Captain Ethnic [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CaptainEthnic] style superheroes are really something of a staple of the genre. They tend to be hilariously offensive more often than not, and they usually have very little to do with the culture they represent itself and more with how America the rest of the world perceives it.
Many countries, big and small, have such a "national superhero". Some have more than one. Some have a freaking army of such walking super-powered stereotypes (China, Germany, Russia, Britain...)
Say what you may, I felt a little insulted to find out that among all of those, there was not one "Captain Israel" type superhero! Do we not have enough cool stereotypes to make an offensive ethnic superhero hero from?!
I am asking you this: if you had to design the (/an?) Israeli superhero along the same lines, how would you do it? What would his/her name be? What about the costume? The special powers and background?
Now, some of you may think that I should be presenting these questions to some of my comic book loving Israeli friends instead of you, but I think that would be missing the point! Ethnic superheros, as I have already mentioned, must be defined by the world's perception of the country, with all of it's stereotypes, ignorance of the details, and poorly researched origins.
An Israeli superhero written by Israelis won't be half as interesting, right?
Note that I am not looking for Captain Geographic [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CaptainGeographic] here. Everybody could just take a random off the street superhero, dress him in the flag and call him "Captain Israel". The superhero I am looking for is not Israeli just in name, it's very powers and origins need to be based on how you think Israel is.
I know this topic risks turning into a flame war very quickly, but I hope that everybody here would be able to understand that everything that's going to be written here would be fun for the purpose of fun. I am not going to be offended, so don't hold back. It's going to be an interesting experiment (I always wondered how the rest of the world sees us), and it's going to be funny.
I hope.
Many countries, big and small, have such a "national superhero". Some have more than one. Some have a freaking army of such walking super-powered stereotypes (China, Germany, Russia, Britain...)
Say what you may, I felt a little insulted to find out that among all of those, there was not one "Captain Israel" type superhero! Do we not have enough cool stereotypes to make an offensive ethnic superhero hero from?!
I am asking you this: if you had to design the (/an?) Israeli superhero along the same lines, how would you do it? What would his/her name be? What about the costume? The special powers and background?
Now, some of you may think that I should be presenting these questions to some of my comic book loving Israeli friends instead of you, but I think that would be missing the point! Ethnic superheros, as I have already mentioned, must be defined by the world's perception of the country, with all of it's stereotypes, ignorance of the details, and poorly researched origins.
An Israeli superhero written by Israelis won't be half as interesting, right?
Note that I am not looking for Captain Geographic [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CaptainGeographic] here. Everybody could just take a random off the street superhero, dress him in the flag and call him "Captain Israel". The superhero I am looking for is not Israeli just in name, it's very powers and origins need to be based on how you think Israel is.
I know this topic risks turning into a flame war very quickly, but I hope that everybody here would be able to understand that everything that's going to be written here would be fun for the purpose of fun. I am not going to be offended, so don't hold back. It's going to be an interesting experiment (I always wondered how the rest of the world sees us), and it's going to be funny.
I hope.
