weeks have gone by and I still can’t drop the idea of LITERAL superboy and the invisible girl. and by that I mean superheroes. Give me a Goodman sibling super hero AU
- superpowers aren’t exactly common, but they’re not unheard of. think like natural redhead levels of rarity
- Gabe’s power would probably be general super abilities like speed/strength/regeneration OR healing because the angst potential there is absolutely insane
- It manifests when he regularly would’ve died as a baby, which is freakishly young for a power to manifest, but his body was under a LOT of stress. Idk if they realize it’s a power or not, but Dan and Diana start to think of him as some sort of miracle baby because he survived
- Natalie grows up knowing this story like the back of her hand, though her own power doesn’t manifest until later in life than her brother (5-6 ish?)
- Natalie’s power would obviously have to be invisibility, but there are a couple factors I’ve been playing around with: what if super abilities manifest to best fit the user/are manifested BY the user. So Natalie’s thoughts of being invisible in her life literally materialize within her own power, sort of proving her point to herself and making her feelings of inferiority towards her super brother worse than if she’d just not had a power to begin with. Because of that, I think it’s fitting that she wouldn’t tell her parents, and because they’re too busy with Gabe, they wouldn’t go out of their way to notice, either (???) maybe she just doesn’t talk about it because, compared to his super *strength, it seems inferior. But that’s up in the air lol. That being said, I think she’s still constantly trying to find a way to feel good enough for them, so she probably practices with her power a lot, leading to her being really skilled with it (I.e. being able to switch in/out invisibility seamlessly, being able to turn other things invisible, being able to move without making noises, etc)
- obviously, the root of Diana’s episodes would have to change in this world, and even tho I haven’t figured out quite how it would work, I know she’s not 10000% perfectly fine just because her son lived
- Nor is Gabe perfectly healed—since his powers activated so young and underdeveloped, the superpowered patch jobs for his intestinal obstruction issues weren’t perfect, and he still has fits with his stomach. Am I proposing chronically ill superhero Gabe ? Yes I think I am
- anyway, when they’re both in their teens (maybe 16 + 18) the news starts raving on about some new masked superhero on the streets, which Natalie sees on the news and IMMEDIATELY recognizes is Gabe. Like, sees the story, checks his room, finds a lump of pillows and a wig in his bed, and sighs.
- Gabe would be a good superhero, but is only surviving this whole secret personality with a stupid amount of luck. This kid loses his backpack once a week. He sputters whenever people bring up the news, and catches himself correcting people on facts he has NO RIGHT to know about. He keeps his costume in his locker. The only reason people seem unable to put the clues together is because Gabe is chronically ill and always having some kind of stomach issue, so how could it be him? Natalie is in AWE that she’s the only one who’s found out
- one day it’s clear Gabe is in trouble, so Natalie (disguised) joins the fray to save his ass. Once she gets him far enough away that he can heal, they duck into an alley or something and she mockingly gives him the name ‘Superboy’. Once he’s healed up enough to walk, she walks home with him, and when he asks how she knows the way, she reveals their identities. I guess at this point that means Gabe doesn’t really know that she has a power and there can be a nice sibling angst thing where Natalie still feels like she lives in Gabe’s shadow and resents him for it, but Gabe resents himself for not noticing sooner
- some way or another, using some weird mix of Gabe’s guilt and Natalie’s buried desire to mend their relationship/be seen by someone/do the right thing, they team up
- I’m calling Dan an architect because 1.) Diana says that’s what they went to school for in MUYM/CMIF and 2.) I think it’s REALLY funny to make him the architect that’s absolutely tortured by all the property damages of fights in a superhuman society
- Natalie’s significantly better at the secret identity thing, but her bruises and scars are getting harder to hide at swim, etc. not to mention her (new?) boyfriend, Henry, seems to be reaaallyyyy interested in the new superhero duo, superboy (yes, Gabe used her nickname) and the invisible girl
- one day, somehow, Henry finds out. Maybe she stumbles into their date (the dance 👀👀) way too late, clearly recovering from the fight he was just watching on his phone. Maybe he’s with the goodmans at dinner and clocks both siblings fumbling for some sort of excuse to leave the table the second trouble is in the area. Maybe Natalie doesn’t even know how he finds out, he just stops her one day and goes “you’re the invisible girl”. However it happens, Natalie is HORRIFIED that he knows, but is so grateful to be able to tell someone other than her brother about it. I imagine he probably wants to help the two of them out (which scares the SHIT out of Natalie but, Gabe approves of) and becomes their man in the chair
- yes I like spiderman what the fuck about it
- and maybe Gabe gets his own Henry, who knows
- the main conflict of this could really be anything, but the main, bordering on super way too cheesy idea I’ve been playing with is something to do with doctor fine (or madden, but fine rubs me the wrong way. so). Because superpowers are widely accepted and documented as possible, but rare, I think he starts trying to find a way to give them to people born without them. Something something research is banned or some other classic disgraced-scientist/doctor excuse, and he starts fiddling with giving people powers through fake prescription pills/medication. But yk it doesn’t always go well, so people end up going insane, mutated, etc.
- the Goodman siblings find out about this by encountering some of his patients, and start working (with Henry) to uncover the source of all these dangerous, if a bit clumsy mutants
- something something, Dr. Fine continues refining his work to make the effects more powerful (think like mutating patients so they’re sort of monstrous and not in complete control of themselves), and the kids don’t find out who’s doing it or how until he’s their MOM’s doctor and she’s receiving the “treatment” herself
- something something some big fight between all of them. Diana is under the effects of Fine’s drug and super powerful/super not in control of her own body, but the kids refuse to hurt her. Meanwhile, fine has probably found a way to power himself up and is cycling through a weird mix of drugged-up lack of control and mad scientist’s desire to study/experiment with the Goodman kids’ power genes
- there is so much potential for a scene where Natalie has to help save her mother because she still loves her SO MUCH, even if Diana never seemed fully able to return the favor. Diana learns her daughter has this power and these secrets she hasn’t been a part of. Do we see the vision
- are the goodman’s identities discovered by the public??? wtf is Dan doing about all of it??? do I actually think I’d be able to follow through on writing or drawing or doing ANYTHING with this????? + all the other, MANY logistical errors and kinks to be worked out…but do we see the vision ???????
- is this something at all or am I going crazy ?