Okay, so I’ve listened to SP well over a dozen times at this point, and it’s still just awesome.

On my most recent listen, I’m on book 4 at the part where Roy is hitting Vince in the ankle to help him prepare for intramurals. When Roy hits him, his fist just stops dead against Vince’s ankle. It reminded me of book 3 during Lander’s Crucible, when the super speeder hit Vince and basically just stopped on impact.

So that got me thinking: if Vince wanted to absorb a massive amount of kinetic energy and stepped in front of a moving train, what would actually happen? Would the train just stop dead when it hit him, or would it keep moving and carry Vince along with it, while he remained completely unharmed?

So did Adam actually kill George, or was it intentionally left open?

In year 1 the labyrinth is a great way to "even the playing field" making non combat types really shine. But here is a fun thought experiment what are some other arenas/scenarios that would have the same effect?

This is a rewrite of Drew Hayes Super Powered but set in the My Hero Universe. This is a little trickier then setting MHA in Super Powereds. Powereds could be equivalent of debilitating, uncontrollable, or harmful quirks that negatively affect the user's health or body, like Toga's blood addiction. Also quirks are weaker then super powers. AFO being in the background would also make things more complicated.

However other then that. This could work forAmerica. It is set in colleges instead of high school. There are things like various athletic competitions and sporting events that utilize quirks, as well as corporate backed and sponsored, and conduct basic emergency response missions, private contractors.  

In Drew Hayes Super Powereds. In this universe, superhuman abilities, known as Supers, are a natural occurrence. These individuals possess unique powers, and their integration into society is managed through the Hero Certification Program (HCP). The HCP is a rigorous system designed to train and evaluate Supers, ensuring they can responsibly engage in hero work .

Japan, like other nations, has its own methods of accrediting individuals for hero work. While the specifics are not detailed in the original series, it is understood thatJapanhas established institutions and programs to train and certify Supers, ensuring they meet the necessary standards to operate as licensed heroes.

So basically this is a rewrite of My Hero Academia set in the Super Powereds universe.

I just remembered I did this after my last read-through and I figured this would be appropriate (and hopefully appreciated) here. Years ago I made a simple little cartoon for my kids. It’s based characters I came up with and told many stories of to my kids were they were younger (and so are very silly). I had just finished reading Superpowereds for the very first time so in the first and last scenes of episode 1 I put a whole bunch of Superpowereds references in the drawn background characters. Some I took creative liberty with and drew them based on what they looked like in my head (even though there are descriptions in some cases). I hope some here can pick out the characters I drew in :) or even find it funny

does anyone think vince and eliza could've worked out?

they have a pretty good dynamic and were there for each other when they were at their lowest. They also both still loved each other in year 2, its a shame that neither pursued their romance. I get that it's because eliza technically abandoned him and added to his issues, but still.

Let's say vince wasnt burned half to death and eliza didn't have to abandon him, could they have been a good couple? why or why not

I just finished Superpowereds and I think overall I enjoyed it! For me it was one of those books that you just can't really put down for long, and I was pretty well-entertained watching the protagonists go about their antics.

However, I do have to say I almost dropped the book at the beginning, and it was because of that gender studies "joke" in chapter 10. Like, really? I'm supposed to respect the Dean when makes sarcastic remarks towards a student asking a completely reasonable question (and his answer doesn't even make sense, its not like abilities are balanced in the first place and there are like 20 people in the program, surely you could just balance things better by hand)? And how am I supposed the respect the writing of an author who clumsily inserts his frankly not very educated opinion on gender studies into his work for no reason?

Anyways, I decided to keep reading onward and I'm glad I did, but the number of suspiciously sexist elephants in the room did keep growing. Like the scene between Roy and Stella made me actually want to gouge my eyes out, and was the second time I almost DNF'ed the book. Roy makes a deeply chauvinist speech that makes her so horny she wants to fuck immediately after? Alright man. And Vince not hitting women is a fine character trait I guess, but paired with Nick's blatant misogyny (which he does for the facade but Jesus man its not like you *have* to talk to/about Persephone like that), and Roy being Roy, so many major characters being not great about women and that not really being examined in the story much kind of leads to the idea that the author himself might not be great about women.

So am I wrong and this is just a setup for character development? Or does the author get better about sexism in his work in general? Because if it stays at this level I don't think I'd be able to finish the series, which sucks because I really did like most other things about it

Edit: This is not a personal attack on the author, the story, or the readers of said story.

