THE EARTH-2019 Atlas

FASERIP characters for a custom MU game where real time has passed since 1961.

Ben “The Thing” Grimm ................................................................................................................................ 3

Col. Steve Rogers ......................................................................................................................................... 5

Doom ............................................................................................................................................................ 7

Equalizer ....................................................................................................................................................... 9

The Fury ..................................................................................................................................................... 11

Ken Hale ..................................................................................................................................................... 13

Hazmat ....................................................................................................................................................... 15

Hulk ............................................................................................................................................................ 17

Hybrid ......................................................................................................................................................... 19

Iron Man...................................................................................................................................................... 21

Joystick ....................................................................................................................................................... 23

Mettle .......................................................................................................................................................... 25

Ms. America ................................................................................................................................................ 27

Nova ........................................................................................................................................................... 29

Phoenix ....................................................................................................................................................... 31

Power Man .................................................................................................................................................. 33

Punisher...................................................................................................................................................... 35

Radiance..................................................................................................................................................... 37

Rocket Racer .............................................................................................................................................. 39

Sentinel ....................................................................................................................................................... 41

Sorceror Supreme....................................................................................................................................... 43

Spiderling .................................................................................................................................................... 45

Starbrand .................................................................................................................................................... 47

Torpedo ...................................................................................................................................................... 49

Valour ......................................................................................................................................................... 51

Vanisher...................................................................................................................................................... 53

Vulture ........................................................................................................................................................ 55

White Tiger ................................................................................................................................................. 57

Zero Point ................................................................................................................................................... 59

BEN “THE THING” GRIMM
Fighting: RM (30)
Agility: TY (6)
Strength: IN (40)
Endurance: MN (75)
Reason: GD (10)
Intuition: GD (10)
Psyche: RM (20)

Health: 151
Karma: 40
Resources: EX (20)
Popularity: 30

Real Name: Ben Grimm (public)

Background: The Fantastic Four Era is over, with its various

members in retirement or (in one case) dead. Their kids have
grown up and moved on to their own heroic careers, and the
New Baxter Building on 42nd Street in Manhattan has been
converted to pricey condos. Even Benjamin Grimm AKA the
Thing, whose rocky form had seemed impervious to anything,
hasn’t entirely resisted the clock. He’s a little stooped now, and
not nearly as strong as he once was.

Ben now lives a relatively peaceful existence as a bachelor in

East Flatbush, Brooklyn spending most of his days playing
poker with his friends at De Luca’s Barbershop. It doesn’t take
much convincing to get him out and fighting the latest threat,
though, much as he’ll make a show out of griping about it.

Powers and Abilities:

Body Armor: The Thing’s rock-like body gives him Incredible (40) resistance to all physical types of damage as
well as fire. Against energy attacks it is only Excellent (20).

Shockwave: If he stomps or punches the ground, The Thing can generate a shockwave of Excellent (20)
intensity that can travel up to three areas, potentially knocking down anyone in a single target area.
COL. STEVE ROGERS
Fighting: AM (50)
Agility: RM (30)
Strength: EX (20)
Endurance: EX (20)
Reason: EX (20)
Intuition: RM (30)
Psyche: AM (50)

Health: 120
Karma: 100
Resources: 75
Reputation: 75

Real Name: Steve Rogers (public)

Background: Steve Rogers has turned 100, and even if you

discount the eighteen years he spent on ice after WWII he's
still in his eighties. The Super Soldier formula will only help
you so much, and he's been slowing down for a while now—
he may be in incredible shape for a man biologically about
50 years old, but that doesn't cut it in the world of
superheroics.

Good thing that his physique wasn't all that made him
Captain America, then. After the Secret War ended, no-one
would trust S.H.I.E.L.D. or the Avengers in their then-current
forms any more. The latter were disbanded for a while, and the spy agency was finally and formally handed
over to the UN. The United States wasn't about to let some foreigners lord over them if it was out of their
control, however, and only agreed to the transfer of S.H.I.E.L.D. if they could name its new director. The only
American the rest of the world would accept was the man who'd ended the War: Steve Rogers.

Meanwhile Canada had stepped up with an initially unrelated offer. They took pride in their history of
peacekeeping troops…in the absence of the Avengers to save the world, would the UN like to add a superhero
wing to their peacekeeping forces? They did, and the poor, misbegotten Alpha Flight program was transferred
to Col. Rogers' new command. The only rule? No more than one hero from any country, but otherwise he had
a blank check. Before long he’s recruited Sasquatch, Sentinel (Karima Shapandar), Radiance and others, and
took command of the world's new supergroup. Not field command, to be sure, but there's still a lot you can do
when you’re #1 at the world's top intelligence agency and have a head for strategy like no other.

More recently, Rogers and S.H.I.E.L.D. have picked up one more responsibility: with the death of Bruce
Banner and the unleashing of a completely feral Hulk on the world, the old-school Hulkbusters have been
passed on to international control. All the agency's resources, superpowered and otherwise, are on call to deal
with him wherever he turns up next.’

Powers and Abilities

The Super Soldier treatments didn’t give Rogers any powers per se. For the last eighty years he’s relied on
what it did give: physical skills at the absolute maximum level possible for a human being. Even now, he’s a cut
above most anyone. Apart from that, he relies on his equipment.

Armor: Rogers’ uniform is made of a thin but highly advanced fabric that resists all kinds of physical attacks. It
provides Good protection.

Notes:

1. Cap gets a three-level promotion (after fifty years, come on!) to Colonel, mostly because I wanted to
echo Col. Nick Fury.
2. I have no idea what the Secret War was. I stole the name and will fill in the details later if they become
relevant to the game
3. Likewise, Col. Rogers has lost his famous shield somewhere along the way though I don’t know how
yet. Partly this is because he’s got a new “S.H.I.E.L.D.” but also—if he’s not in the field, I could only
picture it on the wall of his office and that’s horrible. Details TBD if needed, but it was a heroic death.
Like Bucky’s.
DOOM
Fighting: RE (30)
Agility: GD (10)
Strength: RE (30)
Endurance: IN (40)
Reason: IN (40)
Intuition: RM (30)
Psyche: RM (30)

Health: 110
Karma: 110
Resources: Varies, but usually 20 or 30
Reputation: -20

Real Name: Victor von Doom? (legal status

uncertain)

Background: The Fantastic Four’s final battle

was inevitable in retrospect. Faced with another
plan for world conquest by Doctor Doom, they
journeyed to Latveria to once again foil him.

The battle ended when the two great rivals,

Doom and Reed Richards, apparently met their
deaths atop a Castle Doom soaked with
chronal radiation from the explosion of Doctor Doom’s time machine.

Naturally, Doom had a fallback plan. Throughout the world he had scattered bases equipped with the
necessary resources to return to power, each outfitted with an Adaptoid android to which his consciousness
would be copied at the moment of his death. But the time echoes that pervaded his environment looped that
death multiple times and instead of one Adaptoid being made Doom, all of them were, each subtly damaged by
the imperfect reverberations of events.

There are now at least a dozen Dooms scattered throughout the world. All are seeking to reconquer the
fledgling democracy of Latveria, conquer the world, and kill Reed Richards—who they irrationally believe to be
still alive—but they are primarily interested in eliminating all the other “impostors”. This also includes
Doombots, Kristoff Vernard, and even actors who have played him in various FF movies. Having that as their
main goal has prevented them from being nearly as dangerous to the world as they could be, as has the subtle
insanity and impulsiveness introduced to their personalities by the imperfect copying procedure.

Powers and Abilities

Any Doom’s Adaptoid bodies could copy the powers of other beings in Doom’s vicinity, but he never does so.
No power is greater than those of Doom!
Body Armor: Doom’s body has Amazing (50) resistance to all forms of attack

No Sustenance Needed: As an android, Doom does not need to eat, drink, sleep, or breathe.

Force Field: A Doom can create a force field of Monstrous (75) strength around one area containing himself.
He cannot move to another area while using this power.

Kinetic Bolts: Doom can fire powerful kinetic bolts from his hands that do Amazing (50) damage up to two
areas away.

You Dare Lay Hands on Doom?: Anyone touching Doom can be attacked with an electrical field that does
Monstrous (75) damage.

Scientific Pack Rat: The Doom adaptoids have no creative invention skills, in marked contrast with the original
Doom. They compensate for this by obsessively stealing and mothballing super-scientific weapons for eventual
use. On a successful Intuition FEAT at the start of an encounter, they will have close at hand some device that
will be useful in a fight, referee’s choice.

Eldritch Knowledge: As machines, the Dooms cannot use magic, but they possess Incredible (40) knowledge
of the discipline (e.g., ability to recognize spells used against them, knowledge of the location of dark arcane
tomes, etc.)

Notes
1. Super-Adaptoid is green only when copying two or more superbeings, I know. But the green was a nice
call back to Doom’s cloak, so I left it.
2. Multiple Dooms means you have a built in “But they never found the body…” to bring him back. Go
ahead, find the body. Find two bodies. He has more.
3. Likewise, if you have one of those days where you’re stuck for an adventure idea, you can start a “gang
war” between a pair of Dooms and put your heroes in the middle.
EQUALIZER
Fighting: GD (10)
Agility: EX (20)
Strength: RM (30)
Endurance: EX (20)
Reason: GD (10)
Intuition: GD (10)
Psyche: TY (6)
Health: 80
Karma: 26
Resources: 4
Popularity: -10
Real Name: Monique and Jamal Henderson (secret)
Background: Monique and Jamal are twins, but very
different from each other. She was bookish and got an
advanced degree in biology on scholarships. Jamal was
stereotypically “the poor kid from Brooklyn”: a drop-out,
gang member and, ultimately, a murderer serving a life
sentence in Louisiana.

Monique thought she’d put her family troubles behind

her when she landed a job exploring the fringe science
concept of morphic fields. Several breakthroughs later
she had created a “morphic template” that could fix
anything wrong with a human body, or even improve it.
Deciding that correcting her near-sightedness would be
a good first test of her concept, she turned the template
on herself. At that moment her twin disappeared from
his cell in Angola, transported across the distance by
the morphic field between the twins, and put them in a state of quantum superposition. The resulting composite
being was a muscular, grey-skinned superhumanly powerful man who was neither of the twins, but instead a
mixture of the two physically and mentally. Jamal’s motivations tended to the front, so the new-born Equalizer
destroyed Monique’s lab and escaped into the night. Much like Jamal, Equalizer is a criminal who hates police
and prisons, but Monique can exert control at times and split the two again, at least for a while.

Powers and Abilities

Attack Absorption: Equalizer has only one power, but it makes him tricky to fight. If attacked physically or with
any kind of energy (cold being the sole exception), he ignores all damage up to his current Endurance value,
and his Strength and Endurance increase to the level of the attack. This also increases his maximum health.
For example, if an encounter begins with Valour hitting him with his Amazing (50) Strength, Equalizer takes 50-
20 = 30 damage, but his Endurance and Strength would increase to Amazing as well, and his maximum health
would become 130—though 30 points would be removed from that due to the attack. If Valour landed another
blow next turn, Equalizer would take no damage as his new Endurance can soak up 50 damage.

This power is Unearthly (100), so any attack more powerful than this will increase his stats only to that level,
with the rest being damage. His maximum Strength and Endurance are Unearthly as well, making his
maximum Health 230. Any stat increase lasts to the end of the encounter.

Absorption Healing: Similarly, if Equalizer has been injured earlier in an encounter, and he is hit with an attack
that does lesser or equal damage than his current Endurance, he gains Health equal to one-half of the attack’s
intensity. To continue the example above, not only would Valour’s second punch above not damage Equalizer,
it would heal him 50 ÷ 2 = 25 Health.

Mental Resistance: Though his Psyche is normal for most purposes, having two personalities in his head gives
Equalizer Amazing (50) resistance to mental control. This does not extend to psychic attacks like mental bolts.

Limitation (Alter Egos): Both Monique and Jamal exist to some extent inside of Equalizer’s head and can split
him back into their original selves. Under most circumstances it takes both agreeing on the split for it to occur,
and Jamal is invariably uninterested in giving up his superhuman powers. If, however, Equalizer kills someone
(even just apparently) or if children are hurt or threatened, he must make a successful roll against his Psyche
or else Monique can force a split.

Monique Henderson
F A S E R I P
TY (6) TY (6) TY (6) TY (6) EX (20) GD (10) TY (60

Jamal Henderson
F A S E R I P
GD (10) TY (6) EX (20) GD (10) GD (10) GD (10) TY (60

Once split, either twin can re-form Equalizer with a thought, but only if a minimum of one day has passed since
he was divided. Jamal will try to do so as soon as he can. Monique must be under enormous pressure to do
so, and has created a drug that prevents him from rejoining her. If available, a daily dose requires Jamal to
make a Red Psyche roll or else the reunification will fail, and he must wait 1d10 days before trying again.

