Inspired by 1602, Bryce, Will, and others at the November house and I brainstormed how Marvel characters could be recast in the Stone Age. A short summary follows:
Bronze Man: Iron Man’s “super advanced technology” adapted for a stone-centric technological world would be a leather and effectively impenetrable bronze jerkin and a bronze helmet. The source of awesome energy is not an arc reactor, but a hollow animal horn carrying hot coals (I’d read that this is how some early humans kept fires going) around his neck. Finally, basic leather footwear enables Bronze Man to travel incredibly fast over varied and rough terrain, like rocks (instead of rocket boots).
Storm: Storm’s ability to control weather is reimagined as the ability to store water (perhaps in a crude leather bucket). She can later pour it onto people from high up, say, in a tree. Panic and flight ensue.
Wolverine, a.k.a. Wolf Man: Well, Wolverine is already savage, so we just give him an incredibly strong metal which nobody knows how to bend or break — at that time: iron. An iron knife. He can just hold it. Maybe one in each hand.
Magneto, a.k.a. Lodestone Man: Well, since there are few ferrous things in this world, Magneto is much less powerful. We envisioned him as a kind of charlatan who uses a magnetic rock on the end of a stick to make other iron-rich rocks wobble, slightly. Maybe he’s really theatric and gets a lot of mileage from this trick. Obviously, when he meets Wolf Man, he can say the line from the movie, “Does that remarkable metal extend through your entire body?”
Mystique: Mystique has learned to make and use masks. Maybe body paint too. Everyone else is totally blown away by this ability.
Kingstick a.k.a. Kingpin: He has a lever. Maybe Hulk should have a lever. Dunno.
Professor Ugs: Since wheels aren’t yet invented, the Prof. rolls around on a flat slab of rock on top of logs. (Note the X symbol on the logs.) He is just very persuasive, not mind-controlling. That’s good enough for the Stone Age and helps him convince people to move logs in front of him so he can keep rolling. His Cerebro is a cliff which, when he sits next to it in a certain spot, lets him clearly hear things at least a few hundred paces away.
We’re still working on this… any suggestions are welcome.
I love this. ^_^