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So, GAF: Pro Superhuman Registration or Against?

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V

Vermillion

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A couple of threads now kept bringing this to mind, and I thought it would be amusing to ask GAF's opinion. At first I was going to ask about the mutant registration act, but I figure this would be less one sided.

In case you need a bit of background (it's quite short):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Registration_acts_(comics)#2006_Superhuman_Registration_Act

Are you for or against this act?
I would personally be against it, based on the damage it can do to heroes with a secret identity.
 
For superheroes, yes.
For superpowered humans who's just trying to live their lives, no.

You should never have to register just because you were born that way.
 
Against:

Evil will stay Evil, and good will stay good.
What good is law-enforcement if they have to rely on good superhumans to do their biding?

It changes nothing; vigilantes will always be hunting the bad superhumans down, and there are psychics with E.S.P. on both sides. If anything, this new law will discourage the proliferation of vigilantes.

That's why I cannot tolerate Tony Stark, reminds me of the sellout Superman.
 
Pro. I'm sorry, but when we're dealing with individuals with powers like "mind control" and "incredibly destructive laser vision" and "blow up a city block with your mind" then I think those individuals should have tabs kept on them.

EDIT: I'm approaching this from an X-Men perspective I know.
 
See, I think that we would need a military or a police force specifically for super-powered people. It would help with the crimes that people are so afraid they'd commit.
 
The_Technomancer said:
Pro. I'm sorry, but when we're dealing with individuals with powers like "mind control" and "incredibly destructive laser vision" and "blow up a city block with your mind" then I think those individuals should have tabs kept on them.

EDIT: I'm approaching this from an X-Men perspective I know.
Click to expand...

Then the government hires all the super humans willing to be registered to combat all individuals who chose to commit crime using their powers.
 
Cap was right.

Do you follow this..

j4BOx.jpg


or a drunk.
 
When I think about it, all my personal reasons for being against stem from paranoia of a slippery slope into abuse...

This seems to work for me though...
SquiddyBiscuit said:
For superheroes, yes.
For superpowered humans who's just trying to live their lives, no.

You should never have to register just because you were born that way.
Click to expand...
 
If it's genetic based like in X-Men, I think a powers registry would be necessary. They would test at birth and make a note on the birth certificate.
If some people just start gaining them, no. Getting people to get tested would mean we would still have no idea what the criminals had.
If it's a mix, then no. Then we are segregating those who are born with it.

It would need to be all, or as close to all, of them as possible.
 
well the superheroes aren't traditionally as bad as the muties, so i can understand how some people might feel a sense of leniency.
 
SquiddyBiscuit said:
For superheroes, yes.
For superpowered humans who's just trying to live their lives, no.

You should never have to register just because you were born that way.
Click to expand...
Someone who can detect scents as well as a bloodhound shouldn't need to register for that, even if that person is working as a "hero".

Are they using their power in a way that a non-superpowered person would need to be registered to do legally (possibly via weapons, machinery, organizations, training, etc...)?

If the answer is yes, then they should register, but that registration shouldn't be that different from the non-superpowered registration. If they have powers that would require registration if they're used and choose not to use them, then no registration needed.
 
im against. when its an all or nothing situation like that, its fucked from the start
 
The problem with that story was that they kept changing what registration meant. Sometimes it was just putting their identity on a card, sometimes it was "you do what you want, but if you want to be a hero you have to join SHIELD", sometimes it was "if you have powers, congratulations you're drafted and now work for us."
 
Mondriaan said:
Someone who can detect scents as well as a bloodhound shouldn't need to register for that, even if that person is working as a "hero".

Are they using their power to in a way that a non-superpowered person would need to be registered to do legally (possibly via weapons, machinery, organizations, etc...)?

If the answer is yes, then they should register, but that registration shouldn't be that different from the non-superpowered registration. If they have powers that would require registration if they're used and choose not to use them, then no registration needed.
Click to expand...

That's a good point, but you risk ending up in a lot of grey area with powers such as technopathy or even mindreading (one could argue that a good cop should know what a criminal is thinking).
 
Htown said:
The problem with that story was that they kept changing what registration meant. Sometimes it was just putting their identity on a card, sometimes it was "you do what you want, but if you want to be a hero you have to join SHIELD", sometimes it was "if you have powers, congratulations you're drafted and now work for us."
Click to expand...

