Before the Season 3 crowdfunding exclusives were delivered, I did a similar version of this list. Since then, most of my beliefs about the heroic characters in this game have stayed the same. I still think it’s true that stars are undervalued compared to punches. Push comes to shove, I think you’re more likely to want two symbols on the bottom of two consecutive cards with no special abilities than two special abilities on two consecutive cards with only two symbols combined. Banking actions for later as tokens is undervalued compared to being able to use multiple actions from a card.

All of these things are still true, I think, but Marvel United has changed much more between Season 2 and Season 3 than it did between Seasons 1 and 2. Obviously, equipment and team decks and other add-ons have changed what’s possible in a game, but now your averaged randomized game has far more special abilities than it did before as well. Villains, on the whole, are much more likely to return threat cards to play or to punish you for KOing. They BAM much more often than they did, especially in Season 1. For that reason, which Heroes are “best” in a randomized game has altered, and so a number of characters have moved around from my previous list. What stood out to me as I was working on this is that the middle class of Heroes has improved, or, alternately, the percentage of Heroes who feel like cheat codes or an extra hurdle have diminished.

The following rankings assume a totally randomized three player game: random Heroes, random Villain, random locations, random turn order. (As ever: Brian Nors Jensen’s is the standard.) I also assume a game without equipment and, new this time, a game played on hard mode (without the double wild). I’ve provided a ranking comparison to the last time I did one of these for S1, S2, and Spider-Geddon characters. For new-to-me S3 characters, I have provided where they rank among other S3 characters. To see how much a character from a previous season has moved up or down, you can subtract that number.

Finally, I want to thank Andrea Chiarvesio for his generosity and kindness after he read the last version of this list. He has already given so many of us such joy in his work on the Marvel (and now DC!) versions of this game, and it meant so much to hear from him.

1. Doctor Doom (Tier 1 / Previous ranking: 2) – Last time out, I opted for Spider-Man rather than Doom in the top spot because of his ability to make tokens appear. This time, what moves me to Doom is his effectiveness in a longer game. The more of his cards you get into the timeline, the more likely it is that you’re going to have enough actions to topple just about any villain. There are other Heroes who I’ve docked, as we’ll see later on, because it’s more likely you’ll run through your good cards early.
2. Darkchild (Tier 1 / S3 ranking: 1) – Having to get rid of your action tokens when you go to Limbo is a problem, obviously. We like to stack tokens. But not every game lets you stack those, and there’s always a benefit to being able to go anywhere, arrows allowing, and being able to avoid damage while you do it. We also love the two Soulsword cards that work as finishers for Villains. The “Time Travel” card that mimics Ant-Man’s “Quantum Leap” card is a nice bonus.
3. Spider-Man (Tier 1 / Previous ranking: 1) – He’s my homeboy. My rotten soldier. My sweet cheese. My good time boyyy.
4. Man-Thing (Tier 1 / S3 ranking: 2) – Man-Thing doesn’t obviously fit my above-listed criteria for what makes a good character. He’s also very vulnerable when you run into a Villain (or a Hero!) who starts flipping hero cards. Otherwise, the cumulative effect of those cards is sensational. Everything that guy does is at least useful, but those Empathy cards, if they come out early enough, can basically eliminate penalties for overflow.
5. Phoenix (Tier 1 / Previous ranking: 3) – Like Man-Thing, the threat of turning cards over makes her vulnerable. Otherwise, the flexibility is basically unmatched. Phoenix is my last Hero in a very, very small top tier.
6. Nova (Tier 2 / Previous ranking: 9) – Still my favorite threat clearer, still one of the easiest Heroes to find a role for on any team.
7. Psylocke (Tier 2 / Previous ranking: 5) – The BAM cancellation is more valuable than it used to be, though in a hard-mode game, the ability to switch cards is a little bit less valuable.
8. Scarlet Spider (Tier 2 / Previous ranking: 14 / S3 ranking: 3) – I’ve become more sympathetic to the ability to discard tokens in order to achieve certain effects, which means Scarlet Spider’s starting hand card works for me a little bit more than it used to. Banking other tokens is always welcome, and although he doesn’t have the pure insanity of Spider-Man’s special abilities, he does have the same number of symbols on his cards.
9. She-Hulk (Tier 2 / Previous ranking: 10) – Nothing new here. Just want to reiterate that four Transformation cards make her about as valuable at the end of the game as anyone who’s not like, Howard the Duck.
10. Beta Ray Bill (Tier 2 / Previous ranking: T-18) – In the new era of Hero damage mattering more, Beta Ray Bill’s ability to draw a card, even if that means sacrificing a punch in the text, gives him the edge over Thor.
11. Adam Warlock (Tier 2 / Previous ranking: 13) – Reminds me of a Season 3 character in some ways, as the special abilities really make the man. If you get a stretch without them, you can find yourself surprisingly groundbound.
12. Sunspot (Tier 2 / Previous ranking: 4) – The lack of non-move symbols on the bottom of his cards poses more of a problem when you’re playing with Season 3 characters, who average less than any other season. Building your team around Sunspot means that you’re really trying to maximize two giant turns, which is usually effective but leaves an awful lot to timing and player order.
13. Sentry (Tier 2 / S3 ranking: 4) – I understand the Void cards are very bad, but if you’re handling your deck properly, I think you can probably get away with only bringing one, maybe two in play over the course of a game.
14. Quicksilver (Tier 2 / Previous ranking: 26) – When I first got Season 3, I expected that Speed would be a better version of Quicksilver. Clearly, I don’t think that’s true, and seeing the difference between them has made me appreciate Quicksilver more.
15. X-23 (Tier 2 / Previous ranking: 35) – Another character I’ve come to appreciate much more since my last go-round with a list like this. For a Hero as punchy as her, having four stars in the kit along with the capacity to give out tokens for multiple star uses in a turn is deeply appreciated.
16. Gladiator (Tier 3 / S3 ranking: 5) – In the hard mode game, the move+wild card is about as good as it gets. Two of these in here (without having to play randomly, as Deadpool X-Force does), as well as the capacity to really make hay if he’s got a ton of cards in hand. The Blast of the Mohican.
17. Thor (Tier 3 / Previous ranking: 18) – The Gaston of henchmen (“Nooooo oooooneeeeee…”) in that I’d almost always take the special ability with three punches over something a little more ornate, like what Gwenpool or Daken do.
18. Star-Lord (Tier 3 / Previous ranking: 39) – There are just too many actions, both given out and innate, to keep him out of the top 20. I don’t think there’s any one thing that makes him exceptional, and that drives him down the list a smidge, but there are definitely games where he’d be more useful than Sunspot or Quicksilver.
19. Firestar (Tier 3 / Previous ranking: 87) – If you’re going to have Nova in the top 10, you don’t have to have Firestar in the top 20, but it’s definitely more honest to put her in your top 30 or 40. I chafed a little at how normal the rest of her cards were outside the special abilities, but I no longer see that as a weakness.
20. Captain Britain (Tier 3 / Previous ranking: 25) – I’d always rather have Sunspot than Captain Britain, and I’m not sure I’d love to have both in a lineup.
