Tropes Media Browse Indexes Forums Videos Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Tools
Cut List New Edits Edit Reasons Launches Images List Crowner Activity Un-typed Pages Recent Page Type Changes Changelog
Tips
Creating New Redirects Cross Wicking Tips for Editing Text Formatting Rules Glossary Edit Reasons Handling Spoilers Word Cruft Administrivia FAQ
Tropes HQ
About Us Contact Us Advertise DMCA Notice Privacy Policy Report Bug
Go Ad-Free Changelog
  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Highlight Links
 

Follow TV Tropes

Following

Characters / PS238

Go To

The characters of PS238.

    open/close all folders 

Staff of PS238

    Mantium 

Herschel Clay/Mantium

"Dagnab Cytocorp hardware! If I found out who's been ordering from that cheap-wad supplier...I might as well make my own eprom chips if we're going to use this junk!"

A technologically-inclined metahuman with a level-nine intelligence. Owner and founder of Clay Industries, and formerly the superhero Mantium.

  • Almighty Janitor: His job is quite a bit more than "janitor," but he doesn't come across as "teaching staff" normally. He's the maintenance guy for PS238. Along with the guy that designed and built it.
  • The Gadfly: He'll outright admit that some of his actions are specifically to get back at Zodon for some of his antics. Given how much of his workload is due to Zodon's monkeying with various things he shouldn't be, this arguably crosses over into administering Cool and Unusual Punishment.
  • Gadgeteer Genius: Built all the tech in the school, including the "lockervator", the hologram projectors, the power-testing equipment, and Zodon's "Barry Ween" chip.
  • Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Strongly hinted at, as the various engineering skillsets he demonstrates (including holographic generators, Power Armor, computers, the machinery that operates the school, and space flight) suggest at least passing familiarity with multiple scientific disciplines. Downplayed in that other teachers at PS238 (Mr. Alloy, most prominently) are the ones responsible for teaching most science courses.
  • Power Armor: His suit resembles the Iron Man suit in function, but not form.
  • Reed Richards Is Useless: Averted, he modifies NASA equipment and is rich from selling some of his stuff via Clay Corporation.
  • Triple Shifter: Hershel's lack of sleep comes up multiple times in the series, first mentioned as a drawback to his super-intellect - he's constantly thinking of new things he can do, which distracts him from sleep. He ends up becoming the school's maintenance crew, shop teacher, and still has time to help run his multinational corporation and give assistance to NASA and other governmental agencies as needed.

    Principal Cranston 

Alfred Cranston

"Even when you think you're doing the right thing, you might be going about it in the wrong way."

Former president of the United States, and current principal of PS238.

  • Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: He had used his telepathic powers to defeat political opponents, win elections, and get great deals on cars.
  • The Atoner: Seems to view his tenure as principal as this. To complete the above quote:
    Tyler: Did you do something wrong?
    Cranston: I hope not. I'm still deciding if I did.
  • The Masquerade: Only about a handful of people know of Cranston's powers and the true reasons he resigned from the presidency. To most people he's a baseline human and ex-president turned principal for "health reasons."
  • Mind over Matter: He has telekinetic powers. Without his limiter, he's strong enough to hold up several tons of rock for an extended period, but with his limiter in place, he can barely lift a pencil.
  • Our Presidents Are Different: Until the "Cranston Incident" ended it in the Back Story.
  • Power Limiter: His headband sharply limits both his telepathic and telekinetic abilities, to the point that he gets a headache from telekinetically pushing a button on his phone.
  • Telepathy: He used his mind reading abilities to further his political career by cutting through the lies and half-truths inherent to Washington. He doesn't seem to have any mind-control abilities, but the conspirators who deposed him were terrified that he did.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: Referring to his time when he was using his powers as President.

    Doctor Positron 

Positron 1

A human-looking robot with a large family who acts as the school's science adviser.

  • Do-Anything Robot: Subverted when he has trouble fighting off aliens without the weapons in his combat body.
  • Me's a Crowd: He's made multiple versions of himself, which are living different lives.

    Ms. Imperia 

Vashti Imperia/Spell Syrin

"Only you see my true appearance. To everyone else I look like Vashti Imperia, J. Crew patron."

Teacher of the supernatural students at PS238, "Spell Syrin" has a habit of using illusions instead of actually donning normal clothing.

  • Flashy Teleportation: As seen in the 12252006 comic, it has a visual effect and a "poof" sound. She generally only breaks out these spells in an emergency, but she can quickly and accurately teleport across distances of miles at the very least.
  • Master of Illusion: Her primary power. She can use more violent spells, but they're far more taxing.
  • Mundane Utility: Uses illusion spells so she can walk around wearing the high-fantasy sorceress outfit she prefers without jeopardizing the Masquerade of PS238.
  • Stable Time Loop: As explained in 09032012 and following comics. Ended up playing the role of the "evil witch" her younger self stole her grimoire from.
  • True Sight: One of her spells allows her this; outside of her illusions, the power she uses most frequently.
  • "World's Best" Character: Young Vashti Imperia wanted to be "the most powerful sorceress ever!

    Coach Rockslide 

Maximilian Krutz/Rockslide

"I think that's our cue. Let's go stomp some aliens."

A giant man composed of some kind of rock, and the school's PE teacher.

  • Expy: Looks like the Thing. Talks like the Thing. And has a line in resigned sarcasm when the Gadgeteer Genius's gizmos go wrong like the Thing.
  • Fastball Special: He's the thrower; Ms. Kyle (after increasing her density) is the projectile. They use this on the alien probe that lands on school grounds and attempts to kidnap Captain Clarinet and Moon Shadow.
  • Gentle Giant: He is a nice, compassionate and caring teacher.
  • Nigh-Invulnerable: He's been driven something like four feet into concrete flooring by a blow to the head. It doesn't seem to have done much more than stun him briefly (and leave him stuck).
  • Shapeshifter Mode Lock: Max may be a massively strong, stone-tough bruiser that's more than seven feet tall, but he's pretty much stuck that way, which isn't much fun. He doesn't fit through doorways very well, can't move very fast and he can't even wear shoes, since they just kind of... burst.
  • Super-Strength: He doesn't get to demonstrate this often, but he's the raw muscle of the former Union of Justice/Ps238 teaching staff, and he's capable of easily throwing Micro-Might when she's made herself so dense that she's barely able to move.

    Ms. Kyle 

Christina Kyle/Micro Might

The only member of the staff with any actual experience teaching before working at PS238, and therefore someone the rest of the teachers refer to when they need help. Was known as Micro-Might when she was a superhero, due to her ability to increase her strength and density as she shrinks.

  • Author Avatar: Or avatar of the author's wife, according to Word of God.
  • Cool and Unusual Punishment: The fact that she's authorized to give detention (and is hinted to regularly do so to Von Fogg and Zodon) is not so unusual. The fact that she's been authorized to do so to the media teams that try to accompany Jenny and Dillon, however, is well beyond what teachers are usually allowed. Worth noting, the threat of handing it out works.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Less than most, but she often resorts to snarky comments when things get too crazy.
    Victor Von Fogg: (to Zodon) You will pay for this, oh, yes...
    Miss Kyle: Let's keep the vendettas down to a dull roar, okay?
  • Fastball Special: After using her powers to grow more dense, she's the projectile, while Coach Rockslide is the thrower. They use this on the alien probe that lands on school grounds and attempts to kidnap Captain Clarinet and Moon Shadow.
  • Hoist by Her Own Petard: Done by Harold when he assaulted the school. He overclocked her powers, making it so that when she activated them, she became too dense to move.
  • Mama Bear: Mess with her students and she'll punch your face in.
  • Old Maid: She has had trouble dating.
  • Pintsized Powerhouse: Becomes stronger as she becomes smaller, due to keeping the same mass.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: A sensible, compassionate and level-headed teacher.

    Mr. Alloy 

Wayne Miller/The Human Alloy

"I've faced down military-level ordnance, fought beings with laser-beam eyes, taken on the worst the underworld has to offer... but [teaching] scares me worse than Doctor Von Fogg's legion of mole-warriors on a mushroom bender."

A science teacher with the ability to turn things (including himself) into various metals. He was hired after the school's opening to teach classes.

  • Chrome Champion: His skin is a silver metal of some variety. Based on the fact that he can cause chemical reactions to spontaneously happen at some amount of range, he's of the Reality Warper variety.
  • Expy: Of Captain Atom.
  • Extra-ore-dinary: Turned a door into gold once. The full extent of his abilities in this area have not been explained.
  • The Knights Who Say "Squee!": For Wil Wheaton.
  • Reality Warper: A low-scale version, he's able to cause chemical reactions to suddenly happen nearby, no matter how unlikely they would be (in theory, he could transform any nearby source of carbon into a diamond, for example).

