Wild Cards/Characters

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This character sheet is for Wild Cards.

Aliens

Blaise

Blaise is Doctor Tachyon's grandson. He is a human/Takisian hybrid with very potent mind control powers and a very nasty personality.

• Big Bad: In Book 10, Double Solitaire.
• Body Surf: In the Jumper books he acquires this power.
• Evil Redhead
• Foe Yay: In the most disturbing way possible with Tachyon. He traps Tachyon's mind in a female body and rapes him/her.
• Half-Human Hybrid
• Mind Control
• Pet the Dog: Hideously subverted in Double Solitaire. Blaise claims to be buddies with Jay Ackroyd, a man he used to respect when he was a kid, and then proceeds to cut off his fingers.
• Teens Are Monsters

Dr.Tachyon

His real name is Tisianne brant T'sara sek Halima sek Ragnar sek Omian, an alien prince from the Takisian race. His people created the Wild Card virus. Tachyon tried to prevent the virus from being tested on Earth, but failed. Feeling extremely guilty, he devoted his life to help the victims of the virus.

The series has Loads and Loads of Characters; amongst all of them, Dr. Tachyon is arguably the main protagonist.

• The Atoner
• Bittersweet Ending: Tachyon returns to his home planet and becomes a planetary leader. Unfortunately Takisian society is in shambles due to Blaise's actions, and Tachyon is still traumatized by his year trapped in a "mind-blind" (non-telepathic) female body.
• Butt Monkey: In the later novels he suffers so much that it comes closest to Cosmic Plaything.
• Byronic Hero
• Camp Straight: As an alien aristocrat he dresses very flamboyantly and behaves similarly.
• Casanova: Tries to sleep with every single women he finds attractive.
• Foe Yay: With his dashing cousin Zabb, goes from subtext to text, when Tachyon is trapped in a female body and starts a relationship with Zabb.
• Freaky Friday Flip: Tachyon swaps bodies with Kelly Ann Jenkins, a teenage girl. Also a form of Grand Theft Me, as the swap is enginered by Blaise, Tachyon's grandson, as a way to revenge himself on Tachyon. To make matters incredibly disturbing, Blaise rapes and impregnates Tachyon.
• Ho Yay: Tachyon has it with almost the entire male cast.
• Human Aliens: All Takisians are.
• Implausible Hair Color: Tach's hair is metallic red, described as looking like fine copper wires.
• Interspecies Romance: See Casanova, above.
• Morally-Ambiguous Doctorate: He knows a lot about genetics and biochemistry, and was part of the research team that created the virus.
• My Greatest Failure: What happened to Blythe haunts Tachyon for a long, long time.
• Older Than They Look: Takisians age very slowly. He is eighty years old already, but he is physiologically in his twenties at most.
• Omniglot: He speaks English, German, French, Spanish, and several other languages, human and alien.
• Psychic Powers: As a Takisian psy-lord, he is a powerful telepath as well as a mind-controller.
• Purple Eyes
• Reed Richards Is Useless: Tachyon's advanced knowledge of biology doesn't affect Earth science much.
• Some Call Me... Tim: Tachyon's actual name is Prince Tisianne brant Ts'ara sek Halima sek Ragnar sek Omian of House Ilkazam (and that's just his first name; his full name would list his genealogy for the last thousand generations).
• Trauma Conga Line: Accidentaly destroys the love of his life, has a bout with impotence, loses his right hand, is trapped into a woman's body, raped, and impregnated by his own grandson... and those are only some highlights of what happens to Tach.

Jube the Walrus

A humanoid walrus that owns a newspaper stand in Jokertown. Everybody likes old, harmless Jube. No one knows that he isn't a joker, or even human. Jube is actually an alien spy, studying Earth for the Network, an alien The Federation.

• Alien Among Us
• Bizarre Alien Reproduction: Jube's race is hermaphrodite.
• Going Native
• Obfuscating Stupidity: The salt-of-the-earth joker newsie is actually a xenologist from a more advanced civilization.
• Petting Zoo People
• Sarcastic Confession: When he admits to being an alien spy, most people disregard it as a joke.

Aces

The Astronomer

The main antagonist of the first trilogy of novels, the Astronomer is an insanely powerful Evil Sorcerer that is also the leader of his own dark cult. He is a bad guy's bad guy. Just count the number of "evil" tropes.