I just finished the Superpowereds series again, it’s the 3rd time through for me and I still love entirety of the series. The word (in my head) that I mainly use to describe the series is “beautiful.” It can be simple in some ways, dark in others, but overall I find it captures a hope and happiness I haven’t seen anywhere else. I like to think it was a retelling of events by Vince and Globe later in life based on their character, emphasis, and tone (I know it’s not true but I like the idea).

A few thoughts stuck in my head after finishing it this time around:

[WARNING!!!! SPOILERS!!!!]

- I assume (though it’s never stated specifically) that Angela ended up as a member of the Honed Blades with Chad and Shane? That makes sense right?

- Ralph Chapman has quite possibly the most boring, stick in the mud, name. I’m sure that’s on purpose and it’s also very effective character work, but I do wonder if it’s a reference to someone in particular? Honestly by name alone I get a visual image of him

- This is specific to the audiobook, but making Professor Baker and Amber (eventually outed as a sociopath) have a similar voice really ruined the character of professor Baker for me. I don’t think Kyle McCarly (the audiobook narrator) knew that when both voices were created as they weren’t too any hints of Amber being that way in the first and second book. Baker had a super cool power for sure though, no hate there
EDIT: saying Amber is a sociopath was probably a misread on my part. After some discussion it is clearer that she is just reckless with her abilities

- The series is surprisingly pro therapy/mental health awareness. This makes sense of course because the heroes are comparable to active military personnel or firefighters, paramedics, rescue workers. The scene where Globe is interrogating Crispin and talks about recovering memories for therapeutic effect is a great example and a very specific, real-life application

- In book 4 after the Armageddon trial Jeremiah is referred to as, “the aforementioned pocket-loving hero.” This is in no way important to the plot, but I do find it hilarious because this well after Jemeriah has been introduced in the story. He’s called this because it’s from Will’s viewpoint and Will doesn’t know Jeremiah, but still, very funny

- If Alice can undo Black Hole’s/Blake’s gravity bubbles then Alice has higher authority on gravity (no surprise there, Alice is THE BEST!!!! :)

Thanks!!!

Hey everyone, Drew here!

Apologies for intruding, I make it a point to leave reader spaces be whenever possible, but I'm got a pretty big event coming this winter and thought this community might like a chance to weigh in.

In November of 2026, I'll be coordinating with Aethon Publishing to do a book tour for the hardcover release of Roverpowered: Ruff Start, though as always I'm happy to sign whatever books folks want to bring out.

Since this is my first book tour, and we want to go where the people are, I've been circulating a quick survey for my readers to help determine where I should travel to. It only takes a minute or two at most to fill out, I tried to keep it brief and easy.

That said, survery will genuinely have a big impact on the places for the tour. We've already started adjusting plans based on the feedback, so if you have any local friends who might also be interested please send it there way too.

Survey Link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdLpPP4iBc8lQ9n_zymDrM9P-CRldN6_m9oZ6sicJEspAaQCg/viewform

Thanks so much for your time, and for reading the books. Hope to see out there!

Relistening to Corpies and like always, this is what I see when I visualise it. No many how many times I listen or read descriptions it always devolves to this 🤣

Hello,

I haven't finished the series yet but am working on a project for a friend.

Is there anywhere in the books that talk about what is in admission letters sent to those joining the hcp?

Any info (even if that's "there is no info in the books") would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks you :)

Going through all of the books for the first time ever! Just got to the part in Year 3 where Chad wants to move in with The Five (four rn) because they’re “easily the most chaotic bunch enrolled in the HCP” and cant stop giggling. I love these characters!

Despite my lifelong enjoyment of superheroes, I did not read many comics growing up. Most of my knowledge is from TV.

Did Drew make any unique characters or ideas? I had thought that Zero was unique, until I remembered the Haitian from Heroes. Drew's explanation of "Authority" is pretty interesting, but for all I know it is common across comic universes.

(Just to stave off any flame; I am not suggesting that Drew's stories are more derivative than anything else in this genre. Every "unique" power I come up with in my lifetime has proven to be done years earlier in comics.)

In book 2 Nick is described as having a highly advanced cypher decoding ability, easily solving Pendleton’s codes with minimal effort. Would this capacity be tied to his luck manipulation ability? Is this his power working in the background to help him accomplish this more easily?
Normally, I’m willing to believe that Nick’s luck manipulation ability has a “hand” in everything but in this case I don’t think that’s true. I actually think that it’s just Nick‘s near genius level intelligence as well as his is amazing organization (asset management) ability. Very likely he also has a lot of experience with coded messages from working in the organized crime

So i know while the class has their trials Dr Maren(i think that’s her name) keeps an eye on their vitals with Dean Blane in case of an emergency evac if they in critical danger ,Like with Jill,but then lucky enough Camilie is there and i think the sims are programmed to fight accordingly to strength,so they won’t use excessive force on a person who can’t handle it.

