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This character sheet is for ''Literature/WildCards''.
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[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Aliens]]

!! Dr. Tachyon
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wc1b.jpg]]

His real name is [[SomeCallMeTim Tisianne brant T'sara sek Halima sek Ragnar sek Omian]], an [[HumanAliens alien]] prince from the Takisian race. His people created the Wild Card virus. Tachyon tried to prevent the virus from being tested on Earth, but failed and was left stranded on Earth. Feeling [[TheAtoner extremely guilty]], he devoted his life to help the victims of the virus.

The series has many characters; amongst all of them, Dr. Tachyon is arguably the main protagonist.

* AgentPeacock: Don't let the flamboyance and frilly clothes fool you. Like all Takisian Psi Lords, Tachyon has been trained from early childhood to survive his people's kill-or-be-killed culture.
* TheAtoner: Tried and failed to prevent the release of the Wild Card virus on Earth. Since he was one of its developers, he feels obligated to care for those affected and tries to find a way to cure it.
* BlueBlood: By way of an alien SuperBreedingProgram that has turned his caste into a SupernaturalElite.
* ButtMonkey: In the later novels he suffers so much that it comes closest to CosmicPlaything.
* ByronicHero: Tachyon has more than a few traits of this archetype, including being sophisticated, sensitive, passionate, very emotional, and suffering significant personal trauma. And rebelling against Takisian society.
* CampStraight: As an alien aristocrat he dresses very flamboyantly and behaves similarly.
* TheCasanova: Tries to sleep with every single woman he finds attractive.
* DefectorFromDecadence: Tachyon is quite disgusted with Takisian society, even before their decision to test the Wild Card virus on Earth. Ironically, he is still very much a Takisian Psi Lord in many ways, though he takes a more [[ComesGreatResponsibility Noblesse Oblige]] stance.
* DoctorWhomage: Possibly based on [[Series/DoctorWho The Doctor]]. Like the Doctor, Tachyon is a long-lived, very human alien with a flamboyant dress sense that harkens back to Earth's past, has an arrogant personality and a big ego, is a brilliant scientist, is protective of Earthlings, and even has a living, sentient spaceship. In usual Wild Cards-style, Tachyon is also a deconstruction, being a shameless womanizer, a borderline alcoholic, and prone to failure, while the Doctor usually wins, and is somewhat chaste.
* ForcedSleep: One of his main psionic attacks is inducing sleep on unsuspecting victims.
* HumanAliens: All Takisians are.
* ImplausibleHairColor: Tach's hair is metallic red, described as looking like fine copper wires.
* ImpossiblyTackyClothes: One of Tachyon's trademarks and endlessly discussed in-universe. His fashion sense runs to 18th century aristocratic costumes, but with lots more color. He despises black clothes because black is the color of the working class in his planet.
* InformedAttribute: Tachyon supposedly possesses some limited [[{{Seers}} precognitive]] abilities that are a valued trait of his bloodline. In practice however, he almost never foresees ''any'' problem he encounters, even major ones like the Swarm. He does have a couple of [[DreamingOfThingsToCome vaguely prophetic dreams]], however, such as dreaming of assassins before JFK's assassination.
* InterspeciesRomance: See TheCasanova, above.
* ItsAllMyFault: How he got like this given his [[BlueBlood upbringing]] is a mystery, though there are a few hints that Tachyon carries a recessive gene that makes him very empathetic.
* TheLostLenore: [[spoiler: Blythe van Renssaeler, Tachyon's lover from the 1940s, fits this trope to a T.]]
* MenDontCry: Completely averted. In Takisian culture, males are not trained to restrain their emotions.
* MindOverManners: Played straight in order to prevent Tachyon's telepathy from becoming a StoryBreakerPower. Tachyon almost never reads the minds of anyone around him, even though he is one of the most powerful, and unquestionably ''the'' most skillful, telepaths on Earth. This is what makes it possible for him to be close to people like Senator Hartmann without realizing that they are evil. ''Why'' Tachyon refrains from reading minds is unclear however, since in Takisian Psi Lord culture telepaths are considered to be ''entitled'' to read the minds of non-telepaths. It is also considered prudent to stay alert to the thoughts of those around you because the [[DecadentCourt number one cause of death among Psi Lords is assassination]].
* MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate: He knows a lot about genetics and biochemistry, and was part of the research team that created the virus.
* MyGreatestFailure: What happened to Blythe haunts Tachyon for a long, long time.
* NobleBigot: Tachyon is disgusted by jokers, since he was raised in a culture that practices eugenics and terminates the deformed. However, he is aware that [[DefectorFromDecadence Takisian culture is monstrous]] and does his best to care for and protect the jokers.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: The first book says that in this universe, Klaatu from ''[[Film/TheDayTheEarthStoodStill1951 The Day the Earth Stood Still]]'' is thought to have been based on Tachyon.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Takisians age very slowly. He is eighty years old already, but he is physiologically in his twenties at most.
* {{Omniglot}}: He speaks English, German, French, Spanish, and several other languages, human and alien. In fairness, being a telepath does help one pick up languages.
* OverlyLongName: Tachyon's actual name is Prince Tisianne brant Ts'ara sek Halima sek Ragnar sek Omian of House Ilkazam (and that's just his first name; his full name would list his genealogy for the last thousand generations).
* PintsizedPowerhouse: Tachyon is a short, delicate man, but he is far stronger and tougher than he appears, and also an effective martial artist. And that is not even counting his psychic powers.
* PsychicPowers: As a Takisian Psi Lord, he is a powerful [[{{Telepathy}} telepath]] as well as a [[MindControl mind-controller]] and possesses elaborate [[PsychicBlockDefense mental shields]].
* ReedRichardsIsUseless: Tachyon's advanced knowledge of biology doesn't affect Earth science much. This trope is especially notable because Tachyon could really use more funding for the clinic and his research on the Trump Virus. Taking the time out to cure Cancer, AIDS and other terrestrial diseases would actually make him the dominant power in the pharmaceutical industry. Interestingly, nobody else, including the government, seems to think of this either.
** There are a few partial [[JustifiedTrope justifications]]. His cousin Zabb has implied that Tachyon isn't as much of a scientific genius as he is assumed to be, calling all his research "derivative". Tachyon is also so obsessed with the Wild Card virus, which he sees as his direct fault, that he may be loath to devote serious time to study and cure other diseases he doesn't feel responsible for. Also, Tachyon is a bit paranoid about working closely with Earth's governments and institutions, after his bad experiences in the 1940s and 1950s.
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: Tachyon is an alien prince, and also a man of action.
* SomeCallMeTim: Ironically, amongst their own families it is quite normal to carve off all the extra names and refer to each other by a greatly shortened nickname. Tachyon is called Tis by his relatives, although he ''never'' encourages such familiarity on Earth, which is why he uses a pseudonym.
* TraumaCongaLine: Tachyon's stories tend to be this. Exaggerated after ''Ace in the Hole''.


!! Blaise
[[quoteright:266:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bktg16929_1.jpg]]

Blaise is Doctor Tachyon's grandson. He is a human/Takisian hybrid with very potent mind control powers and a very nasty personality. He was raised in France by a [[DirtyCommunists Communist terrorist]] and his grandfather was not aware of his existence until they met in 1987 during the World Health Organization tour that Tachyon was a part of. Tachyon subsequently adopted him and brought him to the US. Not one of his better ideas.

* AndIMustScream: [[spoiler: At the end of ''Double Solitaire'' [[BrainInAJar the Network decides to keep only his brain]] alive]]
* BaitTheDog: In ''Double Solitaire''. [[spoiler: Blaise claims to be buddies with Jay Ackroyd, a man he used to respect when he was a kid, and then proceeds to cut off his fingers.]]
* BigBad: In Book 10, ''Double Solitaire'', he instigates the first world war on Takis in thousands of years in an effort to seize complete power.
* BodySurf: In the Jumper books he acquires this power. It doesn't normally work on targets with a PsychicBlockDefense, so he combines physical torture with psionic attack using his mind control powers to break through Tachyon's defenses long enough to use this power on him.
* TheBully: A textbook example.
* CardCarryingVillain: Played completely [[PlayedForDrama seriously]]. One of Blaise's few [[EvilVirtues "good" qualities]] is that he is not an hypocrite. He admits to himself that he likes to hurt people.
* CockFight: A particularly dark example in ''One-Eyed Jacks'' when Blaise and Tachyon lust for the same woman, Dr. Cody Havero.
* CreepyChild: In his first couple of appearances, bordering on EnfantTerrible. Becomes even worse as an adult.
* DirtyCommunist: Played with. Blaise was raised by a Communist terrorist, and he uses vaguely socialist rethoric in his subversion of Takisian society in ''Double Solitaire'', but he doesn't appear to have any real ideological commitment, being more ForTheEvulz.
* EvilRedhead: Inherited Tachyon's red hair, though Blaise's is a more common shade than Tachyon's metallic red.
* EvilVirtues: Unlike most bullies, Blaise is not a coward. He is physically very brave, sometimes recklessly so.
* FrenchJerk: Born and raised in France, somewhat dismissive of American culture, the English language, and even American guns.
* GrandTheftMe: Can do this by way of a threeway "jump", leaving the other two individuals in each other's bodies. He uses this to transfer his grandfather into the body of a teenage girl.
* HybridPower: [[PlayingWithATrope Played with.]] Blaise is "mind-blind" (i.e., he completely lacks telepathy), but his mind control abilities are far more powerful than a pure Takisian's. Also a case of BadPowersBadPeople, as his powerset perfectly matches his sociopathy.
* MindControl: While he lacks full telepathy, Blaise's mind control powers are extraordinary even by Takisian standards. He can control the Morakh, a SuperSoldier breed of Takisian designed to be resistant to mind control.
* ObliviouslyEvil: Blaise has shades of this when he is a young kid, since he is a very powerful mind controller with no moral compass and living a somewhat sheltered life. However, when he grows up he comes to [[HeelRealization realize and accept how much of a monster he is]].
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Blaise is a male chauvinist, something he may have inherited from Tachyon, but he has none of Tachyon's sensitive exterior and over-protective attitude towards the ladies.
* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: Transfers his ''grandfather'' into the body of a teenage girl specifically to rape him/her! Interestingly, the Takisians have a ''much'' stronger rape taboo than humanity does, and they consider rapists to be either hopelessly depraved or at best mentally-diseased, even if the rapist is a Psi Lord. Blaise is basically Exhibit A.
* SleepsWithEveryoneButYou: A non-romantic example. When Blaise was younger, and not completely sociopathic, Tachyon was desperate to be accepted and loved by him. That never quite happened. Instead, Blaise formed friendships with several of Tachyon's male friends - Popinjay, Golden Boy, Polyakov, Dr. Finn - all of whom were able to bond with the kid in a way that always eluded Tachyon.
* StartOfDarkness: Blaise had many traits of TheSociopath from the beginning, but he really got worse after briefly becoming Ti Malice's mount, and later when he and Tachyon got into a fight over [[CockFight Cody Havero]] that ended with Blaise running away.
* TeensAreMonsters: Was raised by a French Communist revolutionary to use his mind control powers to commit acts of terrorism. Tachyon's attempts to provide a better upbringing fall completely flat and Blaise only gets worse with age. By the time he's an adult he's pure evil.
* UnevenHybrid: Actually three-quarters human, one-quarter Takisian Psi Lord.
* VillainHasAPoint: Surprisingly enough, given how much of a complete monster Blaise turns out to be, his criticisms of Takisian society in ''Double Solitary'' are correct, even though Blaise himself could care less about politics and is doing it just to gain power. Tachyon himself acknowledges it and urges the heroic side to make their own attempt at social reform.
* VillainousIncest: Blaise being Tachyon's own grandson makes [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil his actions]] in ''Jokertown Shuffle'' even more shocking and horrific.

!! Jube the Walrus
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wc2c.jpg]]

A humanoid walrus that owns a newspaper stand in Jokertown. Everybody likes old, harmless Jube. No one knows that he isn't a joker, or even human. Jube is actually an alien spy, studying Earth for the Network, an alien [[TheFederation Federation]].

* AlienAmongUs: Has been living incognito among humans since the 1950s. It helps that Wild Cards Earth has plenty of disfigured and mutated human beings, so that Jube appears to be just one more joker.
* BeastMan: Looks like an humanoid walrus.
* BigFun: Jube is very fat, and very gregarious and likable.
* BizarreAlienReproduction: Jube's race is hermaphroditic.
* DefectorFromDecadence: Sort of. Jube's loyalty has gradually shifted towards humankind after all the years he spent on Earth. Still, his own species is not evil or decadent, but in fact remarkably human-like in personality. However, he used to be an employee of the Network, a federation of [[ScaryDogmaticAliens ultra-capitalistic aliens]].
* GoingNative: As highlighted in ''Aces High'', Book 2 of the series, Jube is an alien spy that has come to identify with and even love human beings and their culture.
* HumansAreSpecial: Jube comes to view mankind as this, even though he is fully aware of their flaws as a civilization.
* NWordPrivileges: Jube knows a lot of jokes about jokers and is very fond of telling them. Since he is actually an alien spy, and not really a deformed human, he is immediately [[WhatTheHellHero called out on this]] when Tachyon and Popinjay discover he is an alien.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: The salt-of-the-earth joker newsie is actually a xenologist from a more advanced civilization.
* OutOfFocus: Was one of the protagonists of ''Aces High'', but has only a very small role in later books.
* SarcasticConfession: When he admits to being an alien spy, most people disregard it as a joke.
* WarmHeartedWalrus: Of course.

!! Zabb

Tachyon's cousin.

* TheAce: Zabb is an extremely talented swordman, a skilled spaceship driver and an able politician. Moreover he possesses the quality known as ''virtu'' on Takis - everything he does, he does it big, even failing.
* AffablyEvil: Zabb is ruthlessly ambitious in his pursuit of power and is completely okay with murder, betrayal, and even planetary destruction. However, he is charming to a fault, revered by his men as a gallant champion, and also genuinely fond of his cousin Doctor Tachyon. That he has also tried to kill Tachyon several times in the past doesn't make the affection any less genuine.
* ArchEnemy: He starts out as this for Tachyon, especially in the second book. Later Blaise takes this spot and in ''Double Solitaire'' he falls more into [[EnemyMine Enemy Mine]] territory.
* BadassDriver: His spaceship, the Hellcat, was believed to be undomitable, but he managed to subdue her and was his owner until it was destroyed.
* DisneyDeath: At the end of ''Aces High'' he finds himself on a severely damaged spaceship floating into deep space. Tachyon assumes he died but he did not.
* {{Foil}}: He is one to Blaise and it's highlighted in their confrontation by the end of ''Double Solitaire''. They're both ambitious, bold, overflowing with "virtu", and rather obsessed with Tachyon. But while Zabb is an AffablyEvil AntiVillain who actually [[KissingCousins loves Tachyon]], Blaise is a monster and a [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil rapist]] that has [[AbusiveOffspring traumatized Tachyon]] in a way that Zabb finds disgusting and abhorrent.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: In a particularly convoluted way. [[spoiler: He manages to mortally wound Blaise, but the latter uses his jumper powers to switch bodies, killing him.]]
* LoopholeAbuse: How he managed to become the Rayis. Tachyon is the righteous heir to the title, but Zabb objects that a Rayis can only be male and as Tachyon is trapped in a female body he cannot claim the title. Eventually the elders rule in Zabb's favour.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Aces]]

!!Aces in general

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gurps_supers.jpg]]

Aces are victims of the [[MassSuperEmpoweringEvent Wild Card virus]] that develop superhuman abilities while mantaining their human appearance. They account for 1% of the victims. The category is somewhat subjective. A few wild carders have minor physical deformities (or big but attractive deformities) along with potent superhuman abilities, and are generally still considered aces. A subcategory of ace is the ''deuce'', an ace with [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway very minor abilites]], again this category is subjective, as some abilities are more useful than they first appear.

Tropes that apply to aces in general:

* AllThereInTheManual: A lot about ace powers and origins is explained in the appendix of the first novel.
* BigEater: Many aces are this, due to their [[HyperactiveMetabolism accelerated metabolisms]] and their powers being CastFromCalories.
* DifferentlyPoweredIndividual: They're not superheroes, they're aces. The term "Metahuman" is also very common in Wild Cards, and may have predated the DCU's heavy usage of the term in their post-Crisis universe.
* FreakLabAccident: Kind of. In many cases, the latent wild card virus is activated by situations of extreme stress and the power manifested depends on the circunstances of the crisis.
* HyperactiveMetabolism: It's been noted a few times that aces are somewhat tougher and heal faster than nats, even those aces that lack physical superpowers.
* MagicFeather: Many aces have objects, gestures, or rituals that they need to activate their powers. Obviously, the power is actually internal, but the way the wild card virus works as an enabler of subconscious desires makes the Magic Feather almost always indispensable.
* MagicPoweredPseudoscience: Aces who are superpowered inventors tend to build objects that work in this way. These objects can't be mass produced. It helps to explain why ReedRichardsIsUseless.
* PersonalityPowers: All aces have those. It's [[JustifiedTrope justified]], since the wild card virus mutates people according to their own subconscious desires and fears.
* PsychicPowers: Actually, almost all ace powers are this, even when they appear to be physical like superstrength, flight, shapechanging, or energy projection. All of them are explained as specialized mind over matter. Many aces also have "standard" psychic powers like telepathy and telekinesis. These standard psychic powers used to be more common in the older novels.
* PsychoactivePowers: A feature of a lot of aces.
* SecretIdentity: Almost always averted, as mantaining a secret identity is too impractical. Only aces that really, really need them tend to have them.
* SuperSupremacist: Interestingly, this character type is almost completely absent in Wild Cards. The rationale for this is that aces are usually individualistic and have strong egos, they do not share some sort of ace identity (unlike jokers, who usually feel solidarity with other jokers). So there are no aces struggling to form an all-ace movement. There are aces that are political extremists, but they use their powers to advance causes they'd believe in even without their powers.
* SuperTeam: There are very few of those in Wild Cards, since aces tend to be an individualistic bunch. Common exceptions are the Four Aces in the 1940s and the Committee in the newer novels. Informal team-ups are extremely common, though.
* SuperheroesWearTights: Usually averted in the Wild Cards universe, but not always. Many public aces that debuted in the 1960s and 1970s wear superhero costumes, since it was the age of wild card chic.

!!Aquarius
One of Captain Trips's alter egos, Aquarius is a massive, surly dolphin-man.

* AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: Gray-skinned.
* {{Animorphism}}: He can turn into a dolphin.
* TheBeastmaster: Only over marine mammals.
* BerserkButton: The mistreatment of marine mammals sets him off.
* BizarreAlienSenses: Mark has difficulty understanding and remembering the sensory inputs from his dolphin form.
* CantKillYouStillNeedYou: Resents Mark more than any of the other "friends", to the point that Mark's pretty sure the only reason Aquarius doesn't go out in the middle of the ocean so Mark will drown when he changes back is that he'd die too.
* DireBeast: His dolphin form is twenty feet long, and possesses stronger physical abilities than a typical dolphin.
* HatesEveryoneEqually: Not a big fan of humans, though he loves Mark's daughter Sprout. He'd gladly go live in the ocean, if it weren't for the time limit on his existence.
* ItsAllJunk: Hates all material things, especially man-made ones.
* SuperSpeed: For swimming only.
* SuperStrength: even outside of animal form.
* SuperToughness: Bullets and harpoons bounce off his skin.
* {{Telepathy}}: Only with marine mammals.
* ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman: Averted. The powder which calls him is cheap and easy to make, but his powerset is too specialized to be summoned often. However, this only applies to the first three trilogies, where Captain Trips is a New York City based superhero. During his international adventures in Book 12 and afterwards, when he is subsumed inside the Radical, Aquarius's powerset is occasionaly useful whenever rapid water travel is required for escape and underwater combat ability is required for warfare.
* WeaksauceWeakness: Can't be out of the water too long or he starts taking damage.