• Arch Enemy: of Fortunato
• Bald of Evil
• Big Bad: The first of the series.
• Diabolical Mastermind
• Evil Counterpart: of Fortunato
• Evil Cripple: When not super-charged, he is bound to a wheelchair.
• Evil Old Folks
• Evil Sorcerer: Somewhat subverted, in that his "dark magiks" are actually psionic powers given to him by the alien virus.
• Evil Versus Evil: His ultimate goal was to fight the Swarm Mother.
• Four Eyes, Zero Soul
• Hannibal Lecture: Fond of giving these.
• No Name Given
• Psychic Powers
• Religion of Evil: The Astronomer is the leader of the ultra-creepy Egyptian Masons.
• Superpower Lottery: Telepathy, telekinesis, flight, phasing, energy blasts, precognition. He can do pratically everything.

Bagabond

A bag lady with the power to communicate with and control animals. Her best friends are two alley cats.

• Animal Eye Spy
• The Beast Master
• Blessed with Suck: Her powers have alienated her from contact with human minds.
• Crazy Cat Lady
• Emotionless Girl: Prefers animals to people.
• Platonic Life Partners: With Sewer Jack, after a brief little bit of Incompatible Orientation.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: Not unattractive when she makes the effort to look civilized.
• Speaks Fluent Animal: Doesn't actually talk to them, it's all telepathic.
• Stuffed Into the Fridge: Rare gender-flipped exampled. Bagabond finds her boyfriend with his slit throat in the bathtub.
• Toxic Friend Influence: Rosemary Muldoon ultimately proves to be very bad news for Bagabond.

Black Eagle

Earl Sanderson, a powerful black ace from the 1940s and important figure in the civil rights movement. He was a member of the Exotics for Democracy. Capable of flight and generating force fields.

• Barrier Warrior
• Black Best Friend: Subverted. He is Golden Boy's best friend, but he is flawed and has a life separate from Jack's. And is pretty important to the story.
• Broken Ace: Becomes one after 1950.
• Civil Rights Movement
• Color Character
• Flight
• Good Adultery, Bad Adultery: Averted. His betrayal of his wife is treated in a very nuanced way.
• Malcolm Xerox: Averted. A black leader with Marxist convictions who actually is sympathetic and reasonable.
• Messianic Archetype
• Red Scare: Averted. A rare communist superhero that is sympathetic and heroic.

Black Shadow

A grim vigilante with darkness-based powers. Black Shadows uses a variety of disguises and identities to better fight evil.

• Anti-Hero: Type IV
• Badass Abnormal
• Broken Ace
• Casting a Shadow
• Color Character
• Dark and Troubled Past: It combines Parental Abandonment with Rape as Backstory in a vividly horrifying way. Oh, and he was also manipulated by Puppetman into becoming a far harsher vigilante.
• Double Consciousness: Played so many roles for so many time that he has trouble figuring out who he really is.
• Master of Disguise
• Personality Powers: All wild carders are this, but Black Shadow more obviously than most.
• Vampiric Draining: He actually creates shadow by absorbing light and heat. He can do it to a person and leave a frozen corpse behind.
• Vigilante Man
• Wall Crawl

Captain Trips

Mark Meadows, a hippie with the power to transform himself into several different superheroic alter egos, that he calls his "friends." He is also a genius biochemist. For his various alter-egos, see The Radical, Jumpin' Jack Flash, Moonchild, Cosmic Traveler, Starshine, Aquarius, and Monster.

• Adorkable
• Alliterative Name: Mark Meadows.
• Anti-Hero: Type I, Loser as Hero.
• Ascended Fanboy
• Break the Cutie: Really, Mark is too innocent for the Crapsack World that is Wild Cards.
• Captain Superhero
• Daddy's Girl: Sprout, his mentally disabled daughter.
• Geek Physiques: The skinny sort.
• Hour of Power: His transformations usually only last for an hour.
• Many Spirits Inside of One: All of his alter egos speak to Mark and to each other inside Mark's head.
• Modern Major-General: Mark spends years as the owner of a head shop in Greenwich Village, but is a piss poor businessman.
• New Age Retro Hippie
• Shout-Out: The names of his "friends" are taken from classic rock songs from the 1960s and 1970s.
• Super Serum: He has to ingest specially prepared powders to change into his various superhuman forms.
• Unlucky Childhood Friend: Double Subverted. He eventually marries Sunflower, the girl he's loved since forever. But their marriage is not a happy one.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist

Carnifex

Billy Ray, a Justice Department agent who is stronger, faster, and tougher than a normal human. He also can heal very quick. Carnifex is a ferocious fighter that loves action and mayhem a little too much.

