Marvel may be dominating the big and small screen with hits like Spider-Man: No Way Home and Moon Knight, but fans can also see their favorite characters up close in the Marvel: Crisis Protocol tabletop game. Players can mix and match whichever heroes and villains they want to play, but choosing the right leader is an essential component of competitive play.
Leaders aren't the only important team-building element, but considering which ones work well with different playstyles is the best starting point when putting together a roster. There are no bad leaders in Marvel: Crisis Protocol, but some stand above the rest as the most efficient at what they do.
She-Hulk
She-Hulk is the only leader of the A-Force affiliation, and her leadership ability synergizes well with her high health and big attacks. Defenders of Arcadia grants one character one power every time an attack damages an ally. This near-constant power generation lets She-Hulk use her strongest attack and multiple superpowers regularly.
She-Hulk also benefits from an A-Force affiliated card, Special Delivery, letting another character move her around the battlefield. This extra mobility gets her into fights quickly to potentially attack three times on turn one.
Doctor Strange
Doctor Strange's Defenders affiliation isn't very popular among competitive players, but that's due to the character's lack of affiliated team tactics cards more than any problems with Strange himself. He can pivot between combat and control and sports superpowers to keep his team in the fight.
Doctor Strange can add defensive dice to his or any ally's defense rolls, he can heal three damage for three power, and his builder automatically pushes any size character. His only downside is that he likes to keep his teammates close, so D, B, and E maps may be too spread out for him to perform optimally.
Green Goblin
Green Goblin was once so weak that players would sometimes leave him out of his own affiliation. In a testament to the game's balance, it only took two changes to bring him up to top competitive viability: his builder got one extra die, and his leadership went from costing one power to zero.
Oscorp Technology, the Spider-Foes leadership ability, allows players to force their opponent to reroll one defensive die each turn. While this may not sound very impactful, it synergizes with low-attack characters like Mysterio and Doctor Octopus to ensure they push damage through when they need to.
Star-Lord
Star-Lord was once one of the worst leaders in Marvel: Crisis Protocol, but Atomic Mass Games buffed his kit, and it now honors his reputation as the most powerful member of the Guardians of the Galaxy.
Star-Lord's leadership ability lets him give three allies a "Winging It" token each round. Players can spend these tokens to reroll two attack or defense dice, which helps curb unlucky rolls. But while Quill's leadership is powerful, it can also be hard to use. The tokens are given during the power phase, so there's no way to be certain who will need one.
Captain America (Sam Wilson)
When Atomic Mass Games first revealed Sam Wilson's card, many fans were underwhelmed by what seemed like a weak leadership ability. However, once he was released, he quickly became one of the top leaders in competitive play.
Sam's Avengers leadership ability, All-New, All-Different lets players remove one damage and one condition from a friendly character, then advance them short any time another ally is dazed or KO'd. This effect works best with large numbers of low-value models to trigger the leadership as often as possible. A recent errata changed the leadership, so it only works when the KO or daze comes from an enemy effect, but it's still potent.
Spider-Man (Miles Morales)
The Web Warriors have two leaders, but Miles Morales is the most popular by a large margin. His leadership ability grants a defensive reroll to all allies, and any ally holding or contesting an objective can modify failures in their rolls.
Crisis Protocol leverages what Miles can do but Peter Parker can't by giving Miles access to Stealth and a potent Venom Blast that forces enemies to drop held objectives. The Web Warriors make up for what they lack in offense with unparalleled maneuverability and control.
Captain America (Steve Rogers)
Steve was always decent, but his rework in November 2021 turned him into one of the best characters in Marvel: Crisis Protocol. One of the reasons he's so strong is that his leadership ability, A Day Unlike Any Other, benefits almost any other unit in the game.
If Steve is the active leader, his ability lets every character reduce the cost of the first superpower they use each turn by one. This reduction enables otherwise-impossible turn one plays and snowballs into quite a significant power differential. Captain America's success in competitive tournaments makes it clear that he is one of the best Avengers in Marvel: Crisis Protocol.
Kingpin
Like his comic book counterpart, Kingpin in Marvel: Crisis Protocol is a physical bruiser who's almost impossible to kill quickly. However, Wilson Fisk isn't considered a top-tier character because of his combat abilities.
Kingpin's Criminal Syndicate leadership ability, Illicit Network, has two parts. First, allied characters can spend two power to move an asset or civilian token to another. Second, healthy allies count as two when calculating secures. This combination of perks makes the Criminal Syndicate almost impossible to stop on Research Station, Gamma Waves, Legacy Virus, and most other fast-scoring crises.
Thanos
There are many powerful variants of Thanos in Marvel comics, and Crisis Protocol represents the Mad Titan at his most powerful. Several characters in the game can wield individual Infinity Gems, but Thanos can wield two. Furthermore, he is the only character that doesn't have to pay the power cost to use the gems' abilities.
The ability to mix and match gems makes Thanos a versatile piece that can bounce between combat and control, though his leadership ability for The Black Order encourages the former. Players using Thanos score one automatic victory point every time they KO an enemy model.
Magneto
Magneto is one of few Omega-level mutants, which means that his power level is potentially limitless. He isn't quite that strong in Marvel: Crisis Protocol, but the Master of Magnetism is an offensive powerhouse with strong attacks. His leadership ability, From the Ruins, is very strong; when a piece of terrain is destroyed, a number of characters equal to or less than the terrain's size get one power.
Magento's leadership ability pairs well with recently released characters Juggernaut and Rogue, who can destroy or throw terrain. Magneto can also pay two power to use his Mystic defense against any attack, which is the highest defense in the game at six.