Notes
1. Visually based on Luke Cage, obviously, and sort of my take on him if he had been sent to prison
legitimately rather than framed. But he’s also got a bit of Firestorm in him with the two-people-in-one
thing and a little bit of Hulk with Monique Henderson playing the role of Bruce Banner. He gets the
Stonewall HeroClix, as I have no plans to use that character.
2. Another gimmick villain in that he’s not got much Health or Karma to start and so he’s theoretically not
that hard to beat, but fight him without a plan and he’ll wipe the floor with you.
THE FURY
Fighting: UN (100)
Agility: IN (40)
Strength: MN (75)
Endurance: UN (100)
Reason: AM (50)
Intuition: RM (30)
Psyche: UN (100)

Health: 315
Karma: 180
Resources: 0
Reputation: 0 (-75 among heroes who know it)

Real Name: The Fury (public, but the general

populace is not aware of the Fury’s existence)

Background: Earth-238 no longer exists, and

the Fury is its sole surviving native. Created
by the reality-warping powers of that timeline’s
Jim Jaspers, it was first responsible for killing
all that Earth’s superhumans. Temporarily
mothballed after achieving its mission in a
mere two years, it reactivated when the
Captain Britain of another timeline was sent to investigate. Upon its discovering that other timelines existed, it
began crossing the interdimensional void just as Jaspers’ powers increased to the point that he threatened the
multiverse. To nullify him, Earth-238 was reduced to non-existence by the Dimensional Development Court.
But the Fury survived, though badly injured by events.

Since then it has wandered the multiverse, plaguing various incarnations of the X-Men and Captain Britain,
before recently coming to Earth-2019. As is its nature it is fast regaining its strength here, on the next world to
be its victim.

Powers and Abilities

Adaptation: For an unstoppable killing machine, the Fury is a peculiarly soft target—at first. It has no natural
resistance to any attack and takes full damage the first time a power is used against it successfully. However,
the second time it will have developed Amazing resistance (50) and on all subsequent attacks with that power
it will have Unearthly resistance (100). Power stunts with a previously used power should usually be
considered a new form of attack, but this is left to the referee’s discretion.

Mindless: The Fury has no mind in the sense that a human being does, and so it is immune to mental attacks.
Regeneration: The Fury regenerates at an Unearthly rate (100). The sole exception to this is if it takes 100 or
more damage in a single attack and it is reduced to zero Health in the same turn. Under these circumstances
its backup brain (stored in its spine) is only powerful enough to use the Fury’s stinger to process and absorb
organic matter so it can heal (see below).

Main Gun: The gun mounted on the end of its left arm does Class 1000 energy damage up to one area away.

Support Guns: While the Fury primarily uses its claw-like right arm as a bludgeon or grappling tool, it also has
a set of support guns attached there which do Incredible (40) physical damage at a range of three areas.

Stinger: The Fury possesses a small stinger on the end of a thin cable which it can fire at opponents one area
away. It completely circumvents armor and can be used to inflict Excellent (20) electrical damage: one of the
Fury’s signature moves is to fry out the brain of an opponent that can withstand its main gun. However, the
stinger’s main purpose is to inject nearby animal matter (including human beings) with a toxin that paralyzes
and converts it to a soft, shapeless material that the Fury can use to heal (1 point per Health point of the
original target creature). Conversion takes a few minutes.

Targets can roll a Red Endurance FEAT to avoid paralysis and the worst of the conversion process. However,
conversion will still take place over the course of 1d10 days, with the target becoming more shapeless each
day. At the end of the process the victim will dissolve into goo. There is no known antidote.

Dimensional Travel: The Fury has shown the ability to develop new powers in response to an inability to defeat
a target. The most notable of these is dimensional travel. When it moves from one world to another, it takes
considerable damage, and its ability to regenerate is reduced that of its stinger until it heals to full health (at
which point its fast regeneration power reactivates). While previously the Fury would lose all Health on
travelling this way, it seems to be improving over time and now only loses 100 Health.

Notes

1. I hesitated to make the Fury’s gun as powerful as it is, but in the end went for it. Canonically he’s one-
shotted Captain Britain, Dr. Doom, and Miracle Man (yes, that Miracle Man, who appears in one panel
of action on Earth-238 getting his entire right side blown off). It really is that effective. Have an “it was
all a dream” up your sleeve, as a slow-on-the-uptake group of players is staring a TPK in the face.
2. Alas, there is no Fury HeroClix mini, except an ugly “Nick the Fury” for Battleworld. I have a sad now.
KEN HALE
Fighting: EX (20)
Agility: TY (6)
Strength: IN (40)
Endurance: RM (30)
Reason: GD (10)
Intuition: EX (20)
Psyche: GD (10)

Health: 96
Karma: 40
Resources: 6
Reputation: -6 (“Argh, it’s a gorilla!”)

Name: Ken Hale (public, AKA Gorilla Man)

Background: You’ll probably see the catch in this one:
“Whosoever kills the Gorilla Man becomes immortal and
can never die”. Yep—immortal Gorilla Man. Fantastic. It’s
like that Santa movie with tool guy in it…Tim
something…what? A gorilla can’t watch movies?

Not that we had DVD players when this all happened, but
you know: immortal. I’ve been kicking around Africa and
Europe since the late Forties, been a super spy and a
mercenary. Met Captain America once. No, not on an
adventure, Sarge’s Deli on 3rd, he was getting the brisket
and a side of pickles. Anyway, I got tired of all that maybe a decade back and I put out a shingle as a private
detective here in NYC. I don’t need the money or anything, it’s just a way of keeping my hand in things. I miss
it sometimes, the whole world of weird out there.

Sure wouldn’t mind not being a gorilla any more, though.

Powers and Abilities

Firearms: For someone with no opposable thumbs, Hale is really handy with a gun. His Agility rises to
Remarkable (30) when using a firearm.

Tracking: Gorilla Man spent many years as a hunter before his transformation, and can track people, animals,
and vehicles through any natural terrain (i.e., in the wilderness, not a city).

Private Detective’s License: Who’s the black private dick who’s got all the tricks? Shaft! Ken Hale has legal
knowledge and favors he can call in with the police which make him an Excellent (20) investigator of crimes.
HAZMAT
Fighting: GD (10)
Agility: GD (10)
Strength: TY (6)
Endurance: EX (20)
Reason: GD (10)
Intuition: TY (6)
Psyche: TY (6)

Health: 46
Karma: 26
Resources: 10
Reputation: 0

Name: Jennifer Takeda (secret)

Background: Jenny was just a spoiled rich kid from San

Francisco until she accidentally put her boyfriend in a coma.
Tests soon revealed that she was a mutant and that she had
started leaking radiation, which nearly killed Greg and soon
made her parents sick too. Worse, the levels were slowly
growing, making her an ever-increasing threat to those around
her.

Her case was taken up by General Techtronics Laboratories

East, a research company specializing in the safe handling of
radioactive materials, which managed to develop a suit that would contain her emissions, but encased in it she
was unable to live a normal life and soon plunged into a profound depression.

Unable to help her any further, two factions formed at General Techtronics. One wanted to exploit her for
research while one preferred to find her more help. When the company’s mysterious board of directors backed
the first group, the senior physician heading the other, Dr. Elaina Marks, contacted her old colleague Bruce
Banner. He was then heavily engaged in the project that lead to his death, so he passed the request on to the
Avengers. Hawkeye arrived in San Francisco just in time to save her.

She and Hawkeye struck up a friendship as the two rich girls in the Avengers Mansion, though Jenny’s powers
were considered too weak and out-of-control to gain her formal membership on the team. Nevertheless, she
trained with them and slowly picked up the trade, then after the Secret War the X-Men came calling. At first
reluctant to leave Earth she soon realized that she felt cut off from the Earth anyway, and a bad incident of
mutant hatred convinced her to move to the Sphere with the team.

She came under the wing of Rogue who, though newly retired from active duty, had sufficiently similar
experiences with her own powers to sympathize with the young Takeda. Their relationship was rocky, but the
young hero soon graduated to the X-Men team and took the code name Hazmat. Meanwhile, she struck up a
romance with another new team member, Mettle.

Powers and Abilities

Radiation Generation: Hazmat can direct bolts of all kinds of radiation from her hands, which do Remarkable
(30) damage. She also has the mutant ability to detect what particular variety of radiation an opponent is most
susceptible to, so if an opponent has body armor or some other power that defends against damage, she will
always fire the one that it is least protective against (e.g., if attacked by a Frost Giant she would instinctively
attack with infrared, while a robot might be attacked with electricity). If all forms of energy damage are equally
protected against, reduce its protective level by -2 CS. She will find a weak point.

Dangerous to Others (Limitation): Jenny can’t tamp down her powers entirely and so must wear her trademark
suit or be a menace. If it is breached or removed, she will damage anyone within one area starting at FB (2)
and gaining +1CS per turn until it is fixed/replaced, or she is causing Remarkable (30) damage.

Radiation Resistance: Hazmat is immune to the radiation she emits and has Unearthly (100) resistance to all
energy attacks. Note that heat is energy unless it is delivered by a hot object touching her, but cold is not.

Light: She can give off a soft glow of light from her entire body at once, which means she can light up dark
places at GD (10) strength,

EMP: When under great stress—currently only if she is reduced to five or less Health or in a turn when her
boyfriend Mettle is on the team and has just been knocked out of combat—she can give off an electromagnetic
pulse that does Monstrous damage to robots, artificial beings, and suits of powered armor within five areas.
Equipment dependent on electronics (computers, vehicles, phones, and so on) also risk destruction.

Body Armor: Jenny’s own weak point is physical damage. She is a weak fighter by superhero standards, and
the Kevlar fibres woven into her bodysuit only provide TY (6) protection against physical damage.

Air Filter: While it’s primarily intended to trap the secondarily radioactive air she breathes out, the air filter in her
mask gives her some protection from what’s in the outside air. She can breathe in a smoky atmosphere (such
as a building fire) and has TY (6) protection against gas attacks.

Notes

1. ♫ Boyfriend in a coma, I know, I know, it’s serious ♫

2. I’ve explicitly made Hazmat a mutant here, which she is only ambiguously in the comics. Norman
Osborn? He died back when Gwen Stacy did, what are you bringing him up for?
3. Hazmat is definitely quite squishy under the Marvel SH rules. If she’s not part of a team she has to end
a fight quickly or else. Being a member of a team helps a great deal, and she especially teams well with
Mettle and his Shield power.
HULK
Fighting: RM (20)
Agility: PR (4)
Strength: ShX (150)
Endurance: ShX(150)
Reason: FB (2)
Intuition: TY (6)
Psyche: UN (100)

Health: 324
Karma: 108
Resources: 0
Reputation: -50

Name: Hulk (public)

Background: It was a curse, really,
that’s all that makes sense. We tried so
many things to cure Bruce Banner or fix
him in some way and always he’d end
up back where he started, or worse. Our
last attempt broke all records for
disaster, though.

It was based on a detail that had been

ignored for a long time: Banner gained
mass when he changed into the Hulk
and lost it again when he calmed back down. Where did it come from? Were there Pym Particles involved,
somehow? Dr. Henry Pym had his growth particles on the brain if you ask me, but the theory he sketched out
suggested they might be. And if you hit the Hulk with a concentrated blast of gamma-charged Pym Particles
you could theoretically cut the connection to the extradimensional space that was providing the mass. No
mass, no Hulk. Banner, and the world, would finally be free.

So we set up shop in the New Mexico desert, which was a nice bit of irony, killing the Hulk in the same place
he was born. We needed the space for the G-P Bomb to go off and it’s good that we had it, given what
happened. Instead of sealing the connection to the otherworld, the blast ripped it wide open. What’s worse
than a seven-foot Hulk? How about a twenty-five-foot Hulk? And worse than that? The Hulk goes back to
whatever-the-hell place is on the other side, but no-one’s seen Banner since—it’s been years and we can only
assume he’s dead.

Hulk’s an inarticulate, raging force of nature now, like an earthquake or a hurricane that just eventually dies out
on its own. Every time he shows up again all we can do is try to steer him in circles in the Southwestern
badlands. It’s critical that we do: he almost took out Albuquerque a couple of years ago before we got him to
make a left turn back into the desert.
Powers and Abilities
Adrenaline Strength: Hulk starts any encounter with Shift-X strength but gains more quickly during combat.
Each turn he is under attack, he increases his strength the next by one row until he reaches a maximum of
Class 1000 in the fourth turn; his Health does not increase along with the stat. He maintains any gained
Strength level until the end of the encounter.

