by Gregg Ensminger

Part of the Outwit, Outplay, Outlaugh series

The following story is a parody. Many of the characters, ideas, and concepts parodied in this story are the sole property of their respective copyright owners. The author is not affiliated with, nor is the story authorized by, the Walt Disney Company, Warner Brothers, or MGM Television.

©2017 Gregg Ensminger. All applicable rights reserved.

Contents Chapter 1 ...........................................................................................................................................3 Chapter 2 ...........................................................................................................................................5 Chapter 3 ...........................................................................................................................................7 Chapter 4 ...........................................................................................................................................9 Chapter 5 ......................................................................................................................................... 11 Chapter 6 ......................................................................................................................................... 13 Chapter 7 ......................................................................................................................................... 15 Chapter 8 ......................................................................................................................................... 17 Chapter 9 ......................................................................................................................................... 18 Chapter 10 ....................................................................................................................................... 20 Chapter 11 ....................................................................................................................................... 22 Chapter 12 ....................................................................................................................................... 24 Chapter 13 ....................................................................................................................................... 26 Chapter 14 ....................................................................................................................................... 28 Part 1 ....................................................................................................................................................... 28 Part 2 ....................................................................................................................................................... 29 Part 3 ....................................................................................................................................................... 30 The Reunion .................................................................................................................................... 32 Epilogue .......................................................................................................................................... 33

3

Chapter 1

F

or most people, living on a remote, deserted island with limited resources for 39 days seems like an impossible task. Many might think that it takes superhuman strength to accomplish this with ease. For this season of Survivor, we put that theory to the test.

Twenty new castaways have just arrived to play the game of Survivor, and each one of them has some kind of superpower or super ability. Upon arrival, they are divided into two groups; one group is on a red mat under a banner that says “Marvel,” and the other on a light blue mat under a banner marked “Deecee.” Standing on the red mat are such heroes as Black Widow, Spider-Man, Storm, Iron Man, and Invisible Woman, and such villains as Green Goblin, Mystique, Wilson “Kingpin” Fisk, Viper, and Victor von Doom. Standing on the light blue mat are such heroes as Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Catwoman, and Aquaman, and such villains as Harley Quinn, Lex Luthor, Poison Ivy, The Joker, and Cheetah. Jeff Probst then arrives at the scene. “Welcome to Survivor: Superheroes vs. Supervillains,” says the host. Then, after chatting it up with the castaways for a few minutes, he hands the Marvel players a map to one beach, and the DC players a map to another beach. Then he distributes small, lightweight packages to each player. Inside each package is the buff. When the players open up their packages, they realize that not everyone on the same color mat has the same color buff. Jeff then announces that everyone with a royal blue buff will be part of the Superheroes tribe, and everyone with a maroon buff will be part of the Supervillains tribe. But then he announces that everyone will be living on a beach with only half of their own tribe and half of the other tribe. Marvel castaways from both tribes will live together on a separate beach from the DC castaways of both tribes, and members of the same tribe will come together only for challenges. When the DC castaways arrive at their beach, the Superheroes talk about how they’re going to build a shelter. At that moment, Superman quickly assembles and builds a shelter in five seconds. The remaining castaways—the Marvel Superheroes and all the Supervillains—take all day to get a shelter put together. But by the end of the day, Joker, Harley, and Ivy have bonded and formed a new alliance, the “Suicide Squad.” Also, Catwoman and Cheetah get to know each other; Catwoman talk about how she grew up poor on the streets, and Cheetah mostly talks about how she’s jealous of Wonder Woman. Meanwhile, at the Marvel beach, Doom confides to Viper that he is indeed a doctor, but that he shouldn’t be judged harshly in the game just for being one, since he was also born into poverty. In response, Viper tells Dr. Doom that her real name is Madame Hydra, but that she prefers to go by Viper. The two of them form an alliance. On Day 3, the castaways finally get tree-mail. The message inside says that the two tribes will square off in an immunity challenge. It goes on to say that there are some twists to be revealed before this challenge begins. When everyone arrives at the site of the challenge, Jeff greets them and then describes the obstacle course that the two tribes will be running for immunity. Then he reveals the first twist: throughout the season, Superheroes will be given an advantage in all challenges, while Supervillains will be allowed to cheat. The second twist is that at the beginning of the game, only half the members of the losing tribe will have to go to Tribal Council. After immunity is awarded to the winning tribe, the losing tribe members from the Marvel universe

4 will compete against the losing castaways from the DC universe, with the winner of that challenge also receiving immunity. The rest will go to Tribal Council. In addition, this particular challenge is for reward. The winners of the initial challenge will receive fire, in the form of flint, and they will also get their choice of comfort or fishing gear. The castaways then head to the starting line to being the challenge, with the Superheroes getting a head start, by design. During the challenge, The Joker tries to stop the Superheroes with various gadgets that can hinder one’s progress in competition. But despite this, Superman’s strength and speed carry the Superheroes, and prove too much for the Supervillains to overcome. So with the Superheroes winning immunity, they also earn flint for fire, and they get to choose another reward as well. On Aquaman’s insistence, the DC heroes do not choose the fishing gear, taking comfort instead. But the Marvel heroes do claim the fishing equipment, and the Superheroes all head back to their respective beaches. Then, the Marvel Supervillains square off against the DC Supervillains for the smaller immunity idol. Marvel wins this challenge, meaning that the DC Supervillains must go to Tribal Council. Before Tribal begins, Ivy suggests that they get rid of Lex, since he’s not nearly as fast as Cheetah is in challenges. But Lex tries to convince Joker that Ivy is nothing but a femme fatale, and that maybe she should go before she gains control of the game. At Tribal Council, Harley and Joker talk about how their alliance, the “Suicide Squad” bonded very quickly, and that they’re easily about to take control, which worries Lex greatly. Then Lex pleads the case to get rid of Ivy, after which the voting begins. In the end, Ivy is unanimously blindsided, making her the first person voted out of Survivor: Superheroes vs. Supervillains. Jeff then notes that the Suicide Squad has earned its name, since they just took out one of their own.

5

Chapter 2

B

ack at camp, the Superheroes are enjoying the night off. At the Marvel beach, Iron Man is talking about how great it is to have Superman on their tribe. But Spider-Man is worried that eventually, Superman will start to abuse his powers and blackmail everyone else into obeying his every command. Invisible Woman agrees, and they vow to keep an eye on the Man of Steel while they’re in the game. In the meantime, Mystique is reaching out to Storm in hopes of forming a long-term alliance. Meanwhile, the DC heroes are shocked to learn that Ivy was voted out first, yet at the same time they are relieved that the Suicide Squad alliance isn’t as strong as they originally thought. The next day, there is another challenge; this time, it is strictly for reward. The Superheroes will win some extra food if they win; the Supervillains will get flint for fire if they win. There is also a twist. From this point forward, during every reward challenge, there will be some crystals hidden throughout the challenge area. Whichever member of the winning tribe collects the most crystals will earn a special reward: either a special advantage in the game, available only to Superheroes, or a special cheat, available only to Supervillains. These advantages or cheats need not be disclosed to the group until they are cashed in by the player wishing to use them. Because the Superheroes have one extra member, they’re sitting one person out. Since the challenge involves carrying boxes full of kryptonite, Superman happily sits out this challenge, meaning that he is also ineligible to collect crystals for an advantage in the game. Once the challenge begins, the Supervillains take an early lead, but they soon fall behind, as Doom is slowing his tribe down due to his desire to find the most crystals. But in the end, Kingpin tackles enough of the Superheroes all at once to prevent them from crossing the finish line before the Supervillains all do, thus the Supervillains win reward. When it comes time to count everyone’s crystals, Doom indeed has the most, meaning that he gets a special cheat in the game. Jeff shows him a random assortment of envelopes, each with a different cheat inside. Doom takes one of the envelopes and opens it to learn his new cheat. As it turns out, he has earned the ability to take someone else’s place on an external reward one time in the future. Once everyone gets back to camp, Batman and Catwoman strike up a conversation. Batman is grateful for the many times that Catwoman has saved his life. But when Wonder Woman sees them together, she starts worrying that the two of them might form a power couple, and she tells Superman and Aquaman. In the process, the three of them form a new alliance, the Superfriends, and they agree to let Batman in on the group in an attempt to sway him from Catwoman. On Day Six, another immunity challenge takes place. When deciding whom to sit out as the extra member of the Superheroes, Spider-Man suggests that Iron Man sit, but everyone else decides to sit Catwoman. During the challenge, Iron Man’s heavy suit begins to slow him down in the heat, and the Supervillains end up winning easily. Then, in the subsequent challenge pitting the Marvel heroes against the DC heroes, DC wins the supplemental immunity. Now the Marvel Superheroes must go to Tribal Council and vote someone out of the game.

