Average Joe (2018)

What Was Supposed to Happen?

If you were one of the people who read this story when it was first written in 2018, you may remember I had plans to write a sequel. I planned to write four books total in this series, but I don't think I will. I might rewrite this story one day, but for now, this story isn't getting a sequel. Because of this, I am going to tell you guys what was supposed to happen in the following stories. I feel that this is fair, considering I left things on a cliffhanger and don't plan to return to it.

I had a lot planned for book two. The essential summary is this - Norman is powerless, but now that he knows what being a hero is like, he can't stop himself from protecting people. Early in the story, his powers return. He also has some tension with his friends, as he killed Bryan's brother, and there's this whole unresolved love triangle between him, Tori, and Cora. Norman also has some issues in his everyday life because people now know his mom is Cold Front, so he receives a lot of bullying and hate for it. Once Norman gets his powers back, he continues to be a vigilante. Cora and Bryan might help him, but I never figured that part out. Ted swore off being a superhero but keeps doing it in secret, afraid Norman will be disappointed in him. There are also two new kids in school, Skylar and his sister, Jennifer. If these names sound familiar, it's because they are the characters teased in the epilogue chapter. Jennifer gets close to Norman and reveals to him that she too has powers. They begin to fight crime together and form a close platonic relationship, though Norman is a bit concerned with her because she seems unhinged and possibly dangerous at times.

I remember I was going to have Norman take over the Guardian mantle from his uncle. There was a part in the original draft of the first book (I don't know if I'll keep it in or not) of the original Norman Knight giving Norman the Guardian suit and he was going to put it on for the final fight against the Chronicle but it never happened, so I resolved to do that some point in book two.

Tori begins to pursue a career as an amateur journalist with her sister mentoring her. Tori begins to use these skills to investigate the main villain, who is a superhero whose name I can't remember, so we'll call him, Simon. Simon is Ted's friend and the leader of a famous superhero organization in San Francisco. Ted and Norman eventually find out that they are separately fighting crime and decide to do it together. Ted takes Norman to Simon's superhero team in San Fransico just to show him around and provide expository stuff.

Norman continues to struggle with the Cora/Tori problem. I never decided who he was going to end up with so I don't really know how that gets resolved, but I knew he would get together with one of them.

At the end of the story, Simon is revealed to be evil so Ted and Norman stop him. This is actually a false victory because then Tori finds out that Jennifer was the villain all along. Jennifer kidnaps Tori and fights Norman. She promises Norman she'll let Tori go if he goes with her and he agrees. The story ends with them flying to London for unknown reasons. It is also revealed that Jennifer is Norman's half-sister. Skylar was Jennifer's adopted brother or something, I can't remember.

Book three is Norman's villain arc and opens in London. I think my idea was that in book one, Norman learns what it's like to be a vigilante, in book two he learns what it's like to be a superhero, and in book three he learns what it's like to be a supervillain. A couple of Norman's friends (Cora and Darwin, I think) show up to bring Norman home. But Norman doesn't want to go home. Essentially something is going on with Norman and because he's in a depressive state, he's pushing people out. Sabrina shows up as Cold Front to try and get Norman to see sense. Norman isn't going crazy and killing people, but he's helping Jennifer do stuff like rob banks because if he doesn't, she'll kill everyone he loves. Norman was going to be really broody and sullen in this book, and there was going to be a whole arc about his loved ones pulling him back to reality.

Then things really go off the rails. So Bryan and Jennifer... uhh... how should I put this? They sleep together and Jennifer gets pregnant. Except something was wrong with the birth. I can't remember exactly, but I think Jennifer's powers caused the fetus to develop super quickly and she gave birth extremely fast. The baby is born with very strong abilities that almost no one can fight. He continues to age extremely quickly until he is essentially an adult. This adult man turns out to be the Nightmare Man, the guy Norman keeps having nightmares about. It turns out this guy is so strong he sent telepathic dreams to Norman in the past - no, I'm not kidding.

So, Jennifer gets redeemed but her son doesn't and the final book is Norman and his loved ones taking on the ridiculously overpowered Nightmare Man. Norman has become a more brooding badass by this book, but he still needs the help of his friends and family to stop him which they do, but I can't remember how. It was meant to end with an epilogue chapter set years in the future where we see an adult Norman with his wife (either Cora or Tori) and his kids and the other strange members of his family.

Yeah, that was what I had planned. It was probably for the best that those stories were never written.