• Anti-Hero: Mostly a Type III
• Badass Abnormal
• Battle Couple: With the Midnight Angel.
• Blood Knight
• Expy / Shout-Out: A berserker with a healing factor and hidden depths? Should be no surprise he originally called himself "Wolverine," huh?
• Green Eyes
• Healing Factor
• Jerkass
• Neat Freak: In fact, spilling blood on his costume is a good way to piss him off.
• Required Secondary Powers: Averted. His healing factor lacks a sense of aesthetics. His face often heals all crooked.
• Superheroes Wear Tights: A rare example of Wild Cards character who wears a full superhero costume.

Cordelia Chaison

A Cajun girl with the power to shut down a person's respiratory and circulatory systems. She is the niece of Sewer Jack Robicheaux. Works as a young exec for Global Fun & Games.

• Bad Powers, Good People
• Shiny Midnight Black
• Welcome to the Big City: Cordelia's storyline in Jokers Wild is basically this.

Demise

Demise is James Spector, a failed accountant that was killed by the virus and later came back to life. He gained the power to kill with a look (and he's pretty much unkillable too). Unhinged by his experiences, he became a hitman.

• Asexuality: One of the only characters in Wild Cards not interested in sex.
• Black Comedy
• Blessed with Suck: Constantly remembers how it felt to die.
• Breakout Character
• Came Back Wrong: Closer to a Type II, Damaged Soul.
• Death Glare: Literally.
• Deadpan Snarker
• Healing Factor
• Lean and Mean
• Pet the Dog: He thinks of himself as a Complete Monster (and he is not that far wrong), but Demise hates to kill someone who's been kind to him. And in Ace in the Hole he almost has a Heel Face Turn after meeting again a heroic school friend.
• Psycho for Hire
• Steven Ulysses Perhero: James Spector; death-based powers.

Fadeout

Philip Cunningham, a high-ranking criminal in the Shadow Fist Society. He can become invisible at will.

• Friendly Enemy: With Yeoman.
• Invisibility
• Punch Clock Villain
• Required Secondary Powers: Averted. When he becomes completely invisible, he also becomes blind, since light passes right through his eyes. He usually keeps his eyeballs visible.

Fortunato

A half-black, half-Japanese pimp with the power of tantric magic. One of the protagonists in the first trilogy of novels.

• Astral Projection: One of Fortunato's many abilities.
• Cartwright Curse
• Deadpan Snarker
• Deus Sex Machina: His powers work through tantric magic. Fortunat(o)ely for him, he's a pimp.
• Disappeared Dad: Fortunato's father died of the Wild Card and he had to make his own way from an early age. Fortunato himself is this to John Fortune, his son with Peregrine.
• Heroic Neutral
• Heroic Sacrifice: Sacrificed his life to save his son.
• Jerkass
• Mind Control: A combination of Compelling Voice and Hypnotic Eyes.
• New Powers as the Plot Demands
• One Name Only
• Psychic Powers
• Stuffed Into the Fridge: The fate of a lot of Fortunato's women.
• Superpower Lottery: Is there anything he can't do?
• Time Master: Fortunato can stop time.

Golden Boy

Golden Boy is Jack Braun, a WWII veteran and has-been actor with the power of superstrength, invulnerability, and eternal youth. He was a member of the superteam Exotics for Democracy in the 1940s, but has more or less retired from superheroics after being pressured into testifying against his friends in the paranoid political climate of 1950.