21. Gorgon (Tier 3 / S3 ranking: 6) – The Inhumans, by and large, get a little bump from me because of the Terrigen Mist tokens. I understand that it’s very easy to get through a game without ever getting one that actually helps you, but the possibility of that extra action or two is appealing. In any event, Gorgon is the best of that group by a comfortable margin. He doesn’t leave a ton of meat on the bone for the next player, but the optionality of those Terrigen Enhanced Strength cards largely ameliorates that.
22. Doctor Strange (Tier 3 / Previous ranking: 8) – It’s the Orb of Agamatto or nothing for this guy, really. If you get that in your starting hand, it’s almost impossible to lose. If you don’t, you’re relying on a solid but unexceptional kit.
23. Multiple Man (Tier 3 / Previous ranking: 7) – This is another one of my rotten soldiers and good time boyyys, but the spectacular outcomes for him are just so much less likely than the merely good ones.
24. Emma Frost (Tier 3 / Previous ranking: 15) – Hard not to be happy with Emma, whose best qualities have only been accentuated with the Season 3 villains.
25. Nightcrawler (Tier 3 / Previous ranking: 24) – Not the closer that She-Hulk or even Sunspot can be, but I do appreciate that when you need to deliver a few punches at the end, Nightcrawler will be there to do it because of those BAMFs.
26. Longshot (Tier 3 / Previous ranking: 16) – The last few times I’ve played Longshot, I found myself using the Probability Manipulation cards less potently than I had before. I’m going to call that randomness and continue to stan for this guy.
27. Kitty Pryde (Tier 3 / Previous ranking: 6) – This is a fall for Kitty, at least from my perspective, and the last time I did this I overstated the effectiveness of all her extra moves with Lockheed, as well as her effectiveness phasing. She needs the Villain to affect her a little too much in order to get the best out of her, which makes her more swingy than most of the above characters.
28. Punisher (Tier 3 / Previous ranking: 37) – He’s not a team player, but he also one of the only characters who can credibly do the work of knocking out the Villain and Henchmen by himself.
29. Nick Fury (Tier 3 / Previous ranking: 12) – Always useful as part of a team, but I can’t put him as high as I used to because he’s never overwhelming for a Villain.
30. Beast (Core Box) (Tier 3 / Previous ranking: 17) – See immediately above. The “Genius Intelligence” cards are good when you need that extra move, but it’s not often you get something really special out of them.
31. M (Tier 3 / S3 ranking: 7) – Maybe M rates a little higher for me than she rates for you, but what I really like about her is that she forces you to think multiple moves ahead based on the cards you’ve drawn. That structure bumps her up a little bit, and while there are a lot of single-move cards in her deck, she also has a variety that makes for a more balanced team.
32. Black Panther (Tier 3 / Previous ranking: 11) – You’re always going to be able to move two locations away with him, no matter what the person in front of you plays.
33. Blink (Tier 3 / Previous ranking: 61) – The last time I did this, I spent a lot of effort figuring out how to categorize each Hero among similar types. The only character who I previously had ahead of her among these movement-heavy types who has remained there is Quicksilver.
34. Iron Spider (Tier 3 / S3 ranking: 8) – I think I’ve established that I’m sort of a sucker for Spider-Man skins, especially the ones that let you gain tokens for clearing out thugs and civilians. Being able to avoid the worst of the damage you’ll get from Villains pushes him up for me, and I appreciate that he’s weighted just a little more towards stars than punches.
35. Grey Hulk (Tier 3 / S3 ranking: 9) – What a joy it is to have Grey Hulk, who, among all the four Hulks named for colors (Grey, Red, Green, and Gladiator), feels the closest to the character we all smash. Like Joe Fixit himself, this Hero is a loner, and he does not give much to other characters. The upside is that he can do an awful lot on his own. The thing that I’ve always liked most about comics Hulk is that he grows stronger the longer a fight goes on: you either one-shot the guy or you’re in for a long day. Grey Hulk works on the same principle.
36. Jean Grey (Tier 3 / Previous ranking: 21) – Excellent special abilities.
37. Hulkling (Tier 3 / S3 ranking: 10) – It’s hard to rank Hulkling because which starting hand card he’s impersonating changes how he plays, not least because his three “Metamorphic Adaptation” cards borrow from whatever’s at the bottom of the card. Given that you have a lot of leeway to choose how you’d like to deploy him, I’ve erred on the side of rating him higher.
38. Karnak (Tier 3 / S3 ranking: 11) – The special abilities here overwhelmingly make him a character who relies on the good graces of others to put down cards that he can use, and if you’re playing with friends rather than three-handed, I think it’d be fair to drop him a couple dozen spots. Regardless, there’s a ton of upside in being able to jack up the number of actions you can lay down on a single turn.
39. Wonder Man (Tier 3 / S3 ranking: 12) – Like many of your S3 characters, he’s got a skinny number of total actions on his cards for teammates, but being able to lay down as many wilds as he does gives other Heroes a lot of options. (Only one star on the cards is a little rough, but again, the wilds make that work out.) Really tough to KO, which we love.
40. Lady Deadpool (Tier 3 / Previous ranking: 50) – One of the very best characters against Henchmen, and I still like that she comes without the carnivalesque randomness of Deadpool’s deck.
41. Captain America (Core Box) / (Tier 3: Previous ranking: 32) – The double stars are great early game, but if you’re stuck with those late game you’re unlikely to be able to wield him as much. All the same, there’s no team he wouldn’t fit into.
42. Wolverine (Tier 3 / Previous ranking: 52) – This is going to sound totally insane because this is a card game made for teenagers and I’m not Gene Hackman in Hoosiers, but I think Wolverine is a winning player.
43. Shuri (Tier 3 / Previous ranking: 43) – Last time I looked at Shuri and carped about her not really being that fun. Mistake. I spent a lot more time thinking about Shuri giving out tokens, an ability a lot of Heroes have, but not enough time thinking about her ability to heal other characters, which is almost unique.
44. Beast (First Class) (Tier 4 / Previous ranking: 29) – I’m a little less high on Black Panther this time around, and thus I’m a little less high on this version of Beast, too.
45. Silver Surfer (Tier 4 / Previous ranking: 34) – Given the addition of Season 3 characters, this is basically holding steady from his last ranking. I still wish there were more actions on the cards, but “Near Immortality,” especially against an S3 Villain, is an outstanding special ability.
46. Aurora (Tier 4 / S3 ranking: 13) – If you can’t get “Projectile Speed” out in the first turn, then Aurora’s not going to live up to this billing. If you can, then Aurora becomes the version of Cannonball that I wish Cannonball was. The other special cards, especially absent other Alpha Flight members, are no more than okay, but being able to do one last action if you’ve been in two (which is often!) is great.
47. Archangel (Tier 4 / Previous ranking: 82) – My reservations about Archangel’s moves-and-not-much-else cards still hold, but now that the average character has fewer moves on their cards, that troubles me less. Being able to avoid damage on some turns is also a perk.
48. Iceman (Tier 4 / Previous ranking: 63) – All the special moves cards are effective, and seeing as S3 Villains BAM more often, it’s great to have two stuns in the deck. Not as versatile and consistently effective as Captain America (Core Box), but the handiness reminds me of him.
