History Characters / AstroCity

!!!All characters can be found in the following sub-pages:

All characters can be found in the following sub-pages:

* Characters/AstroCityHeroes
* Characters/AstroCityVillains
* Characters/AstroCityCiviliansAndOthers

[[foldercontrol]]

!!Heroes
These are the selfless folks who voluntarily serve to protect the innocent and the ordinary from the myriad abnormalities that occur in Astro City and beyond. Whether it's a planet-shattering overlord, a cross-dimensional breach, or a gang of thematically-dressed bank robbers -- if there's trouble, the heroes are there.

[[folder:Samaritan]]
[[quoteright:234:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/samaritan.jpg]]
->"There's no time. There's never any time."

[-'''Civilian alias''': Asa Martin-]

The very first superhero of the very first ''Astro City'' story, Samaritan lives up to his name by endlessly devoting himself to helping others.

* AffectionateNickname: Close friends such as [[spoiler:Confessor II and Winged Victory]] call him 'Sam'.
* AppropriatedAppellation: He got his name after he first appeared on the scene and identified himself solely as "a good Samaritan." The name stuck.
* ArchEnemy: Infidel.
* BarrierWarrior: Samaritan can manipulate an "Empyrean field", which is strong enough to repulse a tidal wave.
* BigGood: The world's greatest superhero and their leader. Whenever he needs a break, like going on a date or getting a medical checkup, it takes every available superhero, even the retired ones, even some reformed villains who are currently civilians, to cover for him.
* BlessedWithSuck: He has a computer that alerts him to trouble, the ability to arrive at the scene in seconds, and the powers to deal with almost anything. This adds up to a miserable life of perpetually saving the day, with no time for himself.
* TheCape: He's noble and humble and always willing to lend a helping hand.
* ChronicHeroSyndrome: He's an Expy of Superman and it shows, he's one of the first heroes with his level of superpowers, and he works himself to the bone to use them to their utmost, because he can't live with himself if someone dies or gets hurt when he could prevent it. If he's lucky, he can maybe find a single minute to have fun and relax.
** Later on when his colleagues force him to take a break, they have to call upon every reserve/retired member and a few ex-villains to take over his duties, mostly so that he'll stop worrying about work for a minute and relax enough to enjoy himself.
* CommonalityConnection: He goes out of his way, twice, to offer help to characters who have superpowers and don't want to fight crime.
* DeusExitMachina: He is keenly aware that being unavailable for hours is this, and makes a lot of arrangements to try to cover. [[spoiler:Turns out well; many criminals are flushed out by their attempts to take advantage of it.]]
* DreamsOfFlying: Though he can fly, he occasionally has flight dreams because it is the one thing he loves doing the most. Due to ChronicHeroSyndrome, he's so busy, he can't find time to fly just for enjoyment.
* {{Expy}}: Shares a lot of commonalities with ComicBook/{{Superman}}, and quite a few differences too. Considering his power set, he may actually be more powerful than the Big Blue
* FishOutOfTemporalWater: Samaritan is a time-traveler who averted the ''Challenger'' disaster, but rewrote his history so that he has no place in the future.
* FlyingBrick: He's got a variety of powers, but most notably super strength and durability as well as flight.
* AFriendInNeed: In general. But in particular to people with superpowers but no desire to fight or commit crime.
* GodCouple: Gets into a long-term relationship with Winged Victory over the course of the series.
* GoKartingWithBowser: This is Samaritan's relationship with Infidel, since the both of them have literally destroyed and remade history/reality multiple times trying to defeat each other to no effect, and they have since realized the futility of their feud and come to a truce. Instead, they set up a yearly dinner just to compare notes and talk. (Talk... in hopes of secretly influencing the other to their own morality, something both characters feel uncertain about who's truly winning.)
* HeroicSelfDeprecation: Starting with the name, acquired when he tried to slough off credit for saving the shuttle.
* HopeBringer: When did the Dark Age end? When he arrived.
* HumbleHero: Samaritan attends tribute dinners and accepts awards only because he doesn't want to hurt the feelings of the people who give them to him.
* ImNotAHeroIm: How he got his name. Samaritan's first public appearance came after he prevented the ''Challenger'' Space Shuttle from exploding. After landing the shuttle safely, he was mobbed by reporters, and he declared "I'm not a hero, I'm just a good samaritan." Which makes sense, since he wasn't intended to be a superhero but gained his powers by pure chance on his trip back in time. Originally, his mission was to avert the ''Challenger'' disaster by working within the system.
* IntrepidReporter: Samaritan's civilian identity is a fact checker at ''Current'', a weekly magazine. Unlike Clark Kent, he doesn't really do his job that much (though he knows how to) but leaves some of his future-tech to do it for him while he's busy with superheroing.
* LockedIntoStrangeness: Samaritan's hair turned blue after the TimeTravel incident that gives him his powers. He can change it to white at will, but not to its original black.
* MarriedToTheJob: Samaritan is so devoted to helping others that he barely has time to sleep or maintain a civilian identity. His idea of a good day is one where he manages to get ''nearly'' a minute of flight time.
* MissionControl: A handy AI which he brought from the future, the zyxometer constantly scans television, emergency and police radio wavelengths, and other electronic media in order to prioritize emergencies for him to attend to.
* PhantomZone: Samaritan has access to such a dimension, using it as a storage closet to hold all the awards and plaques he receives. (They extend to the horizon.)
* RetGone: Samaritan eliminated the BadFuture he came from, along with all of his loved ones and his original timeline. There's now an automated taco stand where he was born.
* RippleEffectProofMemory: Or rather, Ripple-Proof ''Body''. When Infidel tried changing history to rid himself of his nemesis, he found that Samaritan, being a temporal paradox himself, was completely unaffected by the changes in the timestream. Even destroying reality itself didn't faze Samaritan.
* SamaritanSyndrome: TropeNamer. He spends as much time as he possibly can flying around the world saving people. Not because he's being forced to, but because [[ChronicHeroSyndrome he can't stand the idea of so much as taking a break when he has the power to help]].
* SdrawkcabName: Variant: it's an anagram.
* SecretIdentityIdentity: Samaritan uses "Asa Martin" as an alias for his civilian life, but that is not his "real" identity -- that [[RetGone got erased]] when he altered history.
* SlaveToPR: Unwillingly. He used to avoid making public appearances and accepting awards, because those are seconds that could be used ''rescuing'' people. But he started getting a bad reputation for 'snubbing' people, so now he makes the time. Not just for awards either, he'll make brief stops to humanize himself for the people he helps, so they won't see him as some otherwordly power. In one story, he saves a CatUpATree, and pauses briefly to let both the kitten he just saved and the kid who owned it see who he was, just to make sure they weren't scared.
* SupermanSubstitute: He's this world's equivalent to Franchise/{{Superman}}: his origin is different but he's got a similar personality and role, and partial overlap of his power set (although he is the rare example who is quite a bit more powerful than the Big Blue Boy Scout).
* WithGreatPowerComesGreatResponsibility: Played straight and deconstructed to the most benevolent if harmful extreme. Samaritan is one of the first heroes with his level of superpowers and feels responsible to do the most good he can with them. To that end, he's constantly working himself to the bone every day because he can't live with himself if someone dies or gets hurt when he could prevent it. Despite being a beloved paragon of good, he's personally miserable, lonely, world weary, has a very abysmal personal life, constantly guilt ridden for the lives he couldn't save, and often wishes he could have a day free of danger.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Winged Victory]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/winged_victory.jpg]]
->"What message should I send? That men and women can be equals? Or that women must stand alone to be strong?"

[-'''Real name''': Lauren Freed-]

A prominent female superhero who often draws attention and controversy for her advocacy of women's rights. She is appointed -- and empowered -- by the [[MindHive Council of Nike,]] a spectral group of women who watch over and judge her actions.
----
* ArchEnemy: Quite a few, but the ones who have gotten the most screentime are Ladykiller/Goldenboy and Karnazon.
* ClearMyName: The "Victory" story has Winged Victory being falsely accused of masterminding villainous activities to promote a pro-feminism agenda. The perpetrator is Karnazon, a HeManWomanHater who's obsessed with making Victory "submit" to him.
* ConditionalPowers: The Council of Nike can weaken her powers or even remove them entirely if her actions displease them.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: In her past life, Lauren Freed was often taunted and mocked by others, from insensitive classmates to selfish boyfriends, and was constantly running away as a result. After her cheating boyfriend tossed her out of their apartment, she traveled to Europe, where she was drawn to the Greek island of Samotrace and appointed by the Council of Nike. She spends almost all of her time as the super-powered Winged Victory, and only grudgingly admits it's because she's afraid of going back to what she was before.
* {{Expy}}: To Franchise/WonderWoman.
* FlyingBrick: She's as strong and tough as Samaritan and can fly at immense speeds.
* GodCouple: Gets into a long-term relationship with Samaritan over the course of the series.
* IJustWantToBeSpecial: She IS special now, but was once a timid, scrawny young woman who had been treated like dirt pretty much her entire life one way or another. She rarely switches back to her original identity now because she's zafraid of losing her powers. It's not until she briefly faces the very real chance of losing the Council's favor after she's targeted by a massive bad PR campaign (orchestrated by one of her arch-enemies) that she comes to terms with this.
* LadyOfWar: Winged Victory flies into battle in full armor wielding a sword.
* MarriedToTheJob: Winged Victory prefers to stay in her transformed superpowered form all the time, possibly because it's a refuge from her original frail, cowardly past life. She can't even recall the last time she visited her mother, noting only that it's been years.
* MindHive: The Council of Nike, a worldwide psychic network of thousands of women. Their unified goal is to help women everywhere, with Winged Victory being a vessel for their collective power. She becomes considerably weakened when they question her devotion to the cause.
* StrawmanPolitical: Some citizens view Winged Victory in a distinctively negative light because of her strong advocacy for women's rights and independence.
* SurveillanceAsThePlotDemands: Her medallion lets her see images of women in danger.
* TransformationTrinket: In her civilian identity, Winged Victory wears a necklace with an amulet shaped like her logo. She touches it to transform into her LadyOfWar form.
* WartsAndAll: Winged Victory champions women's rights, but recognizes that she's not the be all end all solution to society's gender divide, and is ultimately just a normal woman trying to do the best she can and lead by example.
* WingedHumanoid: As per her name, Winged Victory has a large pair of feathered wings in her superpowered form.
* WonderWomanWannabe: She is her world's equivalent to Franchise/WonderWoman.
[[/folder]]


[[folder:The Black Rapier]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/black_rapier.jpg]]

A longtime leader of Honor Guard, this black-clad fencer is considered one of the world's foremost detectives.
----
* BadassNormal: The only unusual thing about him is the youth serum.
* DatingCatwoman: With the crime lord known as Bamboo in the 70s.
* DisposableSuperheroMaker: The rejuvenation serum's only ever worked on him, and no one's sure why. One scientist mentions that it altered him to make him compatible with it, but for some reason that's never happened again.
* EnhancedArchaicWeapon: Wields an electric rapier.
* {{Expy}}: Of Franchise/{{Batman}}, with a little bit of Franchise/{{Zorro}} mixed in.
* FountainOfYouth: The Black Rapier has his life extended due to a rejuvenation serum.
* GadgeteerGenius: Repaired Beautie once when she was badly damaged.
* MythologyGag: He is a combination of Batman and Zorro, and Batman was ''inspired'' by Zorro.
* OldSuperhero: The Black Rapier retires in a 2014 story, lampshading his 45-year-long crimefighting career.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Silver Agent]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/silveragent.jpg]]

->"Your army's not going anywhere except the stockade, chum!"

[-'''Real name''': Alan Jay Craig-]

A mainstay of Astro City in TheSixties and TheSeventies, the Silver Agent was a beloved hero, with his sterling career marred by a shameful controversy. There is a prominent statue of him in Memorial Park, with the legend "To Our Eternal Shame."
----
* AllLovingHero: Even after he had been found [[spoiler:guilty of murder and executed,]] the Silver Agent ''still'' uses time travel to repeatedly return to Astro City and save it through several major crises, and his selfless sacrifice shames the citizenry for decades.
* TheCasanova: Downplayed, but he admits that he has left and hurt a lot of women.
* CrypticBackgroundReference: For quite some time, the Silver Agent's fall was shrouded in vague terms, leaving readers to speculate as to what actually happened. "The Dark Age" eventually revealed that [[spoiler:he was framed for murder by the Mad Maharajah, and the government executed him to show they still had control over superheroes. Using time travel, he saved the entire city mere minutes after his death, and then returned again to save the world several times afterward, illustrating that he was a hero to the last.]]
* {{Expy}}: In his earliest mentions, came across as a ComicBook/CaptainAmerica Expy (especially Silver Age Captain America), but has evolved beyond that.
* TheHero: More than anyone else in the ''ComicBook/AstroCity'' mythos, the Silver Agent is '''the''' paragon of the heroic ideal that all other heroes strive to achieve. The Agent's heroic influence is so powerful that it inspires others ''millennia'' after his passing.
* HeroicSacrifice: Despite possessing immense power, the Silver Agent goes to [[spoiler:his execution by the city]] without any resistance to avoid possibly altering the future and undoing the valiant efforts of all of the other heroes who will come after him.
* HumbleHero: When one hero praises the Silver Agent by saying they could not have won without him, [[ThinkNothingOfIt the Agent assures him they would have found a way.]]
* IdealHero: Not for nothing is the Silver Agent called "the best and the brightest."
* InspirationalMartyr: The Silver Centurions are the greatest heroes of the forty-third century, with beings from over a hundred worlds all inspired by the Agent.
* InterSpeciesRomance: During his stay in the 43rd century, Silver Agent hooked up with the alien woman Merilandra of the Silver Centurions, a group of human and alien warriors who work to preserve galactic peace after being inspired by the stories of the Silver Agent.
* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: After a medical exam reveals that he is sterile, Craig gives up his dreams of marrying his longtime sweetheart, allowing her to eventually marry his brother and have the family she's always wanted.
* MeaningfulName: The Silver Agent was active during UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks, which ended when [[spoiler:he was executed for a crime that he didn't commit.]]
* MiscarriageOfJustice: [[spoiler:He was executed for murdering a former-villain-cum-diplomat while being mind controlled. Turns out said villain/diplomat just faked his death.]]
* SilentScapegoat: The Silver Agent makes no effort to defend himself [[spoiler:in his murder trial,]] and makes no appeal or request for clemency.
* StableTimeLoop: Implied to be the Silver Agent's ultimate fate in his character special. [[spoiler:In death, he releases the energy he picked up during his time traveling back from the future, creating, or manifesting, or becoming, the artifact that empowered him in the first place, leading him to become a hero, in turn leading him to his death.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Max O'Millions]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/94132_112497_max_omillions.jpg]]

A hero operating in the late 60s/early 70s, and the founder of the Honor Guard. Despite his importance to Astro City, not much is known about him.

* FounderOfTheKingdom: Or rather, of the Superteam. Max was the first person to organize and fund the Honor Guard, back when there were no teams in the world.
* PunnyName: His name is definitely a play on the name 'Maximillian', but also to indicate his wealth.
* SizeShifter: Grew to giant size to fight crime.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The First Family]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/first_family.jpg]]

->'''Augustus:''' "We're very proud of you, Astra. All of us."\\
'''Julius:''' "Yeah, what he said. But all salt-of-the-earth-y and nicer."

From adventurers to heroes, the First Family is Astro City's premiere superhero clan, joined together by blood and duty to venture into the unknown and stop trouble whenever it appears. The team started with adventuring brothers Julius and Augustus Furst, but has grown to include Augustus' stepchildren Nick and Natalie, Natalie's husband Rex, their daughter Astra, and Nick's children Sasha and Karl Furst.
----
* AdultFear: When Astra goes missing, the entire Family tears apart a number of villainous legions across time and space to find her.
* AlliterativeName: The '''F'''urst '''F'''amily.
* [[ArchnemesisDad Archnemesis Mom]]: Rex's mother, Madame Majestrix, is the queen of Monstro City, and has threatened the world many times over, to the point she proved to be worthy of a CrisisCrossover after her son was adopted by the Fursts.
* BadassAdorable: Rex looks like a giant orange dinosaur monster with rocky scales (and that's because that's what he is), but he's a level-headed and reasonable person by all accounts.
** Astra as well, when she was a kid.
* BadassBookworm: Augustus Furst is the brains of the team, but he's not afraid of doing thinking in the middle of battle.
* BadassFamily: The Furst Family is Astro City's second greatest superhero team after Honor Guard, but unlike their colleagues, the Fursts have a smaller roster and their power sets are not planet-breakingly powerful like Samaritan or Winged Victory. They still, however, are able to casually plough through supervillain armies, and their reputation spans across multiple dimensions.
** Of course, the people they fight with the most are each other, but that doesn't mean that their bond isn't stronger than titanium.
* BadassNormal: Julius gets by with nothing more than brawn and determination. Augustus is also a normal human, but gets by with his brains.
* BeastAndBeauty[=/=]InterspeciesRomance: Rex and Natalie.
* TheBigGuy: Natalie, the giantess of the team. Rex is smaller, but also the punchy guy.
* BoisterousBruiser: Julius.
* BrainsAndBrawn: The elder brother Augustus as the brains, and younger brother Julius as the brawn when they were first starting out.
* ButForMeItWasTuesday: One story arc is told from the perspective of an alien whose entire civilization is built around the propaganda of the First Family being an evil existential threat, and every member of their race is raised from birth to hate and eventually fight the Fursts... who then show up and blast through the aliens' armies like a blowtorch through wet tissue paper, just like they have been doing with every other hostile civilization they've encountered.
* ChildhoodFriendRomance: Rex was about 14 years old when he first met the Fursts before being adopted by them, and Natalie was presumably in her teens as well at that time. They both ended up marrying each other later in life.
* CigarChomper: Julius Furst.
* CulturedBadass: While Rex enjoys a good beer with Augustus, it's a fine wine that really soothes his soul.
* CuteMonsterGirl: After hitting puberty, Sasha Furst started developing lupine traits like her grandfather, Prince Kaspian of the Beastmen.
* EnergyBeings: Nick, Natalie, and Astra are these, though they manifest their powers in different ways. Natalie internalizes hers to become a SizeShifter, Nick channels his, and Astra can turn herself into an all-energy form.
* {{Expy}}: To the ComicBook/FantasticFour. Even the initials are the same. Kurt has noted that the team are inspired by the Jack Kirby and Gardner Fox type science heroes of the 50s and 60s in general, showing how such adventurers would naturally develop into an FF style super-team... then beyond, as they're allowed to age and change. (He tried to find another name just so the "FF" connection wouldn't be ''quite'' so explicit, but couldn't figure out a better one than "First Family.")
** Rex is one for Fantastic Four's Ben Grimm/Thing. (Funnily, Ben Grimm's rough-and-tumble working-class personality is closer to Julius; Rex, being a former prince, is a lot more formal and eloquent.)
** Natalie is one for Elasti-Girl[=/=]Elasti-Woman, from another family-like superhero group, the ComicBook/DoomPatrol.
** Astra looks like [[CompositeCharacter a mix of]] Fantastic Four's Valeria Richards and Doom Patrol's Negative Man.
* {{Fangirl}}: Julie was a big admirer of Glamorax back in the 70's, even asking them for an autograph when they asked the First Family for help.
* GoodSmokingEvilSmoking:
** Played straight with Julius Furst, a CigarChomper of the old school.
** Subverted with Augustus Furst; Word of God is that the pipe he keeps in his mouth is actually a portable energy source, which is simply pipe-shaped for portability and habit. Considering that it glows in some panels, this may most certainly be true.
* HalfHumanHybrid: Most of the family -- Nick and Natalie, Astra, and Nick's twins Karl and Sasha definitely qualify.
* HandBlast: Nick can fire energy from his hands.
* HappilyMarried: Natalie to Rex, and Nick to Darcy. Also, although Augustus was separated from his third wife Nadia, he remained on good terms with her, and did not hesitate to adopt her children Nick and Natalie.
* IJustWantToBeNormal: Astra has a variation -- she enjoys being a world-saving powerful EnergyBeing, but she wants to be treated as if she were normal, hanging out with her peers from time to time.
* ItTastesLikeFeet: Astra says her energy breakfast tastes "manganese-flavor" after her mother tells her it is supposed to be grape-flavored.
* MonsterModesty: Rex typically wears nothing but a pair of shorts, though he did get dressed up in ceremonial armor for his wedding.
* NaturalizedName: Nick and Natalie Furst were born Nikolai and Natalia, but adopted more American names when Julius adopted them.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Julius and Augustus absorbed some vitalons in the crossworlds that have allowed them to be active decades longer than they normally would, but age ''is'' starting to catch up to them.
* OldSuperhero: Augustus and Julius have been operating since the 1950s and they're still leading the family on all sorts of wacky adventures.
* OmnidisciplinaryScientist: Augustus.
* PapaWolf: All the male Fursts, but especially Astra's father Rex, who once rampaged through ''three'' super-villain armies just to find out which one of them had kidnapped her. [[spoiler:None of them did.]]
-->'''Rex:''' "Where... IS... '''MY DAUGHTER?!'''"
* ParentalNeglect: Natalie tended to leave most of Astra's childhood education to a computer program, and was often too busy super-heroing to notice her daughter's growing discontent and social isolation. JustifiedTrope in that Natalie realizes after Astra's running away that she herself had nothing resembling a normal childhood and very much needed to give her daughter a chance to taste one, so made arrangements for her to continue attending a real school and associate with non-super friends.
* PoisonousFriend: In her college years, Astra dated a normal young man. The relationship began as a chance for her to feel 'normal' for once... [[spoiler: but he was so eager for celebrity status that he started taking money to provide tabloids with gossip. When he took to wearing hidden recording devices in hopes of getting racy footage for them, she caught him by detecting the batteries.]]
* RubberMan: Karl Furst, son of Nick and Darcy.
* ScienceHero: Augustus. While the rest of the team charges into battle with their super-powers, Gus will hang back and analyze the enemy's weakness to six decimal places, then whip up some AppliedPhlebotinum to finish it off.
* ShapeShifter: Sasha Furst, Nick and Darcy's daughter, can change into various types of animals.
* ShoutOut: Julius Furst is named for and modeled after legendary Creator/DCComics creator Julius Schwartz.
* SizeShifter: Natalie can channel the strange energies inside her body and grow to gigantic size.
* SocialServicesDoesNotExist: In the first series, when Astra's a preteen, no-one sees anything odd about bringing a little girl to fight supervillains. Possibly justified in that she can fly and is made of pure energy, but still...
* SuperFamilyTeam: The eldest Fursts are brothers, but Natalie and Nick were adopted, Rex married Natalie, and the third generation members are Natalie and Nick's children. Despite a few breaks in actual blood relations, they're all still a one asskicking family.
* SuperheroTrophyShelf: The Family has a lot of odds and ends lying around, but how many are actual trophies is unclear.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Jack-In-The-Box]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jack_in_the_box.jpg]]

->"If you and your little friends can't play nice, your toys are going to be taken away from you!"

[-'''Real name''': Jack Johnson (Jack-In-The-Box I), Zachary Johnson (Jack-In-The-Box II), Roscoe James (Jack-In-The-Box III)-]

The Crimefighting Clown of Astro City, Jack-In-The-Box combines bad jokes and dazzling stunts with entangling confetti streamers, electric clown noses, and his rooftop-vaulting Footapults.
----
* AdultFear: Zachary meets three alternate versions of his unborn son; two of them became ruthless vigilantes after his death, the third was willing to throw away a successful scientific career just to see his father for a few minutes, and this causes him to realize that he might leave his son to grow up without a father just as he had.
** When his son Ike reached puberty, he tried to become a sidekick to his "uncle" Roscoe, calling himself Jackie Justice, which caused Zachary no small amount of panic. Luckily, Ike's superhero career ended when he busted his kneecap on one of his first outings in the costume, and he wisely decided to become a doctor instead.
* AntiHeroSubstitute: Zachary's two bad-future possible sons are perfect examples of this trope -- one is a Sabertooth expy, the other is a cyborg killer with a spring-loaded head, and both are absolutely convinced that they are entitled to kill anyone they want because they are the good guys. Zachary moves heaven and earth to make sure they never come into existence.
* BadassNormal: Jack-In-The-Box has no powers other than his arsenal of gadgets and a quick wit.
* CareerEndingInjury: Ike Johnson suffered a bad fall during one of his first outings as Jackie Justice, and ruined one of his knees, effectively preventing him from ever succeeding his father. However, he's not very broken up about it, as he had only begun dabbling in superheroics because he thought he was obligated to pick up the mantle one day. It's all but stated that his parents very much did not want him to follow his father either, and Ike eventually chooses his own path in the medical field.
* CoolUncle: Ike Johnson looks up to Roscoe James, and even tried to become his sidekick.
* CorporateSponsoredSuperhero: Technically, Roscoe qualifies as this -- Zachary paid him to be Jack-In-The-Box so Roscoe could make his way through college without requiring a handout.
* DisappearedDad: Jack Johnson, the first Jack-In-The-Box, as his family didn't know he was a superhero who died in battle. No one made the connection until Zachary stumbled across his fathers gear, and even then, no one knew what actually happened to him until Mr. Drama's daughter got involved years later. Zachary went out of his way to NOT end up as this, retiring shortly after Ike's birth.
* {{Expy}}: While he borrows from a lot of street-level superheroes, Jack-in-the-Box's wisecracking ways and entangling confetti are shout-outs to ComicBook/SpiderMan.[[note]]Kurt has pointed out that while Spidey is the most obvious example, they drew inspiration on Steve Ditko's infamously oddball urban vigilantes across the board, including the Creeper, Killjoy, and others.[[/note]]
* ExtendableArms: Jack-In-The-Box's costume includes Footapults (spring-like boots) and Handsprings (extendable gloves). They effectively enable him make extraordinary leaps and extend his arms for grabbing and punching opponents.
* GadgeteerGenius: Jack Johnson invented an incredible amount of strange devices, then found out his bosses were misusing them, so he began using his inventions to fight crime. Zachary Johnson is the CEO and lead inventor at a toy company, and whose weapons are enhanced versions of his various products. He's also smart enough to cobble together a quick-freeze spray from leftover car parts in a junkyard.
* HappilyMarried: Zachary Johnson is married to Tamra Dixon, a local television news anchor.
* TheHeroDies: Happens to the first Jack-In-The-Box (Jack Johnson), leaving his son and wife behind.
* HonoraryUncle: Roscoe has this relationship with Ike Johnson, Zachary's son.
* LegacyCharacter: The Jack-In-The-Box of TheNineties is Zachary Johnson, the son of the original (Jack Johnson). The current one is his protege, Roscoe James, with Zach serving as MissionControl.
** Jerome or "Ike", the son of Zachary, is implied to have considered himself obligated to become this as Jackie Justice, and eventually take on the mantle of Jack In the Box, but it's hinted he wasn't really committed to the idea outside a vague idea that he ''should'' want to, despite a lot of hints that his parents didn't want him to follow in his fathers footsteps. Wrecking his knee on his first outing made the issue moot.
* LeParkour: This is Jack-In-The-Box's preferred fighting style, aided by his Footapults.
* LiteralSurveillanceBug: Zachary uses a "doodle bug" to serve as MissionControl to Roscoe.
* MissionControl: Zachary takes this role after he passes the mantle to Roscoe James.
* MonsterClown: Not in the minds of the populace at large, but whenever he appears in a story told from the perspective of one of the city's thugs, [[MookHorrorShow he tends to give off this vibe]], between the stretching limbs, the spiderweb-like confetti, shock-noses, and the constant laughter.
* NonIronicClown: While very few villains enter into the spirit of the thing, Jack-in-the-Box does go for laughs.
* ThisMeansWar: Played for drama in "Serpent's Teeth", when an alternate-timeline version of Jack-in-the-Box's son uses Jack's "Of course you realize, this means war" as motivation to become a KnightTemplar on criminals... without realizing that his dad was ''quoting WesternAnimation/BugsBunny.''
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Quarrel II]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/quarrel.jpg]]
->"Take that, you jumped-up dust-busters!"

