Spoilers Below
- Look, Captain Katanna was able to control a bunch of katannas-for-limbs because he had a magical katanna stuck in his head, lacking functional arms or legs yet still being able to fight at a superhuman level until he was vaporized. We know that the surviving katanna ninjette got was somehow able to survive Willy Pete. Usually supers get their powers from one extraordinary thing, so it seems more likely that he got his powers from one magic katana stuck in his head that empowered any other katanas he had on him, rather than having a collection of magic katannas. Ninjette's clan want to cut her hands and feet off in order to prevent her from running away as they use her for her womb -which would put her in a pretty similar physical state to Captain Katana.Supposedly something horrible happens to Ninjette in the future, as seen by hospital-future-EMP's shocked and teary reaction to seeing Ninjette alive and well. This gives something horrible to happen to her which doesn't eliminate her as a character, and may actually make her more prominent in super-fights.
- Emp eventually ascends to angel/god-hood (as hinted at with her wings in Volume 3) and then sends her suit back in time so she can start her superhuman career.
- Jossed. Capitan Rivet sent it to her.
- I'll admit, not much to go on just yet, just Spooky's statement that WP's mind can't always be found, the sheer brutality shown by MM in his special("Please stop hitting me!" said by an ex-villain who seems to have been leading a law abiding life since leaving the criminal lifestyle behind) and the fact that MM has already been shown to be an alternate personality of some unknown mundane.
- Jossed as of Volume 11. Willy Pete was a kludge mind made by Neurospear.
- Where do the black capes get all these henchmen, given the likelihood of mental instability in such an employer? You must be pretty desperate to not only turn to crime to support your wife &a child, but to do it under the leadership of some caped maniac.
- Beyond that, book 3 has a henchman talking about his health benefits.
- Kidnapping for ransom is apparently happening in California at a rate that one could expect in a third world country, if Ocelotina's origins are any example.
- Come to think of it, have we ever seen any police or regular law enforcement? What if the superheroes are the only law and order anymore? There was a "capeless uprising" in San Antonio. One generally stages an uprising against the government, not against a group of vigilantes, no matter how well organized those vigilantes may be. That certainly might explain why the superheroes of this world are so bureaucratized.
- Nope, sorry. In vol. 4 we see she had the hair before. (And why not, it's very nice.)
- It's not mutually exclusive. She has been wanting to be a superhero since childhood, so it's possible she grew her hair like that as a cape substitute.
- That's hardly 'guessing' - it's Emp's theory. I'd say that the suit's got a good reason for not letting her recall it (remember, it's sentient) - there is no upper limit to the suit's power. If she got angry or confident enough, an Earth-Shattering Kaboom might follow; since she can't remember going Kamehameha on those mooks, she isn't confident enough to summon more power. When the suit's judged that Emp's ready to wield such power, then she's allowed to remember e.g. battling Fleshmaster.
- Corollary: the suit's powers are governed only by Empowered's self-esteem and confidence, and Clothing Damage has nothing to do with it. The first time Emp went out to fight crime, the suit got ripped, she went into instant shame mode, and her power dropped dramatically as a result. She assumed the loss of power was due to the damage to the suit rather than the damage to her ego, and expected a drop in power every time the suit got torn from that point on. Cue Self-Fulfilling Prophecy and vicious cycle of self-esteem issues.
- Problem: Slightly too much damage past a very specific amount can cause certain powers to suddenly cut out, like wall-crawling. So both confidence and clothing damage definitely play roles.
- Is pretty much confirmed in vol 5. Mind*** outright said it works like this.
- Reinforced in Volume 7, AS Nijette demonstrated it to Emp and is going to help her overcome it.
- Corollary: the suit's powers are governed only by Empowered's self-esteem and confidence, and Clothing Damage has nothing to do with it. The first time Emp went out to fight crime, the suit got ripped, she went into instant shame mode, and her power dropped dramatically as a result. She assumed the loss of power was due to the damage to the suit rather than the damage to her ego, and expected a drop in power every time the suit got torn from that point on. Cue Self-Fulfilling Prophecy and vicious cycle of self-esteem issues.
- I can't help but to doubt this one. It feels more like it's the case of the theory above, related to Emp's self-esteem. While having sex with Emp in that scene, Thugboy was also doing all he could to cheer her up and remind her how awesome she is. And because of Emp's mood lifting, the suit grows stronger. Cue Emp suddenly being able to crawl-walk.