49. Magik (Tier 4 / Previous ranking: 51) – As grateful as I am to have Darkchild around, Magik was not a character who really needed an update. One of the pure tanks of Marvel United.
50. Ant-Man (Tier 4 / Previous ranking: 53) – On the principle that heroic actions are a little undervalued, I have Ant-Man, holding seven stars, rounding out my top 50.
51. Superior Spider-Man (Tier 4 / Previous ranking: 28) – The bottom of the deck card is still annoying, but otherwise this would be a character with virtually no weaknesses. Respect for nerfing.
52. Snowbird (Tier 4 / Previous ranking: 65) – Last time out, my read on Snowbird was that her cards were good, but a little goofy. The starting hand card that means you can’t be forced to play cards randomly, though, feels much more valuable now than it did during the first two seasons.
53. Northstar (Tier 4 / Previous ranking: 36) – The little run on Alpha Flight that started back at Aurora ends with her twin. He’s still one of my favorite characters to play, and as far as motion-heavy characters go, he’s still the only one who can make that benefit other Heroes just as much as it benefits him.
54. Speed (Tier 4 / S3 ranking: 14) – You’re never going to be able to use all the gobsmacking twelve move actions on his cards. He’s here because a), a little extra movement never hurt, and b) I really like those overflow special ability cards that allow him to clean up a mess that’s built up.
55. Nick Fury, Sr. (Tier 4 / S3 ranking: 15) – It’s great to be able to get characters to do an action in their location, but being able to send another character to another location and then do their work is even better. Four cards work on that principle, while another three have a move-action. A consistently effective character, and one who can even help shore up some of the weaknesses in stars or punches that another character might have.
56. Forge (Tier 4 / Previous ranking: 98) – I’ve seen the light on Forge. My initial plays with him didn’t end well, and then I made that list and ranked him pretty low. I was wrong. He’s not Nova, but being able to double every star you use on those special ability cards makes him enormously useful in the early game. I’ll take that tradeoff.
57. Storm (Mohawk) (Tier 4 / Previous ranking: 49) – Ignoring the first crisis token means more with the villains we have now than the villains we had the last time I made this list. Being able to punch three different targets in a location with the “Preemptive Strike” card makes her one of the better, and more versatile, clearers of Thugs.
58. Mirage (Tier 4 / Previous ranking: 30) – The inverse of Shuri for me. I love playing as Mirage, but she’s probably not quite as good as I like to think. I do appreciate that she doubles each of her special ability cards, which makes it far more likely that she’ll be able to use one at a time when it’s opportune, rather than a time when it’s merely convenient.
59. Cyclops (Core Box) (Tier 4 / Previous ranking: 58) – This represents a pretty significant rise for Cyclops compared to where he’d been in my last ranking. Not as consistently useful as Captain America, but a similar Hero.
60. Warlock (Tier 4 / Previous ranking: 38) – I appreciate that no matter what, Warlock always seems to be able to find work. He’s as likely to glue together a team that’s heavy on stars as he is to glue together a team that’s heavy on punches.
61. Blade (Tier 4 / Previous ranking: 92) – Still haven’t played him against Morlun. Or Morbius. Need to get my rear in gear about that.
62. Darkstar (Tier 4 / S3 ranking: 16) – Seven arrows on the cards, plus that starting hand card that allows her to move to any location as long as she’s got the move action to do it. The kind of Hero who is more likely to help you win a game throughout rather than delivering a bunch of actions at the end, which is less dramatic but certainly effective. She rates about Captain America (Sam Wilson) for me, despite having the same gimmick, because her special abilities give her more leeway with her actions.
63. Wong (Tier 4 / S3 ranking: 17) – Another 5-5-5 character, although a lot of those cards are single actions.
64. Spiral (Tier 4 / Previous ranking: 43) – I like the idea of Spiral more than I like the actual gameplay, so I’ve compromised with the ranking. I appreciate how much stronger she gets during the game if you’re playing the “Spell Dance” cards, but it’s sort of a bummer that those don’t really make you more likely to KO a villain.
65. Mighty Thor (Tier 4 / S3 ranking: 18) – To the S3 core box what Captain America is to the S1 core box. Clearly, given how she ranks against Thor and Beta Ray Bill, I don’t think she’s in the same class as those two. That doesn’t mean she can’t do plenty of work on her own, including that teleportation card that you can always play to effect.
66. Crystal (Tier 4 / S3 ranking: 19) – The sheer number of special effect cards make it less likely that you’re going to get the one you really want at the right time. I am, on the other hand, very pleased to get a Fantastic 4 connection that allows me to do a wild action, because I’m using the randomizer and not putting her with her friends in the First Family.
67. Symbiote Spider-Man (Tier 4 / Previous ranking: 55) – The weaknesses are pronounced in his game. In most games, I’d be a little leery of playing his starting hand card that doesn’t have any actions on it. The twist of getting wild tokens on his “Great Responsibility” card, rather than stars, is a big reason I can’t find it in me to drop him much more than this.
68. Hercules (Tier 4 / S3 ranking: 20) – Hercules isn’t going to lay down a ton of actions for his friends, and if you don’t like the choice of action on the bottom of those “Olympian” cards, then he’s not going to be for you. There are just enough times, though, when you want a symbol at the bottom of a card and you can’t get it. Hercules gives you a chance to do a little more in those moments.
69. Gambit (Tier 4 / Previous ranking: 62) – Like I’ve said before, I’ve gotten better about accepting the “discard a token to do three actions” thing.
70. Morph (Tier 4 / S3 ranking: 21) – Anyone (well, almost anyone, Mister Sinister isn’t going to be here until later) with this many wilds to go around is bound to be useful. Morph gets a little bump because he has three cards which allow him to squeak an extra wild action out when you need it most: those times when the nimrod in front of you doesn’t give you two actions on the bottom of the card.
71. Iron Man (Tier 4 / Previous ranking: 59) – I have most of the same complaints as before about Iron Man, which is that his actions are unhelpfully duplicative. All the same I’m not really going to complain loudly about having a bunch of double action cards to play off of.
72. Daken (Tier 4 / S3 ranking: 22) – Another very pure tank, though more difficult to utilize well than Magik. Daken has the same star-gathering mechanic as Kitty Pryde, with the difference being that you actually have to take the damage in order to get those heroic action tokens. The possibility that you could come away with even one or two in a game means that the one star at the bottom of his cards doesn’t have to be an impediment.
73. Pixie (Tier 4 / Previous ranking: 83) – I’ve tried to stick to my guns about Pixie this time, and she serves, basically, as a mirror to Daken as I close out this fourth tier. There are going to be turns in the final third of the game where you wish she could offer you punches, but all of her special cards are useful, and she’s a great clearer of threats.
74. America Chavez (Tier 5 / Previous ranking: 45) – One of the rare characters who I wish had maybe one more special ability card at the expense of a couple actions.
75. Doop (Tier 5 / Previous ranking: 57) – A maximized Doop is a fearful character indeed, capable of gifting wild tokens to teammates and providing them with great cards to play off of. There’s some downside to only being able to provide one action per card, but I think that’s weighed into this ranking just fine.