Other School Staff:

    Ms. Newby 

Isadore Newby

School doctor, superpowered healer and mundane medically trained.

  • Healing Hands: The extent of her abilities is unknown, but most of her work is done using science instead.

    Ms. Oberon 

Alice Oberon

Teacher of the Rainmaker classes. Canonically completely powerless. Why she's in charge of the Rainmaker students remains unexplained.

    Wooster 

Roland Wooster

The school's Family Advocate and recruiter for new students. Former Battle Butler for the defunct Union of Justice (a.k.a., most of the current teaching staff).

  • Battle Butler: For the Union of Justice, the superhero league most of the teachers used to belong to.

Students at PS238

    American Eagle 

Jenny Adams/American Eagle

Age: 10

"I'm in favor of blue - it's the same color of the skies, limitless and free, just like America."

One of two kids trying to replace Freedom Fighter, the universe's Captain Ersatz of Captain America, in order to give USA's "official" superhero a political backing. She can fly using wings and fire electric blasts. According to the RPG supplement, her benefactor is the Democratic party.

  • The Comically Serious: Quite a few jokes at the expense of her ridiculous patriotism, during her tenure with Tyler's impromptu "superhero team".
  • Deadpan Snarker: Starts growing into the role when she becomes part of Moon Shadow's super team.
  • Patriotic Fervor: Every word out of her mouth involves America in some way.
  • Shock and Awe: Can fire bolts of electricity or simply stun people by touching them.
  • Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: To USA Patriot Act. Their constant bickering is played mostly for laughs as two kids repeating talking points they don't fully comprehend.
  • Winged Humanoid: Wears a backpack above ground to conceal them.

    Bernard 

Bernard Brenner

Age: 7

"Bernard Smash!"

The son of a man who can turn into a gigantic, muscle-bound, blue-skinned, rampaging monster. Bernard in this form, is one of the strongest kids around. The problem is, he hasn't figured out how to turn his off yet.

  • All Animals Are Dogs: Bernard acts like a puppy most of the time, despite being a humanoid child. He sits like a dog, has his tongue hanging out, and plays fetch.
  • Cute Bruiser: Unlike the Hulk on which he is based, Bernard is a fun loving (if simple minded) and enthusiastic child.
  • Dumb Muscle: Fairly simple-minded, and easy for his classmates to use to their advantage. Doesn't help that he's also a Cheerful Child.
  • Expy: The Hulk, but blue and more fun.
  • Extreme Omnivore: For just one example, Zodon found some tracking devices on his chair from Praetorian Academy. He gave them to Bernard to dispose of, and assumed Bernard did so by eating them and enjoying the taste. An author's note revealed that Zodon was correct on both counts.
  • Gasshole: If Zodon's to be believed anyway, Burrito Night was apparently nearly toxic.
  • HULK MASH!-Up: Bernard is a blue-colored kid Expy of the Hulk.
  • Hulk Speak: Pretty obvious, due to being a Hulk expy.
  • Mode Lock: In theory, he should be able to turn into a normal, intelligent form. In practice...that's never happened. His father has been shown to have this ability, so we don't know yet if Bernard can't change forms at all, can't change yet, can but hasn't learned how to do it, or can but is actively refusing/doesn't want to do so.
  • Like Father, Like Son: When his father is in his monster form, he and Bernard act simularly, both wanting to smash things.

    Captain Clarinet 

Ron Peterson/Captain Clarinet

Age: 8

"I wasn't sure I wanted to do this saving people and stuff. It felt good to help, but I still want to make my music."

Ron Peterson is the son of Atlas, one of the most powerful superheroes on the planet, he has trouble balancing his normal desires with his powers. Calls himself Captain Clarinet, after the clarinet made from his father's spaceship.

  • Badass in Distress: Was taken hostage by an Argosian noble to try to lure out his father. He was then used as a bargaining chip to force his father to hold the Argosian throne the way they wanted him to.
  • Break the Cutie: His story arc is the darkest in the series. His parents get a divorce after he has a breakdown over hurting someone with his powers, which makes him think it's his fault. Looking for a purpose, he joins Praetorian Academy—unaware the academy used mind control on his mother to speed the process—and is slowly broken down into an obedient minion. Then he is shipped off to Argos by accident, where he is depowered and attempted to be used as a hostage to ensure his father's good behavior. Then he is lost in space with Moon Shadow, returning to Earth after many trials and tribulations, but with his father still stuck on Argos.
  • Brought Down to Normal: An Argonian raygun loaded with Argonite de-powered him in volume 8, so far permanently.
  • Does Not Know His Own Strength: Fears his own strength because of this. One day, he might forget.
  • Expy: Superboy.
  • I Just Want to Be Normal: Sort of; Ron's non-combative attitude means he's not very suited for fighting and the Comes Great Responsibility attitude of his father means he thinks everyone expects too much of him when he'd rather just be a musician. This leads to him joining Praetorian just so he can know what is expected of him at all times, and actually getting de-powered is conflicting to him.
  • Flying Brick: Like his father, he has powers similar to human F.I.S.S. Flight, invulnerability, strength, and speed. Turns out the F.I.S.S. are the only surviving metahuman type on Argos and make up the planet's noble caste. According to Cecil, he also has the potential for superpowers from his human lineage.
  • Half-Human Hybrid: The fact that he's technically half-alien isn't really an issue. The fact that his mother isn't Argosian is a real problem to their ruling class, however.
  • Hates My Secret Identity: Ron is very nice to Tyler during his school life, but he considers Moon Shadow to be The Jinx and the reason everything's gone wrong with his life. He is, naturally, completely unaware that Tyler and Moon Shadow are the same person.
  • Unfortunate Names: His Argonian name is an insult in English. It's "Mo-Ron".

    Tom 

Tom Davidson

Age: 10

"If I don't eventually return that from where I took it, you'll cease to exist."

A time traveler who tends to pop up out of the blue, teleport Tyler to a seemingly random time and place, and leave him holding the ball.

    Satori 

Satori Deacon

Age: ?

An apparently normal student at Excelsior, who turns out to be able to see ghosts.

     84 

Julie Finster/84

Age: 7

"I'm sorry my powers aren't special or anything."

The 84th F.I.S.S., your basic Flying Brick. She comes from a poor non-super family, who could only afford a relatively simple costume for her. Suzi is her cousin. She eventually takes the name "84" as her superhero name.

  • Character Development: Her growth as a hero, despite her generic powers. Taking on the name "84" is part of it.
  • Chekhov's Gunman: She appears briefly in the background a few times before her official introduction, and is officially named when Tyler sees his Alternate Self "Elemental Powers" threaten her to force Ambriel's compliance.
  • The Chosen One: She's now the Champion of Earth, due to winning Veles's trial. Apparently this means that she'll have to undergo some sort of challenge/fight with him every year from now on.
  • Does Not Know Her Own Strength: Is an enthusiastic hugger, has super-strength, and sometimes forgets that who/what she hugs isn't indestructible.
  • Deuteragonist: After Tyler, she's the most likely character to get her own story arcs.
  • Flying Brick: The 84th recorded, specifically.
  • The Glomp: Very prone to delivering (literally) bone-crushing hugs when happy or excited, much to Tyler's distress.
  • The Mentor: Despite being only a child herself, she's more or less appointed to be Forak's by the government - in part because she has the same powerset and knows how to use it, and in part because she's one of the more moral characters around.
  • Only Sane Man: Much more level-headed than most with super powers. She has considerable success because she figures out how to properly apply her powers for maximum effectiveness.
  • "No More Holding Back" Speech: Unusual in that she gives it to herself - when engaging in psychic combat, an avatar of her self-confidence gives her the strength needed to save the day and choose her super identity of 84.
  • Puppy Love: She's shown strong hints to being attracted to Moon Shadow and Tyler Marlocke. She doesn't know that they're the same person.
  • You Are Number 6: Eventually, she comes to embrace her status as a relatively non-unique super, and takes on the superhero name 84.
  • You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: 84's reaction to the fact that she's just been appointed by the Department of Metahuman Affairs to teach Forak to deal with Earth's more fragile building materials, respect non-metahumans more, and in general become an effective hero is "I have to do all that?" Despite the fact that she's only expected to do her best, she does make some progress.

