Hear Me Out: Spider-Man (Peter Parker)

So, it seems that many express confusion as to why Spider-Man is Threat 4.

Hear me out.

Looking at his stats, it’s debatable.  5  Stamina and Long movement are nice, but not enough to warrant Threat 4.  3 attacks is a nice variety, even if only one is energy based, and you have to pay for that one.  The attacks range from 4-6 dice, which again isn’t outside the realm of average.  He has a nice defensive power in Spider-Sense, can throw Size 2 objects, and that’s typically where the conversation stops.

Peter is so much more than the sum of his parts, though.

Much like Peter’s character, Spider-Man is not a beater or some brute, he uses clever thinking and subtle tools to assist in victory.

Let’s start with his attacks.  Strike is a general affair, gaining energy equal to damage dealt.  This is something nearly every character has, and is not likely worth discussing further.

Impact Webbing, on the other hand, bears investigation.  While his weakest attack at 4 dice, Range 4 is a very healthy range, and it’s 0 cost makes it an interesting alternative.  That’s not what makes it truly noteworthy, though.  Gaining 1 power, successful or not, is a great incentive to use this power.  The true potential, though, lies in the Wild result.  This allows you to push a Size 2 or less away short.  In a game that is almost always half control/contest a point, being able to push someone out of that area is massive, especially if they have already activated.  It’s also useful for more aggressive models like Venom and Hulk, where that short move can either require a Move action to just maintain ground, or (given the large Range 4,) keep some characters out of the fight for this round.

Let’s move on to Taser Webs, the only attack that is an Energy type for Peter, and the only one that requires Power to fire (even then it’s only 2.)  This attack does need to be successful to trigger its special ability, but it applies what is among the most powerful conditions in the game: Stun.

Stun is an amazing condition, preventing you from gaining more than 1 power per source that would grant it.  Powerful hits now carry little consolation for the defendr, as they’ll just generate a single point of Power for them, and this can even clamp down on superpowers that attempt to give you more than the 1 Power each character gains in the Power Phase, such as Hulk’s Inner Rage.  This condition isn’t universally powerful (like our mighty queen, Stagger,) but this is killer against characters that love using Power, like Red Skull, and Captain Marvel.

Now, we’ll move on the superpowers.  Web Line works much like a Wild result on Impact Webbing, except it moves them towards Spider-Man.  This has the same use, just in a more specific direction.  This can cause some fun geometric possibilities, with Peter Impact Webbing someone away, Moving Long, and then pulling the same character closer to him, result in an even more discombobulated position that they started in.  It’s a shame you can’t yank allies up the field in this way, but you can snag someones and drag them closer to someone slower (say, Crossbones,) so they can get their licks in easier.

Web-A-Pult allows you to chuck a Size 2 piece of terrain OR an enemy character (within Range 3) short.  Throws are uncommon in MCP (but not rare,) and again, moving characters involuntarily can be massively impactful.

Spider-Sense is a great way to encourage more reliable results in Peter’s defense dice, and what’s truly remarkable is that it can be uses on dodge rolls, too!

Wall Crawler is present, and is a nice mobility superpower to ensure nothing but the biggest buildings will get in Spider-Man’s way.

So, now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s discuss how this all culminates and justifies 4 threat.  3 threat characters are typically a little one-dimensional, or are just “baseline” in terms of power and impact on the field.  Baron Zemo is a fair-ish comparison here.  While Peter doesn’t feel as aggressive as Zemo, given Charge and Counter Strike, Peter isn’t just a weaker, more heroic version of Zemo.  Where Zemo makes and impact by dealing damage and allowing some rerolls to teammates nearby, Peter impacts the board in a more creative manner.  By moving enemy pieces on the board, and on occasion removing terrain or applying one of the best conditions in the game, Peter’s influence is more subtle and more creative than just laying out enemies.  Peter is a piece that believes the best offense isn’t removing threats, but rather removing their relevancy.  This is why I think Peter justifies his extra point in threat.  To value him only by his martial prowess is to underestimate him.  He can deal out some decent damage if he has to, but by far he is better suited to zip about, and re-order the board in a manner more fitting for his allies.

This is only an opinion, but hopefully you have some thoughts to argue Peter's threat cost differently.