch of noob non-professional soldiers + merkeva = lots of incidents that are very funny unless you're being made to do PT for the next million years because you caused it
>>
>>52367430
>baal wakes up and checks on his temples.

>sees isis goons smashing his shrines




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