6 Back at camp, Spider-Man complains about the decision to sit Catwoman instead of Iron Man, who responds by confessing that Spider-Man is acting a little too young and cocky in the game. Spider-Man himself confesses that his spider senses are telling him that might be voted out. This feeling is confirmed as Iron Man tries to get his fellow Avenger and closest ally, Black Widow, to help him vote out Spidey. She relays this plan to Storm and Invisible Woman, but they are considering voting out Iron Man instead, as he is perceived to be a bigger liability. As Tribal Council is about to start, Jeff waits for all five castaways to arrive, but he only sees four sitting down waiting for Tribal to begin. Then Invisible Woman makes herself visible, and they begin debating who should be eliminated. In the end, by a one-vote margin, the second person voted out of the game is…Iron Man.

7

Chapter 3

T

he Supervillains are enjoying a night off, which gives some of them time to think. At the Marvel beach, Green Goblin is concerned that Viper and Doom are getting too close, so he approaches Doom in an effort to form a new alliance. As they are talking, the Marvel heroes return from Tribal Council, and the villains are shocked to see that Iron Man is not with them. Spider-Man also thanks Storm and Invisible Woman for sparing him, and he promises to support them in the future. The next morning, over at the DC beach, Aquaman is about to go for a morning swim, when he sees Batman sitting alone on the sand. Aquaman approaches the Caped Crusader and asks if everything is all right. In response, Batman starts crying, and then talks about the moment when he lost both his parents in a terrible shooting one night when he was just a boy. He goes on to say that his time on Survivor has helped him deal with this trauma in ways that he never could until now. Aquaman remains seated, comforting Batman the whole time. The very next day, the castaways head off for their next reward challenge. The winning tribe receives food and cooking utensils. Also, everyone is competing for an advantage or cheat in the game; since Doom earned a cheat last time and has not yet cashed it in, he will not be eligible to gain a second cheat. It is just as well, since Doom’s tribe loses the challenge. Superman is the one who lifts the Superheroes to victory, and during the challenge, he even has more than enough time to collect the most crystals, as well. He then heads over to Jeff and picks an envelope at random. Upon opening it, he sees that his advantage is a clue to a hidden immunity idol. He immediately cashes it in, takes the clue, and heads back out with the others. When the DC heroes arrive back at camp, Superman, knowing that everyone else will be interested in his idol clue, shares the clue with Wonder Woman, Batman, and Aquaman. Then they all go out looking for the idol. Superman isn’t worried about the others also having access to the clue, since he has X-ray vision which enables him to see the idol buried in the ground before anyone else can find it. When no one else is looking, Superman quickly digs up the idol, takes it, and reads the instructions. They say that the idol can be used to either cancel votes at Tribal Council before they are read, or block the use of another idol at Tribal Council. After he finishes reading this, he catches up to the others. While Superman is still “looking” for the idol with others, he strikes up a conversation with Wonder Woman. He notices that she speaks with an accent. She points out that she’s Brazilian, which leads her to talk about her childhood back home. In the process, she remembers the first time that she first knew that she wanted to be a superhero. When she was a teenager, a man tried to hijack her car while she was in it, but she simply got out, stood up to the man, and yelled, “You mess with me, and you’re dead!” The man ran away immediately. Impressed with her story, Superman immediately forms an alliance with her. On Day Nine, Batman continues to search for the idol which is no longer there. Harley notices this, and then tells her alliance that they should watch out for him in the future, since she perceives him to be mentally unstable. On Day Ten, another immunity challenge takes place, except this one is a little different. Jeff announces that both tribes will be heading to Tribal Council, but some of the castaways will still have immunity.

8 The challenge will pit the Marvel heroes against the DC heroes, and the Marvel villains against the DC villains. The two winning teams will win immunity, and the team that clinches victory first will get to sit in on Tribal Council while enjoying a hearty meal. The Marvel villains and DC heroes each have one extra member, so Mystique sits out and Batman, still tired from looking for the idol the past few days and not finding it, also sits. In the end, the Marvel villains clinch victory first, followed by the DC heroes. So the first Tribal Council will have the DC villains meeting with Jeff while the Marvel villains eat and watch. Harley is trying to get Lex out, since she believes him to be insecure due to his baldness, but the other DC villains are getting tired of hearing her constant psychoanalysis of everyone. As soon it is time to vote, the Marvel villains are immediately sent back to camp. By the end of the vote, it is revealed that Harley has been unanimously voted out of the game. Now it is the Marvel heroes’ turn to go to Tribal. Spider-Man is keeping true to his promise to back Storm and Invisible Woman, but Black Window has been trying to convince the other women to form an allfemale alliance and vote out Spidey. But the web-slinger jokes that “The black widow will always try to destroy the male spider.” In the end, Black Widow becomes the fourth person cast out of the game, by unanimous vote.

9

Chapter 4

W

ith two castaways gone in one night, the remaining players return to their camps and head off to bed. The next morning, they wake up to a special tree-mail. There are big changes coming, and they will be announced at the reward challenge.

As soon as everyone shows up for the challenge, Jeff lets everyone know what is about to happen. After this challenge is over, everyone will be switching living arrangements. The Superheroes will all be living together on one beach, as will all the Supervillains on another beach. In addition, the winners of this challenge will get to choose the camp to which they will move, and they will also receive a pizza party. Excited, everyone gets into the starting position for the challenge, which has the castaways tied to each other at the waist while pulling boxes full of building blocks across the sand. Some of the Supervillains begin the race before Jeff says, “Go!” Despite this, the Superheroes catch up, since their advantage allows them to pull a lighter load. Not that they need a lighter pull, as Superman easily leads his tribe to victory again. As a result, the Superheroes get to choose their new home, and they choose the old DC beach, meaning that the Supervillains will all have to move to the old Marvel beach. Also, Aquaman wins an advantage for collecting the most crystals, and his selection nets him an extra vote at a future Tribal Council. Once the castaways all arrive at their new homes, everyone says hello to their new neighbors. At the Superhero camp, Spider-Man schmoozes with Aquaman and Batman, hoping to solidify a secret all-male alliance. Over at the Supervillain beach, Doom is trying to talk Lex and Joker into joining him, Viper, and Green Goblin in an alliance appropriately known as the “Legion of Doom.” But Viper is talking to Cheetah and Mystique about a possible all-female alliance down the road, with some of the female Superheroes. This makes Joker worried about the power that the women may have in the game, and he and Lex share this concern with the other men in the tribe. Kingpin says that in his observation, Viper is the biggest threat, since she is smart and athletic. Doom is hesitant to betray his ally Viper, but the others insist that he join them in throwing the next challenge so that they can get rid of her. So Doom, after being heavily pressured by the others, promises to help them take a dive at the next challenge, and that at the next Tribal Council that takes place, he will vote the same way as they do. Day 13 arrives, and with it, a brand new tree-mail. It’s time for another immunity challenge. But before everyone heads out, Doom quietly warns Viper that the others will be gunning for her that night if they lose immunity. When the castaways arrive for the challenge, Jeff describes how the challenge will work. Each tribe will swim out to a buoy, grab some bags full of rings, head back to shore, and then start tossing the rings onto various targets. First tribe to get one ring on each of their targets wins immunity. And from this moment on, everyone on the losing tribe will be going to Tribal Council.

