>Accelerator: The first superhero, at the time only an undergrad lab tech when he got caught in his university's particle accelerator and gained the ability to "accelerate" his atomic makeup, giving him what amounts to super-speed. Was the one who proposed a team formed of him, Bolt Thrower, the Golden Colossus and Nihl, and was the de-facto leader. Still feels guilty about Nihl going insane. Mentored Noire and is mentor to Blue Lightning. Has gone from undergrad tech to physics professor.

>Bolt Thrower: An English immigrant and crack shot who took up fighting crime after his parents were killed in a random break-in. Uses a wrist-mounted crossbow and a variety of special arrows. Jaded and cynical, prefers to use lethal force if he can in the wake of Nihl's atrocities. Doesn't speak to any of the old group.

>Golden Colossus: A humanoid machine created by Doctor Lycosa to aid in his goal of forced human evolution. Became self-aware and rejected the Doctor's agenda, choosing instead to be a guardian of man. Always intrigued and sometimes troubled by the nature of man. Has recently dedicated his digital intellect to combatting non-human killers: starvation, disease, traffic accidents, etc.

>Noire: Nihl's younger sister and a talented psychic in her own right. An aspiring artist by day. Errs on the side of non-violence to spite her older brother's brutal legacy, instead prefers to spook criminals into surrendering by "faking" paranormal phenomena. Struggles with the guilt by association with Nihl as well as her conflicted feelings about him. (Yes he's a homicidal sadistic maniac, but he's still family, and he used to be a nice, albeit troubled guy...)

>Blue Lightning: Teenage genius tinkerer who accidentally zapped himself while working on a tesla coil, resulting in his body being a massive electric generator. Built a powered suit (charged by his body) to fight crime. Suit enhances strength, has internal grappling hook and skate wheels, can project electrical bolts. Much more lanky and thin than image shows, heromachine is a bitch like that.

>El Fuego: Hotheaded, tomboy MMA instructor who discovered magical lucha mask that greatly improves the strength agility of the user dependent on their willpower/courage. Tends to be headstrong and impulsive. Hair-trigger temper hides a deeply caring and compassionate heart. Much more buff than Heromachine would let me show.

>Morgan Hex: Goth girl skilled in the art of witchcraft. Initially used her powers for petty theft in an attempt to support her mother, got caught and imprisoned. While in prison, twin sister took more drastic measures (Becoming the host for Echidna) and mother passed away. Upon release, has managed to go straight, using her witch powers to combat supernatural threats. Hopes to someday free her sister from Typhon's clutches.

The bad guys:

>The Red Ghost: The only man to come back from a secret Russian military expedition to Chernobyl. Skilled mercenary and assassin with highly corrosive, radioactive skin. Can channel that power through his gloves to melt through virtually anything. Silent, deadly, and professional.

>Doctor Lycosa: A greek scientist suffering from severe burns after a mechanical prosthetic he was testing was struck by lightning. Turned to cybernetics to replace his horrifically damaged body after discovering the lightning strike gave his body enough of an electrical current to power plenty of mechanical attachments. Sees transhumanism as salvation and desperately wants to "upgrade" the world.

>Antonio Blanco/Snakeskin: A reptilian crossbreed originally created by the government to be a weapon. Terrorizes the swamps and the sewers as a flesh-eating monster. Pretends to be a mindless monster, but is actually highly intelligent. Developed the persona of "Antonio Blanco," a ruthless gangster with a "terrible skin condition." Has risen to become one of the most prominent narcotics kingpins, with no one the wiser.

>Nihl: A powerful psychic who in his freshman year of college became a superhero to work out his various emotional issues (depression, social anxiety, etc.) at the advice of senior student Accelerator, who's secret identity he'd deduced. Friendship with Accelerator set up what would become the team. Was at odds with other members of the team over his increasingly violent and sadistic methods, especially with regards to interrogation. Resented Accelerator for being more popular and beloved, as well as more powerful. Eventually snapped and replicated Accelerator's origin, giving himself super speed, but also breaking his fragile psyche and causing him to go on a cross-campus killing spree. Currently in jail, biding his time while reading various philosophy texts and listening to his black metal collection.

>Jezebella: An older psychic who in her teenage years used to use her powers to aid in her thieving. Decided to retire after stealing the Maschera di Carnevale, a mysterious mask that strongly amplifies the powers of the wearer but requires them to absorb the emotions and feelings of others to "feed" it. Decided to become a psychologist to find food for the mask. Became a campus therapist for the uni that this all occurs at. Was Nihl's therapist and, rather than cure him, would encourage and expand on his neuroses and general anomie in order to produce more intense emotions for her to drain. Hardly even cares about his resulting killing spree, since it spread more feelings and left her with plenty of traumatized students to counsel. Generally amoral hedonist/pleasure-seeker. Likes to use sexuality to make others uncomfortable.

