Need Help designing a Super Villain team

[Jared]

I'm working on a series called We're Doomed. In one of the future books, one of the characters goes to a world and becomes a superhero. He has incredibly powerful telepathy and telekinesis, as well as psycometry, astral projection, and a few other powers.

The old adage goes that a hero is only as good as his villains, so I am trying to come up with a team of villains that can really give him a hard time.

Right now I'm thinking that the leader is some sort of ex-special forces super soldier (not sure how he became a super soldier yet) with access to high tech armor and weapons. I was rereading some of Marvel's Dark Reign recently, so he's inspired by Norman Osborn's Iron Patriot as well as Hobgoblin.

I figured there will be some sort of fast, slasher type, a strong guy, and a hot, psycho girl. But that's about as much as I have so far. No names, no definite powers, no backgrounds.

The setting would be modern United States. For the tone, I'm going a bit more realistic. People die and usually stay dead. The main character is recovering from PTSD. Though, there is room for funny moments.

So, does anyone want to help me?

[Allan]

If you have not read it, Worm by Wildbow has inspired characters and themes in many of the prose super hero novels since 2011. It is also arguably the best story in the genre, it more than deserves it's rating and large word-of-mouth fan base.

I can't give a better suggestion than to take the time to read Worm, just keep in mind if you do:
* it is long (4.5x the length of Lord of the Rings for example)
* the first page in Worm is the first page the author wrote for publication, he learned as he went, it starts out pretty good but gets consistently better

I still create characters and back stories just from the waves this book caused, it's amazing.

*edit*
http://parahumans.wordpress.com is where you find it, not in ebook format (is a complete serial)

[Allan]

Jared wrote: "I'm working on a series called We're Doomed. In one of the future books, one of the characters goes to a world and becomes a superhero. He has incredibly powerful telepathy and telekinesis, as well..."

As a side note, checked out your page see you are reading Les Misérables, my favorite book of all time.

And if you want to talk villains without reading Worm, I'd be more than happy to :) - - I didn't mean to stop a conversation. Just think if you do read Worm it'll be very creatively inspiring, other works in this genre either reference, parallel, or pay homage. It is not easy to discover without someone suggesting it, because of the current publication format.

[Jared]

I need to get back to reading that. I got about halfway through, then I moved and it got put into a box. That was over a year ago.

I have bookmarked the Worm to read. However, I don't want to wait until I finish it to work on this team.

For the main villain, I'm thinking he's a former special forces who's turned mercenary. He was part of an experiment with a super soldier serum. Being a high paid mercenary, he's earned enough money acquire high tech equipment and has assembled a team to work with him (the other villains).

I'm not sure which would work out better: he committed war crimes and escaped to work for a crime syndicate or he's started his own organization like Hydra or Cobra to try to take over the world.

[Allan]

Jared wrote: "I need to get back to reading that. I got about halfway through, then I moved and it got put into a box. That was over a year ago.

I have bookmarked the Worm to read. However, I don't want to wait..."

okay, so he will probably be a warlord type. extremely sensitive to strong vs weak leadership, and have handful of chips on his shoulder. what is his motivation to form the team? he sounds like the warlord - brute force leader who is strong enough on his own but wants to have some camaraderie / backup? Maybe he brings on a medic, communications, sniper, driver / mechanic / weaponsmith types to fill roles on his team? they can be powered individuals, just thinking what a warlord would be looking for - definitely not someone who would be competition right?

taking over the world is a big undertaking, requires so much infrastructure. why not take over something smaller and more defensible, easier to enjoy. maybe he starts to work for a crime syndicate, decides the leader is weak and takes it over himself in a brutal coup? roughly half the powered individuals in the group are killed in the fight, about a third side with warlord guy, has his pick of people (powered and minions) as resources.

[Jared]

Yes, definitely a warlord type. He's strong, but he can't do everything. With the merc start, he brought in minions for numbers. You want as many guns as you can for a battle. And yes, some/most are for roles he needs. Some can be errand boys. At least one should be his right hand man.

Yes, taking over the world is a big task, but that didn't stop the Red Skull or Cobra Commander from trying. But you're right, that's a lot of infrastructure.