[-'''Real name''': Jessica "Jess" Darlene Taggart-]

The second character with the name and the costume, the heroic Quarrel is the daughter of the original, out to erase her father's villainous past by surpassing him in deed and valor.
----
* AmicableExes: With MPH.
* BadassNormal: Deconstructed. She constantly realizes that she's a BadassNormal in a world of super-powered beings, armored villains, aliens, and gods, and compensates for it with '''lots''' of training — to the point where she cannot sustain any sort of normal relationship because of the commitments required. She's only with Crackerjack because she doesn't care that he ReallyGetsAround, and he doesn't care if she forgets his birthday.
-->"But I don't have alien DNA or a super bio-serum or the power of the gods or Empyrean Fire or... or whatever! I've just got me. I've got to put all my effort into it. All my concentration, all my focus."
* BirdsOfAFeather: Being the only [[BadassNormal normals]] on the team, she and Crackerjack kept coming back to each other because they know each other's fears and drives.
* BrokenPedestal: Despite their hardships, she was close to her father, and was heartbroken when he was arrested and exposed as a supervillain.
* BroughtToYouByTheLetterS: Or "Q" in this case.
* ClothesMakeTheSuperman: Received a suit of PoweredArmor that let her do incredible things, but proved [[spoiler:instrumental to her retirement as she felt that it was basically doing her job for her.]]
* CommonalityConnection: When MPH bitterly assumes that her rejection of him means AllGirlsWantBadGuys, she retorts that she's herself and not any other woman, and since he's a NiceGuy, he should find a NiceGirl; she's with Crackerjack because they are both jerks (and understand how seriously you have to train to be a superhero without powers).
* CorporateSponsoredSuperhero: For a while, Quarrel received financial support from Honor Guard so she could continue to support her family.
* FarmBoy: Jess and her brothers grew up in the hills near a small town.
* HonoraryAunt: To M.P.H.'s children. Also to Hummingbird.
* LegacyCharacter: The heroic Quarrel is the successor to her father, a small-time crook with the same name and outfit.
* PromotedToParent: Thanks to her dad's constant arrests and her mom's drunkenness, she had to raise her three brothers. They all turned out very well.
* RagsToRiches: She grew up virtually destitute in the Appalachian mountains, since her father spent almost everything he actually managed to steal on upgrading his gear, and her mother was an alcoholic. Once she struck out on her own as Quarrel II, she did pretty good through bounty hunting, and eventually working with Honor Guard, but she ''really'' hit this trope when she won the lottery, making her independently wealthy. Crackerjack, true to form, immediately remarked he had no problem being a "kept man".
* RedeemingReplacement: Her father, the previous Quarrel, was a villain. Steeljack tells her that he would be [[EvilParentsWantGoodKids proud to see her as a hero]], and a later story bears this out.
* SlapSlapKiss: Has this relationship with Crackerjack, and it's exactly what she wants. She'd rather have someone push her to her limits than someone who constantly wants to take care of her (like M.P.H.).
* {{Tomboy}}: Jessica grew up with a burly dad and three brothers, and quickly learned to shoot and wrassle with the best of them.
* TrickArrow: Part of Quarrel's arsenal.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Crackerjack]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/crackerjack.jpg]]
->"Another daring triumph for Crackerjack -- the acme of adventurers! And not bad work, if I do say so myself..."

The Crimefighting Clod of Astro City, Crackerjack combines bad jokes and acrobatic skill with an ego the size of the Astrobank Tower and twice the flamboyance.
----
* AttentionWhore: He is easily Astro City's pre-eminent example of this, glorifing his most inane accomplisments to everyone, even himself. An alien spying on him is flummoxed when he sees Crackerjack congragulating himself for a win that was purely by luck.
* BadassNormal: He has no powers other than a superhuman ego, but he's still a great hero.
* ClarkKenting: Even in Astro City, his original secret identity is pretty obvious on second glance, especially given his access to theatrical makeup. The real reason he gets away with it so long is that nobody'd ever believe the AttentionWhore Crackerjack would duck the spotlight in his civilian identity.
* CrazyPrepared: He [[spoiler:hid a tracer in his boot]], which helps the rest of Honor Guard find him and the [[spoiler:Black Lab]] during "The End of the Trail". Unfortunately for him, it took a week to actually work.
* FountainOfYouth: Crackerjack looks for something to restore his youthful physique once he starts becoming incapacitated due to his advancing age.
* GameBreakingInjury: Courtesy of [[spoiler:the Black Lab]] who he attempted to swindle a [[spoiler:mind transplant into a younger cloned version of his body]] out of. Instead of giving him what he wanted, the crooks [[spoiler:took what they needed from him (including a few organs) to create a small army of Crackerjack thugs and then tossed his broken, brutalized person into the garbage to die.]]
* HiddenDepths: After he accidentally reveals his secret identity in public, evidence is recovered suggesting that said secret identity isn't his original one.
** After Quarrel broke her leg he suggested a type of therapy geared toward athletes that the Honor Guard's doctor hadn't even considered.
** He repeatedly breaks into places and systems with ease, suggesting some skills at hacking, stealth, or other related fields.
* IResembleThatRemark: Crackerjack laments that Quarrel is mad at him for flirting with other women ''even as he flirts with Nightingale.''
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He may be a boastful, obnoxious, annoying loudmouth who loves to butt into other people's business and claim the credit, but he is ultimately a hero who unfailingly saves people from danger, and while he may talk a big bunch, he's never abusive or callous.
* MilesGloriosus: Subverted; an alien assumes his arrogance and bragging indicate his true character, and even when seeing his heroism wrestles with the idea that he might really be TheHero. The subversion is that while Crackerjack may not be as good as he thinks he is, he's still genuinely heroic and highly effective.
* MultipleChoicePast: Crackerjack has given many stories about his origins, none of which have been verified or even consistent. His longtime lover Quarrel has given up trying to figure it out.
* NeverMyFault: Any time someone points out the sloppiness of his crime-fighting style, Crackerjack's quick to brush them off. And then there's the moment under IResembleThatRemark.
* NiceGuy: While his superhero persona may be irritating, in his secret identity Crackerjack is friendly to everyone and takes his failures with aplomb. Apparently he keeps his ego and resentment in his tights.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: The one time we see him absolutely serious and without any jokes is when Quarrel breaks her leg and he insists that she get out of bedrest and onto rehab immediately, against the advice of the rest of the Honor Guard (who are not normals like he and Quarrel are).
* PlayfulHacker: Has a real gift for getting past security systems, even managing to sneak into Honor Guard HQ without being detected.
* SlapSlapKiss: Has this dynamic with Quarrel. She likes being driven, he has no filter, and together they have a pretty healthy relationship.
* SmallNameBigEgo: Crackerjack is a fantastic physical specimen and often shows himself to be a true hero, but his grandiosity is too much for ''any'' amount of skill to back up.
* StealthExpert: It's really hard to keep him out of places he's not supposed to be.
[[/folder]]


[[folder:Cleopatra]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cleopatra.JPG]]
->"You will surrender, Demolitia! Cleopatra commands it -- and she will not be defied this day!"

[-'''Real name''': Sarah Brandeis (Cleopatra II)-]

A magical heroine whose primary weapon is a mystical staff. She guards the innocent and gives no quarter to wrongdoers. She was a founding member of Honor Guard and continues to serve with them.
----
* AffirmativeActionLegacy: The first Cleopatra was a blonde white woman; the second one is Sarah Brandeis, who has dark skin and tight black curls.
* EmergencyTransformation: Throwing the Gem around Sarah's neck was the best way to keep it from Hellsignor. In a rare moment of guilt, the Point Man does apologize for it, saying she should have had some choice in the matter.
* {{Expy}}: Her golden Egyptomania-fueled attire, magical powerset, and link to a mystic artifact give her a lot of commonality with ComicBook/DoctorFate.
* FadSuper: Busiek has implied that her initial incarnation was linked to the renewed interest in Cleopatra's story that resulted in [[Film/{{Cleopatra}} the 1963 film]].
* FlyingBrick: Notable that she has strength to go with her flight, wheras her predecessor only had the flight part.
* ForceFieldCage: Cleopatra can create energy pyramids to trap opponents.
* ItBeganWithATwistOfFate[=/=]KidnappedByTheCall: Sarah Brandeis was a lab technician when she was kidnapped by the sinister Hellsignor during his attack on Earth. To foil his plans, the Point Man stole the Gem of Thebis from him, then tossed it around Sarah's neck. She instantly turned into the new Cleopatra and banished Hellsignor to another dimension.
* LegacyCharacter: There have been two women so far who have taken up the mantle of Cleopatra.
* MagicStaff: Her primary weapon is the Sun-Staff of Ra. It can create floating platforms, cage enemies, and fire energy blasts.
* MagicVersusScience: Cleopatra has a preference for magic over technology.
* MonochromaticEyes: Cleopatra's eyes are entirely white. [[DependingOnTheArtist Usually.]]
* RoyalWe: Played with; the second Cleopatra spoke more formally and used the RoyalWe during TheNineties, but later adapted to more conventional speech patterns.
* SuperStrength: Cleopatra II has super strength, although her predecessor did not.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:M.P.H.]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mph.jpg]]
->"Whichever way you run -- you can't escape me!"

[-'''Real name''': Michael Hendrie-]

''Astro City's'' most prominent speedster, the Acceleration Ace of Detroit and a longtime member of Honor Guard.
----
* AFriendInNeed: Toward Beautie.
* AmicableExes: With Quarrel II.
* HalfHumanHybrid: Apparently has 85% human DNA with a 15% alien overlay.
* HappilyMarried: To his wife Sally.
* NiceGuy: He serves breakfast in bed to his girlfriends just because.
* StevenUlyssesPerhero: Played with; it's suggested that his codename "M.P.H." are the initials of his real name (Michael Hendrie), but his middle name is currently unknown.
* SuperSpeed: His primary power.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Beautie]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/beautie_astro_city.jpg]]
->"My skin is ferro-styrene over an omnitanium frame. My breasts and buttocks are rigid. And I have no genitalia."

An adult-sized robot replica of a popular children's toy, Beautie appeared in Astro City one day to rescue a kidnapped heiress. She soon joined up with Honor Guard and became a full-time hero, which helps distract her from questions about her origins and her purpose.
----
* AmnesiaLoop: She always finds a lead to her past, discovers a connection to a gadgeteer supervillain, finds her creator, who is the daughter whose genius was shunned by her father the aforementioned supervillain, is ordered to leave and forget everything by said creator. According to her creator she keeps coming back no matter how many times she orders her to forget.
* BaldWomen: She wears a number of wigs, preferring a pink one when operating as a hero.
* BarbieDollAnatomy: Literally, considering she's a robot based on a BrandX Barbie doll.
* BrandX: Is based on a doll that's a parody of ''Franchise/{{Barbie}}''.
* CantHaveSexEver: The above quote is a response to being hit on--[[DudeMagnet apparently a rote response by this point]].
* CorporateSponsoredSuperhero: She's the corporate symbol for Tip-Top Toys.
* DudeMagnet: Being to all appearances a statuesque woman with perfect features, very much so.
* {{Expy}}: To ComicBook/TheVision, another robot superhero struggling to connect with humans, although her problems are quite different.
* FagHag: Beautie has an apartment above a gay bar and is friends to the local gay community because they understand what it's like to feel separate from the norm (if in a different way). It also helps that they don't try to proposition her.
* TheFashionista: As a living Barb-er, Beautie doll she was programmed with the desire to be one of these and owns many outfits.
* FlyingBrick: Beautie has super-strength, enhanced hearing, flight, and a ferro-styrene skin that's resistant to a lot of damage.
* FrozenFace: Even when her voice is clearly conveying emotion.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Anything about her origin. In fact, when she finds out something, she often forgets it moments later.
* LiteralMinded: Has some difficulty with the nuances of speech. For example, upon hearing that Hummingbird II was looking for a guy who wasn't just interested in sex, Beautie mentions that she knows several men who aren't interested in sex with women at all--not exactly what Hummingbird was looking for.
* LossOfIdentity: Beautie feels hollow because she does not know where she comes from.
* NiceGirl: When she's ''not'' scrupulously polite and kind-hearted, it's a sign that [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness something's very wrong]].
* PhotographicMemory: One of her powers.
* PinocchioSyndrome: While never expressly stated, it's clear Beautie desperately wishes she were human.
* QuestForIdentity: She tries. The amnesia keeps coming back.
* RidiculouslyHumanRobot: Beautie can pass for human at first glance, but soon reveals her artificial nature by her mannerisms.
* {{Robosexual}}: It's implied she'd like a relationship, but she finds the men who ''aren't'' troubled by her lack of genitalia worse than the ones who ''are''.
* RobotGirl: She's a robot.
* SpockSpeak: Beautie speaks in a rigid and stilted manner.
* StatuesqueStunner: Puns aside, she's about six feet tall and gets lots of male (and sometimes female) attention.
* SuperSenses: Can apparently "turn up her audio protocols", giving herself enhanced hearing.
* UncannyValley:[[invoked]] She works hard to frame the appropriate responses to subvert this.
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic:[[invoked]] WordOfGod says that any parallels between Beautie and transgender people are unintended, but also make too much sense to ignore.
[[/folder]]


[[folder:The Hanged Man]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hanged_man_2.jpg]]

The mysterious spectral guardian of the neighborhood known as Shadow Hill, the Hanged Man stands forever vigilant, protecting the city from dangers beyond human understanding. He is immediately recognizable by the burlap bag and frayed rope that wraps around his head.
----
* BadassArmfold: his default pose most of the time. Combined with PowerFloats
* DarkAndTroubledPast: Heavily implied.
* {{Expy}}: The Hanged Man is basically a combination of ComicBook/{{the Phantom Stranger}} and the Spectre. He is immensely powerful (leaning toward the RealityWarper end of the power spectrum) and while he is often passive, nothing seems to actively prevent him from intervening when necessary.
* HorrifyingHero: The people of Astro City recognize that he/it is a hero, but if he appears, you're generally in a lot of trouble.
* IHaveManyNames: The Dancing Master refers to him by quite a few, making clear that "The Hanged Man" is but the most recent one.
* LivingShadow: Aside from his burlap hood and rope, the Hanged Man's body is a featureless silhouette of a man.
* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: The Hanged Man's shown {{telepathy}}, size control, and time travel abilities over his appearances, without any clear limit to his abilities.
* PaintingTheFourthWall: The Hanged Man never actually ''speaks''; you simply understand what he's communicating to you. When he "talks", it's depicted as rough-edged yellow-brown narration boxes with shadows, with a different font to everybody else, evoking the impression of old parchment (although the font's changed between appearances).
* RippleEffectProofMemory: Aware of the changes to the timeline caused by a TimeCrash CrisisCrossover, perhaps because he was one of those who repaired the crash.
* SizeShifter: As a spectre, the Hanged Man's height varies from human-sized to hundreds of feet tall.
* TakeOurWordForIt: A lot of the Hanged Man's work takes place behind the scenes, handling threats of the EldritchAbomination type. There was a brief glimpse of this to resolve one of the sub-plots of 'Confession,' and the implication is that he guards Shadow Hill because it's a kind of... threshold.
* WillingChanneler: There's something of this going on; [[spoiler:should the Hanged Man lose his current body, then he'll find someone who'll volunteer to be his new host. The one time it's happened on screen, he found someone being hanged who wanted to redeem himself.]] No-one wants to find out what happens if they're ''not'' willing.
* YouShallNotPass: When the Enelsian invasion force is assaulting Astro City, the Hanged Man looms over Shadow Hill, [[BadassArmFold his arms crossed]]. The aliens do ''not'' engage.
[[/folder]]


[[folder:The Gentleman]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gentleman.jpg]]
->"Not so fast, big fella! You don't want to scare these nice people!"

Ever since he first appeared in TheForties, the Gentleman has been a mainstay of Astro City, despite apparently not aging a day. Immaculately dressed in his tuxedo and unfailingly polite, the Gentleman's charming personality, impeccable manners, and wholesome sensibilities make him the quintessential NiceGuy.
----
* TheAgeless: Thanks to his secret origin.
* ComicBookFantasyCasting: Creator/FredMacMurray, a similarity he shares with [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Earth's Mightiest Mortal]]. His young, brief sidekick, the Young Gentleman, is drawn to look like Music/ElvisPresley, who was the [[JustForFun/OneOfUs biggest fan]] of Captain Marvel's sidekick Captain Marvel Jr.
* DreamPeople: [[spoiler: He isn't actually "real". He's the idealized version of the late father of a grieving little girl named Tillie who wills him into existence whenever the world needs him. The same applies to his sidekick, the Young Gentleman, who Tillie created to serve as the ideal big brother.]]
* {{Expy}}: To [[Comicbook/{{Shazam}} the original Captain Marvel]].
* FlyingBrick: He's super strong and can fly.
* GoodIsNotDumb: Implied. The Gentleman was smart enough to avoid capture by alien infiltrators who had rounded up nearly all of the other heroes. His secret origin explains how.
* GoodParents: To Tillie, his daughter.
* NiceGuy: The Gentleman is ''Astro City's'' TropeCodifier; no matter how dire the situation, he will always be completely and unflappably polite. For example, after rescuing a news helicopter that endangered itself during a battle against a storm elemental, he simply smiled to the crew and ''politely suggested'' that they might want to get to safety and not endanger any of the bystanders on the streets below.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: In his fight with Professor Borzoi, he managed to ensure Loony Leo would stay alive through ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve. Unfortunately, this also created massive problems for poor Leo, who was never meant to be alive.
* SharpDressedMan: The Gentleman has '''never''' been seen wearing anything other than his impressively elegant tuxedo, complete with sash and buttonhole rose.
* {{Sidekick}}: He partnered with Loony Leo for a while, and in the [=1950s=] worked with a teen sidekick named The Young Gentleman.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Crossbreed]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/91698_117884_crossbreed.jpg]]
A team of Christianity-themed superheroes who believe their powers are a gift from God; they spend their time proselytizing when not fighting super-villains.
----
* BadassPreacher: When not fighting crime, they're usually street preachers.
* BeastMan: Daniel is half-human, half-lion.
* BloodKnight: Daniel may be one of these as he protests a firm reminder from Noah not to kill.
* TheCavalry: They arrive in time [[spoiler:to save Altar Boy if not the Confessor from the aliens]].
* CombatMedic: Daniel.
* DishingOutDirt: Peter's power is to manipulate and control rock and soil as if it were dough.
* AFriendInNeed: They alert Brian to the pickpocket who took his wallet on his arrival.
* HiddenDepths: Initially, they come across as obnoxious Evangelical-types, but it quickly becomes apparent that they're genuinely decent people and entirely competent heroes.
* KilledOffscreen: The elderly Noah is eventually revealed to have died some time between the "Confessions" arc and issue 18 of the ongoing. Without him, the rest of the Crossbreed ended up going their separate ways.
* MakeMeWannaShout: Joshua can unleash sonic screams for various uses.
* MeaningfulName[=/=]{{Sentai}}: The Crossbreed all wear red robes with white surplices. Their codenames are Biblical allusions to their powers:
** Noah: The team leader. He is a bearded man with power over rain and lightning. [[note]]From the story of Noah's Ark, natch.[[/note]]
** Mary: A woman who flies with large feathery wings. [[note]]Likely referencing the visitation of the biblical Mary by the angel Gabriel.[[/note]]
** Peter: A grey-skinned man with the power to manipulate rock.[[note]]From Matthew 16:18, "And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it."[[/note]]
** Daniel: A half-man, half-lion BeastMan [[note]]From the narrative of Daniel in the lion's den.[[/note]]
** Joshua: A blonde man who can create a destructive sonic scream. [[note]]From Joshua 6 and the story of the walls of Jericho.[[/note]]
** David: A man who can immediately grow to giant size. [[note]]David v Goliath[[/note]]
* NaturalWeapon: Daniel's main "power" are his claws and teeth. He never kills, however, at Noah's insistence.
* OldSuperhero: Noah looks to be in his sixties at least. At some point after the "Confessions" arc, he passed away, presumably from old age.
* SizeShifter: David can grow to gigantic size.
* WeatherManipulation: Noah has been seen summoning rain and lightning; it is unclear if he has control over any other types of weather.
* WeWereYourTeam: They break up after Noah dies.
* WingedHumanoid: Mary is an adult woman with large feathery wings.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Confessor]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/confessor.jpg]]
->"And is that why we do what we do? For public approval, for fame? Do we help people because they will be appropriately grateful -- or merely because they need help?”

[-'''Real name''': Jeremiah Parrish-]

First appearing on the scene in TheFifties, The Confessor is Astro City's dark guardian, a merciless protector who fights those seeking to prey on the weak and helpless. But what shameful secret does he hide beneath his robes? '''Spoilers follow.'''
----
* TheAtoner: The Confessor is purposefully torturing himself [[spoiler:by using a cross as his costume theme, as a form of mortification in penance for his killings and his self-loathing as a vampire.]]
* BadPowersGoodPeople: He's [[spoiler: a vampire]] but also a devout man and a genuine hero.
* BeigeProse: When asked if he's ever killed anyone, his response is "Don't... don't ask me that."
* ClarkesThirdLaw: Confessor II uses technological equipment to replicate (some of) the original's abilities.
* TheCowl: Unlike most examples, he's not part of a larger team and seldom associates with other heroes at all.
* DarkIsNotEvil: Though he operates at night and is a TerrorHero, he's not a bad guy, and is in fact an ordained Catholic ''priest'' [[spoiler:before being made into a vampire]].
* DeliberatelyPainfulClothing: [[spoiler:Being a vampire, the cross on the chest of his costume hurts him, but he uses that pain to help control his bloodlust.]]
* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler:After Brian uncovers his secret, he drops all subtlety and goes directly after The Deacon, apparently feeling he has nothing left to lose and perhaps planning to get himself killed. Fortunately Brian talks him down.]]
* {{Expy}}: To Franchise/{{Batman}}, as a caped, cowled TerrorHero with a penchant for the StealthHiBye and perching dramatically on rooftops.
** In a bit of MythologyGag, it turns out he's actually a [[spoiler:vampire]], something which many criminals suspected ol' Bats of being.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Well before the 'Confession' arc, we get a glimpse at the secret files being built up about Earth's superhumans in preparation for the invasion. There are pretty comprehensive write-ups on other heroes, but for the Confessor: "No image available, civilian identity unknown, powers: possible super strength, others unknown." [[spoiler:His image can't be captured on film, he's never around in the daytime, and he tries to keep anybody from noticing the pattern that his powers fit.]]
* FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire: [[spoiler:His powers, elusiveness, terrifying presence, and tendency to operate at night -- they're all the result of his vampire's curse. He uses them to fight crime as a self-inflicted penance, struggling against the hunger and darker impulses.]]
* GutturalGrowler: Implied; at one point Altar Boy compares the Confessor's voice to oiled gravel.
* LegacyCharacter: The Confessor is succeeded [[spoiler:by Brian Kinney at the end of the "Confession" arc.]]
* LegacyImmortality: After [[spoiler: his death]], Altar Boy takes over as the next Confessor, and doesn't bother to inform anyone that he's not the same guy, because it makes it easier to take advantage of their fear.
* MissingReflection: The Confessor is famous enough that newspapers actively try to photograph him after his every appearance, but he's not easily found. [[spoiler: This also applies to his powers as a vampire, which account for how difficult it is to find him -- he doesn't show up in mirrors, like cameras.]]
* PiousMonster: [[spoiler:Confessor is a vampire who was a Catholic priest and now acts a superhero. The cross her wears on the front of his costume constantly burns him, [[DeliberatelyPainfulClothing which he regards as form of penance]].]]
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: [[spoiler:Jeremiah Parrish arrived in North America in 1869.]]
* ShroudedInMyth: The Confessor originally existed as little more than a legend because no video footage or photos of him had ever been taken. [[spoiler:This is because he's a vampire.]]
* SinisterMinister: Subverted in that while the Confessor is actually a priest, he's heroic to the innocent. Then subverted again when [[spoiler:he is outed as a vampire.]]
* StealthHiBye: You turn around and ''there he is.'' Or isn't.
* UnwittingPawn: The Broken Man mentions he used the Confessor for his own ends a few times.
* WalkingSpoiler: His true identity [[spoiler:or rather his true nature as a vampire]] is treated as a major reveal in the storyline, and is obfuscated mainly by the format and his being an obvious Batman {{Expy}}.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Altar Boy/Confessor II]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/altar_boy.jpg]]
->"This isn’t what I thought it would be like. It isn’t what I thought at all. It looked simple… but it’s not."

[-'''Real name''': Brian Kinney-]

After his parents died and left him an orphan, Brian Kinney left his small town to make a successful name for himself in Astro City's super-hero community. He soon joins the Confessor as his sidekick Altar Boy, and learns the true power of faith and sacrifice.
----
* AscendedFanboy: He was a fan of superheroes and now he is one.
* AtrociousAlias: Brian doesn't care for "Altar Boy," but doesn't get a vote in the matter.
-->'''Confessor:''' Altar Boy or busboy. Your choice.
* BadassNormal: He originally had no powers.
* DramaticIrony: Brian contemplates a superhero in action while thinking how they get respect. The hero in question is Crackerjack, who gets less respect than his heroism and skills merit, because his GloryHound ways mar them.
* DudeWheresMyRespect: Altar Boy's motive for superheroing is to get respect. He learns better.
* EmpoweredBadassNormal: After becoming Confessor, he augments his abilities with magic.
* {{Expy}}: Of Robin, particularly of Dick Grayson (popularity with women and detective skills).
** [[spoiler:He later inherits his mentor's mantle, much like Dick (temporarily) did with Bruce]].
* GlorySeeker: He wants the fame and glory, though he's willing to earn it.
* KidHeroAllGrownUp: He starts off as a teenager/young adult, but [[spoiler:graduates into his own independent hero after taking over his mentor's mantle. 20 years later he's still operating as The Confessor, with his own group of sidekick heroes.]]
* LegacyCharacter: When he takes up the mantle of the Confessor at the end of the "Confession" story arc.
** [[spoiler:After the 20 year timeskip, he has a band of sidekicks named the Choir Boys]].
* LoserSonOfLoserDad: Brian wants to be a superhero to avoid this trope.
* RemovedAchillesHeel: As far as the bad guys know, he's still a vampire but is now immune to crosses, garlic, etc.
* WelcomeToTheBigCity: Brian gets one soon after arriving in Astro City.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Supersonic]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/supersonic.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:[[labelnote:Click here to see Dale Enright.]][[quoteright:280:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dale_enright.jpg]][[/labelnote]]]]

->"I was never at a loss for a plan, no matter how convoluted. I tried not to repeat myself, tried to top my last save -- and I had the energy and brains and speed and ingenuity to do it."

