X-Men – Nerds on Earth https://nerdsonearth.com The best place on earth for nerds. Tue, 02 Aug 2022 13:22:19 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://nerdsonearth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/cropped-nerds_head_thumb2-100x100.png X-Men – Nerds on Earth https://nerdsonearth.com 32 32 All the podcasts from NerdsonEarth.com, under one umbrella. We create short run podcasts for nerds, covering D&D, Marvel, Starfinder, and more! You vote for your favorite shows and they just might get a second season. X-Men – Nerds on Earth false episodic X-Men – Nerds on Earth jason.sansbury@nerdsonearth.com podcast All the podcasts from NerdsonEarth.com, the best place on Earth for nerds. X-Men – Nerds on Earth https://nerdsonearth.com/wp-content/uploads/powerpress/noe-podcast-logo.png https://nerdsonearth.com/blog/ 7 Best Villains from Marvel X-Men United (And Why Deadpool is the Worst) https://nerdsonearth.com/2022/08/7-best-villains-from-marvel-x-men-united/ Tue, 02 Aug 2022 12:00:00 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=38856

Marvel United: X-Men is an incredibly fun game with oodles of villain scenarios. We share our 7 favorite villains for Marvel United: X-men.

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This won’t win me any fans from the Millennial generation but Deadpool is the worst. This is true in comics books and it’s true in Marvel X-Men United from CMON Games, which as a company is barely less worst than Deadpool, due to their dastardly handling of their Kickstarter campaigns.

Dastardliness aside, I have the full Marvel X-Men United Kickstarter and I am here to tell you that the worst villain is indeed Deadpool. The character’s farcical nature grates thin after :30 seconds and that is true in the comics, on the screen, and within the Marvel United: X-Men board game as well.

But that’s not a problem because Marvel United: X-Men has a couple dozen other villains that are wonderful. Here are those I feel are the best 7.

The 7 Best Villains from Marvel X-Men United

7 Apocalypse

A few of the best villains for Marvel United: X-Men are considerable, expansive affairs. For example, Apocalypse earned his own expansion for the game and it is entirely worth it.

The expansion features Apocalypse and his Four Horseman, as it should. It’s not just a few X-Men against a single villain, it’s a team against an entire plot that feels substantial. Sometimes you want a quick, easy play and sometimes you want to roll up your sleeves to dive into to something a little deeper.

Apocalypse gives you that in the game and, as I mentioned in my look at the heroes of Marvel United: X-Men, this greater flexibility is one of the reasons that Marvel United: X-Men operates at a higher level than the first base edition of the game.

6 Nimrod

Nimrod is in a similar category as Apocalypse, in that it’s an entire expansive to the game. But I enjoy it even a titch more.

Nimrod works alongside 3 giant Sentinels and is themed off the classic Days of Future Past storyline. As a result, it comes with a Wolverine figure as well.

Gameplay features battles with the 3 Sentinels while a Nimrod activation advancement track threatens in the background.

5 Sebastian Shaw

Sabastian Shaw is featured as a villain versus identifying the villain as the Hellfire Club. But you obviously can’t feature Sebastian Shaw outside of the Hellfire Club.

As a result, the gameplay is centered on the Black and White Rook, Bishop, and Queen as a Henchman at each location. It works great; players know their objective is to tackle Henchmen quickly and that gives the villain scenario a unique tone in the game.

4 Mojo

Mojo’s objective is to get his ratings up of course. The Ratings Track is a pretty standard villain plot as far as the game goes. If ratings hit 15, the X-Men lose.

But what the villain scenario lacks in creativity, it makes up for is creepy silliness, which fits Mojo to a T.

3 Arcade

Arcade is thematic in the sense that when heroes enter a location, they trigger a “trap,” just as you’d expect with Arcade and his Murder World. That means the core play style with Arcade is to clear these traps without getting KO’d. Because getting KO’d adds a Crisis Token to Arcade and when he hits 4 of those, it’s lights out for our heroes.

