The New Heroes facts for kids

The New Heroes (also known as Quantum Prophecy in the US) is an exciting series of books and short stories by Michael Carroll. The first book came out in January 2006. These stories are all about what would happen if people suddenly started getting superpowers in the real world.

The series shows how young people discover their amazing abilities and the dangers that come with them. It's full of superheroes and supervillains! The first three books are The Quantum Prophecy, Sakkara, and Absolute Power. There's also a prequel series that tells stories from before the main trilogy, starting with Super Human. The series finishes with Crossfire (2015) and The Chasm (2017), which happen after the original trilogy.

Sakkara Book Summary

Sakkara is the second book in The New Heroes trilogy.

What Happens in Sakkara?

This book is named after a secret research place in the United States where superpowers are studied. The young superhumans from The Quantum Prophecy have to hide there. Their secret identities are out, and they need to escape from attacks and too much attention.

But the secret base isn't secret for long! A supervillain, who is now an assassin, attacks an airport and spray-paints "Sakkara" on a wall. This makes the facility famous worldwide. Someone among the heroes has broken the rules, and everyone is a suspect.

More attacks start happening, and it seems the bad guys are targeting members of an international group called the Trutopians. This group promises safety and fairness but takes away some freedoms. It turns out that Victor Cross, the villain from the first book, leads the Trutopians. He wants to force his ideas of world peace on everyone.

US Title for Sakkara

In the United States, Sakkara is called The Gathering.

Awards for Sakkara

Sakkara was nominated for Best Novel in the British Science Fiction Association Awards in 2006.

Absolute Power Book Summary

Absolute Power is the third book in the original trilogy and continues right after Sakkara.

Absolute Power Story Overview

Years ago, everyone thought superhumans were gone after a huge battle. But now, "The New Heroes" – a new group of young people with powers – have appeared. They face tough choices when their leader, Colin Wagner, disappears.

This happens during a political attack from the Trutopian organization. The heroes don't know that their enemy, Victor Cross, and his helper Yvonne, are leading the Trutopians. Cross and Yvonne are secretly planning to trick the heroes into actions that could start a world war. The new heroes must fight harder than ever to save the planet!

What Happens in Absolute Power?

The lives of the teenage heroes are changed forever. They decide to use their powers to make the world a better place. But Colin doesn't know that Victor Cross leads the Trutopians. Soon, Yvonne uses her mind-control powers on Colin.

Under Yvonne's control, Colin turns against his friends and fights for the very people he wanted to stop. It's a huge challenge for the New Heroes to bring him back and stop the Trutopians.

US Title for Absolute Power

In the United States, Absolute Power is published as The Reckoning.

Superhuman Short Stories

Superhuman is a collection of short stories that take place in The New Heroes universe. One of the stories is quite long, almost like a small novel. The author released this book in December 2007, and each copy was signed and numbered. Only 1,000 copies were made!

Stories in Superhuman

Here are some of the stories you'll find in the book:

• "A Decade Without Heroes"
• "What I Did on My Holidays"
• "The Offer"
• "Pressure"
• "The Footsoldiers"
• "Out of Sight"
• "Flesh and Blood"
• "Scholarship Boy"
• "A Million"

Super Human Prequel Book

Super Human is a book that tells a story that happened before the main New Heroes trilogy. It was released online on May 13, 2010.

Super Human Plot Summary

A mysterious group wants to bring Krodin, a super-powerful person from 4,000 years ago, into the modern world to control it. The story starts with Abby, who seems like a normal girl but has superhuman strength when she touches metal.

Abby is working at a diner when a news report comes on about a terrorist group holding people hostage at a warehouse. Abby rushes to help, along with a quiet boy who often visits the diner. Abby and the boy (who is named Thunder and can control sound waves) try to get into the warehouse. They get help from Paragon and the US Military.

The Ascension Prequel Book

The Ascension is another prequel to The New Heroes trilogy and a sequel to Super Human. It came out in the summer of 2011.

The story involves Krodin, who somehow survived his battle with Abby, Thunder, Roz, and Brawn. He was sent back in time by six years! In the present, the kids start to notice strange changes happening in their America. This book was released on June 30, 2011.