[-'''Real name''': Dale Enright-]

The high-flying hero of Arizona, Supersonic was a sterling sight in TheSixties and Seventies, battling America's enemies with style and aplomb. He eventually retired to a life of quiet tranquility, but gets pulled into action one more time...
----
* AreTheseWiresImportant: Ultimately used by Supersonic to stop the fight against Ominuss' robot.
* BackFromTheDead: After a battle with Lady Lethal, Supersonic suffered massive blood loss and extensive organ damage and was declared legally dead, yet managed to recover while on the autopsy table. His recovery was later cited by a defense attorney in a murder trial.
* CallToAgriculture: Dale spends his retirement tending to his rose garden.
* {{Expy}}: He represents UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks. His SuperDickery and clever, if sometimes silly, tactics (see TheStrategist, below) were both favorite tropes during the era.
* DentedIron: Either one too many bumps to the head or simply the onset of senility have dulled his once brilliant strategic mind.
* FlyingBrick: He's super strong and can fly.
* GeniusBruiser: He was an engineer before he became a superhero, and despite the fact that he ''could'' take on most opponents through simply punching them, he prefers clever tactics and applications of comic-book science. Him becoming a regular ol' Bruiser was the reason he quit.
* GotVolunteered: After retiring, Dale moved to Astro City and tended to his garden, but was badgered out of retirement to battle a rampaging robot at a time when the city's other superheroes were unavailable.
* HeroicVow: In his heyday, Supersonic pledged to always use a new and original method to defeat each of his opponents, and is proud of never having to repeat a tactic twice. He is shamed when his impending senility has reduced him to simply battering a rampaging robot into submission.
* HeroInsurance: He observes, in the end, that Astro City is really good at disaster relief, so they will be able to cope with his collateral damage.
* OldSuperhero: He's retired from superheroing.
* TheStrategist: Supersonic was this in his golden days, and enjoyed using his intellect to devise new ways to defeat his opponents. Likely a call back to early [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] comics where the hero's defeating the villain often was treated as a puzzle.
* {{Superdickery}}: After an adventure that temporarily gave him 16 exact doubles, Dale took his girlfriend Caroleen to a dance as Supersonic, and had one of his doubles attend in his secret identity of Dale Enright -- just to mess with her.
* ViolenceIsTheOnlyOption: Enforced; Supersonic fights Ominuss’ rampaging robot by battering it into submission, as he is too old to think of a clever, original, or non-violent way to stop it otherwise.
** Then [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] where he does find a way of being able to stop Ominuss' robot.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Roustabout]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/roustabout.jpg]]
->"Howdy, boys. You're rousted."

[-'''Real name''': Calvin Arnold Rory (presumed); alias Rick-]

A non-Astro City superhero, from the first story set outside the city. Presumed (on Herocopia) to be a man who claimed to have suffered involuntary experiments at the hands of [=TransGene=] International, but was unable to prove it and was convicted of breaking and entering on their property. He escaped jail.

He is now living in secret in the {{Arcadia}}n countryside, acting as a superhero, working as a roustabout at a carnival, and being protected by the country folk, who act as {{Secret Keeper}}s for him.
----
* ArrestedForHeroism: Capture two executives performing lethal experiments (which he was aware of because ''he'' was one of the test subjects), get convicted yourself of breaking and entering.
* BroughtToYouByTheLetterS: His costume includes a large belt with crossed "R"s.
* CoverBlowingSuperpower: Saving a life from a falling crane would be this, if he weren't surrounded by people who pretend not to notice.
* DisposableSuperheroMaker: Team Carnivore announces, when trying to capture him, that their bosses need to take him apart and figure out how he works to fix ''them''.
* DisposableVagrant: The victims of the experiments were all drifters or people who worked in rural regions.
* FlawedPrototype: Team Carnivore seems to be a more successful experiment in the company's eyes.
* FlyingBrick: Camilla characterizes his powers as "vanilla."
* LegoGenetics: The presumed source of his powers.
* HeroOfAnotherStory: The story is actually about a CityMouse adjusting to country life, [[spoiler:and learning to become Roustabout's SecretKeeper]].
* HeroWithBadPublicity: Subverted. The 'official' story, along with a legally-set quarter-million dollar bounty, paints him as a fugitive that just plays hero in small communities as part of a power fantasy. Judging by the trust that Caplinville places in him, and the vigor with which they protect his identity, it hasn't worked.
* ImmuneToBullets: One of his powers.
* MiscarriageOfJustice: His first appearance as a superhero was landing outside a police station with two executives from the genetic research company he claimed had conducted the experiments that led to his powers. It ended with him being sent to jail for B&E of that same company because he couldn't prove anything in court. The ongoing quarter-million dollar bounty that [=TransGene=] keeps on him (and the mutated Team Carnivore hunting him) seems to indicate that he was telling the truth.
* PhlebotinumRebel: Claims to have escaped the experiments because the sedation failed. Team Carnivore backs up the story with their insistence on taking him back to their bosses to be taken apart so they can figure out how he worked.
* SecretRelationship: He and his girlfriend naturally keep it quiet.
* ShootingSuperman: Introduced taking down bank robbers he has clashed with before. They haven't learned. He lampshades it with humor.
* SoleSurvivor: Of the experiments.
* SternChase: He has to keep moving, whenever caught.
* SuperPrototype: He's better than all of Team Carnivore, who want him because they think it means they can work out what went wrong with them.
* YouFightLikeACow: Roustabout is full of down-on-the-farm wit when taking down a gang of bank robbers.
-->"Sheriff's got the lockup cleaned out by now, I'll bet. You do this for the cafe meals, don't you?"
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Starfighter]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/starfighter.jpg]]

[-'''Real name''': Duncan Keller-]

Duncan Keller was serving in Vietnam when he started seeing a temple no-one else could. The symbol, the shape, he saw on the temple gave him clarity and a sense of purpose, and he started trying to fix it in his mind. When he finally succeeded, he found himself transformed into the hero Starfighter, in which role he would serve for many years. As time passed, he found he was called on less and less, effectively entering semi-retirement, giving him the opportunity to start a family and pursue his dream of writing.
----
* ComboPlatterPowers: The Lorus can give someone a super-powered form, be used to open portals from place to place and wipe memories, among other things.
* {{Expy}}: Of [[ComicBook/CaptainMarVell Mar-Vell]], right down to a near identical costume.
** Also of Franchise/GreenLantern, if you squint. A space hero with an extremely versatile power set, guided by an outside force. His desire to become a writer and artist pegs him more specifically as a Kyle Rayner expy.
** He has many similarities to the ProtoSuperhero Literature/JohnCarterOfMars, in that they are both humans who travel to an alien planet, gain superpowers, save the planet, and end up marrying the local alien queen.
** He also has a few similarities to James Robinson's ComicBook/{{Starman}}. He's powered by a nebulous cosmic force, has a star emblem, wears casual flight gear that resembles Starman's, and has a heavy focus on legacy.
* GeometricMagic: The Lorus is called upon by drawing shapes in the air.
* HalfHumanHybrid: His children.
* HappilyMarried: To Illula, Seven-Fold Empress of Jarranatha.
* InadequateInheritor: His short-lived sidekick Quark was a hothead with anger-management issues.
* InnocentFanserviceGirl: His wife and kids walk around wearing nothing except strategically-placed leaves, although [[spoiler:his daughter Trill wears a costume when she's on patrol]].
* InterspeciesRomance: See Happily Married.
* IShouldWriteABookAboutThis: And he has.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: One of his powers.
* KidSidekick: Tried to teach one, and failed. Had to use the amnesia powers on him.
* NonIdleRich: He's a writer, though he doesn't need the money.
* OverprotectiveDad: First reaction to learning that his daughter [[spoiler:is not only training as one of the new Starfighters with four others, but one of those four, a human young man, is romantically interested in her.]] His wife cools him down.
* PlanetaryRomance: A lot of his adventures.
* RetiredBadass: He discovers he's this after a time and makes his peace with it.
* RichBoredom: he's aware of the danger, hence the writing.
* SentientCosmicForce: The Lorus, the source of his powers. Also, he discovers, the force that decides it's time for him to retire.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Hummingbird]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hummingbird_i.jpg]]
[-'''Real name''': Barbara Hammcher-]

An early member of Honor Guard, Hummingbird fought crime with her uncanny aim, buzz-ray, and luminescent flight suit. After an adventure in Peru, she discovered she was pregnant, and soon retired from super-heroics to raise her child as a single parent.
----
* AnimalThemedSuperbeing: Animal Alias form.
* ImprobableAimingSkills: Aside from her flight suit and equipment, Hummingbird's most formidable skill is her marksmanship.
* RescueRomance: She rescued her daughter's father against attackers and was thus drawn into helping his people.
* RetiredBadass: When her daughter is born, she stops the superheroics.
* ReunionKiss: When a CoolGate lets her reunite with her beloved, years after their separation.
* StarCrossedLovers: When she went to tell her daughter's father about the baby, she learned that he was magically bringing his people into another world -- and had to go with them. She could not bring herself to leave her own.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Hummingbird II]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hummingbird_2.jpg]]
->"When I finally started my career as the new Hummingbird, it felt ''SO GOOD!''"

[-'''Real name''': Amanda Hammcher-]

The daughter of the original Hummingbird, Barbara grew up relatively normal, though raised by a cadre of super-powered honorary aunts and uncles. When she was old enough, she leaped into superheroics without pause, and became estatic when her meta-abilities manifested -- at least, until the price of those powers became known...
----
* AlienHair: It's starting to turn into feathers.
* AnimalThemedSuperbeing: She acquires hummingbird powers, then finds that she is being turned into a bird.
* BalefulPolymorph: She finds herself slowly metamorphosing.
* CursedWithAwesome: In "Lucky Girl," she discovers that her gods-granted powers are tainted with a {{curse}} that will eventually turn her into a real bird. She rejects an offer to be cured by having her powers removed, choosing instead to deal with her fate with the help of her {{Honorary Aunt}}s.
* DaddyHadAGoodReasonForAbandoningYou: He took his people into another world for safety, and the spell required him to go with them.
* [[DangerousSixteenthBirthday Dangerous Twelfth Birthday]]: It does not seem so at the time, but her wings are the first sign of something dangerous.
* DisappearedDad: Her father vanished into another world before her birth.
* {{Flight}}: On her twelfth birthday, she sprouts wings.
* HonoraryAunt: She observes that the male members of Honor Guard were always ready to help when needed, but her real connection was with the female ones -- the aunts.
* JumpedAtTheCall: Amanda goes into super-heroics even ''before'' her powers appeared.
* LegacyCharacter: Daughter of the first Hummingbird.
* MonochromaticEyes: Solid black eyes are what convinces her that she's got a problem.
* PluckyGirl: Isn't going to let her curse get her down.
* RevengeByProxy: She is cursed by a being her mother defeated.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Greymalkin (formerly Kitkat)]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tabitha_grey.jpg]]

[-'''Real name''': Tabitha Grey-]

Tabitha Grey started her crime-fighting career as Kitkat, the teen sidekick to Leopardman and a founding member of Honor Guard. After Leopardman retired, she pursued a solo career as the heroine Greymalkin, then changed from acrobatics to the arcane by mastering the mystic arts. Today, Greymalkin mostly keeps to herself, earning spooky whispers while serving as a magical consultant to other heroes.
----
* AllWitchesHaveCats: And she has a lot.
* TheArchmage: She apparently learned magic after becoming Greymalkin, and she's the person Hummingbird consults about her BalefulPolymorph.
* CrazyCatLady: Lives in a spooky Victorian mansion studying the mystic arts with an army of cats.
* CreepyGood: Lives in a spooky mansion with a bunch of spooky cats and looks like she's going to hiss and drink your blood, but she's clearly a good person.
* {{Expy}}: A rare one at that - as Kitkat, she was one of Kitten, the sidekick of the Batman-like Catman (not to be confused with the DC character of the same name), a minor comics hero from TheForties [[note]](and more recently a revival in TheNineties by Americomics)[[/note]]. Indirectly (and more obviously), she's one of Robin.
** As Greymalkin, she's a bit of an Expy to Agatha Harkness, a one-time ally of the ComicBook/FantasticFour and mentor to the ComicBook/ScarletWitch.
* KidSidekick: To Leopardman.
* MeaningfulRename: She not only ceased to be a sidekick, but learned magic in the course of becoming Greymalkin.
* RetiredBadass: Hummingbird goes to consult her after her retirement. The Silver Adept also regularly calls her as a backup for various mystical malfeasance.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Atomicus]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/atomicus.jpg]]
->"If this is humanity, I don't want it, you hear me? I don't want '''''ANY''''' of it!"

[-'''"Real name"''': Adam Peterson-]

A mysterious being who formed within a nuclear reactor in 1961 and became one of Astro City's premier heroes, only to leave Earth forever a short time later.
----
* AmbiguousDisorder: He looks and talks like an adult human being, but is emotionally underdeveloped. It's implied that this is because he is YoungerThanHeLooks.
* ArtificialHuman: Generated mysteriously within the core of a nuclear reactor.
* BornAsAnAdult: Was born from a nuclear reactor as he is. Deconstructed since it means that despite his adult appearance, he is actually pretty young mentally.
* BatSignal: Irene had earring-signals that could call him, and also shone a light of some sort into the sky on at least one occasion.
* TheCape: One of the first things he saw was a sign that said: "Better Living Through Atomic Power" and that became his credo.
* {{Expy}}: [[{{Franchise/Superman}} An alien being with powers beyond those of mortal men, fending off the advances of a woman who's trying to reveal his secret identity.]]
* FlamingHair: His hair looks like blue fire.
* FlyingBrick: Among his more mundane powers.
* ManChild: PlayedWith. On the one hand, he has a bit of a childish flair to him and naivety. On the other hand, his mysterious birth and circumstances heavily imply that he was BornAsAnAdult physically.
* MysteriousPast: There are plenty of theories about what he is and where he came from, but no one knows for certain. Not even Atomicus.
* NoGuyWantsToBeChased: Tried to keep Irene at a distance, romantically, as he was literally emotionally incapable of handling it at the time. However, he did care for her and was trying to become a proper human for her.
** [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere When she exposed his identity, he finally cracked and left Earth.]]
* NoodleIncident: It's mentioned in more recent comics that at one point that he was "rebuilt by the Nuclear Empire", whoever they are.
* PoorCommunicationKills: What Irene misinterpreted as challenges to get her to prove herself worthy of him by exposing his identity were actually desperate attempts to get her to stop pursuing him while he tried to learn how to be a proper human.
* PowerGlows: Blue.
* RageBreakingPoint: After Irene gave up all pretense and deliberately exposed his true identity in front of everyone, he finally snapped and left Earth.
* SelfDuplication: When Irene discovers that this is how he appeared as himself and his secret identity at the same time, it's the final straw for her.
* SingleTargetSexuality: Took on a human identity specifically for the purpose of learning how to be a man for Irene.
* {{Superdickery}}: Subverted. The "dickery" came as a result of not yet having the life experience to distinguish between cruelty and cleverness, and from being unable to tell Irene directly that he wants her to stop pursuing his secret identity for fear of driving her away.
* SymbolMotifClothing: Bears an atomic symbol on his chest and has a blue glow like Cherenkov radiation.
* WalkingTheEarth: Quite the opposite, actually, as he's been reported as wandering around in space.
* YoungerThanTheyLook: PlayedForDrama. Despite looking like a human adult, he appears to be more emotionally like a kid and Irene's aggressive advances frighten him, especially as he tries to get her to stop.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The N-Forcer]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/n_forcer.jpg]]
[-'''Real name''': Unknown-]

* BarrierWarrior: Can create force fields.
* CorporateSponsoredSuperhero: The corporate symbol of N.R.-gistics Inc (and formerly that of Nicholls-Royce Electronics).
* EnergyBeings: His suit turns his body into "N-force".
* {{Expy}}: Of {{ComicBook/Iron Man}}, sort of.
* LegacyCharacter: Dialogue indicates that the current N-Forcer isn't the first one to wear the suit.
* PowerArmor: The N-Forcer suit.
* ShroudedInMyth: As he's been active since 1959, in-universe speculation is that the suit is piloted by a single long-lived individual or an elite group of successors.
* SuperStrength: It's unclear if this is a side-effect of being an energy being or the suit itself.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:El Hombre]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/el_hombre.jpg]]
->"Have no fear, citizens of Los Angeles! El Hombre is here -- and your salvation is at hand!"

[-'''Real name''': Esteban Rodrigo Suarez Hidalgo-]

Once a great hero, now a broken old man trapped in his memories.
----
* AccidentalMurder: People died as a result of the giant robot he commissioned, and he'd have faced charges if his true identity were known.
* ArmorPiercingQuestion: "So your message, Estaban, is simple: Work hard, stay out of trouble--then inherit two hundred million dollars and everything will be fine?" This inspired him to become El Hombre as a role model.
* BadassCape: With metal plates to deflect attacks and weapon fire.
* BadassNormal: His skills and tools are all he has.
* BraidsOfBarbarism: El Hombre's mask has a fake braid down the back.
* BrokenAce: Handsome, rich, talented, and respected for his actions in and out of costume...but not nearly as much as he craved.
* CarpetOfVirility: Specifically mentioned in the character design notes.
* CultureEqualsCostume: His design is modeled after a very streamlined matador.
* DespairEventHorizon: Crossed it when the woman he loved married a fiery rival political activist. As he'd already been feeling irrelevant and ineffective in both identities, this pushed him over the edge.
* DudeWheresMyRespect: Felt this in both his civilian and hero identities. As Hidalgo, he never felt accepted by the Latino community no matter how much money and time he spent improving the neighborhood. As El Hombre he was disappointed to learn that he was the least popular of the Honor Guard and disgusted with himself to realize that he actually ''cared'' about that.
* EngineeredHeroics: Made a deal with The Assemblyman to create a robot that he could defeat, winning the adulation of the public. The Assemblyman backstabbed him and revealed everything.
* ExactWords: [[spoiler:When he talks about how the worst part of his scheme was knowing how ''close'' it came to working perfectly and how that all that mattered was what people saw on the surface, he's ''not'' talking about how he would have ended up living a lie.]]
* {{Expy}}:
** Of Franchise/{{Batman}}. Yes, again.
** He also contains elements reminiscent of ComicBook/GreenArrow. Mainly as a RichIdiotWithNoDayJob who later developed a social conscience and wanted to better his community while maintaining some showboating qualities and taking in a young sidekick. [[spoiler: Hidalgo's fall from grace shows what would've happened if Green Arrow's ego got the better of him, and his falling out with Bravo can be considered a parallel to how Green Arrow's falling out with Speedy happened due to his failures as a mentor and how they affected the young man.]]
* FallenHero: After his deal with The Assemblyman is revealed.
* GloryHound: Came to realize that he'd been as motivated by this as a desire to improve the community. [[spoiler:He hasn't grown out of it.]]
* HeroismAddict: Tried to pull this off and failed. [[spoiler: Twice.]]
* IdiotBall: Sure, why ''not'' trust the mad scientist who you've busted numerous times to willingly participate in a scheme to make you popular?
* LanternJawOfJustice: Specifically mentioned in the character design notes.
* MotiveRant: [[spoiler:Although neither Steeljack nor the reader are aware of it at the time, talking about his backstory amounts to this.]]
* OldShame: In-universe. Hidalgo despises himself for his past actions. [[spoiler:But maybe he can do [[EngineeredHeroics something]] about everyone ''else'' hating him...]]
* ParentalSubstitute: For Bravo/Ruiz. In fact, he moved from L.A. to Astro City in order to proudly watch over his protégé's career.
* ParryingBullets: Could do this with his whip.
* ThePowerOfLegacy: [[spoiler:Why the details of his turn as the Conquistador are never revealed to the public.]]
* RaceTraitor: Gets accused of this by one of the criminals he busts. He knows it's a baseless insult, but it still stings.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: The eye-holes of his mask seen to have red plastic over them, and he turns out to be far less of a hero than he appears.
* RichIdiotWithNoDayJob: Averts this in his civilian identity, sinking tons of his money into charity and neighborhood improvement and working as a community organizer.
* {{Sidekick}}: Bravo.
* StealthPun: Someone accuses "El Hombre" of working for "TheMan".
* WhipItGood: Uses a titanium-steel whip which can deliver electrical shocks.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Bravo]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bravo_5.jpg]]
[-'''Real name''': Ruiz (First name unrevealed)-]

An angry street kid brought in by El Hombre and trained as a sidekick. Managed to carry on after his mentor's disgrace, protecting a world that mistrusted and despised him. He eventually hung his bolas up and became a cop.
----
* ArmCannon: Fires his bolas from a wrist launcher as an adult.
* BadassCape: Metal-plated like his mentor's.
* BadassNormal: Like his mentor.
* BattleBolas: Uses bolas as his WeaponOfChoice.
* BerserkButton: Understandably reacts ''really'' badly when Steeljack brings up El Hombre.
* BrokenPedestal: Upon learning about El Hombre's scheme.
* {{Expy}}: Of the Jason Todd {{ComicBook/Robin}}, a street kid who was trained by an older hero, as well as [[ComicBook/GreenArrow Roy Harper]] via comparing his fallout with Oliver Queen and Bravo's fallout with El Hombre. Ruiz later becoming a police detective is reminiscent of Roy's later career as a government agent and a private detective.
* FriendOnTheForce: To the Irregulars, Goldenglove II, and Steeljack.
* HeroWithBadPublicity: El Hombre's actions left a stain that tainted his entire career, but he persisted.
* KillerYoyo: Wields bolas in combat, using them as melee and thrown weapons.
* NiceHat: Although Busiek isn't sure what it's called. He apparently decides to ditch it as an adult.
* ParentalAbandonment: Lost his parents through unrevealed circumstances, and all his brothers died due to gang violence.
* ParentalSubstitute: His relationship with El Hombre. Even after everything that happened, it's shown he still cares about him.
* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: Founded the Astro City Irregulars, a team of outcasts like himself.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: After a rocky start, Detective Ruiz turns out to be one of these.
* SecretKeeper: Chose not to reveal El Hombre's secret identity, sparing Hidalgo criminal charges.
* {{Sidekick}}: Starts out as one of these to El Hombre, striking out on his own after his mentor [[FallenHero falls]].
* SpitefulSpit: Gave one to Hidalgo.
* SuperiorSuccessor: Had a much greater impact than his mentor. Forming the Irregulars alone has given all kinds of former villains and at-risk misfits a place to belong for almost forty years.
* TenMinuteRetirement: Retired as Bravo to become a police officer, but left retirement to lead the Omega Rangers. The second retirement stuck.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Blue Knight]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/blue_knight_astro_city_comics_brentanderson.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:...]]
[-'''Real name''': Unknown, possibly Joshua Stone-]

One of the earliest and most prominent of Astro City's [[AntiHero killer vigilantes]]. Possibly a spirit of vengeance brought back from the dead, possibly an ex-cop with way too much time and tech on his hands. Either way, he is a specter that stalks the streets, a ghost story shared among the criminal underground, and a bogeyman who leaves no witnesses.

* AntiHero: The poster child in Astro City.
* AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever: A giant version of him appears briefly near the end of the Dark Age. The audience never learns what ''that'' was about.
* BecomingTheMask / ThatManIsDead: Implied.
* BondOneLiner: Averted. It's part of his creep factor. He stalks and kills in utter silence.
* {{Expy}}: Astro City's [[ComicBook/ThePunisher Punisher]], with elements of [[ComicBook/GhostRider Ghost Rider]] and [[ComicBook/TheSpectre the Spectre]] thrown in.
* {{Determinator}}: Seems to be his primary "power". When he's marked someone for death, whether they be a crime boss or a petty crook, he. Does. Not. Stop. Until they are dead.
* DreamSpying: In one story, a lawyer begins to dream of the Blue Knight's killings. In the last one, the Blue Knight speaks to him.
* EldritchAbomination: Not literally, but symbolically. As one character notes in his introductory issue (paraphrased): society is a dance, a ritual performed by humanity to keep darker things at bay. The Blue Knight is implied to be one of those things.
* HollywoodSilencer: One set of crooks didn't even realize they were under attack until one turned to his buddy and saw [[PrettyLittleHeadshots the hole in his head]].
* LegacyCharacter: He inspires a whole crew of knockoffs.
* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: It's unclear if he's a vigilante with high-tech gadgets and a holographic skull mask, or a policeman empowered by the ghost of a police officer killed in the line of duty. Evidence suggests the former, but the latter is never actually disproven.
** Moreover, near the end of his debut appearance, he takes off his mask and talks to the viewpoint character. He claims that he ''isn't'' the Blue Knight, that it's the ghost of his son working through him. Whether it's just grief-fueled insanity or if he's onto something is not at all clear.
* SkullForAHead: Implied to be a holographic projection.
* ShroudedInMyth: In-universe, there are ''a lot'' of stories about him, some of them blatantly false. Some criminals don't even believe he exists.
* SpiritualSuccessor: Blue Knight is notably not an {{Expy}} of The Punisher in general, but is rather closer to Gerry Conway's original version of the character, a broken man who has made himself a monster because society had failed him, and a symbol of that failure. He exists "because the dance failed. It's as simple and complex as that".
* SuperheroPackingHeat: They're implied to not be normal firearms, as it's stated that no ballistic material is ever found, even in the victim's wounds.
* SymbioticPossession: Claims to be possessed by the ghost of his dead son. At least, he thinks it's his son...
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: The character implied to be him lost his child in a gang shootout, making his career basically one long, slow example of this. It's also implied that, literally or not, the Blue Knight is an AbstractApotheosis of vengeance through vigilante justice.
* TheVoiceless: He talks maybe twice in his first appearance, and never says anything on-panel ever after that.
* VigilanteMan: He kills because (in his mind) without his brand of justice, there is no justice.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Flying Fox II]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/flying_fox.jpg]]
[-'''Real name''': Samantha Cronin-]

Daughter of the woman who drove Atomicus away from Earth, her mother's determination and perseverance inspired her to become a superhero.
----
* AffirmativeActionLegacy: The original Flying Fox was male.
* AnimalThemedSuperbeing: A fox.
* BadassNormal: It seems so.
* ButchLesbian: Fits this more closely in appearance than LipstickLesbian.
* CombatParkour: We don't actually see her in action, but the news describes her as an acrobatic vigilante.
* CoolBike: It flies.
* FeminineMotherTomboyishDaughter: ButchLesbian superheroine Flying Fox's mother is a much more traditionally-feminine woman, albeit one who spent much of her career in politics.
* FlyingCar: Her aero-cycle.
* GadgeteerGenius: If she built her aero-cycle herself instead of getting it from someone else.
* GenerationXerox: It's hard to get much of a handle on her motivation given the paucity of her on-panel time, but her convention appearances and willingness to do interviews seem to indicate that she's inherited her mother's desire to distinguish herself.
* IShouldWriteABookAboutThis: She'd had an interview with a writer from Bulldog Comics about being a beginner superhero and was about to get a series published about her when Bulldog Comics, uh, [[DoNotTauntCthulhu went out of production]].
* LegacyCharacter: Might be one to the original Flying Fox. Their connection, if there is one at all, is unclear.
* NamesTheSame: In-universe. Appears to bear no relation to the 1940's hero of the same name.
* SatelliteCharacter: What little we know about her so far mostly comes from her conversations with her mother.
* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: Tells her mother so.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Goldenglove II]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/goldenglove.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:250:Goldenglove in 1998.]]
[[caption-width-right:250:[[labelnote:Click here to see her in 2016.]][[quoteright:245:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/goldenglove_ii_2016.jpg]][[/labelnote]]]]
->"You're a loser -- so you think ''everyone's'' a loser! Well I'm not! I'm different! I'm special! I got what it takes! No more macaroni! No more sweaty boys' hands! No more hand-me-downs!"