2 Brotherhood (Toad, Blob, and Pyro)

The Brotherhood plays so fun because Toad, Blob, and Pyro each have their own BAM! as well as Threat cards, making their villain scenario feel the most like a classic team versus team battle.

1 Mister Sinister

Mister Sinister is super glam in the comics and he’s super glam in the game. His gameplay centers on DNA tokens that are distributed among the players.

As a bonus, dive into a little Sinister lore here.


I really couldn’t escape recommending villains that required additional expansions to play. Many of those expansion villains are just too fun to not recommend. But don’t feel like it’s the only way. The base game is a lot of fun. Get it here. You won’t regret it and if you love it like I expect you while, you can then add expansions later.

Now, let’s look at the 7 best heroes for Marvel United: X-Men.

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7 Best Heroes from Marvel United: X-Men https://nerdsonearth.com/2022/08/7-best-heroes-from-marvel-united-x-men/ Mon, 01 Aug 2022 13:21:33 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=38858

Marvel United X-Men was a level up for a game that features dozens of characters. But which are the best Marvel United X-Men heroes?

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Marvel United got a huge reception when it splashed onto the board gaming scene in 2020. While critics poo-poohed the game because they said it was too simplistic in its gameplay and too childish in its Chibi-styled miniatures, fans recognized that the core mechanism of laying cards in a circular pattern was genius and a heck of a lot of fun to boot.

But one persistent criticism of the game was that the different hero decks could be too samey at times and that playing one hero was just like playing any other, so just pick your favorite miniature and be done with it.

Well, the next version of the game came via Kickstarter – Marvel United: X-Men – and it’s a game changer. The game is elevated in many ways, the primary being that individual characters feel much more unique than before and villain gameplay has a greater variety of styles as well. In short, the designers keep the core brilliance of the rotating game play, but then pushed the boundaries creatively in order to develop much more variety and individuality into the game.

You can get Marvel United: X-Men here.

I’m a huge fan. My entire family loves it, including my nephews. But since there is so much more variety within the play style of the characters now, it felt appropriate to make a list of the 7 that we think are best.

The 7 Best Heroes from Marvel United: X-Men

7 Boom Boom

Boom Boom has always been a sort of a whatever character in the comics. She’s fine but the “ohmygoshwhatever, I’m just soooo sassy” type character grates thin after a short while.

And this is true in terms of Marvel United as well. I wouldn’t use Boom Boom every game by any means. She doesn’t have any double Heroic cards, so she’s not great at rescuing civilians and clearing threats. In fact, her movement isn’t great and she only has one double-wild card.

So why is she on this list? Well, dropping bombs on the board is fun! Boom Boom takes advantage of the new versatility in play styles as much as any other character. She comes with bomb tokens and her Time Bomb special effect allows a placement of one of those tokens.

It’s really fun!

6 Dazzler

Firstly, I buy Dazzler’s first appearance in the comic books every time I get the opportunity. She’s a fascinating character. She’s also great in Marvel United!

Firstly, she’s pretty versatile with a nice assortment of Move, Attack, Heroic, and Wild symbols. She’s not OP by any stretch but she has just enough for you to feel competitive without her Specials.

But Dazzler Special Effect can be a one-shot. Her Sound Conversion card allows Dazzler to “Gain [Attack] tokens equal to the number of [Civilian] in [her] location.” She also gets Heroic token equal to Henchmen. So she gathers tokens, then with one move can clear a location. That’s dazzling!

5 Polaris

Polaris has a couple of nice Wild cards, plus some good enough Move and Heroic as well. And her Attack is great!

What that means is Polaris is a good, well-rounded team player that is pretty straight-forward to understand and play. So, if you are a fan of the character, don’t hesitate at all to bring Polaris into any team against almost any scenario.

4 Emma Frost

Let’s just get this out of the way: At this point, Emma Frost has been a hero in the comics much longer than she was ever a villain.