Stronger Prequel Book

Stronger is the sixth book in The New Heroes series and was released on June 14, 2012. This book tells the backstory of Brawn, who was a smaller villain in the series before this.

All Gethin Rao wants is to be a normal kid. But normal twelve-year-olds aren't blue or thirteen feet tall! That's what happens when his superpowers appear. From that moment on, his life changes completely. People call him Brawn and see him as a villain or a monster.

Gethin spends years running away or being held prisoner in a secret military place. When he finally meets a group of super-powered teens, he becomes something he never thought he'd be: a hero. But as time passes, Gethin learns that being a good guy is much harder than he imagined.

Hunter Prequel Book

After the powerful villain Krodin is defeated, there's a gap in the superhuman world. Two different groups try to fill it. Max Dalton, who can read minds, believes humans need to be controlled for a safe future. His rival, Casey Duval, thinks strength only comes from conflict.

Caught in the middle is Lance McKendrick, a teenager with no special powers. He only has his cleverness and con-artist tricks. But Lance has his own goal: Krodin's helper, the dangerous supervillain Slaughter, killed Lance's family. He plans to make her pay.

Hunter was published in the US on May 1, 2014.

Crossfire Book Summary

The world is slowly getting better after the big Trutopian War. But that was just the start! A dangerous new enemy has appeared, and the New Heroes quickly find themselves outmatched. When their enemy starts to defeat their friends one by one, the heroes realize they must fight on the enemy's terms to win. How far will they go to save everyone?

Crossfire is the eighth book in the series and the first of the final two books that happen after the original trilogy. It was released worldwide in October 2015.

The Chasm Book Summary

The Chasm is the ninth and final book in the Quantum Prophecy series. It takes place after Crossfire and sees the return of Krodin. It was published worldwide in June 2017.

Main Characters and Heroes

Here are some of the important heroes in The New Heroes series:

New Heroes (Current Series)

• Colin Wagner (also known as Kid Titan, Titan, and Power) - A main hero with amazing superhuman strength and super hearing. He is best friends with Danny Cooper. Colin is the son of former superheroes, Titan and Energy, and he inherited their powers. In the second book, he can absorb and control energy like heat and electricity. In the final book, he learns to fly!
• Danny Cooper - Another hero in the series. He is the son of Quantum and has powers like seeing the future, passing through solid objects, and super speed. Later, it's revealed Danny can control time itself, making it faster, slower, or even stopping it. At the end of the first book, he loses his right arm to stop a power-dampening machine. He gets a robotic arm in book three. Danny and Renata are in love.
• Renata Soliz (also known as Diamond) - A heroine who can turn her body into an unbreakable, crystal form. She was stuck in this crystal state for ten years after a power-dampener froze her. She is biologically fourteen but chronologically twenty-four. She wakes up and teams up with Colin and Danny to stop the machine. In Absolute Power, she can crystallize parts of her body and even others. She uses all her power to crystallize the Earth to stop the Trutopian war and return it to normal. It's believed she lost her powers after this, but a device brings them back in Crossfire.
• Butler Redmond - A young man who can create a force field with his mind. He's not the most popular hero because he can be annoying, but he proves very helpful in Absolute Power when the Trutopians attack Sakkara. He is killed in Crossfire.
• Mina - A hero and Yvonne's biological sister. In Sakkara, she seems quiet, but it's later revealed Yvonne controls her. In the final book, Mina has incredible strength and can teleport short distances. She can also sense auras around people.
• Yvonne - One of the main villains and Mina's biological sister. Yvonne has super strength, a huge IQ, and can control almost anyone's mind. She works with Victor Cross to almost destroy the New Heroes and make his organization, the Trutopians, powerful. In Absolute Power, she takes over the Trutopians and starts a war. The New Heroes stop her, and she ends up in prison. Someone later shoots her vocal cords, so she can never speak again.
• Stephanie Cord - The daughter of the armored superhero Paragon. She is well-trained in martial arts and can fly her father's jet pack. She is a leader in the New Heroes' armored team. She has an on-and-off relationship with Colin.
• Garland Lighthouse (also known as Razor) - A homeless teen living in a shelter until Colin helps him. He is the son of Lance McKendrick.