- It could just as easily be the other way around; increasing her self-esteem makes her feel sexier, and thus makes it more likely for the suit to get "fed".
- I checked it out: there's something magic happening with the suit, but afterwards it's still as holey as it was before. Maybe it gained another power this way? Or the suit got more reliable, even when in tatters?
- Alternatively (or concurrently, they're not mutually exclusive; she could be moving it subconsciously), the suit could be the alter ego of her "super side" - it's been shown to be moving without her.
- Can't be. In volume 1 when Emp gives her infodump about how her powers work we see her demonstrating her superstrength by lifting weights in a gym, then losing her superstrength instantly when her suit gets a tiny tear. There's no way she noticed that tear when it happened, yet her powers disappeared all the same.
- On the contrary, it's very possible she did notice it. Later (vol. 7), when she's training with Ninjette, she says that the loss of any more material from her suit would cause her to lose her powers. Ninjette then surreptitiously tears more material off, and Emp does not lose her powers, causing Ninjette to conclude that Emp's real problem is psychological.
- Word of God several times in commentary under the Web Comic version is the Emp is an Unreliable Narrator particularly with regard to how the supersuit functions.
- If I'm not mistaken, they asked her to join since they needed an Affirmative Action Girl. Granted Capitan Rivet is one of the nicest superheroes so he might have thrown her a bone.
- We already had a Brain in a Jar - Psychoblast, remember? When Emp had to play Hot Librarian? Maybe they're the same person.
- Didn't happen, but could in the future. What with the impulse to cut out all his weaknesses, he could have simply continued cutting, and cutting, and cutting...
- Volume 9 provided information on his whereabouts:the heroes have already captured him and put him on ice.
- Confirmed. He is free at the end of Volume 10, and mindcontrols Thugboy into attacking Emp; he's likely to be a Big Bad for Volume 11.
The evidence:
- Oyuki's face is almost expressionless, even when she's threatening bloody murder. Natural expressions could take effort, and it's mentioned that you have to expend 'chi' to maintain a disguise.
- Ninjette successfully pulled off a female-to-male gender swap once upon a time, and is a master of hensojutsu. Who else but her could teach it? Plus, as the princess, she may have had access to secret techniques that could take it further.
- Ninjette mentions that Oyuki needs to work on the whole "kissing like a girl" thing.
- Doesn't count, she meant "Oyuki kisses like a girl even when disguised as Thugboy". If Oyuki was a former man, s/he should know.
- Ingrained by habit by now. See, your pitiful logic is no match for my mad kung fu guessing!
- Doesn't count, she meant "Oyuki kisses like a girl even when disguised as Thugboy". If Oyuki was a former man, s/he should know.
- It would be funny if such an obvious fan service machine was really a man.
- Seems she'll return in vol. 6. Or 7, at least. Let's wait.
- Jossed. The debt was from Ninjette giving her a permanent contraceptive jutsu.
- He is a "kludge mind". Maybe the minds / souls / whatever of several unfortunate soldiers were merged during an accident involving WP? Would explain why he's so pissed off. On second thought however, he refers to himself as "I", not as "we", as many Hive Minds do.
We only get indirect hints about what went wrong in San Antonio, but it was bad enough to replace the city with a supervolcano. Also don't forget Thug Boy's strategy with capes was to Kill It with Fire, that capes are less than nice people even when nominally heroic, and that powers often animate dead heroes. Finally, it'd tie in well with the book's theme of the past catching up with you.
- The "Holy Avenger" in one of the flashbacks is throwing a White Phosphorous (WP) grenade.
- Demon summoning is a feature of the setting.
- The team were D&D-themed (and probably all part of the same D&D group).
- Willie Pete refers to himself as a "goddamn fire elemental"; Capitan Rivet and ThugBoy ponder how many hit-dice he'd have.
- ...dWARf!. Because it'd be ironic.
- ...MaidMan. Because they disliked him as well?
- Nobody is ever shown disrespecting the goddamn Maidman. This doesn't mean he couldn't have won, just not for that reason.
- No one dares to disrespect the goddamn Maidman. The Maidman will clean your house while fighting terrorist ninjas.
- And he can speak French... in Russian.
- Nobody is ever shown disrespecting the goddamn Maidman. This doesn't mean he couldn't have won, just not for that reason.
- Overlooking the obvious here — Emp! She told everyone otherwise because she believed Spooky's B.S. about it being a joke nomination.
