Making MHR Characters ANOHotMU:U #2: Hulk (2099 A.D.)

Ceci n'est pas une Hulk.

The only 2099 AD titles I bought were the first 3 issues of Spiderman 2099. Miguel O'Hara continues to be my favourite of the various alt-Spideys that have been kited over the years, and I'm glad to see that he's had a chance to come back.

Hulk 2099?

Ugh. I read a copy of it in the comic book store, dodging between aisles and periodically rifling through something else to cover my tracks. The Earth-616 Hulk was currently going through a plotline where he was affiliated with The Pantheon, and was basically a group title, which was dreadful, so I thought this might be just what I needed to soothe my fix for the big green guy.

It wasn't. This Hulk is a . . . knight? Or something? His rage rises the more his honour is questioned, or maybe it's the same as The Hulk and he's just honorable, but it's still just plain weird. And his alter ego is a smug jerk that I really just wanted to punch in the face. I mean, I was never a big fan of Banner, but I never actually wanted harm to come to him.

Anyhow, this is a version of the Hulk that can die in a fire. Uhh, I mean that literally, he actually died in a fire, and I had to emulate that somehow. So, he's definitely tankish, but not at all undefeatable.

Hulk 2099
Solo    1d10
Buddy 1d6
Team   1d8

Driven by Honour
Fueled by Rage
Split Personality

The Hulk
Enhanced Reflexes 1d8
Enhanced Senses    1d8
Godlike Durability  1d12
Godlike Stamina     1d12
Godlike Strength    1d12
Jumping                 1d10
Psychic Resistance 1d8
SFX: Bash - Step up or double Godlike Strength against a single target. Remove the highest rolling die and add 3 dice for your total.
SFX: Crush - Add a 1d6 and keep an additional effect die for each additional target.
SFX: Immunity - Spend 1 PP to ignore physical stress, trauma or complications from poison, disease, aging or radiation.
SFX: Invulnerability - Spend 1 PP to ignore physical stress or trauma unless caused by another gamma-irradiated foe.
SFX: Second Wind - Before you make an action including The Hulk, you may move your physical stress to the doom pool and step up The Hulk power by +1 for this action.
SFX: Smash - Add 1d6 to your dice pool for an attack action and step back the highest die in the pool by -1. Step up physical stress inflicted by +1.
Limit: Conscious activation - If stressed out, asleep or unconscious, shutdown The Hulk. Recover it when stress is recovered, or when you awak. IF mental trauma is taken, shut down The Hulk until trauma is recovered.

Making MHR Characters ANOHotMU:U #2: Hitman

He and Gun Runner are grimace
buddies, though.

A nice palate cleanser from the train wreck that is Gun Runner, Hitman is a tough-as-nails mercenary and assassin with a heart of steel, and manages to do so with just a handful of guns, exactly zero distracting scars and who's mostly known for a four-issue plotline that basically launched the modern notion of Frank Castle, The Punisher, as a guy who, well, punishes criminals.

Hitman (Burt Kenyon) and Castle met in Vietnam because of course they did, where Kenyone saved him from a group of Vietcong soldiers, fighting them off singlehandedly, and establishing that Castle now owed him a life at some point in the future.

After the war, the two men took very different paths. Castle had a good life, settled down his family, while Kenyon took his military skills and used them to become a, well, hitman. And a good one. Years later, Castle was once again playing catch-up with his old buddy, trying to right the wrongs of the world by killing off one criminal at a time, when Kenyon took an assignment to kill Spider-Man. After a lot of back and forth gunfire and a few explosions, it culminated with Spider-Man and Kenyon dangling from the Statue of Liberty.

Castle saved Spider-Man, and Kenyon called them even. And fell to his death.

It's a great plotline, with a good, believable villain with an understandable motive and a connection to several of the characters. It's one of my favourite Spider-Man plotlines, actually. Hitman is a pretty good threat here, but it should be kept in mind that he was always prepared with a lot of traps, escape plans and similar tomfoolery - either the Doom Pool should be a bit higher for this one, or he should get some special out of the Scene Distinctions.

Hitman
Solo     1d8
Buddy  1d6
Team    1d4

Expert Marksman
Killer for Hire
Ruthless

Mercenary Gear
Guns                         1d8
Enhanced Durability  1d8
Weapons                  1d8
SFX: Focus - If a pool contains a Mercenary gear power,  you may replace two dice of equal size for one die at +1.
Limit: Empty Clip - Add a die tot he doom pool and shutdown Guns. Activate an opportunity to recover.

Mercenary Training
Enhanced Speed      1d8
Enhanced Stamina   1d8
SFX: Double Down - Spend a die from the doom pool to reroll when using a Mercenary Training Power.
Limit: Honor Code - Increase mental stress by +1 when caused by something that requires you to violate a contract or break an oath.

Combat Expert    1d8
Covert Expert      1d8
Crime Expert       1d8
Menace Expert    1d8
Tech Expert         1d8
Vehicle Expert     1d8

Making MHR Characters ANOHotMU:U #2: Gun Runner

Gun-Runner is everything that's went wrong in the 90s.

"Good, bad? I'm the guy with the
antigravity ponytail."

His visual design is over-the-top, with pouches, belts and straps festooning every plausible part of him, and a power mullet tied up into little corn-row like pontytails. And, of course, face scars and tattoos, just enough of them for the penciler and the inker to screw up from page to page.

Oh, and if you guessed if there was some clumsy Christian symbolism to the design, you're right! A scare over his chest in the shape of a heart.

His name is, frankly, terrible. Seriously, gun runners are generally not good people, and the few who are, aren't him. He's basically a guy who runs, and who has a gun.

His storyline is wholly unoriginal, with the name of a few sci-fi tropes filed off and renamed.

The dialogue and the action are astoundingly poorly done.

I sincerely hope that before they gave a pen and paper back to Dan Abnett for Civil War II, they had him sit in a corner and think about what he'd done here.

Still, the idea's an all right one. A guy is artificially enhanced* to fight an alien race that threatens to, well, make the universe boring? With mystic goo? Or something? I dunno, I read three issues slightly out of order and it was mostly grimacing while brandishing improbable weapons. Still, outer-space freedom fighter, enhanced with cyborg body parts - this can work.

* And what are these artificially enhanced fighters called? . . . The Enhanced. Dan, back to your corner. Back.

Gun Runner
Solo    1d8
Buddy 1d6
Team   1d10

Distinctions
Enemy of the Cynodd
Old Soldier
Xtreme!

Enhanced Modifications
Enhanced Durability   1d8
Enhanced Senses       1d8
Enhanced Speed        1d8
Enhanced Strength     1d8
Superhuman Reflexes 1d10
Superhuman Stamina 1d10
SFX: Burst - Step up or double an Enhanced die against a single target. Remove the highest rolling die and add 3 dice for your total.
SFX: Focus - If a poole includes an Enhanced power, you may replace two dice of equal size with one die +1 step larger.
Limit: Tactical - Gain 1 PP to turn one Enhanced power into a complication.