Right, the version I support is simply "the government knows who you are". If you're leaving the country then the new place your visiting knows that they have a super-powered individual entering their borders, etc
 
People are dumb + egotistical and believe they have superpowers. It will be the most expensive waste of time and resources to figure out the frauds from the real ones.
 
I'm for the idea but not for the way it was executed in Civil War. Redd and Tony got up to the some super-villain level stuff by the end of that.

Though depending on the level of powers available requiring someone to register might entirely be a formality because there is nothing the government could do to stop someone who decides to go berserk.
 
Against the whole if you want to be a hero work for SHIELD thing. Okay with the gov knowing who you are. But to be honest the people implementing it were crazy power hungry by the end.
 
Against. It wasn't too long ago that the Marvel universe had an invasion of undetectable aliens on earth. In that scenario having a comprehensive list of the names, addresses and feature sets of everyone who could possibly fight bad doesn't sound like such a good idea. Even applying a more grounded scenario, news stories about government officials losing private documents/having them stolen are far too common around the world.

On the other hand, it only makes sense that anyone who wished to perform super heroics undergo some form of training and provide a contact number in case of emergency. But Tracking a guy for life just because he woke up on day and could suddenly fly seems completely outrageous.
 
Against, just in case I develop superpowers at some point in the future. "Don't tell me how to live my life," or "I live my life by one rule...no rules" etc.
 
The Senator in X-Men's statement that they needed "to know who they are and what they are capable of" always rang true to me.
 
The_Technomancer said:
Pro. I'm sorry, but when we're dealing with individuals with powers like "mind control" and "incredibly destructive laser vision" and "blow up a city block with your mind" then I think those individuals should have tabs kept on them.

EDIT: I'm approaching this from an X-Men perspective I know.
Click to expand...

And what could we possibly do to prevent them? What would keeping tabs on them achieve?
 
Jason Raize '75 - '04 said:
And what could we possibly do to prevent them? What would keeping tabs on them achieve?
Click to expand...

"Okay, we've got a guy in there blasting everything in sight with laser vision. It looks like his name is Scott Summers and it appears that his long-term girlfriend just died in a car-accident, so he's obviously very emotionally distraught. We know X, Y and Z about his powers, so we should try and avoid situations A and B"
 
That depend entirely on the terms of the act. The one in Marvel? No. That one went way too far. The one in City of Heroes? Sure! You register your powers and in return you are offered guidance and training in how to use, or just live with, your powers. It even comes with a superpowered health insurance, which is actually a bit of a sore point in the CoH world, as only superheroes and supervillains can get access to that. The villains might seem odd, but there's an evil organization sponsoring the player supervillains.
 
Will they even classified as human? Will there be lawyer wrangling where they don't meet the criteria of being a person according to the U.S. Government?
 
SquiddyBiscuit said:
That's a good point, but you risk ending up in a lot of grey area with powers such as technopathy or even mindreading (one could argue that a good cop should know what a criminal is thinking).
Click to expand...
I don't know if mind-reading is really a gray area unless there is a coercive element or an infringement on some reasonable expectation of privacy (and unlicensed private citizens shouldn't be allowed to do that kind of mind-reading).
 
Any such law in the US will also get challenged on the grounds of "powers" being incredibly difficult to define legally.

This happens in Powers when such a thing happens.
 
The_Technomancer said:
Pro. I'm sorry, but when we're dealing with individuals with powers like "mind control" and "incredibly destructive laser vision" and "blow up a city block with your mind" then I think those individuals should have tabs kept on them.

EDIT: I'm approaching this from an X-Men perspective I know.
Click to expand...

ascii42 said:
The Senator in X-Men's statement that they needed "to know who they are and what they are capable of" always rang true to me.
Click to expand...

If you're using X-Men logic then you already know how flawed this is. Mutants usually don't develop powers until puberty so anyone who wants to stay off the radar capable to. All you do is create fear and resentment on both sides.
 
Yes, your drivers license or social security card should have a little X on it. Right next to the organ donor heart.

I'm do not fear any man who knows about my Psycho power. I'll burn the village down of any who oppose me.
 
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