!!The Astronomer

[[quoteright:280:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/astronomer.jpg]]

The main antagonist of the first trilogy of novels, the Astronomer is an insanely powerful EvilSorcerer that is also the leader of his own dark cult. He is a bad guy's bad guy. Just count the number of "evil" tropes.

* AboveGoodAndEvil: Fond of using this justification in his Hannibal Lectures.
* ArchEnemy: The Astronomer and Fortunato both have many enemies, but their own rivalry is extremely bitter, as The Astronomer has killed many of Fortunato's beloved prostitutes, Fortunato has foiled the plans of The Astronomer several times, and both of them are philosophically opposed to each other, with both using sex as the totem of their powers.
* AstralProjection: One of the Astronomer's many abilities.
* BaldOfEvil: Like an evil Professor X, the Astronomer is a bald, old psychic in a wheelchair.
* BigBad: The Astronomer is the main villain of the first trilogy of books.
* DiabolicalMastermind: He is the evil leader of the Egyptian Masons, his own creepy cult and criminal organization.
* EvilCounterpart: The Astronomer has the same broad array of potent powers -- basically anything that is a thematic fit for "magic", as inspired by Eastern mysticism -- and charges them by having sex much like Fortunato, but whereas Fortunato sees sex as a spiritual, creative process, The Astronomer rapes and kills his partners and only uses his powers to gain more power.
* EvilCripple: When not super-charged with psychic energy, he is bound to a wheelchair.
* EvilOldFolks: A very evil dude that looks like your kindly old grandfather.
* EvilSorcerer: Somewhat subverted, in that his "dark magiks" are [[DoingInTheWizard actually psionic powers given to him by the alien virus.]]
** Notably, he himself is fully aware of this, and specifically tells another Ace that their powers are the product of Takisian biotechnology. The ritualistic stuff is just a mental exercise to help focus and control his powers.
* {{Expy}}: What if Professor Charles Xavier were completely depraved?
* FourEyesZeroSoul: Wears a pair of thick glasses that are compared to "broken mirrors" a few times.
* HannibalLecture: Very fond of giving those, since he is basically a nihilistic power mad monster who enjoys toying with people.
* KnightOfCerebus: The first truly horrific villain of the series. At this point, even Puppetman had his FauxAffablyEvil persona to hide behind: the Astronomer is pure hate and lust for power and he represents a serious threat to the world.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Another of the Astronomer's signature powers is his ability to mind wipe people. He is even capable of removing everything, leaving the unfortunate victim a vegetable.
* NoNameGiven: Always refered to by titles or nicknames. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]], in that not even the Astronomer knows his real name, since his memories were wiped when he first acquired his superhuman powers.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Calls Fortunato the n-word a couple of times.
* PsychicPowers: Possess pretty much all of them and some.
* ReligionOfEvil: The Astronomer is the leader of the ultra-creepy Egyptian Masons.
* SuperpowerLottery: Telepathy, telekinesis, flight, phasing, energy blasts, precognition. He can do pratically everything.
* TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse: Most times, the Astronomer has an undeniable aura of creepiness and power about him, however [[spoiler: after he dies, he appears to be just an ordinary old man, causing the general public to doubt that he really was the dangerous supervillain the police and the Aces claimed he was.]]
* WouldHurtAChild: [[spoiler: Has no problem killing off Kid Dinosaur.]]

!!Bagabond

[[quoteright:181:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wc14.jpg]]

A bag lady with the power to communicate with and control animals. Her best friends are two alley cats. However, she has a few close human friends: fellow outcast Sewer Jack Robicheaux and district attorney Rosemary Muldoon.

* AnimalEyeSpy: One of her most useful powers, Bagabond can count on New York City's population of rats and pigeons as her own [[AnimalEspionage remote viewing devices]].
* TheBeastmaster: A function of her powers. She always has a couple of animal helpers close by. The most prominent are a couple of unusually strong and intelligent alley cats.
* BetterWithNonHumanCompany: One of the reasons Bagabond lives on the streets is that she abhors human society, much prefering the company of her animals.
* BlessedWithSuck: Her powers have alienated her from human society, since she finds animal minds much more comfortable to deal with than human personalities.
* CrazyCatLady: The superheroic version of this trope.
* EmotionlessGirl: Prefers animals to people and rarely displays emotion.
* FriendToAllLivingThings: An interesting variation. Even though she sees herself as a protector of New York City's animal population, she isn't all that sentimental towards animals - her two pet cats excepted. She even exploits her animal armies in a few cases, usually under Rosemary Muldoon's [[ToxicFriendInfluence influence]].
* HomelessHero: Though she is more in the anti-hero category.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Has many shades of this. She is uncomfortable with most human beings and usually shuns human company, but she is very loyal to her few friends.
* ObfuscatingInsanity: Pretends to be a crazy street person so she will be left alone, but is actually sane and very intelligent.
* PlatonicLifePartners: With Sewer Jack, after a brief little bit of IncompatibleOrientation.
* [[spoiler: PutOnABus: After the events of Book 5, ''Down and Dirty'', she moves to Central America. However, she [[TheBusCameBack appears one more time]] in Book 14, ''Marked Cards''.]]
* SheCleansUpNicely: Not unattractive when she makes the effort to look civilized.
* SpeaksFluentAnimal: Doesn't actually talk to them, it's all telepathic.
* ToxicFriendInfluence: Rosemary Muldoon ultimately proves to be very bad news for Bagabond.
* YoungerThanTheyLook: Looks like she is in her 60s. But when she takes the [[SheCleansUpNicely time and effort to clean up]] it becomes apparent that she is in her 30s.

!!Black Eagle

[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/four_aces.jpg]]

Earl Sanderson, a powerful and charismatic black superhero from the 1940s and important figure in the civil rights movement. He was a member of the Exotics for Democracy. Capable of flight and generating force fields.

* AnimalThemedSuperbeing: His ace name is actually a reference to his squadron of all black fighter aces in World War II. It also doubles as a reference to his profession as a lawyer ("legal eagle").
* BarrierWarrior: Earl is capable of generating a wall of invisible force in front of him as he flies. He could use this wall as a battering ram, sending people, vehicles, and any obstacles flying.
* [[spoiler: BlackDudeDiesFirst: Sort of. Chronologically, he is not the first of the Four Aces to die (that is Brain Trust). However, he is the first to have been revealed to die in the novel. Also partially averted in that his ruin and death isn't a cannon fodder sacrifice, but arguably the main and saddest event in ''Witness'']]
* BrokenAce: Becomes one after 1950.
* ColorCharacter: His ace nickname was given to him by the press. Earl himself didn't like it.
* FlawlessToken: [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed]]. Black Eagle initially appears to be perfect: an African-American that is a great husband, a brilliant lawyer, a war hero, and a superpowered ace. It's gradually revealed that he is very much a flesh-and-blood human being, though [[WartsAndAll still heroic]].
* {{Flight}}: His main power is the capability to fly at speeds of up to 500 mph.
* HauledBeforeASenateSubCommittee: Persecuted by HUAC in the 1950s.
* MalcolmXerox: Averted. A black leader with Marxist convictions who actually is sympathetic and reasonable.
* MessianicArchetype: Kinda. In that he is a (supposedly) perfect savior figure that is betrayed by a close friend.
* RedScare: Black Eagle was active during the beginning of the Cold War, and, as a member of the Communist Party, is hunted and persecuted by the government.
* SportsHeroBackstory: Used to be a great athlete in college.

!!Black Shadow
A grim, urban vigilante with darkness-based powers. Black Shadow uses a variety of disguises and identities to better fight evil. He is stronger, tougher, and faster than a normal human, particularly when he uses his energy absorption powers.

* AnIcePerson: Creates a cloud of darkness and bitter cold. In his "Mr. Gravemold" persona, this is the only power he uses.
* BrokenAce: Black Shadow is intelligent, capable, and very powerful. He is also dangerously unstable and haunted by a lot of personal demons.
* CastingAShadow: With a more scientific justification than most, since he doesn't really "create" areas of shadow, he absorbs light (and other electromagnetic energy).
* ColorCharacter: Obviously. He is also African-American, though not really a CaptainEthnic.
* CoolBike: A Vincent Black Shadow motorcycle, naturally.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: It combines ParentalAbandonment with RapeAsBackstory in a vividly horrifying way. Oh, and he was also [[MindRape manipulated]] by Puppetman into becoming a far harsher vigilante.
* DarkIsNotEvil: Though he can get very ruthless at times.
* DoubleConsciousness: Played so many roles for so long that he has trouble figuring out who he really is.
* EvilSmellsBad: Not "evil", but his Mr. Gravemold persona is frightening. Shad uses formaldehyde to give himself a corpse-y smell when assuming it.
* FightsLikeANormal: Restrains himself from using any powers in his "No Dice", "Simon", and "Mr. Diamond" personas, in order to come off as a nat.
* FunctionalAddict: In his "Mr. Gravemold" persona, he covers himself in formaldehyde and snorts cocaine so the smell doesn't bother him.
* MasterOfDisguise: Has adopted many identities in his fight against crime. His favorite tactic is to infiltrate a criminal group using a disguise and manipulate them into killing each other.
* ObfuscatingDisability: As "Mr. Gravemold" he uses a deaths-head mask and douses himself in formaldehyde in order to imitate a joker.
* PersonalityPowers: All wild carders are this, but Black Shadow more obviously than most.
* SecondSuperIdentity: Several. He eventually gives himself the internal identity of "Shad" just so he knows who he is.
* SuperheroesWearTights: In special occasions he wears a dark blue uniform with black cape and orange domino mask.
* ThatManIsDead: As mentioned above, he now feels so removed from his former life as Neil Langford that he adopted "Shad" as a stable identity.
* VampiricDraining: He actually creates shadow by absorbing light and heat. He can do it to a person and leave a frozen corpse behind.
* VigilanteMan: One of the most feared ace vigilantes operating in New York City.
* WallCrawl: One of his many powers, though it's never explained exactly how he does it, since it does not seem to fit his energy absorption theme. In his "Wall Walker" persona, this is the only power he uses.

!!The Amazing Bubbles
Michelle Pond, a famous supermodel and internationally active ace in the later novels. She is a key member of the Committee, an UN-sponsored superhero team. Bubbles is one of the most powerful aces around in the 21st-century. She is pratically indestructible, since she can absorb the energy from any attack and convert it into mass; she can then use this extra mass to fuel kinetic blasts in the shape of multi-coloured bubbles. She is also openly a lesbian.

* AbusiveParents: Her incredibly grasping parents exploited her finantially from an early age, as she was a child model and essentially a cash cow to them. Later, they also tried to have her life support unplugged when she was in a coma, hoping to get their hands on her wealth.
* ActionMom: She continues her career as a public ace even after adopting Adesina.
* TheAdjectivalSuperhero: Because just "Bubbles" is too informal for a superhero name.
* BettyAndVeronica: A lesbian version. Bubbles is the Archie in a love triangle with nice and level-headed Juliet Summers (Betty) and dangerous bad girl Hoodoo Mama (Veronica).
* ChargedAttack: Her bubbles. She sheds body mass to fuel their energy. The other half of her ability is EnergyAbsorption that allows her to take the energy of any attack and convert it into mass.
* FatAndProud: An unusual variation. Bubbles changes from very fat to very thin and back again constantly. Her whole outlook is more along the lines of "be proud of yourself regardless of your weight".
* IncompatibleOrientation: With fellow contestant Tiffani in the American Hero TV show in the novel ''Inside Straight''. It doesn't help that Tiffani is also a BitchInSheepsClothing.
* InformedJudaism: Somewhat justified, as Bubbles mentions a couple of times that only her Mom is Jewish, and her parents didn't seem to rise her as a Jew.
* MamaBear: She is extremely protective of her adopted child Adesina.
* NighInvulnerability: She absorbs any physical or energy attack directed at her, becoming heavier and larger after each attack. However, she isn't truly immortal. She still needs to breathe, for instance. She is also vulnerable to exotic ace powers, like the Mummy's dehydration power. [[spoiler: She even absorbs a nucler explosion once, but is locked into a comma for a year.]]
* StatuesqueStunner: Very tall and very beautiful. When she has a lot of extra mass also qualifies as a BigBeautifulWoman.
* TemporaryBulkChange: A rare non-comedic, non-cartoon example. The more energy she absorbs, the heavier and bulkier she gets.

!!Captain Trips

[[quoteright:282:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/capntripsalteregos_1.jpg]]

Mark Meadows, a hippie with the power to transform himself into several different superheroic alter egos, that he calls his "friends." He is also a genius biochemist. For his various alter-egos, see [[AllYourPowersCombined The Radical]], [[PlayingWithFire Jumpin' Jack Flash]], [[SupernaturalMartialArts Moonchild]], [[IntangibleMan Cosmic Traveler]], [[ThePowerOfTheSun Starshine]], [[OurMermaidsAreDifferent Aquarius]], and [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Monster]].

* AddictionPowered: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]], in that Mark isn't actually addicted to the special powders he uses to transform, or to any other drugs in fact. However, he is a very frequent user of marijuana.
* AlliterativeName: Captain Trips' civilian name is Mark Meadows.
* AllLovingHero: Mark tries hard to be this, with Tachyon remarking that Mark always tries to see the good in everyone. Obviously, it gets deconstructed. His time as a fugitive from the law, his adventures on [[DecadentCourt Takis]], and the complicated realpolitiks of his time as Vietnam's chancellor all combine to make him more cynical and bitter.
* AllYourPowersCombined: The Radical can use all the powers of all Mark's other identities. (Also, he is not the peacenik he appears to be. ''Do not mess with him.'')
* AscendedFanboy: A fan of comic books and aces even before he got his powers. Also, a [[RecursiveFiction wonderfully recursive example]], as he is seen reading a Turtle comic book in his origin story, and the Turtle himself was also an Ascended Fanboy.
* BerserkButton: Do NOT harm or threaten Sprout. [[spoiler: He ends up unable to manifest as Moonchild because of this.]]
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Mark is kind to a fault but he can be dangerous when he's at his most desperate. ''Turn of the Cards'' introduces his uncontrollable Monster persona, and [[spoiler: the Radical also proves to be this after he returns in ''Black Trump'' and proceeds to take over Mark's body.]]
* BreakTheCutie: Really, Mark is too innocent for the CrapsackWorld that is Wild Cards. Almost all of his stories in later books involve some of his hippie ideals being shattered by a cruel, uncaring world.
* CaptainSuperhero: Nothing to do with a military rank, though. It's based on Music/TheGratefulDead's Jerry Garcia.
* ClassicAntiHero: A shy, clumsy, eccentric nerd, even after he becomes a hippie.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Mark is naive and almost silly at times. He also has the ability to transform into his own superpowered team of alter-egos.
* DaddysGirl: Sprout, his mentally disabled daughter.
* DemotedToComicRelief: Captain Trips' appearance in Book 3, ''Jokers Wild''.
* DitzyGenius: Mark both plays it straight and subverts it. On the one hand, he IS a genius-level scientist that is totally lacking in common sense. On the other hand, he is noted as being surprisingly perceptive when it comes to other people's emotions.
* {{Foil}}: Dr. Carter Jarnavon in ''Black Trump''. Jarnavon is a younger biochemist that has a fanboyish admiration for Mark Meadows. Jarnavon is also a genocidal anti-wild cards bigot and, more personally, a nerd that has never "moved on" from the sort of youthful insecurities Mark used to suffer from.
* GeekPhysiques: The skinny sort. He is constantly described as very tall and very skinny.
* GenderBender: When Mark becomes Moonchild, the beautiful and female martial artist. Mostly played for laughs, as Tachyon and others find her [[AttractiveBentGender very attractive]]. [[PlayedForDrama Played much more seriously]] in Book 12, ''Turn of the Cards''.
* HearingVoices: Usually his other personas are dormant in his mind, though he can occasionally hear them. When he's recently summoned one, their voice becomes clearer and he sometimes vocalizes their thoughts.
* HeroWithBadPublicity: Captain Trips gets hit with this hard after Book 8, with the American government treating him as a [[BlatantLies drug kingpin]].
* HeroicBSOD: Mark is prone to this, particularly as his stories in later volumes become progressively darker.
* HourOfPower: His transformations usually only last for one hour.
* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: Most Captain Trips's stories have titles based on rock song titles.
* ImpossiblyTackyClothes: His superhero costume is a multicolored Uncle Sam suit that is tacky even when compared to other superhero costumes in the setting. Of course, his best friend [[BirdsOfAFeather Doctor Tachyon]] is the only one who throughly approves of it.
* LovesMyAlterEgo: In the conclusion of his very first story, "Transfigurations", Sunflower is infatuated with the Radical, while nerdy Mark Meadows seems to have been definitely consigned to "just friends". A few years later Mark and Sunflower end up in a rocky, unsuccessful marriage.
* ManySpiritsInsideOfOne: All of his alter egos speak to Mark and to each other inside Mark's head.
* ModernMajorGeneral: Mark spends years as the owner of a head shop in Greenwich Village, but he is a very incompetent shop owner.
* MoralityChain: Some of his alter egos have really extreme personalities and despise the "main" Mark Meadows persona, but the one trait they all share is that they're very devoted to Mark's daughter, Sprout. The exception is [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Monster]].
* NewAgeRetroHippie: Mark was a latecomer to the "faith" and stayed a stereotypical hippie well into the 1990s.
* NiceGuy: One of the sweetest guys in the Wild Cards universe, even though most of his alter egos have rather extreme personalities, and a couple of them are on SuperpoweredEvilSide territory.
* OutOfFocus: Of all the protagonists introduced in Books 1 and 2, Mark Meadows is hit with this the hardest. He has only minor appearances between books 3 and 7, before returning to the series big time in ''One-Eyed Jacks''.
* PapaWolf: He deeply cares about Sprout and he will even sacrifice his ideals to try and protect her. Played for drama in ''MarkedCards,'' when [[spoiler: he kills someone to save her while in his Moonchild persona.]]
* PhlebotinumPills: Captain Trips has the ability to use various drugs (usually derivations of psychoactive drugs such as LSD) to transform into several other forms, each with their own powers and individual personalities.
* SexierAlterEgo: J. J. Flash, Moonchild, and the Radical.
* ShoutOut: The names of his "friends" are taken from classic rock songs from the 1960s and 1970s.
* SuperLoser: Some people mistake Captain Trips for this, or even think he is just an eccentric hippie with no powers, since he is somewhat elusive about the relationship between him and his "friends". He is actually one of the most powerful aces around.
* SuperpoweredAlterEgo: A whole collection of them, in fact!
* SuperpoweredEvilSide: Of the five main "friends", Cosmic Traveler comes closest to this, though he is more of a huge jerk and a dirty coward than evil. More straight examples are Monster and the second version of the Radical.
* SuperSerum: He has to ingest specially prepared powders to change into his various superhuman forms.
* UnluckyChildHoodFriend: [[DoubleSubversion Double Subverted]]. He eventually marries Sunflower, the girl he's loved since forever. But their marriage is not a happy one.
* VitriolicBestBuds: With J. Robert Belew after Book 12. Belew is Mark Meadows's opposite in many ways: a cynic, a political conservative, and a lifelong military operative.
* WellDoneSonGuy: [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]]. It's mentioned a few times that Mark's father is a General in the United States Air Force, and that the shy, peaceful Mark Meadows always craved the approval of his military manly man father, but this story element is mostly kept in the background.
* WideEyedIdealist: A believer in peace, love, equality, kindness, and mysticism. It usually does not go well in the unforgiven deconstructive world of Wild Cards.

!!Carnifex

[[quoteright:236:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ebedb2632a17aac7cb77d493749be712.jpg]]

Billy Ray, a Justice Department agent who is stronger, faster, and tougher than a normal human. He also can heal very quickly, though the rate seems to be slowing down as he ages. Carnifex is a ferocious fighter that loves action and mayhem a little too much.

