History Characters / ExHeroes

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

[[folder:The Unbreakables]]
!!The Unbreakables in general

The US Army's platoon of super soldiers, formed as a response to superheroes popping up all over the world.

The Scavengers are a group of people who regularly go out on supply runs to scavenge for resources from a now-desolate Los Angeles. They go by truck (of which the Mount has three) and are always protected by one of the heroes on runs (usually St. George). Though anyone can join, many individuals seem to be 'regulars', including Billie Carter, Lady Bee, Makana, Hiram Jarvis (who joined in the first book), Ilya, Al, Lynne Vines, Andy, Derek, Danny Foe, Mark Larsen, Elena, Ty O’Neill, Elena, Paul, Mike Turner, the truck drivers Harry the Hook Luke Reid, and Johnny K and (by ''Ex-Isle'') former [[GangBanger Seventeens]] Hector and Desi. The Wall Guards are the few hundred people who, well, guard the walls of the Mount (and later, the Big Wall) to make sure no ex breaches them, with some people belonging to both groups.

* MsFanservice: Lady Bee often wears shirts that show some of her bra. In the second book, she jokes with the other scavengers about how they'd like to see her in a ChainmailBikini.

[[folder:The Unbreakables]]
!!The Unbreakables in general

The US Army's platoon of super soldiers, formed as a response to superheroes popping up all over the world.

The Scavengers are a group of people who regularly go out on supply runs to scavenge for resources from a now-desolate Los Angeles. They go by truck (of which the Mount has three) and are always protected by one of the heroes on runs (usually St. George). Though anyone can join, many individuals seem to be 'regulars', including Billie Carter, Lady Bee, Makana, Hiram Jarvis (who joined in the first book), Ilya, Al, Lynne Vines, Andy, Derek, Danny Foe, Mark Larsen, Elena, Ty O’Neill, Elena, Paul, Mike Turner. the truck drivers Harry the Hook Luke Reid, and Johnny K and (by ''Ex-Isle'') former [[GangBanger Seventeens]] Hector and Desi. The Wall Guards are the few hundred people who, well, guard the walls of the Mount (and later, the Big Wall) to make sure no ex breaches them, with some people belonging to both groups.

The Scavengers are a group of people who regularly go out on supply runs to scavenge for resources from a now-desolate Los Angeles. They go by truck (of which the Mount has three) and are always protected by one of the heroes on runs (usually St. George). Though anyone can join, a few individuals seem to be 'regulars', including Billie Carter, Lady Bee, Makana, Hiram Jarvis (who joined in the first book), Ilya, Al, Lynne, Andy, Derek, the truck drivers Harry the Hook and Luke, and (by ''Ex-Isle'') former [[GangBanger Seventeens]] Hector and Desi. The Wall Guards are the few hundred people who, well, guard the walls of the Mount (and later, the Big Wall) to make sure no ex breaches them, with some people belonging to both groups.

The Scavengers are a group of people who regularly go out on supply runs to scavenge for resources from a now-desolate Los Angeles. They go by truck (of which the Mount has three) and are always protected by one of the heroes on runs (usually St. George). Though anyone can join, a few individuals seem to be 'regulars', including Billie Carter, Lady Bee, Makana, Hiram Jarvis (who joined in the first book), Ilya, Al, Lynne, Andy, and the truck drivers Harry and Luke. The Wall Guards are the few hundred people who, well, guard the walls of the Mount (and later, the Big Wall) to make sure no ex breaches them, with some people belonging to both groups.

* DemotedToExtra: Lady Bee has a FriendsWithBenefits relationship with George in the first few books (where she is also one of the more prominent non-powered fighters), but has barely been mentioned since George and Stealth got a RelationshipUpgrade.

* UpToEleven: During the finale of ''Ex-Heroes'' he absorbs some energy from Zzzap and speculates classing it as either Tier 50 or Tier 100.

* BaldBlackLeaderGuy: Bald, black, and the highest military authority at the Mount.

* WastelandElder: Dr. Conolly, a medical research with graying red hair, is the primary doctor at the Mount (a movie studio surrounded by zombies) and one of the advisors to the costumed superheroes who govern the safe-zone, all of whom are significantly younger than her.

