If the The Compliant Golden-Hooped Rod[sup]1[/sup] is the divine-artifact level original, then it may be what bumps him from the Olympic-athlete pinnacle of human physical prowess to Superhuman levels of capability. Perhaps in addition to the ranged and melee attacks it makes practical, it also has some defensive benefits, as well as increasing the damage or leverage one can apply...

[Sup]1[/sup]I have the [url=https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_C._Yu]Yu[/url] translation. ^_^

Hmmm. I don't see the use of a staff being able to grow or shrink? It can only get so big before the user cant carry it due to its weight. And why would you want a mini staff?

In terms of powers...I would assume maybe he is an excellent martial artist. Mastery of fighting with a staff? Maybe his staff could potentially grant him the fighting ability or strength of whoever he strikes/kills with it? And if he is separated from his staff, he is returned to his normal strength.

If his weapon's based on Ruyi Jingu Bang, then it makes sense for the character to have a further connection to Sun Wukong. Could the super soldier serum or treatment be based on that?

Wukong is consistently depicted as being able to pull out his hair, and transform individual strands into clones of himself. Maybe China has a few of those hairs, or some other trace of his blood and DNA. Through science or alchemy, they've managed to infuse a fraction of the Monkey King's powers, some echo of his immortal body, into a few chosen super-soldiers. Project 72, perhaps, because Wukong's duplication power was a subset of his 72 transformations.

As for names, what if the character, and any fellow "brothers" or "sisters" he has from the project, just use the other names/titles of Sun Wukong from legend? I mean, Sun Wukong isn't his original name. He was initially just 'Shi Hou', which isn't even a name - literally the stone monkey.

Shi Hou (or 'Shihou') (石猴) - stone monkey, what he was originally known as
Mei Houwang (美猴王) - handsome monkey king - or just 'Houwang', meaning 'Monkey King'.
Bimawen (弼馬溫) - keeper of the horses - he was put in charge of stables in heaven as a punishment
Qitian Dasheng (齊天大聖) - great sage equal of heaven, or just 'Dasheng', meaning 'Great Sage' - he took this name as a 'screw you'.
Xingzhe (or Sun Xingzhe) (行者) - A wandering monk, 'Xingzhe' is a general term and need not refer specifically to Wukong.
Dou Zhangsheng Fo (鬥戰勝佛) - victorious fighting buddha, or, you know, literally his final form, after the end of Journey to the West
Sun Zhanglao (or just 'Zhanglao') (孫長老) - another monk reference, though 'Zhanglao' is fairly generic, same as 'Xingzhe'. That's not a bad thing, it'd be like a hero called 'Magi' or 'Wiseman', that sort of thing.

In addition, Wukong is supposedly just one of four superpowered monkey-like beings. His name in this group would be:

Lingming Shihou - (靈明石猴) - Intelligent Stone Monkey ... wiki has this as "Lin Mingdan Hou", but I'm pretty sure that's wrong, or at least not standard hanyu pinyin.

The other three are:

Liuer Mihou (or Liu Er Mi Hou, however you want to break it up) - (六耳獼猴) - Six Eared Macaque, a villain antagonist in the stories, impersonates Wukong, shown to be one-to-one equal in power to Wukong. Basically the evil twin of Sun Wukong. Was killed by Wukong. It's entirely possible that, if you want some sort of twist, the super-soldier project isn't actually using Wukong's DNA or the real staff, but actually THIS guy's stuff, which, y'know, probably bad news.

Chikao Mahou (赤尻馬猴) - Red Bottomed Horse Monkey - no known information, but I doubt you'd want to have your superhero name reference an ass. On the other hand 'Mahou' could be funny, since it means something different in Japanese.

Tongbi Yuanhou (通臂猿猴) - Long Armed Ape Monkey - again, no data.

You could also make something up, I mean, a lot of these are just (insert descriptive words here + monkey). Get something cool, stick 'monkey' at the end. Like, I mean, you were thinking Zhu Que? Zhuhou or Zhu Hou would be 'Scarlet Monkey'. Or 'Crimson Monkey', however you want to translate it, since Zhu is just a fancy word for red.

