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Students
Humberto Lopez / Reptil
Dinosaur Morpher. Future hero or naive optimist?/Prehistoric shape shifter. Class leader
Humberto Lopez is class leader at Avengers Academy, and the most dedicated to being a hero. Reptil is mainly motivated to find his missing parents, who disappeared while out an archaeological dig. He's the most level-headed of the team, and he tries his best to live up to the huge expectations placed on him as well as keep his own emotions in check. He can morph into any dinosaur he thinks of and gets his power from an amulet embedded in his chest.
- Ascended Fanboy: He was a fan of the Avengers as a kid, and is now in the Avengers' junior academy.
- Almost Kiss: with both Spider-Girl (Anya) and White Tiger (Ava). He got his first kiss from Finesse (and, "A lot more" as well).
- Alternate Self: For a while, his future self took over his body in order to change the past. Long story.
- Animal Theme Naming: Get it? Reptil? Reptile?
- Animal-Themed Superbeing: His powers and name are dinosaur/reptile related.
- Animorphism: His main power, to transform into dinosaurs
- Prehistoric Monster: Some of his forms combine various dinosaur aspects. Once it was a raptor with stegosaurus' plates and thagomizer, and another one resembled the Paleosaurus from The Giant Behemoth.
- Artistic License – Paleontology: Dinosaurs modern descendants are birds, not reptiles.
- Canon Immigrant: Created only for the The Superhero Squad Show, and was brought into the official canon with the Avengers: The Initiative series.
- Chick Magnet: During the series, he's fooled around with Finesse, and flirted with Spider-Girl/Anya Corazon. In the end, he and White Tiger look like they may hook up.
- Civvie Spandex: His standard uniform is a spandex top and regular looking pants. The pants apparently cover the rest of his spandex uniform.
- Collateral Angst: In his point-of-view issue of Avengers Arena, the plot revolves around him trying to shake Hazmat out of her grief-fueled depression and denial and his frustrations at failing at it (and eventually just letting her do whatever she wants).
- Comes Great Responsibility: At first, Reptil was reluctant to be the class leader. However, after talking to Jessica Jones about his issues (mainly relating to his parents), he takes on the role. He also took full responsibility for a botched attack against the Sinister Six even after Ant-Man said it was his fault, and held himself well as a leader against the Worthy during Fear Itself.
- Dogged Nice Guy: He starts to like Finesse after their friendly relationship becomes physical, but Finesse wasn't interested in him romatically. By the time she did, he had already moved on.
- Good Thing You Can Heal: He's scarred up pretty bad after Deathlocket shoots him with her laser (under control by Apex). Hazmat made sure he healed fully by staying by his side.
- Healing Factor: Hank Pym says it's not as strong as Wolverine's or X-23, but it's there.
- Heroic Sacrifice: After he sees Hazmat about to go nuclear, he scoops her up with no hesitation and rushes her to the ocean to contain the blast.
- If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!: He felt very badly about even thinking about killing Chase and Nico, he doesn't want to play Arcade's game, and just wants to get back home to his maybe-girlfriend White Tiger.
- Pair the Spares: After he struck out with Finesse, he is now interested in White Tiger.
- Love Triangle: As carry-over from Avengers Academy. It's still very complicated between Reptil, Finesse and White Tiger. Reptil was last dating White Tiger at Avengers Academy and possibly lamented being without her in issue #4, but in issue #10 it's revealed he may still have feelings for Finesse. On top of that, he doesn't know if his feelings are returned. Issue #13 reveals that Finesse still does love him.
- Parental Abandonment: His paleontologist parents disappeared after going on a dig for fossils.
- Power Incontinence: For a bit he couldn't fully transform into dinosaurs, and when he did he lost control, nearly killed villian Mentallo.
- Standardized Leader: Compared to the rest of Avengers Academy, he comes off as a little bland. He doesn't have a quickly identifiable quirk like the rest of the crew or why he’s labeled as one of the most likely to become a super villain.