76. Agatha Harkness (Tier 5 / S3 ranking: 23) – Big fan of Agatha’s over here, even though she has zero punches at the bottom of her cards. She has the equivalent of six punches on her cards, at maximum, and that’s more than sufficient to make her an effective standalone player.
77. Spider-Woman (Tier 5 / Previous ranking: 104) – Last time out, I really wanted those extra punches at the expense of being able to move the villain turn back two separate times. I was so young.
78. Fantomex (Tier 5 / Previous ranking: 131) – Here’s another guy I’ve seen the light on since the last time I wrote one of these, although I don’t think I’m ever going to be able to see a top-50 character on him. The wilds are great, but there just aren’t enough actions for everyone else to make him an outstanding Hero.
79. Quasar (Tier 5 / S3 ranking: 24) – Being able to ignore an action in order to gain a wild token is a singular ability, and if anyone else could do it, I think it would be game-breaking. For Quasar, it means that you’re gambling your entire game on being able to unload a ridiculous number of wild tokens at the end. In my plays, he’s been able to have a Phoenix-sized effect on the last turn or two, but he’s not having anything like that effect anywhere else in the game.
80. Storm (Tier 5 / Previous ranking: 20) – The upside for whole-team movement with Storm is real, but in the past I’ve underestimated how often you find her special effects cards to be useful sometimes and paltry at others.
81. Yondu (Tier 5 / Previous ranking: 56) – I think, on the whole, Yondu is more useful against your average S3 Villain than he was S1 or S2.
82. Marvel Girl (First Class) (Tier 5 / Previous ranking: 33) – Obviously not Nova, but there’s something to be said for her consistent ability to deal with star-based threat cards in other locations.
83. Captain America (Classic) (Tier 5 / S3 ranking: 25) – There are real strictures on playing with this version of Cap, and I think you’re likely to be a little frustrated with him during some endgames. Sometimes, though, you need to force yourself to address overflow. Here you can make that a priority without really sacrificing for threat cards or Henchmen.
84. Mister Fantastic (Tier 5 / Previous ranking: 48) – The Fantastic 4 cards drag him down a little bit for me, but among the “smart people get to make things wild” set, he’s got my favorite bunch of cards this side of Beast.
85. Kate Bishop (Tier 5 / S3 ranking: 26) – If this were a ranking with all of the various equipment cards, then clearly Kate would be much higher. As it stands, she’s definitely an improvement on Hawkeye, which is what you’d ask for in a S3 character.
86. War Machine (Tier 5 / Previous ranking: 41) – He may be thirty-plus spots below Speed, but he’s only one tier separate. In a bunch of games, I think you’d do just as well with his seven arrows and more punches as you might with Speed’s twelve arrows. His “Strafing Run” card annoys me a lot, which is probably irrational.
87. Iron Lad (Tier 5 / S3 ranking: 27) – Pretentious Doop.
88. Husk (Tier 5 / S3 ranking: 28) – One of my favorite new characters. There are times when you don’t really want to pull the special ability you have at the moment with her skin, and that can be frustrating. Fortunately, I like all of Paige’s skins pretty well, and even if you want one that showed up earlier in the timeline, the one you have to play probably works out okay too.
89. Hope Summers (Tier 5 / Previous ranking: 79) – Given the presence of all the new S3 Heroes, Hope has actually moved up in these rankings. I still like the idea of her much more than the actual card-to-card play.
90. Captain Marvel (Tier 5 / Previous ranking: 117) – A character I’ve learned to appreciate more over time. If you’re playing her against a Villain who isn’t in the S1 Core box, you’re going to have to bide your time with her and accept that you’re going to drop some punches.
91. The Thing (Tier 5 / Previous ranking: 22) – It’s easier to get a little stuck with Ben’s punches than I’d like, and for that reason he’s a lot closer to Korg this time out than he was before.
92. Elsa Bloodstone (Tier 5 / S3 ranking: 29) – There are a lot of special effects that allow you to squeeze out one more punch, but just one. If Iron Lad is Pretentious Doop, Elsa Bloodstone is Fancy Valkyrie.
93. Rocket Raccoon (Tier 5 / Previous ranking: 75) – The last Hero in this short run of “characters who are much more valuable after the first six Master Plan cards than within them.”
94. Mantis (Tier 5 / Previous ranking: 27) – Mantis is a scattershot hero, and the games where the shotgun approach works, she really works. She can be a little invisible otherwise.
95. Morbius (Tier 5 / S3 ranking: 30) – The irony of doing a Marvel United character ranking, and this is something I’ve touched on before, is that most of these characters really aren’t significantly better or worse than one another. This is a game about managing a deck, and a good player should be able to win very, very often no matter what team they put together. Thus Morbius, who perhaps more than any other Hero is an exercise in deck management, balancing the ability to gain and lose cards with the necessities of the board in front of you.
96. Triton (Tier 5 / S3 ranking: 31) – Consistently effective, although there’s a lot more luck to this guy than there is to the average Hero. The Terrigen Mist tokens are obviously flighty, but you also can’t guarantee which locations you’re going to need to spend the most time in, or which will need the most attention, and that means the Water tokens are a gamble too.
97. Bishop (Tier 5 / Previous ranking: 23) – The last character in this fifth tier, which is the last tier in which I think you can basically guarantee you’re getting a better-than-average character. Few Heroes with the number of actions he has available to him are as groundbound.
98. Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur (Tier 6 / S3 ranking: 32) – I like this unorthodox little cavalry pairing a lot. Surprisingly balanced, and except in rare situations, the tradeoff of a free punch for discarding a civilian is not that bad. I suppose that might be a “the people are scared of the dinosaur and run away,” but of course I prefer the idea that Devil Dino is snacking on some devil’s food.
99. Falcon (Tier 6 / Previous ranking: 54) – One of the more consistently useful overflow managers, but only having three stars at the bottom of the cards means you’re relying on him for a handful of punches throughout the game.
100. Old Man Logan (Tier 6 / Previous ranking: 103) – I really like his “Tired of Fighting” cards, which give out the punch tokens but also ensure a little movement for the next player. In all the times I’ve played with him, I’ve only been able to parlay his end-of-game tokens into a couple experiences where he’s the last man and I get to use all those punches on the villain. It’s more likely to pop up than Squirrel Girl’s bit, fwiw.
101. Miles Morales (Tier 6 / Previous ranking: 138) – Last time out, I looked at Miles largely through the lens of what he couldn’t do. This time I’m more interested in what he’s got that works, and what works is really useful. It may not be useful each time you play his cards, but based on winning percentages in the hard mode games I’ve recorded, I can’t put him lower than this.
102. Black Panther (Shuri) (Tier 6 / S3 ranking: 33) – Unspectacular, but a good team player.
103. Deadpool (X-Force) (Tier 6 / S3 ranking: 34) – The compromise candidate between Lady Deadpool and normal Deadpool is basically The Thing with more variance.
104. Professor X (Tier 6 / Previous ranking: 46) – The tokens and the ability to treat actions as wilds are good, but in the average game they’re less than the sum of their parts.
105. Black Cat (Tier 6 / Previous ranking: 84) – More lucky than good?
106. Spectrum (Tier 6 / S3 ranking: 35) – An adequate number of movements, and it’s easy to see a scenario where giving an extra punch to a fellow Hero in your location, via the starting hand card, would be useful. In practice, you’re merely hoping you can use that “Energy Blast” card to full effect.
