History Literature / SoonIWillBeInvincible

* TitleDrop: At the end, after Doc is defeated.

* Lily: A woman made out of indestructible crystal sent back in time to [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong prevent a horrible blight from destroying the Earth]]. After she stopped the blight, she decided that she liked the original future better and became a WellIntentionedExtremist in her quest to [[MakeWrongWhatOnceWentRight bring that future back]]. [[spoiler:Or so she says; in fact, she was originally [=CoreFire=]'s Lois Lane. And he forgot about her.]]

* CaptainErsatz: Most characters, to some degree, though there's always at least one twist.

* SchoolyardBullyAllGrownUp: According to Doctor Impossible, [=CoreFire=].

* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: Lily's {{backstory}} is that she was sent back from the future to do this, succeeded, then decided that she preferred her original future and is now trying to "set wrong what once went right". [[spoiler:None of it's true, of course. The story of the future apocalypse is true, but Lily turns out to be contemporary, not future-born.]]

* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: Lily's {{backstory}} is that she was sent back from the future to do this, succeeded, then decided that she preferred her original future and is now trying to

* DisabilitySuperpower: Blackwolf's uber-planning and analytical skills are due to a form of autism. Several of the other heroes are also shown to suffer adverse effects from their abnormal physiology (Feral's back problems, Damsel's digestive problems). [[LampshadeHanging "There's a fine line between superpowers and a chronic disease."]] Fatale notes that you have to live with these powers, the cyborg parts or half-human biology or whatever every day and not just when they come in handy.
** [[ScienceRelatedMemeticDisorder Malign Hypercognition Disorder]].

* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: Lily's {{backstory}} is that she was sent back from the future to do this, succeeded, then decided that she preferred her original future and is now trying to "set wrong what once went right". [[spoiler:None of it's true, of course. The story of the future apocalypse is true, but Lily turns out to be contemporary, not future-born.]]
* ShaggyDogStory: It seems like the book is setting up a final showdown between Fatale (the rookie member of the superteam) and Dr. Impossible (the EvilGenius so powerful that his crimes are tried in the World Court). After all, they're the two viewpoint characters. [[spoiler: Instead, Impossible takes her down almost instantly ([[CrowningMomentOfAwesome with a remote control, no less!]]), and she spends the climax of the book in a prison cell. In fact, examination reveals that her absence from the plot would have changed more or less nothing. Her actual role in the book was to provide an "outsider" perspective on the superteam, and thus prevent both ContinuityLockout and AsYouKnow.]]
** {{Alternate|CharacterInterpretation}}ly, her role was her own storyline about her goals and CharacterDevelopment, entwined with but separate from Dr. Impossible's. A RookieRedRanger might be in need of {{Deconstruction}} just as much as an AntiVillain.
* ShoutOut: Along with the obvious [[CaptainErsatz Ersatzes]], the {{backstory}} for Regina bears a striking resemblance to ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia''. It even includes the part of the Narnia story that causes a BrokenBase within the fandom - one of the chosen children being excommunicated from it for vague and unfair reasons.
* SmugSuper: [=CoreFire=], according to Blackwolf, Damsel, and Dr. Impossible. Damsel's father, who comes in to admonish the Champions for not being able to track down Dr. Impossible, and according to Blackwolf, ''really'' hates people who aren't {{flying brick}}s.
* {{Soaperizing}}
* StockPhrases: Doctor Impossible is full of them, and seems [[ButThouMust pathologically incapable]] of ''not'' using them while in public. His internal narration, on the other hand, is perfectly normal and constantly asks why he's always belting off cliche liners.
* SuperSenses: loads of them.
** Fatale is loaded with scanning devices that let her look inside people and eavesdrop on her roommates.
** [=CoreFire=] has an ill-defined "zeta sense" which is probably just Superman's vision powers.
** Damsel has micro-vision.
** Mister Mystic has some [[MySignificanceSenseIsTingling vague magical perceptions]].
** Dr. Impossible can see most of the spectrum with some concentration.
* SuperSpeed: Notably Go-Man, a [[TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] super-hero who 'moved faster than the speed of crime'.
--> "[I] built a whole new class of defenses to deal with his ability - trip wires, gases, immobilizing foams, areas of the complex that could seal instantly if I even suspected he was inside them. Then I'd pour everything I could think of - poisons, sonic vibrations, mutant bees - until something worked, until he fell unconscious and stopped moving, precipitated out of the air like a spirit."
* SuperStrength: Many of the characters.
* SuperZeroes: The Pharaoh.
* SupervillainLair: Doctor Impossible has had a few of these (He goes back to his last one, on an island in the Pacific) and at one point is nostalgic about his first one, which was in his basement.
* SwitchingPOV: Dr. Impossible and Fatale.
** This is an important part of how the world of Heroes and Villains plays out. What was, for Dr. Impossible, a narrow escape calling on all his resources after he was jumped in the street, is a humiliating defeat at the hands of a collected and hyper-competent enemy to the supers and a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown of the heroes to the media.
* TakeOverTheWorld: The MO of Doctor Impossible, including six different {{Doomsday Device}}s.
* ThemeNaming: The chapters focusing on Doctor Impossible are entitled with villainous StockPhrases.
* TheyCalledMeMad: Dr. Impossible {{lampshade|Hanging}}s and {{deconstruct|ion}}s it, showing what kind of past and psychology someone who could truthfully say that would have to have.
* TimeTravel: Besides Lily, Baron Ether accidentally got stuck in the Cretaceous period for some time, and Dr. Impossible once travelled back to the Third Punic War to help the Carthaginians win (but the Champions travelled back too and stopped him).
* TitleDrop: At the end, after Doc is defeated.
* TooCleverByHalf: Dr. Impossible, and he's aware of it, narrating about it from the start.
* {{Troperiffic}}: It's basically a catalog of superhero comic tropes.
* UnknownRival: [[spoiler:Doctor Impossible's lifelong dream is to finally defeat [=CoreFire=] and reveal himself to be none other than the inoffensive little science geek who [=CoreFire=] was sort of friends with in high school, and whose {{Love Interest|s}} he stole. He finally gets the chance towards the end of the book, resulting in... a blank stare, and sheepish admission from [=CoreFire=] that he has no idea who he is.]]
** On a broader level, neither Dr. Impossible nor [=CoreFire=] manage to figure out who Lily actually is and both totally fail to even recognize how completely she's played them both.
* UnreliableNarrator: Impossible's emotions and prejudices often color his perceptions and recollections, though to what degree is unknown; for example, he often thinks of [=CoreFire=] as an "imbecile", even though [[spoiler:in a high school for the gifted, they both were at the top of their science class and competed for the same awards.]]
* UrExample: In-universe, Baron Ether was the first known {{supervillain}}. He made his villainous debut in VictorianBritain, and finally retired in 1979.
* VillainProtagonist: Doctor Impossible. See also AntiVillain entry.
* VillainousFriendship: Doctor Impossible and the Pharaoh's relationship is somewhere between being the best of friends and VitriolicBestBuds, and a pair who mostly tolerate each others' company because it's them against the world. Yes, the Pharaoh is an absolute idiot, but he's still Impossible's friend, and he seems as eager to make the Champions respect the Pharaoh as to make them respect himself.
* VillainsActHeroesReact: The Champions even say that "He's an evil genius. We're not going to out-guess him."
* VillainsOutShopping: A street-levelling fight breaks out after Blackwolf spots Doctor Impossible relaxing at a coffee shop. Just before, the Doctor thinks, "Some days, you just don't feel all that evil."
* WeCanRebuildHim: Fatale's and Rainbow Triumph's origins - Fatale was an NSA snoop in South America who was hit by a garbage truck, and Rainbow Triumph was born with a degenerative disease that would have killed her, if not for the fact her parents owned a major cybernetics corporation.
* WhoDares: Almost a CatchPhrase for Doctor Impossible. At one point he [[LampshadeHanging reflects that it's a silly thing to say,]] but it's all part of BecomingTheMask.
* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: "Malign Hypercognition Disorder". The most intelligent people in the world are ''compelled'' to become {{supervillain}}s, even though they [[CutLexLuthorACheck could do better legitimately]]. Dr. Impossible treats it like a job, putting on a LargeHam persona, while the real him quietly suffers and wonders if he'd ever done anything right, or done anything meaningful.
* YouCantThwartStageOne: Dr. Impossible has a few encounters with the Champions, together or individually before while he's still trying to put his EvilPlan together, but the final battle doesn't happen until he's in his [[SupervillainLair lair]] with his DoomsdayDevice, having [[DoNotAdjustYourSet announced his intentions to the world]].
** Also [[spoiler:when the Champions attack Doctor Impossible's lair, he's ready for them and manages to capture them all. It doesn't last.]]
* ZeppelinsFromAnotherWorld: Dr. Impossible concedes that his Battle Blimp was [[NeverLiveItDown a bit much]], but it sure put him on the map.
----