• The Atoner
• The Big Guy: He is often this for any group of aces he's hanging around with.
• Black Best Friend: His teammate Black Eagle. Subverted in that Black Eagle is a fully-fleshed out individual who is also more of a true hero than Golden Boy.
• Broken Ace
• Captain Ersatz: Played with in that he's largely a deconstruction of Superman, and his film career resembles that of Johnny Weismuller
• Color Character
• Complete Immortality: He doesn't age and is very hard to kill by violent means.
• Face Heel Turn: Sort of. He finally broke down and reported on his fellow Aces during the HUAC hearings.
• The Gump: Golden Boy has taken center stage in a lot of 20th century history and rubbed shoulders with a lot of famous people.
• Jerkass: Taken to almost Kick the Dog levels when he refuses Brain Trust the option of staying with him unless she sleeps with him. Has matured a lot ever since, though.
• My Greatest Failure: His testimony before HUAC that doomed his friends.
• Nigh Invulnerability: One of the toughest aces around
• Nostalgic Narrator
• Really Gets Around: One of Golden Boy's major character flaws is he's a shameless sex hound.
• Reality Ensues: It happens when Golden Boy jumps in front of a escaping automobile and is knocked back a hundred feet. Turns out being invulnerable doesn't mean you're heavy enough to stop a charging vehicle.
• Older Than They Look: One of the earliest Aces, he appears the same age he was in the Fifties.
• Steven Ulysses Perhero: His real name is Jack Braun and he got superstrength.
• World's Strongest Man

The Great and Powerful Turtle

Tom Tudbury, a nerd from New Jersey who also happens to be the world's most powerful telekinetic. His powers don't work when he is feeling threatened, so he fights crime inside a floating metal shell.

• Alliterative Name: Tom Tudbury, the Turtle.
• Anti-Hero: Type I, Loser as Hero.
• Ascended Fanboy
• Author Avatar: He's basically George R. R. Martin with superpowers.
• Becoming the Mask: as his career progresses, the Turtle finds it increasingly difficult to use his psychokinetic powers outside of his 'shell'.
• Comes Great Responsibility
• Give Geeks a Chance: Hooks up with Legion, a multi-bodied blonde hottie.
• Heterosexual Life Partners: His best friend Joey Di Angelis.
• Joisey: Many of his stories take place in the urban devastation that is New Jersey.
  • Improved significantly by the invasion of The Swarm.
• Knight in Sour Armor: Starts as a Wide-Eyed Idealist, but gradually morphs into this.
• Mind Over Matter
• Nerd
• Performance Anxiety: Can't use his powers when he is feeling threatened.
• Secret Identity: One of the few Wild Card characters that does have it.

The Hero Twins

A pair of modern day Mayans living in Guatemala that become re-incarnations of the ancient legendary brothers, Hunapu and Xbalanque. They lead a resistance movement to recreate a Mayan regime.

• All Myths Are True: Not really, but the Wild Card virus can make it so.
• The Big Guy: Xbalanque.
• Blood Knight: Hunapu.
• La Résistance
• Nigh Invulnerable: Xbalanque, along with the obrigatory Super Strength.
• No Name Given: We never get to learn their modern-day names.
• Proud Warrior Race Guy: Both of them, but specially Hunapu.
• The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized
• Teleporters and Transporters: Hunapu can pop in and out fairly quickly, unleashing mayhem in combat.

Jumpin' Jack Flash

One of Captain Trips's alter-egos, probably the most well-known of them in the original novels, since he is a ladies' man and a showoff. Flash has fire powers and a personality to match.

• Casanova
• Fiery Redhead
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold
• Kill It with Water: His obvious weakness.
• Personality Powers
• Playing with Fire
• Shout-Out: To The Rolling Stones.
• Steven Ulysses Perhero: John Jacob Flash. Possibly justified, in that he is most probably a fragment of Mark Meadows's personality, and so in essence an "artificial" person.
• Superheroes Wear Tights

Mackie Messer

A young, mentally disturbed German hunchback with the power to vibrate his own body out of phase with the physical universe. In doing so, he can walk through walls and use his hands as buzzsaw weapons.

• Ax Crazy: Unhinged homicidal maniac that loves to carve people up with his own hands.
• Intangible Man
• Psychopathic Manchild
• Son of a Whore
• Vibroweapon: His bare hands are this.
• You Are What You Hate: Mackie is a raging homophobe and has homosexual tendencies himself.

Mister Nobody

Jerry Strauss, a man capable of changing his appearance at will. He's a big movie fan, and specializes in transforming into famous actors and actresses.

• Ascended Extra: Spent the first several books as "The Great Ape," a King Kong Expy whose occasional zoo escapes were often used as a Funny Background Event / Noodle Incident throughout the timeline, to the point of being used as a popular Ace pickup line: "Didn't I see you at the last Ape Escape?"
• Ascended Fanboy
• Heroic Self-Deprecation
• Humanshifting
• The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body: Happens whenever he transforms into a non-human movie character, like King Kong, a werewolf, or the Creature from the Black Lagoon.
• Nice Guy
• Required Secondary Powers: Jerry usually can't change his mass. But he can absorb energy and convert it into additional mass to change into someone bigger. In a later book, he makes explicit use of his energy absorption power to redirect electricity.
• Rich in Dollars, Poor In Sense: Before he gets Character Development.
• Shapeshifter Mode Lock: Spends more than a decade trapped as a giant ape.

