Villains' Code Books in Order

Villains' Code is Drew Hayes doing superheroes from the other side of the mask. The series follows Tori Rivas, a talented inventor and thief whose attempt to rob the wrong vault puts her in front of a secret guild of villains. They do not simply kill her. They offer her a job interview with much worse consequences.

Tori's villain identity is Hephaestus, built around a meta-suit and the sharp mind that designed it. She is angry, ambitious, and not especially patient with people who underestimate her. That makes her useful to the guild. It also makes her life complicated.

The guild is one of the series' best ideas. These villains are dangerous, but they are also organized. They understand that secrecy, rules, restraint, and not making unnecessary messes can keep everyone alive longer than constant battles with capes. That does not make them good people. It does make their world more interesting than a simple heroes-versus-villains setup.

Tori trains under Ivan, also known as Fornax, one of the most feared figures in the setting. Their relationship gives the books much of their shape: mentor and apprentice, criminal and engineer, two people who understand power but come at it from different histories. Around them is a large cast of capes, apprentices, guild members, rivals, and old enemies with long memories.

The series is set in a comic-book-style universe where advanced technology, metahuman abilities, strange science, magic-adjacent threats, and other realities can all show up. Hayes has said this world is separate from Super Powereds, and that makes sense on the page. Villains' Code is bigger, stranger, and more anything-can-happen in its superhero logic.

Start with Forging Hephaestus. The vignettes collections add side stories and smaller adventures, but the main novels carry Tori's growth and the larger conflicts. Expect action, rules-lawyering among criminals, slow-burn worldbuilding, and a lot of attention to what a villain can be when the job has standards.