Growth: The Hulk’s latest iteration is under a permanent Good level growth power, making him 25 feet (6
meters) tall. This also makes him +1 CS to be hit by attacks.

Invulnerability: Hulk is resistant to all forms of damage at an Unearthly level, except cold, heat, or disease
which he resists at Class 1000 level. He also resists hunger and thirst at an Unearthly level (requiring food or
water only once every 100 days).

Regeneration: Hulk heals at an Unearthly rate every turn. He recovers from the effect of sopoforic gases one
turn after its influence is removed.

Speed: With his vastly increased mass, Hulk can no longer leap long distances. But while he appears to
lumber, it’s more of an illusion created by his size and he can hit Excellent speed (50mph/5 areas per turn)
when running. Standard SHIELD protocol dictates that you do not get in his way unless you are an Omega-
Level mutant, imbued with the Power Cosmic, or Starbrand. NOTE: Col. Rogers has several beings from these
categories in his contacts and will lend you his phone if the situation warrants it.

Until Next Time: If the Hulk is defeated or if he calms down long enough, he no longer turns into Bruce Banner.
Instead he fades out of existence altogether, switching from Earth’s dimension to some other place. It is a
critical SHIELD priority to understand what lets him return here to rampage again, but currently no-one knows,
only that he will return in 1d100 days.

Notes

1. Sure, blasting him with gamma rays and Pym Particles, what could possibly go wrong? But deep in
your heart you know you could list 10 even-stupider plans from comics without breaking a sweat.
2. You know what were the coolest comics ever? 70s Marvel Godzilla comics when you were eight years
old. Hell yes we’re going to see Doctor Demonicus before we done, and you can’t stop me. This Hulk
gets me some of that action. And let’s say this is a little homage to Marvel’s pre-Silver Age focus on
giant monster comics too.
3. Left turn at Albuquerque, I know, I’m a bad man. I couldn’t resist.
HYBRID
Fighting: GD (10)
Agility: GD (10)
Strength: AM (50)
Endurance: AM (50)
Reason: EX (20)
Intuition: TY (6)
Psyche: IN (40)

Health: 120
Karma: 66
Resources: 0
Reputation: -2

Name: James “Jimmy” Marks (secret)

Background: James Marks is the product of an unholy union,

the child of a human and an alien Dire Wraith in human form.
His life began in hope, as his father truly loved his mother
despite every natural instinct of his eldritch species, and the
newborn appeared completely human.

Life carried on until James was in his early teens when his
human-derived mutant powers manifested themselves. With the
aid of a group of other Dire Wraiths, who had tracked his father
to rural West Virginia, James was acquainted with the other half
of his heritage and he shape-changed into his ultimate form: a
horrific nine-foot tall being he called Hybrid.

As powerful as he is, it's fortunate that Hybrid has repeatedly been tripped up by his tremendous hunger for life
force. A psychic vampire of sorts, he is impulsive in indulging his tastes despite a native tendency toward
secrecy. On his first appearance he quickly came to the attention of the X-Men and the Space Knight Rom,
who quickly banished him to the otherdimensional Limbo, a hell for the Dire Wraiths. Unlike his half-brothers
and sisters, he has a native ability to eventually return to Earth from banishment (though it takes some time for
him to do so), but he soon attracts notice again and is returned to exile once more.

Powers and Abilities

Energy Vampire: If Hybrid touches a person, he can absorb their Karma to a maximum of 100 points. If this
reduces the victim to zero, the victim dies. Generally speaking, Hybrid only uses this ability when its target is
alone and unsuspecting. Absorbed Karma is added to his Health, up to his maximum level. He is also
psychologically addicted to the feelings it creates in him and will use this power even when at full Health.
Hybrid can also use this ability to shift into the shape of another living being. To do so he must kill his victim
with his Energy Vampire power, at which point the victim crumbles to dust and Hybrid transforms over the
course of the next turn. He gains the physical characteristics and memories of his victim, but not any
superpowers. He does still have access to his own powers.

Once shape-shifted in this manner he can keep his assumed form indefinitely, though as soon as he shifts to
another form (either by using his Energy Vampire power to that end again or using his native shape-shifting
power below) he cannot return to that previous form.

Shape Shifting: Hybrid has two “natural” shapes that he can achieve without a living template: his Hybrid form,
pictured on the previous page, and “Jimmy Marks”, which is his human appearance from when he first
transformed (a small blond boy about 12).

Telekinesis: James is one of the world’s most powerful telekinetics. He can move objects with his mind up to
10 areas away and with Monstrous (75) strength.

Psychic Bolts: Hybrid can also fire bolts of psychic energy up to five areas away. These are of Unearthly
strength (100) and on a successful hit a target must make a Psyche FEAT roll or be knocked unconscious for
1d10 turns. If combat ends with Hybrid victorious, he can “top up” the unconsciousness period indefinitely. He
uses this ability to build up a larder of victims on whom he can use his Energy Vampire power.

Psychic Force Field: An outgrowth of his telekinesis, Hybrid can erect a force field which completely encloses
him. It protects him from all types of damage to a Monstrous (75) level.

Psychic Domination: If Marks knocks out a target using his Psychic Bolt power, he also has the option of
reviving that person and making him or her into a fanatically loyal follower. In times of crisis, he can convert his
entire larder into a Praetorian Guard dedicated to destroying Hybrid’s attackers, and do it in one turn.

Power Suppression: Hybrid can suppress the superpowers of any being that touches him, with Unearthly (100)
strength. This includes characteristics such as Strength above Remarkable (30). Once a target’s powers are
suppressed, he can maintain that suppression without further contact or effort, allowing him to attack in
different ways the next turn. This power heterodynes with any hero that has power draining powers
themselves, causing 50 damage to the hero when he touches Hybrid.

Wraith Magic: Hybrid knows much of the Dire Wraiths’ eldritch magic and is a powerful sorcerer. These spells
are less powerful than his native mutant powers, so he restricts himself to ritual magic rather than using it in
combat. Given the time to engage in a ritual he could cast a large area into darkness, magnify local weather
conditions (a signature move given natural rain or snow to work with), or transfer something to or from Limbo.
His magical strength in Amazing (50).
IRON MAN
Fighting: EX (20)
Agility: RM (30)
Strength: AM (50)
Endurance: MN (75)
Reason: IN (40)
Intuition: GD (10)
Psyche: GD (10)

Health: 175
Karma: 60
Resources: 75
Reputation: -50

Name: Alexander Nevsky Stark (public)

Background: The supercriminal known as Iron Man was

once a boy living in exile with his father, Aleksandr
Nevsky, the third Crimson Dynamo. After Nevsky was
assassinated by the KGB in Vietnam, he was adopted by
Tony Stark to fulfill his father’s dying wish and raised in
the United States.

Young Alex grew up hating his adoptive father, who spent

more time tinkering with his companies and battle suits
than he did raising his new ward. The elder Stark,
descending into alcoholism and suffering other bodily
abuses (not least the chest injury that had birthed Iron Man in the first place), eventually reached the end of the
line in 1995. The 27-year old Alex Stark was named heir in his will and took over Stark Enterprises—not that
that made his memories of the old man any fonder.

At first, he seemed to have retired the Iron Man persona, even going so far as to ban various other candidates
for the role from working with any of the suits. Instead he restarted SE’s armaments business and branched
out in other directions like electric cars and commercial space launches.

He then dropped out of sight for a little while before returning with a world-wide broadcast from his new
headquarters: a Stark Enterprises space station in orbit around the Moon. Iron Man had returned, and he was
going to drop an asteroid on the Earth unless he was made the ruler of the world. The Avengers defeated him
that time, but ever since then he has been a consistent threat to the whole planet. Whether it’s aiding a Skrull
invasion, trying to carve his own country out of the former Soviet Union, or holding the International Moonbase
hostage, Iron Man has wheels within wheels of plans, all aimed at his own ultimate triumph.
Powers and Abilities

Body Armor: Stark’s trademark suit gives him Amazing (50) protection against physical attacks and Incredible
protection against heat, cold, and energy attacks. It also protects his eyes from light and ears from sound up to
the same intensity. As it has its own air supply, Iron Man is immune to gas attacks and the vacuum of space for
up to 24 hours.

Flight: Using his repulsor technology, Iron Man can fly at Shift-X (supersonic) speed indefinitely. By kicking in a
supplementary engine, he can reach orbit from the Earth’s surface (Class 1000 speed) but he must refuel his
suit after performing this feat.

Repulsor Beams: The powerful repulsors in his hands can do Amazing (50) physical damage up to ten areas
away. He can dial down the strength of these if desired. In the center of his chest is a heavy-duty repulsor
which is restricted to just five areas but does Unearthly physical damage. This weapon cannot be made to do
less damage.

Anti-Psychic Helmet: After an unfortunate incident with Emma Frost, Stark began investing in technologies that
could counter telepathy and mind control. While there’s still much work to be done, the mesh of rare earth
elements on the inside of his helmet provides Excellent protection against mental abilities.

Radio Comms: Using his suit radio in combination with SE’s many stealthed orbital assets, Stark can
communicate with any radio in the Earth/Moon system.

Teleportation: He may be power-hungry, but he’s not insane. Stark knows that he can be beaten and prepares
for that eventuality. Much of his fortune is untraceable to him, and he has industrial facilities ready to be
converted to bases all over the world. His final ace in the hole is a personal teleportation device which he uses
when a battle is lost. It is tuned to whatever location within 1000 miles that he has decided will be his fallback
position; one weakness is that there must be a large psionic homing beacon in place there—heroes who can
disable it or block the Monstrous strength signal that it uses can prevent Iron Man from using it.

Notes

1. Tony Stark has kind of always been a $%#@, though writers have only really caught up to this in the
last few years. Consider the Civil War, the Ultron thing in the MCU, and the year or so he stayed “evil”
after the Red Skull flipped everyone. They’ve never held to their convictions, though.
2. Just for fun: catch the reference to another supervillain. Your hint is that it's why I picked one of the
Crimson Dynamos as his real father rather than making him Stark's natural-born son.
JOYSTICK
Fighting: RM (30)
Agility: IN (40)
Strength: IN (40)
Endurance: AM (50)
Reason: TY (6)
Intuition: EX (20)
Psyche: TY (6)

Health: 160
Karma: 32
Resources: 6
Reputation: -6

Real Name: Janice Yanizeski (secret)

Background: Janice Yanizeski was once a typical college

student but, in her words, “something changed” and she
dropped out then disappeared entirely for a few years.
When she came back, she sported superhuman powers
and some high tech, and had taken on the name Joystick.
Her origin has remained obscure since then, not out of any
great desire to stay secretive but just that no-one’s ever
cared enough to investigate her past.

Joystick is the living definition of a minor villain. She

started out unusually as part of The Great Game, fighting
other superhumans out in the real world as part of various
dictated criminal plans, fights which the hyper-rich bet
upon for amusement’s sake. After a short, unsuccessful stint in the Thunderbolts, she turned firmly toward
crime and has popped up here and there as a bit player or muscle in a variety of schemes, always to be
defeated by some hero or another.

She’s past forty now and has never had much success. While she won’t admit it out loud, she knows she’s
slowing down, and she is desperate for one big score so that she can retire to the life of luxury that she feels
she richly deserves.

Powers and Abilities

Body Armor: One power that hasn’t started to desert her is her super-strong skin, which provides Excellent (20)
protection against physical, acid, heat, and cold attacks. It provides only Good (10) protection against energy.
Super-Speed: Though she’s not as fast as she used to be, Joystick still has Incredible speed (40) that lets her
clear 100 mph (160 km/h) when running and move 7 areas per turn in combat. She can also make up to three
attacks per turn.

Shock Batons: Joystick usually fights with her namesakes, two electrically charged shock batons that do
Incredible (40) electricity damage. She can also throw these batons up to two areas to do Incredible (40)
physical damage.

Power Bolt: If she crosses her batons, she can fire a lightning bolt that travels up to five areas and does
Remarkable damage (30).

