Antagonists in the Iconic Comics Shared Universe.
Enemies of Black Hops
A terrorist organization which focuses on creating, selling, and using biological weapons of mass destruction.
A former weapons researcher who, while trying to recreate the radiation incident which made USA GI what he is, was badly injured in a lab accident. Since then he switched from serving the American military to selling his weapons to all who could pay for them. Smart, tough, and extremely dangerous, he is one of Black Hops's most notorious foes.
- Arms Dealer: He makes his money by creating cryptids and selling them to militaries, mercenaries, rebels, and anyone else with the money to buy them.
- Big Bad: He's this to Black Hops and Spec Hops.
- The Faceless: He wears a face-concealing helmet and his face has consequently not been shown to the readers. A couple characters have seen it, and their reactions ranged from surprise to horror.
The result of a soldier being changed, somehow, by something at Roswell. The soldier lost his voice when he was altered but gained the ability to perfectly replicate the appearance of anyone that he touched. This made him an excellent assassin — until he went rogue. The American military tried to catch him and kill him, but when he proved impossible to kill, they settled for locking him up. When Apex Moth paid Ningen soldiers to free him, however, he became one of Apex's most capable lieutenants.
- Cthulhumanoid: His natural form looks like this, with grayish skin, no hair, and tentacles coming out of his face.
- Shapeshifter: His main power is that he can take the form of anyone he touches.
A former cartel smuggler who joined Cryptiq. He loves anime and manga, and he isn't afraid to let everyone in earshot know it.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: He sounds ridiculous when he prattles on about anime and manga during dangerous missions, but he's a genuinely skilled fighter. He's hunted several chupacabras, he evaded the Kamen Corps once, and he was even able to fight Carly for a bit before she and Millius brought him down.
- Occidental Otaku: He's a Hispanic guy who is also an anime fanatic.
- Seppuku: When Apex Moth expresses displeasure in Okami's performance, Okami says he'd commit seppuku for Apex anytime.
A tunnel expert with a small army of goblins. She was recruited by Apex Moth to help with missions that required work to be done underground.
- Shout-Out: She and her goblins are a clear reference to the Kelly-Hopkinsville alien encounter
. - Tunnel King: Her main skill is that she (and her goblins) can find their way through underground tunnels and even dig their own, which comes in handy when Apex is trying to avoid Black Hops and Spec Hops.
A mysterious woman with gorgon powers.
- Gorgeous Gorgon: She is depicted as very pretty, and she has gorgon powers such as encasing people in stone and controlling snakes.
A notorious cryptid which Apex Moth sold to Kim Jong-Un. It fought USA GI and did better than any of the other North Korean soldiers or animals who tried, only failing when USA GI tricked it into destroying Kim's military base. It escaped, and it later battled Patriot-R and survived that fight too.
- Cats Are Mean: It has a cat face and acts a lot like a cat, even sitting on Kim's lap and letting him pet it. It's also a cruel monster that tries to kill USA GI.
- Right-Hand Cat: Serves as this to Kim Jong-Un.
- Snakes Are Sinister: It has the body of a snake and it's an evil monster.
A person who was horrifically altered from Apex Moth's experiments.
- Killed Off for Real: Kanina executes him after she and Vicki catch him.
- Serial Killer: He's been killing many people, which is why Spec Hops is sent to hunt him down.
- Would Hurt a Child: He boasts about killing children.
Small monsters in Apex Moth's army. These include chupacabras under Okami's control, goblins under Keli's control, and snakes under Stiletto's control.
- Chupacabra: Apex Moth created them as such.
- Mook: The ones under Okami's control serve as these.
- Our Goblins Are Different: Keli's monsters are called goblins, and they fit the usual depiction by being short, ugly, cruel humanoids.
- Tunnel King: Just as Keli is great at navigating tunnels and caves, the goblins seem to be superlative at making new ones.