Hand Cannon
Weapon      1d10
SFX: Area Attack - Add a 1d6 and keep an additional effect die for each additional target.
SFX: Overload - Step up or double any Hand Cannon power for one action. If the action fails, add a die to the doom pool equal to the normal rating of your power die.
Limit: Gear - Gain 1 PP and shutdown Hand Cannon. Take an action vs. the doom pool to recover.

Combat Master   1d10
Covert Expert     1d8
Crime Expert      1d8
Menace Expert   1d8
Tech Expert        1d8
Vehicle Master    1d10

Making MHR Characters ANOHotMU:U #2: The Elementals

The Elementals are a quartet of powerful supernatural entities who ruled the Earth millennia ago before they were unseated by the *yawn* Whazzat. Uh, sorry, I fell asleep partway through my own description there, it was so boring and predictable. Anyhow, the Elementals are basically Elder Gods who dress like they escaped from a Renaissance Faire, despite supposedly predating the Asgardians, and whose power is constrained by the existence of a mystic doodad called the Ruby Scarab.

And, yes, the token female is very scantily clad, of course.

Back in the Dawn Times (okay, fine, the '70s), they enlisted the aid of a dude called The Living Mummy to help them get control of the Scarab so they could get their full powers back. It . . . didn't work, and the ended up getting collected by the Collector.

Has anyone else noticed just how on the nose 70s Marvel was? The Elementals have elemental powers. The Ruby Scarab is a scarab, made of ruby. The Living Mummy is a mummy, only he's alive, and then the Elementals get collected by the Collector.

Anyhow, there's no stat block here, so it's up to me to figure out how to make this into a thing. First, there's block for the Ruby Scarab, and then a block for how to use it in an Event.

Ruby Scarab
Elemental Interference 1d12
SFX: Complication - In any dice pool in reaction to the attack of one of the Elementals, spend 1 PP to use Elemental Interference as a complication even if not in the scene.
SFX: Growing Threat - On a successful reaction, add a die to the Ruby Scarab, or step up a Ruby Scarab die by +1.
Limit: Draws Down Power - When wielded by the Elementals, shutdown Elemental Interference. Any other dice on the Ruby Scarab are renamed to match the Elemental's power set.

Ruby Scarab (5 XP/10 XP/15 XP)
For 5 XP, once in the next scene each of the heroes can use the Ruby Scarab without spending PP.
For 10 XP, they can use the Ruby Scarab in any reaction against the Elementals, even if the action isn't directly against a hero.
For 15 XP, they can use the Ruby Scarab in attacks against an Elemental as well.

Making MHR Characters ANOHotMU:U #2: Flying Tiger

Late period Boney M costuming
got weird.

This is a minor-league African-American villain who's named after a much-decorated corps of WWII airmen. He's mostly known as a member of one of the lesser versions of the Masters of Evil, and as one of the members of Spiderwoman's (Jessica Drew) rogues gallery.

We . . . aren't going to spend a lot of time here.

It's not that this isn't a character who doesn't have potential for use. I mean, he's superhumanly strong, extremely durable, quick and has a memorable costume, but he's pretty much following the Marvel motto - ABH. Always Be Henching. Still, he should serve as a good supporting character.

Flying Tiger
Solo    1d8
Buddy 1d4
Team   1d6

Distinctions
Braggart
Merc for Hire

Flying Tiger Suit
Enhanced Reflexes       1d8
Enhanced Stamina        1d8
Enhanced Strength       1d8
Flight                           1d8
Superhuman Durability 1d10
SFX: Burst - Step up or double an Enhanced Strength die against a single target. Remove the highest rolling die and add 3 dice for your total.
SFX: Multipower - Use two or more Flying Tiger Suit powers in a single dice pool at -1 for each additional power.
Limite: Exhausted - Shutdown any Flying Tiger Suit power to add a die to the doom pool. REcover by activating an opportunity.

Acrobatic Expert 1d8
Combat Expert 1d8
Menace Experts 1d8

Making MHR Characters ANOHotMU:U #2: Jean-Paul DuChamp

This is another tough-ish one because DuChamp is:
A supporting character
To a B-list hero
Who's gone through several iterations

This is the man your pilot could smell like.

As has DuChamp

I mean, I love Moon Knight, I really do, but he's been everything from a Batman knockoff to a 90s Xtreme vengeance machine to a pseudo-mystical to a semi-serious take on the personality-altering act of being a street-level hero, and DuChamp's been with him in each incarnation. So, which DuChamp do I pick?

In the end, I'm going with the DuChamp who supported him in his Batman knockoff days. For one, I'm most familiar with him, and for another, he doesn't have weird, poorly-defined superpowers and has use of both of his legs. Okay, yes, I shouldn't discriminate based on disabilities, but I don't like the plotline that lead to one of the few openly gay characters in the Marvel universe getting bashed around and, seriously, Batman knockoff DuChamp is pretty boss. I mean, he's got the Mooncopter, people.

Jean-Paul DuChamp
Solo    1d6
Buddy 1d10
Team   1d8

Distinctions
Charmingly Roguish/Roguishly Charming
Mercenary Past
Trusted Confidante

Mercenary Arsenal
Guns 1d8
SFX: Focus - If a dice pool contains a Mercenary Arsenal power, you may replace two dice with a die of +1 step.
Limit: Gear - Gain 1 PP to shutdown Mercenary Arsenal. Activate an opportunity or recover during a Transition Scene to regain it.

Combat Expert 1d8
Medical Expert 1d8
Tech Expert      1d8
Vehicle Master  1d10

Mooncopter
Silent as the Night
Unique Construction

Mooncopter Construction
Cannons                   1d10
Enhanced Durability  1d8
Enhanced Reflexes    1d8
High-Speed Flight     1d8
SFX: Area Attack - Add a 1d6 and keep an additional effect die for each additional target.
SFX: Evasive Maneuvers - Step up or double High-Speed Flight when opposing a physical attack. Remove the highest rolling die and add 3 dice for your total.
Limit: Piloted Vessel. Your ship takes stress separately from you and is destroyed by taking more than d12 stress. Anyone opposing a roll made using a Space Cruiser power may use the ship’s stress or the pilot’s stress.

Making MHR Characters ANOHotMU:U #2: Crimson Dynamo

I had an odd choice to make here.

Of all the designs, this is my
favourite.