- But certainly somehow besides her will know? Strange it didn't come up yet.
- Unlikely. Mind████ is the one who told us Emp didn't win after she plucked the answer out of Emp's mind. So either Emp was so consumed with self-pity that she hallucinated another name, or we'd have to assume that Emp is somehow able to block Mind████'s telepathic scan.
- More evidence in the sixth volume, where not only did he survive, but he was relatively fine after a fire that killed 8 people instantly and left a 9th with 3rd degree burns.
- Which also explains where Pete appeared from, and how Havok survived the intense heat equivalent to the "open all portals on the edge of the Sun" scenario.
Sooner or later she will stumble upon the fact that it has a mind of it's own. If she figures out the thoughtstream trick as well she is bright enough to realize that Mindf**k was reading it instead of her own doubts when she dumped her out the emergency portal. If so, she will be less than appreciative.
- Emp's not a killer, though.
- She's going to be pissed if she finds out that it essentially killed Mind████ in book 5, though.
- The suit should know better than Emp whether it could survive a fall from orbit to Earth or not. So Mindf**k got killed, but the alternative was that Emp got killed.
- She's going to be pissed if she finds out that it essentially killed Mind████ in book 5, though.
- He is shown expounding upon the virtues of fire in his capekilling days.
- In Volume 8, we see Mindf████'s brother in a Flashback Nightmare. While his face is in shadow, his muscular torso and hairstyle are very similar to Thugboy's.
Or...
- Alternately, there might be no Time Travel involved at all — Willy Pete (both nicknames for penis) may just be how CD has always gotten his, and he just never told anyone. We already know he's holding back secrets about a great many things...
No word yet on whether Captain Rivet is a soccer mom.
- Well, one of the ninjas disguised as a dog...
- Would work better if we hadn't already seen Havok and Ocelotina in the same scene.
- He/she created an avatar out of whatever spare flesh was lying around.
- Who says he'll leave Thugboy afterwards? Maybe he'll find some way to take over Thugboy's body permanently and trap him (Thugboy) in his (CD's) can. Thugboy will spend a great deal of time ineffectually telling the others that he's not CD, while CD-in-Thugboy's-body will deny everything. It will eventually be discovered that "the Caged Demonwolf" (i.e. Thugboy) is telling the truth, but not before Emp's, shall we say, done the mambo with CD-in-Thugboy's-body. She'll have a Heroic BSoD, but eventually snap out of it just in time to defeat the current villain and save the rest of the Superhomies from certain doom. And Adam Warren, if you're reading this, I just gave you an idea for a future plot development, didn't I?
- Of course he'll have a price. He never did get that third season of The Wire...
- Unlikely, for the simple reason that Adam Warren 'already did that' to a different group heroine. I doubt he wants to get his one-trick-pony-age on.
Sorry, couldn't resist.
- As an alternative, may Emp died in the trunk on one of her first missions, but didn't realize it. But because she got her powers from a bargain, she came back as, well....
- Alternatively, she used to like it, but now it's gotten old. Costume play, however...
- Likely. Problem is just like with Spooky's blonde fetish there are so many negative associations she doesn't want to admit that's her preferred kink.
- V.6 confirms this, with a caveat. She said she kinda liked it when Thugboy was tying her up; just Thugboy, though. It's all about attitude.
- Well, she has already slept with Thugboy.
- The "family" part was confirmed in an interview, so good chance of the second. Emp confirms it was his mother and sister in 7.
- Or he's a superfetus, and the womb was his suit. That's... freaky.
- In one of the earlier volumes, that fat guy who kidnapped Emp so he could wear her suit had an INT 19 (Supra-Genius) shirt. (Emp even ended up wearing it). An old team mate of ThugBoy's perhaps?
- Comeliness wouldn't apply; it's an optional rule in every version except Hack Master.
- If one was missing it was probably WIS, given ThugBoy's Fatal Flaw
- That could make a bit more sense if he was a budding supervillain and his family was caught in the crossfire when some supers busted him
- This may also be less of a superpower and possibly another "deal with the devil", given that Thugboy's demeanor in combat and attitude towards supers seems to be an almost Expy of The Punisher, even down to the crossfire killed family, weapon fetish and marksman skills. Punisher has been hinted as having a "deal with death", himself.
- Seems to be backed up by an exchange between Capitan Rivet and Major Havoc in Vol. 7.Capitan Rivet: "Well, Mindf████ was kept out of the loop about the kludge minds, for obvious reasons..."Major Havoc: "Wouldn't she have, y'know, recognized his work, somehow?"
