History Characters / CityOfHeroes

Mad scientist working for Arachnos. [[DitzyGenius Is a dunce]].

* CutLexLuthorACheck: Left to his own devices he falls into this trope A LOT, but on Arachnos payroll he is subject to oversight via Lord Recluse -- who is almost constantly seeing to it that this trope is [[AvertedTrope avoided]]. Just some examples are:
** Dr. Aeon creates a cheap low-grade food substitute as rations, Lord Recluse tells him to sell it publicly -- marketed to low-income families.
** Dr. Aeon taps into a limitless energy source PoweredByAForsakenChild -- Lord Recluse has him use it to power a city endlessly for profit instead of building generic dooms-day devices.

%%* EmperorScientist: Governor and mad scientist.

A mysterious villain hosting an illegal contest, with the winner awarded great power. The player is recruited to participate early in the story.

* DelayedRippleEffect: [[spoiler:He is experimenting with time travel, it won’t pay off for millions of years and when it does he will have to go back and fix the changes without fully undoing the actions so he doesn’t become a paradox.]]
* FantasticRacism: In his past, he provided aid to the Confederacy during the Civil War. One mission also explicitly notes that he purposefully tested a doomsday weapon on an alternate dimension Earth whose inhabitants were of primarily African descent, considering them less-than-human because of their skin color.

* FutureFoil: [[spoiler: He is Mender Silos -- head of the Ouroboros time-travel system for players. In the future he has actually grown a sense of responsibility- mostly applied to fixing the various factors he screwed up getting there., not that he tells heroes or villains that.]]

* TheManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler:In Paragon City, Nemesis sits at the innermost layer of a Matryoshka doll of villain factions manipulating other villain factions, having orchestrated even the [[GreatOffscreenWar Rikti Invasion]] itself (as part of a plot to hijack their psychic communications network).]]

* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Casually racist, which, when paired with his status as a Bad Boss and Egotist means he will, and does, kill people on a whim just for having a skin tone darker than to his liking.

* DealWithTheDevil: The people of Oranbega offered their souls to her in return for a mighty demonic army capable of defeating their rivals, the Mu. However, Lilitu demanded the Mu be subject to [[FinalSolution utter genocide]] with no quarter given, which proved unfortunate when various Oranbegan soldiers [[EveryoneHasStandards allowed widows and children to escape]]. As punishment, Lilitu cursed the Oranbegans to linger forever as deathless spirits until they finish what they started; a fate that has driven them all ''thoroughly'' mad over the eons.

* BeyondRedemption: The [[spoiler: Remaining]] Freedom Phalanx were prepared to set aside Statesman's firm ThouShaltNotKill rule with their final confrontation of him; Which is still leagues kinder than what [[ColdBloodedTorture Lord Recluse was planning to do to him]] once caught.

* EvilSorcerer: He used to be a member of the Midnight Club but got kicked out for abusing the dark-arts. Now he's a trafficker of arcane artifacts.
* FromNobodyToNightmare: [[spoiler:In the ''Who Will Die?'' arc, he manages to kill the Statesman and steal his Incarnate powers, drive Sister Psyche insane (leading to ''her'' death), and puts in motion a plan to ''become'' Rularuu.]] Not bad for a guy who started out as just another quest contact in the level 20+ range.
* HeroKiller: [[spoiler:Across the "Who Will Die?" arc, his machinations result in the deaths of the Statesman and Sister Psyche, two of Earth's mightiest heroes.]]
* PossessionBurnout: [[spoiler:After the players and Lord Recluse beat Rularuu out of him, he can't do anything but lay face-down in his own drool and grunt.]]
* PowersViaPossession: [[spoiler:Darrin aims to become a god by becoming the avatar of the game's signature eldritch horror, Rularuu. It works, but Darrin is noticeably less than in control of the whole situation than he'd hope to be.]]
* TransformationOfThePossessed: [[spoiler:When Darrin becomes one with Rularuu, he takes the physical shape of Rularuu, albiet with his BeardOfEvil still intact.]]

* OverratedAndUnderleveled: For everything everyone trumps him up to be, most players tend to tear him apart with very little trouble. His dual pistols might as well be a pair of Nerf Mavericks.
%%* TookALevelInBadass: Until you encounter him as a boss in the Incarnate Trials.

%%* AnAdventurerIsYou: Pet Master and MookMaker.

* DamageSpongeBoss: He has ten times the amount of health a normal archvillain or monster has, exceeding ''200,000!'' On top of this, his combined elemental resistance bonuses are high enough (ranging from 90% to 100% each) to make him [[SuperToughness nearly immune to all forms of damage]] unless players can heavily debuff him.

[[folder:Darrin Wade]]
A shady mystical contact in Sharkhead Bay, and a former member of the Midnighter Club.