The Crimson Dynamo has been an enemy of Iron Man since the early 60s, and while he's consistently lost to old Shellhead, their relationship has been a dynamic one, in part because while the armour has remained constant - well, in that it's red and stuffed with Soviet goodness - but the actual pilot and the abilities of the armour have changed a great deal over time. Sometimes it's lumbering and slow, other times nimble, other times possessed of unique or at least induplicable abilities.

And there's no stat block in the actual handbook so, based on the terms of my agreement with myself this time around*, I really shouldn't be building up an entry on the Crimson Dynamo armour anyway. So, what to do?

Well, a while back I'd bought a comic off of Marvel Online and with it came access to this giant back catalogue of stuff. Digging through, I found the appearance of the first Crimson Dynamo, Anton Vanko. He's a fantastic inventor, an amazing engineer and a scientist par excellence, dedicated to promoting the excellence of the Soviets. In a few panels, he shows himself to be highly intelligent, dedicated and keenly interested in technology, and sick and tired of contesting against America's showboating Iron Man, who's basically a jerk.

So, he builds a suit that almost takes out Iron Man until Stark picks him up and flies over a lake, threatening to drop him into the water which will short out his armour and likely kill him. Our frickin' hero.

Anyhow, later Stark dupes him into defecting to the United States where he's eventually blown up. End of story.

Ugh, that's awful. I mean, I get that he's supposed to be a bad guy, but you can't make him more sympathetic than the hero and expect me to cheer when the good guy threatens to electrocute him, and then fools him into abandoning the cause he'd dedicated his life to. So, I'm statting up Anton Venko. He's back, and he's angry.

* If there's a stat block, stat it up as a character, if there isn't one, make it into something else.

Anton Vanko

Solo    1d8

Buddy 1d4

Team   1d6

Distinctions

"Curse You, Iron Man!"

Mad Engineer

Still A Communist

Vanko Suit

Energy Blasts               1d8

Superhuman Durability 1d10

Vanko Generator          1d8

SFX: Absorption - On a successful reaction against an electrical attack action, convert your opponent's effect die into a Vanko Suit stunt or step up a Vanko Suit power by +1 for your next action. Spend a die from the doom pool to use this power even is your opponent succeeds.

SFX: Anti-Armor Capabilities - When you succeed on an attack against an opponent in a powered armour suit and are creating a complication, step up the effect die by +1 . Spend a die from the doom pool to also inflict stress on the target.

SFX: Area Effect - Add a 1d6 and keep an additional effect die for each additional target.

Limit: Gear - Add a die to the doom pool and shut down Vanko Suit. Activate an opportunity to recover.

Making MHR Characters ANOHotMU:U #2: Contemplator

"Hey, kid, wanna Squirrel
Nut Zipper?"

This is the first picture I ever saw of The Contemplator, and, well, it makes him look like an evil Cabbage Patch Kid who's just gotten too old for the company to sell and has kind of gone to seed. When he isn't cruising around his neighbourhood in a panel van that says "Free Candy" on the side, you can find him sitting on the back stoop, dressed like this, drinking back White Lightning with Lenny from down at the shop. You know Lenny, right?

What he does not look like is a man who has found complete and utter peace and oneness with the universe through constant contemplation of the mysteries of the cosmos, but that's what he is. He is, in fact, one of the Elders of the Universe, a group consisting of all of the most ancient living being in the universe who, through devotion to a single ideal, have achieved near-immortality, which is a decent enough idea and even explains how that grouchy old guy in your neighbourhood never seems to get any older despite the way he's constantly shouting at kids to get off of his lawn - he's actually an Elder of the Universe who draws his power from crotchetiness.

Anyhow, The Contemplator has been involved in a number of cosmic schemes, many of them surrounding either trying to kill Galactus or not get killed by Thanos, and sometimes both at the same time. He's also been the Make A Wish family for one of the back-up Captain Americas. Remember Adam II? Well, he helped a dying Jeff Mace get his final wish which was, apparently, punching an android. Hey, not going to judge.

Anyway, this is a pretty standard write-up for a character that you're not really supposed to defeat so much as circumvent or out-think.

Contemplator
Solo     1d8
Buddy  1d4
Team    1d8

Distinctions
Master Manipulator
Supremely Aware
Zen Master

Elder Focus
Astral Projection         1d12
Cosmic Awareness     1d12
Cosmic Flight             1d12
Cosmic Mastery         1d12
Superhuman Strength  1d10
Telepathy                   1d12
Teleportation              1d12
SFX: Healing - Add Cosmic Awareness to your dice pool when helping others recover stress or trauma. Spend a die form the doom pool to recover your own or another's mental stress or to step back your own or another's mental trauma by -1.
SFX: Immunity - Spend a die from the doom pool to ignore stress, trauma or complications from disease, poison, aging, radiation or outer space.
SFX: Invulnerable - Spend a die from the doom pool to ignore physical stress or trauma unless caused by a cosmic power.
SFX: Multipower - Use two or more Elder Focus powers in a single dice pool at -1 step for each additional power.
Limit: One With Everything - When you inflict stress on a target, you can add a die to the doom pool to take the stress as well at -1 step.

Cosmic Grandmaster   1d12
Psych Grandmaster      1d12

Making MHR Characters ANOHotMU:U #2: Captain America

America. Not "'Murica." America

Oof, this should be an easy one, right? Okay, enough with the sarcasm - Cap.

Oof.

So, he's kind of a big deal, this guy, right? And it's kind of funny that he is, considering that he showed up in comics for a few years, only to disappear. He was the biggest name in the Marvel vein of patriotic comics but, really, he wasn't that big of a deal.

Now? Three movies of his very own, plus two Avengers movies, his own monthly title, plus guest spots, well, just about everywhere. No, we aren't going to talk about the, "Hail, Hydra," thing. That actually sounds like it's turning out to be an interesting plotline where the actual cause of Cap turning Team Hydra was intentionally obvious because the point wasn't to make that a mystery, but to deal with the fallout.

We also aren't going to talk about Sam Wilson (formerly The Falcon) taking up the mantle because, frankly, I've only read one comic with him as Cap and it was pretty darned good.

Do I need to detail Cap's origin story? I bet I don't, but here goes. Steve Rogers started out as a good kid. Skinny, poor, hungry and desperate to get out of Brooklyn and fight for his country, but a good kid. Along comes a secret government program that, with a combination of drugs and radiation, turns him into a super-soldier. Years later, we'd find out that he was pretty much the only guy the program worked on. At various points, it's been that some of them didn't get the "Vita-Rays" or got an imperfect version of the serum, but it's often implied and is occasional absolute canon that the treatments "took" with Steve because he's just that kind of guy.

Nope, not being metaphorical. That's actual Cap, and that's
actually Hitler he's punching. Like a boss.