[-'''Real name''': Yolanda Costello-]

The daughter of blue-collar supervillain Goldenglove, Yolanda is determined to rise above her circumstances by any means possible. She was originally tempted by a life of crime, but the intervention of some well-meaning interlopers eventually set her on the path of heroes.
----
* BrattyHalfPint: Grows out of--well, no actually. As an adult, she's still got a mouth on her.
* CivvieSpandex: Wears a jacket over her uniform as an adult. Given that she started out in the late 90's it's justified.
* CompensatedDating: There's a mild implication (seen above) that she's done this.
* {{Delinquents}}: Growing up in Kiefer Square doesn't give you a lot of other options. Fortunately Steeljack and Detective Ruiz straighten her out.
* FriendOnTheForce: Detective Ruiz.
* GadgeteerGenius: Her father just used the gloves for SuperStrength. Yolanda managed to suss out all kinds of other functions.
* GogglesDoNothing: Her homemade costume has a visor, an element she keeps as an adult.
* HeelFaceTurn: As a kid she wanted to be a villain, but she got the intervention she needed to become a hero instead.
* ImportedAlienPhlebotinum: Her father found the gloves on an alien skeleton in a crashed spaceship. Given that the non-SuperStrength options appear to favor sneaking about, it's possible that they were intended for reconnaissance or stealth missions.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Still has some mild rough edges as an adult.
* [[LoserSonOfLoserDad Loser Daughter of Loser Dad]]: She has no intention of turning out this way.
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Takes out her frustration on an unresisting Steeljack.
* PowerFist: Her father used the gloves like this, but they're actually [[TrickedOutGloves tricked out]].
* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: Joins the Irregulars in the late 90's/early 2000s, and plans to restart the team as an adult.
* RedeemingReplacement: For her father.
* RummageSaleReject: Tries to update her father's look on a shoestring budget. She does a bit better as an adult.
* SuperiorSuccessor: As mentioned above, her father never knew what the gloves were really capable of.
* TrickedOutGloves: SuperStrength, {{Flight}}, DeflectorShields, [[EnergyWeapon Frickin' Laser Beams]], [[StealthExpert inaudibility]], [[SmokeOut smoke screens]] and more.
* WrenchWench: Ruiz mentions getting her engineering classes.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Starbright I]]
[[quoteright:270:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/starbright_i.jpg]]
-> "Just because people look at you and see something they don't understand, it doesn't mean you have to be whatever they see. It's all up to you. All you have to do is just be yourself. Figure out who you really are and ''be'' that. Just as much as you possibly can. Light up the world with it."

[-'''Real name''': Chet Markham-]

* AllLovingHero: Never gave up on Simon Says no matter what he did, and treated other criminals the same way.
* EnergyBeing: Could shift into one of these.
* {{Expy}}: Of the Clark Kent Superboy.
* FlyingBrick: As Starbright.
* FriendlyEnemy: With Simon Says, from his perspective at least. [[spoiler:And, it turns out, from Simon's.]]
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Died apparently trying to deactivate an explosive device too powerful for even him to survive.]]
* {{Irony}}: Wishes Simon Says many more birthdays. [[spoiler: Neither [[GenderBender "Simon"]] nor [[HeroicSacrifice Chet]] would get them.]]
* KidHero: Was still in high school [[spoiler:when he died]].
* LovableJock: A star quarterback who treats everyone with decency and compassion.
* MysteriousPast: How he got his powers has yet to be revealed.
* NiceGuy: As himself and as Starbright.
* PowerGlows: Orangish-pink.
* SuperStrength: In energy form.
* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: Tells Simon Says so, numerous times. [[spoiler:The last one sticks.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Starbright II]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/starbright_ii.jpg]]
-> "I just hope--I don't really ''believe'' in destiny, but if I've got one, I hope it's something worthwhile."

[-'''Real name''': "S", formerly Simon Siezmanski-]

* AffirmativeActionLegacy: Starbright I was a heterosexual white male, Starbright II is a [[spoiler:trans]]woman.
* BreakTheHaughty: [[spoiler: Simon was a full out mad scientist filled with bitterness toward humanity and delusions of superiority. Starbright's death and the reveal of his identity as Chet utterly crushed Simon and changed all of that.]]
* DoesNotKnowHowToSayThanks: [[spoiler:Simon's way of thanking Starbright for her birthday party was setting a death trap that was really easy to escape. Starbright understands anyway.]]
* EasySexChange: [[spoiler:If you consider extensively researching Starbright's energy powers and figuring out how to give them to yourself, then using them to accurately alter the sex of your baseline human form (a process that appears to be agonizing in whole or in part) "easy", then sure. Simon still undergoes counseling and hormone treatments first, though.]]
* EnergyBeing: Can shift into one, like Starbright I. As she's shown using energy blasts, unlike him, it's possible that [[spoiler:Simon]] made some improvements.
* {{Expy}}: Of ComicBook/LexLuthor, particularly the Silver Age version who knew Clark Kent's Superboy.
* FlyingBrick: Presumably. She hasn't really had a chance to show her stuff.
* FriendlessBackground: Averted. [[spoiler:Simon actually had some friends among the geeks and outsiders at school. Enough to throw a party, at least.]]
* FriendlyEnemy: [[spoiler:Simon Says arrogantly mocks Starbright, and thinks his heroism is foolish, but it's made clear later that she regarded Starbright as one of the only people who truly understood and cared about her.]]
* GenderBender: [[spoiler: As mentioned above.]]
* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler: Moved by Starbright's aka Chet's kindness and belief, SimonSays transitions into the second Starbright (and becomes a young woman as well]]
* IJustWantToHaveFriends: [[spoiler: Simon Says's price for putting her vast intellect at Starbright's disposal for twenty-four hours? Taking all of Simon's old friends to her sixteenth birthday party.]]
* InferioritySuperiorityComplex: [[spoiler:As Simon Says.]]
* InelegantBlubbering: [[spoiler:Simon is reduced to this upon Starbright's death]].
* {{Irony}}: [[spoiler:After being bullied her whole life, Simon's own prejudice blinded her to Starbright's true identity.]]
* JerkassWoobie: [[invoked]][[spoiler:Simon Says claimed superiority over the "morons and throwbacks" that made up most of humanity, but was clearly damaged and bitterly lonely.]]
* KidHero: Her former classmate and friend Rick recently graduated high school, implying that she's the same age.
* LegacyCharacter: To the first Starbright.
* MadScientist: [[spoiler: As Simon Says.]]
* MeaningfulRename: [[spoiler: Like many transgender people, she stops going by her old name, but hasn't decided on a new one yet so simply goes by "S".]]
* MistakenIdentity: [[spoiler:Simon believed that a compassionate soul like Starbright could only be a misunderstood outsider of some sort, and so thought that his secret identity was her crippled black friend Rick. Finding out (posthumously) that Starbright had been a straight rich white quarterback blew Simon's mind.]]
* OneDialogueTwoConversations: A variant. [[spoiler:At her party, Simon has a friendly conversation with Rick about her motivations and going straight, and mentions that she truly likes him. At the time, Simon ''thinks'' that she's talking to Starbright's secret identity.]]
* PlatonicLifePartners: With Rick, possibly. Put it this way, if it turns out they ''are'' romantically involved, it wouldn't be much of a shock.
* PowerGlows: Orangish-pink.
* SuperiorSuccessor: "S" might not agree, but [[spoiler:Simon has amply demonstrated what her intellect wedded to Starbright's power could accomplish.]]
* SobriquetSexSwitch: Defied; [[spoiler: she doesn't want to use Simone as her new name, because she doesn't perceive authentically living as a woman as simply "Simon but a woman"]].
* SuperStrength: Assumedly, although she doesn't demonstrate it in-story.
* TearsOfRemorse: [[spoiler:Simon is crushed upon realizing how horribly she'd misjudged Chet Markham... aka ''Starbright''.]]
* TeenGenius: In criminal deduction as well as science.
* ThatManIsDead: [[spoiler:"S" wants to make a complete break from her former life.]]
* ThenLetMeBeEvil: [[spoiler:A lifetime of bullying caused Simon to turn her back on society and become a mad scientist.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Assemblyman II]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/assemblyman_ii.jpg]]
[-'''Real name''': Ken (Surname unknown)-]

One of the newer members of the Honor Guard, little has been revealed about him as yet.
----
* AffirmativeActionLegacy: The original Assemblyman was white, this one's black.
* GadgeteerGenius: Like his namesake.
* LegacyCharacter: Might be one to the original Assemblyman, might just be InNameOnly.
* {{Nanotechnology}}: Uses this.
* RedeemingReplacement: The original Assemblyman was a MadScientist and frequent foe of the Honor Guard.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Point Man]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/point_man_1.jpg]]
[-'''Real name''': Unrevealed-]

A superhero and member of the Omega Rangers during the 80's, The Point Man inadvertently became responsible for a great deal of the misery of the latter Dark Age.
----
* DidntThinkThisThrough: Shooting the Innocent Gun when their mystical allies were warning him that would be dire consequences ended up going verdy badly.
* {{Expy}}: Of the Guy Gardner Green Lantern. A brash, headstrong, jerk who manipulates a form of green energy.
* HandBlast: Creates triangle-shaped "points" of energy in his hands that he flings or launches at foes.
* FlechetteStorm: Can use his energy "points" like this.
* {{Flight}}: One of his powers.
* HiddenDepths:
** Seems to be much smarter than you'd expect, figuring out that Hellsignor's dominance was basically a death sentence for his followers and sussing out how to fire the Innocent Gun rather quickly.
** His apologetic speech to Sarah Brandeis/Cleopatra implies that he hates the things he's been forced to do as a hero.
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: How he justifies his actions.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: In spite of everything, it's shown that he does have a decent heart under the arrogance, and that he regards super-heroism as a burden that no one should be forced into.
* MeaningfulName: His energy attack takes the form of triangle points, and his powers and impetuous attitude often have him at the forefront of situations.
* NeverMyFault: Ignored the people warning him not to fire the Innocent Gun, then blamed ''them'' for not putting some indication on the gun that firing it was dangerous. [[JerkassHasAPoint Still, a Mr. Yuk sticker or something might have been a good idea.]]
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Sometimes a gun is more than "just" a gun.
* ShootTheDog: Tends to take it upon himself to shoot a lot of dogs he may not necessarily have to.
* SmallStepsHero: Point Man's M.O. is to take swift, decisive actions to solve the problem in front of him immediately. Sometimes this works out, [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom sometimes it really, really doesn't]].
* {{Teleportation}}: Another of his powers.
* ThouShaltNotKill: Averted. He has no qualms about using potentially-lethal force against his foes or killing Hellsignor's thralls, who were going to die when he was defeated anyway. Also killed the plant-soldiers of E.N.G.I.N.E, though they were still developing. (They sure felt ''pain'', though. Brr.)
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: The Innocent Gun was meant to be fired by a pure soul, at the right foe, at the right time. The Point Man using it to shoot Kerresh was none of those things, and it opened a rift in reality, killing hundreds, and causing dark, corrupting energy to seep into Astro City and its people, as well as allowing The Pale Horseman to enter our world. Finally, the Innocent Gun [[ItOnlyWorksOnce can only be fired once]], so it won't be available to use against whatever it was supposed to kill.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:American Chibi]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/american_chibi.jpg]]

->"SPLAMMO! Did you see that? Did you see that? Came up through the street from the subway tunnels! You didn't even see me coming!"

[-'''Real name''': Inapplicable. Her successor is Marguerite Li.-]

An exuberant young heroine resembling an anime character come to life, [[SuperDeformed small skinny body with a disproportionately large head]]. Revealed to have been brought to life by [[LovecraftLite The Unbodied]] in a bid to gain a foothold in the real world, using the subconscious mind of video game designer Marguerite Li.
----
* AffirmativeActionLegacy: Chibi passes the legacy onto Marguerite, making her Earthside's new Chibi.
* AscendedFangirl: When Samaritan offers her membership in the Honor Guard, she's over the moon.
* BadassAdorable: She literally looks like a Funko Pop, but she's also a powerful buttkicker, and she's an official member of the Honor Guard.
* ClothesMakeTheSuperman: In Chibi's case, accessories. According to Marguerite, Chibi gains her powers from her mystic hair scrunchies.
** Later on, Marguerite gains Chibi's powers by putting on a pair of scrunchies.
* DeclarationOfProtection / BadassCreed: Makes a truly epic one in the end of ''Astro City'' #27:
-->''"Ha! Let's go, King-in-Chains! [[BringIt Let's do this!]] The Ubbows are under Honor Guard protection, you hear me? HONOR GUARD PROTECTION!"''
* DreamPeople: Chibi is Marguerite's idea, brought to life by the Unbodied.
* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: She's a living breathing anime character with a stars-and-stripes motif incorporated in her costume. An ''American Chibi''.
* {{Expy}}: Of Manga/AstroBoy.
* FlyingBrick: Basically.
* GenkiGirl: Boy Howdy!
* GirlishPigtails: Held in place by magic hair scrunchies. Seriously.
* GodNeedsPrayerBadly: The Unbodied are described by Cleopatra as "myths whose believers have died out. They linger, seeking new forms, new ways back into the world."
* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Has blonde hair held back in GirlishPigtails, and is one of the most dedicated heroines in all of Astro City.
* IChooseToStay: Recognizing that she is the center focus of the King-in-Chains' plan to break through to the living world, American Chibi decides to remain in their world to take the fight to him and his forces and to protect the native Ubbows from his tyranny.
* TheKnightsWhoSaySquee: Literally squees when she first meets Samaritan.
* LeeroyJenkins: Tends to plunge into situations head-first.
* LovecraftLite: The Unbodied and the King-in-Chains.
* NoIndoorVoice: She shouts a lot.
* TakingUpTheMantle: While Chibi remains in the Unbodied's world to prevent them from invading the real world again, she leaves a pair of her mystic scrunchies behind for Marguerite Li. She puts them on and transforms into the new (albeit more normally proportioned) American Chibi.
* TheoryOfNarrativeCausality: The Unbodied used Marguerite's game designs to create new forms in which they could invade the real world. [[HoistByTheirOwnPetard But in doing so, they ended up creating their own enemy, American Chibi]].
-->''"But making it a game...that was their mistake. Because they're imposing a story, a shape, on themselves. Creating a mythology they all fit into. I'm a part of that mythology too. [[IChooseToStay I'm the part that stops them.]]"''
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Silver Adept]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/silver_adept_0.jpg]]
-> "...the Silver Adept, Champion of the Light. Renowned across countless realities. The savior of more living souls than you can possibly imagine. And yaddita yaddita yaddita..."
[-'''Real name''': Kimberly To-]

One of the most powerful mages in the world, her role is to protect this dimension from supernatural threats.
----
* AlienLunch: Implied on at least one occasion:
-->"I was in one of the Enfolded dimensions. I calmed an ifrit. There was a celebration, it went late. But there was sushi. Amazing, fantastic sushi. At least I think it was sushi..."
* BareYourMidriff: Her main uniform
* {{Expy}}: Her position of Champion of the Light makes her an expy of ComicBook/DoctorStrange, while her wardrobe and decidedly more flighty personality makes her one to Strange's one-time disciple and lover Clea.
* HardDrinkingPartyGirl: Tends to do that when celebrating her victories.
* HyperCompetentSidekick: Her personal assistant Raitha [=McCann=] handles the day-to-day operations, leaving Kim free to fight the major threats.
** Later, after Marta Dobrescu defends her successfully in a cosmic court, Kim hires her as her personal attorney.
* TheRedBaron: "The Champion of the Light"
* RingRingCRUNCH: Tends to go through a lot of alarm clocks:
-->'''Silver Adept''': I set the alarm, I swear I set the alarm! \\
'''Raitha'''''(noticing an alarm clock embedded in the wall above the door frame)'': I don't doubt it.
* YearInsideHourOutside: The Orb of Ebon Stillness allows the wielder access to a pocket dimension where time goes much slower than in our world. Kim enters this dimension to allow herself time to prepare a series of wards to protect an interdimensional world from demons. Normally the wards would take days to prepare but with the Orb she can complete the wards in a matter of hours.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Wolfspider]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wolfspider.jpg]]
[-'''Real name''': Ben Colstone-]

A size-shifting hero hailing from Australia.
----
* {{Determinator}}: Bitten by an incredibly venomous spider, he managed to stay clear-headed enough to capture it and take it back to his mother before finally passing out. He was also ''six years old''.
* {{Expy}}: A combination of ComicBook/SpiderMan and ComicBook/AntMan.
* FakeWeakness: Channels his venom-blasts through his Skyflyer, so people don't realize he's doing it himself.
* FlyingCar: His Skyflyer.
* GadgeteerGenius: He gets it from his mother.
* GenreBlind: As he himself notes, he probably should have questioned the sudden appearance of his favorite childhood cartoon heroes a little more instead of eagerly offering to join their team.
* IncredibleShrinkingMan: A side-effect of the spider venom and the serum that cured him.
* MultiArmedAndDangerous: Part of his mutation allows his brain to be able to control four extra limbs, which are provided by his arm-harness.
* MultiArmedMultitasking: Helpful when building things.
* SaturdayMorningCartoon: As a youth, he was particularly obsessed with a superhero cartoon called "Queenslaw".
* ShockAndAwe: Has the ability to fire "venom-blasts" from his body that can destroy objects and have an effect on enemies similar to being tasered.
* {{Sizeshifter}}: The cure his mother spent sixteen years developing to counter the [[IncredibleShrinkingMan effects]] of the venom allowed him to grow to normal size and shrink at will.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Reflex 6]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/astro_city_2013_24_reflex_6.jpg]]

Astro City's super-teen team for the 21st century, Reflex 6 fights crime with style, panache, and all of the social awareness of today's ever-connected generation.
----
* AmicableExes: Asta and Skysweeper, though apparently they were never that serious to begin with.
* CorporateSponsoredSuperhero: Reflex 6 has corporate sponsors, and benefits include a stipend for members, branding research, and a genre-saavy marketing department.
* EmotionControl: This is the primary power for Medulla.
* EnergyBeing: Astra Furst of the First Family is a member.
* {{Intangibility}}: Jimmy Shade can render all or part of himself intangible at will.
* PowerArmor: Team Leader Skyraker wears an armored flying suit that can interface with various computer systems.
* SuperSpeed: Tearaway is the obligatory team speedster.
* WordSaladTitle: Good luck figuring out what "Reflex 6" refers to.
-->'''Crackerjack:''' I mean, 'Reflex 6'? What does that even mean?
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Astro-Naut]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/astronaut.jpg]]
[-'''Real name''': Roy Virgil-]

Before Samaritan, before the Silver Agent, there was Roy Virgil, the Astro-Naut, the man who inaugurated the first age of superheroes in the 1930s/40s. A genius engineer and inventor, he fought evil on Earth and many other worlds, ultimately putting his life on the line to save his home city of Romeyn Falls from an alien invasion before disappearing forever. [[PleaseSelectNewCityName In his honor, they renamed Romeyn Falls Astro City]].
----
* AmbiguousEnding: His ultimate fate. Did he survive his HeroicSacrifice? Did he ever find Xalzana? It's left open, but his friend Joe liked to think he did, that he earned his happy ending.
* BadassMustache: In the mold of Errol Flynn.
* BadassNormal: No powers, just a once-in-a-lifetime mind.
* CaptainSpaceDefenderOfEarth: A straight example of space adventure heroes.
* TheCasanova: Said to have been a ladies' man.
* ChestInsignia: Which became the Astro City logo.
* GadgeteerGenius: Emphasis on "genius" - he came up with inventions in the 40s that allowed him to travel through space and fight intergalactic despots. He kept many of his designs secret so that the government wouldn't abuse them, but it is rumored that a lot of the tech subsequent heroes like Augustus Furst and the N-Forcer would discover decades later are partly based on ''his'' inventions.
* GoodSmokingEvilSmoking: Partly the era, partly badass.
* HeroicSacrifice: Stopped the Mrevani invasion by blowing up their flying base, but was badly injured in the process. Whatever happened to him afterwards, he never returned to Earth.
* HeroWithBadPublicity: His refusal to share his inventions with the US government left the public feeling shocked and betrayed. His shell-shock likely played a large part in why he didn't explain his reasons for not sharing. People still believed in him, they just didn't like talking about him.
* NonIdleRich: A millionaire inventor and hero.
* TheOneThatGotAway: Xalzana, a GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe he met during his adventures, who went missing after an attack on the night he'd meant to propose.
* PlanetaryRomance: A good part of his adventures.
* ReedRichardsIsUseless: A later plot point has the Astro-Naut refuse to share his super-genius technology with the government and the rest of the world despite the countless possibilities. It's revealed this is because he fears that [[TheWorldIsNotReady humanity is not ready to be entrusted with such inventions, based on his experiences with the Mrevani.]] It's a subtle example of one compared to others, but it's not implied that he discovered the Mrevani to be no different from humans.
* ScienceHero: Appears to have preferred using his inventions to fight evil.
* ShellShockedVeteran: Following his first encounter with the warlike Mrevani, he withdrew from society, becoming a recluse.
* TookALevelInCynic: After meeting the Mrevani, he went from a man who saw the limitless possibilities that awaited humanity out in the universe to a man concerned that humanity wasn't responsible enough to be out there yet.
* TheWorldIsNotReady: His motive for not sharing his technology with the US government; he couldn't trust humanity would use his inventions responsibly, that they wouldn't end up following in the Mrevani's footsteps.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Living Nightmare]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/living_nightmare.jpg]]

The Living Nightmare was the product of an early '60s experiment GoneHorriblyWrong - an attempt to eliminate fear instead resulted in it being externalized, manifesting as a monster. Over the subsequent decades, the Nightmare was controlled by both villains and heroes, used to serve their ends... until it finally asserted its independence.
----
* AnthropomorphicPersonification: It's a manifestation of human fear, and that fear shapes and sustains it. If need be, it can draw on that fear to bolster its determination.
* AppropriatedAppellation: Described as "some kind of living nightmare" by one of the heroes who first fought it, and it stuck.
* AsLongAsThereIsEvil: In the Nightmare's case, it's 'as long as there is fear'.
* BellyMouth: Its mouth is situated on its chest. Its configuration as of "Nightmare Life" also adds a pair of eyes and a nose above it, so it now has a face there.
* DarkIsNotEvil: Zigzagged with DarkIsEvil. The Nightmare isn't evil left to itself, but it's been used for evil by others.
* DreamSpying: During "Nightmare Life", dreamers share in what the Nightmare's thinking and experiencing.
* EmotionControl: Able to absorb fear and return it amplified.
* TheEmpath: Can sense what others are feeling, particularly fear.
* EnergyAbsorption: Able to absorb the energy of the heroes who fight it.
* {{Expy}}: Of the [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk Savage Hulk]] - a violent, destructive creature of great strength that lashed out at anything that threatened it, created by an experiment with unintended consequences. Also like the Hulk, if you take the time and just not fight it, it has a heroic spirit underneath that scary exterior.
* ExtraEyes: A ring of eyes on its head-equivalent, plus [[EyesDoNotBelongThere a pair on its chest]] in its "Nightmare Life" configuration, all of which [[GlowingEyes glow]].
* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: Forced on the Nightmare. As control of it switched from user to user, it went from villain to hero to villain again, until it finally broke free, deciding to become a hero.
* HorrifyingHero: Has been before, as piloted by Peter Carney, and seeks to be again.
* HulkSpeak: When it finally speaks. Its version seems to be of the 'more intelligent than it sounds' type.
* IControlMyMinionsThrough: Historically, villains controlled the Nightmare through the use of pain and fear to compel its obedience - until it overcame its fear of the pain.
* LivingWeapon: What the Nightmare was chiefly used for by others.
* LogicalWeakness: Being dependent on human fear to sustain and empower it, if it's far enough away from anyone, it temporarily dies - although said distance is somewhere between Earth orbit and the Sun.
* MeatPuppet: A heroic version, oddly enough; for a while, the Nightmare was mentally piloted by Lieutenant Peter Carney through a MindControlDevice, directing it to fight for justice.
* MindVirus: Traces of it were once used to inflict bad dreams on Samaritan. When it was extracted, the mini-Nightmares began recombining into a single Nightmare.
* NoBiologicalSex: No sexual characteristics, and no apparent gender identification, though one or two people have used "him".
* NoSell: It's able to punch through Samaritan's Empyrean Web as if it's not there.
* PhlebotinumRebel: Inspired by Honor Guard's example in "Nightmare Life", the Nightmare overcomes the fear and pain being used to control it, and follows the commands back to their origin to confront its current master, Doctor Dominax.
* QuestForIdentity: Its goal as of the end of "Nightmare Life", seeking to learn how to be a person and a hero.
* ReluctantMonster: When it started out, it was naive, curious, and unwittingly dangerous.
* ResurrectiveImmortality: Even if killed, it will reform, for fear never ends.
* {{Shapeshifting}}: When it was first created, it reconfigured itself based on what it saw in people's minds, eventually ending up with the main form it has in the series. It still has at least some of that mutability, both involuntarily, the details of its form shifting over time, and voluntarily, growing temporary wings to allow it to [[{{Flight}} fly]].
* ShadowWalker: Able to walk between shadows in a form of short-range teleportation.
* SuperStrength: Smashes walls and floors easily.
* ThroatLight: In the Nightmare's case, it's as much a sign of something to fear as it is a sign of power, especially given [[BellyMouth its mouth is in its chest]].
* YouCanTalk: Honor Guard's reaction when the Nightmare finally speaks in "Nightmare Life".
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Mister Cakewalk]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mister_cakewalk.jpg]]