----
%%* BigRedDevil: She's actually grey, but still qualifies.%%How?
%%* CharmPerson: One of her more frequent techniques.%%Is?

* PhysicalGod: She is one of the only confirmed full-blooded literal gods walking the Earth. The Circle converted to worshiping her over their precious scholar god, Ermeeth, because unlike him she has no problem getting her physical hands dirty.

* DealWithTheDevil: The people of Oranbega offered their souls to her in return for defeating their rivals, the Mu. However, Lilitu demanded the Mu be subject to [[FinalSolution utter genocide]] with no quarter given, which proved unfortunate when various Oranbegan soldiers [[EveryoneHasStandards were unwilling to conduct a thorough purge]]. So long as even a single descendant of the Mu survives (and a third of humanity has Mu ancestry by now), the ancient spirits of Oranbega are bound to serve Lilitu.

* FinalSolution: When Lilitu is summoned to wipe out an enemy, she will not stop for anything short of complete genocide. The Oranbegans summoned her to destroy the Mu, but [[EveryoneHasStandards couldn't bring themselves to conduct a complete purge]], so their souls became enslaved to her indefinitely. The Mu's genetic descendants now encompass a whole third of the human race, and the Circle of Thorns wants them all dead to fulfill the terms of the contract.

* DealWithTheDevil: One the Circle are desperate to fulfill so they can be free of her.

%%* EvilMatriarch: To Infernal.

%%* GuiltFreeExterminationWar: She is pushing one against the Mu.
* LeaveNoSurvivors: When Lilitu is summoned to wipe out an enemy she will not stop for anything short of complete genocide.
* MindControl: She likes to spam Confuses in between her fire and ice blasts. Luckily the effects are only temporary, but she uses them so much odds are at-least one person on your team will be enthralled to her at any given moment.
* PhysicalGod: She is one of the only confirmed full-blooded literal gods walking the Earth. The Circle converted to worshiping her over their precious scholar god -- Ermeeth, because unlike him she has no problem getting her physical hands dirty.
* PoorCommunicationKills: When Lilitu gave the Circle the forces of Hell to command on condition they kill everyone, she meant kill EVERYONE! They lived, sorta, to regret the misunderstanding.

* DarkLordOnLifeSupport: He is more than 150 years old, and been steadily replacing more and more of his body with artificial limbs and organs built into his power-suit.
** It’s actually gotten so bad he had to steal some nanobots and program them for constant medical attention just to keep from rotting under his own weight.
* DelayedRippleEffect: He is experimenting with time travel, it won’t pay off for millions of years and when it does he will have to go back and fix the changes without fully undoing the actions so he doesn’t become a paradox.

* FoodChainOfEvil: In Paragon he is actually the most pressing threat and few people even know it; In the Rogue Isles on the other-hand Arachnos routinely see-through and dismantle his schemes -- to the point he has given up on scamming Lord Recluse and just resorting to open invasion... it's not going well for him.

* IHatePastMe: He will eventually achieve immortality -- and his experiments into time travel will pay off. Simply put future Nemesis ''hates'' the sort of person he was back when he was still frantically searching for immortality.

* TheReveal: [[spoiler: 90ish% of the gangs of Paragon reference a "Mysterious Benefactor", The Skulls and Hellions, the Warriors and Family, the Council, Crey and even the Rikti, each is controlled by the next, but at the end of the Rikti War Zone arc we finally see who has actually been setting up all these gangs as he makes his appearance -- Nemesis!]] Also in Ouroboros where [[spoiler:Mender Ramiel confirms the theory that Mender Silos is in fact future Nemesis]].

* SharkPeople: He's a human mutant in the form of a humanoid shark.

* PhysicalGod: WordOfGod states that Hamidon inadvertently tapped into the Well of Furies when it was created, making it an Incarnate and explaining its vast powers.

* DealWithTheDevil: [[spoiler: He didn't actually defeat Hamidon, but instead negotiated a cease-fire. Hamidon would pretend Cole beat him and fall back, while Cole would strive to prove that humanity is not the scourge on the planet that Hamidon believed it to be. The totalitarian hell of Praetoria is the result of that effort, and it successfully appeased Hamidon for years. Unfortunately, [[MovingTheGoalposts Hamidon decided that the humanity of Primal Earth also counted under the terms of the deal]], leading to the Praetorians under Cole launching their campaign against Paragon City. When Cole's regime finally breaks down -- and worse, the avatar of Hamidon comes under attack -- the deal is off and the Devouring Earth consumes Praetoria.]]

