ShikakuZetsumei t1_j0nocf5 wrote on December 18, 2022 at 1:23 AM

Reply to comment by RazeSpear in [WP] Your super power is preventing collateral damage. While the public thinks you're useless, all the other heroes really like you because they can go bonkers all out while you're around. by Time_Significance

Basically. It's a pretty shitty lose-lose situation. Either villains know and are constantly gunning for him, or they accept the occasional losses from the common folk messing around with him and pulling stunts like what the police did in this instance. I imagine that drains on him mentally like nothing else and he's probably decently depressed and/or suicidal :/

codeki t1_j0nubq7 wrote on December 18, 2022 at 2:11 AM

Hell, depending on how his powers work, the villains might appreciate him too. They don't have to pull their punches either. Instead of a hero going straight through a building, they hit a glass window and instead of the kinetic energy being absorbed as they go through wall after wall, it gets entirely consumed by the window, because the window is immune to becoming collateral damage.

Or a fire based villain willing to turn his temperature up to the point of melting steel because he knows that city won't burst into flames as long as Null is around.

fredthefishlord t1_j0o8clz wrote on December 18, 2022 at 4:09 AM

That's a rather optimistic perspective on villains. Some would care, but many would not hold back just to prevent collateral damage.

ShikakuZetsumei t1_j0o8xf1 wrote on December 18, 2022 at 4:14 AM

Yes.

techno156 t1_j0od4dr wrote on December 18, 2022 at 4:52 AM

It could also be a case of his powers not being flashy, so if he's not there, people complain about why he doesn't do anything, and if he is there, people complain about why he doesn't do anything.

For the public, even if they did know, they might think the heroes can just control collateral damage themselves, and Null is just riding on their coattails by being there for the media presence.