Super Powereds: Year 1

Product Information

Jim Bernheimer's Confessions of a D-List Supervillain follows the adventures of the titular third-stringer, Mechani-Cal, who becomes a hero through sheer necessity. It shows its heroes to have feet made of clay while its villains run the gamut from downright horrible people to "just" irresponsible or misguided. The Iron Man Films use real-life science to justify many of the figure's traditional gadgets. Likewise, the films serve as deconstructions of many The War on Terror tropes as well as the kind of attention such a figure would garner. Iron Man 3 also portrays Tony Stark dealing with PTSD from the literally world-changing events of The Avengers (2012). Technical Virgin: Due to her unique power, she claims to still be a virgin, even though she spends most of Year 1 having crazy sex with Roy. She points out that her own body has never been penetrated, and won't be until marriage. Roy has only ever slept with her clones. This doesn't stop her from actively enjoying sex (if a little vicariously). This also means that there's absolutely no risk of her catching an STD or getting pregnant.

Worm digs deep into the idea of what drives people to be superheroes and supervillains. Central to the story is the internal conflict of the protagonist, Taylor, who desperately wants to do the right thing and become a hero, but who keeps ending up in circumstances that force her to act like a villain, first while trying to infiltrate a team of villains and later by more and more extreme and desperate situations that culminate in her becoming the undisputed queen of her city's superpowered underworld. Anger Born of Worry: Camille's reaction when Vince almost gets himself killed getting her to heal him, just to put on a good showing in a test. Dr. Hubert - A doctor who helped run a facility that housed Vince prior to the procedure that turned Vince from a powered to a super. He met with Mr. Transport and Mr. Numbers to discuss Vince's treatment and status. Love Martyr: Jill seems to fall for Jerkass guys, who end up abusing her (physically and/or emotionally). Occasionally, Will has to step in and help her get out of a bad relationship, although he does this without her knowing.

Others

Florence - As part of the Pips family organization, Florence has the power to make people blend into a crowd, avoiding any unwanted attention. Jerkass: He deliberately acts as one, as part of his Drill Sergeant Nasty routine... but he's not all that easy to get along with outside that routine either, even if he's not quite as much of a jerk as he pretends. Will is a very smart guy who has technical genius to compliment his sister Jill's technopathy. He's friendly but somewhat aloof and logical. He's also a very bad person to get on the bad side of. After becoming a Hero he goes by the name Technomancer.

The Infected tells the story of a fat gamer cursed with the power to replace people who are in deadly danger. Unfortunately for him, he lives in a world where superheroes are outlawed, they're all agents in a federal bureau. And Congress is still debating the merits of concentration camps to "deal with the Infected problem" since it's worked out so well abroad. Senator Malcolm - As the chairman for the Department of Variant Human Affairs, he was at the top of the chain for the government program. Short of presidential involvement, Senator Malcolm’s word was law. He stepped down from his post at the beginning of Year Four in part to protect Lander's HCP from political opposition. Can't Catch Up: Stella is a strong, capable fighter, but in the end, all she's good at is combat, and other students like Roy, Chad, and Violet are just better at it.Shelby Hill Adair - The wife of Charles Adair, twin of Blake Hill, and half sister of Sean Pendelton. She was born a powered with incredibly strong powers of seeing potential futures. After the birth of her daughter, Alice Adair, she began having overwhelming nightmarish visions of a dark future. This led to the incident that culminated in the murder of Intra, Globe going on the run, the development of the procedure to convert powereds into supers, and Shelby eventually was given the treatment and gained control over her powers. Manipulative Bastard: Charles has no problem manipulating people to get what he wants, including his own daughter. He sees nothing wrong with making her think that he's taking time out of his busy schedule to visit her in college, when he actually wants to use her to help sweet-talk another businessman into selling his company to him. He also has no problem lying to that businessman about keeping his employees, when his actual intention is to "gut the shit" out of the company to make a decent profit. He created the procedure to turn a Powered into a Super and tested it on Alice solely to benefit Shelby. Granite - Also a member of the Elemental Fury team, Granite is a shifter who's shifted granite-stone form allows him to operate strongman type hero who weighs several tons. Transmute - A hero with the power to take on the physical characteristics of various substance (stone, metal, concrete, etc.) that she touches. She is the mother of Judy Bush. Smart People Play Chess: Kind of played with. In the first book, as part of a pretty obvious Batman Gambit, Mary sets up a regular chess game with Mr Numbers, despite never having played chess before and not really knowing how to play. She's absolutely terrible at the game and always loses, but she gets slightly better with each session.