Empowered/Characters

SPOILERS AHEAD!

Empowered and friends

Empowered AKA Elissa Megan Powers

The main character. A sweet, beautiful (despite what she thinks) and kind young woman who had dreams of fighting crime from a young age, but got saddled with an unreliable supersuit that showed everything.

• Affirmative Action Girl: The Superhomeys made her a member because of some "gender quota", not because she was an awesome superhero.
• Animal-Eared Headband: As Schrodinger's Catgirl.
• Aren't You Going to Ravish Me?: In volume 1 of Empowered, she is captured by a robot "Pimpotron" that scans her to see if she's worthy of a galactic harem. After deciding her butt was too big, it leaves her behind. She is clearly more devastated by the insult than relieved at her good fortune.
• Ascended Fangirl: Loves superheroes so much that she took it as a college course. Then she became one and found out what most of the 'heroes' in her chosen superteam were like. She still fangirls over the leader of the Superhomies, to the point of themed underwear.
• Awesomeness By Analysis: Often. Though her crowning moment might have been figuring out how Deathmonger could find a newly risen SuperDead.
• Berserk Button: Don't compare her to JLo, or say anything else that might be misunderstood as "you're fat".
• Brains and Bondage: Subverted; what with the number of times Emp gets tied up, it is in NO WAY a turn-on. NONE. Apart from when she first met Thugboy. Ocelotina comments, later: "That guy was practically making love to you with that rope!"
• Broken Bird: Watching her father die in front of her is just one of her many happy memories.
• Buffy-Speak
• Clothes Make The Supergirl: Of the "soft" variety.
• Combo-Platter Powers
• A Degree in Useless: Emp studied Suprahuman Studies
• Damsel in Distress: Kind of her thing, poor kid.
• Dumb Blonde: Subverted - Emp talks like a Valley Girl, but is actually quite smart.
• Empathic Weapon: Her supersuit, apparently a sapient being. Also, it's been suggested that her body issues are what keep the suit so fragile, which produces gratuitous nudity and augments her body issues, which obviously doesn't lead anywhere good. So or so: As long as it remains intact, it comes with
  • Super Strength
  • Nigh Invulnerability: Sorta... it acts like ablative armour; bullets and blows tear off bits of the suit but leave her undamaged. If there's at least a tattered bikini's worth left of the suit, she can survive a ten-story fall.
  • Kamehame Hadoken: Which varies wildly in power depending on a number of factors, including how confident she feels.
  • Suit Invisibility. That is to say her suit turns invisible, but she doesn't, leaving her naked. Again.
    • Which, given what villains know about a "suitless" Emp, has its uses.
  • Gecko-like adhesion to walls and ceilings
  • Full protection from the vacuum of space, even allowing speech.
• Even the Girls Want Her: In-comic, the girl who'll become Ocelotina.
• Expy: Why hello there, Social Butterfly! (Note that Emp draws our attention to this herself.)
• Extraordinarily Empowered Girl
• Faux Action Girl: At least in the beginning.
• For Halloween I Am Going as Myself: It's her part-time job - making public appearances with other lookalikes as herself. The "Southern" accent she affects might be an effort to stop the disguise from being too realistic.
• Future Loser: Has this in a kind of Imagine Spot, where kid Emp meets her future superheroine self.

Kid Emp: "Why do I have such a big butt as a grownup...? How did I wind up so old and f-fat...?"
Current Emp: "Thanks a lot, younger version of me."

