There was an episode set in the future, but it basically showed the future dangers of pollution. There were two futures, one totally ruined and one which is a paradise.

What I am suggesting instead is a little different.

The future of Cyberpunk is quite clearly dark, but not necessarily because of pollution.

The problem of Captain Planet is that he fights pollution, but doesn't really tackle other issues (well, the was that one AIDS episode).

Wordhammer described Cyberpunk best:

Captain Planet cares about the environment and helps keep it clean.

But what if that doesn't even matter anymore?

It could be interesting to see Gaia waking up in the Dark Future instead of the 1990s of the original cartoon.

The environment is more-or-less ok, but there's something wrong with people. They don't even seem really human to her, since they have so much machines in them.

And then there are those genetic/biological abominations created by various corporations in shady experiments.

 

I was reading the Hindsight is Not Perfect and its sequel, and The author points out over the course of the story that Most of Anakin's problems have to do with his childhood. What would happen if Anakin had been discovered by the Jedi at one or two, let's say a random Jedi on a mission to Tatooine discovers him. He is subsequently freed and brought to the Jedi temple like any other youngling.

 

This received a very good response on AlternateHistory.com, and perhaps it will do so here:

Of course, AH.commers immediately started suggesting that the Punisher, Robocop and Dirty Harry also be sent there, but that'd be pushing it in my opinion.

 

Well, since Dredd is all about the law and it says what it says in The Purge he will probably take 12 hours long vacation and go to sleep or something.

 

Ah, but would he really be bound by 21st century laws, especially those insane as in The Purge?

 

"Would Dredd be bound by insane laws?"

Gosh. I wonder.

 

What I meant by this is if he would be bound by laws of a country from a very distant past. Laws which no longer apply in his present.

 

Not sure. I suppose there may be something in the comics that would give an answer to a question how Dredd behaves in places where there is a different law that the one he follows.

 

Well, am no expert but Dredd is not about his personal code but about the laws of the country he serves, right? and the Purge is government sanctioned and lawful. Well, it's lawful to break the law, as it were, for 12 hours.

So, I imagine he wouldn't be all that happy about it but run around and shoot criminals whom he knows are criminals but couldn't charge with anything. or shoot anyone he sees doing something that would be a crime in not purge hours.

 

So I've had a plot idea. Either an OC(generic Imperial Guardsman) or a SI(likely as a Guardsman) finds themselves in a siege - probably of a hive city by a absolutely ginormous swarm of orkz. The next day, the Orkz assault the city and he is killed.

Now, in Groundhog's day or All You Need Is Kill fashion(For those who have only seen the, imo inferior movie version Edge of Tomorrow) the character wakes up again, the day before the assault.

The character will then continue trying to either survive or fight the overwhelming odds, little by little, finding the perfect timings to steal a Hellgun or acquire other resources, gradually getting more and more proficient and repeating the day again and again. It would later turn out that the loop occurred because the Orkz believed so hard that there should be an impressive enemy at the hive world that it caused a loop- or, barring that, a generic plot point or authorial fiat.

It's rather simple, but I think it could be interesting.

 

Yu Yu Hakusho divergence:

For some reason, I've been re-watching a lot of Yu Yu Hakusho. I know nothing in the slightest about the fandom fanfiction wise, but a plot bunny struck me.

Pretty simple one, but one with wide-ranging consequences throughout the manga / anime.

Basically, it'd be Kuwabara-centric where back at the tournament Genkai held to determine the successor to her Spirit Wave technique, Kuwabara ends up taking it over Yusuke. Genkai appoints Kuwabara, not Yusuke, as her next apprentice to learn the Spirit Wave technique. Most likely, he'll adapt it to his spirit materialization (with the Spirit Sword) as opposed to going outright gung-ho with the Spirit Gun and the like.

Yusuke will still be relevant as he's still the Spirit Detective, but will have to basically find some training on his own between missions and you could make his demon nature become a factor earlier than later if you want here. He'd mostly serve as the deuteragonist I'm thinking, but still taking a backseat role to Kuwabara as far as POV and probably narrative / plot is concerned.

On the flipside, Kuwabara would be become increasingly strong, but more likely, increasingly craftier given Genkai's instruction in leveraging his incredible Spirit Awareness (where Yusuke beats him in raw Spirit Power potential). Because of this, it'd be Kuwabara, not Yusuke, that Younger Toguro sets his sights on for the Dark Tournament.

 

A plot bunny I once though of when I realized that there are not many stories in DC Comics where Lara-El and Martha Wayne have prominent roles. Superman and Batman mostly are defined by relationship with their fathers though in Clark's case at least Martha Kent gets into a spotlight from time to time.

Anyway, this observations make me think about duology called Parents exploring it.

Starting with less interesting one, Fathers is an Elseworld where Superman and Batman's fathers are not a very nice people and their sons take after them.

Jor-El is an elitist scientist who doesn't even bother trying to save his planet. Instead he believes it's more than fitting that only his sons (he consider AI he created to be his other child) is going to survive as it's the best that Krypton has to offer. Jonathan Kent is even worse. He's a grown-up bully who among many thing is also racists and sexists. He's not a fool though and even figures out that he can use a kryptonite to discipline his son.

After such an upbringing Superman is a believer that the humanity needs to be guided be a firm leader and quickly destroys anyone that opposes this view. Lex Luthor, not a very nice man himself, is probably the last person who can stop him.