Notes
1. A speedster-brick? You certainly don’t see a lot of those. As a referee I’d think long and hard about
allowing a PC with that combination into my game on grounds that it’d be too powerful. That said,
Joystick is a quintessential “opening beat” villain, by which I mean she’s the type used in a common
comics trope: opening in the middle of an action scene where the hero wins in the first four or five
pages before heading home for a shower—after which the real meat of the story arc starts.
2. The plot bunny in her origin suggests a way to handle the aging villain problem: it’s common to have an
ur-villain whose thing is powering up criminals into supercriminals (Dr. Karl Malus, Power Broker, Jonas
Harrow). It’s not much of stretch to have one who rejuvenates villains. To stay true to the real-time
premise, though, rejuvenation would have to cost, and I don’t mean money.
3. Alas, Joystick has no HeroClix. I’ll have to poke around for a substitute, or else just use her in online
games.
METTLE
Fighting: EX (20)
Agility: TY (6)
Strength: MN (75)
Endurance: MN (75)
Reason: TY (6)
Intuition: TY (6)
Psyche: EX (20)

Health: 176
Karma: 32
Resources: 4
Reputation: -2

Real Name: Kenny Mack (secret)

Background: Mettle was once just an ordinary kid, living a

life of leisure in tropical Hawaii with no concerns worse than
deciding where he’d go surfing on any given day. That all
changed when his mutant powers manifested themselves
after a bad wipeout. After his friends rushed to see if he was
alright, he pulled himself up off the shoreline to reveal that
he’d lost a large chunk of skin off his face, revealing a
metallic red skull underneath.

Both they and he fled out of horror in opposite directions.

Kenny stayed one step ahead of a search party and stole a
boat which he took to the abandoned island of Kaho’olawe
(a former Naval live-fire training range). He took shelter in a decrepit settlement there most of the time, or else
escaped into the scrubby forest inland when someone visited. There was no water and no food, but he no
longer needed any and the lack only helped him stay hidden.

No island is big enough to hide in if the Phoenix is looking for you, though. Hope Summers rapidly tracked him
down when forming her new team of X-Men and, with the help of the retiring Colossus, was able to convince
the despondent Mettle to return to civilization. Since then he’s slowly been coming to terms with his nature,
helped by a burgeoning relationship with his teammate Hazmat.

Powers and Abilities

Metallic Body: All of Mettle’s superhuman abilities stem from his armored body, which is made entirely of
“organic iridium”. While not as strong as adamantium and adamantium alloys, it approaches them and provides
him with Amazing protection against physical attacks, Monstrous protection against heat and cold, and
Incredible protection against all kinds of energy except electricity, which he resists at merely Excellent ability.
No Sustenance Needed: Mettle does not need to eat or drink, and he breathes only slowly. He has
Remarkable resistance to gas attacks and can go without air for 20 turns. He can withstand complete vacuum
or outer space for 10 turns.

Shield: Sessions in the Danger Room have taught him how to take strategic positions in combat that let him
cover “squishy” members of the team with his body. He can forgo offensive attacks in one turn to impose
himself between any member of the X-Men within 3 areas and any ranged attack, thus absorbing it with his
armor (and taking damage if the attack exceeds his armor level).

Clumsy (limitation): Mettle’s hands are somewhat larger than usual for his proportions and his fingertips are
made of the same slick metal as the rest of his body. This makes it difficult for him to work with most small
objects (e.g., pressing the buttons on a phone, turning the pages on a book, or turning on a tap). He must
make an Agility roll to use them normally. Very fine objects like shoelaces, shirt buttons, or coins are beyond
his ability.

Notes

1. Colossus is obviously the first character to jump to mind as a predecessor, but the better comp is The
Thing. Mettle’s major selling point is that he’s going to have to deal with his alienation from the better
part of humanity, something Peter never had to do due to his ability to revert to human form. Ben
Grimm’s complication is, I’d argue, the first and most quintessential Marvel trope.
2. The shield power is a nod to his in-comics death. I mean, any other brick could do this, but this version
of Kenny specializes in taking the hit for others. It also ties back to his self-loathing.
MS. AMERICA
Fighting: GD (10)
Agility: GD (10)
Strength: AM (50)
Endurance: MN (75)
Reason: TY (6)
Intuition: EX (20)
Psyche: RM (30)

Health: 145 but see below

Karma: 56
Resources: 6
Reputation: 10

Real Name: America Chavez (public)

Background: Outside the multiverse, the divine Demiurge

created the Utopian Parallel, a cosmic balance to the many
demonic dimensions throughout space and time. Though long
empty the plane began picking up persecuted, female
refugees from Earth’s history—Cathars, Iberian Jews,
Midianites, Jie, Tagalogs, Herero and many others—
mystically transported there by the infinite mercy of its creating force. There they developed a paradisiacal
culture of art, science, and warrior strength, all stemming from their shared experience of Earth and backed by
the cosmic power that infused the parallel and its inhabitants.

America Chavez is descended from a long line of Utopians stretching back to refugees from Spain, one of
considerable importance in the Parallel’s society, so that America was considered a princess among them. But
when the Parallel was nearly destroyed by the Demiurge’s evil counterpart Mother, Chavez’s own mothers
sacrificed themselves to save their world. America soon ran away, determined to become a hero herself.

Her interdimensional powers brought her to her namesake on Earth—not the USA but the continent and a half
south of the Rio Grande. Wandering from Argentina and Chile to the American Southwest she adopted the
cultures she found in a conscious effort to return to her heritage and find her place in the world. By her mid-
teens she had embarked on her heroic career.

Even so, since making her debut she’s continued her vagabond ways in a different format, briefly joining or
associating herself with several superhero teams of varying prestige. At the moment she is a solo hero, and
she is enrolled at UCLA.
Powers and Abilities

Flight: Ms. America can fly at Remarkable (30) speed.

Durability: She is extremely durable and has Amazing (50) protection against physical and energy attacks.

Environmental Resistance: She does not have to breathe and so can venture to space without protection.

Cosmic Ability: Each turn, Ms. America can focus her cosmic ability as a free action and do one of two things:

• Increase her Fighting one rank to a maximum of Amazing

• Increase her Agility one rank, to a maximum of Remarkable

These increases are cumulative until she is knocked unconscious or combat ends, and she does not have to
focus to maintain them i.e., if she uses another power, she does not lose the increases she’s accumulated. Her
health also increases to match the new ranks, eventually reaching a maximum of 205.

Teleportation: America can create silver, star-shaped structures that, when she destroys them physically, turn
into portals that can take her anywhere in the world, to any dimension, and (if given a related focus like an
object from the destination) anywhere in time. She does not need to have been to or even to have seen the
destination, making this arguably her most amazing power. She and any companions may use portals after
she creates them, and they disappear a few moments after she passes through it. For the purposes of powers
that negate other powers, treat this ability of Ms. America’s as Unearthly (100) strength.

Cosmic Awareness: America has a cosmic connection to the plane she is on and the Multiverse as a whole. If
either are threatened with destruction, she can sense it, and would only hesitate to use her teleportation to go
fight the cause solo if she could quickly gather as many heavy hitters as she can first.

Trilingual: America can speak Spanish, English, and Brazilian Portuguese fluently.

Notes

1. I used the term hot mess in my intro post and boy howdy is her background messed up. You can see
the purpose of every decision made by the various creators who’ve worked on her, but pulling it all into
a coherent whole took some work. I do think it holds together now.
2. That said, I had to go through some serious gyrations to explain why a child born in an interdimensional
world would be named America. I’ve not read all she’s been in, so I don’t know if that’s been addressed
canonically, but I haven’t seen it. I think this works, but it feels like a bridge made of popsicle sticks.
3. While the concept was “Captain America for the other continent and a half of Americas”, I trust it’s
obvious that Ms. America owes as much to the Other Guys’ star-spangled hero, Wonder Woman.
4. Marvel clearly thinks they’ve got a breakout character here, given how they toss her into everything
lately, and I think they’re right. But I also think she needs a defining run from a creator at the top of their
game to get her there.
NOVA
Fighting: EX (20)
Agility: EX (20)
Strength: AM (50)
Endurance: RM (30)
Reason: GD (10)
Intuition: GD (10)
Psyche: TY (6)

Health: 120
Karma: 26
Resources: 4
Reputation: 6

Real Name: Sam Alexander (secret)

Background: Sam is the last of the Nova Corps, a former group of

galactic guardians destroyed more than a decade ago by the
Annihilation Fleet. One former member, Sam’s father, survived on
Earth.

A few years after this, Sam—then a high school student in Arizona—

stumbled across his father’s helmet at exactly the moment when one
of the elder Alexander’s former colleagues, Rocket Raccoon, came
looking for the last Nova. Finding Jesse Alexander unsuitable due to
age and alcoholism, the semi-anthropomorphic alien took Sam under his wing and trained him in the use of the
Nova Force and the suit needed to contain it. The novice superhero lacked confidence, a trait he still battles
against, but won out over a threat from the Black Galaxy despite it.

After completing this celestial mission, the new Nova returned to Earth, completing school and setting himself
up as a hero. Now in his early twenties, he’s taken on Uatu the Watcher as a new patron in recent years,
acting on that being’s cryptic hints to battle planetary level threats all while trying to establish an adult life in
Scottsdale, Arizona. Though primarily a solo hero, he’s become associated with the Avengers, whom he can
call on if confronted with a menace bigger than he can handle on his own.

Powers and Abilities

Flight: Nova can fly at up to Shift-X speeds, sufficient to reach orbit and outer space from the surface of the
Earth. However, he becomes a bit of a bull in a china shop when he goes over Remarkable (30) speed and
must make an Agility roll to change direction under these circumstances.

Body Armor: Sam’s suit can prevent up to Remarkable (30) physical damage.
Energy Absorption: Similarly, the suit also soaks up energy attacks to Remarkable (30) strength and stores
them for use with his Energy Bolt power, below. The maximum amount of energy he can store at one time is
Unearthly (100), which he can achieve by storing successive smaller attacks. If he is hit with an energy attack
that pushes him over the 100 limit, he is still protected from it, but the energy is dissipated.

Energy Bolts: Nova can fire absorbed energy from his hands at any strength from Excellent (20) to Monstrous
(75), but only if he has absorbed that energy from previous attacks. He has no intrinsic energy that lets him
“shoot first”, in other words.

Nova Pulse: As well as firing energy as bolts, if Nova has absorbed 100 points of energy, he can unleash it all
as an omnidirectional blast of energy that does Monstrous damage to all targets in his current area and all
adjacent areas. Doing so exhausts him: afterward he is -3 ranks to all physical stats and cannot fire energy
bolts of greater than Excellent strength no matter how much new energy he absorbs after the pulse. This lasts
for 2-20 turns.

Environmental Immunity: The Nova armor is a spacesuit and will support life in outer space and otherwise
benign environments with no breathable air (e.g., the Moon or underwater, but not the surface of Venus or the
extreme depths of the ocean). This also makes Sam immune to cold temperatures, though not cold-based
attacks.

It’s the Suit (Limitation): Sam’s powers stem from the Nova armor and its helmet. If either or both are removed,
he loses the abilities they grant (even to the extent of once immediately dropping from the sky after taking off
his helmet in confusion while flying). Furthermore, he has an inferiority complex about this and if de-suited
must make a green roll against his Psyche or else be unable to perform any positive action, reduced to angst-
ing for one turn before he can make another roll.

Notes

1. Nova gets into my universe mostly on the strength of my nostalgia for Amazing Spider-Man #171, the
back half of a two-parter (with Nova #12), which I owned as a kid. Spidey and Nova team up to defeat a
villain called Photon, with a “twist clue” being the hoary old JASOND calendar trick. I’ve re-read it as an
adult and it’s pretty weak, but I enjoyed it when I was 7.
2. Sam’s backstory and history are overly complex for such a new hero, a side effect of him passing
through the hands of several creators and several titles in quick succession. Some simplification was in
order.
3. Likewise, I’m not personally a fan of Marvel’s pulpy take on outer space—I’ve never even seen
Guardians of the Galaxy, that’s how little it interests me—so Nova gets drawn back toward the Earth
and anchored in place with some space-y tinsel (Uatu). This keeps him available for use in the
relatively low-powered campaign I have in mind.
4. Hat tip to Classic Marvel Forever for the write-up of the original Nova, on which this take was based.
PHOENIX
Fighting: RM (30)
Agility: RM (30)
Strength: RM (30)
Endurance: MN (75)
Reason: EX (20)
Intuition: RM (30)
Psyche: UN (100)

Health: 165
Karma: 150
Resources: 30 (as de facto leader of The Sphere)
Reputation: -30 (on Earth), 30 (on The Sphere)

Real Name: Hope Spalding (secret)

Background: Born in Cooperstown, Alaska in 2007,

Hope was the first mutant on Earth-2019 with an
affinity for the Phoenix Force since Jean Grey died a
quarter-century before. After a lengthy jaunt up the
timestream to protect her from those who would kill her
rather than risk another Dark Phoenix, a now late-teens
Hope returned to the present day of 2013 just as the X-
Men were reaching a nadir with the death of several
members and Cyclops’ descent into villainy at the head of the new Brotherhood.