• Geek: She is a Yaoi Fangirl and took "superhuman studies" at college. OK, if you consider her looks, make that Hollywood Geek.
• Genre Savvy
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: It becomes clear fairly quickly that Emp is a significantly more competent hero than she gives herself credit for. After this being pointed out by Ninjette, Thugboy, the Caged Demonwolf, Mind████, and Maidman, she's starting to get it
• Let's Get Dangerous: Once or twice per issue, Empowered will actually take down a villain, but she won't always remember it, because of her suit covers its tracks by blocking her memory of such, for her own good.
  • Examples of this include:
  • When she blasted those ninja into little specks of carbonised particles.
  • The beatdown she unleashed on a Not So Different Rogue Cape at the end of book 4 certainly does.
  • Even earlier than both of those examples was her effortless rescue of ThugBoy in Vol. 1, which was pretty much foreshadowing the above incidents.
  • At one point she completely lost her temper, nearly killed a villain by ripping off her own bodice and suffocating him with it. She stopped herself in time, and felt horribly guilty after.
• Meta Guy: In between the chapters, Emp comments on the story and her role in it. Most prominently when she drew attention to Adam Warren's Kill'Em All tendencies in his previous works and started freaking out that she might be next on the chopping block. 'S all right Emp, your name's on the cover.
  • So were the Livewires.
• Ms. Fanservice: Also Ms. Fanservice in-universe due to the nature of her suit and God, does she hate it.
• New Powers as the Plot Demands: Her supersuit didn't come with instructions, so she is continually discovering what it can do by accident. She even lampshades it. At the start, she comes with the powers listed above. By volume 5, it's added:
  • Mix and Match of Power Floats and Power Gives You Wings.
  • X-Ray Vision: She uses this to save the life of a Punch Clock Villain.
  • Breathing in hard vacuum: Which she actually discovered by accident and didn't notice the first time. All she noticed is that she was a lot lighter and that her suit was sparkling.
  • Copying thoughtstreams: Apparently at least.
  • Wall Crawl
  • It even makes phone calls!
• No Respect Girl QUEEN: One would think Empowered saving her teammates' hides more than once would earn her a little less outright abuse.
  • Mind you, often they simply don't notice -- for example, she rams a villain with a Humvee going 70 MPH, pointing out that this works much better than just throwing it at the villain, only to have the resulting wreck immobilize her and letting her "team" wander off assuming the other heroes and the villain knocked each other out.
    • After the events of Vol. 5, Sistah Spooky might just be warming up to her a bit.
  • A better question was how she managed to avoid getting respect after one-shotting a world-destroying demon lord that had just wiped the floor with every other superhero combined.
    • You underestimate the power of the bitch side. They'd probably say stuff like, "Lucky shot" or "You didn't kill it?!"
• One-Note Cook: The only food she can cook well is blueberry pancakes. (In a Naked Apron, which is even better!)
• Plucky Girl
• Power Palms
• Reluctant Fanservice Girl
• Samaritan Syndrome: Emp's always wanted to be a superhero; she gained extra motivation after seeing her father die in front of her, though she's since come to terms with that particular trauma.
• Steven Ulysses Perhero: Elissa Megan Powers
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: The girly girl beside Ninjette.
• Trigger: Fruity Flakes cereal, which she was eating when her father died in front of her. Even looking at it causes a Freak-Out.
• Yaoi Fangirl: Her response to hearing that one of her teammates was gay? Start Shipping him with the other men.

ThugBoy

Emp's boyfriend and lover. Ex-minion. Has quite a few skeletons in his closet from his younger days.

• Badass Normal
• Berserk Button: When he recognises the cape who killed his friend, he almost shoots him in front of a hundred other supers before he's stopped by Ninjette.
• But Not Too Foreign
• Cold Sniper
• Combat Pragmatist: Particularly in his cape-killer days he often uses a cape's or a super villain's weaknesses and flaws against them and will play extremely dirty if need be. A brief flashback in volume 6 shows him giving a step-by-step guide to attacking a superhero funeral that doesn't involve being a suicide bomber. Vol. 7 shows him expounding on the virtues of fire on supers.
• Cool Shades: He even wears them indoors.
• Dark and Troubled Past
• Estrogen Brigade Bait
• Expy: Take a look at Adams Warren's Livewires. Hollowpoint Ninja looks kind of familiar, doesn't he?
• Guns Akimbo
• Hair of Sorrow: After the other Witless Minions got killed by Willy Pete, Thugboy goes into permanent "Whatever" mode until he meets Emp and lets his hair grow out. He still seems to shave - or, being half-Asian, naturally doesn't grow a beard (yet).
• Hell-Bent for Leather: If he hasn't a Shirtless Scene, as is most often the case.
• Honor Before Reason: No danger will stop him from praising a booty so fine.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: OK, Emp isn't really very tiny, but ThugBoy TOWERS over her. Just look in the first chapter of volume 2 where he's carrying her with one hand.
  • Ninjette is genuinely tiny, although she and ThugBoy aren't a couple- at least, not right now.
• Love At First Sight
• Love Redeems
• Muggle Power: Of the "kill 'em" variation.
• Never Live It Down: Working for Spartan 3000.
• One Head Taller than Emp
• Punch Clock Villain: What he used to be.
• Raging Stiffie: A problem for ThugBoy when sharing a bed with Ninjette. Or Emp.
• Shirtless Scene: Frequently walks around in just his boxers.
• The Gunslinger: Is a mix of A & D,D when it comes to handguns and A when it comes to sniper rifles.
• Troubled but Cute: Oh lord, so much.
• Why Did It Have To Be Willy Pete?

