Hear Me Out: Iron Man (Tony Stark)

So, Tony Stark is sadly up at the top of most players' lists when it comes to dropping Characters from their roster.  Tony shouldn't be so easily dismissed, though.

Hear me out.

At first, Tony suffers much like Crossbones did from Not Much Going On Syndrome (Please talk to your doctor about NMGOS.)  At least he has a Medium move, though.  Tony suffers from a lower dice pool than most attacks, though.  Let's review.

His basic attack, Repuslor Blast, is interesting because it's an Energy type, which doesn't happen often.  At just 4 dice, though, he's not likely mowing down Characters.  However, a Wild can give it a Short Push.  It's also at the far-flung Range 4, which will be a point I'll bring up later.

Homing Rockets costs 2 power, put pumps up the range and dice to 5, and removes Cover and needing LOS (so, no, Rocket doesn't get Cover.  "No" trumps "Yes.")  A wild also gives you the ability to hand out some bonus damage to your target's nearby pals, too!

Iron Man also did what the Black Order did before it was cool with Invincible Iron Man, allowing him to passively reduce damage, to a minimum of 1.

Flight is cool and good.  Let's move forward.

Friday AI is the last thing to mention.  A cost of three power adds 2 extra dice to his next attack this turn.  This is inline with what we saw in Crossbones, where Superpowers have a pattern of "Add X dice to an attack for X+1 power."

However, Crossbones and Iron Man couldn't be more different.

A key point to remember in this game is damage isn't everything.  Scoring the Crisis Cards is what wins games, not knocking Characters out (although, it *can* be a strategy.)  Tony is great at taking position at some objective that isn't getting a lot of attention, and still be relevant firing shots from far away.  He's not the heaviest hitter around, but he is someone who can babysit an objective for VP, while still providing a threat.

Lastly, He really does shine as an Avenger.  Paying one less for Friday AI is a great bonus.  Playing in Wakanda is also a smart play, as the rerolls they provide (what I like to call "The Wakandan Shuffle,") help those Wilds show up more often, or even generate a few more key hits.

Hopefully that gives you a few things to consider when you're building your rosters, and maybe Tony can see more time on your tables.

Just keep him away from the booze.