10 When Jeff gives the go, the Superheroes take an early lead, thanks to their advantage which puts them closer to their bags than the Supervillains are to theirs. Also, the men of the Supervillain tribe are lollygagging on purpose as they had planned, although Doom is not trying as hard as the others to throw the challenge. Viper, on the other hand, is single-handedly carrying her tribe, as she quickly swims out to retrieve all her tribe’s bags, and she’s the first one to get back to shore to start tossing the rings. With four targets left to go for the Supervillains, the Superheroes need only one more ring on one more target to win. But Viper kicks sand into the other tribe’s eyes to prevent them from clinching victory, and then she lands her last four targets in a row to claim immunity for the Supervillains. Superman is stunned that his tribe lost such a huge lead. Now that the Supervillain tribe has the immunity idol, Viper is safe from Tribal Council, and the men’s plan to throw the challenge is thwarted. Doom is delighted at this, since it means that he won’t have to vote out his ally. After all, he merely promised to vote the same as the other men at the next Tribal Council, and with tribal immunity, no one on the Supervillain tribe will be voting against anybody at next Tribal. Also, because Doom did keep his promise to help the men tank the challenge, he was able to gain the trust of the other men in the tribe. As for the Superheroes, there is a lot of tension and speculation as to who is going home, or at least to Ponderosa, next. There is a lot of talk about voting out Wonder Woman, and when word gets back to her that her allies may be preparing to blindside her, she suspects that Spider-Man is behind this proposal. So she approaches him, throws a lasso around his waist and asks him if he is planning to vote her out. Spidey quickly admits that he and some of the others were going to blindside her. This causes the web-slinger to change plans. He tells his allies Storm and Invisible Woman that Superman is now the target. He also informs Batman an Aquaman of the change in plans, but Wonder Woman got to them first, urging them to stick to their alliance and vote out Spider-Man. At Tribal Council, the DC heroes do stick together, and Spider-Man becomes the fifth person voted out of the game. After his torch is snuffed, he walks away from the group, shoots a web onto a nearby tree, and swings away from Tribal Council.

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Chapter 5

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fter Tribal Council, the remaining Superheroes arrive back at camp, tired and ready to call it a night. Although Superman is relieved that he didn’t get voted out, he still feels terrible that the tribe did not win immunity, since they now have only seven left in their tribe to the Supervillains’ eight. He tries to correct this by reversing the Earth’s rotation to take the castaways back to the start of the day. When Wonder Woman notices this, she says to Superman, “That doesn’t actually reverse time. It just gives us several hours of extra sunlight.” “Yeah, bro,” says Aquaman, “Spider-Man is still gone. Everything is still the same as it was before.” Dejected, Superman retreats to a cave, or as he calls it, his fortress of solitude. Everyone else on the tribe takes advantage of the extra time by getting some much-needed rest. When Day 14 finally arrives, everyone meets up for another reward challenge. Superman is sure that his tribe’s extra rest will help them win the challenge. But the Supervillains were all asleep when Superman tried to reverse the Earth’s rotation, so they were unaffected by the sudden change. In fact, many of the Supervillains think that it is actually Day 15. Either way, it is the Supervillain tribe that wins reward, and Green Goblin wins a cheat for having the most crystals. When he goes to select his cheat, he ends up with the privilege of looking at the votes before they are tallied at one future Tribal Council. The Superheroes, on their way back to camp, notice that Superman is lagging behind and feeling tired from the hike back. He assures everyone that he is all right, but that his lack of food and water in the game has begun to weaken him to the level of a regular human. Luckily, he can still fly high enough to gather some coconuts that he can eat to restore some of his strength. The next day, tree-mail arrives again. This time, it reads, “Riddle me this. When is a hero duel not a hero duel? When there are several of them and villains are involved!” With that, the castaways know that it’s time for another immunity challenge. This time, it is a series of one-on-one jousting duels. First tribe to win four duels wins immunity. The Supervillains have to sit one extra member out, and since Lex sat out the last challenge, Green Goblin will sit out this one. The first duel pits Wonder Woman against Cheetah. At first, Cheetah’s moves prove to be quick and nimble, but Wonder Woman successfully blocks all of Cheetah’s attacks with her bracelets before finally knocking Cheetah off the pedestal. The next duel has Aquaman going against Kingpin. Despite Aquaman being on a higher pedestal, due to the Superheroes’ built-in advantage, Kingpin’s weight is too much for Aquaman to overcome, and the Supervillains wins the point. Then it’s Invisible Woman jousting Doom. At the start of the duel, Invisible Woman disappears right away, but Doom is not fooled. He shouts to her, “I know how you got your powers,” and uses his special amulet to force her off the pedestal. With that, the Supervillains take the lead. Then, Catwoman goes against Mystique.

12 Catwoman’s reflexes are so quick, that she isn’t even scared when Mystique morphs into a giant wolf. Ultimately, Catwoman knocks Mystique off the pedestal to score a point for the Superheroes and tie the game. The next duel pits Batman against The Joker. This duel goes back and forth while rock music plays in the background. The joust attacks are punctuated with multiple sounds:

With the final “Crash!”, Batman wins the duel and gives the Superheroes the lead. The next duel is Superman against Lex. Superman has eaten a lot of coconuts in hopes of getting stronger for the challenge, but Lex is wearing a ring made of kryptonite, which helps him defeat Superman to tie the game at three wins apiece. The seventh and final duel pits Storm against Viper. The winner secures immunity for her tribe. Viper starts out with some quick, precisely targeted attacks, but Storm created a gust of wind that blows Viper clear off the pedestal to win immunity for the Superheroes. Viper is now worried, since she knows that this might be her last night in the game. Back at camp, Kingpin redoubles his efforts to get rid of Viper, but Doom complains that he’s being too bossy, and insists on voting out Cheetah instead. Meanwhile, Viper is looking frantically for an idol, but to no avail. But since Kingpin knows that she has been looking for one, he considers voting out Mystique in case Viper found the idol. But since she didn’t find one, she can only pretend that she might have one while trying to convince Lex, Joker, and the women to blindside Kingpin. At Tribal Council, there is much heated debate as to who is in charge and who should be eliminated next. No discernable consensus can be reached during the debate, so after several hours, Jeff simply calls for the vote to begin. The Supervillains cast their votes and the results are finally made known.

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Chapter 6

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he next morning, tree-mail arrives, the remaining castaways head out, and the Superheroes finally get to see who was voted out the precious night. When the Supervillains come in, everyone sees Cheetah, Lex, Joker, Doom, Green Goblin, Kingpin, and Viper. Mystique is nowhere to be seen.

The Superheroes are shocked to see that Viper has lived to play another day, and they are also surprised as to who did get blindsided. Jeff then announces, “Superheroes getting your first look at the new Supervillain tribe. Kingpin voted out at the last Tribal Council.” The person that they thought was Kingpin then morphs back into Mystique, and the Superheroes are shocked once again. For the reward challenge, castaways will, one at a time, climb up a steep wall using a rope, and once on the other side, they must grab a series of puzzle pieces. Once everybody has their pieces, they will then assemble them into a puzzle. First to complete the puzzle correctly wins reward, and the player on the winning side with the most crystals collected gets an advantage or a cheat. The Superheroes, as usual, have it easy at the start. Their wall is not as high as the one that the Supervillains must climb. But Joker had made the Superheroes’ wall slippery, which gives the Supervillains an early lead. The last Supervillain to attempt the wall climb is Green Goblin. As he gets to the top, though, he trips and falls backwards off the wall, landing with a huge thud. Jeff notices that Green Goblin is not moving and immediately calls for medical. The competition stops, and everyone turns their attention to the injured party to see if everything is all right. As soon as doctors get to Green Goblin’s side, he regains consciousness, gets up, and dusts himself off. The doctors can find no signs of a concussion, and they conclude that any injuries that he might have suffered have healed in just a few seconds. Green Goblin insists on continuing in the challenge, which restarts a few moments later. He manages to get over the wall this time, and just as the Superheroes are starting on their puzzle, Green Goblin grabs his tribe’s final puzzle pieces. Despite falling behind, the Supervillains believe that they have a shot at victory. In fact, it is Green Goblin who is leading the rally, by quickly assembling the pieces of the puzzle. By a margin of one second, the Supervillains complete the puzzle first, and Jeff verifies that it is correct, thus giving them the reward: a catered lunch in a local town followed by some charity work. Also, Cheetah picks up a cheat for having the most crystals among the victors. She ends up selecting the ability to hinder one player in a future reward challenge. On the heels of their impressive victory, the Supervillains head off to enjoy their reward, while the Superheroes simply go back to camp. Upon their return, Batman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, and Superman are talking long-term strategy, which makes Catwoman feel left out, even though she had been napping when the others began to talk. Nonetheless, it makes Catwoman reconsider her alliances. In the meantime, the Supervillains have returned from