* SuperSenses: Fatale is loaded with scanning devices that let her look inside people and eavesdrop on her roommates.
** [=CoreFire=] has a "zeta sense", and Damsel has micro-vision. Mister Mystic has some [[MySignificanceSenseIsTingling vague magical perceptions]]. Dr. Impossible can see most of the spectrum.

* ShaggyDogStory: It seems like the book is setting up a final showdown between Fatale (the rookie member of the superteam) and Dr. Impossible (the EvilGenius so powerful that his crimes are tried in the World Court). After all, they're the two viewpoint characters. [[spoiler: Instead, Impossible takes her down in less than five seconds ([[CrowningMomentOfAwesome by remote control, no less!]]), and she spends the climax of the book in a prison cell. In fact, examination reveals that her absence from the plot would have changed more or less nothing. Her actual role in the book was to provide an "outsider" perspective on the superteam, and thus prevent both ContinuityLockout and AsYouKnow.]]

* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: Lily's {{backstory}} is that she was sent back from the future to do this, succeeded, then decided that she preferred her original future and is now trying to "set wrong what once went right". [[spoiler:None of it's true, of course.]]
** [[spoiler: The main goal is true, and she did indeed go into the future. But certain details, such as her backstory (her being raised as TheChosenOne who would stop the apocalypse and what not) are not true.]]

* ObliviousToLove: Oh, so many. Fatale glosses over Blackwolf's subtle suggestions and hints until [[spoiler:their sexual tension comes to a boil when Fatale strips naked for one of Blackwolf's scans to see what's installed in her.]]

* Damsel: A [[HalfHumanHybrid half-human]] [[LegacyCharacter legacy hero]], whose weather-god father married a GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe and who leads the New Champions. Something of an [[CaptainErsatz ersatz]] [[CompositeCharacter composite]] of Donna Troy/Wonder Girl (second-generation FlyingBrick heroine who in her Troia days had a glowing [[DeflectorShields deflector shield]], who spent years feeling overshadowed by her more famous predecessor) and Comicbook/MsMarvel (FlyingBrick with alien DNA and hardass-leader attitude, who spent years feeling overshadowed by her male counterpart), and Starfire (fish-out-of-water humanoid alien princess who feels out of place). But at the end of the book [[spoiler:add aspects of {{Storm}} and Comicbook/{{Aquaman}}, gaining ElementalPowers-- which further reflect Troia and Ms. Marvel, who both underwent a RePower or two in their long and [[ContinuitySnarl tangled histories]].]]

* Rainbow Triumph: Blackwolf's nominal KidSidekick, even though they don't get along very well. Has SuperStrength and SuperSpeed thanks to implants keeping her alive, but must take medication every few hours or she'll die painfully. Corporate mascot for her father's biotech firm. Would remind one of any of several superheroes under the age of 15, with a little self-destructive child actor thrown in. Most particularly Carrie Kelly (Earth 31 Robin) and, somewhat presciently, Damian Wayne, the current earth 1 Robin (in that she requires cybernetic/transhuman augmentation from her wealthy parents' corporation to survive).