Ninjette AKA Kozue Kaburagi

Emp's best friend and part-time Lancer. Originally introduced to us as a Punch Clock Villain, she quickly turned into a sparky, confident foil and emotional support for the self-doubting main character. Then plot happened, and we discovered why she drinks so much...

• A-Cup Angst: Flat as two peas on an ironing board, and Genre Savvy about her lack of the Most Common Superpower.
• Action Girl
• Badass Normal: Almost to Charles Atlas Superpower levels. E.g. can identify people from 20 feet away by scent alone.
• Badass Princess: Definitely doesn't want to be a princess, but it still stands.
• Berserk Button/Compliment Backfire: Ninjette doesn't like to be called a "happy, pleasant drunk". Daddy issues, you know.
• Bottle Fairy: She sometimes demonstrates the disadvantages of heavy drinking.

Ninjette: Yet another idea that seemed brilliant when I had a buzz on... turns out to kinda suck once I've sobered up a little.

• Celibate Hero: Ninjette seems to be be enhancing her Mad Ninja Skillz by avoiding sex, although she is allowed...
  • It's more of a Freudian thing, because she dearly wants to, but as a princess in a Hidden Elf Village she was not allowed, and the only eligible man now is attached to Empowered. The ensuing frustration causes her to focus her attention on ninjaing.
• Charles Atlas Superpower
• A Date with Rosie Palms: Often.
• Drowning My Sorrows: How she became a Bottle Fairy.
• Drunken Master
• Fate Worse Than Death: Averted -- before she was rescued by Emp, she narrowly avoided having her hands and feet cut off to facilitate her use as ninja breeding stock. Invoked later, when she tells Emp what could have happened.
  • Fridge Horror: The issue of how she'd be bred is just as bad - this troper doesn't think hidden ninja villages have in-vitro fertilization labs.
    • IVF is expensive. Why waste money when the traditional method is there, huh?
    • It wouldn't be a too good idea to force a woman to breed anyway, even if you cared for the babies only. Besides of the fact that you could probably expect a lot of issues for the children too, babies of women who hate being pregnant tend to be seriously sick.
• Foot Focus: She doesn't wear shoes on the job, but wraps her bare feet in leather (?) strips, probably for the extra grip/dexterity. Her feet are dexterous enough to pick up and throw stuff and unwrap her footbindings.
• Gratuitous Japanese: Justified. She was given a full Japanese name to make up for the dilution in the bloodline.
• Highly-Visible Ninja
• Master of Disguise: All ninja are taught "hensojutsu", but she's exceptional. To the point where she consummated a marriage whilst disguised as the groom.
• McNinja
• Mukokuseki: Subverted. Ninjette is actually from New Jersey, and is of European descent.
• Pressure Point
• Rebellious Princess
• Sexy Walk: There's even a secret ninja magic to do it. "You move like a ████ing jungle cat!"
• Stripperiffic: Unlike Emp, she does this willingly with skin-tight short-shorts and a midriff-baring tank-top.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: The tomboy to Emp's girly-girl.
• Trying to Catch Me Fighting Dirty
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Her clan and her father constantly told her she wasn't good enough, despite her obvious competence, and she took it to heart.
• Who Wears Short Shorts?