Other monsters created by Apex Moth. These include the grotesque and massive worm called the minhocao, and the gigantic creatures called the mokele-mbembe.
- Our Cryptids Are More Mysterious: All these monsters are based on real mythology.
An established Private Military Contractor organization which had been hired by America to perform certain sensitive duties. Unfortunately, after Apex Moth bribed Ningen's leader, Ningen defected to their side and provided the muscle Cryptiq needed to carry out various evil plans.
The leader of Ningen, having inherited it from her parents. Kanina is an expert shot and a skilled hunter, having chased down and killed almost all the jackalopes in order to complete her outfit She defects to Cryptiq in exchange for a fortune in cash, but as she learns the true extent of Apex's evil, she becomes unsure about whether she made the right decision.
Eventually, Kanina is arrested and joins Spec Hops.
- An Arm and a Leg: She loses a hand battling Black Hops on Hart Island.
- Even Evil Has Standards: She'll do horrible things for money, but she doesn't want to just cause chaos and destruction for no clear reason.
- Fur and Loathing: She killed almost all the jackalopes and skinned them to make her outfit.
- Prehensile Hair: She develops this power after she gets the hand of Saint Columba grafted onto her wrist.
- Private Military Contractors: She owns and runs Ningen, a company which rents these out.
- Speaks Fluent Animal: She also picks up this ability, at least with respect to cryptids, after getting the hand of Saint Columba.
One of Kanina's more reliable lieutenants.
- Number Two: When Kanina issues orders, she usually gives them to Burke, indicating that he may have this position.
Kanina's operators. They're known to be very good at what they do, though they aren't really ready to deal with foes like Black Hops.
- Red Shirt Army: Whenever they go up against Black Hops, they get slaughtered in huge quantities.
The government and military of the dictatorship of North Korea. When they pushed forwards with plans to launch a nuclear warhead and potentially wipe out Honolulu, USA GI was sent to stop them.
- Evil Overlord: He's this in North Korea. He has absolute power and he abuses it with impunity.
Kim's uncle and beleaguered underling.
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: He pleads with USA GI not to kill him. It doesn't work.
A soldier in charge of a squadron of tigers.
- Treated Worse than the Pet: Unusually, he applies this to himself by offering to give his food to his tiger Eun if she succeeds in stopping the intruders. A soldier notes that they barely get enough food anyways, but Joon is happy to give up his meal to his beloved tiger.
A huge albino tiger who puts up a very good fight against USA GI. She was trained by Joon.
- Beast of Battle: She (and the other tigers) were used to track down and rip apart intruders.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: She tries to crawl over so she can die with Joon, her owner and partner. USA GI helps her get to his side.
Tigers and Korean water deer used by the North Korean military to stop intruders.
- Beast of Battle: Both the tigers and deer are used for tracking and attacking trespassers.
- Fangs Are Evil: Korean water deer have fangs and look suitably ominous as they charge down USA GI and try to kill him.
Enemies of the Kamen Corps
A terrorist and self-proclaimed artist who sends monsters to cause havoc and destruction. The Kamen Corps battled her and her creations several times, only to discover she was much closer to them than they knew.
Carly's childhood friend. Though Carly cared deeply for Vicki, Vicki grew resentful of always being in the shadow of the popular and glamorous fashionista. Her resentment grew as she allowed herself to be pushed away from her sculpture and art, which she loved, and into a career in science she didn't care for. Similarly, when she obtained powers after being hit by radioactive space debris (and was further bolstered by Zener Psycho), she allowed Lansky to talk her out of being an 'unmarketable' hero and into a villain who summoned monsters for Carly to fight. This made Carly look good, made Lansky tons of money, and finally allowed Vicki to showcase the artwork she'd suppressed for years. As the Kamen Corps continually beat her and her position grew worse and worse, however, she continued her descent into anger, resentment, and megalomania.
After being arrested, Vicki joined Spec Hops and fought for the American government. She later fully developed her chimeraton powers and became Kamen Terra.