She helped them and many of the Earth’s other mutants escape to The Sphere and set up a new society
where they were safe from all but the most determined and powerful terrestrial foes. In time she took on the
mantle of team leader, and she heads the main squad of heavy hitters when the X-Men want to return to Earth
in force. As Phoenix she’s been establishing herself as one of the most powerful heroes going, fully the equal
of Starbrand and Thor of the Avengers, though one whose abilities have not been enough to stop the world’s
long slow slide into anti-mutant hysteria. In fact, as leader of the X-Men, she is becoming a feared figure
through no fault of her own

To date there has been no sign of any “dark side” taking over Hope’s personality, but she is concerned by the
possibility and has started to make contingency plans for the event if it should ever occur.

Powers and Abilities

Environmental Immunity: Phoenix is not affected by any hostile environment, even the depths of space or the
center of a star. She is immune to gas attacks.

Telepathy: Hope has been a telepath since she was very young, and augmented by the Phoenix Force she
has Unearthly (100) strength and world-wide range with this power. If she chooses, she can establish a mental
connection with any one person on The Sphere and communicate telepathically with them from Earth despite
the many intervening light years.

Telekinesis: The young Hope also had telekinetic powers, but to a very limited extent. Again, manifesting the
Phoenix has radically increased her strength and range to Unearthly (100).

Flight: An outgrowth of her telekinesis, Phoenix can fly at Unearthly (100) speed in an atmosphere and CL1000
in space.

Teleportation: Phoenix can open gates that teleport her and others (if she wishes) over interstellar distances.
She can teleport anywhere in the galaxy that she has been to before, though she usually restricts herself to the
Earth and the Sphere.

Phoenix Flame: Hope can generate large “claws” of cosmic flame that she can use to attack opponents within
10 areas. The flame does Unearthly (100) fire damage, and if she wishes can combine it with her telekinesis to
grapple an opponent at Unearthly (100) strength and do continuing damage that lasts until the opponent
breaks free or she lets him go. She can form two of these claws at a time, and grapple with each
simultaneously, though the initial attacks must be in separate turns.

Phoenix Force Field: Phoenix can surround herself with an aura of cosmic flame that, while it does not provide
protection against physical attacks, does Monstrous (75) flame damage to any person or thing that touches
her. If she is attacked with an object (e.g., a thrown car) and the attack hits, resolve the damage to the object
first before determining if the attack does her any damage. It may be vaporized before it can hit her.

Absorption: Phoenix can absorb energy attacks up Unearthly (100) strength and take no damage. This power
can be turned off at will and does not function if Hope is unconscious.

Regeneration: Hope regenerates Health at a Monstrous (75) rate.

Survival: Before her powers developed, Hope spent several years in post-apocalyptic and low-tech societies in
Earth’s future. Though her powers tend to make it redundant, she can live off the land and survive in any
woodland setting, or in the ruins of cities.

Notes

1. Obviously a very powerful character, though true to the take on the original Phoenix in the 80s game
books. She’d be a bear to referee, with your job most times being figuring out how to keep her from
mopping the floor with opponents.
2. She’s a Spalding in this universe, her original family name. On Earth-2019 there’s no connection with
the Summers family worth her changing it. Cable is too Liefieldy for me, though I did keep the time-
hopping years—details to be added as needed.
POWER MAN
Fighting: EX (20)/IN(40)
Agility: RM (30)
Strength: EX (20)/IN(40)
Endurance: EX (20)
Reason: TY (6)
Intuition: GD (10)
Psyche: GD (10)

Health: 90/130
Karma: 26
Resources: 4
Reputation: 10

Real Name: Victor Alvarez (secret)

Background: Victor is the son of Efrain Alvarez,

formerly the small-time supercriminal Shades. Efrain
went straight before Victor was born and worked as a
housing advocate for poor neighborhoods in New
York City. When a Stark Industries cut-out bought a
whole block in Harlem, proposing to demolish it and
replace it with a new office tower, he and Victor were
part of a group of 108 people that occupied the
apartments. A massive explosion ripped through the
building, demolishing it and killing everyone except
Victor.

Perhaps warned that something was going to happen,

Shades had brought his trademark powered goggles
with him and was holding them when the bomb went
off. Tiny crystals of the life-tapping crystal that made its lenses embedded themselves in Victor’s body and he
absorbed the dying chi of all the other building occupants, enabling his own survival.

One of the dead was a student of Danny Rand, also known as Iron Fist, and Victor instantly discovered that
he’d gained his fighting skills, including the so-called “Screaming Eagle Strike” that let him hit with stunning
force. Since then he’s worked with both his namesake Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and various other young heroes
with the Avengers Academy. In the latter case he struck up a “team within the team” with his fellow Academy
student, White Tiger, whose attitudes and powers he finds simpatico with his. Though both were offered a spot
on the latest iteration of the Avengers, they instead left the team a short while later in favor of striking out on
their own: Victor views his purpose in life as defending New York City, not getting caught up in international
and intergalactic adventures.
Powers and Abilities

Screaming Eagle Strike: His first-discovered power and the one he still relies on the most, Power Man can
focus chi energy from his surroundings to make himself capable of Amazing physical damage with his right fist.
He can keep this energy focused indefinitely, and while he does so his Fighting and Strength increase as
shown in his stat block. He normally only “powers up” during combat, as he crackles with visible energy.

Power Man has developed one power stunt with this ability. He can increase his damage to Unearthly for one
punch by absorbing chi from a large area around him. After doing so he must make a red FEAT against his
Endurance or fall unconscious for 1-10 turns.

Durability: When powered up, Victor has Excellent resistance to all kinds of damage,

Absorb Chi: If attacked with a power that could reasonably be described as using life force (for example, Iron
Fist’s signature attack, but also the Black Queen Selene’s telekinetic bolts, Dagger’s light daggers, and others),
Victor can blunt the attack to some extent by absorbing its chi. Any such attacks that hit him lose -3 CS in
damage. This power works instinctively, so it will still be in play even if he is surprised.

Transfer Chi: Victor can transfer some of his absorbed life energy by touch. If he is touching a willing target,
the target can increase one stat or power of their choice by +1 CS. He and White Tiger often use this power
together, fighting back to back so he can pound bad guys from one direction while she shreds them from the
other.

Some Experience Required (limitation): Power Man’s super abilities depend on the life force of everyday
people “soaking” into the environment where he uses them. He’s at his best in old neighborhoods or crowded
situations but loses some or all his powers if he is in, for example, a newly built building that is unoccupied in
the middle of the night. The exact amount of his strength that is removed is left for the referee to decide on a
situation by situation basis.

Notes

1. For a new character, Power Man’s powers are all over the place in terms of what he can do with them. I
pared them down and rationalized what he’s shown doing in the comics to this set of abilities.
PUNISHER
Fighting: GD (10)
Agility: EX (20)
Strength: GD (10)
Endurance: AM (50)
Reason: GD (10)
Intuition: TY (6)
Psyche: EX (20)

Health: 90
Karma: 36
Resources: 6
Reputation: -2 (30 in the society of The Sphere)

Real Name: Molly Hayes (public)

Background: Still only in her mid-20s, Punisher has been

superpowered since she was ten years old, if not precisely a
hero for all that time. A long-term runaway, she fought off
attempts to take her home by the Avengers and the X-Men, and
gained her moniker “by right of combat” after its former owner
mistook her for a criminal.

After coming of age and becoming more and more isolated as

the US government turned against mutants, she finally signed on
with one of her erstwhile helpers and moved with the X-Men to The Sphere, where she’s made herself into the
heavy hitter on the team after Colossus’ retirement from active duty. It’s been a tough transition but it’s not like
she hasn’t been on a team before and The Sphere’s dwellers can always use someone capable of looking
perfectly normal while on a mission. In return, she’s getting some good training (even if it’s kind of a pain).

Powers and Abilities

Super-Strength: Molly can power up at will to super-strength of anywhere from Amazing (50) to Unearthly (100)
rank. When she does so, her eyes glow pink. Exerting herself by lifting or punching while at powered-up
strength has two effects: first the pink glow expands to “Kirby Crackle” over the rest of her body and, more
importantly, she must make an Endurance FEAT roll each turn or lose one rank of Endurance. At Amazing
rank she must make a green result, at Monstrous a yellow, and Unearthly a red. If her Endurance drops to
zero, she falls asleep and loses her super-strength until she has a lengthy nap (one Endurance rank regained
per hour, and an Endurance FEAT roll allowed on each hour to wake up—with the rank regain continuing after
she wakes up until it reaches normal).
Health Boost: When she powers up, her Health also increases by the amount matching her Strength increase.
When she powers down, any damage she has taken will come from this excess Health, though she is not
healed if she then powers up again.

Resistance: The pink Kirby Crackle is not just for show. It gives Punisher armor against physical attacks equal
to the level of Strength she has chosen and against energy attacks one level below (e.g., at Amazing strength
she has Incredible resistance to energy, at Monstrous strength Amazing and so on).

Notes

1. Molly is the first of our X-Men in the set up I described previously (barring side act Vanisher) – refugees
from Earth living in a Dyson Sphere well away from where any Sentinels or other products of human
prejudice can get at them. She more or less has to end up with them because the number of really
good mutant characters who’ve been introduced in the last decade or so is surprisingly low. Everyone
interesting is, at best, on the verge of aging out.
2. Her hero name derives, of course, after one of the best pages in Marvel history.
3. Kirby crackle…well, I don’t know how else you’d describe it.
4. What happened to the other Runaways? No idea. I never found any of the rest of them interesting, so
they stay in the background until (if) they’re needed.
RADIANCE
Fighting: IN (40)
Agility: IN (40)
Strength: GD (10)
Endurance: EX (20)
Reason: TY (6)
Intuition: GD (10)
Psyche: GD (10)

Health: 110
Karma: 26
Resources: 20 (personal)/30 (as a
member of Alpha Flight)
Reputation: 30

Real Name: Ryoko Sabuki (public)

Background: Radiance is the grand-

daughter of the WWII-era hero Golden
Girl, a Japanese-American mutate who
fought alongside the Invaders. Ryoko’s
birthright made her inhumanly quick and
gave her powers of flight and
electromagnetic generation. Though born in the United States, she moved to Japan to start a fashion career
which soon expanded to her becoming a pop idol.

She had no intention of being a hero, but then she inadvertently discovered fragmentary evidence that the
Invaders had conspired to have atomic bombs dropped on Japan at the end of WWII, fighting off her
grandmother’s opposition. Ryoko felt that she needed to bring what remained of the Invaders—Captain
America and the android Vision—to justice in memory of the civilians who had died during the attacks, and
assumed a new identity as Radiance. Eventually more evidence surfaced that changed this story somewhat
and she reconciled with the group. Afterward, she returned home but continued her superheroic career.

As a citizen of Japan, she was a candidate for the new UN-run Alpha Flight and. having made the
acquaintance of Colonel Rogers due to her previous vendetta, he offered her a place on the team. She
accepted.

Since joining Alpha Flight, she has been arguably their most popular member, as not only is she seen as
someone who actively helps to save the world, she’s been able to leverage her previous experience as a
famous model and singer in Japan into worldwide recognition. Only her somewhat irritable personality puts off
some people who come to know her better.
Powers and Abilities

Electromagnetic Bolts: Radiance can generate swirling bolts of any frequency photon energy, from ELF to
gamma rays. This also includes light, ultraviolet and infrared, and x-rays. These do Incredible (40) damage,
though only at fairly close range (no more than 2 areas away).

Flight: Radiance can fly at Incredible (40) speed, or 8 areas per turn. She can make as many changes in
direction as she likes while doing so, in any direction, without having to make a FEAT roll.

Super-Speed: While redundant in relation to her Flight power, Radiance is superhumanly quick (as reflected in
her high Fighting and Agility scores). If she chooses to run for whatever reason, she has Good super-speed,
which lets her move 4 areas per turn, or about 80 kilometers an hour.