Caged Demonwolf, Molester of Worlds

Eldritch Abomination captured by Emp in some alien power-draining bondage gear. He lives on her coffee table and spouts ranting, wordy monologues.

• Anti-Villain / Affably Evil: to the point that, world-destroying Eldritch Abomination or not, he's basically a good guy--being one of the comparatively few people who has a high opinion of Empowered. He certainly doesn't seem to mind hanging out on Emp's coffee table watching TV for the rest of his existence. Because to him, it's but a blip in his immortal existence.
• Confusing Multiple Negatives
• Deadpan Snarker
• Eldritch Abomination: Before he was sealed, nobody could match him.
• Expospeak Gag
• Geek: The other Eldritch Abominations never would invite him to their world-wrecking parties. Making him a kind of Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds (not his own, though).
• Greek Chorus
• Hidden Depths: After six volumes of overly wordy monologues, he drops the mask and reveals that not only can he speak normally, he was once mortal and can see backwards and forwards in time, like Dr. Manhattan.
• The Imp (post-sealing)
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's one of the few individuals who respects Emp, and helps cheer her up when she goes through a major depression.
  • Of course he respects her. She managed to capture him.
• Large Ham
• Lovable Sex Maniac
• The Nicknamer: Emp is "the Alpha Wench", Thugboy is "the Boy of Thug" (if he's not the P-whipped princeling), Ninjette is "the Ninja Wench" or "the boobless booby", Sistah Spooky is "the mystical Wench", Mind████ is the Sapphic/Psychosensual Wench, and so on. Also counts as a parody of Superhero Sobriquets.
• Only Sane Man: The threshold for this is not that high. That an Eldritch Abomination that habitually describes himself as "The Caged Demonwolf, Molester of Worlds" gets to be the Only Sane Man in the cast tells you everything about this comic you needed to know in one sentence.
• Sealed Evil In A Belt
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: With a healthy dose of Alliteration (lampshaded by himself at times).
• Shipper on Deck: Wants to watch Empowered, ThugBoy, and Ninjette have a threesome...
• Yuri Fanboy: ...and sometimes, only Emp and 'Jette.

Ninja

The Ayakami Clan

A group of ninja who try to collect the bounty on Ninjette.

• Elite Mooks
• Feel No Pain
• Malevolent Masked Men
• Punch Clock Villains: Subverted.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Against Ninjette, for escaping and killing several of their genin. Run, 'Jette. RUN.
• Would Hit, Hurt And Maim A Girl

Oyuki

A frenemy of Ninjette who's part of her clan. She shows up to repay an as-yet-unspecified favour by dropping off some equipment.

• Cluster F-Bomb: Combines this ████ing characteristic with Japanese-style formalized language for a f***ing unusual speech pattern.
• Dark-Skinned Redhead
• Deadpan Snarker
• Dude, Not Funny: Impersonating Mind████.
• Foot Focus: Again, wrapped feet.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold -- mmmmmmmaybe. Consider that at the end of her first appearance, she indicated that she considered whatever debt she owed Ninjette to be paid, and that the traitor should expect no further help from her. A few days later (in comic time) she shows up to warn 'Jette that the Ayakami clan -- all of them -- are coming after 'Jette. It's possible that she did this because she enjoys Ninjette's terror. It's also possible that she actually cares. We shall see.
• Master of Disguise
• Sir Swearsalot
• The Stoic: In her expressions at least. Adam Warren mentions he accidentally gave her some expression in one scene; he'd intended her to look like a doll.
  • Not So Stoic: subverted when she proclaims her hatred of Ninjette at the end of Vol. 7, only for it to show that that was what she'd like to say, and her expression stayed frozen.
• Stripperiffic: The Kaburagi clan wear this season - almost nothing.
• Wingding Eyes: Sports star-shuriken-shaped pupils.