In the early years of the 20th century, the roguish Mister Cakewalk embarrassed and humiliated the wealthy and privileged of Romeyn Falls, standing up for the poor and oppressed.
----
* AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: Gold and black skin, giving his face the appearance of a golden mask.
* AnthropomorphicPersonification: He is the [[spoiler:personification of counterculture music, "whatever's new, and moving young people to feel, to move, to act".]]
* DiscoStu: He was regarded as this towards the end of his run, when ragtime went out of style and Bakerville's population starting viewing him as a walking stereotype.
* FadSuper: Embodying ragtime, and the spirit of cakewalk it came from.
* FoeRomanceSubtext: He and Dame Progress have something that might be a rivalry, might be a romance, or perhaps even both.
* GentlemanThief: Dresses to fit the part, though he doesn't quite talk like it.
* HeroWithBadPublicity: Unlike his later incarnations, he was actually popular with the public early on when he was standing up for the people of Bakerville. But he fell out of favor when his antics kept scaring away investment in the city.
* JustLikeRobinHood: Steals from the rich and gives to the needy.
* NiceHat: A white top hat.
* NoSell: He's unaffected by Dame Progress's pneumo-tranquilizing shells, though he does admit they sting.
* TheNthDoctor: [[spoiler:The first incarnation of living counterculture music.]]
* SharpDressedMan: A light-colored suit, black-and-red waistcoat, red bowtie, top hat and cane.
* SuperReflexes: Agile, nimble, and quick on his feet, jumping around with superhuman agility.
* TotallyRadical: Described as talking like something out of a minstrel show.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Jazzbaby]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jazzbaby.jpg]]

[-'''Civilian alias''': Harmony Chord-]

A Jazz Age heroine who threw down with the underworld of Romeyn Falls, both human and otherworldly.
----
* TwentiesBobHaircut: Has bobbed hair, as is befitting a flapper.
* AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: Gold skin.
* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Like Mr Cakewalk, she was the [[spoiler: latest personification of counterculture music.]]
* FadSuper: Jazz, naturally.
* {{Flight}}: Can turn her stole into wings.
* GlowingEyes: Glowing gold.
* {{Intangibility}}: Able to pass through ceilings.
* LineOfSightName: Inspired to choose her civilian name after seeing a place called Harmony House.
* TheNthDoctor: [[spoiler:The second incarnation of living counterculture music.]]
* PastLifeMemories: She retains a few hazy memories of [[spoiler:being Mister Cakewalk.]]
* SuperReflexes: Agile enough to [[DodgeTheBullet dodge bullets]].
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Able to make herself look like an ordinary woman.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Zootsuit]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/zootsuit.jpg]]

A hero of whom little is known, first appearing with the zoot suit riots of the Forties.
----
* AllThereInTheManual: His name's given in the solicit for issue #41, but not the actual comic, finally showing up in issue #45. As it turns out, his name actually ''was'' supposed to be revealed in #41, but an editing error removed the thought box mentioning him. It was later restored in the trade collection.
* AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: Gold skin, like his predecessors.
* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Like Mr Cakewalk and Jazzbaby, he was the [[spoiler: latest personification of counterculture music.]]
* BouncingBattler: From the little we see of him, this is how he fights.
* FadSuper: Representing zoot suits, and the riots named for them.
* HeroWithBadPublicity: His reputation got off to a bad start when the first time anyone had really heard of him was over how he beat up a couple of soldiers. What most people didn't know was said soldiers were actually serpent men in disguise trying to kill a young woman.
* NeverGotToSayGoodbye: This happened between him and a woman named Carlotta Valdez. [[spoiler: When she meets Glamorax a couple of decades later and Glamorax finally remembers Glamorax’s past as Zootsuit, Glamorax apologizes, saying Glamorax hated leaving Carlotta without saying goodbye to her.]]
* NiceHat: A jaunty little number with a feather in it.
* TheNthDoctor: [[spoiler:The third incarnation of counterculture music.]]
* SharpDressedMan: A zoot suit, what else?
* TotallyRadical: Not much to go on, but he seems to speak like mid-century Latinx stereotypes.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Bouncing Beatnik]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bouncing_beatnik.jpg]]

A hero for the 50s, the Bouncing Beatnik was always ready to jam whenever crime reared its ugly mug. Unfortunately, the squares of Astro City weren't so appreciative of his attempts to help.
----
* AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: Like his precursors, the Beatnik's skin is gold.
* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Like Mr Cakewalk, Jazzbaby and Zootsuit, he was the [[spoiler: latest personification of counterculture music.]]
* BadassBeard: A suitably beatnik goatee.
* BigOlEyebrows: He's got impressively bushy-looking black ones that seem to frame his face.
* BouncingBattler: Fights by bouncing all over the place.
* {{Expy}}: His HeroWithBadPublicity status, along with his incredibly athletic skills, calls to mind the certified TropeCodifier, Spider-Man.
* FadSuper: He's a living representation of the {{beatnik}} craze that kicked up in the fifties.
* HeroWithBadPublicity: The minute he shows up to stop an attack on a museum, the bystanders assume he's somehow responsible, or grumbling about what happened to ''respectable'' heroes.
* NiceHat: Wears a beret, which never gets dislodged no matter how much the Beatnik bounces around.
* TheNthDoctor: [[spoiler:He's the fourth incarnation of living counterculture music.]]
* TotallyRadical: Speaks in Haney-esque fifties slang, daddy-o.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Halcyon Hippie]]
He represents the counterculture of the late 1960s. Little else is known about him. Notably, he appeared around the same time the Old Soldier did.
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/154723_57514_halcyon_hippie.jpg]]

* FadSuper: He's a super-powered hippie.
* HigherUnderstandingThroughDrugs: He realized his true nature while getting stoned one time. [[spoiler: This realization triggered his transformation into Glamorax, though the knowledge didn't carry over]].
* NewAgeRetroHippie: He's played it affectionately straight.
* StrongerThanTheyLook: Despite being a hero of peace and love, he's got some pretty strong magic. He was actually one of the four superheroes called upon to help repair the timeline, which meant he had some pretty far-out powers, man.
* TheNthDoctor: [[spoiler:He’s the fifth incarnation of living counterculture music.]]
* TotallyRadical: Not much was seen though given his nature, he speaks in the groovy style of the 1960s.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Glamorax]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/glamorax.jpg]]
->"Oh, don't talk about me like I'm other people, baby. Who says I can't be wherever I damn well please?"

A superhero in the 1970s, who tended to operate around Shelton Square.
----
* AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: Glam’s skin is a shining white color.
* AmbiguousGender: Despite appearing outwardly female, Glamorax refuses to identify as any gender.
* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Like Mr Cakewalk, Jazzbaby, Zootsuit, the Bouncing Beatnik and the Halcyon Hippie, Glamorax was the [[spoiler:latest personification of counterculture music.]]
* EvenTheGuysWantHim[=/=]EvenTheGirlsWantHer: Glamorax’s ambiguous gender earned Glam a lot of admirers of different genders, including Thomas O'Brien and Natalie Furst.
* FadSuper: Glam rock, this time.
* LightEmUp: Glamorax can create disorienting light shows.
* TheNthDoctor: [[spoiler:Glam's the sixth incarnation of living counterculture music. Glam is the second to actually realize this and is unnerved by the thought, but thrilled by the idea of changing into something new, knowing Glam is going to go soon, feeling the change coming on, and even speeding up the process. Unfortunately, things don't go very well...]]
* PastLifeMemories: [[spoiler:With some help from Thomas O'Brien, Glam learns of Glam’s past lives.]]
* {{Stripperiffic}}: Glamorax wears boots, gloves, and pasties over the chest and crotch areas. The rest is all Glam.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Putrid Punk / The Peerless Punk]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/putrid_punk.jpg]]
->"y-you-- you putrid, self-satisfied, smug, useless bags of--"

The abortive last incarnation of the Spirit of Counterculture Music. Even his name (or rather, what he would have chosen to call himself) is just a guess.
----
* AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: Punk's skin is a glowing yellow color, with black patches that resemble punk band-aids or tattoos.
* AmbiguousGender: Heavily averted. His predecessor was completely androgynous, and beautiful to both sexes. He is aggressively male.
* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Had he survived, he would have been the [[spoiler: latest personification of counterculture music.]]
* TheNthDoctor: [[spoiler:Punk is - or rather should have been - the seventh incarnation of living counterculture music. Punk is the only one whose change was witnessed by others, which proved to be a disastrous miscalculation on his predecessor's part...]]
* TokenEvilTeammate: He probably would not have been strictly evil, but it is clear that the elderly admirers, well-wishers and former lovers who gathered to witness the fundamentally kind and joyful Glamorax's transformation would have been in for a seriously rude awakening once the transformation into the angry and rather terrifying Punk was complete. The character quote above was in fact directed at them, and not the snake cult that disrupted the ritual (he was not yet aware of their presence).

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Nightingale and Sunshrike (later Sunbird)]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/insideastrocity3.jpg]]

A pair of bird-themed female heroes with the powers of shadow and light respectively.
----
* ActionGirl: All (possible) incarnations are women.
* LegacyCharacter: While we don't get to see much of them, since Sunshrike later becomes Sun''bird'', and Nightingale was the younger of the two in the 80s, but the elder in her appearance in the 90s, it can be theorized that there are different generations of women under those masks. There is even implication that there is a family connection in those who get to pick up the legacy.
* MistakenForGay: Nightingale wanted to throw Manny Monkton out the window when he printed rumors that she and Sunshrike were a lesbian couple.
* NightAndDayDuo: It's right in their names, one as a 'bird of light' and the other as a 'bird of shadow'
* WorkingClassHero: They're shown to be living together in a small apartment, and have a stronger camaraderie with street-level heroes, like Crackerjack, Jack-in-the-Box, and Quarrel.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:"Kittyhawk"]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kittyhawk.jpg]]
Nightingale and Sunshrike's pet cat, a stray they adopted in the early '80s after an accident during one of their adventures.
----
* AnimalSuperheroes: It's a cat that has superpowers.
* CatsAreSnarkers: According to G-Dog she has a "sardonic reserve".
* {{Flight}}: Can unfurl a pair of functional wings from her back and make them disappear when not in use.
* FreakLabAccident: Got covered in mind-control goop, which somehow gave her superpowers.
* InsistentTerminology: Inverted, as Sunshrike insists they're ''not'' calling her Kittyhawk.
* {{Intangibility}}: Walks through barriers like there's nothing there.
* IntellectualAnimal: Though she can't talk, she's smart enough to decide to find a kidnapped girl and get Rocket Dog's assistance in tracking her down. That said, she's still enough of a cat to play around with things she really shouldn't.
* LivingADoubleLife: Her new humans don't know she has superpowers and fights crime, though Nightingale has her suspicions...
* LockedIntoStrangeness: Originally, she was grey and white with black stripes, but after getting covered in the goop, all her grey fur turned black.
* ShoutOut: To ComicBook/KittyPryde a.k.a. Shadowcat, a member of the ComicBook/XMen who could also walk through walls.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Stormhawk]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/stormhawk.jpg]]
[-'''Real name''': Christopher "Topher" Martin-]

* AnimalThemedSuperbeing: Hawks.
* BlackAndNerdy: He's mentioned as being a genetics whiz, and as having gotten a big research grant.
* TheChosenOne: [[spoiler: The amulet that gave him his powers apparently chooses its wearers, seeking out those with the potential to be heroes, if given the right push.]]
* {{Expy}}: Of ComicBook/TheFalcon, being a black superhero with the abilities of a bird of prey.
* {{Flight}}
* HeroicSacrifice: Died stopping Krigari Ironhand.
* LegacyCharacter: [[spoiler:Bearing the amulet's legacy.]]
* PosthumousCharacter: We learn about him from others after his death.
* PowerCopying: [[spoiler:Where he got his ShockAndAwe powers; a creature that'd previously been linked to the amulet had lightning powers, and the amulet copied them for later wearers to use.]]
* PsychicLink: [[spoiler:From what Marcy said later, Topher experienced what Lightning was feeling, and attributed him with being the hero of the pair.]]
* ShockAndAwe: Could fire bolts of lightning from his head.
* SuperStrength: According to Marcy.
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Able to turn into a [[HalfHumanHybrid half-human, half-bird form]]. [[spoiler:It subsequently turns out he could [[FusionDance merge]] with his pet hawk Lightning thanks to the amulet.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:G-Dog]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/g_dog.jpg]]
[-'''Real names''': Andy Merton and Hank-]

Half-man. Half-corgi. ''Mostly'' hero. Utterly adorable.
----
* AffirmativeActionLegacy: [[spoiler:Inverted. Topher, who'd been the human partner in Stormhawk, was African-American, while Andy is Caucasian.]]
* AnimalThemedSuperbeing: A dog, natch.
* BadassAdorable: As far as most Astro City residents were concerned, being a humanoid corgi who fought crime.
* BroughtToYouByTheLetterS: "G", for "G-Dog".
* TheChosenOne: [[spoiler:As with Topher, he was chosen by the amulet.]]
* ComboPlatterPowers: [[spoiler:Courtesy of the amulet and its PowerCopying abilities. Beyond SuperSenses, SuperStrength, {{Wall Crawl}}ing, and [[TranslatorMicrobes understanding animals]], G-Dog also manifested {{Flight}} and ShockAndAwe.]]
* FusionDance: Secretly the fusion of Andy, a human, and Hank, a corgi, courtesy of [[TransformationTrinket a mysterious amulet]]. Andy's consciousness was dominant, influenced by Hank's emotions. They could separate again at will.
* HalfHumanHybrid: Humanoid corgi.
* HeelFaceTurn: Andy was a petty criminal before becoming part of G-Dog, but went straight afterwards, thanks to his PsychicLink with Hank, who had a very strong sense of right and wrong.
* HeroicDog: As far as Andy was concerned, Hank was the real hero of the pair, and it carried over to G-Dog.
* LegacyCharacter: [[spoiler:To Stormhawk, and to the heroes who wore the amulet before him. It's implied that after Hank dies, a new hero, possibly hawk-based, will soon follow him.]]
* MayflyDecemberFriendship: The amulet doesn't affect the aging process, so Hank grows old while Andy is still relatively young.
* MoralityPet: Quite literally. Andy was a petty thief who wanted to use his powers to steal and pay his debts, but fusing with Hank and feeling the dog's goodnatured, protective instincts, Andy slowly learns to be a better person.
* OddCouple: One of them is just a regular human guy, the other is a corgi. They're each other's best friends.
* PassingTheTorch: [[spoiler:After Hank died, Andy gave up the amulet, leaving it in the mountains to find someone new, where it was picked up by a bird.]]
* PowerCopying: [[spoiler:The amulet copies the abilities of its wearer and who/whatever they bond with into itself. If someone gives the amulet up, they apparently keep whatever abilities they unlocked from it, aside from FusionDance.]]
* PsychicLink: Andy could feel Hank's thoughts and feelings, and as time passed it extended to being able to understand [[TranslatorMicrobes what other animals were saying]].
* SuperSenses: A dog's hearing and sense of smell.
* SuperStrength: [[spoiler:More than the proportionate strength of a dog, at least.]]
* WallCrawl: G-Dog could use his claws to scale walls.
* WrongGenreSavvy: Spent several months avoiding a mob boss he owed money to before he remembered he was a superhero and he could just beat him up.
[[/folder]]

----
!!Villains
From petty crooks to universe-shaking conquerers, here are the villains, troublemakers, and invaders who keep the heroes' days very busy and full of interest.

[[folder:The Deacon]]
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/deacon_2.jpg]]
->"How can I help you, my friend?"

[-'''Real name''': Deke [=MacManus=]-]

The most eminent crime lord of Astro City. He has no powers himself, but he doesn't need them.
----
* ArchNemesis: To the Confessor.
* AstonishinglyAppropriateAppearance: The Deacon always wears priestly robes, even though there's no evidence that he holds any ecclesiastical station. This further contrasts him from the Confessor, [[spoiler: who is entitled to such apparel but doesn't feel worthy to wear it.]]
* DissonantSerenity: Deliberately, for creepiness.
* {{Expy}}: To the Kingpin, in terms of his role.
* FauxAffablyEvil: The Deacon is always quiet, smiling and polite, even as he orders his men to kill you in the most painful way possible.
* ManipulativeBastard: Spends years manipulating his boss without him knowing, then kills him and takes over his position as crimelord.
* SinisterMinister: Subverted, as the Deacon is sinister, but not an actual religious figure.
* TheStarscream: Before becoming the Deacon, Deke [=MacManus=] was [[TheDragon second-in-command]] to Astro City crime boss Joey "The Platypus" Platapopoulous. He took advantage of the social tension in Astro City during the 70's to covertly hide away funds and weapons, then during the riots of '76, he revealed to The Platypus that he'd orchestrated most of the turmoil to weaken his position, then shot his former boss dead.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Unholy Alliance]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/unholy_alliance.jpg]]
->"Attention Binderbeck Plaza! You've been scheduled -- for DEMOLITION!"

A team of super-villains led by Demolitia. Typically consists of four or five members, with little variation in membership. They perform various villainous acts for whoever pays them, and sometimes just ForTheEvulz.
----
* TheBrute: Slamburger.
* ADayInTheLimelight: Glowworm gets a little more development in a story in which an in-universe comic book implies he's a white supremacist.
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: One of Glowworm's complaints during his rant towards the comic book publisher is, "Do you know what my mother thought when she read this?!?" The publisher's response is to ask what she thinks of him robbing banks.
* EvenEvilCanBeLoved: Oddly, even though Slamburger has been characterized as nothing but a violent brute and potential rapist so far, Steeljack regards him as a good enough friend to be horrified at the thought of him getting killed, so he may have HiddenDepths.
* EveryoneHasStandards: "Where the Action Is" implies that Glowworm is ''deeply'' offended by the above-mentioned comic not just because [[CriticalResearchFailure his original human form wasn't white,]] but because publishing it was lying to children.
* GadgeteerGenius: Demolitia, who once escaped from prison by building a jackhammer out of a toilet.
* HandBlast: Glowworm can fire radioactive energy from his hands.
* HiredGuns: Sometimes they're taking pay from a GreaterScopeVillain, sometimes they're just in the mood to spread fear and misery.
* LovelyAngels: For a while, the black-leather-clad Spice was partnered with Sugar, her [[TomboyAndGirlyGirl frilly lace girly-girl counterpart.]]
* PlayingWithFire: Flamethrower.
* PoweredArmor: Demolitia is almost never seen outside of her homemade armored harness.
* PowerGlows: True to his name, Glowworm glows bright green.
* SnakePeople: Glowworm's lower torso is an elongated snake-like tail.
* StuffBlowingUp: True to her name, Demolitia's specialty is destruction and demolitions.
* SuperStrength: Slamburger's their main source, although Glowworm does seem to have slightly above-human brawn.
* WhipItGood: Spice's preferred weapon is a large bullwhip.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Pyramid]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pyramid.jpg]]
An international conspiracy out for world domination, Pyramid has been active for centuries, and regularly clash with Honor Guard. They are led by the five Lords of the Theban Council, who in turn obey Pyramid's supreme commander, the Sekhmet Stone.
----
* AncientConspiracy: Pyramid has been active for centuries and conspires to take over the world.
* ArtifactOfDoom: The Sekhmet Stone, a giant Sphinx-like stone face that is somehow alive and claims to have mystic insight.
* BadassArmy: The heroes of ''Astro City'' keep knocking them down, but they keep coming back up.
* DrillSergeantNasty: ''Dark Age'' shows that Pyramid employs stereotypical drill instructors to put new recruits through TrainingFromHell in their boot camps.
* EqualOpportunityEvil: The group doesn't care about what social groups their recruits come from, they accept anyone, though it's implied that anyone who isn't physically fit enough to be soldiers are disposed of to prevent them from leaking information.
* FacelessGoons: Pyramid members typically wear helmets that partially or completely cover their faces.
* FantasticRankSystem: The ranks within Pyramid are named after animals native to the Egyptian deserts.
* MythicalMotifs: Being a group based on Egyptian mysticism, scarabs and sphinxes are prominently featured.
%%* NebulousEvilOrganization
* ReligionOfEvil: Has aspects of this, especially with their worship of the Sekhmet Stone.
* TakeOverTheWorld: Their goal.
* TrainingFromHell: The group has dozens of paramilitary camps hidden out in the wilderness where recruits are put through an extiensive regiment of combat training and brainwashing.
* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: Pyramid agents are trained to believe this.
-->"The world is bad! The world is foul! Only Pyramid can fix it! Only the strong hand of the Scarab Throne!"
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Aubrey Jason/Lord Sovereign]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/aubrey_jason.jpg]]
->"It ends here. Your folks stay dead, you join them, and in all this carnage no one ever thinks twice about it."

Beginning as a Pyramid field commander, Aubrey Jason gradually rose through the organization and was poised to join their highest ranks. But the determined vendetta of Charles and Royal Williams derailed those plans, eventually sending him to seek greater power and leading to his transformation into Lord Sovereign.
----
* ButForMeItWasTuesday: When confronted by Charles and Royal Williams, he readily admits he doesn't remember -- nor care about -- his cold-blooded murder of their parents.
* CastingAShadow: As Lord Sovereign, he can control and wield the mysterious dark energies that empower him.
* CreateYourOwnVillain: Aubrey Jason would have been content to remain a high-ranking member of Pyramid, but was pushed into acquiring vast power to protect himself from the relentless pursuit of the Williams brothers.
* DarkIsEvil: Jason was already evil from the beginning, so acquiring dark energy powers was a natural fit.
* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: His eventual supervillain alias, "Lord Sovereign" (Or "Lord Lord", essentially), which the Williams brothers even note in-story. It works as a nod to the DarkAgeOfSupernames, however.
* EvilIsPetty: Gunned down two innocent people because he was pissed off that the HUD on his helmet was busted.
* MassHypnosis: Lord Sovereign is able to mentally control weak-willed underlings and make them do his bidding.
* RedRightHand: Aubrey Jason has a long scar running down the right side of his face.
* {{Telepathy}}: As Lord Sovereign, Jason can read the thoughts of people nearby.
* UpgradeArtifact: Lord Sovereign needs a piece of the Sekmeht Stone to contain and focus his energy powers.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Chessmen]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/chesssmen.jpg]]
A group of villains wearing armor themed after chess pieces, and active since TheSixties, if not sooner. The armor has changed hands several times, allowing different villains to appropriate the Chessmen name for their own ends.
----
* ChessMotifs: The armor was originally built resemble chess pieces and the functions of the said pieces. However, the armor set has been destroyed, rebuilt, dismantled, modified, upgraded, separated and reassembled so many times over the years, the link is tenuous at best.
* PowerArmor: The Pawn armor seems to be built for speed, the Rooks (which are more like {{Mecha}}) as BeamSpam machines, the Knights as teleporters, and the Bishops as full-fledged FlyingBrick types. Queen and King-class armor has yet to make an appearance.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Junkman]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/junkman.jpg]]
->"It doesn't matter what I can do -- what I can think of, what I can create -- I'm just suddenly obsolete?"

[-'''Real name''': Hiram Potterstone-]

A villainous retiree who seeks vengeance on society for age discrimination, the Junkman commits crimes using equipment he recycles from discarded trash.
----
* AntiVillain: His 'crimes' are largely restricted to heists and resisting arrest, he's got a sympathetic motivation, and he seems to enjoy bantering with Jack-in-the-Box.
* ArchNemesis: To Jack-In-The-Box.
* DudeWheresMyRespect: The Junkman pulls off a bank heist so perfect that no one has ''any'' idea who did it, and then retires, secure in the knowledge that he outsmarted everyone. His joy is short-lived when everyone assumes that the robber must have been caught anyway, simply because the heroes always win. This makes Junkman realize that his victory isn't really worth anything if no one knows about his deed - so he repeats the heist with ''one tiny flaw'' and gets caught, so that the whole world can watch his televised trial and understand his brilliance.
* GadgeteerGenius: All of the Junkman's equipment come from equipment scrounged from the city dump and re-purposed.
* HomemadeInventions: His motivation is to show that "old things" - such as himself - aren't useless, so he'll rebuild junk into tools and weapons.
* MundaneMadeAwesome: For example, super-speedsters are a major inconvenience, unless you've juiced up some ''marbles'' to be attracted to their feet.
* WhosLaughingNow: Used sympathetically in his backstory.
* YouCantThwartStageOne: Humorously deconstructed in "Show 'Em All".
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Conquistador]]
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/conquistador.jpg]]
->"I have assembled an army of operatives -- all skilled, if not deep thinkers."

[-'''Real name''': [[spoiler: Esteban Rodrigo Suarez Hidalgo]]-]

A modern-day version of the conquerors of old, the Conquistador gathers an army of criminals for his grand scheme -- a plan whose full details are even more brazen and daring than anyone could imagine.
----
* BadBoss: [[spoiler:Not only does he kill any of his hired criminals if he suspects they might figure out his EngineeredHeroics plan, but the plan itself ends with killing all of them ANYWAY just so he can establish himself as a new superhero, El Guerrero.]]
* CrazyJealousGuy: [[spoiler:Hidalgo]] is willing to frame Maria Alvarado as the Conquistador simply because he's never forgiven her for marrying someone else.
* EngineeredHeroics: The Conquistador's plan is to gather numerous criminals to simultaneously commit crimes across Astro City so he can [[spoiler:use his heroic identity of El Guerrero to kill them all as part of his heroic debut.]]
* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: His madness is driving him from [[spoiler: FallenHero to out-and-out KnightTemplar.]]
* LaserGuidedKarma: The Consquistador wanted to be famous and remembered by the world. [[spoiler: Following his defeat, he's just about never mentioned again and come the Vertigo series, his mask is used as a table decoration at a supervillain-theme restaurant. To rub salt in the wound, Steeljack puts his hat over the mask but doesn't even comment or fully acknowledge it while sitting down with Cutlass.]]
* PowerArmor: The Conquistador [[spoiler:and his heroic alias El Guerrero]] is clad in a suit of Power Armor that completely covers his features. It also distorts the voice of the person wearing it, and can project a hologram to disguise the wearer's face as another person's.
* WhatMeasureIsAMook: The Conquistador insists on not hurting any people with his plan, but [[spoiler:does not consider his criminal underlings as "people."]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Mock Turtle]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mock_turtle.jpg]]
->"I assure you, my dearest one, you haven't heard the last of the Mock Turtle!"