- Confirmed in Volume 11. an indeterminate time before editing himself into Neurospear, Brainbow made the Kludge Minds for the Joint Superteam council as artificial personalities compatible with the 'alien neuroprofile requirements' of "still-unassigned power sets".
- ...locate (that's what the blood was for - ninja location magic) and kill the leader of her clan. Which means she may have killed her father to escape.
- ...'persuade' some of the clan to drop the bounty. But how?
- Killing anyone in her family ahead of her in the line of succession (she is their princess, after all) and taking over the clan.
- Jossed. It's just extra kit, and her father's still alive.
- Really? I always assumed MaidMan's "zombie voice" (and the discussion he has with one of the superdead about it) was just supposed to be a gentle poke at Christian Bale's excessively gravelly take on Batman.
While the "zombie voice" probably is poking at The Dark Knight Trilogy, Maidman may still be a case of possession.
- This is part of why he's so friendly with EMP, as teased in his interview (his "we hot blondes have to stick together" answer being an obvious deflection). The maid costume itself is the host of a possessing spirit, and it recognizes a similar existence in EMP's suit, the difference being that Maidman just directly control's the person wearing the costume, where EMP's suit deliberately takes a back seat and lets Elissa do the crime fighting herself.
- Warren shot down any suggestion of alternate timelines and universes in an interview, so I doubt the prediction part of this. However, you're almost certainly correct about the bargain demon lying to Spooky. We know that the bargain granter isn't what he appears to be, because he appears to be something different to everyone (unless...see below). Ergo we can probably guess that the "going to hell" bit either only applies to Spooky in a sort of create-your-own-horrible-afterlife situation, or doesn't apply at all because the part about Hell was a lie to conform to Spooky's expectations of what a Faustian bargain entails. In either case Mind███k was never part of the deal and wouldn't be bound for hell. Additionally, the justification for why she was being tortured in Hell are themselves suspicious, fitting in all too well with Spooky's self-hatred.
- What makes you think there is only one bargain-granter appearing in multiple guises? The superdead themselves seem to think that there are any number of bargain-making entities out there.
- Sorta confirmed, sorta jossed. The Infernal Services Provider was lying about almost everything, since everything from giving Spooky "too much power" to apparently manipulating Mindf**k's death was all one big plan to get himself out of hell. It was all a trap for Spooky. But tragically, it turns out that Mindf**k IS in hell- and Spooky and Emp don't see her while they're on their way out, so she'll probably stay there. Forever.
- Alternatively what we saw in hell wasn't the actual Mind███k, just one of the duplicates/distractions/phantoms the Infernal Services Provider conjured to distract Spooky.
- My problem with this theory is that we've seen several cases of her being out of the suit for prolonged periods of time. She doesn't wear the suit 24/7, so unless the suit is actively reversing her decomposition whenever she puts it on, it's highly unlikely.
- "so unless the suit is actively reversing her decomposition whenever she puts it on" What part of "her suit is keeping her body from decomposing" was unclear to you?
- The difference between simply staving off decomposition and actually regenerating it as live tissue? Again, considering how often we see Emp actually out of her suit, it'll need to be actively regenerating her rather than pausing decomposition so she's not falling apart when she's not actually in the suit itself.
- Her suit blocks bullets and lets her breathe in space, among other powers. Keeping her corpse fresh seems quite well within its capabilities.
- Its also entirely possible that the suit keeps her clinging onto life. Even when absolutely near death, the suit keeps her ticking. Therein she's Not Quite Dead.
- Note that the rest of the Superdead aren't actually decomposed. Most of the grotesqueness coming from them is due to how they died (i.e. Hardkore having a hole in his chest, but being otherwise fine). It's likely the Superdead don't decompose, but retain their original state and are unable to grow or change their body. Being that Emp "died" a cleaner death than most would (choking on her own mucus and being buried alive), she probably lucked out and wouldn't otherwise be able to tell the difference.
- The Superdead decompose. They themselves state as much when Emp first meets them.
- "so unless the suit is actively reversing her decomposition whenever she puts it on" What part of "her suit is keeping her body from decomposing" was unclear to you?