- Big Bad Friend: She serves as the Arc Villain for the first four volumes, despite being Carly's best friend since childhood. They eventually reconcile during the attack on the Hoover Dam.
- Bond One-Liner: She gives one after blasting the Warrior Otomoton while making her debut as Kamen Terra.
- "Take a dirt nap! Courtesy of Kamen Terra!"
- Brought to You by the Letter "S": A subtle example; her outfit as Vermillion Masquerade has a V-shaped Cleavage Window over an M-shaped corset.
- Cleavage Window: As Vermillion Masquerade, she has a V-shaped one. When she renames herself Kamen Terra, her Minidress of Power sports one in the shape of a mountain.
- Dishing Out Dirt: Her powers allow her to manipulate mud and earth.
- I Coulda Been a Contender!: She let Wormwood push her into a STEM career and never made a serious effort to pursue the career in art she really wanted. She also allowed Lansky to talk her into being a villain instead of a hero. She grew frustrated by the compromises she made and the way her life proceeded to turn out, especially when seeing how Carly had refused to be pushed around like this and had built the life Vicki wanted.
- Insistent Terminology: She is very insistent that people acknowledge her mud monsters are "art."
- Meaningful Name: "Kaminski" is derived from the Polish word for stone (kamień), perfect for a geologist with geokinetic powers.
- Redemption Demotion: After she was arrested and started her path to redemption, Zener Psycho teleported into her cell and took back the extra power he'd given her.
- The Resenter: She was primarily motivated by her resentment of Carly, and not just Carly's success and popularity, but also Carly's strength of character which allowed her to avoid making the compromises and errors that Vicki made.
- Rushmore Refacement: She eventually decided to replace the faces on Mount Rushmore with four copies of her own face.
- Satellite Character: Deconstructed; much of her resentment towards Carly stems from people only viewing her as Carly's friend.
Vicki's monsters. Some are gigantic and capable of doing massive damage; others are little minions which are only really powerful as a group.
- Golem: Her monsters are functionally these; they are creatures of clay and mud which obey her commands and do her bidding.
When Carly first got her superpowers, her media agent Niro Lansky saw a merchandising opportunity and rushed to exploit it — regardless of her wishes in the matter. His greed and cruelty led to the collapse of his relationship with Carly, but no matter how little she respected him, his depravity went far beyond anything she could have expected.
Carly's agent. He pushes her to compromise and sell out in every possible way just so he can make more money marketing her; secretly, he also pays Vicki to make her own monsters just so that Carly can fight them (which bolsters Carly's profile to make her more marketable and also allows him to merchandise the monsters themselves). When Carly quits, Lansky tries the same thing with Sylvia. After Vicki reveals he was backing her, he saves himself by making an alliance with Cynthia Prestige and become the 'ambassador' of the Zenerrengers; Cynthia uses her wealth and power to get the government off of Lansky's back, and Lansky pushes Cynthia's evil goals... while making a mint in the process.
- Allegorical Character: He's meant to represent marketing executives who force changes on established characters for the sake of chasing trends.
- Greed: Lansky is obsessed with making as much money as possible.
- Never My Fault: After Vicki betrays him, Lansky rants about how his downfall is everyone's fault but his own.
- Shout-Out: He resembles an adult version of Izuku "Deku" Midoriya ... but with suits and a pair of shades.
- Smooth-Talking Talent Agent: He's good with his words, and he's an agent to superheroes and artists alike.
- Sunglasses at Night: Niro is never seen without his glasses, day or night, indoors or outside.
- Wingding Eyes: Symbols often appear in the lenses of his sunglasses when he is experiencing strong emotions (which is nearly every other panel).
Lansky's silent partner.
- Evil All Along: At first he seemed like he was just a henchman or partner of Lansky, but it's ultimately revealed he's really Zener Psycho in disguise.