    Emerald Gauntlet 

Kevin Kramer/Emerald Gauntlet

Age: 7

"Let's blast it!"

The son of the first Emerald Gauntlet, he is a trigger-happy kid with an Imagination-Based Superpower.

  • Expy: Green Lantern. Just uses a gauntlet instead of a ring.
  • Hot-Blooded: He tends to rush headlong into pretty much everything.
  • Hypocritical Humor: He's suspicious of Prospero, thinking he's the herald of an alien invasion. The other kids point out that one of his classmates is already half-alien, and his father got his power gauntlet from aliens.
  • Imagination-Based Superpower: He can make shields, hands, blast things...fitting for a Green Lantern expy.
  • The Knights Who Say "Squee!": Probably the most enthusiastic fan of Moon Shadow in the cast. One of his prized possessions is one of Moon Shadow's business cards.
  • Take a Third Option: Despite his eagerness to enter the action, he's aware that violence isn't the answer in every situation - he knows that being a Barrier Warrior is sometimes a better answer, and he's the one who came up with the idea of a peaceful solution to the Argos/Emerald Ones' conflict (which he enacted with 84).

    The Flea 

Alejandro Torres/The Flea

Age: 8

"Is now when you tell me to 'stay out of trouble' and 'go back home' and 'it's too dangerous' and stuff?"

A cheerful young boy who can speak to and command insects, cling to walls, bounce off things, and similar insect-related powers. He is first introduced trailing "those guys in golden armor," who his teachers think he is making up.

  • The Beastmaster/Speaks Fluent Animal: Talks to and commands insects. This is quite useful to him - flies make excellent bugs, and even high-tech powered armor can be inconvenienced by a big swarm of bees.
  • Cassandra Truth: The first to learn about Praetorian Academy, but no one believes him at first.
  • Expy: Effectively what happens when Spider-Man meets Ambush Bug.
  • Friend to Bugs: When Charles is angry that he's being attacked by ants, Flea replies "Those are my friends you're talking about."
  • Fun Personified: He's a winning combination of this and Nice Guy. One of the friendliest, most upbeat and all around fun kids at PS238; it's telling that even Cecil, who doesn't exactly have a great opinion of superhumans, enjoys his company.
  • The Gadfly: Likes to play pranks, like putting ice cubes with spiders in them in the punch bowl at the Powers' party.
  • Heart Is an Awesome Power: Talking and commanding bugs may seem like a fairly dull power (and it's suggested that he's got some level of strength and durability on at least the level of Spider-Man, when accounting for some of the things he can do, so he has others that are more straightforward useful). However, Flea is extremely clever with how he applies it - using nearby insects as spies, distractions, and to non-lethally incapacitate opponents.
  • In a Single Bound: Like his superhero sobriquet's source, The Flea is capable of quickly jumping many times his own height. His vertical jump is at least 30 feet, based on how cleanly he's able to clear the treeline in a forested area, and likely much higher.
  • Literal Surveillance Bug: The Flea's psychic link to insects is powerful enough that he can get useful information from them, even at fairly considerable ranges.
  • Little Bit Beastly: Those antennae aren't a part of his costume.
  • Made of Iron: Not explicitly one of his listed powers, but it's worth noting that Praetorian Academy flung him off of an aircraft moving at least at cruising speed and altitude, Flea most certainly did not land on his feet, bounced a bit, and is none the worse for wear from his unexpected and impromptu no-parachute skydiving excursion.
  • Shout-Out: His mask design appears to be based on Rider 1's (the manga version, anyway).
  • Wall Crawl: Has the same wallcrawling ability as Spider-Man. Including perching halfway up a wall or standing on the ceiling instead of sitting.

    Guardian Angel 

Ambriel Valentine/Guardian Angel

Age: ?

"You can't touch me, you can't hurt me, and the more you try the worse it's gonna be for you."

The girl with an invisible friend who smacks people who get too close. No one knows how her power works, but she can also fool security systems.

  • Barrier Warrior: She can't do anything offensive, so she just stands in front of any bad guys.
  • Batter Up!: She gets a baseball bat that explodes whatever it hits.
  • Big Sister Instinct: At least part of why she throws herself into danger is that she knows her friends might get hurt if she doesn't. In an alternate universe, Tyler is able to use threatening the other students to get her to back down.
  • Blessed with Suck: Can't get hurt, can't get injured, can't get sick. The sucky part comes about because she never developed resistance to diseases.
  • Blood Knight: Later issues show her getting a bit too enthusiastic about violence.
  • Bubble Boy: What the Blessed with Suck aspects of her Barrier Warrior powers have effectively turned her into.
  • Death by Depower: Because her powers protect her from all harm, she never developed resistances to disease. After her powers are temporarily turned off, she catches a common cold and dies. Thankfully she gets better.
  • Invisibility: Of a sort - not only can she be completely hidden from cameras, she can hide other people from them if them being caught would get her in trouble.
  • Jumped at the Call: Knowing she can't get hurt, she's usually the first one to go looking for trouble.
  • Little Miss Snarker: She can keep up with Zodon in Snark-to-Snark Combat.
  • Nigh-Invulnerable: In one alternate universe, not even a Tyler stronger than the rest of the class combined could hurt her.
  • Time Police: She becomes a member of such an organization, though dedicated to interdimensional travel instead of time travel.

    Malphast 

Malphast

Age: ?

"To be honest, I didn't know I could do it. It sort of 'happened.' I think I need to learn more about what I am from Ms. Imperia."

The son of a demon and an angel. The first one ever, in fact.

  • Captain Ersatz: Looks like Spawn. Has the origin of Genesis. Acts considerably nicer.
  • Goo-Goo-Godlike: Nobody knows exactly how powerful Malphast is, or how powerful he might become, but his age and relative inexperience makes people treat him with kid gloves.
  • Odd Friendship: With Cecil.
  • Power Incontinence: Accidentally summons a tentacled... thing while listening to music.
  • Reality Warper: Among others. Part of his remit is that there hasn't been a demon/angel hybrid before, so no-one knows what he can do.

    Absolute Powers (Spoiler character) 

Toby Marlocke/Absolute Powers

"To get what I wanted, I had to give up something: the best friend I could have."

Toby Powers is the former remote-control clone body of Tyler, made during a time Tyler was frozen from an alien disease. Toby was given autonomy and sentience by the actions of the forces of Order and Chaos and formally adopted by Tyler's family. Due to errors during the cloning process he was "blessed" with Reality Warper powers based on Equivalent Exchange, and lost several of Tyler's memories.

  • Badass Fingersnap: How he changes his clothes, and also sometimes how he uses his powers.
  • Clones Are People, Too: Thanks to several legal precedents on the subject, there are apparently quick ways to get him into the system. Personally, nobody seems to pay much mind to him except as Tyler's brother. In fact, the only ones bothered by him are Cecil and Tyler.
  • Equivalent Exchange: For every change he makes with his powers, something else has to balance it out. With some effort, he can sometimes get a sense of what that exchange will be.
  • Flashy Teleportation: From the 02132012 comic, with a sound effect and triggered by a Badass Fingersnap in one instance.
  • Flight: One of the few things he can do without causing problems.
  • Identity Amnesia: Of a sort. Because he's a clone that grew parts of his brain from whole cloth, Toby only has some of Tyler's memories. One set of memories that Toby lacks is that Tyler, his genetic source, is Moon Shadow.
  • Power Incontinence: Every time he uses his powers to affect something,something equally bad or random happens in proportion to the scale of the task. Teleporting himself causes someone's phone to turn into a banana. Trying to give his brother powers gave every unpowered person in the world powers and depowered every superhero, and he was forced to change it back.
  • Reality Warper: He can do pretty much anything. One time (off screen) he gave every unpowered person powers, took away every powered persons' powers, and then put it back again.
  • Replacement Goldfish: Played with. Though he's a clone designed to impersonate Tyler, he is the empowered son Tyler's parents have always wanted. As a result, Tyler worries they'll like Toby more.
    • As it turns out, Toby was worried about the same thing. He used his powers to prevent that happening at the cost of permanently alienating himself from Cecil, hence the quote. Issue #51 shows it might not take, however.
  • Sudden Name Change: As of Volume 11, Toby's superhero name has suddenly become "Quantum Powers" instead of "Absolute Powers," and every character who interacts with him acts as if it's always been that way.
  • Walking Spoiler: He throws around the Status Quo quite a bit by his arrival, not to mention being a side-effect of an Alien Invasion the cast still haven't entirely recovered from.
  • Winds of Destiny, Change!: He seems to have the ability to sense destinies as well, and can manipulate them as part of his power set. Naturally, doing so comes with a cost.
  • Younger Than They Look: Strictly speaking, he's only a few months old, as he's only recently been cloned. Physically, he's the same age as Tyler.