Emma Frost has great general cards with a bunch of doubles. So she’s solid right out of the gate.

But her Omega Class Telepath card Special is amazing! The ability to use the two previous cards instead of just one? That can absolute swing a match-up!

3 Nightcrawler

Nightcrawler has the absolute best movement in the game. Plus, he’s great at repositioning other players as well.

Sure, he has a limitation. His card text sets he must move, and that feels like a move to mitigate what is his incredible movement abilities. But you pretty much want to move all the time anyway, so what is seen as a restriction really isn’t that big of a deal.

What you are left with is an incredible character with the game’s best movement who BAMFS all over the board knocking out opponents and repositioning teammates. Mein Gott!

2 Storm

Storm is an all-around great character. Firstly, she has plenty of double symbols. But she also had great Attack and is really great at movement while also repositioning other characters around the board.

She’s so good and useful, in fact, that I recommendation is that Storm is a character that you strongly consider using every single time you play.

1 Psylocke

Psylocke is an absolutely incredible character!

Firstly, just about every regular card in her deck is a double. So, she has lots of Wild and Attack ability without even pulling her Special cards.

But both her Special cards are among the best in the game! Her Telepathy cards allow you to swap out any Hero card in the Timeline. That could absolutely swing a game in your favor!

Then, her Psionic Blast cards allow you to cancel a BAM. That’s unbelievably useful! When you are against the ropes, those two Psionic Blast cards can buy you to time to regroup better than pretty much any cards from any characters.


Marvel United was a fun game. Then Marvel United: X-Men kept everything fun about the first game, then course corrected the weak area, which was variability in strategy and game play, by letting each individual character shine both thematically and within their individual gameplay. The result was a definite level up for the game.

You can get Marvel United: X-Men here. Although I tried to avoid Kickstarter exclusive characters as much as possible, I understand I wasn’t always successful. But get that base game linked over there! That will get you introduced to the game and you won’t be disappointed.

Now, let’s talk about best villains…

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Comic Haul: Viewing some great 70s Marvel Genre Comics Plus Odd Sizes https://nerdsonearth.com/2021/11/comic-haul-unboxing-70s-marvel-comics/ Sat, 20 Nov 2021 13:00:00 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=37235

I just got a big comic book haul. Click the video to see what I got!

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I’ve been buying comic book collections for the past several Saturdays. Although there is variety in the comics collections I buy, I do have a type: Marvel Silver and Bronze Age. And I focus on key issues.

So, if you are interested in my comic book hauls, click the video above to see which comics I got this Saturday!

By the way, I'm still buying comic book collections. If you want to unload anything from 5 to 100+ boxes in one easy transaction, then please do reach out. clave [dot] jones [at] nerdsonearth.com  Click here for more details. 

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Comic Haul: The one with a Mark Jewelers Insert and some sweet KEYS https://nerdsonearth.com/2021/11/comic-haul-the-one-with-a-mark-jewelers-insert-and-some-sweet-keys/ Sat, 13 Nov 2021 13:00:00 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=37233

I just got a big comic book haul. Click the video to see what I got!

The post Comic Haul: The one with a Mark Jewelers Insert and some sweet KEYS appeared first on Nerds on Earth.

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I’ve been buying comic book collections for the past several Saturdays. Although there is variety in the comics collections I buy, I do have a type: Marvel Silver and Bronze Age. And I focus on key issues.

So, if you are interested in my comic book hauls, click the video above to see which comics I got this Saturday!

By the way, I'm still buying comic book collections. If you want to unload anything from 5 to 100+ boxes in one easy transaction, then please do reach out. clave [dot] jones [at] nerdsonearth.com  Click here for more details. 

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Comic Haul: Oh no! Hela has found Thor! Look at this cover! https://nerdsonearth.com/2021/11/comic-haul-oh-no-hela-has-found-thor-look-at-this-cover/ Sat, 06 Nov 2021 12:00:00 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=37231

I just got a big comic book haul. Click the video to see what I got!