Gladatoria wrote:

I especially like Xingzhe and Houwang as code names, and feel like he would use those two as a solo adventurer/hero

Any thoughts on potential story elements? Why he left China (and presumably this program?) and is in Titan City?

Xingzhe is pretty damn good for a martial arts supersoldier spy type, since it really does mean 'wandering monk' very directly and non-metaphorically ('xing' - wandering, travelling, walking, 'zhe' - monk, sage, scholar, apostle, disciple, etc). Captain America's also been 'Nomad', after all. On the other hand, or on the other monkey's paw, Houwang is probably the most direct thing you could pick for the Monkey King motif.

Story ideas... here's some. Because it's Avengers week, let's try something like...

[b]Captain Monkey King:[/b] He didn't leave the Project. He didn't need to. Because they still salute him on the rare occasions he turns up at the Ministry of National Defense in Beijing. He's one of the oldest, most respected, if not well-known heroes of his country. He's worked with Shanghai Cooperation Organization teams out of Russia and central Asia. He's helped train African state-level superteams. When aliens invaded Delhi in 2012, he was there with India's champions to turn the tide. He's worked with United Nations teams out of New York. And now he's in Titan City, superhero capital of the USA, as part of a bilateral exchange agreement worked out between Washington and Beijing. America and China may have their differences on the world stage, but everyone agrees international terrorist organisations like Scorpion and shadowy forces like Vril are a threat faced by all people and all nations, and the world's defenders have a lot to learn from each other.

[b]The Winter Monkey:[/b] Project 72 was decades ago. They don't like to talk about it, at PLA command or the Central Military Commission. It was a different time, at the height of the Cold War. It was desperate times. Infusing men and women with the genetic material of some long-dead mythic being and just praying it would take? Madness, sheer madness. Those were dark days. The modern, enlightened, present-day People's Republic of China would never do anything like that. And as for the rumours that one man survived the experiments, that he's still out there, somewhere... well, you know, the Internet's full of rumours like that. Sure, the PLA have internal security procedures specifically dedicated to dealing with a superhuman combatant with a mystic staff, but... that doesn't mean anything. Just scenario planning. All governments do that.

[b]Monkey Fury, Agent of STAFF:[/b] Project 72? Ancient history. It worked well enough for the time, but was never as successful as Beijing hoped. They wanted gods. They got men. Some enhanced physical attributes, healing, longevity... but no invulnerability, no super-strength, no flight, nothing like the strongest champions of the Russians and Americans. And worse of all, it was based on mystic mumbo-jumbo, superstition and madness, not the kind of method that any sane secular Communist would admit to. The project ran its course, and in due time it was shut down. Of course, there's whispers out there that at least one of the original Project 72 soldiers is still active... no longer working for the Chinese government, but rather some shadowy international body. They say that he's one of the greatest operatives alive. They say he doesn't age. But then, people say a lot of things.

[b]MONKEY SMASH:[/b] They made him. They couldn't cage him. See, making super-soldiers based off the legendary Sun Wukong sounds like a good idea... until you remember that Sun Wukong is one of the greatest rebels in mythology. He broke into heaven. He called himself a sage equal to heaven, and [i]made the gods acknowledge him[/i]. Oh yes, he's famed for travelling with his Buddhist master, but he wasn't a sworn companion. That was parole, after they caught and caged him. The gods restrained Wukong with an artifact crafted for that purpose. Project 72? They didn't have anything like that. They gave their test subjects the powers of Wukong... but also his spirit. And now he's broken his collar. He's slipped his leash. He's in the wind. Have they let him go, shutting the project down as a disgrace, a waste of time and funding? Or do they really, really, want him back?

