Superhero Updates?

[dvandom]

Inspired by a thread on the history and pedigree of sidekicks over on Howling Curmudgeons, I started thinking about "What if Big Two comic creators got their hands on classic pre-superhero characters and revamped them for the superhero age?" Sherlock Holmes has been revamped to death, of course, as have the more famous pulp-era heroes like the Phantom, Shadow, Tarzan, Doc Savage, etc. But some of the ones you wouldn't think appropriate to superherodom might still work:



The first idea I had was Bertie and J.E.E.V.E.S.: Young Bertie Wooster is the airheaded son of a superhero, who has inherited some of his family powerset (also expressed in his retired but still very scary aunt). To keep him out of too much trouble, gentleman's gentleman Jeeves has built the Jet-Enabled Exo-Vector Environment Suit, or J.E.E.V.E.S.!

Alejandro Quixano has made a name for himself in the business world, and in his late middle age has turned to charitable works and various "lost causes". But, when going through some of his family heirlooms, he discovers that his lineage has been responsible for fighting back periodic invasions by otherworldly giants that only people with his specific genetic heritage can even see! Armed with a magic sword and assisted by his trusty bodyguard Bartolomo Panza, he is the new DON QUIXOTE! (edit: Hm, on further reflection, I think I might just use this idea in ASH. One of the low-powered 1970s types.)

Nat Bumppo grew up on a reservation, never fitting in due to his mixed heritage and uncertain parentage, so he ended up in the Army like so many of his peers. But, during a massacre of his position in Afghanistan, he was fatally wounded. While lying in the sand, bleeding to death, he was visited by the spirit of his ancestor, Uncas. The two spirits merged, granting Nat the power of ten men as the LAST OF THE MOHICANS!



So, anyone else have ideas?

Comments

[z4nd4r.livejournal.com]

Ok, I didn't use a fictional figure but...

James London is a failed pulp comic writer. After being mugged on his way home from the bar he discovers he can draw on the strengths of all manner of beasts and hear their thoughts while under the light of the moon. He's heard the CALL OF THE WILD!

"Don't expect any mercy during the great robot wars. "

[gamera-spinning.livejournal.com]

But why the strength of ten men...

"Sparks: Um, ok, but remember, you'll have the strength of five gorillas.
Debbie DuPree: Why settle for a cat Hesh? You could be a robot...tiger.
Marco: No, no, no! Absolamente no! If I have to be five foot nothing, Hesh can't be a tiger!
Captain Murphy: You're not the boss of tiger bot Hesh!"

[jarodrussell.livejournal.com]

Tom Swift (the original is public domain, but I'm thinking of the second version) could easily be upgraded into something between Iron Man and Batman. A crusading inventor whose costume varies from issue-to-issue...one issue has him in an armor suit, the next in a jacket because The Car is his power that time. By day, he's Thomas Swift, Jr. businessman and inventor, but by night he fights crime as the heroic Swift! (At some point either his sister, Sandra Swift, or best friend, Bud Barclay, would get to join him.)

Danny Dunn might be kind of interesting, but I've only read one of his books, so I don't know enough to say.

The League of Extraordinary Angels

[gamera-spinning.livejournal.com]

The grown-up Artful Dodger (played by Hugh Laurie) operates a detective agency for a wealthy recluse with a checkered past, a Mr. Fagin.

The employees of the agency are three women:

Anna Karenina, a terminally depressed Russian beauty in her thirties that threw herself in front of a train over a Count Vronsky, and like the hero in the movie "Unbreakable" somehow survived and discovered she was indestructible.

Catherine Earnshaw is a woman who got terribly mixed up with a gypsy named Heathcliff (a lot of heartbreak resulted) and she died in childbirth. Her ghost has renounced the tragedy that her life was and by means of some peculiar gypsy magic has insinuated herself in her daughter's body. Cathy, her daughter, left her fiance at Thrushcross Grange for a life of adventure in London. She can see and speak with the dead.

The last of the trio is one Estella Havisham, formerly Estella Drummle. Estella was raised from childhood to tease, torture and ultimately destroy men by her bitter adopted mother, Mrs. Havisham. Along the way she discovered that she can actually control the release of certain powerful pheremones that allow her to dominate the will of men and that she has somehow developed basic telepathy, but only with women. She's the Mata Hari of the group, and a woman that enjoys her work.

[z4nd4r.livejournal.com]

With his command over the spirits of time and space, Bob Cratchet and his benefactor Ebeneezer Scrooge (helped/hindered by the comic relief duo Tiny Tim and Jacob Marley) defends our world against extra-dimensional, -planar and -chronal threats.

[querldox.livejournal.com]

His family killed by the Russian mob, Anton Chekov has a shotgun and isn't afraid to use it. He is THE PUNISHER!

[redneckgaijin.livejournal.com]

A lonely man, cursed with immortality, wanders the seven seas, bringing misfortune and madness to all around him. Despite the horrors he beholds, despite the evil he is powerless to prevent, his curse drives him onwards, for he cannot die.

Call him... ISHMAEL.