The Scavengers are a group of people who regularly go out on supply runs to scavenge for resources from a now-desolate Los Angeles. They go by truck (of which the Mount has three) and are always protected by one of the heroes on runs (usually St. George). Though anyone can join, a few individuals seem to be 'regulars', including Billie Carter, Lady Bee, Makana, Jarvis (who joined in the first book), and the truck drivers Harry and Luke. The Wall Guards are the few hundred people who, well, guard the walls of the Mount (and later, the Big Wall) to make sure no ex breaches them.

* MulticoloredHair: Lady Bee dyes her hair various colors. George even remembers this facet of hers in the alternate reality.

* {{Asexual}}: Has shown only a mild interest in sex but may be asexual romantic [[spoiler: since she starts seeing George]], though see below.

* GenericDoomsdayVillain: Rodney randomly turns up with the power to control the zombies, to survive the zombification with his own intelligence intact, and with enhanced physical abilities and stature he never had in life. The most that's ever explained about him is that he used to be a random gangbanger and that he was one of the first victims of the disease, but he is otherwise completely unique and exists for no reason other than to present a massive threat to the main cast. Though he does get some backstory in the second book, it doesn't really explain all that much...]]

---

* BadassGay: An absolute tank of a woman who's in charge when Freedom's not around, as well as a (closeted) lesbian.

The various characters in the Ex-series. '''SPOILER WARNING''' if you haven't read all the books, read at your own risk!

* DeadpanSnarker: George has shown signs of this from time to time.

* {{Expy}}: Serves as the setting's version of Superman (at least in character and status as a symbol of hope) and even based his outfit on him.
* FlyingBrick: Is one of the best equipped for fighting exes as a result.
* GrievousHarmWithABody: One of his go-to attacks when dealing with massive crowds of Exes is to simply grab one and start using it like a flail or battering ram.
%%* TheHero

* NoSell: Part of what makes St. George so valuable is he's got skin too tough for zombies to bite through, so he's effectively invincible to your average Ex.

* RelationshipUpgrade: [[spoiler: Him and Stealth.]]
* ShoutOut: He shares his name with the main character of Film/ItsAWonderfulLife, a common conversation topic (even in his introductory POV chapter).

A dark and brooding antihero who becomes the mastermind of "The Mount" as the last bastion of human survival in Los Angeles. Before the Zombocalypse, she was a genius former underwear model whose good looks made it nigh impossible for her to be taken seriously in academia, leading her to better the world via vigilantism instead. Stealth's coldness tends to rub her teammates the wrong way and she is never seen out of uniform until the third book.

* ArchnemesisDad: Implied by ''Ex-Purgatory'' and its flashbacks.

* BlackBossLady: Black and the absolute highest authority at the Mount. Even St. George has to run things by her.

* {{Expy}}: The Batman of the Ex-Heroes verse.
* PragmaticHero: Knows Los Angeles is impossible to save so focuses on saving as many as possible in a sustainable manner.
* MsFanservice: Her costume is apparently very tight and accentuating her generous figure.
* RelationshipUpgrade: [[spoiler: Her and St. George.]]
* SoBeautifulItsACurse: Stealth is one of the world's smartest people. She also struggled to be taken seriously due to the fact she's incredibly gorgeous.
* SociopathicHero: What she believes herself to be. Her compassion is just very-very hard to express.

* StraightMan: Stealth plays this to Barry due to being TheComicallySerious

* TheSheriff: He acts as this to the Mount. His power is useless against Exes, but it lets him resolve internal disputes with a minimum of violence.

A scientist under contract with DARPA who created a suit of power armor for the military before the Zombocalypse. When the zombie apocalypse began, She was rebranded as a superhero and deployed in the suit when the military became desperate for a PR win. She is agoraphobic and feels most comfortable when in her armor. A crucial part of the Mount's defense, as she has by far the most raw destructive power and, obviously, the armor is impervious to zombie bites, though it needs Zzzap to charge.

* {{Expy}}: Of Iron Man with some flavors of War Machine through the use of conventional ballistic weapons.