The Superhomies

The superteam that employs Emp. Based on empirical analysis, most of them are either macho, sexist arsewipes or bitchy queens. Somewhat hip-hop themed.

Sistah Spooky AKA Theresa

A demonically-charged sorceress and a senior member of the team. Also a neurotic mess of a woman who continually puts Emp down because she hates and fears blondes. Don't worry, she has a reason.

• Alpha Bitch: Spooky's Backstory (and consequent Freudian Excuse) also has her being cruelly tormented by blonde, voluptuous Libbies whilst herself a child, hence the chip on her shoulder regarding Emp.
• The Atoner: Sistah Spooky starts showing signs of this in volume 5; she knows she's going to hell so she wants to accomplish some good before then.
• Berserk Button: Don't say anything about her race. Don't be a beautiful blonde girl. And so on.
• Bi the Way
• Black Magician Girl: Ignore the Incredibly Lame Pun.
• Blondes Are Evil: Her worldview.
• Broken Bird
• Dark Magical Girl: Older than the other examples, but still fits the trope.
• Deal with the Devil: How she got her powers. In her case, she originally just wished for beauty but got mystical powers because the demon she made a deal with screwed up the paperwork.
• Even Evil Has Standards: For how much she hates Emp, she wasn't among the ones who nominated her for a Capey Award as a joke, and actually warned her of what was happening.
• The Faceless: Initially, we only see her without her mask in flashbacks.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom
• Heel Face Turn: Possibly. At the end of volume 5, she seems to have finally accepted that Emp isn't the blonde Alpha Bitch her mind makes her out to be.
• Heroic BSOD
• Lady of Black Magic
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge
• Stepford Smiler: Magics herself into one after Mind████ dies. Her Frozen Face goes beyond creepy and into outright tragic.
• Stocking Filler
• Vain Sorceress: Inverted, the powers were a bonus.
• You Are What You Hate: Mind████ takes a peek into Spooky's memories and instantly grasps that her public persona has been subconsciously patterned after the same vain blonde bimbos she was so traumatized by. Both physically (sans actual Blondeness) and personality.

Mind████

Intensely telepathic super who's been romantically involved with Sistah Spooky in the past. Stays in orbit most of the time to get away from the background thoughtstream.

• Blind Seer
• Blondes Are Evil: Seemingly subverted... but then consider how she could have been.
• Did I Just Say That Out Loud??: Talks entirely via telepathy -- which means that background thoughts leak out.
• Flat Earth Agnostic: Mindf██k's ex-girlfriend Sistah Spooky got her powers from a Deal with the Devil, and Mindf██k can read her thoughts. But is still agnostic.
• Fling a Light Into the Future: A left-behind video gives Emp an idea on how to take down a tough bad guy.
• Heroic Sacrifice
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: hers differs from Empowered's in that she sees herself as being an effective hero, she just doesn't feel she's as purely heroic as, for instance, Empowered, given that Empowered is a genuinely good person and Mind████ is not because she had to Mind Rape herself in order to not be a sociopath. Whether or not a willingness to Mind Rape yourself is proof of inherent goodness is a matter up for discussion
• Interrupted Declaration of Love
• Lipstick Lesbian
• Mind Over Manners
• Mind Rape: one possible use of her powers. Her backstory reveals that she constantly did this to herself to avoid becoming a sociopath like her brother.
• People Puppets: Used both by her and on her..
• Power Perversion Potential: "Mindfriends with benefits". Ask for it by name! It's possible that their entire relationship was conducted 'long-distance', given later revelations.
  • Further revelation - Spooky knew, just Mind████ is really bad at real sex.
• Sacrificial Lion: She's nice to Emp and even Spooky likes her? Of course she's going to DIE!!
• Samus Is a Girl: Until the end of volume 4, we see Mind████ only in a spacesuit, complete with helmet.
• Telepathy

Major Havoc

A super-strong, none-too-bright Jerk Jock. That's about it for his character. Because of this, we can cheer when he gets his just desserts. ( Although given that he is one of the one and a half survivors left over when his team confronted Willy Pete...)