107. Meggan (Tier 6 / S3 ranking: 36) – Four of the special effect cards (“Air” and “Ice”) can be lifesavers. I like the potential utility of using somebody else’s special effect. I’m less sure about how often the other five can be brought to bear in a serious way.
108. Cypher (Tier 6 / S3 ranking: 37) – Not every game is going to suit Cypher’s strengths, but what I like about him is his singularity. He does very different things compared to other Heroes, and the ability to swap tokens in a game where those are prevalent can be forceful.
109. Cannonball (Tier 6 / Previous ranking: 31) – One of my biggest fallers from the last time I did this. This is still a character I like a lot, but my issue is that the tokens, which are the primary selling point for the guy, can take a long time to accumulate in an effective way.
110. Corsair (Tier 6 / S3 ranking: 38) – If you’re willing to burn a turn, essentially, you can put Corsair first in your turn order. Corsair’s starting hand card means you can send your pals to a location or two away. You know that really annoying thing that happens a lot where you just know there’s overflow happening in a location the entire board away, or there’s some Henchman who’s making things tough for you and you need to eliminate him now? Corsair has you covered. If you’re playing him with other Starjammers, it’s probably fair to bump him up like, oh, sixty spots.
111. Moondragon (Tier 6 / S3 ranking: 39) – Moondragon takes the shotgun approach to special abilities, but all of them save one maximize her actions in a turn or allow others to maximize theirs. She doesn’t play like most other Heroes, but she’s effective.
112. Magneto (Age of Apocalypse) (Tier 6 / S3 ranking: 40) – Marvel United has never quite given Magneto the treatment with his Hero cards that I’d like, which is, among all the words I’m going to write here, the absolute dorkiest thing I’ll say. This version of Magneto comes a little bit closer to that goal, including the ability to pass out wild tokens to teammates.
113. Moon Knight (Tier 6 / Previous ranking: 60) – I’m still very partial to Moon Knight, especially to those double-action cards he’s toting around.
114. Havok (X-Factor) (Tier 6 / S3 ranking: 41) – Being able to have one wild token at all times, even if that token is about to get discarded, gives Havok a little bit more utility than someone with only thirteen actions would suggest.
115. Hepzibah (Tier 6 / S3 ranking: 42) – Starjammer team boosts her up significantly as well. (To avoid saying this every time, she and Corsair are the only ones who I’d say jack her up multiple tiers. None of Ch’od, Raza, or Lilandra is quite that good.) The actions on the cards are not spread very evenly, but I really like what she does on a game to game basis.
116. Kid Loki (Tier 6 / S3 ranking: 43) – One wild symbol on the bottom of a card is usually less useful than two symbols on the bottom of the card, regardless of what they are. With that said, Kid Loki’s eight wilds in a hard mode game are, at the very least, versatile. That “Smarter Than You” card, which allows you to double wild if the Villain or Henchmen in your location has more health than you have cards in your hand, is quietly one of the best by win probability added.
117. Gladiator Hulk (Tier 6 / S3 ranking: 44) – A fiendish number of punches are available to this guy, which makes him incredibly useful against some Villains (especially those with Henchmen) and awfully inefficient against many others.
118. Nova Prime (Tier 6 / S3 ranking: 45) – I’ve tried to measure my fondness for being able to do actions in adjacent locations with the potential difficulty of, with Nova Prime, always needing to be adjacent to do the work.
119. Ares (Tier 6 / S3 ranking: 46) – I like him almost as much as Hercules, but not quite.
120. Dazzler (Tier 6 / Previous ranking: 67) – Last time I wrote about her, I used the phrase “slot machine,” which is pretty apt. Not like I want to encourage you to gamble, but you really only need one of those four cards with special abilities to hit to get a sweet little boost.
121. Cable (Tier 6 / Previous ranking: 125) – Given that we’ve got almost fifty new characters ahead of him, this represents a big step up for Cable. As a “leader” of a team, someone who’s able to provide actions or get teammates through a deck, Cable may very well be the best model.
122. Groot (Tier 6 / Previous ranking: 47) – All single-action cards lands him down here.
123. Dagger (Tier 6 / Previous ranking, with Cloak: 19) – Now that there are so many characters who have cards that match them up with other individual characters, I thought it was appropriate to split them up this time. Definitely the one of the pair who works best without the other.
124. Human Torch (Tier 6 / Previous ranking: 113) – The thing about the Human Torch, and this took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out, is that the ability to use stars as punches is not great against Villains, but it’s really nice to have against overflow and those Villains who punish you for it.
125. Iron Man (Hulkbuster) (Tier 7 / S3 ranking: 47) – He’s not Longshot or Psylocke, but there’s a lot of upside in this character for keeping the Villain from moving around or executing BAMs.
126. Phyla-Vell (Tier 7 / S3 ranking: 48) – I actually have Phyla-Vell here less for her ability to avoid damage via star tokens and more for thinking the bottom of her cards are a solid group. There are a few Villains where being able to discard a couple stars to avoid damage could be helpful, but I’m not sure it’s more helpful than one of a number of locations which allow you to draw a card if you’re low.
127. Iron Fist (Tier 7 / Previous ranking: 110) – Because Henchmen are rarer than threat cards with stars on them, Heroes who feel especially useful against Henchmen are going to fall down the list for me. That does no favors for Iron Fist, who can deliver punches against your average Henchman without having to expose himself to that danger.
128. Shang-Chi (Tier 7 / Previous ranking: 135) – “Master Martial Artist” is the most basic version of a card that I like better in smaller doses, as seen in characters like X-23, Karnak, and Wong.
129. Wasp (Tier 7 / Previous ranking: 111) – There are going to be a couple turns every game where she feels really valuable, and there are going to be many more where she feels inessential.
130. X-Man (Tier 7 / S3 ranking: 49) – If you couldn’t choose a starting hand with X-Man, he would be absolutely buried in these rankings rather than hanging around the 50th percentile. I appreciate how many abilities the guy has, and there are a couple of Villains where the eighteen-card deck is hugely beneficial. (Have I played him against the Villains from his box? Nope! Feels like cheating!)
131. Mr. Sinister (Tier 7 / S3 ranking: 50) – He has the potential to be one of the least fun Heroes to play in a game where you’re actually playing with other people. Given that I play solo and three-handed almost exclusively, this is less of an issue. I do like the ability to use the DNA tokens to mimic three special abilities of other Heroes, even if it does flip the cards. To me it’s more effective than Rogue’s similar version.
132. Deathlok (Tier 7 / S3 ranking: 51) – Deathlok is great. He has good cards. My problem is that Deathlok, perhaps more than any other Hero, has an issue with the second half of a game. Because I am constantly getting cards I want in my hand for him, given the “Computer Mind” starting card, I am usually leaving the meager cards for the end of the game.
133. Maria Hill (Tier 7 / S3 ranking: 52) – There are a number of double-actions on her cards, and while none of the special abilities floor me, that “Some Overtime Required” card has the potential to be useful at the end of a game. That’s especially true when she’s not a very punchy character ahead of time.