A massive multinational conglomerate that was once headed by Simon Prestige; since his death, his second wife Cynthia took over... and began devoting the company's resources towards some truly twisted goals.
The second wife of the late Simon Prestige and the CEO of Prestige, Inc. Cynthia is extremely rich and powerful, and she's willing to use that power to further her goals. She founds the Zenerrengers and bolsters them with her technology and resources; later, she has a suit of Powered Armor made for herself and takes the field as Kamen Unity. Her ultimate goals are unclear, but her means (including terrorism) are utterly depraved, and that puts her on the radar of the Kamen Corps.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Cynthia is initially implied as this when Sylvia reveals her backstory.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Cynthia discovers Aragaki is about to blow everyone up and takes him out, finding him contemptible. Subverted in that it was Aragaki letting himself be recorded while declaring he's intolerant of mistakes that she finds contemptible.
- Evil Matriarch: She is this to Sylvia, her daughter and a member of the Kamen Corps.
- Poison and Cure Gambit: A technology example. She has Aragaki send his robots to demand that Earth reduce its light pollution, then sells both 'dark suits' which purportedly reduce light reflection and special power stations which supposedly emit less power and thus pollute less.
- Powered Armor: She has a set made for herself.
- Pragmatic Villainy: After killing Aragaki, she then turns him into The Scapegoat, and tries making a martyr out of Carly's dad, and even vouches for Carly after she gets punched on TV. This lets her save face in front of the press.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Cynthia calls Aragaki out on his stupidity before she kills him.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Cynthia contributes lots of money to charity and relief efforts, and even when she leads the dark suit protesters she pretends to just be trying to fight light pollution. This makes her very popular, and that in turn causes problems for Carly and the rest of the Kamen Corps.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Implied - Sylvia thinks this much of her, and the readers are led to believe that she's been affected by Simon's death all this time as a motive for her Take Over the World scheme.
- Xanatos Speed Chess: Cynthia really knows how to make the best of the situation - even though her plan is thwarted, she saves face by killing Aragaki and letting him be the fall guy.
A large group of Cynthia Prestige's supporters who believe that the Otomotons really are coming from another world to stop Earth's light pollution. They wear Prestige-brand dark clothing to reduce their reflectivity, and they riot at bright venues as well as power stations.
- Torches and Pitchforks: They form mobs to attack power stations and amusement parks with Molotov cocktails and other weapons.
A group of five toku-style warriors who purportedly fight to protect the whole world from anyone who would do it harm. The truth, unfortunately, is much darker than that. The Zenerrengers have their own goals, and protecting innocent life doesn't seem to be high among them.
A firefighter from Austria. Marius joined Cynthia after meeting her when she led wildfire relief efforts near Vienna. He's less bloodthirsty than the rest of his group, and he's revealed some resentment that they keep being told to cause problems and hurt people instead of helping others.
- Fire Is Red: He has pyrokinetic abilites and wears a red costume.
- Irony: A firefighter who develops pyrokinetic powers.
- Playing with Fire: His powers.
- Token Good Teammate: He seems to be this for the Zenerrengers, though since he ultimately goes along with all of the terrorist attacks, it seems that he doesn't really care that much.
A Filipina girl who joined Cynthia after a tsunami totaled her city and Cynthia led relief efforts.
- Didn't See That Coming: Despite holding the advantage throughout their fight, she loses to Kamen Ramen because the Zenerrengers didn't know about Kamen Ramen's ice powers.
- Elemental Shapeshifter: She has the ability to shapeshift her body into water and form her limbs into various weapons. It also allows her to survive being shattered like glass when Kamen Ramen freezes her solid.
- Jerkass: She's openly tells Zener Pyro that she doesn't care about helping people and is generally an unpleasant person every time she makes an appearance.
- Literally Shattered Lives: Kamen Ramen freezes her water body solid until it shatters. She is able to pull herself back together moments later.