Gladatoria wrote:

Hmmm, I like the plays on the typical superhero origin ideas here-

I'm having fun with this too. Here's one more - you probably wouldn't use this, but I'm just not-so-sneakily trying to riff on as many Avengers as I can:

[b]Iron Monkey:[/b] Most people assume Project 72 was a [i]government[/i] project. That's not how China works these days. Oh, sure, most of the major companies are state-owned, or have links to state banks. But that's just the money. This is the world of Alibaba and Tencent. Even China's about the digital economy, about riding the cutting edge of business. And superhumans? Super-soldiers? That's just another growth sector. A government lab would never have imagined weaponising mythology, but entrepreneurs are rather more willing to take risks. So now they've got their success story. Or is he? Is he out there working for that agenda? Or have his makers discovered that, while it's one thing to make a super-soldier, it's quite another thing to keep your man from tendering his resignation and going freelance...

Mind you, there's more possibilities. [b]Doctor Monkey[/b] or [b]Monkey Panther[/b] is quite possible - there's some temple up in the mountains of China somewhere that trains warrior monks, and infuses them with the power of the Monkey God... and so on. But those are increasingly less 'government secret agent', and getting away from the whole Black Widow, Red Room, sort of thing. You can have a secret order of martial artists that work for the government, mind... but sticking with 'super soldier serum' of some kind is probably a better bet.

Gladatoria wrote:

I think I’ll have him use the name Xingzhe since it doesn’t tie him down to anything or use him as a prop, kinda like how Black Widow’s name doesn’t let it slip that she’s from the Red Room, etc.

I agree that's the best bet. It doesn't even overtly reference the Monkey God thing per-se, it could be [i]anything[/i]. Easier for you to retcon and play with as well.

Gladatoria wrote:

I am torn between a government hero or a rogue adventurer , and while the super solider idea is nice, I kinda want to craft something that plays up the rebel aspect of Wukong, and maybe involves the staff and the alchemy component you mentioned.

The odd thing is that Sun Wukong himself is both a rebel, [i]and[/i] eventually a sworn member of a heaven-sanctioned brotherhood and later canonised as a Buddha himself for his loyal service. This makes more sense when you look at him as an old folktale character, originally in Taoist stories, then later written into Buddhist stuff. Journey to the West, where he's best known from, is one of those later tales.

There are ways to play with this. He could be some ordinary guy... a regular grunt soldier, a criminal, something, who found the original broken staff of Wukong. He eventually worked for the Chinese government as a super-soldier and superhero, which is where he's received his training and enhancements, but has since parted ways with them... whether on good terms or not, that's up to you.

Or the other way around. The government made him. He was just an ordinary soldier before he was selected, before they gave him his powers. For years he was a loyal agent, a good operative, but... something's changed. There's something in the staff that's whispering to him. Not with words, maybe, but driving him to... do something else. To be more.

There's degrees you can pull here. It might help if you make a firm call on what his powers are, where they come from, and what's the process. What [i]was[/i] Wukong, an actual bona-fide god, or a physical being they could have gotten DNA from, or both? Does he just have genetic material from Wukong, or is there something spiritual and mystical resonating in him? What is his staff, is it the actual weapon? Or is it just based on it? Maybe it's actually a [i]part[/i] of the staff, just one fragment... the original weapon was the size of a tower or building when Wukong encountered it. Maybe the staff is calling out to its other shattered parts...

Bear in mind, even the Sun Wukong stories [i]don't[/i] firmly establish what Wukong is. He's recognised as equal to a god, he's recognised as a Buddha, but those are titles. They're not his species. He's a damn rock that came to life. There's that one story that explains he's one of four superpowered monkey creatures, but they're explicitly said to be unique existences, unlike anything else in creation. Maybe there's something to be said about that. I don't know.

What about Wukong himself? He's a trickster god figure. Maybe subverting this loyal Chinese agent and sending him off to be a superhero is part of a plan. Or maybe Wukong's just sitting on a cloud somewhere laughing his ass off, and this is all just for shits and giggles. There is no plan - but hey, did you look at that guy? He's taken out six Scorpion agents with a ladder, and now he's diving backwards down an elevator shaft! Suck it, Nezha. You think you've got disciples on earth? I've got the BEST. Avatar. Ever.

Gladatoria wrote:

As far as naming conventions, any idea on his real name? I looked up some Chinese names and their naming conventions but I don’t want to Americanize it? If that makes sense?

