Superheroes and the Cold War

[frigidmagi]

Been chewing over this for a while so I thought I toss it on the floor. Let's see if we can get some discussion. In most comic book lines and companies, superpowered individuals exist. They range from people who are simply physically enhanced humans, like Captain America for example. To people who naturally have extranormal powers, such as the X Men. People who have developed extranormal powers by accident such as the Flash. Supernaturally powered heroes like Captain Marvel and of course Aliens like Superman.

However in the comics for very good reasons (changing history risks losing readership) superheroes don't have a big impact on the Cold War. Nor does the American or Soviet government use them to any great degree in operations. Sometimes such as in DC the superheroes refused to interfere in wars (Both the JLA and the JSA are on record as refusing to intervene in Vietnam wars) or for some reason the government just doesn't ask them. In other situations the government activity ignores them (The Soviet Union ignores Colossus despite him being very openly Russian). This strikes me as being... well unrealistic.

But then we have questions. Some of which are obvious, some aren't.

Some of these questions are:

How do the various governments treat superpowered individuals?

Not just the US and the USSR, although they are the two most important governments to consider but what about the NATO's governments (I honestly assume that Warsaw Pact governments will copy Soviet policy whether they like it or not), the PRC? North Korea and North Vietnam? Isreal and the Arabs, the various South American and African governments? All these areas were scenes of Cold War conflict and competition.

When are Superpowereds used? For what purpose?

Let me give a military example. The USSR used the Red Army less then the US used the US armed forces. The Red Army saw most of it's action enforcing Soviet rule over the Communist world (Hungary, Czechoslovakia and others) or propping up friendly regimes(most famously Afghanistan). The USSR prefered to covertly support and supply communist insurgent and terrorists groups across the world for various reasons (The USN being one of them), these groups have Soviet advisor's but are run by the natives.

The US on the other hand was more willing to use it's own forces as expeditionary corps outside of the NATO sphere. Korea and Vietnam being the most famous examples.

So who is the most likely to openly deploy Superpowereds to another nation?

How important do these superpowereds become? Let me put a numerical limit and value on it. Let's say no one will ever be as powerful as Superman or Magneto. In fact let me put the Fantastic Four as our max power level (minus Mr. Fantastic, I have the other 3 in mind mainly). Those four could easily wipe a city, but I would say can't fight off entire first world militaries. Let's also say that only 2% of the world's population has superpowers, and 50% are very low powered. In fact only .5% of the Superpowered population is even close to the max level. Why am I limiting them? Because even an idiot should be able to see how drastically someone at Supes. Magnetos, Xavier, or the Martian Manhunters level changes the game.

I'll set this up even further. The majority of the 1st generation (1950s no powers before then) are accidents or experiments gone wrong (right?). After that however, most are born with their powers, inherenting them from a parent or grandparent or even relieving them form the awaking of "latent" genes (yes Ben I know that's why the "" are there). Supernatural origins are a tidy minority and there are no aliens (we'll bring them in later).

Do they change history?

What are some of the bigger effects on pop culture?

Will the superpowereds have to go through some sort of civil rights struggle in the west?

Will they flat out be government property in the communist world?

Does the USSR still fall?