Nerdy science stuff

[Captain Untouchable]

I'm thinking of having my character - who is a scientist - come up with some gadgets, gizmos and such for himself, and was wondering what sort of technology level we're at. Are we in a fairly modern/near-future setting like the live-action X-Men movies (where wheelchairs have wheels, etc), or are we dealing with the more futuristic setting of the comics (where wheelchairs fly, the Sentinels are out and about, etc)?

If there are advanced technologies, how accessible are they? Do things like stun guns, adamantium, the technology in Iron Man's suit, and stuff like that exist, and if so would they be available to a scientist at a university, or are they more niche technologies that would only be available to secret (and heavily-funded) groups like Cullen's, Vanguard, etc?

[Dragon]

It's the modern/near-future setting. There's some advanced tech in the Sub-Basement, most notably in the Danger Room, and Vanguard's got some advanced toys like cybernetics, nanotech, gene therapy, and mutation suppression collars. None of this is available or known to the general public, though Vanguard has been filtering some anti-mutant countermeasures, like the suppression collars, to specialized facilities like Jericho.

But this is, fundamentally, a comic book universe, and people at university are smart/get funding, too. I've been assuming that the explosion of the X-gene has fueled a number of breakthroughs, both in genetic medicine and in other fields where mutant powers provide a working model (say, force fields, which makes the holographics of the Danger Room possible). If you've got an idea and you can make it work, go for it. But, no, no Sentinels or hovercraft as of yet.

(Vanguard's working on it, though...)

[Gary Cannon]

Since my character is supposed to be from an alternate future, and has some futuristic gadgets, it would be fun for me at least to have someone else coming up with things to really throw me for a loop. On that note, I am trying VERY hard to not make the gadgets Cannon has TOO powerful or unbeatable, and I'm finding that is actually harder than I thought it would be at first.