Notes

1. Ryoko is squishy like Hazmat, but less so due to her maneuverability, for all that’s she always shown
shooting her light bolts from fairly close range. Being part of a team will still help, though, letting her hit
and run while the bricks keep the threat contained and away from where she ends her turns.
2. Unlike a lot of characters from other countries, she isn’t really “Captain (country name)”, which is good.
There’s subtle connection between “radiance” and Japan as the land of the Rising Sun—the reason for
the symbol on her shirt, I presume—but it’s subtle. She has a life outside of “I’m Japanese!”
ROCKET RACER
Fighting: GD (10)
Agility: EX (20)
Strength: TY (6)
Endurance: GD (10)
Reason: RM (30)
Intuition: GD (10)
Psyche: GD (10)

Health: 46
Karma: 50
Resources: 4
Reputation: -2

Real Name: Markael Manning (secret)

Background: You’ve got to understand that

the original Rocket Racer is a legend among
The Bronx’s Maker community. Dude didn’t
even have a high school education and he
builds himself a rocket-propelled skateboard,
mini-missiles in his gloves, a gyroscope
guidance system that let him climb walls. He
could take on Spider-Man one-on-one. The
man was a freaking genius.

So, it’s not too crazy that one us got a little obsessed, spent their time after school recreating the whole thing. I
think it started out as cosplay—Markael even got all the little details on the costume right—but he just kept
going until the whole thing was functional. Then I guess he decided to cut to the chase and start making some
money. I heard he got turned down for a scholarship at MIT first, maybe he just wanted to show off what he
could do, attract some publicity, I don’t know. We weren’t that close friends. But the story is that he snagged a
courier’s bag with $40,000 in bearer bonds in it and he never looked back. The cops came by the next day, but
we only see him every now and then, not so much lately.

Powers and Abilities

Rocket Board: The Racer has a rocket-propelled skateboard capable of Remarkable (30) speed, five areas per
turn or 60 mph (100 km/h). He wears electromagnetic plates on his boots that he can turn on and off at will so
he can stay on or temporarily jump off it, and has developed several acrobatic maneuvers that let him get
through traffic and tight areas at speed.

The board is wired for radio contact, and he can call it to him if he is separated from it but retains his headset.
Vertical Hang: As mentioned, there is a gyroscope built into the skateboard so that Rocket Racer can climb
walls at the same speed he can skate horizontally.

Area Knowledge: Markael has a photographic memory for Manhattan and the Bronx’s street and building
layout. If he needs a tunnel so he can ditch a flying hero, or some stairs to grind so he can lose a car chasing
him, he has an Unearthly (100) ability to find one nearby.

Glove Rockets: Rocket Racer has eight mini-missiles built into his gloves, which he can fire up to four areas
away for Incredible (40) physical damage.

Rocket Punch: Markael can choose to use up a missile shot in hand-to-hand combat to augment a punch. A
rocket punch does Incredible (40) damage on a hit and stops an opponent from moving on the next turn
(though they can still attack if the Racer is in range).

Notes

1. Rocket Racer is about the most Fads-of-the-Seventies-looking villain possible so Markael gets a 21st-
century fad hook for why he’s dressed like that. There’s a pretty decent modern-day redesign floating
around but his HeroClix is the old suit, so I went this way with it.
2. Like Joystick he’s an “opening pages” villain, in his case because he’s too weak to take on any but the
most underpowered heroes. His game is getting away in a hurry and using his other powers only to
hold off heroes long enough to build up speed.
SENTINEL
Fighting: IN (40)
Agility: IN (40)
Strength: MN (75)
Endurance: MN (75)
Reason: EX (20)
Intuition: EX (20)
Psyche: TY (6)

Health: 230
Karma: 46
Resources: 30 (as a member of Alpha Flight)
Reputation: 10

Real Name: Karima Shapinder (secret)

Background: Formerly a human police officer in Kolkata,

India, Karima Shapinder was converted into an Omega
Sentinel during one of the endless attempts to destroy
mutant-kind by those AIs. Brought low by a combination of
human and mutant heroes, this particular plot ended with
Shapinder powered down through damage. Her remains
were taken for safekeeping to the sub-basements of the
School for Gifted Youngsters, where they lay forgotten.

Ten years later the elder-statesman scientist of the X-Men, Beast, noticed that Karima was not totally inactive:
she was slowly repairing herself. Rather than wait for events to play out, with the aid of Henry Pym and Tony
Stark he gingerly ushered the process along until it was completed. The revived being was neither a Sentinel
or Karima, but rather a near-blank slate fortunately driven by what remained of her original human instincts.

Taken in by the Avengers, she served as an adjunct member and struck up a sort of friendship with the
Avengers Mansion`s artificial intelligence VISION, which had once been in a similar position. After briefly
reverting to her Sentinel personality during the so-called Extinction Event, which included a period of conflict
between the Avengers and X-Men, she left New York and returned to her old, still-forgotten homeland. There
she hoped that, though she did not remember India, it would help her assert her human side.

There she stayed for some time before Colonel Rogers called, looking to recruit her for the new Alpha Flight.
Doubting that she was ready, she turned him down, but after the two joined forces to defeat a plot by the Red
Claw, she changed her mind and joined the team.
Powers and Abilities

Hand Gun: Karima’s right hand has been replaced by a powerful ranged weapon, which does Amazing (50)
energy damage to targets up to five areas away.

Flight: Sentinel can fly at Excellent (20) speed, or 5 areas per turn.

Mutant Detection: As a Sentinel, Karima can sense mutants in her presence.

Body Armor Karima’s cybernetic body may not look it, but it is heavily armored. She has Amazing (50)
protection against all kinds of damage except electricity, against which it is only Incredible (40).

Environmental Immunity: Likewise, her near-android nature means that she is immune to gas or vacuum and
can sustain high pressures underwater. She can function in space.

Regeneration: Sentinel regenerates from damage with Remarkable (30) ability. If reduced to zero Health, this
drops to Feeble (2).

Not Quite Human (Limitation): In a situation that requires an emotional response or general human knowledge,
Karima must make an Intuition roll or she will misinterpret events (e.g., fighting instead of talking down a
basically good opponent acting like a villain out of desperation, or not prioritizing a maternity ward full of babies
when a hospital is under attack). Her relatively low Reputation is caused by some poor choices made during
public fights.

Notes

1. There’s no such last name as Shapindar, so I changed it to the common Indian name Shapinder. Which
is a personal name and not a family one, but whatever. Her first name marks her as an Indian Muslim,
as it’s Arabic, the female equivalent of Karim.
2. What a terrible picture, though it’s the best one I can find with no background. Her HeroClix mini is
much nicer.
3. Lots of references to events about which I have only the vaguest notion. Just more plot hooks left
hanging for if I need them.
4. Sentinel`s powers are a little bit Iron Man and a little bit the Sentinel Nimrod. As befits her spiritual
ancestors, she’s one of Alpha Flight’s heavy hitters, able to go toe-to-toe with almost anyone.
SORCEROR SUPREME
Fighting: GD (10)
Agility: GD (10)
Strength: TY (6)
Endurance: RM (30)
Reason: GD (10)
Intuition: AM (50)
Psyche: MN (75)

Health: 56
Karma: 135
Resources: 6
Reputation: 0

Real Name: Jennifer Kale (secret)

Background: No-one expected it to come to this. The Ancient

One had lived for 500 years, after all, and there was every reason
to believe that Stephen Strange would be the Sorcerer Supreme
well into the 21st century. But then recent times have been
interesting times in the proverbial sense and Dr. Strange has
moved on to newer and higher dimensions far beyond Earth—for
all intents and purposes dead.

And so the search began, the Eye of Agamotto's simple and

single-minded personality winnowing through the world's greatest
magi before finally settling on the swamps of Florida and one
Jennifer Kale. She resisted her destiny (years of putting up with
Man-Thing and Howard the Duck will do that to you), but the powers of evil had reached the same conclusion
as the Eye and were rapidly converging on Citrusville. The town destroyed around her, Kale took up the
burdens of the Sorcerer Supreme.

Kale is a less-urbane figure than her predecessor, preferring a run-down Victorian mansion in the
Okeefenokee Swamp of Georgia as her home base as opposed to an upscale brownstone in New York.
Likewise, she relies on her ancestral Tome of Zhered-Na to the Book of Vishanti; it occupies an intermediate
moral position between the knowledge of the Vishanti and the Darkhold. This puts her in danger of falling into
evil in a way that Strange and the Ancient One never had to deal with, but her innate goodness and the help of
her friends have kept her on the side of light—even if those friends include the return of a sentient mud heap
and that stupid duck.

Powers
The Sorcerer Supreme knows many spells, some of which are: Astral Projection (treat as Intangibility,
Monstrous), Eldritch Bolt (Monstrous magical damage), Detect Magic (Unearthly), Silence (stops a target from
speaking, including spells, Unearthly strength. Those with Amazing Psyche or higher roll against that stat once
to avoid), Dimension Door (travel to other dimensions with others, Amazing), and Ensnare (paralyze a target
until they make a Psyche roll). Her signature tactic is to use the latter two powers to banish foes—she must
make a successful Dimension Door power roll to succeed.

Cloak of Levitation: Like her predecessor, the Sorcerer Supreme possesses a cloak of levitation which allows
her to fly at up to Unearthly speed.

Call Zhered-Na: As the great-great-to-the-nth granddaughter of Zhered-Na, Kale can speak with the spirit of
her ancestor. Zhered-Na has Unearthly knowledge of the spells within the Tome that bears her name, other
dimensions, and the mystical history of Earth up until 12,000 BC. She’s hazy on events since then. The
Sorcerer Supreme must use a long ritual to invoke this power, so she cannot do this in combat or while on the
run.

Eye of Agamotto: Jennifer is still exploring the many powers of the Eye, but so far she can use its mystical
beam to penetrate disguises and illusions (Monstrous), read minds (Amazing), levitate objects and persons (up
to Incredible weight), and weaken powerful evil beings (-1 CS to all stats and powers of Amazing strength or
above).

Notes:

1. The mini’s pink, but greenskin here is the only pic I could find with the right costume
2. Power level upped a lot from the canonical version published in the GHOTMU but not as strong as
Strange. Heroes who are still learning are more interesting.
3. I’m not entirely serious about bringing back Man-Thing and Howard as her sidekicks. Though the
challenge is intriguing. Maybe if I can get a good deal on their dual HeroClix mini.
SPIDERLING
Fighting: EX (20)
Agility: AM (50)
Strength: RM (30)
Endurance: IN (40)
Reason: GD (10)
Intuition: EX (20)
Psyche: RM (30)

Health: 140
Karma: 60
Resources: 6
Reputation: 2

Name: Anya-Marie Parker (secret)

Background: The third generation of hero in the

family, Anya follows in the footsteps of her
grandfather Peter and her mother May in putting
on the spider mask. Like her mother she faces
parental disapproval—Mamma May’s hero past is
trumped by her single-mother present—but at least
she’s got Grampa Pete and Granma Mary in her
corner. It’s only been a few months since her powers kicked in, but already she’s fought Screwball, Mr.
Negative, the latest Jack O’Lantern, and Dr. Octopus’ disembodied arms (she’s still trying to figure that one
out).

Powers and Abilities

Spider Form: Unlike her mom and grandpa, Anya changes to Spiderling and back. Under most circumstances
she’s a normal kid with no powers (except her spider sense, below) but by conscious effort taking one turn she
can “wake up” her other powers. She retains this form until she decides to change back, and if knocked
unconscious she retains the form she is in. When she’s not Spiderling, her stats are:

F A S E R I P
TY (6) TY (6) PR (4) GD (10) GD (10) EX (20) GD (10)

Body Armor: As Spiderling, she grows chitinous plates on her arms, legs, and parts of her torso that give her
Excellent protection against physical and Good protection against energy attacks.

Spider Sense: Both Anya and Spiderling can directionally sense danger up to ten areas away, and to the
everlasting chagrin of her mom she uses it to run toward problems. She also cannot be completely surprised
and can always make one defensive action when an opponent has the drop on her.
Wall-Crawling: Spiderling can stick to walls and ceilings if she chooses to do so and travels at normal speed
while doing so.

Web Shooting: The body plates under her wrists spot two small openings each, from which she can shoot
webs of Incredible strength. She figured out how to snare opponents within one area on her own, and Grampa
Pete has shown her how to swing from building to building at three areas per round. She’s working on a power
stunt making web bolas to tangle villains up to two areas away but hasn’t had much luck with that yet.

Spirit Animal: Anya has the world’s largest collection of Spider-Ham plushies and figurines, and when she’s
down for the count she hallucinates him telling her what to do, whatever the hell that’s about. His advice is
pretty good, though. Don’t tell her mom she said “hell”.