14 their reward, and the women are talking about possibly blindsiding Joker if they lose the next immunity challenge. Also, Mystique approaches Doom in an attempt bring him into the women’s alliance; in the process, they find that they have a lot in common. Both of them were harassed and teased as kids: Doom for being poor and Mystique for being a mutant. As a result of their conversation, they become close. On Day 18, immunity is back up for grabs. The latest challenge will have one member of each tribe diving off a floating platform to retrieve some underwater crates. Aquaman immediately volunteers to be the diver for his tribe. Once the crates are retrieved, each tribe must stack them as high as they can go, even while the platforms are rocking back and forth in the ocean. The tribe with the highest tower after ten minutes of competition wins immunity. Thanks to Aquaman’s swimming ability, the Superheroes are the first to get all their crates above the surface. It also helps that their crates are lighter and more buoyant, per their usual advantage in the game. It is really no contest, as the Superheroes easily win their second straight immunity. Once again, the Supervillains must go to Tribal Council and vote someone out of the game. Viper is certain that she can convince Lex to vote out Joker, who is viewed by many in the tribe as unpredictable. But Doom and Green Goblin still want Cheetah out, to prevent the women from taking control. At Tribal Council, the voting is close, but by a margin of one vote, the next person voted out is…Cheetah. As a result, her cheat in the game is permanently lost.

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Chapter 7

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ollowing the ouster of Cheetah at Tribal Council, Viper wants to reassure Doom that her alliance with him is still strong. She tells him that she knew that he was going to vote against Cheetah no matter what, and that’s why she didn’t inform him about her attempt to blindside Joker. Doom is satisfied with her explanation, and he reaffirms their bond in the game, by promising not to vote her out as long as she doesn’t attempt to vote him out. Over at the Superheroes camp, Catwoman is talking with Invisible Woman and Storm about ways to break up the Superfriends alliance. The next day, the castaways prepare themselves for another reward challenge. The Superheroes have not won reward in their last two attempts, and they are hungry for such a win. Literally. This next reward gives the winning tribe a luau, brought to their beach, complete with a pig on a rotisserie and live entertainment. Both tribes decide that it’s worth playing for, and they begin the challenge, with Aquaman sitting out as the Superheroes’ extra member. Since the entire challenge takes place on dry land, he wasn’t even needed, and the Superheroes finally claim another reward victory. On a side note, Superman wins another advantage for collecting the most crystals. Since he already cashed in his earlier advantage, he is able to claim another one. This time, the advantage that he selects enables him to take a cheat away from one of the Supervillains and destroy it. The player losing the cheat must then pick another cheat. Superman chooses to destroy Doom’s cheat, so now Doom has to pick a new one. Doom’s replacement cheat is that he gets to prevent one player from voting at a future Tribal Council. The Superheroes then return to camp, and shortly thereafter they enjoy their reward. After eating heartily at the luau, Superman tells Batman that he wishes they could eat this well all time, and that the only reason that they’re not is that Aquaman won’t let anybody catch any fish. This leads to a discussion about whether or not Aquaman should be the next to go from their tribe. At the next day’s immunity challenge, the Supervillains arrive ready, hoping to reclaim immunity and avoid a third straight Tribal Council. This challenge involves rolling a giant ball across a field while blindfolded. This proves to be no problem for the Supervillains, as they simply remove their blindfolds during the challenge and coast to victory. This sends the Superheroes to Tribal Council for the first time in seven nights. Back at camp, Superman is trying to talk most of his allies into blindsiding Aquaman. Catwoman uses this as an opportunity to convince the others that Superman is beginning to backstab his friends. But Storm and Invisible Woman believe that Batman is the bigger threat. When Superman hears that both his and Batman’s names have come up, he is torn. Superman wants to use his idol if needed, but he’s not sure whether to use it on himself or Batman. Unfortunately, the voting urn is lined with lead, so not even Superman can see the votes inside until Jeff reveals them. When it comes time to vote at Tribal Council, Superman knows that whatever move he makes, or doesn’t make, will be extremely risky. After the votes are tallied, Jeff then asks if anyone would like to play an

16 idol. At first, there are no takers, but eventually, Superman does decide to play his idol…on Batman. Since no one else is also playing an idol, any votes against Batman will not count. Jeff then reads the votes, and the first three were against Batman. Jeff discards these votes, and continues reading. The fourth vote that he reads is against Superman, which causes the Man of Steel to worry about his idol-playing decision. But the next three votes go against Aquaman, which means that Superman is safe after all, while Aquaman becomes the eighth person voted out the game and the first member of the jury.

17

Chapter 8

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n their way back from Tribal Council, Catwoman and the other women are arguing as a result of what has just happened. In particular, Catwoman insists that if they had just gone with her plan to eliminate Superman, then he’d be out of the game and his idol played for Batman would not have mattered. Invisible Woman responds by saying that Catwoman is overreacting, since the Superfriends alliance has still been broken apart all the same. Meanwhile, at the Legion of Doom, Mystique notices her new ally Doom talking to Green Goblin, which makes her concerned about Doom’s loyalty. So she talks to him about it, and he assures he that she has nothing to worry about; Doom even goes so far as to promise that he won’t ever vote her out of the game as long as she doesn’t try to do the same to him. The next morning, clouds begin to form over the island. It looks like heavy rains and thunder are headed the castaway’s direction. But Storm directs the clouds away from the Superheroes’ camp, thus sparing them from bad weather, although the Supervillains still get rained on for the next two days straight. This affects the outcome of the reward challenge, as the Supervillains are mentally drained from all the rain. Not only do the Superheroes win the challenge, but Wonder Woman also collects the most crystals, and the advantage that she earns allows her to assign an extra vote each to as many as two players at a future Tribal Council. The rainstorm at the Supervillains’ beach finally ends on Day 22, but not before they lose the immunity challenge as well. After the challenge, Viper and Mystique want to vote out Green Goblin, but Lex and Joker want to split the vote between the two women, in case one of them has the idol. Lex and Joker talk this plan over with Doom and Green Goblin. Doom doesn’t want to go back on his word to either one of the women, but he also knows that he will become a target himself if he turns against his ally Green Goblin. Before they all head off to Tribal Council, Doom confesses that although it wouldn’t be right to betray anyone, players sometimes have to make big moves in order to get ahead in the game. Once the Supervillains arrive at Tribal Council, Jeff brings in Aquaman, the first member of the jury. Then they all begin talking about the alliances that they all have at this point. Jeff asks the players if they feel that these alliances are indeed strong, or if they are just temporary voting blocs. Doom states that while some people get by on lying throughout the game, he chooses to be honest, because character matters at the end of the game, when the jury is deciding who most deserves to win the million dollars. Jeff then announces that it’s time to vote. At that point, Doom gets up and announces that he is playing his cheat, by denying one person the right to vote. When Jeff asks who it is that Doom will be disenfranchising, Doom states that he will be disenfranchising himself. Everyone looks at him, shocked at this development. Green Goblin realizes what is going on, yet he is confounded as to what to do next. But after the commotion dies down, everyone except Doom gets up to vote, one by one. In the end, by a vote of three to two, the ninth person voted out and the second member of the jury is…Viper. It turns out that Doom was able to keep his word to both of the women after all, while simultaneously keeping the men on his side as well.