[-'''Real name''': Dr. Martin Chefwick-]

A lifelong daydreamer, nebbish Dr. Chefwick thought he finally had a chance to become a brave adventurer when he invented an advanced all-environment exploration suit. But when his employers wanted to give it to a professional explorer, Chefwick stole the suit, equipped it with weapons, and became the Mock Turtle, a daring thief of the British underworld.
----
* AnimalThemedSuperbeing: For some reason he chose the Tenniel version of an obscure ''Alice in Wonderland'' character.
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: His death is needlessly overdone. [[spoiler:First his armour is frozen and cracked, then it's pumped with poisonous gas. Then he's dropped off a rooftop.]]
* DevelopingDoomedCharacters: He was given an entire story arc and he is a very dorky LoveMartyr. [[spoiler: He's killed off in his next appearance]]
* DitzyGenius: He's painfully easily manipulated and spent his childhood trying to climb through mirrors, but he's a skilled inventor and an effective supervillain.
* {{Expy}}: His schtick of a romantically-inclined and unusually clever MadScientist who sticks to low-level work and an ''Alice in Wonderland'' theme despite his obvious genius invokes the Mad Hatter.
* GentlemanThief: Chefwick imagines himself to be this as The Mock Turtle.
* HopelessSuitor: Marcia leads him on, the poor chump.
* IJustWantToBeSpecial: Martin Chefwick spent his childhood trying to find his way into a magical world like Oz or Narnia or Wonderland. As an adult he became an engineer and snapped after learning that he wouldn't be allowed to pilot the exploration suit he had created. His childhood sweetheart may have had something to do with it as well...
* JustLikeRobinHood: Martin envisions himself as this, stealing from the rich and giving to Lucia's "charitable works." In reality, she's a ManipulativeBitch who's building her own criminal empire with his aid.
* LongingForFictionland: Martin would spend his childhood trapped in wardrobes, trying to find a portal to Narnia. If he could have found a twister or a rabbit hole, he would have tried that too.
** When he arrives at Astro City, it's framed and lit to strongly resemble the Emerald City of Oz, and he thinks he may ''finally'' have found the place of his dreams.
* LoveMakesYouDumb: Despite his intellect, Martin is blinded by love for his childhood sweetheart Lucia, who he constantly imagines as [[TheIngenue an innocent girl to be sheltered]] from his roguish life. She, in turn, easily exploits his intellect and engineering talents for her own gain.
* PowerArmor: The Mock Turtle suit was originally intended for extreme environments (high altitudes, sea bottoms, etc.) but is readily put to use for thievery. When he's up against the Chessmen, whose suits ''he himself'' upgraded for combat, running is his only option.
* ShownTheirWork: While ''Alice in Wonderland'' is a well-known story, the Mock Turtle is a pretty minor and obscure character within the mythos, and a common victim of being AdaptedOut. The fact that Chefwick chose it as his villainous theme demonstrates that he knows the story very well.
* UnreliableNarrator: His narration when relating his backstory is very complimentary of Lucia, but it's clear to the reader that she's been a crook taking advantage of him from when they first met as children. He also completely misreads the situation when he finds himself in Keifer Square in the middle of Steeljack's first arc.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Glue-Gun]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gluegun.jpg]]
->"You thought you could just throw me in jail and forget me, didn't you? You thought I was just some joke, someone ''anybody'' could beat!"

A small-time crook with his quick-drying epoxy sprayer, Glue-Gun is after two things: an easy job and the respect that's long eluded him.
----
* BewareTheSillyOnes: Everyone tends to laugh at Glue-Gun, but he did once cause a man to have a seizure when he glued him to the ceiling.
* ButtMonkey: If something embarrassing happens to a villain in Astro City, odds are good Glue-Gun will be the subject.
* {{Expy}}: Of Creator/MarvelComics' Paste-Pot Pete.
* IneffectualSympatheticVillain: Glue-Gun's only major appearance showed him invading a superheroes' dinner club, only to be taken out by the ''busboy'' he was holding hostage. And then all the incognito superheroes ''laughed.''
* WouldHurtAChild: Or at least "Would Hold a Teenager Hostage".
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Infidel]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/infidel.jpg]]
->"Infidel? Aye, call me infidel. For you may fear it, but I do not!"

This time-traveling mage once conquered empires and shattered worlds, until a showdown with Samaritan left him boxed in a willing stalemate. Now he bides his time researching the mysteries of the universe and the limits of his foe.
----
* AppropriatedAppellation: Infidel took his name from the cries of the ignorant masses who opposed his research on the grounds that it was "unnatural".
* ArchNemesis: To Samaritan.
* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: He explains that his excellent brew of coffee doesn't taste good because of beetle-shells, the fingernails of dead virgins, or "that hellish stuff you call chicory."
* BaldOfEvil: He's bald. He's evil.
* BeardOfEvil: He's got a beard. He's evil.
* DarkSkinnedBlonde: Infidel is a black man with a platinum blond beard; his hair changed color as a side effect of time travel. When he uses his powers, his hair turns emerald green.
* {{Expy}}: Almost certainly one to ComicBook/{{Shazam}} a.k.a. Captain Marvel, or ComicBook/BlackAdam, considering he is a magic-based superbeing who is a rival to the Superman-expy.
* FirstNameBasis: He calls Samaritan by his civilian name, Asa, during their yearly dinners.
* FishOutOfTemporalWater: Infidel is a time-lost villain whose own timeline was inadvertently destroyed by Samaritan's actions.
* {{Foil}}: He and Samaritan are equals in power, but opposites in just about everything else. Samaritan is from the future, his powers come from science (and mostly by accident), and he uses his abilities to tirelessly serve the greater good. Infidel comes from the past, his developed his powers by studying magic, and he prefers to subjugate and dominate people.
* FromNobodyToNightmare: Was originally just another member in some nameless tribe in what was then Nubia in Africa. Unlike his family and tribe, he wanted to understand how the world worked, which led him to wander, eventually being sold as a slave and suffering all manner of abuse but finally gaining enough knowledge to set him down the path to becoming Infidel.
* ItsAllAboutMe: Infidel reflects more about the names hurled on him than one particular reason for them, namely, kidnapping people to perform experiments.
* LetNoCrisisGoToWaste: Previously, Infidel would time-travel to various historical crises and ask which of the victims were willing to survive as his slaves.
* MadScientist: Infidel combines this with the "Mad Alchemist" and "Mad Wizard" subtypes.
* MagicPoweredPseudoscience: Infidel often uses magic to replicate technological functions, including audio/video recordings of events and artificial servants. He even takes offense at the implication that what he does is inherently different or worse than science; he gets annoyed at Samaritan for being perturbed by his homunculi, and says that he wouldn't mind them at all if they were robots.
* ManOfWealthAndTaste: Infidel takes no shame in indulging himself; being able to create anything with magic and having all of eternity to do it doesn't hurt, either.
* NotSoDifferentRemark: Has become this with Samaritan after retiring. He notes that both of them are more similar to each other than they'd like to admit, and their frequent interactions have slowly begun to affect each other. Samaritan, exhausted from his role as protector of the world, is implied to sympathize more with Infidel's point of view, while Infidel, for the first time having someone to talk to who doesn't treat him like shit, has begun to understand the positive aspects of human interaction.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: He grew up in medieval Africa and Arabia, and never bothered to change his social views despite his genius. He's incredibly sexist, and sees it as his right to kidnap women to be his sex slaves. He doesn't even seem to do it because he thinks women are inferior per se; many of his victims are very intelligent women who he takes to have someone who can talk to him on something close to his level even as he exploits them sexually. He genuinely seems to think that women exist to service men, or perhaps, to service ''him''. Even after his retirement, he still insists on creating mindless female clones made from DNA of the women he actually wants to service him, much to Samaritan's frustration.
** Despite having been a slave himself, he sees absolutely nothing wrong with slavery and used to grab victims from various historical disasters because no one would miss them, enslaving them to build his projects in the far future.
* SavedToEnslave: He rescues survivors of disasters so he can force them into his service.
* SufficientlyAnalyzedMagic: Infidel seeks to understand existence by analyzing its alchemical underpinnings.
* SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum: Infidel once destroyed the universe in a "fit of pique." After discovering even that wouldn't kill Samaritan (and Samaritan realizing the same for Infidel), they collaborated to put everything back together.
* ThenLetMeBeEvil: As noted in AppropriatedAppelation, he takes his name from people attacking him for his "unnatural" research. This wasn't just a few one-offs either, there were ''CRUSADES'' launched just to kill him, even though he didn't really do much other than sit in his tower and study.
* WorthyOpponent: Considers Samaritan to be this, especially now that they are no longer actively opposing each other.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Gloo]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gloo.jpg]]
->"Clowncar!"

A failed experiment to clone Jack-In-The-Box resulted in Gloo, a liquid monster who uses its twisted sense of humor to punish wrongdoers -- or anyone else it thinks is a wrongdoer.
----
* BlobMonster: Gloo resembles a giant misshapen blob of green liquid.
* CloneDegeneration[=/=]EvilCounterpart: Gloo was originally created by criminals to clone the first Jack-in-the-Box and reform him into the ultimate henchman. [[EpicFail They failed spectacularly.]]
* {{Expy}}: As a monstrous, more extreme version of Jack-in-the-Box (the expy of Franchise/SpiderMan) with a viscous semi-liquid appearance, he is the Astro City equivalant of the Symbiotes.
%%* HulkSpeak
* MakingASplash: Gloo can shoot acid and other toxins from his liquid body.
* PsychopathicManchild: Gloo's preferred method of combat is to subject its targets to distorted and deranged pranks and jokes, such as jamming two dozen people into a small car or spraying acidic "seltzer" at victims.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Team Carnivore]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/team_carnivore.jpg]]
->"Roustabout! Think you smart -- hide from the law, hide from us -- !"\\
"When done with you, you wish cops found you!"

A team of genetically engineered villains who attacked the carnival in search of Roustabout. They admit to having been through the same process as him, less successfully, though they do not name those responsible.
----
* BeastMan: In appearance.
* BusFullOfInnocents: They overtly threaten the crowd to draw Roustabout out. [[spoiler:This is also their undoing, as if they had managed to find and ambush Roustabout alone, they may have had a chance at subduing him. Instead, they're swarmed by the very bystanders they had threatened for a brief window in which Roustabout rallies and trounces them.]]
* EvilGloating: They openly tell him that their bosses will take him apart, learn how he works, and fix them.
* LegoGenetics: The source of their powers and appearance.
* HulkSpeak: None of them speak normally.
* TragicMonster: Tweaked at the edges; although they are trying to kidnap Roustabout and expect him not to survive the experiments, they do it to get themselves fixed, as it went wrong applied to them.
* VillainTeamUp: Seems to have been organized as a team.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Jitterjack, the Divided Man]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jitterjack.jpg]]
->"Calm-Talking-Man and Man-With-Treats. They say you ''bad'', not do what you told. They say kill you, bring back heart. Get treats."

[-'''Real name(s)''': Unknown-]

A top Pyramid assassin, Jitterjack is two men fused together and driven insane by the experience.
----
* AxCrazy: A violently unstable psychopath, kept under a degree of control by stun-sticks.
* BraidsBeadsAndBuckskins: Half of him is straight-up comic book Native American.
* TheDreaded: He's got a nasty reputation.
* FusionDance: The means are uncertain, but Jitterjack is two men fused together down the middle.
* HulkSpeak: As demonstrated above.
* LightningBruiser: His strength, speed, and reflexes have increased exponentially, well beyond simply being doubled as you might expect.
* MadOracle: Has supernatural insight, being able to divine the true nature of The Incarnate and sensing the darkness within Black Velvet. Dialogue ("Hound dog. Hound dog. Puppy dog.") also seems to imply that he saw the kirin within Hellhound, who doesn't look very canine.
* MysteriousPast: Just how he got this way is unclear.
* PsychoForHire: It's uncertain if Pyramid even pays him, or if they just feed him and point him at things they want dead.
* PsychopathicManchild: A violent lunatic who talks like a small child and works for treats.
* SpareBodyParts: At the very least, he's got two hearts.
* SuperSenses: Another result of his transformation.
* TwoFaced: One half Native American, one half blonde soldier. Even his necklace switches from beads and claws to dog tags.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: [[spoiler:Had no way of knowing that mortally wounding Black Velvet would unleash a HatePlague. That probably wouldn't have stopped him.]]
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Last seen being taken away by an ambulance after Black Velvet roughed him up and stopped one of his hearts.
* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: Incredibly powerful, but equally mad.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Mister Drama]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mister_drama.jpg]]
[-'''Real name''': Frank Darman-]

->"Jack-in-the-Box!? Nah, nah, I ain't got time for ingenues, kid! Come back when you get your equity card!"

A dock worker with dreams of acting on the stage, he snapped after being turned down for a role and became a brilliant criminal mastermind with a dramatic flair. Both he and Jack-in-the-Box met their end on Torres Island in 1983, and no one knew the details for decades.
----
* DidntThinkThisThrough:
** The theater he robbed had his address on file. Fortunately for him, he wasn't home when the cops came knocking.
** [[spoiler:He planned to use the weirdies to record the explosion which killed him and Jack-in-the-Box and show the world his dramatic death, but forgot that they refuse to be too far apart from each other. None survived.]]
* DisproportionateRetribution: Get turned down for an acting role? Rob the theater!
* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Upon learning that he'd contracted a fast-acting cancer during one of his heists that would kill him in a matter of weeks.]]
* DualityMotif: Wears a comedy/tragedy mask with divided yellow and purple clothes.
* FlunkyBoss: Made use of the Underlord's weirdies, a bunch of really bizarre creatures.
* ItsAllAboutMe: [[spoiler:Enacted his ThanatosGambit without one thought about how it would affect his wife and daughter.]]
* LaserGuidedKarma: His last plan not only didn't work out how he wished, but for decades everyone assumed the culprit was the Underlord. So he didn't even get the credit he wanted, which was the whole reason he did it.
* NightmareFace: [[spoiler:The aforementioned cancer acted so fast that by the time he confronted Jack-in-the-Box he was basically rotting alive.]]
* PracticallyJoker: With his penchant for fancy suits and flair for the dramatic, he seems like a clear expy of ComicBook/TheJoker (the relatively less dangerous Silver Age version, at least).
* RoguesGallery: Fought Silver Agent and Max O' Millions before becoming one of Jack-in-the-Box's first and most recurring foes.
* TakingYouWithMe: [[spoiler:Successfully does this with Jack-in-the-Box I.]]
* ThanatosGambit: [[spoiler:Planned a dramatic suicide that would also kill the first Jack-in-the-Box and make him notorious. Unfortunately for him, the means he used ensured that no one would find the truth for decades.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Drama Queen]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/drama_queen.jpg]]
[-'''Real name''': Francesca Darman-]

->"You killed him! You murdered him! And now, at long last, you'll suffer the vengeance of--'''''THE DRAMA QUEEN!'''''"

Raised on a diet of bitterness by her mother, the granddaughter of Frank Darman found a warehouse with his equipment and notes and sought to avenge her grandfather's death.
----
* BrokenPedestal: She spent her whole life believing that her grandfather was murdered by Jack-in-the-Box. [[spoiler:She does ''not'' take it well when she learns that he was an egotistical prick who chose to blow himself up in an attempt to go out in a blaze of glory.]]
* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Upon learning the truth about her grandfather, she tries to self-immolate. Nice and dramatic.]]
* DualityMotif: Like her grandfather.
* FlunkyBoss: Like her grandfather, but she treats the weirdies like beloved pets.
* {{Foil}}: To Ike Johnson as well as the Box and the Jackson, the two warped possible future versions of Ike who fought his father. The comparisons are admittedly stronger with the Jackson.
** She's the granddaughter of Mister Drama just as they were the grandsons of the original Jack-in-the-Box who fought Mister Drama.
** Like the Jackson, she's based her entire life on a misconception built around what happened to her grandfather and blames Jack-in-the-Box for destroying her family and does not react well to learning the truth about him. [[spoiler: When she learns her grandfather planned his suicide as a form of final revenge against his hated foe, she becomes horrified at how the man she practically revered abandoned their family for his own ego and how she almost murdered someone who didn't deserve it.]]
* LegacyCharacter: To Mister Drama.
* MisplacedRetribution: [[spoiler:Blames Jack-in-the-Box for murdering her grandfather and ruining her mother's life, only to learn that he'd committed suicide.]]
* TheResenter: She nurses a huge grudge against Jack-in-the-Box for the role he supposedly played in ruining her family.
* SkySurfing: Flies around on a big comedy/tragedy mask.
* ThrowDownTheBomblet: Uses grenades shaped like comedy/tragedy masks in combat.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Box and The Jackson]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_box_and_the_jackson.jpg]]
[-'''Real name''': Jerome Isaac Johnson-]

->'''The Box:''' "You must be judged, father. Judged for failing your son. For failing your world."

->'''The Jackson:''' "You are a heretic and false prophet, blind to your own teachings. You will be cleansed."

* NinetiesAntiHero: They approach this from different directions, right down to their designs (clunky overbuilt cyborg/twisted biological horror).
* AllCrimesAreEqual: Both are willing to kill for even minor infractions.
* AlternateSelf: Both come from alternate futures where Zachary Johnson was killed, but from differing timelines.
* BadFuture:
** The Jackson comes from a post-apocalyptic one.
** In The Box's case it's not clear if his future's ''that'' bad or if he just bit off more than he could chew.
* BioAugmentation: The Jackson has been altered to have superhuman physical abilities, claws, and can emit acidic blood. It's unclear how much of his costume is a costume and how much is, well, him.
* BodyHorror:
** The Box has mutilated himself, having several limbs and an eye removed and replaced with garish cybernetics.
** The Jackson has been altered into a feral monstrosity.
* CallingTheOldManOut:
** The Box blames Jack-in-the-Box for not taking the proper steps to eliminate crime in his time.
** The Jackson literally worships his father, but when Jack-in-the-Box tried to correct his misconceptions he immediately turns on him, decrying him as an impostor.
* {{Cult}}: The Jackson was raised by the Brothers of Trouble, an alternate future version of the Trouble Boys who worship Jack-in-the-Box.
* {{Cyborg}}: The Box had himself cybernetically altered to make up for the training and preparation he felt he'd missed out on, and kept enhancing himself over his career.
* DisappearedDad: In their timelines Zachary Johnson was killed while his wife was still pregnant.
* {{Expy}}: The Jackson's appearance is modeled after {{ComicBook/Wolverine}}, Sabertooth, ComicBook/{{Lobo}}, and similar characters. There's also some pretty clear inspiration in the various AntiHeroSubstitute or EvilCounterpart characters Spider-Man started picking up in the 90s, like Kaine, Venom, and Carnage.
* ElectronicEyes: The Box's right eye has been replaced by one on a stalk, though any special abilities it has are unclear.
* EnergyAbsorption: The Box absorbs electricity.
* ExtendableArms: The Box's legs extend, allowing him to take superhuman strides.
* EyeOnAStalk: The Box has a cybernetic one.
* TheFundamentalist: The Jackson worships his father as a religious figure.
* FutureImperfect: The Brothers of Trouble take every one of Jack-in-the-Box's offhand jokes and references as literal gospel truth.
* GlowingEyesOfDoom: The Jackson has these when enraged.
* HollywoodAcid: The Jackson's blood can burn through Jack-in-the-Box's streamers.
* KnightTemplar:
** The Box waged a one-man war against against crime itself, and unsurprisingly proved unequal to the task of eliminating it.
** The Jackson's war on crime is a holy crusade in his father's name.
* LegacyCharacter: {{Anti Hero Substitute}}s for Jack-in-the-Box II.
* MonochromaticEyes: The Jackson's solid yellow eyes aren't part of a mask.
* MonsterClown: Both the Jackson and the Box give off that vibe.
* NaturalWeapon: The Jackson's claws.
* SequelHook: Averted. They both threaten to come back right before they're sent back to their respective timelines. Twenty years later, they still haven't returned.
* SketchySuccessor: They're both nightmarish distortions of their father's legacy.
* SpellMyNameWithAThe: They both do this.
* SuperSenses: The Jackson has at least a heightened sense of smell.
* SwissArmyWeapon: The Box's left arm has been replaced by a semi-autonomous puppet named "Justice Jacky", which can produce and use a number of weapons and tools.
* ThouShaltNotKill: They avert this with a vengeance.
* TimeTravel:
** The Box goes back in time to kill Jack-in-the-Box.
** The Jackson was taken from his mother as an infant and brought into the future in order to save him from The Wasting, and after receiving training and alteration went back in time to save his father...but changed his mind.
* WouldHurtAChild: Willing to harm one of the Trouble Boys to draw Jack out.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Assemblyman I]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/assemblyman_i.jpg]]
[-'''Real name''': Unknown-]

A mad scientist operating in the 70's, El Hombre approached him with a plan to get popular, only to get stabbed in the back.
----
* AmbiguousRobots: ''Maybe.'' His hair and skin are very metallic looking, suggesting he could be a robot or cyborg.
* GadgeteerGenius: His schtick.
* HumongousMecha: Sent one on a robbery spree so El Hombre could "fight" it, but sabotaged the remote that would have stopped it.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Pale Horseman]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pale_horseman.jpg]]
-> "The Pale Horseman rides. You have called for me and I ride. And not before time, I say, for I ''smell'' it. This place, this land is rich, rotting and ''fecund'' with it. I ''smell'' it. I smell--'''''TRANGRESSION'''''."

An entity summoned into our reality through the crack opened by the Innocent Gun.
----
* AllCrimesAreEqual: All transgressors, from murderers, to safe-crackers, to jaywalkers, to, oh, children swiping shopping carts, are punished by incineration.
* AntiquatedLinguistics: Speaks in a very formal fashion.
* BerserkButton: Having his faith in his mission shaken puts him into even more of a rage than usual. [[spoiler:As Street Angel learns.]]
* DetectEvil: Can sense and identify transgressions.
* EldritchAbomination: Punishment itself given form and brought into our world from...somewhere else.
* EvilLaugh: It sounds like "ash and bone and the grave".
* EvilSmellsBad: Preceded by a hot, dry wind that smells of sulfur.
* {{Expy}}: Of ComicBook/GhostRider and ComicBook/TheSpectre - but takes it even further than those notoriously hardline spirits of vengeance.
* HellishHorse: Rides a flaming skeletal stallion.
* HellIsThatNoise: His presence is said to make a sound like night itself, and not a good one.
* {{Hypocrite}}: Calls Street Angel a killer even though he's racked up an incredible body count himself. [[spoiler:Pointing this out is [[BerserkButton the last thing]] Street Angel ever does.]]
* IAmTheNoun: "I am retribution! I am vengeance!"
* KnightTemplar: Very probably the living embodiment of this.
* LargeHam: Given what he is, it would be surprising if he ''weren't''.
* ParanoiaFuel: In-universe. Since he's not exactly [[AllCrimesAreEqual discerning]], he could literally show up to kill anyone at any time for the slightest misdeed. This doesn't do a lot of favors for the morale of Astro City.
* PlayingWithFire: Projects flames.
* ThePowerOfHate: Called into our world by Astro City's hatred for criminals and desire for retribution, and is attracted to scenes of such.
* WreathedInFlames: A vaguely humanoid being of flame with a cloak and wrappings around its limbs.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Lord Saampa]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/saampa.jpg]]
[-'''Real name:''' Benjamin Naparski-]

A Polish-American man who, in the 60s, found a snake cult hidden in the middle of the Himalayas, and something else, something ''worse''.
----
* AntiVillain: He becomes very determined to thwart the Coiled One, willing to commit robbery and assault, but he's talked down without violence.
* ChekhovsGunman: Introduced early on in the Vertigo series, but the Broken Man shoos us away before the story can go further. He doesn't reappear until issue 43.
* {{Determinator}}: Guy manages to fight off the influence of an EldritchAbomination, though not without some difficulty. But the fact he did it ''at all'' is pretty impressive.
* EvilIsNotAToy: His first thought on finding an EldritchAbomination was to try and use it for profit somehow. He very quickly realized this was a ''bad'' move, and started doing what he could to thwart it.
* InternalizedCategorism: Ben gives himself a lot of grief for being, in his words, "a Polskie Willie boy from Chi-town".
* MightyWhitey: He takes over a snake cult, who seem to think he's their god's prophet.
* UnwittingPawn: The [[spoiler:Oubor]] played him, making him think the artifact he was trying to steal would weaken it, when it was the other way around.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Mister Manta]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mister_manta.jpg]]
[-'''Real name''': Martin Mantel-]

->"No. No, I'm ready. I ''have'' to be ready! I'll take the ship. I'll take the ship and loot it, and return to civilization victorious!"

A one-time enemy of the superheroine Mermaid who made use of his powered suit to rob ocean traffic, until a fight with Mermaid critically damaged his suit and a storm washed him up on a DesertedIsland. He spends the next three decades trying to repair his suit, seeking to return to the glory days of his supervillain career, but when he gets the chance, he discovers a lot of things have changed, including him...
----
* AccidentalHero: He was set to rob a cruise ship in order to make his comeback, but after he ended up fighting off the criminals who were already attacking it he was hailed as a hero.
* AlliterativeName: Both his civilian and supervillain names.
* TheAloner: Having been isolated from civilization for almost three decades, he's unable to cope with the SensoryOverload when he tries to make a comeback. When he returns to the island, he focuses on making himself more at home, having accepted this is where he's comfortable.
* AnimalThemedSuperbeing: Animal abilities variant, courtesy of his suit.
* ArchEnemy: Mermaid, of the Honor Guard.
* BadassBeard: Which grows out nicely over three decades on the island.
* BambooTechnology: Downplayed; he's making use of available resources to repair and replace his existing tech.
* BeardOfEvil: A small, thin one in his villain days.
* ClothesMakeTheSuperman: His suit looks to give him {{flight}} and SuperStrength, and [[ArtificialGill allows him to operate underwater for long periods]].
* {{Expy}}: Of ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} villain Black Manta.
* GadgeteerGenius: Created his own arsenal back in his villain days, and manages to get his suit into a functional condition with salvage and the island's resources.
* GogglesDoSomethingUnusual: They light up, allowing him to see in the dark.
* GoMadFromTheIsolation: Not insane, per se, but his time alone has left him unable to function in society.
* RetiredOutlaw: Accepts he's this after his comeback fails.
* {{Robinsonade}}: Spends thirty years making a nice life for himself on his island.
* TheSpeechless: When he finally tries to talk to someone after thirty years, the only thing that comes out is a croak.
* StevenUlyssesPerhero: Martin Mantel becomes Mister Manta.
* UnfinishedUntestedUsedAnyway: He wasn't satisfied with the condition of his rebuilt suit, and had a battery of tests and improvements he wanted to make, but when he heard the cruise ship's mayday on the radio he decided he couldn't wait any longer. It ''does'' eventually fall apart, but it also gets the job done.
[[/folder]]

----
!!Civilians and Others

Everyone else who is neither a hero nor a villain, but just the folks trying to get through the day without undue duress.

[[folder:Michael Tenicek]]
[[quoteright:234:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/astrocity50_c_395x1024_0.jpg]]
->"He never met her. He knows he never met her."

Michael was just a regular guy living a regular life until he kept getting these strange, vivid dreams of a woman. A woman that he thinks he knows very well and feels very strongly for, and yet he has never met her.
----
* CosmicRetcon: The cause for all his suffering. [[spoiler:The Honor Guard fought a time-travelling villain across many different periods in history. While the Guard were ultimately victorious and put most of everything back together, little pieces like Michael's wife Miranda were erased due to minor disruptions in the timestream (her grandparents never met, so she was never born).]]
* ImCryingButIDontKnowWhy: While he doesn't really cry, Michael is absolutely obsessed with the woman of his dreams [[spoiler:because she's his wife who was erased due to a retcon event.]]
* TheLostLenore: [[spoiler:Miranda, his wife. Even 20 years later he still can't get over her]].
* NoEndorHolocaust: Averted. Michael's suffering is because [[spoiler:his wife was erased from the timeline due to time-travel shenanigans. There is no proof that she ever existed, and the only people/beings who know or even care are Michael and The Hanged Man. According to Hanged Man, there are several other people across the world suffering from this as well, and he offers to wipe their memories of their lost loved ones.]]
* PalsWithJesus: The Hanged Man, an eldritch being capable of holding off alien invasions alone, keeps a watchful eye on Michael. Michael considers him the closest thing to a real friend he has.
* RippleProofMemory: It is his gift and his curse.
* TropaholicsAnonymous: After The Hanged Man visited him, Michael started a support group for people affected by trauma related to superheroic incidents, and has been running the group full time for 20 years. [[spoiler:The Honor Guard are secretly funding him so he still gets to pay his bills and provide a valuable service.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Andrew "Eyes" Eisenstein]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/eyes_2.jpg]]
->"I just -- I just saw Jack-In-The-Box's ''real face.''"