So he takes over a major crime syndicate and uses their resources to start a weapons company (and he sells some of them on the side to terrorists and warlords overseas). He also uses the company to make new, better gear for himself and his men.

So he's not just a brute force leader, he's also somewhat intelligent.

But the brutal coup sounds like a good story.

Gryphon, the hero, gets caught up in the battle between Warlord and Current Kingpin. A series of unfortunate events leads to him being under fire from both sides.

[Allan]

a few villain teammate ideas:

whisper (communications)

(vibration sense, minor manipulation)
can speak to any location
can hear anything in LOS
can hear and "see" via echo anyplace he speaks, for as long as the sound exists. for example, hums to continue to see and hear, but the hum can be heard
can filter sound at any decibel level (immune to loud noise, can hear the most quiet, and parse any amount of sound simultaneously)


cons:
blind, sickly, unreliable and unstable
requires medication to function

---
clocktower (sniper)

(probability manipulation)
can effect the outcome of seemingly random actions he undertakes, for example can throw dice and hit the number he wants every time.
describes it like "throwing a bullseye in darts, if the dart never left my hand"


cons:
no ability to effect others actions, only his own. for example, not able to dodge bullets, but his will not miss
has powerful enemies from organized crime / casino owners he swindled gambling

---
Killswitch (brutal healer)

anyone who takes aggressive action against him becomes enraged, choosing to fight him with fists, teeth, it escalates into animalistic and feral aggression
the more damage he takes, the faster he heals, transferring the damage from himself to his attacker
as he heals, he becomes stronger, faster, regenerates and reverses aging
can physically transfer regeneration by touch when it is active


cons:
sociopath, manipulative, causes chaos
normal human until transformation begins

---
Morphine (body technology)

nanotechnology, mental control, injected in her body to various effects:
replace injured tissue instantly with nanites. example: if she is shot, the wound is filled with fully functional mech. very limited how much damage can be sustained
minor armor
blunt/sharp weapons
bursts of strength and speed
appearance modification
DNA/fingerprint/marker manipulation


cons:
lost both feet before triggering, burned to ash as a bystander in a supers fight. nanite prosthetics replaced her feet, also act as the source for systemic injection, limited supply.
phobic: pain, fire, large public spaces
limited by volume of nanotech in her body
pain medication addiction

[Brian]

I think some of it also depends on what kinds of conflicts you want y our hero to have to deal with. How do each of their strengths potentially play off an adversary's weaknesses? How do their motivations clash?

I also find it important, when planning out any kind of group, to make sure I understand why each member chooses to follow the leader.

As for starting a weapon company, taking over an existing one through infiltration/blackmail/coercion might be easier.

Also, maybe they start by taking over a smaller country (coup?) as a step toward taking over the world?

[Jared]

Taking over a weapons company instead of starting his own works, too.

For the villains, I think most of them would follow the warlord out of desire for power or riches. Some of them could come from back during his mercenary days and they follow him because he's proven himself a strong leader. Now that he's battling to take over the underworld, some come to him because they see him as a chance to make a name for themselves.

As I said in my original post, Gryphon is the hero and he has telepathy and telekinesis. This story would be something that pushes him to better control and find new uses for his powers. The reason I want the warlord to have access to technology would be so he can get a device to protect himself from telepathy. And his super soldier aspect makes him physically superior to Gryphon.

As far as motives clashing. That one I'm not sure about. Partially because I'm not sure where I want to put this in the timeline. When Gryphon first got his powers, he was eager to be a superhero. He had grown up on comics and dreamed of leaving his boring life behind. Later in the timeline, he's been through Hell (literally) and is now more detached. He only gets involved if he has a good reason to, like if a friend of his is in trouble.

I'm working on writing both parts of the timeline simultaneously. I wrote one book (post Hell) and then I started writing his origin to better understand where he came from. Meanwhile I'm also writing the second and third post hell books.

[Brian]

My last book had a telekinetic, and I had a lot of fun with that. My next one has a telepath, and I'm looking forward to her.

It could be that a friend was involved with the tech company. Or was in a country they took over.

For me, understanding their origins is a big part of understand who they are and why. I always figure that out first, even if I'm not planning on including the origin story in a book for a while.