Is SHIP Missing Out On International Peril?

[GeekyPornCritic]

Superheroines in SHIP have battle many foreign villains from foreign countries. Asians, Germans, Mexicans, Russians, and Muslims are common villains from overseas. These conflicts typically occur in the United States. There are a few SHIP stories with the superheroine battling villains overseas. Miss Marvelous has an exciting adventure in Japan when she is captured by a rival and sold to a Japanese master. Fuchisa Fox has battle terrorist in Middle Eastern countries, and recently had an encounter with an old foe from the Middle East.

SHIP stories typically do not dive into the legal aspects of laws from foreign countries. The stories mention basic knowledge such as stealing and murder as illegal in the United States. That is as far as most stories need to go in the legal area.

I think some laws from foreign countries could introduce perils as villains are legally allow to do things that they cannot do in the United States. Superheroines may be unsure of how to resolve the conflict since the act is legal. The authorities in these countries would not arrest or charge these villains with crimes. A crime was not committed.

I just listed a few possible scenarios. What more exciting perils can you think of for international peril?

Legal Pimping

Pimping and prostitution are legal in Bangladesh, Ecuador, Germany, Greece, Indonesia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua and Venezuela. We all know many superheroines in SHIP hate pimps. What if they attempt to take down a famous pimp from one of these countries? The law is not on her side. Charges will not be file against the pimps. If she is defeated and pimped out, then she is in deep peril. The pimp would be legally pimping her.

Polygamy Collector of Heroines

Polygamy is legal in many countries. I am a bit surprised that I have never found a story with this law used as a concept for a story. A superheroine battling a criminal overseas could be in huge trouble under certain circumstances. If a villain with the ability to make women fall in love with him, influence behavior and thoughts, or make a woman submit to him defeats a superheroine, then he can influence many superheroines to marry him. He can also use his super wives to capture and defeat more heroines to be his wives as well. He can legally marry every superheroine on the planet and there is nothing Batman can legally do to stop him.

Australia and Marijuana for Science

Marijuana is legal for science and medical use in Australia. A scientist can legally conduct experiments by spraying sueprheroines with an oil or slim of marijuana. This depends on a few factors. First, if Australia does not consider aliens to be people. Superheroines who are aliens would not have rights. Second, Superheroines who are aliens may be treated as property if aliens are recognized as a type of animal (I go into further details below).

It is unlikely for a person to become intoxication by marijuana as an oil. However, aliens are not humans. It is possible for a superheroine to become very intoxication by a small amount of a drug. Some stories feature superheroines who become depower by consuming any amount of a legal or illegal substance.

Superheroines who are aliens.

It is widely accepted that superheroines are people with rights in the United States. This issue appeared in Supergirl Season 4, and aliens regain their legal rights at the end of the season. However, the USA is not the only country in the world. What if some foreign powers refuse to recognize aliens as people with legal rights.

No Rights

Foreign countries such as France and Turkey could treat superheroines who are aliens as aliens without any legal rights. The laws were created for humans and not for aliens. Thus, any crime under normal circumstance towards a person may be legal against an alien.

International Property Law:

Many jurisdictions treat animals as property. It is possible for some foreign nations to see superheroines who are aliens as property. Aliens are not humans and they may see them as a hybrid animal from space. These heroines do not have any legal rights, thus can legally become a property of a citizen from that nation.

A superheroine without any knowledge of the law may unintentionally put herself in peril if she travels overseas to catch a rival villain.

[DrDominator9]

This is an interesting premise. What first comes to mind is a scantily-clad heroine (maybe) SG being set up by a villain in Iran (or some fictitious extreme Muslim country) for a stoning due to the scandalous nature of her outfit, and the villain has arranged for those stones to be encrusted with kryptonite/or some other harmful substance to the specific heroine.

[Void]

Because most superheros are vigilantes, following and enforcing their own moral code, I think the strict legality of their actions is only ever on the periphery of most stories. I think the main things that would alter would be how much of an adversarial relationship they have with the local authorities - which could be interesting - though I also agree you could at least get villains openly flaunting their slaves/prisoners at public events where the authorities don't bat an eye.

Related to this, I'm curious if there is much appetite, just in general, for international settings for peril stories. Like, would a fictitious British or Japanese city make for a fun setting for a SHiP adventure, or would such things be jarring given how rooted the source material is in generic American cityscapes?

[bushwackerbob]

This is an interesting premise. What first comes to mind is a scantily-clad heroine (maybe) SG being set up by a villain in Iran (or some fictitious extreme Muslim country) for a stoning due to the scandalous nature of her outfit, and the villain has arranged for those stones to be encrusted with kryptonite/or some other harmful substance to the specific heroine.