* BadassInANiceSuit: Whenever he isn't wearing his superhero tights.
* BattleCouple: With the Midnight Angel.
* BloodKnight: Billy Ray loves the rush of physical battle. He is most happy when he is fighting enemies that are bigger and/or stronger than he is.
* BodyguardBetrayal: Inverted. Billy Ray was Senator Hartmann's bodyguard in the first six novels, and was always extremely loyal. It was [[UngratefulBastard Hartmann]] that never even bothered to visit Ray in the hospital after Ray almost died protecting him.
* ButterFace: A rare male example. He is a fairly athletic and graceful man, but his face looks really peculiar and asymmetrical, since his healing factor doesn't care for aesthetics. Whenever his face gets really bad, he has plastic surgery to regain a normal appearance. It doesn't last though, since he gets into fights and scrapes a lot.
* CasanovaWannabe: A somewhat [[DownplayedTrope downplayed example]]. Billy isn't quite as repellent as typical examples of this trope, and it's implied that he still gets laid fairly often, but there is a bit of a running gag of Billy Ray hitting on female characters and being shot down.
* CharacterDevelopment: Particularly since Wild Cards avoids ComicBookTime, Carnifex in the later novels is a veteran agent that is much more wise and level-headed. He still kicks ass when he has to, however.
* ConfusionFu: One of Ray's powers actually is an instinctive combat sense that makes him a master of freeform mayhem - without any need to properly study and learn martial arts.
* {{Expy}}: Carnifex is a very physical fighter who heals very quickly. He even originally called himself "ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}".
* HealingFactor: Carnifex can heal from injuries very fast. His powers first manifested when he broke his leg in three places when playing college football. He was recovered and ready to return to the game in a matter of minutes.
* {{Jerkass}}: Billy is abrasive and likes to get into people's faces.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: "Carnifex" is a Latin word meaning "butcher" and "executioner".
* NeatFreak: In fact, spilling blood on his costume is a good way to piss him off.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Surprisingly becomes this in the later novels.
* RequiredSecondaryPowers: Averted. His healing factor lacks a sense of aesthetics. His face often heals all crooked.
* SportsHeroBackstory: A football hero in college, Carnifex first manifested his powers during a game.
* SuperheroesWearTights: Carnifex is one of few ''Wild Cards'' characters who wears a superhero costume. He is a frequent source of ridicule for this, partially because he looks ridiculous in it, and partially because it's sheer white and blood frequently stains it -- much to his frustration.
* UnscrupulousHero: Billy is on the side of law and justice, and is somewhat sympathetic. He is also impulsive, arrogant, violent, and abrasive.
* WildCard: The original intention of Carnifex's creator, John J. Miller, was to have Carnifex as this sort of character, someone that could as easily hinder as help the good guys. And he is mostly presented this way in the first two trilogies, as he is a BloodKnight, {{Jerkass}} government agent under [[BitchInSheepsClothing Senator Hartmann's]] orders. However, in Book 11 he is a viewpoint character for the first time, is free from Hartmann's influence, and is presented more sympathetically. From that point on in the series, he is increasingly in the role of hero, even though [[AntiHero he retains most of his earlier characteristics]] and from time to time still plays HeroAntagonist to other protagonists.

!!Cordelia Chaison
A Cajun girl with the power to manipulate a person's respiratory and circulatory systems. She is the niece of Sewer Jack Robicheaux. Works as a young exec for Global Fun & Games.

* BadPowersGoodPeople: She is one of the more idealistic characters in the Wild Cards universe, basically a young woman that wants to do good. Her power is to kill people. However, she does learn how to use her powers to revive someone suffering from shock, or to restart a stopped heart.
* BirdsOfAFeather: A non-romantic version. It's been noted in-universe that she has many traits in common with her uncle.
* RapeAsBackstory: Heavily implied to have been sexually abused at home, just like her uncle Jack Robicheaux.
* ThouShaltNotKill: Cordelia believes in this, due to her Catholic background. She is very troubled by having a power that is mostly useful to kill and is committed to not using it on human beings.
* WelcomeToTheBigCity: Cordelia's storyline in ''Jokers Wild'' is basically this. She runs away from her home in Louisiana to come live in New York City with her uncle.
* WhereDaWhiteWomenAt: Her relationship with Wyungare, an Australian aborigine, has a few shades of this initially, since she thinks it's exciting that she is dating a guy her Conservative Southern family would strongly disapprove of. Their relationship is revealed to have become much deeper later, in ''Dealer's Choice''.
* WideEyedIdealist: Often comes across as this, in part due to her youth and small-town upbringing.

!!Cosmic Traveler
One of Captain Trips's alter-egos, Cosmic Traveler is a featureless, glowing being in a cloak with a powerset based upon survival and escape.

* BatmanCanBreatheInSpace: He's immune to cold, radiation, suffocation and vacuums, so he can survive in space.
* CripplingOverspecialization: Not due to his powers, but his personality: His cowardice and self-interest limit his usefulness to getting Mark out of nasty situations.
* DistractedByTheSexy: Can and has dropped everything he was doing for the chance to get laid. His powers uniquely suit him to being a peeping tom, too.
* DirtyCoward: The one thing you can rely on him to do is run. One of his favorite things to do once his time starts running out is to phase his body into hidden place, preferably one that locks from the outside so Mark can't get into trouble.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Like most of the other personas he loves and is protective of Sprout.
* {{Flight}}: He floats at about ten miles an hour. Not fast, but he can go ''through'' things, which helps.
* {{Intangibility}}: One of his powers.
* {{Invisibility}}: Ditto.
** This seems to be a bit of an InformedAbility. The RPG mentions it, but Traveler never becomes invisible in the novels, even when it would be very useful to do so.
* ItsAllAboutMe: Easily the most self-absorbed of Mark's personas.
* JerkAss: Greedy, selfish, pompous, horny and cowardly to boot.
* MysteriousPast: The other personas have at least vague (if false) memories of another life, but CT refuses to talk about his. An comatose accountant with the same name as his (Damon Strange), ''did'' have his plug pulled at the same moment he manifested for the first time, however.
* PowerGlows: He glows blue.
* PsychicBlockDefense: Has an extremely powerful mind shield.
* ShapeshifterDefaultForm: He's a stoop-shouldered guy with skinny limbs and a potbelly. Naturally, he uses his powers to look more impressive. He appears to be limited to humanoid forms.
* StealthExpert: The best infiltrator and escape artist among Mark's alter-egos.
* TeethClenchedTeamwork: He hates Mark for constantly getting into trouble, and Mark doesn't like him much for being a big ol' douche.
* {{Telepathy}}: Mildly telepathic.
* VoiceChangeling: Capable of flawlessly imitating anyone.
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: He's a little afraid of everything, but creepy crawlies like bugs top the list.

!!Crypt Kicker
Bobby Joe Puckett, a former teenager whose ace turned while committing suicide.

* CameBackStrong: The whole premise of his ace.
* TheDragon: To George G. Battle.
* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler: By tge Black Trump Virus]].
* NighInvulnerability: Puckett can suck up extreme amounts of damage. After all, YouCantKillWhatsAlreadyDead.
* PoisonousPerson: He can store nasty chemicals in his body and release them through contact or flick them over short distances.
* SuperStrength: He's stronger than Billy Ray.
* UndyingLoyalty: To the U.S. government.

!!Demise

[[quoteright:188:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/download_865.jpg]]

Demise is James Spector, a failed accountant that was killed by the virus and later [[CameBackWrong came back to life.]] He gained the power to kill with a look (and he's pretty much unkillable too). Unhinged by his experiences, he became a hitman.

* ArchEnemy: He really, really hates Dr. Tachyon for bringing him back to life using an experimental treatment. Interestingly, [[spoiler: he never gets to have a big showdown with Tachyon]].
* BackFromTheDead: He was one of the 90% of fatalities from the virus, but Tachyon brought him back with an experimental process.
* BadGuysDoTheDirtyWork: [[spoiler:Fortunato defeats the Astronomer, but it's Demise that kills him. Also, his final battle with Mackie Messer. And his attempt to kill Hartmann]].
* BlackComedy: Far too many stories involving Demise are full of this, as to be expected of a DeadpanSnarker that can kill with a look.
* BlessedWithSuck: Constantly remembers how it felt to die, leaving him in a near constant state of pain so bad that he has to get badly drunk to even be able to fall asleep.
* BreakoutCharacter: Very beloved of the fan base, even though he is as depraved as most Wild Cards villains.
* CameBackWrong: Closer to a Type II, Damaged Soul. Demise's experiences have made him obsessed with death and dying and practically leached out all the pleasure he used to have in life.
* DeadlyGaze: Demise can kill a person by looking into their eyes and telepathically transmitting the memory of the time he drew the Black Queen (the time he was infected by the Wild Card virus and died). Although he has the power to dial it down when he doesn't want the person dead, he tends to use the power very casually.
* DeadpanSnarker: He will kill you and make a funny quip about it.
* TheDragon: He is this for the Astronomer in ''Aces High''.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: As shown under PetTheDog, Demise dislike the idea of killing [[NiceGuy actual nice guys]] he gets to know. In the sixth book, the narration also dwelves on his reasoning for being who he is. Essentially, he always was an antisocial loner which is the cause of his [[TheCynic cynical streak]] and his justification for acting like a jerk. The virus and the state of constant pain it left him in only worsened this state of mind. However, meeting people who show him kindess and/ or care about him prompts him to think better thoughts and act as a better person. [[spoiler:So much so, that in the conclusion ''Ace in the Hole'', he takes upon on him to kill Hartmann, not only to collect his reward, but because the time spent with an old friend of his compels him to act heroically for once]].
* FromNobodyToNightmare: From an antisocial failed accountant to a regenerative serial killer that can cause someone to die simply by looking in their eyes.
* HealingFactor: His other major power. Demise can recover from practically any injury. In ''Ace in the Hole'' it is revealed that [[spoiler: he can even regrow a severed head. But Tachyon has him cremated to stop this.]]
* HitmanWithAHeart: Usually, the heart part doesn't come up often except for two times. In ''Joker's Wild'', he struggles with his decision to kill a vagrant, a witness to his crime, as the man treats him fairly decently. In ''Ace in the Hole'', he has been hired to kill Senator Hartmann, and meets he meets an old acquaintance from school, [[MoralityPet one of the very few people in his life he seems to like]]. Said acquaintance's attitude rubs on him and influences his decisions to abandon his kill [[spoiler: and then take it up again when he learns of Hartmann's true nature]].
* IronButtmonkey: Constantly suffers amusing injuries and setbacks but thanks to his healing powers he's always back on his feet. [[spoiler:Except when Tachyon burns his decapitated body]].
* LeanAndMean: Often described as unnaturally skinny.
* ALighterShadeOfBlack: Somewhat. Demise often turns against or fights characters that are as evil or more evil than he is, like The Astronomer and Mackie Messer (and assorted drug dealers, blackmailers, and gangbangers). Though this is sometimes subverted, like in his first appearance, when he kills a [[DisposableSexWorker helpless prostitute]].
* LonersAreFreaks: Doesn't have any friends and is a sociopathic killer.
* MoralityPet: His old acquaintance from school he runs into in ''Ace in the Hole'' acts as this to him. The guy is the only person in his life to treat him as friend (despite having never been particularly close to him and having not seen him in years) and Demise very much appreciate him for it.
* PetTheDog: He thinks of himself as a monster (and he is not that far wrong), but Demise hates to kill someone who's been kind to him. And in ''Ace in the Hole'' he [[spoiler: almost has a HeelFaceTurn after meeting again an altruistic school friend.]]
* ThePigPen: Pretty careless about personal hygiene, except when he has to blend in to get closer to one of his targets.
* PsychoForHire: An unhinged sociopath that parlays his death-inducing stare into a career as a hitman.
* RedemptionEqualsDeath: Zig-zagged. In ''Ace in the hole'', he has something of a change of heart after running into an old acquaintance of his. Said acquaintance is such a nice guy that it almost convinces Demise to not kill Hartmann, his target of the moment. [[spoiler:Eventually, he decides to finish the job because he learned what [[EmotionEater Hartmann really was]] and it indirectly causes him to die, [[KilledOffForReal for good this time]]]].
* StevenUlyssesPerhero: James Spector; death-based powers.
* WishFulfillment: A very dark one, as Demise often kills characters like [[{{Jerkass}} rude and bigoted taxi drivers]] or [[ObstructiveBureaucrat unhelpful mall clerks]], in a sort of ComedicSociopathy.

!!Double Helix
Noel Matthews, an intersex member of the Order Of The Silver Helix, a British knighthood composed almost exclusively by wild carders.

* ArchEnemy: The Radical.
* ChaoticNeutral: After [[spoiler: defecting the Silver Helix]] he is loyal only to [[spoiler: Niobe]] and himself.
* TheChessmaster: One of his defining characteristics.
* DoubleReverseQuadrupleAgent: His loyalty lies with the Order Of The Silver Helix (at least until the events of [[spoiler: ''Busted Flush'']], but he is also [[spoiler: posing as Lilith in the Committee and as Bahir for the Caliphate.]]
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: "Evil" may be pushing things a little too far, but Noel does have some sociopathic tendencies that have been exploited by his handlers in the Silver Helix. Nonetheless, he genuinely loves his father, [[spoiler: his wife, and his son.]]
* FemmeFatale: [[spoiler: As Lilith.]]
* FightsLikeANormal: Downplayed, since he can teleport behind his enemies while fighting, but he single-handedly defeats Team Heart without using his ace.
* HoneyTrap: [[spoiler: She seduces Klaus (as Lilith) and tries to undermine the stability of the Committee by pitting its male members one against the other.]]
* HotGuyUglyWife: [[spoiler: Niobe is a joker, Noel is average in his normal form, but supernaturally attractive as Bahir and Lilith.]]
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: His mindset.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Noel may be ruthless, pragmatic, cold and ever-scheming, but he genuinely cares for his father [[spoiler: and Niobe.]] At the end of ''Busted Flush'', he decides [[spoiler: to leave the Silver Helix after they use Little Fat Boy as an unwitting weapon.]] In ''Three Kings'' he also is shown to have a genuine love for Britain.
* KnowWhenToFoldEm: After quickly assesting that he cannot defeat the Radical alone he teleports away.
* StageMagician: His other job and cover.
* Teleportation: One of his power, although [[spoiler: he is limited to the places where it is day as a male and to places where it is night as Lilith.]]
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: [[spoiler: His other power is to alter his appearance and even change gender, although his male avatars always have golden eyes and his female avatars always have silver eyes.]]
* WalkingSpoiler: Almost every entry of him references [[spoiler: his other identities and the related schemes.]]

!!Fadeout
Philip Cunningham, a high-ranking criminal in the Shadow Fist Society. He can become invisible at will.

* FriendlyEnemy: With Yeoman.
* {{Invisibility}}: His wild card ability is the power to become invisible at will.
* ManOfWealthAndTaste: He seems to enjoy the good life his criminal career brings him.
* PunchClockVillain: He is a lieutenant in a criminal organization, but he is a surprisingly normal guy and totally lacking in gratuitous cruelty.
* RequiredSecondaryPowers: A completely invisible person would need some kind of power that let them see, as light that passes through a person's eyeballs is by definition not actually interacting with the photoreceptors, which would be visible otherwise due to reflection or absorption of visible light. Fadeout lacks this secondary power, so he usually leaves his eyeballs visible when he goes invisible.
* TheStarscream: Fadeout is very ambitious and his ultimate goal is to replace Kien Phuc as head of the Shadow Fist Society.

!!Fortunato

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jokers_wild_capa_brasileira.jpg]]

A half-black, half-Japanese pimp with the power of Tantric magic. One of the protagonists in the first trilogy of novels.

* AstralProjection: One of Fortunato's many abilities.
* {{Blaxploitation}}: Fortunato can be seen as a superpowered version of the anti-heroes of this genre, particularly since he gained his powers in the cusp of the 1970s.
* BoomerangBigot: Has a certain contempt for other aces. Perhaps because his own father was killed by the Wild Card virus.
* CartwrightCurse: Genuine emotional attachment does not seem to reduce the likelihood that women close to him will end up dying, probably horribly. This contributes to his desire to retreat to a monastery.
* CosmicHorrorStory: Fortunato's stories in the first three volumes are very much in this genre. ''Aces High'' even makes direct references to Lovecraft and Cthullu.
* DeadpanSnarker: Often described as sharp-tongued, Fortunato has a put down for almost anyone.
* DeusSexMachina: His powers work through Tantric magic. Fortunat(o)ely for him, he's a pimp.
* DisappearedDad: Fortunato's father died of the Wild Card and he had to make his own way from a young age. Fortunato himself is this to John Fortune, his son with Peregrine.
* DistantFinale: Fortunato is one of the protagonists in the novel ''Death Draws Five'' published in 2006, about 20 years after Fortunato's last appearance.
* GenreMashup: Fortunato's stories are a mix of {{Blaxploitation}}, CosmicHorrorStory and {{Superhero}}; and sex, lots of sex. His fourth story, set in Japan, is more of a urban crime tale.
* GroinAttack: Tachyon, trapped in the body of a teenage girl by his grandson Blaise, does this to Fortunato when the latter refuses to help him telepathically contact his home planet Takis. Tachyon notes with amusement that countless women have wanted to do that to Fortunato for years, and he was the one that got to actually do it.
* HalfBreedDiscrimination: Downplayed. Fortunato does not seem to suffer more prejudice than other black males, but it's implied that his mixed race background has contributed to make him even more of a loner.
* HeroicNeutral: Despite possibly being the world's most powerful Ace, Fortunato generally does not want to be bothered by anything that does not affect him. He initially becomes involved in fighting the Astronomer's Masonic conspiracy because the Astronomer killed some of his girls. Later, he would retire to a monastery in Japan to try to get away from what he felt were other people's problems.
* IWorkAlone: Has few friends and does not like to mix with other Aces very much. The one hero he trusts is Yeoman, mostly because Yeoman is actually a [[BadassNormal normal human]].
* {{Jerkass}}: Could be obnoxious, even a bully, when he was in a mood. Also had a homophobic dislike for Doctor Tachyon based solely on his flamboyance, since Tachyon's preference for women was quite well known.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Jerkass and standoffish as he often is (see above), Fortunato does the heroic thing in many occasions. But not always. He is somewhere between this and JerkWithAHeartOfJerk
* MindControl: A combination of CompellingVoice and HypnoticEyes.
* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: Basically patterned his powers on books on Tantric magic he read when he first turned his card. For example, a passing reference to Tantric magicians being able to raise the dead by sodomizing their corpses leads Fortunato to (''very'' reluctantly) try this on a dead crook he needs information from - and it works!
* OneNameOnly: He was known publicly as Fortunato even before he became an Ace.
* PsychicPowers: Telepathy, Telekinesis and Psychometry are among his more stock powers. His telepathy is not anywhere near as precise as Doctor Tachyon's however.
* TheRival: He and Tachyon do not like each other, though they sometimes are forced into TeethClenchedTeamwork.
* SuperMode: Discovers that he has one when he has sex with Peregrine, the first time he had done so with an Ace. Her psionic energy greatly increases Fortunato's Tantric powers enabling him to finally take on the Astronomer.
* SuperpowerLottery: Much like the Astronomer, Fortunato possesses such a broad range of powers that he can effectively pass as a "sorcerer". Tachyon says at one point that he thinks Fortunato is the most powerful ace ever to live.
* TimeMaster: Fortunato can stop time.
* TookALevelInKindness: The older Fortunato in ''Death Draws Five'', after spending more than a decade in a monastery, is much nicer. He even admitted in one scene that he was wrong to give Dr. Tachyon such a hard time. He is also the BigGood in the [[BadFuture dystopian alternate timeline]] created in ''Low Chicago''.

!!Golden Boy

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/livro1_bigslider.jpg]]

Golden Boy is Jack Braun, a WWII veteran and has-been actor with the powers of superstrength, invulnerability, and eternal youth. He was a member of the superteam Exotics for Democracy in the 1940s, but has more or less retired from superheroics after being pressured into testifying against his friends in the paranoid political climate of 1950.