    Moon Shadow 

Tyler Marlocke/Moon Shadow

Age: 8

"Look, I can't do any of the stuff you do. I don't have... you know...powers."

A normal boy with two very famous heroes, Sovereign and Ultima Powers, for parents. Tyler has no powers at all and is a baseline human, but his parents, believing in his "destiny" to become a superhero, send him to PS238 anyway where he gets embroiled in a lot of trouble because of it. Tyler becomes an apprentice to The Revenant and takes on the superhero persona of "Moon Shadow" as a way to cope.

  • Action Survivor: Tyler's early appearances mostly focus on him just trying to get through the daily routine of PS238 alive. He grows out of it as he becomes more proactive, including running towards danger of his own volition.
  • Badass Normal: In training, at least. His future will be to graduate to this, becoming The Revenant's full partner, if his phone call during his stay at Tom's castle is any indication.
  • Big Brother Instinct: A sure fire way to make him suit up and beat you soundly? Threaten any of his friends or classmates (current or former), even ones that are technically his enemies (such as Ron during his stint as Argonaut). Several villains learned this the hard way.
  • Butt-Monkey: He starts out as this due to being the only kid in his class without powers. He has moments of this later, mostly to toughen him up.
  • Chew Toy: Especially early on during his training with The Revenant.
  • Cowardly Lion: Tyler does not hide the fact that he regularly fears for his life in the various situations he finds himself in. Even as he trains, he's scared even as he reflexively leaps into dangerous situations to be heroic. One example is when Julie Finster is affected by Argonite - he jumps off an aircraft to save Julie immediately, while The Revenant comments that his jet's sensors are able to calculate about how high up Tyler is based on the pitch of Tyler's screams of fear.
  • Crazy-Prepared: Part of his training in becoming a Badass Normal, of course, is picking up stuff that may just be useful down the road. Some of it was mandatory gear that The Revenant made him take, but he's getting very good at holding on to things for possible future use (as well as figuring out alternate uses for his tools).
  • "End of the World" Special: Tom makes Tyler be the one to decide whether metahumans and superpowers should continue to exist or whether they should fade away again. Tyler chooses the former.
  • Expy: He's basically Nodwick (voice of reason that lacks powers and tends to end up in the center of all ongoing troubles) with all the Butt-Monkey tendencies and the snarking toned down severely.
  • The Hero: The closest thing the comic has to a main character.
  • Hilariously Abusive Childhood: Implied at several points, and finally outright stated in Chapter 2 of the online incarnation of the comic, is that Tyler's parents attempted just about every Super-Empowering Super Hero Origin that they could think of. All Tyler got out of it were lots of visits to the doctor to make sure he wasn't hurt.
  • Indy Ploy: Tyler's greatest asset outside of being the Only Sane Man is that he's extremely good at thinking on his feet. The Bureau of Alien Monitoring deception that both the teachers of PS238 and the Revenant used to their benefit? Tyler came up with that on the spot when Cecil was questioning him. Given that he took a quick look around when fighting Charles and came up plans to counter what Charles was likely able to do based on that, he's training to become an expert at Xanatos Speed Chess.
  • The Jinx: A very directed and specific one, aimed mainly at Captain Clarinet. Zodon also thinks Tyler is one, but as Tyler actively meddles with some of Zodon's more villainous schemes, it's more like Spanner in the Works.
  • Loves My Alter Ego: A non-romantic version.
    • Most of the students see Tyler merely as The Team Normal, likeable but not really special in any way. However, they admire Moon Shadow very much, especially Emerald Gauntlet and 84.
    • Inverted with Ron/Captain Clarinet. He hates Moon Shadow but is Tyler's second closest friend after Cecil.
  • Muggle Born of Mages: Basically why's he's at PS238. His parents are convinced he's going to have powers eventually, but he's pretty clearly a normal kid. At least at first.
  • My Card: The Revenant has provided Tyler with some to hand out as Moon Shadow; they're primarily intended to impress people who receive them.
  • Only Sane Man: In a lot of ways. He's remarkably normal for being raised by two crazy superheroes.
  • Paper-Thin Disguise: He cannot understand how none of the other kids can tell he's Moon Shadow.
  • Parental Neglect: Ultima and Sovereign aren't what you'd call "hands-on" parents for Tyler, at all, and seem completely deluded in their continued insistence that it's his "destiny: to gain superpowers one day while basically sending him away to school and never visiting. Toby really doesn't help matters, being everything his parents dreamed of.
  • Shrouded in Myth: His Moon Shadow persona; the other PS238 kids are sure that he has a host of undefined powers and abilities.
  • Spanner in the Works: Yeah, Zodon's plans get screwed up whenever Tyler gets involved... although Zodon can't even conceive that it's due to intentional sabotage on Tyler's fault, guided by Tom's advice.
  • Superpowerful Genetics: Subverted: His parents are incredibly powerful superheroes, but he's a completely normal kid. Played straight in most alternate realities.
  • Two-Person Love Triangle: Puppy Love version - there are several indications that Julie Finster is attracted to both Tyler and Moon Shadow, not realizing that they're the same person.
  • Wise Beyond Their Years: If he wasn't, he'd be dead, even in a relatively lighthearted comic like this.
    Revenant: Don't you find it at all funny that a child is lecturing an adult on airplane safety?
    Moon Shadow: NO!
    Revenant: You're a very unusual kid. I need to get you on some roller coasters or something.

    Murphy 

Morpheus, Prince of Daydreams

Age: Not really applicable

"I am acquainted with all stories form this world and others as they form the tableau of what you quaintly call 'reality.' The dreams of all sentient beings come together to shape what we see when we walk apart from the realms of sleep, and the whimsical novels of which we speak give their small contribution to making whole that which we see as the universe."

The shattered god of dreams. His sister dropped him off at PS238 while the rest of his family searches for his missing parts.

  • Anthropomorphic Personification: He was the god of dreams.
  • Cloud Cuckoo Lander: He's not entirely "there."
  • I See Dead People: Ambriel tries to get his and Ms. Imperia's attention. It apparently doesn't work, but once she's gone the readers find out that he did see her—he apparently just didn't think that she was worth mentioning.
  • Depower: The reason he's in an elementary school; he's been reduced to the child-sized "Prince of Daydreams."
  • Pieces of God: He's been completely broken apart; it's suggested that the largest piece is what currently attends PS 238. At one point, one of his other pieces was brought back to him, allowing him to merge and get some of his memories back.
  • Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: He can get...verbose.
  • Time Abyss: Despite his child-like size, he's about as old as the universe itself.

    Poly Mer 

Poly Mekkis/Poly Mer

Age: ?

"One time I grabbed our mailbox when Mom was driving to the mall, and when we got there, my arm was—"

A rubberized girl who enjoys playing around with everyone. Manages to stay fun even in the middle of an alien invasion.

  • Cloudcuckoolander: A bit on the odd side.
  • Genki Girl: Excessively cheerful and has lots of fun with her powers.
  • Mundane Utility: She uses her powers to keep herself entertained. For example, that isn't gum that she inflates into a bubble.
  • Rubber Man: Provides her with immunity to electrical attacks, clothing, and bubblegum for when she's bored.
  • Steven Ulysses Perhero: Implied to have been an invoked trope by her father, given her mother's negative reaction to her father, in Poly's retelling of her name's explanation.
  • Technically Naked Shapeshifter: Says, "I'm glad I don't have to worry about costumes", implying that what looks like a costume is just her body. This grosses out her friend 84.

    Prospero 

Prospero

Age: Unknown

"This is a sample of DNA that came from what you call a 'cafeteria.' It has evolved several times since I constructed this device. I have concerns for those consuming it."

An alien who arrives at the school with little warning and got enrolled onto the school owing to his child-like size and temperament. He has a gun that shoots little balls he uses to get peoples' attention.

    Angie 

Angie Sinthousy

Age: 11

"Ha! Never fails! You got owned, Dude! Now let's finish da Acessorizin'."

A friendly, nearly incomprehensible troublemaker who builds robots out of junk and spare parts. Friends with Prospero.

    Suzi Fusion 

Suzi Finster/Suzi Fusion

Age: 6

"Doctor Positron says my internal body temperature can melt lead!"