A small-time crook and lookout. In "A Little Knowledge", he manages to get a good glimpse at Jack-In-The-Box's unmasked face; now he just needs to figure out how to make it pay off...
----
* AtrociousAlias: When stuck on a pseudonym in the presence of Zachary Johnson and his wife, "Eyes" quickly improvises "Jack Bachsinger", and immediately mentally slaps himself.
* CallBack: Eisenstein [[PutOnABus scrambled aboard a bus]] way back in Vol. 1 of ''Astro City,'' but his name appears on a magazine subscription in ''Astro City: Astra'' #2 - in Fairbanks, Alaska. Looks like he's ''still'' hiding out.
* {{Mook}}: He's not a supervillain, just a street thug.
* NoHonorAmongThieves: "Eyes" becomes increasingly worried about being cheated out of his discovery by his colleagues.
* ParanoiaFuel: An in-universe examination of the trope: Eyes begins to panic as more and more possible consequences of squealing occur to him.
* ScrewThisImOutOfHere: Ultimately, Eisenstein doesn't try to cash in on Jack-in-the-Box's secret; instead, he hops on a bus to Alaska and never comes back.
* SecretSecretKeeper: "Eyes" figures out what Jack-In-The-Box's identity is, but Jack himself doesn't know he knows.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Eisenstein worries that this trope will hit him once he reveals his secret.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Pete Donacek]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/donacek.jpg]]
->"My name is Pete Donacek. I live in Astro City. I wear a uniform too."

The Senior Doorman at the Astro City Classic hotel. He checks bags, gives directions, and loves hockey. He likes to look out for the newcomers to the city, pointing them to tourist spots and informing them where the danger zones are.
----
* GoodSamaritan: He saves a little girl during a supervillain attack.
* HeroicBystander: Pete decided to stay in Astro City after risking his life to save a stranger's little girl, as he had lived the dream of being a real hero.
* SamaritanRelationshipStarter: Played with; during an attack on the city, Pete saved a young girl from falling debris, despite risk and injury to himself. Even after she's grown up, he watches her pass his station every day, but it's strictly a one-way platonic affair.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Manny Monkton]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/manny_monkton.jpg]]
->"The kids don't want facts. They want drama! THRILLS!"

Editor-in-chief and publisher of Bulldog Comics. Through Bulldog, Manny publishes many books about RealLife superheroes and villains, and sometimes gets into trouble over his unlicensed and creative interpretation of events.
----
* BaldOfEvil: While not supervillain evil, he's a total slimeball.
* BitchInSheepsClothing: To his employees and coworkers, he's a generally good-natured guy who just wants to tell the most entertaining stories he can, but his taunting of Nightingale and dealings with Crackerjack show there's a seriously unpleasant person under that charm.
* TheCharmer: Even people who know about Manny's manipulative skills can't help but admire his bravado.
-->'''Eli:''' He's a good talker. Besides, I'm used to him. And life, well, life would be a lot duller without him around.
* CigarChomper: Often seen chewing on a stoogie.
* ConsummateLiar: When Crackerjack shows up to complain about unpaid royalties, he used outrageously lowballed sales figures and UsefulNotes/HollywoodAccounting to claim that he hadn't made any money on Crackerjack's title and therefore didn't owe him anything.
* ControlFreak: He quit his original job because they wouldn't let him tell stories his way, and founded his own company. Most of his interactions show him browbeating or persuading his employees to go along with his ideas.
* DeadpanSnarker: To his credit, Manny can deliver zingers even when he's being manhandled by a super-villain.
-->'''Glowworm:''' Do you know what my mother thought when she read that stinking book of yours?!\\
'''Manny:''' And, um, how does she feel about you robbing banks--?
* DoNotTauntCthulhu: After his encounter with Glowworm, Manny becomes inspired [[spoiler:to create a new line of comics dealing with CosmicEntities, beings who [[BeneathNotice wouldn't care about anything ordinary humans do.]] Needless to say, it does not end well.]]
* FamilyUnfriendlyViolence: Played for laughs. Glowworm teaches Manny a 'lesson' that leaves him with a cast, a neck brace and a swollen eye, but he hasn't learned a thing.
* FatBastard: Chubby, round, and kind of a colossal jerkass.
* MaliciousSlander: Although Manny doesn't ''intend'' to hurt anyone with his truth-stretching, some of his subjects see his 'alterations' as vicious libel.
* NeverFoundTheBody: Exactly what happened to him is unclear. But no-one on Earth ever saw him again.
* NeverMyFault: He's got a severe allergy for taking any responsibility for the consequences of his publishing decisions. It's everyone else's fault for getting offended.
* RealityIsUnrealistic: He claims that if he doesn't take liberties with the truth, readers won't be interested.
* SmugSnake: Manny takes this tack when Nightingale chews him out for insinuating a lesbian relationship between her and her sidekick Sunbird. He accuses her of being homophobic for taking offense, and then points out that she can't sue him without revealing her secret identity.
* TheStoryteller: A LoveableRogue version.
* TooDumbToLive: He writes [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory not exactly true stories]] about people who could, at the least, [[DestinationDefenestration throw him out of his office]], and at worst, [[RealityWarper turn him into a gnat's fart.]]
* UncertainDoom: [[spoiler:One day after he decides to start publishing stories about cosmic-level superbeings, the ''entire Bulldog Comics building'' vanishes into thin air. It's anyone's guess what happened to it, or him.]]
* UnreliableNarrator: Manny is this in-story, as he encourages his writers to play fast and loose with the facts to make their stories more exciting.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Loony Leo]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/loony_leo.jpg]]
->"Ah, what the hell. It's show business, right?"

A cartoon lion who was accidentally brought to life in 1946. After realizing he was [[RefugeeFromTVLand stuck in the real world,]] he had a series of adventures, from superhero sidekick and movie star to supervillain's pawn and a recluse, until finally finding something that would fill his days.
----
* TheAlcoholic: Sank into this after his career failed.
* AppealToNovelty: The main gimmick of Loony Leo's restaurant is visiting Leo, the living cartoon.
* ChasteToons: Was one of these before being brought into the real world, with three rascally nephews and a chaste romance with Lola Lion.
* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve: He was originally sustained by the combined belief of Astro City's citizens.
* CompleteImmortality: At the very least, he doesn't age, starve to death, or die of exposure (although he does feel every bit of the latter two). He's not even sure if being torn apart would kill him.
* DeathSeeker: After he hit rock bottom, he was one of these for a while, to the point of briefly becoming a supervillain working for someone who was (lying about being) able to kill him.
* DesperatelyCravesAffection: He paid Corliss [=McBride=] money that he knew very well was going straight into her veins because it was the only reason she stuck around and he was too lonely to break things off. [[RoleEndingMisdemeanor He really should've gotten a pen pal.]]
* {{Expy}}: Of Tawky Tawny, an anthropomorphic talking tiger from the original [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]] stories.
* FaceHeelTurn: Briefly served as The Myth-Master, a villain who defeated Honor Guard by summoning the greatest fighters of human mythology. He was [[TheManBehindTheMan tricked by an alien]] who assured Leo that this would [[WhoWantsToLiveForever allow him to finally die.]]
* FakeMemories: Strictly speaking, the events of the cartoons which were made before he became real didn't actually happen to him, but he remembers them as though they had.
* GoodSmokingEvilSmoking: He's a chain-smoker - when his cartoons were being made, 'SmokingIsCool' was the prevailing opinion.
* HatesTheJobLovesTheLimelight: He doesn't like his career much, but he does love being a celebrity.
* InterspeciesRomance: Apparently can and does hook up with human women. It's probably better not to think about it.
* NonstandardCharacterDesign: as a living cartoon, he stands out from the more realistically-rendered characters.
* OldShame: In-universe. He feels that he earned the disdain people showed him after his RoleEndingMisdemeanor, and is also ashamed of his turn as The Myth-Master.
* RefugeeFromTVLand: In-universe, Leo started off as the star of a series of theatrical cartoon shorts, but was made real due to a "Belief Ray" from Professor Borzoi.
* RogerRabbitEffect: Leo is a living incarnation of this trope. After becoming "real," he even featured in a couple of live-action films in the style of ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit,'' but the novelty value eventually faded.
* RoleEndingMisdemeanor: In-universe. His career was doing a fine job of dying quietly on its own when the hooker who was the closest thing he had to a friend OD'd in his hotel bed. [[FromBadToWorse Oh, and she turned out to have been hiding the fact that she was only fourteen.]] Pretty soon nobody would even hire Leo to wash dishes.
* {{Sidekick}}: To The Gentleman, for a while.
* SmallRoleBigImpact: While most of his story is self-contained and he's barely ever appeared since, he was the subject of a landmark court case that asked the question of whether a company could claim an artificial being as property (being based on a copyrighted character). Due to having acted as the Gentleman's sidekick, he was too beloved in the public eye for the company to risk the bad press, and so they allowed him to exist as an independent person.
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: A review of his restaurant mentions that the beef dishes are incredible and everything else is either fine or so-so--he ''is'' a lion, after all.
* {{Tulpa}}: Brought to life by scientific means but sustained through belief and completely independent.
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: Fago's Funny Features attempted to claim Leo as their property. The court case which established him a free person and citizen set a precedent for other artificial beings such as Beautie.
* WhiteDwarfStarlet: Leo used to be a major movie and television star, but now spends his day as a restauranteur and living novelty.
* WhoWantsToLiveForever: He's virtually immortal, and has gone through extended periods of angst and depression.
** An added issue is, while Leo can't starve or freeze to death, he can FEEL those sensations, meaning that during his time on the streets, he both froze and starved with no possible relief.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Carl Donewicz (Steeljack / The Steel-Jacketed Man)]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/steeljack.jpg]]
->"But I been runnin' all my life now... and I'm still in the same place..."

A delinquent from the seedier Kiefer Square section of Astro City, Carl Donewicz volunteered for an experiment that resulted in his body being covered with organic steel, then exploited it to be a super-villain. After a youth wasted in elaborate schemes that landed him in CardboardPrison over and over, Steeljack just wants to stay out of trouble and make an honest living -- but is hard-pressed to do so when a killer stalks the residents of the Square.
----
* BadGuyBar: His favorite little bar serves a clientele of C-list supervillains, fences, fixers and {{Mook}}s. Carl can't even walk ''past'' the place without violating the terms of his parole.
* BlessedWithSuck: Being made of metal isn't all it's cracked up to be. His fingers can't operate touch screens and are slippery when wet, he stands out in a crowd, he's extremely heavy, vulnerable to magnetism, and as he ages his skin is starting to feed off of itself (though iron supplements have been recommended to help with that last one).
* CantHaveSexEver: Carl admits that his sex life is almost entirely nonexistent due to the scarcity of partners who can endure an 800-pound steel man.
** Ultimately averted in his second arc, when he is reunited with a former partner in crime, Ismiri "Izzy" Dvi-Zaralkh, alias Cutlass, former leader of the Terrifying Three, who also underwent a HeelFaceTurn, making a small fortune in real estate. Iz came from an interdimensional city called Uld, and is physically tough enough to hold her own with Steeljack. [[spoiler: At the end of this arc, she tells Carl, "Make sure you take your iron pills, you're going to need them."]]
* ChromeChampion: His visually distinctive power means he can't just adopt a new identity or drop out of sight.
* ColdIron: Finds he qualifies as this when he fights a group of supernatural creatures.
* CommonalityConnection: How he figured out that The Conquistador and [[spoiler:the former El Hombre]] were one and the same. After hearing [[spoiler:Hidalgo's]] story, he recognized that they both regarded themselves as failures who had ruined their lives and who would do ''anything'' to change how they felt.
* CutLexLuthorACheck: He reflects at one point that, if he was in a better state, he could probably have become a soldier or an explorer or ''something'' that would let him put his talents to work in a legal fashion. He became a supervillain more because he was young and shortsighted, and by the end, he didn't have any other options. When he backtracks and tries to reform, he discovers that only the most menial jobs will accept him, and on top of that, almost all the money he got over the course of his career left his hands quickly. In his next story arc, years later, he's shown to be a sort of freelancer, doing jobs like bounty-hunting and exploring sunken wrecks.
* {{Determinator}}: An 800-pound man made of steel is all but unstoppable when he wants to be.
* DumbMuscle: Averted. He'll freely admit he's no genius, but he's not half as stupid as he says he is.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: It's a BittersweetEnding, but that's all he ever asked for.
** He earns a better ending in his second arc. [[spoiler: He winds up arrested for the murder of Jared Everall, a corrupt businessman who had been framing other super-criminals for his own crimes and was killed by a SealedEvilInACan he tried to open. At his arraignment Carl stays silent, convinced that he can't prove his innocence. However, Izzy then shows up in court with a first-class lawyer to defend him from all charges, testifies on his behalf, reveals evidence proving his innocence and brings a lot of Carl's friends from Kiefer Square to the courtroom to act as character witnesses, although by the time she's done testifying they aren't even necessary. By the end of the story, he finds that he has the respect of his neighbors, is lauded as a hero by the press, and he and Izzy renew their old romance.]]
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: Steeljack's efforts to reform are partly an effort to live up to the standards his mother set, and he visits her grave often. He eventually becomes caretaker for the cemetery she's buried in.
* EveryoneHasStandards: Early in his first arc, Carl sees a man being mugged. He's determined to mind his own business until he realizes that the street thugs are going to ''kill'' their victim to avoid being identified. He steps in, lets the bullet bounce off him, and orders the thugs to leave.
* FalselyReformedVillain: The tragic form of the trope is examined and, eventually, subverted. What are the ''legitimate'' job prospects for an ex-con whose only useful skill is invulnerability? Will anybody believe he's going straight?
* FirstNameBasis: With Cutlass.
* FromNobodyToNightmare: Was once just another street punk until he decided he needed an edge to stand out in the underworld. He ended up the subject of a mad scientist who bonded him with a metal skin, giving him invulnerability, super strength and endurance, creating one of the most famous supervillains in Astro City.
* GrumpyOldMan: Carl is too old and too tired to fight any more, but somehow trouble keeps crossing his path.
* HardboiledDetective: Years after the events of the "Tarnished Angel" story, Carl sets himself up as a private investigator. He spends more time chasing super-powered bail jumpers than solving cases, however.
* HealingFactor: Seems to have a low-key one.
* HowWeGotHere: His second arc begins with his being arrested for murder, and then flashes back, FilmNoir-style, to how he got into this mess.
* LogicalWeakness: He's ferromagnetic, so he's vulnerable to weapons designed to exploit this.
* ManOfSteelWomanOfKleenex: Literally man of steel in his case - Steeljack notes that he can't have sex much because normal women can't take his strength and enormous weight (about 800 pounds). Thankfully, there ARE willing superpowered villainesses around so he doesn't have to be completely celibate.
* TheNeedless: Not entirely, but he does metabolize oxygen much more slowly than other people.
* NotUsedToFreedom: In the story "The Tarnished Angel", Steeljack agrees to investigate the deaths of small-time criminals simply because, as a recent parolee, he's got way too much time on his hands and can't think of any other way to fill it.
* OneLastJob: In "The Tarnished Angel", Steeljack comes to realize that almost all of his fellow low-rent supervillain peers are constantly lining up for that one last job, the one that will lead them to greatness and riches... but it never works out.
-->"This time was the big one, always. This time, the one that'd end all our troubles."
* PrivateEyeMonologue: He narrates his arcs.
* ReformedButRejected: Steeljack is the poster boy for this trope - his past is well known and he is stigmatized by all.
** Averted in his second arc, [[spoiler: which ends with him being lauded as a hero, and showing that he has earned the respect of his neighbors, many of whom turned up at his trial to serve as character witnesses if necessary.]]
* RetiredOutlaw: At the beginning of his first arc.
* RightMakesMight: In the final confrontation of his first arc he's badly hurt. But the stakes are too high for him to lay down and die. He goes back into the fight, [[HeroicResolve though even he doesn't know where he's getting the strength to stand.]]
--> "Unless, maybe, bein' right is what gives me the strength."
* ScrapHeapHero: It's a long and difficult road, but Steeljack eventually fulfills this trope by [[spoiler:defeating the Conquistador]] and making peace with his checkered past.
* SpiderSense: Although he himself doesn't have one, he eventually obtains a pair of goggles which warn him of the impending potential deaths of others.
* WalkDontSwim: To be fair, it's hard to swim when you weigh 800 pounds. Carl later turns this into a part-time job, performing underwater salvage operations for the city.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Donnelly Ferguson]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/donnelly.jpg]]
->"One thing this world'll always have plenty of is those needin' a dirty job done, and those willin' to do it."

A longtime resident of Kiefer Square, Donnelly is the grizzled old fixer everyone goes to when they need some muscle for a job or a job where they can rent out their muscles. He may be an affable and charming old snake, but how much can you trust someone who deals in information?
----
* AffablyEvil / FauxAffablyEvil: He's affable, and definitely ''not'' a nice person, but how much of this is genuine, and how much [[VillainWithGoodPublicity him knowing the value of PR]], is left ambiguous.
* BackForTheDead: Donnelly eventually returns to Kiefer Square for burial in the cemetery.
* KnowledgeBroker: Fergusson uses his knowledge of the city's underworld to find jobs for the villains of Kiefer Square.
* MysteriousPast: It's entirely possible he was the Scarlet Snake, once the biggest crime lord in Astro City, but he's not saying. The most the reader ever learns about his former life is when he suddenly pulls out a snake-themed laser pistol.
* NotProven: Despite his numerous shady dealings, Ferguson manages to keep himself clear of any wrongdoing. This is one reason why Steeljack hangs out with him, because Ferguson is one of the few people he could associate with and not risk violating his parole.
* PetTheDog: Played with. He could be acting for completely selfish reasons when he helps Steeljack find the "black-mask killer", or it could be a case of EvenEvilHasStandards.
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: The "Tarnished Angel" arc ends with him going on the run to avoid possible retribution from the villains he (unknowingly) set up.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Charles and Royal Williams]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/charles_and_royal.jpg]]
->'''Charles:''' "He killed 'em, remember? Shot 'em dead, like they were nothing."\\
'''Royal:''' "I'd like to get him, sure. But I'd rather my brother was alive."

After their parents were killed in a conflict between the Silver Agent and a Pyramid squad commander, Charles and Royal Williams grew up following very different paths. But their attempts to live their own lives is tested when their parents' killer returns to Astro City, setting them on a course of vengeance that will test them -- and their uneasy relationship.
----
* BadassNormal: Both Charles and Royal would eventually become this, thanks to years of training and their ongoing pursuit of Aubrey Jason.
* CynicismCatalyst: The death of their parents made the Williams brothers disillusioned with society's ideals. Royal ended up believing he was justified in doing whatever was necessary to get by, while Charles ended up skeptical and distrusting of all super-heroes.
* DarkerAndEdgier: In TheSeventies, Charles is a policeman who dreams of starting a family, while Royal is a low-level {{Mook}} making money through questionable means. The "Dark Ages" story arc follows their descent into becoming cold-blooded [[AntiHero Anti-Heroes]] in their search for retribution.
* {{Determinator}}: Once he discovers the identity of his parents' killer, Charles embarks on a years-long pursuit for vengeance, taking his brother Royal along in his wake.
%%* DysfunctionJunction
* FromNobodyToNightmare: Over the course of the story, they go from terrified kids to ruthless avengers.
* GoldDigger: Darnice, Charles's first wife, turned out to be one of these. Royal warned him against marrying her, but he didn't listen. Ultimately, she left him after he refused to take bribe money.
* TheInfiltration: Royal Williams ends up joining Pyramid to get more information on Aubrey Jason's whereabouts.
* ItsPersonal: Very much so.
* {{Mook}}: Royal Williams starts off as this, being perfectly happy to make a living picking pockets and doing low-level grunt work for other criminals to get by.
* NinetiesAntihero: Charles and Royal eventually become this.
* NoPointsForNeutrality: Not taking bribes, but ''also'' refusing to report dirty cops to Internal Affairs left Charles poor, wifeless, and eventually shot in the back.
* OriginStory: Defied. The brothers (or Royal at least) consider what to do after Aubrey is dealt with, that maybe they could keep putting their talents to use in order to avenge other victims like them. [[spoiler:But ultimately, they resist the call.]]
* PretendToBeBrainwashed: Royal has to do this to deflect suspicion while infiltrating Pyramid.
* RetiredBadass: [[spoiler:After Lord Sovereign disappears into the dark dimension, the Williams brothers realize how self-destructive their quest for revenge was, and eventually leave to run a chartered fishing business.]]
* SilverFox: It's a small thing, but in the framing story "Royal" mentions that he never married, preferring to hook up with pretty young tourists instead. "Charles" snarks that he's having less success these days--implying that he's still having ''some''.
* StageName: At the end of the "Dark Age" story arc, it is revealed that "Charles" and "Royal" are not their real names; instead, they're picked by an author writing a book based on their experiences, and he is using aliases to protect their real identities.
* StreetSmart: Royal is unashamed of his street-savvy ways, and Charles even acknowledges that he's the smarter one.
* TheUnfettered: Charles does just about anything in his quest for revenge, and at one point is prepared to let the heroic Silver Agent fall to his doom just to avoid losing any time in pursuit of Jason.
* WhatHaveIBecome: While pursuing Lord Sovereign, Royal catches a glimpse of his reflection, which causes him to eventually realize that he and Charles were turning into the same type of cold-blooded [[AntiHero Anti-Heroes]] who had ignored them in their own tragedy.
* WhereDoesHeGetAllThoseWonderfulToys: When they become their own agents of vengeance, the Williams brothers keep themselves supplied by stealing money and equipment from the various Pyramid bases they've raided.
* WorthLivingFor: Charles recovers from the brink of death after Royal tells him that he's discovered the person who killed their parents.
* YouAreWhatYouHate: Lampshaded when Royal realizes that while he and Charles didn't care for superheroes and villains, by the mid-eighties they had almost become a vigilante team of their own, to the point where there was virtually no difference between themselves, Aubrey, and other [[NinetiesAntihero Nineties Anti-Heroes]] like Stonecold, the Blue Knights, and the Street Angel.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Mitch Goodman (The Crimson Cougar)]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mitch_goodman.jpg]]
->"This is what you do! You get up on the bull and ride it as long as you can!"

A stuntman and actor, Mitch Goodman plays the superhero character "Crimson Cougar" in the ''Tomorrow's Dawn'' soap opera. After thwarting a robbery at a convenience store, Mitch became an overnight celebrity as a RealLife superhero -- and then his troubles began.
----
* ActionSurvivor: As a former stuntman who keeps in good shape, he's pretty tough and agile.
* ActorRoleConfusion: After Mitch begins to consider himself seriously as a hero, several villains decide to make sure he doesn't decide to do it for real.
* AnimalThemedSuperbeing: He plays one on TV.
* AwesomeButImpractical: The Crimson Cougar suit was designed to look badass, not be fought in. The teeth on the midsection dig into his gut when he tries to be acrobatic, and the claws are plastic.
* BadassNormal: Plays one on TV.
* GlorySeeker: He's gone from a simple rancher to the rodeo to stunt work to acting by taking every opportunity he could get, and the Crimson Cougar turns out to be his big chance.
* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct: Invoked. After realizing this about himself, he decides to try acting for its own sake instead of just as a means of getting ahead.
* MistakenForBadass: After he foils a convenience store robbery while still in his Crimson Cougar outfit (they were filming an episode nearby), he gets attacked by several villains trying to discourage him from pursuing life as a superhero.
* NotWorthKilling: Happens to Mitch when he gets attacked in public by the brand-new villain Dark Centurion, who easily pummels him into the ground. When Mitch begs for mercy, the Centurion sneers and leaves. [[spoiler:It was a ruse set up by Mitch and his friends so he would stop being a high-profile target.]]
* RightManInTheWrongPlace: Ends up in three of these situations over the course of the story, and each one makes him more famous.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Marella Cowper]]
[[quoteright:283:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/marella_cowper_6.jpg]]
->"Spot a super-villain in your area? An alien incursion? People inexplicably turning into statues or robots? You call us, we alert them."

A woman in her early twenties, who works for Humano-Global, secretly a call-service for The Honor Guard, answering emergency calls for the superhero team.
----
* TheAtoner: When a girl named Esme calls to report a man beating her mother, Marella sends the call to Social Services. When this leads to an attack by the Skull-Crushers, Marella goes to extremes to help find the girl and her mother.
* FunWithAcronyms: "Humano Global" is actually a false name for Honor Guard's Emergency Contact Service, used as a cover to protect the company from Honor Guard's enemies. Other employees have ID cards with different cover names for the service, all sporting the initials "H.G.". The same initials as Honor Guard.
* GoodFeelsGood: One of the reasons Marella enjoys her job at Humano-Global is because she likes helping people
* InfractionDistraction: Downplayed. When she figures out that the relief staff think she has black market connections, she lets it stand; it will hide that she uses portals.
* PortalDoor: Humano-Global employees can access a network of portal doors via their employee ID cards, allowing Honor Guard to keep Humano-Global's headquarters a secret. Marella uses these portals in her efforts to save Esme and her mother.
* TrackingDevice: Honor Guard is able to break into the Skull-Crushers' HQ by homing in on a tracking device in Marella's Humano-Global ID badge when the Skull-Crushers capture her.
* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: While Marella's convinced she'll be fired for screwing up the Esme case, Cleopatra assures her that she's the kind of person Honor Guard wants working for them, since even if she did make a mistake, she was willing to do what she could to make it right.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Martha "Sully" Sullivan]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sully_8.jpg]]
->"I had a good job. I was using my powers, and I didn't have to get into any fights."

A middle-aged woman with modest telekinetic abilities, Sully works in the entertainment industry, using her powers to manipulate models and aid in stunt work.
----
* ActionSurvivor: Just having powers has gotten her dragged into enough crazy situations to develop into one of these.
* AmbiguouslyGay: Mentions that she's living with someone named Jen, although whether their relationship is friendly, familial or romantic isn't made clear.
* AscendedExtra: She initially appeared as a supporting character in Mitch Goodman/Crimson Cougar's story, but got a few issues focusing on her own adventures.
* BadassCrew: She and her colleagues unofficially call themselves the Sideliners, people with superpowers but use them for mundane purposes and want to stay away from superheroics. But if you think just because they're passive and unremarkable that they're also stupid and ineffectual, think again. They've been threatened before, and they look out for each other so well they can be just as effective a fighting force as the Honor Guard.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: People seem to think that just because she and her fellow "Sideliners" want to live quiet lives, using their powers for mundane purposes, that they're pushovers. [[BadassCrew Nope.]]
* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: Spent her youth wondering what she was meant to do with her powers, if she couldn't bear being a hero or villain, before figuring out she didn't have to be either.
* HeroicNeutral: She and her Sideliner friends don't really want to be a part of that superhero gig, but if you threaten her and her kind, you'll regret real quick when she decides she's NeutralNoLonger.
* IJustWantToBeNormal: She and her friends don't want to be heroes, they don't want to be villains, and they don't want any attention. They just want to live humble lives and use their powers to make a decent living.
* LampshadeHanging: Points out what a hoary old cliché gassing someone is even as she's passing out from it.
* MindOverMatter: Lampshaded when she admits that she considered becoming a super-heroine with the codename "Mind Over Mattie".
* MundaneUtility: Makes a great living using her powers for special effects. She also has a first-place bowling trophy on her shelf.
* MurderByInaction: Wasn't particularly fussed if the Majordomo's crew died after they left them, since a) they came after the sideliners, and b) she doesn't claim to be any sort of hero.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone:
** Her brief flirtation with superheroism ended when she screwed up and nearly killed a man.
** Her brief flirtation with villainy lasted mere seconds, when she was immediately stricken with horror and remorse after forcing a slot machine to pay out.
* MyGreatestFailure: As "Mind Over Mattie" she stopped a carjacker by locking his brakes. To her horror, he swerved, crashed into a pole and very nearly died. That's what made her realize she wasn't cut out for the superhero life.
* UnderestimatingBadassery: Some supervillains seem to think that just because she and her friends don't use their powers for fighting that means that they're weaklings who can be coerced or tempted into becoming henchmen. It turns out that the Sideliners are incredibly competent, coordinated, and powerful enough to defend themselves, to the point that even Samaritan is impressed.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Irene Cronin (née Merryweather)]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/irene_merriweather.jpg]]
->"I was going to have it all. And I almost did."