* AchillesHeel: Other than really big military-grade cannons, one of the few things that can kill Jack is a fall from a very high place (the impact of the sudden stop would be too much kinetic energy for his force field to absorb). Consequently he developed a fear of heights.
* ArchEnemy: Deconstructed. Golden Boy's greatest enemy in the first book is the historical process itself, in a variation of YouCantFightFate. Jack and his superheroic friends were celebrated fighters against fascism in the 1940s. When TheFifties arrived, the political climate changed in a way that made the Four Aces into [[RedScare suspicious un-American subversives]].
* TheAtoner: Every story featuring him after the first book has Jack trying to atone for his mistakes in 1950, with varied levels of success.
* BeenThereShapedHistory: Golden Boy has taken center stage in a lot of 20th century history and rubbed shoulders with a lot of famous people.
* TheBigGuy: He is often this for any group of aces he's hanging around with.
* BrokenAce: A superstrong, handsome, and charismatic superhero in the 1940s, Jack becomes a shadow of his former self after testifying against his friends in 1950.
* CaptainErsatz: Played with in that he's largely a deconstruction of Superman, and his film career resembles that of [[Franchise/{{Tarzan}} Johnny Weismuller]]
* ColorCharacter: Golden Boy. Nicknamed for the golden aura that surrounds his body whenever he is using his powers. Tachyon theorized that it's some sort of biological force field.
* CompleteImmortality: He doesn't age and is very hard to kill by violent means.
* DidntThinkThisThrough: It happens when Golden Boy jumps in front of a escaping automobile and is knocked back a hundred feet. Turns out being invulnerable doesn't mean you're heavy enough to stop a charging vehicle.
* FaceHeelTurn: Sort of. He finally broke down and reported on his fellow Aces during the HUAC hearings.
* HauledBeforeASenateSubCommittee: A major event in Jack Braun's life, when he was forced to testify before HUAC.
* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Poor guy always seems to end up backing the wrong horse.
* TheImmune: Jack is immune to disease.
* JadeColoredGlasses: His long life and his own failures as a hero made him a very disillusioned individual.
* {{Jerkass}}: Taken to almost KickTheDog levels when he refuses Brain Trust the option of staying with him unless she sleeps with him. Has matured a lot ever since, though.
* LivingForeverIsNoBigDeal: In ''Sleeper Straddle'', Jack's reflections on his immortal life more or less averages as this trope. Immortality has some bittersweet aspects, like low-level cultural isolation and the avoidance of strong emotional attachments ("don't ever love anyone"), but Jack isn't really depressed and avoids WhoWantsToLiveForever. He travels, he bangs attractive women, and he has picked many skills, but this also lacks the exuberance of LivingForeverIsAwesome.
* MyGreatestFailure: His testimony before HUAC that doomed his friends.
* NighInvulnerability: One of the toughest aces around.
* NostalgicNarrator: In his origin story, "Witness".
* OnceDoneNeverForgotten: Golden Boy gets this. Since his betrayal of his friends became sort of a foundational legend of the first generation of aces, people still remember him as the Judas Ace 40 years later. It's also [[DiscussedTrope discussed]] in ''Aces Abroad'', where Xavier Desmond notes that the world is too eager to read cowardice, weakness, and betrayal in everything Jack Braun does and says. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that his testimony really had a disastrous effect in his friends' lives. However, his bad reputation seems to finally have faded in the later novels set in the 21st century.
* PopularityPolynomial: Golden Boy exemplifies this in-universe. He was a big hero in the 1940s, became a traitor in the 1950s, was mostly forgotten after the 1980s, and finally became cool again in the 21st century.
* PowerGlows: He glows gold whenever his power is active. The greater the exertion of strength or the more powerful the impact he suffers, the brighter the glow.
* ReallyGetsAround: One of Golden Boy's major character flaws is he's a shameless sex hound.
* RequiredSecondaryPowers: He's missing one that doesn't often get addressed with super-strong characters. When he throws a punch at Mackie Messer, Messer phases and the punch goes right through him. But the punch is so powerful that when it doesn't connect with anything it lifts Jack right off his feet and throws him out a window. He was too light for his own strength.
* OlderThanTheyLook: One of the earliest Aces, he appears the same age he was in the Fifties.
* SportsHeroBackstory: A football hero in high school.
* StevenUlyssesPerhero: His real name is Jack Braun and he got superstrength.
* UndeathAlwaysEnds: Jack isn't really undead per se, rather he is invulnerable and ageless, but he became somewhat paranoid that this trope would raise its head and kill him once and for all in Book 6, when he had run-ins with Demise and Mackie Messer, two extremely powerful killer aces.
* VitriolicBestBuds: Golden Boy and Tachyon, after their reconciliation in ''Aces Abroad''.
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: As mentioned above, he's afraid of heights, since that's one of the only things that can kill him.
* WorldsStrongestMan: Jack is possibly the strongest ace in Wild Cards, capable of lifting up to 40 tons (and that is a LOT in the low-powered Wild Cards universe).

!!Zoe Harris
Zoe is a businesswoman and scientist (more specifically, a chemist) with the power to animate objects by a kind of molecular manipulation. She is one of the protagonists in the Card Sharks trilogy.
* EmbarrassingNickname: Once or twice she is referred to by the ace name "Blowjob", because she can animate objects by blowing on them. Luckily for her, people almost always call her by her real name.
* TheEveryman: Zoe certainly qualifies, despite being an unusual example. She has powerful ace abilities, her parents are jokers, and she was raised in Jokertown. Yet, her personality is still very much an ordinary woman's and she is very, very unsuited to superheroics. She ends up being a [[DeconstructedTrope deconstruction]] of the concept of the Everyman, as instead of thriving or emerging as the voice of sanity, all the strangeness of her ace life really takes a toll on her sanity.
* LoveImbuesLife: The superpowerful version of this. Only her power isn't activated by love, but by fear or excitement. She learns to control it in her first story.
* MeaningfulName: Zoe means 'life'.
* RagtagBunchofMisfits: Zoe's Escorts, a gang of five joker street kids that become intensely loyal to her.
* RedOniBlueOni: She is very much the Blue Oni to Croyd Crenson's Red Oni in their interactions.
* RequiredSecondaryPowers: Zoe has a kind of extrasensory awareness of physical objects's molecular structures.
* SelfMadeWoman: A successful entrepreneur, despite her humble beginnings. However, she is screwed over by her nat partner.
* TeamMom: Pretty much assumes this role for a gang of joker children, her Escorts.
* TraumaCongaLine: Like many Wild Cards heroes, she suffers this. Particularly as she lives through a time of intense anti-wild card sentiment.

!!The Hero Twins
A pair of modern day Mayans living in Guatemala that become re-incarnations of the ancient legendary brothers, Hunapu and Xbalanque. They lead a resistance movement to recreate a Mayan regime.
* AllMythsAreTrue: Not really, but the [[DoingInTheWizard Wild Card virus can make it so]].
* TheBigGuy: Xbalanque.
* BloodKnight: Hunapu.
* LaResistance: Eventually they become the figureheads of the fight for Native American rights in Guatemala.
* NighInvulnerable: Xbalanque, along with the obrigatory SuperStrength.
* NoNameGiven: We never get to learn their modern-day names.
* ProudWarriorRaceGuy: Both of them, but specially Hunapu.
* TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized: Their fight against the oppressive Ladino government is very bloody.
* TeleportersAndTransporters: Hunapu can pop in and out fairly quickly, unleashing mayhem in combat.

!!Jonathan Hive

Real name is Jonathan Tipton-Clarke. A blogger and journalist active in the later novels set in the 21st-century. He has the power to [[OneToMillionToOne transform into a swarm of glowing, green wasps]]. Hive is very much a smart-ass, [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold but his heart is generally in the right place]]. He is a founding member of the Committee, an UN-sponsored superhero team. He's often called by his nickname, "Bugsy", much to his annoyance.

* AnimalEyeSpy: Hive is an extraordinary spy and scout, since he can see through any of his wasps. it also comes in handy in his day-job as a reporter.
* BadPowersGoodPeople: His power is very creepy, but he is pretty much a good guy.
* BeeBeeGun: The Type 3 version. He can use his wasps to painfully sting enemies. He is also not above using a few well-placed wasps to [[{{Slapstick}} humorously target jerkasses or anyone who annoys him]].
* BrokenAce: In ''Full House'', it's revealed that having to leave a friend behind to die while working for the Committee has basically broken him, and he is now overwhelmed by guilt, self-loathing and depression at all the things he cannot fix.
* DeadpanSnarker: The resident snarker of the Committee.
* HiddenDepths: Hive is often capable of deeper soul-searching than his smart-ass façade would imply.
* IntrepidReporter: More or less a 21st-century version of this. Also a deconstruction, as Hive ends up doing paparazzi work.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Pretty much. His cynicism goes hand-in-hand with a fair amount of idealism.
* NighInvulnerability: As a side effect of his powers, Bugsy is very hard to hurt. He just decomposes into a swarm as a response to physical attacks. He even has his hands cut off in one occasion, [[PullingThemselvesTogether and they just turn into wasps and later rejoin his body]]. Having a large portion of his [[LogicalWeakness wasps destroyed by fire]] or other such attacks targetting a large area is among the few things that can harm him.
* OldMoney: Hive comes from a rich Massachusetts family, but he averts most of the tropes usually associated with wealthy types. His particular brand of cynicism and jerkass-ery is more of a general young wiseguy variety, rather than the spoiled rich kid variety. He is a self-professed Liberal, and so comes closest to BourgeoisBohemian.
* OneToMillionToOne: Jonathan's superpower is the ability to transform into a swarm of wasps. He is also able to partially transform, converting only some pieces of his body into wasps.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Almost everyone calls him "Bugsy". His official ace name of "Jonathan Hive" is almost never used.
* OnlySaneMan: He is more or less this in the Committee novels, in addition to being the plucky comic relief.
* StraightManAndWiseGuy: Lohengrin and Jonathan Hive have this dynamic going on.
* SynchronizedSwarming: He is capable of this, since all his wasps are basically like a single organism commanded by his intelligence.

!!Jumpin' Jack Flash

[[quoteright:114:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jjflash.jpg]]

One of Captain Trips's alter-egos, probably the most well-known of them in the original novels. He is a ladies' man and a showoff. Flash has fire powers and a personality to match.
* TheCasanova: A shameless skirt chaser. His way of "marking" the women he already slept with is by telling them to call him "J.J."
* CatchPhrase: "It's a gas-gas-gas!"
* FakeMemories: "Remembers" being a lawyer in a parallel universe full of superheroes, but not how he somehow became trapped inside Mark's head. He's resentful of his present situation and would like to get back to his awesome life, please.
* FieryRedhead: Both literally and figuratively.
* {{Flight}}: Can fly at about 100 mph.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Flash has a very abrasive manner, but he hates bullies and cruelty. Notably, he likes to set things on fire, but dislikes using his powers to directly harm human beings.
* KillItWithWater: His obvious [[WeaksauceWeakness weakness]].
* PersonalityPowers: Like all of Captain Trips's alter egos.
* PlayingWithFire: He is capable of generating, controlling, and absorbing fire in a variety of useful ways.
* SexierAlterEgo: He is mostly this for Mark Meadows.
* ShoutOut: To Music/{{The Rolling Stones|Band}}.
* StevenUlyssesPerhero: John Jacob Flash. Possibly justified, in that he is most probably a fragment of Mark Meadows's personality, and so in essence an "artificial" person.
* SuperheroesWearTights: Not many Wild Cards characters wear superhero costumes, but most of Mark Meadows's alter egos do. Justified, in that they're most likely a fragment of Mark Meadows's personality, and so "larger than life."
* SuperToughness: Resistant to small-caliber firearms.
* WeaksauceWeakness: Water. Even a light rainfall inflames and blisters his skin.

!!Mackie Messer, aka Mack the Knife

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mackie_messer.jpg]]

A young, mentally disturbed German hunchback with the power to vibrate his own body out of phase with the physical universe. In doing so, he can walk through walls and use his hands as buzzsaw weapons.
* AbusiveParents: His mother abused Mackie both physically and emotionally.
* AxCrazy: Unhinged homicidal maniac that loves to carve people up with his own hands.
* BerserkButton: Far too many, as expected of a dangerously unstable psycho killer. Particularly, he hates it when people mistake him for a joker, due to his hunchback.
* DirtyCommunist: Played with. Mackie used to be the pet ace of a 1980s revival of the [[WesternTerrorists Red Army Fraction]] in Germany. And he considers himself a Marxist. However, Mackie isn't nearly intelligent enough to understand what Marxism actually is.
* TheDragon: He becomes this for Senator Hartmann after ''Aces Abroad''.
* EvilVersusEvil: His climatic and gory fight with Demise in ''Ace in the Hole''.
* FreudianExcuse: An absent father, an abusive mother who was also a hooker, and a life spent in public institutions for troubled youths give plenty of reasons for Mackie to be so twisted, but these background elements are never quite used as an excuse, since Mackie's madness and cruelty have an innate vibe to them.
* IntangibleMan: Able to phase through physical objects. It makes him a scary and almost unstoppable killer.
* ThePigPen: Not particularly careful about personal hygiene, it's sometimes remarked that he smells of week-long sweat.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Despite considering himself a Marxist, he is actually this up to eleven. He hates jews, blacks, jokers, gays, the homeless, and women. And anyone who is [[GreenEyedMonster better off than he is]].
* PsychopathicManchild: A psychopathic killer that is prone to hyper-emotional childish tantrums and is always looking for father figures.
* ShoutOut: His ace name is a reference to the Theatre/TheThreepennyOpera.
* SonOfAWhore: His mother was a German prostitute.
* TextualCelebrityResemblance: Mackie is an uglier, hunchbacked version of James Dean.
* VibrationManipulation: Mackie can vibrate his hands, [[{{Vibroweapon}} making them sharp as knives]].
* YouAreWhatYouHate: Mackie is a raging homophobe and has homosexual tendencies himself.

!!The Mechanic

J. Robert Belew was a lifelong government operative who was set up by the Card Sharks organization to be killed alongside several other aces in a botched attempt to rescue the Iranian hostages. After leaving government service, he made an unlikely friend in Mark Meadows.

* ArchEnemy: O.K. Casaday, the Card Shark agent who ensured the failure of the 1980 mission.
* BadassNormal: After a fashion. He is an ace with technopathy and a healing factor, but his multiple skills as a secret agent are not dependant on his powers. Mark notes that no one outside of the movies is as competent as Belew.
* BigDamnHeroes: Escaped from prison in time to save Sprout from getting molested by Ganesha, who had kidnapped her.
* ChivalrousPervert: He is both very active sexually and very considerate of his partners. Lady Black is impressed by how he is the only male ace in the Iran mission that doesn't act like a sexist douche. He then reminds her in a sardonic way that he *is* a card-carrying male chauvinist, just not when he is on a mission.
* CoolOldGuy: Pretty much, particularly in his introduction in ''Turn of the Cards'' when he is contrasted with younger characters like Mistral and a couple of CowboyCop DEA agents. Belew is the oldest but also the coolest of the bunch.
* CulturalRebel: He surprises Mark Meadows by being well-read in UndergroundComics, despite being a Cold War conservative. He notes that he is pretty ecletic in his tastes.
* CulturedWarrior: He is a military man that is fond of quoting classical works, though he also is a PopCulturedBadass, noting that he is fond of both Music/GiuseppeVerdi and Music/VanHalen.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: He was leader of the ace mission to rescue the Iranian hostages in 1980--secretly a set-up by the Card Sharks to kill off several aces and give President Carter and the Wild Cards a bad image. He and Popinjay smelled a rat too late to save most of the other aces.
* DyingMomentOfAwesome: [[spoiler:Not only does he pull a HeroicSacrifice, he also uses his rotors to decapitate O.K. Casaday.]].
* TheExile: Even though he hadn't harmed Sprout, Mark's cynicism had developed to the point that he was still suspicious of Belew's intentions with her. Belew was thus exiled from Free Vietnam. His counsel would probably have been very useful in the coming days.
* HealingFactor: When not controlling a machine, his body parts regenerate, with a severed hand taking several weeks to return to full functionality. Also he has a generalized one which has kept him young in body in spite of his advanced chronological age.
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:With his body fatally wounded, Belew sacrifices the helicopter he's possessing to stop the Card Sharks from releasing the Black Trump virus over Hong Kong]].
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He's not shy about showing people how much smarter he is than them, and he's secretive and manipulative. Everything he does is for his friend and his fellow Wild Cards, however.
* MayDecemberRomance: Hooks up with Mistral as she's searching for Mark Meadows in order to capture him. He also covertly keeps her from finding him.
* MistakenForPedophile: Happens in ''Marked Cards'', and tragically ends his friendship with Mark Meadows.
* NotWhatItLooksLike: Mark saw Sprout get into Belew's lap and kiss him, and thanks to Ganesha's manipulation thought that he'd been molesting her, throwing his friend into prison.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Has the body and appearance of a middle-aged man in spite of being in his sixties or so, due to his healing factor. Since his healing factor replaces cartilage and other things which should have worn away with time, he's even healthier and more spry than he looks.
* {{Technopath}}: By cutting a piece of himself (like a fingertip) off and sticking the stump to a machine, he can place his consciousness inside it in order to control it.
* VitriolicBestBuds: He and Mark come from opposing viewpoints and life experiences, so this is natural. He also has a similar dynamic with Jay Ackroyd, even though they're not as close.


!!Mister Nobody

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jerry_strauss&radha.jpg]]

Jerry Strauss, a man capable of changing his appearance at will. He's a big movie fan, and specializes in transforming into famous actors and actresses. Later becomes the junior partner in Jay Ackroyd's detective agency.
* ArchEnemy: The Jumper gang as a whole. Interestingly, Jerry was a bit of a UnknownRival to them, since his powers allowed him to have a different appearance every time he met one of them.
* AscendedExtra: Spent the first several books as "The Great Ape," a Film/KingKong {{expy}} whose occasional zoo escapes were often used as a FunnyBackgroundEvent / NoodleIncident throughout the timeline, to the point of being used as a popular Ace pickup line: "Didn't I see you at the last Ape Escape?"
* AscendedFanboy: A fan of classic Hollywood cinema that gets the power of transforming into any iconic movie character.
* BadBadActing: His cover has been blown a couple times because of this. He literally can't fake any accent to save his life (though he can definitely get deep into character- see below).
* DoggedNiceGuy: He was this to Veronica in ''One-Eyed Jacks''. A particularly hopeless case, as Veronica soon came out of the closet as a lesbian.
* FishOutOfTemporalWater: Becomes this when he finally manages to turn back into a human after years and years trapped as the Great Ape.
* HeroicSelfDeprecation: Jerry has very low self-esteem, something hinted at by his chosen ace name.
* {{Humanshifting}}: His main superpower is the ability to look like anyone he chooses.
* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: All of his stories and the individual chapters in his intersticial in ''One-Eyed Jacks'' have the word ''Nobody'' somewhere in the title.
* TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody: Happens whenever he transforms into a non-human movie character, like Film/KingKong, a [[Film/TheHowling werewolf]], or the [[Film/CreatureFromTheBlackLagoon Gill Man]].
* NiceGuy: Jerry is an all-around good guy. Notably, he was unable to enter into Jokers Wild, a [[EldritchLocation dark cabaret/alternate dimension]] that you can't enter if you're pure of heart.
* RequiredSecondaryPowers: Jerry usually can't change his mass. But he can absorb energy and convert it into additional mass to change into someone bigger. In a later book, he makes explicit use of his energy absorption power to redirect electricity.
** This leads to one or two other problems- first off, he gets [[SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale way too much mass for not enough energy]] and then there's the SquareCubeLaw. However, it has been speculated way back in Book 1 that some aces and jokers' ignoring the SquareCubeLaw could be explained by means of unconscious telekinesis.
* RichInDollarsPoorInSense: Before he gets CharacterDevelopment.
* ShapeshifterLongevity: In the latest novels, he's revealed to have this. This is an almost unique example of a fictional universe avoiding ComicBookTime and having a character introduced decades ago discovering in real time (alongside the readers) that he doesn't age.
* ShapeshifterModeLock: Spends more than a decade trapped as a giant ape.
* SuperLoser: When he first gained his shapeshifting powers, he wasn't able to use them effectively, because he was an horrible actor with no stage presence. He got better in his later career, as a junior partner in Jay Ackroyd's detective agency.
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: After decades trapped in the form of a giant ape, he develops paranoia about shifting into non-human shapes.