Notes

1. If Anya Marie’s mom is a Parker, there needs to be an explanation for why she is too. Spiderling’s got a
single parent family somehow, but as always the details can be worked out later if needed.
2. I’ve got a nice Anya Corazon mini that I’ll use for this character, unless I can get Spider-Gwen for under
US$20 (!?!) since the latter has a darned nice costume. Lot of good variant costumes out there, though.
3. Spiderling’s powers are more Anya Corazon than Miles Morales too, but I like how young and
physically small Miles is even compared to Peter Parker in his first days as Spider-Man. Yoinked for
Anya Marie, who I picture as just thirteen—another reason why her being a hero drives her mom
mental.
4. Stole the Spider-Ham thing from the Gwen Stacy Spider-Woman because it appeals to my undoubtedly
stupid sense of humor.
5. There’s potential in having a character’s mother being an ex-rebellious teenaged hero. “Sorry I’m late
guys. I’m grounded, and my mom was hanging outside all night glaring at me. Upside-down. And she
webbed my window shut.”
STARBRAND
Fighting: RM (30)
Agility: AM (50)
Strength: MN (75)
Endurance: UN (100)
Reason: RM (30)
Intuition: AM (50)
Psyche: MN (75)

Health: 255
Karma: 155
Resources: 20
Reputation: 50

Name: Franklin Richards (secret), Ric Francombe

(alias)

Background: On Franklin Richards' eighteenth

birthday he met with his parents and Professor
Charles Xavier for the purpose of explaining to
him and lifting from him the mental wards that
blocked his mutant powers. Once Professor X
was done, all were surprised to find that Franklin
was just a telepath and psychokinetic of middling
ability—not at all the level of power that had been feared when the blocks were imposed.

Disappointed and a little resentful that his parents might have accidentally prevented the full development of
his abilities, Franklin left his home in the Four Freedoms Plaza to wander the world for awhile and maybe do
some good with the powers he had. After adventures in Europe and Asia, he re-entered the United States
through San Francisco and worked his way across country before landing a temporary job as a car mechanic
in Pittsburgh. Then he had the most momentous day of an already event-filled life.

While riding his motorcycle along a mountain road, he found himself enveloped in a blinding white light and lost
consciousness. Awakening unharmed next to his crashed and totaled bike, he found that his hand had been
marked with what he came to call the Star Brand. He soon realized that his powers had been vastly enhanced,
up to the level once expected of him -- in time he'd come to understand that the abilities he'd shown as a child
were due to his adult self using his time-control powers to send a "supercharge" into the past. Finally
reconciled with both sides of his identity, he returned to New York.

There he at first worked in tandem with his family, the Fantastic Four, but as he grew more confident in his
abilities he became a solo hero, soon establishing himself as one of Earth’s mightiest champions and a key
member of the Avengers. After a scare regarding the nature of his near god-like powers, he also established a
secret identity, Ric Francombe, which rather to his surprise led to a career as a moderately successful writer.
The kids that read his books would be surprised to learn that a lot of the SF elements he writes about are really
out there, encountered by Starbrand during one of his more cosmic adventures.

Powers and Abilities

Though he is now quite physically powerful, his mental powers are greater still.

Body Shield: Starbrand surrounds himself with a strong telekinetic field that guards against all types of physical
and energy damage at Unearthly strength.

Invulnerability: Like an Inhuman or Eternal, Starbrand is highly resistant to things that would harm a normal
human. He does not need to breathe and can survive in the depths of space. He does not age.

Flight: Using his telekinesis, Starbrand can fly at Unearthly speed in the Earth’s atmosphere, and Class 1000 in
space.

Mental Shields: Franklin’s inherent psychic ability has been enhanced to the point that he can resist metal
attacks of up to Unearthly strength.

Psychic Bolts: The Star Brand grants Franklin the ability to fire powerful bolts of mental energy from his hands,
doing Unearthly damage.

Telekinesis: Franklin’s telekinetic power matches his physical strength, and he can move objects up to
Monstrous weight at Monstrous range (20 areas).

Telepathy: With his telepathy, Franklin can communicate with anyone within 100 miles. If given a willing target
in his presence, he can establish a link that will work across any distance on Earth.

Time Control: Franklin can change the rate of time passing on himself and other objects and people, with Class
1000 ability. In effect, he can time travel to any point in the past or future

Notes

1. Another hero in my Marvel Universe who started because he's got a pretty cool HeroClix mini for a
nobody. More power to WizKids, but they do seem to make the weirdest choices for nice sculpts
(Rocket Racer? The Spot?)
2. The power set is a bit original Starbrand and a bit Dr. Manhattan Lite. The original Starbrand was all
over the place.
3. Not sold on the career I gave his secret identity. It's got to be one he can drop and go off superheroing
without people noticing and there aren't a lot of those that don't call to mind another hero (Reporter?
Lawyer? Idly rich? No, no, and no). But I feel like there should be something that fits with the rest of the
character and this doesn't.
4. Oh hey! I see somebody tried to bring him back already. I still like my idea better.
TORPEDO
Fighting: EX (20)
Agility: RM (30)
Strength: RM (30)
Endurance: EX (20)
Reason: GD (10)
Intuition: GD (10)
Psyche: GD (10)

Health: 100
Karma: 30
Resources: 10
Popularity: 6

Real Name: Michiko “Mickey” Musashi (secret)

Background: The Torpedo suit has passed through several hands

over the years, first for villainous purposes on behalf of the
Corporation, then to heroic ones when worn by Brock Jones. But after
Jones was murdered in the initial stages of an infiltration by the aliens
whose technology served as the suit’s basis, it went into mothballs for
decades, forgotten.

Then, in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, Michiko Musashi was

walking along Rockaway Beach examining the amazing flotsam that
had washed ashore. By far her biggest find was a sealed crate which
proved to hold the Torpedo armor. At first reluctant to be a hero she
used the armor for things like shopping trips to Paris, but she was
inevitably sucked into the business and after a few years joined the Avengers in their current incarnation.

Powers and Abilities

Flight: The nuclear-powered turbo fans on the suit’s boots enable its wearer to fly with Shift-X (150) airspeed,
or roughly the twice the speed of sound.

Michiko has developed one power stunt with her Flight power, which is to ram into a target at top speed. This
stunt requires 10 clear areas in a straight line ending at the target, which she traverses during the attack. If she
hits, she does Unearthly (100) damage.

Force Field: The skin-tight suit produces a reactive force field in response to any great input of force or energy.
This is primarily intended as a protective shield against friction when flying at high speed, but it also provides
Remarkable (30) protection against physical attacks and Excellent (20) protection against energy attacks. The
suit will sometimes be briefly surrounded by a glowing aura as it dumps the energy it’s absorbed.
Turbo Punch: There are matching turbo fans on the suit’s wrists which, if activated while punching a target,
massively increase the speed of the blow. This inflicts Incredible (40) damage.

Turbo Blast: The wrist fans can also be used to direct intense blasts of air against a target, wind so fast it is
essentially solid. This attack does Remarkable (30) physical damage up to five areas away.

Torpedo has developed a power stunt with her Turbo Blast, which is to defocus it into regular-strength wind.
This gives her Remarkable ability to clear areas of gas and smoke.

True Sight: The visor built into the suit’s headpiece is designed to detect shapeshifting beings and show their
true form to its wearer.

Notes

1. For all that I’d consciously forgotten about Torpedo all this time, I wonder if he hasn’t been lurking in my
brain…my primary character in the old City of Heroes game, TKO, started out with rocket-enhanced
fists and boots. She’s evolved a lot over the years and is currently earmarked as an antagonist for evil
Iron Man in this setting.
2. The suit had a co-wearer in the comics, Mike Jefferies, but I cut him as a needless complication. He
was the familial connection to the previous Torpedo, though, so the whole "found it in a washed-up
crate" thing is a plot bunny I've no idea how to resolve at the moment. Always good to have a few of
those around to hang adventures on when you need them.
VALOUR
Fighting: RM (30)
Agility: RM (30)
Strength: AM (50)
Endurance: RM (30)
Reason: EX (20)
Intuition: RM (30)
Psyche: RM (30)

Health: 140
Karma: 80
Resources: 4 (Personal)/30 as leader of Alpha Flight
Popularity: 10

Real Name: Jacob Sithembiso Zondo (public)

Background: Jacob Zondo is supposedly a mutant, but it always

comes back to his birthdate: April 27th, 1994, the first day of a free
South Africa. It seems too much of a coincidence and he believes that
he has a calling. Certainly, he rejects the word “mutant”, though not
out of hate. There’s too much division in his country’s past and he
sees pain and horror in the future if the human race divides itself yet
another way.

His powers developed young but being strong and fast was not
enough to lift him out of poverty in Durban. He ran wild in the Warwick
Triangle for a while, but as he entered his teens and it became
apparent that he was something more than an average child he came
under the wing of his Uncle Arun. Living now out in the country his
uncle taught him about his Indian heritage on one side of his family,
and for awhile he embraced non-violence.

It was not to last, and after a traumatic week in nearby Mozambique where he and his uncle were caught up in
attacks by an insurgency against the national government, he pledged to using all his might against those who
would bring violence on the poor and downtrodden everywhere. After a spectacular rise to fame in southern
Africa, he was dubbed Valour and nominated by his home country’s government to the UN’s new Alpha Flight
supergroup. Col. Steve Rogers saw a kindred spirit and soon became Jacob’s second mentor. It was not long
before he made Valour the field commander of the team, much to the surprise of the veteran heroes who had
also joined.
Powers and Abilities

Force Field: Apart from his great strength and agility, Valour’s sole power is the ability to generate near-
invisible “objects” out of psychic force. It helps him to focus this power if he visualizes a real-world object of the
same shape he desires and so he has developed three power stunts with it:

• Force Shield: Jacob can form a shield on his left forearm which provides full frontal coverage if he
“holds” it in front of himself. It provides Amazing protection against all forms of attack except light.
• Force Spear: A ranged attack, Valour can accurately throw a solid spear of force up to three areas
away. It does Remarkable lethal damage, so he tries to limit its use to non-living targets. There is no
limit to how many spears he can form, though he can hold and throw only one at a time.
• Force Club: He can also form a club which he holds in his right hand. This prevents him from forming
and throwing spears, though he can switch between them on a turn-by-turn basis. He mostly uses this
for hand-to-hand combat, doing Amazing damage with it, though he can also throw it for the same
amount of Blunt ranged damage up to one area away. After throwing it he can form another to use for
more close combat.

As all the objects he forms are merely constructs of his psychic force, no other person can grab and use them,
and they disappear immediately after hitting (or missing) if thrown.

Armor: Acting on a tip from his commander, Steve Rogers, Valour’s current costume incorporates some
composite armor at vital points. He has Good protection against blunt ranged and hand-to-hand damage.

Protective Goggles: Innovating on his own beyond the armor, Valour’s headpiece incorporates large-lensed
goggles that give can instantaneously polarize to give him Good protection against light attacks that blind and
also offer some (Typical) protection against tear gas.
VANISHER
Fighting: TY (6)
Agility: TY (6)
Strength: GD (10)
Endurance: GD (10)
Reason: TY (6)
Intuition: GD (10)
Psyche: GD (10)

Health: 32
Karma: 26
Resources: 30
Popularity: -30

Real Name: Vanisher (see below)

Background: The man known as Vanisher has a past as murky as

anyone else’s on Earth: his powers lend themselves to that, and he’s
worked at muddying the waters for much of his life. What’s known is that
he’s been active for at least a decade, first as a shadowy figure
probably responsible for impossible burglaries around the world, only
gradually coming into the light as his crimes grew more audacious. His
real name, place of birth, age, connection to the Sixties-era villain of the
same name (if any) and much else are unknown.

He is militantly anti-government and preaches a loose anarcho-communism—one that permits his keeping the
fruits of his crimes, of course. He insists on being called “Vanisher”, his “real mutant name” for ideological
reasons. He justifies his burglaries politically, favoring the powerful as his targets, and at times has created
loose gangs of criminals with him as their charismatic leader. Most of the time he works alone, however.

Since the X-Men have relocated to Lila Cheney’s Dyson sphere, Vanisher has maintained an uneasy detente
with the super-team. He’s in agreement with their general goal of preserving mutant society there and his
powers are of critical use to them—apart from Cheney and White Phoenix, he is the only other mutant capable
of teleporting across the vast distance from Earth. He is not a solid ally, preferring to look out for himself, but
he needs to take a dose of actovaxidol to boost his powers to the necessary strength and the X-Men control
his supply of the drug. He puts up with this in return for the extra capabilities and opportunity for loot that the
Sphere brings, though there’s every reason to believe he wants to break their monopoly.