He fights his way through World War Two, punching Hitler along the way, and running with some pretty nifty heroes, some of whom I'll get the chance to visit late in this book. He also picks up some new enemies. A lot of them . . . have not stood up well to the test of time. A few, like Master Man, were introduced retroactively and proved to be pretty cool, but there's basically two major ones: Red Skull and Baron Zemo.

While deactivating a rocket in mid-flight, Cap ends up taking a dive into the Arctic Ocean, only to be found and thaws out decades later, just in time to join the nascent Avengers.

I'm pretty sure jaws don't look like that.
Pretty sure.

He's gone through a lot of phases, has Cap, and his power level has increased and waned. He's been in the hands of some of Marvel's best writers and artists, and has . . . not. There are definite issues with his rogue's gallery, in terms of the poor representation of minorities*, and some of the plotlines have definitely been more deftly handled than others, but at the end of the day he's an extremely recognizable and enviable character, and justifiably has served as the iconic Marvel character in the past, and no doubt will in the future.

And it's because of this that I'm statting him up as MCU Cap. I love comic book Cap but, dear goodness, is there a lot going on in his history that I'm just not getting into. I did this write-up and compared it to the official one in the Marvel Heroic handbook and found that while I'd put his Strength and Durability higher than in their write-up, we were otherwise much on the same page, and I think it's pretty clear that movie Cap is quite a bit stronger than his comic book counterpart.

* Yes, he picked up Falcon pretty soon on, but fairly shortly after it was established that Falcon was actually a recovering street criminal because of course he was.

Captain America
Solo       1d6
Buddy    1d8
Team      1d10

Distinctions
Battlefield Savvy
The Good (Super)Soldier
Leads From The Front

Super-Soldier Serum
Enhanced Speed          1d8
Enhanced Stamina        1d8
Superhuman Durability 1d10
Superhuman Strength   1d10
SFX: Immunity - Spend 1 PP to ignore stress, trauma or complications from poison, disease and aging.
SFX: "I Could This All Day" - Before you make an action inclusing a Super-Soldier power, you may move your physical stress die to the doom pool and step up the Super Soldier Serum power by +1 for this turn.
SFX: Lean In - Step up or double a Super Soldier Serum power against a single target. Remove the highest rolling die and add 3 dice for your total.
Limit: Loyalty - Take 1 PP and increase stress by +1 when inflicted by an ally or former ally.

The Shield
Weapon                1d8
Godlike Durability 1d12
SFX: Area Attack - Add 1d6 and keep an additional effect die for each target.
Limit: Gear - Shut down The Shield and gain 1 PP. Take an action vs. the doom pool to recover.

Acrobatics Expert   1d8
Combat Master      1d10
Cover Expert         1d8
Menace Expert      1d8
Psych Expert         1d8
Vehicle Expert       1d8

Making MHR Characters ANOHotMU:U #2: The Captain

Oh my gosh, you guys, Nextwave. Hipster superhero comics done right.

Did I mention he's also kinda ugly?

Their membership? Boom-Boom, a mutant refugee from the late 80s. Monica Rambeau, a superhero created literally just so Marvel could hold onto the "Captain Marvel" name for a while longer. Machine Man, basically a slightly more competent Inspector Gadget. Slightly. Elsa Bloodstone, a semi-immortal bounty hunter who'd never really found her footing in the comics. And the man known only as The Captain, mostly because he could never get the legal right to call himself Captain, well, Anything.

Seriously he went through a staggering number of "Captain" names, before finally settling on just "The Captain," although even then he had to pay off a melon farmer who already used the name.

He's your typical Superman type, possessed with the power of the Messianic-Siddha complex by the power of the Heartstar of the Place Between Galaxies, or at least so he was told by the aliens he promptly murdered because he thought that if you punched leprechauns like them in the head, they spat out gold.

He is . . . not bright. I've tried to give him a reasonable write-up, but really, he should be as gonzo as possible. I highly encourage anyone playing The Captain to constantly use Versatile to increase the chance of adding to the doom pool, and to use his last distinction to great effect. With my &#^@ blessing.

Oh, you might notice that he has Godlike Durability, but absolutely nothing to let him actually shrug off a hard hit. That's because he doesn't. Ever. He's the most jobbed brick ever, and it's hilarious.

The Captain
Solo      1d6
Buddy   1d8
Team     1d10

Distinctions
Abrasive Alcoholic
Dumb As A Post
Swears like &^%#

Power of the Heartstar
Flight                       1d10
Godlike Durability    1d12
Godlike Stamina      1d12
Godlike Strength     1d12
Superhuman Senses 1d10
SFX: Berserk - Add a die form the doom pool to one or more attack actions. Step up the doom pool die by +1 for each action; return it to the doom pool when you're done.
SFX: Burst - Step up or double a Power of the Heartstar against a single target. Remove the highest rolling die and add 3 dice for your total.
SFX: Versatile - Split Godlike Strength into 2d10 or 3d8.
Limit: Screw-up - Both a 1 and 2 on your dice count as opportunities when using a Power of the Heartstar power.

Menace Master  1d8

Making MHR Characters ANOHotMU:U #2: Cabal of Scrier

I remember reading the Spiderman entry in the original OHOTMU about how Green Goblin was killed by being impaled on his own flyer and being kind of blown away by the idea. I mean, there's no way that would happen to a Superman villain. Maybe a Batman villain, or a Punisher bad guy, but Spiderman? Wow, that was . . . dark.

Years later, I picked up a trade that collected the run-up to the final conflict between Green Goblin and Spiderman and, holy crap. I didn't even have the foggiest clue just how dark it was. I mean, the intense hatred between the two men just coiled off the page like a cobra. It was awesome, and I wanted more.

I also liked how definitive it was - both threw everything they had at each other on every level - psychological, spiritual and physical, and in the end, Spidey survived but juuuuust barely. It was simply epic.

And then they brought back frickin' Norman Osborn. His Goblin Serum enable him to survive being stabbed through the chest, and left him just as nuts as before, and burning for revenge. So, he took over an apocalypse cult that worships an elder god that lies defeated beneath the Himalayas. You know, as you do.

"I don't care if he's a supervillain, so long as we finely get frickin'
benefits to go with these snazzy man-boob robes.

Anyhow, I'm not going to get into the whole Green Goblin thing - I'm giving you a secret lair, the kind of place where you can send your players while they're investigating an Elder Gods kind of mystery. It's a big of a side quest, probably at the end of exploration of the Mansion of Count von Eldrtichbadguy.

Secret Lair
Even finding the Secret Lair requires uncovering the Hidden Doors And Panels, unless the players were able to get their hands on the Secret Floor Plans. Once inside the place, the Watcher can have Murderholes, Traps, and Oubliettes as a 1d10 complication as they contend with area-appropriate mobs and bad guys. There are also Mysterious Sigils that outline the Cabal's history and secret plans. If someone succeeds on a roll against the doom pool with a Mystic specialty, this distinction turns into Eldritch History, which can be a complication against the Cabal members.