- As of Vol.9, A) The superdead are gradually decomposing. B) They can't be physically aroused. C) Fleshmaster mentions that the suit is part of Emp's DNA now. D) Her last thoughts when suffocating were "Please don't let me die like this". I assume, that suit mutated and|or reanimated her, probably past the point of clinical death, but this is possible even without magic, and if that was THE potential superdead deal, it was done after she died, and so shouldn't count. Maybe if Emp dies a second time - which the suit doesn't allow. Even when presumably losing powers, she can survive falling several floors on concrete, hard vacuum, contact with lava...
- Except we know for a fact that, thanks to dWARf's meddling with the Lotus Nodes teleportation network (which the Homeys themselves don't even seem to understand that well), the network has been screwy for a long while. Mind*** and some of the others even explain this and there's a small amount of foreshadowing in the troubles with the network when Emp ends up in a forbidden area - then Mind*** can't shut the portal down as Willy Pete is sending his heat through. So the network just isn't working as well as it should, is screwy, and luckily works when Deathmonger decides to nuke his base.
- Earlier in that volume Sistah Spooky casts a divination to find the location of Willy Pete. She gets an unusually specific answer with GPS coordinates and exact time. She even remarks how unusually precise the prediction is. Then it turns out the time is off by 10 minutes and Willy Pete nukes the hero party. Maybe the Infernal Service Provider tampered with that divination to put the heroes in the precise time and place, so they could be ambushed and so Willy Pete incinerate the d10 station through the Lotus Node and thus kill Mind***, just to give Infernal Service Provider leverage over Sistah Spooky. Who knows how those divinations work or where the information comes from? Infernal Service Provider is the logical guess.
- The suit seemed not to think that it could protect her from the heat of reentry, so it probably couldn't withstand a direct hit from Willy Pete at full blast.
- His first name has been revealed as Noah. It would be just right if his last name was Duden. Noah Webster wrote the English Dictionary. Konrad Duden wrote the German dictionary. Thugboy did hint at having some German blood....
- It's implied the suit goes "around" the follicles of hair, as Emp has to shave down there or else it looks like barbed wire.
- Good point, but in Empowered #1 it is specifically stated that it "ends up looking like latex-coated steel wool", implying that the suite coats the hair and does not go around the follicles (pg 183). Also from Emp 1, pg 198, 2nd panel, Emp is show holding the hood/mask in her hand separate from the rest of the suit and her hand is through it. That said, Adam Warren has never let continuity stand in the way of his story telling so this could be nothing.
- What makes you think that the suit controls her mind at all?
- Plausible. Several have come up to Adam and admitted they came for the BDSM, but then couldn't get off to it anymore as they cared for Emp too much.
- Possibility: Having ingested tainted food at The Capeys, his body didn't contract to normal dimensions when he lost his powers. With a giraffe length neck on a human torso, he asphyxiated.
- Are you sure that was him? I saw a super with a mace for a head, but it was clearly a different character.
- According to Hardkorpse, he was a science savant pre-death. They had to have known him before he became a Superdead (especially as most of that group were first-generation Superdead just like Deathmonger. They never made any indication that it was someone as revered as Purple Paladin.
- Why would they admit that the hero has become one of the worst supervillains around if they can avoid it?
- Jossed as of Volume 9 unless the Purple Paladin was a woman as well.
- Jossed in Volume 8: Purple Paladin died stopping the newborn San Antonio supervolcano from destroying the whole North America, hours or days after the massacre and the whole battle going out of control.
- Is he really competent with his abilities? We know for a fact that he's actually a complete idiot when it comes to his tactics - his approach to Willy Pete being to bum-rush the guy - and he's a complete coward when the chips are down. Plus, Emp is actually far more competent with what she knows about her abilities than him, the complete moron who nearly killed both Emp and Pre-Ocelotina when trying to rescue them from TB's crew in volume one. Plus, Warren already played the "teammate is a villain" card with dWarf!, came dangerously close to doing so with Sista Spooky, and the others are at least a little dubious of her. It's more effective to keep playing Havoc as a jerkass, since as the series progresses, more people are defending Emp, so things balance out.
- Ninjette, completely smashed, disguises herself as Emp and sleeps with Thugboy.
- Emp is extremely pissed with both of them, as she catches the pair of them in her bed; she throws them out and completely breaks down.
- Thugboy flat-out slugs Ninjette and storms off.
- Ninjette, now convinced of her worthlessness, doesn't even fight the ninja who are coming for the price on her head.
