Origins are what makes our heroes super. They’re the area of impossibility or improbability that is at the core of a character’s powers.
An Origin is your answer to the question “Where does your ability come from?”
How do you determine if your character’s abilities are based on a single Origin, or multiple Origins?
An easy test is to ask “Where did your powers come from?” If you need to use the word “and”, it’s more than one Origin.
“A radioactive spider bit me.” One sentence, no "and." That’s one Origin, even if lots of powers come out of it.
“I was born a mutant with extreme regeneration abilities and someone bolted metal claws onto my skeleton.” That’s two things, therefore two Origins.
Magneto lifts a car. Where's that from? He was born a mutant. He flies. Where's that from? He was born a mutant. He stops a bullet in mid-air. Same answer.
The answer never changes, so that's one Origin: his mutation. Magnetism is what his abilities are made of — the Origin is what happened to him.
Spider-Man has Danger Sense, Enhanced Senses, Wall-Crawling, and Enhanced Reflexes. He also has web-shooters.
Spider-Man’s physical abilities come from his Spider bite Origin. His web-shooters are gadgets, and they come from his inventions.
Spider-Man’s backstory is a bit more complicated. In theory, he could have developed the web-shooters without ever having been bitten by a spider, but the essence of Spider-Man comes from his backstory.
Now let’s take a more complex example: Black Widow.
Narratively, Black Widow has many physical abilities. She has Enhanced Reflexes, Mastery, Enhanced Senses, and others. Canonically it’s understood that despite being on the Avengers team, Black Widow isn’t superpowered in the same way as Hulk, or members of the Fantastic Four are. Black Widow also has gadgets that she uses, such as devices that can disable a car, or tase someone. She can also call for backup and support when she needs transport or additional surveillance information.
Does Black Widow have one, two, or three Origins? Let’s explore it.
Black Widow’s physical abilities are all the result of her Red Room training, which was a combination of intense physical and psychological conditioning as well as the possible use of drugs. This is definitely a single Origin “Red Room Training”.
When Black Widow calls for backup or support, that’s her calling a Contact — the entity she’s working for, or at least one of them. That entity is always able to deny her request, or turn on her. So we know for certain that’s a Contact and not an Origin.
What about her gadgets? That’s a bit trickier. The rule of thumb is to ask if they’re something she always has, or she has to ask for. If they’re something she always has, they’re an Ability, and if they’re something she needs to ask for, it’s a Contact. If she lost all her gadgets, could she get more without needing to ask for them? The comics make this ambiguous and so in a game context you could make an argument either way. It’ll ultimately be up to the GM, but I’d argue that these are Abilities as part of her Red Room Origin. My reasoning is that Black Widow has a standard set of equipment that she always has on her. It’s her standard-issue equipment that almost never changes. She doesn’t need to ask someone to be equipped with her gadgets before an adventure, so they’re a part of her.
In Superhero Express, Powers are Abilities. Wind Generation or Mind Reading are Abilities, Abilities connect to an Origin through your hero’s narrative
Mechanically, Abilities have a rank and a cost. Origins don’t have a rank and your first Origin is free.
Yes, absolutely. You could say “I was trained at...” and that becomes an Origin.