The post Comic Haul: Oh no! Hela has found Thor! Look at this cover! appeared first on Nerds on Earth.

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I’ve been buying comic book collections for the past several Saturdays. Although there is variety in the comics collections I buy, I do have a type: Marvel Silver and Bronze Age. And I focus on key issues.

So, if you are interested in my comic book hauls, click the video above to see which comics I got this Saturday!

By the way, I'm still buying comic book collections. If you want to unload anything from 5 to 100+ boxes in one easy transaction, then please do reach out. clave [dot] jones [at] nerdsonearth.com  Click here for more details. 

The post Comic Haul: Oh no! Hela has found Thor! Look at this cover! appeared first on Nerds on Earth.

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Comic Haul: Unboxing a HUGE LOT of Claremont X-Men https://nerdsonearth.com/2021/10/comic-haul-unboxing-a-huge-lot-of-claremont-x-men/ Sat, 30 Oct 2021 12:00:00 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=37053

I just got a big comic book haul. Click the video to see what I got!

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This week’s comic haul is Claremont X-Men!

I’ve been buying comic book collections for the past several Saturdays. Although there is variety in the comics collections I buy, I do have a type: Marvel Silver and Bronze Age. And I focus on key issues.

So, if you are interested in my comic book hauls, click the video above to see which comics I got this Saturday!

By the way, I'm still buying comic book collections. If you want to unload anything from 5 to 100+ boxes in one easy transaction, then please do reach out. clave [dot] jones [at] nerdsonearth.com  Click here for more details. 

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Comic Haul: Unboxing Strange Star Wars! https://nerdsonearth.com/2021/10/comic-haul-unboxing-strange-star-wars/ Sat, 23 Oct 2021 12:00:00 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=37064

I just got a big comic book haul. Click the video to see what I got!

The post Comic Haul: Unboxing Strange Star Wars! appeared first on Nerds on Earth.

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This week’s comic haul is Doctor Strange comics with a heavy dose of Star Wars.

I’ve been buying comic book collections for the past several Saturdays. Although there is variety in the comics collections I buy, I do have a type: Marvel Silver and Bronze Age. And I focus on key issues.

So, if you are interested in my comic book hauls, click the video above to see which comics I got this Saturday!

By the way, I'm still buying comic book collections. If you want to unload anything from 5 to 100+ boxes in one easy transaction, then please do reach out. clave [dot] jones [at] nerdsonearth.com  Click here for more details. 

The post Comic Haul: Unboxing Strange Star Wars! appeared first on Nerds on Earth.

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Comic Haul: Unboxing Thor and More! https://nerdsonearth.com/2021/10/comic-haul-unboxing-thor-and-more/ Sat, 16 Oct 2021 12:00:00 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=37062

I just got a big comic book haul. Click the video to see what I got!

The post Comic Haul: Unboxing Thor and More! appeared first on Nerds on Earth.

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This week’s comic haul are some amazing old school Thor comics. And more!

I’ve been buying comic book collections for the past several Saturdays. Although there is variety in the comics collections I buy, I do have a type: Marvel Silver and Bronze Age. And I focus on key issues.

So, if you are interested in my comic book hauls, click the video above to see which comics I got this Saturday!

By the way, I'm still buying comic book collections. If you want to unload anything from 5 to 100+ boxes in one easy transaction, then please do reach out. clave [dot] jones [at] nerdsonearth.com  Click here for more details. 

The post Comic Haul: Unboxing Thor and More! appeared first on Nerds on Earth.

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Comic Haul: Unboxing Oodles of Marvel Bronze Age KEYS https://nerdsonearth.com/2021/10/comic-haul-unboxing-oodles-of-marvel-bronze-age-keys/ Sat, 09 Oct 2021 12:00:00 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=37060

I just got a big comic book haul. Click the video to see what I got!

The post Comic Haul: Unboxing Oodles of Marvel Bronze Age KEYS appeared first on Nerds on Earth.