Inspired by her grandmother, who'd worked in a factory during World War II, Irene became determined to find the perfect career and the perfect man and carve her name into the world. As a mayoral aide, she encountered Atomicus, and seemed to be well on her way to getting everything she wanted...
----
* {{Determinator}}: Played with. Her determination gets her a job many 1960's women wouldn't be able to, costs both her and the world Atomicus, and then helps her rebuild arguably a much more fulfilling life from the ashes.
* {{Expy}}: Of ComicBook/LoisLane.
* InnocentBigot: Downplayed. She's not mean or pushy about it and it's wonderful that young ladies have so many more options these days, really, but it sure would be nice if her daughter would break it off with that girl she's seeing and find a nice young man before it's too late.
* IntrepidReporter: Although not actually a reporter, she takes on a similar role, investigating crimes and reporting them to Atomicus. Unsurprising, given her inspiration.
* {{Irony}}: Driving Atomicus away and torpedoing her old career helped her find a man who could truly reciprocate her feelings and gain even greater success than before. Doubly ironic in that she doesn't seem to realize this.
* LovingAShadow: She was honestly under that impression that Atomicus was a fully-mature adult who was merely toying with her affections rather than the terrified, awkward ManChild he really was.
* TheManBehindTheMan: A positive example. Without her influence Morton wouldn't have been elected mayor, and Cronin would have stayed an obscure alderman instead of becoming a state senator.
* MyGreatestFailure: When Atomicus needed a friend/love and mentor to gently usher him into humanity, she instead became an unintentional antagonist who made his life hell, eventually driving him away from Earth.
* PluckyGirl: Resourceful, clever and determined to make her mark.
* PoorCommunicationKills: Misinterpreted Atomicus's attempts to get her to back off as a challenge to prove herself worthy of him by revealing his identity.
* RageBreakingPoint: Realizing that Atomicus tricked her ''again'' (after she accepted that he and Adam were separate people) causes her to march right up to him and rip open his shirt in front of everyone, finally exposing his identity, while angrily accusing him of messing with her for fun.
* SecondLove: With Senator Cronin. She worries that he went to the grave thinking he was second best, though her daughter assures her otherwise.
* SecretChaser: Becomes this for Atomicus, much to their mutual regret in the end.
* TraumaCongaLine: After she drives Atomicus away, she's fired, reviled by the public, falls into the bottle for a while, and gets mocked when she tries to find work again. [[{{Determinator}} That doesn't stop her.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Ismiri Dvi-Zaralkh (Cutlass)]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cutlass_2016.jpg]]
->"When I say open the vault door and we're on a tight timeline, I expect action!"

A fugitive from the inter-dimensional City of Uld, she became a supervillainess on Earth in the 1960's and worked with Steeljack and Quarrel as the Terrifying Three. After the Three broke up, she made it big in real estate and put the past behind her, or so she thought.
----
* DarkAndTroubledPast: Whatever happened in the City of Uld, she doesn't talk about it, and people from there occasionally track her down and try to imprison her.
* DecemberDecemberRomance: She and Steeljack are in their sixties.
* DramaQueen: Seems to have a streak of this.
* FieryRedhead: She always had a nasty temper.
* FirstNameBasis: With Steeljack.
* HumanAlien: She appears to be a typical human, if rather tall and well-built, but she's actually from another dimension.
* LaserBlade: Her favored weapons are a pair of bracers with these.
* NeverMessWithGranny: She's still a heck of a fighter.
* {{Pirate}}: Had this theme as a supervillainess.
* RetiredOutlaw: Though she's not above appropriating and selling another villain's ill-gotten goods.
* SuperStrength: Has some degree of this.
* SuperToughness: Able to have a relationship with a 800-pound metal man, and like it.
* VitriolicBestBuds: The Terrifying Three spent more time bickering with each other than fighting heroes.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Marta Dobrescu]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/marta_7.jpg]]
->"Though it is not without its dangers -- though it has ''never'' been without danger -- I love my home."

Marta grew up in the eerie Shadow Hill district of Astro City, and adapted to the various supernatural menaces in her neighborhood. As a young adult, she sought independence from her immigrant parents and considered joining the city proper, only to realize that what she was looking for wasn't necessarily what she wanted. She eventually ends up running one of the biggest law offices in Shadow Hill, with clients both mundane and otherwise -- even by the Hill's standards.
----
* ActionSurvivor: Despite being a normal human being, she has lived in Shadow Hill (an eldritch location most people from the city dare not enter because it's full of hidden monsters) for a very long time and not been eaten [[FateWorseThanDeath or worse]].
* AttemptedRape: Suffered this at the hands of Slamburger, but Nick Furst saved her.
* AwesomenessByAnalysis: A few hours with a pile of dubiously-translated spells allowed Marta to accurately deduce the personality and motivations of one of the most powerful entities in the universe.
* BetterTheDevilYouKnow: Sure, Shadow Hill may be so chock-full of supernatural nasties that it might as well be an EldritchLocation, but as long as one is careful and has the right protections even an ordinary person can keep themselves safe from them. You can't do that with supervillains, who are usually just powerful (and dangerous) humans.
* ConditionedToAcceptHorror: A positive example. Everyone ''else'' thinks Shadow Hill is a nightmarish realm out of [[{{Creator/HPLovecraft}} Lovecraft]] or [[{{Film/HammerHorror}} Hammer]], but Marta grew up there and knows that it's a place like anywhere else as long as you know how to take care of yourself. At least the monsters there have rules that never change, as opposed to supervillains, who are capricious and consciously malicious.
* CountryMouse: Although Shadow Hill is technically part of Astro City, it's rather independent and isolated, with most of it's citizens clinging to old customs and culture out of necessity, because it helps to protect them against the ''other'' inhabitants. Due to it's geographic location, even some TV and radio stations had difficulty reaching the area in the 90's.
* CuttingTheKnot: Her suggestion to have Tzammath's cult just summon the lady herself and see what she wanted turned out to be the right thing to do.
* DeadPersonConversation: Knows a ritual that allows this. [[MundaneUtility She uses this for work]], such as helping settle inheritance dispute by simply calling up the dead to make the decision. The one time it's shown on panel, said soul is ''not'' happy about his adult children squabbling over their mothers jewels.
* FunctionalMagic: Although not a mage, like most people in Shadow Hill she knows some rituals and methods to protect herself from evil beings, as well as a few other small magics.
* GuileHero: So competent a lawyer is she that no less than the freakin' Hanged Man (an eldritch being with the ability to survive and possibly combat a retcon event) and Silver Adept (one of, if not the most powerful sorceror in the universe who has singlehandedly saved worlds) call upon her to handle their legal affairs.
* HelloAttorney: Slamburger gave a favorable opinion of her looks. Granted, that's not an endorsement you'd ''want''...
* IWantGrandkids: Since ghosts tend to fixate on what mattered to them when they died, Marta's mother's been bugging her from beyond the grave, even though she's in her forties.
* MundaneUtility: Summoning ghosts is pretty handy for settling all sorts of legal problems, particularly wills.
* PalsWithJesus: The Hanged Man has taken an interest in her and trusts her to help him. He even seems to genuinely like her.
* ProtectiveCharm: Marta is well-versed in these, having learned them from a young age.
* SeenItAll: After spending her whole life living in Shadow Hill and becoming a successful attorney for supernatural legal cases, Marta isn't the least bit perturbed when she has to present before a court of interdimensional beings for the fate of the known universe.
* SkunkStripe: Develops a couple at her forehead as she ages.
* TogetherInDeath: Her mothers spirit still lingers in the mortal world, awaiting her husband who's still alive and cared for by Marta.
* UnfazedEveryman: Normal people tend to be shocked at how casual she is about Shadow Hill.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Charlie Provost (Quark)]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/charlie_provost.jpg]]
->"I'll ''remember''! I'll remember--an' I'll be back! Damn you Starfighter, I'LL BE BACK!"

Charlie was recruited as a teenager to be the sidekick of the superhero Starfighter; unfortunately, he became drunk with power over time, requiring his mentor to intervene -- but leaving Charlie emotionally shattered as a result.
----
* TheAlcoholic: He can't let go of his glory days, and drinks to cope.
* BloodKnight: He proved even more brutal than the criminals he fought, so Starfighter ultimately had to wipe his memory of how to use the Lorus.
* ComboPlatterPowers: Like Starfighter.
* GeometricMagic: Like Starfighter.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Starfighter wiped his memory of the shapes of the Lorus, effectively de-powering him.
* PsychicPowers: Could ''sense'' the presence of the Lorus, but not actually see it. Starfighter thought this qualified him to be his sidekick, but soon realized that he'd made a mistake.
* WhiteDwarfStarlet: Once Starfighter's sidekick, now survives off of occasional acting gigs and signing things at conventions.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Jerome Isaac "Ike" Johnson]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jerome_johnson.jpg]]
The latest Johnson son of Jack-in-the-Box. Ike sought to follow in his father and grandfather's heroic footsteps, but life took him on another path.
----
* AlternateSelf: Three of his have shown up in the past, though it seems his parents haven't told him about them.
* AtrociousAlias: He's the only one who liked the name "Jackie Justice".
* CallBack: The name "Jackie Justice" is just like "Justice Jacky", and judging from Zachary's reaction, he definitely made the connection.
* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: Found one by the end of his spotlight story.
* GadgeteerGenius: Although he downplays his intellect, he ''did'' find and fix a problem with one of his father's devices that had left him stumped.
* GameBreakingInjury: On his first sojourn as Jackie Justice he broke his leg and messed up his knee badly enough to curtail any further acrobatics, though at least he can still walk.
* LegacyCharacter: Felt an obligation to try to be one of these, in the light of his father and grandfather's deeds. Roscoe and his father make certain he understands that it's not necessary to have a Jack-in-the-Box in the world, probably to forestall any chance of some form of The Jackson/The Box coming to be.
* TheMedic: Has been taking a sports medicine class at high school and doing independent study with the intention of becoming a doctor, and used his knowledge to save Drama Queen's life.
* MuggleBornOfMages: According to him, he's not the genius his father and grandfather were, though he's perfectly intelligent in his own right.
* TheShrink: After saving Drama Queen, he's taken an interest in helping heal people's emotional scars, and has tentative plans to become a psychiatrist.
* {{Sidekick}}: Had intentions of becoming one and tried to do it without his father or the current Jack-in-the-Box's knowledge or permission. It went badly.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Stekk (Sticks, Tuxedo Gorilla)]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sticks.jpg]]
->"It was sound and noise and rhythm and beauty. It was emotion and release and control. It was joy and creation. Making something ''together''. And just like ''that'' -- I felt like I'd come home."

A talking gorilla from Gorilla Mountain, a pocket of subtropical forest in Antarctica, who jumped ship to become a musician in the outside world.
----
* AliensStealCable: How Sticks learned about human music; some of the gorillas on Gorilla Mountain tapped into human radio, and subsequently the Internet.
* AllDrummersAreAnimals: Played with. Sticks ''is'' a gorilla, but he prefers to create music rather than break things.
* BewareTheSillyOnes: He may look like a regular talking gorilla with a sardonic sense of humor, but he's also a trained and experienced fighter from a race of warrior gorillas. If you want to catch him, you might want to bring more than a small army.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: He may be through with Gorilla Mountain, but at least one faction of Gorilla Mountain isn't through with ''him''.
* DeadpanSnarker: His go-to response to people who gawk at him being a gorilla.
* DefectorFromDecadence: Rejected his people's ForeverWar and consequent militaristic lifestyle in favor of humanity and its music. Part of it was his awareness he wasn't cut out for a soldier's life.
* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: Sticks just wants to play the drums. Unfortunately for him, a lot of supervillains and a few superhero teams want to convince him to be a soldier, a superhero, or a crimefighter, and he hates ''all'' of that. [[spoiler:He ends up recruiting a bunch of music-based superheroes and forming a band with them]].
* DrillSergeantNasty: Had one of these back on Gorilla Mountain.
* EveryoneIsASuper: By the standards of Gorilla Mountain, Sticks is basically just another grunt. By the standards of the outside world, Sticks is an intelligent talking gorilla with enhanced strength and combat training.
* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys: Well, ''apes'', but you get the idea.
* FunWithHomophones: When he very briefly joined Reflex 6, their sponsors suggested he change his code name, since focus groups were confusing it with "Styx", as in the river.
* {{Hellgate}}: Gorilla Mountain's situated over a dimensional rift, which accesses a lot of other worlds.
* LeadDrummer: [[spoiler:Forms a FiveManBand of superpowered musicians, with crimefighting as a sideline.]]
* MandatoryUnretirement: Spent his introduction trying to avoid this, as he didn't want to be pulled back into a life of combat, willingly or not.
* MartialPacifist: As he puts it, he would rather create than break things, but he's still a powerful gorilla with military training, so if you threaten him, he's going to break a ''lot'' of things.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Sticks is a pun on his real name, Stekk.
* ThePerilsOfBeingTheBest: He's not really "the best", at least by his people's standards, but ''every'' supervillain wants to get their hands on a super-strong talking gorilla. Who wouldn't?
* RoofHopping / WallCrawl: How he gets around.
* SharpDressedMan: As Tuxedo Gorilla.
* SmallSecludedWorld: Gorilla Mountain. Enforced by the Pack Council, who don't want any outsiders tainting the purity of their culture, despite the fact Gorilla Mountain society is still around ''thanks'' to outside influence. They don't like having that pointed out.
* SuperStrength: Sticks and his people are stronger than ordinary gorillas.
* TakeAThirdOption: He couldn't be part of a normal band, since [[DarkAndTroubledPast just being who]] [[ThePerilsOfBeingTheBest and what]] he was, put his normal bandmates at risk, and he couldn't join a super-team since he couldn't stomach the life...[[spoiler:so he split the difference.]]
* UnderestimatingBadassery: A bunch of supervillains think they can capture a silly-looking talking gorilla so they can experiment on or sell him off later. Unfortunately for them, he's a ''lot'' more trouble than they they imagine.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Silverstring]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/silverstring.jpg]]

In the late 1800s, there was a travelling musician, a man known as Silverstring, called that for his guitar, strung with pure silver. Who he was and where he came from, no-one can say for certain.

It was said he could play magic on that guitar, magic that kept darkness and demons away, that he used that magic to save lives and defend people.

It's said that he died somewhere round Romeyn Falls, Astro City as was, and his guitar destroyed itself with him... but he left behind a most unusual legacy.
----
* AmbiguouslyBrown: No-one knows what ethnicity he was - he was identified as black, white, Mexican, half-Indian, Chinese...
* DeathByOriginStory: His death sets in motion a legacy of heroes that stretches over the 20th century, living incarnations of counterculture music, [[spoiler:beginning with Mister Cakewalk]].
* {{Expy}}: Of Creator/ManlyWadeWellman's Literature/SilverJohn.
* TheFaceless: His face is never shown clearly, always kept in shadow by his hat.
* MagicMusic: Used his silver-stringed guitar to play magic that warded off darkness and demons.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Known only as Silverstring; no-one had any other name for him.
* ShroudedInMyth: No-one knows much of anything about him for certain: what his origin was, where he came from, the circumstances of his death...
* WalkingTheEarth: What he did, living as a travelling musician, walking this world and perhaps lands beyond, refusing any offer to settle down.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Broken Man]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/broken_man.jpg]]
-->''You, out there with the face. *sigh* Yes, I can see you. Get over it.''

A strange person with an awareness he's fictional, fighting a shadow-war against the mysterious thing called the "Oubor".
----
* AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: He's a very deep purple [[spoiler:in his mental body. His physical body, however, is yellow.]]
* AstralProjection: [[spoiler:His body's in an institution, but he can project his mind a sidestep away from reality, allowing him to wander the world and interact with us.]]
* ComicBookFantasyCasting: Has a marked resemblance to Music/DavidBowie, particularly on the cover of Vertigo issue #37.
* DeadpanSnarker: He's very sarcastic, especially when commenting on superheroes.
* DeafComposer: [[SenseLossSadness He can't hear music anymore, only remember it]], but nevertheless, he still plays.
* FourthWallObserver: He directly addresses the reader from the get-go, even threatening to "not let you in again" after reading things they weren't supposed to.
* MediumAwareness: As mentioned, he's fully aware he's fictional. His first appearance has him snarking about the ''Dark Age'' miniseries, and saying that if he explained everything all at once "we'd be here for a dozen issues and your eyes would glaze over".
* MismatchedEyes: In his early appearances, one's green and the other's purple; from issue #37 on, however, they're both green.
* MysteriousPast: He's forgotten who he might have been; [[spoiler: however, it's implied that he's the latest personification of counterculture music, but the Oubor's agents interfered with his change, fracturing him into his current state. The [[TraumaInducedAmnesia trauma of the disruption]] appears to have made him [[IdentityAmnesia forget who he is]], constructing a new past for himself, and he refuses to accept he might be the spirit when it's suggested to him.]]
* SpeechBubbles: His are irregular purple polygons with white borders and white words.
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Or in his case, fluorescent green hair.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Matilda "Tillie" Jane Armstrong]]
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tillie.jpg]]
The Gentleman's daughter, who holds the key to his secret origin.
----
* TheAgeless: [[spoiler:One of a select few people who, for whatever reason, have stopped aging - in her case, as a child in the '40s.]]
* AscendedExtra: ''Every time'' the Gentleman is seen on the streets of Astro City, from his first appearance to her spotlight issue ''twenty-one years later'', Tillie can be found in the crowd.
* DreamPeople: [[spoiler:When Tillie's father died during a supervillain attack in TheForties, she manifested an idealized version of him, the Gentleman, to answer her grief - but because they were both fundamentally decent people, he also did his best to help others as well. However, she couldn't manifest him permanently, so she only calls on him when she, or the world, needs him. She believes that, if she wanted to, she could let go of her father and begin aging normally, but... the world needs heroes, and she needs her father. During the '50s, feeling that it was selfish of her to hold onto him, and that it'd be selfish to let go of him, she decided to indulge herself and created the Young Gentleman as a big brother for herself.]]
* {{Expy}}: If the Gentleman is an expy of [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} the original Captain Marvel]], Tillie is an expy of Billy Batson, being a fundamentally decent, good-hearted kid with her feet on the ground and a talent for encountering weirdness.
** Her design is most likely based on a young Creator/JudyGarland.
* FourthWallObserver: [[spoiler:The Broken Man discovers she's this, much to his consternation, when he introduces her spotlight issue - she's aware of him, she can see the audience reading the future comic she's appearing in, and she knows what she must look like to any Astro City resident who ''can't'' see the fourth wall. That said, she doesn't see as much as the Broken Man can, wondering what he means by "We're on page twenty-three, 'Til. There really isn't any room left."]]
** [[spoiler:Her confusion about the reference to "page 23" might be a case of FridgeBrilliance - comic books in the forties were much longer than modern ones.]]
* GirlishPigtails: In keeping with being a Forties-era nice girl.
* NiceGirl: You can see where she came by it.
* ParentalAbandonment: Her mother died when she was born, [[spoiler:and her father died during a supervillain attack during the war.]]
* WalkingTheEarth: How she apparently lives.
* WeirdnessMagnet: [[spoiler:Ever since her father died,]] she seems to have developed a knack for stumbling upon weird situations - discovering her headmistress was training an all-girl pickpocket ring, having trouble with counterfeiters, going on a school trip to a museum right about the time a serpent cult launched a raid...
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Dancing Master]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/unnamed_4428.jpg]]
->"I do no harm," The Dancing Master said, "I bring pleasure and awakening, a joy in life long missed by these stunted ones. No one acts against their nature, or against their heart.'''''"


A mysterious entity from "The Old Lands" that brings a life affirming "plague" of romance.
----
* TheAgeless: If one trusts the claim that he "taught the stars to dance."
* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Of the concept of dance and romance.
* EldritchAbomination: Of the benevolent variety but nonetheless the Hanged Man insists he leave our dimension for fear he'll drive the populace mad.
* EmotionBomb: Romance. Primarily the traditional idea of 'romantic love' but it's implied he brings a general romantic air to the world overall and inspires people to love and live fully.
* {{Expy}}: To the Endless from ComicBook/TheSandman, possibly a combination of Dream, Desire, and Delirium.
* FishOutOfTemporalWaters: A rather unique example, as an EldritchAbomination, time holds virtually no meaning for him, but since he's still connected to mankind, he doesn't understand how much the world has changed in his absence. He's surprised at the sheer population of Astro City, which is a large city, but not abnormally so for the modern world.
--> ''Were these all the Men in the world?''
* GreatGazoo: Well-intentioned, weird, and frighteningly powerful.
* IHaveManyNames: Goes through quite a list but says he thinks of himself as "The Dancing Master".
* ShipperOnDeck: For all mankind...
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Prince Kaspian]]
[[quoteright:127:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kaspian_4.jpg]]

Leader of the Beast-Men, a subhuman race of animal hybrids that live in tribes.

* AnimalThemedSuperBeing: Inspired by a fox.
* AntiVillain: He seems to hold this position in the overall rogues gallery, given their willingness to work with him.
* {{Expy}}: For ComicBook/SubMariner, both in general appearance (just swap out his red hair for black), his status as the leader of a maligned and misunderstood inhuman nation that often makes incursions on humanity AND in that he is the third point in a love triangle with the Mister Fantastic expy and blonde woman to whom they both love.
* HairTriggerTemper: He's very aggressive and combative, which is the main reason he's an adversary.
* LittleBitBeastly: Sharp teeth, pointy ears, red hair, and vaguely vulpine features.
* PapaWolf: Downplayed. He sneers at Rex for supposedly not being good enough for his daughter but given his apathy to her upbringing and the language he used when doing so, it came off way more as FantasticRacism.
* PointyEars: Unsurprisingly, as a Namor {{Expy}}.
* SuperStrength: Enough to knock super-strong Rex off his feet DESPITE his rock hard skin.
* WarriorPrince: Between his superpowers and his aggressiveness, he'd be a joke if he wasn't.
[[/folder]]

* MixedAncestry: Technically, he ''is'' half-Native. *Rimshot*

* BetterTheDevilYouKnow: Sure, Shadow Hill may be so chock-full of supernatural nasties that it might as well be an EldritchLocation, but as long as one is careful and has the right protections even an ordinary person can keep themselves safe from them. You can't do that with supervillains.

* CountryMouse: Although Shadow Hill is technically part of Astro City.

* DeadPersonConversation: Knows a ritual that allows this.

* DisappearedDad: Jack Johnson, the first Jack-In-The-Box, as his family didn't know he was a superhero who died in battle.

** [[spoiler:Later on, Marguerite gains Chibi's powers by putting on a pair of scrunchies.]]

* {{Expy}}: Of the [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk Savage Hulk]], when initially introduced - a violent, destructive creature of great strength that lashed out at anything that threatened it, created by an experiment with unintended consequences. Also like the Hulk, if you take the time and just not fight him, he has a heroic spirit underneath that scary exterior.

* ShadowWalker: Able to walk between shadows in a form of short-range teleportation.

* OddCouple: One of them is just a regular human guy, the other is a corgi. They're each others' best friends.

[[quoteright:234:htftps://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/samaritan.jpg]]

[[quoteright:234:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/samaritan.jpg]]

* CutLexLuthorACheck: He reflects at one point that, if he was in a better state, he could probably have become a soldier or an explorer or ''something'' that would let him put his talents to work in a legal fashion. He became a supervillain more because he was young and shortsighted, and by the end, he didn't have any other options. When he backtracks and tries to reform, he discovers that only the most menial jobs will accept him, and on top of that, almost all the money he got over the course of his career left his hands quickly. In his next story arc, years later, she'd shown to be a sort of freelancer, doing jobs like bounty-hunting and exploring sunken wrecks.

* DidntThinkThisThrough: Point Man's M.O. is to take swift, decisive actions to solve the problem in front of him immediately. Sometimes this works out, [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom sometimes it really, really doesn't]].

* CutLexLuthorACheck: He reflects at one point that, if he was in a better state, he could probably have become a soldier or an explorer or ''something'' that would let him put his talents to work in a legal fashion. He became a supervillain more because he was young and shortsighted, and by the end, he didn't have any other options. When he backtracks and tries to reform, he discovers that only the most menial jobs will accept him, and on top of that, almost all the money he got over the course of his career left his hands quickly.

* BetterTheDevilYouKnow: Sure Shadow Hill may be so chock-full of supernatural nasties that it might as well be an EldritchLocation, but as long as one is careful and has the right protections even an ordinary person can keep themselves safe from them. You can't do that with supervillains.

* BadassBolas: Uses bolas as his WeaponOfChoice.

* BadassBolas: Uses bolas as hus WeaponOfchoice.

* BadssBolas: Uses bolas as hus WeaponOfchoice.

* {{Expy}}: The Jackson's appearance is modeled after {{ComicBook/Wolverine}}, Sabertooth, {{SelfDemonstrating/Lobo}}, and similar characters. There's also some pretty clear inspiration in the various AntiHeroSubstitute or EvilCounterpart characters Spider-Man started picking up in the 90s, like Kaine, Venom, and Carnage.

* ReedRichardsIsUseless: A later plot point has the Astro-Naut refuse to share his super-genius technology with the government and the rest of the world despite the countless possibilities. It's revealed this is because he fears that [[TheWorldIsNotReady humanity is not ready to be entrusted with such inventions, based on his experiences with the Mrevani.]] It's a subtle example of one compared to others, but it's not implied that he discovered the Mrevani to be NotSoDifferent from humans.

* NotSoDifferent: Has become this with Samaritan after retiring. He notes that both of them are more similar to each other than they'd like to admit, and their frequent interactions have slowly begun to affect each other. Samaritan, exhausted from his role as protector of the world, is implied to sympathize more with Infidel's point of view, while Infidel, for the first time having someone to talk to who doesn't treat him like shit, has begun to understand the positive aspects of human interaction.

* {{Expy}}: To ComicBook/TheVision, another robot superhero struggling to connect with humans, although her problems are quite different