The walking nuclear reactor, and proud member of the Nuclear Family. Cousin to Julie.

  • Atomic Superpower: Suzi has nuclear generation powers and can use them for flight.
  • Cheerful Child: Most of the time.
  • The Cutie: Being one of the younger students.
  • Demoted to Extra: A core member of the cast in the first few issues, but recently here appearances have been usually relegated to The Cameo.
  • Flight: She usually doesn't, since she sheds excessive radiation in the process.
  • Gasleak Coverup: Tends to prompt these.
  • Goggles Do Something Unusual: It has something to do with her powers.
  • Power Incontinence: Part of why she prompts Gasleak Coverups is that she tends to get a bit out of control when she loses her temper. Seeing as she's one of the youngest students, she's still learning the ins and outs of her powers. In one alternate dimension, she was hurt badly enough by that dimension's Tyler (who was considerably less nice but way more powerful) that she had to permanently wear a containment suit due to this problem.
  • Superpowerful Genetics: Her parents are both powered heroes, and several aunts and uncles on both sides also have similar powers. She's also 84's cousin.

    USA Patriot Act 

Dillon Fillmore/USA Patriot Act

Age: 10

"The defender of patriotism has arrived! And he's here to hone his skills and fight injustice!"

One of two kids trying to replace Freedom Fighter, the universe's Captain Ersatz of Captain America, in order to give USA's "official" superhero a political backing. His powers appear to lie in the Super-Strength and Super-Toughness domains, and he can throw his costume's epaulets. According to the RPG supplement, he is backed by the Republican Party.

    Victor 

Victor Mycroft Von Fogg

Age: 8

"Join Von Fogg or be vaporized from space."

Proud son of the Von Fogg family, owner of several large businesses, and rival to Zodon.

  • A God Am I: Inverted. Victor invented a machine that granted him omnipotence for short periods of time in volume 10. However, with the ensuing gain of perspective he becomes a benign entity that spends his time encoding poems and music into the background radiation of the cosmos and saves galaxies from destruction. Once back to normal his own achievements only serve to annoy him.
    • Played Straight later in the arc, when he find a way to become a demigod without the above problem.
  • Arbitrarily Large Bank Account: Von Fogg already owns stock in several corporations, and he's one of the heirs to a supervillain who owns an entire country. Part of his allowance is expressed in power generation, enough to run a supercomputer capable of granting godlike power (but not continuously).
  • Big Bad: It's what he's striving for.
  • Character Development: Has gone from a more maniacal Evil Laugh type of villain to a Deadpan Snarker capable of rivaling Zodon.
  • Enemy Mine: Without asking, even. "So yes, we saved the planet. Again. Do I get a t-shirt if I do it a third time?"
  • Gadgeteer Genius: Though not on the same level as some of the others.
  • Insufferable Genius: Not quite on the same level as Zodon on either count, but he's quite capable (he made Toby's body, after all) and frequently rude and/or dismissive to other students. He's more disdainful than actively aggressive, but few students bother with him regardless.
  • Jerkass: He's marginally more polite than Zodon, but he's still a villain in training, and he acts with various levels of disdain towards "the plebians" he goes to school with.
  • The Rival: To Zodon.
  • Thicker Than Water: According to his conversations with Alexandria, Von Foggs will never cheat family.

    The Whiz 

Franklin Springer/The Whiz

Age: 8

"Let's play kickball! Me against everybody!"

The local speedster. Tends to forget to slow down.

  • Competition Freak: Specifically, races.
    Dr Positron: Whiz, the reason I had you race with 84 was because previous testing shows that you don't give us your best efforts unless you think you're competing against someone.
    Whiz: You mean it was a trick? I'm never doing anything like this again!
    Dr Positron: Then I'll have no choice but to give the first and second place trophies to 84.
    Whiz: Rematch! Tomorrow!
  • Mundane Utility: Enjoys using his speed powers to play sports - he offers to play every position at once and have the others play against him as a team.
  • Power Incontinence: His hair and nails grow so fast that he has to have the nurse trim them several times per day.
  • Super-Speed: Not to the levels of The Flash, but pretty fast.

    Zodon 

Zodon

Age: 5

"My brain is going to hemorrhage. If I wasn't given the chance to do independent study in the labs, I'd go caroling ape-beans."

A young evil genius confined to a hoverchair. Has a chip implanted in his brain early on to curb his excessive swearing.

  • Bad Liar: Zodon either can't be bothered to lie in any way that sounds plausible, or (when annoyed) is extremely transparent. It's strongly suggested in the end of the Las Vegas arc when he starts working with Crystal Skull to draw out whoever is cheating the Skull's casino that it's mostly contempt for when he doesn't see the point in lying - he's much more smooth and convincing then.
  • Berserk Button: Any mention of his parents, where they are or what he did to them.
  • Big Bad: In training. Has a one-upping rivalry going with Victor Von Fogg as a result.
  • Butt-Monkey: He deserves it every time.
  • Character Development: Becomes noticeably less manic, and also less villainous over time.
  • The Cynic: He is completely unapologetic about his own behavior.
  • Deadpan Snarker: When he's not swearing up a storm.
  • Enemy Mine: Teams up with several of the more morally centered students to prevent Von Fogg from destroying a particular universe. Specifically, the one he sent his parents to.
  • Et Tu, Brute?: His parents talking openly about preferring if he'd not have powers apparently made him somewhat bitter.
  • Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Despite overhearing his parents discussing how things would have been better if he wasn't a meta, he still can't bring himself to do any harm to his mother and father, no matter how betrayed he felt. Of course, sending them to another dimension where they can have their wish isn't harmful to them...
  • Evil Genius: And one in direct opposition to another one (Victor Von Fogg).
  • Genius Cripple: Being an expy of MODOK, Zodon never leaves (or is seen outside) his hover-chair. It's fairly probable his real limbs have atrophied quite badly by now.
  • Harmless Villain: In the beginning of the series, due to being constantly thwarted. Later on, simply because he's too cynical to try anything that does real damage to anyone. His last "villainous" act in the series was trying his hand at card counting, and even then it backfired on him.
  • Insufferable Genius: He's pretty damned good at anything scientific, able to create a hover chair and even figure out how to do Time Travel. That said, he's a raging narcissist who insults everyone, regardless of what they're capable of or even if they're working together at the time. It's shown in flashback that even his parents had a hard time tolerating him.
  • Jerkass: Sees everyone else as his lesser, and only ever cooperates when he can't resist.
  • Leet Lingo: Code C-134N (Clean). It seals his float chair and effectively puts him through a wash cycle, followed by a spin dry.
  • Morality Pet: His treatment of his parents and Alternate Zodon is pretty much the closest thing he gets to this trope. It still included kidnapping and Laser-Guided Amnesia.
  • My Brain Is Big: It must account for about half his body weight.
  • Pet the Dog: Mind you, he is still a Jerkass about it, but he does do one nice thing. When picking an alternate universe in which to send his parents, he chooses one where his alternate self was both screwed over by the alternate parents and was orphaned, so that said alternate self could get the decent parents that he deserved.
  • Self-Made Orphan: A non-lethal kind. He brainwashed and transported his muggle parents to a parallel dimension with no superpowers, whose local Zodon was an orphan.
  • Shout-Out: His hologram is patterned after the various nerdy kids that appeared in The Far Side.
  • Sir Swears-a-Lot: Zodon swears on average once every second sentence. Having all his swears censored means it's sort of forgettable after a while.
  • Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: To Victor and Tyler.
  • Symbol Swearing: It's how his swearing is depicted before he gets the Barry Ween chip.
  • Unusual Euphemism: Due to the Barry Ween chip. When he really gets going, it switches to Show Tunes.
  • Wise Beyond His Years: According to the role-playing game, Zodon is five years old. Subverted in that while he's learned a lot of more advanced words and knows how the world of adults work, in temperament he is still quite true to his age.

Praetorian Academy

    The Headmaster 

The Headmaster

The mysterious leader of Praetorian Academy. Not revealed until well after Praetorian has become a staple of the comic. He is a cyborged human of unknown origins interested in the PS238 students, and metahumanity in general.