Specific rooms can include the Smoke-Filled Sacrificial Chamber, the Dark Heart Of The Temple. Bad guys could be mobs of Cabal Acolytes or low-tier supernatural themed villains. Or, hey, Gamecock. He's probably not busy or anything.

Making MHR Characters ANOHotMU:U #2: Black Cat

Ah, Black Cat. Not my first comic book crush, but one of the first.

She started out as a standard Spidey villain, albeit one of the "villains with a heart of gold," but was far more flirtatious than his typical foes. Which, considering most of them were like the Vulture and Mysterio makes a whole lot of sense but, nevertheless, it was notable and something the writers picked up on. Over the years, she'd go from being a quip-dropping high-end thief and amateur socialite to an ally and even girlfriend of Spidey. Heck, in the 1991 arcade game, she was a playable character and one of the heroes.

One of my favourite aspects of her character is that she's kind of indomitable. Yes, she's lost to Spiderman and to other heroes and villains, but while she gets knocked down, she never quite gets knocked out. It's not an attribute you see in a lot of the female characters in Marvel, or at least you didn't see it when I was reading regularly. (Some day, I think I'm just going to right out cheat and stat up Kamala Khan just because she's awesome and I really want to.)

Is she kind of a combat monster? Well, yes, the gal who took down Sabretooth in a brawl IS kind of a combat monster. Deal with it, Jake.

Today I understand she's swung back over to hardcore thief and hardened enemy of Spiderman because Superior Spiderman punched her in the face or something, but this represents an earlier version, some time just post-Civil War, when she has her probability powers and her super-suit, but isn't quite as villainous.

(Oh, hey, the same Affiliations as Spiderman. Kind of perfect, that.)

Black Cat
Solo      1d8
Buddy   1d10
Team     1d6

Distinctions
After Midnight, All Cats Are Grey
Feisty
Loyal Friend

Nine Lives
Probability Control   1d10
SFX: Bad Luck - On a reaction against a physical attack action, inflict physical stress with your effect die at no PP cost, or +1 with 1PP.
SFX: Versatile - Split Probability Control into 2d8 or 3d6.
Limit: Out of Luck - When you take physical stress, take 1 PP to also take mental stress equal to the physical stress at -1 die.

Cat Suit
Claws                        1d6
Enhanced Reflexes    1d8
Enhanced Senses       1d8
Enhanced Speed       1d8
Enhanced Strength    1d8
SFX: Cat Scratch Fever - Step up or double any Cat Suit power for one action when used in an attack. If the action fails, add a die to the doom pool equal to the normal rating of your power die at -1 step.
SFX: Pounce - Add a 1d6 to your dice pool for an attack action and step back the highest die in the pool by -1. Step up physical stress inflicted by +1.
Limit: Exhausted - Shutdown any Cat Suit power to gain a PP. Recover power by activating an opportunity or during a Transition Scene.

Acrobatics Master    1d10
Combat Expert         1d8
Covert Master          1d10
Crime Expert            1d8
Psych Expert            1d8

Making MHR Characters ANOHotMU:U #2: Avalanche

36 years of history, but this is how
I picture him.

Many of the members of the Brotherhood of Evil have long, complicated storylines that weave together with
the lives of the X-Men in intriguing and fascinating ways.

Avalanche? He's there to destroy stuff - for preference, the X-Men. He's just kind of a jerk who likes breaking stuff, which is refreshingly straightforward for an X-men villain. Yeah, he's gone along with some of the more complicated, "villains pretending to be superheroes," plots, but ultimately it just comes down to fighting superheroes and he likes that. He likes that just fine.

I didn't make him terribly complicated. His power set is basically limited to his Seismic Control, but it's a versatile power, one that he's had for a very long while, so he has a pretty impressive number of SFX, offset by having two Limits to represent his one constant - when he uses his powers to try to hurt people directly, it just doesn't work out for him. Ever. I mean, admittedly the most memorable time, he tried to use it against the Hulk, which is just a bad idea. but he's never really had much success with just whacking people with seismic waves.

Avalanche
Solo    1d4
Buddy 1d6
Team   1d8

Distinctions
Glorious Destruction
Hot-Headed
Opportunist

Seismokinesis
Rock Gliding       1d8
Seismic Mastery 1d10
SFX: Area Effect - Add a 1d6 and keep one extra effect die for each additional target.
SFX: Chaos Unleashed - Add a 1d6 and step up your effect die by +1 when using Seismokinesis. to create complications
SFX: Smash Away - Step up or double any Vibration Control Power for one action. If the action fails, add a dice to the doom pool equal to the normal rating of your power die.
Limit: Hard Targets Only - If you fail on an action to inflict physical stress, you take your opponent's effect die as physical stress.
Limit: Mutant - Add a die to the doom pool when affected by mutant specific Milestones and tech.

Making MHR Characters ANOHotMU:U #2: Apocalypse Beast

I only picked up two issues of this critter's mini-series, and they weren't the two that actually had the Apocalypse Beast, but between the entries on the Marvel website and my knowledge of the kaiju genre, I think I've got this.

This thing actively makes no sense

Basically, all of the monstrous creatures in the Marvel Universe go nuts and start randomly attacking things, while the Moloids are gathering in one spot in Japan. Iron Man and the Fantastic Four go out to investigate, and, shortly enough, one of the more intelligent of the Marvel kaiju drags the rest of them off to go have a lie-down and think about what they've done. Well, that sort of thing, anyway. And then the Apocalypse Beast rises, 3 miles tall and starts plowing through towns and cities like Godzilla on 'roids, until it's revealed that the Moloids were literally bred for this - they kill it, and launch it into space, as you do.

It's completely loony tunes, and one of my favourite things about early twenty-first century Marvel in that it's completely unapologetic about it. Statting up a beast that's three miles tall is a bit of a challenge, but then again I'm throwing it up against Iron Man and the Fantastic Four - they can take the hits.

Running this right does take some planning on the part of the Watcher - those early fights against the other Marvel kaiju are there to rack up a giant doom pool. Small dice, big dice, it doesn't matter, they're just getting funnelled into Thick Hide anyway.

Apocalypse Beast
Solo     4d10
Buddy  3d8
Team   2d6

Distinctions
Huge in Japan
Mindlessly Destructive
Moloid Connection

Apocalypse Kaiju
Destructive Blows    1d12
Godlike Durability    1d12
Godlike Stamina       1d12
Godlike Strength      1d12
Superhuman Speed   1d12
SFX: Arm Sweep - Add a 1d10 and keep an additional effect die for each additional target.
SFX: Large-Scale Destruction - Add a die from the doom pool to one or more attack actions. Step up the doom pool die by +1 for each action; return to the doom pool when you're done.
SFX: Property Damage - Step up the effect die by +1 when creating a complication caused by damaging surrounding buildings and manmade structures.
SFX: Thick Hide - Spend a die form the doom pool to ignore stress.
SFX: Vast Size - Whenever targeting something less than a mile in size, keep four dice for your total.
Limit: Apocalyptic Threat - Step up any doom dice by +1 when generated by an attack targeting you.