>The Green Ghoul: Former theater actor and current king of the jobbers. No powers, average physique, would be a total joke if not for generally good grasp on supervillainy. Has made relatively good name for himself in spite of terrible track record thanks to good theatrical presentation.

>Major Mayhem: Result of a CIA op in the Vietnam era to create a special black-ops group called the Steel Skull Battalion. Went rogue (or did he?) and vanished in the jungle, spent decades building an international paramilitary coalition. Generally sociopathic and cruel, loves war for the sake of war, violence for violence's sake. In spite of all this can be somewhat charming on a personal level.

>Killer Bee: Megalomaniac bee keeper. Breeds africanized honey bees, uses pheromones to control them. Also has flight pack (wings + jetpack) and laser gauntlets. You can't tell, but he's totally black. I swear to god I didn't discover the Naruto character until after the fact.

>Lord Typhon: Father of Monsters, a member of the Old Gods. Was imprisoned in his physical form under Mount Etna by Zeus while his wife Echidna remained in Iscia until she was killed by Argos in her sleep. Posed as Hades in order to trick Cassandra Hex into becoming the avatar for Echidna's new physical form. Currently waiting for his family to free him so that he can raze the Earth once more.

>Lady Echidna: Mother of Monsters, a member of the Old Gods. Reigned in Iscia with her husband Lord Typhon until his imprisonment by Zeus. Was later killed by Argos at bequest of Hera, freeing her from her physical form. Would possess Cassandra Hex after she offered herself to Typhon thinking he was Hades offering her mother a chance at life. Currently resides under Mount Etna with her husband where she spawns more monsters for her husband and awaits escape.

>Mister Mystery: Magician/escape artist who took up theft simply for the challenge of it as well as to satiate his own ego. Likes to make a show of his crimes and will taunt the police. Performer's demeanor hides massive narcissism and delusion of grandeur.

>The Gray Man: A mysterious sniper of unknown origin but with excellent, near-infallible accuracy. Seems to mysteriously disappear from police custody or even from the morgue. Exceedingly hard to contact or hire. May be more than one Gray Man running around.

>Professor Photon: A college student who developed a suit that would allow him to take the form of pure light, moving at literal lightspeed in a linear direction from any reflective surface. Invention was not taken seriously and applications for PhDs were turned down, so instead used his suit for crime. Secretly afraid of the dark.

>Speed Demon: Satyr with a need for speed. Likes challenging anything fast to a destructive race for his own amusement and the thrill of competiton. Tends to be exceptionally sore loser, not particularly bright.

>Mr. X: Hitman who studied ancient ninja arts abroad. Currently master martial artist who can kill with his bare hands, for the highest price. Is insufferably smug and arrogant, and has a disdain for people with superpowers.

>Akri: An Arae (ancient greek daemon of curses), daughter of the goddess Nyx. Violent, impulsive, foul-mouthed and hedonist. Likes to wait until night to seek out the cursed and mutilate them before killing them and/or eating them. Name roughly translates to "edge." Totally did not start out as a joke character, what are you talking about?

Notes on psychics in this setting:

>Psychic powers are derived from an active pineal gland which taps into "quantum brainwave particles" which implies psychics are manipulating things via sub-atomic interaction

>Psychics are capable of telepathy, telekinesis, extra-spatial awareness that is often mistaken for precognition

>Psychic powers are genetic, psychics taught from a young age to keep their "gift" a secret.

>Emotional state of people is reflected via quantum brainwave radiation, forms "Aura" that psychics can pick up on

>Non-consensual mind-reading is frowned upon among psychics: considered mental breaking and entering if not rape, also if not done with care the sheer mass of the invaded mind's thoughts can overwhelm the invader's mind

>Psychics have been around for centuries

Notes on magic in this setting:

>Magic is derived from invoking the energies of various gods

>Old Gods are familiar, earthly deities, pagan figures of myth and whatnot, often associated with nature, most frequently worshipped

>Old Gods have physical form and spiritual essence, the former of which can be destroyed conventionally but the latter can't be by ordinary means

>Good Old Gods and Evil Old Gods exist with their own followers

>Old God magic is powered by the will and faith of the user, spells can be "broken" with incredible strength of will

>Outer Gods are otherworldly entities, generally lovecraftian abominations, almost always defy all conventional logic and reason

>Outer God magic is extremely powerful, but can be damaging to the psyche of the wielder

>No clear understandable agenda of the Outer Gods, but Old Gods oppose them (and their cultists) on principle