Villain.net
Hero.com and Villain.net are two series of superhero novels by English author, Andy Briggs.
The storyline of Villain.net is centred mostly around Jake Hunter, a troubled teenage bully, and a restless rebel. He receives a spam email telling him he can rule the world. With nothing to lose he clicks on the email - and is taken to the sinister Villain.net website where he can download temporary powers to rule the world and perform other acts of villainy.
Hero.com follows the exploits of four friends: Toby, Pete, Emily and Lorna. While surfing the internet during a storm they discover the mysterious Hero.com site. The nameless icons depict stick-figures in a variety of super-poses. When they click on an icon they discover they can temporarily download superpowers from the internet, into the real world... The website itself is a tool stolen by the council of evil (COE) and is an almost identical replica of hero.com, because of this they still are unsure of what all the icons refer to.
Books
Hero.com
Rise of the Heroes
Toby, Pete, Lorna, and Emily are just average kids—until they stumble upon a Web site called Hero.com and download powers that turn them into superheroes. At first, flying, teleporting, and shooting lasers from their eyes seems like nothing but fun. But when the super villain Doc Tempest kidnaps Toby and Lorna’s mom, things take a darker turn. Now the heroes must band together and use their new skills—from super-strength to invisibility—to rescue their mom, fight evil, and try to save the world from destruction. Of course, little do they know that Villain.net is out there too, recruiting teens for the other side. . . .
Virus Attack
Archfiends Basilisk and the Worm have dreamt up a plan so cunning it will strike fear into the heart of the bravest superhero. Combining their dastardly skills, they will infect HERO.COM with a virus potent enough to cripple it and ultimately to destroy Hero HQ. Toby, Lorna, Pete and Emily are tasked to stop them. Hard enough at the best of times, but particularly tricky once Hero.com is on the blink and their superhero powers keep fluctuating. And when Pete is kidnapped and cryogenically frozen by the vile villains, things start going from bad to worse . . . Another super powered adventure from a master of pen and plot!
Crisis Point
The Hero Foundation is a shadow of its former self and Lord Eon - the most terrible super villain ever - is still at large. Worse, he has hatched a plan to tear apart time. Toby and his superhero friends should be able to stop him . . . but Pete has woken from his coma a different person and Lorna has disappeared. In the titanic struggle that will follow, friendships will be tested and superhero powers strained to the limit as time runs out for the world . . . literally . . .
Chaos Effect
Something is not quite right in the Foundation's War Room. The training robots powered by Hero.com are starting to take on a life of their own. A new villain is taking control- NanoMite. This fiendish cyborg is using his nanite swarm to take control of every electric appliance on the planet. Within days he threatens to take the entire world back to the Dark Ages. For Toby, things are not looking so good either. Lorna is keeping a low profile after her relationship with the Dark Hunter is revealed, Emily wants to find their traitorous friend Pete, and Toby has a painful crush on Jen. Worse still, Toby's plan to bring down the Council of Evil is thwarted when he is assigned to train up fledgling heroes. To add insult to injury, pair of new Downloaders are now everybody's favourite heroes. A dangerous game of one-upmanship unfolds between Toby and the horribly likeable twins. But Toby won't let anything distract him from his main focus. He is determined to bring wrongdoers to justice- even at the cost of betraying somebody close to him ...As civilization teeters on the brink of disaster-which heroes will save the day?
Villain.net
Council of Evil
School bully Jake Hunter receives a mysterious email inviting him to join a scheme for world domination. With unlimited power and wealth at his fingertips, how can he resist? But to get it he has to become an arch-criminal, entangled in a plan that threatens the planet. And that could just be a step too far . . . 'Council of Evil' is the first book in the action packed new anti-series 'VILLAIN.NET' - the perfect antidote to the series 'HERO.COM', also by screenwriter Andy Briggs. Which side are you on?