!!Modular Man

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/modular_man_wild_cards_novels_a.jpg]]

A super-sophisticated android created by MadScientist Maxim Travnicek. Mod Man is mostly a nice guy, but forced to follow the orders of his sociopathic creator. He fights crime as a superhero as a ploy from Travnicek to gain publicity and wealth.
* TheCasanova: A love machine, literally.
* CoolVersusAwesome: His debut story in ''Aces High'' pits the superpowered android against a giant ape. And later against an alien invasion.
* CreativeSterility: Modular Man is amazingly human in many ways, even being capable of feeling emotion and having relationships. His one blind spot is that he isn't very creative.
* DeflectorShields: One of the powers granted to him by his flux generator. Once the generator went kaput though, so did they.
* EthicalSlut: Modular Man is eager to experience all of the pleasures of human life, including food, drink, and sex. He is also pretty much a benevolent character.
* FantasticRacism: Mostly he suffers this from his own {{jerkass}} creator. The term "toaster" to refer to an android may have originated in Wild Cards.
* FlyingBrick: Mod Man can fly, is incredibly strong, durable, has an array of sensors, and a veritable arsenal of ranged attacks. Wild Cards does not have many Superman-like characters, since aces are too focused to have this wide array of powers. Modular Man is one of the few exceptions, since he was built this way.
* HeroicBSOD: He gets one in ''Down and Dirty'', after he discovers that his creator has become unable to repair or replicate him. Basically, he has to come to grips with his own mortality for the first time.
* {{Intangibility}}: This ''was'' one of his myriad powers--until his flux generator got damaged and Travnicek was no longer able to fix it. Since MM is learning how to fix himself, however, who knows?
* LighterAndSofter: Modular Man's first story in ''Aces High'' is basically a light-hearted superhero romp with little of the grittiness of Wild Cards. His second story in the same book is considerably darker, though. And his stories in later volumes get progressively darker.
* AMindIsATerribleThingToRead: A telepathic/mind controlling ace tried to work his mojo on Modular Man and came away with his mind destroyed, endlessly babbling in binary.
* OnlySaneMan: Particularly in ''Dealer's Choice'', but he always comes across as this when he interacts with Maxim Travnicek, his deranged creator.
* PersonalityChip: An in-built version, Modular Man is designed to replicate human emotions and psychology.
* ReedRichardsIsUseless: As has been noted, he could revolutionize warfare. But his creator can apparently only create one of him at a time, and is a selfish bastard beside that.
* RidiculouslyHumanRobots: Modular Man looks completely human, and he is even fully functional sexually. He can also [[EatingMachine eat]] and drink.
* ShoutOut: His first story makes direct reference to Frankenstein.
* SingleSpecimenSpecies: Travnicek's power apparently only let him create/maintain one Modular Man at a time.
* SlidingScaleOfRobotIntelligence: Roughly a number 3 - Average Joe Android. Modular Man is like a smart human being, but with perfect memory and capable of doing math really fast.
* SuperheroPackingHeat: Shoulder-mounted machine guns and grenade-launchers.
* SuperStrength: He can lift about six tons, according to the ''[[AllThereInTheManual M&M]]'' [[AllThereInTheManual supplement]].
* SuperToughness: Fortunately for him, even after losing his force field and intangibility, he's still very tough.
* ThreeLawsCompliant: Averted. Travnicek has hardwired imperatives into Modular Man that compel him to obey his creator, but he can fully hurt other people.
* TurnedAgainstTheirMasters: Travnicek programmed him to be incapable of this. [[spoiler: Mod Man manages to work his way around it and arranges for Travnicek to be killed anyway. But considering that Travnicek is a sociopath that treats Mod Man like a slave, it's a happy ending.]]
* UncannyValley: Modular Man largely avoids this by looking almost 100% human.

!!Moonchild

[[quoteright:227:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/capntripsalteregos_11.jpg]]

One of Captain Trips's alter-egos. She is a beautiful Korean woman with superhuman martial arts prowess.
* AttractiveBentGender: Tachyon knows she is really Mark Meadows (or a part of Mark). He still wants to tap that.
* DefeatMeansFriendship: Her defeat of Durg at’ Morakh in combat led to him becoming her (and by extension Mark's) servant.
* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Essentially. After she accidentally kills Ganesha, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone her horror]] at what she'd done caused her to subsume herself so deeply into Mark's mind that a subsequent attempt to summon her resulted in him going into convulsions and an hour-long coma. The Radical is/was later able to use her powers, however]].
* FakeMemories: She has memories of a life prior to becoming "trapped" in Mark Meadows's psyche, and upset to learn they're false.
* HealingFactor: She can heal very fast, but only when exposed to moonlight.
* HeroicBSOD:
** She goes into one if she believes she's seriously harmed a sapient being.
** She almost goes into one when she realizes she doesn't know Korean. Belew manages to pull her out of it by telling her essentially that she and the other personas are still ''people'', even if they don't always have a physical form.
* IJustWantToBeFree: She wishes that she and the other people trapped within Mark Meadows could be freed to live out their own individual lives. Then it turned out that they weren't and had never been individual people.
* {{Invisibility}}: Only in areas of shadow.
* MartialPacifist: A supremely skilled martial artist that is highly respectful of all sentient life.
* MsFanservice: An Asian hottie in a skintight costume that can kick any man's ass.
* StealthExpert: Not as much as Cosmic Traveler, but a close second among Captain Trips's alter-egos, since she can become invisible in shadows.
* StevenUlyssesPerhero: Isis Moon. Possibly justified, in that she is most probably a fragment of Mark Meadows's personality, and so in essence an "artificial" person.
* SuperheroesWearTights: Not many Wild Cards characters wear superhero costumes, but most of Mark Meadows's alter egos do. Justified, in that they're most likely a fragment of Mark Meadows's personality, and so "larger than life."
* SupernaturalMartialArts: Moonchild is stronger, faster, and more durable than the human norm.
* SuperSenses: Thanks to her mental discipline all of her senses are peak human, and she [[InnateNightVision can see better than a cat]] in the dark.
* SuperToughness: Moderately resistant to kinetic damage.
* ThouShaltNotKill: Her code is even more strict, as she is unable even to cause permanent harm.
* TokenGoodTeammate: The most virtuous and kind among Mark Meadows' alter-egos. She was also TokenWholesome, particularly when compared to J. J. Flash and Cosmic Traveler, the other two most commonly manifested alter-egos.
* TomatoInTheMirror: A very interesting variation in ''Turn of the Cards'', when Moonchild discovers she can't really understand Korean, leading to the realization that she has always been Mark Meadows, and not a "real" human being somehow trapped inside his psyche.
* WeaksauceWeakness: Although moonlight heals her, she's extremely vulnerable to UV rays and sunlight.
* WomenAreWiser: She is the most compassionate and humane of Mark's alter-egos. Possibly [[JustifiedTrope justified]], since it may reflect hippie Mark's view of women.

!!Polyakov
Russian ace with the power of pyrokinesis. Used to be a bigwig in the Soviet secret service.
* BeenThereShapedHistory: Perhaps his greatest secret is that Polyakov actually [[RealEventFictionalCause killed Josef Stalin in 1953]] when he learned that the dictator was about to purge all Wild Cards in the Soviet Union.
* CaptainPatriotic: A very unusual example, but Polyakov really is a believer and supporter of Soviet ideals, even though he is [[KnightInSourArmor fully aware of all the shortcomings of Soviet reality]].
* CoolOldGuy: Notably, he is one of the few people [[EnfantTerrible Blaise]] loved and respected.
* InterserviceRivalry: Polyakov cynically notes that the KGB spends most of their time fighting other Soviet agencies. Polyakov himself is above this.
* PlayingWithFire: With a touch, he can cause any animal (including humans) to burst into flames.
* RogueAgent: Of the heroic variety.

!!Popinjay

[[quoteright:283:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/popinjay.jpg]]

Jay Ackroyd, a private detective with the power of teleporting any object he can point his finger at to any place he has ever been. Also known for his sense of humour. Hates firearms.
* CasanovaWannabe: Before he was married, he was an incurable flirt.
* CatchPhrase: "Might as well, can't dance."
* DarkAndTroubledPast: He was one of the aces sent to resolve the Iranian Hostage Crisis. Oh, sorry, he was one of the aces ''set up to be'' '''slaughtered''' during the Iranian Hostage Crisis. He and J. Robert Belew only barely managed to get out and save Carnifex.
* DeadpanSnarker: The main example in Wild Cards, to the [[ToughRoom annoyance of his friends and allies]].
* DoesntLikeGuns: A defining trait of Jay's. The origins of his aversion to guns are explained in ''Card Sharks''.
* EmbarrassingNickname: Don't call him Popinjay, dammnit.
* TheFettered: Jay is one of the few Wild Cards heroes that is totally opposed to the use of deadly force. And despite being a bit of a smartass, Jay is that rare specimen among private detectives, in that he has ethics.
* GuileHero: Outsmarting bad guys is what Jay does best.
* LonersAreFreaks: Jay is a subversion. In ''Double Solitaire'' he notes that he has almost no friends. But he is still a pleasant, well-adjusted fellow, though a [[DeadpanSnarker bit of a smart-mouth]]. However, in the same novel he feels the weight of loneliness for the first time, since he is stuck in another planet. Ironically, by the end of the novel [[ThePowerOfLove he has met his wife-to-be]] and affirms his [[ThePowerOfFriendship friendship with Mark Meadows, Kelly Ann Jenkins, and Dr. Tachyon]].
* LoopholeAbuse: Jay can teleport a person to any place he's seen. [[spoiler: This includes a place he's only seen in ''dreams''.]]
* TheNondescript: A real plus in his line of work is that Jay is a brown-haired, brown-eyed man of moderate height and build.
* PrivateDetective: The go-to-guy for any character in the Wild Cards world looking for a good detective.
* PrivateEyeMonologue: [[ParodiedTrope Makes fun]] of this in ''Double Solitaire''.
* RecurringDreams: A particularly nasty dream inspired by H. P. Lovecraft. Turns out to be a very unusual instance of ChekhovsSkill when [[spoiler: he uses his teleportation powers to send Ti Malice inside his dream]].
* TechnicalPacifist: Won't use a gun, ever.
** ActualPacifist: He is actually more like this, since his power is completely non-violent.
* TeethClenchedTeamwork: He really does not approve of Yeoman's [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge use of deadly force]], but is forced to work with him in ''Dead Man's Hand''.
* TeleportersAndTransporters: He can teleport almost any object by pointing his finger. He has a few limitations, though. He can't telerport himself, he can only teleport objects and people to places he has been, and he has a mass limit (teleporting a large object like a truck is very taxing to him). However, he does not seem to have a range limitation. In later novels he teleports people to another planet!
* ThouShaltNotKill: Definitely a part of Jay's personal moral code. He also can be quite self-righteous about it.
* VitriolicBestBuds: With Captain Trips in ''Double Solitaire''. They're both pacifist aces on the side of the angels, but have wildly different personalities.
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes:
** Following an incident during the Iranian Hostage Crisis where he shot a child pointing a fake gun at himself and J. Robert Belew, he developed a phobia of using guns.
** He's also claustrophobic.

!!Puppetman

[[quoteright:223:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pupetman.jpg]]

Senator Gregg Hartmann, seemingly a liberal, idealistic politician that fights for the rights of Wild Carders. He's secretly Puppetman, a manipulative emotional vampire.
* AdaptationDyeJob: Hartmann has ash-blond hair in the novels, but in virtually all the comics and book covers he has brown or black hair.
* ArchEnemy: Gimli, the joker terrorist. Since Gimli is a [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized violent revolutionary]] that hates normal humans, this is a case of EvilVersusEvil, with Gimli being ALighterShadeOfBlack.
* AuraVision: His detection and manipulation of emotions is often described through color.
* BecomingTheMask: In the Card Sharks novels, an older, humbler Hartmann eventually begins to act more like the good man he formerly only pretended to be.
* BigBad: For the second trilogy of novels.
* BitchInSheepsClothing: Appears to be an idealistic politician that is interested in helping people. But it's all an act to get close to them and turn them into his puppets.
* DisproportionateRetribution: In his origin story, Gregg as a child causes a girl he had a crush on to be raped and killed because she made fun of him.
* EmotionControl: Hartmann cannot directly control minds, but he can pull "strings" inside of them which correspond to various emotions, allowing him to subtly twist people to do what he wants.
* EmotionEater: Gets a visceral thrill from the negative emotions of others, and often cultivates them for exactly this reason.
* TheEmpath: A very evil version.
* EnemyWithin: An interesting variation, in that Gregg and Puppetman are more like accomplices than a good side/bad side. The additional "Gimli" personality that appears in ''Ace in the Hole'' is a straighter example.
* EntitledToHaveYou: He feels like this with any woman that he becomes interested in.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: One curious thing about Hartmann is that he hates using his power directly on women he's interested in, as "forced love" feels hollow to him. However, he is not above manipulating his love interests in other ways.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Even though Hartmann is so adept at pretending to be good, he tends to have shades of this. For instance, he can't really accept that Doctor Tachyon is just a disinterested champion of the wild carders.
* EvilFeelsGood: He's addicted to infliciting pain and suffering. Often described in [[EvilTastesGood physical terms]].
* EvilIsPetty: Besides his more monstrous actions, Hartmann also likes to covertly needle and annoy people close to him, such as rubbing his affair with Sara Morgenstern on his wife's face.
* EvilVersusEvil: A constant with Hartmann. In ''Aces Abroad'' he is opposed by the [[MiddleEasternTerrorists Nur al-Allah]] and later kidnapped by the [[WesternTerrorists Red Army Fraction]]. That is not to mention his constant enemy, Gimli, a joker terrorist with a few sympathetic traits.
* FauxAffablyEvil: Appears to be a good guy full of boyish charm. But he is actually a coward, a bully, a petty tyrant, and a sadist (including sexually).
* FirstEpisodeTwist: Gregg Hartmann's story in Book 1 actually keeps his real nature as the evil Puppetman a secret until shortly before the climax of the story. This is spoiled to anyone who has ever read any of the other novels, comics, or roleplaying games in which the character appears.
* HumiliationConga: After his fall in ''Ace in the Hole''.
* {{Hypocrite}}: Gregg views his psychic powers as belonging to a separate entity inside his head; the Puppetman. So that he can still pretend that he's somehow pure as he commits atrocities. His difficulty in acknowledging that he is Puppetman sometimes verges on SelectiveObliviousness.
* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: All of his stories after Book 1 have the word "color" or some synonym like "tint" or "hue" in their title.
* TheLostLenore: Succubus is this for him, in a very dark variation of the trope, since their relationship was packed full of {{Squick}}.
* ManipulativeBastard: His powers make him an excellent example of this trope. Most notably in ''Aces Abroad'', where he is kidnapped by a disparate group of left-wing terrorists and has to use his power and wits to cause them to turn on each other.
* MindRape: His victims often have no idea it is even happening, his power is so subtle.
* MoralityChain: Hannah Davis is this for him in the Card Sharks novels.
* MoreThanMindControl: His emotional control has shades of this. Notably, he can't cause a person to feel completely alien emotions; he can only amplify or diminish what is already there. This makes him an exceptionally dangerous manipulator, since his victims always have plenty of reasons of their own for the violent actions they eventually perform. Hartmann's manipulation isn't often detected.
* NonActionBigBad: Like several Wild Cards villains. Physically, he is a middle-aged bureaucrat that lives a sedentary lifestyle.
* PoeticJustice: the great controller of minds is eventually brought low when someone else controls his mind.
* PresidentEvil: More like Senator Evil, but the Presidency is his final goal.
* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler: Sacrifices himself to save Jerusalem from atomic holocaust.]]
* StatusQuoIsGod: One of the most egregious examples in Wild Cards. Despite Gregg's presence, the political scene in America in the 1970s and 1980s is very similar to our world's. [[spoiler: And Gregg never gets to be President, instead it goes to Jimmy Carter, Reagan, Bush, etc.. This is subverted in the Card Sharks novels, when Reverend Leo Barnett manages to become President in place of Clinton.]]
* ThereAreNoTherapists: An interesting subversion. After ''Ace in the Hole'', Tachyon becomes his therapist, despite both of them being mortal enemies by this point. This treatment occurs off-screen though, since Hartmann is OutOfFocus during the Jumpers trilogy.
* TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse: One of the things that makes Hartmann so dangerous. Many people that are close to him find it almost impossible to suspect him, because he looks so ordinary.
* VillainousBSOD: Twice, once in the late Seventies when he gets caught in a riot and is overwhelmed by the strength and number of emotions in the vicinity; the second time actually faked by Dr Tachyon, who controls Gregg and makes him act like he's having a breakdown while live on TV and about to accept the nomination for President at the Democratic Convention.
* VillainProtagonist: Unusually for such a monstrous villain, he is often a POV character.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: The public is unaware that he is sadistic emotional vampire. The jokers, in particular, love him and consider him almost as a saint.

!!The Radical

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/radical_v_hardhat.jpg]]

The Radical was the first of Captain Trips's alter-egos. He is basically Mark Meadows's ideal self, the great Counterculture superhero Mark always wanted to be. There have been two versions of the Radical. The first one was a good guy and appeared a single time in 1970 in the climatic confrontation between students and National Guard in People's Park in San Francisco. The second one was far more long-lasting (and sinister) and assumed Mark's life after 1995.

* TheAce: The Radical is athletic, charismatic, handsome, and referred to as the "golden youth" in the text. In short, he is everything that [[{{Foil}} shy, clumsy Mark Meadows is not]].
* ActualPacifist: The first version of the Radical fought only defensively and only attacked Hardhat when he absolutely needed to in order to protect innocents. The second version had no such qualms, to [[BloodKnight say the least...]]
* AllYourPowersCombined: The second version of the Radical could use all the powers of all Mark's other identities. He is probably the most powerful ace ever to exist in the Wild Cards universe.
* BigBad: The second version of the Radical is the main antagonist in the Committee triad of novels.
* DragonInChief: In the Committee novels. He is really the main power behind the [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny People's Paradise of Africa,]] even though he technically serves under President-for-Life Nshombo.
* EnemyWithin: Inverted with the second version of the Radical. He is a bad guy that still has the heroic Mark Meadows personality trapped inside him.
* EvilVirtues: It has been noted that the second version of Radical really lives a very simple lifestyle befitting a man of the people, completely avoiding the hypocrisy of communist leaders that enjoy luxury.
* FaceHeelTurn: The first version of the Radical is the incarnation of youthful Mark Meadows's desires to be a hero and is a good-natured champion of peace and love. The second version is a [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized violent communist revolutionary that is willing to go to any lengths for the cause.]] This is probably due to Mark's growing bitterness and cynicism.
* GreyAndGrayMorality: His climatic fight with Hardhat in Book 1 is mostly portrayed in this way, with both sides being sympathetic.
* LightningBruiser: The first version of the Radical has superhuman agility, speed, strength, and durability.
* MeaningfulRename: The Radical adopts the civilian identity of "Tom Weathers", an homage to both Tom Marion Douglas, his rock and roll idol, and the Weathermen terrorist organization.
* MoralityChain: Even the evil version of the Radical is still very protective and loving towards Sprout Meadows, Mark's mentally disabled daughter.
* OneWingedAngel: He transforms into the gigantic [[UnstoppableRage Monster]], another of Mark Meadows's alter egos, in the climatic final battle in ''Suicide Kings''.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: The second version of the Radical. Like many 1960s revolutionaries, he is a male chauvinist.
* SexierAlterEgo: He is this for Mark Meadows in his origin story.
* SplitPersonalityTakeover: Mark's decades-long goal of returning to being the Radical is achieved in 1994... But the Radical has become unhinged and evil.
* SuperpowerLottery: Particularly the second version. His vast collection of powers includes superstrength, flight, fire generation, insubstantiality, and the ability to turn into a beam of light... and into a giant dolphin.
* SuperpoweredEvilSide: The second version of the Radical.
* VariableLengthChain: His peace medallion that works as an offensive and defensive weapon.

