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mygif

You better be careful. He is reading this as we speak.

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mygif

Hmm…

It’s a brilliant idea, but I don’t know how well it would mesh with your conception of the Legion-verse generally being a utopia (places like Rimbor excepted). The ethical dilemma is central to the concept, but the Legionnaires are as strongly against killing as Superman (again generally speaking– *glances at Projectra*), and with a far broader definition of what constitutes life. I don’t see the Legion treating Everywhere all that much differently from the Fatal Five. The captain might get some pity, but they’d intervene on behalf of the victims if they could and most wouldn’t think twice about whether or not Everywhere is wrong.

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mygif

It’s a brilliant idea, but I don’t know how well it would mesh with your conception of the Legion-verse generally being a utopia (places like Rimbor excepted).

The United Planets should be utopian in the same sense that 21st-c Metropolis is; it’s not the actuality, it’s the overall intent. The civilized universe not only professes to give a damn about the “important things,” but indeed actually does. This does not actually translate into an honest-to-god utopia; there is still crime and violence. It’s just that most people feel bad about it and are willing to work to see that there is less of it. That’s about as close to utopian as you get without mind control.

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mygif

I love it.

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mygif

After all, if it really was a ‘utopia’, there wouldn’t be a need for the Legion in the first place.

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mygif
Lister Sage said on December 10th, 2008 at 10:55 am

It’s like taking the Punisher and giving him cosmic awareness, I approve. Actually it handles a part of Peter David’s Captain Marvel run that always bothered me: that being that I felt Genis fell into insanity a little to easily for my liking.

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mygif

I got the PAD Genis-Vell vibe from it as well, and I liked it. Of course this is that idea on steroids.

I always enjoy these articles, since it shows someone with an understanding of the potential of the franchise, if the comics industry could allow itself to take more risks.

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mygif

I had the same idea, and was writing it up as a sci-fi short story some years back. Except my ‘Everywhere Man’ only watched events unfold, he couldn’t do anything to prevent them. He was like a constantly teleporting Watcher, drawn to death and tragedy, but instead of an alien’s placid acceptance he had a human being’s horrified reactions and fragile sanity.

I suppose the avenging angel (or omnipresent witness) myth is fairly universal. Which, of course, means it’s terrific fodder for comic books.

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mygif

There is something a little unclear here. Does s/he only see the bad things people do, or does s/he see the good things too?

If this is, indeed, an “Everywhere (Wo)Man),” then shouldn’t s/he see the positive? And, if this is a quasi-utopian galaxy, wouldn’t s/he see a hell of a lot more good than evil? Wouldn’t s/he know as much/more about a situation than either participant? If s/he always “sees,” isn’t that purely a matter of visual overload? If it is, the standard brain’s reaction is simply to filter out that which is unimportant and remember details important to the viewer. Admittedly, horrific things tend to burn themselves on the brain, but was his/her brain rendered unable to filter the details to the essential?

How does s/he deal with war?

I honestly like the idea, but these questions all appeared as I read.

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mygif

The Legion Vs the Oracle of Correspondence. Amusing.

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mygif

Maybe you could give him a little notebook, in which he would record his kills. Maybe he could be pursued by Braniac, using all of his prodigious intellect just to hide himself from the Everywhere Man’s self-defense.

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mygif

How about we get all meta, and just call him The Reader?

And then, when the Legion finally stops him, the series gets cancelled.

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mygif
Thomas Wilde said on December 10th, 2008 at 4:42 pm

What in the world are you apologizing for? That you played Mage?

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mygif

This looks like a job for Superman someone with Kryptonian-equivalent senses!

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mygif
Robert April said on December 10th, 2008 at 6:28 pm

Fantastic idea, both as a Legion-worthy concept and a straight superhero one. A superhuman arms race makes perfect sense, on Earth even our allies would be worried about Superman and Iron Man trucking around making unilateral decisions about good and evil. And really, the Everywhere Man idea is well-suited to answer the question of what it must be like to be somebody like Superman, who can hear bees fart in New Zealand. How can he possibly have a personal life when places like Burma exist?

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mygif
Generic Lad said on December 10th, 2008 at 7:00 pm

A very interesting idea, reminiscent of Nexus, who sees unending visions of murderers in his dreams and is forced to resolve the situation (or die).

Ah, Nexus – my favorite futuristic space opera after the Legion.

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mygif

“– I Originally Came Up With This One Over A Decade Ago While Playing “Mage: The Ascension,” And For That, I Apologize –”

MAGE! You instantly win. Ok, now I’ll read the post.

