Characters / Ex-Superheroes

This is a list of characters in the Ex-Superheroes novels.

Hunter's team

Hunter

Hunter McNeil is an ex-Army Ranger and a former member of the Super-Powered Combatant Corps, where he went by the codename Mr. Shield. After leaving the SPCC, he became a smuggler and was eventually captured and imprisoned in Karkarin.

• The Atoner: The reason Hunter became an Ephemera smuggler, since he hope to make up for the harm he caused to the people of those countries while working for the SPCC.
• Atrocious Alias: He can create and manipulate invisible forcefields with so much finesse and power that he qualifies (at least when he's at full strength) as a Person of Mass Destruction, and even when his powers are on the fritz he's a ruthless killer, cunning Combat Pragmatist and all-around supreme badass. Somehow he got stuck with the code name of... "Mr. Shield." He is not happy about this. It probably doesn't help that his civilian name, Hunter McNeil, is arguably much cooler.
• Barrier Warrior: Hunter's power is generating and controlling invisible force fields (he's the only one who can see them).
• Not Quite Flight: Hunter is able to encase himself and others in a shield and propel the shield through the air at pretty high speeds. He can also move underwater and even in space (provided there's enough air in the shield).
• Parental Abandonment: Hunter does his best not to talk or even think about his past, at least before joining the SPCC, but, just before he offs Titan, Hunter can't help but feel that his former best friend was the closest thing to a father Hunter had since his father walked out on the family when McNeil was four years old.
• Ranger: See above. Before being hand selected to join the SPCC, Hunter was an army ranger. Its unknown how he was regarded by his fellow elite if non-powered soldiers, but he stuck out enough to be chosen for THEE world's super team.
• Renegade Russian mixed with America Saves the Day: Back during his SPCC days, Hunter was stationed in Thailand. Wanting to explore the local city during his off time, he used his shield powers to stop Russian crowd control from mowing down some protesters. To keep it from turning into a diplomatic incident- and Hunter being fired, at best- the US Army was forced to spin Hunter's heroics as the good American stopping the evil Russians. Amazingly, it worked.
• Sanity Has Advantages: More or less the key to Hunter's success. While Hunter has some of the best training in the world, normal and powered, and his ability is good- both by themselves are nothing special. The villains and his own teammates have similar training and powers that match or are outright better than Hunter's own. The main reason why Hunter has such a record for success is that he's the most well-adjusted and grounded individual. Compare him to the psychotic, sociopathic, and outright god complex driven villains that Hunter faces. A running theme for the books is that all the villains could have easily defeated and killed Hunter, if they had enough sanity to recognize McNeil for the threat he is.
• Swiss-Army Weapon: Hunter's shield powers are so versatile that it essentially amounts to this.
• Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters: Hunter is a hard Believer in this. After Ephemera was developed, and the top economies of the world claimed a monopoly on the Super Serum, they used their super teams for little more than parades for cheering crowds and crack downs on anyone that called BS. Most of the latter were reactions to both. Eventually Hunter had enough and spent the next few years as a Han Solo impersonator- smuggling super serums to rebel cells, primarily into the countries he'd helped orchestrate coups in.

Nova

Lieutenant Angelica "Nova" Smith is an active member of the SPCC. She was assigned to act as Hunter's overseer and liaison to General Harding.

• Action Girl: Nova is a soldier and has been trained to fight with her powers.
• My Suit Is Also Super: Nova's SPCC-issued suit is fireproof, so it's the only piece of clothing (besides her SPCC-issued underwear) that she can wear and not be afraid of ending up naked.
• Playing with Fire: Nova can project flames from her body and exert limited control over fire in general. In book 2, she also demonstrates limited ability to start fires remotely, although she admits it's something she's still working on. She can light a joint, but can't really do any damage.
• Slap-Slap-Kiss: Nova is initially distrustful and resentful of Hunter, generally considering him a traitor to the US. She does eventually warm up to him, though, and they end up having lots of sex.

Yuki

Yuki "Yurei" Inaba is a Japanese thief and an old acquaintance/lover of Hunter's. She agrees to join the team for the money and the pardon.