134. Cyborg Spider-Man (Tier 7 / S3 ranking: 53) – There are eighteen Spider-characters in Marvel United. I’ve got this guy up the middle, eighth among their number. He is also the first among the Spider-group who I think is basically replaceable with other characters without much difference.
135. Boom Boom (Tier 7 / Previous ranking: 69) – The issue with Boom Boom, which is an issue you find with some newer characters like Moon Girl and Stature as well, is that it’s distinctly possible that she might get you through your Thug mission a little too quickly.
136. Banshee (Tier 7 / Previous ranking: 71) – As high as he is primarily because of those cards that allow him to stun a Villain or Henchman, which are practically instant plays. Six arrows on the cards is good but not great.
137. Captain America (Sam Wilson) (Tier 7 / S3 ranking: 54) – Able to get around the board with the best of them, but his ability to do things once he’s there is limited. He’s as high as he is because generally speaking, I’d rather be able to go somewhere and not do anything than do something where it won’t do any good.
138. Yellowjacket (Tier 7 / S3 ranking: 55) – A slow burning character who really needs the cards in his deck to come out in the right order. You also need to decide at the outset if you want to play “Shrink” or “Grow,” because there’s very little chance you can use both to effect.
139. Loki (Tier 7 / S3 ranking: 56) – Two extra single-wilds go a long way for a Hero who has a shockingly low number of special ability cards, particularly one from S3.
140. Korg (Tier 7 / Previous ranking: 112) – This represents a sizable leap for Rocky, who, for as much as I tend to denigrate super-punchy characters, is actually one of the more efficient members of that group.
141. Iron Man (Civil War) (Tier 7 / S3 ranking: 57) – Like his fellow Civil War box Hero, Kate Bishop, he’d be higher if I were doing these rankings with equipment cards in mind.
142. Legion (Tier 7 / Previous ranking: 105) – Out of the X-Characters who have no interest in being cooperative, Legion is definitely my favorite. If he could choose his starting hand the way X-Man could, they’d absolutely be swapped in these rankings.
143. Shatterstar (Tier 7 / Previous ranking: 127) – Once again, I rarely play Heroes together who are meant to work together. Shatterstar with Cable is very valuable. Shatterstar without him is more of a challenge in terms of working the deck. Like Miles Morales, though, I’ve had to reconsider him given my success rate when playing with him.
144. Moonstone (Tier 7 / S3 ranking: 58) – In a game where the locations on the board don’t have many spaces for Thugs or Civilians, Moonstone’s (very useful) special ability cards are going to be vestigial. With more space to operate, Moonstone has the potential to be one of the best managers of overflow you can put out there.
145. Wiccan (Tier 7 / S3 ranking: 59) – About as low as I could go for Wiccan, whose deck I like a fair amount, but who struggles to be relevant turn in and turn out.
146. Spider-Man 2099 (Season 3) (Tier 7 / S3 ranking: 60) – A bunch of double action cards put him here. Lives in the strange twilight zone where the starting hand card allows him to move if no one’s put down arrows in the past two turns, which is nice, but if no one has laid those down, then isn’t there usually a bigger problem?
147. Luke Cage (Tier 7 / Previous ranking: 89) – Ride with as many cards in your hand as you can and hope for the best.
148. Captain Carter (Tier 7 / S3 ranking: 61) – The character she reminds me of most, funnily enough, is Black Panther (Shuri).
149. Jessica Jones (Tier 7 / Previous ranking: 73) – Although she’s not one of the game’s better characters, that “Private Investigator” card that allows her to move to any location after peeking at the top card of the Master Plan deck is unique.
150. Apocalypse (Tier 7 / Previous ranking: 85) – One of the very best closers in Marvel United, but getting there when you’ve got Apocalypse can be a real chore.
151. Logan (Tier 7 / Previous ranking: 42) – Fittingly, given that the primary goal of the character is stayin’ alive, he even looks like Barry Gibb.
152. Songbird (Tier 7 / S3 ranking: 62) – I’ve weighed the four cards that allow you to move and then punch/star against the two special ability cards that only work against Henchmen, and this is where I’ve ended up.
153. Polaris (Tier 7 / Previous ranking: 78) – It’s too easy for Polaris to be invisible over the course of a game for me to put her much higher than this. “Magnetic Field” is a hedge much more than it’s a plan.
154. Spider-Punk (Tier 7 / Previous ranking: 106) – This is a much more measured interpretation of Spider-Punk than I had before. I just like him and his amp so much and I appreciate his game more.
155. Siryn (Tier 7 / S3 ranking: 63) – More often than not I like what Siryn gives you to work with, but I dunno, maybe I’m just not farming tokens enough to make “Sonic Scream” excel for me.
156. Black Knight (Tier 7 / S3 ranking: 64) – Three arrows on the cards means that you’ve got to index real hard on “Brave Steed,” and there’s just no way you can index on that. One of the rare starting hand cards that would be more useful if it were just mixed into the deck, S1-style.
157. Captain Britain (Betsy Braddock) (Tier 7 / S3 ranking: 65) – An identical kit to Siryn, except the two remaining special ability cards are even more finicky and random to pull off than Siryn’s are.
158. Marrow (Tier 7 / Previous ranking: 96) – Like Captain Betsy, who needs a BAM to make a punch, Marrow needs something similar to make her “Bone Armor” card work.
159. U.S. Agent (Tier 8 / S3 ranking: 66) – Has a lot of similarities to Hulk in the way that his cards help you clear overflow not through rescuing Civilians but by just flat getting rid of them. He’s not a great hero, but he is a very, very fun Villain to play against.
160. Weapon X (Tier 8 / Previous ranking: 91) – Gotta hang onto this ugly beast for eight seconds.
161. Red Hulk (Tier 8 / S3 ranking: 67) – Like Apocalypse, who also has that fun black background around his special abilities, Red Hulk has the potential to make things really tough for others for his own benefit. Red Hulk requires more of his teammates than Apocalypse, though, and the wild tokens don’t flow so consistently.
162. Agent Venom (Tier 8 / S3 ranking: 68) – You’re living for two really good turns for Agent Venom thanks to the “Symbiote Enhancement” card. If those aren’t good turns, then the character’s a little wimpy.
163. Ghost-Spider (Tier 8 / Previous ranking: 109) – Ghost-Spider, even more than other Heroes from S1, relies heavily on how relevant her symbols at the bottom of the cards are to the turn.
164. Tigra (Tier 8 / S3 ranking: 69) – See above, except this is harder for S3 characters to work out. She stays this close to Ghost-Spider because she’s actually got one more symbol on her cards.
165. Hawkeye (Tier 8 / Previous ranking: 95) – It’s possible that I’m just not using the potentially potent “Master Marksman” as well as I should be. On the other hand, Hawkeye’s cards are a little disproportionate, and special abilities and regular symbols alike might need to be burned simply because the card at hand is the best one you can play.
166. Rogue (Tier 8 / Previous ranking: 66) – S3 has made Rogue a little bit more difficult to play, as the number of effects that need to stay faceup from the S3 bunch to continue working is much larger than the previous two seasons. Three arrows make for a real limiting factor.