** [[spoiler: The main goal is true, and she did indeed go into the future. But certain details, such as her backstory (her being raised as a supersoldier and what not) are not true.]]

* JerkJock: [=CoreFire=], even before his empowerment. At least according to Doctor Impossible. Blackwolf says "[=CoreFire=] was a jerk" at one point, and Damsel calls him a "Fucking racist." [[spoiler: It is implied that he broke up with her when he found out she was only half human.]] It's a bit more complicated than that: Dr. Impossible actually, though grudgingly, admits that when they did talk, [=CoreFire=] did come across as an okay guy. Impossible describes him not as a bully, but one of the many people who allow it passively, and was even friends with him - it's implied [=CoreFire=] went with the flow, and when people picked on someone, he went with it. Fatale says he's surprisingly shy, though she notes that it might be because [[spoiler:he just got his ass kicked by Impossible AND got rescued and mocked by his ignored writer "girlfriend".]] However, he did help start the story's plot by [[spoiler:getting sent into a coma by trying to show off to Lily be essentially picking on a retired supervillain... who had a hammer that seemed to be [=CoreFire=]'s weakness.]]]]

* JerkJock: [=CoreFire=], even before his empowerment. At least according to Doctor Impossible. Blackwolf says "[=CoreFire=] was a jerk" at one point, and Damsel calls him a "Fucking racist." [[spoiler: It is implied that he broke up with her when he found out she was only half human.]]
** Then again, Dr. Impossible actually, though grudgingly, admits that when they did talk, [=CoreFire=] did come across as an okay guy. Impossible describes him not as a bully, but one of the many people who allow it, and was even friends with him - it's implied [=CoreFire=] went with the flow, and when people picked on someone, he went with it. Fatale says he's surprisingly shy, though she notes that it might be because [[spoiler:he just got his ass kicked by Impossible AND got rescued and mocked by his ignored writer "girlfriend".]]

* Damsel: A [[HalfHumanHybrid half-human]] [[LegacyCharacter legacy hero]], whose weather-god father married a GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe and who leads the New Champions. Something of an [[CaptainErsatz ersatz]] [[CompositeCharacter composite]] of Donna Troy/Wonder Girl (second-generation FlyingBrick heroine who in her Troia days had a glowing [[DeflectorShields deflector shield]], who spent years feeling overshadowed by her more famous predecessor) and Comicbook/MsMarvel (FlyingBrick with alien DNA and hardass-leader attitude, who spent years feeling overshadowed by her male counterpart). But at the end of the book [[spoiler:add aspects of {{Storm}} and Comicbook/{{Aquaman}}, gaining ElementalPowers-- which further reflect Troia and Ms. Marvel, who both underwent a RePower or two in their long and [[ContinuitySnarl tangled histories]].]]

* Feral: A street-level hero who is a anthropomorphic tiger. Similar to Wolverine, although the fact he's an anthropomorphic tiger calls back to Mr Tawky Tawny of [[{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]] fame.

* MixAndMatchMan: [[spoiler:Damsel]]

* SmugSuper: [=CoreFire=], according to Blackwolf, Damsel, and Dr. Impossible.

* NewSuperpower: [[spoiler:Damsel, near the end of the story, suddenly gains water powers]]. ''After'' [[spoiler:the world has already been saved]].
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: [[spoiler:Dr. Impossible unwittingly saves the world by taking the Pharaoh's hammer away from where it was warping the local landscape, and would have created "the Blight" of Lily's future.]]

* NoodleIncident: Many of Doctor Impossible's previous {{Evil Plan}}s, "The Meta-meta Virus. Army of fish. Army of fungus."

* ObliviousToLove: Oh, so many.
* OneSteveLimit: Averted. There are 2 characters named Pharaoh.

* PhlebotinumRebel: Fatale, who [[spoiler:was apparently reconstructed as part of some scheme of Doctor Impossible's, though it's never revealed to what ends.]]

** Played with: [[spoiler:Dr. Impossible's plan involving Fatale is long abandoned and forgotten and only recognizes her as a product of his technology.]]