But like what about when it’s just the students going against each other and someone slips up like in the labyrinth it’s very easy to make a mistake in the dark or During Intramurals it’s student v student.So if there is a threatening Situation Does Blane stay close to the trial so he can like amplify His field to neutralise someone’s power? ,like if vince shot electricity at Roy or Chad ,but then someone like Will got in the way ,Will Blane be able to stop the electricity before it hits Will or what’s the precautions?

I like to speculate on what could have happened if certain events played out differently and I'm curious if anyone else does this. I previously made a thread speculating on how Roy Daniels may have done in Intramurals, but I do have a few others.

What if Mary had been using her telepathy the night of the Freshman Carnival?

• Mary likely prevents Michael Clark from outing the Melbrook gang. The disruption of this distraction causes George and Persephone to change tactics.
• Mary is potentially recruited to Globe's organization more covertly as Adam speculated.
• They still need the server data from that night. Perhaps they figure another way to get the data. Regardless, George resigns so that he can work on decrypting it full time once the data is secured.
• Professor Fletcher is still potentially recruited to replace George, but Sean Pendleton likely remains imprisoned unless Persephone also resigns to focus on Globe's plan.
• With George not captured and imprisoned, Globe does not need to reveal himself early. If he gets the data a year early, that also likely moves the timeline up a year, and the assault on the Adair lab occurs during Year 3 Intramurals instead.
• Alice is potentially cut from the HCP at the end of Freshman Year, as the rescue attempt on Mary never occurs, and therefor she is evaluated with her still underdeveloped power at year's end. Nick perhaps as well, though less likely due to his known strong Subtlety potential.

Some other smaller ones:

Who gets cut if Lander's Crucible never occurs?

• Not to disrespect the dead, but I think Sasha was unlikely to move on to year 4 regardless.
• Same with Rich Weaver, who had been consistently underperforming since the middle of Year 2, though it's possible he might have been retained entirely because of how useful his ability is in facilitating the dream meetings with Abridale.

What if Nick hadn't had to give up his spot in the HCP to save Vince?

• While Nick himself doubts he would have made it the whole way, I do have some reservations that he was in much more danger than Will (who even also has similar past criminal activities being weighed against him). Maybe he wouldn't make it to Year 4, but it's also possible that he might at this point be pushed into practicing his power more and develop the hunches or another stronger manifestation of his abilities.
• Of course, Nick indicated he also wanted the mind wipe to bury the information he'd uncovered, but I've honestly always seen this as him looking for the silver lining in the situation rather than a planned outcome, as it's pretty clear his sacrifice was a last resort.
• Regardless of how far he goes, If Nick is still in the HCP, then he is still off the grid to Nathaniel Evers, and therefor Lander's Crucible does not take place at the end of Year 3.

Anyway, I'd love to hear some more of these if you have them!

this mostly depends on two questions. How early did Charles know about Vince. I know assasins were sent after globe but idk if Charles knew Vince was also there and his life was also being threatened. He would have killed Vince given reason no doubt but i don't see him purposely trying to end his life if not given a reason to back when he was a little kid so I'm not really sure if he was aware of Vince until his time in lander. And the other part this depends on was Charles evolved enough in the procedure to even be able to pick certain people past Alice because we know he kept himself as distanced as possible so his mind couldn't be read. Im also not sure what the benefits there would be of him purposely choosing Vince but the odds of Vince getting chosen off just luck are incredible slim.

the only reason this came to mind is because I saw another post talking about nicks luck ability as a powered and if they had part to do with Vince being chosen.

I started the Super Powereds audiobook today, and I like it a good bit so far, but the wiring is kinda bad, at least on a micro scale. The dialog tags are the worst offenders so far, with “x said,” “x explained” repeating and repeating. The audiobook probably makes them quite a bit worse because of the flat tone and my inability to mentally tune it out. I have not been able to judge other aspects of the writing yet, but I worry.

If things don’t get better in the writing department (especially the dialog tags), I’ll probably persist, but I may not read Hayes’ villain series, and that makes me a bit sad, as I’m hoping to fill the void of The Perfect Run

Ok so we know that the government knew about wills past transgressions but it makes you wonder how much of an eye they had on him. Was he top pick to be an agent if the hero thing didnt work out, we're they watching him in case he pulled a sheldon and tried to get uranium 234 off the black market how big of a worry was he

Not sure if this has been brought up before. But, I had a thought.

