What Are The Superpowers In 'Vicious'?

The characters in 'Vicious' have some of the most intriguing and morally complex superpowers I've come across in fiction. Victor Vale and Eli Card, the two main characters, gain their abilities through near-death experiences, which sets the tone for the entire story. Victor becomes capable of controlling pain—both his own and others'. He can numb himself to injuries that would cripple a normal person or inflict agony on his enemies with just a touch. Eli, on the other hand, develops a form of regeneration that makes him nearly unkillable, but it comes with a dark twist: he heals only when he kills others. The author brilliantly uses these powers to explore themes of obsession and vengeance. Other characters have equally fascinating abilities. Sydney, a young girl, can bring the dead back to life, though the resurrected retain their fatal injuries and are bound to her will. Mitch can hack into any electronic system effortlessly, making him a technological genius. Serena has the power to compel absolute obedience with her voice, a ability that’s as terrifying as it is useful. These powers aren’t just flashy gimmicks; they deeply affect the characters’ psyches and relationships. The way the novel examines the cost of these abilities—both physically and morally—is what makes 'Vicious' stand out in the crowded superhero genre.

I just finished 'Vicious' yesterday, and the morality play between Victor and Eli blew my mind. The novel flips the script on traditional hero/villain dynamics—both characters are objectively terrible people, but their motivations make you question who's 'right.' Victor's revenge is cold and calculated, while Eli justifies his murders as 'divine work.' The scary part? Their moral frameworks make twisted sense. When Victor resurrects Sydney to use her as a weapon, it mirrors Eli's god complex when he kills ExtraOrdinaries. The book forces you to sit with this uncomfortable truth: revenge corrupts absolutely, and morality becomes collateral damage in their decade-long feud. What's brilliant is how Schwab uses their powers as moral mirrors. Victor's pain absorption reflects his emotional numbness, while Eli's invincibility shows his detachment from consequences. The side characters—especially Mitch and Sydney—highlight how normal people get crushed between these two forces of nature. The ending doesn't offer clean resolutions, just like real ethics debates.

In 'Vicious', the main antagonist isn't just a single character but more of a twisted rivalry that defines the entire story. Victor Vale and Eli Ever are both brilliant, dangerous, and morally gray, but Eli's descent into villainy is what cements him as the primary opposition. The beauty of their dynamic lies in how they mirror each other—both gained supernatural abilities through near-death experiences, but their ideologies clash violently. Eli believes his powers make him divine, a tool to purge other EOs (ExtraOrdinaries) from the world, while Victor sees their abilities as a means to survive and thrive. Eli's fanaticism is terrifying because it's methodical. He doesn't rage; he calculates. His conviction that he's doing God's work by killing EOs gives him a chilling righteousness. The way he justifies murder as 'holy work' makes him far more sinister than a typical power-hungry villain. What's fascinating is how his backstory shapes him—his religious upbringing and trauma twist his perception of good and evil until he becomes the monster he claims to hunt. The novel forces you to question whether Victor, with his ruthless pragmatism, is any better, but Eli's self-righteous cruelty undeniably makes him the darker force.