* ReedRichardsIsUseless: Played with-- there are mad-science super-technologies that can save human lives, but they come with dreadful side effects and they're mostly in the hands of supervillains anyway.
* RetiredMonster: Baron Ether.

* RobotGirl: Galatea.
* RookieRedRanger: Fatale.

* SmugSuper

* StockPhrases: Doctor Impossible is full of them, and seems [[ButThouMust pathologically incapable]] of ''not'' using them while in public. His internal narration, on the other hand, is perfectly normal.

* WeCanRebuildHim: Fatale's and Rainbow Triumph's origins.

* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: "Malign Hypercognition Disorder". The most intelligent people in the world are ''compelled'' to become {{supervillain}}s, even though they [[CutLexLuthorACheck could do better legitimately]].

* ActionGirl: Fatale, Damsel, Lilly, actually every female superhero.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: In-universe, as a running theme of the book is that the heroes and villains, despite defining each others lives and fighting each other for years, really don't know or understand each other at all.

* AntagonistInMourning: Doctor Impossible attends [=CoreFire's=] funeral.
* AntiVillain: And how. Doctor Impossible's character is a VillainProtagonist with strong characteristics of the AntiVillain. He is [[CardCarryingVillain clearly and unapologetically a bad guy]] (although maybe just a little bit misunderstood), every inch an EvilGenius... but in spite of all of that, it's hard to not want him to win. Doctor Impossible's internal monologues paint him as a somewhat sympathetic character - although one could argue that his {{backstory}} is all just a FreudianExcuse. As he even says at one point, "Some days, you just don't feel all that evil."

* BadGuyBar: The Champions visit a low-end villain bar to squeeze the patrons for information. Later, Doctor Impossible goes another BadGuyBar, held in a secret location that changes every so often to avoid the heroes.
* BadassBookworm: Doctor Impossible.

* BadassNormal: Blackwolf is pretty much the living embodiment of this, able to take down ''any'' other SuperHero despite the fact he has no powers.
* BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler:for a moment, it seems like Corefire will pull this... but nope, Doctor Impossible utterly destroys him too. In the end, it's Lily who pulls a BigDamnHeroes when the Pharaoh's hammer power finally runs out.]]
* ButForMeItWasTuesday: [[spoiler: Dr. Impossible created Fatale.]] He only realizes this when he finally recognizes his handiwork, and he spends the entire novel unable to remember her name. At the end, this is reversed: [[spoiler: he's spent his entire life waiting for the moment when can triumphantly reveal to [=CoreFire=] that he is his nerdy classmate from high school. The big reveal comes...and [=CoreFire=] can't place him.]]
* CanNotSpitItOut: [[spoiler:Fatale to Blackwolf, Doctor Impossible to Erica/Lily]].

* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder

* ConquerorFromTheFuture: Minor villain Polgar, the President of the United States in an alternate future, who comes back to take over when he is deposed. One of Blackwolf's theories about Dr. Impossible is that he is a past version of Polgar. This is probably a ShoutOut to Kang the Conqueror, the UrExample of this trope, who was previously (and erroneously) thought to be a future version of DoctorDoom.

* FightClubbing: {{Supervillain}}s and minor heroes have underground gladiator battles; Dr. I got his start brawling as Smartacus, Count Smackula (no relation to [[WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor Count Spankulot]]) and other stage names.

** Then again, Dr. Impossible actually, though grudgingly, admits that when they did talk, [=CoreFire=] did come across as an okay guy. Impossible describes him not as a bully, but one of the many people who allow it.

** Dr. Impossible starts the book in prison because of a play for world domination. This is at the his thirteenth spell inside.

* AntiVillain: And how. Doctor Impossible's character is a VillainProtagonist with strong characteristics of the AntiVillain. He is clearly and unapologetically a bad guy (although maybe just a little bit misunderstood), every inch an EvilGenius... but in spite of all of that, it's hard to not want him to win. Doctor Impossible's internal monologues paint him as a somewhat sympathetic character - although one could argue that his {{backstory}} is all just a FreudianExcuse. As he even says at one point, "Some days, you just don't feel all that evil."

