In the year 2010 on Earth, there have been some sociological studies questioning the advancement of people with superpowers, called Neohumans, at such a rapid pace. There are theories that the first atomic bomb test caused a fundamental change in the planetary ecosystem that enabled Neohuman abilities to manifest more easily (indeed, the number of Neohuman abilities/incidents reported rose sharply, starting in the 1960s). Other theorists claim that the true 'neoshift' came about earlier, with the Tugunska incident in Russia in 1908.
There are claims to support this theory; the first known 'masked man' appearance was in New York City in 1929, when someone calling themselves 'The Blue Crusader' apprehended Sonny Manziano after the mafia hit man attempted to pull a job on a rising young assistant in the New York DA's office.
While the majority of Neohuman activity seems to have spread to the major population centers on the planet (including overseas), most major cities seemed to have their own local heroes before the advent of World War 2. One such city was Cove City, which lies on the western edge of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland.
Cove City was established in 1794, after the Revolution, as one of a number of coastal burgs funneling trade between the new states along the Bay. Eventually, the other burgs either folded, or merged with other cities or towns in the area, until Cove City was the only one left that was there from the beginning. Most of the major textile industries out of Virginia and Delaware ship out through Cove City, from either their long string of piers and docks for cargo ships, or the airport established there in the early 1950s. As a result, there's a lot of traffic, air, sea, and human, moving in and out of Cove City to this day. Cove City is between Baltimore and Philadelphia, PA, about 50 miles northeast of Baltimore proper.
Being a hub of imports and exports for a good chunk of the Eastern Seaboard, the Casa Nostra has always had a presence in Cove City in the form of the Falicsi crime family, which has survived attempts at takeovers, raids, and, starting in the late twenties with the makes vigilante known as The Fog, assorted neohuman heroes. Still, the Falicsi family is firmly well established in Cove City (with some local celebrity acclaim along with it) that rooting them out completely would be nearly impossible. Even the small components of the Russian Mafia that started to put roots down in Cove City starting in the early 1990s have yet to gain any reasonable foothold.
As mentioned before, the first known neohuman operative in Cove City was The Fog, whose identity is still unknown to this day. Nor is his fate known, having vanished along with the Xeon Society House Disappearance in 1931. A private school, the Steranko Institute, was built on the property where the Xeon Society House once stood in the mid 1990s, having been abandoned until that time.
Cove City doesn't have the neohuman population that the major cities, such as New York and Los Angeles, have. The last known account of neohuman operatives, both criminals and vigilantes, that have claimed to be based in Cove City was taken in September 2009, with a total neohuman count of 76.
Right now, the Neohuman adventurers in the world do not have much of a community presence. There are a few well-known groups, such as the Guardian Legion based out of DC, or the Mighty Adams, an extended family of superheroes based out of Cove City itself, having relocated there in 1978 after the Adams Aerie was destroyed by the cosmic entity known as The Unborn. The youngest generation of the Adams, numbering at least twelve, vary in ages from 25 through 9, though a few of them go to a private school in Cove City itself.
Neohumans are allowed to operate with a bit of freedom on the side of the law, though are still subject to court appearances if asked. Though, due to Missouri vs. Ascendance in 1968, the precedent was set that a Neohuman vigilante could testify in court without revealing their identity, so long as it could be proven the vigilante in question was the genuine article.
Still, Neohumans are somewhat on a parallel to human society; part of it and outside of it at the same time. While a Neohuman can possibly go to the movies in public without being recognized, it is much harder for a normal human to relate to defending against the Amish Militant Corps from Earth-3112. There's no laws involved, but more of a social/experience divide.