- Making a Splash: She has water powers.
- Meaningful Name: "Syrene" is derived from the Spanish "Sirena", meaning "mermaid".
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: She gives one to Kimiko when she attacks Kanekochan's factory.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: She clearly doesn't like Nano, with the two fiercely bickering after they get into the same helicopter.
A power plant consultant who claimed to have started working for Aragaki after Cynthia introduced them, thought Karat found evidence that this wasn't true.
- Achilles' Heel: Her abilities let her control digital systems, but she has no control over analogue technology. This means she can hack security cameras to delete incriminating footage but can't do anything when she's photographed by an old-fashioned film camera.
- Technopath: Her powers include being able to manipulate modern technology.
A ghost summoner, and one of the meanest of the Zenerrengers.
- Boom, Headshot!: Carly's father blows his head off with a shotgun when he has Siggy cornered in a fake cemetery. However, this only serves to temporarily inconvenience him.
- Healing Factor: While his body can still be damaged by conventional weapons, he can only be truly harmed by silver, allowing him to recover from having his head blown off by a shotgun.
- Kryptonite Factor: Silver bullets. Ordinary ammuniton only slows him down.
- Necromancer: He can summon ghosts and then brainwash them to do as he pleases, which usually means attacking people.
- Sickly Green Glow: Both the ghosts he raises and his own skeletal form have a pale green glow.
- Skull for a Head: After his helmet is damaged by gunfire, his face is revealed to be a glowing green skull.
The last member of the Zenerrengers. His identity is mysterious, as are his powers.
- Dragon His Feet: Though he's probably Cynthia's strongest minion and can thus be considered her Dragon, he spent the entirety of the Hoover Dam battle in Washington and missed the whole thing.
- The Man Behind the Man: He secretly gave Vicki powers to make her a stronger villain, then took the powers back once she was arrested.
A Japanese engineering company with a lot of secrets.
A scientist who claims the United Nations asked his company to analyze the Otomotons. However, it's ultimately revealed that his company made the otomotons in the first place, and he was entirely onboard with all the damage they were doing. After the battle at Hoover Dam went against him, he ranted to the trapped Nano about how he was going to just blow up a fallen robot and kill everyone at the dam but him. Unfortunately, he was recorded by Karat Enshtick; that made him a liability, and Cynthia executed him moments later.
- Corrupted Character Copy: Given his expertise in robotics and thick, white beard, he is something of a villainous version of Dr. Thomas Light from the Mega Man franchise.
- Deceased Fall-Guy Gambit: After Karat Ensthtick discretely broadcasts his villainous rant to Zener Techno, Cynthia kills him and portrays him as the mastermind behind the attack on the Hoover Dam.
- Evil All Along: He gave the appearance of a kindly scientist but was anything but.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Cynthia Prestige stabs him through the chest right before he can detonate the Warrior Otomoton and take out the Hoover Dam.
- Killed Off for Real: He was executed by Cynthia.
- Villainous Breakdown: A very subdued one. After the Zenerrengers are defeated and his Otomoton is severely damaged by the Kamen Corps, he confronts Zener Techno while she is pinned under debris at the base of the Hoover Dam, pinning the blame on them for the failed mission. Unfortunately for him, Karat Enschtick records the whole thing, exposing his true colors to the world.
- You Have Failed Me: After the whole Hoover Dam mission starts to fall apart, he blames his underlings and attempts to self-destruct his giant mecha, destroying the dam and killing everyone present save himself. Moments later, he ends up on the receiving end of this when Cynthia kills him when his villainy is exposed.
Robots produced by Kagemitsu Engineering. They claimed to be from an alien planet that was being destroyed by light pollution from Earth, and thus that their attacks on Earth's light-emitting structures were self-defense. In reality, though, they were just robots which Aragaki had programmed to destroy things and cause problems.
- Eco-Terrorist: They claimed to be this, sayiung they were attacking Earth because of too much pollution that was (somehow) hurting their distant planet.