167. Quake (Tier 8 / S3 ranking: 70) – Bespoke Hawkeye, which may be why I have more fun playing her than Hawkeye.
168. Howard the Duck (Tier 8 / Previous ranking: 80) – Neutron Disintegrated Fin Fang Foom one time. It was so satisfying.
169. Domino (Tier 8 / Previous ranking: 88) – Bump her up a cool, oh, eighty spots or so if you’re playing Enchantress or Maximus or Morlun or someone like that.
170. Goliath (Tier 8 / S3 ranking: 71) – “Big Fists” is a nice card to be able to play when you’re at the end of a game, but it’s not like there’s any guarantee that’s going to show up at the end of a game. Being able to stun a Villain if you fall over in their location is funny; it must be at least as effective as returning a damage to them.
171. Ch’od (Tier 8 / S3 ranking: 72) – He’s bigger than Triton, he’s chonkier than Triton, and I care about him and Cr’reee so much. He also doesn’t do anything quite as well as Triton does, and the tradeoff between punches and arrows seriously favors Triton. The water tokens are a treat with him, whereas Ch’od really needs those water tokens to work in his favor in order to be effective.
172. Havok (Tier 8 / Previous ranking: 77) – At this point there are so many versions of being able to punch thrice in an adjacent location that Havok’s ability to do so, which comes without a symbol at the bottom of the card, is unimpressive.
173. Iceman (First Class) (Tier 8 / Previous ranking: 72) – Being able to prevent Villain movement twice is cool, but it’s not nearly as good as the stunning power that other Heroes can provide. He’s also not likely to help you out much with heroic actions, but there is a lot of movement that he’s good for even if you’re not pulling out the “Ice Slide” card.
174. Jubilee (Tier 8 / Previous ranking: 94) – At the halfway point of the average game, there’s not much she can give you.
175. Patriot (Tier 8 / S3 ranking: 73) – I find him fun to play, but out of all the Captain America skins, he’s the least likely to feel consistently useful during a game.
176. Ghost Rider (Tier 8 / Previous ranking: 76) – Maybe not exactly the first exhibit in why you don’t just count actions in order to figure out which characters are better or worse, but he’s definitely an exhibit.
177. Spider-Man 2099 (Season 1) (Tier 8 / Previous ranking: 123) – If you like your Spider-Man to be almost suspiciously interested in delivering punches, this is your guy.
178. Raza (Tier 8 / S3 ranking: 74) – There’s a delicate touch to Raza’s several punches which mirrors the sword he wields. Sometimes you’d just like a good old-fashioned broadsword instead, but the rapier tends to clean up loose ends.
179. Scarlet Witch (Tier 8 / Previous ranking: 90) – Against S3 villains, who BAM more consistently, I think that on average she’s a more consistent play than she was against S1 and S2. She’s still a total wild card.
180. Cyclops (First Class) (Tier 8 / Previous ranking: 97) – The “Optic Blasts” cards both bear stars, which is pretty unusual for a card with that sort of ability. For that reason, his six stars don’t quite carry the same weight as adult Cyclops’ six stars.
181. Cosmic Ghost Rider (Tier 8 / S3 ranking: 75) – I love that “Remote Possession” card that lets you use any cleared location’s end of turn effect. Everything else, eh.
182. Colossus (Tier 8 / Previous ranking: 68) – The best thing about Colossus is his ability to shrug off a damage.
183. Ronin (Tier 8 / S3 ranking: 76) – There’s some decent damage avoidance on two of his cards, but it’s really easy to be stuck in one place with him. That’s tough when the other two special ability cards work off of two punches in your location.
184. Deadpool (Tier 8 / Previous ranking: 115) – At this point, Deadpool’s firepower is too much to ignore. I still hate fun, so the chaos deck doesn’t do much for me.
185. Sunfire (Tier 8 / Previous ranking: 134) – Since moving to hard mode, I’ve gotten much more use out of Sunfire’s “Solar Fire” cards than I ever had before. Time to move him up a little bit.
186. Cloak (Tier 8 / Previous ranking, with Dagger: 19) – We’re at the point where being able to move to any location is too good a power to ignore, even if it doesn’t come with as much heft as it would when you carry Dagger with you.
187. Werewolf by Night (Tier 8 / S3 ranking: 77) – In much the same way that Sentry’s Void cards can be managed, that bottom of the deck card for WbN doesn’t have to make some kind of nightmare scenario.
188. Sabretooth and Wildchild (Tier 8 / S3 ranking: 78) – One of the themes of Tier 8 is that each of these people have a power that’s potentially game-changing, even if it’s a little thin. Sabretooth and Wildchild, who can stave off damage and crisis tokens, do two things well. A team with them in a randomized game is, unfortunately, going to have a heck of a time catching up on heroic actions.
189. Feral (Tier 8 / Previous ranking: 99) – Consistently competent, I’d say, but rare is the game where you win because of her.
190. Medusa (Tier 8 / S3 ranking: 79) – If I revisit this at some point, my guess is Medusa will be the character where I am just flabbergasted by how low I’ve got her. Today, a quarter of the deck is related to other characters and I can’t find it in me to push her up.
191. Red Guardian (Tier 8 / S3 ranking: 80) – The cards say that this is a really good character. The special abilities are, unfortunately, a little meek.
192. Gwenpool (Tier 9 / Previous ranking: 118) – I’ve learned to really lean into the satisfaction of removing a Henchman from play for a turn. Just warms the cockles of my heart.
193. Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze) (Tier 9 – S3 ranking: 81) – Despite having the sculpt that looks most like it belongs on the cover of Meat Loaf’s indelible Bat Out of Hell, there are just a lot of characters who do something like him and do it with more versatility, or with more help for teammates.
194. Anti-Venom (Tier 9 / Previous ranking: 121) – There’s less help on the bottom of the cards than you want, even though Anti-Venom’s ability to remove crisis tokens is, for someone who wants to set up a game against Air-Walker or like, normal Venom, unmatched.
195. Magneto (Tier 9 / Previous ranking: 126) – I am a little more chuffed by his ability to make all symbols wild on one card, and all arrows wild on another, than I used to be.
196. Silk (Tier 9 / Previous ranking: 101) – One starting hand card too many, and although she has the potential to make moves, she runs out eight cards with a total of seven moves for others on them.
197. Mockingbird (Tier 9 / Previous ranking: 137) – I still wouldn’t bring Mockingbird to a game against a number of the hardest Villains to play, but would I potentially bring her to a matchup against Green Goblin? I could see it working out now, which is more than I could say a year ago.
198. Venom (Tier 9 / Previous ranking: 86) – So, so often I’m sitting there with Venom wishing I could do anything else besides punch.
199. Peni Parker (Tier 9 / Previous ranking: 70) – Last time out, I was ranking her with the battery equipment cards. This time I’m not. Given how heavily those batteries figure into her cards, I’m wondering if I shouldn’t have made an exception for her.
200. Valkyrie (Tier 9 / Previous ranking: 93) – She chews bubble gum and delivers one punch at a time, and she’s all out of bubble gum.
201. Wolfsbane (Tier 9 / Previous ranking: 136) – One of the very swingiest types of special ability is the one that allows you to defeat every Thug in a location. Ghost-Spider has it, Ghost Riders have some variant of it, Medusa has something close to it. Wolfsbane has it twice. This is rarely useful twice, and sometimes it’s not even useful once. But when it is useful, it feels like an answer to prayer.
