In a recent discussion with my brother, I freeballed a description of the various Ages of a super powered world, defining various places a character in a story can start. The number of characters with superpowers in story world always trends upward. These Ages define what the world is like with various levels of those characters.

Disclaimers

Like most Age Systems, these categories are nebulous at best, poorly defined and delineated, but useful places for discussion to begin. This has also not been rigorously researched, so its quite possible that a future version of this concept might need to have some adjustments.

Also, my thoughts are being limited to just the USA as the place I’m thinking about. Other places might certainly be involved, but that falls under story bits. I’m just pitching how I foresee an escalation of a powered population interacting with the world. This isn’t factoring wars, genocides, exoduses, and all sorts of other plots that sometimes occur. A particular story trumps this description. It’s just a useful measuring stick when thinking about a super powered work.

Also also, I take great pains to not refer to people as heros and villians. I try to use a morally neutral “powered people” and varioations on that. I may not have succeeded on correcting myself each time. What people do with their powers has direct plot relevance, but not really world building relevance.

Also the Third, I have no idea what YOUR system might do that makes this different. People gaining powers at age 35 changes how everything works compared to a world where people get powers by the age of 10. Powers that are gained via some sort of System makes classism more rampant. Powers gained via genetics become apparent as families develop abilities together. Each specific thing your story does will change how the world is. Take this outline with a grain of salt and write YOUR story YOUR way.

Disclaimers all aside, here are the Ages.

Age 0. The Age of Dreamers
Age 1. The Age of Pioneers
Age 2. The Age of Rumors
Age 3. The Age of Emergence
Age 4. The Age of Integration
Age 5. The Age of Normalization
Age 6. The Age of Change
Age 7. The Age of Ubiquity
Age 8. The Age of Suffusion
Age 9. The Age of Completion

Age 0 – The Age of Dreamers

This is the age before anyone with powers. Presumably, where Earth is at the moment. There may be mythos for super powered people – comic books, ancient myths, tall tales, ghost stories, so much media. There may be people who think about what the world would be like with powered people, but it’s all theoretical in this age.

Part of that unproven theory means that the stories that are being told likely have no relevance to the powers that are coming. Muggles who don’t know that they live in the Harry Potter universe are going to have stories about Batman; there’s no reason for all of their tales to involve magic powers. Well, normally there’s no reason. Your world may vary.

Age 1 – The Age of Pioneers

There has to be a first. A person with powers, learning for themselves what they can do, what they should do. Smallville stories, of someone coming to terms with their powers. The newly powered person has now super-powered mentors to look up to or to train them. They have to figure a lot of things out for themselves. Mainstream news doesn’t think these stories are real, even the tabloids aren’t ready for this to be a cover story yet. Most people have never heard of anyone interacting with powers. It’s an exclusive thing.

A lot of origin stories sort of fall in this category, even if it’s later revealed that the world had more going on than we expected. But think about it. If there was a person who may or may not be teleporting around… oh, let’s pick Savannah, Georgia at random… would you have heard about it? Probably not. I never hear news about Savannah. (If Savannah is too close to home, sub in “Boise, Idaho” or something else towards the West Coast in that previous paragraph.)

At this point in time, there’s maybe 10 Super Powered individuals in the country, if not the world. It’s only going to matter to you if it’s right on your doorstep. And even then, it’s going to be hard to accept that it’s happening. For a POV, the only one that makes sense is to be one of these pioneers, learning how the world and your powers intersect, and making decisions that will set the standard for decades to come.

Age 2 – The Age of Rumors

The number of powered people has increased. Most big cities have someone rumored to be in the area, even if it’s a false rumor designed to make Denver just as cool as Washington DC, #LocalPride. Some big cities may indeed have a few powered people interacting. People are talking about it, though. Conspiracy types have started websites, tabloids have started giving cover space to various rumored power people.

Law enforcement is still mostly ignoring their existence. There’s probably one guy on the force for a super that has had personal interactions with the city’s powered person. Either a tip off here or there, each way, or maybe they’re doing a game of cat and mouse. But it’s mostly seen as a strange hobby that Detective so-and-so looks into sometimes.