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mygif

“– If this is, indeed, an “Everywhere (Wo)Man),” then shouldn’t s/he see the positive? And, if this is a quasi-utopian galaxy, wouldn’t s/he see a hell of a lot more good than evil? Wouldn’t s/he know as much/more about a situation than either participant? If s/he always “sees,” isn’t that purely a matter of visual overload? If it is, the standard brain’s reaction is simply to filter out that which is unimportant and remember details important to the viewer. Admittedly, horrific things tend to burn themselves on the brain, but was his/her brain rendered unable to filter the details to the essential? –”

He can see virtually everywhere, so even if the crime rate has been reduced to a fraction of a fraction of modern world standards, that’s still hundreds or thousands of people any given day just on one planet. I mean, clearly bad shit happens, or the Legion would be out of business from the get-go.

And I do like this idea for a character in so far as you can give him that “Who was that masked man?” appeal. Might want to scale back his powers a tad and let him linger a little longer – minutes or hours instead of seconds. If he is introduced at the beginning of his power arch, he could be a quasi-benevolent force thwarting evil before it occurs and even more efficiently than the Legion’s best. Then, as the scope of his vision expands, he’s forced to get a little more hasty and brutal raising the whole moral dilemma.

“– How does s/he deal with war? –”

Well, that would be a high note. Everyman goes batshit insane as he absorbs a holocaust from a billion perspectives at once and a vaguely benevolent guardian angel morphs into a trans dimensional socio-path more interested in making the pain stop than saving anybody.

This has miles of tread value and the potential for some really compelling writing. The only problem I have with it is it sets up the “recurring villain” / “dues ex machinae hero” a little too easily if only because there’s not a lot of places this guy can’t get to or escape from. Suddenly you’ve got a solution to a few too many problems and you risk getting silly.

Thrilling concept, though.

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mygif
David Reynolds said on December 11th, 2008 at 1:25 am

So, doesn’t this character already exist as Phariah? The loser witness from Crisis on Infinite Worlds. And would Tyroc be the essential hero to stop the Everywhere Man? (ooooooeeeeeoooo)
Only problem I have with the concept is the “Bendis Problem” you know, neat idea but it falls apart once applied “logically” to comic continuity. Such as the Illuminati series by Bendis. And in the Legion’s case,an Everywhere Man would have taken care of the Fatal Five a looooong time ago, or prevented Triplicate Girl’s tranformation to Duo Damsel by stopping Computo. Of course if Everywhere Man eliminated Universo I’d applaud. He became tired and overdone a long time ago. Oh well, fun food for thought none the less.

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mygif

“– And in the Legion’s case,an Everywhere Man would have taken care of the Fatal Five a looooong time ago, or prevented Triplicate Girl’s tranformation to Duo Damsel by stopping Computo. –”

That all depends on where he enters the story arc. I mean, if you’re talking about a Legion reboot anyway (and most of these ideas would entail some degree of rebooting or retconning) these problems aren’t so sever.

Besides, he’s the “Everywhere Man” not necessarily the “Omnipowerful Man”. He can’t just “stop Computo” with a wave of his hand, and I imagine a Cybercerebral Overlapping Multi-Processor Universal Transceiver Operator has the ability to handle a lone teleporting superhero. It’s not like Nightcrawler or Misfit or Hiro Nakamura don’t regularly get foiled, captured, or thwarted.

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mygif

(and most of these ideas would entail some degree of rebooting or retconning)

To restate: the intention for everything in this series of ideas has always been to use the current “threeboot” edition of the Legion as the starting point, cheating where necessary with a time-advance by a year.

You know, just so we’re clear.

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mygif

I suppose that many of us are ignoring the fact that the Everywhere Man can teleport, and can see where he teleports, but is otherwise just a trained military man.

I’m assuming that training (along with surpise) would be his only actual source of his ability to kill people.

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mygif

Does he have cat eyes? And I agree, he seems a bit too powerful.

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mygif

Jonathan, don’t forget fear, ruthless efficiency, and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope.

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mygif
Craig Oxbrow said on December 11th, 2008 at 10:55 pm

Damn it all, now I want to play Mage.

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mygif

Evan, if we continue along that line, does he have a nice red uniform?

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mygif

This reminds me of that movie

X, The Man With X-Ray Eyes

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mygif

[…] Reason #48 Why I Should Write "Legion of Super-Heroes" "The Everywhere Man: If you can be everywhere, you can see everywhere, and there are consequences." Tags: comics, legion, superheroes, mightygodking, writing, ideas […]

mygif

I see more connections to Nexus than Capt. Marvel.

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