202. Strong Guy (Tier 9 / Previous ranking: 74) – A very entertaining Hero to play, since there’s a lot to balance with him from turn to turn. There’s risk-taking involved in which cards you play, and more than almost anyone else he’s dependent on Villain BAMs and movement to make him effective. The trouble is that he’s far from average, even, among the best of similarly punchy characters.
203. Elektra (Tier 9 / Previous ranking: 122) – I keep trying to move Elektra up, and then I play as Elektra and I’m like, Shoot, why do I feel like I can’t do anything productive?
204. Vision (Tier 9 / Previous ranking: 116) – The stars are useful in most games, but there are too many times when you feel like you just can’t get Vision from location to location.
205. Ms. Marvel (Tier 9 / Previous ranking: 130) – Make this four characters in a row where I want to put them higher because I like the idea of their cards, but the best-case scenario for said cards comes but rarely.
206. Ironheart (Tier 9 / S3 ranking: 82) – There’s potential in her game to be the powerhouse of heroic actions, but in the games I’ve won with her, I’ve had a top-40 character leading the way.
207. Chamber (Tier 9 / S3 ranking: 83) – Like Ironheart, at best you’re picking away at the issues around you rather than making real headway.
208. Juggernaut (Tier 9 / S3 ranking: 84) – There’s a little too much Okoye in here for comfort.
209. Namor (Tier 9 / Previous ranking: 114) – Imperius Next.
210. White Widow (Tier 9 / S3 ranking: 85) – Better than Black Widow, who does a number of the same things, but I’d almost always prefer to take my chances stunning a villain rather than putting a Master Plan card at the bottom of the deck.
211. Invisible Woman (Tier 9 / Previous ranking: 120) – That “Psionic Force Fields” card whips. There’s a dearth of whipping elsewhere.
212. Nova (Frankie Raye) (Tier 9 / S3 ranking: 86) – Among S3 villains in particular, Nova’s starting hand card makes her nearly unplayable. Having to discard a card to do what Heroes like Cyclops FC or Sunfire can do for free is insult to injury.
213. Hulk (Tier 9 / Previous ranking: 129) – My hopes that new Hulks would make this old Hulk look outdated came true. Very grateful!
214. Stature (Tier 9 / S3 ranking: 87) – Like Moon Girl and Devil Dino, Stature can punch in locations she’s just entered. The problem is that she has to dominate whatever side of the board she’s on, since she’ll be doing damage to teammates otherwise. Also, she almost always rushes the missions because she can clear Thugs so quickly.
215. Puck (Tier 9 / Previous ranking: 81) – That ability to ignore a single damage from a Henchman is one of the most specific, almost random, powers any Hero has.
216. Lockjaw (Tier 9 / S3 ranking: 88) – No ranking makes me as sad as this one, to put such a good boy in such a bad spot. He just doesn’t do much!
217. Winter Soldier (Tier 9 / Previous ranking: 128) – One of the most impressive tanks available to you in Marvel United, although the tank doesn’t have any treads to speak of. There’s a big gap between him and Weapon X; being able to shrug off a damage is worth a lot when you only do one or two things well.
218. Drax (Tier 10 / Previous ranking: 141) – A little more movement than Winter Soldier or Weapon X. Not as many punches. It doesn’t quite even out.
219. Guardian (Tier 10 / Previous ranking: 40) – This is my second-biggest change from last time. I can’t quite explain what the problem is other than saying that he just clogs you up. The way his arrows are dispersed you’ll never be able to find the Northwest Passage.
220. Gamora (Tier 10 / Previous ranking: 132) – Gamora is the 1996 Juan Gonzalez MVP season, at the absolute height of possibility. That’s 3.6 WAR, remember.
221. Black Widow (Tier 10 / Previous ranking: 119) – There’s some value in knowing what three of the Master Plan cards are going to be, or to be able to push them to the bottom, but it’s not enough to lift her up over so many other similar heroes, let alone the dissimilar ones.
222. Daredevil (Tier 10 / Previous ranking: 108) – The man without fear, but also the man who can’t get from place to place and thus doesn’t even have much potential to fulfill his token farming.
223. Black Bolt (Tier 10 / S3 ranking: 89) – Not enough actions, too much Medusa, and the best of the special abilities aren’t really worth the squeeze.
224. Symbiote/Hybrid Hero (Tier 10 / S3 ranking: 90) – Clearly not meant to be played quite like this, but the experience is actually not so bad. Lasher is my favorite guy in this group.
225. Mystique (Tier 10 / Previous ranking: 100) – It’s not hard to imagine (or in my case, recall) times when I played all four of Mystique’s special ability cards and none of them mattered. The punches are fine but not exceptional.
226. Nebula (Tier 10 / Previous ranking: 102) – I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, or maybe this is just small sample bias, but I just cannot win with her in my lineup.
227. Warpath (Tier 10 / Previous ranking: 124) – See above.
228. Doc Samson (Tier 10 / S3 ranking: 91) – That “Gamma Energy Drain” card is a real double-edged sword, and if you’re playing it early in the game, the likelihood that you’re actively screwing with a teammate is not low.
229. Lilandra (Tier 10 / S3 ranking: 92) – Has the Gamora problem with tokens, but sub-Juan Gonzalez. She’s more like Andy Benes finishing third in the NL Cy Young voting in ’96.
230. Squirrel Girl (Tier 10 / Previous ranking: 133) – I’m not enough of an e-girl to see the magic in her, I guess.
231. Bob (Tier 11 / Previous ranking: 143) – We are in my final tier of Heroes who I would choose to play with if I decided I really wanted to stretch myself, because they are just not good. This represents a rise for good ol’ Hydra Bob, who really is far from useless, but doesn’t even offer the turn by turn upside that Werewolf by Night does to adjust for the chaos.
232. Ursa Major (Tier 11 / S3 ranking: 93) – My lowest-rated S3 character. One star, three moves, eight punches, and then three more punches you can get if you decide you’re going to play randomly.
233. Okoye (Tier 11 / Previous ranking: 140) – Tell you what, if the “Accomplished Strategist” card were in there three times at the expense of the other two special abilities, she would be a lot closer to Deathlok than she would be to the bottom three.
234. Sasquatch (Tier 11 / Previous ranking: 107) – (maturely) I have just had it with this guy.
235. Spider-Man Noir (Tier 11 / Previous ranking: 64) – Having fallen seventy-eight spots from before, Spider-Man Noir holds the indignity of having fallen further than any other character who was on my previous list. He doesn’t have the goods.
236. Spider-Ham (Tier 11 / Previous ranking: 142) – Before Lockjaw, this was the low rating that bummed me out most, but this is still a bummer.
237. Angel (Tier 11 / Previous ranking: 139) – I don’t think he would rank this low if he had the same number of arrows but they were spread across all his cards. Two double arrows are nice, but two totally empty cards, which do a total of four damage to civilians, make him a really difficult Hero to rise above.

Thanks for riding with me this far, and remember, if there’s a placement that upsets you, it’s because you pushed me to it.