• A Father to His Men: He truly cares for his teammates, just not Emp. His description of trying to save Turbobrain from Willy Pete's fire is quite sad.
• Asshole Victim: To the Chloroformaster. And arguably to Willy Pete.
• Bathroom Stall of Overheard Insults: Spreads some nasty rumors/smears to Heronet about Emp.
• Battle Cry: "'SCUSE ME WHILE I CRY HAVOC!!!"
• Book Dumb: Another superhero states that he dropped out after third grade. He may have been joking, but still...
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: While he's definitely no genius and the degree to which he took Willy Pete lightly bordered on Too Dumb to Live, he's a professional super all right- just look at how he commanded his team when they were preparing to ambush Willy Pete (at least before it all went to hell).
• Flat Character
• Flying Brick
• Gilligan Cut: He tries to give a Rousing Speech when the supers are temporarily depowered, saying, "We're still heroes, aren't we?". Cut to him screaming, "Aaaagh! Get it off me!"
• Handsome Lech
• Jerkass
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: This is not an error. Book Six.
• Nigh Invulnerable: Willy Pete's fire, which has the heat of a nuke, just knocked him out and destroyed his shirt.
• The Worf Effect: Have we seen any battles where he didn't get the ████ kicked out of him? Even Ninjette defeats him once.

Capitan Rivet

The leader of the team. Made entirely of metal. Surprisingly, not a Jerkass (he has the decency to at least suppress his laughter at Emp's humiliation).

• The Cape (trope): In a world full of superheroes that range from idly idiotic to actively assholish, Capitan Rivet stands out as a (mostly) genuinely nice guy and heroic figure. This may be why Emp idolizes him to the point of wearing underwear with his logo on it.
• Chrome Champion
• Reasonable Authority Figure
• The Worf Effect: Have we seen any battles where he didn't get the ████ kicked out of him?

Syndablokk (sic!)

A man with a cinderblock for a head. One of the few truly sympathetic heroes, he gives Emp some fatherly advice and compliments in his first appearance.

• Big Brother Mentor
• Destructive Savior: He tries to avoid using his powers as much as possible because his powers are massive property damage.
  • Let's Get Dangerous: When he DOES get serious though, he's quite possibly one of the most powerful supers in the series.
  • Story-Breaker Power: Theoretically, he could just drop a bridge on someone and be done with it. Probably why he's so nice.
• Dishing Out Dirt: More specifically: concrete, pavement, and masonry.
• Half-Human Hybrid: Half-man, half-... concrete?
• I Am Not Left-Handed

Heavy Artillery

• BFG (which he has as his head!)
• Invisible to Gaydar: To Emp's joy.
• Yaoi Fanboy: Averted, he points out that "this yaoi crap is drawn by women, for women".

Protean

A human who got infected with an alien STD and turned into a blob. Wants you to know that his name means "ever-changing" and stuff.

• Blob Monster
• Boldly Coming: His background story. Apparently gaining powers from alien/robot STDs are relatively common.
• Cursed with Awesome: To some extent.
• Insistent Terminology: Protean, not Protein. No, it's not "Glorpp" either.

Phallik AKA Bob

Wields his mighty Phallospear; has a fondness for smacking arses 'male-bonding' with it.

• Badass Beard
• Bald of Awesome
• Blade on a Stick
• Deal with the Devil: How he got his Phallospear.
• Dirty Old Man
• Empathic Weapon
• Freud Was Right: Well, look at his name.

Divangelic

A pair of Conjoined Twins; the twin on the right is Vanity, a devil; on the left, we have Charity, an angel wielding a kind of morningstar. The mind boggles how they manage to live with each other. Since they were bith killed by Willy Pete in #5, we may never find out.

• Angelic Beauty: Charity
• Good Wings, Evil Wings
• Our Angels Are Different
• Our Demons Are Different
• Whip It Good: Vanity's weapon
• Winged Humanoid

Other Heroes

Maid Man

A Batman (or Robin?) Expy who seems to be the most decent, well-adjusted hero so far. The full French maid dress, stiletto heels and fishnets (with garters) he always wears could be thought of as an endearing character trait. He's introduced to us as a Reverse Mole.

