History Literature / ExHeroes

* BroughtDownToBadass: Even in [[spoiler: the "normal" reality]], Stealth is still a super badass ActionGirl with the same combat skills and AwesomenessByAnalysis.

* SoBeautifulItsACurse: Now that Stealth has been brought down to normal it back to this in her on words in the past eight years, she has received over one hundred marriage proposals of a semi-serious nature. Close to seventeen thousand men and women have professed their love for her in e-mails or on various web pages. There have been substantially more declarations of a strictly sexual nature. So she usually stays hold up in hotel because of this.

* SexDressed: After recovering there memories when Stealth went back to her hotel one of the paparazzi mentioned the fact she was wearing the same clothes she’d left in the night before.

** [[spoiler:Agent Smith's mind-control powers are revealed when Stealth if about to give him a well-deserved NoHoldsBarredBeatdown and he suddenly asks if she wants to hurt him.]]

** It turns out that [spoiler:the villain of the last book]] is NotQuiteDead when a crowd of ex-humans all speak to Danielle in unison with clear hatred.

** The Driver trying to communicate using the radio and Morse code is a shout out to {{Transformers}}.

* UngratefulBastard: The majority of people in the Mount have major WhatHaveYouDoneForMeLately mentalities.

* SpannerInTheWorks: The ex-virus outbreak is this to pretty much everyone's plans. It forced Danielle to assume the role of Cerberus's pilot (she was a civilian and was never supposed to be the pilot), it halted Project Krypton (and by extension, it broke Smith's meticulous web of schemes), and it prevented Max from properly resurrecting himself, trapping him with Cairax in a zombie body.

''Ex-Heroes'' is a novel originally published by Creator/PermutedPress. It combines superheroes, post-apocalypse, and zombie into novels written by Peter Clines. A series of superheroes appear during the 21st century, each possessing a variety of superpowers and abilities. They make a brief splash, curing all sorts of ills in the Los Angeles area (amongst other places).

* YourMindMakesItReal: This how Smith created his TailoredMadePrison through the combination of his and Christian Nguyen’s powers.

* ThemeNaming: All of the super soldiers are named for Presidents from the more famous ones like Washington and Adams to the ones few remember like Polk and Hayes.

* TheGadfly: Barry / Zzzap. After the final battle:

* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Christian Nguyen was this to the heroes as seen with the fact that none of them out right killed Christian Smith merely disabled her after she took over Nguyen's body.

* IndyPloy: Stealth’s plan for getting out of the dream world sucker punching St George and throwing him out of a window.

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Played with if Smith never killed Doctor Sorensen’s family Corpse Girl would have never been created, thus she would have never kept her memories while in the prison.

* RunningGag: PistolWhipping the MagnificentBastard seems to be Stealth’s go-to move

* TykeBomb: [[spoiler:Stealth reveals that her father raised her to be this]].

* WholePlotReference: [[spoiler: The book is Franchise/TheMatrix with superheroes instead of machines from the future. Much of the book is spent thinking that the BigBad is a guy named Agent Smith]].

* EvilIsPetty: [[spoiler: Nautilus' motivation for telling everyone there's no cities left? He didn't want his followers to leave him.]]
* FantasticRacism: Madelyne is subject to this from the survivors the island who think she's an ex.
* HalfTheManHeUsedToBe: Nautilus rips [[spoiler: Madelyn]] in half. [[spoiler: she]] gets better though.
* HeroicSacrifice: Cesar essentially pulls a bone out of his arm in order to help put the fence around Eden back up.
* INeverSaidItWasPoison: Nautilus' story starts to fall apart when he mentions that The Mount was built out a film studio. Since neither George, Barry nor Madelyn had mentioned that, it was a clue that Nautilus knew that L.A. hadn't been nuked and was aware of other survivors.