- Even as she bows her head towards the blade, the swordswoman's head explodes
- Thugboy takes out 6 before a lucky shuriken cuts his carotid. Just then, Emp drops in and takes the rest out.
- Ninjette watches in horror as the man she loved bleeds his life out in front of her. Only one thing to do. Grasping her knife, she slits her own throat.
- Having two friends die in the same night finally does Emp in. Alternately laughing and weeping, she throws the suit in the incinerator, releases the Caged Demonwolf and merges with him.
- Massive battle royale with every single hero against EmpWolf. EVERYONE DIES.
- My god, that's one of the most horrible things I've ever heard. And I almost want it to happen.
- Or in a specific scenario, will be the one to finally destroy Willy Pete (and throw in an ironic skullfucking for good measure) because, let's face it: CD is probably the only thing in the story so far capable of completely annihilating that hothead.
- It is possible to use some ninja trickery to fake the demise Emp vividly recalls her father suffering, but from what we see of Papa Kaburagi it is doubtful he has the patience and self control to pull such a stunt or for that matter a convincing long term impersonation of anything sane.
- Given some further support in Nine Beers with Ninjette, in which she says specifically that her father blamed her for her mother's death, even when she was very young.
- The demon could have still done that: the beauty part would be altering something already existing, while the powers would actually be the demon screwing with the amount of demonic energy to supply Spooky's body with to keep the beauty. Still, it would be an interesting plot twist...
- But could a demon even do that? Could the powers of darkness create beauty, or, if your prefer, improve something that already exists by making it more beautiful? Also, what demonic energy? Isn't the whole point that the powers of darkness are, in fact, powerless, except insofar as they are able to deceive people into believing that they have real power?
- Nope: they still have dominion on everything solid and on Earth, and magic, according to ancient traditions (from which the theological ones derive), comes from demons, be they spirits of nature or devils it doesn't matter, using their superhuman but still natural powers in service of a human.
- So you say, but I don't believe that. And again, how did Theresa summon the demon in the first place without having magical powers to begin with? And why, after supposedly signing the beauty-for-your-soul pact with every other girl in Theresa's school, and perhaps beyond, would the demon suddenly screw up with Theresa? And why would he be so stupid as to tell her about her powers, when she presumably never would have used them if she hadn't known about them, and then the demon would have been able to take them away "off the books." And if the demon could take them away, why would her use of those powers make it impossible for the demon to take them back? I maintain that she always had the powers, but that the demon tricked her into believing that they came from him, so as to trick her into damning herself. After all, the fastest way to convince someone to damn herself is to convince her that she is already damned.
- Traditionally, summoning something requires a ritual that does not necessarily require the summoner to have magic themselves, just symbols, chants and sometimes dances to call for their attention. It's keeping them under control that requires magic. As for why the demon screwed up with Theresa, told her about her powers and did not take away the powers, that was explained by Warren himself in Book 8.
- But could a demon even do that? Could the powers of darkness create beauty, or, if your prefer, improve something that already exists by making it more beautiful? Also, what demonic energy? Isn't the whole point that the powers of darkness are, in fact, powerless, except insofar as they are able to deceive people into believing that they have real power?
- So far, the only thing that we've seen that could even slow Willy Pete down was the cryogun. Perhaps the cryobomb will stop him permanently.
- Seemingly jossed; Willy Pete is seemingly done in by the man that created him, Neurospear.
- Well, you have to take your victories where you can, and it was symbolic of the only thing he valued. It would also explain why there was a change in leadership (I can imagine a rule like 'only fertile males can head the clan') and a resumption of the bounty (she's the last fertile member of the main family).
- Point of order: the demons only started paying attention to the Vorpal Sword after Spooky was on it.
- Seemingly Confirmed as of Volume 10. She's being (relatively) nice to Emp and has hung up the cape for good.
- Jossed; we know as of Volume 11 that Willy Pete and several other 'Kludge Minds' were created by Mindf**k's brother, and the act and despair of having to create such things inspired him to become Neurospear.
After the death of his friends, Thugboy is shown to have become nihilistic. ('Whatever,' whether pointing a gun or being threatened with one.) Simultaneously, Willy Pete goes into stasis; the reason why he's not on the threat list of the Supes isn't because he wasn't powerful, but because his crimes occurred years ago during a chaotic period, after which he disappeared and didn't warrant investigation. (Inactive, not 'lightly active' - even occasional reports of 'cannibalistic skull-fucking' would have made some kind of waves, since Willy doesn't seem to have any tendencies towards cleaning up after his attacks. Or subtlety.)