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Chapter 9

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till stunned by the way that Tribal Council played out, the castaways return to camp. On the way back, Lex confronts Green Goblin, asking if he knew about Doom’s big move ahead of time. Green Goblin defensively responds that he was just as surprised as everyone else. Later, in confessional, he says that he didn’t want the vote to go to a tiebreaker, since he was afraid that either Lex or Joker would flip on him. He notes that he and Doom were supposed to vote against Mystique, as part of the vote-splitting strategy; but when Doom took away his own vote, that changed everything. The next morning, a special tree-mail arrives. The tribes are told to meet at a neutral site immediately. When they arrive there, there is another note waiting for them, saying that they are officially merged. The castaways cheer, and then as they notice the food, the new gold-colored buffs, and the decorating materials on the ground in front of them, they celebrate by putting on their new buffs and eating the traditional merge feast. This is followed by the making of the new tribal banner. After much discussion, they decide by consensus that the new tribe shall be called Inuckchuck. In addition, there is another note in tree-mail which everybody reads. It says that somewhere on the island, there is a “Super Idol,” which grants the person playing it super powers. Namely, it cannot be blocked by another idol if played before the votes are read; it can only be blocked if played after the votes are read. This makes everyone excited, knowing that there’s an idol that can be played after votes are read. Superman tries to locate the Super Idol right away, but his X-ray vision is failing due to continued lack of nutrition in the game. Everyone else looks for the Super Idol on their own time, but no one can find it right away. At any rate, now that the tribes are merged, new relationships begin to form. Catwoman explores her options in the game by speaking to Lex and Joker. Mystique reconnects with Storm and also reaches out to Invisible Woman. And the Superfriends alliance has joined forces with the two female heroes from Marvel. As for the game itself, the first individual immunity challenge takes place on Day 25. Although the merge has taken place, those who were part of the old Superhero tribe will still have an automatic advantage in challenges, while those who were part of the old Supervillain tribe will still get to cheat. Also, this particular immunity challenge will also give players the opportunity to collect crystals to see who gets a special advantage or cheat, regardless of who wins immunity. Superman takes the early lead in the challenge, but his energy proves to be much lower than at earlier points in the game. By the end of the challenge, Batman has what it takes to win immunity. After the Dark Knight receives the immunity necklace, The Joker is given a cheat in the game after collecting the most crystals during the challenge. Joker’s cheat is that he can steal someone’s vote and therefore cast two votes himself at a future Tribal Council. When everyone gets back to camp, the castaways begin strategizing. Green Goblin wants the Legion of Doom to vote Wonder Woman out; but Lex insists that they eliminate Invisible Woman first, and he convinces everyone else to go with his plan. The Superheroes faction, uncertain as to what Joker’s advantage gives him, wants to blindside Joker right away. Catwoman looks to be the swing vote, and she’s leaning toward siding

19 with the Legion of Doom at this point. The Legion of Doom is certain that they have the numbers to prevail. But at Tribal Council, Mystique decides to vote with the Superheroes, sparing Invisible Woman and eliminating Joker, who responds, “Very funny, guys!” In total, Joker becomes the third member of the jury, losing by a vote of 6-4, with one additional vote going against Lex.

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ust as soon as Tribal Council ends, Lex begins investigating who cast the mystery vote against him. He suspects it was Mystique, but he starts off talking to the others first. After getting nowhere with the Superheroes, he finally confronts Mystique, who says that she didn’t vote against him, but admits that she voted against Joker. But Lex is not satisfied, and assumes that she’s lying. Most of the others seem to think that she’s the culprit, as well. A few moments later, Green Goblin, in confessional, secretly reveals that he was the one who voted against Lex. He was getting tired of Lex trying to run the show, and wanted to send a message by throwing a vote. The idea was for Green Goblin to vote Lex in the first round, and then with the votes tied at five apiece, switch his vote to Invisible Woman to send her out of the game. But, of course, that never happened since Joker had enough votes against him in the first round. The next day, another reward challenge takes place. This one features two randomly-selected teams of five racing up a tall flight of stairs in an effort to build a flagpole and become the first team to raise their flag to the top. First team to win gets a spa day, and the member of the winning team who collects the most crystals gets an advantage or cheat. In the end, the team of Batman, Superman, Green Goblin, Invisible Woman, and Mystique wins reward. Green Goblin also wins a cheat, but since he has not yet cashed in the cheat that he is currently holding, he must either assign his current cheat to another Supervillain and pick a new one, or let another Supervillain pick a new cheat. He chooses to let Lex choose a new cheat, to prevent Lex from suspecting that the mystery vote was cast by Green Goblin. The cheat that Lex picks enables him to steal another Supervillain’s cheat and make that person choose a new one. Since Green Goblin is the only Supervillain left with an unused cheat, Lex steals from him, and Green Goblin ends up settling for brand new cheat, which enables him to hinder one player at a future immunity challenge. Moments before the five reward winners are to be picked up for their trip to the spa, Jeff shows up at camp. Most of the castaways think that it’s Mystique playing a prank on them, until she shows up as herself while Jeff is also standing there on the beach. Suddenly, the castaways begin to sense that something is wrong, and so they ask Jeff why he is here. He responds that there is a crisis back home in the United States. Wonder Woman’s sister Drusilla has been kidnapped, and her family is wanting Wonder Woman to come home to stop this evil plot. Immediately, Wonder Woman gathers her belongings and tells the others that she is dropping out of the game to rescue her sister. She then says goodbye to the group, and on her way out, she gives her advantage in the game to Invisible Woman. All the other Superheroes are sad to see Wonder Woman go, and they watch tearfully as she takes off in her invisible plane. If she can rescue her sister in time, she will come back to serve as the fourth member of the jury.

21 The game goes on, though, as five of the remaining players go on their spa reward, while the rest stay back at camp. Despite the sudden departure of Wonder Woman, everyone at the spa is having a good time, except Mystique, who is feeling bothered by something. When they all get back from their reward, Mystique goes off by herself. Later, Storm catches up to her and wonders what is wrong. Mystique says that she’s upset because she didn’t vote against Lex last Tribal Council, yet everyone thinks that she did and is lying about it. She’s afraid that she’s going to be voted out because of Lex’s paranoia. She also wonders why people automatically think the worst of her simply because she’s branded a villain. Storm responds that she believes Mystique, and vows to stand by her in the game. Later, Mystique, still fearful that she might be voted out by the others, starts looking for an idol. She comes up empty, but when Doom spots her looking for one, he decides to use his amulet to find the Super Idol, which he does in just a few minutes. The idol comes with the standard instructions that remind castaways how it can be played, and that also state that if an idol is successfully played after the votes are read, then there will be a total revote, and the person playing the Super Idol will be immune in the revote. The next day, the castaways prepare for another immunity challenge. This one features players each trying to navigate through an obstacle course, while tethered to a winding rope, until they get to a word puzzle which they then must solve. Before the challenge even begin, Green Goblin decides to use his cheat to hinder Lex, meaning that Lex will have a longer rope, and thus more twists and turns, to overcome. Once the challenge is underway, Mystique gets off to a slow start. In particular, she has trouble figuring out how to navigate the obstacles without further tangling herself in the rope. After getting stuck at one critical juncture, she morphs into a mamba snake and slithers through the course easily. She reaches the puzzle in time to morph back, figure out the correct phrase, and assemble it before the others. Mystique is safe from the vote, having just won an impressive immunity. Upon returning to camp, everyone begins planning their next move. Doom and Catwoman, knowing that they can’t target Mystique now, instead try to convince the others to vote out Storm. Green Goblin tries to talk the Superheroes into voting out Lex this time. But the Superheroes think that Green Goblin is getting too aggressive, and they consider blindsiding him. At Tribal Council, the jury is brought in, and Wonder Woman is a part of it, as she was able to save her sister in the time to make it back to the island. During the vote, all the Superheroes except Catwoman are joined by Mystique and Lex in voting out Green Goblin, who becomes the fifth member of the jury.