Modular Man

A super-sophisticated android created by Mad Scientist Maxim Travnicek. Mod Man is mostly a nice guy, but forced to follow the orders of his sociopathic creator. He fights crime as a superhero as a ploy from Travnicek to gain publicity and wealth.

• Casanova: A love machine, literally.
• Fantastic Racism / What Measure Is A Non-Organic: Mostly he suffers this from his own Jerkass creator. The term "toaster" to refer to an android may have originated in Wild Cards.
• Flying Brick: Mod Man can fly, is incredibly strong, durable, has an array of sensors, and a veritable arsenal of ranged attacks.
• Magic-Powered Pseudoscience
• Personality Chip: An in-built version, Modular Man is designed to replicate human emotions and psychology.
• Ridiculously-Human Robots: Modular Man looks completely human, and he is even fully functional. He can also eat and drink.
• Three Laws Compliant: Averted. Travnicek has hardwired imperatives into Modular Man that compel him to obey his creator, but he can fully hurt other people.
• Turned Against Their Masters: Travnicek programmed him to be unable of this. Mod Man manages to work his way around it and arranges for Travnicek to be killed anyway. But considering that Travnicek is a sociopath that treats Mod Man as a slave, it's a happy ending.

Moonchild

One of Captain Trips's alter-egos. She is a beautiful Korean woman with superhuman martial arts prowess.

• Martial Pacifist
• Steven Ulysses Perhero: Isis Moon. Possibly justified, in that she is most probably a fragment of Mark Meadows's personality, and so in essence an "artificial" person.
• Superheroes Wear Tights
• Supernatural Martial Arts
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: Her code is even more strict, as she is unable even to cause permanent harm.

Polyakov

Russian ace with the power of pyrokinesis. Used to be a bigwig in the Soviet secret service.

• Badass Grandpa: Past his 60s but still kicking ass.
• Moscow Centre: Used to be a KGB agent.
• Playing with Fire
• Rogue Agent: Of the heroic variety.

Popinjay

Jay Ackroyd, a private detective with the power of teleporting any object he can point his finger at to any place he has ever been. Also known for his sense of humour. Hates firearms.

• Catch Phrase: "Might as well, can't dance."
• Deadpan Snarker
• Embarrassing Nickname: Don't call him Popinjay, dammnit.
• The Nondescript
• Private Detective
• Recurring Dreams: A particularly nasty dream inspired by H. P. Lovecraft. Turns out to be a very unusual instance of Chekhov's Skill when he uses his teleportation powers to send Ti Malice inside his dream.
• Technical Pacifist: Won't use a gun, ever.
• Teleporters and Transporters

Puppetman

Senator Gregg Hartmann, seemingly a liberal, idealistic politician that fights for the rights of Wild Carders. He's secretely Puppetman, a manipulative emotional vampire.

• Aura Vision: His detection and manipulation of emotions is often described through color.
• Big Bad: For the second trilogy of novels.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing
• Emotion Eater
• The Empath: A very evil version.
• Enemy Within: An interesting variation, in that Gregg and Puppetman are more like accomplices than a good side/bad side.
• Evil Feels Good: He's addicted to infliciting pain and suffering.
• Faux Affably Evil
• Hypocrite: Gregg views his psychic powers as belonging to a separate entity inside his head; the Puppetman. So that he can still pretend that he's somehow pure as he commits atrocities. His difficulty in acknowledging that he is Puppetman sometimes verges on Selective Obliviousness.
• Mind Control
• Mind Rape
• Morality Chain: Hannah Davis is this for him in the Card Shark novels.
• President Evil: More like Senator Evil, but the Presidency is his final goal.
• Redemption Equals Death: Sacrifices himself to save Jerusalem from atomic holocaust.
• Villain Protagonist: Unusually for such a monstrous villain, he is often a POV character.
• Villain with Good Publicity

Roulette

A high-class prostitute that can kill men by having sex with them. She is an agent of the Astronomer.