Menace Grandmaster 1d12

Making MHR Characters ANOHotMU:U #2: All-American

Why do I feel like I've already done at least one New Universe character? Oh, right, Erishkigal monkeyed around with the Starbrand, which started as a New Universe.

"Realism"

I should probably introduce the New Universe a bit, huh?

Okay, so, 1986 was the 25 anniversary of Marvel, so they decided to launch a comic series set in a universe totally unlike the Marvel continuity, one without space gods, mutants or magic, where being superhuman really counted for something and the effect of a single super could have a dramatic effect on things. The goal here was a sense of realism, that the events took place in a world the reader could understand because it looked a lot like theirs. Or was supposed to. In reality, it was kind of a boring setting because the superheroics were so subdued you almost didn't notice them, and the "realistic consequences" . . . weren't.

The introduction of superhumans into the world should've changed everything, but instead it basically didn't change anything. Eventually they blew up Pittsburgh and things were interesting for a little while after that, but it was too late and in 1989 the line was cancelled.

All-American comes out of Kickers, Inc., a comic series about a quarterback who gains superhuman powers and, naturally, joins up with a couple of other football players to form a team of superheroes.

Yeah, the New Universe had problems with the realism thing from the start.

Anyhow, All-American was a star quarterback until he realized that he was totally cheating by being superpowered, and that he'd crush a dude's ribs if he actually threw a football as hard as he could, so he decided to fight crime. Or something. I bought three issues of Kicker's, Inc, and if there was an actual plotline I can't tell you what it was because it just wasn't terribly good.

He's basically a moderately powerful brick. I put in a couple of SFX intended to carry through the idea in the comics that his powers are dangerous because he can't stop being superhuman, making things like shaking hands and playing a pick-up game of basketball a dangerous proposition.

All-American
Solo    1d6
Buddy 1d8
Team   1d10

Distinctions
Good Soldier
Where Angels Fear To Tread
Wild and Dangerous

Intensifier Treatment
Enhanced Reflexes         1d8
Enhanced Speed            1d8
Enhanced Stamina          1d8
Enhanced Strength         1d8
Superhuman Durability   1d10
SFX: 110% - Step up or double any Intensifier Treatment power for one action. If the action fails, add a die to the doom pool equal to the normal rating of your power die.
SFX: All-Star - Use two or more Intensifier Treatment powers in a single dice pool at -1 for each additional power.
SFX: Charge - Step up or double an Intensifier Treatment power against a single target. Remove the highest rolling die and add three dice to the total.
Limit: I Break Things - Gain 1 PP to turn an Intensifier Treatment power into a complication. Make a recovery during a Transition Scene to recover.

Combat Expert   1d8
Covert Expert     1d8
Crime Expert      1d8
Vehicle Expert    1d8

Making MHR Characters ANOHotMU:U #2: AIM

"Have you tried turning the
Ultra-Negalaser off and
then turning it on again?"

I am firmly convinced that when the Marvel writers came up with AIM, which stands for Advanced Idea Mechanics, they legitimately had no idea what they were doing.

Well, not quite true. I think that Marvel knew that despite the many secret evil societies they'd created, none of them were quite tech-focused enough. I mean, yes, the Maggia use technology to accomplish their ends, ditto Hydra and the Secret Empire, but they don't seem like the kind of organizations that'd be big on having an extensive R&D division.* So, yeah, AIM, aka Advanced Idea Mechanics makes sense.

They make your doomsday weapons and your killer robots for you, you pay them for it. They're like Geek Squad for supervillains. And they wear incredibly dorky uniforms.

Recently they've changed things up so that they don't look like Day-Glo yellow beekeepers in baggy pants, but they've more or less kept those enormous rectangular helmets and that's just not a good look. I mean, it really does somehow say, "I work for a mad scientist," though.

They have a lot of minor and major villains associated with them - Super Adaptoid, MODOK, Man-Killer, Grey Gargoyle, Red Skull, Hate Monger, etc. - but they really don't have a single schtick that holds them together apart from the beekeeper helmets and general "research and development for evil" thing.

They are, however, the single most successful evil organization in the entire Marvel universe. No, really.

Look, their goal is the promotion of science, by any means necessary, and the development of unheralded technology and innovation, no matter how immoral its purpose, right? Well, they've been a resounding success at that. Sure, they've gotten their butts righteously kicked by every hero who's ever pulled on a pair of Underoos, but you can develop brain-meltingly awesome robots without some sacrifices.

So, presented for your pleasure, three separate mini-entries.

* Hydra would later on, of course, be revealed to be absolutely monstrous in its size and influence - a number of people equal to the total population of Illinois have to be working for Hydra at this point.

These are the guys that pour of the woodwork by the dozens whenever the good guys get close to the final goal. Throwing a few of these mobs into a fight gives everyone something to do and put a nice brake on the action because they're ultimately pretty easy to take out, but work almost as a scene distinction.

AIM Soldiers (Mob)
Team 4d8

For SCIENCE!
Poor Peripheral Vision

AIM Technology
Superhuman Durability  1d8
Weapons                      1d8
SFX: Focus - If a pool includes an AIM Technology power, you may replace two dice of equal size with one die +1 step larger.
Limit: Gear - Shutdown AIM Technology and add a die to the doom pool. Activate an opportunity to recover.

So, your heroes have fought past waves of AIM soldiers and a couple of low-level supervillains for hire and are now at the heart of the complex, ready to go up against a solo boss. Who then cackle and says something alone the lines of, "You thought you I would face you alone? Foolish heroes!", as a couple of giant, misshapen dudes (who've nevertheless jammed their mutated tushes into a pair of slacks, for some reason) enter through the gathering fog. Ugh. AIM super-soldiers. I hate AIM super-soldiers.

AIM Super-Soldiers
Solo      1d4
Buddy   1d6
Team     1d8

AIM Super Treatments
Enhanced Stamina          1d8
Enhanced Strength         1d8
Superhuman Durability   1d10
SFX: Berserk - Add a die from the doom pool to one or more attack actions. Step up the doom pool die by +1 for each action; return it to the doom pool when you're done.
SFX: Uncontrollable Rage - Step up or double any AIM Super Treatments power for one action. If the action fails, add a die to the doom pool equal to the normal rating of your power die.
Limit: Critically Unstable - When you fail a reaction to avoid mental or social stress, step up the effect die by 1 to add a die to the doom pool.