- Super-Strength: In his larger, full dinosaur forms.
- Uncertain Doom: His final fate in Battleworld is uncertain. His body was displayed on page with rescuers finding him in the water and giving the thumbs-up sign, making it unclear whether or not he survived saving Hazmat. Hopeless said that as far as he is concerned, Reptil is dead but his fate was Left Hanging in case the character is to be used in the future. He turned up alive five years later in Brian Michael Bendis's final issue of The Invincible Iron Man starring Ironheart and later gets his own solo series in 2021, 7 years after Arena.
Jeanne Foucault / Finesse
Photographic figher. All head, no heart./Expert at everything except human emotions.
Unlike the other kids at the academy, Jeanne Foucault wasn't mistreated by Norman Osborn, and was allowed to work on her skills. Finesse is a polymath and can learn any skill very quickly, not to mention she has a photographic memory and can copy different fighting techniques. She's an ace at everything except social interaction, and her bluntness and aloof demeanor alienate her from the group.
- The Ace: She's good at sports, fighting, is a genius, can hack into computers...you name it, she's good at it, except with social interaction.
- Action Girl: She is an adept, strong fighter who doesn't back down from any challenge.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: She can remember the fighting styles of all her opponents, as well can absorb knowledge at an accelerated rate.
- Broken Ace: Sure, she's skilled at pretty much every skill she sets her mind to, but it comes at the cost of her social skills, which alienates her from others.
- Brutal Honesty: Sometimes, too brutal. She doesn't even realize that she hurts others' feelings.
- Combat Pragmatist: She doesn't fight dirty, but she is willing to do anything in order to win.
- Hidden Depths: She comes off as cold and emotionless, but she displays a strong attachment to Quicksilver who she sees as a mentor, even angrily attacking Magneto of all people for berating Quicksilver for his failures. In the final issue, she cries after seeing Reptil and White Tiger together, showing sadness and loss.
- Luke, I Might Be Your Father: It isn't a guarantee that Taskmaster is her father, but they have very similar powers — and, in the future, similar memory problems.
- No Social Skills: A serious flaw, it seems as if she can only understand basic human emotions. In a sad irony, by the time she does, she loses her friend X-23, Reptil (who previously liked Finesse) moved on to White Tiger, and she realizes she's alone.
- Photographic Memory: Which she uses to memorize fighting styles.
- Power Copying: With her reflexive memory, she can copy the fighting style of anyone perfectly.
- Pragmatic Hero: A lot more so than the rest of the class especially demonstrated with her actions against Jeremy Briggs. It's not that she's evil, it's just that she's quick to the point to win and defend herself and her friends.
- Renaissance Man: Her photographic reflexes and memory allows her to learn any skill she sees or studies. And recall conversations verbatim.
- Sociopathic Hero: She is specifically a sociopath,note unable to comprehend other people's emotions or feel any of her own. Over the course of the series, she learns to decipher how people feel enough to take responsibility for her actions and has developed camaraderie, if not exactly an emotional bond, with her friends. The final issue shows that she is genuinely upset by her inability to connect with others emotionally.
Jennifer Takeda / Hazmat
Human toxic spill. Caustic personality./Walking Meltdown. Temper to match.
Jennifer Takeda's powers first manifested during a makeout session with her boyfriend. Her entire body is both poisonous and radioactive and when she approaches Norman Osborn for a cure, he actually makes her condition worse, and she has to wear a radioactive suit for the rest of her life. As a result, she has a harsh, sarcastic personality with a soft side only brought out by Mettle.
- Action Girl: She's not one to shy away from a fight, and her temper means she may start one.
- Atomic Superpower: Her powers are atomic/nuclear in nature.
- Blessed with Suck: Her poison and radioactive powers, which deprive her from human contact.