• Broken Bird
• Dark and Troubled Past: Her baby was born a monster, courtesy of the alien virus. Her husband blamed her and divorced.
• Death by Sex: Inflicts this on her targets.
• Defrosting Ice Queen
• Femme Fatale: Literally.
• In Love with the Mark: Subverted in that she actually tries to kill Dr. Tachyon, even as she is starting to fall for him.
• Out with a Bang: She can secrete deadly nerve toxins ... from her vagina.
• Poisonous Person
• Revenge
• Stuffed Into the Fridge: From one of the main characters of Joker's Wild to being killed almost as an afterthought in Down & Dirty
• Weaksauce Weakness: Her dreaded superpower can be foiled by any man practicing safe sex by wearing a condom.

Sewer Jack

Jack Robicheaux, a Cajun transit worker with the power to transform himself into a big alligator.

• Animorphism
• Blessed with Suck
• Dark and Troubled Past: And how.
• Embarrassing Nickname
• Gayngst: Gay and somewhat conflicted.
• Involuntary Shapeshifting: Changes into a big, hungry alligator whenever he loses control.
• The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body: Loses his human mind when he transforms.
• Platonic Life Partners: With Bagabond.
• Rape as Backstory: Abused as a kid by his uncle.
• Rape as Drama
• Straight Gay

The Sleeper

Croyd Crenson, a man that changes his appearance and powers every time he falls asleep. Works as an ace for hire.

• Alliterative Name: Croyd Crenson.
• Big Eater: His metabolism is very accelerated.
• Breakout Character: Croyd has appeared in more Wildcards novels than any other character.
• Deadpan Snarker: He's created by Roger Zelazny, after all.
• Involuntary Shapeshifting
• Left the Background Music On: Since the 50's, the one power he manifests with every change is the ability to make "As Time Goes By" play on anything by saying "Play it again, Sam."
• Loveable Rogue: He's this most of the time, but is also a partial Subversion in that Croyd can turn really nasty, almost reaching Ax Crazy levels when he is on a bad drug trip.
• Older Than They Look: Croyd regenerates every time he sleeps, so he never grows old. He's active as an ace since the 1940s.
• Re-Power: stays awake for about a month, sleeps for two to three more, wakes up with new powers - and a new appearance - every time. Since there's a very real chance of him waking up dead from this, it's also Superpower Russian Roulette.

Ti Malice

A hideously atrophied joker-ace with the power to possess people by attaching itself to their necks. Its victims (called "mounts") become completely addicted to Ti Malice's kiss.

• Den of Iniquity: Wherever Ti Malice is, becomes one of these.
• Depraved Bisexual: Ti Malice itself has no sexual organs, but it enjoys sex vicariously through its mounts.
• Kiss of the Vampire
• Mind Control
• Puppeteer Parasite

Veronica

A former prostitute of Fortunato's, Veronica has the power to make any man weak and helpless. Seriously.

• Closet Key: Hannah Jorde, Veronica's shrink. Subverted in that Hannah isn't really very attractive physically.
• Dead Lesbian Syndrome: Hannah, Veronica's first real love.
• Jerkass
• No Name Given: First name only, like most of Fortunato's hos.
• Suddenly Sexuality: Her coming out of the closet surprises even herself.
• Weaksauce Weakness: Her powers only work on males. She discovers it in a painful encounter with a female bodybuilding villain.

Water Lily

Jane Dow, a young woman with the power to control water. Born in a small town, she comes to New York City in 1986, and gets involved in the ace scene.

• Break the Cutie: So very, very much. Almost to Cosmic Plaything levels.
• Girl Next Door
• Green Eyed Red Head
• Heart Is an Awesome Power: Who knew controlling water was such a kickass power?
• Incompatible Orientation: With her childhood friend, Salvatore Carbonne
• Intimate Healing: She later gains the additional power to heal jokers with sex.
• Making a Splash
• Meaningful Name: Her name is pronounced 'Jane Doe'.
• Talking to the Dead: Does this a lot with childhood friend Sal Carbonne.

Hiram Worchester

Hiram is the owner of the Aces High restaurant, the chicest meeting place for aces in the 1970s and 1980s. He is a powerful ace himself, with mastery over gravity. He had a short superhero career as Fatman.