!!Roulette
A high-class prostitute that can kill men by [[OutWithABang having sex with them]]. She is an agent of the Astronomer.
* BrokenBird: See below, under Dark and Troubled Past.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: Her baby was born a monster, courtesy of the alien virus. Her husband blamed her and divorced.
* DefrostingIceQueen: The more time she spends with Tachyon in ''Jokers Wild'', the more she starts to feel human again.
* FemmeFatale: Literally.
* InLoveWithTheMark: [[spoiler: Subverted in that she actually tries to kill Dr. Tachyon, even as she is starting to fall for him.]]
* OutWithABang: She can secrete deadly nerve toxins... from her [[VaginaDentata vagina]].
* PoisonousPerson: Her superpower is to secrete a deadly nerve toxin during sex.
* {{Revenge}}: Her goal is to kill Tachyon for his role in helping to create the Wild Card virus that ruined her life.
* WeaksauceWeakness: Her dreaded superpower can be foiled by any man practicing safe sex by wearing a condom.

!!Sewer Jack

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jackrobicheau.jpg]]

Jack Robicheaux, a Cajun transit worker with the power to transform himself into a big alligator. He is basically a good guy, but tends to keep to himself. Jack is also gay, and since it's the 1980s and he is a blue-collar man who has had a small-town upbringing, only his closest friends are aware of his sexual orientation.
* {{Animorphism}}: Can turn into an alligator at will.
* BlessedWithSuck: He can change into a big, powerful alligator. But he is unable to control himself after he changes.
* BuryYourGays: [[spoiler: Ultimately averted. It seems like they're going to play this straight when Jack gets HIV in ''Down and Dirty'', but the disease causes him to lose control of his powers and he gets locked into alligator form. After months as a reptile, his body is rid of the virus when he finally becomes human again.]]
* DarkAndTroubledPast: And how. Jack is a survivor of sexual abuse by his own uncle. It's heavily implied that his wild card power is an expression of his rage.
* DeadpanSnarker: The main source of snarky comments in the Bagabond/Sewer Jack/Rosemary Muldoon corner of the Wild Cards universe. And since he is a manly sort of gay, the snark is devoid of the cattiness or flamboyance usually associated with gay snarkers.
* EmbarrassingNickname: Nicknamed "Sewer" Jack by his co-workers, since he spends most of his time underground. Unbeknowst to them, he even lives underground, in a surprisingly cozy hideout.
* {{Gayngst}}: Gay and somewhat conflicted.
* HulkingOut: Better not to get him angry, you may end up devoured.
* InvoluntaryShapeshifting: Changes into a big, hungry alligator whenever he loses control.
* TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody: Loses his human mind when he transforms.
* PlatonicLifePartners: With Bagabond.
* RapeAsBackstory: Abused by his uncle when he was a kid.
* RapeAsDrama: See above. His memories of the abuse are horrifically shown in ''Dealer's Choice''.
* StraightGay: Only his closest friends know he is gay, since he is otherwise a very manly blue-collar sort of guy.
* ValuesDissonance: To have one of the few gay male characters in your shared-world story dealing with HIV and RapeAsBackstory would likely be too controversial today. However, Jack is still depicted very [[FairForItsDay sympathetically, even heroically]].

!!The Sleeper

[[quoteright:211:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sleeper1.jpg]]

Croyd Crenson, a man that changes appearance and powers every time he falls asleep. Works as an ace for hire. He is been around since the 1940s, and he does not age. Due to the impredictability of his powers, Croyd developed a great fear of sleep. He uses amphetamines to postpone sleep for as long as possible.
* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Croyd is quite popular with the female aces, his list of past lovers or would-be lovers includes Veronica, Water Lily, Zoe Harris, and the Understudy.
* AlliterativeName: Croyd Crenson.
* BigEater: His metabolism is very accelerated, particularly after he awakes, so Croyd has an enormous appetite.
* BreakoutCharacter: Croyd has appeared in more Wild Cards novels than any other character. Every Wild Cards fan has their favorites and unfavorites, but pretty much everybody loves the Sleeper.
* ChivalrousPervert: The Sleeper has shades of this, since he sleeps around a lot but is somewhat protective of women. Specifically, he was a long-time costumer of Veronica, one of Fortunato's prostitutes, and the two also had a warm friendship. He also was always hitting on Water Lily, but seemed genuinely disappointed and concerned when he discovered she was seemingly hooked up on drugs (she was actually addicted to Ti Malice).
* DeadpanSnarker: He's created by Roger Zelazny, after all.
* EvilMentor: Bentley is a rather benevolent version of this for young Croyd in his origin story. He gets Croyd involved with crime, but he genuinely cares for him.
* FunctionalAddict: ''How'' functional depends on what part of the "wake-up/try-to-stay-up-without-drugs/do-drugs-to-stay-up/do-drugs-to-counter-the-side-effects/do-''more''-drugs-to-stay-up/drugs/drugs/'''drugs'''" cycle he's in. Eventually he has to isolate himself to keep from hurting people.
* InvoluntaryShapeshifting: He changes appearance and powers every time he sleeps. Sometimes he is a weak joker, sometimes he is a powerful ace, sometimes he is something between these two extremes. It's implied that his changes are affected by his subconscious desires at the time he goes to sleep. [[spoiler: This is pretty much confirmed in his story in the Card Sharks trilogy.]]
* TheLancer: Croyd is a bit of this for the Wild Cards universe as a whole, as writers love to have the Sleeper appear in their stories, and there is the in-universe justification of Croyd being an ace for hire and something of a drifter. One major example is Croyd's role as Captain Trips's buddy in the novel ''Turn of the Cards''. Another big example is his jaunts through time with John Nighthawk in ''Low Chicago''.
* LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn: Since the 50's, the one power he manifests with every change is the ability to make "As Time Goes By" play on ''anything'' by saying "[[Film/{{Casablanca}} Play it again, Sam.]]"
* LoveableRogue: He is a textbook example of this most of the time, but he is also a partial Subversion, in that Croyd can turn really nasty and paranoid, almost reaching AxCrazy levels, when he is on a bad drug trip.
* RiddleForTheAges: The Sleeper has two of them. From the first novel, whatever happened to the childhood friend that joined Croyd in his journey back home from school in the day the virus was first released in 1946. And in ''Down and Dirty'' we discover that Croyd has an immobile woman made of crystal locked away in one of his apartments, perhaps a case of TakenForGranite, that he sometimes talks to. Roger Zelazny had planned to tell these two stories, but he [[DiedDuringProduction sadly passed away before he could do it]].
* OlderThanTheyLook: Croyd regenerates every time he sleeps, so he never grows old. He's been active as an ace since the 1940s.
* OvernightAgeUp: When Croyd first becomes the Sleeper, he wakes up in an adult body, despite being 14-years old. Yes, the Wild Card virus destroyed his childhood, literally.
* {{Repower}}: Stays awake for about a week, sleeps for a month, wakes up with new powers - and a new appearance - every time. Since there's a very real chance of him waking up dead from this, it's also SuperpowerRussianRoulette.
* SeenItAll: He occasionally comes across like this, although given that he's been around since the 1940s, it's not unjustified.
* TreacherousAdvisor: Pan Rudo is this for Croyd in ''Card Sharks''. Croyd tried to avoid ThereAreNoTherapists and it didn't go well. Afterwards Croyd saw him as an ArchEnemy.
* TyphoidMary: In his "Typhoid Croyd" incarnation, he had the "power" to spread a variant of the wild card virus capable of re-infecting stable aces and jokers.
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: As mentioned, he's terrified of drawing the Black Queen (or entering a nonviable Joker form that amounts to a much slower death) each time he sleeps.

!!Starshine
The most overtly powerful of Captain Trips's alter-egos, Starshine has light and solar-based abilities, and is willing to lecture anyone about anything at length.

* BatmanCanBreatheInSpace: Like the Cosmic Traveler, he can survive in a vacuum.
* BoomerangBigot: One of his favorite lectures is on the evils of drugs--never mind that he can't exist without them.
* TheBore: More than willing to talk people's ears off with his unsolicited opinions.
* BrutalHonesty: Deeply critical of everyone around him, and perfectly willing to let them know it.
* CommonalityConnection: Aquarius is the only persona he gets along with, due to their similar environmental beliefs--and very likely a common disgust with humanity.
* CulturedWarrior: He makes his own poetry, and inflicts it on anyone unfortunate enough to be nearby.
* DeflectorShields: Can create powerful force fields around himself or others.
* {{Flight}}: Can hit about 1,000 mph in an atmosphere and turn into photons in order to move at light speed.
* DidntThinkThisThrough: Flew to Brazil to stop the destruction of the rainforest--but his time limit ran out leaving poor Mark stranded in Brazil, in the middle of a smoldering clearing, with the Brazilian Army closing in, and no resources (not even powders). Yeah, it was a while before he got summoned again.
* HandBlast: Shoots powerful beams of sunlight from his hands.
* {{Intangibility}}: As a beam of light he can pass through things that allow light through.
* JerkAss: He puts the "self-" in righteousness.
* JerkAssHasAPoint: A lot of his speechifying is about legitimate concerns, but who's going to listen to a pompous ass like this?
* KilledOffForReal: The first of Mark's personas to "die", his passing left Mark literally speechless for months. While he recovered his voice, Mark could no longer write or enjoy poetry.
** BackFromTheDead: On the other hand, Starshine and a number of other personas showed up to subdue The Monster, although he hasn't been seen since.
* LuddWasRight: Technology is one of his many, many pet peeves.
* TheNeedless: Doesn't need anything but solar energy to live.
* ThePowerOfTheSun: Absorbs solar energy.
* SoapboxSadie: He's the voice of Mark's righteous indignation, and boy does he have a lot to say. He'll even put off things that need to be done urgently in order to rant.
* SuperStrength: Can lift a bit over 16 tons.

!!Ti Malice

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/timalice&ezili.jpg]]

A hideously atrophied joker-ace with the power to possess people by attaching itself to their necks. Its victims (called "mounts") become completely addicted to Ti Malice's kiss.
* AboveGoodAndEvil: How Ti Malice sees itself. It also encourages its mounts to adopt this worldview.
* BetterThanSex: Its kiss feels like this. Even breathing under its influence feels like pure ecstasy. It's implied that [[spoiler: Quinn the Eskimo, drug dealer to the Shadow Fists, finds a way to turn it into a secret ingredient later on]].
* BigBad: It is the sole big bad of [[spoiler: ''Dead Man's Hand,'' as it is ultimately the one responsible for Chrysalis' death.]]
* BigBadEnsemble: Ti Malice shares the Big Bad role with Senator Hartmann in the second trilogy of books. Interestingly, they're both sadistic manipulators with mind control powers that operate from behind the scenes. They never become aware of each other, even though they have at least one victim in common, [[TheWoobie poor Hiram Worchester]].
* DenOfIniquity: Wherever Ti Malice is, becomes one of these.
* DepravedBisexual: Ti Malice itself has no sexual organs, but it enjoys sex vicariously through its mounts.
* TheDragon: Ezili, a beautiful Haitian woman, is this for Ti Malice. She is the premier among its mounts, and see herself more as a partner in Ti Malice's pleasures than as another slave. She also [[TheRenfield oversees the pratical aspects of Ti Malice's affairs in the human world]].
* AGodAmI: Ti Malice sees itself as a "loa", one of the voodoo gods of its native country, Haiti.
* TheHedonist: A very dark example. Ti Malice lives to vicariously experience its "mounts"'s sensations, controlling them into all sorts of amoral, depraved situations.
* ItIsDehumanizing: That's what he calls his mounts.
* KissOfTheVampire: Ti Malice feeds on the blood of its victims.
* MindControl: It's capable of controlling anyone it's attached to. Only very strong-willed persons are able to even begin to resist Ti Malice's control.
* PuppeteerParasite: A very horrific sort, since it inflicts a very strong addiction to its presence.
* TheSociopath: He will never take any action that isn't intended to benefit or amuse himself. All he cares about is the sensations his mounts can give him, and he'll submit them to anything that strikes his depraved fancy.
* TheUnfettered: Ti Malice is completely undeterred by human norms, since it does not consider itself human at all.
* WeakButSkilled: A villainous example. Ti Malice would be easy to overpower were it not for it's extremely dangerous powers.

!!The Great and Powerful Turtle

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tartaruga.jpg]]

Tom Tudbury, a nerd from New Jersey who also happens to be the world's most powerful telekinetic. His powers do not work when he is feeling threatened, so he fights crime from inside a metal shell that he keeps afloat with his powers.
----
* TenMinuteRetirement: The Turtle's storyline in ''Down and Dirty'' basically follows this trope, though it's [[{{Reconstruction}} more realistic and lasts a bit longer than the usual]].
* TheAdjectivalSuperhero: The Great and Powerful Turtle, a ShoutOut to the TheWizardOfOz.
* AlliterativeName: Tom Tudbury, the Turtle.
* AnimalThemedSuperbeing: Animal alias variety. His powers have nothing to do with turtles. However, his distinctive armored vehicle resembles a turtle's shell.
* AscendedFanboy: A fan of comic books and aces even before he became an ace himself. Particularly, he is a huge fan of Jetboy.
* AuthorAvatar: He's basically George R. R. Martin with superpowers.
* BecomingTheMask: As his career progresses, the Turtle finds it increasingly difficult to use his psychokinetic powers outside of his 'shell'.
* CanNotSpitItOut: He finds it very difficult to reveal his secret identity, even to the woman he loves. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that the Turtle is almost neurotic when it comes to the divide between harmless Tom Tudbury and the invincible Turtle.
* ClassicAntiHero: A typical nerd. And no, not the attractive kind of nerd either.
* ComesGreatResponsibility: The Turtle decides to use his powers for good after JFK's assassination, because he believes that society needs heroes.
* CoolShip: The Turtle's Shell. It's technically a CoolCar, since it's a modified Volkswagen Beetle covered in battleship armor that he keeps afloat with his TK. The Turtle can use his telekinesis on people and objects outside the shell by tracking them with an array of cameras. The ship also has a variety of sensors and other equipment.
* FlyingCar: The Turtle's Shell is actually this.
* GadgeteerGenius: A rather [[DownplayedTrope realistic example]]. Tom is pretty good with electronics and cameras, but unable to fix superpowered tech, even though he tries at some point to tinker with Modular Man's severed head.
* GeekPhysiques: A geek and a bit on the pudgy side.
* GiveGeeksAChance: Hooks up with Legion, a multi-bodied blonde hottie.
* HerosFirstRescue: The Turtle's debut is a textbook example, as he helps people trapped in a burning building.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: His best friend Joey Di Angelis, with whom he has a SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan dynamic, with the Turtle as the sensitive one.
* {{Joisey}}: Many of his stories take place in the urban devastation that is New Jersey.
** Improved significantly by the invasion of TheSwarm.
* KnightInSourArmor: Starts as a WideEyedIdealist, but gradually morphs into this.
* MindOverMatter: Even though most ace powers in Wild Cards are actually mind over matter, The Turtle is the most iconic and obvious example of telekinesis in Wild Cards.
* ObliviouslySuperpowered: Has been an immensely powerful telekinetic since childhood. However, as a kid, he didn't realize there was anything special about himself, believing that his pet turtles could just fly on their own. He only figured out that he was a superhuman after a school bully's dog killed one of his turtles; one of his classmates saw him telekinetically throwing the dead turtle's body at said bully, and asked him "How did you do that?"
* PerformanceAnxiety: Can't use his powers when he is feeling threatened.
* RecursiveFiction: There is a Turtle comic book published in the Wild Cards universe. It must be necessarily a heavily modified version of the Turtle's real adventures, since his identity is a secret, for one thing. The Turtle in the comic is implied to be much more glamourous than the real one, with a "Turtle Cave" complete with a loyal butler.
* SecretIdentity: One of the few Wild Card characters that does have it. He saw what happened when the Four Aces were hauled before the HUAC and decided he would never go through that.
* StereotypicalNerd: Fits all the stereotypes: clumsy with women, physical cowardice, pudgy, aptitude with tech, fan of superheroes and science fiction...
* ThouShaltNotKill: One of the main examples of this sort of heroic code in Wild Cards. [[spoiler: When he is finally forced to kill during the Rox War, it's enough to cause him to retire as an active ace.]]
* WildMassGuessing: The Turtle gets this in-universe. Since he always made his public appearances inside his metal shell, people have speculated for decades about who or what exactly the Turtle is. An ace? A joker? Or maybe something even stranger like an alien or a robot? [[spoiler: By the time of the Card Sharks novels he finally went public.]]
* YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame: In a fury, he made a tidal wave that destroyed the Rox, leading to the supposed deaths of Bloat and hundreds of other jokers (who actually teleported into the Dreamtime). That's [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone bad enough]], but people are ''congratulating'' him for it.

!!Veronica
A former prostitute of Fortunato's, Veronica has the power to make any man weak and helpless. Seriously. (She also disrupts electrical currents)
* ClosetKey: Hannah Jorde, Veronica's shrink.
* DeadLesbianSyndrome: [[spoiler:Hannah, Veronica's first real love.]]
* {{Jerkass}}: Like her mentor, Fortunato, she can be extremely sharp-tongued and confrontational.
* NeverMyFault: She actually became a streetwalker prostitute of her own accord as a teenager to make spending money. Her mother, one of Fortunato's "geishas", brought her in for training so that she could at least get an education and earn a decent living. But Veronica later acted as if her being a prostitute in the first place was Fortunato's fault. Likewise, her drug problem was entirely her own, since Fortunato actually prohibited his "geishas" from using drugs.
* NoNameGiven: First name only, like most of Fortunato's hos.
* WalkingTechbane: Her power disrupts electrical currents. Presumably that's how it affects the brain to cause nausea.
* WeaksauceWeakness: Due to her psychological issues (she wasn't consciously aware of her lesbianism and felt each sexual contact she ever had with men as an aggression against herself), her powers work exclusively against males. She discovers it in a [[CurbStompBattle painful encounter with a female bodybuilding villain.]]

!!Water Lily

[[quoteright:196:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lily_196x300.jpg]]

Jane Dow, a young woman with the power to control water. Born in a small town, she comes to New York City in 1986, and gets involved in the ace scene.
* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Water Lily is attracted to "bad boy" aces like Jumpin' Jack Flash and the Sleeper, and feels guilty about not being able to return the affections of "nice guy" Hiram Worchester.
* BreakTheCutie: So very, very much. Almost to CosmicPlaything levels.
* GirlNextDoor: The ultimate example in Wild Cards. Even her civilian name is a play on this.
* HeartIsAnAwesomePower: Who knew controlling water was such a kickass power?
* IncompatibleOrientation: With her childhood friend, Salvatore Carbonne
* IntimateHealing: [[spoiler: She later gains the additional power to heal jokers with sex.]]
* MakingASplash: Has the power to create, control, and destroy water. Including the water inside human beings. Really, she is one of the most powerful aces around, though she doesn't look like much.
* MeaningfulName: Her name is pronounced 'Jane Doe', it totally fits her everygirl persona.
* NaiveEverygirl: Partially a [[DeconstructedTrope deconstruction]], since she seems to exist to show how much it sucks to be one of these in a gritty superhero universe. Water Lily is also GenreSavvy enough to know it.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Much to her aggravation, Jane is in her early 20s but looks younger.
* PowerIncontinence: She drenches herself whenever she becomes too agitated.
* ShipTease: Water Lily has a major crush on Jumpin' Jack Flash. She even wears a J.J.Flash T-shirt in Book 3. This fangirlish crush never goes anywhere, though.
* TalkingToTheDead: Does this a lot with childhood friend Sal Carbonne.
* TraumaCongaLine: Getting unwittingly involved with [[DiabolicalMastermind The Astronomer]], [[TheHedonist Ti Malice]], [[TheMafia the Mafia]], and Croyd Crenson when he was in his [[TyphoidMary Typhoid Croyd phase]]. And Water Lily is [[GenreSavvy fully aware]] of how cosmically unlucky she is. [[spoiler: Ironically, she is also the only Wild Card character lucky enough to draw the ace twice, since she was infected by a mutated variant of the virus due to her contact with Croyd.]]
* WaterIsWomanly: The only ace with water powers and an everyday girl whose innocence gets broken throughout the course of the story.

