Losers Never Win
“Omar, you have to remember that you are a LOSER. Losers. Never. Win.”
Omar Abdullah’s mother is a psychotic and abusive supervillain, who forces him to be her sidekick. His best friend, Lilly Armstrong, is the sidekick to her superhero father, Power Man. When Lilly found out that Omar was being abused and tried to get her parents to help him, to no avail, she and he pulled together a group of friends who shared the same ideals—that not all those who were labelled as supervillains wanted to be evil.
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Losers Never Win is a novel that takes place in a world where superheroes and villains are an ordinary occurrence, with all of the superhumans being contained to one large manmade island in the Pacific Ocean, creatively named the Island of Superheroes, usually being shorted to simply the Island by the natives, which is also home to the biggest and strongest prison in the world. The population of the island is over 10 000 people, including normal civilians, superheroes with and without secret identities, and supervillains with and without secret identities. The plot revolves around five young sidekicks who believe that not all young supervillains want to do evil deeds.
Omar Abdullah, aka Basilisk, is the son of Aaliyah Abdullah, aka Viperess, a supervillain with erponkinesis, the power to control reptiles, though she mainly chooses to control snakes. Omar inherited the same power, though he’s also partial to lizards. His mother very heavily manipulates him and also emotionally abuses him. She’s also not a stranger to physical abuse. Omar didn’t even fully realize that he was being abused when Lilly confronted him about some of his bruising, as Aaliyah had him so completely under her thumb. He’s very shy and jumpy, especially around new people and loud/sudden noises, but he’s one of the kindest people you’ll ever meet.
Lilly Armstrong, aka Flower, is the daughter of Jackson Armstrong, aka Power Man, a superhero with the powers of flight, super strength, and invulnerability. Lilly inherited the powers of flight and super strength, but she’s not fully invulnerable, though she has enhanced durability, meaning it just takes more effort to pierce her skin. She’s very sweet and girly on the surface, yet she is constantly getting into fist fights at school with those who make racist, homophobic, or sexist comments. She also loves learning about the human psyche and wants to either become a lawyer like her father or a psychologist. She’s kind of chubby, but is actually very self-confident and knows that she’s super adorable.
Xandra “Sandy” Montague, aka Freak Show, is the adopted daughter of Peter Montague, aka Circus, a supervillain who is essentially a one-man circus act, with talents varying from acrobatics to knife throwing. He taught Sandy everything he knows. Despite him being evil, Sandy loves her father, as he genuinely takes good care of her, putting all of her needs first, even though she trained her to be his sidekick. He also adopted her when no one else would because of mysterious burns and scars that cover her body. She constantly covers her body with foundation to hide her blemished appearance. She also loves dance and cheerleading.
William “Will” Brenden, aka Outburst, is the son of Harold Brenden, aka Implosion, a superhero with telepathy, telekinesis, and fragokinesis, the power to control explosions, more specifically blowing things up with his mind. Will only inherited the power of fragokinesis and has not fully mastered it, and is constantly accidentally blowing things up. Lilly constantly teases him about the time that he blew up a bathroom sink in her house. Will’s father used to be a thief before he met his wife and gained his powers, so Will definitely believes people can turn their lives around. Will is never out of puns and Jada hates it. He’s constantly making quips as he fights.
Yu Fan “Jada” Liu, aka Killer Jade, is the daughter of Yin Hui Liu, aka Shade, a supervillain with a ridiculous amount of weapons and martial arts skills. However, Jada somehow ended up with the power of super speed. Neither her mother nor her three older sisters have any powers, so it’s unclear why she alone got a superpower. Because of her power, her mother loves and values her the most out of her four children, even going as far as to say so to her other daughters, obviously causing a lot of animosity between them. Jada accidentally killed a security guard when her mother first forced her to help rob a museum, thus she gained the reputation of being the most dangerous sidekick on the Island. She’s a photographer in her spare time.