Fundamentally, there are some decisions you can make about a Chinese name is [i]how Chinese it is[/i]. The biggest party trick ancient China has ever pulled of was convincing most of a freakin' subcontinent that they're actually one ethnic group, rather than many, many, different ones.

Now, if he's a modern, present-day guy who isn't all that old, and he's from mainland China proper, then his name's gonna be of a certain format and in Hanyu Pinyin, the official Chinese way of writing/Romanising names in English. If he's actually from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Macao, he might have a Chinese name which is rendered in English in a way that doesn't follow the rules, e.g... Chan Kong-sang, whom you'd know as Jackie Chan.

But let's assume China, China, because government agent and all that. So Hanyu Pinyin. Next question is, how many characters/words are in his name?

This is a quasi-regional thing, some places would tend towards two-word names. Now, Jackie Chan was born Chan Kong-sang, but he's a smart dude who knows marketing. These days, in Chinese? He goes by Cheng Long, which is proper Chinese Hanyu Pinyin. Cheng being his surname name, Long being his given one.

It's also equally common to have three-word names, e.g. Xi Jinping, the President of China. He's chosen to link up the characters of his name, but it could equally legitimately be written Xi Jin Ping, or Xi Jin-ping, or whatever.

Uncommon but acceptable is four words in a name. This usually happens when you have a rare surname that's actually two characters rather than one, and I can only name one example offhand, the family name Ouyang, e.g. Ouyang Ziyuan, a famous scientist with China's space programme. Name's Ziyuan, of course, or Zi Yuan. Ou Yang Zi Yuan gets you four words total... (EDIT: if you want a longer multi-syllable Chinese surname, the only plausible one is Ouyang or a spelling variant of this. There are technically others but they're really rare - otherwise you're looking at single-syllable surnames like He, Huang, Guo, and so on).

So that's the construct. If you don't want to overthink it, it's possible to just pick a common Chinese family name, then pick a one or two word common Chinese given name. There [i]are[/i] ones that turn up fairly frequently.

The thing is that while there are some common Chinese given names, a lot of people's Chinese names are also unique constructs. It's not like Japanese where there's only a small range of socially acceptable given names, and the Japanese government will [i]literally stop you[/i] from calling your kid some made up bullshit name from Street Fighter or Naruto on their birth certificate. Chinese folks are perfectly free to smash two words together that they've picked COMPLETELY randomly because they like the sound, or they want each word to have a certain meaning.

For that sort of naming, you can select something you want the name to be - e.g., hell, I dunno, 'Strong', or 'Power', or 'Dragon', or whatever, pick a couple things like that, and then get a name out of it.

It is even [b]completely[/b] viable to start with how you want it to [i]sound like[/i] when spoken, and then figure out what it means, afterwards. Trust me, unless you break the word count rule (two or three words, four words max), it's VERY hard to mess up on making a Chinese real-person name for a character.

Where non-Chinese speakers usually have trouble is making up the codenames or team names for Chinese heroes, because translating something from English into Chinese is often gonna end up far too long or awkward-sounding. DC's Great Ten is an interesting example, because clearly the names were invented in English first, then translated later. Some of the names work fine in Chinese, others really, really, really do not.

Feng Jin or Jin Feng is straight up fine as a simple two-word name if you don't wish to think any further. Either would be plausible as a family name and given name, so whichever order you want works. As given names they're slightly on the feminine side of unisex, but I'd still call them acceptably unisex, like, I dunno, 'Robin' or 'Leslie' or something, not an issue. Feng as a surname probably means galloping horse or phoenix. Jin as a surname is almost certainly gonna mean 'gold'. As given names they could be that, or could be... whatever.

If there's an Americanised name... most people tend to go by sound rather than meaning when picking an English name. So 'Jim Feng', 'Jimmy Feng', for example, or I dunno... Fred Jin, Frank Jin, something like that.