Combat Master    1d8
Menace Master    1d8

Curses! Your villain has been foiled! After a few more adventures, she's back, and this time she's brought serious back-up - cybernetic AIM soldiers that work in a hive mind and fire lasers from their fists. Uh oh.

MODOC (Military Operatives Designed Only for Combat) Squad
Team 4d10

AIM Cybernetics
Energy Blasts             1d8
Enhanced Durability   1d8
Enhanced Speed        1d8
Enhanced Stamina      1d8
Enhanced Strength     1d8
Weapons                   1d8
SFX: Area Attack - Add a d6 and keep an additional effect die for each additional target.
SFX: Adaptive Tactics - Spend a die from the doom pool to use your opponent's stress die when you target them with a dice pool. Do not step up the stress die when you return it.
SFX: Burst Fire - Step up or double an Energy Blasts die against a single target. Remove the highest rolling die and add 3 dice for your total.
SFX: Hive Mind - Use two or more AIM Cybernetics powers in a single dice pool at -1 step for each additional power.
Limit: Cybernetic - Add a die to the doom pool when targeted by Milestones or tech that target cybernetic organisms.

Making MHR Characters ANOHotMU:U #2: Agents of Atlas

Yeah. Subtle, guys.

I’m departing from what I did in the previous books and am putting in entries for everything in this update, including those without clear stat blocks.

I read their first appearance in What If?, when they were there to answer the question of what would happen if the Avengers had forms in the 50s. The team consisted of 3D-Man, blessed with the abilities of three men, Venus, the Roman goddess of love, Marvel Boy, an interstellar traveller, and Gorilla Man and the Human Robot who you don’t need to be introduced to because you’re not that dumb. Presumably.

Anyhow, they take on Yellow Claw, a Marvel villain of Asian extraction whose design is so flippin' racist that I'm pretty sure that members of Stormfront would criticize it for being a little too on the nose.

I love the mood in this illustration - love it.

And then that's it. The mainstream universe Avengers, who've been watching the proceedings on a monitor, watch as the team realizes that they're too awesome to exist, and disband. Thankfully, someone out there in the Marvel writing stuff realized what I did, and decided to bring the team back, this time not as an Avengers knock-off, but as Agents of Atlas which, oddly, is the organization they're simultaneously working for (although they don't know it) and working against. This time around, they're led by Jimmy Woo, Yellow Claw's arch-nemesis and . . . well, it's all terribly 50s.

Yellow Fever scares, low-level mystical stuff that's vaguely Buddhist but not really at all, and lots of technology that's all rounded edges and bulbous knobs. It's really cool stuff, actually.

Unfortunately, all of the characters in the group have their own entries elsewhere in the Handbooks, so some day I might end up writing all of them up anyway, which leaves me with describing something or giving something else stats. To the Flying Saucer!

Uranian's Flying Saucer
Built By The Eternals
Groovy 50's Tech

Flying Saucer Technology
Advanced Sensors 1d10
Energy Blast 1d8
Flight 1d12
Superhuman Durability 1d10
Superhuman Reflexes 1d10
SFX: Evasive Manuevers - Step up or double Superhuman Reflexes for a reaction. If you fail the reaction, add a 1d10 to the doom pool.
Limit: Defensive Design - Whenever you use Energy blast in a dice pool that includes an opportunity, shut down Energy Blast afterward. Spend 1 PP or make a recovery action during a Transition Scene to reactivate.

Making MHR Characters ANOHotMU:U #2: Adam II

In close up shots, it looks like he's wearing
a mask over a human face - creepy.

And we're back. I'm doing one of the Update books this time, which goes from Adam II through to Zodiak and has some legitimately cool characters in between. There's Orka, one of my favourite Sub-Mariner baddies, Captain from N.E.X.T.W.A.V.E.* and Captain America himself!

But first, let's start off with a crappy knockoff of Ultron who pretty much only shows up only once in Marvel history and looks like his exterior was painted by a colour-blind pre-schooler. For all that, he's kind of a neat character.

He was created by Phineas T. Horton, who built the original robotic Human Torch because . . . well, reasons, I'm sure, abound, for making a robot that catches fire at random, but I can't think of any just now. Well, anyway, he tries again, this time hoping to create something a bit better than the original Torch who, let's face is, really was pretty darned glitchy.

And he ended up making a megalomaniac robot that took over the world and required a bunch of Captain Americas to overcome.

Wait, maybe I need to explain that last bit. See, after Steve Rogers went on ice, the U.S. government was like, "We can't just not have Captain America," so they drafted a bunch of second-stringers into the job in the ensuing decades. Taking down Adam II burned through one of them completely (William Naslund) and put Jeff Mace, the Patriot, into the uniform. An alternate universe of Adam II took Naslund, Mace and Steve Rogers (twice - once the modern version, and once the 50's version). He's a pretty powerful opponent, more because of his minions than anything else, and I think this build reflects that. Honestly, he's basically a low-rent Iron Man, and Iron Man vs. Cap, with other armored back-up, is usually a winning move for Stark, so that fits.

* This is the last time I'm putting in the periods. Seriously.

Adam II

Solo 1d8

Buddy 1d4

Team 1d6

Arrogant

Hatred of the Flesh

Superior Design

Android

Energy Blasts 1d10

Enhanced Durability 1d8

Enhanced Stamina 1d8

Enhanced Strength 1d8

SFX: Parallel Processing - Use two or more Android powers in a single dice pool at -1 step for each additional power.

SFX: Power Transfer - Shutdown an Android power to step up another Android power by +1. Recover the power by activating an opportunity of spending a die from the doom pool.

SFX: Robotic Minions - Add 1d8 and step up the effect die by +1 when using Android to create robotic assets.

Limit: Robot Body - Add a die to the doom pool when affect by Milestones and tech that specifically target artificial lifeforms.

Menace Expert 1d8

Science Expert 1d8

Tech Master 1d10

Vehicle Expert 1d8

ANOHotMU #4 In The Rear-View Mirror

Well, there you go. Better than 30 character write-ups later, I've finished going through and statting up an entire issue of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe. Is it one down, 11 more to go? Maybe. I think I might do one of the Updates next, just for a little alphabetical variety (those go from A-Z, potentially). So, savvy readers might realize that I statted up only 30 or so characters, and yet these things are 64 pages long. What gives? Well, as I said at the beginning, I was only statting up entries that gave me starting scores to work off of, and wasn't touching organizations or races. Still, they ARE in there, and deserve some love. So, some starting notes for each.

Elements of Doom
A group of killer robots, each based off of a chemical element. It's a need idea, and decently executed in the comic, but I'd probably only write up two or three of them, with the rest represented by mobs. I just can't care that much about writing up Aluminum as a distinct character from Tin.