• Acrofatic: Not quite, but he is susprisingly light on his feet, considering that he uses his power to decrease his own weight.
• Break the Cutie: Poor Hiram. His life takes a nosedive when he becomes a slave to the monstrous Ti Malice.
• Camp Straight: Not as much as Tachyon, but Hiram is quite flamboyant.
• Embarrassing Nickname: He hates it when they call him Fatman.
• Gravity Master
• Karma Houdini: Played with, considering he suffers no punishment for the murder of Chrysalis but his life is already destroyed by Ti Malice.

Wraith

Jennifer Maloy, meek librarian by day, daring jewel thief by night. She can become insubstantial at will.

• All Girls Want Bad Boys: She is attracted to the aura of danger Yeoman has.
• Fan Service: The amount of mass she can carry when phased is limited. For that reason she runs around in a string bikini when acting as Wraith.
• Happily Married: With Yeoman.
• Hot Librarian
• Intangible Woman
• Just Like Robin Hood: Steals from the rich, give it to charity.
• Morality Chain: She's a bit of this to Yeoman.
• She's Got Legs

Nats

Reverend Leo Barnett

A Fundamentalist Christian preacher that gains fame by taking a anti-Wild Cards stance. Later he goes into politics.

• Anti-Villain
• The Fundamentalist: A partial subversion, in that Barnett is somewhat more reasonable than people would expect.
• Hypocrite: Has affairs with lots of women and secretly enjoys literature by liberal writers.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: He's charismatic and sometimes ridiculously lucky. People have suspected him of being a secret Ace.
• President Evil: Barnett becomes President in the Card Sharks books. Many Wild Carders would consider him this. In truth, he's not that different from any other politician.
• Sexy Priest

Jetboy

Bobby Tomlin, an heroic fighter pilot from World War II, tried to stop the release of the Wild Card virus.

• Alternate Company Equivalent: He is an homage to Golden Age comic book character Airboy.
• Arch Enemy: Doctor Tod.
• Badass Normal
• Cool Plane: The JB-1.
• Conveniently an Orphan
• Doomed Moral Victor
• Famous Last Words: "I can't die yet, I haven't seen the Jolson Story."
• Heroic Sacrifice: Legendary in the Wild Cards universe.
• Jumped At the Call: Went to fight in WWII when he was 13.
• Unlucky Childhood Friend: Loves Belinda, his childhood companion from the orphanage.
• World War II

Sara Morgenstern

Star reporter from the Washington Post, specialized in Wild Cards issues. Has a vendetta with Senator Gregg Hartmann.

• Arch Enemy: Determined to bring down Senator Hartmann.
• Dating Catwoman: Inevitably she gets involved with the Senator.
• Intrepid Reporter
• More Than Mind Control: Initially, Hartmann doesn't use his power to directly manipulate Sara, though his empathy and charisma are superhuman nonetheless.

Rosemary Muldoon

Real name Rosa-Maria Gambione, a Mafia princess that became stranged from her family, changed her name and became a New York district attorney. Later tried to become a leader in the Mafia, playing both sides.

• Becoming the Mask: At first she tried to justify her taking over the Mob as leading them in a more civilized direction, but she kept digging herself in deeper and deeper...
• The Corruptible: With fellow mobster and lover Chris Mazzucchelli as The Corrupter and Treacherous Advisor .
• Living a Double Life
• Mafia Princess
• Toxic Friend Influence: To Bagabond.

Yeoman

Daniel Brennan, a Vietnam Vet that swore revenge on crime boss Kien Phuc. He is a zen archer with Improbable Aiming Skills.

• Alternate Company Equivalent: He's effectively the Wild Cards version of Green Arrow.
  • Also has a lot of elements remininiscent of The Punisher.
• Anti-Hero: Type IV
• The Archer
• Arch Enemy: Vietnamese crime boss Kien Phuc.
• Badass Normal: One of the only heroes on Earth not to have been infected with the Wild Card virus.
• Betty and Veronica: Jennifer Maloy is more of a sweet girl-next-door despite being a daring thief. Chrysalis is a Femme Fatale.
• The Determinator
• Revenge: Most of his stories are about his blood feud with crime boss Kien Phuc.
• Trick Arrow: Explosive arrows.
• The Vietnam War: A large part of Brennan's background.
• Vigilante Man
• Zorro Mark: Leaves an ace of spades at the sites of his revenge killings.

Jokers

Bloat

Joker leader in the Jumper books. Bloat is an immobile, gigantic montain of pale flesh, with the head and shoulders of a teen boy perched atop it. He has extraordinarily potent Psychic Powers. His home base is the Rox, formerly known as Ellis Island.