This is my personal favorite Age to set a Gotham City story. People have heard of the Batman, but there’s no facts yet. Some people have seen him, had a mugging stopped by him, maybe. Some haven’t and think it’s all media distractions and hysteria.

General Super population (in the US): maybe 100? Someone who develops powers might run into another, but it’s a notable event in their life. You’d probably only cross paths during a big crisis. The Justice League tend to start like this, with heroes facing some threat and knowing each other by reputation.

Personally, I like the mystery of not knowing of other heroes, slowly learning what you can do, and what they can do.

Age 3 – The Age of Emergence

In this age, the stories are irrefutable. Super fights will make the news, maybe on a slow news day will puff pieces make the front page. It’s unlikely though. Direct interviews are rare, but slowly, people are learning the differences and attitudes of these people that definitely do exist.

Law enforcement has concerns. Nowadays, the vigilantes have been confirmed, and supervillains are a growing threat. Half the people on the force have had direct interactions with someone super. The President has some of the super threats in his briefings, and Congress has a committee trying to figure out what the government should do about it all.

When I think of Spider-man’ origin, this is the Age I feel it fits in, and leads us to the next age as he grows in infamy.

General Super population: Call it 1,000. Enough for each state to have 20 super powered individuals. Except we know that it’s not evenly distributed. California, New York, and other places with large populations are going to have more than my poor home state of North Dakota.

As a new hero, you’ll likely have a few people in your powered circle. Enough for a poker game, but it’d be the same faces every week. If your peers are into it, you might get some mentorship, but it’s not guaranteed. So for a POV in this age, you have a territory you patrol, against mostly mundane criminals. Maybe a super villian is brought in at some point, specifically to counter you. Some versions of Batman play out like this and it’s satisfying when it works.

Age 4 – The Age of Integration

Newspapers have a column dedicated to supers. The super corespondent writes articles about costumes and team ups, speculates on identities, motivations, and powers. Events get bigger coverage when warranted. Sometimes, heroes get interviews. It’s still uncommon, though.

In Law Enforcement, big cities have a dedicated super crimes team, although it’s still small. Cops get emotional about heroes. Vigilantism is a direct critique of their duty, after all. Some cops who felt swamped are happy that some of the load is taken off. Others, ones who were a bit crooked, might be angry as it effects their status quo. A third attitude argues that it’s not about results. Heroes haven’t sworn an oath, nor are they beholden to any oversight. Innocents can be hurt, due process is failing. It’s not about the good or evil of their works, it’s about how heroes are circumventing the law.

Politically, powered people and what to do about them are an issue that parties are setting policy for. Perhaps outrage against mutants is on the rise. But what to do about super crime, vigilantes, issues over foreign powered people, concerns over powered kids in school, politicians MUST have an opinion on these. There’s some boarding school for powered youth, but they’re not common.

Speaking of policies, the FBI super division,which may or may not have spawned a unique organization by this point, has hired a powered agent to help them deal with super crime.

Economics are starting to shift. Not directly because of supers effecting the market, but because super-geniuses are beginning to sell their products. So, really, technology is changing, but that will have ripples. People not being sure if their job is on the chopping block doesn’t help prejudice against powereds.

General powered population: 10,000. According to google, this is the number of centenarians in the world. If you know someone whose over 100 years old, you know someone who’s a super. Its unlikely that they’re the same person, but you never know…

If you’re a new hero, you probably have a few options for a mentor. You join a team for a bit. You keep your true identity secret, just in case it becomes an issue. It’s less about villains, but about getting a job.

This is where X-Men starts in my mind, although it quickly moves into the next Age.

For stories in this period, there’s so much you can do. This is the bread and butter of comic book universes, so you can have as much involvement as other supers as you’d like.

Age 5 – Age of Normalization

A full section of the newspaper is dedicated to supers. There’s a piece on the evening news about them, and daytime talkshows that do all sorts of super content. Some heroes are celebrities, others are renown recluses. There’s paparazzi that chase heroes, and super scandals is front page content.

Some cities have super cops, but they have a lot of prejudice to work through. Vigilantism is on the decline, as supers are recognized as people able to deal with issues. The government has an officially recognized super team or two. There are a few people with powers who have political office, but its a risky move to reveal powers. Votes go either way. There are communities where powered people have been gathering. It’s enough to sway local politics, but not yet making waves on the national scale.