  • Body Horror: His body was unwillingly assimilated by an AI into a snakelike cyborg with claws for hands. He barely has any human features left.
  • The Chessmaster: His plans seem to be very far-reaching and it's unknown just how many irons he's got in the fire. Praetorian Academy is one arm of a project to prevent the destruction of Earth by a future metahuman arms race, and the Von Foggs appear to be pawns in his scheme.
  • Fantastic Racism: Seems to dislike metahumans in general. Perhaps understandable, given he was a baseline human himself.
  • Hidden Agenda Villain: Until around issue 50.
  • High-Class Glass: He has a lens instead of his left eye, resembling a monocle.
  • Hypocrite: He tried to prevent the construction of PS238 because he feared that Cranston would become a tyrant with his own brainwashed metahuman army. When he failed to stop it, his response was to steal a PS238 prototype, construct Praetorian Academy with him as its dictatorial leader, and brainwash a metahuman army. He even mentions that Cranston believed he was doing things for good reasons, and completely fails to notice the parallel.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: Given the power that current metahumans possess at what he calls "Omega 3" level, his prediction that an "Omega 1" level metahuman might destroy Earth seems frighteningly plausible. He is still going about it in an extremely unethical way.

    The Prefect 

The Prefect

Prefect of Praetorian Academy and aide to the Headmaster. Eventually revealed to be a robot.

  • Evil Counterpart: To Doctor Positron. It's implied he is connected to the other Positrons without leaking anything back.

    Greyhound 

Underguard Greyhound

A somewhat enthusiastic recruiter for Praetorian during the work mess. He seems to have some kind of connection with Tyler.

  • See Others, under Charles Brigman.

    Argonaut 

Praetorian Argonaut

A deeply troubled young boy who was tricked into joining the Academy due to his mother being Mind Controlled.

  • See PS238 students, under Ron.

    Alexandria 

Lady Alexandria Von Fogg

"Von Foggs do not humble themselves."

Victor's older sister, who was sent to Praetorian instead of PS238. She is more of a "team player" than him, but still doesn't hesitant to remind "peasants" of their inferiority to her.

  • Boys Have Cooties: She seems particularly snide to Emerald Gauntlet, and she's rather disgusted with the idea of having children with anyone when The Headmaster discusses what her possible children would be like.
  • Daddy's Little Villain: She seems to be following in her father's footsteps.
  • Deadpan Snarker: She snarks almost constantly and towards everyone.
  • Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Extended to the whole family - Alexandria and Victor affirm that they will never cheat family.
  • Hates Being Nicknamed: Insists on being referred to as Lady Alexandria by anyone she considers her intellectual inferior. So, everyone outside the von Fogg family, basically. She refuses to even use her Praetorian codename (Stratagem) unless she's absolutely required to.
  • Gadgeteer Genius: Just as smart as her brother...
  • Tsundere: She insists to Kevin that she is not helping him, their interests are just temporarily aligned. Also, she's not walking with him—they're just heading to the same place, that's all.

    Bullhorn 

Praetorian Bullhorn

Seen here.

A praetorian more interested in money than purpose or fame.

    Echo 

Praetorian Echo

Seen here

    Frostbite 

Praetorian Frostbite

Seen here.

A girl with ice powers. She's not particularly enthusiastic about being a Praetorian.

    Ajax 

Praetorian Ajax

A F.I.S.S. Praetorian student. His F.I.S.S. number is 82.

  • A Day in the Limelight: Issue 51 begins from his point of view.
  • Deadpan Snarker: At least towards Forak. Although Forak has that sort of effect on everyone.
  • Fan Boy: Of 84. He's planning on making his superhero name 82 when he graduates from Praetorian.
  • The Faceless: He's only been seen with his mask on so far.
  • Genre Savvy: His responses to the Headmaster's Secret Test of Character causes the headmaster to grade him a four on the "Vetinari scale".
  • Hypno Fool: Apparently once mooned his teachers while under another Praetorian student's Mind Control.
  • The Mole: Sent by the Headmaster to keep tabs on the F.I.S.S. group that was started in the wake of Julie's decision to go by 84. It's not totally clear how committed he is to the role.

Potential Champions of Earth

The five great heroes chosen by Veles as potential replacements as Champion of Earth and sent into a mystic egg to prove themselves.

     Julie Finster AKA 84 
See her entry under Students at PS238

    Phlogiston 

Phlogiston

"Don't any of you know what 'narcissistic sociopath' means?"

A member of The Plasma Pack with the ability to manipulate energy and some matter (her own words "mostly to make it explode"). While not the leader she is clearly the brains of the outfit, so much so that Veles chooses her over the team's official leader, the Trigger-Happy Meson as a potential Champion of Earth.

  • Laser-Guided Karma: In the opposite direction of the others hit with this after Veles' test. Although she gets kicked off her team because she embarrassed Plasma Pack's leader during the test, her nice attitude and ability to temper impulsive team members immediately gets her an invitation to join Firedrake's team, the Elementalists.
  • Mundane Utility: Has fine enough control over particle motion that she can "speak" by having the air near someone's ears vibrate in the same way her voice would carry, and pick up whispers in response. She uses this to offer encouragement to 84.
  • Stuff Blowing Up: The principle application of her powers, although she has learned to do a number of other utilitarian things with them too.
  • The Man Behind the Man: A rare heroic example, Phlogiston gives her leader a lot of quiet advice, because he tends to rush in without thinking.
  • Women Are Wiser: Probably because she has spent quite a bit of time steering an unpredictable and impulsive leader while simultaneously trying to come up with ways to make use of her powers without causing serious collateral damage, Phlogiston is a lot more level headed and less egotistical that other major heroes we have seen.

    The Conjurer 

The Conjurer

"I trust you can all take care of yourselves while I show him some real feats of magic?"

The Conjurer is a powerful mystic and leader of Superhero team The High Arcana, a team of magic based heroes.

  • Ambition Is Evil: When he fails the second question of the final guardian, he goes on a rant about how all superheroes are ambitious, and there's nothing wrong with advancing your career while saving the world. To be fair, the guardian doesn't disagree; it just cares that his answer was incomplete, and therefore wrong.
  • Expy: Of Doctor Fate in the specific due to his appearance, what with the helmet and all. His arrogance and dismissing of others with "less subtle" powers calls to mind a number of other magical heroes.
  • Dark Secret: When the guardian of the final gate asks its first question, for which of the remaining three is most guilty of having a false self, Firedrake says himself but is told to be incorrect. As The Conjurer quickly changes the subject when 84 wonders who the correct answer is, plus the guardian specifically says that 84 doesn't have either the number or depths of self-deceptions the other two had, it's clear that The Conjurer is hiding something.
  • Good Is Not Nice: While a grade A superhero and therefore has likely saved the world a few times he can be really dismissive of those he considers beneath him, which is most people.
  • Insufferable Genius: He's the participant in the competition to replace Atlas as Champion of Earth with the most knowledge about the task at hand, and he even is able to educate one of the obstacles about how the magic affected everyone, including said obstacle. That said, well, see below.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: While not quite as bad as Neuronet, his actions and attitude during Veles' test also gets him kicked off the team that he formerly led.
  • The Proud Elite: He clearly considers magic use to be the pinnacle of human endeavor and makes no secret of his opinion of other types of super power, or indeed of magic users he considers less accomplished than himself.

    Firedrake 

Firedrake

"You can get your Harry Potter stuff ready while I'm making wizard stir fry!"

A member of The Elementalists with the ability to control fire. A jock who tends to rush in to things and say things without thinking, it is unclear if he is the leader of the team or not but he is one of the heroes chosen by Veles as a potential Champion of Earth and he did seem to be picking the people in control.

  • Catchphrase: "Fire in the hole, baby!" Apparently his teammates wish he would stop saying it.
  • Expy: Of The Human Torch.
  • The Gadfly: Because his powers are extremely destructive, he can't just let loose with his full strength because the collateral damage would probably be worse than if the villain were allowed to escape. Frequently, he has to serve as a distraction while his less-destructive teammates stop the foe. He sometimes has a hard time stopping this behavior, as seen when he first interacts with 84.
  • Hero Insurance: He explains his mouthiness as a side effect of not having this - see above.
  • How Do I Shot Web?: During Veles' test, he tacitly admits that he only knows how to go full power with his flame abilities. His continued membership on his team is conditional on Phlogiston also joining and helping him rein in his power.
  • Inverse Law of Utility and Lethality: His main problem. He's a superhero, and his powers are almost exclusively destructive.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Gives off this vibe. While he is rude and dismissive of 84, the things he says are less along the lines of "Why are we stuck with a little girl" and more "At least the little girl we are stuck with is hard to hurt." He also apologizes to 84 for his comments later. He also is quick to offer Phlogiston a position on his team, although that isn't totally selfless; he all but admits that his continued membership is dependent on getting power instruction from her.
  • Good Is Not Nice: A prominent superhero, but a bit of a mouthy jerk.
  • Playing with Fire: His power set centers around setting things on fire.
  • You Watch Too Much X: One of his teammates feels he watches too many action movies. It shows.