* KeepingTheEnemyClose: Christian Smith works at the Mount. They even sent her to help set up Eden

* ArbitrarySkepticism: Despite getting his own powers from a meteorite that just so happened to hit the university lab he was working at (and getting doused by chemicals as a result), he expressed disbelief at Cesar's own origin story - which is that he got struck by lightning on a clear sunny day while working on a car alternator. Cesar calls him out on it.

* BackFromTheDead: [spoiler: PZ survived the events of the first book.]]

* BackFromTheDead: PZ [spoiler: survived the events of the first book.]]

* HeelFaceTurn: The Driver is a reformed gang member.
* TheHero: George most visibly, the rest of the gang to a lesser extent.
* IAmLegion: Rodney changes his name to Legion after his powers get stronger.

* KickTheDog: [[spoiler: Project: Krypton gets one when they kidnap Zzzap.]]

* ShoutOut: The name of the military project is Project: Krypton.

* SociopathicHero: Stealth mentions that she used to be a lot like this, but her association with [[MoralityPet St George]] led her to change her way of thinking somewhat.
* SuperSoldier: The whole point of Project: Krypton.
* ThemeNaming: All of the super soldiers are named for Presidents from the more famous ones like Washington and Adams to the ones nobody remembers like Polk and Hayes.
* WholePlotReference: Averted. ''Day of the Dead'' is an obvious inspiration, though the addition of superheroes changes things drastically.
* ZombieApocalypse: Well, duh.

* EvilVirtues: When Legion makes a promise, he keeps it. Even when he was manipulating Doctor Sorensen, he kept his promise to look for Sorenson's wife and daughter, and he allowed St George and the others to get back to the Mount after promising he wouldn't attack them for an hour.

--> '''Barry''' (who has been paraplegic for years prior to the story): I can't feel my legs. I think...I think I'm paralyzed.

* INeverSaidItWasPoison: Played with; it was Maxwell claiming to not know something that clued Stealth into the fact that he was lying. [[spoiler: Specifically, he'd been everywhere in the Mount as a ghost...so how did he ''not'' know about Regenerator?]]

* OfficialCouple: [[spoiler: St George and Stealth got a RelationshipUpgrade between the second and third books.]]
* OhCrap: When Hale got the original tattoos that would allow him to contain Cairax, he mentions to the magic tattoist why he needed them, and who it was he had sealed away in his little pendant. The tattooist gives a massive OhCrap, because unlike most people, he knows who Cairax is, and what he is capable of... and they were in the middle of Paris, where Cairax could easily hurt a whole lot of people if he escaped.

* TongueTrauma: How Max as Cairax died, despite [[GroinAttack cruder rumors]].

* WeaksauceWeakness: According to Max, Stealth can’t think outside the box. The box she does think in is gigantic, but she can’t put her brain outside it even just for a moment.
* WeWantOurJerkBack: Played with; before Christian Nguyen founded the After Death movement, she hated the heroes and fought against anything they suggested or any action they took. She was troublesome, but she was predictable. St. George mentioned that since she’d found religion, talking to her always gave him the sensation of walking in a minefield.

* AnArmAndALeg: This was how they defeated Gibbs; he saw it as penance for falling under Smith's control

* OnceAnEpisode: Every book's epilogue consists of St. George musing on the events and aftermath of the particular book and its aftermath atop the Mount's water tower with another hero.
* UngratefulBastard: The majority of people in the mount have major WhatHaveYouDoneForMeLately mentalities.

* TheVirus: Of course. [[spoiler: A unique example in that the virus itself is not lethal. What is lethal is the bacteria and viruses present in the human body, especially in a walking corpse. Initially, there were cases of people surviving a bite if they were in a hospital and immediately pumped full of antibiotics. Now, with every zombie mouth stuffed with hundreds of infectious diseases, there's practically no chance of survival without superpowers specially geared for disease immunity, or immediate amputation of the bitten limb.]]

* ForScience: Played for laughs when the gang finds out that Legion can't see Madelyn, so Cerberus suggests that Madelyn annoy one of the zombies he was controlling. "For science".

* HumanNotepad: Max.