There are super-charter-schools now. Mostly for children of legacy heroes, but also sponsorships for kids who can’t mesh well with society due to powers. If you’re a new power, you’re probably brought into this school to have some classes to teach you control. You probably don’t patrol the streets. You’re becoming a hero not to serve an ideal, but because it looks like a decent career path that you’ve lucked out to qualify for.

Super merch is a large market. Heroes are doing endorsements. Supertech has trickled down, and the rich and the government are getting neat toys. Unemployment is an issue, and the question of “Which is discrimination, hiring a super or NOT hiring a super?” has a lot of people on both sides riled up.

This is what I see the current state of Marvel Comics is probably at.

We’re looking at a population that might be as much as a million powered people. That’s around .2% of the US, which is around the demographics for people who identify as Hawaiian or Other Pacific islanders. So if you know anyone like that, you’d know a powered person.

For a POV, a super character is where it’s at. How do you make a name for yourself, when the market is beginning to be glutted?

Age 6 – The Age of Change

Let’s start with demographic leap. We’re now at 10% of the population. 35 millionish. This is around the number of Catholics in the USA. There’s now so many supers that they’re just par the course. This makes them just regular people. Sure, some people really care, but not all. You probably work with a super or two. They get annoyed when compared to famous or notorious supers. Newspapers cover big fights, big team change ups, things like that. Specialty news goes more in depth. Magazines that focus on super related issue sell pretty well.

Local law enforcement is a good place for a powered person to do some good, which is great, because sometimes, they’re needed. Not all crime is super crime, but 10% of crime has a super involved. Domestic violence cases get serious. There’s plenty cases that are just tossed upward to government super crime units. The government does have a division specifically for this. International politics looks at all supers with suspicion. Was that an enemy agent, or a foreign super spy? Or just an immigrant with a rough day who broke through? Immigration is certainly a debated issue.

Most schools have one or two supers on staff. The super charter schools certainly have a lot of business, but powered kids can participate in just public school, as long as they aren’t a problem. Powered kids can’t do most sports. There are a few high octane super-sports, but they’re not popular enough yet to be available everywhere. A powered kid probably has homeroom or a class or something with a powered teacher.

There are stores that cater to supers. You can get decent super suits at a store in the mall, in regular, everyday styles. This is important, because super powers can be hard on clothes.

For POVs, I think you have to be a super in a world where it’s unusual. Maybe your family is secretly super? How do you have mundane friends and still have that bit of your life going on? How is that balanced? That’s what stands out to me as the key story of the era.

Age 7 – The Age of Ubiquity

We jump again to 50% Powered. Your neighborhood has several powered families, and they’re mostly just people. Sure, they rake their leaves using magic, and the crying baby has broken glass, but they’ve been decent folks about it. Depending on how good your neighborhood is, of course. Rougher places might have issues. Kids playing pranks with super speed, rowdy teens with super strength, it can be rough. But you’re likely related to some supers, so it all sort of balances.

The police force has a large number of powered on the force. Does it count as hazard pay if the officer is invulnerable? Better he block a bullet than a normie, though.

The striations in society are rather visible, now. But it’s not as much along class lines. Well, in theory. Any kid can develop crazy abilities and become a mover and shaker in the world, but those who start from a place of privilege are going to have a leg up. But there is always a chance for a Cinderella story.

Department stores have sections for Powered folk. It’s a good place to go to get fabrics that can resist friction of superspeed, or other abuses powers put on clothing.

What’s a good POV for a character? A sitcom style of dealing with various powered and unpowered neighbors has a vibe to it. I think the real drama here is in having a base human showing how life is changing is going to take you so far, enough that I would consider it the default of this Age.

Age 8 – The Age of Suffusion

We increase to 90% Powered. Where once it was racist to treat powered folk different, now racism means normies (and other races, of course, because human nature doesn’t tend to change). Basically everything is geared towards powered people.

What does this mean for society? Well, first off, the guidelines for Accessibility are now extended to specifically include base humans. You can’t have buildings where the only way out is flying/falling or other super movements. Fire Code has to deal with the fact that there are some people who aren’t fire proof, and some people who are literally fire.

