Ex-Heroes

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

I'm pretty sure you already know who I am. As for everyone else... I don't think there are enough people left to make a secret identity worth the effort.

Ex-Heroes is a novel published by Permuted Press. It combines superheroes, post-apocalypse, and zombie novel written by Peter Clines. A series of superheroes appear during the 21st century, each possessing a variety of superpowers and abilities. They make a brief splash, curing all sorts of ills in the Los Angeles area (amongst other places).

Unfortunately, they don't get to enjoy their success long before the entire world is struck by a Zombie Apocalypse of epic proportions. Now, a year later, they have to defend their tiny enclave of human survivors from a seemingly endless horde of undead monsters.

A sequel, Ex-Patriots was released in 2011. It follows the continuing adventures of the original heroes and adds a second group of survivors seemingly saved by the military.

Tropes used in Ex-Heroes include:

Ex-Heroes

  • The Apunkalypse: The street gang called the Seventeens more or less conquers Los Angeles after the Zombie Apocalypse.
  • The Atoner: Regenerator.
  • Badass Bookworm: Stealth, Cerberus.
  • Badass Normal: Stealth
  • Big Bad: Pee-Zee.
  • Bi the Way: Stealth.
  • The Cape (trope): The Mighty Dragon, known more commonly as St George by the time of the main events of the book.
  • The Cowl: Stealth.
  • Death by Sex: Cairex dies due to getting a blow job from zombie Jessica Alba. No one is sure how to react when told about this.
  • Defrosting Ice Queen: Stealth gets a mild example of this.
  • Genki Girl: Banzai. Before she's killed and turned into a zombie.
  • The Hero: St George but several others.
  • Hot Scientist: Cerberus. Stealth also qualifies.
  • Kick the Dog: The heroes have a game about killing zombiefied celebrities for points. These include Alex Trebek, Angelina Jolie, Grace Park, and many others.
    • Pee Zee's most disgusting moment is undoubtedly when he reveals he's been using Banzai's zombie corpse for sex.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Stealth seems to explicitly invoke this, which is odd considering her backstory of not being taken seriously because of how pretty she was.
  • Our Zombies Are Different: Seemingly averted. The zombies in the Ex-Heroes universe are direct homages to the George Romero universe. Later, of course, they show they are shown to be products of a disastrous attempt at reanimation.
  • The Reveal: The reason for the Zombie Apocalypse.
  • Shout-Out: Subtler ones than most.
    • Stealth seems to be an homage to Batman.
    • St George has elements of Superman.
    • Gorgon has elements of Doctor Midnight and the Question.
    • Cerberus seems to be a War Machine and Tony Stark homage.
    • Zzzap has the powers of the Living Laser.
  • Sociopathic Hero: Stealth borders on this, though never quite crosses it.
  • Stealth Pun: The Dragon's real name is George, and they start calling St. George after the Zombie Apocalypse.
  • Survival Horror: A rare non-game example, it follows the tropes basically to the letter. The Mount is all about survival.
  • Stripperiffic: Averted. Stealth's form fitting outfit is sexualized by outsiders but practical. Cerberus sexualizes her decidedly Iron Man-esque costume.
  • Stuffed in A Fridge: Banzai. A lot of fans took a shine to her in the short time she's in existence.
  • The Virus: Of course.
  • Zombie Apocalypse: One of the big examples of it, humanity being on the verge of extinction.

Ex-Patriots

  • Awesome McCoolname: Captain Freedom.
  • Badass: Captain Freedom.
  • Back From the Dead: Pee Zee survived the events of the first book.
  • Big Bad: Legion.
  • The Cape (trope): Saint George, again.
  • The Cowl: Stealth, again.
  • Evil Army: Averted. The soldiers are not friendly to the heroes but are portrayed as cool professionals as opposed to psychopaths.
  • Good Versus Good: A rare example in fiction. Both the army and the Mount survivors want what's best for humanity.
    • Of course, the Project: Krypton survivors are wrong due to how completely they've been bamboozled by the villains.
  • The Good Captain: Captain Freedom.
  • Heel Face Turn: The Driver is a reformed gang member.
  • The Hero: Obviously.
  • Kick the Dog: Project: Krypton gets one when they kidnap Zzzap.
  • Mad Scientist: Dr. Emil Sorrenson. Averted. He actually doesn't have any talent at controlling zombies. He's just using Legion.
  • Our Zombies Are Different: Averted. The zombies of Project: Krypton are supposed to be tamed but are actually just controlled by Legion.
  • Ship Tease: Saint George and Stealth get some more of this.
  • Shout-Out: The name of the military project is Project: Krypton.
    • Captain Freedom is an obvious one for Captain America.
    • There's also one to The Purple Man.
  • Super Soldier: The whole point of Project: Krypton.
  • Whole-Plot Reference: Averted. Day of the Dead is an obvious inspiration, though the addition of superheroes changes things drastically.
  • Zombie Apocalypse: Well, duh.
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