* LogicalLatecomer: She was one of the last superheroes to debut pre-apocalypse and only got sent out in the suit at all because the army didn't have time to train anyone else in how to use the armor. It takes until the events of *Ex-Patriots* for her to internalize the idea that she's inseperable from the Cerberus identity, and in [[spoiler:Ex-Communication, she's quick to distance herself from Regenerator's actions on the grounds that she wasn't actually part of the superhero community or in a position to do anything about him at the time.]]
* PoweredArmor: The Cerberus Battle Armor System, which [[spoiler: which gets destroyed at the end of Purgatory by St. George. Danielle, Gibbs, and Cesar have started working on a Mark II.]]

* ZombieInfectee: It's heavily implied at the end of ''Ex-Isle'' that [[spoiler: Danielle got bit by a zombie and is hiding it. Her conversation with Cesar is heavily reminiscent of PassingTheTorch.]]

* DeadpanSnarker: In spades. Think Spider-Man's attitude.
* DisabilityNegatingSuperpower: Subverted. Zzzap is parapeligic in his human form, but as Zzzap he can't interact with physical matter without annihilating it. In his words, he's either in the chair or he can fly, but he's always changing one set of limitations for another.
* TheGadfly

* DeathSeeker: From the start of the outbreak onwards, his singular ambition in life is to find a way to *stop existing.*
* DeaderThanDead: Seemingly impossible, due to his formidable regenerating ability. [[spoiler: However, being possessed by Cairax was implied to consume his soul; and Stealth decapitates his corpse later just to be sure than he's not coming back.]]
* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:He used to be one of the good guys, until his responsibility in causing a Zombie Apocalypse left him JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope in order to hide it.]]

* DrivenToSuicide: He's made several attempts to kill himself during the first year of the ZombieApocalypse. [[spoiler: That he caused.]] Come the third book, [[spoiler: he finally succeeds by letting Cairax possess him, causing his soul to quietly fade away into oblivion.]]

* TreacheryCoverUp: [[spoiler: After the heroes figure out he was responsible for the apocalypse, the party line becomes that he killed himself in order to avoid the fallout of people finding out a superhero broke bad... and because they don't actually have a way to bring him to justice meaningfully.]]
* WalkingSpoiler: Who he is, what he can do, and why his powers make ultimately make him a bad guy can't be discussed at length without revealing a lot.

A former member of the Seventeens who used to be a common thief. He has the power to possess any mechanical device, from cars to helicopters to the Cerberus battlesuit, which made him the perfect getaway car. He was introduced in the second book wanting to help out the heroes any way he can. Over time, he becomes a sort of sidekick to Danielle, though everyone refuses to call him the Driver.

* HeroicSacrifice: In book five, ''Ex-Isle'', Ceasar sacrifices several bones in his hands to fix a fence.

* AwesomeMcCoolName: His name actually is Freedom. His ancestor was a freed slave who changed the family name to what he considered the greatest word in the English language.

* {{Expy}}: An African-American SuperSoldier with an American theme makes him a pretty clear reference to the Isaiah Bradley / ComicBooks/CaptainAmerica.

[[folder: Corpse Girl]]

A walking, talking dead girl who was first presumed to be an ex and is in reality a human-shaped collection of nanomachines with her body, thoughts, and memories introduced in the third book. She was a normal teenager who often went by Maddy before the Zombocalypse, and her dad was a scientist and the brains behind Project Krypton and the Unbreakables.

* GoodThingYouCanHeal: [[spoiler: The nanomachines that comprise her can repair any damage she takes, even being ripped in half.]] She still feels pain though.

* {{Nanomachines}}: The original Madeline died [[spoiler:and the nanomachines that her father had injected her with while she was alive went into overdrive trying to fix it. End result is that most of her body is composed of them.]]
* PrecociousCrush: She's not ''that'' young (she was 17 when she died), but she's still a teenager by all accounts and has a pretty obvious crush on St. George.

