This is kind of tangential to traditional superhero media, but this fact is the point of tension superhero role-playing games.
Most other genres allow your protagonists to play a proactive or reactive role.
Your D&D adventuring party might be trying to stop an evil plot to end the world, but they could just as easily be searching for treasures in ancient ruins primarily for personal advancement.
Your Vampire the Whichever coterie might be trying to avoid the anger of any of the elder vampires in your city, but they could just as easily be scheming to overthrow and replace those elders.
Your circle of Exalted might be hunting down reincarnating demon kings when they pop up in your corner of the world, or they may be forging a bronze age empire with modern social norms because bronze age social norms completely suck.
Your Stars Without Numbers/Trinity Continuum psychic space people could be solving a futuristic murder or they could just as easily be exploring strange new worlds and deliberately making first contact with strange alien species.
If you’re playing a superhero game, and you’re playing heroes, what do you do? Foil the supervillains plots. If you have your own plots? You’re the villain. (One possible counter example is an X-Men type setting with persecuted superhumans, but honestly you still have to diverge from source material a lot here- mutants should be organizing violent resistance groups but the ones who do are Evil Mutants)
It’s very constraining and stops more sandbox type playstyles from being viable.
Obviously “people who want to change society are fundamentally bad” is a very corrosive message to marinate your populous in, and that’s worse, but the rpg thing is also annoying.
Remembering that bit in X-Men '97 where a justifiably pissed Rogue flew around destroying US military bases in revenge for spoiler stuff. Ofc Captain Amerikkka shows up and condescends to her about this going too far and how he’s trying to “solve the problem through the proper channels”. She then throws his shield over a fuckin mountain
I like it when the X-Men are allowed to be a force for change, and show that the status quo defenders are allowing atrocities to continue while they try to solve things at their preferred pace.
Edit*
I also happen to be playing a Pathfinder 2e campaign as a one piece style pirate crew fighting the world gov & capital. Much more fun than being a reactive force.
'97 included this completely correct statement, and I’m happy to say that they don’t even pull a Killmonger swerve with Magneto - he gets some justice with only a little “you’ve gone too far Erik!” by the end. Him, Storm, & Rogue are the big heroes this time around
This is kind of tangential to traditional superhero media, but this fact is the point of tension superhero role-playing games.
Most other genres allow your protagonists to play a proactive or reactive role.
Your D&D adventuring party might be trying to stop an evil plot to end the world, but they could just as easily be searching for treasures in ancient ruins primarily for personal advancement.
Your Vampire the Whichever coterie might be trying to avoid the anger of any of the elder vampires in your city, but they could just as easily be scheming to overthrow and replace those elders.
Your circle of Exalted might be hunting down reincarnating demon kings when they pop up in your corner of the world, or they may be forging a bronze age empire with modern social norms because bronze age social norms completely suck.
Your Stars Without Numbers/Trinity Continuum psychic space people could be solving a futuristic murder or they could just as easily be exploring strange new worlds and deliberately making first contact with strange alien species.
If you’re playing a superhero game, and you’re playing heroes, what do you do? Foil the supervillains plots. If you have your own plots? You’re the villain. (One possible counter example is an X-Men type setting with persecuted superhumans, but honestly you still have to diverge from source material a lot here- mutants should be organizing violent resistance groups but the ones who do are Evil Mutants)
It’s very constraining and stops more sandbox type playstyles from being viable.
Obviously “people who want to change society are fundamentally bad” is a very corrosive message to marinate your populous in, and that’s worse, but the rpg thing is also annoying.
Remembering that bit in X-Men '97 where a justifiably pissed Rogue flew around destroying US military bases in revenge for spoiler stuff. Ofc Captain Amerikkka shows up and condescends to her about this going too far and how he’s trying to “solve the problem through the proper channels”. She then throws his shield over a fuckin mountain
I like it when the X-Men are allowed to be a force for change, and show that the status quo defenders are allowing atrocities to continue while they try to solve things at their preferred pace.
Edit*
I also happen to be playing a Pathfinder 2e campaign as a one piece style pirate crew fighting the world gov & capital. Much more fun than being a reactive force.
That was a good scene. X-Men '97 rules.
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non specific 97 spoiler-ish
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This monologue was soooo good
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy: