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Merciless and Cloak
Merciless
Gary Karkofsky a.k.a Merciless
- Action Dad: Becomes one of these in The Secrets of Supervillainy and later The Tournament of Supervillainy another child.
- The Adjectival Superhero: ''Merciless: The Supervillain without Mercy!"
- Affably Evil: He's the nicest supervillain you could ever hope to meet.
- Ambiguous Disorder: Gary reacts to things in a slightly off-way, finding humor in inappropriate things as well as saying whatever is on his mind regardless of whether it's appropriate or not. He also suffers no guilt for killing supervillains. This briefly leads him to think he's The Sociopath. Given he's prone to empathizing with everyone except the supervillains he kills, this is unlikely.
- Ambiguously Bi: Is very attracted to Angel Eyes despite his denial. However, this may be due to the man's superhuman beauty.
- Ascended Fanboy: Gary is clearly a huge fan of supervillains and his first story arc is becoming what he adores. The dissonance between what Gary thinks they are (lovable rogues) and what they are (vicious murderous psychopaths) forms much of the tension.
- Antivillain: Refers to himself as such at the end of "The Rules of Supervillainy." Arguably, also an Antihero.
- Batman Gambit: Perhaps appropriate, he makes a lot of strange but successful plans up on the fly.
- Bed Trick: Is the subject to this with Spellbinder impersonating Mandy for years. Gary is not happy with this.
- Berserk Button: Anything which threatened his people. Antiheroes. Those who don't care about collateral damage.
- Black Cloak: The Reapers Cloak which bestows him all of his superpowers.
- Bomb Throwing Anarchist: Gary fancies himself one of these. In fact, he is really just extremely left of center. It's just, well, he's a left-of-center supervillain.
- Bourgeois Bohemian: Gary eventually becomes this. Gary starts off as having a strongly anti-capitalist angry punk view of the world that he is fighting "The Man" as a supervillain against. However, he then actually succeeds (at least in Falconcrest City) and wipes out the establishment (that turned out to be an evil cult) before stealing their billions. From that point on, he uses the money to help the have-nots in the city but is still extremely wealthy.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: By all rights, he should have died on his first outing but achieves a surprising amount of success.
- Card-Carrying Villain: Openly calls himself a supervillain and considers it a lifestyle choice. Other supervillains find this bizarre and off-putting.
- The Chosen One: Someone left the Reaper's Cloak on his doorstep. It turns out he's The Unchosen One because the Reaper's Cloak was left for Mandy. This causes him considerable distress until he decides to make it up to Mandy by supporting her career.
- Combat Pragmatist: Gary successfully kills a lot of enemies by using his fire, ice, and intangibility powers in innovative ways. He also usually strikes to kill.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Is considered to be this one in-universe. Much more powerful and experienced villains tend to fall before him despite his quirks. Subverted as he's actually quite dangerous and it's really a case of Underestimating Badassery.
- Damn, It Feels Good to Be a Gangster!: The entire motivation of Gary Karkofsky and the entire book series as a whole. He never wanted to be a superhero and has always wanted to be a supervillain like his big brother. Played with as he actually suffers for this repeatedly through the entirety of the series. His brother is also disgusted with him for following in his path. Played straight in the fact Gary scores a mansion, beautiful partners, and immense wealth while also wacking numerous villains worse than himself.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Gary is revealed to be suffering from one of these. His brother was murdered in front of him by Shoot-Em-Up despite the former having reformed. Gary then tracked down the villain and killed him—at the age of fourteen.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Played with as he's got a scary set of ghost-based powers and is a supervillain but mostly acts like a villainous Spiderman.
- Dating Catwoman: Inverted with Gabrielle a.k.a Ultragoddess during their college years. Later with Mandy. Played straight when he and Gabrielle hook up. Somewhat deconstructed as superheroes and villains both despise the union.
- Deadpan Snarker: An incredible example of this as every other line is either sarcastic, a witticism, or a pop-culture reference which is ALSO a quip.
- Deity of Human Origin: After The Tournament of Supervillainy, Gary is officially named Earth's God of Death. This doesn't seem to actually affect his powers but apparently comes with being The Ageless and magical power he doesn't really have the knowledge to tap into it. He describes himself as the absolute lowest on the totem pole and the god of pocket lint.
- Department of Redundancy Department: Merciless: The Supervillain without Mercy!
- Detrimental Determination: Gary suffers from the fact that he refuses to give up on his quest to restore his dead wife's soul to her vampire body. It leads to a year of depression and numerous bad choices. Also, making a Deal with the Devil that turns out to put another woman's soul in her body. It gets to the point even Death, herself, thinks he needs to let go.
- Endearingly Dorky: Gary Karkofsky AKA Merciless: The Supervillain without Mercy TM is a motor mouthed geek that is, nevertheless, sincere in his love of both his friends as well as wife. Later, love interests (ex or otherwise) express that it was this trait that attracted them over more badass and competent people.
- Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: Gary cannot stop with the wise cracks, pop culture references, and oddball observations. He's about as bad at it as Deadpool but even Deadpool realizes that he's insulting people. Gary just natters on no matter how improper the circumstances for making wisecracks are. The exception is when his wife dies.
- Evil Sorcerer: Becomes one of these in the 3rd book but is, amusingly, really bad at it. He compares himself to a 3rd level Wizard.
- Expy: Seems to be a combination of the Hood with Spiderman's personality.
- Genre Savvy: Gary seems to be the only person in the world who realizes he lives in a comic book. As such, he actually has a great deal more success than other villains or heroes in his group.
- Guile Hero: the only reason, along with creative use of his powers, Gary lasts even a single day as a supervillain.
- Guns Akimbo: Possesses two magic pistols as of The Secrets of Supervillainy but has no experience with guns so he tends to fire this way. Thankfully, he has unlimited ammo.
- Handsome Lech: Is a somewhat dorky kind of guy who has been in relationships with an Expy of Supergirl, an Expy of Harley Quinn, and an Expy of Selene from Underworld (2003). Perhaps justified as he's apparently very handsome in-universe, devoted, and dorky.
- Happily Married: To Mandy. He's deeply devoted to her. Becomes a Heartbroken Badass when she dies and gets turned into a vampire at the end of The Games of Supervillainy. As the books continue, we learn that their marriage has quite a few straining points.
- Heroic Lineage: Revealed by Death that his lineage has been manipulated by her for millennia. This is shown in the fact his sister can see ghosts and he's capable of wielding the Reaper's Cloak. Played with as he's implied to be less magically adept and superpowerful than most people. Then again, this may be what she was going for.
- Hypocrite: Gary styles himself a Bomb Throwing Anarchist and routinely expresses socialist leanings. However, his goals including Take Over the World and becoming fantastically wealthy.
Word of God says this is deliberate and Gary's internal divisions are part of what makes the character tick. - An Ice Person: Possesses these abilities in addition to his fire and intangibility ones.
- Inadequate Inheritor: The previous wielder of the Cloak was basically Batman meets Doctor Strange. His wife was also the Cloak's destined second wielder but he got it first. Gary especially feels the second is a mistake.
- Informed Judaism: Averted. Gary is a (semi)faithful Jew who makes regular references to it in conversation as well as mentions it informs what little moral code he has.
- Intangibility: One of Gary's main powers that allows him to survive fights with much-much stronger opponents. It's limited, though, because magical objects and certain technological devices can still hit him.
- In the Hood: Gary has a magical hooded cloak. He is often described as looking like a "Discount Walmart costume Sith Lord."
- Jack of All Trades: Gary has a number of minor (by comparison to the setting) abilities. Minor fire, ice, levitation (not flight), durability (not invulnerability), and insubstantibility powers. He can also see ghosts. Gary turns these all into a massive advantage.
- Subverted when he makes a pact with Death and becomes a master of fire and ice throwing.
- Jewish and Nerdy: Gary is a definite example of this. Cindy is definitely Jewish and UN-Nerdy.
- Kavorka Man: Gary has been accused of being this in-universe. Not quite a straight view of it because he's described as being very good-looking and emotionally sensitive. It's just it doesn't explain the sheer volume of superhuman women falling for him.
- Ladykiller in Love: He used to be extremely good at seducing women but has had three serious relationships. Amusingly, his "technique" for seducing women was listening to them, being upfront, and making sure they had a good time.
- Papa Wolf: Is willing to tear apart the entirety of Falconcrest City to protect his newly discovered infant daughter.
- Playboy Has a Daughter: starts off married and in a monogamous relationship but gradually moves to Polyamory with multiple regular lovers. This results in a pair of daughters from two different women that he dotes on.
- Pop-Cultured Badass: While somewhat questionable in fighting ability, he uses his powers in innovative ways and is a veritable font of references.
- Punch-Clock Villain: Acts like supervillainy is a perfectly normal lifestyle choice and is irritated with more violent sadistic ones.
- Rebellious Spirit: Gary constantly flouts the law, society, and its rules more or less because he can. Even the fact he's a supervillain seems to be just because he dislikes any kind of authority or order.
- Ridiculously Average Guy: Gary appears to be this but turns out to have a startling number of relationships to many superheroes and villain.
- Sad Clown: Gary has elements of this as he is constantly making jokes but is deeply troubled by his brother's death.
- Shameless Self-Promoter: From the very fact that he trademarks his codename to the fact that his sidekicks have marketing deals by the start of the second book during a Zombie Apocalypse.
- Snark Knight: Uses his humor to cover up just how troubled he really is.
- Soapbox Sadie: Gary has elements of this, talking at great length about political matters which all the other characters tune out as background noise.
- The Sociopath: Gary believes himself to be this and he's actually a fairly realistic version of antisocial personality disorder. He has poor impulse control, a tendency to violence, and an oft-kilter reaction to events. He doesn't suffer the traditional Lack of Empathy, though.
- Sophisticated as Hell: Played with as Gary mostly talks in pop-culture then randomly inserts references to Nieztsche and obscure points of history.
- Squishy Wizard: Averted. Gary has durability (not invulnerability) as one of his superpowers. In practice, it means that he's able to survive heavy beatings and being thrown around much better than many other fighters but doesn't give him nearly the benefits of a Flying Brick.
- Tall, Dark, and Snarky: Gary is, according to the cover of The Rules of Supervillainy 6'1 and it's often mentioned how handsome he is despite how geeky he is. As for snark, it's almost every word out of his mouth.
- Tom the Dark Lord: Gary Karkofsky is the Supervillain without Mercy.
- Tradesnark™: He sometimes adds a trademark symbol to his last name.
- Übermensch: Gary follows his own morality despite being ostensibly still a religious Jew. His general weirdness but consistent self-made code of ethics makes him the Wild Card in his setting.
- Underestimating Badassery: Part of his success in the first book is people tend to assume he''s just a weird cosplayer out of his depth—then people start dying.
- Unskilled, but Strong: Gary isn't a very powerful supervillain but he has a lot of very versatile abilities he makes intelligent use of. He also then becomes MUCH more powerful once he makes a pact with Death.
- Wild Card: Has this sort of place in the Supervillainy universe, being as inclined to help the heroes as the villains and vice versa.
- You Fight Like a Cow: Regularly makes jokes during battle as well as insults his opponents.
Cloak
The Reaper's Cloak a.k.a Cloak A.K.A Lancel Warren A.K.A The Nightwalker
Gary's magical cloak, which possesses an intelligence and mind of it's own. It advised Gary on the best course of action and frequently has its suggestions ignored. It's actually the ghost of Lancelot Warren a.k.a. The Nightwalker.
- Artifact of Doom: Is a powerful mystical relic which Gary can conjure at will.
- The Atoner: For his role in founding the Brotherhood of Infamy.
- Black Cloak: Cloak's soul is trapped in the Reaper's Cloak.
- The Conscience: Serve as this to Gary, encouraging him to use his powers for the greater good.
- The Cowl: Literally so, in this case. Even more appropriately since he's the Nightwalker.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Was formerly the head of the Brotherhood of Infamy and led the theft of the Reaper's Cloaks. He then had a Heel Realization and decided to try to work to stop their plans to destroy reality. This was notably after he lost his wife and son in a random drive-by shooting.
- Deadpan Snarker: Like just about everyone else in the group but quite a bit more subdued.
- Expy: Serves as Gary's inner Alfred. Which is appropriate because he's actually the setting's equivalent of Batman with a hint of Doctor Strange.
- Guile Hero: Frequently directs Gary into certain courses of actions via reverse-psychology, or maybe he's just lucky.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Uses up all of his power to create Counter-Earth and save Gary from dying at the hands of Other Gary.
- Not So Above It All: Turns out to be a fanboy for the Backwoodsman. Which makes sense since he's a hero even older than the Nightwalker.
- Odd Friendship: A deceased 100+ year old superhero and a 30 something Deadpan Snarker.
- Only Sane Man: Gives wise, prudent, and pragamtic advice which almost always gets ignored.
- The Reveal: Was the Nightwalker all along.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: As Lancel Warren he was born to a family of billionaires but chose to work as a cop despite this.
- Servile Snarker: Positively drips with exasperated resignation to Gary's actions.
Family
Mandy Karkofsky
Mandy Karkofsky A.K.A Nighthuntress A.K.A Calico.
Gary's wife and the daughter of a Foundation for World Harmony agent. She was raised by her father to be one as well but committed a crime to disqualify herself. She now regrets that decision and the avenues it closed off. Later becomes the superheroine Nighthuntress and later is turned into a vampire.
- The Ace: Was extremely good at everything she did before college and after. Unfortunately, she got hooked up with a supervillainess and lost her chance at being a secret agent.
- Action Girl: Is a very good example of this in the series. Becomes a Dark Action Girl in The Games of Supervillainy.
- Anti-Hero: Averted as she was a kind, compassionate, and decent hero. Played straight after she becomes a vampire.
- Badass Longcoat: Wears one of these with a Spy Catsuit as her costume.
- Badass Normal: Possesses no supernatural abilities but keeps up with the rest of the group in The Games of Supervillainy anyway. Then she becomes a vampire.
- Came Back Strong: When she becomes a vampire. Doubles as Came Back Wrong when it's discovered she doesn't possess Mandy's soul.
- Casting a Shadow: Develops this ability after becoming a vampire.
- Classy Catburglar: Adopts this identity as she slowly starts to accept her dark side.
- Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: Kate Beckinsale as per the picture. However, Word of God says that isn't quite accurate and doesn't reflect her Eurasian ancestry.
- Dating Catwoman: Before she met Gary, she was in a relationship with the Nightwitch, which ended up derailing her path to becoming an agent for the Foundation for World Harmony. Her relationship with Gary arguably counts as well, given that she's far more heroic than he claims to be.
- Dead All Along: A rather peculiar example in that her vampire self with a soul was actually a long-dead sorceress possessing her soulless vampire self and pretending to be a vampire. Comics everybody.
- Empowered Badass Normal: Once she becomes a vampire.
- Expy: Has elements of Barbara Gordon and the Huntress. Later becomes one for Selene from Underworld (2003). Also, incorporates elements of Lucita from Vampire: The Masquerade.
- Happily Married: To Gary. Their marriage is revealed to have had some cracks in it in The Secrets of Supervillainy.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Dies protecting Cindy from a dragon. Is resurrected by Gary using the Book of Midnight.
- I Just Want to Be Special: Is inspired by Gary's own bout of this to want to become a superheroine.
- Lesbian Vampire: Becomes a Depraved Bisexual vampire but only has sex after regaining her soul as vampires don't appear to be interested in that.
- Missed the Call: Was Chosen by Sunlight to be the new Nightwalker. Gary got the Cloak instead. She becomes a superhero anyway.
- Mission Control: Serves in this role for a brief time in The Rules of Supervillainy.
- Nice Girl: Formerly the Betty to Cindy's Veronica but later the Veronica due to becoming a murderous antihero vampire.
- Older Than They Look: Oddly enough, not due to being a vampire but Timey-Wimey Ball stuff.
- Only Sane Man: Doubles with Women Are Wiser since she's considerably more mature than her husband. Though the fact she wants to become a superhero herself may put to lie this fact.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: She gives a very harsh one to Merciless in Secrets, laying out all the ways he hurt her without realizing it before she became a vampire.
- Reluctant Monster: Becomes one of these after she regains her soul.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Suffers from two hundred years of extra memories to Timey-Wimey Ball stuff. Most of these are fighting a war.
- Spy Catsuit: Wears one with a great coat.
- Took a Level in Badass: Became a respected and feared heroine during the Zombie Apocalypse afflicting Falconcrest City. This gets even more so when she becomes a vampire.
- We Used to Be Friends: In Secrets, she has this going towards Gary and Cindy after becoming a vampire and losing her soul.
Spoiler
Leia Karkofsky AKA Gizmo
Gary's daughter with Cindy during the period that Mandy was a soulless undead monster. She is a super-genius telepath.
- Abusive Parents: Cindy is unfortunately incapable of not making horribe comments about how she never wanted kids or what a burden they are. Subverted in that Leia doesn't hold this against her mother because she knows it's all baggage from her own mother. Gary, by contrast, is a Papa Wolf.
- Daddy's Girl: Leia is deeply devoted to her father from the moment she links minds with him to the present.
- Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: Leia's first five years were spent without Gary. Sort-of. It's complicated. That was because he was locked up in Merciful's prison.
- Gadgeteer Genius: As a comic book Mad Scientist, she is capable of building almost anything and constructs a huge chunk of devices to help her fight crime (or commit it).
- Mad Scientist: Leia has very few morals and a tendency to make deranged creations like Murderbot (her bodyguard/butler).
- A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Read: Much humor is derived from the fact that she can read how horny and stupid her parents are. Inverted with the fact that despite her mother's awful behavior, she actually knows she loves her.
- Psychic Powers: Leia is an immensely powerful telepath.
- Sensual Spandex: Her adult form has a Downplayed Trope with a motorcycle outfit that is practical and sexy.
- Time Police: Eventually, Leia and her sister become this in the future. They often journey back in time to subtly help their father.
- World's Smartest Man: According to Word of God, Leia is the smartest person on the planet by the time she's twelve.
Spoiler
Mindy "Mimi" Karkofsky AKA Ms Teri
- Abusive Parents: Gabrielle abandoned her at birth to be raised by her father and it still stings. Thankfully, she has the rest of her family to cope.
- Atrocious Alias: Cindy points out that her codename (a pun on "Mystery") is too confusing for most people and sounds too much like an actual name.
- Big Sister Instinct: Mimii is deeply protective of her sister despite the fact she is equally powerful in her own way.
- Calling the Old Man Out: Not her father, Merciless, but her mother. Mimi points out that her mother denies her in public and left her to be raised by her father.
- Classy Cat-Burglar: Wants to become one of these instead of a superhero.
- Daddy's Girl: Like Leia, Mimi is much closer to her father than mother.
- Genius Bruiser: While not as intelligent as her sister, she's shown herself to be a genius as well and is actually able to keep up with her intellectually.
- Flying Brick: Mimi is more at the "jumping brick" stage of her power development.
- Ms. Fanservice: Her adult form from the future is quite lovely.
- Parental Abandonment: Gabrielle effectively left Gary to raise her, which she deeply resents.
- Shout-Out: Her hat that is a reference to Carmen Sandiego in-universe (she grew up on the games).
- Time Police: Eventually, Leia and her sister become this in the future. They often journey back in time to subtly help their father.
- Twofer Token Minority: Mimi is both black and Jewish. Technically, a threefer as she's also a Super in a setting where this is a disadvantage.
Spoiler
Larry Karkofsky AKA Ultra-Paladin
The trans son of Mandy Karkofsky and an unknown father, now an adult superhero.- Cool Sword: Larry gains the Sword of Samael and cleanses it with his moral certainty.
- Easy Sex Change: Implied to be something gained through Dungeon Magic without the immense cost and therapies.
- Functional Magic: Larry uses Dungeon Magic in order to simulate the powers of a D&D Paladin.
- Healing Hands: Like all paladins, Larry possesses the power to heal with his hands.
- Heroic Bastard: Larry was born from Mandy's Teen Pregnancy and is an adult while she doesn't look much older.
- Long-Lost Relative: Mandy's illegitimate child from the time she was a teenage girl returns as an adult trans man paladin. Interestingly, Gary is the one who greets him and immediately accepts him into the family.
- Meaningful Name: Subverted. Larry claims to have taken a name similar to Gary's because he saw it on a poster at City Hall. Given Gary is married to his mother, it's implied this is Blatant Lies.
- The Paladin: Larry Karkofsky is known as Ultra-Paladin and is a knight themed hero with healing powers as well as The Paragon.
- The Paragon: A moral, kind, and heroic figure who is also a badass in a fight.
- Taken for Granite: Larry is found after having been turned to stone but it's more a type of stasis rather than actual transformation.
- Trans Tribulations: Averted. Larry actually shows no angst about his status and receives unconditional acceptance from Gary. Played straight where it was stated it prevented him from being a Foundation for World Harmony agent.
- Winged Humanoid: Larry becomes one of these when he gains the Sword of Samael.
Henchmen
Damselfly
Dana Vandergast AKA Damselfly
A former research scientist involuntarily turned into a supervillain by Tom Terror. She is now stuck with a horrifying reputation and is forced to work for supervillains.
- Animal Motifs: Has these for a Damselfly.
- Beleaguered Assistant: In a humorous bit of role-reversal, former henchwench Cindy dragoons a fellow supervillain, Dana Vandergast AKA Damselfly, into being her sidekick. Dana is an Antivillain who just wants to get out of supervillainy but bullied into being part of a massive heist.
- Cowardly Lion: Damselfly would clearly rather not be engaging in violence, and is a mainly brought onboard the team because her knowledge of shrinking science is the only way it'd be possible to actually steal Dragon King's entire horde, yet whenever a fight breaks out she pitches in, despite her shrinking powers being extremely well suited to finding someplace to hide and hoping not to be noticed.
- Cut Lex Luthor a Check: Damselfly is interested in using her research into shrinking things as a way to cure cancer and make money legitimately. Sadly for her, Nikki Tesla is determined to see trope played straight and use it to turn people into her minions.
- The Fundamentalist: Dana had to deal with this from her parents as neither of them were fond of her status as a gay woman or super scientist.
- Genre Blindness: Damselfly despite being a somewhat experienced supervillainess is repeatedly flabbergasted by the comicbook shenanigans that working with Cindy inevitably involves. Though to her credit this allows her to correctly describe Merciless with "He's the guy who acts like the Hamburglar and has killed more people than some wars" when numerous heroes and villains alike have severely underestimated him.
- Hero of Another Story: The star of Tales of Capes and Cowls short story, "Escape from Ironhyde"
- Incredible Shrinking Man: Her powers are similar to that of Ant-Man or the Wasp.
- Shrink Ray: Developed one of these in-universe. Is appalled that Gary's daughter, Leia, improves on it in moments.
- Trapped in Villainy: Damselfly is basically forced into working for supervillains due to the fact that there are few opportunities for legitimate work as a scientist after being forced to work for Tom Terror and now being labeled a Nazi supervillain (she's not). Nikki Tesla more or less uses her and discards her before Cindy dragoons her into participating in the heist.
- Wanted a Gender-Conforming Child: Dana's parents (apparently conservative Mormons by the references made to Utah, Brigham Young University, and annoyance at polygamy jokes) did not approve of her interest in super sciences or lesbianism.
Diabloman
Diabloman
Diabloman used to one of the most feared and respected villains in the world before he started to suffer health problems from his black magic-related powers. Eventually reduced to henching for D-list supervillains, he eagerly takes up Gary's offer for better paying employment and more respect.
- Affably Evil: Is friendly, kind, and seems far too nice of a man to have once been the most feared supervillain on the planet.
- Apocalypse Cult: Was raised by one of these to be their The Chosen One (or to protect his sister to be their Antichrist. It's a big vague.
- The Atoner: A surprising revelation in Games. He joined Gary, in part, because he recognized he was essentially good. Also, to make up for killing his sister.
- Back from the Dead: He's died twice in the books and Gary has been able to bring him back much easier than Mandy.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Was raised by a Satanic cult to destroy the world and eventually killed his sister who rebelled against his cult.
- The Dragon: Zig-zags between this and The Mentor for Gary.
- Used to be this for Entropicus as well as the Great Beasts.
- Driven to Suicide: Attempted Suicide by Cop via the Nightwalker until he got married and had a child.
- Evil Parents Want Good Kids: Is implied to be a deeply devoted father who is making no effort to raise his child to evil.
- Famed In-Story: Was once the most terrifying supervillain in the world. He successfully destroyed the universe once, but it didn't last.
- Forgiven, but Not Forgotten: Heroes will work with Diabloman to save the world but all of them hate his guts. Its problematic for Gabrielle especially as he killed a couple of her close friends.
- Genius Bruiser: Possesses low-grade superhuman strength and super-fighting prowess but is a philosophical and intelligent man.
- Hero Killer: Used to have this reputation in-universe but is known to have suffered massive Villain Decay. How bad was he? He destroyed the entire universe. It got better.
- The Mentor: Is the one responsible for giving Gary his initial rules to being a supervillain.
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: His treatment by the Typewriter and Gary's admiration for him convince him to switch sides. Later, turns against Gary due to his banishing Spellbinder to Hell.
- Morality Pet: His family is implied to be this for him.
- Noodle Incident: Destroyed the universe once.
- Omnicidal Maniac: Was part of a Religion of Evil that wanted to destroy the world then later actually destroyed the entire universe on behalf of Entropicus.
- Pet the Dog: Helped protect the citizens of Falconcrest City with Cindy when the city was under siege by zombies.
- Power Incontinence: His magical tattoos have been slowly killing him for years.
- Religion of Evil: Used to be in one of those. Has since left it.
- Retired Monster: Semi-retired at the start of the series. He considers working for Gary actually a form of being The Atoner.
- Villain Decay: In-universe. Diabloman used to be one of the most feared villains in the world but health problems have reduced him to being a D-Lister's sidekick. Gary offers him a position as his Dragon and Diabloman never looks back.
Red Riding Hood
Cindy Wakowski a.k.a Red Riding Hood
A former teenage prostitute who worked her way up from the gutter to becoming a doctor. However, the pressures of her past combined with financial needs resulted in her becoming a professional henchwench, err person. She and Gary were boyfriend and girlfriend in high school and remained best friends through college. Later, she became his first henchman and devoted partner.
- Action Mom: She's the mother of Gary's daughter, Leia, conceived during the time Mandy was a soulless vampire.
- Ambiguously Bi: Seems very attracted to Mandy and willing to have threesomes with women but her actual orientation is unclear. Confirmed in The Secrets of Supervillainy.
- The Atoner: Tries to become one after Mandy's Heroic Sacrifice. It doesn't stick.
- Cheryl Blossom: Has some hints of this with Gary inbetween his struggle to choose between Mandy and Gabrielle. She wins in a most unconventional way.
- Combat Pragmatist: She's a skilled fighter but lacks superpowers. Instead she makes a point of looting or buying high-tech weapons to use against superpowered foes.
- Dark Action Girl: Cindy is very possibly crazy but extremely dangerous, doubly so when she reveales she's been collecting supervillain gadgets.
- Dark and Troubled Past: When Gary and she first meet, she's a teenage prostitute and just witnessed him gun down the man who killed his brother. Cindy's reaction is to treat it as nothing particularly noteworthy and loot the man's corpse before giving Gary advice on how to dispose of the weapon.
- Deadpan Snarker: Almost as much as Gary.
- Expy: For Harley Quinn, though she lacks the psychotic fixation with a Joker-esque figure.
- Fiery Redhead: Redheaded and psycho.
- Forgot Flanders Could Do That: Much like Harley Quinn, it's sometimes easy to forget Cindy is a trained surgeon and medical doctor.
- Friends with Benefits: She and Gary apparently had this relationship for years.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Played with as she makes use of plenty but they're all stolen.
- Girlish Pigtails: Has these in proper Harley Quinn fashion.
- Hilariously Abusive Childhood: Cindy occasionally makes references to a genuinely horrifying past with her mother but plays it off flippantly, like the fact she was sold by her mother to be a prostitute.
- Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Cindy was one until Gary accidentally gave her the means to escape the life.
- Hospital Hottie: Is both a Doctor as well as a supervillain. By Secrets, she's using the proceeds from her life of crime to run a free hospital.
- Hyperspace Arsenal: By Games, she's installed a Bag of Holding inside of a picnic basket, stuffing it full of various high-tech weapons and gadgets that she has either looted from dead villains or bought off the internet. Whenever she encounters an opponent outside of her weight class, she'll produce some random weapon and blast them with it.
- Insistent Terminology: Is a henchperson, not a henchwench.
- Lack of Empathy: Like Gary, seems to suffer from this but lacks his other oddities.
- Ms. Fanservice: Deliberately cultivates this role with a very revealing but functional outfit.
- Paid Harem: Alludes to this as part of her backstory. Apparently, many supervillains expect their attractive female minions to be this. Cindy joins Gary in part to get better treatment. They end up hooking up anyway.
- Perky Female Minion: Serves in this role to Merciless, though is far more cynical and sassy than typical examples of the trope.
- Polyamory: Would be happy to have this relationship with Gary and Mandy or Gary and Gabrielle. She ends up getting her wish.
- Punch-Clock Villain: An almost literal one as she opens the series employed as a henchwoman to multiple supervillains in order to make ends meet.
- Odd Friendship: Is much more supervillain-like than Gary but seems to be a good friend with Gabrielle a.k.a Ultragoddess without the excuse of a past romance.
- Only in It for the Money: Her stated motivation, though she seems to have some small loyalty to Gary.
- Took a Level in Badass: Becomes significantly more dangerous between books after stealing a number of other supervillain's gadgets. Later becomes a werewolf.
The Heroes
Nightgirl
Amanda Douglas a.k.a Nightgirl a.k.a Mercilass a.k.a Nightwalker II
A Japanese American hotel heiress who has the public identity as a party girl and the private identity as the heir to the Nightwalker's name (or one of them). She never quite gets the respect she feels she deserves but helps save the world a few times.
- Action Girl: Is quite a bit tougher upon her second appearance.
- Ascended Extra: Goes from being a random kidnap victim to a heroine in her own right.
- Bad "Bad Acting": Pretends to be disabled by Gary in order to let him deal with an Asshole Victim. Gary is not amused by it or how transparent it is.
- Black Cloak: Just like Gary.
- Cool House: Actually grew up in a literal castle moved stone-by-stone to Falconcrest City.
- Creepy Good: Just look at her. Otherwise averted despite her background.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Was raised in a creepy ass mansion by an evil cultist father after her mother disappeared. Later, she discovers her father actually murdered her mother as part of a Human Sacrifice. Worse, her father is bonded to the cloak she wears and will be part of her for the rest of her life.
- Distaff Counterpart: Played with as she wants to be the new Nightwalker but Gary keeps calling her variants on the Nightwalker and his own name. She is less than pleased with this. May actually qualify as a Good Counterpart and Foil since she's rich while Gary is poor, good while Gary is bad (if not evil), serious where he is joking, and gets along with Sunlight.
- Enemy Mine: Considers Merciless and his company to be dangerous criminals but works with them to stop the Brotherhood of Infamy. Gradually, their relationship warps into a Friendly Enemy one.
- Hero of Another Story: Is operating in Falconcrest City during the Zombie Apocalypse, working to save as many lives as possible.
- Noodle Incident: Is mentioned to have a sex tape out about her, which she claims was organized by her publicist. Combines with Old Shame.
- Only Sane Man: Amanda seems to be one of the few people to not find their life-threatening circumstances a time for joking.
- Shock and Awe: Possesses these powers along with intangibility and Super-Strength.
- Super-Strength: Her most notable power aside form intangibility.
- Took a Level in Badass: Trained under Sunlight and actually seems to have become legitimately dangerous.
- You Killed My Father: Finds out her mother was murdered by her father.
Ultragod
Moses Anders a.k.a Ultragod
The most powerful superhero in the world and the founder of the Society of Superheroes. He is an astronomer empowered by an alien force sent by the Ultranians.
- 100% Heroism Rating: Has achieved this in the modern era, so much so that he becomes President. Played with as he's President because Gary rebooted reality.
- The Ageless: Has not aged since the 1930s when he received his powers.
- Back from the Dead: Ultragod came back from the dead after being killed by Merciful. He was implied to have been okay with dying due to his wife passing, though.
- Benevolent Precursors: The Ultranians are a race of Human Aliens who sent the Ultra-Force to empower their champion.
- Big Good: The most powerful and respected superhero in the world. Later, President of the United States.
- Flying Brick: Possesses these powers but due to his manipulation of the Ultra-Force.
- Gold and White Are Divine: His costume is the same color as his daughter's.
- Imagination-Based Superpower: The Ultra-Force allows him to create objects composed of energy, fire energy blasts, fly through space, and shields around people. It also makes him almost indestructible.
- Kryptonite Factor: In the substance known as Ultranite.
- Our Presidents Are Different: After spending the entire series dealing with various Presidents who were corrupt at best, and supervillains at worst, in this novel Ultra God is the president. We don't see too much of his exact policies, but to his credit we don't see any references to Department of Supernatural Security or Variant Intelligence Collective Enforcement so presumably progress is being made.
- Scary Black Man: Did his best to oppose this perception of him but it was inevitable as an omnipotent African American in the 1930s.
- Superman Substitute: Ultragod is the resident equivalent to Superman. His powers more closely resemble Green Lanterns even if he uses them to mostly replicate the standard Flying Brick power-set. He has a Supergirl equivalent in his daughter Ultragoddess, The Observatory as his Fortress of Solitude-esque base of operations, and a reporter wife named Polly Perkins. He's also African American, immortal, and a human astronomer empowered by aliens.
Ultragoddess
Gabrielle Anders a.k.a Ultragoddess
The Afro-Hispanic daughter of the hero Ultragod and his wife Polly Perkins. She is a hero who leads the Shadow Seven, a group of reformed and semi-reformed criminals on deniable missions against tyrannical governments.
- Action Girl: Is every bit as tough as her father, if not tougher.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Is still strongly attracted to Gary. They were actually engaged in their civilian identities before she let him go.
- All-Loving Hero: In a bizarre case, seems to be this as well as rather ruthless. Gabrielle will give people second chances but doesn't hesitate to end people who threaten others.
- Boxed Crook: She leads the equivalent of the Suicide Squad. Unlike Amanda Waller, though, she has apparently redeemed all of them.
- The Cape: Is considered to be this in the public view. Is actually closer to The Cowl.
- Clark Kenting: Used to have a secret identity which relied on this and "Ultra-hypnosis." Later, takes use of this with disguise spells to protect her identity.
- Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: Seems to be a case with Rosario Dawson.
- Expy: Is a fairly blatant one for Supergirl. She's closer to Power Girl in many ways, though, because she's a mature adult.
- Flying Brick: Possesses these powers in addition to energy construction.
- Generation Xerox: Averted as her father and her have many differences in methodology.
- Gold and White Are Divine: This is her uniform look.
- Good Is Not Soft: One of her defining attributes is she's tougher than the vast majority of heroes who fight her.
- Imagination-Based Superpower: Her abilities work with the ability to create objects, energy blasts, fly through space, and create energy shields.
- Kick the Dog: Removed Gary's memories of her as Ultragoddess before breaking up with him.
- Kissed Gary (albeit, he kissed back) despite him being married.
- Kryptonite Factor: 'Ultranium' in a rather blatant homage.
- Most Common Superpower: Is the most blessed of the cast in that area.
- Polyamory: Becomes involved with Gary while both are involved with other people.
- To Be Lawful or Good: Gabrielle constantly chooses Good, which actually puts her at odds with the Society of Superheroes.
- Statuesque Stunner: Is 6'1 and gorgeous.
- Surprise Pregnancy: Has one of these after Gary comforted her following her father's death.
- You Killed My Father: Discovers Other Gary, Ultrademon, and President Omega were behind the murder of Ultragod. Turns to Gary for help bringing them down.
Splotch
Stanley Oktid a.k.a Splotch
Stanley Oktid is the Super Duper Splotch Man and the other defender of Atlas City alongside Ultragod.- Bad Powers, Good People: Splotch's powers look insidious, manipulating darkness the way he does.
- Casting a Shadow: He has the ability to manipulate physically incarnate darkness and uses them as giant spider-legs.
- Dark Is Not Evil: One of the most noble, kind, and decent heroes around.
- Deadpan Snarker: Splotch is every bit as capable of quipping during combat as Gary, if not more so.
- Expy: Is one for the Spectacular Spider-Man, except he has shadow powers instead of webs. His brother, Red Splotch, is one for Ben Reilly.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: His father made
- Legacy Hero: He is the son of Hiro Oktid, the Splotch from the Sixtites to the Eighties, the brother of Steve Oktid who was the Splotch from the Nineties to New Tens, and the father of the Expy for Miles Morales who will replace him.
- Meaningful Name: Splotch is named Stanley (Stan Lee) Oktid (Dikto).
- Redeeming Replacement: Hiro Oktid made a deal with the King of Crime to cover up his murder of Samhain.
- Super Family Team: The Splotch family is one that has the family business of being heroes.
The Villains
Spoiler Character
Other Gary a.k.a Merciful
Gary's doppelganger from a The Silver Age of Comic Books themed previous universe. He takes over Gary's life for five years and rules Falconcrest City as its dictator.
- Abusive Parents: Doesn't care about his robot children and considers them Replacement Goldfish, at best, for his real kids.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Not only won in two timelines ruled by President Omega but also ruled Falconcrest City for five years. He even achieved his goal—just didn't live long enough to enjoy it.
- Big Good: Has this reputation among superheroes due to stopping President Omega (which Merciless is actually responsible for).
- Complexity Addiction: Gary achieves what Other Gary couldn't do by simply creating a new Silver Age Earth rather than trying to remake the entire universe.
- The Corrupter: Got the Society of Superheroes to look the other way despite his fascist tendencies.
- Despair Event Horizon: Seeing President Omega elected followed by a group of rednecks killing a migrant family he was living with caused his Face–Heel Turn.
- The Dragon: Appears to serve in this role to President Omega but is really The Man Behind the Man.
- Evil Counterpart: Well, evil(er) counterpart. Notably, most people see him as Gary's Good Counterpart.
- Just the First Citizen: Is the First Citizen of Falconcrest City and rules the state of Michigan as its superhero advisor.
- Karmic Death: Gary recreates his world then kills him, so he dies knowing he failed to do what Gary could. May also qualify as Cruel Mercy.
- Knight of Cerebus: Is treated as a much more serious threat than previous foes. He defeats Gary and Mandy, imprisons them for five years, and takes over Falconcrest City with the blessing of the Society of Superheroes. He then rebuilds the city in his image and turns Ultragoddess into a power source for the East Coast. He's also implied to have subdued, killed, or imprisoned most of the planet's supervillains.
- Light Is Not Good: Merciful wears a white robe rather than a black one.
- Order Versus Chaos: Is the Order to Gary's Chaos.
- Repressive, but Efficient: Other Gary successfully cleans up Falconcrest City through a combination of robots, mind-control, and futuretech.
- Sole Survivor: Of the previous universe which existed before the Garyverse's in-universe Crisis on Infinite Earths-esque reboot.
- The Starscream: Plays this role to President Omega. He lets Gary and Diabloman kill him by Dragon Their Feet.
- Start of Darkness: Is believed to be the fact his universe was destroyed but turns out to have been the murder of a migrant family by bigots he'd joined when he tried to live a normal life. That convinced him the world was too sick to survive.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Everyone in Falconcrest City loves him and treats him as a hero.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Intends to fix the world and bring back his dead universe by harvesting necromantic energy from the public.
- Would Hurt a Child: Threatens Gary's daughter without a second thought.
Entropicus
Entropicus
The Biblical Cain who is the beloved of Death. He eventually rejected her and became a nihilistic space god who rules the planet Abaddon at the end of the Universe.
- A God Am I: Identifies himself as The Anti-God to Death despite being vastly less powerful. He's fully capable of beating up actual gods, though.
- Big Bad: Is the main villain of The Tournament of Supervillainy and The Dreaded of the setting.
- Cain and Abel: Was apparently the First Murderer who killed his brother.
- Dark Lord: Is a Sorcerous Overlord of his own Hell planet and wishes to conquer as well as destroy all of the universe.
- Dimension Lord: Rules over Abaddon when it is the last inhabited part of the universe still left in existence.
- Do Not Taunt Cthulhu: The vast majority of Gary's barbs wash off of him and just make the beating worse.
- The Dreaded: The most feared villain in the entire Supervillainy universe.
- Establishing Character Moment: He kills Thor Odinson (the mythological one) and does a Decapitation Presentation.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: He's named after the force of Entropy in the universe and embodies it.
- The Man Behind the Man: Apparently was the one who manipulated Diabloman into destroying the previous incarnation of the universe.
- Skull for a Head: Entropicus has a skull covered only by a thin layer of skin as well as no nose.
- Omnicidal Maniac: Entropicus wants to destroy the Multiverse and almost has his chance when he competes in the Eternity Tournament to win a Wish.
- Villain Has a Point: His Omnicidal Maniac status actually. Since the afterlife exists and is mostly a pleasant place for the non-evil, there's no point in not killing everyone and bringing an end to future suffering.
President Omega
President Charles Omega
The President of the United States during the events of the first four novels. He's actually a time-traveling supervillain from the future who starts World War 3.
- Absolute Xenophobe: Played with. He plans to murder all Supers on Earth but that's because he wants to start a War for Fun and Profit to amuse himself.
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Has a powerful suit of futuretech armor able to go toe-to-toe with Gary and Diabloman.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Conqueors the world in two successive time loops before ruling it a century each time then shoving time back to its original point to win again.
- Been There, Shaped History: In this reality, led the Third Reich after Hitler was taken down by Ultragod.
- Big Bad: The President of the United States during The Secrets of Supervillainy, he attempts a mass-genocide of Supers and start World War 3.
- The Bus Came Back: President Omega returns for the first time since The Science of Supervillainy, being the architect behind the PHANTOM coup.
- Conqueror from the Future: Is a combination of Kang, the Red Skull, and Handsome Jack.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Ran Omega Corp before he became President of the United States.
- Death Is Cheap: Can't be killed due to being a living time paradox.
- Deadpan Snarker: Is possibly the only villain who can keep up with Gary himself.
- Defector from Paradise: Hated his paradise home time and came back to destroy it because it was boring.
- Dystopia Justifies the Means: We get a glimpse of what the world ruled by him is like and it's explictly compared to Skynet's rule in The Terminator.
- Expy: For Kang the Conqueror and The Red Skull (who already has an expy in Tom Terror). He also has elements of Handsome Jack.
- Fantastic Racism: Is grossly anti-superhuman and uses his authority to make the Society of Superheroes look bad, even to the point of endangering a major American city. Hits its peak point when he starts World War 3 to wipe out all superhumans.
- Fate Worse than Death: President Omega suffered one of these when he was sent back 65 million years into the past and forced to live for the majority of that time without any form of human contact. It's left him little more than a Brain in a Jar.
- Faux Affably Evil: Basically has the personality of Handsome Jack but is guilty of countless atrocities and murders. He's also a former Nazi.
- Final Solution: The objective of launching his armies of giant robots and brainwashed soldiers against the rest of the world. He plans to wipe out all superhumans.
- For the Evulz: It turns out he's entirely motivated by this. All of his murders, torture, and violence is because he finds his utopian future to be boring.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Is mentioned in both The Rules of Supervillainy and The Games of Supervillainy as behind some of the more quetionable events before becoming the Big Bad of The Secrets of Supervillainy.
- Make Wrong What Once Went Right: From trying to help the Nazis win WW2 to trying to destroy the Age of Superheroes.
- A Nazi by Any Other Name: Averted as he actually was a Nazi during World War 2.
- President Evil: A classic example of it and grossly misuses his authority.
- Time Master: Is one of these due to his ability to go back in time and win every battle he fights Until Gary defeats him with magic and damaging his suit.
- Unwitting Pawn: The Secrets of Supervillainy and previous books set up President Omega as one of the worst foes Gary had ever encountered. In fact, he's just a pawn for both Other Gary and Entropicus.
- World War 3: Is explicitly responsible for this in the setting. It's later revealed Gary reduced it to "only" ten million people dying.
Shoot-Em-Up
Theodore Whitman AKA Shoot-Em-Up
A ruthless antihero who killed Gary's brother, Keith, before the events of the first book.- Antihero: Was a killer of supervillains when they were in their civilian identities and among their families. Usually unarmed.
- Boring, but Practical: Once he identified a supervillain's civilian identity, he attacked them out of costume and away from their equipment or allies.
- Composite Character: One for Frank Castle's Punisher and the original Bloodsport.
- Death by Origin Story: Gary killing him is one of the things that traumatizes him into becoming Merciless.
- Ephebophile: Was in a sexual relationship with Cindy Wackowski when she was a teenager. Apparently, Cindy's mother sold her to him.
- Hate Sink: A violently racist thug and killer who represents the worst of superheroes.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: Was acquitted multiple times of killing supervillains and other criminals. He ended up dying at the hands of the teenage brother of one of his victims.
- The Klan: Theodore Whitman's all-white costume and hood invoked this.
- Meaningful Name: Thedore Whitman is named after the Unibomber and Charles Whitman the spree killer.
- Questionable Consent: Averted. Only he was unaware of what sort of relationship he had with Cindy. From his end, he assumed that Cindy was his sidekick. From her end, she says she was Made a Slave.
- Politically Incorrect Hero: Was apparently violently racist.
- Posthumous Character: Gary killed Shoot-Em-Up when he was fourteen.
- Rabid Cop: Was a New Angeles police officer before he snapped.
- Vigilante Man: Shoot-Em-Up carried out a war on supervillains and other criminals with the power of guns.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Shoot-Em-Up was extremely popular during the Nineties and triggered a host of antihero imitators.
Tom Terror
An American born Nazi scientist and the world's most infamous supervillain.
- Absolute Xenophobe: Hates all aliens and wants to exterminate them.
- The Ace: Is the most terrifying and fearsome supervillain in the world.
- Adipose Rex: Is overweight, though not exceptionally so.
- The Ageless: Is he perpetually in his fifties despite being a supervillain since the Thirties.
- Alternate History: Tom Terror is stated to have helped lead Nazi Germany after Hitler was captured by Ultragod (also Stalin, implying WW2 went in a very different direction).
- Archenemy: Is this to Ultragod and the Society of Superheroes in general.
- Bad Boss: Casually betrays the Fraternity of Supervillainy and uses them as cannon fodder to occupy the Society of Superheroes.
- Beware the Superman: Has this attitude toward superheroes but also casually employs them.
- Big Bad: Of The Rules of Supervillainy and The Future of Supervillainy
- Black-and-White Morality: Is pure evil to Ultragod's pure good.
- Brains Evil, Brawn Good: Is the world's smartest man compared to Ultragod's world's strongest.
- Equal-Opportunity Evil: Happily employs Supers, monsters, and mundanes as part of the Fraternity of Supervillains.
- Faux Affably Evil: Is a Nazi and psychopath but charming, erudite, and persuasive. He also betrays anyone who follows him.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Can make wonders of technology or practical tools at will.
- Karma Houdini: Gary comments on this that he's basically avoided any real consquence for murdering millions of people over the years.
- Mad Scientist: Comes with being based on one of the classic ones from comics.
- Nebulous Criminal Conspiracy: Is one of the founding members and frequent leaders of P.H.A.N.T.O.M.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Is stated to resemble Marlon Brando's Colonel Kurtz.
- Noodle Incident: Caused an earthquake in Afghanistan.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Averted actually. Tom Terror is extremely polite to Gary and actually lets him in on several of his plans that he denies other villains. It's stated by Word of God that he only used racism and war to gain power (and that makes him worse).
- The Quisling: Was a high-ranking Nazi despite being an American.
- The Remnant: P.H.A.N.T.O.M is a remnant of the Nazi's super science division.
- Rousing Speech: Is capable of giving these and New Era Speech levels of oratory. They're all covers for his own personal ambitions.
- The Social Darwinist: Believes only in the survival of the strongest with himself as the most obvious example.
- The Sociopath: A contrast with Gary as he's cool, calm, collected and possesses Lack of Empathy while a superficial charm.
- Sophisticated as Hell: Is a cultured and erudite individual that is almsot a complete scumbag.
- Tom the Dark Lord: Tom Terror. Notably, he's rather annoyed by this and prefers the more supervillain-esque Doctor Terror or Professor Terror.
- The Unfettered: He has no loyalty to anyone but himself.
- Worthy Opponent: Weirdly, has this for Gary despite him being an anti-Nazi Jew and Antivillain.
