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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#263: Heroes and Villains

If you’re an avid cinemagoer, you’ve probably seen trailers or posters for the recently released superhero comedy film Deadpool & Wolverine. Personally, I’m looking forward to seeing two beloved characters set aside their differences to save the world — and potentially start an unlikely friendship along the way.

Inspired by Deadpool & Wolverine, this week's prompts center around protagonists and antagonists. Create a new kind of hero or villain, parody a character who already exists, or go totally off script and interpret the prompts in a creative, unexpected way… the choice is yours!

This week's prompts

Write a story from the antagonist’s point of view.

Character – 84 stories

Start or end your story with a hero losing their powers.

Character – 42 stories

Write about two mortal enemies who must work together.

Character – 29 stories

Center your story around someone facing their biggest fear or enemy.

Character – 71 stories

Write the origin story of a notorious villain.

Character – 89 stories

Stories

“The Napoleon of Crime” by Rebecca Hurst

Submitted to Contest #263

Sing Sing, New York: Thursday April 23 1914 ‘Professor Moriarty, thank you for agreeing to see me today. My name is Ted Pilsworth from the New York Tribune.’‘Time is of the essence. Tomorrow will be too late’ said Moriarty. Pilsworth took a hard seat in the Death Room of Sing Sing, swiped the pencil from behind his ear and opened his notebook to the first page. Moriarty was gratified to note that a new book had been procured especially for him. This was quite the assignment, he thought. Pilsworth must be go...

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“The Devious, Despicable, Dastardly Dr. Doomsday” by D. Grimes

Submitted to Contest #263

From the apex of the Doomsday Tower, an explosion thundered out over Cranhattan, over the skyscrapers glimmering red in the sunset. A cloud of smoke settled, and ash flurried down on Dr. Doomsday, whose shoulders slumped with defeat. He gaped at the decimated machinery—the twisted metal, the exposed wires sparking—the name “DESTRUCT-O-NATOR” in Impact-esque font melting off the side. Did Special Agent Double Eleven know how long it took him to hand-paint those letters? Perhaps that should have been a job for a minion, but Dr. D took pride in...

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“Suicide Man vs. the Shadow” by Corey H

Submitted to Contest #263

The pages were strong in his grip. Each word pulled him from the demon within. Each chapter unravelled the bad thoughts—the final thoughts. Markus Welby had just turned 28, finished a five-year Psychology Degree at Traymore University, and landed a cozy job as City Director of Mental Health. Other offers, most promising big money and prestige, were tossed in the waste bin by his TV chair, along with endless junk mail. Director of Mental Health was a new position that oversaw Traymore City’s community centres. Congressman Mitchum ...

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“U-Boat” by Austin Wright

Submitted to Contest #263

The days and nights pass to the rumble of diesel engines. They become your heartbeat. Your attachment to life. You have nightmares about drowning, about sinking deeper and deeper to the screams of your fellow crew mates. The hull bursts and the Atlantic gouges your eyes and lungs with burning saltwater. Then you wake up to the humming diesels, welcoming you back to life. This time you wake up to silence, to icy condensation pooling in your bunk, to the tense atmosphere of electric engines running silent and hiding from death. When you’r...

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“Unrequited Love” by Sarah Jo

Submitted to Contest #263

I'd never been a good person. I'd found joy in torture for longer than I could remember. And I'd haunted the townhouse of 1705 5th Street since my death in 1925. While my body had long been decomposed and my spirit nothing more than the essence of this home, those three things I knew were absolutely true.Other things feel more like dreams, things I'd made up with my mind after decades stuck in never-ending limbo. When I was three, my mother made ice cream in our kitchen using the blackberries that grew behind our home. When I was six, I thou...

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“Thunder” by Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #263

I remember walking near the river on a summer day. Listening to the birds, sometimes watching them fly across the meadow or from one tree to another. Looking at all the flowers which the bees and butterflies visited. Looking was enough because mam was gone, so I had no one to bring them to who would care to have a bunch of weeds brought in from the fields. I had been told as much by the one woman who sometimes smiled at me since I came here after mam was gone. She wanted no more weeds from me.Besides, though they looked beautiful in the air,...

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“The Villain” by Wendy Rappeport

Submitted to Contest #263

The Villain. He was the Sheriff of Greystone County and recent events have greatly traumatized him. I’m the cause and have added another scalp to my collection.He is a gentle soul and the biggest upset he previously had to deal with was a squabble over boundary fences on Aston’s farm. He engineered an amiable settlement with Aston and Grieg both happy.I started in a neighbouring county in my late school years- at first selling trading cards then graduating to E’s and weed. My parents were to blame. Mum was a drunk and if I didn’t do the...