The council of evil are situated on a large island,its whereabouts is a closely guarded secret.The council of evil itself is run by NERO,there is a pact between nero and commander courage to prevent the others organization form getting destroyed,commander courage is forced to step down as all of his plans to save have ended up with more destruction than any of neros plans were
Dark Hunter
Jake Hunter was once an ordinary schoolboy with a computer, until he discovered Villain.net. Now he is an extraordinary villain with an addiction to V.net, a bad attitude and means for him to become more powerful that he ever could have dreamed of. And when Jake Hunter - aka the Hunter - breaks out of prison, he has one thing on his mind: revenge. He is going to get his family back, avenge himself on hero Psych, who had wiped all memory of him from his family’s mind, and then destroy both heroes and villains together. Both sides want him. Which side will he choose?
Power Surge
Schoolboy super villain, Jake Hunter, has taken his seat on the Council of Evil. Now he is living his dream – to exact revenge on the world. But the world has other plans, and they come in the shape of the Hero Foundation. Jake's not scared of the Hero Foundation. He even has a plan to turn it to the dark side..Until it gets a new member - Jake's own sister. Is he really as villainous as try to remove her? While trying to topple the Council of Evil a power surge makes his powers almost unbeatable.
Collision course
Jake Hunter is poised on the edge of true greatness. If he finds all six of the Core Power pendants he'll be able to unlock a magnificent ability: Control of the gravity itself. With this awesome power at his fingertips nobody will be able to stop him from toppling the Foundation and Council of Evil once and for all.
Main characters
Jake Hunter is a result of combining a prime's DNA with villain.net. Jake's DNA is identical to Basilisks' (until he simulated Pete's) so Jake is addicted to the V.net system. He now has no need to download specific powers and the ability to create his own "custom" powers (Pete cannot do what Jake can because only Jake's DNA is identical to the DNA that Basilisk used to create Villain.net). Jake also has the choice of which side he wants to be on as both the Hero Foundation and the Council of Evil want his powers. Mentally Jake is slowly turning into Basilisk. Like the arch fiend, he thinks of himself as a "vampire" although a cyber one rather than genetic. Jake has become more and more immoral as the books continue, by the end of book 3 he has killed people in cold blood without any problem. He is the only person who is actually a threat to both sides of the super power universe, as he soon realizes that if he truly wants something then nothing can stop him.
Pete was a constant bullying target; however when he gets access to super powers through Hero.com he creates a new life for himself with Toby’s super hero gang. However, he slowly realizes that being a hero isn't as fun as he first thought and grows paranoid in his belief that Toby is trying to cut them off from the power. After absorbing a large amount of raw power in an accident he gained temporary abilities of his own. He can absorb energy from things like bullets and rockets, however he has no choice in the matter, and this causes his mass to increase and his ability to fly is cancelled out. His conscience was also affected, but this might also be the result of subtle mind controlling techniques that Jake used whilst Pete was in a coma. The only line he hasn't yet crossed seems to be cold blooded murder; however he is the cause of at least 400 deaths on a cruise liner. As his powers are diminishing and only his regenerative capability’s keeping him alive, Pete will have to find another power source (most likely the V.net system). His simmering anger is his main weakness, and his jealousy over his attraction to Emily seems to be another. These weaknesses might just cause his downfall if he doesn't deal with them soon...
Toby Wilkinson is the shining star of Hero.com; he has defeated Tempest and saved the world from destruction twice. Toby seems to be quite irresponsible though, as he chooses his powers by how fun they look rather than how useful they would be in a fight. At the end of book 3 he chooses a power to take down the misguided Pete. Toby is an enthusiastic hero and refuses to see the bad side of the HERO foundation, however in book three he seems to question his earlier stand on things and some traits may just send him off down the path of villainy. By the end he is very jealous over Jen and grows more and more detached from his original friends as he focuses on his role in the HERO foundation.
Publishers
UK - Oxford University Press
USA - Walker Books
Australia - Oxford University Press
Canada - Oxford University Press
South Africa - Oxford University Press
Germany - Arena Books
Thailand - Bright Kids
Czech Republic - Computer Press
Romania - Rao Books
Bulgaria - Egmont
English Audio - W.F. Howes
TV Movie
Hero.com is currently being developed as a TV movie for the Cartoon Network.