Thomas Wayne is a rich guy who believes he owns the world. He regularly cheats on his wife and sometimes even beats her when he's drunk. His murder is actually planned by Alfred and Martha who are lovers, but something doesn't go as it should.

Bruce grows up to be a thrill-seeker with a death wish and a junkie (he captured Poison Ivy and uses her blood to make his own version of Venom). Instead of a vigilante he becomes the Prince of Crime who only bothers with other villains when they try to usurp his place in Gotham.

The point of all this is to show an opposite to what usually is presented in DC comics, where their fathers are good role models that Superman and Batman often look up to.

The other story, Mothers, is an Elseworld too and the question it asks is what would happen if Lara-El and Martha Wayne survived.

Superman's parents planned to save more than just their son. They created an armada of ships (or rather space lifeboats) capable of taking one family each, but because of Zod interference only Lara and Kal found themselves on one of them.

When they crash on Earth, they're discovered by Kents who help Lara adjust to her new situation. Once she's back on her feet, using Kryptonian technology, she fakes her identity as Lara Kent, a distant cousin of Jonathan, and starts Rao Company to help the humanity as a payment for it giving a home for her and her son.

Martha Wayne survived a fateful night because with a help from her husband who distracted the attacker, she managed to use her martial arts skills to disarm him. Unfortunately in their struggle the gun still went off and Thomas Wayne who was shielding their son was less lucky.

After that Martha decides to do everything it takes to ensure that Gotham is a safe city for Bruce to grow up. Even if that means personally dealing with some of its most dangerous elements.

From this point it could go two ways. One, I keep it without any superheroes included and focus on both mothers' efforts to make a better world for their children as they make deals in business and politics, finally meeting in one of the social events they both attend.

Or they both become their world's Superman and Batman which could be a fun too.

 

The first one sounds almost (but not quite) like a backstory for Earth-3.

 

Not so sure on the first premise. Batman does need his backstory to push him onto his path. Without that drive, he is merely a talented and smart crook. It was his inhuman drive that pushed him into inhuman excellence in way too many fields of science and martial arts. Fail to see how that Batman, without his skills, moral dilemmas and support-group (i.e., the things that make him interesting) is all that compelling.

Superman that way, meh. Find a bit too convenient that Pa Kent finds kryptonite but apparently you can get that stuff at every flea market in the DCU. That said, a more firm, unrelenting Superman, who does not let every villain go to come back to wreck his city at a later date is an interesting idea.

On the second premise, that one I like more but I fail to see how Martha Wayne would allow for Batman to happen. That's just not happening. No sane parent worth a damn is going to allow their child to become Batman that way. There is a reason why the whole Batfamily is either made up out of orphans (Dick, Bruce, Jason) or people with really shitty parents (Cassandra, Stephanie, Damian). The outliers there are Barbara and Tim and that's because those two keep it a secret somehow (or do they, depending on the point in time, their fathers do know).

Not seeing how Bruce can pull that off, would kinda require Alfred to go behind her back on that. Nothing wrong with that, per se, but then, you're kinda writing Batwoman while benching Batman. Why not go make an OC female cape at that point in another city? Or what exactly would Martha be doing to clean up Gotham?

 

You mean Geoff Johns version of it? Since large parts of this plot bunny are few years old, he totally stole some of my ideas for his Forever Evil revamp of Earth-3.

He probably isn't as much compelling as the normal version which is why I doubt anyone would want to regularly read about evil Bruce instead of Batman Bruce. For one story though, what makes him interesting is how different he could be with different childhood, but at the same time what parts could still be recognizable.

I blame Smallville for the idea that there is plenty of kryptonite in an area surrounding Superman's hometown.

You misunderstand what I said. Martha Wayne and Lara-El could become their world's Batman and Superman. I intentionally didn't write Batwoman and Superwoman because I wanted it to point out that they were to be the originals, not female counterparts. Should probably make it more clear.

 

Honestly, I think the most interesting aspect of that would be the fact that Superman and Batman would enter the field roughly 30 years early.

Luther would be a kid at most, so would be most other villains. Super(wo)man and Bat(wo)man being active decades earlier and doing good would probably butterfly a lot away. Heck, don't think anyone other that Ras Al Guhl would be active for the Batman villains. You would either need to come up with other villains or have them face mostly against normal enemies.

Batman being active in Gotham at that point? Would probably keep Gotham from being the Mos Eisley of DC. Superman flying around, probably without the Kent influence since she is a grown woman from an entirely different culture is less likely to act upon human morals, or at least not completely like Superman does.

 

I was thinking about Smallville Lionel Luthor taking place of Lex, but with a twist that he's actually interested in making Lara his wife and not above using his own single parent card to make himself more sympathetic to her situation.

As for Batwoman, I would probably use new villains or go for revamping some very obscure ones. Like have Karl Kyle alias the King of the Cats be a lot older than his sister and already active in Gotham.

 

I haven't watched Smallville, so, is Luther Senior similar in potential to his son?



All this talk about DC stuff made me remember my problems with Supergirl and here is my post from the thread, the take I would go with if I were to tackle that premise:

 

Yes, he's as ruthless and manipulative as Lex, but he does have his own style too. Played by amazing John Glover he was one of the best parts of this TV show, even after they declawed him in later season.