The Initiative ranks heroes, vigilantes, and villains on a letter scale.

Do not use ranks as an actual indicator of power level. Rankings are based off of the Initiative's data, so it can be inaccurate, especially for vigilantes and villains.

Heroes are ranked on a combination of power level, good PR, and reliability. Rank influences pay grade and privileges. Heroes in a team are ranked both individually and as a team. Some heroes with specialties (such as stealth or diplomacy) might also receive a separate ranking for that particular skill.

Rank D heroes tend to be new or only sporadically active.

Rank C is the most common rank, given for general dependability and competence. Going higher than Rank C can be difficult.

Rank B heroes are those that are loyal to the Initiative, popular among the people, and capable of handling large-scale threats on their own. You would entrust a Rank B hero with averting national disasters.

Rank A promotions are rare, given only to the best leaders and fighters. Rank A heroes can be entrusted with averting an planet-threatening disaster.

Rank S is reserved only for the Initiative's most invaluable assets. Rank S heroes are deployed to cancel the apocalypse.

Vigilantes and villains are ranked according to how difficult they'd be to arrest and capture. The Initiative's data is often incomplete, so ranks are only their best guess. They're more likely to err in favor of caution, giving higher ranks to unknowns, but sometimes they grossly underrank the threats of tomorrow.

In general, a hero should be able to comfortably handle a vigilante or villain ranked below them. A hero is evenly matched against enemies of their own rank. To defeat enemies ranked high than themselves, they'd need a team of heroes their own rank.

Rank E enemies can (and should) be left to local law enforcement. Rank D enemies cannot be dealt with by local law enforcement. Rank C enemies can easily destroy a city. Rank B targets can wipe out entire nations. Rank A targets can potentially destroy all of Earth. Rank S enemies are a danger to multiple galaxies. Rank SS enemies threaten reality itself. Ordinary protocol is to give anyone ranked SS a very wide berth.

Civilians are ranked E by default.