This is a two-part article detailing the new characters coming to Marvel Crisis Protocol in late 2025 and their competitive impact. Check out Part 1 of the article here where the previous 3 boxes were discussed!
Spider-Ham
Spider-Ham is a new 2-Threat model in the Web Warriors affiliation. Not only is he a 2 Threat model, but this ham is packed with text and abilities. He is not your straight-forward 2 Threat and it will take some time to properly assess the strength of this character. My first impression is that being a 2 Threat with lots of text means he will be great in the game. Lets take a look.
His biggest downside is that he has defenses of 2/2/2 with only 3 Health on each side. This is mitigated by having damage reduction 1 to a minimum of 1 and being able to re-roll two dice when targeted by physical or energy attacks or in a dodge roll. Also mitigating his weak defenses is his Size 1 which means he can stand behind any Size 2 or larger terrain and enemy characters will lose line of sight and be unable to target him.
Let’s do some quick math to see just how quickly this guy will drop to a typical attack. A 5 dice physical/energy attack has about a 25% chance to do 0 damage, ~46% chance to do 1 damage, and only ~11% chance to do 3+ damage (this is all after damage reduction). An 89% chance Spider-Ham will walk away from a 5 dice attack is not bad. His Spider-Nonsense superpower does state he will be dropping any objectives he is holding after taking a damage means he might survive but he won’t be scoring any Extracts.
If you’re facing this guy/ham across the table you should feel confident you can likely do a damage and make him drop an Extract(s), but you probably won’t completely take him down on an average roll. As with most spider-people/hams targeting him with Mystic attacks or having attacks where the defender cannot modify their dice will be the best way to stack damage on him.
The rest of his card is a lotto spin-to-win triggers. He does have the ability to give out Slow, Stun, Push the enemy character, and advance short all on his gainer attack. You have ~45% chance to give out either Slow or Stun respectively and about a 10% chance for either the Push or the Elusive. His Range 4 attack which gives him 0 Power also have a ~45% chance to give out Shock (which will also help his survivability). His Spender will automatically give out Stagger but only if the defender already have Shock and Stun so this feels like a very unlikely Stagger.
But his only other way to spend Power is his Web Yoink which is a 50% to pull a size 3 or less enemy toward you short and 50% chance to Push Spider-Ham toward the enemy character short. Web Yoink will move someone, and probably the only 100% confirmed benefit of this is making sure you’re in Range 2 for an attack. Otherwise you can take the chance and a 50% chance for a VP is still a good superpower.
The random nature of this character means you will have some really great rolls but you should basically expect most of his attacks to basically be text-less. Just evaluating this character as if he had no text to his attacks but still has access to the rest of his superpowers and this card is probably still good enough to play. Meaning any unlikely trigger you happen to get, you should just be happy to get it.
Spider-Ham is affiliated with Web Warriors and I think he will be a benefit in the go-wide objective based game plan that Miles Morales 3-Threat usually plays. He could also play under Amazing Spider-Man, using Power to give out Slow and reposition enemy models. He doesn’t seem to have any obvious synergies outside of his affiliation so time will tell if he is splashed in other places.
Silk
Silk is a 4-Threat Web Warrior that brings some unique utility to the affiliation. She is a tough, long-mover that can push Size 2 on her Builder and give out Slow on her Gainer which are going to help her run away with Extracts.
I think the biggest reason to play Silk is her TTC which is a team up card with Black Cat. Once per game, at the cost of a TTC and 3 Power and an action, if an allied Black Cat is on the battlefield, Silk can take an Extract token from an enemy model within Range 1 of herself. This is the Black Cat Master Cat Burgler superpower on a card. I reckon this effect, even at the additional cost of a TTC and once a game, is still good enough to use whenever you have her on the table. Depriving your opponent of a VP and scoring one yourself is a very good effect. You’ll already have Black Cat on the table stealing Extracts from your enemy so your game plan probably looks like scoring as fast as possible, and holding onto Extracts with your tough, long moving models. To this end, a team of Miles Morales, Black Cat, and Silk is a 10-Threat core that has really high amounts of interaction with opponent models holding Extracts.
Once Silk has an Extract, hopefully she can give out Slow to any models trying to chase her. Slowed models have the extra benefit of feeding her more power and she can use that power for a Tricks and Traps type effect to deal extra damage and possibly move away Short from chasing models. Very synergistic when it all goes right.
Ultimate Spider-Man
I think this 4-Threat Miles is a great package of attrition and utility, with defenses and mobility all wrapped into one package. His biggest downside is he’s competing with himself for a slot in your roster! I do think the two Miles in the game play very different roles so they will be taken in different contexts.
I am definitely planning on playing this Ultimate Spider-Man in many lists, both in Web Warriors and without. His Builder attack is pretty average but the Wild Trigger to give out Slow and displace an enemy model size 3 or less is a huge upside. The Slow can synergize with Amazing Spider-Man or an all Webbed Up Turn. The attack gets better when it follows a Web Swing which adds 2 dice to it, making for a great pseudo-charge on the character.