Please put any character-related tropes on [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/ExHeroes the characters page.]]

[[folder: Ex-Heroes]]

* BigBad: Pee-Zee.

* HotScientist: Cerberus. Stealth also qualifies.
* KickTheDog: Peasy's most disgusting moment is undoubtedly [[spoiler: when he reveals he's been using Banzai's zombie corpse for sex.]]

** St George has elements of Superman. In a more obvious way, his real name is George Bailey, the main character of ''Film/ItsAWonderfulLife''

* TooDumbToLive: The majority of civil authority. In spite of government advisory stating that the exes are in fact walking corpses, the police, the army, everyone except Stealth and the other superheroes, refuse to recognize that YES, the exes are dead, with no way of stopping them except headshots, and no way of reasoning with them, and no means of curing them, since they are just corpses. By the time that people start recognizing the threat for what it is, it's already too late to stop it.

** The heroes discover that the leader of the street gang menacing their territory is a sentient zombie called Peasy (formerly known as Rodney Casares), who brags about being on the news. There is a MassOhCrap reaction once they figure out that he's calling himself [=PZ=] and not Peasy and then grasp what that's short for.
--> '''Regenerator:''' PatientZero.

[[folder: Ex-Patriots]]

* AwesomeMcCoolname: Captain Freedom. His great-great-grandfather was born a slave, but slavery was repealed when he was four. At age 18 he changed the family name to what he thought was the greatest word in the English language.

* BackFromTheDead: Pee Zee [[spoiler: survived the events of the first book.]]

[[folder: Ex-Communication]]

* EvilVirtues: When Legion makes a promise, he keeps it. Even when he was manipulating Doctor Sorenson, he kept his promise to look for Sorenson's wife and daughter, and he allowed St George and the others to get back to the Mount after promising he wouldn't attack them for an hour.

[[folder: Ex-Purgatory]]

* ActuallyPrettyFunny: When being questioned by the NSA, the agent mentions that George’s parents must have been Beatles fans due to his name. George replies that they were actually [[Franchise/StarWars]] fans and his middle name was almost ''Han,'' causing one of the guards to bite back a snort.

* BackFromTheDead: Played with. A few previously dead characters, including Gorgon, Banzai, Dr. Sorenson and Jarvis, show up in the alternate reality, but as the entire thing is in the heroes' minds, it's technically only their mental projections of those characters.

* BittersweetEnding: Everyone is saved, Smith is defeated, but Cerberus is destroyed and Christian Nyugen is either dead or trapped in a nightmare world.

* BroughtDownToBadass: Even in [[spoiler: the "normal" reality]], Stealth is still a super badass ActionGirl with the same combat skills and AwesomeByAnalysis.

* CassandraTruth: Madelyn attempts to convince George that his nightmares were real and reality was all a dream went down hill as her story became more and more implausible, ending with her being dead and him dating a supermodel.

* CharmPerson: Christian Nguyen’s powers work by tapping into the gestalt, allowing her to bring people together and connect them on a subconscious level. She never knew she had them though.
* TheChewToy: St. George is put through a lot of abuse throughout the series though it seems to be taken up to eleven in book 4. George himself illustrated it perfectly.

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: George finding out that Stealth’s father was an international terrorist.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: The Author left a set-in-plain-sight clue that Agent Smith and Christian Smith were somehow going to be up to no good together.

* {{JerkAss}}: A lot of the parents at the college George works at, much to their children’s embarrassment.

* RequiredSecondaryPowers: As Stealth stated increased strength would be of little use without an epidermis and skeletal structure which could support additional mass.
* RunningGag: PistolWhipping the MagnificentBastard seems to be Stealth’s goto move
* ShoutOut: Tons, given Barry's affinity for popular culture, but in particular the Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration episode "Ship in a Bottle" is referenced when the group [[spoiler: escapes the fake world where there's no zombies, only to realize that the "real world" is just another illusion to keep them from waking up.]]

