American Comics: Starting as Soldier Boy, I Copy My Way to Godhood

[DC] [Marvel] [Decisive and Ruthless] [Subverts the Usual Tropes] [Power Fantasy] [Antihero] Zoe awakens after seventy years frozen in ice, only to discover that he has become Soldier Boy, the sole survivor of the super-soldier program. He is also bound to a strange Defeat-and-Copy System: whenever the System determines that he has defeated a superpowered individual, he can randomly copy one of their core abilities. Even more absurdly, he opens his eyes to find himself lying in the home of Catwoman, a thief in Gotham City. The System announces that the target has surrendered, confirms the target’s defeat, and awards him “Catlike Agility.” This shows him a shortcut: rather than go toe-to-toe with monsters that can destroy the world, he can start with targets who are elusive and keep to themselves. The rules only say “defeat”; they don’t specify how. An unexpected encounter still counts as a fight. He has inherited Soldier Boy’s superhuman physique and combat instincts. In a world teeming with superheroes and supervillains, he decides to be a pragmatic but not indiscriminate hunter, collecting abilities through one surprise victory after another as he climbs to the top. But now that the Superhuman Administration, the Justice League, and underground forces have all taken notice of this sudden new copycat, how long can he keep his low-profile plans going? (This story is entirely fictional. All events are works of literary imagination. Please do not imitate any dangerous behavior.)