"Captain Hammer, there's trouble downtown!"

If you wanted a fast way to get into the action, look no further - Champions Online has your back. 

Currently in public beta testing, the Alert system is a queue that lets you get into superheroics faster than running around the city. The Alerts are broken into groups - there's Grab, which is kidnappings, robberies, and random demands, and usually just fall to escaping petty thieves and criminals trying to make a get away. Smash is a much more brawler style encounter, with a villain and his thugs just asking to get the pulp kicked out of them. And the last is Burst, which is like Smash but with some kind of environmental alteration - maybe it's radioactive waste, maybe it's a magic meteor from space, giving you either buffs or status ailments. 

There's more on the site that's worth reading, including your arch nemesis making an appearance!