• All Women Are Lustful: Out of all the girls on Hunter's team, Yuki is openly the horniest member and as long as you're not a psychotic monster trying to kill her- she will make it clear this classy cat burglar is open for anything.
• Bilingual Bonus: Yuki's nickname "Yurei" means "ghost" in Japanese, which is fitting for someone who can go through walls.
• Classy Cat-Burglar: Yuki is a master thief, which is helped by her phasing ability.
• Friends with Benefits: This has always been Yuki's relationship with Hunter. She's the only member of the team who doesn't have feelings for him. She just cares for him as a friend and enjoys having sex with him (and the others too).
• Intangibility: Yuki's power. She can also shift others out of phase, as long as she's touching them.
• Most Common Superpower: Despite her diminutive size, Yuki has a large rack, which somehow doesn't cause her any back problems.
• Verbal Tic: Not so much verbal tic as the traditional Japanese suffixes. She always refers to Hunter as "Hunter-san" (denoting respect). In book 1, she refers to Nova as "Nova-san", but from book 2 on she calls her "Nova-chan" (denoting endearment). She eventually also begins calling Mariana "Mariana-chan".

Mariana

Mariana da Silva Paranhos is a former Brazilian freedom fighter, who has been working for a supervillain named Nexus. She has a history with Hunter that didn't end well.

• Green-Skinned Space Babe: Ephemera turned Mariana's skin emerald green and gave her webbed hands and feet.
• Making a Splash: Mariana can control water and can herself turn into water. She also swims like a fish and can breathe underwater.
• My Country, Right or Wrong: According to Mariana, everything she does is for her beloved Brazil.
• My Suit Is Also Super: Mariana's swimsuit dissolves whenever she turns into water and reforms when she re-takes human appearance. Nexus's scientists made it for her using "unstable molecules".
• Old Flame: It's clear that neither Hunter nor Mariana are completely over one another. Mindfuck later explains to Hunter that their relationship thrives on drama, so she deliberately blackmailed Hunter into screwing her in book 2 and then walked out naked right in front of Mariana just to add some drama to the relationship.

Supervillains

Antimatter

Hiroshi Takamura is a former member of Japan's S7 strike force, who is now the supervillain Antimatter (or Tonmonoshitsu in Japanese). He is in charge of Tokyo (and, by extension, the rest of Japan) after the supervillain takeover.

• Anti Matter: He is able to project antimatter from his limbs.
• Seppuku: After being mortally wounded, Antimatter rejects Hunter's offer of finding him a healer in exchange for information on the mastermind. Antimatter instead chooses to go out in a true Japanese style and blows his own head off with an antimatter charge.
• Not Quite Flight: Antimatter can fly by projecting jets of antimatter from his boots.

Spike

Spike was a mob enforcer in Newark, NJ, who agreed to take black market Ephemera and mutated into a large gray creature with razor-sharp quills all over his body. He is Antimatter's henchman.

• Healing Factor: Besides being extremely tough, Spike is very difficult to kill because he heals incredibly fast.
• Number Two: Spike is Antimatter's second-in-command.
• Spikes of Doom: Spike's entire body is covered in 2-inch razor-sharp quills.
• Super-Strength: Spike is inhumanly strong and can tear a normal person apart in seconds, especially with the use of his quills.

Nexus

John Xavier LaGrange was a tech billionaire who eventually became the supervillain Nexus. He runs San Francisco.

• Blessed with Suck: One of the early public demonstrations of his power resulted in him traveling through some dimension that didn't agree with him, coming out with his body horribly burned. It's why he builds himself a suit that shields him from the negative effects of teleportation and has other features.
• Teleportation: Nexus's primary power is the ability to teleport himself and anyone next to him through other dimensions.

Mindfuck

Mindfuck is a powerful telepath who works for Nexus. She later turns out to be a member of Dr. Thanatos's inner circle and has been playing Nexus from the beginning.

• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: In book 3, it becomes clear that Mindfuck wasn't just screwing Mariana in book 2 for fun. She has actually grown to care for her.
• Bed Trick: Mindfuck says she could do that by making herself appear as Mariana to Hunter, but she prefers that he has sex with her knowingly.
• Fake Boobs: The only female character whose large breast size isn't natural. Then again, Hunter doesn't mind. And after getting her naked he even admits that the surgeon did an excellent job, not finding any visible scars.
• Heel–Face Turn: In book 3, Mindfuck realizes that Thanatos plans to release evil clones of slain superheroes onto the world in order to enact his new world order. Having had enough, she helps Hunter and the others take Thanatos down. And at the end of the book she joins Hunter's team full-time.
• Mind Control: Mindfuck can take over the mind and body of anyone within 100-200 feet of her. If they have powers, she can also trigger them, although not with the same level of control as the SPC in question. Nexus is the exception, since his suit is specially built to shield his mind from telepaths.
• Psychic-Assisted Suicide: Mindfuck does this with Killshot, after forcing him to kill Mirage and wound Null.
• Stripperiffic: Mindfuck walks around in little more than her undergarments.
• Telepathy: Mindfuck can easily read the mind of anyone miles away. In book 3, she tells Hunter she's the most powerful telepath in the world. Given that she's in Dr. Thanatos's inner circle, it's likely true.

Raider

Raider is a native of Oakland, CA, who now runs his hometown along with Heavy and Crazian.

• Bling-Bling-BANG!: Raider carries a pair of gold-plated Desert Eagles.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Raider's key personality trait, probably not helped by his coke habit.
• Hookers and Blow: Raider does lines daily (since he can't do any drugs that requires an injection due to his power) and regularly hangs out with easy women.
• Macho Latino: Raider certainly tries to project this air. It helps that he can't be hurt by any known weapon or power, so he has nothing to fear.
• Nigh-Invulnerability: Raider cannot be harmed by any known means. Most powers don't work on him. Hunter and his team eventually construct a metal cage of him and drop it in the ocean, hoping he either drowns or suffocates. Even if he survives that, he'll still be stuck at the bottom of the ocean where no one can find him.

Heavy

Heavy is Raider's partner in running Oakland, CA. He doesn't particularly like Raider but goes along with it for the time being.

• Anti-Villain: Heavy is more this than a straight-up villain. He genuinely cares about the people of Oakland, although he's (at first) less concerned about collateral damage when fighting rivals. This changes by the end of book 2, when he also becomes the ruler of San Francisco, when he realizes the enormous responsibility he has.
• Gravity Master: Heavy can alter the gravitational pull of Earth and pretty my any object or person. His power isn't inhibited by Hunter's force fields.
• Scary Black Man: Zig-zagged. While he certainly doesn't look the part, being The Stoner, he is actually very dangerous thanks to his power.
• The Stoner: Heavy seems to be perpetually smoking pot. That said, he's also easily the smartest member of the Oakland crew, even knowing something about orbital mechanics.

Crazian

Crazian is a wannabe gangster who is a part of Raider's crew.

• EMP: Crazian is able to generate localized bursts of EMP, making him extremely dangerous to Nexus and Hunter.

Dr. Thanatos

Dr. Victor Asarian, a brilliant British scientist of Armenian descent. He was one of the first to study Ephemera and was also one of the early test subjects, contracting Ephemera poisoning. He used his power, replacing living tissue with mechanical parts, to gradually turn himself into a fully robotic being, now calling himself Dr. Thanatos.

• Evil Overlord: Asarian was the one who masterminded the assassinations of all the world's superheroes and the takeover of cities by supervillains.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Asarian's tech is years ahead of the curve. He makes Nexus look like the dumb kid in class.
• Underwater Base: Dr. Thanatos's base is located deep underwater. It's an enormous complex protected by mechanical great white sharks.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Thanatos claims to be acting for the good of humanity. But he's perfectly willing to accept staggering casualties to achieve his end goal.

Null

Null is a supervillain with the rare power to neutralize other powers in his line of sight. He's a huge fan of Hunter and keeps asking him to sign his trading card.

