Steelheart's irony
Where to start with the irony of Steelheart? His sole appearance, that resembles that of a stereotypical hero, confuses the bystanders in the bank at the beginning, and both David and his father felt relieved because it seems that they finally got the hero they were waiting for. This hope and joy is met with disappointment when they realize that he is not only as bad as Deathpoint (the first Epic that appears in the novel), but even worse. He announces his rule over the city and destroys everything in his path to prove his point. Steelheart seems indestructible, but David saw him bleed on that dreadful and fateful day. He is convinced that his weakness was revealed at that moment, and he is right. Steelheart's weakness is fear, lack of fear that is-the only person who can hurt him is the person that isn't afraid of him, and the only person that matches that is himself. He turns out to be his own weakness at the end.
Megan
Megan appears to be the other main protagonist aside from David in the novel, so her death at the midpoint comes as a shock. It turns out that Megan was Steelheart's partner and spy all along. She has the power to resurrect and reappears at the end. She is the Firefight and Steelheart sent her to spy on the Reckoners. Ironically though, as Megan was surrounded by other people and didn't use her power as much, her hatred and villainous nature was gone, she proceeded to help the Reckoners in their missions rather than spoiling them, and she grew bonds with people, especially David, instead of hating them.
Cody's irony-filled humorous breaks
Cody is there to provide humorous breaks in the novel. He likes to confuse people with his jokes about his heritage to see their reactions. He likes to think of himself mainly Scottish. His remarks are usually filled with irony, such as this one: “I usually have some fish sticks and a bag of potato chips,” Cody said. “It’s a British thing. Y’all are Yanks and wouldn’t understand.”-p. 146