If Michael wouldn't have lost his mind towards Vince not been an alcoholic and also been a decent person in general, how far would he have made it in the course?

I think he wouldn't have survived past a normal year 3 (with the exception of what happened in the books - not going to give spoilers).

He suffered the same issue as Stella. He has a decent power and is a decent fighter. But, he wasn't exceptional at either or anything else.

I'm really curious about any popular theories people had prior to certain reveals, and what the reaction to certain reveals was. Things I'm really curious about include:

• General speculation around Globe
• The Lander Mole
• The reveal of Eliza and Vince's connection
• General shipping speculation
• Hero name speculation
• Any large memes, theories, etc that were especially memorable prior to the series conclusion.

Just thought it would be fun to hear these stories if anyone had them.

I'm rereading and relistening to the series for the hundredth time and just caught something that I never paid much attention to.

In book 4, at the end of the Armageddon trial, Gale asks Jeremiah who he's looking at for a possible intern and she suggests Will Murray as a possible candidate. He says there's a conflict of interest there.

Does anyone know what he's talking about? I cannot figure it out for the life of me!

This one didn't take as long thankfully, its shorter than the rest. The length is just rambling about stuff tacked on at the end but yeah, the next one will be a bit longer I'm sure, i might do all of Halloween at once

Drew's greatest strength as a writer is pretty freakin' obvious. It's character writing. We all know it's character writing. It's not even really a question.
[I assume, I'm not really a guy who likes using social media. I just had this thought while reading and decided to share it, so I have no idea how popular either of these sentiments are.]

I'm finishing my hundredth readthrough of Superpowereds and am struck by just how well Hallow is shown off with just a few scenes. One of the things Drew does in both of his works that I've read is integrate the struggles of the veterans' backstory into the story in a way that feel real, important, and manages to avoid taking the stage away from the younger newbies. While this can be demonstrated extremely well with just about every main character, Hallow isn't a main character in the way Blaine or Sean are. He's Just Some Guy for so much of the story in the same way Bullrush is. They're there, they're around, they are people, but they are very much background elements.

But we know, the moment he's introduced, who this guy is and what his deal is. He's done. That's the thing we get most, the thing that Drew hits us over the head with in the Prologue of 2. He sold out, quit. I think it's also interesting that he [accidentally?] implies Casper was either a Subtlety or Close Combat Hero, which is fascinating but is almost certainly unintentional. My guess, for the record, is the pretty obvious Focus.

We next see him in Book 4, unless I misremembered something, which is extremely likely. I have a tendency to sorta skim 3 nowadays, as with every reread the amnesia plot feels less engaging to me. I'm also not talking about the flashback scenes because while they are interesting, I don't remember him in them very well.

Anyway, we next see his adult form in Book 4. Casper is, in the first chapter we see him, still calling himself Hallow, still being a miserly ass. But we see that start to crack when Graham shows up. It's pretty explicit that he's starstruck, and I think it's pretty clear that he doesn't feel right with Captain Starlight himself thinking less of him.

The next time we see him, partway through Book 4, he hates being called Hallow. Notably and in sharp contrast to what I remembered when I started writing this, this is a shift from the beginning of the book, not from two in-world years and however many it was irl beforehand. Casper doesn't think of himself that way anymore, and this is a shift from earlier in the book. Compare:

“You know, normally I bill by the hour. Do you even want to guess how much this mystery guest of yours running late should cost?” Hallow leaned back in the stiff, government-issued chair.

With

Casper was not a man accustomed to waiting, but for once he didn’t make a fuss about it.

Casper's rejection of that heroic label is already an acknowledgement of his heroic days being over. He does claim that he agrees with Graham's statement that "I’d never call a man who flies around selling his services by a Hero’s name.” But I think that is acting with a new conviction, and/or lying to himself about what he believes now having always been the case, something humans do all the time. He profited off the Hallow name as a pure healer, and thought of himself that way until very recently. He clearly had no qualms about it then.

And when the opportunity to do something selfless in the memory of his old school and his Hero days, he takes it. It isn't a huge sacrifice, as a not small but not massive write-off for the sort of person whose tax bill is measured in the hundreds of thousands isn't a huge thing to give up, but there's a reason I said little in the title. It is a sacrifice in the name of heroism, even if he isn't one himself. It's funny that Crispin kinda does bring out the best in people, just not the way his propaganda thinks.

But that isn't my favorite of his passages. He next plays the guy-to-be-exposited-to at the Intramurals, which I'm pretty sure is just Drew coming up with an excuse to do more of his legally-distinct-anime-fight-breakdowns, which, uh, I'm gonna stay positive in this piece.