I also want to point out his Reactive superpower, allowing USM to make a Swinging Strike against a character who just attacked him. I think this type of superpower is extremely underrated and in this context can not only have the chance to Daze or KO the enemy model but also displace them on their activation. He will always have the ability to perform the attack since it’s Range 3 and the superpower already allows him to reposition himself Short towards the attacker and he has Stealth. His defenses are quite good since he can re-roll 2 defense dice against any attack and re-roll Skulls so attacking him becomes a liability for the enemy.
A Long mover with Wallcrawler makes him very mobile combined with his Web Swing superpower. The Stun Web attack is a Gainer in case you absolutely need to guarantee getting one more power. Plus the Range 4 makes it so he can attack people outside his own Stealth Range. The Spender is another attrition all-star, giving Stun before damage so they won’t gain more than 1 Power during the attack and the Wild trigger can splash out damage onto nearby enemies.
He cannot be played under the 3-Threat Miles but I think he synergizes with Amazing Spider-Man by giving out Slow and possibly displacing enemies even farther with the leadership, and with the Into the Spider-Verse TTC giving him Range 1 Places throughout the game. I definitely think he could splash into any of the Steve Rodgers leaderships, any leadership that gives out Power, or under Baron Strucker.
Spider-Man 2099
Spider-Man 2099 is the second 5-Threat Web Warriors and is a brawling model with a lot of healing effects. He will be most optimal when he starts his activation with a couple of damage on him and can heal it all away over the course of his Spider Talons attacks and Healing Factor 1. Remember, he can also take advantage of Instant Recovery to heal up during your opponent’s activation. He might need it too, because his only defensive tech is a 3 cost superpower allowing him to re-roll any number of defense dice, including Skulls. Don’t get me wrong, its a good superpower especially with the Range 2 Place attached at the end but if your opponent is set on getting him off the table, I think he will end up getting Dazed or KO’d.
Displacing 2099 is pretty low value if he hasn’t activated yet because he has his Organic Web Shot and Web Whip abilities to get him back into the fight. This is a character I most associate with the new Into the Spider-Verse TTC which can give him Range 1 Places whenever he rolls a Skull.
Does he have a place in a Web Warrior roster? I think he’ll want to be playing in a control and attrition gameplan and could be supported by the new Ultimate Spider-Man and Gwenom among other Spider models. They can slow the opponent from scoring VP while also dish out damage. Those models are getting into the fight and staying there, with all their abilities directing them towards enemy models. I think this puts them in a fairly good position, and using cards like All Webbed Up and Brief Reprieve can bolster that gameplan. Read more about my fighting Web Warriors roster here.
Spider-Man Noir
Spider-Man Noir is a unique model for Web Warriors in that he doesn’t have a lot of movement tech or enemy displacement. However he is a very tough model with damage reduction to a minimum of 0 and two re-rolls on defense against physical or energy attacks or dodge rolls. He also has the ability to hit above his Threat level with a big Range 4 beam Spender attack and a Builder that gets extra dice if you’ve already attacked the target this turn. Plus if he needs some extra damage, he has a Terrain Throw that’s quite good.
It’s another unique design for Web Warriors, although one that doesn’t seem to fit much into their current game plan. They have a huge amount of really great 3 Threat models to choose from, so I’m not sure Noir will be making the roster. If anything, he’s another 3 for an extremely go-wide Web Warriors roster that I’m sure would still be great. Miles, Noir, Black Cat, Ghost Spider, Spectacular, Spider-Ham are only 17 Threat and there’s room for great splash characters in the mix as well.
The other reason for playing Noir comes in the form of his TTC, Spider-Sleuth. While it takes up a TTC spot, I think it’s pretty reasonable to expect that it will score you 2 VP during your game. That difference could be the winning margin so I think it’s at least worth the include. There are a lot of objectives in the game that are interacted with and he has the damage output to take down a model during the game. It’s another form of VP acceleration alongside the game plan of scoring all of the points as fast as possible using Black Cat and Miles and the rest.
Will we get more models in 2025?…
AMG has previously promised that Blue Marvel and Spectrum would release in Q4 2025. With all of the shipping chaos I don’t think we can rely on that currently, but it would be a nice holiday surprise. We don’t know a lot about these models yet. Both of these characters are generally associated with cosmic and space themes. They both have ties to the Avengers as well as Blue Marvel belonging on a Defenders team. They both have some energy based powers with relative toughness.
We also still have some Gamma/Hulk themed characters coming to the game at some point. Read my article on those characters here. Gamma characters always seem to make a splash in the game so I’m looking forward to their inclusion.
On to 2026…
AMG still has many more models already teased for 2026 and I’m excited to see them arrive. The game is in a really competitive spot right now and I can’t see that changing in the near future. The Web Warriors seem to have a huge boost to their affiliation coming but hopefully that won’t upset game balance too much. We should also expect small character balance changes through the next year which have always been healthy for the game.
Let me know what has caught your eye competitively out of these new characters. Right now I’m most excited about Tigra and Ultimate Spider-Man! You can find me at my local shop, the Fabricator’s Forge outside of Pittsburgh PA and playing in our ongoing Appalachian Cup around the Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia region. If you’re looking for discount Marvel Crisis Protocol, shop at the Frontline Gaming online store! Looking forward to seeing what people will put on the table for the next tournament!