Elf With A Gun
These guys got a name drop in my entry on Gargoyle, and they really are that weird. They make no sense. None, whatsoever. I don't know if they need to be statted up so much as serve as a Scene Distinction or complication in a scene, one that can only be dealt with in a very particular way that the players then have to figure out.

Eternals
Ah, the Eternals. Soooo much Kirby Krackle in this entry, folks. It really is a thing of beauty. The Eternals of note tend to show up in their own entries, so while I kind of wanted to stat them up as a mob, I'm okay with skipping that and going into more detail with individuals as this project leads onward. A lot of 1d12 powers and amped up SFX. And what do you use for a Limit? "Just Too Awesome?"

Eternity
Oddly, looking through other books, Infinity, Oblivion, Lord Chaos, Master Order and other abstract entities of the Marvel Universe get state blocks but big ol' Eternity doesn't. He's pretty awesomely powerful, though, so I'm spared writing up a giant list of things. For a guy like him, I might almost make him a complication generator - it fits with the tone of his powers better than making him yet another problem you can punch your way through.

Euro-Trash
I'll be honest, I never really got the big deal over X-Statix, especially Mike Allred's art. I mean, it's distinctive and all, but I just wasn't a big fan. And, honestly, stuff like Euro-Trash is part of the reason why. A German villain made of the Berlin Wall whose name is "Gunter Gross?" Ergh, no thanks. That's not funny and, no, not even "ironically." Still, there are some interesting power sets here that be fun to write up.

Exemplars
Oh, thank goodness these characters didn't have stats or I'd be left trying to write up eight separate characters equal to or superior to the Juggernaut. That is all.

Fathom Five
Ooo, this would've been fun! Aquatic monsters are kind of awesome. Even the pictures show some vehicles, monsters and equipment that would've been kind of fun. Wonder if New Thunderbolts was collected in a graphic novel . . .

Femme Fatales
I don't know if any of these characters showed up in other comics, enough that they might show up in an Update or something, but I hope so. Left to right, we have a female Whiplash, a bruiser-type named Knockout, a feral-type named Bloodlust, and a psi-powered Mindblast, all facing off against a lone Spiderman. I think with a little cleverness, I could probably stat them up on the fly, at least enough to work for an encounter or two.

Folding Circle
Oh, 90's Marvel, you really are crap, aren't you? This is supposed to be this dark and mysterious group of very serious antiheroes, all of them glowering out at us from the page, but they're called The Folding Circle. Seriously, that's the name of an orgami crafts group at your local library, not a fearsome collection of characters. It doesn't help that one of them is named "Smiling Tiger." Ugh. Well, I think at least Night Thrasher and Midnight's Fire show up elsewhere, but I think I'm spared the pain of statting up Silk Fever, Left Hand and Blood Strike.

Force Four
Aw, yeah, a quartet of anthropomorphic horses whose names are literally Pig Latin for the members of the Fantastic Four. That's totally boss. I really hope that I can track down stats for these guys so I can write them up for a special event or something.

Galactic Guardians
This cheap knock-off of the Guardians of the Galaxy, which includes futuristic Ghost Rider with a segmented crotch* is bad, and it should feel bad. Rounding out the group is an aged Wonder Man, B-list Galactus herald Firelord, a mulleted male Phoenix, a Skrull named Replica who wears a pink costume with the alchemical symbol for "female" just so we're sure we know she's a token female, and Martinex, the hero daringly carved from cubic zirconium. Oh my gosh, something cosmic powered smite these earnest folks, like, now.

Geshem
Basically, this is the alternate universe that answers the question, "What would the Marvel Universe look like if it were written by Robert Zelazny circa the Amber series?" If that doesn't sound like a good idea to you, I'm sorry, we just can't be friends. I think you'd probably just have to adjust some of the powers of existing characters and make them, I dunno, a little more medieval, but this could totally work.

Gnobians
This is a race of peaceful, demure aliens much like the "greys" we all know and love from UFO mythology. They're telepathic, can fly and turn intangible and otherwise look like your standard "peaceful alien" with large, open eyes in a oversized face. I think they'd be fairly easy to write up as a racial template, if I knew more about them.

Goodman, Lieber, Kurtzberg & Holliway
This is my favourite phase of She-Hulk's career. I love the fourth-wall bending nods, the very really issues surrounding the law in a world with superhumans and Jennifer Walters in a three piece skirt-suit. I'd see this place as a setting, with various characters that can be brought in as assets and/or complications and plots involving things like stopping a new incarnation of the Serpent Society without violating their constitutional rights.

* Good luck getting that image out of your head.

Making MHR Characters: Goliath (ANOHotMU #4)

It's no secret that Marvel, and comic books in general, have a reputation for doing a less than stellar job with representation of ethnic minorities. Where such characters exist, they're often villains, or stereotypes. Heck, even Sam Wilson, then The Falcon, was given a background as a pimp. And, well, Gamecock. (Seriously, what the h, Captain America writers?) Enter Bill Foster, aka Goliath.

He was a brilliant biochemist, and the lab partner of Hank Pym. He memorized the formula for the creation of the "Pym Particles that enable people to shrink (like The Wasp) and grow (like Giant-Man) and notably improved on them when he experimented on himself with them, creating a strain of the particles that gave him super-hearing and resistance to mental intrusion.

Yeah, he was called "Black Goliath" briefly - although it's notable that he took that name himself, and that he did so while try to show an ex-girlfriend how far he's fallen from his true potential - and generally wasn't as visible a superhero as some, but, still, he was pretty darned boss.

Interestingly, he shows up in the Civil War MHRPG book, which I recently purchased, and the write-up they provide is quite similar to my own. Yay for synchronicity!

Goliath

Affiliations

Solo 1d6

Buddy 1d8

Team 1d10

Distinctions

Brain for Science

Distinguished Hero

Humble

Pym Particle Powers

Enhanced Senses 1d8

Enhanced Stamina 1d8

Growth 1d10

Psychic Resistance 1d10

Superhuman Durability 1d10

Superhuman Strength 1d10

SFX: Area Attack - Add a 1d6 and keep an additional effect die for each extra target.

SFX: Gamble - Add a die to the doom pool to double a Pym Particles power for one action.

SFX: Multipower - Use two or more Pym Particle powers in a single dice pool at -1 step for each additional power.

SFX: Take It For The Team - Step up physical stress inflicted on an ally to take it yourself.

Limit: Exhausted - Shutdown Pym Particle Powers to gain 1 PP. Recover by activating an opportunity or during a Transition Scene.

Combat Expert 1d8

Medical Expert 1d8

Psych Expert 1d8

Science Master 1d10

Tech Master 1d8

Vehicle Master 1d8