Bronze Generation

Most suprologists, historians, and sociologists agree on a single defining moment as the transition point from the Silver Generation and their ethos to something new, something more complicated and ambiguous: the Bronze Generation.
Quintessence, a younger hero acting within the style of the Silver Generation, was under threat by his greatest foe, a telepath known as Psilence. Psilence targeted Quintessence in his real life as Niall Collins, publicly abducting and threatening Niall’s best friend, a young man named Sam Reed. Quintessence attacked Psilence directly and angrily, and Psilence responded with cold glee at having truly hurt her old foe. And when Psilence knocked Sam from the top of the Colossus Building in downtown Halcyon, Quintessence responded with fear and desperation, rocketing down the side of the building after his friend in a last ditch effort to save Sam.
The medical examiners couldn’t say with confidence what caused Sam’s death. It’s possible he was dead before Psilence cast him off the building or perhaps he struck the building on his way down, but it’s equally possible (and a much darker interpretation of events) that he died from the force of Quintessence striking him in mid-air in an attempt to arrest his descent. Regardless, the fact remained: Sam Reed died for being friends with Niall Collins. Quintessence failed to save him. Psilence had changed the game.
The ripples touched the new generation of heroes growing up in Halcyon City. Most of them had started out clearly under the Silver Generation, acting in their style and idiom. But the death of Sam Reed started a wave of introspection among the younger generation, forcing them to take a harder look at the failures of their parents and mentors. They saw that the Silver Generation’s methods never seemed to solve the problems in their entirety. The Silver Generation often seemed more focused on grand gestures than real change. What’s more, the Silver Generation still clung to power, held their positions of dominance over the city and the world, and this new generation had little to no room to call their own.
Young heroes changed their identities and their ideas. They shifted away from their ties to the Silver Generation, doing everything in their power to differentiate themselves and find whatever places were left to them. New heroes rose up, touting new ideas and methods. Some, such as the gun wielding and murderous vigilante Expatriette, pursued unremitting violence against criminals. Some, such as the military hero Bunker, became political figures, trying to change the system from within. Some, like super-scientist Dr. Ilijah Intrepid, left Halcyon City and even this world entirely to explore brand new realms of possibility. Some, like Agent Paige Huntly, aka K.N.Y.F.E, became government operatives, working from the shadows to do what was necessary for good or ill.
The Bronze Generation defined itself in the cracks left for them by the Silver Generation. And they were the first generation to truly doubt the entire idea of superheroism as it had existed so far. They opened doors to exploring different ways of being heroes, even if many of those doors led to dark places. They took on social issues their parents and mentors had left alone. And they carved out their own place as a darker, more exploratory, more cynical generation than the ones that had come before.
The Bronze Generation is very much present and active today. Though members of the Silver Generation still sit in positions of power over most of the city and throughout the superheroic society, the Bronze Generation have found their own places and their own sources of power. They may not be as openly in charge as the Silver Generation, but the members of the Bronze Generation are still positioned as people of import, and they’re ready to seize the reins as more of the Silver Generation moves into obsolescence and retirement.

Expatriette's a hyperaggressive gunslinger who feels violence is a perfectly good answer to most questions.