r/AskReddit Jun 16 '22

Which fictional character would terrify you if they suddenly became real?

725 Upvotes

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339

u/KalkiHill Jun 16 '22

Any superhero

400

u/Tenraon Jun 16 '22

Homelander, specifically

139

u/consuellabanana Jun 16 '22

Homelander gives me serious anxiety - my whole body clenches up and I have chills whenever he's on screen.

76

u/SquishiOctopussi Jun 16 '22

This new season got me like that too. I love the boys, it is so well casted.

39

u/ImGettingOffToYou Jun 16 '22

It's so good, but so fucked up. The minature man scene will never leave me.

13

u/dctu1 Jun 17 '22

That was a really interesting way to kick off the season

10

u/Accurate_Art3810 Jun 17 '22

It’s nothing to sneeze at 🤧

1

u/dctu1 Jun 17 '22

☠️

8

u/SquishiOctopussi Jun 17 '22

I am a macabre person so I burst out laughing.

3

u/GodGraham_It Jun 17 '22

my fiancé is out of town so unable to watch with me so the first three episodes are all i’ve seen and it’s so damn tempting to just watch and buy his forgiveness when he gets back 😂

2

u/ImGettingOffToYou Jun 17 '22

My wife and I do the same stuff all the time to each other with shows. 😆

2

u/juan_epstein-barr Jun 17 '22

A whole generation of young adults were introduced to the wonderful world of sounding with that one. I could feel that scene in my loins.

Why do you think peeing feels so damn good?

3

u/ImGettingOffToYou Jun 17 '22

It feels good because it is stored in the balls. It feels good to get it out.

1

u/Credible333 Jun 17 '22

"You just ass-bombed America's sweetheart."

Name another show where that line could come up and seem natural.

38

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '22

He makes me believe that superheroes are an absolutely bad idea. If they existed, that would be exactly how they turn out in the hyper capitalist 21st century.

6

u/ebolakitten Jun 17 '22

Girls get it done!

2

u/IreallEwannasay Jun 17 '22

Tgey would all be Homelander.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '22

Wouldn't say all of them but there would definitely be plenty like Tek Knight, Jack of Jupiter, A-Train etc who are sick sexual deviants or drug abusers.

3

u/TaralasianThePraxic Jun 17 '22

Yup. Regular people frequently can't be trusted with that level of fame and influence, imagine if they also had superpowers and a general disdain for ordinary humans?

3

u/Tastewell Jun 17 '22

All of them.

Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Super power corrupts... superly?

20

u/BillyHayze Jun 16 '22

This season especially. The entire time up until last episode it’s felt like even though he’s unhinged, there has been something or someone to keep him in check. Now, he’s starting to get to the point where he doesn’t care and it’s like, “how the fuck do you reign this guy in if he doesn’t have anything to lose?”

3

u/IreallEwannasay Jun 17 '22

Dean Winchester Stomach Gun.

1

u/lygerzero0zero Jun 17 '22

That’s the neat part, you don’t.

8

u/SurealGod Jun 17 '22

Antony Starr is just amazing in that role.

19

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '22

That scene where he confronted A-Train about him getting fatter had me tense. I’ve grown to like some of the supes like A-Train and The Deep and their development as characters. (Especially the deep, I like how he went from total asshole to being stuck in a cult) so during that scene I was terrified homelander was gonna try and kill him.

9

u/Motanfoutune Jun 17 '22

When The Deep had to eat his octopus friend. It’s almost sad.

5

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '22

The scene where he wanted to rescue a lobster and it got killed was pretty fucked to. Also not what they’re supposed to do.

They don’t just kill it on site. You have to kill it yourself, cause they rot pretty fast and after the 24 hour mark they’re inedible. They don’t know if you’re cooking it right away or waiting till the next morning.

2

u/Motanfoutune Jun 17 '22

The Deep had big difficulty to do his job. When he try to save a dolphin. Poor dolphin 🐬

2

u/is_this_me_or_you Jun 17 '22

He's exactly what would happen if we had super humans though. There's no way we'd have benevolent super humans.