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“And Then He Killed My Minion” by Iona Cottle

Submitted to Contest #263

The hall is wide, with a high ceiling, flagstone flooring and two dozen torches lining the walls. On the dais at one end stands the Lord of Night, appropriately shrouded in black velvet, with his skull adorned throne behind him and his hordes of undead flanking him. Halfway down the hall stands the plucky band of heroes, their battered armour gleaming with internal righteousness and smugness. How melodramatic. Who doesn’t love a showdown? “You fools!” the Lord of Night laughs. “You’ve walked right into my trap! Now I will destroy you, and ...

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“Layla and the Dream Competition” by Kathryn Minicozzi

Submitted to Contest #263

It was Friday evening, and she hoped to ace tomorrow’s competition. Layla Mancini sat at the piano and let her fingers glide over the first movement of Beethoven’s “Moonlight” Sonata. This piece was second nature to her by now. She had nothing to worry about. However, pre-competition nerves prompted her to practice the sonata until she was sure she could play it even if she zoned out, which was always possible. Layla was on the older side of the competition’s age limit at fourteen years of age. This year w...

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“Leave ” by Chloe Pierce

Submitted to Contest #263

If the pain is as temporary as Connor McCall himself, Dylan might survive. But there is nothing fleeting about Connor except the man himself. He is, by design, flawed. His smile, despite its compelling nature, sits lopsided to the left and a complicated relationship with himself leaves an arrogant stain on his personality. But somewhere between the perfectly styled hair and the expensive ties that suffocate him into designer suits, Connor is a disaster. “You should feel lucky,” Derek says, voice soft with understanding. Drinking in the sh...

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“Cracked Under Pressure” by Ellie Northrop

Submitted to Contest #263

I could hear the footsteps as my father climbed up the stairs. Each step was like thunder clapping, echoing across the house. Following each step was a drunken groan from the owner of the footsteps.If I focused hard enough, the smell of liquor could reach my nostrils from where I lay. I twitched my nose in disgust as cold shivers ran down my spine. Fear and anticipation were filling in the pit of my stomach as I waited.'Drunken bastard.' I thought, watching my bedroom door closely.There was no lock on my bedroom door. My father got rid of it...

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“THE ARTIST'S CHOICE” by Glenna Agnew

Submitted to Contest #263

Gage sat in the window seat of his cabin and fidgeted with the pad of paper and pencil beside him on the dusty old cushion. He had picked them up at least half a dozen times in the last half hour. He had started to sketch the view from the window seat but hadn’t made more than a few half-hearted lines. Usually, his creative juices were working overtime, but today he felt like a parched lizard sitting by a cactus in the desert. He had nothing, zilch, nada. One big fat zero. He loved art, drawing, painting, and sculpting. It was his raison d’ê...

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“Talk is Cheep” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #263

Life ain’t fair. I should know. My life was an involuntary homage to the unfairness of life. My life was a joke, and I was waiting for the punchline. Waiting in a limbo of anticipatory disappointment. The way the script always goes, I’d either not get the joke, or the end the punchline signalled would be mine. At least I’d be deaf to the laughter that was my funereal lament, but I heard its pre-emptory echoes all the same. The walking dead. The cruel laughter haunting every waking moment. Waking me from nightmares too gutless to make themsel...

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“Buried Reality” by Desika Shyam Sundar

Submitted to Contest #263

Good, you chose to open this instead of discarding it as scrap paper. I wasn’t sure what to think when I left it on your desk, but already you have surpassed my expectations. Keep going and perhaps you will even accomplish what I want from you. Don’t waste your time wondering who I am or how I know you. If you were astute enough, you would have realized it already. Do you remember? I was there when you came to check your mailbox, just about a year ago. You smiled at me and asked how my day was going. You were the first person to ...

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“Frenemies” by Malcolm Twigg

Submitted to Contest #263

Satirical religious intolerance, stereotypical mysogynistic reference and anti-woke opinion.The atmosphere in the boardroom of G.O.D. Enterprises spoke volumes, reflected in the number of Special Advisors present, amongst whom a nervous HR manager sat running a finger around his collar.A dapper-looking individual with a Mephistophelian goatee sitting at one end of the table sighed. “Well? Is nobody going to set the ball rolling?”His opposite number at the other end wearing an immaculate white suit snorted. “My life! You already set more...

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$250

Prize money

315

Contest entries

109

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Aug 16, 2024 EST

Won by Eliza Entwistle 🏆

Title: Petrified

Submissions must be between 1,000 - 3,000 words and will be approved and published on Reedsy Prompts within 7 days of the contest closing.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

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