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Our comic haul this week is an amazing collection of Marvel keys.

I’ve been buying comic book collections for the past several Saturdays. Although there is variety in the comics collections I buy, I do have a type: Marvel Silver and Bronze Age. And I focus on key issues.

So, if you are interested in my comic book hauls, click the video above to see which comics I got this Saturday!

By the way, I'm still buying comic book collections. If you want to unload anything from 5 to 100+ boxes in one easy transaction, then please do reach out. clave [dot] jones [at] nerdsonearth.com  Click here for more details. 

The post Comic Haul: Unboxing Oodles of Marvel Bronze Age KEYS appeared first on Nerds on Earth.

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Marvel Strike Force: X-Men and X-Women https://nerdsonearth.com/2021/01/marvel-strike-force-x-men-and-x-women/ Mon, 25 Jan 2021 15:04:15 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=34708 Doom and Jubilee

Marvel Strike Force tips for beginning players. This week we give an overview of the X-Men tag, and different ways to configure the teams.

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Doom and Jubilee

Welcome back to MSF Mondays!

Each week we break down one more aspect of the hottest mobile game, Mobile Strike Force!

This game is quite adept at pitting 5 toons against another 5 toons, as most games modes are just that. So it makes sense that most teams are groups of 5: Wakandans, Asgardians, Symbiotes, just to name a few.

However, as the game masters at MSF have been introducing so many new characters, some teams have exceeded 5, while others remain short of 5 total. For instance, the Sinister Six went from 5 to 7 in the past few months, whereas the Young Avengers remain at 4.

Well, it is now time to tackle the X-Men.

The amount of characters with the X-Men tag is ever expanding and soon we will have a total of 12 X-Men: Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm, Psylocke, Beast, Colossus, and Phoenix. Most of us should unlock Kitty Pryde during her 2 Blitz rounds, and we all are eagerly awaiting the in game release events for Iceman and Jubilee.

Bishop will be coming soon. We also have X–23 with the X-Men tag, but would only be a good use with X-Men until you unlock the rest of X-Force. We also can’t help but bemoan the absence of Nightcrawler, Angel, Rogue, and PROFESSOR X.

However, we play with what we got, right?

Speaking of which, most players have struggled to unlock Phoenix because of her particular unlock needs –6-Star Villain, Mystic, Controllers – so most people fashion an X-Men team with the other 6 characters who have been in the game for a while now. For most either Beast or Colossus are a little harder to come by early on, so then it was fairly easy to form a team, cause you may only have 5 X-Men toons, which meant all was right in MSF.

Then MSF gives us an influx of new characters to work with. However, Scopley has made it “easy” on us by creating two sub-tags, much like Wave 1 for Avengers. However, unlike the Avengers who can be put into really good Duos and Trios to maximize the large amount of toons under that tag; the MSF X-Men are a bigger mess than the X-Men cinematic universe.  

My guy PaPokemon has a great video on the state of the X-Men and other mutants and you can view that here. While he gets into a little speculation in this video that dates back to November of 2020, it just reinforces the mess this tag really is. Because we know more X-Men were coming to the game, but the ones they picked are interesting, to say the least.

The Uncanny X-Men: Beast, Wolverine, Cyclops, Colossus, Storm, Psylocke, and the ever-elusive Phoenix.

The Astonishing X-Men: Beast, Kitty Pryde, and Iceman

That’s right, you have 7 for Uncanny and 3 for Astonishing, with Beast as an overlap and X-23 only has the X-Men tag. Thanks Scopley. We do have 100% confirmation on Jubilee as a Legendary (again, don’t get me started) and Bishop will be joining Astonishing, to round out that group.

So what do we do with the X-Men?

If you ask Clave, the X-Men (and all mutants really) are the most formidable group in any game mode, and well, he’s isn’t far off. Especially when you have Phoenix, you really have a meta team. However, most of us do not have Phoenix, but may hopefully unlock her in tonight’s event!

