Real World Governments reaction to Supers?

[frigidmagi]

Just as it says in the title, what if next week, month or whatever people woke up with powers beyond the mortal average?

What's N Korea gonna do? China? Iran? What happens in Iraq? Israel? Canada?

I've posted stories where the rioting muslim teens of France have mastered small unit ambushes, what happens if some of them gain the ability to tear apart a tank with his bare hands?

What does it mean for China if a Taiwanese Citizen gains superpowers or the ability to control the waters around her home?

What happens in Africa if men and women wake up tomorrow and find they can do more then they ever dreamed possible?

How do the various nations of the world react to their citizens becoming more powerful then their militaries?

[Cynical Cat]

Depends. How widespread are the "eruptions" (to steal a term from Aberrant) and how powerful are the metas? Lifting a car is one thing, but still easily dealt with by bullets. Artillery resistant forcefields are something else.

In places with substantial civil strife, I imagine we just have an escalation. In relatively stable areas like most of North America and Europe we have governments and corporations trying to exploit this new resource and manage any problems or public panics. Lastly we have the metas themselves. Some will be public minded individuals, some will be interested mostly in fame or making a buck, and some will be out and out scumbags. A few (suppossing powers are distrubted evenly over the population) will be sociopaths (some studies suggest that up to ten percent of the population is sociopaths. That sounds a little large and damn scary to boot, even without being able to mind rape anyone).

[Josh]

Ever read the Wild Cards series?

Psi Corps from Babylon 5 springs to mind as well. Registration and control is what I see, and exorbitant bribery from government and private sources directed toward superpowered individuals.

Assuming the traits are inheritable and prolific, eventually the human race as we know it becomes suborned, I'd figure.

[Cynical Cat]

In the Wild Card series the virus is more likely to kill you than anything else and more likely to deform you than give you super powers. But the super charismatics were scary.