If he's definitely freelance, no longer associated with the Chinese government, I guess a starting point to figuring out his motivations are... what kind of terms do you want him to be on, with them, now? If Beijing really hates his guts and he really hates them, then some bad shit went down. There's drama there. Maybe he was betrayed. Maybe he was ordered to do something really morally distasteful, and he said no. Maybe it's old resentment that built up over time until one day he snapped.

On the OTHER hand, if they're [i]afraid[/i] of him, kinda, or if he still has favours he can call in from his old spy days, then it suggests more a... retired agent sort of thing, or maybe his agency/organisation collapsed, or he was loyal to a [i]previous[/i] era of government rather than the current one. Maybe he's old enough, say, he'd be an agent of... I don't know, the Deng Xiaoping government rather than any modern one, so he knows where skeletons are in the closet and is too powerful for the current military/government/etc to treat lightly. This background could also work for an agent that just decided he was sick of their shit and up and quit, it just means that he's too strong for them to actually press the issue.

The issue with using Black Widow as a model is that canon storytelling has been all over the place, in that respect. Generally we assume that the reason Black Widow is running around is because she was a [i]Soviet[/i] agent, and the present Russian government [i]isn't[/i] Soviet ... but then modern MCU isn't clear on when Hawkeye flipped her, and that could have been considerably more recent, since Hawkeye can't be [i]that[/i] old.

We also assume, though, that Black Widow in most stories isn't actively being hunted down or pursued by the Russian government or Soviet remnants... well, unless it suddenly IS important to the story that she be hunted down, and then she gets hunted down. But if you come up with a model of how the character relates to his home country... can he go home again, is he a fugitive, then it might suggest some reasons.

Personally I do see the Black Widow character as being more like the second kind, this really old and skilled agent, possibly un-aging due to the super-serum, who's seen decades of shit. And so, okay, now that agent's decided they'll just walk away, be a superhero in America, join a superteam, whatever. Great. What can we do about that? Exactly nothing, because do YOU want to tell Black Widow she can't be a superhero? Thought not.

That's how I see Black Widow. But if you see her differently, that might affect your character.

I think 'youngish in body and spirit' would be an appropriate place to start, in-game. Actual chronological age might be a story element which could vary in effect and importance, going forward.

"Eh, I feel so old today!"

Be Well!
Fireheart

Considering that in the comics the only one of the Defenders to not serve as an official Avenger is Daredevil, I think that is the wrong question.

I would posit that your character is somewhere around the MCU versions of Captain America, Winter Soldier, and The Black Panther. Enhanced human, but with an item that makes them more than just that (Shield/Amr/Suit). Each is fully able to run on a team, but are also quite capable solo.

Lets answer the last question first: Why not publicly secret? What I mean is, officially no one knows who he is, but when there is trouble in his neighborhood, people know to come to him and then his super-persona appears. Let's not forget that the Chinese Government isn't going to miss noticing him either, nor will the US government. Contrary to popular belief, the police aren't stupid and probably figure it out too when everyone in the community runs to him and the superhero shows up. After a couple of times, it probably becomes pretty apparent to everyone and eventually it just hits a point where people KNOW, but don't acknowledge.

As for a job, something that allows him some freedom to move and be places he needs makes the most sense. Maybe a street vendor of Chinese Delicacies. His costume and staff could be hidden in a concealed compartment. He may even have an assistant that keeps it running when he needs to run off to save the day.

Or it could be that he is a busker, the street perfomers that you can see in larger cities that entertain people for money. I've known a few, and good ones can earn enough to pay their bills, eat well, and generally make ends meet, though they don't have a great deal in savings so emergencies can make things rough, that shouldn't be as big a problem for him with all the community goodwill he is building up.

I was trying to avoid the journalist angle as cliche, but ymmv.

Questions for leading to NPCs:
-Does he have a love interest?
-Have any orphans in the community tried to latch onto him? (ala Short Round from Indiana Jones)
-Does he have any professional contacts of any importance?
-Is there a "wise mentor" that takes him under his wing to guide him in his ascent to herodom? (his own Mr. Miyagi)
-Were there others who worked with him and his 'mother' to affect their escape from China and the Project? (They may show up looking for help)
-Does he work on keeping his martial skills up in a studio with other students and an instructor?

