I have always hated superheroes. Sounds funny coming from such a self professed comic book nerd like me, but it's true. I have always hated their smugness, their poses, and their self righteous speeches. Real people who act like that are called assholes, or Republicans, whatever. What makes a super-hero? The answers easy, it's the villains! Would Batman honestly be as cool if the Joker wasn't such a bad-ass? Would Superman be as "super" fighting some other bald businessman (Donald Trump)? When you think of Spider-Man you think of Doc Oct, Green Goblin, and Venom! Captain America=Red Skull, the X-Men=Magneto, Aquaman=??? See my point! Few heroes are well known without having a viable arch-enemy. Wonder Woman comes to mind, but she's got boobs and the whole lesbian bondage thing going on, and that's really all young boys care about.
So when I created my own comic book heroes I thought about their villains first, and I didn't have any, I had been sketching and writing out plot lines for these characters since I was 12 years old, and I didn't have any villains that stood out. The first hero I ever created was a Batman knock-off called Wolf-Man. I created him after watching Tim Burton's Batman in 1989. Even at that age I knew that if Bruce Wayne were real, things would not go down like they did for him in the movies or comics. This was back in a time before the internet (at least for a poor black kid in Suitland, Maryland), but there was Inside Edition, and Entertainment Tonight that were TMZ before there was a TMZ. In my mind these would be the ultimate undoing of Batman-not the Joker! So when I first dreamed up The Wolfman, his first major villain was the media. He created his arch nemesis in the first story arc I wrote, but afterwards it was the press that exposed him, which unleashed the law enforcement, and worst of all the IRS. This stripped him down and took away his money and his toys. Which broke him and made him more real to me, I was able to then take away his Batman-esque qualities and reintroduce the main villain.
The world I wanted my heroes to inhabit was supposed to be different from Marvel or DC. You go dressing up in a cape and tights, flying around the sky, or putting on a mask to fight crime in my world, you will not be treated as a hero. You do anything that does not support the status quo, the government, or Major Corporations; you will be hunted down and broken. In my fictional world villains will not be silly costumed madmen, but the people in charge. Villains will not be allowed to run countries-they always have!