!!Other Heroes

[[folder:Banzai]]
!! Banzai (real name Kathy Lee)

A Korean-American teen heroine who died during the outbreak, Banzai possessed superhuman agility and speed and embarked on a short-lived superheroic career to escape the mundanity of her life. She had a fling with Gorgon which he still hasn't recovered from.

* CombatParkour: She had super-human agility and so favored this trope.
* FunPersonified
* LeeroyJenkins
* NonIndicativeName: Banzai is a Japanese term, but she herself was Korean-American.
* SamitarianSyndrome: [spoiler:She narrowly missed the window in which Regenerator was still capable of healing her because she kept stopping to save people on the way to the hospital.]
* ShooOutTheClowns: The least serious of the heroes in presentation and outlook, and the first hero to be killed during the outbreak.
* SweetPollyOliver: She presented as male in costume in order to draw suspicion away from her civillian identity.

[[folder:Midknight]]
!!Midknight

A knight-themed hero with darkness generation powers; he was killed at the tail end of the outbreak, immediately before the heroes began work on constructing The Mount.

* CastingAShadow
* EliteZombie: One of the few remaining infected with superpowers. [spoiler: He acts as an elite unit for Peasy and the Seventeens when they lay siege to the mount.]
* PunnyName
* WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway?: When he dies, George expresses suprise that he'd lasted as long as he did; his power was next to useless against the exes, who are TooDumbToFool.
* WhatHappenedToMommy?: Downplayed version. St. George refuses to kill him out of sentimentality, instead flying his zombified body out to the hills any time he gets too close to the Mount.
* WeHardlyKnewYe: In-Universe. Midkight was one of the few heroes That St. George didn't know very well, and it bothers him that they didn't get a chance to be friends in earnest.

[[folder:Cairax]]
!! Maxwell Hale and Cairax Murrain

Maxwell Hale was a hotshot magician who decided to push the limits of what the mystical community thought to be possible and/or advisable. Through a complicated ritual of his own design, Hale was able to bind Cairax Murrain, a powerful demon, into a magic amulet, which he in turn used to temporarily summon and hijack Cairax's physical form. Despite being one of the most physically powerful heroes in Los Angeles, he still managed to get infected in his demonic form after attempting...unspecified relations with a zombified Jessica Alba.

* AmuletOfConcentratedAwesome: The amulet that Maxwell uses to transform into Cairax - among other things, it has a jet-black obsidian lens that was carved with bone to trap the light during a solar eclipse.
* BackFromTheDead: Technically, it's zombification, but the undead Cairax isn't staying down. [[spoiler: Played a lot more straight in the third book, with both Maxwell ''and'' Cairax]].
* BigBad: The demon half of the equation becomes the chief threat in the third book. [[spoiler: Turns out that the ''human'' half was in on it, too - or, at least, he pretended to be. Maybe.]]
* DemonicPossession: An unusual ''inverted'' example - Maxwell summons the demon lord Cairax to take his place, but it's ''his'' mind in the demon's body.
* CardCarryingVillain: The demon Cairax, when Max isn't possessing him and using his body to fight for good. [[spoiler: It actually makes Cairax ''furious'' that everyone would cheer his name, instead of cowering in fear]].
* TheDreaded: Cairax was this to anyone in the mystic community, outright mentioned to be one of the great lords of the Abyss. [[spoiler: When he assumes proper physical existence on the mortal plane, Max believes that there's no stopping him]].
* {{Expy}}: of ComicBook/{{Etrigan}} with some elements of ComicBook/{{Constantine}} [[spoiler: and ComicBook/{{Deadman}}]]
* FaceDeathWithDignity: [[spoiler: In the third book's finale, Max decides he's through cheating death, and allows himself to succumb to the gunshot wounds that Stealth inflicted on him]].
* HazyFeelTurn: Maxwell, due to [[spoiler: siding with Cairax in the third book - except that he deliberately told the heroes how Cairax might be killed beforehand, and claims that he had to make sure his act was as convincing as possible. St. George isn't sure he believes it, even after Maxwell dies.]]
* HeWhoFightsMonsters: It's implied that hijacking Cairax's body subtly influenced Max's mind back whenever he transforms.
* MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily: Attention is frequently drawn to Cairax's sharp, tusk-like chompers. [[spoiler: They're strong enough to pierce St. George's skin]]!