These are among the questions you need to ask yourself in order to find his personal NPCs of import.

As an FYI, typically a Chinese Dojo is called a Kwoon.

I'd say that, overall, you have all the elements together, now you just need to put them in a coherent story.

Without seeing a rough draft, it's a bit hard to tell. Perhaps the best thing to do now is start writing what you want, and then ask for help in editing it into something coherent.

For example, I wrote a story about Jennie Frost that takes place twenty+ years in the future with her telling some people her origin story. I have since gone back and am now rewriting it as it happens. Both ways work, but the first was easier to write, the second has far more detail.

If you want help with the editing, message me or Fireheart, or even post your rough to these forums. There are plenty of people who enjoy helping others tighten up their stories.

No problem, looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

Fools (young/old/girls of all ages) with sharpened pieces of metal are also pretty fun. The young fool and the girls tend to think they are tougher than they are and get in over their heads, while the old fools typically lament that they are "too old for this s**t".

Regarding the journalist angle, the question I'd ask is... [i]what[/i] kind of journalist. Journalism is a very time-intensive career that involves odd hours. But odd hours could be good for the concept.

A broadcast journalist on radio or TV is going to need to do morning drivetime radio, or whatever morning TV exists... or they'll be working late into the night, because that's on air as well. Generally assume a super early morning shift and a super late one. For print, the real killer's late into the night, since papers usually wrap up and go for print in late night/very early morning. That's just time in the newsroom or studio - a journalist may also be attending events, out on assignments, etc.

Now, yeah, part-time... but in my personal experience, part-timers are still pulling a full shift, it's just that they don't do six days a week like regular staff, but fewer days.

One consideration is that for smaller media outlets, smaller stations, publications, I figure they wouldn't really care too much about your schooling. Someone could probably get hired based on good writing and knowledge of current affairs, no journalism degree, or indeed any kind of degree, required. I mean, yeah, for major media organisations that may be a factor, but if you're writing for this tiny local radio station... they're not likely to care. That can make it easier on your character, if his background doesn't allow for a university degree.

There'd also be freelance writers and editors for things like web content, magazines. You can make a career out of that - if you're not a specialist, it probably involves needing to research things really quickly and becoming an expert on a topic [i]really fast[/i]. If you [i]are[/i] a specialist, I dunno, could be a tech writer, a food writer, so on. If you're a freelance writer, there's also more oddball things, like writing up unique passages for teaching material.

On the same token, there are also literal freelance [i]editors[/i], not doing the writing, but cleanup and copyreading. It's probably part of the same spectrum, but there you go. Such folks would edit anything from books to corporate reports, to some charity's campaign material, whatever.

Could be a columnist or editorial writer. You know, op-ed pieces, that sort of thing. It's unusual for someone in their 20s to have that kind of clout and audience, but it's [i]possible[/i] if he's damn good or works as a co-author for more famous commentators. Generally you don't earn a lot per piece for that sort of thing... that's kind of the issue, I know a few couple who have had solo bylines in their 20s, but they're not [i]living[/i] off that. We're talking a couple to few hundred bucks per op-ed article, sure, that's not bad money... but unless you're really that damn good, it's not like they're printing one of yours every week, unless you're THAT in demand. But it's a superhero fictional character anyway, he can damn well have that kind of demand as a writer if you want him to be.

It could even tie back into the concept, maybe he's a popular writer specifically [i]because[/i] he writes from the perspective of this Asian-American guy who's lived and worked in China, with roots in China, he does op-eds from that point of view. He'd be followed for his views on, say, City of Titan world equivalents of things like the current trade disputes, or that whole business with the prom dress.

Or, y'know, he's in the media line, but he's not a journalist or writer. Maybe he's a camera guy, maybe he's a videographer, a video editor, a sound engineer, something. Maybe he does something in production for a news programme. Maybe he's a researcher [i]for[/i] the writing team of a talk show. Maybe he's a layout artist for print or web material. There's a few ways you can take it.