I guess the good news is with Supergirl's boring new outfit that she will not have to worry about getting stoned anymore.

[Damselbinder]

" If she is defeated and pimped out, then she is in deep peril. The pimp would be legally pimping her."

Er... isn't that sex slavery? Pretty sure that pimping being legal doesn't mean forcing someone into prostitution is legal.

"He can legally marry every superheroine on the planet and there is nothing Batman can legally do to stop him."

But, I mean if he's brainwashing them I'm pretty sure that's still illegal.

The thing about alien heroines potentially being regarded as property, though, that could certainly lead to some interesting scenarios.

[bushwackerbob]

Some on previous threads have made the argument (I disagreed) that superheroines are not necessarily bound by a country's laws, that they go by their own moral code, so they would think nothing of violating international law. That said, I love a lot of the above ideas and think that they would be great potential stories. These kind of superheroine predicaments are of real interest to me and I think they would make great stories.

[lionbadger]

No Rights
Foreign countries such as France and Turkey could treat superheroines who are aliens as aliens without any legal rights. The laws were created for humans and not for aliens. Thus, any crime under normal circumstance towards a person may be legal against an alien.

France and Turkey are both members of the Council of Europe and subject to the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, further, Turkey is chasing entry to the EU which is a liberalising force.

The UK on the other hand has raging 1930s Japan boner right now and is giving a massive "fuck you" to any international convention. You may or may not be aware that UK is pretty much the only place where you can't challenge laws as unconstitutional because surprise nobody wrote one down. So UK can make it illegal to be super (anywhere) or indeed can legalise slavery and there is nothing you can do to stop it.

An Imperial resurgence UK, trying to get the dominions, colonies and dependencies back could make a good story line and you don't even have to explain why they're speaking english.

[CaptainHanna]

Settings and villains are something I've thought of also in my "universe" I tend to focus on a fictional city and it's surroundings that I created which would feature most of what I would consider be needed for future stories etc, everything from the "inner city" and different districts etc to outskirts, but what is more difficult is the cultural aspects, something that can be made by incorporating these things.

Both the middle eastern suggestion and what can be done in that setting compared to a more western city and setting, as well as a japanese for example. I personally liked the idea of some villains comming from ither cultures and for me especially Japan. Russia and Africa would be cool settings as well that you could produce storylines from I think, just to name a few other examples. I think it's important when doing these things that you should be more well-read on the places and cultures though, at least to some degree to try and avoid gross stereotypes etc. I'm not overly PC myself and can take descriptions and depections for "what they are" and see it more of a setting rather than a direct representation of another country or culture. Which is why it might be easier to make up a ficitonal counrty rather than using an excisting one. Might also require some taste and judgement how you depict certain cultures even if the country is made up, the country is most likely based on a real life culture/country still. There's always certain limits you should consider before something gets down right offensive.

I can also agree that it provides a very nice change of pace and aspect when governments, morals and ethics might be substantially different from what the heroine/heroines are used to in their natural enviroment. A corrupt government who rather than supporting the heroine might instead be in support of the villain or even being the "villain" themselves down right if you make up a country who's laws and system might be a stark contrast to the heroine's own morals and values. It would also pose interesting questions of when and where a heroine could act and intervene, if she interferes with the government supported villain/the country itself, wouldn't she be in the wrong cause what is transpiring isn't illegal in any way (unless it breaks international laws and conventions)? If this is the case wouldn't the villain/country have the right to take this heroine into custody for her crimes?

I like the idea of certain things occuring but the authorities doesn't even case about it and just let's it proceed, it gives such a cool contrast and you can do a lot with it and with different cultures with certain nuances, plus you can widen your villain register more with villains who would work better in certain settings and surroundings but not in others.

So taking an international perspective to things and raise questions like the one GPC raises can make for very interesting stories and situations that wouldn't occur naturally in the heroines home enviroment.

Nice thread and topic!

[CaptainHanna]

Because most superheros are vigilantes, following and enforcing their own moral code, I think the strict legality of their actions is only ever on the periphery of most stories. I think the main things that would alter would be how much of an adversarial relationship they have with the local authorities - which could be interesting - though I also agree you could at least get villains openly flaunting their slaves/prisoners at public events where the authorities don't bat an eye.

Related to this, I'm curious if there is much appetite, just in general, for international settings for peril stories. Like, would a fictitious British or Japanese city make for a fun setting for a SHiP adventure, or would such things be jarring given how rooted the source material is in generic American cityscapes?