* BecomingTheMask: Cole became emperor through shrewd and pragmatic tactics such as teaming up with Hamidon and hiring a fair number of psychos, yet endeared himself to the masses by selling himself as force of good and a way of righting all the world's wrongs. He has since clearly swallowed his own hype... or at least he does until Lord Recluse [[BreakTheHaughty breaks his facade]].

* ContrastingSequelAntagonist: The MMO content version, to Lord Recluse. Lord Recluse openly identifies as a villain, Tyrant is trying to look noble; Lord Recluse runs a cruel but fair Darwinian meritocracy, Tyrant runs a seemingly utopian facist hierarchy; Lord Recluse considers assassination attempts and violent rebellion tests of merit for him as a ruler, Tyrant sends out secret police for anyone who so much as bad mouths him; Lord Recluse is an evil Benevolent Boss, Tyrant is, well, a ''tyrant'' with delusions of heroics; And finally harming innocent tax-paying civilians is one of the very few things Lord Recluse considers a crime and will violently punish, meanwhile Tyrant will sacrifice any of his people he needs to in order to maintain his own power.
* DealWithTheDevil: [[spoiler: He fought Hamidon to a tie -- both decided the fight was more trouble than it was worth and made a deal -- Hamidon would pretend Cole beat him and fall back -- giving Cole a constant foe to keep his people afraid of and rule the remainder of humanity in his own society, and Cole would keep all remaining humanity isolated to a few measly cities while Hamidon assimilated the rest of the planet. Aside from what this says about Cole on an ethical level, ultimately Hamidon decides to break the treaty once he sees, even isolated, humanity cannot help but start wars.]]

* EngineeredHeroics: He very often arranges these for his Praetors to re-enforce reliance on them; [[spoiler: The biggest example of this is their supposed victory over Hamidon that started the entire Praetorian society -- Cole actually couldn't beat him and opted to make a deal with Hamidon -- who took a figurative dive and "retreated" on condition Cole keep the remainder of humanity locked up far away from him.]]

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Developer notes show Tyrant was going to be offered a chance to make-up for his role as villain by pretending to be Statesman [[spoiler: back from the dead under mysterious circumstances]] , acting as a rallying cry for the final Incarnate trial against the 'Coming Storm'. Only to be exposed after as a fake, but by then having still made the difference in helping drive it back. Alas the game was shut down, while still in the brain-storming phase for the particulars of the final Incarnate Trial.

* EldritchAbomination: Probably the most prominent example in the game. It's a gargantuan amoeba-like monster with god-like powers born of a mixture of science and black magic. [[AlwaysABiggerFish And its Praetorian counterpart is apparently even worse.]]

* TheHero: At least within his team, and also seen by this by most of the world.

* OedipusComplex: Her grandfather is on the top of her "Things To Do" list. So far she barely gets acknowledgement of her accomplishments, let alone how far she wants to take it. [[spoiler: She also had her mother killed to give her a chance to get his attention; Though this is one of the very, very few terrible things she has done that she regrets.]]

* CorruptedCharacterCopy: He’s an expy of Superman/Captain America if both had ignored the various lessons in humility and introspection they’ve learned over the years; Though he is still a good guy.

* PragmaticHero: While being TheCape is his bread-and butter, some of Statesman's policies for how the Freedom Phalanx must behave is less to do with morality, than basic public-relation concerns. See Thou Shal Not Kill below, for details.

* UnscrupulousHero: She's a good person but seriously, do not count on ethical the application of mind-control from her.

* JuniorCounterpart: During World War II, she was this to Statesman apparently.

* MoralEventHorizon: He knew the truth about [[spoiler:Nemesis' involvement in instigating the Rikti War]], but refused to accept it, knowing that it would turn him from a war-hero into a war-criminal in the eyes of his people. Instead, he chose to begin widening the dimensional portal in order to bring over the entire Rikti military from the Homeworld, with the intent to burn humanity to ash in order to save his own skin and reputation.

%%* DarkChick

* BladeOnAStick: her spear, which she fights with (she has a modified version of the Broad Sword power-set).

* FantasticRacism: In his past, he provided aid to both the Confederacy during the Civil War and Nazi Germany during World War 2. One mission explicitly notes that he purposefully tested a doomsday weapon on an alternate dimension Earth whose inhabitants were of primarily African descent, considering them less-than-human because of their skin color.

[[folder:Vanessa [=DeVore=]/Giovanna Scaldi]]
Headmistress of the Carnival of Shadows. An extravagant psychic who uses a mask haunted by the ghost of another powerful psychic, Giovanna Scaldi, to enhance her psychic powers, with the goal of turning the world into her garish thralls.

* SuperRegistrationAct: She’s the reason for it, though unlike in most settings, here it is portrayed as a good thing. Meta-Humans get special leeway because of it so what happened to her doesn’t happen to others anymore.