Just for fun, let's think consider this.....
I’ve been a fan of comics for many, many years. When I was growing up in Wheeling, WV, my dad used to take me to 16th Street News to get the latest issues of my favorites. I started collecting in Jr. High. Spider-Man, Superman, Batman…..anyone remember “Rom, Spaceknight”? Rom was a toy in the early 80s that earned its own briefly-run comic in the same time. I used to collect that one, too.
I collected several titles up to the mid-90s, when comic prices started going up, and I got tired of spending all that money every month, to follow one storyline through all the different titles of a favorite character.
In the early 90s, however, I became enamoured with the exploits of two particular heroes, Batman, from DC, and The Punisher, from Marvel. Though I still collected the other titles, I pretty much concentrated on those two characters. The reason I came to like those two characters so much was that they were not “super” heroes.
Unlike Superman, who is virtually indestructible, and Spider-Man, who can sense danger and use his extraordinary abilities like increased strength, speed and agility to combat or avoid it, Batman and The Punisher were just people. Granted, people who were terribly obsessed with their mission and had gone to extreme lengths to train and equip themselves in pursuit of that mission, but just people nonetheless. They could, and frequently were, badly injured in their struggle. How often have we seen Superman bleed? In other words, I came to appreciate Batman and The Punisher for their “plausibility”. If one had the right combination of time, resources, motive and training, one could “be” Batman, one could “be” The Punisher.
Of the two, however, Punisher is the “most” plausible. Indeed, there are people in the world today who could meet the base criteria to be The Punisher; military special forces, SWAT team members, private citizens with a high degree of physical and weapons training and use. They’re out there.
For the unitiated:
Bruce Wayne, as a young child, saw his parents killed in front of him by a mugger, and grew up obsessed with avenging them on all criminals. He became, as we know, Batman, Dark Knight of Gotham City.
Frank Castle, The Punisher was, at the time of his inception as a marvel Comics character in the early 70s, an ex-Marine and Vietnam vet whose wife and children killed in front of him by mafiosi after they, during a family outing, had witnessed a mob execution. He survived, but went crazy with hatred for mobsters, and turned his military training and expertise toward their destruction. Today, and according to the recent movie, he was a Desert Storm vet, ex-Delta Force operative and ex-FBI undercover agent. His entire family was killed at a reunion by organized crime figures in retaliation for the death of a single son. Castle, badly wounded, survived and became obsessed with punishing the offenders.
Batman, with all his out-there gadgets and all his training in criminology, psychology, forensics, chemistry, metallurgy, etc, would require years of college education (and, after exposure to the leftist ideals of academia, probably have been dissuaded from his goal, anyway), and physical training in martial arts, weight training and all, would have to be a billionaire (which of course Brice Wayne was). Batman as a crime fighter in the real world might be somewhat plausible but very highly unlikely.
Castle, unlike Bruce Wayne, is not wealthy….he gets his money to pursue his crusade from taking the ill-gotten earnings of the criminals he kills and using them to purchase weapons and ammunition and whatever other staples he may need. Castle was trained by the military, and did not need to pursue training on his own. He already had all he needed.
Alright, now….let’s ask a question: how would a costumed vigilante be accepted by the real world?
I personally feel that such a person might come to be accepted after a while, given time to prove themselves, and perhaps even respected by the population and feared by criminals.
I fully realize that said person, on their first foray into the streets, would likely be seriously injured or arrested (perhaps both), or even killed. Let’s assume for a moment, however, that said person was well-suited physically, intellectually, emotionally and mentally, to the task they had set for themselves.
What would they need? For a costume, if they wanted to disguise their identity, a good idea, I would have to choose the “Batman” route. Dark colors…the bright colors and flashy insignia of a Superman or Spider-Man would be greeted with derision by all parties; he/she should use subdued colors; charcoal gray or black body suit over lightweight body armor. A long cloak (to disguise physical build), navy blue or black, with a large hood (over a Kevlar helmet) or perhaps a mask, for obvious reasons. The dark colors would have the added advantage of being able to blend into shadows. Batman’s costume was, after all, designed for night work, and to “strike fear into the hearts of criminals, a superstitious, cowardly lot.” It, or rather something similar but not so extreme, might work in the real world, too.
The Punisher’s costume, in the comics, consists of a black body suit with white gloves boots, and a large Kevlar skull on the front. In the recent film, the skull was on a t-shirt given to him by his son, and he incorporated it into his persona, even spray painting it on his flack jacket. However, other than that he wears simple street clothes, which I feel is plausible as well, but only if you don’t mind everyone seeing your face.
If they chose to work “within” the law (though vigilantism, in America, at least, is illegal of course), and with the system, simply assaulting criminals and leaving them for or turning them over to, the police, he/she would again have to go the route of Batman. Extensive martial arts training (obtained privately or though the military) and weight lifting, perhaps wrestling (the real kind, not WWE) would be needed.
If they chose to go the route of The Punisher, outside the law and choosing to simply kill the criminals, extensive weapons training (easily obtained through military service) would be required.
A small arsenal of a few handguns, a shotgun or two, automatic rifles and perhaps portable explosives (grenades and/or anti-personnel mines) would suffice. This could get expensive, of course, but when you consider the kind of cash one could confiscate from drug dealers and pimps on the street, it makes it seem possible. Martial Arts might not hurt too much here, too.
All in all, I feel that a “non-super” superhero, as a crime fighter on the streets (like The Punisher) and not necessarily a brilliant detective (like Batman, though, as I indicated above, such a person could exist if the circumstances were right and could be maintained) is a plausible thing. A cool thing to think about.
If I were a foot taller, in better shape, had the training and motive, I’d do it in a heartbeat. But…….