[[folder:Blockbuster]]
!!Blockbuster
A hero about whom little is known, beyond the fact that he had enormous strength and stamina. St. George was forced to kill him after he became infected following an ill-advised last stand against the infected.

* CynicismCatalyst: Having to kill him was one of the many factors that led St. George to abandon the Mighty Dragon persona.
* FadSuper: Implied; he was operating in Hollywood under the name *Blockbuster.*
* MeaningfulName: His cape handle became decidedly more literal after he turned into a zombie and started wiping out dozens of buildings by walking into them.
* PersonOfMassDestruction: He caused millions in property damage as a zombie. It's telling that out of all the zombified heroes, Blockbuster is the only one St. George went out of his way to kill- it would have been impossible to live in the city otherwise.
* TheBigGuy: Remembered by Gorgon as having been eight feet tall and seven feet wide.
* TheGhost:Never appears in person.
* TheJuggernaut: After reanimating, he began walking straight through buildings in pursuit of his targets, levelling seven city blocks before The Mighty Dragon was able to kill him.

[[folder:Nautilus]]
!! Nautilus (real name: Maleko)

A small-time superhero from Hawaii who has the ability to turn into a hulking shark-person. The extremely specific nature of his power meant that he had little hero work to do aside from rescuing swimmers and assisting shipwrecks.... until the apocalypse hit, and he found his calling as a superhuman warlord.

* {{Expy}}: Of ComicBook/{{Aquaman}}.
* MadeOfIron: He survived getting close to Zzzap, although it did hurt him.
* MilesGloriosus: He fed the people of Lemuria a huge number of elaborate lies where he and the Mighty Dragon were BashBrothers. He quickly [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope goes off the deep-end]] when George shows up in Lemuria and has no idea who he is.
* NukeEm: [[spoiler:What he attempts to do in ''Ex-Isle'' to convince the Lemurians that nukes did devastate the world.]]
* SharkMan: He is described as having the fangs of a shark.
* SuperStrength: He's said to be the strongest man alive when he's underwater. [[spoiler: He proves it when he pushes a submarine a mile out from Lemuria.]]
* ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman: He's got a serious chip on his shoulder, due to basically being the embodiment of all the jokes people make about how Aquaman is useless away from the water, and he relishes the zombie apocalypse as an opportunity to play up his own status in the former superhero community to people who don't know any better.

[[folder:TheAwesomeApe]]
!!TheAwesomeApe

A Chicago-based superhero with enhanced strength and agility, he's mentioned as having worked with Zzzap to fight the infection in Illinois.

* AnimalThemedSuperbeing
* TheGhost
* UncertainDoom: He never made his way to the mount, but if he died nobody made note of it.
* WalkingShirtlessScene: According to the author's concept art.

[[folder:Marduk]]
!!Marduk
An Iranian superhero with the ability to transform into a dragon.

* ChekovsGunman: He's first mentioned in the second book as a national security concern prompting the reactivation of Project Krypton. In book five, [[spoiler: Nautilus explains away St. George as actually being Marduk impersonating The Mighty Dragon, and this clues in Hussain, an Iranian Expat who saw Marduk in person, that Nautilus isn't on the up-and-up. ]]
* TheGhost: He never shows up in person, [[spoiler:which becomes a plot point in the fifth book.]]
* Shapeshifter
* ScaledUp
* UncertainDoom: It's never made clear if he survived the apocalypse or not.

[[folder:The Super Samurai]]
!!The Super Samurai

A team of sentai-themed heroes based in Japan who survived the apocalypse and established a safezone similar to The Mount.

Expy:Of the Power Rangers.
HeroOfAnotherStory: They spent five books doing did exactly what the LA heroes did, halfway across the planet.
TheGhost: Due to their distance from Los Angelos, Zzzap is the only person capable of reaching them.