- Break the Cutie: She's harsher than your typical cutie, but she's been through absolute hell while in Murderworld. Murderworld amplified it, and she nearly blasts a group of kids in the mall for bringing it up.
- Broken Bird: Her powers cost her a normal life, which she's very upset about. When she isn't snapping at everyone, she's very depressed.
- But Not Too Foreign: She's as mixed as her beau Mettle, with her dad being Japanese and her mom white.
- Can't Have Sex, Ever: Well, with most people due to her powers. Mettle can withstand her nuclear powers, but psychological blocks from the last time she tried and nearly killed someone hold her back. Finally averted in the final issue when she and Mettle consummate their relationship.
- Clingy Costume: She can take it off (as shown in Fear Itself when talking to the Serpent-powered, and thus radiation-immune, Titania and Absorbing Man), it's just that she could kill people if she just walked around normal.
- Containment Clothing: She has to wear a suit to prevent her powers from negatively affecting others.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: When X-23 enters the picture and Mettle befriends her.
- Deadpan Snarker: Her frustration at her condition mostly manifests in bitter, cutting remarks.
- Failure Knight: With Mettledead, she doesn't want to lose another Academy member. In #4, she's first seen begging the others to keep looking for the missing Juston after they spent a day hunting and looking for clues to where his Sentinel crashed. She still feels guilty about them both and blames herself for getting Mettle killed.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: She's always been quick to anger. After Mettle's death, it's gotten worse, with her ready to attack anyone outside the other Academy students, including people she has met before, like the Runaways.
- Hand Blast: How she generally projects her powers. Radiation, EMP, microwaves and other nasty things.
- Hazmat Suit: She has to wear one, which gives Jennifer her codename.
- Heartbroken Badass: Having Mettle killed in front of her hasn't diminished her fighting and hero skills. It possibly strengthened them due to her anger and grief. She still grieves for Mettle in Undercover, but is still very formidable in combat, and now with her powers under control she's even more dangerous.
- Heroic BSoD: In issue #11, she loses it badly and just wants to enjoy the time she has left on the island in denial. In actuality, she is still grieving over Mettle, and wanted to just not think about him or Murderworld anymore. The moment she met Arcade again, she just blanked out. When she comes out of it, she kills him.
- In the Hood: Now that she's out the radioactive suit, she's gained a hoodie as part of her attire. She later where’s the suit again.
- Kirby Dots: Often seen around her hands when she's giving off radiation.
- Latex Space Suit: What her hazmat suit looks like.
- The Leader: Assumes this position when she proposes infiltrating the Masters of Evil. She later calls Hank Pym and starting to round up the Murderworld survivors.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: How Reptil identifies her Heroic BSoD.
- Otaku: In her backstory, she was an anime fan as she had figurines and posters in her bedroom, including Digimon like Archelomon, and Mechazawa. Also, she kept a vintage Dazzler poster in her room at Infinity Mansion which was later destroyed in an explosion, to her dismay. She is however, not above using her otaku knowledge to insult people.Hazmat: Spare me, Veil. We might as well buy [Reptil] one of those human-sized anime pillows. They'd bring more passion to the relationship.
- Parental Marriage Veto: A sad carryover from Avengers Academy. It's revealed that Hazmat's parents disapprove of her relationship with Mettle.
- Person of Mass Destruction: Through either poisoning large areas or outright nuking them.
- Poisonous Person: She is described as a human toxic spill. When her powers manifested, she accidentally delivered a neurotoxin to her boyfriend with a kiss. She can make any hazardous material for any "living" thing, radiation and toxins for organic life, EMP bursts for robotics up to antimatter for god-like beings.
- Power Incontinence: She has to wear a Hazmat suit to contain her radiation. She later gained control of her powers, but it cost her just about everything else in her life.
- Revenge: She kills Arcade in the exact manner he killed Mettle, or at least tries to.
- Second Love: She starts dating Anachronism.