[[folder: Ex-Isle]]
* AmbiguouslyBi: Only to the Driver who believes Cerberus may be attracted to a (female) Sergeant despite her being involved with a number of men at the same time.
* ArbitrarySkepticism: Tired of dealing with suspicious islanders Berry mentioned how Japan was fine do to their experience fighting giant monsters. When his guard said that giant monsters weren’t real, he responded that a couple of years ago zombies weren’t real either.

* HeroWorshipper: Corpse Girl seems to be this for St. George

* InsistentTerminology: Madelyn had Memory problems not Mental problems.
* {{JerkAss}}: A lot of the parents at the college George work’s at much to their children’s embarrassment.

* SherlockScan: When George and Karen meet up, seemingly for the first time, she instantly deduces he's a janitor based on a couple of spots on his sleeves.

** The Driver trying to communicate using the radio and Morse code is a shout out to {{Transformers}}

* SpannerInTheWorks: Madelyn wasn’t effected as much as the others allowing her to remember the real world.

* YouAreWhatYouHate: Christian was in deep denial about her superpowers, which was why they went unnoticeable for so long.

* ArbitrarySkepticism: Tired of dealing with suspicious islanders Berry mentioned how Japan was fine do to their experience fighting giant monsters. When his guard said that giant monsters weren’t real. He responded that a couple of years ago zombies weren’t real.
* AtrociousAlias: A number of people comment on how terrible a super-name "The Driver" is.

* INeverSaidItWasPoison: Nautilus' story starts to fall apart when he mentions that The Mount was built out a film studio. Since neither George, Barry nor Madelyne had mentioned that, it was a clue that Nautilus knew that L.A. hadn't been nuked and was aware of other survivors.

* MechanicalLifeforms: This is essentially what the Driver becomes when he uses his powers. To the point where he can feel pain.
--> '''Driver''': ''Y’know, that’s how my hands got all cut up. Was in a car, the wheels got shredded on a spike strip, and then my hands and feet were all shredded when I got out.''

* BitterSweetEnding: Though Freedom and the remains of the military base join the Mount, [[spoiler: Smith gets away]] and they still have no way of dealing with [[spoiler: Legion, who can't be defeated now that he can BodySurf between Exes]]
* TheCape: Saint George, again.
* CharmPerson: [[spoiler: Agent John Smith is able to control other people by simply asking them questions.]]
* TheCowl: Stealth, again.

* TheGoodCaptain: Captain Freedom.
* GoodVersusGood: Both the army and the Mount survivors want what's best for humanity. [[spoiler: Of course, the Project: Krypton survivors are wrong due to how completely they've been bamboozled by the villains.]]

* AgentScully: Stealth and magic. Despite this she is willing to follow its rules even if she doesn't believe it's actually magic

* BodySurf: How Hale comes BackFromTheDead.
* BulletproofHumanShield: Averted when Max used Madelyn as one against Stealth, forgetting that as a walking corpse bullets don’t affect her.

* CrazyPrepared: Stealth, as might be expected. She even keeps a spare mask in her belt.

* ForScience: Played for laughs when the gang finds out that Legion can't see Madelyn, so Cerberus suggests that Madelyn attack one of the zombies he was controlling. "For science".

** Cairax returning to the mortal world via [[spoiler: possessing the Regenerator]] is also described as this by Max.

* ImprobableAimingSkills: Stealth rivals Rushuna Tendo with her ability to put bullets in the heads of zombies with her pistols. Captain Freedom ponders that he's known ''snipers'' who would be envious of her accuracy.

* NanoMachines: [[spoiler: Madelyn Sorenson. Originally, they were only supposed to repair her wounds until her body could catch up, but after being killed by zombi...[[NotUsingTheZWord uhh]]...[[InsistentTerminology Exes]] they had to replace basically ''everything''. End result, she's still Madelyn, but her body is near-entirely artificial.]]