A teacher who had Carly and Vicki in her class. She believed that girls should go into STEM, sports, or other stereotypically masculine endeavors to set good examples for their classmates, and she doesn't think they should pursue art or other traditionally feminine professions.
- Alas, Poor Villain: For a given value of villain, at least. When Cynthia's last letter reaches Carly as she freezes to death, all Carly can do is pity her and cry.
- Break the Haughty: Wormwood spent her life aggressively pursuing various political goals, with the result that she alienated everyone around her and nobody cared when she herself lost her job and her home. By the end of her life, she regretted her cruel and domineering attitude from before.
- Riches to Rags: Downplayed - she was moreso a middle-class income teacher, but she ends up homeless and dies in poverty freezing to death on the winter streets.
- Sadist Teacher: While not outright abusive, she's certainly cruel. She pressures both Carly and Vicki to abandon their dreams and take careers they have no real interest in. She actually succeeds with Vicki, which causes problems later.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Doubling as a Villainous Legacy, but her teachings drove Carly's friend Vicki into an internalized trauma ... which led her to become the first villain Vermillion Masquerade.
- Soapbox Sadie: She was one, trying to push her aggressive interpretation of feminism onto her students. Deconstructed as she loses her job, and sends her on a downward spiral before she dies broke and alone.
- Straw Feminist: Well, she's designed to highlight an aggressive policy towards pushing girls through STEM.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Aggressively pushing for activism through education led to a massive backlash from the general populace - and having no backup option, let alone making herself employable, which eventually costed her for the rest of her life.
- Take That!: Towards the increasing emphasis in education towards pressuring young girls towards STEM fields, as a form of "girl power", rather than allowing them to embrace their dreams ... or their femininity as a strength.
A humanoid shark mercenary who is willing to commit crimes and even commit terrorist acts for money.
- Land Shark: He's a huge shark monster that can walk around on land.
A monster with a grudge against Misha.
- More Dakka: Fights with, among other things, massive guns mounted on his arms.
Enemies of the Soulfinders
Fallen angels. Evil spirits. Whatever you want to call them, they live only to tempt and damn humanity, and they're very good at their jobs.
A powerful and cunning demon who tempts people by offering them supernatural knowledge.
- Keeper of Forbidden Knowledge: People summon him to learn things that they shouldn't be digging into.
A spirit of the ocean's endless depths. One of Blackfire's minions.
- Eldritch Ocean Abyss: He represents this.
A demon who prays on people that have given into moral depravity.
- Spiders Are Scary: He takes the form of a large black spider when he manifests and tries to kill people.
The minions, servitors, and slaves of the demons.
Retter's assistant, and secretly a member of Blackfire's cult.
- Super-Strength: She has this while possessed, even demonstrating the ability to break out of handcuffs, rip out a table that had been bolted to the floor, and beat people with the table.
A submarine captain who was corrupted by Blackfire. He spread the corruption to some Navy SEALs and ran off with a nuclear submarine, but was forced to abandon ship when he was caught. Decades later he returns in the hopes of stealing holy artifacts from a shipwreck and then reclaiming his submarine. Not knowing exactly where the relics are, he impersonates a sea captain named Oscar Redburn and gets Retter to guide him right to them.
- The Corrupter: It's mentioned that he corrupted several Navy SEALs after he himself joined Blackfire's cult.
An admiral in charge of dealing with American elite soldiers who become corrupted by demons. However, he's secretly part of Blackfire's cult.
- Mole in Charge: The guy in charge of ferreting out and dealing with demoniac soldiers is himself a demoniac, or at least corrupted by demons.
A former CIA agent who went rogue, joined forces with the Spider of Satan, and set up a cartel in the mountainous land of Shen Guo.
- Bald of Evil: He's bald and leads a monstrous cartel.
- Rogue Agent: He used to work for the CIA before he went on his own.