Heroes from the Prequel Series

• Lance McKendrick - An early superhuman who can sense and understand emotions (empathy). He is the father of Garland Lighthouse (Razor).
• Rosalyn Dalton - A telekinetic who can move objects with her mind and create shields of energy. She is the sister of Josh and Max Dalton.
• Abigail de Luyando (also known as Hesperus) - A girl with super speed, toughness, flight, and greatly increased strength, but only with metal objects. She is bulletproof and uses a metal sword and a collapsible bow with special arrows. She appears at the end of Crossfire.
• Thunder (James Klaus) - A main character with a very high IQ who can control sound waves. He uses this power to fly.

Background Heroes

These heroes were important in the past or are mentioned in the series:

• Titan - Colin Wagner's father. He was super strong, fast, and could fly but lost his powers ten years before the main story.
• Energy - Colin Wagner's mother. She could absorb and control energy and fly but lost her powers ten years before the main story.
• Paragon - Stephanie Cord's father. He didn't have superpowers but used a jet pack and special armor. He was killed in Sakkara.
• Apex - A very popular superhero known for being tough with criminals. He had superhuman strength and agility.
• Thalamus - An early superhuman with greatly increased intelligence.
• Impervia - Helps Colin and his friends. She had superhuman strength, durability, and flight but lost her powers.
• Quantum - Danny's father. His power to see the future drove him crazy. A shapeshifting villain named Façade took his place to protect Danny.
• Maxwell Dalton - A former superhero who could control minds.
• Joshua Dalton - A former superhero who could move objects with his mind (telekinesis).
• Brawn - A 4-meter-tall superhuman with super strength and toughness. He is blue with colorless eyes and no hair. People thought he was a villain, but he was just misunderstood. He is the only one who can resist Max Dalton's mind control.

Villains

Here are some of the villains you'll meet in the novels:

• Victor Cross - The main bad guy. He has superhuman intelligence.
• Yvonne - A mind-controlling superhuman clone with super intelligence and strength. She was found in a secret base. She tries to destroy America but is stopped by the New Heroes and put in prison.
• Ragnarok / Casey Duval - A superhuman with super intelligence, strength, and toughness. He could also see and know other superhumans' powers. He created the Power Dampener, which took away all superhumans' powers, including his own. He died fighting Paragon.
• Dioxin - A supervillain who became an assassin. He could produce poisonous acid from his body. Losing his powers deformed him because he was no longer immune to his own acid.
• Slaughter - A main villain in Super Human. She is a high-ranking member of an organization called the Helotry. She can fly, heal quickly, is very strong, and has a bad temper.
• Terrain - A telekinetic whose powers can move large amounts of natural materials like sand, dirt, and stone.
• Krodin - The main villain in Superhuman and Ascension. He was an ancient warlord and is considered the first superhuman. He had super strength, toughness, regeneration, and telepathy. He was also a skilled fighter and very clever. He can adapt to attacks, so they only work once on him.
• Façade - Niall's dad and Danny's half-dad. He took the place of Quantum's secret identity to watch over Danny and make sure he didn't develop his powers. He eventually helps the kids, and Danny starts to forgive him.
• The Scarlet Slayer - A villain imprisoned with Brawn in Stronger. He had superhuman strength, toughness, and flight but wasn't very smart.
• Gyrobot - A villain mentioned in Stronger with superhuman intelligence. He could create weapons from simple devices.
• Waspider - A superhuman who can move incredibly fast on all four legs, like a spider. He's called "half wasp" because his attacking style is similar to a wasp's.
• Pyrokine - A boy introduced and killed in Super Human after defeating Krodin. He did this by surrounding himself with energy and light so hot that it killed him and sent Krodin back in time. He could turn matter into energy.

Fun Facts

• The books Crossfire, The Chasm, and the short story collection Superhuman were all published by MaxEdDal Publications. This is the author's own publishing name for this series. It's named after a company in the books called MaxEdDal Pharmaceuticals, run by a character named Maxwell Edwin Dalton.