* RuleOfSymbolism: A lot of symbology is invoked to help combat Cairax Murrain, and it ultimately proves to be the deciding factor in the battle. Max Hale off-handedly claims that they'd need an archangel to defeat Cairax; a creature composed of radiance and will, shaped in God's own image. When he's Zzzap, Barry is little more than a star held in the shape of a man by his mind. A man made of light and thought, as it were.

** Zzzap generally fulfills the role of the Flash, though his name and powers evoke the Marvel villain ZZZAX.

* TheAtoner: [[spoiler: Regenerator]].
* BadassBookworm: Stealth, Cerberus.
* BadassCrew: The heroes, but also the regular Joes that guard the Wall and do the scavenging runs.
* BadassNormal: Stealth
** Not to mention the non-empowered people who guard the Wall. It takes some balls to face hundreds of zombies everyday (remember, there are ''always'' hundreds of exes milling around the Wall) without going insane.

* DeathBySex: [[spoiler: Cairax dies due to getting a blow job from zombie Jessica Alba. No one is sure how to react when told about this.]]
** This later proves to be an exaggerated rumor. He was actually "[[TongueTrauma just slipping her a little tongue]]".
* DefrostingIceQueen: Stealth gets a mild example of this.
* FlyingBrick: St. George. It makes him the best to fight the exes since their teeth break instead of his skin.
** FlyingFirepower: In addition to the above Flying Brick powers, George also has the nifty ability to belch fire. You know, like a [[PunnyName dragon]].

* FromNobodyToNightmare: Random gangbanger to superzombie.
* GenericDoomsdayVillain: [[spoiler: Rodney Casares AKA Pee-Zee or [[BlatantLies Patient Zero]]. He randomly turns up with the power to control the zombies, to survive the zombification with his own intelligence intact, and with enhanced physical abilities and stature he never had in life. The most that's ever explained about him is that he used to be a random gangbanger and that he was one of the first victims of the disease, but he is otherwise completely unique and exists for no reason other than to present a massive threat to the main cast. Though he does get some backstory in the second book, it doesn't really explain all that much...]]
** At the same time, subverted, since [[spoiler: his plan isn't global destruction or to wipe out all the heroes, and he tells them several times that he would welcome everyone except Gorgon to his side. He just wants two things, revenge on Gorgon, who beat him up several times prior to the Zombie Apocalypse, and to take total control of Los Angeles. The only reason he hasn't taken over the world so far is due to the fact that he just isn't smart enough to make the most effective use of his powers.]]
* GenkiGirl: Banzai. [[spoiler: Before she's killed and turned into a zombie.]]

* InASingleBound: Rather than true flight, St. George has a version of this.

* {{Stripperiffic}}: Averted. Stealth's form fitting outfit is sexualized by outsiders but practical. Cerberus sexualizes her decidedly Iron Man-esque costume.
* StuffedInAFridge: Banzai. A lot of fans took a shine to her in the short time she's in existence.

* VampiricDraining: Gorgon's superpower is pretty much this.

* BadassDriver: The Driver, naturally. Though he doesn't get much chance to do any real driving, he can take control of machines and control them better than any normal driver ever could. Machines like a certain suit of PoweredArmor...

* RealityEnsues: Yes George is [[NighInvulnerability Nigh Invulnerable]], but he doesn’t know that so he instantly went into shock when Madelyn shot him.
** Outside of her suit Danielle is not superhuman and doesn't have CharlesAtlasSuperpower, so a multi mile walk to find a bunch of different people takes a lot out of her.
** Not even George can survive 2 days without food or sleep.

* OrwellianEditor: Nautilus has rewritten history so he's best friends with the Mighty Dragon and the majority of the world's cities were nuked to contain the ex-virus.

* BackFromTheDead: Played with. A few previously dead characters, including Gorgon, Banzai, Dr. Sorenson and Jarvis, show up in the alternate reality, but as the entire thing is in the characters' minds, it's technically only their mental projections of those characters.

** There are also the hints that Driver wasn’t real meaning that George has been fighting Smith's manipulation since the beginning.