Our Alliance has also been chatting a lot about Kitty Pryde as the fresh new X-Men to join the conversation, but I think that if you can unlock 5 of the X-Men who have been in game for the longest, you will have your best group until you unlock Phoenix and round out the 2 groups – Astonishing and Uncanny.

The “Core” X-Men

X-Men Marvel Strike Force

(Left to Right) Cyclops, Storm, Wolverine, Beast, Colossus

This group has benefit in every game mode and their synergies can go boost them toe to toe with some of the best teams in the game in WAR and ARENA. However, there is investment needed and most of these toons are not plug and play outside of X-Men. So be wise on pouring resources into this team and do not forsake other teams for the characters you fell in love with in childhood, no matter what Clave says!

With carryover charges this team is also a force in RAIDS. Furthermore, this is a team that benefited a great deal from ISO 8 as it enhanced their usefulness together. I think Psylocke is good with this group, but has more usefulness apart from the team. So while you will perhaps unlock her early on, you can find other groups to plug her into.

The Leftovers

We have Psylocke and Kitty Pryde without homes right now. We also have the two X-Factor toons: Shatterstar, and Longshot. I might recommend Namor as he is likely displaced from your Fantastic Four with the addition of She-Hulk.

Once you unlock Phoenix, then you can bring Wolverine or Storm to the X-Men/Factor hybrid, until you unlock Iceman and Bishop and begin forming Astonishing X-Men. Again, this tag is a mess, but you should have a good starting point to work off of for now.

Well I hope this helps you take your Squad from a D+ to a B- Commander!


Game Radar

Blitz: Black Panther graces us during Monday’s Blitz. And then it’s back to Kitty Pryde on Thursday!

Upcoming Events: Secret Ops is going on right now – check out the post on that.

Emma Milestones continue to churn along, so keep spending that gold if you have any left.

Upcoming Legendary: Phoenix should be coming next, with 6* Villain Mystic Controllers required! There’s a calendar going on to help you prepare, so take advantage!

Black Bolt: April 27th, August 17th, December 7th (Requires Asgardians 5-star)

Shuri: May 11th, August 31st (Requires Spider-verse 5-star)

Ebony Maw: May 25th, September 14th (Requires Inhumans 5-star with Black Bolt)

Phoenix: June 8th, September 28th (Requires Mystic Villain Controller 6-star)

Star-Lord: June 22nd, October 12th (Requires Guardians or Ravagers 5-star)

Nick Fury: July 20th, November 11th (Requires Kree Minions 5-star)

Magneto: August 3rd, November 23rd (Requires X-Men and/or Brotherhood 5-star)

Marvel Strike Force Legendary calendar
Marvel Strike Force Legendary Calendar by Twitch.tv/AMVX

Previous Installments

  1. Early Player Tips
  2. Avoiding Early Player Mistakes
  3. Understanding Alliances
  4. Building Wide
  5. Farming Guide and Seed Theory
  6. Underrated Characters
  7. Blitz, please!
  8. Team Positioning Tips
  9. Daily Objectives
  10. WAR, what is it good for?
  11. Expect a Cold Front
  12. Swarm to the Next Event
  13. Why Am I Losing at PvP?
  14. MSF Terms You Should Know – Part 1
  15. MSF Terms You Should Know – Part 2
  16. MSF Terms You Should Know – Part 3
  17. ISO 8
  18. Let’s Win This WAR!
  19. Dark Dimension 1
  20. Dark Dimension 2
  21. What to do With Orb Events
  22. Defending the Defenders
  23. Astonishing X-Men Announcements
  24. What to Make of Mojo’s Mayhem Real-Time Arena
  25. Skip Skillitary
  26. Fantastic 4…6?
  27. Avengers: Part 1
  28. Avengers: Part 2
  29. Sinister Sixes and Sevens
  30. Secret Ops Event

Join our Discord is you want to join us in nerding out over Marvel Strike Force.

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