Empowered, real name Elissa Megan Powers is the titular main character and an affiliate member of the Superhomeys team.
Emp is a 20-something super-heroine and associate-member of the Superhomeys superhero group. Her powers and abilities are derived from a super-suit of unknown origin and nature (the suit literally "fell out of the sky" in an envelope addressed to her). This suit, while being Emp’s source of power, has also made her a social laughingstock as it often fails her when she needs it the most. This is due to the suit’s material, known as a “hyper membrane”, being incredibly thin and incredibly skin-tight, while also being extremely fragile and sometimes uncooperative. Despite these shortcomings, Empowered’s super suit has steadily become more useful and resilient with new abilities being revealed as the series progresses. Additionally, Emp’s suit has been implied to have been bonded specifically to her and has been shown to be completely useless when worn by other people. The suit's odd behaviour and contradictory properties (such as being able to stop bullets and shark bites, yet also extremely fragile) are at least partially a result of Elissa's psychological difficulties and limitations.[1]
Emp’s super suit imparts both voluntary powers, controlled intentionally by the wearer, and involuntary powers; passive abilities that become active without the conscious intent of the wearer, and physical attributes that do not necessarily enhance the function of the suit but are active nonetheless.
Powers[]
Superhuman strength. Emp herself describes her physical strength, while the suit is undamaged, as approximating that of 10 fit men.[2]
Invisibility. This ability is purely voluntary, but the invisibility effect does not extend to the wearer, essentially making Emp appear nude whenever she tries to use it.[3] It is also possible for Emp to make sections of the suit turn invisible while other sections remain visible. This ability was advantageous for her to trick dWARf/Fleshmaster into allowing her into the back-stage control room from which he was sabotaging the proceedings of the Caped Justice Awards ceremony.[4]
Various visual enhancements including magnification and x-ray vision.[5] These visual enhancements remain usable even if the suit has been damaged to the point that all other voluntary powers have ceased functioning. The ability to cling to all surfaces.[6] Emp discovered this power accidentally when she was flung to the underside of the outstretched hand of a large statue.[7] This may be a form of dispersive adhesion.
High-intensity directed energy discharges. Emp has marginal control of these energy blasts, and varying ability to aim them. She has improved in this area as the series has progressed, but this has not deterred the foes that she faces, nor does it seem to discourage the frequency by which Emp is captured. However, her ability to use this power became markedly more accurate when Thugboy was in danger of death.[8] Also, there may be a secondary, and far more powerful "mode" to this ability that manifests itself without Emp's awareness. Fragments of the hyper membrane seem to obey the wishes of Emp, even after being torn away from the main body of the suit. This was demonstrated when Emp nearly killed a villain called Lone Gunman. She used a large portion of her suit’s material to block Lone Gunman’s air passages but managed to coax the material into pulling out of his mouth and nose with a verbal request.[9]
The suit can place phone calls when the wearer makes a telephone hand-sign. The voluntary abilities of Emp’s suit are usually lost when too much of the suit’s fragile material is ripped away. Despite this often-exploited drawback, Empowered’s suit also has many abilities that are not directly controlled, and usually remain functional.
Abilities[]
Damage Protection. The suit is able to absorb or deflect all damage that may be directed at it while leaving Emp unharmed. This has been demonstrated with gunfire,[10][11] various bladed weapons,[12][13][14] blunt impacts,[15][16][17][18][19] and even a shark bite.[20] Although this usually leaves the suit itself greatly damaged, Emp has never been subject to bodily harm in the process.
Suit Regeneration. The suit is capable of self-repair, however, very slowly. This appears to somehow be tied to Emp’s sexual activity, or possibly her emotional state.[21] and it has been implied that Emp has become something of a sexual deviant since she began using the suit. Vacuum Support. The suit can protect Empowered while exposed to outer space, seemingly keeping her body pressurized, protected from extreme temperatures, shielded from ambient radiation, and allowing her to breathe as if in a normal atmosphere.[22] This can happen despite the suit being damaged in several places, exposing Emp’s bare skin.
Powered-up Independent Action. The suit can manifest structures somewhat resembling the skeleton of a bat's wings, enabling Emp to hover. At the same time, when manifesting this "skeletal" wings, the suit can shoot wide-radius energy blasts that are incredibly more powerful and damaging that Emp's normal discharges. Emp is unaware of this ability, as the suit apparently was mind-controlling her the only time it was used. In addition to voluntary and involuntary abilities, the suit also has some functions and attributes that are active regardless of the person interacting with the material of the hyper membrane.
The suit can “knit” itself around the hair follicles on Empowered’s scalp, giving the appearance that the cowl of the suit is really an accessory mask.[23] This may be one of the only abilities of the suit that is not reliant on Emp being the user as this occurred with a male wearer of the suit who stole it from Emp in an attempt to gain the suit’s powers.[24] The suit can greatly accentuate the sensations from sexual stimulation.[25] It is not clear if this effect can be experienced by anyone, as long as Emp is involved,[26] or if this is another example of the suit having a passive effect on anybody.
The suit sometimes acts autonomously, taking on the physical dimensions of Emp without her actually wearing it. The only character shown to interact with the suit while it does this is the extraterrestrial/supernatural energy being/symbiote that is trapped within alien bondage gear commonly referred to as “The Caged Demonwolf”.[27][28]
History[]
Because Empowered is only an associate member of the Superhomeys, her participation with the group is limited in scope and something akin to “part-time”, so she still has a day job. Her first-day job consisted of wearing a mascot costume for a discount retail store called “Value mammoth”, advertising the store’s sales with a picket sign.[29] This job earned her much disrespect and derision from passersby. Eventually, Emp lost this job when she accidentally destroyed the store in an attempt to defeat a massive Ammonoidea-like monster as it rampaged through the city.[30]
For an interminable period, it is implied that Emp took a job at a restaurant known as P.J. McJiggles, Food and Hotness.[31]
Afterwards, Emp moved on to cosplaying as her costumed self in a licensed troupe of Superhomeys imitators known as “The Superhomeys Experience”. In this impersonation of herself, she wears a PVC imitation of her hyper membrane super-suit. During her performances, she affects a comically heavy Southern accent in order to encourage onlookers to not recognize her as being the actual Empowered.[32] In this, she was successful until she was forced to reveal herself when the troupe was abducted by Anglerfish in an attempt to force the Superhomeys to investigate Willy Pete.[33]
Emp is in a heavily sexual relationship with her Japanese-American boyfriend, only referred to as “Thugboy”. Previous to meeting Emp, Thugboy spent the majority of his adult career as a henchperson to many different supervillains. However, after meeting Emp, he has given up his life of criminal-assistance to largely act as emotional and physical support for Emp as she struggles with her insecurities. This support frequently manifests in the form of sex, which may be beneficial to Emp’s suit as well as her emotional state since the former seems to mirror the latter.
Emp's relationships with other superheroes and the general public are complex: despite the Superhomeys generally have nothing but contempt and pity, if not outright mockery for her long list of shortcomings (exacerbated, after the Willy Pete fiasco, by the outright hatred and blame Major Havoc keeps pouring on her for the death of his friends), it's implied Empowered has to appeal on the large public. It's in fact implied by Maid Man that while the other superheroes are often seen as cold, aloof and self-aggrandizing superpowered beings oblivious to the damages they bring around and detached by humanity, Empowered bridges the gap by blatantly showing her human failures and shortcomings.[34] However, while Empowered may be liked as a person, as a superheroine is still considered somewhat of a trashy oddball, whose feminine physique is the only credit to her career.