    Neuronet 

Neuronet

"When we're done with you we'll erase the memory of your humiliating defeat so it doesn’t ruin your time in prison!"

Leader of The Psikinetics, a team of psychic superheroes. A powerful telekinetic and telepath.

Others

    Atlas 

Ul-Ron Peterson/Atlas

Captain Clarinet's father, and a Captain Ersatz for Superman. The last survivor of planet Argos, sent there before the planet's destruction as an infant, he was raised by a human father and became a superhero as an adult.

  • The Cameo: In Williams' other work, Nodwick's Q-Force 4 spin-off. He essentially acts as damage control to the "heroes" by making sure they get assigned missions where they're unable to actually harm innocents when they inevitably cock up.
  • The Cape: Like his inspiration. Deconstructed as his inability to stop being heroic wrecks his marriage and leaves him unable to see that his son doesn't actually want to follow in his footsteps.
  • Flying Brick: The most well-known example In-Universe, and Earth's most powerful one.
  • Hidden Backup Prince: The reason he was sent to Earth as a baby.
  • Internal Reformist: Decides to stay behind on Argos to cover for Ron's escape and to try and save the planet's oppressed underclass.
  • Kryptonite Factor: He is vulnerable to "Argonite", the irradiated pieces left over from Argon. Except it turns out it's a synthetic material created by the U.S. army, and it works on all Flying Bricks.
  • Parents as People: He tries his best with Ron, but his job keeps him busy and he's blind to the fact that Ron doesn't really want to be a superhero like himself. Eventually this leads to his divorce from Ron's mother.
  • Sink or Swim Mentor: His idea of teaching his son how to be a hero, according to Ron, was to basically just throw him at the villains and let his powers do the rest. Ron reacted very poorly, and his mother made sure that wouldn't happen again.
  • Superman Substitute: Married to a Lois Lane Expy.
  • Tomato in the Mirror: It turns out Argos isn't destroyed, and he isn't so much its "last survivor" as "scion of its royal house sent away to keep him out of reach of assassins." And the government already knew that, and furthermore invented Argonite, a material harmful to him, out of fear that he or his species would try to conquer the Earth. He is understandably annoyed by these revelations.

    Cecil 

Agent Cecil Holmes

Age: 8

An alien-obsessed, paranoid conspiracy nut. Tyler's best friend.

  • Badass Longcoat: Which he is never seen without. The longcoat later becomes badass unto itself and turns into Cape Wings, to which Cecil swears he's never taking it off again.
  • Broken Pedestal: For a second, after being told by the Revenant of the truth of what he's been really doing for the "Bureau of Alien Monitoring", to the point of trying to return his badge. This lasts until the Revenant makes him realize just how important he really is now, and that while the Bureau of Alien Monitoring doesn't really exist, the Bureau for the Assessment of Metahumans does.
  • Cthulhumanoid: But only when he's traveling though dimensions.
  • Conspiracy Theorist: According to some of his friends, he gets obsessed with "secrets." Then he manages to stumble upon a real one. Fortunately, Tyler throws him off the trail by talking about alien activities.
  • Girls Have Cooties: Completely freaks out upon discovering that he's touching a girl's shirt.
  • Kid Detective: He might be paranoid, but he's also detail-oriented and methodical. He did uncover the PS238 conspiracy, after all.
  • Leeroy Jenkins: Particularly once he starts talking to The Revenant and learns that he can keep gear taken from foes, he tends to rush into situations without fully assessing what's going on.
  • Meaningful Name: His first name means 'Blind' in Latin, fitting for one who spends most of the plot 'blind' to what is really going on. As for his second name... hm, wonder what someone named Holmes could be like.
  • Nosy Neighbor: Constantly checks up on people due to the conspiracies he sees.
  • Parental Neglect: His parents are so exhausted with him that they are more than happy to hand him off to a random stranger without bothering to check who he is. Thankfully that stranger was the Revenant, but still.
  • Properly Paranoid: Turns out, the conspiracy he sees is real. He's just wrong about that they are.
  • Psychic Powers: Turns out, he has a passive ability to detect nearby metahumans. This is why he makes friends with the non-powered Tyler, who doesn't give off the weird vibe that all the other kids do.
  • Wise Beyond Their Years: Once you get past his obsession with conspiracies, anyway. It says something that he's probably the most competent and professional federal agent in the comic.
  • Wrong Genre Savvy: Although the only thing he's wrong about is that The Masquerade hides superheroes instead of aliens.

    Charles 

Charles Brigman

A deeply unpleasant middle school student and a delinquent. He becomes Tyler's "Arch-Enemy" (by popular vote from Tyler's classmates), despite not being metahuman. He later awakens to metahuman powers due to manipulation by the Lords of Order and Chaos, has a brief stint as a wannabe supervillain, and is last seen abducted by the "Guys in Gold Armor".

  • Bullying a Dragon: He (unwisely) tries picking on Malphast while normal. He also thinks he's done this when he abducts Tyler, not knowing that Tyler has no powers.
  • Delinquents: His first appearance in the comic has him shoplifting. He only gets worse from there.
  • Explosive Leash: Courtesy of Praetorian.
  • Jerkass: Immediately tries using his powers for personal gratification and petty revenge.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: He's pretty much the main reason anyone would agree with Praetorian's measures. Charles would be a severe danger to people if unsupervised, even at his young age.
  • Stealthy Teleportation: He can teleport himself and anyone he touches without any sound or light effects, to any location he's visited in person, including across dimensional borders. He also maintains momentum between "jumps."

    Von Fogg 

Dr. Philippe Von Fogg

"What kind of world is it where a man who can build a zeppelin-mounted death ray can't even operate a simple camcorder?"

Father of Victor and Alexandria, head of the Von Fogg empire, and long time rival of the elder Emerald Gauntlet. Also a little kooky.

    The Revenant 

The Revenant

"I sometimes think access to cash is the greatest superpower of all."

A friendly Badass Normal who becomes Tyler's mentor so that he doesn't get killed going to a school for super kids. He bears a striking resemblance to Batman/Moon Knight, right down to most powered heroes not trusting him or thinking he's crazy. He was originally created by Michael Stackpole for the short story "Peer Review" and subsequently donated to the strip.

  • Badass Normal: He notes that metahumans get a little upset that he fights supervillains without powers of his own.
  • Batman Parody: But much more cheerful.
  • Casual Danger Dialogue: It seems that he's in the middle of fighting off a villain whenever anyone calls him (except when Cranston called for the first time, when The Revenant was just finished with doing so). He never has any problem doing superheroics while holding a conversation.
  • The Chessmaster: He's involved with practically every storyline, in one way or another.
    • He quietly appropriated the Bureau of Alien Monitoring that Tyler invented, in order to put Cecil's talents to good use.
    • He donated a lot of money to Cranston's presidential campaign just so he could get five minutes of face time with the president if he ever needed it.
  • Crazy-Prepared: Nothing rattles this guy. Any problem that comes up, he's probably got at least six solutions on hand.
  • Crimefighting with Cash: See the quote.
  • Excuse Me While I Multitask: As noted, he can effortlessly carry on a completely unrelated phone conversation while whupping supervillain ass.
  • Hero of Another Story: Almost every time we see him, he's putting the beatdown on some new unnamed supervillain.
  • Kirk Summation: As revealed by the Crystal Skull, The Revenant will hand out these to villains to get them to stop crime and use their powers and skills legally to profit. As the Skull mentions, it took in at least his case.
  • Sink or Swim Mentor: On occasion, The Revenant will just push Tyler forward - when teaching him about grapples, quite literally, right off a building. He avoids doing this around villains, though, and it also becomes less frequent as Tyler starts to jump in on his own.
  • Trickster Mentor: He's not above occasionally lying to Tyler to teach him things, particularly if he thinks Tyler's ignorance will help his confidence (both real and projected). For example, he didn't reveal until after Tyler's first flight that the autopilot wasn't on.

    The Rainmaker 

Harold Nelson/The Rainmaker

"The government wants to know how superpowers work, so they poke and prod the folks with powers that can't fight back. Like us."