Then, Thugboy encounters Emp, starts caring about her - and Willy Pete is suddenly back in action.
- Extra speculation: The connection between Willy and Thugboy is facilitated by something that Thugboy stashed during his Witless Minion days; something small but mystical, which was disturbed when Thugboy began selling off the items to pay rent.
- It would be somewhat hilarious if it turned out that part of Thugboy's 'Spartan' outfit was actually some kind of occult transmitter.
- The Infernal Services Provider recognizes EMP's suit. He says it looks familiar to him. That means he has seen it before. The Supersuit has a mind of its own and when it has a silent conversation with the Caged Demonwolf, it shocks Demonwolf by letting him know that the Supersuit is not female, implying it to be male. Also the Supersuit seems to like having EMP in humiliating bondage situations, despite protecting her from serious injuries. So, what does all this mean? Well, maybe the Supersuit used to be a person who arranged to be transformed into EMP's Supersuit to get a chance to be close to her. That person might be someone from EMP's Suprahuman studies courses, who had a crush on her but she wasn't interested. Then the person struck a deal with the Infernal Services Provider to be turned into a living Supersuit and be Fedexed to EMP's apartment. The Supersuit lets EMP wind up tied because it has Bondage fetish. It also explains why the suit gives her constant orgasms whenever she wears the Supersuit. So basically EMP's entire superhero career coincides with the most thorough case of stalking in human history.
- Jossed as of Volume 11, where it's confirmed the suit is alien tech assigned to Emp during a fan meeting with Capitan Rivet after her father had died.
- As they can withstand super high temperatures casually they may have a fighting chance, also at least one of them dislikes dealing with supervillians so it would be quite interesting seeing them deal with one of the worse villians of all times.
- Seemingly jossed as Willy Pete ends up being wiped out by Neurospear as of Volume 11.
- We don't know that Wet Blanket's dead. If he's alive, and can be maneuvered in close enough to Willy Pete (with or without WP being aware of his presence) he might be able to dampen Willy Pete's fire long enough for the other capes to finish him off.
- Seemingly jossed as Willy Pete ends up being wiped out by Neurospear as of Volume 11.
- Thought Thugboy's PTSD was bad before? It's even worse now. Ninjette and Emp both have Daddy issues for different reasons. Now that Emp is a full time Superhomey, she'll find that psychological counseling is now among her medical benefits. She, Thugboy and Ninjette will all take their turns on the couch. The therapist will be a super him/herself with a very odd appearance. Demonwolf might even get a chance to lie on the couch and rant with alliteration while the therapist takes notes.
- Emp might try to prevent the incident in Internal Medicine where Emp sees a future version of herself crying for Ninjette. The easiest way to change this scenario and still be able to be a superhero is to change her hairstyle. Adam will want to keep the Godiva Hair to keep it PG when she gets naked and he hinted that he prefers drawing light hair to dark hair. (Takes less time.) She might dye her hair a light shade of red that's only noticeable on the cover or colorized specials or dye a streak of splashy color.
- The Caged Demonwolf is just pretending to be trapped in the alien bondage gear, so he can observe some filthy monkey coupling from a close distance without freaking out said monkeys. He let himself be "caught" despite knowing past, present and future with absolute clarity, so Emp aproaching him from behind to trap him into alien bondage gear couldn't possibly have been a surprise to him. Then he catches some vacation time before going back to planet-raping.
In the mini series the pangolin claims that Emp is a magical girl. This makes a lot of sense. A lot of time her victories seems to come from the power of friendship, improving her confidence or determination and then she wins all out.
Due to her suppressed desires Emp got the costume and power set for the Dark Magical Girl. Emp's costume is really happy about this. The pangolin far less so. As a result of Emp being a good person, and superhero obsessed she went that way and the Soldier of Love never had the warning she should, so fell.
Usually a dark magical girl represents a perversion of the ideals of the magical girl, and Emp's tastes (even if she doesn't like to admit to them)can be seen as a perversion (which is why Emp doesn't).
Equally a dark magical girl does not always get an animal advisor, and can appear semi-clothed, but always seems tougher. Confident and Semi-naked. Her powers would work well with a Dark Magical Girl. Powerful and confident, and can make parts of the costume disappear.
The costume is happy because for the first time, it is with someone who is indulging the tastes but also has a lot of love. It for once is doing what it wants to.