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: In Universe actually. A running theme of the book is that the heroes and villains, despite defining each others lives and fighting each other for years, really don't know or understand each other at all.

* BadGuyBar: The Champions visit a [[strike:super-powered villain]] lowlife bar to squeeze the patrons for information. Later, Doctor Impossible goes another BadGuyBar, held in a secret location that changes every so often to avoid the heroes.

* CardboardPrison: Well, yeah.
** Interesting version of this occurs with Baron Ether, who is confined to supposedly isolated house arrest for the remainder of his life by his ArchNemesis the Mechanist. He never breaks out but people keep breaking ''in'' to talk to him. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d by him at one point:

* CutLexLuthorACheck: Doctor Impossible has made billions from crime, but inevitably he will be beaten up by heroes, thrown in jail and have his accounts frozen. He could have done so much more if he applied his mind to legitimate work. He does wonder [[LampshadeHanging "whether the smartest man in the world has done the smartest thing he could with his life."]]
** Then again, he has Malign Hypercognition Disorder, which means: he's an EVIL genius. Apparently, being an evil genius is a [[DisabilitySuperpower mental disorder]] that inevitably comes with Impossible's level of intellect, so he can't help himself.

** Subverted: If you read carefully, especially near the end, it becomes clear that [[spoiler: Lilly knows damn well who Doctor Impossible is - she just never admitted it.]]

* {{Deconstruction}}: The book is half-Deconstruction, half-{{Reconstruction}} of the SuperHero genre.
* DiabolicalMastermind: Dr. Impossible. Less so than he used to be, but he can still make a few phone calls and have a sniper with a RayGun assassinate someone in Russia.

* IneffectualSympatheticVillain: For all his genius and resources, Doctor Impossible is a comic book [[{{Supervillain}} evil mastermind]] played dead straight, his cape and boots, his robot minions and his {{deathtrap}}s faintly ridiculous in the cold light of day. And, since StatusQuoIsGod, the heroes always win, making him quite literally a loser.
** Not to mention fellow villain the Pharaoh, whose inconsistent OriginStory and silly costume makes him a complete joke to the heroes and to other villains, despite being virtually invincible.

* ReedRichardsIsUseless: played with-- there are mad-science super-technologies that can save human lives, but they come with dreadful side effects and they're mostly in the hands of supervillains anyway.

** On a broader level, neither Dr. Impossible nor [=CoreFire=] manage to figure out who Lilly actually is and both totally fail to even recognize how completely she's played them both.

* UrExample: In-universe, Baron Ether was the first known supervillain. He made his villainous debut in VictorianBritain, and finally retired in 1979.

* VillainousFriendship: Type I with shades of [[VitriolicBestBuds Type IV]] in Doctor Impossible and the Pharaoh's relationship. Yes, the Pharaoh is an absolute idiot, but he's still Impossible's friend, and he seems as eager to make the Champions respect the Pharaoh as to make them respect himself.

* YouCantThwartStageOne: Dr. Impossible has a few encounters with the Champions, together or individually before while he's still trying to put his EvilPlan together, but the final battle doesn't happen until he's in his [[SupervillainLair lair]] with his DoomsdayDevice, having announced his intentions to the world.

----

* Doctor Impossible: A mix of [[NormanOsborn The Green Goblin]], DoctorDoom, and [[PostCrisis pre-crisis]] SelfDemonstrating/LexLuthor, though with actual powers. He is afflicted with [[ScienceRelatedMemeticDisorder Malign Hypercognition Disorder]] ("MadScientist disease") due to his great intellect, and has no goal other than trying to {{take over the world}}. As one of the viewpoint characters, the tales of his {{backstory}} and how he came to be (not to mention the actual day-to-day frustrations and sadnesses of a {{supervillain}}) make him [[AntiVillain surprisingly sympathetic]]. Some of his plans have included the "Meta-Metavirus" and "The Fungal Menace." He has also attempted to impersonate the Pope.

-->'''Doctor Impossible'''