- Super-Power Meltdown: She survives X-23's attack in Battleworld, but loses complete control of her powers and nearly causes a huge meltdown. Reptil rushes her to water and contains the blast, and Hazmat survives and is cured of her Power Incontinence.
- To Be Lawful or Good: In issue #8 she notices that the villian lifestyle is easier to handle than the uptight superhero code, but she still has a solid belief on remaining on the good side.
- Tsundere: Bitter exterior, soft interior when you get to know her.
- Violently Protective Girlfriend: When a mind controlled X-23 stabs Mettle, she gives her a full bore blast.Mettle: You knew she would survive that, right?
Hazmat: Yeah. Would have done it anyway.
Ken Mack / Mettle
Steel-skinned powerhouse. Armored shell protecting inner feelings./Near invulnerable exterior, easily bruised heart.
Ken Mack's red iridium skin was first revealed during a surfing accident where his face was actually peeled open. With Norman Osborn's "help", his entire body is now red iridium and with a sinister looking skull face. Despite his scary looks, Mettle is a very gentle and sweet guy who doesn't even know his own strength.
- Blessed with Suck: His powers, which also give him his massive strength, robbed him of his family (his kid sister is frightened of his visage) and the sport he loved (Surfing).
- But Not Too Foreign: A mixed race example, he's American (from Hawaii), and black and Jewish (which makes it uncomfortable when he's compared to the Red Skull, who is quite the opposite of all of these).
- Civvie Spandex: He just wears big boots, pants and a black t-shirt.
- Chrome Champion: His body is encased in shiny red iridium.
- Does Not Know His Own Strength: During the Fear Itself event, he meant to only halt a Nazi mech, but ended impaling the rider. He was mortified.
- Face of a Thug: Is a nice and mellow guy, with no skin covering a skull made of red iridium.
- Flayed Alive: How Norman "helped" him, by peeling all of his skin off to reveal the chrome underneath.
- Frozen Face: His face is a skull, which cannot display emotion.
- Gentle Giant: For looking like a monster, he's a very mellow guy.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Much to his horror he finds himself developing something like this, but works through it.
- Nigh-Invulnerability: Again, he's made of metal and he's very durable.
- Punny Name: Get it? Metal? Mettle?
- Super-Strength: His metallic skin helped him gain super strength.
- Surfer Dude: Formerly, before his metallic skin showed up in a surfboard accident.
- Understanding Boyfriend: He sticks with Hazmat through thick and thin, and waits for her to feel ready about sex.
Brandon Sharpe / Striker
Electric dynamo. Self-promotes through shock tactics./Fame hungry electrical dynamo.
Brandon Sharpe is only in the superhero business for the fame. He desperately wants the notoriety of being part of the Avengers and takes every moment to get any press for himself. Underneath the fame-whoring, lies a very insecure boy. His electricity powers first manifested as he tried to defend himself from his manager's molestation.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: One on his face, which he got when his powers manifested. Now his face may be permanently scarred, thanks to Jeremy Briggs.
- Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today? — Before he came to terms with his sexuality, he would repeatedly hit on the girls of the Academy. Only Veil wasn't fooled.
- It's All About Me: He was spoiled by his mother into thinking he was very special, and Norman Osborn's interest in him propelled his ego to new heights. Not too long after he comes to terms with his sexuality, he has a press conference about it, in true Striker fashion.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He may be pompous and egotistical, but he does come to realize to use his powers for good and he is also very friendly.
- Locked into Strangeness: After his electricity powers were manifested, it resulted in the skunk stripe and a scar on his face.
- Pimping the Offspring: Downplayed, Striker was molested by a Hollywood agent helping him get acting roles, and when he told his mother about the abuse, she claimed he was lying. It wasn't until Striker accidentally killed the man while defending himself from his advances with his manifesting powers that his mom apologized and realized he was telling the truth.
- Rape as Backstory: He was molested by his manager and he accidentally killed him when his powers manifested.