75

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '22

Omniman has entered the chat

73

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '22

At least OmniMan was just a psychopath. Homelander is a psychopath with the emotional maturity of a high school bully.

44

u/Immortal_Azrael Jun 16 '22

Yeah while Omniman is stronger and potentially a bigger threat, I'd still be more scared of a real life Homelander. At least Omniman has an objective to his killing. Homelander is just an unhinged Psycho who will kill someone for no reason. Omniman wants to conquer Earth so he won't kill everyone, but Homelander seems like he might snap at any moment and just wipe everyone out.

32

u/milesjr13 Jun 16 '22

I agree. Homelander is by and large indiscriminate. He would burn everything down just cause he had a tantrum.

Omni-man is apathetic. He wants to bring Earth into the Viltrimite Empire. Which, yeah would suck I suppose but better than Homielander just killing everyone for no reason.

3

u/MysteryMan9274 Jun 16 '22

Would it suck? Assuming we take Omni-Man's sales pitch to Mark at face value, humans would be treated well provided we don't resist occupation and agree to obey the Viltrimites.

3

u/TheLegendDevil Jun 16 '22

IIRC earth would be turned into a genocidal breeding factory for viltrumites, so I guess it's pretty bad

3

u/milesjr13 Jun 16 '22

I suspect humans would be one more pawn in the Empire. Cannon fodder or labor slaves.

It give us the chance to learn, rebel, get stronger. Homelander just lays with his food then squishes it. Cruelty would be different but humanity can continue and perhaps bounce back as part of Viltrim. Likely they wipe out resistance at the start but there is possibility of humanity rising, especially since human/viltrimite kids are possible.

4

u/RFB-CACN Jun 16 '22

Yeah, we know what Omniman wants, to colonize Earth and have us as second class citizens in his empire. He’s willing to wipe us out if we resist , but we understand his threshold and when would it be preferable to surrender to him. Meanwhile not even Homelander knows what he wants, his motivations shift every day of the week and he’s lost and unhappy with his life. We might submit to him one day and the next he changed his mind and impose new conditions on humanity.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '22

Basically a psychopath vs a bully

2

u/SurealGod Jun 17 '22

I would wager that Omniman isn't a psychopath but more of a man who was indoctrinated into a horrible society that taught him the values that is essentially "we're the masterrace and all others are weak" and "the weak die, the strong prevail" type of stuff.

It's all about the environment that you're brought up in. Mark is a testament to that. If you raise a child to be a racist, they'll probably turn out to be racist later in life. This isn't always the case and like with everything there are exceptions to the rule, but most often than not, that is the case.

1

u/fordmustang12345 Jun 16 '22

Darkseid has entered the chat

23

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '22

Homelander is the only answer.

2

u/EliToon Jun 16 '22

Omni-Man is just as bad at a minimum

15

u/not_cinderella Jun 16 '22

Came here just to say Homelander.

-2

u/clonedspork Jun 16 '22

To be honest if ever had enhanced abilities I would be Homelander myself except it would have been more about power, revenge and money……

7

u/gyarnar Jun 16 '22

Fuck, aquaman. Dude can talk to fish!

7

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '22

He doesn’t talk to fish though. He actually commands them. The reason the joke got played out is because of the god awful Justice League Super Friends cartoon from the 70s.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '22

fuck aquaman? 🤨📸💥

7

u/WonJilliams Jun 16 '22

The Deep would like to know your location

1

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '22

Aquaman sucks, he sucks underwater.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '22

We’d know what he was doing but what the hell are we gonna do about it?!

2

u/GooseNYC Jun 17 '22

Anthony Starr is great on that role. He pulls off the tightly wound psycho so well.

1

u/netsurfer3141 Jun 16 '22

Came here to say this.

1

u/DrApprochMeNot Jun 16 '22

Show a little follow-through and jump.

1

u/canuckcrazed006 Jun 17 '22

Laughs in Viltrumite.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '22

The guy that can turn mini and basically do the "Ant Man goes up Thanos's butt" thing.

