Accidental World Domination: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Death Ray

[Participant in the April 2026 Writathon] Alex Adams is the Iron Menace, a less than notable supervillain amongst countless others in Victory City, who has for the most part failed to make a mark on the super community. Until a power he'd mostly written off suffers a slight misfire that ends with him accidentally killing a member of the League of Domination, THE villain organization of the world and one that doesn't take kindly to some nobody offing one of their members. Meanwhile his actions have attracted a lot of attention from the superheroes as well, and not all of them are pleased. So Alex must quickly figure out how to become important enough to survive quickly being thrust into the very center of the superhero world. With his past misdeeds catching up to him, no desire to swap over to the other side of the caped world for a cushy "redemption story", and unwilling to lower himself to serve as a flunky for another villain, that leaves only one option: World Domination. Join the Iron Menace, Terrorantula, ArachNed, and more in this somewhat humorous but loving take on superhero (villain) fantasy in a world with some secrets of its own. What to Expect: Chapter Length of about 4k-6k words with updates at least once a week (Usually Mondays). Chapters almost always have breaks in them, often for POV swaps. A "cape world" inspired by the silver and bronze age of comics with a focus on world building and elements of alternative history. Countries aren't just renamed but their history will be impacted by the strange events that let superpowers flourish over human history. A lower power protagonist who doesn't solve his problems by getting a surprise new power up or gaining levels, in completely over his head and forced into goals loftier than he ever dreamed.  Light progression elements as the cast must adapt (You can't conquer the world in just spandex and repurposed microwaves on your hands after all) with a cast that will experience setbacks and wins. Best laid plans and all of that. Multiple perspectives from various heroes and villains of different skill sets and threat levels and questionable reliability of their narration Villains who enjoy the "Saturday morning" spotlight and cringe at the idea of being seen as "nice". They won't be out for blood and slaughter but aren't too worried about a what happens in the crossfire unless it affects their "brand". The complicated relationships within the lives of heroes and villains as they try to date, maintain friendships, and sort through family drama all while saving/conquering the world (or at least an appropriately sized civil population). LGBT friendly themes. A sincere love of the campy genre staples and tropes without becoming bogged down by parody or irony Conspiracies and secrets layered underneath that threaten to pull our cast into bigger trouble than they're ready for Questionable radiation, magic gemstones, aliens abandoning their children to Earth based foster care, abusing magical loopholes like you've got a crippling addiction to tax fraud, and good old museum heists for whatever the paper says they've got on display this week. A man that can turn into any dinosaur (probably other things but he loves dinosaurs) And of course, figuring out just what is the difference between a Death Ray and a big Laser Cannon