LogFAQs > #972789224

#81 - Tomorrow Woman
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/3/5/AAQcMAAADiG3.png
A real hero.

The first expansionary member of the JLA, Tomorrow Woman was secretly designed by Professor Ivo and T.O. Morrow in partnership with one another to destroy her fellow teammates. Instead, she developed a conscience and self-detonated to protect them from harm. Now rebuilt, Tomorrow Woman is trying to understand her humanity and what she is meant to achieve outside of her fathers ambitions. Found in Haven by Checkmate, Tomorrow Woman was brought back to Zonn Zorr for repair. She has developed a kinship with Iron Munro, who she considers a mentor, and also with Doctor Light, whose field team protecting Japan takes up much of her time.

There have been several influences that form the basis for Tomorrow Woman in this campaign for me. Maria from the classic silent film Metropolis, Ava from Ex Machina, and of course the works of Isaac Asimov all play an underlying role in informing the rebirth and reeducation of Tomorrow Woman. Now far-removed from her dual paternal influences, what the party is witnessing in Tomorrow Woman - or Clara, as Black Alice has come to learn is her given name - is a true development of autonomy, an evolutionary process of independent thought. As many will be quick to point out, Tomorrow Woman's dialogue is presented even in a different format than any other character's: sentences are often short, and every word suffers from randomized capitalization (though sometimes, this is subtly NOT randomized). For Clara, the Tomorrow Woman, the opportunity to serve the resistance has become a renaissance of sorts, filled with almost daily epiphanies. Tomorrow Woman is remarkably naive in many ways, the totality of her experiences in this new life, since activation in Haven, comprising the sum of her experiences.

To explore the idea of autonomy and self-determination within an artificial lifeform has always fascinated me, really brought out, in my mind, a host of moral and philosophical quandaries. Even in Tomorrow Woman's own understanding of the world - simplistic though it may be - she has begun to tackle much larger issues and these questions, such as the nature of where life begins and simulation ends, loom largely in the darker recesses of her mind. She busies herself daily with sitting at the feet of a blind superhero from the 1940s, hoping to soak up his every piece of advice, and when she's not there, she's in Japan, often brutally murdering those enemies who support the growing empire of Darkseid. The sanctity of life is in many ways lost on Tomorrow Woman, and in other ways, something so precious that she would do anything to protect it. This contradictory set of laws governing her own morality likely was installed within Tomorrow Woman by her sadistic mad scientist fathers - who she is often quick to fall back on for guidance not otherwise provided to her.

And then there's the fact that, despite being one of the shortest-tenured Justice League members in history, Tomorrow Woman is nevertheless a Justice Leaguer. Though her powers have been altered dramatically - and with many pieces of her body missing, that doesn't seem to be changing quickly - Tomorrow Woman is a force to be reckoned with. Thanks to Rosetta and the Nashville team, Clara has regained the talent of flight once again, something her slow, deliberate smile has underlined means so much to her. It's uplifting to witness this childlike wonderment around every turn in Tomorrow Woman's journey into enlightenment, into true autonomous self-determination. What a treat.

The first honorable mention was undrafted, but at least one player has revealed to me that they were on a shortlist for drafting.