Vermic

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Okay, what the [censored] is wrong with our children?!

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Nothing that Natural Selection won't cure.

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I agree. Kid wants to imitate hanging: gets hanged. Sounds to me like the system is working as intended.

I haven't even watched the trailer yet, but I already know one thing: the "Mortal Kombat" theme song will be stuck in my head for the remainder of the day.

I got a kick out of this phrase:

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Marshal Mayhem, a subtle man

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Hee.

It's a subtle sort of mayhem, is what he's about.

Sparring Room
Originally suggested by: Vermic
Category: Rooms
Customizable? N
Type: Purchased
Description: This 2x2 room expands into a holographic outdoor arena site for fights between group members. Similar to the public Arena, but with more streamlined options. Ideal for testing new powers, PvP training, or settling intergroup disagreements.

Rogue Isles Wall Map
Originally suggested by: Vermic
Category: Wall Items
Customizable? N
Type: Purchased
Description: A large decorative map depicting the Rogue Islands. A must for long-term strategic planning.

Paragon City Wall Map
Originally suggested by: Vermic
Category: Wall Items
Customizable? N
Type: Purchased
Description: A large decorative map depicting Paragon City. A must for long-term strategic planning.

Global Wall Map
Originally suggested by: Vermic
Category: Wall Items
Customizable? N
Type: Purchased
Description: A large decorative Mercator projection map of the Earth. An ideal focal point for any war room.

Leapin' Lizard says: Hey, don't knock the value of a degree! Without all that biology training, I'd never have gotten my cushy scientist gig, and I never would've been able to develop the formula that let me grow my arm back! (Okay, granted ... it also gave me a tail, and scales, and a fondness for crickets on my pizza. But still!)

These days I'm working on staff in the S.E.R.A.P.H. research division. So when I'm not on the streets kicking robots, or basking on sunny rooftops, I put on the ol' white coat and do lab work. You know how you'll finish a mission and bring back a sample of something, and your contact will say "Thanks, we'll have our lab examine this further?" That's the kind of stuff they throw my way. But without my doctorate, none of this would've been possible.

Education: the real superpower!

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I know that if you pare it down far enough, most stories can be said to be the same at some level. Heck, most movie themes you can track to a Shakespeare play that has the same core ideas. Just seems that as I’ve tried to come up with something unique for the origin of my heroes, all of a sudden I’ll think of some “real” comic character and go “Man! I’m just copying her/his story!”

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And that's perfectly fine, IMHO. All of these well-worn stories are well-worn for a good reason: they work. They satisfy on some basic level. "Avenger of murdered loved ones" may have been done umpteen times before in comics and other literature, but it's a basic and universal motivation that any reader can grasp.

Anyway, a hero is not merely his/her/its origin. Origins only explain how your hero got here. Where the real characterization is -- and the real creative opportunity -- is what that hero does next. How did the hero react to the origin-triggering event? How does the hero's personality color their response to their experiences as a superhero?

For instance, both Batman and the Punisher fall into the "avenger of murdered loved ones" slot, but they reacted to the event differently, and clearly operate very differently as vigilantes (and both are very different avengers from, say, Hamlet). Both Thor and Green Lantern started out as "finder of power-granting object" guys, but they're hardly carbon copes of each other. Heck, the Fantastic Four all had the exact same origin, but are all very different people -- not just because their powers are different, but because they were different people beforehand as well.

So I wouldn't get hung up on the origin. It's only a starting point. My advice is (and I've seen this advice given in PnP RPGs as well), start with something simple and effective as a background, and then let him develop and flesh out as a result of in-game experiences.