!!Hiram Worchester

[[quoteright:259:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fatman.jpg]]

Hiram is the owner of the Aces High restaurant, the most glamourous meeting place for aces in the 1970s and 1980s. He is a powerful ace himself, with mastery over gravity. He had a short superhero career as Fatman.
* AccidentalMurder: [[spoiler:Lost control while interrogating Chrysalis about an assassin, then covered it up by making it look like Yeoman had done it]].
* {{Acrofatic}}: Not quite, but he is susprisingly light on his feet, since he constantly uses his power to decrease his own weight.
* AddledAddict: After [[spoiler:Ti Malice's kiss]], his behavior becomes progressively becomes more erratic and distracted.
* BigFun: In a sophisticated, high culture way. Hiram is a very large man that loves good food, good drink, and good sex, and is eager to spread the happiness among his friends.
* BreakTheCutie: Poor Hiram. His life takes a nosedive when [[spoiler: he becomes a slave to the monstrous Ti Malice.]]
* CampStraight: Not as much as Tachyon, but Hiram is quite flamboyant.
* CastFromCalories: Using his powers leaves him famished.
* DoggedNiceGuy: Has a few aspects of this. Tends to have unrequited crushes on women.
* EmbarrassingNickname: He hates it when they call him Fatman.
* FrameUp: Leaves an ace of spades on [[spoiler:Chrysalis's body]].
* GravityMaster: Hiram can make any object heavier or lighter, including himself.
* HeroWorshipper: Like many aces and jokers, he had high hopes for Senator Greg Hartmann. [[spoiler:He's tricked into accidentally killing Chrysalis after being told that she'd hired an assassin to take the senator out, and is later crushed to learn his true nature]].
* ImNotAHeroIm: Hiram realizes that he is much better as a restaurant owner and chef than as a crimefighter. See SuperLoser below.
* KarmaHoudini: Played with, considering he suffers a slap on the wrist for [[spoiler: the murder of Chrysalis]] but his life is already destroyed by [[spoiler: Ti Malice]].
* MoreThanMindControl: Hartmann/Puppetman has his hooks in him, but Hiram didn't need encouragement to be a big fan. [[spoiler:And then there's Ti Malice...]]
* NobleBigot: Hiram is personally disgusted by jokers (to the point that he does not like jokers in his restaurant), but is also behind a lot of charities in Jokertown and is a defender of joker rights and liberal causes generally.
* NotQuiteFlight: He can cause himself or others to float, by manipulating gravity.
* OldShame: In-universe. Hiram had a brief career as Fatman, a crimefighter in the 1960s, complete with a superhero costume and mask. Since Hiram has a very distinctive physique, his secret identity was quickly deduced by a newspaper columnist.
* OutOfFocus: All but disappears after Book 8, ''One-Eyed Jacks''. This corresponds with his restaurant's decadence.
* SlobsVersusSnobs: His friendship with Popinjay has Hiram as the snob, and Jay Ackroyd as the slob.
* SuperLoser: Downplayed. Hiram is not totally useless, but he is hesitant and naive, and very unsuited to the superhero life, despite his very potent ace ability.
* TextualCelebrityResemblance: Hiram is said to vaguely resemble Orson Welles.

!!Wraith

[[quoteright:265:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/9780765365095_1_265x400.jpg]]

Jennifer Maloy, meek librarian by day, daring jewel thief by night. She can become insubstantial at will. Becomes involved with Yeoman.
* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: She is attracted to the aura of danger Yeoman has.
* BettyAndVeronica: She is Betty, Chrysalis is Veronica, Yeoman is Archie.
* {{Fanservice}}: The amount of mass she can carry when phased is limited. For that reason she runs around in a string bikini when acting as Wraith.
* HappilyMarried: [[spoiler: With Yeoman.]]
* HotLibrarian: Actually works at New York City Public Library.
* [[IntangibleMan Intangible Woman]]: She has the power to become intangible at will. Can also make other objects and people insubstantial by touching them.
* JustLikeRobinHood: Steals from the rich, gives it to charity.
* MoralityChain: She's a bit of this to Yeoman.
* NiceGirl: Jennifer is an all-around nice person and very well-adjusted, particularly by Wild Cards standards. Despite being a thief.
* NotQuiteFlight: Just like the X-Men's Kitty Pryde, she can walk on air while insubstantial.
* OriginsEpisode: She gets one story focusing on her first adventure, decades after her canonical debut in ''Jokers Wild''. It was published as a new story in a re-issue of the first novel.
* SecretIdentity: One of the few aces to have it, due to her double life.
* ThrillSeeker: One of the reasons for her criminal career.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Nats]]
!!Reverend Leo Barnett
A Fundamentalist Christian preacher that gains fame by taking a anti-Wild Cards stance. Later he goes into politics.
* AffablyEvil: And even the "evil" bit is pushing things a bit. Barnett genuinely believes the Wild Card is a tool of Satan, but he harbors no ill will against individual wild carders, and he is personable and charismatic to a fault.
* AntiVillain: Seen as a monster by wild card victims and at first glance looks like your typical evil preacher, but he is not that much of a bad guy, particularly as contrasted to his political opponent Gregg Hartmann.
* BitchInSheepsClothing: Particularly in later books. In ''Death Draws Five'', his manipulative nature is more apparent. He even has something of a VillainousBSOD by the end of the novel.
* BunnyEarsLawyer: Barnett can come across as this to people who don't share his religious beliefs. He is intelligent, competent, charismatic, personable, and also utterly genuine in his belief in his particular brand of Christianity, including end-times and millenarian elements.
* TheDreaded: He is first mentioned in ''Aces Abroad'', and all through the book he is seen as the personification of the prejudice and hatred fueling the anti-Wild Card hysteria that is beginning to grip the US in late-1986. When we finally meet Barnett in ''Down and Dirty'', he is [[AntiVillain surprisingly sympathetic]].
* TheFundamentalist: A partial subversion, in that Barnett is somewhat more reasonable than people would expect.
* {{Hypocrite}}: Has affairs with lots of women and secretly enjoys literature by liberal writers.
* TheLoinsSleepTonight: His story in ''Down and Dirty'' involves a bout of this. Mostly PlayedForLaughs as Barnett contemplates the damage to his political aspirations this could cause if it became known.
* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: He's charismatic and sometimes ridiculously lucky. People have suspected him of being a secret Ace.
* PresidentEvil: [[spoiler: Barnett becomes President in the Card Sharks books. Many Wild Carders would consider him this. In truth, he's not that different from any other politician. The Card Sharks - conspirators against the wild cards - consider him a wimp.]]
* SexyPriest: Barnett is handsome and charismatic. Even the very heterosexual Jack Braun describes Barnett as oozing sexual charisma.


!!George Gordon Battle
A deranged man involved in many shady organizations, Card Sharks included.
* {{Determinator}}: Casually burns himself with a cigar just to prove how tough he is.
* FantasticRacism: Towards anyone infected with the Xenovirus Takis-A. However, [[PragmaticVillainy he will cooperate with aces if needed]].
* HistoricalDomainCharacter: He clearly is Republican operator G. Gordon Liddy. In a [[DownplayedTrope downplayed]] case of AnonymousRinger, he is always refered to only by his first three names.
* LaserGuidedKarma: [[spoiler: He turns into a joker.]]


!!Jetboy

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/5333.jpg]]

Bobby Tomlin, an heroic fighter pilot from World War II, tried to stop the release of the Wild Card virus.
* AcePilot: Made more impressive by the fact that Jetboy didn't have to learn how to fly a plane. According to an account by a close friend, he [[TheGift always knew]].
* AlternateCompanyEquivalent: He is an homage to [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] comic book character ComicBook/{{Airboy}}.
* ArchEnemy: Criminal mastermind and [[LesCollaborateurs nazi colaborator]] Doctor Tod. Ironically, Tod is mostly an UnknownRival to Jetboy; Jetboy shot down the plane Tod was in while [[ButForMeItWasTuesday barely aware of his existence]].
* ArtifactOfDoom: In the comic, the jacket he was wearing on the day he died is used by a high-schooler in her science project about the Wild Card virus. Unbeknownst to her, it still had dormant samples of the virus on it, and an accident leads to them not being so dormant anymore...
* BadassNormal: One of the very few in the Wild Cards universe. Jetboy is a ridiculously skilled jet pilot, the greatest ace in WWII.
* BrokenAce: Being the greatest fighter pilot that ever lived didn't exactly help with his personal life (that was non-existent), since he was an orphan that spent all his teenage years fighting in the war.
* CaptainPatriotic: [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]], Jetboy is undoubtly very patriotic (he fought against the Nazis even before America entered the war) and even wears an uniform that is red, white, and blue, but in keeping with Wild Card's deconstructionist approach, he is somewhat jaded and low-key.
* CoolPlane: The JB-1. In the [[AlternateHistory Wild Cards universe]] it was the first jet plane ever built.
* ConvenientlyAnOrphan: Bobby never knew his parents. He then became a child prodigy and boy wonder, fighting in WWII when still a teenager.
* DecoyProtagonist: When you start reading the first book, you might think Jetboy is the main hero. But then you realize this is a series created by [[AnyoneCanDie George R. R. Martin...]]
* DoomedMoralVictor: Jetboy is ultimately revealed to be this.
* DudeWheresMyRespect: After returning from World War II, Jetboy gradually realizes that the world is ready to move on and to forget everything related to the war, including Jetboy. That is [[PlayedForDrama particularly tragic]] for him, because he has no civilian life to return to, being an orphan that went to war still a teenager.
* ExpectingSomeoneTaller: Though Jetboy is world-famous, pretty much everybody that meets him in the flesh has this reaction, since he looks like such an ordinary guy.
* FirstEpisodeTwist: Jetboy's ultimate fate and his failure in stopping the alien virus.
* HeroicSacrifice: Legendary in the Wild Cards universe.
* JadeColoredGlasses: After he returns from the war.
* JumpedAtTheCall: Went to fight in WWII when he was 13-years old.
* ProtoSuperhero: Appropriately, Jetboy is an example of this kind of character. And it's his sacrifice that heralds the arrival of real, superpowered heroes and villains in the Wild Cards universe.
* RecursiveFiction: There is a Jetboy comic book published in the Wild Cards universe. It started as a more or less realistic depiction of his adventures but later evolved into [[BasedOnAGreatBigLie outrageous horror and sci-fi tales]], to the real Jetboy's dismay.
* ReturningWarVet: Made more heartbreaking by the fact that Bobby also was, essentialy, a [[ChildSoldiers child soldier]].
* RewardingInactivity: A non-video game example in that while he failed to stop the virus from being released, he still has a monument and is generally well-regarded among the populace for at least ''trying''.
* SawStarWarsTwentySevenTimes: Jetboy is ridiculously addicted to cinema, sometimes watching 6 movies or more per day. PlayedForDrama as a way to highlight his lack of a life in post-war America.
* UnluckyChildHoodFriend: Loves Belinda, his childhood friend from the orphanage. She has moved on while he was fighting in Europe.
* YouCantGoHomeAgain: Post-war, he had problems adapting to a normal life.

!!Sara Morgenstern
Star reporter from the Washington Post, specialized in Wild Cards issues. Has a vendetta with Senator Gregg Hartmann.
* ArchEnemy: Determined to bring down Senator Hartmann.
* CreepyLonerGirl: A rather [[DownplayedTrope downplayed example]]. Sara is high-strung and more than a bit awkward with social interactions when her personal life is involved, even though [[BunnyEarsLawyer she is a great reporter.]]
* DatingCatwoman: Inevitably she gets involved with the Senator.
* IntrepidReporter: Very, very determined and effective as a reporter. Goes out of her way to get the story, even going into dangerous situations.
* MoreThanMindControl: Initially, Hartmann doesn't use his power to directly manipulate Sara, though his empathy and charisma are superhuman nonetheless.
* TheUnFavourite: She is this to her parents, who always favored her dead older sister, Andrea.

!!Rosemary Muldoon
Real name Rosa-Maria Gambione, a Mafia princess that became stranged from her family, changed her name and became a New York district attorney. Later tried to become a leader in the Mafia, playing both sides.
* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Becomes infatuated with mobster Chris Mazzucchelli, seeing him as a "romantic rebel", despite obvious signs that he is a selfish bastard. She eventually comes to realize that he is just a "vicious punk", right before he tries to kill her.
* BecomingTheMask: At first she tried to justify her taking over the Mob as leading them in a more civilized direction, but she kept digging herself in deeper and deeper...
* TheCorruptible: With fellow mobster and lover Chris Mazzucchelli as TheCorrupter and TreacherousAdvisor.
* DaddysLittleVillain: Averted when her father was still alive and she wanted nothing to do with the family business. Played straight a decade after his death.
* DistaffCounterpart: Weirdly enough, she is one to [[Film/TheGodfather Michael Corleone]] of all people. The sympathetic offspring of a deceased old-fashioned mob boss that ends up taking over the business and performing a FaceHeelTurn.
* FaceHeelTurn: Starting in ''Jokers Wild'' and going into overdrive in ''Down and Dirty''.
* LivingADoubleLife: "Irish" district attorney Rosemary Muldoon, who is actually Rosa Maria Gambione.
* MafiaPrincess: Daughter of Don Carlo Gambione, a major New York City Mafia boss from the 1970s.
* PetTheDog: Even when she is deep into villain mode in the later portion of ''Down and Dirty'', she still risks her life to help out Water Lily.
* ToxicFriendInfluence: To Bagabond.

!!Yeoman

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yeoman.jpg]]

Daniel Brennan, a Vietnam Vet that swore revenge on crime boss Kien Phuc. He is a zen archer with ImprobableAimingSkills. Becomes the masked vigilante Yeoman in 1985.
* AlternateCompanyEquivalent: He's effectively the Literature/WildCards version of ComicBook/GreenArrow, and also has a lot of elements remininiscent of ComicBook/ThePunisher. More generally, Yeoman is a homage to the obsessed vigilantes common in pop culture in the 1970s and 1980s.
* ArchEnemy: Vietnamese crime boss Kien Phuc. Their enmity goes back to Brennan's days in Vietnam.
* BadassNormal: One of the only heroes on Earth ''not'' to have been infected with the Wild Card virus. Brennan can still hold his own pretty well against superpowered aces and jokers. Notably, he's one of the few people anywhere that Fortunato respects.
* BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind: His final battle with Kien Phuc.
* BettyAndVeronica: Jennifer Maloy is more of a sweet girl-next-door despite being a daring thief. Chrysalis is a FemmeFatale.
* CharlesAtlasSuperPower: Brennan is one of the few Wild Cards characters to have this kind of origin for his amazing abilities. Besides his zen archery and his mad stealth/hunting abilities, he also is capable of completely emptying his mind, resulting in NoSell for people trying to read his thougths.
* TheDeterminator: Once he decides he is bringing Kien down, he never stops, even though the blood on his hands starts to bother him more and more.
* HappilyMarried: [[spoiler: To Wraith.]]
* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: Brennan's stories after Book 1 all have the words "Dead" or "Death" in their titles.
* ImprobableAimingSkills: Naturally, as he is a master of zen archery. But Brennan is also impressive for his ability to unleash an one man RainOfArrows.
* TheInfiltration: Yeoman's storyline in ''Down and Dirty'' has Brennan infiltrating the Shadow Fist Society.
* MightyWhitey: Brennan largely follows the mold of the white adventurer that acquires amazing skills while visiting the Far East (in his case, after defecting from the US Army after the Fall of Saigon). In a partial subversion, Brennan is revealed to have some Chinese blood.
* TheNondescript: Physically, nothing about Brennan stands out.
* {{Revenge}}: Most of his stories are about his blood feud with crime boss Kien Phuc.
* TheRival: Yeoman and Jay Ackroyd didn't get along. Understandable, as Yeoman was on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge, while Popinjay was TheFettered.
* SecretIdentity: One of the few Wild Cards heroes to have this, due to his outlaw ativities and being a deserter from the US Army.
* StealthExpert: One of Yeoman's main abilities, making him more than a match for superpowered aces, as highlighted in his first story ''Comes a Hunter''.
* TrickArrow: Downplayed. The only trick arrows he uses are explosive arrows.
* TheVietnamVet: Like many action heroes of the 1970s and 1980s.
* VigilanteMan: One of the most prominent urban vigilantes in New York City in the 1980s.
* ZorroMark: Leaves an ace of spades at the sites of his revenge killings.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Jokers]]

!!Jokers in general

Jokers are victims of the [[MassSuperEmpoweringEvent Wild Card virus]] that develop physical or mental deformities. These deformities vary from minor to nightmarish. They account for 10% of the victims. Most jokers have no superhuman powers; the ones that have them are sometimes called "Joker-Aces". Superhuman strength is very common among big, burly jokers, for instance.

Tropes that apply to jokers in general:

* BlessedWithSuck: In the case of Joker-Aces, who have both potent superhuman powers and physical deformities. Could count as CursedWithAwesome, except that anti-joker prejudice is pretty big in the Wild Cards universe.
* BodyHorror: Quite common with the more extreme jokers.
* DirtyCoward: One of the stereotypes often applied to jokers by bigoted nats.
* FantasticRacism: Jokers suffer from this much more than the Aces. They're seen as the great downtrodden minority of modern times, and usually forced to live in ghettos, the biggest of which being New York's Jokertown. The fight for joker rights, the existence of joker activists and revolutionaries, etc. all elaborate on this theme.
* SlidingScaleOfAnthropomorphism: Animal-like jokers can fall in any point of this scale.

!!Bloat

[[quoteright:231:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bloat.jpg]]

Joker leader in the Jumper books. Bloat is an immobile, gigantic mountain of pale flesh, with the head and shoulders of a teen boy perched atop it. He has extraordinarily potent PsychicPowers. His home base is the Rox, formerly known as Ellis Island. He is the leader of a coalition of jokers, a few aces, criminals, and [[BodySurf Jumpers]], all opposed to mainstream American society.
* AntiVillain: Bloat is quite sympathetic, even though he is technicaly the BigBad for the Jumper trilogy.
* AscendedFanboy: A darker version than the Turtle or Mark Meadows. Interestingly, he used to be a huge fan of TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons, and he is basically what you'd get if you gave unlimited power to a role-playing game gamemaster.
* BlessedWithSuck: He is a very powerful telepath and reality warper inside the ever expanding radius of his psychic powers. He is also a fetid mountain of flesh that feeds on sewage.
* DoggedNiceGuy: Bloat's relationship with the female Tachyon. Since Tachyon is trapped in a cell, and Bloat is immobile, it's carried through a chaste MentalAffair patterned on Bloat's favorite medieval fantasies.
* FatBastard: {{Averted}}. He's not really a bad guy, just allied with some very bad people.
* GigglingVillain: Unusually for this trope, he is shown to be doing it more out of nervousness than any sort of evil glee.
* TheGrotesque: Like many of the more sympathetic jokers, Bloat has many noble qualities and a repulsive body.
* {{Hypocrite}}: Even though he is sympathetic, he has many shades of this, considering that he claims to be a idealistic defender of joker rights, but is willing to ally himself with pretty bad people. Modular Man in particular is not impressed by his protestations, and gives him an epic [[WhatTheHellHero What The Hell, Anti-Villain?]] speech in ''Dealer's Choice''.
* IChooseToStay: [[spoiler: In the end of ''Dealer's Choice'' he is given the option of becoming a nat and abandoning the Rox and his followers. He refuses.]]
* MeaningfulName: Ted Honorlaw. Ironically, an aversion of NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast.
* PsychicBlockDefense: Something about his powers makes it so Bloat can't be Jumped. So, despite having an army of [[BodySurf Body Surfers]] at his back and call he can't leave his monstrous body.
* PsychicPowers: One of the most potent examples in Wild Cards. He is mentioned as being as powerful as ten aces, seeing as he can reshape reality inside the Rox, read all minds inhabiting it, shift his mind into alternate bodies he creates himself, and encircle the Rox with a wall of fear that keeps the nats at bay.
* RealityWarper: Only inside the Rox.
* SupernaturalFearInducer: Bloat's Wall that surrounds Ellis Island. He can't really control it.
* TallDarkAndHandsome: The Outcast, Bloat's alter ego.
* TokenGoodTeammate: Bloat and his army of jokers are basically good folks tired of being persecuted by the nats. The Jumpers that make up the other half of their alliance run on TeensAreMonsters.