• Agent Peacock: He stands out even among the other superheroes with their costumes.
• Badass Normal
• Blood Knight
• Combat Stilettos
• Determinator
• Made of Iron
• Nice Guy
• Ninja Maid: Sort of.
• Real Men Wear Pink: He wields an explosive broom, throws doily shuriken, fights in stiletto heels with little bows on them and villains are terrified of him. The only male Meido as badass is Kogarashi.
• Split Personality: Apparently, his civilian identity, while aware of his alter ego's exploits as Maid Man, does not approve of them. Or know how to get bloodstains out of clothing.
• Superhero Sobriquets: The Garter-belted Gladiator, the Dark Knight Domestic, the Delicate Cycle Detective, the Hard-hitting Hygenist, the Sanitary Sentinel, the Iron-handed Immaculist, the Manservant of Steel, the Squeaky-clean Samurai, the Corset-clad Crusader and the Velveteen Virtuoso of Violence.
• Wholesome Crossdresser: Does it hurt that I want those spiffy heels of his?

Ocelotina

A former kidnapper of Emp who saw the interest in the market for a Stripperiffic heroine that was constantly getting Bound and Gagged, then used it to great financial effect to become a softcore idol.

• Absolute Cleavage
• Bi the Way: Flirts with Emp, Major Havok, and others.
• Catgirl: "Nyaan!"
• Even Perverts Have Standards: "Inappropriate, I'm not into breathplay ^[1], jackass."
• Exact Words: Empowered is gagged from talking about what happened at the superhero awards (other members of the Superhomeys aren't and start spreading nasty rumors about her), so Ocelotina invites her on her show and duct tapes her head so she can't talk so that Ocelotina can say how awesome Emp was
• Femme Fatalons
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She respects Emp and considers her a true hero. Is it sad that, even though she has humiliated Empowered in public and over the internet that she is legitimately magnitudes nicer to our heroine than anyone else on Empowered's team?
• The Load: "Please save me... because I'm really, really cute!".
• Ms. Fanservice: This is all she is.
• Sexy Backless Outfit
• Stocking Filler

Villains

Due to the Sorting Algorithm of Evil, most of the villains that have appeared have been comedic and one-shot. That isn't to say the rest weren't serious.

Willy Pete

A man who was turned into a fire elemental, and consequently gained the appetite of fire i.e. insatiable. Was the Witless Minions' (and thus Thugboy's) last employer, so they've got some history between them; it's the kind of history that usually starts with "The rivers ran red with blood...".

• Anything That Moves: "Ol' Willy Pete can do animal...in fact, I'm kinda known for it."
• Art Evolution: Sometime in between his first and second appearance, Warren apparently got much better at drawing fire.
• Artificial Human: According to Mind████, he doesn't even have a true mind.
• Beard of Evil
• Dangerously Genre Savvy: He only goes after mooks and c-list villains, so he can keep a low profile as Superheroes don't care about them.
• Depraved Bisexual
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Played with - he was always powerful, but simply not known.
• Hero-Killer
• I'm a Humanitarian
• Implacable Man: That's what ultimately triggered Thugboy's "whatever" mode: he is only alive because Willy Pete hasn't found him yet.
• Knight of Cerebus
• Meaningful Name: "Willy Pete" is (US) military jargon for White Phosphorus.
• Non-Standard Character Design: The only (non-robot) character that doesn't look even slightly Animesque.
• Person of Mass Destruction
• Playing with Fire
• Pyromaniac

Fleshmaster/dWARf!

A former member of the Superhomies, until he was publicly humiliated (Carrie-style) at an awards ceremony, then disappeared, or so they thought; he used his powers to secretly remould himself into a brand-new super, dWARf!, who was then accepted back in to the team.