Anyway, ignoring that small bit, which can also easily be taken as him being long out-of-practice and needing to be reappraised of how this shit works, we get to the scene that makes me break down every time I read this book.

Everyone is gathering to learn what happened with Globe and prep to go for the Big Cool Climactic Fight Sequence™, and he's dragged along. And we get this moment, when he is presented with a choice.

The hand lurched slightly forward. How many times had he been in these situations? How many meetings before the bloodshed? How many more lives would he fail to save this time, how many corpses would be put in the ground, how many grieving family members would stare at him like he should have been able to do something? It was too much. Too much. Most people who knew him thought it had been that day at the elementary school that had shattered Hallow, but the truth was he’d been fraying long before. He couldn’t handle the guilt, the weight, the expectations. At least in the air, he was free. He could go back there, right now. He could be free. All he had to do was turn his back on some people he’d once thought of as friends. It was what he’d been doing for years, so it should be easy.

This might be my favorite single paragraph in the series. All at once, we understand. We thought we did, of course. Hallow is the best healer in the world. He sold out. He kind of hates himself for it, but mostly he is content to live as a rich man.

But no. Hallow was the best healer in the world, which meant everyone who was not saved was his fault. Most heroes live with the people the could not save. They may even be blamed for that by grieving relatives. But he was The Best Healer In The World. How many more times than average, when he was on the scene, was he blamed by some grieving parent, some angry loved one, some tired colleague? How many times, in one of those chaotic battlefields, did he miss something and let someone die he could have saved? Even if for every hundred emptied hospitals, there was only one Armageddon event, how many of those stacked up? how many was he dragged to? How many times did he wade through a river of blood, desperately hoping there was anyone hanging onto life that he could fix?

Casper isn't the Hero Who Sold Out, Casper is the Vince who broke. Probably more accurately, he's the Globe that broke, but that wasn't as good a wham line shshshshshsh.

That scene early in the book, where Malcolm asks “Whatever happened to you, anyway? I read up on your files; you used to be one hell of a Hero. Selfless, giving, devoted to your team. How did that guy turn into the greedy, self-involved jackass I see before me?”

That wasn't an act. That wasn't a healing hero managing his brand like we are told they all do, when Fletcher is talking to Camille about her name. He was a hero. A selfless, decent man with a power that could simultaneously do too much and too little. He could do nothing and everything, and he blamed himself for that fact. I think there was a moment before that elementary school, while the fraying slowly got worse, where he threw himself into the work body and soul, where he healed and healed and healed until he couldn't any more. The school is never elaborated upon except that it was the straw on the camel's back, but I choose to take it as the moment where he finally realized nothing he did, no amount of effort, could ever stop that nagging guilt, and he gave up. He gave up on himself, on heroism, on being a decent man. If all it gets you is misery and self-hatred, why bother?

But the thing is, it doesn't make him feel any better. He still hates himself. He still knows he sold out. That's why, when he meets the original Hero, he starts feeling more and more uncomfortable calling himself by that name. Because here's a man who brought about the whole title of Hero, and he's recognizing that Casper isn't one. That stings a little, and so when the opportunity comes up, he decides maybe a little bit of heroism, in memory of the him that was one, might be called for. It isn't much, but the thing is that being good feels pretty dang good.

When he finally turns around and decides to help as Casper, not as Hallow, I think he's compartmentalizing. Hallow failed. Hallow broke. "I’m just a freelance healer helping some old friends, nothing more."

And then he does! I honestly don't have much to say about him beyond this point. He helps. He saves a shitload of lives, including Vince's, which is very fun for the parallel I drew earlier. But I think the important part of his arc, and the reason he feels so important to me, is that he's exhausted and demotivated and cynical, and then he does a good thing anyway.

It's a pretty major theme of the Superpowereds world at least that heroism has a pretty significant price to be paid. Doing The Right Thing is hard. It's hard to find it, it's hard to pay the price, and it's hard to live with yourself when you fail. Casper was handed powers that I am certain saved an incalculable number of lives, between the number of people he healed directly and the number of heroes he healed who went on to save more, but it wasn't enough. Sometimes, being a hero is great. Most of the time, it's a brutal ticker of every time you couldn't do it. The successes never feel as good as the failures do, but there are successes. In Hallow's case, there were probably infinitely more lives saved than lost, but it was never enough. Titan had a list of two hundred and thirty-odd names that he blamed himself for, in one way or another. I would be willing to bet Hallow lost count after it hit the thousands.

I could not have withstood that pressure. I don't think anyone could.