From Panel to Play: Kang and Iron Lad

As heroes rise and attain new dazzling heights of brave and astounding powers, it often seems that villains counteract them with darker deeds and more insidious plots for gaining personal power. In CP154 we see the rise of two of Marvel’s most power-hungry villains, and the beginning of two new lights against the darkness. What’s unique about them is their use of technology. While Kang manipulates the world around himself for his own purposes, Iron Lad uses technology to protect and resist the diabolic intentions of evil villains. In this transmission, we’ll be highlighting Kang the Conqueror and Iron Lad.

Kang was born as Nathaniel Richards, a scholar in the 31st century. As Nathaniel, he studied history and discovered Doctor Doom’s time travel technology. Thus began a journey of numerous identities and invasions to become the universe’s most powerful warlord of all time, eventually culminating in Kang the Conqueror.

Kang would have countless battles against numerous heroes in the Marvel universe. Using his military leadership, advanced technology, and knowledge of what happens, Kang manipulates events, takes what he wants, and is able to easily leave a situation or battle before he would be defeated, making him a constant threat against the world. As a villain with all the time in the world, he can be patient and always get back resources lost or opportunities that are too risky to claim.

Kang enters Marvel: Crisis Protocol with multiple powerful weapons and tools, and a new Cabal leadership! The Kang Dynasty is versatile and very powerful, allowing all characters to reroll one attack die per turn, but also letting all characters reroll skulls when they would otherwise be rerolling. This clearly leads to teams with as many potential rerolls as possible, clearly useful for a time traveler!

Among the weapons and defenses of the future, Kang has 3 energy attacks to use against heroes with various uses. Among them he has the ability to reroll dice for 2, deal multiple special effects, and an area 2 attack if he gets surrounded. These all give him the ability to deal with pesky heroes that attempt to rise to his level, but it’s important to look at his Temporal Rewind ability to understand them in context. Kang can spend 4 power to force both characters to reroll their attack and defense dice after the Modify Dice step OR after Temporal Rewind has resolved. If Kang doesn’t like the results, he just steps back and tries it again.

Thanks to his Neurokinetic Chronal Armor, the first time that Kang rerolls dice each turn he gains 1 power, meaning he will frequently have more power than anyone expects, especially since his leadership and main 2 attacks all give build in rerolls. It also lets him place himself 1, remove a damage, or remove a special condition at the beginning of his activation, further showing how he is manipulating time to get the greatest advantage. His Anti-Gravity Device even gives him a throw!

Besides his powerful abilities, Kang brings three new team tactic cards to bear. It’s worth noting that all three of these cards are also playable by Iron Lad due to them sharing the same alter ego. With all of his tools and weapons brought from the future, Kang is truly one of the greatest threats the Marvel universe has seen.

Before you say, “Wait, I thought Kang was Nathaniel Richards?” let us explain. When Nathaniel Richards was 16, Kang the Conqueror visited him to stop bullies from hospitalizing him and wasting years of his youthful development. Kang then takes young Nate on a journey to see his future glory and battles, finally offering him the chance to murder the bully who tormented him.

Nate has the opposite reaction than Kang expected though. He hates what he has seen and the offer of brutality from his future self. Instead of leaning into being the Conqueror, he takes the technology and travels back in time to seek out the Avengers, hoping to stop Kang and hopefully avoid his sinister fate.

As Iron Lad, we see an inexperienced hero with amazing technology supporting his beginning as a warrior. Similar to Kang, he has a throw ability in Strength Actuators and several rerolls built into attacks. While Concussion Blasts and Energy Blast seem new to the suit, The Once and Future Iron Lad seems strangely similar and ominous due to its implications.

Neurokinetic Armor allows it to remove one damage or special condition from itself, while Temporal Divergence allows it to reroll two of the attacker’s dice while defending. Iron Lad might not be as ruthless or experienced as Kang, but they have many similar abilities and effects due to both of them using extremely similar technology.

In the comic Avengers Unassembled, Vision is tragically killed and Iron Lad downloads him onto his armor, allowing him to eventually be put into a new body. This moment is wonderfully captured in the Data Backup card, allowing Vision to avoid being KO’d in game and live to fight another day. With Vision and Iron Lad fighting side by side, Kang is sure to rue the day he invaded the past.

With four amazing new characters and 8 new team tactic cards, CP154 brings technological marvels to advance your games of Marvel: Crisis Protocol. Check back tomorrow when we will cover Rescue and Iron Monger!

You can pre-order CP154 – Kang, Iron Lad, Rescue, and Iron Monger at your friendly local game store or on the Asmodee Webstore today!