So I'm sure it hasn't escaped anyone's notice that the top careers in a few career tracks have a distinctly different flavor than the 9 positions that lead up to them... Law Enforcement and Crime being most notable among them (though I would also argue that the Natural Scientist and Oceanography tracks count as well). These top jobs all seem much better suited for a comic-book style universe, with costumed superheroes doing battle against the nefarious forces of evil.

I'm curious how you approach these positions if you do allow your Sims to reach the top of these career tracks... do you channel lots of other comic book superhero/villain tropes into your stories with them? Do they maintain secret identities? Join leagues of other superheroes/villains? Take in street urchins and raise them to be their costumed sidekicks and/or minions? Etc., etc...

I've honestly never thought about this, since I've had commitment issues when it came to neighbourhoods since forever and none of my sims ever reached the top of their career (except Daniel Pleasant once, and also a self sim who wanted to dance for some reason).
I guess if I wanted more realism/sense, I'd use a mod to put them back into level 9 after they get promoted so that their jobs weren't superhero and flying naked lady. Though I guess it's not too appealing in some cases bc it pays less.
I do wish someone could mod these out for something a bit more suited for the careers, but you can only dream, can't you

I usally try to have both a Captain Hero and a Criminal Mastermind, and always only one of each. But they can pass on their mantle to the next one and then they follow a new career.

Oh and in my last neighborhood I had a story-line where the first Captain Hero dismantled the local Mafia clana nd sent them all to jail because they were responsible for the death of his sister.

There's this mod. It only does Law Enforcement and Science though, not Crime.

I think I've only had one Captain Hero, Erik Swain in Drama Acres. For purposes of story, the powers came with the position - in the suit, probably, and there may possibly have been a serum involved which generated unique powers for individuals. It was never gone into very deeply, but his kids' friends are convinced he has Drug Test Vision, a conviction he does nothing to dispute. Mostly he was involved in active public safety work, not only saving people directly on the Night the Satellites Fell but organizing relief efforts and using his powers to make sure everyone was taken care of. Drama Acres didn't have a Criminal Mastermind, so I never had to work that bit out.

I find that most people, playing Rich Mann, run him as a head of organized crime and live around the spikey suit. Aegagropilon had a blast running him as a cartoon supervillain, though, training his granddaughter to follow in his footsteps, with a Giant Computer of Evil, a knife-throwing game based on the dartboard, etc.

I think I've only ever had people reach the top of these careers in Strangetown, where flying superheroes and Hands of Poseidon just sort of fit (even if Strangetown doesn't have anything remotely resembling an ocean!).

Most of my sims who reach the top of a career track get a new job before ever going to work in that role, because they've fulfilled a LTW and are now moving onto the next one. So in those cases I usually pretend that the top career is something more sensible like police chief. The few sims that do stay at the top because they've rolled a non-career related replacement LTW get to be special and have a special story.

Wasn't there some cheesy 1980s TV show about some guy with a horrible haircut who was gifted a superhero suit but could barely function in it? Honestly the only reason I know about it is because the theme song was on Casey Kasem's American Top 40 a few times and I looked it up on Wikipedia.

Oh god, now I have the theme song stuck in my head.

William Katt starred in The Greatest American Hero (along with Robert Culp) on U.S. TV. I believe he found the suit but lost the instruction manual so had a tough time of it. If I also recall, he was a high school teacher - Mr Hinckley - but partway through the series in 1981 John Hinckley shot President Reagan and for the rest of the season, the writers had the students start calling their teacher "Mr. H." to avoid association with the assassination attempt. Oh the things you remember.....

Gosh, that was a good show. Robert Culp was wonderful as the FBI agent trying to steer him.

And in all fairness to Katt's haircut - it was the early 80s. There was an upper limit to how good a guy's hair could be. The only reason Culp's hair was innocuous was that the character was aggressively non-stylish.

I currently have a realistic hood, so I use Job Stopinator at level 9 so they don't get the top careers.

BUT, I use the Criminal Mastermind outfit as the employee uniform for my Club Dante DJ. On his nights off, he DJs at P.U.R.E. in the Captain Hero outfit. Kind of like a Daft Punk, Marshmello, Deadmau5 disguise thing.

I would have no difficulty integrating a Captain Hero or Criminal Mastermind in SimHampton, if any Sim in Law Enforcement or Crime concentrated on their career long enough to obtain such success. (I've had Sims reach the top in Business, Dance and Athletics, though). In fairness, serious criminals tend to get arrested and lose their jobs while serving prison time, but that does nothing to explain why there's never been a Captain Hero. This is because superpowers and evil groups are already embedded into the storyline. However, I do have a rule that only one Sim can be at the top of a career at a time (not counting retirees).

"Hand of Poseidon" would be more difficult - I'd probably need to change the deity...