• Chekhov's Gunman: Both played straight (to a degree) and subverted; Fleshmaster is mentioned several times during Volume Four as part of the Capey's debacle that could prove to be Emp's eventual fate if she wins anything - since it's a proven fact (and alarmingly, Sistah Spooky seems aware of this) that the suprahuman community is a bunch of dicks - but we never meet him. Turns out he was under their nose all along as dWARf, which is revealed in a stellar scene mentioned below. Ironically, dWARf sets himself up to be found out by Emp.
• Clipped-Wing Angel: In his fight with Emp he uses his bio-editing powers to become a monstrous giant...which doesn't even get one hit in before Emp pounds him into the floor.
• Curb Stomp Battle: Emp defeats him very quickly.
• Kick the Dog:He promised to spare Emp's friends if she gave him a blowjob at his moment of triumph. Emp didn't take kindly to that.
• The Mole
• Not So Different
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Afterwards, of course.
• Reunion Revenge
• Revenge of the Nerd: Gender-flipped. Sanity-flipped as well.

Manny

A Littlest Cancer Patient who met Emp thanks to the Grant-A-Wish Foundation in order to tie her up. His greatest dream was to become a supervillain. Through a strange series of events he managed to attain superhuman intelligence and (possibly) cure himself.

• Affably Evil: To an extreme degree. The mad respect he has for Emp makes for a jarring contrast with the disrespect her own teammates show her.
• Chessmaster: How he's shaping up so far.
• Friendly Enemy: He's indebted to Emp and worships her because he could finally play "Ropehappy Supervillain" with her.
• Kidanova: Manny has a bit of this.
• Littlest Cancer Patient
• Mecha-Mooks: Last seen with an army of robot henchmen... that he named after Emp.

Deathmonger

A Necromancer style supervillain who preys upon the SuperZombies SuperDead.

• And I Must Scream: The fate of any SuperDead he captures.
• The Dreaded
• Due to the Dead: Ha, no.
• Evil Genius: Was a superscience savant before becoming a criminal.
• Foreshadowing: Warned by Manny himself, to not take Emp lightly.
• The Ghost: Deathmonger was mentioned in the very first story of volume 1 as the villain the Superhomies were arguing over how to defeat. Later in that volume was described as "a popular sell out supervillain" and an "overhyped jackass" by a disgruntled Big Iron. He was the central villain of the chapter 'Diseased Wench' with an army of "scythebots" but since Emp never made it to the battle nothing of him was seen. After volume 1 he dropped out of the series until volume 6- where he finally appeared after having been reimagined as The Dreaded Complete Monster that he was. Even then, his mask still left him as The Faceless.
• Hero-Killer
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Several:
  • Emp lassos him with a Super tongue he severed, causing Ubiquitease, a SuperDead he enslaved, to leave without him at just the right moment.
  • He sets Tommy Tokamak's carcass, which is powering his facility, to detonate his Collapsing Lair... And it does, with him inside thanks to Emp... although it appears that teleport sparkles are appearing around him before the explosion.
• I Love the Dead: Seems to give off this vibe.
• Magic From Technology
• Necromancer
• Night of the Living Mooks: Literally. The SuperDead, as a result of their abilities, are aware and helpless to do his bidding.
• Retcon: From his early mentions in volume 1, nothing about Deathmonger suggested that he was anything other than a death-themed supervillain commanding an army of "scythebots", although in the first chapter Emp mentioned him drawing power from a "pan-dimensional link" which she suggested the Superhomies try to cut off. When he reappeared in volume 6, he was reimagined as an actual Necromancer who commands armies of the superdead. This could be purposeful on his part as the cover story on the subject benefits his activities, but the apparent difference was never addressed.
• Skeletons in the Coat Closet: He wears the skull of the superhero Impakt as a mask.

Ninjette's Father

This so-far-unnamed ninja is the leader of Ninjette's ninja clan, the source of her issues and a complete bastard.

• Abusive Dad: Volume 7 reveals just how horrible he is.
• Archnemesis Dad
• The Alcoholic
• He Who Must Not Be Seen: We only ever see his body, or his hand either holding a beer or reaching for Ninjette...
• Sadist Teacher

1. ↑ a BDSM practice of denying the bottom air