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Chapter 11

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n Day 28, the castaways receive a special tree-mail. They are told to meet Jeff on the beach as soon as possible. As it turns out, Jeff is merely gathering the castaways for their next reward challenge. But first, he has a surprise for everyone.

After four weeks on the island without any contact with the outside world, it’s time for the remaining castaways to get a visit from their loved ones. Catwoman is greeted by her sister Maggie. Doom is met by his son Kristoff. Superman gets to see his girlfriend Lois, although the Man of Steel denies that she’s his girlfriend but says that he is happy to see this person, whoever she is, anyway. Invisible Woman is joined by her husband, Mr. Fantastic. Batman is greeted by his sidekick Robin. Lex gets to welcome his sister Lena. Mystique is met by her daughter Rogue. Last but not least, Storm gets a visit from her husband, Black Panther. After everyone gets to hug their loved one, Jeff describes how the challenge will work. Each castaway must assemble a pole that’s long enough to reach a set of keys, which will be used to unlock a series of doors. On the other side of each player’s final door is that player’s loved one, tied to a chair. First player to free their loved one wins a picnic lunch and more time with the loved one. Also, the player with the most crystals collected, regardless of who wins the challenge, also gets their advantage or cheat. Superman finds it difficult to navigate his pole through his door’s slight opening, as his energy is at an all-time low at this point. Doom, on the other hand, simply uses his amulet to guide the pole to the keys, which allows him to get to his son before anyone else gets to their loved one. Soon after, Doom gets his son untied, and the two of them win the reward. Before they head off to their picnic lunch, though, Batman, with the most crystals collected, is awarded an advantage. Jeff then asks Doom to pick two other castaways and their loved ones to join him and his son. Doom picks Catwoman and her sister first, then Lex and his sister. Jeff then has Doom select just one more pair to enjoy the reward, and Doom picks Mystique and her daughter. At that point, Batman decides to look at what his new advantage is, even as everyone else is getting ready to say goodbye to their loved one. Just as Jeff is about to send the unchosen loved ones away, Batman says, “Hold up, bro!” He then announces that his advantage allows him to partake in a reward for free, and he decides to use it on this reward. So Batman and Robin get to join Doom, Catwoman, Lex, Mystique, and their loved ones on the picnic, while the rest have to say goodbye to their loved ones. While on the reward, Doom proposes a Final Three deal with Catwoman and Mystique, where he says that they must get rid of Storm and Invisible Woman as soon as possible. He also says that they won’t have to worry about getting caught, since he can protect his allies at “any time.” Mystique thinks that this means he has the Super Idol. But she is more concerned about targeting Storm, her best friend in the game, and she tries to talk Doom out of that. This makes Doom upset that Mystique would not trust him in the game, and she becomes more worries about her future.

23 When everyone gets back from reward and says their final goodbye to their loved ones, Mystique resumes looking for an idol. But Lex finds one first, as he is able to remember where every other idol from past seasons was typically hidden. Once again, Mystique comes up short. On Day 30, the next immunity challenge takes place. It is played in three rounds. The first five to swim back to shore move on to the next round. Catwoman, Doom, and Lex are eliminated this round, as Superman barely has enough energy left to finish before them in fifth place. In the second round, the first three to climb up a pole and retrieve all of their puzzle pieces moves on to the final round. This time, Batman easily navigates up and down the pole to advance, along with Mystique and Superman. In the final round, the first to solve the puzzle wins immunity. Everyone has blinders on either side of their puzzle, so no one can peek; except Mystique is the only one who can cheat, so she looks at the others’ puzzles in progress and thus figures out how to complete hers more quickly. Mystique ends up winning her second straight immunity. Upon returning to camp, Mystique suggests to her alliance that they try to vote out Doom. She figures that if he has the Super Idol, at least it will be flushed. They also consider splitting the vote between him and Lex, but when they learn that Catwoman, Doom, and Lex are all dead set on voting against Batman, Mystique’s alliance realizes that spitting the vote will do no good, and they decide that they’d be okay with Batman being eliminated if it came to that. At Tribal Council, most everyone makes it seem like Batman is the one being voted out, so after the votes are cast, Doom feels comfortable enough not to play his idol. But Batman only receives three votes, and it is Doom who ends up receiving the most, with five. After the final vote is read, Doom gets up and says, “I know a thing or two about magic idols, particularly ones that can prevent death,” and produces the Super Idol. Since no one else plays another idol to block his, Jeff announces that since it is indeed a Super Idol that he’s played, all votes against him do not count. Jeff then go on to say that all votes this round against Batman will not count, either, because there will now be a revote. Since Doom played the Super Idol, he will be immune in the revote, along with Mystique, who won the immunity necklace. Everyone else, including Batman, will be fair game. This gives most of the castaways a chance to shift strategy. Mystique and most of the Superheroes whisper to each other, debating whether Batman or Lex should go. Eventually, they all quiet down and proceed to vote again. In the revote, most of players decide to stick to the plan and let Batman be voted out in Doom’s place. The Caped Crusader thus becomes the sixth member of the jury.

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Chapter 12

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ollowing Mystique’s attempt to oust Doom, there was, predictably, some fallout. Doom knows that his former ally as now turned on him, which he says releases him from his promise not to vote her out of the game. He says that it’s only a matter of time before she loses an immunity challenge, and when she does, he will do all he can to eliminate her. The next day, the castaways gather for their next reward challenge. But Doom is more interested in trying to gain a cheat that might get him further ahead in the game. When Jeff announces that the challenge winner gets to go on an ice cream social, Doom sees this as an opportunity to either strategize with members of his alliance, or split up members of the opposing alliance. With such motivation, Doom forgets about trying to gain a new cheat in the game, at least for the moment, and he finishes the reward challenge in first place for the second straight time. Meanwhile, Storm is the one who wins an advantage; she earns the opportunity to get a boost in a future reward challenge. As the winner of the reward, Doom selects Lex, Superman and Mystique to go with him. So at the reward, Doom quietly talks to Lex about targeting Mystique at the first opportunity. Back at camp, Invisible Woman and Storm are unable to strategize effectively, since Mystique and Superman are both away at the moment. Day 33 soon arrives, and with it another immunity challenge. Mystique reluctantly gives up the necklace, hoping to get it back for the third straight challenge. This time, castaways must gather as many coconuts as possible and transfer them to a scale. The player with the greatest weight in coconuts wins immunity, and is guaranteed a one in six shot at the million dollars. During the challenge, Mystique works hard trying to load as many coconuts into her sack as possible, but Doom uses his amulet to make the coconuts grow after he places them on the scale. In the end, it is Doom who has amassed the most weight in coconuts, thus winning him immunity. When the castaways get back to camp, Mystique immediately starts looking for an idol, hoping that something will turn up this time. Meanwhile, Doom gathers his alliance, and together they persuade Superman to join them in voting out Mystique, whose search for an idol once again turns up nothing. When she gets back to camp, though, Invisible Woman and Storm assure her that they have a plan, stating that that since they can’t vote out Doom, they will target Catwoman. Before Tribal Council, Invisible Woman tries to convince Superman to join them in their plan, but Superman is hesitant to commit. At Tribal Council, Superman is indeed the swing vote, and he is still very suspicious of Mystique due to her lifelong reputation as a villain. But Mystique asks Superman if Catwoman really deserves to be considered a hero. By the time the debate ends, things still don’t look good for Mystique. After the voting takes place, Jeff heads off to tally the votes. But before he can do so, Invisible Woman announces that she’s playing her advantage, which gives two players of her choice the opportunity to cast a second vote each. She assigns these votes to Storm and Mystique. The two of them go off to cast their second votes. Eventually, Jeff does tally the

25 votes, reminding the players that there will be nine votes cast overall. The first four votes go against Mystique, but the next four go against Catwoman. With the final vote, Jeff announces that the 13th person voted out and the seventh member of the jury shall be…Catwoman. On her way out, she quips, “I guess not all cats have nine lives, after all.”