He is also believed to have at least one base in an isolated location on Earth, one only he can reach even with
unaugmented powers. He has a vast array of electronics at his command, from mundane items like the latest
and greatest plasma screen TVs to military and even alien hardware that he’s lifted from the government.
Powers and Abilities

Leader: It doesn’t rise to the level of a power, but Vanisher is a charismatic public speaker. If given an
audience of sympathetic listeners (pro-mutant, for example, or poor people) he is at +1 CS to convince them.

Teleportation: Vanisher’s main ability, and the one around which he builds all his strategies, is his Unearthly
teleportation power. He does not need to see or even to have previously visited a location to teleport there, so
no place is safe unless it is filled with material—his power pushes air molecules out of the way, but liquids or
solids are too much, and he instinctively “knows” that something is in the way if he tries to teleport there.

While he can choose to bring things along with him (such as his costume but including other objects in physical
contact up to 10 tonnes including willing passengers), if he doesn’t want to bring something along it stays
behind. In other words, even if he is chained or grappled by an opponent he can teleport away. He cannot
teleport in a turn where he has taken Good (10) or more damage of any type, and the same is true if he is
confused by psionic means. His ability uses the Darkforce dimension, so if other powers involving that strange
netherworld are in play he could conceivably be blocked too.

Actovaxidol: Under normal circumstances his powers give him planetary range with no possibility of error in
destination. In other words, he can teleport from any place on Earth to any other place on Earth. A dose of
actovaxidol increases his teleportation powers to Class 1000 and he can make the journey to and from the X-
Men’s Dyson sphere. Fortunately for the rest of the galaxy his unerring knowledge of destinations does not
increase too, and he can’t reach any other distant destination. He’s capable of planetary hops (≃ 10,000 km)
on the Sphere.

Electronics Skill: Vanisher has an aptitude for electronic technology. His reason is Ex (20) when dealing with
this field.

Notes

1. “If the whole world is out to get you, who will you accept as an ally if you need him?” is an interesting
thing to play, I’d say.
2. The original Vanisher’s name is Telford Porter and I was not going for that. Double initials like Reed
Richards and Peter Parker are one thing, but I draw the line at nominative determinism.
3. Your own politics may vary, but I thought it would be fun to have a villain who’s “a thief”, sure, but who
also has a degree of left-wing political awareness and strong opinions about what he should be able to
do with his powers. He has a point often enough that his and the X-Men’s Venn diagrams do overlap
somewhat, and I could see him developing a splinter following.
4. Actovaxidol’s canon, if terribly obscure. Kick would have worked too, but I didn’t want the whole
“aerosolized mutant sentient bacteria”1 backstory that entailed as it’s too silly even for the X-Men.

1 Worst TMNT knockoff ever

VULTURE
Fighting: GD (10)
Agility: EX (20)
Strength: TY (6)
Endurance: GD (10)
Reason: TY (6)
Intuition: TY (6)
Psyche: TY (6)

Health: 46
Karma: 18
Resources: 4
Popularity: -3

Real Name: Austin Wade (public)

Background: Austin Wade is the son of a

dirt-poor family hailing from the Arkansas
Delta. After joining the Air Force to get away
from that life, he served a few
undistinguished years working as a supply
truck driver before being imprisoned and then
dishonorably discharged for stealing from his
cargo. After his release he drifted to New
York City and made a living by looting abandoned buildings.

In a decrepit factory on the New Jersey shore he came across a secret door that had gone unnoticed for years.
Inside he found a workshop and the mummified body of the late Adrian Toomes. Reading Toomes’ notes,
Wade discovered that he had just completed the latest version of his Vulture suit before he died, apparently of
a heart attack. No-one had missed him.

Ignoring that object lesson, Wade took the suit with the aim of making his fortune as a super-criminal. That
hasn’t worked out so well: he’s had his head handed to him multiple times by New York’s heroes. He mostly
works alone, but sometimes joins up with other low-rent supervillains for a caper and isn’t above acting as a
flunky for someone more powerful who’s looking for muscle.

Powers and Abilities

Flight: The Vulture suit gives Wade the ability to fly with Remarkable speed (6 sectors per turn). He’s getting
pretty good at working with it and can engage in hand-to-hand combat while flying. On the other hand, he
needs his wings free to take to the air, so anything that restrains them will cancel this power.

Foot Claws: While flying, the Vulture can kick at targets with his foot claws, which do Excellent edged damage.
Headlight: The suit’s helmet has a Good intensity light built into it, which lets Vulture see a bit in darkened
places. Hey, it’s better than nothing, OK?

Stealthy Flight: While it’s not the suit’s primary form of stealth, it’s partly made from old-school anti-sensor
materials. This provides Remarkable resistance to being seen by any kind of radar, sonar, or infrared sensor,
including super senses working on the same principles.

Temporary Intangibility: Wade’s ace in the hole is the latest Vulture suit’s ability to make him intangible with
Unearthly intensity. Unfortunately for him, it was bleeding-edge technology when Toomes built it and Wade is
limited to either one or two turns of intangibility, and then he must spend an equal number of turns as normal,
tangible matter. After one turn of intangibility he can decide whether to go for two or go back to normal, and he
tries to mix it up so that heroes can’t tell if he’s vulnerable or not; there are no visual clues, and he resists many
super senses. Even so, it always seems to be “off” right when he needs it the most, so he tries to avoid combat
situations and keep this power for passing through walls to get at valuables to steal, or simply to make a
getaway.

Role-Playing Vulture: Vulture is a coward, though he covers it up by talking big and taunting heroes. He’ll
resist a bit when the good guys show up, particularly if he thinks he’s more powerful than they are, but the
second he thinks he’s overmatched he’ll make a run for it with whatever loot he’s got. If severely pressed he’ll
drop the loot too.

He’ll play up having a grudge against any hero that defeats him but will be even more likely to pull the plug on
a job if encounters that hero a second time.

Notes

1. The new Vulture is a gimmick character, where his power makes him tricky to fight until heroes figure
out a strategy. I like these because it makes it easier to hit a common beat: the hero loses first time
around due to overconfidence but gets clever during the rematch and takes the villain down.
2. He’s also a loser, another kind of character I like. “Florida Man” has shown most criminals to just be too
stupid for words, so you have to figure some super-criminals would fall into the same category. They
can serve as a nice appetizer at the start of an adventure for a hero to trash before going up against
stiffer opposition.
WHITE TIGER
Fighting: TY (6)/IN (40)
Agility: GD (10)/AM(50)
Strength: TY (6)/IN (30)
Endurance: TY (6)/RM (30)
Reason: GD (10)
Intuition: TY (6)/RM (30)
Psyche: GD (10)/EX (20)

Health: 28/150
Karma: 18/60
Resources: 6
Popularity: 10

Real Name: Ava Ayala (secret)

Background: First there were the Sons of

the Tiger, three martial artists who
discovered three parts of a jade tiger idol
that increased their fighting skills to new
levels. After a short career as heroes in
1970s New York, their idol parts came
into the possession of Hector Ayala. He
discovered that if all were in the
possession of one person that person's
skills were increased radically, to a
superhuman extent. He too was a hero for a few years in the early Eighties before concluding that he was not
cut out for the business.

The idol lay dormant in his possession until the turn of the century when they were taken by his niece, Angela
del Toro, who turned to a life of crime as an enforcer for the Hand crime syndicate. After she was imprisoned,
the idol made its way back to Hector, who again kept it safe and unused. A decade passed, and Hector was
framed for murder by crime boss Gideon Mace, and then murdered himself by a corrupt cop in a Brooklyn
courthouse. The idol pieces ended up in the hands of his youngest daughter, Ava, under mysterious
circumstances. She too gained superhuman powers when she wore them, and unlike her father she's had no
doubts about being a hero-borderline-vigilante.

After a tempestuous apprenticeship at the Avengers Academy, she and fellow teammate Power Man have
struck out on their own. She's revenged herself against Mace, but there's no doubt that he'll be after a rematch.
Meanwhile she and Power Man are targeting the crime lords and gangs that plague their home neighborhoods.
Powers and Abilities

Claws: White Tiger can manifest claws on her fingertips at will. When she does, her damage in hand-to-hand
combat increases to Remarkable. However as the damage type changes to lethal, she usually does not use
them against living targets. If she gets angry, she may slip up.

Regeneration: The Tiger God idol heals White Tiger at 10 points per turn.

One with the Shadows: In areas where there are heavy shadows, White Tiger can blend in with them so well
when hiding that others are -3 CS on rolls to see her.

That’s What Friends are For: With Power Man (and only Power Man), White Tiger can act as a “chi battery”.
This lets him use the power stunt for his Screaming Eagle Strike ability without his having to make an
Endurance FEAT afterwards. She cannot use this ability if she’s the current target of his Transfer Chi power.

Withdrawal (limitation): The idol taps into the lifeforce of its user to power their enhanced abilities. While
possession of the idol makes up for this drain, if it is taken from Ava’s possession for some reason she feels
sick and weak for 1-10 days afterward (-1 CS to all her unpowered stats) before recovering.

Notes

1. Most sources say that the idol makes White Tiger “slightly superhuman” in all physical ways, which
might lead you to ask why she’s only Remarkable in Strength. Purely practical, in this case, as a way of
distinguishing her from Power Man. She’s already +20 on him in Health and he’s nominally the brick. If
you need a “realistic” justification, I’d say consider that this stat block makes a five-foot-and-change
typical young woman as strong as Captain America. That seems superhuman to me.
2. When I read some of the comics and saw Power Man boosting White Tiger and vice versa – two
separate powers, one each – I immediately had visions of players exploiting the hell out of that in some
kind of perpetual motion machine. I think I’ve written an adequate circuit breaker into this joint ability but
suspect that I’ve just not run it past an ingenious enough pair of players yet.
3. While I’m on the topic of superhero duos, and since I don’t know where else I’d put this as neither
character has changed much since the 80s and don’t need new write-ups: Wolverine and Snowbird.
Chris Claremont was notorious for losing track of plot threads and there’s one in an early issue of X-
Men where Logan thought-bubbles his attraction to Anne McKenzie, Snowbird’s alter ego. Anne barely
appeared after that as Snowbird went in a more explicitly god-like direction, but both she and Wolverine
would have the longevity to stay active into 2019. The stabby-stubby Canadian is mightily overused
though and I’m not sure there’s any room left for me to say anything interesting about him. Likewise,
Snowbird’s canon is a flaming diaper bag and needs serious straightening out before she’s usable. I’ve
sent them back to their roots in northern Alberta, living on a ranch in the Peace River Country. Enjoy
retirement, bubs, at least until I need you for something.
ZERO POINT
Fighting: GD (10)
Agility: EX (20)
Strength: EX (20)
Endurance: EX (20)
Reason: GD (10)
Intuition: GD (10)
Psyche: TY (6)

Health: 70
Karma: 26

Resources: 6
Popularity: -10

Real Name: Lance Freeman (secret)

Background: The villain known as Zero Point was once a popular

and athletic Bethany College quarterback, and a good scientist-in-
training too. Shortly after graduation, while working at a new job at
Sugar Grove Station (an NSA-run ECHELON site), he was hit by a
concentrated burst of extragalactic cosmic rays channeled through
the station’s many antennas and radio telescopes. He found
himself with the ability to tap into and give off cosmic energy, which
manifested as an actinic aura and flickering blue flames all around
his body. Unfortunately, the dose of radiation also damaged his mind and he embarked on a career in crime.

Lance has stayed unbalanced ever since the accident. He alternates between operating as a supervillain and
living large off the proceeds, and morose, depressed periods when he’s essentially homeless and living as a
squatter in abandoned factories. When working he has a manic intensity that’s unsettling, and jokes about the
destruction he’s causing. He’s easily taken in by flames, even those he has nothing to do with, and has been
distracted while flying to a job by a three-alarm building fire that he “helped along” just enough to frustrate the
fire crews fighting it.

Powers and Abilities

Energy Blasts: Freeman can fire Amazing (50) intensity beams of microwave radiation from his hands, with a
range of three areas. As well as doing radiation damage, they are particularly deadly to electronics, and any
object using that technology must make a roll against that intensity or be disabled until repaired. Armored suits
and other combat-hardened supertech will not be disabled immediately but will be reduced in capability by a -1
CS, potentially reducing them to zero after multiple hits.
Energy Shield: Zero Point can create a cocoon of cosmic energy around his body that gives him Amazing (50)
protection against all physical attacks. Anyone touching him suffers an Excellent (20) intensity radiation
damage. Generally, he always keeps it running when awake.

Flight: When surrounded by his energy shield, Zero Point can fly at Excellent (20) speed (5 sectors per turn).

Weakness: Zero Point loses all his powers if he is submerged in water.

Notes