An orphan with the power to make it rain, he was taken in by the government during the 1960s and, under the auspices of the "Rainmaker Program", tested to see if they could discover the source of his powers. After escaping thanks to a Mad Scientist, Harold spends the following thirty years on the run before discovering the "Rainmaker Program" is active again in PS238 and comes gunning for it.

  • Almighty Janitor: To hide his identity after his Heel–Face Turn.
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: To an extent, done by Doctor Irons over the course of about 30 years, in a bid to eventually make a super-powered body to replace his old one. Once freed from it, he makes a Heel–Face Turn and joins the school's faculty as a janitor.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: He can use his power-amplifying ability to this effect, making it such that any activation of a power is beyond the user's control.
  • Power Nullifier: After being exposed to Doctor Irons' prototype MRI, he gained the ability to ramp up or negate metahuman abilities.
  • Strapped to an Operating Table: More benign example than most, but his treatment wasn't exactly "humane."
  • Super-Empowering: He got the ability to do this to other supers as well after the incident with the prototype MRI. He can't give powers to normal people, but he can ramp up the effect of other people's powers, to the point of inducing Power Incontinence even in people who ordinarily don't suffer it.
  • Weather Manipulation: His innate power is a lower-grade version of this - he doesn't have as much fine-tuning to it as others do, and he is restricted to what weather can be made in the local conditions (so no snow in the tropics in July), but he can direct rain up to making conditions ripe for a tornado. He also has enough precision to hit a general area and its environs - he manages to completely drench a golf course as a teen.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: He's convinced the new Rainmaker program is just as bad as the old one.
  • What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: Deconstructed. His background is exactly because his power, making or stopping rain, made it possible to imprison and experiment on him.

    Dr. Irons 

Dr. Irons

"I've said all along you'll do great things, my boy, great things... Just so long as you listen to me."

A Mad Scientist operating in the 1960ies, Irons replaced his entire body with primitive robotics. As part of his sentence he was brought in to oversee the Rainmaker Project, where he promptly overcharged Harold's powers and escaped with him in the confusion.

  • Brain Uploading: In his backstory - his old and out-of-shape body was replaced with a robotic one prior to his introduction. He then does it again, uploading from his damaged mechanical head to a new organic one build by directing the kids in the new Rainmaker Program.
  • Compelling Voice: His voicebox lets him tap into harmonics that leaves people highly open to suggestion. It appears that he only had this in his robot body; he doesn't attempt it in his new one.
  • Devil in Plain Sight: It's fairly obvious he's up to no good from the beginning, but his voice means he gets to stick around.
  • Evil Genius: Implied to be one of Earth's first super-genius metahumans, capable of advanced robotics decades before his time.
  • Genius Cripple: An offhand comment implies his "real: body was sickly, hence his swap to robotics. Still counts since his body was destroyed and left him as a head.
  • Oracular Head: Reduced to a head after an unfortunate lightning strike.
  • We Can Rebuild Him: Self-inflicted. His motivation for helping Harold is to get a hold of someone who can build him a new body.

    Dax-Ra 

Dax-Ra

"My house has sworn that the rightful heir shall be restored, and by the first crown I shall not let you stand in the way of that oath!"

An Argosian noble, sent to Earth to recover Ul-Ron (Atlas).

  • Aristocrats Are Evil: Just about all of Argon's upper class seem to be inherently a bunch of self-serving jerks. Dax-Ra stands out even among them.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: He might have no problem threatening a child, but he's shocked that Earth is apparently sending more children as their first line of defence.
    Dax-Ra: If you are your world's warriors, I horror to think what you do with newborns!
  • Evil Chancellor: Given his noble rank, and his rank attitude towards people of other classes...
  • Fantastic Racism: He despises Forak for being a lower class of noble than himself, Ron for being half-"softling", most of the population of Earth because they allow "ferals"...
  • Flying Brick: On the level of Atlas and Ron.
  • I Have Your Wife: He depowers Ron and tries to use him as a hostage.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Dax-Ra goes from being a jerk, to almost looking like a reasonable product of a rotten system, to cementing himself as the jerk he initially looked like.
  • Jerkass: Hoo boy, is he a dozy. Nobody seems to like him at all.
  • Professional Butt-Kisser: Dax-Ra is immensely classist and rude towards his inferiors, compared to his more respectful behavior towards Atlas and 84. This seems to extend to everyone beneath him, considering the way the guards of the Argosian palace act behind his back.
  • Would Hurt a Child: His horror that Earth is (he thinks) sending kids to attack him in no way stops him from responding with laser cannons.

    Forak 

Forak

The engineer of Dax-Ra's ship. A barely noble Argosian with a permanent "minion" attitude to life.

  • Acrophobic Bird: Prone to getting airsick if he flies too high.
  • Blue-and-Orange Morality: As a result of living in permanent servitude to the Argosian overclass he has a very warped outlook on life, including valuing machines higher than "softlings".
  • Extreme Doormat: He is almost incapable of personal initiative, and completely incapable of saying "no" to anyone he perceives as authority.
  • Field Promotion: Upon learning that Atlas has left, the U.S. military makes Forak take up the role as a fellow Argosian. Unfortunately they discover too late that Forak isn't nearly in the same class as Atlas, and that almost any human Flying Brick would make a better fit.
  • Flying Brick: Barely qualifies. He can fly slightly faster than running speed and is bulletproof (although they still hurt) but by Earth standards he's barely metahuman. He also has no heroic mindset whatsoever.
  • Legacy Character: The second Atlas.
  • Otaku: Collects toys and action figures. Values his X-Box achievements more than his life.

    Veles 

Veles

"I know I'm being a bit of an A-type personality, but that's godhood for you..."

Veles, Slavic god of the earth, magic and trickery, fated to eternally challenge the thunder god Perun in order to keep the seasons flowing. With the passing of Perun from Earth, Veles chose Atlas to play the part of the thunder god in his annual battle for dominance.

  • Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Threatened to turn Manhattan into his personal "temple, pleasure palace and gift shop."
  • Expy: He looks like a Loki-equivalent, and acts like Mr. Mxyzptlk.
  • Friendly Enemy: Having someone to challenge is his purpose for being. It seems he only causes trouble for mortals when he's denied his annual contest. Atlas held the role for a while, and when he left Earth, Julie became his replacement.
  • Physical God: His onscreen abilities so far indicate that he's beyond any mortals. His challenges seem to be more symbolic than actual full-contact fighting.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: Though he's not as bad as they might make you believe.
  • The Trickster: Like his mythological namesake.
  • You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: His reaction to seeing Forak touted as Atlas' replacement.

    FLOYD 

Flap-jawed Lamebrained Orbital Yammering Drivel-spigot

The AI in Zodon's space station. He didn't give it an AI, but some stolen nanites got lose, upgrading it and granting it sentience. The AI decided Zodon was its father, much to his embarrassment.

  • Benevolent A.I.: Not only is it slavishly loyal to Zodon despite his repeated abuse, but it is unfailingly friendly to everyone else, as well. It upgrades Vance and gives it gradual free will just because Tyler and Ron asked it to.
  • Deadpan Snarker: It's usually too busy groveling, but it does occasionally get some snark in.
    FLOYD: You can absorb a lot of kinetic force, so the more you get hit, the stronger you'll be, in theory.
    USA Patriot Act: Just like American itself!
    FLOYD: I don't know much history, but I don't think—
    USA Patriot Act: AMERICA!
    FLOYD: Sure, why not?
  • Nanomachines: Not only did nanites give it sentience and allow it to upgrade itself on the fly, but it can use them to upgrade organic beings (which it does to USA Patriot Act) and other machines (which it does to Vance).

    Vance 

Valiant Lance

Once Dax-Ra's personal ship, it was stolen by Tyler and Ron when they escaped Argos. During their trek back to Earth, the ship was attacked by a giant space-squid thing. It was saved by the intervention of Zodon's space station, which used Vance's onboard fabricator to build nanites that fused Vance with the squid, turning it into a techno-organic ship with free will. Vance then ended up with Cecil as captain, if only because Cecil had stolen the captain's chair earlier.

  • Benevolent A.I.: Less slavishly so than FLOYD, but it is still always as helpful as possible, even though FLOYD gave it free will.
  • Organic Technology: Unwillingly. FLOYD fused it with the space-squid as the most expedient way of dealing with the problem. It's unclear what effect this has on Vance's abilities.
  • Servile Snarker: Though it obeys Cecil loyally, it's not above snarking at his constant mangled sci-fi references.

Previous

Index

Next

  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Wide Load

Important Links

Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Go Ad Free!
Crucial Browsing
Resources
Top