• Anti-Villain: Bloat is quite sympathetic, even though he is technicaly the Big Bad for the Jumper trilogy.
• Ascended Fanboy: A darker version than the Turtle or Mark Meadows.
• Blessed with Suck
• Fat Bastard: Averted. He's not really a bad guy, just allied with some very bad people.
• The Grotesque
• I Choose to Stay
• Meaningful Name: Ted Honorlaw. Ironically, an aversion of Names to Run Away From Really Fast.
• Psychic Powers
• Reality Warper: Only inside the Rox.
• Tall, Dark and Handsome: The Outcast, Bloat's alter ego.

Bludgeon

Gigantic joker bruiser with superstrength and a club-like right arm. Works as muscle for the mobs.

• Asshole Victim
• The Brute
• Cluster F-Bomb
• Dumb Muscle
• Mismatched Eyes: One blue, one red.
• Politically-Incorrect Villain: Extremely homophobic and sexist.

Chrysalis

Chrysalis is the owner of the Crystal Palace nightclub in Jokertown, and is the unofficial queen of the Joker underworld, brokering information to all parties. Her skin is invisible, her organs and skeleton exposed for all to see.

• Cute Monster Girl: Some men are attracted to her exotic appearance. Others see her as a source of endless Squick.
• Fake Brit
• Femme Fatale
• Killed Off for Real
• Knowledge Broker
• Mysterious Woman
• Saloon Owner
• Stuffed Into the Fridge: Despite being one of the most important Jokers in-universe and a major supporting character, she is killed off-screen in order to set off the events in Dead Man's Hand.

Xavier Desmond

The so-called Mayor of Jokertown, Desmond has an elephant trunk where his nose should be. He is the founder and leader of the Jokers' Anti-Defamation League and a major champion of joker's rights.

• Biological Mashup: Has an elephant's trunk where his nose should be.
• Diary: His story in Aces Abroad is titled the 'Journal of Xavier Desmond' and naturally contains entries of his diary.
• Everything Is Racist: Des is very sensitive about being a joker.
• Ill Man: Discover he has cancer in Aces Abroad.
• My Name Is Not Durwood: Has resisted all attempts to give him a joker nickname.
• Only Sane Man

Peregrine

The host of a Good Morning America style TV show. Peregrine is a superheroine who is technically considered a Joker but has kept her natural beauty. She has big, bird-like wings and is capable of flight. This leads many to consider her an Ace.

• Cute Monster Girl: Technically she's a joker because she has wings, leading to the saying, "A Joker, is a Joker, is a Joker...unless it's Peregrine"
• Fetish Fuel Station Attendant
• Flight
• Hot Mom
• Ms. Fanservice
• One Name Only: She changed her name legally to "Peregrine".
• Winged Humanoid
• Wolverine Claws: She uses a pair of titanium gauntlets with talons when she's expecting trouble.

The Oddity

The Oddity is actually three people permanently merged into one monstrous, constantly shifting, painful whole. They're superhumanly strong and tough and act as a vigilante in Jokertown.

• Anti-Hero: Type III
• The Big Guy
• Biological Mashup
• Blessed with Suck: One of the most heartbreaking cases in Wild Cards.
• Fusion Dance: A permanent version.
• Split Personality: Three distinct minds inhabiting the same body.
• Two Guys and a Girl: Merged. Evan and John are Sensitive Guy and Manly Man, respectively. Patti is the voice of reason.

Quasiman

Hunchbacked joker-ace with the powers of superstrength, precognition and teleportation. He's a friend of Father Squid, and handyman of the Church of Jesus Christ Joker.

• Blessed with Suck
• Dumb Is Good: Quasiman is actually very intelligent, but pieces of his brain keep phasing in and out at random intervals.
• Gentle Giant
• The Grotesque
• Teleporters and Transporters
• You Can't Fight Fate: His precognition is of this variety.

Father Squid

Priest of the Church of Jesus Christ Joker. A former Catholic priest who created a unique version of Christianity especially for Jokers.

• The Atoner
• Dark Is Not Evil: He looks like Cthulhu is his dad but he's one of the few completely good characters in this series. Unless you count the time he spent as a Joker Terrorist in the Seventies.
• Good Shepard
• Vietnam War: served four tours in the Joker Brigade.