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ow that Invisible Woman has thwarted Doom’s plan to get rid of Mystique, Doom has a new target on top of his list. In confessional, he vows to get revenge on Invisible Woman at the next opportunity. He then catches up to the others and heads off to bed.

At the next day’s immunity challenge, it is extremely windy on the beach where the challenge takes place. Storm feels confident that she can cope with the wind better than the others can, so she decides to save her advantage for next time. Doom, on the other hand, is more interested in collecting the most crystals during the challenge, so that he can gain another cheat in the game. As it turns out, Doom does win the cheat, while Invisible Woman barely edges out Storm to win the challenge. The reward that she has won enables her and two guests to spend the day on a party boat. She chooses Mystique and Storm to join her. Meanwhile, Doom gets to select a new cheat at random, but all he gets is the chance to destroy a Superhero’s advantage while making that person choose a new one. Since Storm has the only unspent advantage among the remaining Superheroes, Doom destroys her advantage, and as a replacement, she gets the opportunity to get extra food at any time before the Final Five. With the women on the reward, the men have a chance to strategize by themselves. Doom tells Lex and Superman that Invisible Woman should be the next to go, but Lex and Superman are puzzled as to why Doom is no longer targeting Mystique, as she is perceived to be a bigger threat at this point. Doom insists that the other men vote out Invisible Woman, and that they’ll take care of Mystique later. In confessional, Doom states that Invisible Woman needs to pay for ruining his plans the other night, and that he’s even willing to save Mystique just so that he can eliminate her at a later time, on his terms. After the women return from reward, Mystique resumes looking for an idol. After searching late into the evening, she still cannot find anything, so she goes to bed. But she can’t sleep due to her worrying about getting voted out, so in the middle of the night, she quietly gets up and does some more idol searching. When she thinks that someone else has woken up, she morphs into an owl to disguise herself. After flying into a tree as an owl, she discovers an idol sitting in the branches. She takes it, flies back to the ground, and turns back into herself, idol in hand. On Day 36, the castaways once again receive tree-mail announcing yet another an immunity challenge. But before they take off for the challenge, Storm calls Jeff in, and asks him to provide her with some extra food before the challenge, per her advantage in the game. Jeff obliges, and after Storm finishes eating, she and the others head off to the challenge. As it turns out, the extra food pays off, as Storm wins her first individual immunity of the game. Afterward, she and the other women talk strategy. Initially, then plan on splitting the vote between Doom and Lex, but since Lex still has his cheat that he stole from Green Goblin earlier, they decide to split the vote between Doom and Superman instead. To make sure that they have the numbers, they’ll tell Superman

27 that his name has come up, but that they want to vote out Doom. The women figure that this way, Superman will have no choice but to vote with them. And since he’s upset with the way that Doom is handling his own alliance, Superman considers voting with the women. Before Tribal Council, Mystique overhears Doom talking to Lex about Invisible Woman, which makes Mystique think that she herself is no longer being targeted by Doom. But then she realizes that it may just be a trick to keep her complacent in the game. Despite having an idol, she is perplexed as to what she should do now. At any rate, she and the others head to Tribal Council. After the standard debate, Jeff calls for the vote, and the players cast their ballots. But before Jeff can tally the votes, Lex announces that he is playing his cheat, enabling him to look at the votes before they are tallied. Lex sees the votes, and among other things notices Superman’s name written down, which satisfies Lex. He then returns to the main Tribal Council area and lets Jeff count up the votes. When Jeff asks if anyone would like to play an idol, Lex plays his on Doom, which surely will harm the women’s alliance. But after a long, eerie silence, Mystique pulls out her idol and chooses to play it…to block Lex’s idol. Since no one else plays an idol to block Mystique’s blocker, and since the last idol played was real, all votes against Doom will count after all. After all the votes are read, the results are: two votes against Doom, two against Invisible Woman, and two against Superman. With a three-way tie, there will be a revote, and only Lex, Mystique, and Storm will be eligible to vote for only one of the other three. On the revote, Doom and Invisible Woman receive votes, and by a two-to-one vote, the eighth member of the jury is…Doom.

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Chapter 14 Part 1

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ack in Hollywood, California, there’s a crowd gathering, waiting to come into the Hollywood Bowl for the live Survivor finale. As the arena fills up, Survivor favorite Parvati Shallow is being broadcast live on television, welcoming viewers at home while expressing her excitement at finally seeing how the season ends. After her lengthy introduction, the broadcast cuts away to the final episode of the season. A game which started 36 days ago, with 20 castaways, has been whittled down to only five survivors. With only three days left on the island, they will battle it out for a chance to make their final case to the jury. In the end, there can be only one Sole Survivor. Early in the morning on Day 37, Jeff wakes everyone up and tells them that there’s a reward challenge happening in ten minutes. Most of the castaways are still tired, but Lex has been up since before dawn, practicing his tai chi. At the challenge, Jeff announces that the winner will receive either the final advantage or cheat of the game. This time, there will be no crystals to collect on the side. Only the outright winner of the challenge will win this reward. The challenge involves going through a maze to find a key that will open a lock to release a flag. First player to release his or her flag wins reward. Given how tired most of the players are, it’s no surprise that Lex, after exercising all morning, is the only one navigating the maze with no trouble. Indeed, Lex easily wins the reward, and approaches Jeff to claim the cheat. Since all the useful cheats have been used or discarded already, they will be reshuffled into the deck and one of them will be chosen again. Lex ends up with the ability to deny another player the right to vote. Later that same day, the castaways gather for an immunity challenge. Even though everyone had lunch right before the challenge, Superman looks completely unenergetic, as if 37 days on a remote desert island have finally taken a toll on him once and for all. In the end, Lex, knowing that he’s likely the next target, wins immunity. After the challenge, the women, knowing that they cannot target Lex, focus on getting Superman out of the game instead. At Tribal Council, just as the vote is about to take place, Lex plays his cheat and choose to prevent Superman from voting, and the Man of Steel is eliminated in a true unanimous vote. He flies away from Tribal Council, though not very high, as the ninth member of the jury. After Tribal Council, the TV broadcast cuts away to Parvati in the Hollywood Bowl audience, where she interviews some of this season’s castaway’s friends and archenemies. First, she asks a man named Magneto what attracts him to Survivor; then when asking someone named Penguin what he’d like to see on the show one day, Penguin responds that he’d like to see the castaways play in a winter climate, and that he’d definitely sign up for that season.

29

Part 2 It is Day 38, and only four remain in the game. The castaways sit and wait for the call to assemble for the final immunity challenge of the season. When the time finally comes, they all head out to meet Jeff. For the final challenge of the season, castaways will have to balance on a narrow beam while carrying the world on their shoulders, or at least a replica of the globe that happens to be pretty heavy. Every five minutes, they will move up the beam to a narrower part. The last person left on their beam with the globe still on their back wins immunity, and is guaranteed a spot in the Final Three, where they will have a chance to make a case to the jury as to why they deserve the title of Sole Survivor and the million dollars that goes with it. The two players that started out on the Superheroes tribe will each have the advantage of wider beams on which to stand. The two that started out on the Supervillains tribe will each have one opportunity to cheat at some point in the challenge. Underneath a very hot sun, the challenge begins. For the first 30 minutes, no one moves a muscle except to move up the beam at five-minute intervals. But the sun is shining so brightly, that even Storm finds it difficult to control the weather and simultaneously hold onto her globe while remaining on the beam. She loses her balance and falls off, leaving only three left in the challenge. Ten minutes later, Lex tries to convince the others to let him win, and in exchange he will vote against Storm, since he believes that she has a great shot at winning. But the women want no part of this deal; they are counting on Lex to fall out of contention at any time. Lex then calls timeout for himself, and temporarily steps off the beam to reset. He then gets back on the beam, having used his one cheat in the challenge. But this proves to be all for naught, as the sweat drips fiercely down his bald head, causing him to lose focus and fall off the beam. With only two players remaining, it is only a matter of time before one of them gets to claim final immunity. At the 45-minute mark, Jeff tells the castaways to move to the farthest edge of the beam possible, meaning that there will be no more adjustments form there on out. But Mystique uses her cheat to remain where she is, meaning that she and Invisible Woman are each now standing on beams of equal width. Meanwhile, flies start to swarm the players, which means that the end of the game might be coming soon. But Invisible Woman makes herself invisible, and the flies around her leave. At this point, the only way that anybody will know that Invisible Woman has fallen is if there are footprints made in the sand below her beam. But after another hour, no one seems to be budging. Then suddenly, Mystique’s globe starts to slip, and as she tries to adjust, it falls off her back. Invisible Woman, the last person left, wins immunity. Back at camp, Lex is trying once again to convince Invisible Woman and Mystique that they won’t be able to defeat Storm in the Finals. But they aren’t buying it, saying that the three women are too strong an alliance to break apart now, and besides, it would hurt their game to betray one of their friends now. Frustrated, Lex then takes his case to Storm, hoping to convince her to vote out Mystique, on the grounds that the jury might see Mystique as an underdog who made some good moves.