Companies hire humans as part of their diversity quotas. There’s a lot of jobs out there where someone with the right power is just better at the job. Super strength and speed are obvious boons, but stretching, teleportation, telepathy, and telekinesis are all obviously useful in any retail setting. Its not that normies can’t do the job, it’s just that most people are going to be able to do it better.

War, as much as it never changes, has changed. Tanks, rocket launchers, even military aircraft are all tools that allow base humans to replicate certain superpowers. Invincible referenced it in that meme. But replacing a F22 with Superman is not a 1 for 1 swap. You suddenly don’t need to worry about maintenance, refueling, ammo, or even runways. For the same firepower, you need 10 less people and several million dollars less in spending. Plus, you can smuggle the super around for much easier covert ops. Super battles are destructive to a whole new level, but the enemy has the same capability. So war only changes based on what the worldbuilders feel powered folk would agree to. There could very well be Geneva convention like agreements that keep powereds from using certain abilities in a civilian area.

It’s easy to see this age as filled with warlords; the strong holding what territory they can control with fear and the strength to defend. But it doesn’t have to be that way. It sort of depends on external pressures. Are their monsters, aliens, reasons for society to maintain its normal structures as opposed to giving in to the pressure of Dominus Potentiae, where power reigns.

Socially, how badly base humans are oppressed depends on a lot of factors, chief of which is how powers are developed. People probably have a decent idea of what’s going on, and if it’s genetic, if stronger powers come from pairings of powered people, then society is focusing on bloodlines and the unpowered are social pariahs. Sure, there’s be some people on the edges, but mostly, supers would date supers. There’s going to be some people who have lame powers, because that’s how statistics work. There will be what the Harry Potter universe called Squibs, people who are technically powereds, but practically, they got nothing. They’d be treated badly as well.

Schools have been geared towards super children. They have classes about ethical power use, and how to control what they can do. There’s probably a licensing system for using various powers in various circumstances. Especially for people who have strange physiologies and weaknesses. Your license saying “Dies if out of the sun for too long” is kinda important for first responders to know.

The “House of M” storyline from Marvel Comics feels like this Age, although we didn’t see a lot of the world as a whole.

There’s a few interesting POV characters here. A normal, navigating life. A Squib, trying to prove they can be more. (Which is the B Plot of Sky High, btw) You can also get some mileage out of the hero who is fighting for the little guy when no one else will. Or you can just use all of that discrimination as background dressing.

Age 9 – The Age of Completion

100% Powered. If you’re interested in this age, stop reading this and go read Top Ten by Alan Moore and Gene Ha. It’s so good. It depicts a police force in a massive city with 100% super population. And it treats people as just people.

At the end of the day, Syndrome had a bit of a point. If everyone has powers, it’s like no one does. We see people having and abusing privileged, living good lives and bad lives. Life is the same, after all.

Now, in the weeds of the world, there is some differences. People are drawn towards things they’re good at. You probably have a job that lets you make use of your powers for some advantage.

For some, this world is nearing a utopia, but others see it by a darker light. The interesting stories in this setting are going to be based in classism, how ever the lines are drawn, and how hard it is to become more than what society says you should be. A POV character likely has a power that could get them into that utopia if they play their cards right, or they were in that utopia before something made them fall beneath into the shadows they didn’t know existed.

Final Thoughts

This outline is just a framework. So many of the details are things that your specific world and story has to fill out yourself. How long does it take to reach the various ages? Up to you. The early ages might be really quick, the later ones taking generations. Or, if powers come quickly, maybe it takes months to move through the early ages.

Of course, society changes slowly. There’s lag in people’s reactions. Just look at how long it’s taken for the internet to be incorporated into institutions. So, if people are powering up quickly, the framework might fall apart.

Dramatic actions can also damage this projected framework. Super “Villians” who take over governments, start their own kingdoms, etc, change the structure of society that the framework was built around. So take that into account.

At the end of the day, this is a tool to help a writer decide when in a universe to start their tale. Common ground to talk with collaborators (or players, if this is an RPG) is always a good tool to have.

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