• Fan Boy: Null is a huge fan of Hunter, even from his SPCC days, but also from his days as a smuggler. He keeps trying to get Hunter to sign his Mr. Shield trading card.
• Power Nullifier: Null's ability. It only works if he can see his target, but he can apply it selectively. His range is about 1000 yards.

Mirage

Mirage is a Southern female supervillain with the ability to make others see her illusions.

• Master of Illusion: Mirage can manipulate visible light and sound waves to create visual and auditory illusions. This also includes making herself and her companions invisible and inaudible.

Killshot

Killshot is a supervillain whose ability gives him perfect aim with a gun.

• Improbable Aiming Skills: Killshot's power allows him to put a projectile exactly where he aims at at a great distance. This also includes unlikely projectiles like tranquilizer darts that would normally be affected by the wind and other factors.

Other

John Harding

General John "Mad Dog" Harding is in charge of the Super-Powered Combatant Corps, a branch of the US military. He has a tense relationship with Hunter and only works with him because he has no other choice.

• Da Chief: Often plays this role, usually unhappy with whatever Hunter is doing at the moment. Still, he grudgingly supplies him with funding and new jets (whenever Hunter ends up destroying his current one).
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: When Nova contacts Harding at the end of book 3, another general answers the call and explains that Harding was assassinated. She's then ordered to arrest Hunter, who's suspected of being in league with the assassins.

Mama-san

Mama-san is a former Japanese prostitute who is now the madam of a high-class brothel/restaurant in Tokyo.

Titan

Lou Washowski is a former member of the SPCC where he held the rank of major and was known by the codename Titan. He has since retired and moved to a tiny island off the coast of Greece called Gavdos.

• Artificial Limb: The first thing Hunter notices when he arrives on Gavdos and meets Titan is that one of his arms is mechanical. Given Titan's power, this can only mean Ephemera poisoning, which is basically cancer that happens to some who have taken Ephemera of insufficient purity (and Titan was one of the early volunteers before the process was refined). Later on Hunter sees Titan without his clothes and realizes that much of his body has been replaced with mechanical prosthetics, including everything below the waist (much to Titan's chagrin). He says that General Harding was the one who got him the prosthetic. It's a lie. He actually got it from Dr. Thanatos, the mastermind behind the superhero assassinations.
• The Big Guy: Titan suits his codename. He's 7 foot tall and is large and muscular. And, yes, his "equipment" is to match, which results in prostitutes charging him extra as hazard pay.
• Face–Heel Turn: Titan turns out to be a traitor, who agreed to help the supervillains in exchange for letting his goddaughter Frost live and for giving him the mechanical prosthetics.
• Nigh-Invulnerability: One of Titan's powers. He cannot be harmed by anything.
• Super-Strength: Titan's other power, which has also made him really big.

Frost

Cecilia (AKA Frost) is a Black British woman with a Cockney accent and a former member of the UK's version of SPCC. She lives with Titan on the island of Gavdos. She's the daughter of Concussion, Hunter and Titan's late teammate. She's also Titan's goddaughter.

• An Ice Person: Frost can freeze objects or create ice out of thin air. She can also unfreeze objects by absorbing the cold she has produced.
• Really Gets Around: Frost sees nothing wrong with casual sex with anyone she likes, of either sex. She keeps coming on to Hunter, but he doesn't want to step on Titan's toes, so he doesn't even screw her during a foursome, when she joins Nova and Yuki for a session.
• Survivor Guilt: Frost feels this after her entire unit was wiped out on the assassination day, while she survived because her godfather Titan was in league with the supervillains.

Elixir

Elixir is a Greek woman with the power of healing. She lives on the island of Gavdos. She was previously attached to an S7 unit on the Serbian front, meaning she has plenty of battlefield experience.

• Berserk Button: Don't ever call Elixir "Greek". To her the word means "slave" dating back to the Ottoman Empire. She's from the Hellenic Republic, and you better get it right!
• Healing Hands: Elixir can heal most recent injuries with a touch.
• Supreme Chef: Elixir is an excellent cook. Since the island has lots of goats, it's usually her main dish. Titan loves it but is annoyed at having to pick through bone fragments when eating, since Elixir insists on slaughtering the goats a certain way.