A Gamma Moth
What comes to mind for me is Magical Thinking. This is something I've had to work with in my life. It's like... You think everything can happen all the time, and that you are somewhat responsible for it. I dunno. I'd imagine everyone now is super paranoid, and they probably think anyone they know could be an alien, a clone, a tulpa or a ghost. Or a shapeshifter. They probably are conditioned to unusual sights, but still get surprised when stuff happens to them. They might lapse into magical thinking like, if I don't throw this away in the trash can I'll get struck by a magical lighting bolt... Or they're afraid of hexes on everything. And probably general anxiety about how much they DON'T know... How much is still a mystery to the main population. Just an increase in anxiety, paranoia and the like. Eventually we'd adjust to the new normal, especially if it was considered correct and acceptable.
Creator of Heroes of Thantopolis: http://heroesofthantopolis.com/
That makes sense. I also have it in the story where one hero is forced into revealing his identity to his girlfriend in order to maintain the relationship. Naturally, she's surprised, but isn't impossible to take in that he has special abilities and she quickly adjusts to it.
It must be difficult to be a normal person in a world like this. As you said, they now have to worry about all sorts of issues they wouldn't have had to before. What if that random person they accidentally cut off on the freeway has the power to make them explode with their mind? What if the guy who is acting weird is some sort of alien or demon? What if there's an angry god out there waiting to strike Earth? It must be terrifying to be a muggle or non-badass in a comic book world.
I also imagine this would inspire normal people to be heroes just like the ones who get all the glory, except they have no powers, special training, talents, or nice equipment. Naturally, this leads to bad consequences when a normal person tries to bust a drug trade in a costume.
I could write an entire book exploring this aspect the more I think about it. But who would want to read a book about superheroes told entirely from the perspective of a civilian? It admittedly wouldn't be as cool.
Author.
A civilian maybe not, but a guy with no paranormal abilities operating in a world chock-full of superheroes and alien threats is coming soon to Netflix. For that matter, I'd imagine people would deal with hostiles possessing paranormal abilities the same way they deal with hostiles possessing the ability to bench-press a horse in real life - with guns. Lots of guns. You can expect open carry laws to be in demand worldwide, while Men in Black-type organizations get more funding than Cold War spies.
In general, it's painfully easy to conflate storytelling conveniences with actual in-universe abilities, just as it's outright necessary to nerf humanity's military potential so as to showcase the power of particular characters. The sorry state of Marvel's S.H.I.E.L.D. and DC's A.R.G.U.S. is far more unrealistic than any alien or magical monster in those universes. And it's entirely deliberate, as a functional system would rather quickly steal the capes' thunder. In the same vein, guns and lethal action are frowned upon not so much for any ethical reasons, but for being the main option readily available for ordinary people, and so reducing the importance of capes. Batman can't play the magnanimous martyr if by the time he fires up the Batmobile, an ordinary good guy with a gun has already taken out the Joker, now, can he?
Even in more traditional fantasy, monsters like vampires and werewolves get so many enhancements in fiction because the mythical progenitors are downright easy to take down. Werewolf - get a gun, substitute silver for lead ball, shoot as you would any other animal. Vampire - wait until daylight, find casket, chop head off and/or pierce heart with stake. Ghost - sanctify location. And so on, and so forth. All in all, our ancestors weren't much in the habit of Holding Out for a Hero, so I wouldn't expect it out of modern people either.
I originally asked this in the Random Questions Thread, but I didn't get any answers and I also thought there's enough detail to be its own topic. I created this wondering what would be a good way to portray a world that is unmasqued to all the things that have been kept secret from the people for so long. I'm currently in the process of making a story set in the future, in a world of superheroes and villains. It uses the Fantasy Kitchen Sink with stride, and takes influence from works like the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Overwatch.
Here's a summary to give you an idea of what I'm referring to:
That changed when an alien race called the Splisen appeared. Seemingly from out of nowhere, a massive alien ship hovered above the city of Bucharest, Romania. Hilarity Ensues. And by "hilarity", I mean massive death and destruction. That was the turning point for the world, as it was no longer possible to keep everything a secret. You can't just explain away a city like Bucharest being decimated by an alien spaceship. This led to an all-out war between Earth and the Splisen. It was basically World War III, but with Earth banding together to fight an alien force rather than each other. Having realized that they were no match for the Splisen using conventional means, they turned to the unconventional. All the nations in the world banded together to form the Protectors of Earth Initiative, or just "Protectors" for short. It was a Multinational Team where the world joined together to utilize their best technology available, their best men, and the "exceptional", known as the "heroes" or "capes" (despite the general absence of capes).
At the forefront of it all were seven highly powerful individuals who banded together to fight the alien menace. They were simply known as "The Seven".
With the help of The Seven, humanity was able to defeat the alien invaders once-and-for-all. However, nothing was ever the same after that. The world now knew everything that was kept secret from it for so long, and now no one could deny anything anymore. Twenty-two years later, the Protectors still stands as the global peacekeeping force. Heroes from all over the globe are free to use their powers and abilities as they wish. Everything has changed, for better or for worse.
Basically, what I'm trying to ask is, what would it be like being a civilian living in an unmasqued world, and how should that be portrayed? I always thought that in the comic books it must be really weird to be a civilian, knowing that aliens, cosmic entities, magic, gods, and other weird things all exist at once and the best force of defense are people who either possess special powers, have incredible technology, or are just that good at what they do (or any combination of the three).
I feel like I should touch the subject some. What would someone growing up in this era think? What about someone who wasn't previously aware, and had to watch everything unravel during the alien invasion and saw the world change from the aftermath? What about someone who did know, and now has to deal with the world knowing about it now? This whole thing creates a bunch of interesting thoughts. It is now impossible to believe that something is impossible, because anything is possible. Definitely a game-changer in the grand scheme of things.
I do plan for a government official to lampshade this by lamenting the situation. That's one of the things that helps with the portrayal of the world.
Government official: I remember when all of this shit was kept secret, and the good people were none-the-wiser. It was just so much simpler back then. Now everyone and their damned mother has some sort of gimmick.
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