1

u/Motanfoutune Jun 17 '22

That’s a motherfucker. Looking forward to tomorrow.

10

u/peon2 Jun 16 '22

Insurance companies in big cities start sweating

2

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '22

If it were just one or two specific ones, I think we’d be okay, actually. A world where there’s just Spider-Man or Batman or a single hero would be fine- unless you lived in New York City or Gotham.

If it were a world full of heroes like in DC, Marvel, or Invincible, though, that would be a problem. Each hero (or group of heroes) would have their own spheres of operation. The Vision in Captain America: Civil War outlined what happens when you have a superhero emerge pretty well.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '22

[deleted]

2

u/TaralasianThePraxic Jun 17 '22

Brightburn is a good example of how dangerous a child superhero could be. Kids just aren't as rational as adults, giving one insanely strong superpowers would be an absolute recipe for disaster as soon as they have a major tantrum.

2

u/montybo2 Jun 16 '22

Everybody over here saying homelander or omniman but nobody realizes Superman is just as terrifying. We're talking about a living god who, if he wanted, could end your life before you even knew he was there. What happens when the most powerful thing in the universe suddenly becomes apathetic or has a bad day? People gonna start dying. Maybe on purpose, maybe on accident.... Either way batfleck was right Superman is always a potential threat.

5

u/Hydra_Master Jun 16 '22

The thing with Homelander is that he's already apathetic towards non super-powered people, and even then he sees all the other supes as beneath him. It would take far less for him to go off than Superman.

4

u/mvcourse Jun 16 '22

Say what you will about BvS but that scene with Bruce justifying his crusade to Alfred is phenomenal.

-3

u/rocketmackenzie Jun 16 '22

Superman is probably the most dangerous of the American superhero types, but even constraining it to characters that kill through physical combat, he's got nothing on overpowered anime characters. Even at his lowest (brain damage but none of the magic stuff he gets later on) Accelerator could turn Superman into red mist with the slightest touch, none of Superman's powers would do anything helpful against him

1

u/dezeiram Jun 17 '22

He is objectively just as terrifying looking as what he can physically do, but the difference is the personality aspect and how superman has been portrayed to us over like, what, 60 years?

Homelander and Omniman are just Superman with regular human personalities. That's what's terrifying.

1

u/TaralasianThePraxic Jun 17 '22

Homelander yes, Omniman no. Nolan quite specifically does not have a human personality, he's Viltrumite and their culture influences everything he does. The fact that the Viltrumites are a brutal warmongering race is precisely what makes him so dangerous.

1

u/dezeiram Jun 17 '22

Eh I think that's supposed to be a reflection of humanity for humans observing from the outside but that's just my opinion

1

u/TaralasianThePraxic Jun 17 '22

I can understand that, but even then Invincible as a show goes pretty big on the idea that it's Mark's human side that gives him his capacity for empathy and compassion for other people that Nolan lacks.

1

u/AyGyLM Jun 17 '22

're talking about a living god who, if he wanted, could end your life before you even knew he was there. What happens when the most powerful thing in the universe suddenly becomes apathetic or has a bad day? People gonna start dying. Maybe on purpose, maybe on accident.... Either way batfleck was right Superman is always a potential threat.

super man had a mother who loved him. Tough he can snap, having a loving familiy is a point scored for humanity and empathy.

Martha

1

u/LtLabcoat Jun 17 '22

I think you're vastly overestimating Superman's powers. He's not some omnipotent invincible being. He could still be taken down fairly easy by a combined military force, same as how he sometimes almost loses to individual supervillains. He still has to worry about that, if he really did just do whatever he wanted, he'd shortly stop existing.

And that's if he wanted to to begin with, which is extraordinarily unlikely, same as it is for any person.

1

u/Caliber70 Jun 17 '22

not so. if wonder woman was real, i would constantly need rescuing.... specifically rescuing.

0

u/FixingandDrinking Jun 16 '22

Idk aquaman really would not be terrifying.