30 Storm admits in confessional that Lex has a point about Mystique. But she’s hesitant to vote out someone to whom she promised loyalty in the game. She confesses that she’s undecided, and things get even more complicated at Tribal Council. There, Lex points out that he’d probably be a better choice to take to the Finals, since the jury likely won’t vote for a man who’s already so rich. But the women insist on staying true to their alliance, at which point Lex explains that Storm should be voted out for that very reason. After all, her loyalty may be what propels her to victory over the others. Following the very contentious debate, the vote finally takes place. When the votes are revealed, it is Lex who is unanimously voted out, becoming the tenth and final member of the jury. This means that the Final Three will feature Invisible Woman, Mystique, and Storm. Back at the Hollywood Bowl, Parvati is visibly pleased to see an all-female lineup. She’s also interviewing more people in the audience, asking them about their opinion of this season so far. One audience member, who goes by the name Wolverine, is so excited to be meeting Parvati, as he is a long-time Survivor fan. He tries to shake her hand, but she obviously declines. Parvati then interviews one of the biggest superheroes of them all, Joe Anglim from Survivor: Worlds Apart. Shortly thereafter, the program goes to commercial break, and Parvati announces that she won’t be seen again until after Jeff reads the votes.

Part 3 Day 39 has finally arrived, and the remaining players all celebrate with the traditional Day 39 breakfast. Following their meal, the castaways head to tree-mail and find one final message. They are to gather all their belongings and head out to the beach at sunset, and then they will walk by a procession of snuffed torches, each honoring the castaways who were eliminated before them. As they walk by each of these torches, they fondly remember Ivy, Iron Man, Harley, Black Widow, Spider-Man, Kingpin, Cheetah, Aquaman, Viper, Joker, Wonder Woman, Green Goblin, Batman, Catwoman, Doom, Superman, and Lex. The three surviving women then take their own torches, which are still lit, and ceremonially burn their camp to the ground. As they do so, fireworks shoot up from camp and light up the sky. At that point, the three finalists head to their Final Tribal Council. Once they are seated, Jeff brings in the members of jury. He then announces that there is one final twist that must take place before Tribal Council officially begins. Because there are too many jurors sitting on the jury, the finalists must vote to eliminate one of them. They must decide unanimously which person they want to send off the jury, and they will have ten minutes to decide which juror gets excused. If they cannot come to a unanimous decision in that time, then the jury will vote one of the finalists out of the game, and only two finalists will get to plead their case to the jury. In a quick decision, the finalists unanimously make their choice. Jeff then reads their vote, and it is Catwoman who ends up being sent off the jury. After she leaves the Tribal Council area, Jeff informs the finalists that the power in the game has just shifted to the jury, and now it is up to the finalists to try to win votes from the same players whom they had a hand, either directly or indirectly, in voting out of the game—except, of course, for Wonder Woman, who had to drop out of the game to save a family member in danger. The finalists begin with their opening statements. Invisible Woman says that she didn’t just fly under the radar, but actually played the game. Mystique talks about her transformation during the game. Storm

31 stresses her loyalty to her allies, emphasizing that she’s not just a fair-weather friend. Then Jeff opens up the floor to the jury, who, one by one, ask the finalists a series of questions. Some of the highlights of the jury questioning include Doom asking Mystique why she decided to turn on him; she stated that she didn’t want to play the game the way that he did, as she preferred to play more heroically. Also, there was the moment when Wonder Woman praised the finalists for outlasting all the men. Then there was the moment when Lex, as the final juror to speak, told the entire jury how he remembered every single thing that had happened throughout the game, and that he hoped that everyone would remember how Storm was the most loyal castaway of the season. After the finalists make their closing arguments, Jeff instructs the jury on how to vote. He tells them that this time, they will be voting for a winner rather than voting to eliminate someone. He instructs them to consider not only the mental and physical aspects of the finalists’ gameplay, but also—and perhaps most importantly—the social aspect. He tells them not to vote based on who needs the money the most, nor on who deserves to finish second place. The vote is strictly for the person that the jury thinks is most deserving of the title of Sole Survivor. The members of the jury get up, one by one, to vote. After they finish, Jeff announces that he will go get the votes. After retrieving the urn, he thanks the players for a wonderful season, and then announces that they’ll meet again in the United States, where he’ll announce the final results. He then takes the urn with him, and heads out, pausing to put on a jacket, a helmet, and a jet pack. He then turns the jet pack on and flies off with the urn. Back at the Hollywood Bowl, the audience erupts into applause when they see Jeff and his jet pack preparing to land onto the set, where the finalists and the jury are waiting for him. The moment that everyone has been waiting for is finally here. Jeff reminds everyone that voting this time was different; now players will want to see their names written down on parchment. He then opens the urn and begins reading the votes. In the end, Invisible Woman learns that she received only one vote, fewer than the other finalists; and to cap off the finale, Jeff announces that, by a 6-2 margin, the winner of Survivor is… “Storm!” The audience cheers! Storm celebrates having just been named Sole Survivor. She is greeted by her husband in the audience. The castaways who were not part of the final jury come out and join their fellow players, as the Survivor: Superheroes vs. Supervillains reunion is about to begin.

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The Reunion

T

he game started with 20 players, and at the end, only one stood as the Sole Survivor. Now all 20 castaways are back together for the reunion show. Jeff starts off by calling it a super season, and as an aside, he also thanks Storm for providing good weather for the reunion’s outdoor venue.

Some of the highlights of the reunion include Superman being asked how difficult competing on Survivor actually became for him, the longer he remained in the game. Other highlights include Mystique being asked her opinion of what it truly means to be a hero or villain, Parvati reading live tweets from some of the show’s fans, and an update on the trial of the men who kidnapped Wonder Woman’s sister. At the end of the reunion, the Commissioner of Survivor walks out and congratulates the players on a great season. He then awards the Mark Burnett Trophy to the Sole Survivor of the season, Storm. Jeff then hands her a check for $1 million.

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Epilogue One of the other highlights of the reunion was when Jeff gave a preview of the next new season of Survivor. He did so by showing the viewers a video of what to expect. “For most people, being on Survivor is merely a fantasy. For a select few, that fantasy has become reality. The very next season of Survivor will once again give 20 new castaways the chance to make their wishes come true. Throughout the history of the show, fans have enjoyed, and have come to expect, three basic elements of the game: heroes (Aubry), villains (Russell Hantz), and princesses (Parvati). And next season, we’ve got them all. But this is no fairy tale world. These players will have to rough the elements like never before, and work harder than ever to achieve their storybook ending. Yet only one of them will claim the crown of Sole Survivor. Join us next season,” says Jeff, “for our next great adventure: Survivor: Magic Kingdom.”