- Rape and Switch: Invoked. Striker confesses to Julie Power that he thought his manager's molestation turned him gay. Julie thankfully takes objection to this and explains that only Striker can let his abuser influence his actions.
- Shock and Awe: His powers are electric in nature.
- Smug Super: He's a new superhero, but he already thinks he should be a household name.
- Straight Gay: He doesn't have any campy mannerisms. The only stereotypically gay things about him are that he's a bit obsessed with his looks and likes Grey's Anatomy.
Madeline Berry / Veil
Variable Gas Generator. Unseen potential... until she discorporates.
Madeline Berry's powers generated when she was embarrassed at school, so much so, she actually disappeared by turning into a cloud of gas. Norman Osborn tried to replicate the event, but with her body put through too much trauma, the end result is that she is slowly dissipating. This weighs heavily on her conscious and she tries to fit in and being the best hero she can, but her gentle and awkward personality cannot handle the harshness of being a hero.
- Badass Normal: Becomes this after getting her powers removed; while she no longer has them, her combat training is still there, as the Alpha Bitch and jerk jocks at her school find out the hard way.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: She takes the Clean Slate formula and finally becomes normal... and then she realizes since she doesn't have powers anymore, she has to go back to school on the bottom of the Popularity Food Chain. Although she doesn't mind as she quickly moves up the pecking order when she easily takess down the Alpha Bitch and Jerk Jocks with the confidence and fighting skills she learned at Avenger Academy.
- Break the Cutie: The entire Fear Itself event completely broke her, leading her to quit the Academy.Join Jeremy Brigg's Company and has her powers removed via the Clean Slate formula.
- Brought Down to Badass: Just because she has no powers doesn't mean she's lost all the combat training she underwent, as the Alpha Bitch and jocks at her school learn the hard way.
- Brought Down to Normal: She takes Jeremy Briggs' Clean Slate formula and now has no powers.
- Boyish Short Hair: She sports this.
- The Cutie: Out of the all the kids at the Academy, she's the most gentle and caring and woeful out of place.
- Deadly Gas: She can turn into a cloud of gas and even change the properties to deadly effect.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: After everything she went through, it was pretty satisfying to see her cured. And go back to her normal life.
- Heroic BSoD: After Fear Itself, after she kills an enemy out of anger, she goes through this and decides to leave Avengers Academy and work for Jeremy Briggs
- Hot for Teacher: She had a crush on one of the teachers, Justice, until she found him kissing Ultra Girl in his room.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: Not only does she want to be cured, she wants to leave the superhero life all together. She achieves both by the end of the series.
- Nigh-Invulnerability: Of the Intangible variety.
- Power Degeneration: Thanks to Norman Osborn, her physical make up is changing and she'll eventually fade away. She was cured of the degeneration after the Korvac arc, but still risked of becoming completely intangible.
- Put on a Bus: She left the team after Fear Itself to work for Jeremy Briggs and only showed up once more before coming Back for the Finale in the last arc.
- Took a Level in Badass: In the end of the series, she can now defend herself easily with no powers.
Julie Power / Lightspeed
Able to fly. Looking to be more grounded./Flight. Energy Trail. Veteran Hero.
Julie Power is brought in as a full-time student in issue #21. Formerly of the Power Pack, she has been a superhero since she was a little girl and has years of hero experience over the Avengers Academy kids. She's also bisexual, which people still have a problem with, much to her dismay.
See Power Pack
Ava Ayala / White Tiger
Powered by mystical amulet, fueled by family pride./Amulet grants speed, agility... and occasional possession by a tiger god.
Ava Ayala is brought as another full-time student in issue #21. She takes crime-fighting seriously and very dedicated to the work. She is the third person in her family to bear the White Tiger name, and she wears the White Tiger amulet with pride.
Laura Kinney / X- 23
Female clone of Wolverine searching for her soul.