Would the heroine in question just go on with their mindset that their morals and their convictions are the right ones or would she take a step back and evaluate her own morals and beliefs, seeing how her is very much coloured by her own culture most likely? For example western heroines being big advocates or free speach, democracy etc. If she comes to a new culture where things work fundamentally different from her own culture where their morals and ethics are vastly different from her own, doesn't that in some way kinda make her like a bit of an "invader" in the sense that she would en enforcing her own brand of justice and adhering to her own laws etc when the "villain" she is taking on may not even do anything illegal or what would be considered wrong in the culture and setting they are now in?

I think the idea of opening up the SHiP settings to include these other types is a fun idea that at least is worth exploring, completely agree with Void that the "American cityscapes" have become a standard overall, heck, I'm even guilty of that in my own made "World"! My world is very much based on a typical "american" city in a lot of ways and I'm not even american, so goes to show how much of a standard that has become!

With that said though I think that it's a very interesting subject and something that is absolutely worth exploring to see how important the "american" setting is. Does it turn out to be crucial to the scenes, dynamics etc of a story and a heroines overall "gimmick", does it work in other settings, it's always nice to push those boundries and see if it works at least, might fall flat, but might as well open up a lot of new doors if they do work!

[DrDominator9]

Another variant would be how "embedded" a heroine is within her culture. Take for example, a novice heroine from another planet in her early 20's. Say she's only been in America for three months and prior to that she'd been on her own planet for the first 18 years of her life and then had to escape it for some reason, she would not be nearly as culturally ingrained in Truth, Justice and the American Way. She would probably have the culture of her own planet ingrained in her. Another tantalizing story possibility.

[Visitor]

You had for years in Marvel Comics, Dr. Doom as ruler of his own country got to set the rules in his land. Diplomatic immunity and his own embassy in New York City gave him lots of legal rights as he went after superheroes.

[GeekyPornCritic]

I was speaking to Captain Hanna about ideas of superheroines enjoying the luxury of free speech in the United States. Free Speech is not an ideal shared by every nation. I would like to love to see a story of a superheroine defeating a terrorist group overseas, but also freely criticizing foreign leaders from a nation. These powerful man (strong in the political world) would prepare a secret mission for their soldiers to capture and punish the superheroine for speaking freely against the foreign government.

[bushwackerbob]

There was a fairly good story on this genre by Literotica.com called Blue Bolt Meets the Colonel where the Iraqi? Colonel gets a hold of a virtual reality mind control device, captures the superheroine and all sorts of fun ensue.

[GeekyPornCritic]

There was a fairly good story on this genre by Literotica.com called Blue Bolt Meets the Colonel where the Iraqi? Colonel gets a hold of a virtual reality mind control device, captures the superheroine and all sorts of fun ensue.

This is the link to Blue Bolt for those who are interested!
https://literotica.com/s/the-blue-bolt- ... he-colonel

[brdiy]

This is an interesting premise. What first comes to mind is a scantily-clad heroine (maybe) SG being set up by a villain in Iran (or some fictitious extreme Muslim country) for a stoning due to the scandalous nature of her outfit, and the villain has arranged for those stones to be encrusted with kryptonite/or some other harmful substance to the specific heroine.

Yup. I can see stories where superheroines are specifically targeted by religious extremists for wearing costumes that to them may be perceived to be symbols of "Western decadence".

[tallyho]

I actually address this (the legal aspect) in my latest SG story. But as it appears at the climax I cant say much about it. But its a scenario with no witnesses, no evidence, a crime in international waters and a rich criminal whose lawyers are capable of spinning things out for years. Suffice to say our girl has her own solution to the problem to stop them getting away with it

[bushwackerbob]

I would love to see a story where a superheroine who does not have the ability to fly, is in this dangerous country overseas, is at the airport intending to leave when she has to take off her power belt at the metal detector station. After a lot of back and forth with airport security, she ultimately surrenders her belt, depowered, and then detained by airport security on a bogus charge. Then the fun begins.

[tallyho]

Whilst it isnt with a powered heroine , that precise scenario is covered in a Dungeon story TSA NABS BATGIRL, where she is trapped by the legal situation she finds herself in, forced to comply and then realizes its an actual trap too late

viewtopic.php?f=39&t=9637

[DrDominator9]

It's one of the best stories on this site. Co-written by Batgirl1969 and Tallyho, as I understand it.

[tallyho]

^^^(Well I didnt want to put anyone off reading it by attaching my name to it!)

[bushwackerbob]

Whilst it isnt with a powered heroine , that precise scenario is covered in a Dungeon story TSA NABS BATGIRL, where she is trapped by the legal situation she finds herself in, forced to comply and then realizes its an actual trap too late

viewtopic.php?f=39&t=9637

I just loved, loved, loved the story, it was great. I really enjoy those somewhat plausible everyday life scenarios. The buildup leading up to the stripping was masterful. I appreciate being made aware of the story, thanks.