!!Other Survivors

[[folder: The Mount and Eden]]

%%!! The Scavengers

!! Christian Nguyen

* GrandTheftMe: [[spoiler: Smith steals her body via a psychic imprint]].
* {{Jerkass}}: She's not a very pleasant person. She's a reactionary who's constantly challenging Stealth's decisions.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: At the least, she seemed to be genuine in her desire to help people, despite her attitude.
* PsychicPowers: She possessed [[spoiler:some latent psychic ability to bring people together, which she never knew about.]]

%%!! Jarvis
!! Doc Connolly

* [[MrExposition Ms. Exposition]]: She's the Mount's chief doctor and knows more about the ex-virus than almost anyone.

!! The South Seventeens

A former street gang that Gorgon tangled with.

* ColorMotifs: Green was a major color indicator associated with them.

%%!! Mayor Richard Linhart
%%!! Lester

[[folder: Project Krypton, the Unbreakables, and the military]]

!! Professor Emil Sorensen

* AbsentMindedProfessor: He was always a bit of one, but the loss of his wife and daughter clearly didn't do his sanity any favors.
* OmnidisciplinaryScientist: He's a biologist, but also somehow managed to design and create nanomachines decades ahead of their time.

!! Colonel Shelly

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: His natural tendency is towards this. Unfortunately, Smith got to him first.

!! The Unbreakables in general

* [[SuperSoldier Super Soldiers]]: They're the result of a super soldier program.


!! First Sergeant Kennedy
Captain Freedom's second in command

!! Lieutenant Gibbs

* MyGreatestFailure: He sees [[spoiler: being mind-controlled by Christian Smith into attempting to kill St. George using the Cerberus suit, which lead to its ultimate destruction]] as this. It took Danielle months to forgive him.

[[folder: Lemuria]]

Another community of survivors, on a bunch of ships pulled together.

* HumanShield: At Nautilus' instigation they agreed to use their children as this to keep George and the others in line.

[[folder: The Villains]]

* HeroKiller: [[spoiler: He murders Gorgon during the climax of the first book]].
* HiddenDepths: As much of a thug as he is, he's rather big on [[IGaveMyWord keeping his word once he gives it]]. [[spoiler: He kept looking for Dr. Sorenson's wife and daughter after their deal, and honors his promise to let the heroes return to the Mount uncontested after they kill Cairax]].

* NonIndicativeName: He's not actually [[spoiler: Patient Zero.]]

* BitchInSheepsClothing: He's awfully nice, given the circumstances. [[spoiler: He turns out to be one half of the BigBadDuumverate in the second book]].

* PowerPerversionPotential: [[spoiler: He discovered exactly ''what'' being a CharmPerson could do for him in a co-ed college, and he wasn't afraid to exploit that.]]





!! Christian Smith

A sort of mental clone of John created when he used his powers on Christian Nguyen.

* BroughtDownToNormal: [[spoiler: Doctor Connolly surgically removes her vocal chords to prevent her from using her powers.]]
* CompellingVoice: Like the original Smith, she has the power to control people with her voice.
* GrandTheftMe: She took over Christian's body and replaced her mind with a copy of John Smith's mind.
* MoreThanMindControl: Her powers work the same way as John's - all she has to do is ask a question, and let subliminal suggestion take care of the rest.


!! Nautilus (real name: Maleko)

* {{Expy}}: Of ComicBook/{{Aquaman}}.
* MadeOfIron: He survived getting close to Zzzap, although it did hurt him.
* MilesGloriosus: He fed the people of Lemuria a huge number of elaborate lies where he and the Mighty Dragon were BashBrothers. He quickly [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope goes off the deep-end]] when George shows up in Lemuria and has no idea who he is.
* NukeEm: What he attempts to do in ''Ex-Isle'' to convince the Lemurians that nukes did devastate the world.
* SharkMan: He is described as having the fangs of a shark.
* SuperStrength: He's said to be the strongest man alive when he's underwater. [[spoiler: He proves it when he pushes a submarine a mile out from Lemuria.]]

[[folder: Miscellaneous]]

* {{Expy}}: of ComicBook/{{Etrigan}} with some elements of ComicBook/{{Constantine}} [[spoiler: and SelfDemonstrating/{{Deadman}}]]

[[folder: The Super Samurai]]