X-23 joins the group as a full-time student in #23. She hopes to redeem herself for her past actions as an assassin and gain friends and social skills.
Juston Seyfert & his Sentinel
Pilots his best friend, a sentinel robot. Human relations need work.
A boy who has bonded with an old model Sentinel he half-repaired. The relationship between the two is much like The Iron Giant.
See Sentinel
Instructors
Hank Pym / Ant-Man
Dr. Henry "Hank" Pym is headmaster and lead instructor at Avengers Academy. Just like the students who attend the academy, Ant-Man is rebuilding his life — he was replaced by a Skrull for a period of time and the love of his life was killed. He's starting anew with a new love and new lease on life, dedicated to the kids of the Academy and he's determined not to fail them.
See Ant-Man: Heroes
Greer Nelson / Tigra
Greer Nelson has been an Avenger through most of her superhero career, and is chosen to be an instructor to impart her wisdom to the students. She deeply cares about the kids' safety and well-being, and she's also dealing with her own trauma after her brutal beating and having her own infant son to care for.
See The Avengers
Villains
Jeremy Briggs
Able to alter matter on a molecular level. Unable to be trusted.
Another "student" of Osborn, Jeremy Briggs was considered for the seventh spot in the original class lineup, but was passed over because he was building a successful life on his own. He has the ability to alter chemical composition, and is a talented scientist in his own right. He's both ambitious and manipulative.
- Ambition Is Evil: He has lofty goals, and sees no point to superheroics and just wants to expand his empire. But of course, he wants to do away with all superheroes and is willing to do anything to get his wealth and manipulate others.
- Chemistry Can Do Anything: Jeremy has the power to alter molecular structures, turning one thing into another (like regular air to Chlorine).
- Corrupt Corporate Executive
- De-power: Through the use of "Clean Slate," an adaptation of Iron Man's SPIN tech.
- Expy: Of Maxwell Lord IV. He's a manipulative brunette young man with boyish good looks and friendly demeanor, a skill for manipulating others, a prominent billion-dollar corporation that provides humanitarian aid, authority over a number of superheroes, sociopathic tendencies, and prominent distrust for how superhumans (hero or villain) have been behaving while expressing a desire to protect the common person from them despite being a morally bankrupt superhuman himself. Like Lord, he even had a grand theatrical plan to get rid of all superhumans except himself while also expressing desires for controlling everyone around him.
- Obviously Evil: From his very first appearance, there was clearly something wrong with this guy. It's mentioned by prominent characters such as Quicksilver, Finesse, and Hank Pym that Jeremy is a manipulative sociopath As of "Final Exam", he's upgraded to full-on megalomaniac villain status.
- Reed Richards Is Useless: He’s very much into defying this trope.
- Smug Snake: Oh boy is he ever.
- Tempting Fate: As he's bleeding to death, he brags to Finesse (who's tying his wounds so he wouldn't bleed out) that ultimately, he will win, get out of jail and distribute Clean Slate to the world. Finesse stops bandaging him and lets him bleed to death.
- Villains Want Mercy: He doesn't get it.
- Villain Has a Point: Jeremy is motivated by the misuse of superhuman powers and putting them to better use in humanitarian efforts rather than fighting crime or other such things. During Final Exam, he opens his proposal to the kids like this:"Remember that big super-powered fight that devastated cities, killed a whole bunch of people and changed absolutely nothing? Which one, am I right? They happen every couple of months. Your teachers are in the middle of one right now. Caused by people with too much power and no sense."
- As he points out in his first appearance, Reptil should put more effort in finding his parents, Veil should live her life to the fullest, Striker has plenty of ways to become famous, Hazmat could provide free nuclear power and Mettle could do a lot of good as a police officer.
- Villain with Good Publicity: 18-year old CEO with a huge 'humanitarian' bent. In Veil's own words: "He may be a bad person, but he does good things."
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: The events of Avengers vs. X-Men get him to go forward with the Clean Slate plan.
