Actually that is a pretty fair question. The more powers you’ve got, the more earning potential you’ve got in the private sector. But in the military, I’m pretty sure you’re worth your pay grade. Of course, Sydney isn’t an E-0, she’s an ES-0, and makes more than a four star general. That might sound ridiculous on the face of it, but considering what she could make with her cutting beam alone, doing demolition, fracking, anything involving mining, or any number of things. The team needs be competitive with organizations like the NFL.

A few of you came to a similar conclusion as Sydney on this page. I’m not saying you’re right, but, congratulations I guess?

Death traps are pretty absurd. To the point that it’s weird they’re such a common trope in superhero comics. I mean, in the history of comics, has a single death trap ever worked? The 900th time Batman escapes from one, doesn’t the Joker… ok, maybe that’s a bad example cause he’s properly looney tunes, and it can be argued that he has no interest in killing Bats, cause then who would he play with? But then, the Penguin or Two Face. After they fail to dispose of Bats the umpteenth time, wouldn’t they think “Hey, maybe it’s time for a change in tactics.” And it’s not like death traps are weekend projects either. Sure, some of them are just a motion sensor and a claymore, but usually they’re considerable installations involving pits in the floor and giant sheets of plexiglass over top and/or spikes with moving parts, motors and gears. You don’t just make that stuff on a whim. Are Doctor Octopuss’s henchmen primarily comprised of contractors and day laborers? Or is he actually hiring people to make that stuff for him?

When they get together at Villain Con or their Legions of Evil, do they compare notes on death traps. “Ooh, this one almost got him.” “Next time I’ll add glue to the switch.” “I took his utility belt, but didn’t search his boot heel.” Meanwhile, the noobie henchman in the back is wondering why they didn’t just shoot him, and beyond that, if you’ve got him unconscious long enough to put him in the trap, just… take his mask off. Just a peek! Maybe these guys are knocking over armored cars to support their death trap making addictions.

Maxima was in the Air Force and fought in Gulf War 2, but if she had been somehow captured, she wouldn’t have been stuck in a death trap. She’d have either been put in prison or killed outright. Assuming they had a prison that could hold her, which they didn’t. No one does. You can’t pour a concrete wall thick enough to hold her. Ok, so a death trap might actually be the only way to keep her under control – but it wouldn’t be a trap that eventually killed her. Put her on a pressure plate, tell her if she steps off it, a bomb will go off in a hospital somewhere. But a room with spiked walls closing in on her? Yeah, good luck with that.

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