After the death of his father in a bank incident, David (18) has dedicated his life to discovering the weaknesses of epics (Individuals with superhuman abilities) having witnessed who’s supposed to be an invulnerable man bleed from a bullet. As the only survivor of the incident, David takes it upon himself to contribute to the rebellion not only by collecting an abundance of thorough information on epics, but also using it to exploit their weaknesses to kill them off, determined to never be the same powerless boy in the bank. He strives to join the Reckoners, a rebellion group that kills epics, but he also hopes his information will push them to go further and attack higher level epics.
Steelheart is an epic that exercising control over the whole of chicago. He’s “invulnerable”, extremely strong, and has the ability to turn any surrounding inanimate object into steel, hence the name. He’s tryantical towards his subjects and even other epics, threatening them to kill them if they refuse to work under him. He wants to keep his control over not only the city but over the minds of his subjects. Everybody knows because of his invulnerability they can’t defeat him, and he likes people in that mindset. That’s why after a bullet grazing his cheek manages to make him bleed, he kills all the witnesses.