!!Bludgeon
A gigantic joker bruiser with superstrength and a club-like right arm. Works as muscle for the mobs.
* AssholeVictim: Bludgeon is very prone to this, since he is beaten and humiliated by multiple heroes in almost all of his appearances.
* TheBrute: Extremely strong and tough, his club-like arm is even capable of denting a tank, but he is dumb, slow, and almost always loses.
* ClusterFBomb: Extremely foul-mouthed. He can't go a whole sentence without using a dirty word.
* DumbMuscle: Bludgeon is a criminal enforcer for the Shadow Fist Society and later for the Mafia.
* PlayedForDrama: Despite his fearsome presence and nasty personality, Bludgeon is something of a ButtMonkey in most of his scenes. This changes in Sewer Jack's story in ''Down and Dirty'', where he is a very serious menace.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Extremely homophobic and sexist.
* VillainDecay: Bludgeon suffers from a very bad case of this, to the point that he is seen in-universe as an almost pitiable joke in ''Dead Man's Hand''.
* YouAreWhatYouHate: Possibly, since he is prone to stalking and sexually abusing gay men.

!!Chrysalis

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/chrysalis_1.jpg]]

Chrysalis is the owner of the Crystal Palace nightclub in Jokertown, and is the unofficial queen of the Joker underworld, brokering information to all parties. Her skin is invisible, her organs and skeleton exposed for all to see.
* AbusiveParents: Her jerkass DeepSouth family.
* BettyAndVeronica: The Veronica to Jennifer Maloy's Betty and Yeoman's Archie. She is also Archie to Popinjay's Betty and Yeoman's Veronica.
* CommitmentIssues: She has a really bad case of this, even though she genuinely loves Yeoman.
* CuteMonsterGirl: Some men are attracted to her exotic appearance. Others see her as a source of endless {{Squick}}.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: She used to be DaddysGirl to a rich, Southern family. [[spoiler: When her card turned, her bigoted parents kept her a prisoner, shut away from all human contact, because they were ashamed of their joker daughter.]]
* EmotionlessGirl: Chrysalis wants to be seen as this. Only her closest associates know it's a [[BeneathTheMask façade]].
* FakeBrit: In-universe. She likes to affect a British accent and cultivates a love of all things British. She is actually from Tulsa, Oklahoma.
* FemmeFatale: Chrysalis has a palpable air of sex, mystery, and menace about her, but she is actually neutral, [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold bordering on heroic]].
* FreudianExcuse: Chrysalis makes no effort at all to hide her deformity, seeming to even take a perverse pleasure in shocking people. [[spoiler: That is because her jerkass family kept her shut away for years.]]
* [[spoiler: KilledOffForReal: Happens off-screen before ''Ace in the Hole''.]]
* KnowledgeBroker: The main information broker in New York City (particularly Jokertown) in the first couple of trilogies.
* MysteriousWoman: Almost no one knows of her real past. It's revealed in ''Dead Man's Hand''.
* SaloonOwner: Owner of the Crystal Palace, one of the classiest establishments in 1980s Jokertown.
* {{Stripperiffic}}: Always wears provocative clothing. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] by her psychological issues.
* YouOweMe: Chrysalis's modus operandi as an information broker relies on this.

!!Xavier Desmond

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/xavierdesmond2.jpg]]

The so-called Mayor of Jokertown, Desmond has an elephant trunk where his nose should be. He is the founder and leader of the Jokers' Anti-Defamation League and a major champion of joker's rights.
* ADayInTheLimelight: Desmond is a bit player in the first trilogy. He gets to be one of the protagonists in the fourth novel. [[spoiler: Also counts as ADeathInTheLimelight, sadly.]]
* EverythingIsRacist: Des is very sensitive about being a joker.
* HonoraryPrincess: He is not really the Mayor of Jokertown, since Jokertown is a neighbourhood, not a city. Nonetheless, the jokers look up to him as their leader and spokesman. Desmond also notes in ''Aces Abroad'' that Jokertown is also a state of mind, and in that his title is entirely deserved.
* MixAndMatchCritters: Has an elephant's trunk where his nose should be.
* OnlySaneMan: Tends to come across as this, since he is very level-headed and introspective, as compared to other Wild Cards protagonists.
* TheRival: Desmond tends to be very critical of other joker leaders who don't live up to his expectations. But this sense of rivalry is entirely devoid of selfishiness, since his main worry is joker rights, not personal glory.
* SaloonOwner: Owner of the Funhouse, one of Jokertown's most storied nightclubs.
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: A rare heroic example. Desmond is a wealthy man that often notes that money is sometimes the greatest of all superpowers.
* VitriolicBestBuds: His friendship with Doctor Tachyon, though this is entirely PlayedForDrama, unlike most examples of this trope. Also, most of the vitriol is under the surface, making for a tense friendship.

!!Drummer Boy

Drummer Boy is actually Michael Vogali, the drummer and front man of punk rock band Joker Plague. He is a bad boy rock star and an iconic joker-ace in the later novels. DB is also a powerful superhuman with six arms, super-strength, and sonic powers.

* AllDrummersAreAnimals: Hell yeah.
* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Drummer Boy both plays this trope straight and subverts it. He is incredibly successful with many of the female aces in the American Hero reality show, but Curveball - the one female ace he really cares about - breaks up with him and is not amused by his bad boy antics and [[SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan hooks up with nice guy John Fortune instead]]. It's made clear that only the more shallow, cynical celebrity aces are vulnerable to Drummer Boy's rock god charm. There is also a bit of DoubleSubversion, in that Ana Cortez, Curveball's best friend and shrinking violet, is implied to have strong unrequited feelings for him.
* BettyAndVeronica: He is the Veronica in a love triangle with Curveball (Archie) and John Fortune (Betty). Drummer Boy actually thinks he is the Betty and John Fortune the Veronica, as he wants Curveball to see his bad boy antics as a harmless façade, and is wary that John Fortune's idealism and heroics put Curveball in danger.
* TheBigGuy: Pretty much fills this role in the Committee.
* BoisterousBruiser: Very much. He has to be reminded several times by his friends that he is not bulletproof, despite his tremendous strength.
* ChekhovsSkill: [[spoiler: In the climax of ''Inside Straight'', it's Drummer Boy's sonics that kill the Righteous Djinn.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Starts as a plain {{Jerkass}}, but gradually evolves into this. Particularly, he has little stomach for the hypocrisy of the politics the Committee gets involved in.
* LeadDrummer: He is by far the most popular and most visible member of Joker Plague. In a way, he is *literally* more visible than their singer, The Voice, who is [[PowerIncontinence permanently invisible]].
* MakeMeWannaShout: Drummer Boy has a series of throat openings that release the powerful sound waves generated by his drumming on the tympanic membranes on his chest.
* MultiArmedAndDangerous: DB has six arms. Useful both in his career as an ace and as the drummer of Joker Plague.
* MundaneUtility: His unique joker physiology mostly makes him a living drum set. His main career is as a rock musician. It's incidental that his multiple arms and sonic powers also make him a pretty powerful ace.
* OddFriendship: His best friend in the Committee is probably fellow joker-ace Rustbelt, who is extremely kind, naive, chaste, and polite; everything DB is not.
* SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll: Mostly focused on the sex part, and not so much on the drugs.
* SuperStrength: Pretty much his basic power. Interestingly, he lacks NighInvulnerability.

!!Dr. Bradley Finn

A charismatic and brilliant medical doctor working in the Jokertown Clinic. Since the 1990s, he's been effectively the chief physician of the Clinic. Finn is a pony-sized palomino centaur. He is a fairly attractive man, despite his jokerhood. He is also an all-around good guy.

* ArchEnemy: [[spoiler: Dr. Etienne Faneuil, genocidal anti-joker doctor and member of the Card Sharks conspiracy.]]
* AscendedExtra: Like many Wild Cards characters. Finn is introduced in Book 5 and mostly remains in the background. He becomes a protagonist after Book 13.
* FantasticRacism: While he is pretty handsome, wealthy, and well-adjusted, Dr. Finn is hit with this even more than other jokers when it comes to romance and sex. Since his body parts are equine, he invockes a BestialityIsDepraved reaction in bigoted nats. Finn notes that the few nat women interested in him tend to be thrill seekers.
* {{Foil}}: Initially introduced as a foil to his colleague Dr. Tachyon, in that Finn is level-headed, optimistic and traditionally masculine, as opposed to the CampStraight, Byronic, and dramatic Tachyon.
* ForbiddenLove: In ''A Dose of Reality'', Dr. Finn and fellow doctor Clara van Renssaeler fall in love. Clara is not only a nat, she's been raised in an extremely anti-wild card family. [[spoiler: The later books reveal that they eventually marry.]]
* NiceGuy: One of the most triumphant examples in Wild Cards.
* NonIdleRich: Comes from a very wealthy family, since his Dad is a major Hollywood producer and director. He still selflessly toils away at the Clinic.
* OurCentaursAreDifferent: Finn looks like a fantasy centaur, courtesy of the wild card virus.

!!Father Squid

[[quoteright:182:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fathersquid.jpg]]

Priest of the Church of Jesus Christ Joker. A former Catholic priest who created a unique version of Christianity especially for Jokers.
* TheAtoner: Repents his violent past.
* BadassPreacher: When he has to be.
* CoolOldGuy: Particularly in the later novels, as he is a mentor for younger jokers like the Infamous Black Tongue.
* {{Cthulhumanoid}}: Father Squid looks like a very bulky version of this. Ironically, he is one of the most kind and idealistic characters in Wild Cards.
* DarkIsNotEvil: He looks like Cthulhu is his dad but he's one of the few completely good characters in this series. [[spoiler: Unless you count the time he spent as a Joker Terrorist in the Seventies.]]
* GentleGiant: Not really taller than a normal human, but much wider. Father Squid is also as gentle as they come.
* GoodShepherd: A kindly religious leader that is seen as the heart and soul of Jokertown, even by non-religious wild carders.
* SuperNotDrowningSkills: He can stay underwater for much longer than a normal human being.
* SuperStrength: As strong as three or four men.
* SuperToughness: Somewhat more resistant to damage than a normal human.
* TheVietnamVet: Used to be known as Sergeant Squidface.

!!The Oddity

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/oddity.jpg]]

The Oddity is actually three people (Evan Crozier, Patti Roberts, and John Sheak) permanently merged into one monstrous, constantly shifting, painful whole. They're superhumanly strong and tough and act as a vigilante in Jokertown.

* TheBigGuy: They are this, whenever they're part of a group of jokers.
* BlessedWithSuck: One of the most heartbreaking cases in Wild Cards.
* BruiserWithASoftCenter: Evan is a rather sensitive artist.
* BuryYourGays: [[spoiler: Well, your bisexuals. Patti is the only one who gets to survive the Oddity, whereas her two bisexual lovers die inside it.]]
** Arguably also a case of [[spoiler: MenAreTheExpendableGender.]]
* ExtraEyes: As you can see in the picture, since their face is constantly shifting, it sometimes doubles or triples up on features.
* FreudianTrio: John is the Id, Evan is the Superego, Patti is the Ego. They're a FreudianTrio in a rather literal way too, since they inhabit the same body.
* FusionDance: A permanent version. But not quite a MentalFusion, since the three personalities are still distinct inside The Oddity.
* GoneHorriblyRight: Since Wild Card mutations are a sort of scientific Aladdin's lamp, the implication is that one of the three original selves of The Oddity wished to be [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor together forever]] with the other two. It doubles as IronicHell.
* TheGrotesque: Like many heroic jokers. Also a HorrifyingHero.
* HotBlooded: John.
* KilledOffForReal. [[spoiler: An [[{{Pun}} odd]] version. In Fort Freak, it is revealed that John, one of the personalities controlling Oddity, has early-onset Alzheimer's. In order to stop this, Oddity takes the trump cure, which works -- to a point. Patti, who is controlling the body at that time, is ejected with her own mind and body fully intact from Oddity, while John and Evan's minds and bodies stay behind in the form of Oddity, who then die.]]
* LightningBruiser: At least three times the strength, speed, and toughness as a normal person.
* MultiArmedAndDangerous: As their body is constantly shifting, at times they have extra limbs.
* NobleTopEnforcer: Used to be this for Senator Hartmann. Like most folks, they were unaware that Hartmann was a bad guy [[EmotionEater feeding on their pain]].
* {{Polyamory}}: Evan, Patti, and John were lovers before they became The Oddity.
* {{Protectorate}}: They've taken it upon themself to protect Jokertown and its inhabitants.
* RequiredSecondaryPowers: Their body has a healing factor, which is good as it's constantly warping and shifting into inhuman configurations.
* SplitPersonality: Three distinct minds inhabiting the same body and capable of communication with each other. One is dominant, and as mentioned, feels the most pain, one is sub-dominant, and one is passive, suffering the least and thus able to rest.
* SplitPersonalityTakeover: After John develops Alzheimer's, the others force him into the passive position as mentioned above. Unfortunately their control slips during a moment of extreme pain, and John takes over and harms Charles Dutton during a fit.
* SuperStrength: The combined strength of three people.
* SuperToughness: Also the combined toughness.
* TwoBeingsOneBody: Well, three. Formerly Evan Crozier, Patti Roberts, and John Sheak.
* TwoGuysAndAGirl: Merged. Evan and John are SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan, respectively. Patti is the [[WomenAreWiser voice of reason]].
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: John was at least.

!!Peregrine

[[quoteright:220:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/aces_abroad.jpg]]

The host of a ''Good Morning America'' style TV show. Peregrine is a superheroine who is technically considered a Joker but has kept her natural beauty. She has big, bird-like wings and is capable of flight. This leads many to consider her an Ace.

* ActionMom: Averted. While she remained a celebrity and career-oriented woman, Peregrine seems to have put a stop to her superheroine activities after the birth of her son. Or maybe that's just because she is OutOfFocus.
* AdaptationDyeJob: Peregrine has brown hair in the novels. A lot of the comics and general artwork for Wild Cards depicts her as a blonde.
* AllGuysWantCheerleaders: In her backstory. She was known as the Flying Cheerleader in the 1970s.
* BettyAndVeronica: Fortunato is the Veronica, her husband Josh is the Betty.
* CuteMonsterGirl: Technically she's a joker because she has wings, leading to the saying "A Joker, is a Joker, is a Joker... unless it's Peregrine."
* EntitledToHaveYou: Dr. Tachyon's attitude towards her, despite being her good friend and personal physician.
* {{Flight}}: Her superpower. Incidentally, it is not due to her wings, which aren't the right size and in the right position to allow her to fly. She technically levitates herself, and the wings serve as a focus of sorts.
* GoodBadGirl: Peregrine has few inhibitions when it comes to sex and enjoying herself as a glamourous New York City celebrity. She is still very much an [[NiceGuy heroic character]].
* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: Part of her storyline in ''Aces Abroad'', much to Doctor Tachyon's dismay, since pregnancies where both parents are wild carders are always high-risk pregnancies.
* MagicFeather: Even though her wings don't actually help her fly, if they're damaged or restrained, she can't do it.
* MsFanService: Probably the sexiest female character in the novels. She is also this in-universe. She even posed for Playboy Magazine.
* MyBelovedSmother: In the later novels, she is this to her son John Fortune. This is [[JustifiedTrope justified]], since Fortune is a latent and can die anytime if his wild card virus ever manifests.
* MysticalPregnancy: Peregrine's pregnancy in ''Aces Abroad'' has shades of this, particularly due to the benevolous interference of the Living Gods.
* OneNameOnly: She changed her name legally to "Peregrine".
* OutOfFocus: Peregrine is arguably the most iconic female Wild Cards character, but she is only a POV character in ''Aces Abroad''.
* {{Stripperiffic}}: Her crimefighting costumes are this. Actually, she is pretty much always like this in her public persona.
* UnbreakableBones: Her bones are tougher than the human norm.
* WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway: It has been noted that Peregrine's only wild card ability is not that impressive. Fortunately, she is also a very badass martial artist.
* WingedHumanoid: Her joker mutation is a pair of large, white bird wings sprouting from her back.
* WolverineClaws: She uses a pair of titanium gauntlets with talons when she's expecting trouble.
* WorldsMostBeautifulWoman: Widely considered this. It's noted in ''Aces Abroad'' that she far outshines all the other beautiful female aces. Peregrine herself, though not really humble or oblivious about it, does not value her beauty above other traits.

!!Quasiman
Hunchbacked joker-ace with the powers of superstrength, pre/retrocognition and teleportation. He's a friend of Father Squid, and handyman of the Church of Jesus Christ, Joker.

* BizarreAlienSenses: Judging from his POV narratives he gets sensory input from where and when his scattered molecules are.
* BlessedWithSuck: He is one of the most powerful joker-aces, but he is not only deformed, bits and pieces of him keep appearing and disappearing. He gets injured when pieces of him end up in inhospitable locations.
* BombDisposal: Quasiman is rumoured to have been a cop with the bomb squad before his card turned. A bomb explosion is implied to have been the event that caused his body and mind to be "unstuck" in time and space.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: He's ''literally'' not all there.
* DumbIsGood: Quasiman is actually very intelligent, but pieces of his brain keep phasing in and out at random intervals.
* ExtraDimensionalShortcut: This is the same dimension pieces of his body and consciousness keep disappearing to. He can carry other people with him. Unlike Jay Ackroyd, he can appear in places he has never been. But since he is also precognitive, he may "remember" those places from future memories. [[TimeyWimeyBall It gets complicated]]...
* GentleGiant: A big, super-strong joker who actually is very intelligent and sensitive (at least when his mind is in the right place).
* TheGrotesque: The classical noble soul trapped in a monstrous form.
* MomentOfLucidity: During the Card Sharks crisis, he managed to pull himself relatively together and concentrate for months in order to help out, at the cost of ending up even worse off than before, mentally.
* TheOmnipresent: Kind of. His molecules are in constant flux across different places, on different planets, in different times, across planes of reality. And his consciousness is stretched across them all.
* RequiredSecondaryPowers: Since his parts can survive and recover from ending up in inhospitable biomes and outer space, he probably has a HealingFactor/SuperToughness which aren't explicitly stated.
* {{Seers}}: As mentioned above, his consciousness and molecules randomly scatter everywhere and everywhen, so he percieves events relating exclusively to what those parts of himself are experiencing wherever they are in time and space. Unfortunately, [[MadOracle he's usually not together enough to express this properly]].
* ShoutOut: His joker name is an obvious one to the Hunchback of Notre Dame.
* YouCantFightFate: His precognition is of this variety.
[[/folder]]